Sweet & 25 Things

Sweet - Having a sugary, agreeable flavor; arousing pleasant emotions.

January 31, 2009

These cinnamon bears are a birthday gift from our friends, the Clarks. I LOVE cinnamon bears, and this container they gave me is huge. They always give me the funnest gifts. (I have to write that - I think they read my blog! Kidding - you know I love you!)

My neice Kassie tagged me on the thing going on on FB right now about 25 things about you. So here is what I put up for those who are not on FB:

1. I don't like fish. In fact, so passionate is my dislike for fish that I don't think I could possibly like it EVER. It's like a mission at this point. I used to like tuna sandwiches, but as I've gotten older, I don't even like that so much anymore.

2. I love to type. Weird, I know. I sometimes type stuff just cuz. I am seeking professional help.

3. Also on the weird topic, I don't eat chicken on bread. It doesn't belong there. Chicken should stand alone! My brother thinks this is the weirdest thing ever, and bugs me about it all the time.

4. Staying with the weird, I won't shop at Albertsons because I don't like the shape of their shopping carts. I know, I know, I have issues. I also can't stand Albertsons turntable checkouts. I need a good conveyor belt.

5. I think everything "downloadable" on the internet should be free. Music, art, all things printable. Mostly just cuz I'm far to cheap to pay for anything.

6. I love to have lunch out because I don't like "home" lunch food. I don't like sandwiches and can only eat so much lean cuisine. Mac & Cheese and ramen are only for when I'm completely desperate. Needless to say, if I don't eat out, most of the time I just don't eat lunch. Sometimes I'll have an apple.

7. I love shiny things. I am also easily distracted by them. There was a Barbie that came out in the late 80s, when I was really too old for such things, called Crystal Barbie. I would decorate my whole house like Crystal Barbie was dressed if I could.

8. I don't read much, but love to browse bookstores. I can't get out of Seagull Book for under $60 - and that's even shopping their bargain table. I have tons of books I need to read.

9. I love paper. All paper. I can't get enough of it. Don't even get me started on shiny paper! Luckily, I have a job where I have easy access to exciting papers. I don't mean printed scrapbook paper - I mean real papers. Linens and vellums and felts, oh my! We have a paper at work that feels like microfiber. We just got a shipment of irredescent gold and pearl papers. I was a little bit giddy. My all time favorite is cream linen.

10. I love to sew. For myself, for other people, it doesn't matter. People who get gifts from me are unfortunately on the receiving end of this passion. I love to make pajamas because they are so fast. I love to sew on wool. I would buy fabric by the bolt if I could, and line it all up like in the fabric store because it looks so pretty that way. I have fabrics that I can't bring myself to use because then I won't have it anymore. Again, issues.

11. Dr. Pepper is the best drink ever made. The diet version is nasty. There is no other cola that is anywhere close to as good, but the 2nd runner up would be Coke. I usually like my soda at room temperature (my sister is the same way!). JCWs in American Fork has the best Dr. Pepper.

12. I don't like breakfast food for breakfast. I prefer Brinner. And if it's Brinner, it has to have the good bacon. Crispy, bordering on burnt. None of that limp bacon. I don't want to chew it. I want it to just melt away in my mouth.

13. I prefer to cook from scratch and from fresh ingredients. I like to make my own breads now that Grandma Wilson taught me where I was going wrong. I like to make my own barbeque sauces and such. I think I have grown to be a decent cook, considering when I got married I could only make spaghetti. Ask Lane about the baked tomatoes sometime.

14. I like music by Pink, even though she scares me a little bit. My taste in music has changed quite a bit over the years, and have even learned that U2 is pretty cool. I surprised Lane by asking for a Daughtry CD a year or so ago, and it is one of my favorites.

15. I love to stay in touch with old friends. Thank you FB! There are still friends out there I would love to find, but haven't been able to yet. It is so fun to find out what paths people's lives have taken.

16. My son Jack really cracks me up. He is so funny! (especially when he doesn't mean to be.) If you know Jack, I don't really need to add anything else.

17. I would rather have my feet rubbed than get a back massage. I can usually bribe Jack to rub my feet, and Lane got me a foot massager thing for Christmas (he flat refuses to rub my feet). There is nothing more relaxing to me than having my feet rubbed.

18. I have freakishly small feet for being so tall. I am up to a size 7 now. Pre-babies was only a 6. I still have a pair of size 6 shoes that fit fine.

19. I am "allergic" to cold and my hands turn red and swell up and itch like crazy if they get cold. Our family doctor told me when I was about 10 or 11 that I was allergic to cold, and it sounded made-up to me. A year ago I met someone else who was allergic to cold, but severely so, and decided it must be real. I made some rolls with refrigerated dough, and rolled 3 dozen rolls into balls in my hands, and was miserable for hours afterward. Who knew that was real? BTW - don't ask me to make rolls from refrigerated dough.

20. My favorite video game is Dance Dance Revolution. Who needs the kids? I'll play it alone! This is the funnest thing ever! We got our game at Christmas 2007 and played it for HOURS every day. It has to be the real DDR, though. The other ones we have (HSM and Disney) have really annoying arrows. It's too hard for me with my ADD to follow.

21. My favorite holidays are July 4th and christmas. I think Halloween and Valentines Day should be eliminated. I think Addie was born on Halloween because God has a sense of humor and knows how much I hate Halloween. I think Valentine's Day is just a holiday to make life more difficult for men. Both should be removed from the calendar.

22. My favorite place I've visited is Tulum Mexico. I've loved most of the places we have visited on cruises, but Tulum was the best we've been to so far. I also loved Grand Cayman, and I think I need to go back to Key West and give it another shot. I have heard good things, but didn't see them. I guess you have to get away from the touristy places. I also love Nauvoo, but I haven't been there since about 1988. I think it may be time to go back. I've heard it's changed some! :)

23. We swam with the stingrays in Grand Cayman. That was an amazing experience that I probably would never have done if I wasn't pushed. I tried to find excuses to not go do this when we were there, but kept hearing how exciting it was. I'm so glad we did it. We'll remember it our whole lives.

24. If I had to pick one favorite song of all time, it would probably be Piano Man by Billy Joel. When I hear this song, I sing it as loud as I can. I don't care who hears me. Everyone already knows I have issues.

25. I love Twinkies slightly chilled. Ding dongs too. And cake.

Fragrant

Fragrant - Having a sweet or pleasant smell.

January 30, 2009

The roses are from my sister for my birthday tomorrow. She also brought me one of those giant Hershey kisses. Flowers and chocolate - ummm, ummm. She knows me so well.

The bottom picture is Jack and his friend, Derek, playing Wii Playground. This is a paper airplane game that is really fun to watch them play - the players twist all around while they "fly" their airplanes. The delay on my camera is too long to catch them in some of their funniest poses. If you look close, you can see Derek's tongue sticking out a little bit, he is concentrating so hard. I came in very last in Wii bowling today. Must be old age setting in!

Swirl

Swirl - to move with a whirling, rotating motion.

January 29, 2009

I was trying out the new cookie recipe from my photo mentor, Tammy, and thought the dough looked interesting on the beaters. The cookies were delicious! The recipe was super easy and I was done in no time. That's the trouble with baking cookies - the actual baking part. This recipe only made 2 dozen, so now that that the first attempt has proven to be successful, I'll have to bake some more this weekend. I had to go to the DMV to renew my drivers license today. I just don't understand why - during the lunch hour, when the office is FULL - they only have 4 of the 11 windows open. I just don't get it. It's like our post office here in town. No matter how long or short the line is, only 2 windows are open. When that line is long, a person from the behind the wall will walk out to the teller area and survey the situation. So people get all excited, thinking that he is the manager-guy who will go back behind the wall and tell the other workers that more help is needed. But no one ever comes back. That is the same scenario every single time I go to the post office. No kidding. Same sort of thing at the DMV today. Some official looking guy in a blazer would would walk around behind the counter, talk to other people who were milling about, and I thought "Yea! They are gonna open another window!" Nope. They must have just been making Super Bowl bets, because another window never did open - but they did close one! It took 50 minutes to get done there, but considering my past experiences at the DMV, that's record time!

Ballet

Ballet - A classical dance form characterized by grace and precision of movement and by elaborate formal gestures, steps, and poses.

January 28, 2009

My old toe shoes from WAY BACK when I used to dance. I hang them on the wall in my sewing room as a reminder of something I used to love to do. My friend Jennifer and I got permission from our parents to miss school to go to SLC with our ballet teacher (her name was Laurie Walker - weird, huh?) to buy toe shoes. It was a terribly exciting and memorable day. I think I must have been in 8th or 9th grade. I later got another pair that I didn't get to use much before I gave up dancing due to terrible pain in my knees. The other pair doesn't have the worn out toes that these shoes have, so I like these ones better. Memories . . . from the corner of my mind . . . misty water colored memories . . . of the way were were.

Vivid

Vivid - Bright, brilliant, intense; having clear, lively, bright colors.

January 27, 2009

This is actually my take on this weeks theme: "new." I have had a hard time thinking of something "new" to photograph, since it's January and everthing is dead. So I thought of how every kid in the world loves a brand new, unused box of crayons. So that is my "NEW."

We enjoyed a dinner out this evening with Lane's parents. It is so cold! The temperature thingy in the car said 25 degrees. The snow will never melt with days like this! The inversion did finally clear out thanks to the storm on Sunday, so we have blue skies and sunshine until the inversion builds again. It gets so bad they keep the kids in at recess at the school.

I finished sewing my jumper today and have the matching jacket almost done. I just need to put the sleeves in and hem it. I think it will even go with my favorite black boots, that don't go with very many things but I just love them anyway! Every girl needs a frivolous pair of shoes - an impulse buy that only go with one outfit. The kind of shoes that you love, even though they are uncomfortable. I think I just went down a bad road, now I want to go shoe shopping.

Happenstance

Happenstance - an event occuring by chance.

January 26, 2009

This is the retaining wall in my back yard, and the fresh snow had gathered on the bricks where they alternate and stick out a little bit. I thought it made an interesting pattern. We got some new snow today, it's nice to have pretty, fluffy snow again, but it does make me think I'm over it now and ready for spring. February is almost here, and when I see that first purple crocus I'll know there is light at the end of the tunnel. But, boy, has it been COLD!!

Binge

Binge - Uncontrollable self indulgence; a spree.

January 25, 2009

Sadly, this is not staged. Just another Sunday afternoon of Mythbusters and Forensic Files. We got more snow today and last night. It's very wet and not accumulating quite so fast as the last storm, although it's been storming all day. We had a lot of rain preceeding the snow, so most of the old snow is gone, thankfully. Family Home Evening is tomorrow, I had better put something together. I don't think it's appropriate to have Wii night 3 weeks in a row! We are having "Brinner" (from an episode of Scrubs) so I need to go buy the "good bacon" tomorrow. We had Brinner once with the "good bacon" and now we can't go back to anything else. Packaged bacon is ok for being mixed in with stuff, but for eating alone - it has to be the good bacon directly from a butcher. There is just nothing quite like it in the world!

Princess?

Princess - the daughter of a king.
January 24, 2009

Posed, but not. I had her put on her princess dress, and snapped this shot while she was arranging herself. It is very handy tht her birthday is on Halloween, because she always wants something new for dress up, and in October there is plenty of floofy dress up to choose from! As far as she's concerned, the floofier, the better!

She hasn't been very princess-y today though. Every Saturday, she and Jack get into a whole big thing, hitting and screaming. Then Jack calls me at the grocery store to complain about her, like there's anything I can do from the store. Then I come home and yell and scream for a while, everyone promises that next Saturday will be better, and then the next Saturday it all plays out again, exactly the same. It's like Groundhog Day, but only on Saturdays.

Jack played really good in his game today. He had a couple of blocks and good passes. Lane and I bought a new game for the Wii while we were out and about today. It's called Playground and it's pretty fun for the kids. It has dodge ball, tether ball, paper airplanes, and a couple of others. Hey, anything to get them up off the couch, right?

We finally got the Christmas thank you cards written, so those of you out there who we owe thanks you to, the notes are on the way! Time really got away from me this month, now it's almost over, and now I have to do birthday thank yous, too! I'll never get caught up!

Dreary!

Dreary - bleak, dismal, dull.

January 22, 2009

I never got yesterdays picture up and I liked it a lot. I took it out the car window with my phone when I picked up Addie from school. I liked how the raindrops were on the window, and the dirty snow is there, and the low clouds, and the bare tree, and the overall dreariness that is January in Utah.

Keepsake - A momento or souvenir; a token or remembrance of friendship.

January 23, 2009

These are not original McGuffey Readers, the last copyright date in them is 1920. I found them in my Grandparents house after they died, and since both grandparents were teachers it makes me think of them. My grandpa, Calvin Walker, has even written his name in the cover of each copy. The lamp is my favorite in the house - I love the soft glow of lamplight, I love the vibrantly colored shade against the green wall.


I had a fun day of sewing today. I finally got the black skirt finished up, and cut out a jumper and jacket, got the jumper almost done. It needs hemmed and the armhole facings are sewn on but not pressed or topstitched. Dumb zippers! It has a 22" zipper in and I had to pull the dang thing out TWICE before I got it in, and still I'm not happy with it, but hoping the jacket will cover it up. I had lunch with Calvin today at a really yummy place in American Fork. I think it was called Hibachi House, I hadn't been there before, but I'll be back! Lane has gone up to help with the Klondike Derby tonight. He's not camping out, but helping in the lodge when people have questions or need to come in to warm up. With this terrible inversion we've got going on, it's probably warmer up in the mountains than it is here! We've had some rain, which has helped to melt some of the ugly snow, but it hasn't been a good enough storm to blow out the inversion. The news reported that the fog in SL at the airport is so bad no planes had been able to land or take off for a couple of hours. I think we are expecting a bigger storm this weekend, so hopefully we'll get some cleaner air!

Draper Temple

Engross - to absorb entirely.

Not much new to report on, really. I'm trying to get my visiting teaching done, it's gonna take 3 different outings to visit the 3 sisters. Just couldn't coordinate it this month. Last night we went to Pack Meeting with Jack. He earned his first two pins in Webelos. He was quite proud of that. I think he needs to earn 4 to get his Webelos badge, and 6 to earn his arrow of light, or something like that. Taylor went with the youth from our ward up to the open house at the new Draper temple last night. She has never been to a temple open house before, so she was quite overwhelmed. She was telling us all about it, and it was such a great experience for her. I hope they will get to go visit the new Oquirrh Hills temple when they have that open house. It shouldn't be too far away - last time I drove past there the outside was nearly done, and it has been quite a while since then. I will always remember when I toured the Jordan River Temple back in 1981 or 1982. I was so enthralled with the whole thing I promised myself then and there that that's where I would get married. I wonder if Taylor will want to get married in one of the temples she tours. How lucky we are here to have so many temples so close by, and that the public and the youth can attend the open houses. I think it really makes a deep impression on them.

I'm Booked!

Prepare : To arrange in advance; to provide what is needed; to make complete.

Ok, so this picture doesn't have much to do with anything, except that my original idea didn't work out so I had to find something else. The color of the peaches on my shelf caught my eye, so here we are. I do take great satisfaction, however, in seeing food on my shelves and in knowing that we won't die right away. We'll linger for a little while, anyway. I HATED doing the canning so much as a kid. I swore I would never do it as an adult, or even more important, make my kids help. That would be the worst punishment ever!! Turns out, I kinda enjoy doing the canning. Yes, it's hard work. It's sticky and hot and messy. But there is no greater satisfaction than when that work is done, and knowing that you are doing what needs to be done to be prepared for an emergency.

I got my cruise booked today, for myself and my parents, and am hoping that everyone else will get their reservations made soon. (Are you listening out there??). I love having that anticipation of a great vacation coming up. Let's all cross our fingers and hope for a hurricane free September!

So Blessed

This is today's (Sunday) picture. Addie fell asleep on the couch after we had been watching Mythbusters and Forensic Files all day (after church, anyway). See, you can see the Cheetos on her mouth. She was so cute all curled up, and I snapped about 12 pictures, and the super-bright flash didn't even wake her up. She must have been tired!

Taylor and Jack playing guitar hero. They have both gotten pretty good. They think it's funny that I know the songs on the game, I guess they think "Baracuda" and "Welcome to the Jungle" are new songs!

I met a good friend for lunch yesterday, and we sat there and talked for THREE hours! I can't believe we went on for that long. It was fun to catch up with her, though.

I realized today at church how much I enjoy my calling. I'm serving as secretary in the primary, and I just really enjoy it. I think the kids are delightful and the ladies I serve with are wonderful and always have the kids best interests at heart. I'm so glad to be a member of a church in which we are asked to serve because it truly helps us to grow, not only grow our testimonies, but increase our capacity for love as we serve others and serve with others. It is truly a blessing.

Hobby - An activity or interest undertaken for pleasure during one's leisure time.

I had no plan for what to photograph today. I have a list of words that I have been compiling for when I am at a complete loss, like today, with the hope that the word will give me inspriration. So this is what I have for today. I do love to sew! I've got a black skirt I'm working on right now. I finished up the shirt and planned to have the black skirt finished to wear to church on Sunday, but unless there is some sort of miracle tomorrow, that won't be happening! This week just kinda got away from me. Taylor is a little more than half done with her project, and then she'll make a little jacket to go with it. I think she will easily make the 10 required hours. She's had to do a lot of unpicking! We all did when we were beginners. She has been good to not get too discouraged and I think it will turn out so cute, she'll forget all about the hard parts. She is off babysitting for the neighbors tonight. It's so weird to me that she is old enough to do that now. What a great girl she is!

Thursday Theme-day

Lush - Producing luxuriant growth or vegetation.

I was responsible for choosing the Thursday theme for our little photo group that is doing the 365 thing. I assigned photographing only a part of a thing. So this is mine. It is looking down on my tall pointy plant (no, I don't know the names of anything) in my living room with the afternoon sun coming in. I really like how it turned out with the different colors of green and all. I tried taking a picture of my grandmother clock, that was my intial idea, but the light from the flash reflected off the face of the clock and it looked just awful. So I turned around, looking for something else, and there was my tall pointy plant. What luck!

Sacred

Sacred - dedicated to worship; holy.

I dropped Jack off at piano today (in Cedar Hills) and then drove out to the temple. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so I thought a picture of the temple would be nice for today. Amazingly, the parking lot wasn't full and so I didn't feel too stupid in my jeans and tshirt on the temple grounds taking pictures since there weren't too many people there to witness it. I like how this turned out, intentionally off center so the snowy mountains could be seen better.

My cruise rep called me today with a screamin' deal on a cruise this fall. If I can find decent airfare, I'm going again! Whoo hoo! This one is out of New Orleans to Mexico. I hope I can work it out. The fam wants to take a cruise together to celebrate Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary. We've never cruised with other people before, so this would be a whole new experience. Cross your fingers!

Imagine - to picture or create in the mind.

I wanted to take a picture of Taylor today, since I've done both Jack and Addie, but I wasn't sure what I wanted her to do. We tried a bunch of different stuff, and then when I snapped this one, I knew it was a keeper. She always takes good pictures, but I was really pleased with how this one turned out. I have been trying to get back into a daily exercise habit - without much luck - but am 2 for 2 this week. Last night I did a bunch of arm exercises, and sure felt it today when I was exercising! I like to be a little bit sore, it makes me feel like I am accomplishing something!

This picture doesn't have anything to do with anything, but it is the picture for the day. I'm not sure what to call it, so for now it is called "information." I am gladly accepting suggestions for a better title. We had a good FHE lesson tonight on keeping a journal, then we played Wii for a while. We always have such a good time visiting with Grandma. I got Jack's watch fixed, luckily it only needed a new battery, so hopefully we won't have any more sad pictures of him being punished for being late. Hopefully he has learned his lesson (no, I don't really believe that, either). I even got the laundry finished up today. It is my very least favorite chore, so it almost always takes me until Tuesday to finish what I start on Saturday. Stupid, I know. I just hate the folding and putting away part. And the last load almost always stays in the dryer until next laundry day. I keep telling my kids to just get over it and get the job done - I guess I need to take my own advice!

Triad

TRIAD: A set of three similar things considered as a unit.

I have very cute kids. That is a completely unbiased oppinion. I just have cute kids. Everyone knows it. This was taken when we finally needed a break from our Mythbusters/Monk/Psych/Forensic Files marathon. Of course, I forgot the Cheetos again. I did have my Dr. Pepper, though. So why do I have such a headache? Thank goodness I'm not addicted (wink, wink!). Imagine how much worse my headache would be!

Teamwork & Lonliness

This is today's picture, Teamwork, taken at Jack's first basketball game of the season. He is #41 with his back to the camera. He played a good game today. He was kind of timid in the first half, but more aggressive in the second half. He got off a good shot, but it bounced off the rim and went out. He also made a good block.

This is to replace yesterday's picture, which I was so unhappy with it kept me awake last night. I made him pose for this one, it's not candid, but I wanted to represent the same thing I was trying to capture last night: the feeling that comes with being punished, the lonliness and sadness, and I think I got it in this picture. I am quite pleased with it - even if Jack isn't very happy with having to pose "sadness," I think he likes the picture, too and helped with as I adjusted the shadows, etc. in photoshop and he was the one who suggested making it a black and white image. I think I'll make a copy of it for him to have because I really like the way it turned out.

Taylor showing her stuff at Guitar Hero.

Addie with her Dora workbook.

This is my picture for the day. I'm calling it punishment. Jack chose not to come home on time from a friend's house - AGAIN - and the punishment was no video games or TV for 2 days. Everyone else was playing video games or watching TV, so Jack came to keep me company while I sewed. He kept reminding me that he had never been so bored in all his life. Mission Accomplished!! I don't think he'll be late again, at least not for a little while.

I hit the motherlode at the Walmart $1 fabric bin. I got 2 cute patterns and found great fabric in the $1 bin for a change. I got stuff to make a suit, 2 shirts and a skirt. I was sewing one of the shirts while Jack was "helping" me.

Scrappin'

I got a lot of scrapbooking done today. My computer memory is almost full, so I decided I had better get to it! I moved a lot of old stuff over to CD so I could get it off my computer. I had more pictures on here than I thought I did! So I plopped all the "un-scrapped" pictures onto blank pages and saved them, so now I just need to go back and add all the elements. The website that I get most of my stuff will be posting the January stuff any day now, and whenever they put up new stuff it gets me motivated to scrap. The December stuff was a little disappointing this year, but maybe I can figure out how to change the colors - it's a lot of non-traditional colors that I'm not overly fond of. I did get 3 pages completed, however. I also have scrapped the first 6 pictures of my 365 project, and they are posted on my facebook profile, under "scrapbook" if you want to have a look. I am quite proud of them, I must say.

White (purple) Mountains Manjesty

I took this in Cedar Hills when I picked Taylor up from piano lessons. Naturally, all I had with me was my cell phone, but I think it turned out ok. Today was beautiful! The sun finally shone again, and the sky was so blue. The moon is even up there in the sky. It was so warm today that a lot of snow melted, so it is slushy and wet everywhere.

I laid down on the couch while Jack was talking to me (Jack is ALWAYS talking) and playing a game on the computer. The room was kind of dark and I had a blanket on me, and . . . well, you can guess what happened next. I don't even remember closing my eyes, and I was gone for a little over an hour. Boy, it felt good. I haven't slept good for a few nights, and I guess I was more tired than I thought because I don't usually go out like that (except on Sunday afternoons, because that's what we Mormon's do!).

It won't stop snowing!!

This is my picture for the day. The snow is so deep, and it looked so pretty on this tree.

This is the tree across the street that I curse all summer long because it blocks my view of the lake. As always, it's all about ME!

This is the same lantern from yesterday - but the snow is just a wee bit deeper! The snow on the ground is now level with the retaining wall - 18" or so! (Seriously, scroll down the page to yesterday's post - it's amazing how much more snow there is, just since yesterday. Both pictures were taken at about the same time of day - 2:30 or so.)

I don't know if it stopped snowing last night, but it was snowing all day. It is so deep! Evidently, the storm has just parked itsself over northern Utah County, from Alpine to Orem, and has just buried us! Cars keep either getting stuck or sliding off the road out on Nathaniel.

I played Guitar Hero with Jack tonight and somehow managed to beat him on 2 songs. I barely beat him both times, but I was shocked that I beat him at all. I've only played one other time, and he plays a lot. I guess he was having a bad night. Then we played DDR for a while. We haven't played for a long time and we have so much fun. Jack gets way into it and kicks and flails his arms. It's quite a spectacle.

It's SNOW Fun

Lane and Jack are shoveling. This is after only a few hours - see how deep it was already?

Jack starting to goof off - shoveling was only fun for a minute.

Swing set - that ultimate symbol of summer - all covered up. See how big the snowflakes are?

My first attempt to capture the size of the snowflakes. It didn't turn out - too little contrast, I guess.

So . . . last I heard, KSL predicted a storm - 1-3 inches they said. It would come in after the morning commute and end before they evening commute they said. WRONG!!! It started just before I left work - only snow flurries, nothing major. I had lunch with Calvin and by then it was starting to stick. As I drove up the hill to our elementary school (I had to drop something off) it was really sticking and the flakes were HUGE! I wasn't sure I would make it up the hill, but I did. I even got the car up the driveway on the 2nd try. Grandma called and said she wasn't coming up for Family Home Evening, and Lane didn't want to go get her since it was really bad by 5:30. So we stayed in, had our turkey soup and homemade Rosemary bread (Tara - YUMMY! thank you!) and played Wii. I had been unbeaten on bowling and Taylor beat me - badly, I might add. I told her I was distracted by the snow, which was still falling at 8:00. Lane and Jack had gone out to shovel again, so they weren't there to see my shame. Lane asked his car pool buddy to drive tonight because Joe has a 4 wheel drive, and I think they will need it. I don't think the snow plow has been around yet, and the snow has really stacked up. At least 7 inches, I'm thinking.

Funny, Funny Addie

I hope the picture of Addie comes through ok - I had to lighten it up alot to get her hair to show. We had been laying around all day, watching one episode of Mythbusters after another, and she finally got up to get a snack and her hair was all standing straight up with static electricity. It was so funny! The drawing is Addie's rendition of our family that she drew as part of sharing time in primary. It is so precious because we are all holding hands. It kind of looks like Jack was an after-thought. I guess we know where he ranks with her! It is so nice to be on the early schedule at church again. I hate the 1-4 schedule. We had the best day, just laid around watching Mythbusters and Destroyed in Seconds - we love to watch things explode. When Lane got up he forced us to eat something healthier than the popcorn, Dr. Pepper and candy we'd been eating all day. I forgot to buy more Cheetos!

My Adorable Husband

I managed to catch Lane before he hid his face or threw something at me. He's just relaxing, watching a football game before he goes to work tonight. Today I was helping Taylor sew a shirt. I took her to the fabric store to find a pattern and fabric, and she found a really cute little dress pattern with a jacket. She chose aqua fabric wtih brown polka dots for the dress and brown for the jacket. It will be really cute. She is doing this as a value project for her personal progress, and I was worried that we would have to sew a second project because I didn't think this one would take the required 10 hours. Considering how long it took her to lay out the pattern and cut it out, I have since revised my opinion that it will easily take more than 10 hours! I forget that she is still learning. We managed to get the shoulder seams sewn today before she decided she had had enough for one day. This is going to be my challenge - not taking over and sewing the whole thing myself! It has given me the sewing bug again, so I might have to make another trip back to the fabric store - this time for myself!

Photography & Peaches

So we're at day #2 and I still at 100% for picture taking. Poor Addie, I had her in different poses for 20 minutes or more and she wanted to go play. Maybe by December 31, 2009 I'll learn how to take a decent picture. I'm surprised to learn how many people are doing the "365" thing, in one form or another. I'll look forward to seeing their pictures, too. My friend Danna posted a great one today of the sun shining through the icecicles on her house.

I was reading an article in the Ensign today about pruing peach trees. It was really a good article, and the point was that it's hard to prune off fruit trees because it seems like you would get less fruit, but in the end you get better fruit, just as we need to prune things out of our lives that aren't important so we can focus more on the things that are important. I didn't express that right, but read the article because it was a good reminder that we have too much fluff in our lives that divert our attention from where it should be.

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Today is the first day of a brand new year, full of good intentions, New Years resolutions and hope for better things to come. We'll see how long that all lasts. One of my resolutions is to take more pictures. I am the worst at that - I just never think about it and am mad at myself that my kids have no pictures of anything but Christmas, birthdays, and Easter. The everyday events are the best, so I want to really work on that. Of course, there is the misguided belief that this is the year I will lose 50 lbs, become a tidier person, read my scriptures ever day, and all that (like everyone else alive). Baby steps, baby steps, I have to remind myself.

So this is my first day, first photo. This is the new couch, the apprently oversized couch that won't fit in my basement. Now that I've had time to live with it for a few days, I think it really worked out for the best since it looks really nice upstairs and gives me something new to look at. Having my computer downstairs will be a good thing, too, I think.

Last night Lane & I just spent a quiet night together. The kids went and slept over at my parents house, Lane had to work a half shift, so he got home at about 8:30 p.m. We went over for a late dinner at Applebees (those workers were MAD that they had to be there!) and then came home and watched Third Rock from the Sun on TVLand and laughed our heads off. I slept until 9:30 this morning! The kids were still at my parents house until 6:30 tonight, so while Lane napped (he has to go to work at 10:00 tonight) I did all the boring stuff like laundry, organizing books on the shelves, vacuumed (Lane finally unclogged the vacuum - third time's the charm!), and did my data entry work.

I have to work tomorrow, back to the grind. I'll be happy to send the kids back to school. I have missed my quiet afternoons while they are gone. We are on the early church schedule this year, hurray! It should be a great Sunday afternoon - Mythbusters has been recording all day long! And on the early schedule, we'll have even more time to veg out and watch it. I'll have to remember to buy more cheetos!