Sometimes you just have to buy yourself a pound of shrimp. With cocktail sauce. I love cocktail sauce!
Look! It is Josh! He only has 11 more days of working night. This weekend he cleaned out the garage. I admire this little bunch of marigolds. It just grew up in this crack one day, and always looks nice.
Michael got his cast off on Thursday. He reports was very, very, very nice.
Dad has been working 60 hour weeks and is very, very tired.
Ashley turned 16 on Tuesday. She was very excited. She went off to school happily and stayed all day. Josh and I went to get her a chocolate cake, which she also liked.
She also had her first date, with Chris, and he took her to Jim's restaurant (her favorite).
Happy birthday sweetie!
We got all the posts up for the pergola this weekend! (Well, minus one of those beams falling on Ellie's foot resulting in an insta-care visit and no broken bones!)
The Bullocks gratefully came over, and brought their liftie thing. Without it, we couldn't have gotten those last three corner beams up. Go Bullocks!
So I have been working on my Portuguese skills (they are not so good anymore). Anyway, I made it a goal to read the Liahona in Portuguese (with the English one right next to it). And I did it!
Thursday and Friday were the kids' Fall Break. So I wanted to have some adventures.
First, I had the wrong time for my doctor's appointment. So we drove to the zoo. Good thing Michael was excited about it. The teenagers were not. Then we went down to sese Grandma and to go Provo Beach to use up our coupons from last week's Black Friday. Then we took Grandma and Sara out for ice cream to celebrate Grandma Sandberg's birthday. She always like to try new kinds of ice cream, so you can see why.
So Josh needed an over to bake the parts for the pergola (something about baking on the coating). And apparently if you do it in your oven, then it stinks forever. And since we use our oven all the time...
Anyway, he found a free one on KSL!! And I was in Orem playing with my mom and seesters.
So I recruited Sara and we took Mom for a drive and went and got it. We got lost once, which was fine because then we could go back to the amazing bakery that we passed, in American Fork. They had a WHOLE wall of GF breads and a CASE of treats!! So everyone left happy (even Heather, who got her delivery later). The cinnamon nugget bread was delicious. I am DEFINATELY going back.
Thanks to GPS we finally found the place (and good thing Sara was there). We managed to shove it in the back of the mini van (man, what will we do when there is no mini-van to move stuff? Big chairs, ovens, 8 kids, etc.)
Then we decided (being full of treats), to go back up and get Sara the case of dried apricots she had been craving. We found it, got some more treats and then I delivered the ladies home. Then I dropped off Heather's treats and headed home.
Wow, you are saying, that took a long time! Yes, it was all possible thanks to ELLIE!! Who can drive over and get Michael from school!! Go drivers!! OK, have a nice week.
This is so much I love Fall!!!
The baby pumpkins are from our garden (and a lot from the volunteer plants that were in my flower beds out front).
The big ones are fake. But look at my cute signs!!
Happy Fall!!
So on Saturday, we had delightful day working outside (Dad and Ellie), and inside (Moo and me), and Ashley (doing her chores then went to Chris's).
Then Dad said we could to go SLC for dinner! (Most of us didn't eat lunch and were VERY hungry), We got Ashley and, after driving around for a bit (at one restaurant, they said all the cooks were out and the management was doing the cooking. - they would seat us, but expect a 45 minute wait. - And at another one, there was a 50 minute wait). So we went over to Red Robin.
Did I mention they have pretty good GF buns AND all their fries are GF!!! Even the YUMMY sweet potato ones? I think, between Ellie and me, we ate four servings.
We sang songs on the way there, and everyone was nice and polite. And sang and talked on the way back. It was a nice Saturday.
Josh said I could get a new hair style/color - so I found a new salon and went off (for a VERY expensive 'do).
Here is the finished look! I need to learn the maintance, but I don't think it will be hard. But NO ONE noticed at church today! Oh well, I love the high/low lights
You may or may not know that in an average semester, I am teaching four classes (five is full-time). Well in an effort to do less, I decided (with only marginal interested from anyone else) not to teach at BYU-I next semester. But then I found out they were teaching an entirely new class. So then I said 'Yes.' Then I remembered I was trying to do less and not be so busy. So I said 'No.'
I know it does not seem stressful, but it was for me and I decided not to. Here is the sheet where I am saying 0 hours for Winter Semester.
Go me.
You know how sometimes just a whole day goes by in a fantastic manner. Well, looking back I have not had one of those in a long time....
Until last Saturday!!!
It was like the best whole-day ever!!!
Got to sleep in a bit. Then Ashley came in and said, 'Aren't you going to the Gluten Free Expo today?'
Yep, it was.
So I did some chores. Rode my bike for 21 minutes (so I wouldn't feel so guilty over the 29,084 mini doughnuts I was going to eat).
Got cutsie'd up and headed out.
Met Heather at the GF expo 15 minutes after it opened. Met Kathy (old friend from the ward who now lives in Heather's ward). Toured and ATE like CRAZY. Seriously. So. Many. Mini. Doughnuts.
They also had Narni's cookies, those tasty cheese breads (now in hot dog buns?), loads of samples. It was so nice. We ate, and ate, and talked, and laughed, and for sure ate some more.
THEN Heather and I jetted off the see 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' at the Hale Theater. It was amazing. Heather was scared the stage would flip somebody off. (It does have a marvelous range of motion). It was much more historically accurate (but still had 'Belly up to the Bar Boys. - so it was OK). She was a modern woman.
We then head back to the Expo to finish off a few more doughnut holes. And some cheese bread.
THEN we went off to the Chinese restaurant around the corner (Heather: I have not had Chinese in six years - so of course we went there!)
It was DELICIOUS!! Of course, we were so stuffed we could only eat about six bites each (and of course we had to share meals). It was crunchy! And the waitress knew exactly what we could get (so nice). Then we sat and talked for TWO MORE HOURS! It was incredible!!
The waitress, to her credit, never gave us totally mean looks, but when we left there were literally 35 people waiting for a table!! Ah!
Anyway then we went back to the Expo center and sat and talked for another 45 minutes. Then I finally drove home. And supervised a few more chores. Sat in the hot tub with my sweetie and went to bed.
PERFECT!!!
My mom (Charlotte), had a second diagnosis of breast cancer last month. She and the oncologist decided it would be best to go for a complete removal of her right breast.
I got to go be there for surgery day. Heather came to spend the evening with her and take her home the next day. Holly went to change the bandages and Sara has provided ongoing suppport.
Go girls!! She has taken it all in stride and it glad the issue is most likely resolved for good.
I love you my momma.
As you may know, Fall is my favorite season (well, and Spring, and sometimes Summer and Winter).
Anyway, thanks to our volunteer pumpkins out front (also providing a lot of greenery in the flower beds), we got like 15 little pumpkins.
I LOVE PUMPKINS!! They are just so round, and orange, with those little green tops. I can't explain it.
(Don't like Halloween, just Fall...and pumpkins).
Anyway, look how cute my front door is: (the big ones are fake)
Yes, after a few tries, Ellie got her driver's license! Here she is (behind the van), on one of her first driving expeditions. So far she has picked up Ashley, picked up Michael, and driven to volleyball.
Go Ellie! I am SOSOS glad you got your license.
