This Weekend:

* I took the kids to Krispie Kreme Doughnuts to 

redeem their 1st term grades. 

Krispie Kremes give one FREE doughnut for each "A" on your report card

(or the equivalent, since our elementary school grades with 1, 2, 3's).

We ended up taking home 5 BOXES of doughnuts amongst everyone!

{It was a little embarrassing walking out of there with SO MANY - without making a purchase, too - but not enough to prevent us from doing it, I guess! ;)}

We had to put names on each of their boxes to keep everyone's straight.....which still didn't completely 

keep out the "treat theif" who lives among us who "Just Couldn't Help It" when it came to 

helping him/herself to others' doughnut supply.

Haylee's portion was used to fill my & Matt's doughnut cravings since

KK are NOT gluten-free.  (sad for Haylee, happy for Matt & I!)

As a substitutre, I took Haylee to Sweet Cake Bake Shop 

which DOES have GF baked goods.

* Next stop was going to Boondocks to get their good

grades rewards.  (3 tokens for A's, 2 tokens for B's).

Of course, the kids had to engage in "sibling banter" about who got more $$ than others!

{We had it all put on a card for now - we'll go & play at a later date!}

* As a rare occasion, we actually were home on Friday night and I made dinner!

I made 7-Layer Tostadas...compliments of a Pinterest find.

I've always loved 7-layer dip - this is a play on that!

{We figured something out:  the older you are, the MORE you liked this dish, and the more layers you put on it.  Matt, Ryan & I put EVERYTHING on it.....The youngest pretty much just had the tortilla, refried beans, & cheese!}

* The reason we were home was because we took our boys to this:

It was the Youth Culminating Event for this year.

Ryan was on the Youth Committee and helped plan it.

A couple of weeks ago, they each got their "Mission Call" in the mail.

Ryan got called to Sapporo, Japan (yea, Japan!)

Kyle was called to Manila, Phillippines.

It was a two-day event (Friday & Saturday),

 but when my boys came home on Friday night,

they were very UPBEAT, GLOWING, POSITIVE, FRIENDLY, COURTEOUS, HAPPY, and EXCITED to continue on the next day......

I could tell they had felt The Spirit all evening.

I'm so thankful for experiences like this for our youth!

 {They were feeling pretty good all dressed up in their spiffy missionary suits!}

 It warmed MY heart, too!

With their "Future Missionary" black name tags!

The next day, I went for just a couple of hours representing the Young Women adult leader from our ward.

There were a number of guest speakers that they learned great things like this from:

{Look!  There's even instructions for Mom, at home.}

I got some photos of some of my darling [future missionary] young women, too!

 (complete with some photo bombs from our young men!)  :)

Ryan was still feeling "the fire" within himself because he [without being asked] did his own laundry Saturday afternoon - a physical preparation that was emphasized during his "training."  :)


*Meanwhile, on Friday night, Matt & I and our daughters had a ice cream & movie "party."
We watched "The Big Green."

 It finally showed up on Netflix - it was a favorite with our boys when they were younger (& still now!)
Now the girls have been introduced to it - they liked it a lot, too!


* On Saturday morning, I went to our ward Relief Society's "Super Saturday."
In the past, I have made the foolish mistake of signing up for MULTIPLE
projects, and then I'm never able to finish them.
SO, this year, I only signed up for ONE THING.  The pillow cases.  Which the "teachers"
had told me were "so easy."
BUT, of course, I wanted to make one for everyone in my family.....which is 7....
and, as it turns out, that STILL equals MULTIPLE projects.
And I would not classify them as "so easy" either.
{I wasn't able to finish.}
My friend didn't get a chance to buy her fabric, yet, so I told her she
should just come anyway - AND she could bring her sewing machine and get "practice" for hers by
doing mine!  I was just kidding, but she came to help for reals - and in reality
I REALLY DID need her.  She made two, and I made two during the allotted time.
HOW DID I THINK I could ever make 7?!?
I was determined to get them done, so I spent the afternoon doing them at home.
After TWO busted needles, running out of bobbin thread, wondering WHY I didn't
stop at two children, and 2 1/2 hours later, I finished the last three pillowcases.

 * We had date night out with our friends at Twigs Bistro.  We'd heard so much about it from "everyone."
There was a 45 min. wait, so we walked around Station Park and checked out
the candy store and the Grand Opening of Old Navy there while we waited.
I would highly recommend the TNT Coulotte, and Matt would
recommend the Twigs Signature Burger.  yummmm.
(But our friends would not recommend what they got, the Spicy Red Curry [not spicy enough] or the Under the Sun pizza [too much meat] - sorry!)


* We went to church on Sunday.
I got to do a little skit for Sunday School that went with the lesson.
Although I did have a few speaking lines, more importantly the skit happened to involve me
eating chocolate chip cookies - sign me up every time!  ;)
I didn't have to teach in Young Women this week - my adviser did - but we are learning about this in November.
As far as self-reliance goes, I realized I did a better job of getting myself to bed at a good time
when I was their [young woman] age than I do today.  (gotta work on that!)


* I had about a 2 hr.nap on Sunday afternoon!
(That seemed like only 15 min.!)


* As is customary on the 3rd Sunday, we had dinner and FHE at Matt's parents' house
with some of the cousins on Sunday evening.
I think the kids may have managed to get more chocolate cake crumbs on the
kitchen counter and floor than in their mouths!  ;)


* Later that evening, we had a little "intervention" with Ryan about College & scholarship applications.
The deadline for most is fast approaching!!!
The High School counselor's goal for him is to get it all done by Thanksgiving
(Wow!  Is this really happening?)


* I think I fell asleep sometime during "Talkin' Sports"

Called to Serve

My neice opened her Mission call tonight.
We all went up to their house to witness this EXCITING event.
There was my family of 7 and about 100 other people there, too.  Really, maybe half that many.  Or a third.  I really don't know how many, but there were enough to make quite a ruckous with our cheering and clapping when she read aloud her mission she has been called to serve in.

MADRID, SPAIN

And the shouts continued when she read from her call that she will report directly to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in SPAIN - not the traditional one in Provo, Utah that everyone else in the family has gone to.

And the noise [of gladness & congratulations] burst out again when she read that she will start her mission on June 12, 2013.

I am thrilled for her!

With the new announcement from the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, at last October's General Conference that the new age for women to serve a full-time mission was changed to age 19 instead of 21,  she immediately was eligible since she was already 19 yrs. old!  There is now a SURGE of women submitting their missionary applications -- and I think IT. IS. WONDERFUL.  Sister Missionaries are SO effective and amazing.  They were THE BEST in my mission, but, unfortunately, we were in the minority......but things are changing now with the lower age!  Amongst some of my neice's other "fans" there to watch, there were three other girls who had their mission calls, too!!  It's so great.

Being there tonight, I couldn't help but recall receiving my OWN mission call.

Although, my experience 21 1/2 years ago was very, very different from hers today, it still brought back the EMOTION associated with it..  Tears filled my eyes as I listened to her read her call, just the same as they have the other few times I have been privileged to be a bystander when future missionaries have opened their calls.....BECAUSE I KNOW what it's like to open a Mission Call.  I have been there!  The tears were there when I opened my OWN call, too.  It is SO important and SO profound.  It is SO BIG - a call to serve from The Prophet.

After being a part of her "Mission Call Opening Party" with the masses, Matt asked me if it made me wish I would've done it like THAT.

No.

That may surprise some because I am very much a "social creature" by nature and a "People Person" who loves friends and being around others.  USUALLY.  But, opening my mission call was NOT a USUAL experience.
There is not a wrong way and a right way to do it.  The way I did it was just PERFECT FOR ME!

I chose to open my Mission Call all by myself, in private, out in nature, next to a river in the beautiful surroundings of Logan Canyon in Northern Utah back in the summer of 1991.

I wanted to have my own true, REAL initial reaction to the call - without having to "put on a show" for an audience.

So, when I learned of my call, FUKUOKA, JAPAN, there was no fanfare.  No deafening crowds whooping and hollering.  No eyes on me - at least not of the human kind.  But I felt very, very close to my Heavenly Father & Jesus at that moment - I KNEW They were with me.

(Signed by Ezra Taft Benson, the Prophet in 1991)

Even though I am "Geographically Deficient" and I didn't even know WHERE Japan was....North?  South?  East?  West of here?  Even though I had indicated on my application that I was NOT interested in learning a foreign language....  And even though I [might have] exclaimed, "Holy Cha!" when I read it, I immediately prayed - right then and there on that big boulder I was sitting on out in the open air.  I was surrounded with just the sound of the trickling water, the fluttering of leaves in the trees up above and the occasional chirping of a bird.  And as I did so, I felt The Spirit confirming to me that I was "up to the challenge!"

For DAYS afterwards, it still seemed like an "Out of body experience" to think about ME serving a mission in Japan.  I still can't believe that I did it sometimes, now!   But, that day will always be a tender memory for me.

I did go to my parents home the next day where the rest of my "groupies" had gathered and I "opened" my Mission Call (however I already knew where I was going) in front of them.  Then they were all made privy to the BIG NEWS for the first time -- and they shared in my joy and excitement, too.  So, I got BOTH - a private and a public opening - I've always been one to prolong the CELEBRATION as much as possible!  ;)  haha.

GO Sister Missionaries! 

(This plaque hung in the glass case at our church building the whole time I was gone.)

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

 And No.  I'm NOT talking about the "Jelly of the Month Club" (from Christmas Vacation).  :)

About 10 days ago, Matt & I finished our "Year of Dates".   I gave this to Matt as a gift for Christmas 2011.  I tried to think of all the things that we have always talked about doing, "We should do THAT sometime!" BUT never have.  Our "date bucket list" so to speak.

He was nice and told me it was "The Best present EVER!" (In his opinion, even better than the iPad HE gave to ME last year!) There were 12 pre-planned, [mostly] pre-paid dates in the basket, one for each month of the year. Shortly after Christmas, we sat down with our new 2012 calendar and decided all the dates and WROTE IT IN PEN (that makes if official, ya know! :) We really looked forward to it all year. Here's what we did.....

JANUARY

Utah State University Basketball Game.

We went back to our Alma Mater dressed in our Aggie fan duds for a basketball game and went to some of our old stompin' grounds: dinner at The Factory Pizzeria & ice cream at Charlie's.  (We're so sentimental.)  We were a bit disappointed that our names we had carved into one of the tables [Matt + Suz w/ a heart around it] all those years ago wasn't even detectable anymore - too many more carvings on top of it, I guess.  :(

FEBRUARY

A horse 'n' carriage ride around downtown Salt Lake City.  

It just so happened that the city was celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the SLC 2002 Olympics that night (with Mitt Romney present) so fireworks started going off while we were on our ride.....COOL!  Except, the downside to that was that it scared the horse and our driver had to turn it around and take a detour.  (but we scored a coupon for a future ride due to the unusual circumstances!)  We dined at P.F. Changs afterwards.

MARCH

A Spa Date Night

Massages, pedicures, hot wax treatments, and spa treats.

APRIL

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Session

We had never been to this temple before.  It's a cute, small one.  Then I got to experience Lamb's Grill - somewhere Matt has gone with work a lot and had talked about, saying he'd have to take me sometime, but it hadn't happened yet.  (He says it's better for breakfast than lunch.)

MAY

Brian Regan concert at Tuacahn

What an enjoyable time.  We laughed so hard!   The opening act was great, too.

JUNE

Picnic in the Park

We went to Sugarhouse Park in SLC and had Subway on a blanket and played cards -- until the breeze blew them away.  This was really relaxing and was kind of in honor of our college days when we hung out at the park quite a bit...to escape homework, roommates, or to just soak in the sun & fresh air.

JULY

Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City

We had tickets to "The Merry Wives of Windsor".  We had to concentrate SO HARD to understand/translate the lines they were saying.  How many years has it been since we studied Shakespeare in school?!?  We were kinda rusty on those language skills.  ;) haha.

AUGUST

I had a date planned to go to Snowbird and ride the tram, then go hiking around.......BUT on the day we had it on the calendar was the day we were moving OUT of our old house, so we postponed it to the next weekend.....BUT on that day, we were moving IN to our new house, so we rescheduled it to the next week...BUT on that day, we were still unpacking....you get the picture.  Snowbird never happened, but the last week of August we.....

Took a trip to San Diego instead - just the 2 of us!  

That counts as a substitute August date, right?  We got to finally relax after several weeks of WORK!  We (among other things) rode in a cycle rickshaw, took in a Padres game, lots of good restaurants, and attended a "60's Party."  (can you see the "SF {heart's} MB" I wrote on the VW bug?)    :)

SEPTEMBER

Cooking School

I was the "chef's assistant" during the demo portion of the class.  The class was "Mainland Chinese" themed.  We made Spring Rolls, Egg Drop Soup, Lemongrass Chicken, and Ham-Fried Rice with Bok Choy.  It also happened to be my birthday that day, so afterwards, the chef let me keep the apron (as a gift) and then took us downstairs to the bakery and let us each pick out any dessert we wanted!  woo hoo!

OCTOBER

We went to the Draper Temple and did sealings.....

then to dinner at Kobe Restaurant.  Doesn't the sight of this Udon bowl make you feel like saying,  

"FEE-FI-FO-FUM!"?  :)  

If you ever go there, Remember this:  SUNSHINE ROLL.  yum.

NOVEMBER

A "Slumber Party" at The Eliza Court Inn....sans children, of course.

DECEMBER

Holiday POPS Concert with Paul Cardall 

Hosted by KUTV ch. 2 Newsanchors, Mark Koelbel & Shauna Lake & directed by meteorologist, Sterling Poulsen (who knew?  a man of many talents).  We wished we could've heard from Paul Cardall even more - Matt really likes his music.

And now the "Year of Dates" is over.  (boo hoo)  Don't ya think Matt should reciprocate the idea for me in 2013, now?  Christmas is in a week, I guess we'll find out then......  :)