Fireside

Some Sundays are particularly busy. This was one. Bro Chronis was unavailable so he asked Rob to go to Ward council for him. I had a ward conference to attend. Hannah had choir. That was all before church:) So I arranged some kid rides and off we went. 

We met with the Juniper Ward. It went well. I love Pres Crawley, and the Bishop of the ward spoke too and did a great job!

After the block I headed up the hill to our Ward because they were having New Beginnings. There was weather and shortly after I got there we were all sent home. By weather I mean snow flurries, but whatever. It gave us a little extra time for dinner before the trek fireside.

Fireside went well. I'm excited to go again!

Rob and Wes taking man selfies:)

When we got home and got everyone's homework done (how many times do I have to say "don't wait until Sunday night??!") I went back and looked at our last trek. It brought back some happy memories! It was awesome, the youth were amazing, the leaders terrific and the area gorgeous! Loved it. 

Throw back:

Food bank, cats & hats

This morning we got up and headed to Sawyer's to help with his eagle project. He's collecting food for a local food bank. Grace and I were partners, we drove to a neighborhood and then walked around putting bags and flyers on people's doors. Next week they will be collected. 

Today was Grace's last day of cats! They had two performances. I was super excited to see her in it and again I enjoyed it very much. She did great and had a lot of fun.

Between shows we went to a little restaurant called the lemon tree for dinner. It's right on the blvd so we just walked. It was a lot of fun.

We all went to see her perform :)

Also today I needed to make Grace a pioneer outfit. I have had many more occasions to make and to wear pioneer clothing than one would ever think. Especially if one were not Mormon. Tomorrow we are having our trek kick off fireside and a number of people are dressing in pioneer clothing and doing a special musical number. Our family was asked to participate and we all have clothes except for Grace. I made her a cute skirt out of some fabric she chose and also a cute bonnet. It came together fairly easily but still took several hours

By the time I was done both girls were asleep so I had to model the bonnet myself.

While I was sewing Rob cleaned out our big chest freezer and got it situated in the garage and plugged in and ready for food. I am so excited he did that! Thanks babe! 

Cats!!!

Grace and I went to see cats and it was surprisingly amazing. I saw it years ago in a professional production and I thought it was weird. In fact it has been ranked my least favorite musical ever since BUT tonight I changed my mind. It was fun and touching and the music was great. It was full of surprises and I can't wait to see Grace perform tomorrow!

Now we are at a cast party at Vince's Pasta and Pizza. Better than Chuck E Cheese but just.

Of course G is thrilled she's got a handful of tokens, her friends and pizza! Good night!

Cookies

I spent two days making tons of cookies and people ate them so = success!

Our meeting went well. It was fun to see some sisters that I knew before and to meet some of the young women leaders. We have our first ward council this Sunday and I am looking forward to that. It turned out that besides our ward members I only knew one person serving in the stake. It was a bit odd for me since in MD those meetings were really such a fun time to see friends from all around that've rarely got to see! It's all good though I'm happy to serve. 

I did get to see my sweet friend Gayle Matos. She was my neighbor at one time and she and her family were so nice and so fun! She brought me this cute gift ( a water bottle!) which was sooo thoughtful and just perfect for all the water drinking I do! Turns out she's a faithful blog reader, I didn't even know, and she's kept up with our shenanigans all these years. 

I had applied for several jobs as an instructional aide. Today I got a very nice email from the district say they had more qualified applicants but thank you for applying. Disappointing.

How we spent the day

The high school had no school today. Hannah got in a little driving time. She also went to Shelby's for awhile and then to Sawyer's to help him with his eagle project.

I spent the day making cookies for the stake auxiliary training meeting tomorrow night.

This is one of my favorite memorials. It is haunting and poignant even not covered with snow. Several people posted this and other monument covered in snow pictures today. 

Rob is off doing ward visits tonight.

Tails and tales

Today was Grace's first performance. I haven't seen it yet but they look amazing and sound awesome. I can't wait to watch!

I stayed this morning for about an hour to help sew on tails and other odds and ends.

Grace has really enjoyed the whole thing.

Ethan and Hannah were both home sick today. Hannah also was on Monday. I hate when they miss school (unless it's to go to Disneyland of course). There's too much to make up after. 

We watched the Avengers, and made a fire. Lovely evenings.

I'm reading a new book series. The first book was called "State of the Onion", it's a White House chef mystery series. I loved it not because it's awesome literature but because it's set in DC and I can picture exactly how it looks and where the heroine is in my minds eye, I really miss it there. And I like a little special ops mystery. And I like food talk. Always, but particularly while I am dieting. 

Speaking of I reached my first baby goal, 20lbs gone. It took awhile because I have cheated more than once:( but I made it. Now if I can do that three more times that would be awesome. I don't know. I'm happier not dieting. Also although this plan works I don't know how well it lasts. There are lots of Facebook groups and message boards and it seems like a very common theme is "I am here again because I gained it back" or "I cheated once and the next morning the scale showed a 1lb gain". And it's $$$. But for now I'm staying the course.

And finally a robo update. 

A) they stink but not nearly as much as Peter did.

B) Grace loves them and plays with them often. Pipsqueak is much nicer than Pepsi. 

C) in fact Pepsi beat Pip up a couple of times and Nana had to buy a second cage so they could be separated. 

D) now Pip lives in a palace and Pep in a cottage. 

That's what you get when you don't play nice with others.

For some unknown reason scripture study lends itself to uncontrollable laughter and falling on the floor.

Saturday

This morning was the last all star game for our team. We lost. Ethan played really well. I feel like I am pretty objective when it comes to my kid's strengths. My friend Becky says that all parents are some degree of crazy when it comes to their kids, and I agree, and I own that. However I do know when they are bad at something, when they are annoying, when they are good, etc. and Ethan is a good soccer player. He's a great mid. It's super frustrating. But I digress...

There he is #19.

Grace had cats from 9-4. 

Both boys report having enjoyed the camp out. 

Sawyer came over and we all watched Goonies this afternoon.

Rob needed a wedding photo, we looked through our album and found this gem. 

Tonight we went on a date. We went out to eat, I had a yummy salad with shrimp on it.

Then we went to Walmart. I am very excited about my new veggetti. Will be taking it for a test drive tomorrow.