The Time in my Life for BIG Hair, Pegged Pants, Suntans at-any-Cost, and Blue Eye Make Up

The 1980's.

I gave Matt this 80's puzzle for Christmas, and we've just finally completed it.

Both my husband and I are "Children of the 80's" AND very nostalgic.
But, that decade...man, it was pretty great!
Looking at all the different parts of puzzle was a trip down Memory Lane.
We were like,  Oh, ya....remember....

• ...that one scene in Top Gun that is FOREVER ingrained in your mind whenever you hear the song, "Take My Breath Away"......and was totally uncomfortable for Matt to watch with his parents when he saw the movie for the first time!
• ...how we could NEVER solve the Rubik's cube, so I just disassembled all the pieces and put it back together with all 6 colors/sides done up right!
• ...The Facts of Life was the best show on television, and I wanted to be "Jo" when all the other girls my age dreamed more about being "Blair."
• ...that Different Strokes, The Dukes of Hazard, The Love Boat, and The Cosby Show were pretty darn good shows, too! :)
• ...how you could record movies that came on T.V. onto a video tape, and then watch it again and again later - which I DID with the movie, Grease, whenever a new friend came over to my house.  (Note: only later in my adult years did I get a "real" copy of the movie, and.....it was quite different [read: shocking and not-so-innocent] than my recorded edited-for-T.V. version that I watched all those years!)
• ...I was sitting in my High School cafeteria having lunch my Sophomore year when a boy came in and told me that the Challenger Space Shuttle had exploded!  He tried to tell a joke, "Do you know what NASA means?"  Me: "National Aeronautics and Space Administration."  (jk, I didn't answer that - I wasn't that bright in Science!)  Him: "Need Another Seven Astronauts."  Is that weird that I remember the punch line after all these years?  I think I was so appalled by the tasteless joke, that it stuck in my brain.  Oh, high school aged boys -- they're just so sensitive, aren't they?  ;)
• ...I just wanted a stereo for Christmas, nothing else - and I got one; and it practically took up one whole wall of my bedroom!
• ...it was SOOO fun to play Pacman/Ms. Pacman at Pinocchio's Pizza [or insert any other place that had arcade games] when we went for mutual.
• ...Ronald Reagan was all the rage: my family was soooo EXTREMELY pro-Reagan.  We were THAT family who had the "Reagan/Bush '84" bumper stickers on all our cars....AND our toy wagons, Big Wheels, and dog house!!!
  

{In fact, my older brother did an internship in The White House, and he pulled some strings.....

and I received this graduation card in the mail from the President, himself!}

• ...Bruce Springstein, Michael J. Fox, Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayzee (and Dirty Dancing!), Jane Fonda, Tom Cruise, Cindi Lauper (her part in We Are the World, "Whoa-whoa-waah-let-us-realize."), Molly Ringwald (Sixteen Candles/The Breakfast Club/Pretty in Pink), Mr. T, and more!

And for your further flashback enjoyment, here are some of MY "best shots" (Get it?...as in Pat Benatar's, "Hit me with your best shot") :) from that Excellent Era. (Get it?....as in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure?) 

 (1st day of 9th grade for me, on the left) 

 (a cordless phone for Christmas for my own room - on a humongous clock radio base!)  ;)

 (how's that for an I'm-so-annoyed-you're-taking-my-picture-again,-dad look?)  ;)

 {Hi [li'l bro] Mikey!}

 (Lip Synching to Tears for Fears', "Shout" for my sister's school class, I'm on the left.)

AND look what I'm wearing on my feet; Chuck Taylor Converse high tops! 

What are my children talking about when they say my era was so OUT of it?!!?

 (getting ready for Senior Ball, my Sophomore year)

 (I think my "crush" was probably in that crowd of kids somewhere, and my mom was trying to

catch a photo of me talking with him after our choir concert.)  ;)

 (The "Nerd" Dance - ya it was BIG thing we did.) 

Also, notice the big phone (with a coil cord) that sat (and had to stay) on the kitchen desk  -

and the awesome wall paper in the background!)  ;)

 (my [19 yr. old!] sister's wedding breakfast, I'm in the red/white dress)

 (my 17th birthday)

 (a group of my friends waiting in my room - and freakin' out - to go on a group dance date, I'm the one standing)

 (Yes! It was a REAL thing; tied bows around our collar!)

 (graduation from BHS, 3rd over)

 (my brother's wedding)

(gotta show a car from the era, too!)

OK, so maybe these were more like MY not-so-best shots.....but Welcome to the 80's!!!

What are THESE?

The temperatures have DROPPED way low here in our neck of the woods.  Thanks to the November-that-feels-like-January we're having due to the Arctic Chill that has come from the North, affecting most of  the U.S.

(Yet, ANOTHER rude awakening in returning from our Eastern Caribbean cruise.  The Islands, high 80's.  Utah, 30's.)

So, Brookelle was complaining she didn't have any warm clothes to wear.  It's true - I hadn't done the official [season changing] closet/drawer clean out project, changing all the short sleeves/capris/shorts/lightweight fabrics and replacing them with the winter clothes - it was still in the 70's when I left!

So, I pulled the big Rubbermaid tote of "Size 6 Winter clothes" out of the basement that I'd been storing ever since Katelyn outgrew them 4 years ago (AND which had many hand-me-downs of Haylee's from before then, too!)

Usually this ritual is like "Christmas," opening up a plethora of  outfits to wear; an instant "new" wardrobe!  The girls & I get all sentimental, while gushing, "Oh, I loved this!  This is soooo cute!" remembering the clothes they used to wear, and what event they wore them for, etc.

THIS TIME when Brookelle started pulling out all the long pants (the main thing she was looking for), it was NOT like that.  She was NOT thrilled or impressed or even grateful.

Her response was more like......

What are THESE?!!?

When I answered, "pants," she started to giggle.

SHE SERIOUSLY THOUGHT I WAS JOKING/TEASING (like I frequently do, and she's become pretty good at discerning when I am, based on the absurdity of what I say)
so she responded, "No, they're not!"

To which I replied, "Yes. They ARE."

She retorted, "What's wrong with the bottoms???"

I said, "They're flare jeans."

Brookelle:  "Flare???  WHY would they make them FLARE?"

Me:  "Because they're cute!"

Brookelle:  (giggling, thinking I'm joking again) "No, they're not!"

They're not?????  

But, your sisters wore them!

They used to be!

And then I realized that sometime between the last 4-6 years and the modern day, flare jeans must have gone the way of the dust.  In Brookelle's [short!] lifetime, she has never been exposed to flare jeans and, therefore, has absolutely NO understanding/attraction to them.  In her opinion, they belong in the costume box, categorized under, "clown pants" MORE THAN they belong in a sane person's closet!!
Skinny jeans are acceptable, though!  ;)

(Weird to think that I'M living through style changes!  Isn't that just for old people?)

CRAP!  Now she still doesn't have any warm bottoms to wear!  

Is Christmas too far away to wait to get new clothes?!?

If You Know Who the Pink Ladies and T-Birds Are.......

.......you're a girl/boy after my own heart!

I happened to check in at The Pioneer Woman's blog tonight for the first time since Summer started -- have I mentioned before that Summer really kicks my butt?!?  ;)  HERE and HERE and HERE for just a few reminders. Especially THIS ONE as I was getting a missionary ready to go?  And we went on back to back to back vacations/trips.  (unpack, wash, pay bills, pack, repeat!)

ANYWAY, so, although I love her blog, I've been a little preoccupied!  BUT ON THE DAY that I return to it, to my great delight, she is doing a movie quiz, which she does periodically, but today's was on the movie, GREASE!

Oh, I got giddy!  I could hardly start it fast enough!

You can check it out here:
 The GREASE quiz

I am pleased to announce that I DID NOT even use Google to help me with any of the questions (my 1st time ever on her movie quizzes).....AND......I was done lickity split (also, my 1st time ever!).....AND I scored a 100% on my own!

You see, when I was in my teens, "Grease" happened to be on T.V. one night, and my family recorded it on our VCR!!  We tried to remember to pause it for the commercials, but some still got recorded on the video tape, as well.  So, when we watched it in the future, we had to fast forward through those. But, I loved it!  (the movie, NOT the fast forwarding!)

In fact, I looked for ANY excuse to watch it.  WHENEVER any friend came over, I'd be like, "Hey, do ya wanna watch a movie?!!?"
And they were like, "Sure."
And I was like, "Cool."
And then I proceeded to get the GREASE video tape out and watch it myself AGAIN play it for them, and introduced them to the greatest movie ever!

In fact, when I threw a Surprise 40th birthday party for Matt, we had Karaoke there.  NORMALLY, I wouldn't do that, but they had, "Summer Nights" - so what d'ya know?  We ended up singing it together!

***What I didn't know THEN, was that the movie I repeatedly watched in my youth had been edited for T.V., and years later, I was given the real movie as a gift, and I watched it again, and I was like, "WHAT?!?"  OH MY!  I don't remember THIS!  Did they change it?  Because none of these naughty/improper/crude/irreverent parts/lines used to be in it!  Apparently, they had done a thorough editing job!

And because I had so much exposure to it, I can quote many, many of it's lines.

Sandy: Danny?
Danny: That's my name, don't wear it out.
Sandy: What's the matter with you?
Danny: What's the matter with me, baby, what's the matter with you?
Sandy: What happened to the Danny Zuko I met at the beach?
Danny: Well I do not know. Maybe there's two of us. Why don't you take out a missing person's ad? Or try the yellow pages, I don't know.
Sandy: You're a fake and a phony and I wish I never laid eyes on you!
As she throws down her cheerleader pom-poms and runs away to cry!  (I may or may not have acted out this scene a time or two - "just for fun.") 

BUT, even though, Danny was a "bad boy" and a jerk, and Sandy did start to date a "nice", athletic, (but kinda boring) boy, in the movie, I was still pulling for Sandy & Danny!  WHY?!?  'Cuz in REAL LIFE I don't want my own daughters - or my young women - to go after those types of boys.  It sucks ya in, I tell ya.  This movie had POWER over me!  ;)  haha.
Also, I could ramble off these:

“Men are rats, listen to me, they’re fleas on rats, worse than that, they’re amoebas on fleas on rats. I mean, they’re too low for even the dogs to bite. The only man a girl can depend on is her daddy.” – Frenchy

“She looks too pure to be pink!” -Rizzo

Marty: Do you think these glasses make me look smarter?
Rizzo: No, you can still see your face.

“Tell me about it, stud.” -Sandy

It was a fun quiz! Any other Grease lovers out there?  If you're a serious Grease fan (like ME!), I bet you could score a 100%, too!  (let me know your score!)

In the end, when Sandy changes for Danny (becomes an "edgy girl"), and Danny changes for Sandy (a letterman sweater-wearing, clean-cut guy), I KNOW I should've been disgusted that she gave up who she was for a guy (because my mom always fed me that message about the movie!), but I actually thought Sandy looked GREAT/HOT with her curled & teased hair, black leather outfit, & her RED SHOES (Let's be honest, I was probably 90% swayed by the RED SHOES!) and I was happy with the ending!!!  Even though, AGAIN, in real life, I don't want my own daughters or young women lowering their standards because of a boy!
 

But, again, the movie gets to ya - right to your heart!

I'll always have a great fondness for GREASE.
{But, for the edited version a little more than the real one!}

The End of my YW Era

I got released from my church calling as 1st Counselor in the Young Womens' Presidency.

Siiiiggghhhhhhhhhh.

Such mixed emotions about all of this.

I've been serving in that position for going on 3 years now.

THREE!
That's 130 mutual activities, 75 meetings, Three Young Women in Excellence events, Three New Beginnings events, Three Girl's Camps (1 with my daughter, Haylee, in attendance!), three youth conference (attended one, helped/supported on the other two), a few culminating events and dinners for all the youth, dozens of hours on the phone and visiting homes, and on & on.....

I have come to love "my girls".  I thought about them and worried about them all the time.  I considered them an extension of my own children who live in my home with me.  Whenever I referred to them in conversation, I called them, "My young women....."

This calling, and each young woman, has been such a HUGE part of my life for the past few years.

I SO SO wanted each girl to have their testimonies strengthened during this very important & amazing time of THEIR life.   AND on various occasions, THEY shared an experience or scripture in class, or gave a talk in a meeting, or bore their testimony at camp & youth conference, and it strengthened MY testimony.

They will forever be apart of me.....I swear, when I am in my 80's, and if I run into one of them, I will hug them, then still call them, "my girl" (even thought they will be in their 50's!!!)

I am incredibly BLESSED to have had this opportunity!

I knew though...with serving for that amount of time...that this day would someday come.

Being in a Young Women's Presidency is A LOT of work.

It consumes MOST {if not ALL} of your extra time.

Mutual, lessons, firesides, Girls Camp, tending to the girls' needs, supporting the president & making sure she doesn't take on too much work....it is CONSTANT.
And, THAT SERVICE I gave is WHY I ended up loving them.....You LOVE who you SERVE!

And while I have {honestly} had some frustrations & heartbreak along the way (they are ATTACHED to their cell phones a little TOO MUCH!, they are, at times, persuaded by the ways of the world more than the church standards, and sometimes they chose not to join us in our mid-week & summer activities or at church on Sunday) but for the majority of the time, I LOVED it.....

I knew ahead of time I was being released.  My Bishop came to my home last week to extended a release - and thanked me profusely.  But, when it was officially announced in Sacrament meeting before the congregation, it became "official" to me - and I am sad.
I think I'll go into "mourning" - I can joke about that because I'll actually be gone for a couple of Sundays in July due to traveling....but it's kinda true.
I knew I'd be sad, but I also thought I would be relieved.  It was a LOT of work and there were so many other things on my plate that I could not keep up with for the life of me.

But man, I miss those girls already - more than I could have ever realized I would.  I'm thinking about them all individually and am going to write them all a letter letting them know of my feelings.  The relief I expected has not come yet.  It will take a little while to find peace with this big change in my life right now.

Good thing I sobbed my way through my final YW lesson -- NOT!  (little did I know, at the time, it was THE LAST)

I still need to pass off all my stuff to the new Young Women's 1st Counselor, but I might drag my feet a little bit - because maybe I won't be able to bear it?!?

I'll probably linger outside their classroom on Sundays and it'll feel so weird to send off Kyle and Haylee to their activities on Wednesday nights and not go, too.

Gradually I will start to feel how nice it is not to have to worry about all the logistics that went into every activity, every meeting, every group text, everything I was SUPPOSE TO be doing and couldn't quite get to.

Of course, other things will pile into my life and fill up every nook and cranny the Young Women things left behind (like getting Ryan ready to leave on his mission in 5 1/2 weeks!!), but oh, how grateful I am for that experience with those girls and I will always have a special spot in my heart for them and all the wonderful things I learned as their leader.

YES.......

Life goes on.

{We don't get to choose what church calling we will be given, but IF I COULD, I'd want to be the primary pianist for my next calling!  How could I NOT LOVE doing that?  Gosh, ANYTHING after being in the Young Women's presidency should seem like a walk in the park, right?  I would want the piano calling .....IF I could even play the piano well enough!!!  haha!  I don't know how to sight read!  Is that unusual?  I took piano lessons for 8 years - how long do you have to take to actually get good at it???  It maybe has something more to do with HOW MUCH I practiced - or how effectively/consistently I practiced (or didn't) during those years!!}

My faith is a HUGE part of who I am.

I thank my lucky stars each day for the knowledge of the Gospel that I have.

I look forward to what the future has in store for me now.

I hope you'll enjoy the ride with me!!

Our Glover Lane Home

After we first moved to our new home [almost] two years ago, I used drive in & out of our neighborhood via the route that would take me by my old home - our "Glover Lane Home" as we call it.

But, not so much anymore.

Because I kinda get sad about what's become of it.

It was purchased by a couple who had no intention of ever making it "their home."  They were only interested in buying an "investment."  Although, they did live in it for a short time to justify the type of loan they got on it, it's mostly been inhabited by renters.

I find myself being protective of our "Glover Lane Home" and I notice the details of things that are "wrecking" it - like they sprayed some yellow foam stuff in all the driveway cracks, and it's oozing out and looks.....SO not good!  But, hey! that same driveway is full of snazzy, new cars; a red truck, a Cadillac, & black sports/luxury cars.  (I'm afraid that's where their regard [& money] goes.)  I cringe when I see all the things that the various renters are letting slide.  Overgrown plants, weeds, dead grass - not that we are champion gardeners by any means - SCREAM out to me, We don't love this house.  And that's sad to me because we did (in fact,  I love it! are the exact words I exclaimed the moment our Realtor let us in to look at it all those years ago) - and I want it to continue to be loved!  Sure, we ultimately outgrew it, and there were things [functionally] that were a nuisance, it didn't meet our needs anymore, that's why we built & moved, but I'm talking more about the HOME we loved.  The HOME which holds our history, memories, & hearts.  How could it not?  We lived there for 11 1/2 years!

My friend & I sometimes walk by it on our morning walks, which we did this week, and like always, I check it out - any signs of love, attention, concern?  I wonder if she notices that she kinda "loses" me in our conversation at that moment we pass it?  It's weird....I KNOW, in my brain, it's my old home, but it's almost like it doesn't even seem like it.  It's changed.  It doesn't look as bright to me anymore.  It's more somber & drab.  (Although, to others not emotionally attached, it may still look the same?)  Our kids have wondered aloud, if we ever drive by, what it looks like on the inside, now.  Kyle, especially, wants to devise a way that he could walk through it again.  The curious part of me also wonders and wants to take a look, but the other part of me doesn't - I might want to keep everything in my mind just the way I remember it!

 {last photo as we drove away in 2012}

The day we moved all our stuff out, we were racing against a deadline and we didn't have a ton of time to get all sentimental and pay tribute to every room & such...AND we were sweating so much, I don't think there was any liquid left in my body to cry.

BUT, I still thought:

How could I let that thing go?  

How can I let go of where all my daughters learned to walk?

They each learned to grab hold of the cabinet knobs & drawer pulls and "play" (read: empty everything out of) with the measuring cups, pots, water bottles, Tupperware containers that were inside.

How could I walk away from that kitchen where I prepared ten thousand meals, my children at my side (read: under my feet)?

My children built a gazillion forts and we had hundreds of Family Home Evenings in our living room.

There was the "time out" corner over on the staircase landing, that fit our time out bench perfectly, we used A LOT! 

There were the stairs where a the children slid down laughing gleefully in sleeping bags or pillow cases.....and where brothers would chase/run from each other making the loudest pounding noise as they barreled down - which then, unfortunately, sometimes ended in a crashing sound as frames were knocked off the wall at the bottom.

We finished the basement, painted every room, remodeled one big bathroom into two separate bathrooms, and replaced all the flooring except for one room in that house while we were there!

There were big dormer window seats where the kids liked to sit upon & hang out.  Kyle split his head open on one of the windowsills.  The boys learned to shoot a basketball pretty darn well in that hoop we once had attached to the house (before the incident), then was replaced with a driveway basketball hoop.

We had 11 Christmases there.  59 Birthdays.  Brought home 3 new babies.  3 Baptisms.  4 Priesthood Ordinations.

    {Miss B's 1st Birthday - May 2009}

That home is where we built our family.

Back in Layton & North Salt Lake & Brigham City where we lived for six years before we moved here is where we were seedlings.  We had just the two boys.  We rented from apartment to apartment, and lived in a "starter home" too far north in Davis County for our liking.  We weren't ready to settle.

But when we got to the "Glover Lane" one, we put down our roots.

And it's filled to the very brim with memories that have made our lives rich and beautiful. 

There will always be a special spot in our hearts for that great home of ours we grew together in.

It's where we became "US."

There's a lot to say about a home and how it molds a family.

I'm so grateful that one that took care of us for so long.

{And, yes!  we love our new home with all our hearts, too.  (In case you were starting to doubt.)  The memories have already started heaping up in this thing.  Our next chapter is going to be amazing, as well.}

So, that's why I feel melancholy when I see the house these days - it appears they don't appreciate it the way I do.  I feel like the renters will just keep moving in & out, then eventually move on and forget about it.  I hope that someday it will be sold to a family who will be able to own it and live in it and love it again.
It just dawned on me that my feelings for our "Glover Lane" home might stem from one of my favorite childhood books, The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.

This house went through a period of being loved, then neglected, then loved again.  The ending always made me so happy when the great-great-granddaughter of the man who built the house found it and bought it.  Once again it was lived in and well taken care of.

Maybe that can happen to our "Glover Lane Home" too!  :)

I've Got a John Denver Song Playing in my Mind

The song's been with me ever since Sunday evening when Ryan opened his mission call (which one out of the 407 possible places would it be?!!?) 

in front of....Oh, I don't know how many....

a wall-to-wall multitude of his favorite peeps - family, friends, neighbors & church leaders.
(And family who are also some of his best friends, and friends who are also neighbors, and church leaders who are also friends!) 

{with Jaden - one of his best friends}

The song that's been on my mind is "Take Me Home, Country Roads"

Do you have a guess where he got called, now?

The song introduces this place with it's very first words, "ALMOST HEAVEN".

It continues by singing about it's BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS and SHENANDOAH RIVER.

Any guesses now?

John Denver pays tribute to it with the lyrics, "Take me home, to the place I BELONG...."
He reminisces about it with a "teardrop in my eye." 

Doesn't it sound like a MAGNIFICENT place?
Sentimental.  Dreamy.  Impressionable. Touching.

(Oh....John Denver evokes fond memories for me, too.  I hear his songs, and all of a sudden, I'm riding in my dad's Peugeot, listening to his 8-Tracks!!  
So, Matt bought me John Denver's 4-disc set several years ago as a gift!)

 He didn’t get to choose where he'd go. It could be anywhere from Boise, Idaho (very close to us), Florida, Greece, or Japan (where Matt & I served) or many, many other places.

 We had many guesses.

**One last chance to guess!**  ;)
(Matt put the video on facebook a couple days ago, so maybe it's no surprise, now!  haha)

OK.  Drumroll, please....

Ryan has been called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

He has been assigned to labor in the West Virginia Charleston Mission!!!
(He will serve for 2 years, starting August 27, 2014.)

He didn’t get to choose where he'd go. It could've been anywhere from Boise, Idaho (very close to us), Florida, Greece, or Japan (where Matt & I served) or many, many other places,  

but the second he found out where he was called, it was perfect!


We've been in celebratory mode around here ever since - it's SO VERY exciting!!

 A lifetime of waiting, and now we know!

This Weekend:

*We celebrated Valentine's Day with our traditional dinner with our kiddos on Thursday night, since many of us had plans on Friday.

Unfortunately, Ryan's missing dinner with us a lot lately due to work and studying.  :(  

I guess it's getting us ready for when he goes on his mission!  :)

(And we watched some Olympics)

* For Valentine's Day, the 6th Graders at our Elementary School

always do a lip sync for their "party."

Matt & I went and saw Haylee's group perform,

"Let it Go" from the movie, Frozen.

{And she wore a TIARA - gasp!}

* While I was in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago, Matt sent me a text, Can I reserve you Feb. 14-15? I jokingly replied that I was already busy that day........

Duh! OF COURSE, he could "reserve" me!!

He gave me instructions to pack an overnight bag, but no other details.  Matt came home from work early and we started heading north in the car.  After a while, he had me open an "agenda" printed on pink paper and folded into a "scroll".......later I saw he'd set up a "gift basket" in our hotel room.

 We had reservations at the Marriott in Logan

which included the Valentine's Day dinner buffet at the adjoining restaurant.

(We'd been to that restaurant 2 weeks ago at his Grandma's 90th birthday party, and I saw the signs advertising this Valentine's Day event.  HE saw ME looking/reading the signs, so he decided to book it for us!)  The boy is SMART -- I've trained him well!  ;)  haha.

There was a ton of things on the spread, but my favorites were:

hummus & crostini's

lettuce wraps

stuffed mushrooms

asparagus - with a yummy cheese sauce

coconut shrimp w/ sweet chili/mango dipping sauce

Prime Rib

Matt had about 254 chilled shrimp & 59 coconut shrimps and topped it off with 6 desserts!

Then we ROLLED back up to our hotel room.........  ;)

(And we watched some Olympics)

*  I totally slept in on Saturday morning until 11:00ish!

(Of course, I'd stayed up way late the night before)

* The "plan" was to go to BREAKFAST at The Crepery, 

but due to my late rising, we hit the LUNCH rush there instead - still VERY good!

 There were these delightful hanging chairs to sit in while we ate my savory crepe. 

(It made me want to buy my own crepe maker!)

*Since we were in Logan (the place we met & dated) we decided to visit a few of our old stomping grounds!  First Stop:  A & W for root beer floats.
(Although the big fireplace in the middle with bar seating surrounding it has since been removed.)  ;(

 Now THEY really know how to do a float!  ;)

*Then we went up to the campus of Utah State University, the place

of Matt & I's first meeting (Fall 1993).  We walked around

and found the classroom in Old Main where we had our

Japanese class together.

 Then we hung out in the Student Center.  

We're real nerdy sentimental like that!

(It was DEAD, though.  What?  Everyone wants to stay OFF campus on a Saturday?  Everyone at the Aggies basketball game?)

There has been so many changes/additions to the campus....it was kinda sad for us, 

we feel like we want it to remain the same, but we understand it has to grow with 

its student body and the times!  

(Back in our day, we didn't even have all this technology stuff that needed rooms & buildings to house it!  Email was new.  I didn't even use it, yet, but I knew of some real "cutting edge brains" who were experimenting with it!)  :)

* We stopped by Gossner's and stocked up on some Cookies 'n' Cream and Strawberry shelf stable milk.

Our plan was to just put it in the cold storage room, without telling the kids we had purchased some more,

and see how long it took them to discover it.........since they can't seem to NOTICE the same DANG dirty sock & Fun Dip wrapper that has been sitting on the floor/cedar chest/window sill for A WHOLE WEEK.  

They found it in less than 24 hours!

* We went to DownEast Home looking for some chairs for the Great Room.

The problem with this store is that, while I like their stuff, they only have ONE chair

of a particular kind....and I'm looking for TWO!
We ran into Matt's aunt & cousins there, though!  Fun!  That's very likely to happen in Cache Valley!

* We drove towards home by way of Brigham City (the place of our first residence when we got married)

and ate dinner at Peach City.

* As soon as we got home, I started making treats for Ryan's dance group, who were

coming to our home after the Valentine's dance.

(And we watched some Olympics while preparing)

  {Ryan & Abby - they made their shirts}

Ryan's Sunday School teacher had lent him his sports car convertible for the dance, and unfortunately, kids from his rival high school (I'll say it - it was the DAVIS DARTS!  Sore losers from their basketball loss the night before, I guess) had come into the parking lot during the dance and put peanut butter, egg, and mustard all over a bunch of cars - including the one Ryan had borrowed!  OH NO!  NOT COOL!!  So, the first item of business was washing cars when they first arrived at our home.

10 couples came!

This is what is looks like [in shoes].  ;)

* Sunday morning, I had myYW class presidency meeting before church at my home - WITH cinnamon rolls.

{Ya gotta get 'em there!}  

* Churchy Church on Sunday.

Ryan actually spoke in Sacrament Meeting -- an assignment I knew nothing about, and Ryan had

actually FORGOTTEN until 1 hour before the meeting started!   That was when

he woke up and still had to shower/dress.

We, his parents, could tell it was "on the fly" and, at times, he was just "filling time", but quite a few people came up to him and us afterwards and said how great he did and they were impressed with his ability to do it last minute. 

(Let's just say his High School Debate team experience competing in the "Impromptu" category really paid off!)
I taught THIS lesson in Young Women and handed out this candy quote card:

(On orange cardstock because that is the color that goes with the YW value, "choice & accountability")

* Dinner and FHE at the Brenchley's.

We got to stay later than normal because of NO SCHOOL on Monday.

(We came home and watched some Olympics)

* On Monday, Matt had the day off work for President's Day, so we got serious about looking for some chairs.  We went to three stores and found a couple of things
WE WEREN'T SHOPPING FOR, and were seriously considering buying,
but then we figured we better get Matt fed before we made a major purchase.....

(because those who know him, know he CANNOT FUNCTION when he goes too long without food!  

I KNOW!  It happened the first few times I was in labor, having a baby.....because my labors last SO FREAKIN' LONG, and he didn't want to leave the hospital room.  

We finally learned our lesson and started packing food for him or mapping out the local eateries ahead of time!)  ;)

OK - back to the weekend.

*Lunch at C & B Maddox in Layton

Their menu has the same turkey steaks and fried chicken that is served at my favorite restaurant, 

Maddox Ranch House, which happens to be [too] far away.

So, we can eat there and it "hits the spot" - AND I get my Maddox Turkey Steak fix!

* So, then we returned to chair shopping.

We found just ONE (of course) at this furniture store, but they were able to find ANOTHER one at a different location.

{Score!}

 So, we now have one less empty space in our home.
(I've left the tags on them because I have "commitment" issue, I guess!)

 Because of the pattern, we are either calling them the "eyeball" chairs
or the "UTES" chairs.  (See the "U" in the middle - and they're more red than this pic depicts!)

* I was getting multiple texts & calls from the kids asking what was for dinner, so 

we stopped by Panda Express and got the Family Meal for take out on our

way back home.

* We had Family Night and Haylee gave a lesson on stealing.

She shared a story out of The Friend magazine about a girl who stole a pop out of a cooler

at a public place - and THEN felt awful, etc. etc......

OK, so we all agreed that THAT example IS stealing and is wrong.....BUT we are a house

divided on the subject of whether or not it is considered stealing if you take something [that's not yours] from your OWN house.  

NAMELY:  Us parents say it is stealing.  If it is NOT yours, it's not yours.  AND it's not yours!!!  End of story.  

The kids say it is not stealing.  [BECAUSE THEY'RE THE ONES DOING IT, THAT'S WHY!]
They claim that since they didn't KNOW whose the (fill in the blank with whatever it was they took) was, AND it was just laying out in plain sight when they took it,
that they did not "steal." 

{Do you understand their logic?  Because I don't!}

When presented with that argument,  
I asked, "Was it yours?"

Them:  "No."
Me:  "But you took it anyway...."
Them:  "Ya, so?"

Me:  "Then it's stealing."

Them:  "No it's not."

Me:  "Let's look at the definition of stealing:  

to take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it.

What do you think?!?

If they won't take it from their parents, will they at least believe Webster?!?

(Oh!  And we watched some more Olympics)