Happy Birthday Dad!

Last week my dad turned 71 years old. Happy Birthday Dad! On Saturday Dave and his wife Shelley, mom and dad and Ken and I went out to dinner for his birthday. We ate at the Olive Garden there in Sugarhouse and then went back to my parents home for dessert and to play games. That was the first time in my adult life that I can remember playing games with my parents with all adults. My parents are pretty cool people. I want to hang out with them more often! I love you mom and dad! They also celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary on the 14th of February!

Just a little off!

You know how some days you feel just a little off? Well that was me today. It all started off fine. I got to sleep in until 7:15 a.m. which was wonderful! Avery was still asleep but he got up quickly and was able to make the bus. He leaves the house around 7:30 a.m. I went exercising this morning at the Rec. Center. Today was Zumba. We had a substitute instructor today. I really have enjoyed the Zumba classes the most out of all of the exercising classes.

After getting ready for the day, my visiting teacher came. He husband is dying from cancer. She is such a strong woman but every once in a while she opens up and shares her heart. To watch your husband die has got to be heart wrenching. My heart goes out to her as she contemplates life as a widow.

I took my car into the car shop today. This is the third time in a week and a half. Luckily we were only charged for the initial fix. It is all tied into the taillight and the blinker switch. I don’t like driving without a blinker or a taillight. I worried the whole way there on the freeway that not having a blinker would cause me trouble. Luckily it didn’t.

The car shop said they would need to wait for the part to come in. I had them drop me off at Ken’s school since I was in Layton. I worked on the new family search program for a couple of hours. I called back the dealership and they said it would be a couple more hours. Ken encouraged me to take his vehicle and that he would pick up the car. I was exhausted and welcomed the opportunity to get back home.

Tonight I have just been a little bit grumpy. I don’t even know why. I just feel like I am and have been all day, just a little off the mark. I have been dieting for the last week and today I just have felt starving all day. When I am adding calories it is hard to justify anything extra even though I am hungry. Around dinner time I had a small yogurt and a banana hoping that would help and it did for a while. I guess what I really need is to just go to bed and hope that my day tomorrow is more successful than it was today.

Freebies....

I went shopping yesterday afternoon for good deals. I spent $139.60. I bought a wedding gift, four birthday gifts, three cards and the rest I spent on food. I shopped at three different stores armed with my lists and coupons. I have really gotten into using coupons thanks to the great site that I have a link for on my page. It is called freebies2deals. She really goes out of her way to make available lots of freebies, coupons, free samples, etc. My savings between the three stores was $66.51. I came home with tons of stuff and saved $66.51, I call that a good day! Today she has a great link to a coupon for Michaels. It is a 60% off coupon for one item. It is only good through Feb. 13th, so grab it if you want it. The link is on my page under favorite sites.

Changes for the blog.....

Well when I was substituting today, I showed my blog. The problem was that all I could see were the pictures and just barely the wording. When I open it up at home it looked great and I had no problem viewing it. My mom also told me it was hard to read. Well, let’s see if this works. I picked a different template with a white background and put all the writing in black. Tell me if it easy to read or not. I also picked a bigger font, for those who need it a little bigger.

When I checked my email tonight I had 32 emails. Crazy!

Fun Family Times.....

A week ago we had a unplanned family outing. It started with Nate coming over for a couple of hours. He usually took Friday’s off to spend with Kristen because she had ever other Friday off. Well, so now instead he has spent the last two Fridays here thinking about missing Kristen. I decided instead of Ken and I going out that we needed to spend the time with Nate. Sarah happened to call and ask if anything was going on, so I told her dad, Nate and I were going out to dinner and would she like to go. She was excited and said yes. Then Avery came home and I invited him. Spencer was asleep and I decided not to ask him until the last possible second. Then I couldn’t leave Mandy out, so I invited her and she was excited. So we all convened upon the Chili’s in Centerville. It was a fun evening. We laughed and enjoyed a fine dinner together. Chili’s management felt back that it took them a long time to seat us so they gave us a free appetizer and a free dessert. I had a coupon for another free appetizer. Nate and I shared a plate and Avery only ordered a plate of loaded mashed potatoes. The rest ordered a reasonable meal. We ordered another dessert and we finished both off. We fed the seven of us for $60.00. I thought that was a steal and it is a great family memory!

Yesterday afternoon I came home from teaching school about 1:30 p.m. Nate was here playing on the Xbox. That guy is lonely. I told him I was sorry I wasn’t staying and went to De Ann’s to watch her kids. I watched them Tues. - Fri. This week was early out all week for the traditional schools but not for her Charter School. Anyway, I watched Ky, Zander and Dresden. When I got home around 5:00 Nate was still here so I got to visit with him after all. Sarah brought Josh home on the bus with her. Avery went on a campout with the deacons of the ward even though he is a teacher now. He wanted to be with his friends and he enjoys campouts. So we had another Friday night with the kids, minus Mandy and Avery. It is just so much fun to see the older kids and the younger kids visiting and sharing advice on growing up. Spencer and Nate had too intense of a conversation together to come up and eat with us but I could tell they were both enjoying it. I am thankful to be at a time in our life that we can take the time to enjoy the kids instead of always breaking them up from fighting with each other. It is amazing what maturity does to them!

A great way to start the day.....

This morning our Stake had a Women’s Conference. It started with a beautiful spread of fruits and muffins. They set up half circles so you can visit. It is interesting how often I see ladies from one ward in a circle. Ladies from another ward in the same circle. We don’t seem to mingle circles very often.

Fran from our ward motioned me over to where ladies from our ward were sitting. Sarah and I stopped by the Chapel first to maybe save a seat but it was already too late and we got there at 8:40 a.m. Lucky for me, Fran also saved me a seat in the Chapel. I have a hard time sitting on the chairs. Fran is a good friend who always takes care of everyone. Last year during my marathon of surgeries, Fran made it her job to do cleaning for me. She came over once a week for months to vacuum my house. Let me just tell you that the vacuuming my kids do is nothing compared to Fran’s vacuuming. She would have cleaned every bathroom and windows and anything else if I let her. I kept her to vacuuming. She also changed my sheets every week. She is my great friend and no matter how hard you try to convince me, I will not introduced her to you!

At 10:00 we met in the chapel for a few talks. The first one was the wife of Russell M. Nelson. The second was Sherri Dew. I have never heard her in person, so it was enjoyable to be a couple of rows from her. I could have sworn that she was looking and talking just to me. I left feeling lifted and spiritually fed! I still have some things that she suggested that we could work on, so I will.

Now we have three little boys and a little girl running around the house. Sarah has a way of getting them going wild. I am watching the kids so that my sister and parents could go watch Ken’s play. Tonight is closing night and this afternoon they added a matinee. They also added one last Saturday to get everyone in who wanted to watch the show. Have a wonderful rest of the day!

Who do I think I am kidding?

This morning I went to step aerobics! I know crazy! My last surgery was this past August. I have been to physical therapy and cleared for physical activity. Actually I was cleared probably early December. I have been to the rec. center a couple of times since then but nothing on a regular basis. I decided last night, that I was going today and I did it. Of course I was not able to keep up but I think I did an okay job. At the end of the class the teacher came up and introduced herself. She said it looked like I had done step before. Sounds like flattery to me! I told her I had 15-20 years ago! She said she hopes I’ll come back next week. I hope I am still alive next week. lol Every day at the same time is a different class. I plan to go tomorrow, I hope. I am subbing tomorrow but not until noon so it should work out. My doctor said that the best thing for me now is aerobic activity. Step aerobics is nothing like the treadmill I have been walking on. This is a whole new level that I haven’t exercised at in years, I mean.........years!