Back in Black

The missionary care package I did for June was BLACK.

{the contents}

When I was thinking about what catchy phrases or advise I could use that contained the word, "black" in them,
I realized that most of them would be inappropriate and unencouraging for a missionary.  ;)

For instance, there's: 

"black as the devil"

"black eye"

"black list"

"black sheep"

"black mark"

"black out"

"black magic"

"black and blue"

"black day"

"The Black Knight"

"blackmail"

See what I mean?...I didn't have much positive stuff to work with - so I had to do more thinking!

Here's what I came up with.

{the packed and ready-to-ship box}

The four black flaps say:

"We {heart} our 'Men in BLACK'" 

"White shirts and ties are 'The new BLACK!'"

"Our hero wear a BLACK name tag!"

"P.S. Keep your bank account 'in the black.'"  :)

That last one was kinda a stretch - I've heard rumors that sometimes these young Elders have trouble making their money last the whole month long, so I was just throwing in some counsel - he might not even know what the heck that idiom means, though!  ;)  haha.

********************************

To see past missionary care packages, click HERE.

One Happy Island

My family just spent the last week (Matt) or 5 days (the rest of us) in Aruba! 

{The JOYS of standby flight benefits!} ;)

ARUBA has been on my travel "Bucket List".....and it did not disappoint!

It is [appropriately] nicknamed, "ONE HAPPY ISLAND."

Our Family's FAVES:

1. White, soft, fine, powdery sand (great for sandcastles!)
2.  We stayed/played on Eagle Beach (ranks among the top 10 beaches in the world!) which was so CLEAN (no kelp, no seaweed!)
3.  No peddlers on the beach (can you say, "peace & relaxation?")
4. Crystal clear, warm waters of the Caribbean Sea (with a smooth ocean floor, nothing to hurt your feet on!)
5.  Delicious, safe drinking water (better than where we live!)

Even after Ryan has been out on his mission for 9 months, it's still so weird to look at "my brood" and think to myself, "Who's missing?  This group seems SO small!"  I count them up, and realize all who should be there, ARE there - why does four children seems so much less than five children?!?

And WHILE I was walking along the awesome beach, having an amazing time one day with one of my daughters, she actually [had the gall to] ask me,  
"So, what are we going to do this Summer?"

OH. MY. WORD.
You've got to be kidding, right?!?
Nope.  True Story.
(Needless to say, she heard a thing or two from me!)  ;)

FREE - I'm Free at Last!

Today is the first day AFTER my 8-week Challenge is over.
And I am SO glad.
But, probably not as glad as my husband is!  Both because today is his BIRTHDAY, so I will have no restrictions on this day AND because he thought it put a real damper on his/our lifestyle!  ;)

This "Challenge" consisted of a group of about 50 people, men and women, most of whom I didn't even know who were competing to win in the healthy arena.  Two of my sisters and one brother-in-law were part of this group.  Every day, there were certain things we had to do in order to get a predetermined number of points.  Starting after the first week (the "Baptism by fire"), each week, one category was worth double points, in an effort to start separating the scores.
It took me several days to actually commit to joining the "Challenge."  Because if I say I'm going to do something.....I'M GOING TO DO IT.  Fully.  No flakin' out.
But, I didn't know if I wanted to do it.
Because I had some hang ups about a couple of the requirements.
Here's what we had to do every day:

• Accomplish a personal goal (it could be anything; spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relationships, health, etc.)
• Drink 64 oz. of water
• Stop eating before 9:00 p.m.
• Eat two fruit servings (1/2 cup each)
• Eat three vegetable servings
• NO sweets and NO white flour
• Keep a food journal
• Exercise 30 min. (5 pts.) OR 45 min. (7 pts.)

Can you guess which ones were my hang ups???
I'd already been "accountable" to my Fitbit, getting 10,000 steps every day, for the last 3 1/2 months at the time of starting this challenge, so that was no problem.
Water, 9:00, fruits & vegetables were also NO BIGGIE, I don't mind those at all, it just took more planning on my part sometimes.
The personal goal was suppose to be something that you were not already doing, and would be hard, but very beneficial, for you if you did it.  So, that was a challenge - hence the name of the game, "Challenge," - but I had my scorecard on my desk every day to remind me, sometimes I was literally accomplishing my personal goal in the 11th hour, but I could handle that category, too.
The ones that got me were the white flour - I CAN live on bread alone!  That's exactly WHY I've never been tested for Celiac Disease, even though Haylee's doctor highly recommends it due to me being a first degree relative to a Celiac - I can't handle the truth, if I were. ;)  I love my candy, too, but I can do without - I've done it many times before.
And the food journal - I don't dare eat anything because then I have to write it down!  Uh, THAT'S the exact purpose of it, but what a drag!  ;)

Can you guess which ones were my husband's hang ups?
~Water (he wanted a DDP drinking buddy)
~Eating cutoff time (he thinks he's "hungry" after his after-dinner snack, or wants the freedom of a late-night date)
~Fruits & Vegetables (you mean chips & sandwiches are not a complete balanced meal?)
~NO sweets (but Bowman's has their doughnuts at half-price after 7 PM each night!  And what about the weekends.  And parties/social events.  And Family Night treat.  And birthdays??  And Taco Time is now serving Dole Whip!!)
~NO white flour (what about eating out at restaurants?  They all bring out the bread basket.  Or serve white pasta.  Or flour tortillas.  Or white buns/bread on their burgers & sandwiches!)
~Exercise (you mean you're going to go out to exercise instead of sit home with me?  Too much walking with me makes his bad knee ache.)

So, as you can gather, he's jumping for joy (as much as his knee will allow) that this whole thing is DONE.

This Challenge made me realize just how UNhealthy our regular, unconscious living can be.  Unless you're really paying attention, most people (myself included!) don't get any or enough fruits/vegetables, water, and exercise every day.  It also seems like treats &/or white flour are served everywhere we go.  (One evening at Bunco, out of an entire buffet that was provided, I could only select some frozen raspberries and cheese cubes to eat.)
The rules of the Challenge did allow one day a week to eat treats/white flour (you could only earn points in this category 6 days/week), so I had to really look at my week and decide when I would take it.  The problem was, there were multiple days every week that were going to have treat/white flour "opportunities."
My daughter's birthday and Mother's Day occurred during this Challenge.
There's also my weekly date with my husband.
And Sunday night came around every week - when we like to have treats while playing games.
Throw in snacks at my weekly cub scout den meetings, bridal showers, Mom's 'n' Muffins at Farm. Elementary, school Spirit Night @ a pizza place, wedding receptions, catered work meetings, my dad's 76th birthday get-together, extended family dinners, Missionary homecoming luncheons, BUNCO, dinner out with Business Partners, packing a lunch when I was a Field Trip chaperone (what do you do instead of a sandwich, made w/ bread?), Memorial Day BBQ (hamburger w/ no bun!), girlfriends' lunch, and three days of our family vacation...and that translates into A LOT of times that I had to say, "No"!!!
It was HARD to pick just one day a week.....and then PASS on everything else during the week!

BUT.......drumroll, please.....I DID IT!  And I ended up with a perfect score for the 8 Week Challenge, so I win [a piece of] the money!!!
As it turned out, there were seven of us with the highest [perfect] score at the end, so we're splitting the winnings - only about $35/person.  We needed more "slackers" in the group, so I could've taken home the entire $250 that was up for grabs!!!
But, like I said, two of my sisters were in the Challenge (also winners), so I KNEW there wouldn't be any slacking going on amongst us - ya just can't mess with the Fowers' determined/competitive nature!  ;)

AND.....another drumroll, please.....IT'S OVER!  Yay!!!  I'm ready for some freedom!
Hopefully, "freedom" does not equal reversing all the weight loss/health I've benefited from lately.)

Nice Shot!

Last night was Katelyn's last soccer game of the season. Even though the last game was SUPPOSED TO have been May 19th.
But, one game got snowed/sleeted out.
And then another game got rained out.
And then the make-up game got called after 7 minutes due to lightening in the area.
And then another make up game got cancelled due to......you got it - RAIN.  Rain, rain, rain; that's been the story of our May this year.  (To compensate for all the LACK OF SNOW in January/February?)

I had my camera out and ready the whole game for all the action.  I had some problems with the delay between the time I pushed the button to take the picture (at the exact moment that something photo-worthy was happening) and the time the camera actually captured the picture (after the moment was over).  We need a better camera - or a better photographer - one of the two, or both!  ;)
I also encountered the problem of a certain coach (my husband!) who kept walking in front of the photographer (me) as he paced up and down the sidelines, coaching.
But, even in the face of these problems, I ended up with some nice shots of the coach.....OH!....uh, and of Katelyn - that's why we were there, right?!?  ;)

Here's a good shot of Katelyn's fashion "awareness."

Katelyn opts to NOT wear the [boring] red soccer socks that are provided as part of her uniform, and instead dons one of her many other, more exciting, pair of long socks for the games!

{Nice shot Exhibit #1}

Here's a shot of Katelyn's kicks off.

It didn't happen on this particular kick, but Katelyn has been known to actually score a [unintentional] goal on her kickoff; a perfect rainbow shot up and over all the heads of the opposing team, including the goalie's head, and dropping right into the back of the net!  No one was more surprised than Katelyn, herself, when that happened for she had only meant to kickoff!

{Nice Shot Exhibit #2}

Here's a shot of Katelyn dribbling.

It appears that a couple of players on the opposing team (white jerseys) are undecided about which direction they are currently going, one thinks north, the other thinks south.  ;)

{Nice Shot Exhibit #3}

Here's a shot of Katelyn's shot on goal

And she kicks and she......doesn't score (this time), 

but sent it right to the goalie.  Don't ya hate it when that happens!?!  :)

So, what d'ya say?  Do you think I got enough NICE SHOTS to keep my job as photographer?  ;)

This Weekend:

* I was home in the afternoon on Friday (good thing!) and my doorbell rang.
My girls answered it and called to me, saying it was for me.  

My visiting teachers were there.  (I'd totally forgot they were coming!)

But, luckily, I was here so we got to visit.
It was also lucky I'd changed out of the muumuu I had been hanging out in earlier in the day!
 (THAT would've been a sure giveaway that I'd forgotten!)

(Except my family room was a mess with kids' games, back packs, papers, clothes, scriptures, etc. strewn on the floor & chairs.
One of the ladies literally had to pick up
stuff off the couch and move it first before she was able to sit down!  Aaugh!
So, maybe they figured out my forgetfulness anyway?)

* Before going out on our date in the evening, we had to play "taxi service" for

Kyle, taking him to his social events/party.

* We went out to dinner at Sonora Grill in Ogden.

Matt had received a birthday "free entree" coupon already,

so that helped us choose the place tonight.

(I'm on this no-white-flour challenge, so I had to order my meal with corn tortillas......tonight was just not as yummy as their flour tortillas entrees I've had there in the past.)

* After dinner, it was still early enough that we figured our children would

still be up, so we stopped at Ross to kill some time go shopping.

We had to get some pool & beach essentials for the fam in preparation for our upcoming vacation.

* On Saturday morning, I walked to the library to return and pick up some books.
AND to get my fitbit steps in.  As I was out & about, I saw a couple of friends
who were outside, so I stopped to visit.  My 40 min. walk/errand turned into TWICE that long! :)

* We spent some time out in the yard.  Matt set up a pump to pump out the water
that is in our trampoline hole (a natural spring?)  The water was coming
out a hose - and it was crystal clear - so I took the hose up to the
garden we planted last week and watered the whole thing with the "good" water.
{I think we've got our emergency water situation taken care of!}
I cut up a watermelon and it tasted SO GOOD coming in from the warm outdoors.

* I went through the pile of clothes that has somehow ended up on my laundry room counter.
For some reason, the kids were putting clothes they didn't want to wear anymore there.
WHY?
I separated and organized them all into Put Away/Give Away/Throw Away piles
and now we can see the counter top again!

* Matt & I went to the plasma donation center.
I started a new book to read while I layed there donating:

(I haven't decided if it's good or not, yet.)

* We were driving towards an eating establishment, and right before we got there,
we got a text from Matt's brother inviting us to go to Sushi Monster with them.
Well, of course!  So, we switched gears and headed to meet them.
Except, I needed to eat one more vegetable for the day with this challenge I'm on,
and I wasn't sure I could get a whole serving from just sushi, so we
stopped at a grocery store to buy some carrot chips.
While we were in there, my flip flop straps totally came out and the foot-bed cracked
and was dangling on a thread, just seconds from breaking into two pieces.
I knew I couldn't go to Sushi Monster without any shoes on,
so we swung by our house to get new flip flops for me.
(Sidenote: I had a feeling that this 2nd pair of flip flops might fail me, too,
so I put a "replacement" pair in purse just in case.....and guess what?
I DID need them when my 2nd pair also broke.  Two in one night?!?  Wow! I'm talented!)

* Sushi Monster was good, and the company was great.
My recommendation: the Las Vegas roll.
Delish.

* Afterwards, we went to six stores looking for a new light blue purse for me.
My current one (in my beloved color, red, but I thought I venture out to a new color) is kinda hammered.

 (Yes, this is the same purse that Kohl's replaced for me last year.  I didn't have the gall to ask them for a new one AGAIN - it's tearing because I put the whole kitchen sink in it!)
Kohl's is ONE of the stores I went to, but in the end, I found my purse at Target (on clearance even!)

* On Sunday morning, I slept in until 9:30 a.m.!!!
This has just become a luxury in recent years.
Our kids have [finally]  figured it out that IF they wake us up,
we put them to work/tell them to get dressed/make them eat REAL, healthy food,
so it's so much better, in their minds, to let us sleep! ;)
Smart kids!

* I went out visiting teaching with my companion on Sunday,
then I came home, and our home teachers came to my family.
(Was it the last day of the month, or something?!?)  ;)

* Churchy-Church
It was the missionary farewell of one of my former young women!
They're growing up! {sniff, sniff}  She did a great job!
She shared an awesome quote from a Elder Holland talk he delivered at the MTC back in 2000.
Read it HERE.

 * Because it was the 5th Sunday, we had a combined meeting with the
Priesthood men and Relief Society women the last hour of our church block.
The theme of the meeting was "Family Home Evening" and we had been
asked to speak about our experience, representing a "family with children at home."
(There was also a newlywed couple and an Empty Nester couple who spoke.)
The thing about this "assignment" was, last Sunday Matt had mentioned to me, in passing, that
the Elder's Quorum President had talked to him about something and that he'd have to tell me about it later......
Well, that "later" happened to be last night around 10:00 p.m.!
(Ya gotta love it, baby!)

* I had a meeting after church, so I gave Matt instructions on everything
he needed to do to get dinner ready.
He owed it to me after the lack of notice he gave me on my speaking assignment in church, don't ya think?!?  ;)
We had Ranch Chicken.  It was a new recipe (found HERE) and I approved.

* We went on a family walk on the Lagoon Trail up to Farmington Pond
with grandma/pa and Matt's brother, wife, & kids.

A lot of other people had the same idea...and somehow some people
had confused our quiet Farmington Pond for a swimming hole that day.
There were a ton a people jumping off the fishing docks, splashing around,
and wearing skimpy suits - I'd never seen THAT up there.
Needless to say, we didn't stay long at all.

* Wrote my weekly letter to our missionary

* I quit eating before 9:00 p.m. (another part of this blasted challenge I'm on),
while Matt baked up some cookies for himself from the cookie
dough I'd made (but I didn't eat any!) for the missionary farewell/lunch.
 Only one week left of the challenge!  Yay!  ;)