The Day of Awakening

You gotta get through 18 3/4 years of the [back breaking, heart aching, mind going crazy, blue-in-the-face] daily grind FIRST, but it finally comes.....it's the day when your child realizes AND admits JUST HOW GOOD HE HAS IT!  (and always has had it.)

We got this letter from our missionary son, Ryan, this week:

The letter was partially spurred on by him receiving some family photos we had taken before he left on his mission this summer.  They finally came back from the photographer, so I sent them to him in a little album:

We were kind of surprised to have our letter addressed to us in such a way, "My Eternal Forever Family" - such an upgrade from the usual, "The Brenchley's."  ;)

Then the content of the letter provided even bigger "revelations" to us:
"I am so grateful for what a great family I have!  The pics are just too precious!  Maybe it's the great color scheme or all our great smiles, but The Pictures just glows every time I look at it.  I took the album to church with me Sunday to show to some families and it got passed around to a couple of the other sisters in the ward.  Everyone who saw it was all, "Oh, what a Beautiful family you have!"  The other missionaries around the house were all commenting how much younger my family was.  (They're just jealous because their family grew up and isn't as cute as my family!)  I love you all so much.  You are all one of the main reasons I'm serving a mission.  I KNOW the happiness I have knowing my family can be together forever and I want nothing more than to share this message with others, and have them have the same Happiness I have!  I Love You all so much!"

(I think I want him to stay with this current group of missionaries who refer to us as the "YOUNG" family amongst the group!  ;)  In fact, when Ryan was telling his companion that his parents went on a 20th anniversary cruise, his companion pointed out that he's older than Ryan's parent's marriage!  His companion was born a few months before we were married....and he's the 4th child in his family to give ya an idea of the age difference in their parents!)


So, basically, now Ryan thinks we really are great!
(That's why we send them away!)  ;)
One child down, four to go!

A Sure Way to Have a Whole Month Fly By Without Even Realizing It

If time is ever moving too slow for you - just dragging on and you're wondering HOW you can make it go faster.......just GO ON A CRUISE.

Because it takes a WHOLE WEEK of pressing preparations before you can even leave:
Laundry
Writing up lists
Shopping
Making an instructions guide for our children's caretakers
Packing
Accomplishing THE LIST
ON TOP OF the extra hours at work that I had to pick up for others in trade to get the cruise week off, and Matt had to work to get all the things done that were needed for deadlines that would come up while we were gone or very shortly after we returned.
PLUS, add a daughter's birthday and party in there with my annual girls' shopping weekend in Park City on the side....

....and pretty much I was going non-stop for that first 8 days of the month.

THEN we made it on our [20th anniversary] cruise!  Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!

 The Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean

Relief.

No Responsibility.

Restful.

{Haha.  Matt took this "selfie" on the first evening.  

I was so worn out by the time our vacation actually started, I fell right to sleep waiting for the show to start!} 

 Recreational.

{Yes!  There is a operational Carousal on the ship.} 

Rejuvinating.

 Refreshing.

Royal Treatment.

from our awesome waiters, "Jeff" & "Lito"

 Romantic.

 Rewarding.

Sadly, that week went by way too fast.

Side Note:  My #1 tip for married couples:  Get Away Together (alone) often! (anything from a date night to an extended vacation)  There's really no substitute.....but that's a whole other blog post for another time.

And then we came back home.  Here's another adjective beginning with the letter "R" to describe that experience:  Rude Awakening. 

Not only was is COLD, but I had to now cook my own food, pick up my own towel, wipe my own nose......Oh no!!  

  
(It's been pretty much back to work non-stop again)

So, on MONDAY, I worked my shift all day and had to go to the grocery store for all the, "Mom! We're out of (fill in the blank with anything & everything)! items the kids bombarded me with upon my return.

On TUESDAY, I worked my shift all day and had to catch up on paying bills.  What in the heck was the current status of our bank account?!?

On WEDNESDAY, I worked my shift all day and did the miscellaneous "office" stuff...and finally decorated for Thanksgiving!  With a side of planning our ward's Christmas party.

On THURSDAY, I finally had a day off work, so I got around to unpacking all my luggage.  I also tackled cleaning the stove which appeared as if a 10 gallon pot of an assortment of foods & other stuff had exploded all over it in my absence.  I also slid on in to the Post Office in the nick of time - 4:56 p.m. - to send off this month's missionary care package (a blog post for another time) for Ryan Elder Brenchley.  (It's that time again, already?!?)

So, there's another week that's gone by in a FLASH.  It's November 20th already!?!?!  That means practically the whole month is gone!  And then Thanksgiving week always goes by fast and after that, November's over.  I really can't believe how quickly it went.  Here I am left reeling.

There you have it.
Prep week + Cruise week + Catch up week.....
How to lose a month in 20 days. (but what only seemed like a few)

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?!?

Three Strikes.....on My Idea

Katelyn turned 10 years old this week.  Double Digits!!

It was her year for a friend birthday party and she wanted to have a “Game Show” themed party.
We played "Wheel of Fortune" and "Friend Feud" with some puzzles/questions I made up.

I made the game show boards out of poster boards and paper.

I thought it would be fun & clever to have one of the “Friend Feud” questions be:  
"Name something great about Katelyn.” 
I thought it would be a good way to "CELEBRATE" the birthday girl.

FOR THIS QUESTION, I had all 12 answers worth 100 points each (instead of how I did it on the other questions and how they do it in the real game where ALL the answers only total 100).  This way, the girls could REALLY earn a lot of points for this *BRILLIANT* question.

The 12 "Katelyn" answers on the board [that were covered] were: Friendly, Happy, Athletic, Crafty, Honest, Brave, Great singer, Caring, Helpful, Gives compliments, FUN, & Smart).

Well, this *special* idea of mine?.....it kind of bombed...
because the first person guessed, “funny.”  STRIKE ONE. 
Katelyn:  "WHAT?!?  I'm not funny?  I always make everyone laugh."  (As everyone, literally, laughed!)

The next person guessed, “sweet.”  STRIKE TWO. 
Katelyn: “WHAT?!?” 
Oh no.....she's [thinking she's] NOT funny, and she's NOT sweet!

The next person said, “Awesome.”  STRIKE THREE. 
Katelyn: (practically speechless, with mouth gaping open)


So, the other team gets a chance to "steal."  And they say, “pretty.” 
I was dying because I knew THAT answer wasn't on the board, either, but I didn’t want to give ANOTHER strike.....because what Katelyn wasn't understanding was, that even though all the previous answers given about her were TRUE, and it's what her friends thought of her....it just wasn’t one of the TOP TWELVE ANSWERS ON THE BOARD.
"Pretty" got a STRIKE, also.
 
When Katelyn saw it wasn’t on the board, she hid her face in the couch and started to cry.

Come on - everyone break out into song now, "It's MY party, I can cry if I want to, cry if I want to.....YOU would cry, too, if it happened to you!"

*****************
But, in an attempt to make things better, I let the "stealing" team call out another one of their answers they had brainstormed up together - and it was [finally] ON THE BOARD! (Makes friends easily)

Things That Make You Go, "Huh?"

1.  I saw these cough drops at the store on one of those "mark down" shelves.

$1.49 for a bag - I'll take it!

I like to always look through the items that have been re-tagged with a sale price to see if there is any great deals (that I also *need*.)

If there are multiple price tags on top of each other, it means there have been multiple mark downs.

When I get home, I like to peel off the price tags one by one to see the "price history" - how the price has changed/dropped.

(Then I know what a great deal I got!)

Except, this time when I peeled off the top tag (the $1.49 price I paid), I saw that the previous price was just $1.00!
Huh?!?
I think the price tag put-er on-er needs a refresher math lesson.

2.  Katelyn had some cute, navy blue Toms-type shoes that looked very similar to this:

After wearing them several times, they got a little hole in the toe.

Which, by the way, I have seen many, many times with this type of shoe. NO BIG DEAL.

So, then the next day, I see Katelyn wearing THESE shoes:

I asked what was going on.  Apparently, THIS was her solution to concealing the little toe hole.
(These are, in fact, her navy blue Toms)

Because fluorescent orange duck tape covered shoes are SO MUCH BETTER?!!?
Huh?!?

3.  Our missionary son, Ryan, wrote home eight questions that he wanted our whole family to each answer individually, in a letter back to him.

It was the same 8 questions for everyone, but he was curious to see the differences in our answers.
It was kind of a fun activity because everyone's DIFFERENT perspective of the SAME THING was revealed.

Here is Matt's (dad) response to Ryan's eight questions.

ALMOST half a sheet of paper!

In contrast....

Here is my letter/answers.

Page #1

And Page #2 

Huh?!?

(I KNOW missionaries like letters!)

I Got the Message...

We had my nieces & nephews staying with us one evening while their parents were out on a date.
Brookelle and my 3 1/2 yr. old niece came into the kitchen, where I was working, to get something to eat out of the pantry.
While they were close-by, this is what I overheard:


Niece:  "Brookelle, your mommy is REALLY fat."
Brookelle:  (Nervous laughter. Then, looks at me to see if I heard, or not.  Sees that I DID...)  "Come on, (niece's name), let's go!"

....and she's OUTTA THERE!


#ibetteraskforafitbitforChristmas

This Weekend:

* Our elementary school had a “Color Run” and Silent Auction this Saturday.
 No one wanted to really run, but they wanted to get “colored” so we went down
to the school for the event anyway.

  They had a couple of “COLOR BOMBS” as a group out on the field, so Katelyn & Brookelle got all pink, blue, green, yellow, & orange.
Katelyn DID jump in for the 1K (without an official race number bib) and ran with a bunch of kids.   
One of the baskets in the auction was a U of U theme, so Katelyn TOTALLY wanted to get it
(in honor of her die-hard-Utes-fan missionary brother)!
There was another boy classmate of hers that was hanging around close by
to always UP his bid on the U of U basket if anyone else ever placed a bid.
She got it out of him that he had $100 that he was capable of bidding for it.
She was BEGGING and BEGGING me to give her $105 so she could beat that other boy!  Ummm....NOT going to happen!!!
  (Actually, I think he was mostly trying to flirt/tease her just to see her get riled up,
and so that she would keep talking to him and paying attention to him!
I could see it in his smile & eyes!)


* My nephew, and my kids' cousin, Cameron, tested for his BLACK BELT
in Tae Kwon Do on Saturday afternoon.  It was a 3 HOUR test!
We went for the last half to cheer him on.  There were 7 boys total testing.  Interestingly enough, there were multiple times
when one of the boys couldn’t quite make his kick high enough or clear a hurdle he was jumping, so the owner of the dojo would ask his peeps to cheer for him,
and it seemed like EVERY TIME their crowd started making some noise/chanting his name, the boy was able to DO IT!
Who doesn't believe in moral support?!  There's POWER in it, I tell ya!

  As part of the test, they had to break boards – 4 with their hands with different kinds of strikes,
 and 4 with their feet with different kinds of kicks all in consecutive order.
The owner and his assistant held two of the boards, but then the boy was suppose to pull
two other people from his crowd to hold the other two.
Kyle said, “I ain’t holdin’ no board!”
He was afraid his wrist would break when Cameron hit it.
So, Cameron's dad, Mike, and Matt were the ones who went out on the floor to hold the boards.
The photographer got a pic RIGHT AS he was striking the board Matt was holding.
Look at Matt's face -  SO FUNNY!
BUT, Cameron is OFFICIALLY A BLACK BELT, now!!!!
What a great accomplishment – we are happy for him!

* Matt & I had tickets to the ReAL game on Saturday night, so we went – someone spilled beer at my feet, so it was pretty exciting!  haha.

2-0 WIN vs. the San Jose Earthquakes

 

* We went to the missionary farewell of one of Ryan's long time friends' (all through childhood) on Sunday morning.
He is going to FIJI and he GETS  to wear a SKIRT with his white shirt & black missionary name tag on his mission!
(THINK:  “The Other Side of Heaven” movie)  COOL!

{Jared & Ryan, circa 2008}

I can't believe these two little boys are grown up, serving missions now!!!

  * We went to our own church later.
Some of the pink is still in the girls' hair/on their scalp TODAY
and they still have it around their mouths a bit, too!  Nice look for church!  haha

* One of my former Young Women was the youth speaker in our own ward (I'm so proud of "my" YW!)
She gave a talk on the parable of The Great Supper (Luke 14:16-24).
I’d kind of forgotten about it, but it is a really good!
When she was talking about how the man invited many, but most of them had excuses
why they couldn’t come, I leaned over to Matt and said,  
“That sounds like what happens to us; whenever we invite other couples to go out with us!”   
Bwa ha ha ha!
BUT, THE REAL MESSAGE is about US fully partaking of the Gospel, without excuses, and then we will receive the FULL blessings.


* My Sunday evenings are now spent writing my weekly letter to our missionary, Ryan, so
when he reads his email on Monday (his one P-day a week), he will have the latest
updates from home.

Don't You Wish I Was Your Mom?

Haylee's Jr. High Science teacher was offering extra credit to any of her students who came to the "Moon viewing" to see the TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE at the school on Wednesday morning.....from 5:15-6:15AM.

But, ya always gotta take advantage of extra credit!

Matt was leaving really early in the morning anyway to take his parents to the airport, so the plan was for him to drop her off at the school, while I stayed home (ASLEEP IN BED) with our other children.

Her school doesn't start until 8:10a.m., so we talked about what she was going to do in between the moon viewing and school.  She just matter of factly told me that she would just walk back home.
Uhhh.....I DON'T THINK SO!  I put the brakes on that suggestion real fast.  It's still pitch dark at that time!  Did she really think that'd be a good idea?

She needed to do some catch up work in the keyboarding lab, so we talked about her doing that - except the lab doesn't open until 7:00a.m. so there was still some time unaccounted for.  Kyle was pretty sure the janitors get there that early, so he said the school would be unlocked.  She decided she would just go into the school and "hang out" until she could get into the lab.

Well, my eyes popped right open at 5:45a.m. and they were already gone, but I started to question whether or not she fully understood our plan for the morning.  And I became restless.  Then I thought, "Wonder if the school is still locked?  Wonder if all the lights are OFF in the school when she goes in?"  I couldn't go back to sleep.  Her comment about "just walking home" kept coming into my head.  That did it.  There was no chance I was falling asleep again. 

So, I got up.  I was driving over to the school.  I figured I'd just walk into the backyard of the school, find her, talk through the plan, and confirm that the school was open, etc.  It was still dark, so I figured I'd just go in my pajamas to save time.  At the last minute, I opted to change my PJ bottoms for my yoga capris instead....to be a little more presentable?

It turns out, the moon viewing was done by the time I got there, and no one was in the backyard anymore.  I talked to other kids who were outside and they told me that a lot of kids were in the school......

So, picture this;  I enter the Jr. High School wearing my pajama top, covered by a zip front hoodie (to cover up the fact that I was NOT wearing a bra), yoga capris, and flip flops.  I had just put on my glasses so I could see and had left without doing ANYTHING else, including looking in the mirror.  I had fresh BED HEAD and who knows what leftover make-up was smeared around my eyes or across my face.  I didn't think anything about it (I had only been thinking about saving Haylee from walking home in the dark) UNTIL I entered the front doors of the school and I saw many Jr. High students (a lot more than I expected!) hanging out all over in the commons area - and I saw their eyes turn to look at me.  THAT'S the first time I thought about HOW I looked.  Uh Oh!  (THAT'S the difference between women in their 40's & Jr. High students!)  I looked like a real beauty, I'm sure!

I proceeded to walk through the halls of the Jr. High and actually found her pretty quickly.  She was laying down on a bench (she got up at 4:20a.m.!) with a couple of friends.  When she saw me, she instantly became alert and she sat up and exclaimed, "MOM!  What are you doing?"  as the two other girls looked on.  I reminded her NOT to try to walk home that morning, and she was like, "I KNOW!  I'm not going to - you already told me I couldn't."  I went over the plan with her - while her friends watched & listened with fascination - and it turns out she had it all under control!  So, I turned around and walked back out of the Jr. High, passed the groups of other students with their stares, and drove back home.

I have a feeling there were some conversations going on amongst the kids about something to the effect of, "WOW!  I wish my mom would come to school like THAT!"  ;)

Bwah ha ha ha ha

I Don't Take Rejection Well

A friend of mine referred me to BioLife, a place she goes to donate plasma, to earn some extra cash (every little bit helps when you have a missionary out!)

So, I go for my first time and they do all this "paperwork" (on the computer) first - including getting my fingerprint digitally, so I can "sign" by putting my finger on this devise.

They also do this medical pre-screening where they weigh you (Oh joy!  That's enough to back out right on the spot!) and check your arms.  They also take your temperature/blood pressure/pulse and they prick your finger to test your blood for hematocrit & protein levels.

By the time I get called up for my med pre-screen, I'd already been there for about an hour (plus the 15 min. drive time) so I was ready to get the show on the road!  Only to have them test my finger prick and tell me my hematocrit level was too low - BY ONE POINT!  So, I was disqualified from donating that day.  What?!?  I'm not good enough?  I didn't like that feeling.  I couldn't leave it like THAT!
They gave me a pamphlet with ideas on how to raise my hematocrit levels, some of which were eating more tuna and raisins!  I DON'T THINK SO!  Those are two foods I try to never come in contact with!  Thus, my low levels?  I opted for the iron supplement route instead and went back the next day and passed!  YES!
(Although, they didn't get a good "stick" on the first arm, and they eventually had to take it out and re-try on my other arm - a "Two for One deal" as they call it, ya, real funny!)  They told me that first arm they had tried is a little more tricky, and in the future, to ask for an"experienced" person.  Ummmm, shouldn't they ALL be experienced?

So, then I went back the next week - I wanted to see if I could do it "incident-free" and not have them find anything wrong with me.  Since, it was my 2nd time, I was "flagged" when I signed in, I guess.
So, they had me walk over to the receptionist area,
Then she directed me to the waiting area.
Then when I was "cleared" by a supervisor, they told me to go over to the computer area for my questionnaire.  One of the questions was about recent vaccinations received and I had just gotten my flu shot the day before, so I marked it yes....which ended up "flagging" me.
When I walked over to the pre-screen area, they saw the "flag" and had me walk over into a private consultation room to ask me about that question.
She didn't know if the flu shot was OK, or not, so then we walked over to the nurses offices to find out.
They said it was OK, so then we walked back to the consultation room, and that computer wouldn't work.
So, we went to find help, then FINALLY we were cleared to go back to pre-screening.
And they proceeded to take my vitals - and surprise, surprise, my pulse was too high!
What?  Another failure?
She said it was probably from all that walking to and fro in the previous 10 minutes.  (It might've ALSO had something to do with the fact that, right before she took it, I started thinking about my "2 for 1" experience from last time!)
This time, instead of rejecting me right on the spot, they told me to sit down for 5 minutes and then they could re-test my pulse.
I felt pretty unsettled about not "passing" again - I don't like that!  It's just a little, little thing, but it didn't sit well with me, so I was determined to prove them!  I HAD to be found worthy!  ;)  So, as I sat, I may or may not have engaged in deep yoga-like breathing exercises until they called my name again, and after testing me - my pulse was just fine!  YES!

So, then I was bound & determined to have a SMOOTH draw and PASS everything with flying colors, that I went again.  Hematocrit - PASS.  Pulse - PASS.  (We're on a roll!)  And then it came time for the stick.  It should've been a clue to me when the phlebotomist took extra time feeling my arm and touching up and down my vein.  Then she kept rubbing my vein and looking and feeling some more.  In fact, it WAS a clue, I was very aware of her hesitancy, BUT I had talked to her before we started saying that an experienced person needs to do my left arm, and she didn't back out, so I took that to mean she was, and I didn't refuse her and demand someone else.  Because, after all, wasn't that a lot of the reason I was THERE again?  Trying myself, not to be refused?  So, I'm not prone to do it to someone else.  She finally completed the stick, but the flow wasn't up to par, so she called for assistance, and someone else came and "adjusted" the needle (i.e. pushed it further in - too far, I believe, since as soon as she did it, I FELT a pain!  So, they moved it back a bit).  That draw took a little bit longer than normal, so NOT a success in my book.

That time WAS going to be my last time.......BUT in the days since I was there, I have developed bruising on my arm in the area above the stick site - it is in the area I felt pain in when they pushed the needle up TOO FAR.  Surprise, surprise!  The bruising on my arm now disqualifies me for another donation until it goes away.  So just knowing that; if I were to go in, not that I was necessarily even planning on it, BUT IF I DID and they saw my bruised arm, I'd be rejected......and that BUGS ME again.  It's like I have this little phrase that goes off in my head repeatedly, "They WILL NOT reject me.  They WILL NOT reject me.  I CAN do it!  I CAN!"

Uh oh, I think this means I might be back!  ;)

*This "condition" I have can probably be attributed to my 5th Grade teacher.  She made us memorize quotes, and one of them (that I OBVIOUSLY took to heart) was, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"

I'm a Creature of Habit

Is this O.C.D. or just second nature? 

Do I need professional help or should I be teaching lessons on efficiency?

EVERY SINGLE TIME I empty the dishwasher, I start with the lower rack first and get out the large plates, then the medium plates, then the small plates.  Next, I move to the upper rack and grab the big glass bowls, then the regular-size glass bowls, and finally the plastic/melamine kids' bowls (because they go in the same cabinet as the plates).  Then, while I'm still on the upper rack, I empty out the mugs, then the glasses, then the plastic kids' cups.  Then there's still an order to the measuring cups, lids and large cooking utensils.  I go back down to the lower rack for the cutting boards/tupperware containers/pots & pans and any other random stuff.  I always finish very last with the silverware tote.  I do it like this EVERY time.  I never depart from this routine.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I put on my lip balm - and if you know me, you know that is about 12+ times a day - I start on the lower left lip, slide over to the right lower lip, and then swipe back to the starting point.  Then I move to the upper lip; starting on the right side, sliding over to the left side, and finish up by swiping back to the upper right side.  I ALWAYS apply my lip balm this way - no other way.

Face.  Neck.  Left arm.  Chest.  Right arm.  Stomach/torso.  Right leg.  Left leg.  "Down South."  Rear end.  Back.  Hair.  Make a turban for my head.  THIS is the order that I dry off EVERY SINGLE TIME I get out of the shower.  It's like I don't even know how to do it any other way.  I'd surely forget a body part if I did it "out of sync."

Do YOU have things you HAVE to do a certain way?!?