Whirlwind

This entire week has been a whirlwind of preparations and activities that I am exhausted, physically sore and overwhelmed by the thought of trying to post about it all (yet I want to have it recorded). Here are some teaser photos until I can post for real.














Comment Window Tidbit: I am in such a time warp!

Countdown to Women's Conference

Several of you have asked if Kristi, Michelle and I are getting together for Women's Conference this year and the answer to that is "definitely yes!" Kristi bought her plane tickets back in January, so we've been counting down to this week since then.


The logistics of life are more complicated this year, so we've set our expectations low (so hard for me to do but I have succeeded!) and will be happy with anything we get.


Kristi has said that Women's Conference is like her personal new year, and I think that may hold true for me as well. Sister Beck's talk from Women's Conference last year seriously changed my thinking and held me up all year long. I need the intense infusion of the Spirit from the great classes at Women's Conference and am excited to feel teary and bursting once again. I can't wait!

**Are you going to Women's Conference?
Are you counting down to anything?
What lifts you up?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm taking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off of work so that means tomorrow is my work-related Friday, woohoo!

Sunday Thoughts

After I finished reading No Doubt About It last week, I started looking around the house for a church book to read (apparently we're sorely lacking) and stumbled upon a couple old issues of General Conference Ensigns so decided to reread those. It feels a little strange to be reading this issue from November 1999 because that seems like so long ago...and yet not.


Today this talk by Elder Adhemar Damiani really spoke to me.

"We show that we serve the Lord by the way in which we live the commandments received from Him, by the work we do to help establish the kingdom of God on earth, and by the way we act towards our neighbor."

"Whatever the situation, in each one of us there is the power to change our live, the power to transform the bad feelings we have in our hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ will give us this power and will help us. All He asks from us is that we have faith in Him, follow His example, and obey His commandments."

"The gospel of Jesus Christ does not promise that we will be free from tribulation. But it does strengthen our spirit so that we can accept adversity and face it when it comes."

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: Happy Easter!

Classic Whitney

Here is a note and spring branch (she found on the ground) Whitney left for me the other day...oh so sweet.

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Here is a drawing I found sitting next to the computer this morning. Check out the characters in the top left...that's my girl!

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I always feel sort of overwhelmed by the possibilities of a Saturday and torn between working and relaxing. Oh balance, why do you elude me so?

Creative Friday--Spring Break Edition

One of the highlights of Spring Break last week (which I have yet to blog about) was going to Michelle's house to have Creative Friday. Jessie and her girls were visiting from North Carolina so we had the added bonus of spending time with them.


Jessie was busy working on some insanely cute Easter bags for her girls. I am always shocked by people who are brave enough to sew; it's way too daunting for me (the mistakes are pricey).


Michelle is still going strong with her Carbohydrate Addict's Diet and made this lovely steak salad for us for lunch.


Upon spying my cup of pebble ice (which I no longer crave since receiving my iron treatments) Bella requested a cup for herself. Apparently she remembers that I like ice from previous visits (it made an impression).

Michelle consulted on Jessie's project.

Landon and Lucas were thrilled to spend the day together (Whitney spent the day and night with my mom so she wasn't with us).


Later in the afternoon, Michelle's piano student showed up for his lesson (she had forgotten all about it) so Jessie and I took the girls for a walk. As we headed down the street Eva said, "Oh, I think I've walked around this blog before!" (How funny is that?)


When we returned from our short walk around the "blog" Michelle had another student there, so I opted to help entertain the girls while they jumped on the trampoline (Jessie braved the cacophony of the lesson in order to progress with her project).


Eventually we resumed our creativity and chatting inside. I did a poor job of documenting things, but Michelle and I wrote cards while Jessie sewed.


Smotherhood crept in as the day wore on so Landon and I took our leave some time after 5:00. It was a good day.

**Are you intimidated by sewing?
Have you made anything for Easter?
Have you written any cards this week?**

Comment Window Tidbit: We went to Landon's track meet AND to his first soccer game of the season and froze our nards off at both of them. When will we get some decent spring weather!?

Easter Eggs, Birthdays & A Change

We gathered at my parents' house last Saturday for an our annual Easter Egg Hunt and to celebrate Robyn and Olivia's birthdays (both are this coming weekend).


This little counter is always the resting spot for cameras and gifts.


We all brought candy to put inside the eggs and we may or may not have eaten a lot of it ourselves. Who knew I had such a weakness for Rolos and Mini Snickers? I love Easter Candy, though I'm kind of freaking out about the high prices this year.


The kids are all getting so big...it's not quite as fun or cute anymore. The youngest cousin (Ashley) is now 5, so the adorable, baby-talking toddler years of fun are behind us (which is sad).

Megan is almost 7 and ran around proudly showing everyone where her front tooth used to be.

My parents recently added 2 sheep to their menagerie.

The backyard play set has seen better days...it looks like it's about to self-destruct.

Landon and Ashley.

Lori brought supplies to make brownie sundaes for dessert.

My masterpiece.

This was our first family gathering without Andrew. My parents moved him into a group home a week ago Saturday (after being on the waiting list for a long time). They think it will be better for him to live in a place with other special needs adults, rather than being bored at home so much of the time. But this was (and still is) a very emotional thing for our family. Eventually we'll be able to visit him and have him come home to sleep on Friday nights, but for the first couple of weeks while he is adjusting we can't seem him.

We have been very concerned for him and have been offering up a lot of prayers for his peace and comfort. While this is a HUGE change for him, it's also a ginormous change for my parents who haven't been kid-free for almost 40 years! They haven't lived alone as a couple since their first year of marriage in 1970! Also, my mom has never not had a kid at home to take care of. She has always had deadlines, schedules and babysitters to worry about even though Andrew is 23 years old. Crazy! I'm so excited for her to have some freedom.

**What's your favorite Easter candy?
Are you floored by the prices this year?
Can you imagine having kids at home for 40 years?**

Comment Window Tidbit: It is so great to be back to feeling normal again! My iron levels are back up and now I'm taking an iron supplement every morning. Good times. We'll be paying for this episode for a long time though!

12 on the 12th--April 2011

I missed being able to post this month's 12 on the 12th collage last week because I can't access the program I need to make the collage (#$@!) because our computer is still in a coma. But Michelle kindly took pity on me and made this collage for me with the pictures I took of my day. (She also did my collage for March's 12 on the 12th but I backdated it. Here's the link if you're interested.)

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01. The first thing I did that morning was to text Michelle to remind her that it was the 12th.
02. Family scripture reading (we got behind when the kids were sick and are still trying to catch up).
03. Whitney holding Trickxy (Whitney's spelling) and beaming with her morning-face.
04. I wrote a blog post about our Deluxe Book Club gathering.
05. I picked up Cafe Rio lunch for Amie and I.
06. I spent the day sitting across from Amie. I wrote 6 cards and talked a whole lot and she managed to file some coupons and put some lettering on a couple scrapbook pages.
07. Our self-portrait.
08. Our kids together, they've all gotten so huge!
09. We saw a beautiful rainbow (the whole thing) in her backyard.
10. We stopped by my parents' house for a visit and hung out while my dad ate his nightly salad (my mom had to leave to go to Relief Society).
11. Amie gave us 18 eggs from their chickens...I love the green egg!
12. We came home at 7:00 and found Randy making Mongolian Beef for dinner.

**Did you do a 12 on the 12th post?
Did you notice I hadn't done mine?
You can check out other collages here.**

Comment Window Tidbit: We had a gloriously rainy day today that ended with blue skies and sunshine...ah spring!

Sunday Thoughts

Here is one of my favorite thoughts from No Doubt About It (which I finished reading today).

"None of us needs one more person pointing out where we've fallen short. What we do need are each other's compassion, prayers, and support. What if we were to each decide that from this time forward we would make just one assumption about each other--that we are each doing the best we can? And what if we were to try a little harder to help each other? Imagine the cumulative effect, not to mention the effect on us spiritually. Followers of Christ who pray with all the energy of their hearts to be filled with His love, the pure love of Christ, will become like Him (see Moroni 7:48). As we are filled with this love, we no longer feel envy or think evil of others. That's because "charity never faileth" (Moroni 7:46)." (page 228)

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm not dreading going back to work tomorrow, what a relief!

Great Scott!

Could it be that The Great Landini has sprouted a mustache? Not a Tom Selleck-type mustache, but noticeable fuzz for sure. I pointed it out yesterday only to have Landon tell me that a kid at school had asked him if he was growing it out like the Hispanic kids do (a look I find quite creepy, 7th graders shouldn't have comb-able mustaches!).


It hasn't been bothering Landon because he couldn't see it! The slightly darker parts were on the sides so whenever he turned his head to try to see it he couldn't (maybe this is how older women end up with mustaches as well). Fortunately Randy was able to show him how to take care of it.


He was trying not to laugh (a definite hazard while shaving).

He probably won't need to shave again for 2 years!

Comment Window Tidbit: It's already our last day of Spring Break...the time just flew by!

**Thoughts??**

Deluxe Version of Book Club

Remember last year when Collette gave us a hotel-overnighter for Christmas? Well this year we had our book club overnighter at her big, new house instead and it was even better!


This is my gear for less than 24 hours...ridiculous! I had my bag of clothes and toiletries, my pillow and blanket (I've got a system), chips and stuff for queso dip and a bag of oranges, and my cute little book club bag with my book and quotables notebook in it. Is that so wrong?

Our stuff in Collette's entry way.

Jenn picked up Cafe Rio for us so we didn't all have to make a stop there.

Our successful self-timer shot and only group portrait.

Michelle is doing so great with her Carbohydrate Addicts Diet that she only eats carbs during 1 hour in the evening, so she cracked open the peanut butter m&ms before her time ran out.


Jana was full of crazy stories and quotables as usual. At one point she said emphatically, "So what I'm saying is...that's what I'm saying!" As if that explained everything!


There was some laughter and Collette got punchy even though it wasn't after 9:00pm.


Jenn splurged and brought a vanilla cake from The Chocolate. Luckily it fit into Michelle's eating window. I guess my window never closes!

I made sure to write a few quotables down.

Amy made us these cute notebook holders inspired by Heidi Swapp. We always enjoy it when she shares her creativity with us.


We spent some time discussing the book, which all but Jenn seemed to enjoy. She had a problem with the dog narrator and felt there were too many bodily function references. She did find many passages she liked though, she overall she was torn.

As we were discussing the concept of having a dog telling the story Collette said, "If it was a cat, I wouldn't have read it." This struck me as quite funny.


Later on we got our jammies on and hunkered down in Collette's awesome theater room (this was my first experience in a theater room). Those chairs were gluttonously comfortable and produced involuntary sighs. We watched "Failure to Launch" (oh my goodness, Matthew McConaughey's abs were up close and personal!) and "The Holiday". Both were thoroughly enjoyable and fun. I don't even want to think about how much time I would spend in there if I had such a room available to me every day!


Jana and Amy had to head home around midnight, but Jenn, Michelle and I stayed over. Michelle and I stayed in guest suite #1 and flashed back to the year we lived in an apartment together (1990-1991). Neither one of us had slept in a twin bed since then and were bugged that we are substantially larger than we were back then.


We had both brought our headlights and read for awhile before surrendering to sleep around 2:30am.

I didn't take any pictures the next day, but Collette, Jenn, Michelle and I slept in then sat around talking for several hours until we made some lunch. It was snowing outside, but was warm, cozy and deliciously obligation free inside. We didn't leave until almost 3:00pm.


Amy said she'd been cleaning out her studio and found all this stuff, which she ended up giving to me! I sorted it out when I got home and was shocked by how much was in there! I totaled it up and there was $30.98 worth of postage in there! Woohoo!

**Have you read that book?
Have you seen those movies?
Are you addicted to Carbs?
Would you be giddy about the postage?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Don't forget today is 12 on the 12th day!