Dream:

Visiting the Duggar family at their house and finding their good friend Eddie Murphy was also there, with his 75 kids.

Jim Bob had to sleep on the stairs.

Two Drummers Drumming

Earlier this morning, I was hating on early morning Seminary for being especially sucky the week after Daylight Saving Time begins. So I posted this with the caption "SHUT UP CAT STEVENS":


Because Morning Has Broken.... My WILL TO LIVE.

On the way home from taking Carter and Tyson to school, I heard this lovely ditty on the classical radio station (they're having their fundraising thing and are trotting out the really good stuff):

...and I thought of the lyrics my family and I made up to go with the music:

Do some digging, punch a guy
Do some flying, punch another guy
Do some digging, punch a guy,
And there's digging and flying and punching and shooting...

And now that's stuck in your head. You're welcome.

Then: Spring Concert tonight!

No, Tyson is not holding carrot sticks

Our boys did a wonderful job playing for not only their band, but also for Honor Band, which they were asked to join earlier this year. They've been attending extra practices on Monday mornings and some Thursday mornings. They rocked it last night! Way to go boys!

Afterward, we met with Tyson's family and went to the Dairy Queen on MacArthur Boulevard (which is not frightening in the dark). I had a mini Blizzard of the grasshopper pie variety.

Stake Trek Activity

Question: The voice actors who do crappy European accents for hair product ads. Where do they find these people?

This year for our stake youth activity, the kids are going on a handcart trek (location as yet undisclosed). Brian was asked last November to serve on the trek committee, so he has meetings every so often. Tonight the committee took over Mutual night and had the stake kids gather together for an activity. It was pretty fun, as you can see.

Harrison and Bryant S

I was crocheting on the blanket and chatting away with some ladies from CP ward, so I wasn't around for this pic, but I'm guessing Harrison was having a reluctant time smiling and his old friend Bryant (they've known each other since birth, literally) decided to step in and help out. Good times.

"Hi, I'm Bob. Can you knock me out? Just hit me in the face?"

Having a not-great day. Let's just leave it at that.

The phrase "Art thou greater than He?" came to mind this morning, so I looked for something to read that would help me feel better and stop pitying myself. I found this quote from this talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Lessons From Liberty Jail:

"In one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, every one of us is going to spend a little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking. We will face things we do not want to face for reasons that may not be our fault." 

So glad that whatever we're going through, we don't have to go through it alone.

New Church Gig

This morning I woke up and just for fun, I was looking at homes for sale on Zillow. I love it when they have thirteen pictures total of the home and six of them are of the driveway. smile emoticon

Nope, haven't found a house yet, and we're still considering the yurt/Gypsy thing.

Sometime this winter, I was called and set apart to serve as one of three ward organists, along with Joann S. and Kathy C. We decided to each take several months of the year and play for the month. Today was my first time.

I haven't served as the ward organist since Brennan was 4, Bella was 1, and we lived in Logan (ooooh, ahhhhh). Eventually, I asked the bishop if I could do something else, since I felt bad for Brian having to sit and wrestle these two cute little monkeys every week in Sacrament meeting. Immediately afterward I learned that if you ask to be released from an awesome cushy calling like ward organist, you could possibly be landed with something really gross, like Relief Society president. Yes, it happens. So don't ever, ever do that.

But I digress. I had a good time playing the organ in church today. It had been a very long time, I didn't use the pedals, and I made mistake after mistake, but people were nice and complimented me anyway. 

Next week for prelude, I think I'll play one hymn for ten minutes straight to see if anyone notices. Don't tell the bishop.

Oh Honey Yore So Purty

Youth Temple Trip

Earlier: Watching the Lisa Kudrow episode of Who Do You Think You Are? and feeling all the feelings, the worst and the best of the experience of finding her family. There are words, but heck if I know what they are. Such an excellent, well done program. I'm grateful for it.

Caught you, Harr Bear :)

Carter Action Shot

...from one of the other soccer parents who has a better camera than we ;)

Looking good, C man!

It's Tradition

Sweetheart Ball tonight. Here's what I wore:

The food was great, as always, and once again the DJ played Cotton-Eyed Joe and the Electric Slide and yeah yeah yeah, that stuff. Sometime I want to throw an iPod party and have everyone bring their mp3 players, and everyone can play one song to dance to. Hopefully people will bring...not the above-mentioned stuff.

Hanging Out

We Have To Move.

Our Landlady emailed tonight and told us that she is selling the house and wants us to leave by May 31.

I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate that we have to move. :(

Go Timbers!

Swimming with the Buds

Roz is on the left, in goggles. She went swimming with her friend Ashton (second from right), Ashton's sister Brielle (right) and another little girl. Fun times.

Seattle

Ew! The gum wall!

If you ask to use the Magic Mouse toy store restroom...

If you ask a Magic Mouse toy store employee if you may use the store restroom, she will smilingly tell you that they don't have one.

(I call BIG FAT LIE on that one, since I know that state (federal?) laws require all places of business to have a restroom on their premises for the employees' use. I know you have a restroom, cute Magic Mouse employee. You could have just said "It's only for the employees," and saved yourself the title of Liar Liar Pants On Fire that you now have.)

Magic Mouse employee will also tell you that the Starbucks across the street has one you can use. So you will leave Magic Mouse toy store, walk across the street, and see that Starbucks has no intention of letting you use their restroom without your becoming a customer, i.e., buying something. 

So you'll get in line. Still having to pee. You'll look in the display case and decide to buy a blueberry scone. You'll purchase the scone, ask for the restroom lock door code, and walk back to the restroom door.

While you are waiting at the restroom door, a man will pop out, looking rather alarmed, and inform you that there is no toilet paper in the restroom, and "about four or five paper towels on the back of the toilet." You will find this annoying, still having to pee. After the man informs the baristas behind the counter that the toilet paper situation is dire, you will stand and watch them for a few moments as three of them continue to serve customers and do absolutely nothing about the toilet paper. 

You will get back in line, bagged scone still in hand, still having to pee. You will follow the other people in the line as they make their purchases. The employees will continue to do nothing about the toilet paper. You will finally get your chance to speak, and you will politely ask the barista for a roll of toilet paper so that you can go in their restroom and, you know, do your thing.

SHE WILL REFUSE.

She will say, "I'm so sorry, I know we need to fix the toilet paper, and I just can't quite get in there right this minute."

You will be aghast. Still having to pee.

You will ask for a refund on your blueberry scone. 

You will get your refund with huffs and rolled eyes (sorry, girls, I'm not the one who can't refill the toilet paper), leave the store, and promise yourself to write a scathing! SCATHING! review of your experience on every online customer review site in the history of Father Al's Internets.

You will meet your family, and then walk five more blocks until you find a wonderful place to have dinner, Italian Family Pizza.

You will be directed to the well-stocked restroom by their very friendly, kindhearted employee. 

You will eat monstrous pieces of pizza. (No, seriously, monstrous. We ignorantly ordered two pizzas and were extremely, pleasantly, but overwhelmingly surprised when we saw them...)

You will walk back to the car, very content, no longer having to pee.

I have found the magic.

Come to Butt-Head

My mommy sent these to me in a birthday package. I have since discovered that Fwee Fwee sells them. Mmmmmm

Maverick: "It had just been a [crappy] week from the beginning."

And how! Just starting back up with early morning Seminary alone was ... gahhh. Horrid. Never has the first week of school of the new year just been so hard. DANG. Maybe it has to do with, you know, everything.

Today's epic drama: the ward deacons, bless their little hearts, planned a combined Young Men/Young Women sledding activity for tomorrow, back at the plan-the-whole-year meeting in the bygone era of December 2014 (as in, two weeks ago) but heck if we were prepared for it. It really snuck up on us.

Now the activity is TOMORROW, the young men are also SNOW CAVING TONIGHT on MOUNT HOOD, and now, because of the snow caving, we have no rides for the young women who are looking forward to sledding with the ward young brethren. No one who isn't already up there wants to drive up there. Or can, or will, or whatever.

I am in full SHUT UP mode and listening to Wichita Lineman on a loop and bawling my eyes out and grouching at everyone within the sound of my voice and/or text messages. And my husband and children are frightened and the kitties are hiding.

So, of course, it's time for this:

And this:

Possibly this:

And I hate to think of it, but maybe even this:

"I'll just have to endure it," indeed.

P.S. Upon seeing the snow situation when they arrived, the young men leaders decided sledding would be better left undone. My wonderful longsuffering YW presidency and I enjoyed a long, relieved laugh. What a happy ending. 😊

Ward Temple Night

I played the organ in the temple for our ward chapel session tonight - first time doing that, ever. Pretty cool, but I didn't realize that the temple peeps keep their own version of the hymnal on the organs (some hymns are considered too rowdy for temple use), so I brought my big old one, and subsequently left it there. Dang it!

I traveled over with good friends Candice and Matt S and joked about all the white bread normies in our ward. What?

Hard to believe

And here it is January 2nd already. Can you believe the way this year is just flying by?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Glad to report that we saw Mockingjay Part 1 last night, and no one had any nightmares... one of us was absolutely certain she would. (Those Peeta scenes at the end were quite intense and disturbing for Little Miss R.)