12 on the 12th--January Edition

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1. Whitney's Instant Breakfast and money for a class change.
2. My desk drawer at work.
3. Snowy day at work.
4. One of my co-workers wrote this about me.
5. Doing the supply order at work.
6. Pinterest and watching Parenthood at home.
7. Whitney's after school adoration of Ferris.
8. Landon power napping on my bed.
9. The book I'm reading but not loving.
10. Celebrating Jenn's birthday at Collette's house.
11. Our book club selection (very good).
12. Hilarious group photo with selfie-stick.

Christmas 2015 At A Glance

I love it when the presents are all wrapped and looking pretty under the tree. I just wish I had them there earlier in the season so I could enjoy this view more than a day or two.

We woke up to 10 inches of snow! It hasn't snowed this much in years.

Whitney gave me this sweet note/promise and the DVD of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (which I picked out and paid for but was "from" her).

Whitney made Randy this great Dad of the Year picture showing how he has won the title every year and has it locked up for next year as well.

I surprised her with this Supernatural poster.

Whitney made me these adorable miniatures of the photo cards and tags I make and little packages because I love them.

Landon pretty much only wanted money this year so he was happy every time he unwrapped another present holding a $20 bill.

Our kitchen and laundry room windows look like this, so pleasing.

The guys were out there shoveling for over an hour!

We made the scary drive to Salt Lake to Adam's house, and Andrew was already all set up watching Monster's Inc.

Their living room made for a lovely sight.

Everyone was gathering in the kitchen to load their plates as my parents looked on.

Lola got A LOT of food scraps and was trying to squeeze her face between my knee and the leg of the table to get some from me.

Andrew was beyond happy to get a new Woody doll.

Lori gave all the kids a notebook (chosen just for them) and a Sharpie. They were a BIG hit.

Whitney was using Lola for a table, so funny.

I got Lori a t-shirt with a quote from the oft-quoted movie Mean Girls, "You Go Glen Coco".

My mom grosses us out by wrapping up the cartilage from her recent

 knee surgery as a white elephant gift.

Amy set up the tripod and camera and we got 4 tries to get a decent photo,

 it's no small task to get both Lola and Andrew to look up at the same time!

Car Lunch A Go Go

My mom texted me this morning at work to say she could pick up some Cafe Rio for me and meet at school for a car lunch.  This was a nice surprise both for the company and the good food. Randy had packed a lunch for me this morning so I ended up giving it to a boy who often comes into the office in need of food. I sometimes give him a small snack (from home) so he was surprised and happy to get an entire lunch today. His situation makes me sad, and giving him that lunch today felt heart-burstingly good (I just don't know what to do about all the future days though).

My mom brought her own plate of grilled chicken, brown rice and green beans for lunch, while I had a Cafe Rio kids meal ($3.50 and delightful) of a pork quesadilla, chips and salsa and beans.  

This is the snowy mess I had to trudge through to get to her car! The sidewalk was clear but the street is buried from all the plows. I had to step in the footprints that were already there and hope for the best...ugh!

Totally Tuesday

I saw this on the marquee this morning and it has been cracking me up all day...whoever put the letters up is a non native English speaker right?

It snowed like crazy today (we really should have had snow day, it was insane at work) so we came home to a buried sidewalk and driveway (and Randy had shoveled this morning already!).

I was out shoveling our sidewalk when my 80 year old neighbor came over and plowed our driveway! It took him 5 minutes to do what would have taken me 1.5 hours and a sore back!

It's supposed to snow tonight so I'm really hoping for a snow day tomorrow, but none of the teachers at school can recall ever having one so chances are very slim.

Leafy Snow

Whitney's Saturday to-do list.

We woke up to a couple inches of snow last Saturday so the kids went outside to take advantage of it. They decided to have a snowball fight but used up most of the snow building their forts, so I don't think the snowball fight actually happened.

Whitney's "fort" didn't get very high.

Landon went full-on igloo with his.

 

Landon had Whitney turtle-ize him, and yes I had to come outside in my pajamas and flip flops to take this picture.

 I almost passed out when the kids posed this way for their photo! It didn't take any  coaxing or anything!

Holy Snow Batman!

On Saturday afternoon, Randy and I had an appointment at Aspen Grove to scout out things for Youth Conference. We scored with a clear-weather day, which was a relief because the snow up there is unreal on a good day. It is 5 miles up a winding road (not my favorite) to get there.


The road was plowed, but was narrow due to the walls of snow made by the plows. It made it practically one-way traffic, yet the people driving down past us were flying (they must be regulars).


We could not get over the amount of snow up there. The guy who gave us the tour said they have 4 feet of packed snow.

The icicles of doom! It was "warm" on Saturday so the snow and ice were shifting and melting, which made walking around (and parking) rather treacherous.

The surroundings were gorgeous though, so I'm really excited to be there for the 24 hours of Youth Conference next month.

Seriously?!

The signs were almost completely buried by the walled up snow.


After our visit we stopped at a Mexican place to discuss more details for Youth Conference. There is a lot involved with this, but our job is mainly to coordinate everything and be in charge of the logistics, while the Youth leaders do the teaching. I'm sure it will be a fun experience and it's cool that we'll get to be there with Landon (it's 12 and up this year).

**Do you mind driving on narrow, winding roads?
Can you believe that amount of snow?
Ever seen an icicle of doom fall?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I totally face planted while walking up the 2 steps from the garage into the house! It was so disconcerting and painful that I cried. I am hoping it was due to the combination of me wearing thick socks on the carpeted stairs, otherwise Randy might as well put me in a home now.

Finally!

The strangely warm December weather we've been having has been producing rain instead of snow, and has had some members of the family very concerned about whether we'd be having a white Christmas or not, so we were all surprised and happy when we woke up this morning to find this!


Goodness gracious, how did this happen while we were sleeping?


There wasn't an ounce of snow on the ground the day before.

This is how it's supposed to look in December.

The kids were outside playing in it by 8:15am!

Since Randy's car is in the shop (can you believe both of our cars have had to go in this month?!), I just had him take my car today, so the kids and I enjoyed a stay-home day of coziness (with some shower and water heater repair going on with the landlord here). Good times.

**Will your Christmas be white?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I wrote our Christmas letter today, so there's a chance our cards will go out BEFORE Christmas...good grief!

Wordless Wednesday

Comment Window Tidbit: I really need some good snack ideas for school. I need low maintenance, energy-giving snacks.

Miscellaneous Monday

We finally got our first big snow of the season! I have been yearning for some snow to set the mood and get me more into the Christmas Spirit so this was good timing for me. Also, Whitney and I hung the garlands on our fence on Saturday, and they always make me feel festive as well.


After 4 days of convalescing and watching an obscene amount of football, Landon finally got his cast. His color choices were pink, camouflage or red. He went with red because it's the color of the Atlanta Falcons, the Chicago bulls and our local high school, also he thought the signatures would show up better than on the camouflage.

Michelle and family came home today!!

Landon and a friend from school (not the one pictured here) have decided they want to have a business shoveling snow...ahem, hello, broken arm anyone? I'm trying not to be a dream crusher so I let him test it out on our sidewalk and driveway and this afternoon with his friend. He says it doesn't hurt, let's hope it stays that way.

Also, take note of his attire here: shorts, a t-shirt, a thin hoodie and tennis shoes. Where is his mother?? He claims he can't button or zip his pants with the cast on his right hand, but he can shovel? He'll be wearing jeans tomorrow!

**What gets you in the Christmas Spirit?
Are you a stickler for weather-appropriate attire?
What are your favorite Christmas decorations?**

Comment Window Tidbit: It finally snowed! Now I feel like Christmas is actually coming...oh no, is that panic I'm feeling?!

Spring Break--Day 4

You'd think since the kids slept over at my parents' house that I would have had a lovely morning to sleep in and be alone, but noooo. I had a presidency meeting at 9:15 so I found myself scrambling to get ready in time (I was dilly dallying and too slow).


We woke up to a foot of snow (@#$!, #$@!), so I knew I'd be even later to my meeting because I'd need to clean off the car. I was NOT happy about this, so I grabbed the broom (to clean the car off enough to get to my snow scraper) and opened the garage to see this gift from Randy! He had totally and completely cleaned off my car (even the roof) and shoveled a path to get to it. How nice is that?!


I took these pictures after my hour-long meeting. This cruel right?

Oh daffodils, where are you??

My mom and I met up half-way between American Fork and Freakin Eagle Mountain to exchange the kids. We've been doing this for years, but this is the first time I thought to take a picture of our meeting spot.

I spent the next hour running kids (NOT my favorite thing to do). We had to stop back home so Whitney could get her snow clothes (that's right, snow clothes) to take to her friend's house to play, then I took Landon to a birthday party across town. Then I went to the grocery store and completely blanked on any sort of meal-prep ideas and ended up buying ice cream, deli ham, a pitcher, donuts, tortilla chips and hot dogs. (Not my finest hour.)


I came home to find that my lovely bag of Sonic ice had sprung a leak and dripped into the two drawers (#$@!) creating a lovely, wasteful mess for me to clean up.


I think 6 days after getting a new fridge is time for a thorough cleaning don't you? Serenity now!

After cleaning that up I went to read in the cozy (for my sanity and that of those who live with me). Then Whitney and Kassidy got dropped off here to play for awhile, then eventually Landon got dropped off from his party. (I love it that I didn't have to go get either of them.)

Whitney got invited to have a late-night with another friend as soon as her first friend went home at 5:15, so I took her over to Madison's house to play. They have 2 day old kittens (which look like rats) at their house, so I got to hold one of them and see the others. Whitney loves playing with Madison, but she also loves going to her house because they have a puppy, kittens, and a bird, it's her dream come true.

I took Landon to rent a video game at Hollywood Video (um, hello it was $7, what the?), so he and Randy took turns playing that (it's a one player game) for a couple hours while I finally finished "East of Eden".

I think the kids had a seriously fun day, but I didn't. It felt like a whole lot of running around and waiting for me. I like being schedule-free for Spring Break, but I also enjoy being kid-free when school is in. Is that so wrong?

**Can you believe the snow?
Have you ever exchanged kids in a parking lot?
Do you hate shuttling kids around?
Have you ever held a 2 day old kitten?**