AM Birthday Loot

From top to bottom:

-Marimekko night gown (if you couldn't guess from the stripes...LOVE these colors-thanks Äiti)

-Alexander McCall Smith: "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series-thanks Äiti and Annu for the recommendation

-Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" Thanks Kristine for the recommendation.

-Diane Johnson: "Lulu in Marrakech"-Saw it on Amazon, and thought it was interesting.

-Ilkka Remes: "Pyörre"-Saw it on Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, and told Äiti to get it. Thanks!

-Pirjo Tuominen:"Kotiopettaja"-Saw it also on Suomalainen, and again Äiti got the message.

-Candice Bushnell: "One Fifth Avenue"-Nothing but trash, but sometimes a girl needs to read something trashy to counter-balance all the knowledge she's getting from the other educational books.

So far, my birthday morning has been excellent. I was woken up by 3 singing men with breakfast, cards and gifts in their hands. Rod made a fabulous Frittata with asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms, turkey, bell pepper and smoked Gouda. It was SO delicious. I truly feel special.

Weekend in numbers

Alex:
Friday night bike ride to the scout camp: 15 miles
Saturday morning hike up at scout camp, in the snow: 4 miles
Saturday afternoon bike ride back home , in the snow: 15 miles
Bones that hurt in the bum: 2 (or are there more than two, I'm not up on anatomy)

Rod:
Friday night car ride to the scout camp: 15 miles
Night slept in the comfort of the Suburban: 1
Saturday afternoon car ride back home: 15 miles
Trips to the outhouse in the middle of the night (without a flash light, and hovering over the potty) when diarrhea hit (most likely from the scouts' food): 1

Jorge:
Saturday tennis match: 7-6, 6-1
Tennis balls stuck to the net: 1
Congratulations given after the match at the gym: 10
Cookies eaten after the match: 5 (at least)

Marja:
Loads of laundry: 6
Pages read from the current book: 49
Children baby-sat: 1 (Maya-loved it)
TV shows watched from DVR: 7
Temperature inside without the heater turned on: 61
Extra comforters and blankets on the bed: 1
Temperature inside after the heater was turned on: 70
Gifts received from mom for my birthday: 3+ lots of chocolate


This is what the Timpanogos mountain looks like this morning after the weekend snow storm

8 minute corn maze

Last night we had a combined activity with the Young Men and Young Women in our ward. Every October we go to the Hee-Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove. When we got there, there was hardly anybody there, so we felt like we had the place to ourselves.

I took some of the people with me who were not so comfortable in the dark corn maze, and guided them through it in 8 minutes. Thank goodness for a good sense of direction and navigation skills. Or was it because I went through the same maze on Monday with Rod? Maybe it is my good memory, after all.


Kate, Chloe, Hannah and I


Chloe, Hannah and Kate with an attitude


Hay, hay, hayride with Jace, Spencer, Graham, Jason, Jared and Elijah

The other side of the hayride trailer: Chloe, Rachel, Misty, Hallie, Erika, Drew, Jeanne and Pete.

Was it a scary hayride, Alex?

Chloe, Hannah and Kate, again.

Is it 50 or 60 lbs?

Last night our old friends, Hannu and Tarja, from Finland came for a short visit. They flew back to Finland this morning but we got to spend some time with them last night before they headed out.


We took Tarja and Hannu for Mimi's for dinner. Tarja and I share a birthday (Oct. 14) so we started comparing our likes and dislikes. Tarja loves the rain, I hate the rain. Tarja doesn't like crowds, I like crowds. Tarja doesn't like laying in the sun, I wouldn't do anything else but. Tarja likes to stay home, I would rather be traveling. How funny how two Libras can be so different. But one thing we found in common, laminating. She showed their car rental receipt that she laminated before they left Finland. YEA! All laminating women, unite!


After dinner Tarja and Hannu came to our house to sleep a few hours before heading to the airport at 4am. Before going to sleep they had to weigh their luggage, which they did outside. We couldn't remember if the maximum luggage weight is 50 or 60 lbs on an international flight. They decided to even out the purchases and all the bags ended up weighing 50 lbs or less. Some of the items they are taking back to Finland: Root beer cans, beef jerky, bags of Skittles, vitamins.


Tarja trying to close the suitcases.

Still need to put the Root Beer cans into the luggage.

LeRoy Revisited

Our annual Pumpkin Fest at Hee-Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove was last night. We went with the Williams so they can meet LeRoy.


LeRoy, the biggest, dirtiest, ugliest and fattest pig alive at Hee-Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove. You should have seen the size of his nuts. Truly a sight to see.


A face only a mother could love.


Trisha and Elle getting ready to enjoy what Hee-Haw has to offer.

Katie. Clearly wanted to have her picture taken.

Beautiful Taylor.

Rod and I after a nice cup of hot chocolate and a Krispy Kreme donut. Surely a happy moment.

Rod, Taylor and Katie trying to find their way through the corn maze. It took us 8 minutes from the entrance to the exit, and we didn't use the GPS. I guess we have an excellent sense of direction.

Katie and Taylor-Happy mother and son.

Katie shooting a corn cannon. What you can't see is that her corn flew the farthest. Mine plopped out of the cannon-right in front of me. Those cannons were clearly rigged.

McKenna and Carter. Carter was so happy and told jokes all night. Wish we could have understood him. He was laughing, though.

And now I get to do this all over again on Wednesday when we go back with our Young Men and Young Women.

Conference stupor after the Sunday Brunch

As the tradition dictates, we went to the Williams' for a Sunday brunch after the first session of conference yesterday. We ate and ate and ate some more, and then sat down to watch the second session. There were lots and lots of heavy eye-lids, and here is the result:


Is Steve contemplating on a gospel principle? Or is he sound asleep?


Rod snoring nicely on the floor.


Katie's mom, Joyce, couldn't stay awake either.

Katie's dad, Herb, looks like he might be reading, but NO, except if he can read with his eyes closed.

Thanks Katie and Steve for hosting yet another delicious brunch. Now we have 6 months until next conference to lose all the poundage that was acquired yesterday.

Friday night at the football game

Rod and I had a Friday night date at the BYU-Utah State football game in Logan. BYU beat USU 34-14. It was so nice to spend some time with my hubby...just two of us, and the other 25,500 people...and our dentist sitting behind us.


When we walked in, BYU scored a touchdown.


This is a historical picture. Rod doesn't have his eyes closed, but I do.

Rod singing the Cougar fight song after BYU scored a touchdown.

How would I function if I had more than one child?

Yesterday was one of those days when I needed the planets to align, so I could get through my day without a major nervous breakdown. Wednesdays seem to be the most busy days of the week. And yesterday went something like this, or exactly like this:

8:33am arrived at work after dropping off Jorge at school (mind you, not my child, but our wonderful exchange student for a school year).
2:00pm went to pick Jorge from school and dropped him off at our house.
2:45pm on my way back to work, went to buy 10 bottles of apple juice for the service project for the activity we had last night.
3:00pm back at work.
4:00pm left work to pick up Jorge to take him to the Mountain View tennis courts for his practice. Dropped off a bike so he can bike home.
4:35pm drove to Krispy Kreme donut shop to buy 6 dozen donuts for the activity. The lady told me they didn't have donuts until 5pm. (isn't their slogan "always hot and ready", obviously not the case)
4:37pm was stuck behind a car at the drive-through window at Krispy Kreme. Left empty handed. I will be back.
4:45pm arrived home, changed into my exercise clothes, hopped back into my car and drove to Bingham's house to park the car (long story). Walked rest of the way to my dance class (2 blocks)
5:00pm arrived in my hula class. Learned a New Zealand dance.
5:45pm left early by foot from my hula class (and extremely sweaty), walked to my car, and raced to get my 6 dozen donuts, praying that they would have donuts NOW.
6:00pm Received my donuts from Krispy Kreme (no line at the store, except the lally-gagger family who picked donuts one-by-one, tapped my foot and gave a stink eye to the family, didn't use the drive-through.
6:05pm Arrived home, changed clothes (still sweating like crazy after hula)
6:10pm Hopped in my car, raced to the church to our multi-ward activity that I was in charge of.
6:30pm Packed 8 Young Men and Young Women into my car and drove to the Provo Cemetery for a Service Project. We had about 40 youth show up. I was so happy!!
7:00-7:45pm Raked the Cemetery and bagged the leaves.
8:00pm Fed all the youth with donuts and apple juice. Kids were happy!
8:15pm Packed the same kids into my car and dropped off each of them in their homes.
8:45pm Arrived home, and fell into bed. Rod asked if I wanted to go to the gym. My answer was written on my face. No other questions asked.

The funny thing about the whole thing was that I received a text from Alex right after school that he was going to Hyrum's house with his friends. I didn't have to worry about Alex at all the whole day, and he wasn't involved in my madness all day except at the activity. If I had more than one child (who wasn't even involved) how an earth would I function?? Hats off to all those mothers who have been blessed with more than one child. I don't know how you do it. Honestly!

What's for lunch?

A lovely can of sardines! YUM! I wonder what Rod is having today? Bajio, Cafe Rio, Costa Vida? Maybe that yummy Mexican restaurant called Gallo Rojo. I bet it is not a can of sardines!

Finding Mr. Right, Bingo and Lying Awake

This past weekend we had our ward's Young Women's Leadership Retreat in Scofield. The theme for the retreat was "Finding Mr. Right" indicating how we should prepare ourselves to find Savior and also the future husband. The girls had such a great time...and so did the leaders.


Erika, Rachel and Misty sitting around the table eating their "wedding" dinner.


Katy, Chloe and Christina at the buffet table. The Bishop said that he has never gone on a campout where there is Martinelli's or wedding cake. We Young Women do it in style!


Chloe, Katy and Hannah relaxing after dinner.

"For your Special Day" wedding cake. Yummy!

Then it was time to start filling out our special Mr. Right booklets. The girls cut out pictures of wedding dresses from bridal magazines, they drew pictures of their future children, and filled out information about their future husband. I think "HOTT" was used many times when they described their future husbands. I think if you spell HOT with two "tt's" they are really hot.

Bingo was next with special gifts for each girl. They were so happy to receive the gifts plus they ate the bingo markers (Skittles).

In the morning we woke up to this scenery. Gorgeous!

Close up from one of the porches. I love yellow!!

And this is why I was lying awake all night. This was the nightstand next to my bed. If you can't see the little mouse droppings on the picture, click on it, so you can see the bigger picture. THEY WERE ALL OVER!!! Even on the lamp and the bed!! I was freaking out the whole night that the mice are going to crawl all over me. Luckily I brought a book with me, so I could keep my eyes open for any tiny critters. Only one annoying fly was buzzing around me which I didn't even hear because I had my trusty earplugs in my ears. Morning couldn't come soon enough.

But all in all, we had a fun retreat and hopefully the girls got spiritually uplifted.