How To Dress for Autumn

It's getting a little colder now, so you might want to pull out your jackets, and maybe even a warm hat for that occasional day when it is extra chilly in the morning.

Be sure to wear shorts though, because it still gets hot in the afternoon.

Love you Joshy!

Driving With Janie

A Trip With Jane In the Car....

Hi Auntie Katie! You're so much fun! I love you!

Oh Aunt Katie! You have a water bottle! If I just reach a little farther...

Success! Looks a little fishy though, I better make sure it's water...

Tastes like plastic...

Still tasting...and clapping (one handed)

Hmm...what's that??

Miss you Janie girl! xoxoxo

Button, Button, Who's Got A Button?

Where did everyone go? It's been awfully quiet around here...

I LOVE buttons. I like big round buttons, short thick buttons, flashy buttons. I like buttons on my boots, on my pants, on my hats. I also like the buttons I have on this blog. There right over there---------> (and then down a little). If you click on any of those buttons over there, it will take you to the corresponding website. Let me introduce you to my buttons:



This is Nie Nie. stephaNIE NIElson. She writes about her life as a Mother and Wife. She loves her family, and she loves being a Mom. She romanticizes the daily grind. It's beautiful. So is she. In August 2008, she was in a private plane crash where she and her husband were burned extensively. She has returned to blogging and her story is pretty incredible. If you haven't heard of her yet, check it out.



This is also a Nie Nie button, but it's for Cuisine Nie. She shares recipes and those that I have tried are quite tasty! Check it out if you're interested.  She is updating this blog again as well (as of last week).



This is Nie Nie's sister CJane. She has a totally different writing style, but is fun to read as well. She started her blog to write about how she was determined to Enjoy It [Life] in the throes of infertility. When Nie Nie was in the accident, Courtney (C Jane) kept the world updated. She is witty, and fun.



Your Heart Out is a website that gives you information about the cool things in Utah. They seem to be feature mostly Provo and Salt Lake establishments, but often highlight stores in Davis County, or even St. George. They review restaurants, advertise locals that have shops on etsy, and point you in the direction of some fun places to shop. Check them out!



Sometimes I think about taking this button off, because I don't read it often, only because I don't have children. I saw this website on Good Things Utah one day and it looked pretty neat. SMMART stands for Science, Math, Music, Art, and Reading. She has come up with activities designed to take some of the harder subjects for kids to learn, and enhance their skills in that subject through simple learning activities. Some of the things on her site are pretty creative, and look fun.




This is the most recent addition. Mindy Gledhill is a recording artist who I believe was affiliated with Deseret Book for a time. If you have the "Trek: A Nashville Tribute to the Pioneers" she performs two songs on that album. She performs "Emma" from the album "Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to Joseph Smith". She has also sung on the album "Baby Mine" produced by Scott Wiley full of lullabye and bedtime songs for children. Her two solo albums are "The Sum of All Grace" and "Feather In the Wind". I really like Mindy Gledhill, and while I enjoyed her second album, "The Sum of All Grace" happens to be my favorite, and I listen to it often. She blogs about her life, her kids, her music, everything. It's a fairly new blog.

I hope you feel confident to click now, and enjoy some other fun (and pretty well known) blogs. Now, back to blog stalking and time wasting.


What are some of your favorite blogs to read?

(Other than this one, of course!)

xoxo

The Beauty of the Mess

Yesterday, my house was really messy. It looked like a tornado whipped through my kitchen cupboards and scattered the contents all over. My front room was given a good shake upside down, and the dining room too. Normally, this would throw me into fits, but yesterday was different. I got home from work and looked at the mess, and smiled. I didn't spend my weekend cleaning up the house, because I spent it doing other things that were far more worthwhile.

Saturday morning, I went to a baby shower for Jessie, so I was up early baking and decorating cupcakes. I finished just in time. Then I went down South to go to Nordstrom (new mascara please! and some lip gloss while you're at it...!). After braving the Nordstrom crowds, I took Josh's Mom to the hospital to see her Mother. I stayed for a little while, then came home to get ready for Stake Conference. We were extra early, for reasons I won't discuss. It was great, I had such a good time, and felt recharged and ready for more. It seems that whenever we go to Stake Conference with Josh's parents (we went a few times before it was actually our Stake) we end up at The Olive Garden for dinner after. So, to continue the tradition, we went to dinner at The Olive Garden. It was fun to be out with Josh and be "all dressed up". When we hang out on the weekends, we usually go places in jeans and t-shirts rather than in skirts and ties. It felt like a real date!

Sunday was more of the same. We got up, got dressed and ready for another spiritual feast in Stake Conference. Again, it was great. After the spiritual feast, we went home to eat our leftovers from the night before and then headed up to the hospital to visit Josh's Grandma. We spent a good amount of time there, and then came home before heading to dinner at my parents' house. I was desperate for a nap! The family dinner was fun. I played with my cousin's baby Evan, and I had him giggling. It was a lot of fun for me! Yay! We stayed and hung out with my parents and watched the Mormon Messages on YouTube. My Dad started itching for a snack, so he blended every fruit in their kitchen (he even thought about adding a tomato) and made smoothies for us to share. We sipped our smoothies and watched some more YouTube before it was time to drag ourselves home and fall into bed.

So you see, all that fun I had left no time for cleaning. I don't know what I would have wanted to skip in order to have a clean house. So I quickly turned the Living Room back to my liking, and cleared up the dishes (okay, MOST of the dishes - they didn't all fit in the dishwasher) in the kitchen before my students came. I even got a little face time with Jane and Kristen via Skype.

I think I'm finally understanding more about the things that are important in life, and I'm finally seeing a little more beauty in my everyday life. I'm not all the way there yet, but I'm working on it.


It feels so good to know just how beautiful the world is.



How was your life beautiful this weekend?

# 94

I know I told you all about my birthday bashing, but I have more to tell.

and then some more.

But we'll start with just the "more to tell" for now.

Rewind to about a month ago. It was my birthday, and I was being spoiled by my Mother (thanks Madre) and my husband. I told you about the present from my husband, a new mattress. I must tell you more.

R.C. Willey, blah blah blah, salesmen, blah blah blah, avoid delivery fee blah blah blah stop. We make our way out to the R.C. Willey Warehouse to pick up my our mattress. The whole ride out we were back and forth: "It will totally fit in the back!" "Well, I think it will totally fit in the back!" "It might not fit in the back" "We can tie it to the top if we need to" "It will totally fit in the back".

We sat and waited in the lobby (nice couches, HUGE t.v.) and watched the family across from us. My assumptions (based on conversation) were that the group consisted of a Grandma, Father, Mother, Little Sister, Twin Sisters. I don't know that they were really twins, but I would guess they were. The Grandma had the hairiest legs in the Nation, and even had a little facial hair, and the rest of the bunch looked a little grungy (is that rude? not supposed to be...). Anyhow, they were talking about this and that and the other. They talked about moving the couch into the new basement the girls (twins?) were moving into. Blah blah blah. I think the "twins" were starting college. One of the twins said her phone was a piece of crap and all but demanded her parents buy her an iPhone. The Dad seemed almost agreeable to that idea, which I thought was strange. The Little Sister protested that she wanted an iPhone too (the other twin snickered in support), but then the (original) twin said the Little Sister didn't deserve an iPhone because she broke her iPod. Or something. blah blah blah.

What was I talking about??

Oh yeah, the mattress. After the entertainment, our names were finally called and we attempted to load our mattress - and box springs.Is it box spring? or box springS? Not really sure. Totally forgot about the box spring(s). and the frame rails. Oh boy. We successfully stuffed our mattress in the back, though it looked like a pringle chip. Dented in the middle. We shoved the rails on top and shut the door. Next, we attempted to tie the box springs to the top of the car. Problem was, we'd never tied anything to the top of this car. It was proving to be a bit of a puzzle. A kindly stranger gave us some tips, and pretty soon we were on our way. I was scolded for moving my finger too early while Josh was tying the knot, and now the box spring(s) was tied too loosely on one side. To be fair though, I was afraid parts of my finger would be smashed in the twine knot forever if I didn't act quickly.

I digress.

Box Spring(s) successfully loaded, we were on our way. As we pulled out of the parking lot, our debate evolved. Instead of "will it fit in the back or not" it was now "can we possibly take the freeway at 35 mph or not". I argued the point that it was in a construction zone so everyone had to go more slowly, so we would be fine driving 35 mph on the freeway. My husband thought otherwise, and truthfully, I was glad later. We hit 30 mph and we felt the box springs start to lift. So, Josh opened the Sun Roof (or is it a Moon Roof? What's the difference anyway?) and we grabbed the plastic covering to pull it down and keep it from lifting the entire car into flight. I tried to get clever and just shut the plastic in the Sun Roof but then I was scolded because I was "burning the motor". So I stopped.

It was after about 45 seconds that my hand started to cramp up and I had to switch hands. Not to mention my arm was starting to tingle. I kicked off my shoes and tucked my legs underneath me to get me higher so I could reach it better and hopefully relive some of the tingling. Then my legs also began to get numb.

As I sat there with a numb leg, numb arm, and numb hands, all I could do was burst out laughing. I laughed and laughed and laughed and Josh thought I was nuts. I told him we must have looked crazy hauling that box spring on the top of our car trying ever so desperately to keep it from flying off into oblivion. Pretty soon we were both laughing. Josh driving with one hand and holding the mattress through the Sun Roof with the other hand. I never did find out if his arms got numb. He was also trying to recap a Seinfeld act about men who think they can hold down a mattress with one arm out the window clamping it to the roof. I laughed and laughed and laughed until we got home.

Once home, we had to remove the old mattress and box springs, and replace it with the new. My arms were jelly. I could no longer lift anything, not even my new mattress. I had lifted weights that morning, so my arms were still sore from that too. Josh called me a woss, and then we eventually got the mattress in our room and all set up.

Then we realized we only have King size sheets and we bought a Queen size mattress.

We laughed, and went to dinner.

Weekend Fun

I'm fully aware that the weekend is long over. In fact, I'm mere HOURS away from the next one, but still, I want to share about a most delicious weekend. Okay, a good Saturday night (only because that's the only part I can remember right now).

One of my favorite things to do, has always been to go to the Utah State Fair when it comes to town. I'm not sure why, but I LOVE it. My Mom used to take me when I was younger. She would help me take pictures so I could enter the kids' photography contests. Guess what? I won. A lot. More than one year. I was the Grand Prize Winner when I was in 3rd grade. I won a camera and a Kodak duffle bag. Seriously.

See why I love the fair? Anywho, we went there.

(I'm suddenly remembering other bits of Saturday - like how I made breakfast - for me AND Josh)

I love the smell of the Fair. Well, I take that back. I love the smell of the food at the fair. The roasted corn on the cob (highway robbery though - $4 a pop), the cotton candy, the caramel apples, the fried goods, oh the fatty fried goodness! I've never ventured to try the deep fried PB&J (I'd rather not die before I have children), but I have had the corn dogs. and the funnel cakes. mmm...funnel cake...

Anyway, we enjoyed ourselves. I bought 3 treats, 2 for me, 1 for Josh. Well, and then I funded his tattoo. So maybe really 2 for him too.

Exhibit A:

Cotton Candy isn't just yummy, it's fun!!!

Exhibit B:

I heart sweets. Especially "fall" sweets. Last year I had a candy apple. Never doing that again. So glad I got the caramel apple. Speaking of caramel apples,  I wonder if the Fair is still going...

I should note that I almost didn't get my apple. I was about to take one for the team, and save a buck (or 4!) but Josh made sure we stopped (even after I'd had the cotton candy). If that isn't love, I don't know what is!

Either that, or he was buttering me up for this:

Trent and Josh got matching (aww!) tattoos. Want to guess what they had "tattooed" on their arms?? I think the funniest part was the explanation about, "I can't have it in a visible place, I work for the LDS Church". I chuckled.

Then the "tattoo artist" told us he makes $80,000 in 5 months at carnivals/fairs. Hmmm...okay...then he tried to tell us that we didn't pay him. Believe me, we paid him. I was thinking about seeing if the corn stand was still open when I forked over the last of our cash. It's okay, it's better that way.

Speaking of tattoos... just before we stopped for Josh and Trent to get their tattoos, we went to the Funnel Cake booth (?) and bought Josh his treat. While we were there, a lady who was (VERY) pregnant found her way to the line to enjoy a fried confection. I looked at her, and then snapped my head back to look again. We realized she had her shirt hiked up so it was wedged between her chest and her belly. We figured out the reason for the overexposed belly as soon as we saw her straight on. She had just gotten a henna tattoo around her belly button and it was still drying. I stole a picture (or 6) for proof. I felt awkward for her. Then we snarfed Josh's funnel cake. Of course, as I was snarfing, I inhaled powdered sugar and choked. It's unavoidable with funnel cakes. You can't have one without the other. It's a package deal, but totally worth it.

Have you ever been to the Fair?

What is your favorite thing about the fair?

OR

What makes you avoid it at all costs?

Totally Being Selfish...

Do you like to read? Probably do if you are spending time reading this useless blog. My cousin, Mikaroni at fifty thousand pages is having a giveaway! You could win a FREE book! The book is Sabriel by Garth Nix. I wasn't going to actually post about this, because like it says up there - I'm totally selfish. Head on over and enter the contest by leaving a comment with the title of  your favorite book. There are a few other ways you can enter. Check out the post to see those. I've linked her blog directly to the page with the scoop on the giveaway (click on "fifty thousand pages" up there)

Browse around there and you can see a picture of her most adorable child!!! Proof here and here. And here. Also, she is one of the 3 people that said they were going to start a 101 in 1001 goal list, you can check that out here.

Off you go! Enter away!

Hey Ricky, You're So Fine!!

About 4 years ago, I found myself at Arctic Circle with some friends. I didn't order anything, but after tasting Josh's Lime Rickey, I was wishing I had gotten my own, and I'm sure he did too. This new refreshing drink was something I never knew I was missing out on! That was the last time I'd ever had one.

On Wednesday, my memory served up a fresh, delicious, Lime Rickey, and I found myself dying to have one. I thought I would be smart, and make up my own. I stopped by Smith's and picked up a bottle of Sprite Zero, and a carton of Grape Juice. Thinking this was all I needed for a refreshing treat, I began to mix the two. Unfortunately, it wasn't even close and I dumped it. It was terrible. Think I should have added some Lime Juice? The Sprite flavor wasn't as strong as I thought it would be, and the grape juice didn't add the punch I expected.

I guess I'll just have to try again with a little more creativity.

Lewis Family Fun

Last weekend my siblings (minus 1) and parents got together for a family reunion. Since 3 of the 5 siblings now live in California, we all got together in Southern California. Josh and I stayed with my sister in Laguna Hills. Our reunion started on Friday night. My brothers' families came to my sister's house for dinner and we ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, and even played a little Rock Band. It was a lot of fun. Ashley and Megan spent the evening as puppies woofing and panting.

*imagine a picture of Ashley and Megan on the ground pretending to be puppies*

Saturday morning, we got up and went to the Newport Beach temple to perform ordinance work for some of my Mother's Paternal family members. It was an incredible experience for all of the adults. I think we all felt like it would have been even better if my brother Chris and his wife would have been there. One of the most touching things, was getting to seal my Mother's parents. We shared many moments of "quiet joy" (the Sealer's words) together as a family performing sealing ordinance for ancestors. It was a wonderful experience, and when I die, you can read all the details in my journal. :) Seriously - one of the most incredible experiences in my life.

Lucky Jessie got to babysit baby Jane while all the adults were at the temple. Sara's kind neighbor babysat all the rest of the (7) kids. What an angel - we were gone for a few hours. We were just "chillaxin" most of the afternoon (a lucky few even got some naps in) and then we made our way down to Oceanside to my brother's house to enjoy his mad grilling skills. He's the one that says, "let's get together and cook some meat", so we got together, and he cooked some meat! 

*Imagine a picture of a massive grill and lots and lots of tasty meat*

The reunion wouldn't have been complete without his grillin skillz. We got to see Kevan and Sara's new house and Sara has done an excellent job decorating. There were a few ideas I might snag and adapt for my house... We had a great time sitting around and laughing and eating, laughing and eating, and of course, laughing and eating. (By the way, I think I gained about 5 pounds over the weekend...) All too soon, it was time to leave and head back to my sister's house.

Sunday morning we got up and got ready for church. Jane was dressed in an adorable little white dress with a pink ribbon around it. Since my sister just recently moved, a counselor in the Bishopric came down (after the meeting started) to see if they were planning on blessing her. It was a fast Sunday, and my brother and his family, my parents, and Josh and I, were all there visiting, AND Jane was dressed in white, so I can see how he was easily confused. We had a tiny chuckle about that. Sunday night, we feasted on Garlic Parmesan Chicken Rolls, a most delicious salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, and a most fantastic yellow cake with custard filling and ganache frosting. (See where I may have gained the 5 pounds??) That evening, we celebrated my Dad's birthday and shared stories and Dadisms we remembered. It was great. I think the adults could have sat and talked for another 3 hours, but the kids were getting restless.

After that we all just mingled until someone turned on the YouTube video of Love Story Meets Viva La Vida with Steven Sharp Nelson and John Schmidt. I didn't realize that my siblings all knew Steve Nelson growing up. (If you haven't seen the video, check it out on YouTube) At that point, someone turned on Coldplay's Viva La Vida, and all the girls + Nathan and Zack, started dancing around. Then we shifted to the Taylor Swift "Fearless" album and had ourselves a mad dance party. It was a lot of fun. That was something I'll always remember about the family reunion. It was then that we dubbed Taylor Swift's "Fearless" album as the official Lewis Family Reunion 2009 album.

*Imagine a picture of a bunch of crazy girls (of all ages) dancing around and singing their guts out*

Monday was the last day of the "reunion". Emily's parents were kind enough to invite us over to their house for an afternoon of swimming and some more tasty food. This is the day I turned purple. I got sunburned, and am still suffering the consequences. I guess that sunscreen I put on was too little too late.

*Imagine a picture of me with purple shoulders and a purple back*

Josh, Kevan, and Dave were having cannonball contests. Josh blew the other guys out of the water. (I know, I'm clever). I asked them if they were trying to empty Phil's pool. I got to spend a little one-on-one time with Jeff's kids, and that was really fun for me. We haven't seen them since Christmas 2007. After a fun afternoon, Dave and I took Josh to the airport, and then met my sister and parents at Kevan's house. In his preparations for deployment (Sunday the 13th), my Dad gave him a Father's blessing. We were lucky enough to be there as Kevan blessed each of his children as they begin a new school year. It was another really great experience. I felt as though I caught a glimpse of what the Lord sees in each of those children. I haven't been around them very often either, so it was good to know them more deeply. Again, an incredible experience.

I came home Tuesday night, but not without another trip to In'n'Out for lunch with Kevan, Sara, Sam, Jane, Kristen, and my Mom. Unfortunately, this was the first time I whipped out my camera all weekend. Lame! I might have to steal some of my Dad's pictures - in case your imagination isn't that great. So, please enjoy a slew of pictures of Jane.