Old Recipe

A RECIPE FOR HOME

One-half cup friendship and add a cup of thoughtfullness.  Cream together with a pinch of powdered tenderness, very lightly beaten in a bowl of loyalty with a cup of faith, one of hope, and one of charity.  Be sure to add a spoonful each of gaiety that sings and also the ability to laugh at all little things.  Moisten with the sudden tears of heartfelt sympathy.

Bake in a good-natured pan, and serve repeatedly.

JACOB D.'S BIG DAY!

Hi Jacob D.!

It's your big day today!

We remember the very day you were born.  We were so excited that you were here in the family.  When the pictures started coming in we kept saying, "Oh, look how cute he is!  Oh.  Look at all his dark hair!"

You were a keeper from day 1.

Have a really fun day.

We love you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A Tender Love Story

Saturday evening, Auntie Tia was kneeling on the floor next to Uncle Bob in the bed.  He was on his left side, which is opposite of the way he always slept on his right side.  So he was facing her and she was holding his left hand.  They were quiet and just there together.  He was very, very sick and dying.  She told him she loved him.  He opened his eyes, and with all the strength he could muster, he lifted up his right arm and put it around her on the floor and said, "I love you, too"  just as cognitively as if the devil dementia was no longer there.  And then he closed his eyes, put his arm back under the covers and slipped back.

What a Gift.

He Has Finished His Work

Uncle Bob passed away just a few minutes ago.  At 10:18pm.  Everyone was there and they were having a 'slumber party', as Sheri put it so he was surrounded by Auntie Tia and all his children.  He went quietly and peacefully.  He had been reaching out as if to people and smiling day before yesterday.  When they would ask him who it was and give him names, he would shake his head yes or no.  Wendy, Auntie Dolene, his parents.  Pretty cool, huh?!

I'm going to sit up for a while so I can process and think and pray.  I'll post more information when it comes along.

Till we meet again, sweet Uncle Bob.  I love you.

A Little About Lacrosse or LAX (the X stands for 'cross', like 2 sticks crossed)

Here are some excerpts from the Daily Herald newspaper:

"Unknown to many, lacrosse is considered North America's oldest sport. It's also proclaimed as the fastest game on two-feet, as it's a sport that combines the rules and regulations of many sports, such as hockey, basketball and soccer.

"Lacrosse is more of a strategy, patience sport like soccer -- a lot of the offense is setup in a similar way.  It's also a lot like basketball where you're setting picks, and moving off ball.

"While the sport is not widely popular in the western U.S., The National Federation of State High School Associations states the number of people playing lacrosse has grown by nearly 68 percent since 2001 as it continues to migrate west and become more mainstream.

"The study, published on U.S. Lacrosse's Web site, shows lacrosse has the fastest growth rate of any high school sport in the past decade." 

Tonight was another great game.  We traveled to ANHS and won 11-3.  Christine was 79% in the goal tonight.  Yahooie, girl!

Uncle Bob

Just got a call from my mom.  The home health nurse did his evaluation and said two more days.  When he checked on Uncle Bob right before leaving, he changed his assessment to the next few hours.  I'm sad.  I don't want to do anything the rest of the day.  I feel like I should sit and 'wait'.

But there is too much to do.  I have stinky wet towels in laundry baskets and bathtubs all over the house that I am washing from the flood on Saturday.  I have regular laundry.  The water damage company just left with 4 of the 6 fans.  We still have 2 bad places that need to keep drying.  They have a neat little thermal camera machine that shows you right where the moisture is.  It's pretty amazing.  I guess it's the same kind of camera that the ghost hunters use.  Hahaha!  No kidding.

Ugh.  I'm going to will myself to get up and get going.

Scrambled Sunday

I didn't sleep good last night and ended up on the couch in the bonus room so Duff wouldn't be effected by my tossing and turning.  It was really hard to get up.  We have to use the tinkletorium on the other side of the house since ours is out of commission, but we can still shower in there.  Anyway--the getting ready for early church was complicated.

In new 'news', this will be our last Sunday with Duff home in the mornings again.  The year has been nice, once we got used to having him around to go to church together.  His new assignment is the high priest group leader.  We have a really good group in our ward and his assistants and teacher are top notch.  But then, so were the others who were just released.  Our meetings and classes were good.

Christine had byc meetings and then a fireside.  Amanda was here for dinner.  It always seems our table has another person or two sitting with us, especially on a Sunday.  My mom was a great teacher of how to stretch a meal.

Uncle Bob seems to be doing better today.  All his kids arrived at some point today from Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and northern California.  My mom and dad are going home in the morning to take care of things there and be ready to come back.  It could be a couple of days or weeks.  But it is the end.  I love him.  He was always a great uncle to all of us. He will be missed so much.

What Is It With Us and Water? OR When It Rains It Really Rains/Pours

Today, Christine and I were up and out the door to Target to get things from the dollar section for her secret sister gift for Lacrosse today.  Check.  Then put it together (which turned out really cute.  A bamboo easter basket with some of her favorite things all tied up in cellophane and bright spring ribbon).  Off to the school to catch the bus for the away game.  Good game with a 12-2 win.  During the night the Santa Anas came up and so it is blowing wildly and hot.  Quite the dusty game too!

BUT

before the game, I was catching up with Natalie on the phone and all of a sudden I hear Mike YELL out of the bedroom to come here, quick.  I was scared to death and thought maybe Adrianne had passed out or something.  No, no, no.  There was water pouring out of the ceiling, the smoke detector, and the outlets and switches.

Here was the problem.

Our toilets are old and need to be replaced.  Builders nowadays use less than average things and our house is 16 years old, sooooo.....Someone used it and the handle didn't go back up.  Apparently is was plugged somewhere in the pipe and ran and ran and flooded.

It was interesting to see the water coming out of these 'holes in the wall'.

Everyone who was here ran for every towel in the entire house and it still wasn't enough to mop it all up.  I cannot believe how much water was there!  Literally, there was 2 inches of water just standing in the toilet area and you could just see how it was expanding out into the hallway, closet, and bathroom.

The water damage company came while Christine and I were at the broadcast, and we came home to the carpet ripped up, padding taken out, baseboards off and 6 large fans to dry it all out.

Yeah.

It was 'pouring' down into Mike and Adrianne's room too.  They had towels and containers to dry and catch it all down there.  Then we discovered two places in our living room that have bubbled from the heavy rains in January.  Remember when we had to buy a pump to get it all out of the backyard?

So this week, the computer went out, the tv died, and we had a flood.

Good Gravy!  Deep breath.

p.s.  Uncle Bob is not doing well.  He has taken a turn for the worse.  The home health nurses and hospice gave Auntie Tia 2 options:  Call an ambulance and get him to a hospital to rehydrate him and get his blood sugar under control, or let him go in the next few days.  She said, enough is enough.  He hasn't had any food or liquids since last night.  This will be our 5th family death since September.  I'm glad we have the gospel, because even with that, I have to admit that it's taking it's toll.

Be Strong and Of A Good Courage. WOW!

Love these girls.

Ad, Q, M, and Chris  at the hottest restaurant in town, according to teens: 

Pick Up Stix.

We got wok combos.

The YW Broadcast is a once a year event not to be missed.  And it proved true again.  Even as the mom, I was soaking up what every speaker said.  I thought about how nice it is that they have a whole meeting dedicated to them.  The words of God through a Prophet.  It was inspiring, timely, and motivating.  The spirit there was contagious and uplifting.

Ann Dibb

Joshua 1:5-9

Joshua = "God Is Help"

1:  verse 5--He will always be there for us.  Pray and be patient.  Patience is needed when waiting upon the Lord.

2:  verse 7--  Obedience=success.  Be strictly obedient to commandments.  Avoid temptations around you and you will be protected.

3:  verse 8--  Read and meditate.  Read the scriptures.  Especially the Book of Mormon.

4:  verse 16--  Commit.  Follow the Prophet.  We will go and DO.

Mary Cook

Be Strong and of a Good Courage

--She told a story about taking her grandchildren to climb to the Timpanogos Caves.  It is about a 1 1/4 mile hike.  The first 1/4 of the way was easy.  It was a bit harder to the 1/2 way mark.  By the time they reached the 3/4 mile marker, some started to complain that it was just too steep.  Too hard.  Couldn't do it.

--So they came up with a plan.

--They only concentrated on the next 100 steps and counted them off.  They stayed on the trail to avoid the rattlesnakes.

--This is like earthly life.

--We need to have a plan.  The Lord has provided that for us.  How will we live it?

--Seek support from Heavenly Father, and parents.  Trust your parents. 

--Gain a strong testimony of your own.  It will keep you safe.

--Take one step at a time.

--Stay on the trail.  Don't stray into temptations.

--Be Stong.  Have Courage.  Never, never, ever give up!

Elaine Dalton

--You are NOT ALONE.  Even if you are the only one, you are not by yourself.  You have the Lord.  You knew in the premortal life that you could do it and you could make a difference.

--You are ELECT.  Have courage to stand out.  Don't blend in.  You cannot do the things of the world.  You were born to be a Queen.

--Deep, real beauty springs from virtue.  Be Virtuous.

--(She had us all laughing when she said we must be what the Stripling Warriors girlfriends looked like.  I liked that!)

President Uchtdorf

--He began by telling us the love and courting story of he and his wife.  He parallelled it to a Fairy Tale.

--They all begin with:  Once Upon A Time and end with And They Lived Happily Ever After.

--Do we want the HEAfter too?  YES! 

***BUT IT COMES AT A PRICE***

I think we forget that part. 

--In every fairy tale,  the princess has to go through a lot of trials and adversities and temptations before it all works out and the end pronounces it HEAfter.

--This is just like God's Plan.  OUATime, we were in the premortal life.  We have come to earth for the trials, adversities and temptations.  If we handle those ( plus making and keeping covenants) well, we will have our HEAfter.

--He repeated this twice, very passionately:  IT IS YOUR REACTION TO ADVERSITY AND TEMPTATION--NOT THE ADVERSITY OR TEMPTATION, THAT WILL DETERMINE OUR H.E.AFTER.  HOW WE GO THROUGH AND OVERCOME THEM TO ARRIVE AT OUR OWN HappilyEverAFTER.

--We can't be whiny and complaining.  It's time to square our shoulders, pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and go forward.  Trust in Heavenly Father.  He knows the beginning from the end.

O.U.A.Time   /  Trials, Adversities, Temptations  /     H.E.After

                (There must be an opposition in all things)

Wow.  That's all I can say is Wow.  Can I still keep going to these when Christine advances to RS???

So Much Packed Into Today

The computer went out the first of the week.  We'd been expecting it for a while now.  It's been showing 'signs' of departing us.  It was over 5 years old.  So we got a new desktop.  Wow.  They sure change and improve them year after year.Wednesday  the family room tv died.  Now it's about the same age as the computer so we weren't expecting this.  But I guess the mother-board was fried and it would cost over $600 to fix.  Uh, no.  So today we bought a new television.  Yikes.  Those were two large expenditures we were not counting on.

While Duff and Mike were out tv shopping I was getting a much needed haircut.  Isn't it wonderful how great that makes you feel?

Then it was my turn to work the snack/consessions stand at the games tonight.  Chris went with me and we picked up the carpool and headed over to the stadium.  The varsity played first and it went into two overtimes and finally won.  I like how they have our shifts: the JV parents work while the varsity plays and vice-versa so we can all watch our own kids.  Christine's game was a thriller, and they won 12-8!  She played so well.  It was freezing cold out tonight.  What we are learning is that several schools in our league can't field an entire JV team, so they play 1/2 or all varsity against us.  Such was the case tonight.  So to win by that margin against a mostly varsity team makes the victory that much sweeter.

We came home and watched The Blind Side on the new tv.  We never made it to the theater to see it, but what a TREAT of a movie.  I'm glad we bought it.  It's a keeper.  Makes you feel good and want to go out and save the world.  It also makes you realize just how many blessings you have.  We take so much for granted. 

Have A Good One Tim

Happy Birthday TIM!

We love you and hope you have a very good day.

In Other News Today-------

It's that time of year again.

Get busy with spring and ready for summer.

The weather has been so wonderful lately.  Everything is starting to come out in bloom and the grass is a deep, dark, crayola green.

Duff and Mike went and got the plants and seeds for the garden.  Some nice new soil to help fill up the boxes.  I really want to try our hand at the square foot gardening method.  But Duff has to have his hills and rows.  So it is in, and I let them do it their way.  Mike is big into herbs this year, so we are going to dedicate one planter for those.  They put basil and cilantro in already.  We may have to move them around when we add the others.

Just what do you think is in this big canning pot?

Hint:  think Mexican Food.

More Specifically:  think Tacos

What Makes Them Spicy and Hot:  YES, You got it!  Homemade Taco Sauce!

Tacos were on the menu for dinner tonight, and uh-oh, no taco sauce in the freezer.

It is one of our family food traditions.  I grew up on it from the cradle.  If you have tacos in this family, you have them with the homemade sauce.  You season your meat with it before you even put it in the tortillas and fry them up.  But don't be confused with a salsa.  This is NOT a salsa.  This is a sauce and it's hot.  160-200 hot chili peppers hot.  (I have made it milder when pregnant and nursing, though.)

Here is the line-up:

Tomatoes, hot chili peppers from the jar, oregano, onions, garlic, Las Palmas red chili sauce.  Mix all together, let simmer until onions and tomatoes are cooked through.  Cool, and ladle into containers leaving head-space for freezing.

I would love to post the recipe.  I AM a recipe sharer.  (And that is a whole other post for another time...) But if I did, my mother would be very upset with me.  She still has a dream to sell this one day!  But if you would like to try it, let me know and you can come over for a sample and if you like it I will give you the recipe.  Just promise you won't sell it, 'k?

Our supply for the year.  I ten times the recipe and it makes 12 quart size containers.  One for each month.  We really do eat that much.  Oh, and I should mention that it is awesome on omelets and scrambled eggs, too.

That's Our Goalie

Just a few pictures from the game on Tuesday night.

She's the one with the helmet and the big goalie stick.

I wish she had more padding.  You should see the bruises on her legs.  But I'm speaking as a mom, of course.

A shot on goal, that she saved.

Making another save.

You go, Chrissy girl!

Sorry, if I yell too loud in the stands. 

Maybe they'll put me in the announcer's booth to run the scoreboard.

Big Rocks

I remember sitting in a meeting about 12 years ago with some youth.  It was an important training meeting and we had a lot of work to get done for the upcoming youth conference.  I was feeling anxious to get started.  But President H. had an object lesson for all of us.  He followed this analogy:

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had sand, rocks, and pebbles in front of him.  He told his students he had to get everything in this glass jar.  He started with the sand.  Then the rocks.  It already didn't fit, and there wasn't even room for the pebbles.

He asked for help.  The students suggested to start with the pebbles.  Nope.  That didn't work either.

He proceeded to fill it with the rocks, about 2" in diameter.  He asked if the jar was full.  Everyone agreed that it was.  He then picked up the box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.  He then asked if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.  The students laughed.  The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

"Now," the professor said, "I want you to recognize that this is your life.  The rocks are the important things--your family, your spouse, your health, your children--anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed.  The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.  The sand is everything else.  The small stuff.  If you put the sand first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks.  The same goes for your life.  If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, yhou will never have room for the things that are important to you." 

President H. added a spiritual spin:  The rocks are our scripture study, prayer, temple attendance, service.  The pebbles are our job, house, school, etc.  And the sand is everything else.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to our happiness, earthly and eternally.  Take care of the rocks first--the things that really matter.  Set your priorities.  The rest is just sand.

Good reminder for all of us, especially me.  It is so easy to focus on the pebbles and sand.

(yesterday was just a crappy day.  I needed to go back to bed and get up on the other side...But Christine played well in her game even though they lost by one.  Interesting:  the game was cancelled in the morning because MV couldn't field a JV team because of injuries.  The girls were asked to go anyway to support the varsity.  We get a call from Christine telling us that the game is back on, and to please bring a case of water because no one brought any thinking the game was off.  MV pulled varsity players down to the JV team to be able to play instead of forfeiting a win to us, since it was the first league game.  So our JV girls played extremely WELL only losing by one, considering the stacked team and not being in the mind set that they were going to play.  Can they really do that?  I've been out of this sports stuff for a long time.  I need to brush up on the rules.  She had some of her MV friends from the ward come and cheer her on.  That was so nice of them.  It was fun to watch them split their loyalties.  Good girls.)

24--Can You Say "MOLE"?

I didn't like her from the beginning.  I have always been able to trust my 'gut' instincts. Dana Walsh is a bad one.  Just like Nena in season one.  And I predict Jack and Renee are going to ride off in the sunset together at the end of the show.....

What are your predictions?

I'm S.I.C.K. Because...

...of this!

Yesterday Rush Limbaugh said our country was 'hanging by a thread'.

Sound faintly familiar?

I wonder if his marvelous health care reform has a policy that will cure my sickness of him...
November can't come soon enough.

The One With A Little Bit of Kitchen Venting

Why is it my kitchen gets destroyed over the weekend?  It never seems to stay tidy or clean.  I get it all cleaned up and then it's all undone by the time I turn around.  Oh. Wait.  Maybe it's because I have mostly all adults living here now and everyone is on a different schedule.  So different than when everyone was under 18 and I was the mom in 'control'.  Can I put 'office hours' up?  Like:  The Kitchen Is Closed.  And if you dare to use it during the off hours, pretend you are on a stealth mission or a spy and leave no trace that you were there?????  It sets the mood since it is the heart of the home.  By the end of the day I feel defeated.  Now that I'm writing this, it's not just the weekend, but I spent most of the morning cleaning it all up and it seems to be a daily thing.  I guess everyone has their own definition of what cleaning up the kitchen is.  But it is my kitchen, right?

To me it is not 'done'  until the sink is scoured, mat bleached, all counters and table wiped down.  Floor swept.  Stove looks like it hasn't been used (!)  Clean dishes are not spilling over onto the countertop, window wiped clean of all the water spots splashed on it, and the faucet is polished and shined with a clean dry cloth.  All leftovers are put away.  And what does staring into the refrigerator and/or pantry repeatedly accomplish?  It hasn't changed since the last time you looked 30 minutes ago.  Okay.  I have that out now.

Moving on.  I got the laundry done.  Tomorrow will have more time now for other things.  It is just about midnight and I'm waiting for the dryer to ding.  Christine needs her game day outfit to wear tomorrow.  She gave it to me at 10:30pm out of her lacrosse bag.  Since last Friday. 

I warmed up leftovers for dinner.  The family was not too thrilled.  Some boycotted.  But I hate throwing out food just about anytime, and especially when our world is in the state that it is. Shaun found the recipe for El Pollo Loco's avacado sauce and we made it to garnish our meal.  It was the real deal.  Now we can have it in bulk!  Haha!

Experiment

Today was the Relief Society Woman's/VT Conference.  It was inspiring.  Every talk and message was right on spot.  I enjoyed it all, but my favorite was the experiment.

20 sisters were asked to participate for 6 weeks in four categories:  scripture study, prayer, FHE, and temple attendance.  Then a representative from each of the 4 groups gave a 'return and report'.  I can't even describe how great it was to hear them report on their 'experiment upon the word'.  They were candid, honest, and full of the spirit.  Any of the 20 would have given equally as inspiring messages.  I related to everything they talked about and the spirit was very strong for all of us.  The only down side was that in order to keep to the time schedule they only got 5 minutes each and I had to be the 'keeper of the time'.  I sat in the back by the door and had to get up each time and catch their glance and give them the 'wrap it up' sign.  Don't like that job.  I think we could have listened to them for much longer.

Maybe another experiment and then a testimony meeting for all those who participated......??????

Christine had friends spend the night and then went to church with us today.  They stayed to work on some homework and then for dinner.  They really enjoyed church.  Dylan came (but did not spend the night...), and he LOVED it.  He is looking/needing something in his life and just soaked it all up.  When his mom found out it was our church, she told him he couldn't go anymore.  Sigh...

The New Moon is Out.

Duff, Christine, and Adrianne all went to Target this morning in their pajamas to be there bright and early and purchase New Moon.  No one felt like staying up until midnight and braving the crowd at Borders.  The girls were making fun of Duff because he was saying he was like Jacob.  They told him, no-no-no, you are like Charlie!  Josh and Meredith got here just in time for Saturday pancakes, and after we watched the movie.  Duff was the only guy.  Brave soul.  But he liked the books.  He and Robert were kind enough to read them for us.

My New Phone

Duff's phone just didn't work anymore.  It has been on the blink for several months, and we have put off getting new ones, limping it along for as much as we could get out of it.  I don't know why--we've been eligible for new phones for two years now.  Just our nature, I guess.

We went to the Sprint store.  The employee greeted and helped us.  I noticed I wasn't feeling well.  It started on the drive to the store.  While she was getting everything set up and changing our plan to save us a heap of money, I walked around the store and had an internal conversation with myself.  I guess I don't like change very much.  At least change like this.  For me, my cell phone is a close intimate friend.  I had a hard time changing 4 years ago too.  I finally have my pink Katana figured all out without hesitating.  I love this pink phone.  It is PINK.  A soft, pretty pink.  C'mon!

But the blackberries were on sale for $40 and it was buy one get one free.  I chose red.  I like red; it's close to pink right?  Black was not an option.  Gets lost in the bottom of my purse.

So now I am being pushed to learn some more new technology.  If I hadn't been blogging,  my computer skills would be seriously lacking and I would have never been brave enough to try this new phone, since it very much works like a computer.

After she transferred all my data to the blackberry, there was no turning back.  Poor pink Katana.  I'm gonna keep it in my sock drawer.

Tea For Two, And Two For Tea

Look what my mom sent home with me!

She has always loved drinking something warm before going to bed at night.

So we had a cup each night around 11pm while relaxing in front of the tv and crocheting.

Her Tang tea concoction on the left, and some of the best herbal tea I've ever tasted.  You don't need to add anything to it.

Nighty, nite!

Myrna's Paintings

Pictures done by my grandmother.  When she was in her 80's, she decided she wanted to develop a new talent.  So she 'picked up' oil painting.  Just so casually.  She lived her life to the very end.  Always learning something new and enjoying living.

My cousin, Fred, asked about some paintings.  My dad went 'aha' and opened an old briefcase and there they were!  Auntie Ann had one that Jerry got.  Fred got one from my Uncle Bob, and Jeff had one too.

My dad picked the blue flowers on the left, I chose the red barn, and Lisa chose the pastel flowers on the far right.

I love her signature!

Now Frank gets to choose between these two.  Either one is a keeper.

AZ Wedding Flowers

My mom had committed to help with table centerpieces for a wedding in AZ.  When the mother of the bride delivered them to the house on Thursday morning for the Saturday reception, she also brought a typed list of what she wanted done.  It surprisingly included all the boutineers, corsages, AND bouquets!  WHAT?

By the afternoon, it was clear there were not enough flowers, and all the white gerbera daisies were DEAD!

Enter Lisa, who took the bull by the horns, called the m.o.b. and delivered the news.  She and her husband went to every grocery store and Costco and bought up any thing hot pink and white.  We barely had enough.

Here are the bouquets.  I went through my moms kitchen and found every large plastic glass she had to hold them, and then emptied some pint canning jars boxes and taped the sides down to keep them upright and ready for transportation.

Lisa did all the bouquets and they were beautiful.

My mom did mostly all the centerpieces.  With what we had to work with, they turned out gorgeous.

My talents do not include flower arranging.  I've tried and tried, but no.  Now I can do a simple backyard-cut flower arrangement for my Sunday dinner table, but not wedding caliber.  I realized this long ago after many frustrating attempts, and made my peace with it.  I have many other talents that I can let this one go! 

So I was the go-fer.  I cut and trimmed everything, brought what they asked me to, watered, misted, mixed water, and came up with transportation solutions.  Fits my methodical mind.

The bride's colors were hot pink and turquois.  O...kay...But in the end when everything was there, it was stunning.  She also is in love with Calalillies.  We had to incorporate them into just about everything.

There were so little flowers, we decided to  devote most of them to the bouquets.  They would be in the pictures forever, right?  So for the table centerpieces, we racked our brains and came up with what Sue did for Adrianne's wedding:  made little bouquets, tied them in ribbons, and layed them diagonally in the clear glass rectangle vases with blue pebbles.  Thank You to our sister Sue who is not talent challenged in any area! 

This is my sole arranging contribution.  When I first suggested it and put flowers in one of the vases, Lisa looked at me straight on and said, "Cindy.  NO.  No.  Just let us do it."  It was loving, but firm, and we all laughed really hard.  At least the idea was good because as soon as my mom fixed it and added some filler they looked pretty nice!

We cleaned out the garage fridge to make room for all the bouquets, boutineers, and corsages.  Last thing I did was mist everything, and with the cool night, we were greeted with the most beautiful scene the next morning!

THS 11 vs. THHS 7

Friday.  I love Fridays.  Just do.  I don't even have to have any special plans for the evening.  I just like the thought of it being the beginning of the weekend.  I got lots of late week things tied up.  Getting ready for the RS/VT conference on Sunday. 

Tonight everyone was over for dinner.  Mike made Arroz con Pollo.  Very yummy.  Then we all carpooled over to the high school for the girls lacrosse game.  Varsity lost to Trabuco Hills, 10-8, but JV won 11-7!  Yahoo, since Christine is the goalie!!!

The team played an awesome game, and Chris did a great job as the keeper.  (Above in the red helmet) It was fun to hear her name over the loud speaker.

The 'Monkey' Is Gone!

OKLAHOMA CITY -- That sudden rush of wind that went through the Wasatch Front on Thursday afternoon?
That was the collective exhale of Cougar Nation, because BYU finally won its first NCAA tournament game since 1993. When you've been holding your breath since roughly 10:30 in the a.m., it feels good to let it out.
And when the wind shifted the other way?
That was the collective intake by college basketball fans across the nation, breathless after watching Jimmer Fredette hang up 37 points in the Cougars' hard-as-it-looked 99-92 double overtime victory over Florida.
It would be grossly unfair to credit only Fredette with BYU's historic first round win. That would be a slap in the face to the incredible performance of sophomore Michael Loyd Jr., [who is dating Brittany K.] who scored a career-high 26 points off the bench, and the rest of the Cougars who helped gut out a win.

(Above from the Daily Herald, Dickson)

Thank you, BYU basketball for starting our day out on a high!  Seeing that your game started at 9:30 in the morning today.  That's just a tad bit early for sports for me....True to form, Duff turned the tv off, during that first half, and exclaimed many times how worthless 'we' (the team) are.  I finally went downstairs and turned it on.  I'm the strong one and can 'take it',  you know the impending 'loss'.  WHICH DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!

After 2 over times they got that monkey off their back.  The 'never getting past the first round' monkey.  Now let's hope we can do as well on Saturday against Kansas St.  Yikes.  They are seeded higher than we are.  It makes me nervous.

I worked on the new food storage items we got in AZ last week during time-outs and when I needed to pace (because it was too close).  I'd go out to the garage and bring in another box that needed to have a purchase date on the cans, and then I figured out a new way to store all those plastic lids, so I worked on that too.  During commercials I changed loads of laundry and put the canned food away in the other garage.  I kept calling upstairs for Duff to turn the tv back on--they were doing so much better.  He finally did.  And then watched it several times over later on because we dvr'd it and did so calmly replaying his favorite parts and reveling in them.

The victory was sweet.  During those last few minutes I was crossing my fingers and jumping up and down chanting 'miss it, miss it' to Florida, and 'make it, make it' for BYU.  I assume I must have been pretty funny if anybody was watching.

This afternoon we went to get new phones.  I don't do well with change like that.  Tonight all the kids were over for dinner.  Chris had practice.  Good day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here is an Irish blessing for ye.

Be sure you wear green, and enjoy your corned beef and cabbage.

(Even though I am making a crock pot roast beef dinner tonight.  We just had corned beef with all the trimmings a week ago in Arizona at Lisa's.)

And I'm making a delicious 'green' pistachio dessert for later on!

Two Decades!

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HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY!

We love you both so much and hope you have a really good day reminiscing of all the things you love about each other.

P.S.  Check out the hair!  Gosh, we were all pretty dang gorgeous, don'tcha think!

Julie's Birthday Music

And many more.........!

Love ya, Jules.  Have a good one!

Oh Yeah. I Forgot To Tell You...

I walked out of the bathroom this morning in the middle of getting ready for the day, and saw that the hallway nightlights were glowing.  They only do this if the power is out, and when that happens they turn into flashlights.  I walked back in the bedroom and said, "Duff.  The power is out."  He replied, "Oh yeah.  I forgot to tell you that we got a notice in the mail about that while you were gone.  It's going to be off ALL DAY!"

WHAT??!!

So--we had NO electricity the entire day.  I had completely straight hair.  No tv, no radio, no computer, only one phone worked (the corded one in the bonus room), no ipod dock.  I have a weeks worth of laundry to do and couldn't do one bit of it.  I handwashed Christine's lacrosse clothes and put them outside to dry for her game today!  BUT there were so many things we did get accomplished in spite of it.  It was actually kind of fun to be creative and go to 'plan B' for everything we had thought we were going to do.  You know all those little things that you just put off.  It made me stop and think about just how do I spend my days sometimes.  I even sat and practiced the piano for a while and I can't even remember when the last time was that I did that!

Christine had her first league game this afternoon.  They won, 9-8.  She played really well.  We traveled to Corona del Mar for the game.  It was such a beautiful day today.  The wind blew all day and it was pristinely clear, sharp, green, with a bright blue sky.  It is a good group of girls and a good coach.  Nice parents.  She took quite a few hits and they are already coloring.  I think maybe we should wrap her legs in bubble wrap and then put her padded pants over those???