January Chatbook 2020

Yep, just chugging right along this year. Getting things documented and trying to catch up, as per usual. January is almost in the books. I actually don't have too many extra pictures to add in here. But I think it is always fun to see what odds and ends inspire someone to get their camera out.

One of the stocking gifts this last year was a CTR ring. In January, I took everyone to chose one they liked. Everyone chose something different. I liked all the choices. June is modeling all the rings here.

Someone left a special message for the family. Then another person changed the verbiage just a little from 'Someone HAS a complaint' to 'Someone IS a complaint.' I probably shouldn't laugh, but I think that is very funny.

Snuggly Nova. She is growing on us. She no longer has any problems in the house. Yay! But she still  barks at everyone who comes to the door. She's a work in progress.

June and Robyn did a science fair project together. Over the course of a month or so, they listened to music while going to sleep to see if it had good effects. The data was inconclusive. So...listen to music, don't listen to music while going to sleep. Whatever floats your boat.

I tried practicing some hairstyles for Preference. They never seem to look like the pictures. Oh well.

Pearl's hair was getting very long and it was hard to brush out all the tangles, so we took her in to get a bit chopped off. Not too much though since she still needs to put it in a bun for tumbling.

Some of the high school art was displayed at the library. You've seen Robyn's piece before, but I also loved Jenna's. It is so creative and is a great image of your heart taking charge.

 Also at the library, they had a gingerbread Frozen castle. Wow. It was crazy awesome. Some people are so talented. How long will gingerbread last??

June and I went to see The Man with the Pointed Toes at the Hale Center. It was cute. It wasn't my favorite production. I felt like drinking was a bit glamorized. (Although they did also show the effects of a hangover.) It was a cute romance and a fun evening.

Nova sleeping like Nova sometimes will.

I love this picture. We still get up early in the morning to read scriptures together. It looks like this unicorn could use a couple more winks.

Tyler and I went to Dry Bar Comedy club. It was so fun. That is definitely one I would do again. Good clean comedy for the whole family. If you live local, look into it.

Daisy had her birthday lunch early like she always does. I still think she loves having a summer birthday, but she also likes to get out of school to have lunch with Dad.

The current addiction in our house is Wordscapes. We play it a lot. And everyone is good at it. You can often find several of us curled up on the couch playing it.

Who is this incredibly good looking gentleman? Oh...he's mine.

I used some fake glasses for an activity. We took out all the lenses. Daisy thinks they are so cool. She likes to wear her contacts and then a fake pair of glasses. (Must be a style thing.) She doesn't usually wear them all at once.

Ivory was getting ready for track season, so she would go to Tyler's work and use the treadmill. There was always someone willing to come run with her. Me...I like to play racquetball in the other room.

I'm not sure why Tyler was up the canyon, but I think this picture is awesome.

For Christmas, Camie came and taught us how to do cat eyes. Robyn and I tried doing cat eye Fridays. I think Robyn looks great with cat eyes.

Utah is not known for its fog. We hardly ever have foggy days and I miss them so much. But we got a couple days of fog and it lasted all day. Thank you January.

One more picture. The Payson temple. So pretty. The girls often go to the temple on Saturday mornings.

Chilling in Washington

My mother requested my presence in Washington and since she was offering to fly me over, that seemed like a sweet deal. I really like seeing my family. It just is hard to find time away from my life.

My goal on the trip was to see my family first, but also help clean and organize. I did some house work, cooked some desserts, cataloged some books, and put away the Christmas tree. That was my favorite. Over the years, my mom has collected so many fun ornaments. As I put each one away, I shamelessly made a mental note of all the ones I want someday. :)

They have too many anyway. Look how full the tree is. And this is after I took many off.

Tim made a blown glass ornament that was like ours. But his was cooler. I love the colors.

I enjoyed my time in Washington and didn't take a lot of pictures. I got one of cute Miranda. She came up with an adorable nightie and matching headband.

Oddly, while I was in Washington, it snowed! That doesn't happen very often. And it didn't last long, but I like to think that the good ole Evergreen State was trying to make me feel at home. Don't try too hard...snow is not my favorite thing about Utah.

All too soon, it was time to go. Mom and Tim took me to the airport. Hopefully I'll see you again soon. Someone has to win all the games. (Full disclosure: I did NOT win all the games. Tim beat me at plenty and Mom was quite the murderer in Kill Dr. Lucky.)

One last selfie in the airport. I was able to spend a lot of time reading which was really nice. As a busy mom, sometimes my books and I don't get a lot of quality time together. Check out my braces and bands. They are gone now, but at the time, I only had three weeks left of wearing them. My future self says, "You will be so happy to get them off."

Favorite Things Party

I have been to one 'Favorite Things' party before. We only had seven people, but it was so fun to exchange gifts and see what other people love. I decided that I wanted to throw one as well. And I figured I may as well do it for my birthday. However, in January of 2019, I threw my back out big time. It was so terrible and all I wanted for my birthday was to be able to walk around like a normal person. I did get that wish, but all thoughts of planning a party for myself slipped away.

Fast forward one year and I still wanted to have that party. There was nothing stopping me now. So I made invites and sent them out to a billion people. Well, not quite that many, but lots of people. I blurred all the lines between work, book groups, neighbors, and old friends. I just wanted to share this day with all the great people I know.

The nice thing is that I have a lot of helping hands, and when you say 'party,' everyone is willing to help. The younger girls put up streamers for me. They did a fantastic job.

I spent a lot of time trying to decide what to do for refreshments. I finally figured that we should stick with the theme. I asked my kids what their favorite treat was and I made each of them for the party. June (whose favorite changes all the time) chose bananas and Biscoff. Robyn made her famous cookies (she makes the best....better than mine). Ivory chose cheese sticks. Daisy chose tiger butter, and Pearl chose Muddy Buddies. I chose pastries since I love them so. Since we had mostly sweet stuff, we also added a veggie tray and we wrote next to it, "Nobody's Favorite." :)

Camie Call was so nice to come over and help us get things ready. An extra hand is always useful with pastries, although I wouldn't make them if they were too tricky.

I even got a couple balloons to put outside so people could find the house. You can definitely tell it was January. At least it didn't snow on the day of the party.

Then people started arriving. It was so fun to have all these people I love come with their favorite items.

It filled up pretty well. I had no idea how many people would come, but we had just the right amount of chairs.

Then we got to the fun part. If you've never been to a favorite things party, it works like this: You bring three of the same item (each item should be under $10 so you don't spend over $30 total). Then you write your name on three slips of paper and put two into one bowl and one into another. When everyone is there, you give someone the bowl. They describe their item—why they like it and then they draw two names out of the bowl. Those two people receive that item. The third item goes on the table to be used later. Then the bowl passes to the right and it is the next person's turn. That means, by the time the bowl goes all the way around, your name will be drawn twice and you will have two new things.

Daisy was really helpful. She was good at running items across the room to the correct person. She did not participate in the game. The older girls did, but they had to buy their own items in order to be included.

By now, you have a table full of items. You take the second bowl and draw people's names. When your name is drawn, you get to pick an item off the table. Now that you know what everyone brought, you can pick something you think you'd like. We had so many fun things to choose from.

It was really a blast. At the end, you have three new items and you can exchange with other people if that works for both of you. Hopefully you go home with something that might be your new favorite thing. I hope everyone got something they liked.

A few people had to leave quickly, so I didn't catch everyone in the group picture, but just know that I adore every person in this photo. They are all worth knowing, and they are definitely my favorites.

Preference 2020 (Evening)

Joanna has done quite a few dances in her time. She has taken lots of pictures and she had a book of poses that work well. Wow! I hadn't even thought that far. I was just going to wing it, but I admit that the book came in handy. She also told me about a place to get cute boutonnieres on short notice and for fairly cheap. Bloomique Flower Studio. And they do the cutest ring corsages for girls, although I will never need to buy one of those. :)

After the day date, the girls had a little time to get ready and then they were back in the car picking up the boys. (News flash: It takes a long time to pick up twenty people.) Christina came and grabbed June. These girls are such cuties.

I went over to the photo location to wait for them. I went early to get a lay of the land and then I waited a long time and watched the sun go down. So much for natural light.

I had a blast taking their pictures. They had a great group and everyone looked wonderful. We did group shots and a little bit of everything. These pictures make me smile.

The group wanted to take a serious picture. Jenna made the funniest face. It makes me laugh every time I look at this picture.

June and Xavier look so handsome.

While I took couple pictures, all the others played this Swedish foot game. It is fun to watch girls attempt this in heels. :)

I took plenty of pictures of the boys, but I didn't include them all because I think the girls are prettier. And my daughter is in there. But I promise we didn't neglect the boys.

Afterwards, I followed them back to Christina's house. They put their orders in for Pacos and Joanna and I frantically made them all. There were supposed to be at least two other moms to come over and help, but no one else showed up. But we made a great team and all the kids seemed to enjoy their meal. I didn't take any pictures at dinner because I was busy and had already taken a few photos that night.

I left when everyone was fed and the group split and some played games and other went to the dance early. They all had a great time, I hear. At the very end of the night, they came to our house for dessert. It was crumble cookies cut into small pieces so you could sample all of them if you wanted.

Several people arrived very late. The last group showed up right before midnight and then basically it was time to take people home. I'm not sure everyone made curfew. I know June didn't. They'll have to plan better next time, but I would call the evening a success. Thank goodness it is boy's choice next. Phew.