Your Help, Please

I am currently serving as a Young Women's advisor in my ward. I work with the laurel class (16-18). I'm trying to come up with some class activities ideas and I'm coming up blank. So I'm asking those of you who ever when to mutual or have served in the YW program for some help. If you had a favorite activity or just some great ideas could you please let me know. Leave a comment. If we use your idea I will let you know how it went.
Thanks in advance for all your great ideas.

Happy Happenings 7/19-25/09

Monday
Girls Day; today is Lynne’s birthday so we celebrated with pedicures and manicures. We also went out to lunch. After lunch we came back and floated in the pool. It was a good day.

Tuesday
I went to Ikea with my mom & Lynne. After months of saving I finally got the shelf, for my scrapbook room that I have been wanting. Thank you mom & Fran for the birthday money that made getting my shelf possible.
After shopping we spent hours floating and playing in the pool. It was great fun to watch Brett doing cannon balls. He practically emptied the pool.

Wednesday
I returned home to my kids and hubby. It is always nice to come home after a trip. Believe it or not Lillee actually grew/changed in the four days I was gone.

Thursday
It’s my birthday; wahoo another year older and hopefully wiser.
Opening my b-day gift from Audree was great. She sent the gift with Austin a month ago when he came for a visit. I was tempted to open it but I actually had the self control to wait. I know shocking.

My gift from Audree. Supper cute bag that she made, but very easy to cheat with.

All the birthday wishes made me smile. Thanks for the love.
Lillee got her last set of shots. She can now go to the groomers and learn to walk on a leash. He current weight is 5 lb 3 oz. I cannot believe how much she has grown in two months.
I got my shelf put together. I did it all by myself. The only help I got was when Neal helped me move it into my scrap room. I had to put it together in the “guest” room where there was floor space. Ha-ha the “guest” room is practically empty, because my “guest” bed is an air-mattress that is blown up only when guest come. I use the term “guest room” very liberally.

My shelf is awesome!

I got my first picture with all three dogs together, thanks to help of my shelf. J

My first attempt. It didn't go so well.

My second try turned out much better. They are so cute!

(No I'm not prejudice, not at all!)

Saturday
It has been overcast and muggy, this makes me lazy. All I want to do is lie on the coach and watch movies. I was quite happy when I finally got out of my funk and got productive. I accomplished some of the things on my list to do, and added more for the coming week. It feels good to be productive.
Lillee got her first bath! I took her to Petsmart to get the puppy package. They bathed & brushed her. They also trimmed her feet, face and belly. She has two bows in her hair. She is supper fluffy and cute.

The BEFORE picture

Lillee & her groomer Shawna

One of Lillee's bows

The AFTER picture

Lillee looking up at me

In the evening we went to the stake Pioneer Day celebration. We enjoyed the inexpensive food, seeing friends from the ward and watching people.
The fire work display was pretty cool. I haven’t seen a fire work show for two years. (The last time I went to the pioneer day celebration) The finally was awesome and gave me goose bumps. The boom from the fireworks was so loud I felt the sound waves on my arms.

Sad Note
I had taken pictures of our manicures & pedicures. I also took some really awesome pictures of Brett’s cannon balls and other pool pictures. Sadly, while I was trying to get the “stamp date” turned on for Neal I accidentally erased everything off the card. I was very upset about erasing the pictures! I cannot believe I did that, it makes me very sad!

Another Year Older

Today marks another full revolution around the sun since my birth. When I turned 27 I started to freak out about turning 30. I was getting closer. I continued to freak out even more when I turned 28 and than 29. I had set certain goals to reach by the time I was 30. I was not even close to reaching my goal and there was no hope of being able to. By the time I actually turned 30 I was all out of being "freaked out" and it was no big deal.
This year I turned 31. I don't really have any feelings about my "old" age its just another year. I am, however, feeling sorry for myself. If I was in Salt Lake, as I had planed, I would be going out to dinner with friends & my sister. After dinner we were going to the Kenny Chesney concert. So instead of hanging out with friends/family and having a great time, I'm sitting at my computer writing this blog. Not exactly the birthday I had planned. Oh well, life goes on. I will live.

Happy Happenings 7/12-18

Sunday
It really touched my heart at the end of the lesson when Sister Purkey prayed for me.
While we were at church we let Lillee have run of the house (tiled areas). I was so proud of her for not making any messes in the house. This is the longest time she has been left out alone.
Monday
It made me happy when my workout was over. I didn’t work out at all last week because of girls camp and not feeling well. So when I finished my 30 minute workout which felt like a lifetime I was very very happy.
Tuesday
It was great when my mom showed up to spend the day with me. We did a lot of running around, but it was great to spend time with her, even if we were doing errands.
Wednesday
Young Women’s was a blast. We played water games.
It was really funny when Carter who is almost four threw a water balloon at me. It hit my neck and popped. Although it made my neck sting, it was nice to be cooled off.
While filling up water balloons and tying them I would accidentally drop the balloon. The balloon would then “fly” around squirting water all over the place. HAHAHA! It was so funny. Just picture it; I’m sure you will be laughing too.
Thursday
Eating a homemade quesadilla for lunch oh how YUMMY!
Having a hamburger for dinner; more Yummy-ness!
Lillee only had one accident the whole day. Way to go Lillee.
Friday
I went to the temple. It was great. I hadn’t been to the temple to do work since March. It had been way too long and it was about time I went back.
Lillee looked so funny when she came in from the yard. She had been running around of the wet grass. Her feet, face and belly were all wet and the rest of her was dry and fluffy. It made me laugh. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her.
Saturday
It has been a goal all summer to exercise six times a week, but so far I have been unable to reach my goal. However, today I exercised for the 5th time this week; my most so far. I would have done it 6 times but I was sick on Thursday. I was very proud of myself for getting up at 6:30 AM, on a Saturday, to work out before I left I left for Cal-Nev-Ari.
I had a great time visiting with my mom on our three hour drive to Riverside California.
It was great to see my brother, sister-n-law, niece and nephews. I haven’t seen them since Thanksgiving. It’s going to be a fun four days!
Finally getting to see Harry Potter! We went to the drive in to watch the movie. It was a lot of fun!

Me, Mom & Lynne

Brittany, Brett & CJ
Father & Son (Brett & Craig)

I'm a theif

As a teacher I was great at stealing other teachers great ideas. As a scrapbooker I scraplift all the time. Now it appears that even as a blog stalker I'm a thief.

My old friend, she is not old we have just known each other for a long time, has a great blog. Every Sunday she posts "Sunday Smiles". In her post she recaps all the things that made her smile that week. I love how positive and upbeat she is about her life. He "Sunday Smiles" post has inspired me to do something similar. So as not to copy her completely I will call my posts "Happy Happenings". Shel I hope you are not offended by my thievery. Remember imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Now I don't know if LeShel has to write her smiles down as the week progresses or if she just has a great memory, but I had to make a list. This week was especially great so it might be a bit longer than future posts.

This weeks HAPPY HAPPENINGS:

I was so happy on Monday when after 2 days of cold showers I was finally able to take a HOT shower.

I laughed so hard I almost woke Neal up...When I came into bed on Monday night I must have startled Neal almost awake. However, I knew he was still asleep when he asked me to "tell the nightstand to stop moving". I waited a second and then told the nightstand to stop moving. He than asked "where is the nightstand". I said I didn't know and asked him where it was. His response "It disappeared". He often says incoherent things in when I come to bed, but this one was clear and I actually remembered it.

How lucky and blessed I was this week to go up to girls camp from Tue-Thur

Opening my car door and smelling the wonderful scent of the mountains made me smile!

Who couldn't help but be happy to lay on their airbed and have view like this out the tent.

View out the door of the tent



view out the window of the tent

I couldn't help but laugh when I young woman from the camp across the road yelled "we all have butt cracks!"

Pancakes for breakfast! I never make pancakes but I love them. It was quite a treat to have the stake cooks make us pancakes.

I love the sound of the wind through the trees. It is such a peaceful sound. Except at night when your trying to sleep.

I smiled & sighed with relief when I opened the garage on Thursday and there was nothing in my parking spot. I hate parking outside, it is way too hot!

Thursday afternoon when I got home I was very happy to take a shower and use a toilet that flushes.

It makes me happy to see KC & Lillee play together. It is very funny when KC decides to be possessive about a certain toy. I think he does it on purpose. One of these days I will have to get it on video.

Lille & KC played tug a war with a stuffed bone. We tried and tried to get JJ & KC to do this. So it made me happy that Lil & KC did this without prompting. I need a video of this too.

It made me very happy to go back up to the mountains on Friday for the testimony meeting.

I was quite happy to see the girls again. Although it was nice to be home to shower and sleep in my bed all the time I kept wondering what the girls were doing. It was great to see their dirty faces.

Mountain Shadows ward ROCKS!

How happy I was to yet again smell the wonderful smell of the mountains.

I loved hearing the testimonies of the young woman in our ward. They are great examples to me.

I was oh so very happy to realize last night that Lillee made it though and entire day without pooping or peeing in the house :-) :-) :-) Hopefully this will be the beginning of many many many.....more days of this.

I hope your week is full of Happy Happenings

A Penny Saved...

For about four years or so Neal has been putting his change in a Coke-a-Cola bank. I have also contributed, but I use cash much less than Neal. A couple of weeks ago Neal decided to count his change. He must have been board. I don't have an accurate number but I do know that it is over $120. I made a few suggestions on how we should spend the money. I suggested we could tint the windows on my truck or have a hitch put on. I know it is always about me. I'm not going to lie I'm very spoiled.

However, after the garage/house being flooded and having to move everything in the waters way all by myself I decided that Neal should get something he has been wanting to get for a long time now: Roof racks to store our crap.

This is what the garage looked like after I moved everything out of harms way. I know is doesn't look too bad, but all the stuff is lined up & hidden. Also keep in mind it was about 105 that day and we usually park two cars in our garage.

All the change

Neal had to go up into the "attic" to mark the studs

Rack number one

Working on rack #2

All done

Look at all that stuff! Two thirds of it is Christmas stuff.

I would include a picture of the whole garage but it is not back in order yet. I started working on it after the water heater was installed but the heat was making me dizzy and lightheaded. I'll try to remember to post an "After" picture, but I make no promises.

Water Heater Update & What We Now Know

So the plumber guy came over yesterday. Our appointment was between 10 & 2. He got here about 2:30. I was out running errands,for girls camp, when he came. By the time I got home the plumber was leaving. He had taken the old water heater out & looped the pipes so that we could have water. It is all cold water, but that is better than nothing. Not having running water sure made me realize just how much I take the "little things" for granted. Oh and running water really isn't a little thing, but I still managed to take it for granted. The new water heater will be installed tomorrow. I can't wait to take a warm shower. Cold showers are NOT refreshing, they are cold and they suck! Taking cold showers did give me flashbacks to girls camp and the polar swim. BRRRRRRRRRR

Two thing have come about because of the water heater breaking:

#1
To explain I first have to back up a bit. When JJ got his surgery we canceled our summer vacation plans. I had planned to be in Utah for three weeks. I was going to leave July 13th and return on July 31st. Having to cancel my annual trip was not an easy decision and I was very bummed out. Well last week my sister calls to tell me that our father is willing to pay for my gas so I could be at the family reunion. I started to get my hopes up. It looked like I would actually be able to go. I had promised Neal that I would not go into any scrapbook stores. I have a weakness for Roberts! Unfortunately because of the new expense of the water heater I am not going to be able to go. (sniff sniff) My sister & I had great plans. We were going to go to the open house of the new temple. We were going to go see Harry Potter. And lastly on my birthday we were going to go to the Kenny Chesney concert. Also, we were going to spend lots of time together & get tons of scrapbooking done. Now I don't get to do any of those things and I'm out $75 for my concert ticket. Any takers? I'll sell it at a discounted price! It would appear that despite wanting to go to Utah desperately that it is not meant to be. I have been going every summer for I don't know how many years. It seems completely foreign not to be going. Oh yeah and it sucks!

#2
As I mention already, both summer plans were canceled due to JJ's surgery. Our other travel plan was for Neal and I to get away. He took two of his vacation days and we were going to go stay at a hotel for four days. Our neighbor was all set to watch the kids for us and the room was booked. We would have checked in on the 1st and we would have been coming home today (this afternoon). This morning Neal mentioned that it was a good thing that we were not at the hotel this weekend with the water heater breaking. The water heater broke on Friday. For two days the water would have continued to flow into our house. We would have come back to a flood! And I thought the water on Friday was bad?

Despite all the crud that has been piling up for the last month I have also felt and seen the hand of the Lord in our lives. We have been blessed during our challenges. I know that there are things to be learned and if we but trust in the Lord we will survive and be made stronger. Of course keeping this perspective is not always easy. Especially when it feels like the crud just keeps coming and coming and coming. I am grateful though that we followed the prompting Neal got when we got our tax return; to save the money instead of buying a bedroom set. I think my angle JJ is a fair trade for a bedroom set. As well as some money saved up for these storm filled days.

"Bad things happen in threes"

To who ever came up with this statement I have to ask Why did you pick such a high number? Today we hit number three. Hopefully this will be it for a long while.

#1 In The Dog House
The day after buying a new dog I discover JJ is peeing blood. His surgery so far has been the most expensive calamity. From this particular event all vacations for the summer were canceled. I think this should have counted as number two, but apparently the "cosmos" don't agree with me.

#2 Car Malfunctions
Neal car's water pump sprung a BIG leak. This required us to not only share one car for nearly a week but made it necessary to replace the pump. More money out the window.

#3 Water Heater Woos
While taking out the garbage this afternoon (bout 2:30 or so) I noticed a large puddle of water in my garage. I ran back in the house to shut off the washer as well as the dishwasher. I didn't know if the water was coming from the water heater or the watersoftner all I knew was that I needed to get the water shut off and quick. Upon further investigation I discovered the massive amount of water on the floor was coming from my water heater. While trying to find the push broom to push the water away from the walls I called Neal to share the good news. He had the pleasure of missing out on the clean up as he was driving home from a visit with his mom in Arizona. The builders of my home were freaking genius's. When they poured the cement slab they made sure that there was a grade so that the water would not just sit but it would flow. Yeah, Flow right into the house, NOT out of the garage as you would expect. Neal thinks that is how the previous owner replaced the carpet in the master bedroom and tiled the house. Like I said freaking geniuses!
For three years now we have paid a large amount of money each spring to National Home Warranty for just such and occasion. For $55 they will send someone out to look at the water heater. If it needs to be replaced there will be no charge for the water heater, just the extra parts and instillation. Extra parts and instillation cost about $350. I'm questioning the reason for the home warranty. But I just know if we didn't have a warranty the water heater, fridge and air conditioner would all go out at once.
I called our home insurance. Our agent wasn't positive but was pretty sure the water heater is covered as well as water clean up. I'm sure that means replacing water soaked sheetrock and maybe even the carpet in my closet. Here is the kicker, our deductible is $1000. Why did we do that to ourselves? Who has $1000 laying around? We sure don't, especially after before mention #1.
A service guy from the home warranty company will be coming over tomorrow to check out the water heater. However, because it is leaking from the bottom, it will most likely need to be replaced. Neal called the warranty people back and apparently we can sign a waiver to not have this company do the instillation saving us lots of bucks. Now if only we knew how to install a water heater. I'm putting in calls the relief society president as well as the elders quarm president. If we are lucky we will have a plumber in the ward, who will be in town on this holiday weekend.

Okay that is three things. Life should turn around from here, right? Lets hope.
Happy Independence Day!