Still living in a winter wonderland.
Winter of 2017 had snow, snow, and more snow!
It's SO COLD
I got out of the car one morning on the way to my aerobics class
and it felt like my face was going to freeze off and that I wasn't wearing any
pants, but I assure you, I was wearing pants. It was still just as dark when my
class was over and just as cold. Quite frankly, I just could not get
over how cold it was. I came home and was making Grayson's oatmeal. I had to
exclaim about every 30 seconds about how it was SO cold outside! When the other
kids got up I told them right away, "It is sooooo cold outside!"
Finally, someone pulled up the temperature, no wonder! It WAS so cold outside.
So cold. Elko was the exact same temperature. Misery loves company. Happy
Birthday Sadie!
Churchy
Getting back on a morning routine is always nice and so is getting the kids back in school. I enjoyed some quiet time to myself to get some studying in.
One of the Young Women Leaders arranged to get together with just the leaders. I couldn't believe we actually found a night that would work for all of us. We ate at the Zermatt. Man, did we get laughing. I come home from things like this grateful that some friends push you to get out and about. I am so content at home I simply don't initiate it, but I think it is loads of fun. Well maybe not loads, but fun!
Okay, loads.
New Beginnings
While we are on the subject of Young Women's, we had New Beginnings on January 18, 2017. If I could go back I would choose a night that wasn't the end of term. Many of the girls exclaimed they needed to be home doing homework, and each young women leader arrived more disheveled than the last. At times like these I feel the pressure to remain calm and collected for the whole group. It's not nothing. I made a corsage for each of the Mia Maids, and a Laurel wreathe for each of the Laurels. My counselor made the Beehives a pendant.
The cakes were adorned with each class symbol. I found a lady in Orem to bake me up a dozen beautiful Beehive cookies. We gave those to the new girls coming in after we spotlighted them. I had originally planned on making rainbow Jell-O as the dessert. However, I spent the day before in bed quite sick, so the rainbow Jell-O ended up looking a lot more like cheesecake from Costco in the end.
I get myself rattled in the nerves over stuff like this. When I was at Deseret Book that day getting some things for that night I ran into Pam Bybee, one of my Young Women leaders. I told her what I was up to and she assured me it would all go well. I told her how I remembered how great everything she always did in Young Women's was. It was a tender mercy to run into her that day. It was just what I needed.
Brighton A Day
We honored Brighton Tenney on Jan 25th by Brightoning a day around town: Free pizza for someone at Little Caesars, Flowers for a woman in the Walgreen's parking lot, and donuts to the cops. In turn we were given a tour of the new Heber City Police Station, which brightoned our day!
For our combined Young Men/Young Women Activity we splurged and bought tickets to Ice Castles in Midway. Going as a youth group is the only way some of these kids get to see such things, myself included. I bought a bunch of tickets not knowing how many kids would come. It was impossible to get a headcount at the church; someone was in the bathroom, someone was out shoveling snow, this person wasn't going after all. I decided to get a count as soon as we got to Midway, but by then some kids had run up ahead and some kids hadn't gotten there yet. Basically, I had a ton of people, I bought a ton of tickets; and we'll see in heaven if it all evened out. I was equally happy and bugged at our turnout. Where are most of these kids the rest of the year???
The ice castles are impressive enough, but I wished I had Matt along.
Shenanigans
Katrina and Giuseppe had to be out of their South Salt Lake Apartment by the end of the month. Matt said he could head over to help after work. The rest of us planned to head down after school. We stopped at our favorite burrito spot, Free Birds (this time I was not foolish enough to get the TEN sauce;). When we arrived at Katrina's some guys and even kids from the ward were there helping. I was surprised how territorial I felt. I told them we could take it from there. The heavy was already loaded anyway (thanks to them). But as we lifted some of the boxes we simply could not believe how heavy they were. Katrina opened one up, "It's Giuseppe's textbook shenanigans from College." Shenanigans indeed!
Ava was down below as I walked out of the apartment, on the 3rd floor, with all of the bedding. I said, "Ava! Catch!" She came and stood underneath me in the bushes with her arms out wide. The bedding fell smack on her up-turned face and there she staggered with her arms still stretched out. Best mental picture ever.
Other cold weather shenanigans: Ava giving Callie a taste test, a Sam's run, and a stop at the mall.
When the kids got the Giant Jenga game in December I didn't think they would really play Giant Jenga, but they did! I pictured them using the blocks as roads, just as I had done as a girl. I was so happy to see that they took me up on this suggestion one Sunday afternoon.
Then there was the surreal event of this happening: January 20, 2017
There was a wa-wa-waaaa moment when Gray put out the dumpster one morning. There was a four-foot high snow bank at the end of our drive and the can was put right on the edge in a blind spot. As I backed up to take Ava to school the mirror hit the can. We both yelped at the noise. I assured her that it is a breakaway mirror and demonstrated by putting down the window to push it back in place. That day I took my friend Pam to the airport and noticed on the way back up Parley's that the mirror was all wobbly. When I investigated at home, it fell plumb off, it just dangled by the wire. And here I don't usually get the January blues, but then there was that expense.
Pam borrowed tablecloths from me in December and returned them over Christmas break. I asked how their Christmas went. She said it went well for all of them except for her oldest daughter who lost her engagement ring on Christmas day. After church they came home and shoveled and cleaned up Christmas so there was the chance it was out in a snow bank or in the trash. Either way, they had torn the house apart to no avail. Her daughter spent Christmas break in tears. I can imagine that would be devastating. On New Years Day at church I needed to make some copies in the library. While I was waiting I opened the lost and found cupboard to poke around. There was a ring. It looked like a fancy piece of costume jewelry and I thought, "Someone will want that back." Then it occurred to me that maybe.... I saw Mallerie in the hall so I took it to her, "Do you think this could be an engagement ring?" She said she wasn't sure either. I went into the chapel where I saw Pam's husband John. I held it up in front of his face. His eyes grew wide as he stared at it. I said, "Is it????" He nodded. He is the world's biggest joker so I said in earnest, "Don't you dare mess with me, Is this Sasha's lost engagement ring?" He confirmed, "The very one." Just then Pam came in and sat on the back row. He walked back there with it on his pinky and started talking to her as he scratched his face. She didn't notice the ring. I said, "You are mean, tell her!" He showed her the ring and she nearly burst into tears. I said, "Is it??? Are you sure??" They were both sure. We sat and hugged and felt so happy that this ring could now be returned to its owner. Tender mercy.
I think it's going to be a good year.
2017 has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
I think it's going to be a good year.
