First half of November

Saturday November 1st:  We spent the day cleaning and taking down Halloween stuff.  Georgia had to be taken to the hospital because she was in serious pain.  Turns out she had gall stones and had to have emergency surgery to get them removed.  During that, they decided that she probably needed to have her gall bladder removed, but decided to wait and do it later--in December.  

Wednesday November 5th:  My mom flew up for a visit and to go to Time Out for Women with us on Friday and Saturday night.  I was so excited that she came for it.  

Thursday November 6th:  My mom and I (and Noah) spent the day going to different quilt shops in the area--I think we only got to 3, but it was fun.  We also went out to lunch at Chevy's and made it back right when the kids came home from school. 

Friday November 7th:  Tonight was the evening session of TOFW and we wanted to get dinner before we had to get down to the convention center.  Maggie and Lydia were going with us to the Time Out for Girls that they have in the same building, just upstairs.  It is so nice that they have the TOFGs so we can all go together!  So, we picked up Maggie from school and headed to eat dinner at 5 Guys Burgers.  We love their burgers!  Then we drove to our hotel first and got checked in.  (We didn't want to drive home that night and then drive back the next morning.)  We walked over to the convention center because it was starting at 6:30.  They have different presenters for the youth and for the women.  I guess sometimes they do have the same speakers for each, but their messages are different.  They gear their thoughts toward what teenage girls are going through and I love that!  Maggie has been before, but this was Lydia's first time going.  The presenters from Friday night were:  Josh Wright (an amazing pianist), Sandra Turley (a broadway singer) and Elaine S. Dalton (former YW General President)

 Mom and I during one of the breaks.

Emma and her sister were there with their mom, so Maggie wanted to hang out with Emma, but she also included Lydia too, which I was grateful for. 

It ended about 9:30 and as we were walking back to our hotel, we passed a Burgerville and stopped in to get a milkshake.  (Along with almost all the other women!  :))  Then we read for a bit in our room and went to bed.

We got up early so we could all get ready and we ate breakfast in the hotel--we had their buffet.  We got lucky because there was a lady next to us who was just leaving that had a voucher for 2 free meals.  So that was nice.  

The theme for this year's TOFW was "Inevitable Light" and the scripture was:  1 Timothy 4:14-15:

As usual it was a great meeting.  Some of the speakers were:  Mary Ellen Edmunds, the singing group Mercy River,  Whitney Johnson, D. Kelly Ogden (He was my Doctrine and Covenants professor at BYU), Tamu and Zandra--two ladies that run the blog: As Sistas in Zion--they were funny!, and Laurel Day.  

 Love these two and what good friends they are becoming

 Me and my girls

 All of us after the lunch break

Leaving the convention center and heading home.  It was a gorgeous day!

While we were gone, Garrett took the 3 little kids over to grandma and grandpa's house to do some work outside.  Originally I invited to Georgia to come with us, but they were supposed to be in California for Hannah's baptism.  But then she had that emergency surgery and wasn't OK to travel.  So, she missed out on both things.  

 Paige got a chance to drive the tractor since the older girls were gone.

After everyone got back home, we had Maggie babysit and mom, Garrett and I went out to dinner at PacThai.  Yum!
Monday November 10th:

The kids didn't have school today, so we hung around doing crafts and putting up Thanksgiving decorations.  That night we went to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory and watched "Star Wars"
Tuesday November 11th: The kids didn't have school again today because of Veteran's day.  Mom had to go home today, so I drove her to the airport and ran some errands while I was out.
Thursday November 13th:  Today was my birthday.  School was also cancelled today because supposedly there was ice, but it didn't really effect us, so we just had another day off.  It was nice though because the kids were busy playing and doing things to keep themselves occupied, so I spent quite a bit of time reading.  We went out for dinner at a Teriayaki restaurant and then came home and opened gifts.

 me and my kiddos

I thought it was cool that my watch recognized my birthday and displayed a birthday cake all day.  It's the little things that entertain me. :) On Friday night Garrett took me out to eat at PF Changs and we went to see the movie, "Interstellar" which was a really good movie.

 Garrett helped the kids decorate for my birthday the night before.  It was cute!

Saturday November 15th:  By some great miracle I remembered that I needed to get pictures taken for Christmas cards before the middle of December.  I told my family that we would be taking pictures on Saturday.  So even though it was ridiculously cold that day we went out to take family pictures.

Some of these didn't turn out so great--with me half in the sun, half in shadow and Bella crying because she was cold.

 Way too much sun!

 Noah not participating and Garrett and I trying to tell him to turn around and smile.

This is the one we used for our card.

 I liked this one but Garrett didn't for some reason.

 This one was pretty cute

 I love this one of the kids shoes.

 Making silly faces

 Fun poses.  Maggie and I did the same thing.  Oops.

 These two wanted their picture taken together.

 We were done and walking back to the car and one of the kids snapped this one.

Back at home--the boys watching football.
Monday November 17th:  Maggie really liked playing basketball for the rec center, so she decided to try out for the high school team this year. Tryouts were for today and she was really nervous.  But everyone that came made it onto a team.  They have JV2 (which she got onto), JV and Varsity.  For the next two weeks, she had practice every weekday for 2 1/2 hours.  Usually from 6:30-9 pm.  It was a rough two weeks because they were conditioning which was really hard for her because she hadn't been exercising regularly.
Tuesday Nov. 18th:

Playing cars with Noah

My Birthday Week

We got back from Great Wolf Lodge around 7 pm on Friday the 8th.  After we ate some cereal for dinner, we got the kids in bed.  I was so exhausted, that I think I went to bed about 8:30.  It felt great though!  Early the next morning, we went to go see "Thor 2".  Garrett got 4 free tickets through Intel.  Sweet!

The movie started at 9 am--which seemed really early to go see a movie.  I think we got to the theater around 8ish--which is really early for me.  The movie was awesome though.  We took Maggie and her friend, Emma and they both loved it, too.  Later that night, Garrett and I went out to eat at Chevy's (one of my favorite restaurants) with Jim and Georgia.  Right after, those three went to the airport to pick up Savann--Garrett's sister.  She was coming down for doctor appointments and to go with us to Time Out for Women. They got back sort of late, so we visited a little bit before they headed to Yamhill.

The next morning (the 10th), as we got up to get ready for church, one of the kids came in and told us that there was water all over their bathroom floor and that the toilet was clogged.  Garrett went to clean it up, since I was in the shower.  Boy--what a mess!  He soaked up at least 6 towels trying to dry the floor.  And if he wasn't upset enough by that, Maggie came upstairs and told him that there was water dripping from the ceiling onto the table and the floor.  The carpet was soaked!  He had to tear up the carpet to get it started drying.  

Since it was Sunday, we didn't really do anything about it.  But after talking to different people he decided that we needed to call our insurance company on Monday and go from there.  So, we just went about our day--with church and a birthday dinner for me at Jim and Georgia's house.  She went all out and cooked a very delicious meal of bbq ribs, scalloped potatoes, salad, homemade bread, apple butter jam, and a chocolate marshmallow cake.  She's amazing!  Then Maggie and I went to the church for a Bishop's Chat to introduce the youth to family search and how to start working on family history.  It was so exciting--I wish I had more time to work on it.  

Monday the 11th:  Garrett found a good company that specializes in restoring your house after fire, or water damage.  They came around 3 in the afternoon and worked for about 4 hours--determining where the water damage was--lots more damage than we were expecting--then tearing up carpet, carpet pads, walls, ceilings, toilets, vinyl and our wood floor.  It was so hard to see them tearing my house apart.  While they were working, we went out to eat with Jim, Georgia, Savann and the rest of the fam for another birthday dinner for me.  I felt so spoiled!  We went to Vivi's which is a vietnamese restaurant.  (another one of my favorites!)

When we got back, they were finishing up.  They had a fan up in the bathroom, and four or five in the kitchen and family room and even one down in the crawl space.  It was so loud!  And it got very warm in our house.  It got up to 81 degrees--it was so hot!  

The big metal box was pulling the moisture out of the air

The next day was the 12th.  The water expert guy, Shawn came back everyday to check on the "drying out" process.  

Meanwhile, my kids had some fun with the fans.

That night, we were having our Young Women in Excellence night for YW's.  I'm in the presidency and so I was in charge of the decorations.  I had to go early and help set up.  I think it turned out quite lovely.  

 The invitation I made

 Our banner.  It's supposed to be "Young women IN Excellence", but we wanted to focus on how excellent each of the girls were and so we wanted it to be "Young Women OF Excellence".  We had flowers throughout the room to show how each girl was beautiful and unique in her own special way.  

We had one of our Young Women take pictures of each of the girls in our group and then displayed them around the room.  I love how it turned out and I really love each one of these girls.  For part of the program, we had all the YW sing "I am a Child of God".  I watched each of them as they sang and thought about the different characteristics that make each one of them unique.  They sure brought a smile to my face!

 In the back, we had tables set up so that they could each display something they have worked on in personal progress.  At the end, all the guests could walk down the table and talk to each of the YW about what they did.  

The dessert table with our colorful cupcakes.  It was a great evening!

Wed. the 13th:  This was my official birthday, but it was pretty uneventful.  Which was ok, because I felt like we had been celebrating all week!  Garrett left to go out of town in the evening.  We met up at Maggie's soccer tournament before he left to the airport and he gave me some flowers and candy for my birthday.  He felt bad that he had to leave and that he hadn't done more for my birthday.  He had already given me those Halloween paintings, so I assured him that I was fine and that I had a great birthday.  

flowers from my sweet Garrett

Thurs. the 14th:  After I got all the kids off to school, I headed out to Yamhill because Georgia was taking Savann and I to get pedicures for my birthday.  See--the celebrations kept going!!  I haven't had a pedicure in years, but it was really nice and fun to hang out with them without kids, so that we could talk.  Georgia had one done the week before so didn't get one today.  

After, we went out to eat at a yummy Mexican restaurant, with Jim, too.  It was such a pleasant morning and I really enjoyed it!  Garrett got back that night from Vegas. Shawn, the water guy came back to take the fans, but realized there was one spot that still hadn't dried all the way.  So he took all the fans but 2.   

Friday the 15th:  The Kenndy Restoration guys came back to get the last fans!!  Ahh, the quiet!!  It was so nice.  Right as he was leaving, Jim and Georgia and Savann showed up.  Jim was going to stay and babysit until Garrett got home because us ladies and Maggie were headed down to the Convention Center in Portland to go to the Time Out for Women that is put on by Deseret Book.  

There was a session on Friday night from 6:30 until 9:30.  We stopped to eat at 5 Guys Burgers and then got stuck in traffic on the way there.  Georgia got us a hotel room right across the street from the Convention Center where it was being held. We were staying the night, since we didn't want to drive home after it was over and then drive back in the morning too.  So we made a whole weekend thing out of it.  Maggie was going to the Time Out for Girls, in a separate room.  They have pretty much the same speakers--almost, but their messages are geared to the young women.  She loved it!  

The theme this year was "Higher" and the scripture that went a long with it was Isaiah 55:9 which says: 

 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The first speaker was T.C. Christensen.  He is the producer and director of the movies "17 Miracles", "Ephraims's Rescue" and "The Work and the Glory".  Then we heard from Calee Reed who is an awesome singer and a has a really cute personality.Then it was Justin Cash, another singer and finally Heidi Swinton, who wrote President Monson's biography.  It was an awesome, uplifting and spirit filled night.  

We went back to the hotel and hung out a little bit, but then tried to get to bed.  The only bad thing about this place was that the heat never kicked on all night and we froze!!  I guess it was out in the whole building, and they were delivering extra blankets to those that called and complained, but we didn't think to call and complain about it in the middle of the night.  

I slept in a bed with Maggie and that girl is not only dramatic when she's awake, but when she sleeps, too.  When she'd roll over or something--it was a big production--the whole bed would move and I'd bounce and she'd whip over and get hit with an arm or a leg.  So, I didn't sleep very well.  Thinking about that night, I thought of this quote:  "I had to sleep with Minnie Mae and you don't know how she kicks."  ha ha!  

Anyways, we got up early so we could all have time to shower and get ready (the thing started at 9 and they opened the doors at 8:15).  There was a Denny's right across the street from the hotel, so we went there for breakfast.  

The presenters for the day were:  Chris Williams, Jericho Road--who were pretty good.  They were a group of 4 men who sing and they were pretty funny.  The highlight was them doing short clips of songs from famous boy bands.  It was great.  Maggie really enjoyed them, too.  

Jericho Road

Then there was Emily Watts, Brad Wilcox, Jennifer Platt and Emily Freeman.  Most of these are authors, Brad Wilcox teaches at BYU and Garrett and I have taken a class from him.  He's great.  Every speaker was wonderful and presented a great message.  I'm too tired or I would talk about what each of them talked about.  On the way home, we met up with Garrett and Jim and the kids at the Old Spaghetti Factory for a last dinner because Savann was flying home the next day.  

 Savann and the kids.