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.

Working on his Star

Our Scouts had a Court of Honor last night. Alex is now a First Class and is working on his Star for the next 4 months. Congrats Alex for your hard work!

He also received a slew of merit badges:

Entrepreneur
Rowing
Archery
Canoeing
Law
Leatherwork
Environmental Science
Communications


Alex leading the Scouts in the Flag Ceremony


Rod giving out the merit badges


Bishop Hyde singing a crazy "German" song with words: Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds. No German words anywhere in the song.

Alex receives his rank advancement to First Class.

Rod giving the Scout handshake

Autumnal Splendor at Squaw Peak

I got schooled...by a 13-year old

While driving home from Whitney's house last night:

Alex: "We are going to Washington, D.C. for a spring break next year, right?"
Me: "Yeah, we can probably go."
Alex: "So, where is Washington, D.C.?"
Me: "It is in the east coast."
Alex: "Yeah, but in what state?"
Me: "D.C. as in District of Columbia."
Alex: "District of Columbia is not a state!"
Me: "Of course it is. It's a tiny state that is size of a few city blocks. That's where the White House is. It is next to Maryland, Delaware, Virginia"
Alex: "Mom, it is not a state!....I'm calling dad."
calls Rod on the cell phone. "Dad, is District of Columbia a state?" listens for a while.
hangs up the phone.
Alex: "HAH! Dad says it is not a state!"
Me: "What the heck? Well then, why? Why bother to put the initals in the end of the city name if those initials don't even indicate that it is a name of a state?"

So, I'm asking you, dear fellow bloggers, why is D.C. not a state? Please, educate the poorly informed Finn. And don't google it because I could do that (which I haven't done). Just give me your honest answer what you think is right. I really don't know the answer, which is quite obvious from the above conversation with Alex.

OR, was Rod wrong?

Comment now, please!

An evening with a new friend

About a month ago I received an email from my second cousin in Finland, in which she asks me if she can give my contact information to a friend of hers who is a fabulous violin player, and who is coming to BYU to study Violin. It turns out that she is a daughter of a friend from 20+ years ago. What a small world. So we started emailing with Sini-Tuulia, and last night I went to pick her up for dinner at our house. It was such a lovely evening with her. What a wonderful, happy and talented person. I took her back to her campus apartment at midnight. I think we could have spent the whole night talking, but I had to get up at 5:50am for breakfast duty, and Sini had to get up early to practice violin before her school. Hope to see much more of Sini, if her time and scheduling permits. What a great girl!

It was also great to see Liz, who stopped by and had dinner with us on her way back to Grand Junction after spending a weekend with her hubby in Logan.

Two victorious boys

Boy # 1: Alex. When Alex was about 7 years old we had to take him to a doctor for some reason I don't even remember anymore, and the doctor ordered some blood work done. We took Alex to the lab that was in the doctor's office, but when Alex saw the needle, he started screaming bloody murder. He wouldn't have anything to do with the needles or blood. The nurses in the lab suggested that we should take him to the hospital that was next door to the doctor's office. They said that there is more personnel and they are more equipped to handle little screaming boys. Off we went, and by this time, Alex was totally worked up by the sight of the needles. Talking didn't help, reasoning didn't help...nothing. We arrived in the hospital and went to the lab. We told the nurses the story and they called for back-up. Finally we watched when 3 people were holding Alex down and trying to keep him still, while one of the nurses took his blood. And this whole time Alex was crying like somebody was trying to remove his limb without anesthesia.

6 years forward. We went to see the same family doctor as 6 years ago this Tuesday. When we were sitting in the waiting room, forgetting momentarily the previous trauma, I mentioned to Alex that they might want to do some bloodwork on him. Alex was reading the Sports Illustrated and he snapped his head towards me, with horror on his face and said:"You had to tell me that before we even see the doctor." It was downhill from there.

At the doctor's office, the kind doctor suggested that we do some bloodwork on Alex. Alex had the "film" of previous bloodwork experience rolling in his head and he said that he doesn't want to get it done. I said to the doctor, ok, I need to get my thyroid tested anyway, so how about Alex will watch it being done on me first and then he can decide if he wants it done as well.

And so it was. I was sitting in the lab, pumping my fist so my already bulging vein in my arm was blue and plump to draw some blood on (if you haven't seen my veiny arms or hands, pay attention to them next time...ugly but good for blood-letting!) I was ready and Alex was watching next to me when the blood was flowing into the vial. After I was done, I asked Alex if he was ready. He looked at me with doubt in his eyes but said that he would do it too.

There was the nicest nurse who said that she would even use a smaller and thinner needle on Alex so it wouldn't "pinch" as much. Alex did great, and is no longer afraid of needles. Victory!

Boy # 2: Jorge Luis. Jorge had another tennis tournament on Tuesday night at the Ivory Ridge Tennis Club in Lehi. He played against # 3 player in the state in his age group. Jorge beat the guy in two sets, 6-3, 7-5. Victory!

Next match is on Friday. In the mean time, Jorge has back pain, and is nursing his back with ice and stretching and with encouraging words from his mom and dad.

While Jorge was playing...


Alex and Carsen were watching the game very comfortably on the benches.


Alex taking a picture of himself.

And then one with both of them in it.