Playing Catch Up

Okay, I'm here- I'm really, really here.  Just a million things have happened this month and since I last journaled.  

I've- gone to Stake Women's Conference and heard an apostle, Elder Christofferson, speak.  So uplifted by all those who spoke.  I'll share more about this later.  (But can I say, God is in charge, no matter how tumultuous the times, you can feel peace.)

I've worked on (with Brendalyn) invitations to the Stake Presidency's Christmas Social (David and I are the Stake Activities people- that's why we did the parade/carnival, etc.)  Truly have run into brick walls on everything but I won't go into that because it makes me grouchy. It is so frustrating when you are working so hard to be on top of something and things get out of your control.   (i.e.finally finding suitable paper for the invitations (7 stores) , running to the copy store Sat. then Sat. night, going to organize them to be sent out on Sunday.  Finding after the first 5 invitations, ALL the rest were ink machine smudged!  All ruined.  Grrrr. )

Something horrible happened in the lives of some of our dearest friends that I certainly won't talk about here but let me say, sorrow has filled our hearts- sorrow for all those involved.  Life can be crazy hard.  And sorrow is debilitating.

Thankfully, the last lesson I taught in Young Women's was "how can I find solutions to my challenges or problems."  Or rather, how can I find peace and strength when worlds are collapsing.

David and I were planning on a week in St. George/ half with some of our family and half with Joe and Brendalyn.  David started getting sick with a terrible cold a few days before.  I wondered about us not going but no.....he was just fine.  We took Addi and Hallee with us and let me say, there was a whole lot of hacking going down.  I tried to stay away from him (ha!) but...of course, half way into the trip, when J and B come- I was sneezing and hacking away.  Brendalyn got it a few days later and I think Joe is coming down.  We will see how quickly we can contaminate the world....

We did have a wonderful time with Brandi's family.  We had major game time, Gracie and I had some shopping time (she got straight A's on her report card which always calls for a little reward)- we ate at some great restaurants and ta-da, went hiking in Zion's Canyon.  Okay, nothing unusual for everyone else but I went hiking as well!  This slug-a-bug actually hiked to the upper Emerald Falls (there are lower, middle and upper).  3 miles up on a rocky, rocky trail.  I put it right up there with surviving shingles but I DID it!  (kidding.)

 Here we are minus Parker.

Doug and David went golfing one day---and then Joe and David golfed 2 or 3 times.  Look how amazing this tee-off is!  Beautiful!

  Brendalyn and I found this cute craft that I'm doing for/with my girls for Thanksgiving.  It's a funky shabby chic calendar.  Love it!

Brendalyn and I spent lots of time deciding on centerpieces for the Stake dinner.  We using large black lanterns and decorating these cute boxes.

David and I had to stay and do some clean up on mom's house in Hurricane that is for sale.  It is so hard to try and sell a house when you don't live nearby to take care of problems as they come up. (i.e. We got new tile and the tile guys washed their tools off in the sink...which caused the grout to harden in the plumbing lines and back up the sink, etc.)  

I came home sick, sick, sick...the worst part being that David and I had tickets Sunday to go to Washington to see my folks for 3 days.  Mom just got home from rehab (oh happy day!)....but there was no way we could go and expose them to the cough.  And, of course, the tickets were unrefundable so $400 down the drain.  Cough-cough.  It was the right but expensive choice.

So, finally starting to feel better- yesterday was my first day up and out.  I didn't want to start cooking until I knew I was good to go.  But here it is Wednesday- just barely noon and my dressing is done, sweet potato casserole done and mashed potatoes almost done.  I'll cook the turkeys overnight and do the rolls tomorrow.  Easy peesy.  Everyone else is doing the rest.  LOVE this holiday!

Laughing so Hard

Okay, nobody could make this up.  Remember when I posted this a year ago July?-

 David finally got home and was in the middle of fixing a few broken sprinklers when the Bishop called.  It seems someone in our rural neighborhood is boarding llamas and they got out.  The neighbors are in Hawaii and llamas were on the loose.  The Bishop called and asked if David could come and chase them down and rope them.  David found them on a residential street and he's running after them with a rope and cars are pulling over to the side of the road taking pictures. He roped the adult but it was running downhill....so it dragged him down, down, down.  He let that go and roped the baby....and mama followed obediently.   I wish I had seen it!  But it makes me laugh thinking about how fun it would be to drive by and see that chaos.  And of course, David got them home safe.

I do love this family- and especially since they are a great source of entertainment for me now.  Read what was posted on Facebook today!




Could we have had more animal drama on our farm today? I think not. First we thought Louis had been dog napped for the past THREE DAYS. Turns out he has been stuck under the deck. He never barked or whimpered, he just stayed under there. Justin pried up a deck board to get him out. Ugh. Stupid dog.
THEN...
Today Henry decides to let the snake go I saved a couple weeks ago from being eaten by magpies. It was like 20 degrees outside so the snake got too cold and it didn't get far. This afternoon Rosie was barking at it so I brought it in. It was almost frozen so I warmed it up in a warm sink, forgot about it for a minute and then found it drowned. So I did what anyone would do and performed CPR on the snake and brought it back to life. THEN Vivi carried it all around the house for a bit and after about a half hour she screamed and I found that Rosie had jumped up and bit it's head so hard it was totally smashed and then it finally died even after it was saved twice and resurrected. Animals are lucky to stay alive on our farm.

Wander

Randomness

 Here is a bunch of random pictures in my file-

When I was at my folks last time, the Red Hats were having their annual Halloween Party.  Mom has been the "Queen Bee" for several years...and this group means so much to her.  She was still in rehab (still is) but I didn't want her to miss the party.  I blew up her picture and added a makeshift hat and a stick and stuck her in a centerpiece.  I hope she had fun!  (My mom just rolls her eyes at me and asks, "Where did you come from?")

Thursday night this week was our Girl's Night Out at friend Loretta's home.  If I could pick up and move to any home anywhere...it would be her home. (And not because she has wonderful dessert!)

 Just two shots of her home.  It's magnificent!  Loretta is too!

I hurried home that evening because friend Sophia was coming on an overnighter on her way home from daughter Liza's in St. George.   We made mummy cookie suckers late at night.  The next day she helped me by cutting Cricket letters for my photo board, we got pedi's  and had a fabulous lunch at Trio, then dessert at Beyond Glaze.  Delightful time.  Hubby actually left out of town on Thursday for a 4- day pheasant hunting trip in Nebraska.  Apparently we don't have pheasants in Utah. lol.  So Sophia's visit was nice company and I appreciated her help!

Friday night I met Brendalyn and we went to see "Once I Was a Beehive."  Okay, it's my 3rd time but I needed to see it with Brendalyn since we always did camp together as leaders.  Saturday we did errands and lunch- always good girl time. (here's cute Brendalyn)

Halloween night was kind of a bust.  I did go out to Brandi's to drop off girls and pizza.  I'm not sure what she is but Mallorie did her make-up and she did look cute.  Hallee was a genie but I missed everyone else.  Life gets too crazy.  

I did find my picture of our little calf.  It's a she.  It's been fun to watch her grow.  Since David was out of town, that meant I was feeding morning and night...and I almost got her to come to my hand.  Almost.  She's pretty skittish.

Had a bedroom painted downstairs and I'm trying to get it put back together, then I'll have two guest rooms completed after years of permanent house guests.  


And finally, this is just a selfie.  This is showing myself how to correctly do an exercise.  My knee is having issues...like the muscle slides to the side of the kneecap.  Anyway, I have been an ice pack fool and it is helping along with this exercise.  

-David and I delivered food for the Food Bank Monday night- then dinner.  Good date night.

- Pickle Ball with friends.  We are still pathetic.....

-today David and I went to the temple.  Tonight I went to a July 24th float committee meeting (just shoot me in the head!)

That's all. Totally random stuff.  An ordinary life.

Embark in Sunshine

 We started working on our Young Women's Evening of Excellence months ago with a service jar.  I printed off these little suns (Ucreate.com) and each week I'd give the girls the cards and they would write the service they had done that week.  Our goal was to fill the jar of sunshine by our Evening of Excellence.  Of course I made the mistake of getting the biggest jar ever...so that was kind of impossible but we'll continue to fill it.  Proud of these girls!

Our theme was Embark in Sunshine.....meaning doing good works to help others but also making the choice to follow the light...and becoming extenuating lights of Christ in our own lives.

... stop surrounding yourselves with bits of darkness..whether it be friends making fun of your standards, teachers, immodesty, etc.  and MAKE your own Sunshine. You don't HAVE to be in the dark.  You have the power to SHINE! Don't wait for other people or other things to bring you happiness today..encourage yourself to MAKE YOUR OWN SUNSHINE.  Light is always stronger than darkness!  Marci Coombs

 We tied yellow tulle around all the chairs...I forgot to get that picture.  Love that you can buy colored tulle in rolls so it makes decorating so easy.

Loved all the suns hanging around.  We blew up balloons and stuck them in the middle.  Perfect!

Rachael made the banner this time.  Love it!

And we ordered the cookies from The Hungry Bear.  So cute!!!

 

Bottled Lemon water with sunshine labels.

The picture board was a hit.  We took Polaroids (which were a novelty to the girls- lol)...but they were little so I'm glad we took picture/pictures as well.  These are just a few....

 Some dads just march to their own drummers!

 Here are some of the leaders I work with- Sheryl Ipsen, Angie Hall, Sarah Gardner and me photobombing...

For all the sunshine of the evening, my heart was a little rain cloud.  I had made a (time-consuming) video of the girls set to wonderful music...and of course, we had audio visual problems.  BFF Cathy's son -n-law (whose Sunday dinner I crashed) came to the rescue....staying over a hour trying to get the machine working.  It had a mind of it's own....and was very frustrating.  But, it's over.  It worked.  Ryan's service will not be forgotten.  

Choosing happy over frustrating is HARD.  Lol- I need to practice what I preach!

Charm Girls Meet Seaside Oregon

 This year I flew to Portland to be with my folks for a few days until the Charm girls arrived.  On our appointed "meet up" day,   Debbie was flying in rather early from Utah.  I picked her up and then took her to see my mom in rehab and my dad in their apartment.  She hadn't seen them for years.  Debbie (second from the left) was my BFF from 3rd grade through high school.  Pam then picked up us, and we picked Fay flying in from Temucula, Calif. and Dawn from North Carolina.  Pam is from Prinville, Oregon and she hosted this year.

First order of business after lunch . We took the beautiful drive to Seaside (in Pam's fabulous truck.)  After we got our bedroom assignments- then, drum roll, we opened our gift bags!!!  We are like little kids at Christmas.  We buy treats for our gift bags all year long.  In my bag I gave to them were the Shutterfly books I make from the previous year, a manila folder of Halloween/Thanksgiving games, Bishoff cookies, sweet chili pistachios.  I can't remember what else...

Fay always makes these darling personalized tags for us.

 Our turtle charm for this beach year.

Craft Time- Pam provided a million Doterra Oil projects.  We made make-up remover, lotion bars, healing salves, etc.  Just fun and relaxing.

 Since Pam is from Prinville, the rock capital of the world, we also made some rock art on barn wood.  They turned out so cute!

 Strolls on the beach.  Cool sand sculpture.  I love fall at the beach because we're all bundled up.  No one had to put on their bikinis. (Joke)  Well, we did swim in the pool and hot tub.

 We did eat marvelous food.  I've already shared the flatbread pizzas Fay made for us for lunch.  (and I posted the recipe.)  We loved all the food at the Shiloh Inn (surprisingly) - their chowder was great, coconut shrimp and risotta were fabulous.  Another favorite was The Crabby Oyster- we would order everything and just share. Crab Cakes, crab and artichoke dip, honey-lime shrimp, etc.
The Osprey breakfast was unbelievable.  It's a must go.

 We were always eating so we decided that we needed to health up the candy bowl with some green stuff.

 Did I mention it was cool at the beach?  Loved it!  

 Every day Pam sent us friend/beach affirmations.

  More crafts- Fay taught us how to do these metal flowers and a few other fun things.

Okay, now to the good part.  The out takes-

Dawn- You know I lost those darling yellow reading glasses I got when we were all together in Bend.
Marilyn-  Where did you lose them?
(silence and "the eye" from Dawn- duh)

Fay asked the waiter at the Shiloh, while pointing in one direction "How far that way to Myrtle Beach?"  The waiter pondered then said "Well, it's quite a ways that way but (he points the opposite direction)- that way is only a few minutes."

The fire alarms were blaring our first morning there.  (We stayed at the World Mark.  Mart?)  Debbie- stark naked- hovers at the door of the bathroom-
Debbie:  What should I do?!  What should I do?!
Marilyn:  (dryly)  Get a towel for starters....

The fire alarms continue to blare.  We are on the 8th floor.  That's a lot of stairs.  Pam and I keep calling the others to come, we needed to go, etc.  Finally Pam and Debbie and I take off.  (There were a lot of elderly/handicapped people unable to get down w/o elevators...it was really kind of a mess.)  We have to wait outside for so long in the breeze that finally we decided to do some window shopping, having a great time.  When we finally trudge back up the stairs (we realize that it really is good exercise and the elevators were then packed)- Fay and Dawn weren't in our room.  A while later they burst in the room- they couldn't BELIEVE that we would have left them behind.  "What, what?  Like if we were on the Titanic, you'd say- we'll see you downstairs!  We'll save you a place on the lifeboat!"  Great friends!

We found an old-fashioned picture taking shop and had a ball. Everyone got their costumes on and when they would come out of the dressing room, everyone would swoon, "Oh, you're so cute!  You look adorable!"  Then I came out...dead silence.  Then Fay comments, "I didn't know the Seahawks were auditioning for a linebaker."   Pam said, "You look just like Minnie Mouse!"

Flush.  These childhood friends of mine...you just can't have any self esteem with them.

Now totally self-conscious, I was the first to grab a parasol  to hide behind.  Ditto the Pirate's Ship Wheel!

whoops- I'll have to find another picture of the pirates- Debbie disappeared in that one....


One day we were on Myrtle Beach- all bundled up, in lawn chairs (well, Debbie had to sit on a lawn table- that's another story) when two men came running towards us from the restaurant.

"Are you watching the whales?  Are you watching the whales?" they questioned.

"Only each other," I replied.  Oh my gosh...dead silence.  Their faces were priceless.  We thought it was pretty funny.

In their defense, we saw a million hump-backed whales.



This is a picture I painted that I put on the front cover of our book.  It is from a picture that we had taken the year before.  That's us.  The Charm Girls.

 No one fills that space in your heart like friends who were childhood buddies.  Love these friends and I'm so glad we discovered each other after a million years.

and yes, and least I forget, I got this picture on messenger....I guess they missed me.