Paint night

One of the ladies in the ward hosts a small paint night with a few friends. I have been lucky enough to be invited to go twice. Here is what we worked on this week. After I got home I worked on fixing it up a little bit. If it's possible, I would like to enter this into the Fair. 

Can you tell which one the real artist drew, and which one the rest of us attempted to copy? LOL!

Carpet adventure

The carpet in the house is getting old and it's frustrating me so badly. I want new carpet!!! It is hard to be responsible for home maintenance. I thought perhaps I would be able to get carpet so I went out and about and got quotes from three local companies. 

Needless to say, when the cost of new carpet cost almost two months worth of wages you come up with a different idea. Instead, I called a carpet cleaner to come out and make the carpet look a bit better. 

It was a ton of work to get all the furniture moved out of the two rooms downstairs, but now that I have everything moved back I am so happy! The carpet looks amazing! It feels so good, and right. 

A great week

I've had a good week. Here are a few fun pictures that I've taken. 

The fisrt one is a new building at work. Supposedly, it's a new seminary building, but it seems WAY too big for that purpose. I guess we'll all know what it is in May. Admittedly, it's been a lot of fun to see them building that curved roof. 

I decided to give myself a little bit of flower happiness. I ordered pink daffodils with the intent to 'force' them indoors. We shall see how they do. I bought the pots and the rocks at Dollar Store in Provo. 

I asked one of my coworkers to take a picture of me. I hardly ever get anyone to do so. My cheesy valentine banner is in the background. This is my favorite dress right now. I have worn it pretty much nonstop every week and at church since August. It's so comfy. I stumbled upon it at DI for just $8. I feel so lucky. 

Luke needed to go hiking for his PE class. So we took the opportunity to go up to the white spot on the mountain here in Springville. Luke enjoyed it, as did I, but afterward he told me he would never go hiking again. It made me sad, I would really love a hiking buddy. 

The class near me is always working on a puzzle. This 1,000 piece took just under a week. I snuck away from my desk twice to work on it for a little while. It was quite enjoyable. Lego minifigures are the best!

Luke's Orlando trip

Luke and Papa had a marvelous time in Florida. They weather was a bit cool, but nothing these two couldn't handle. I'm so glad we made this fun tradition happen over the years. This is the very last papa trip. I think Luke enjoyed every minute. We also ended up getting Luke new transition lenses at the beginning of January. I didn't think Luke would like them, but they ended up working perfectly for this trip. 

Luke's birthday present

Luke is going to Florida with Brandon for his 15th birthday. Since he will be gone on his actual birthday, we celebrated exactly one week ahead on Jan. 21st. I made creamy chicken alfredo, garlic cheese mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake. I even let him open his presents. 

We ran into one problem though - I couldn't find the present he wanted the most. I bought him prescription lenses to go inside his VR headset. I searched, and searched, and searched all over the entire house. Peter even joined in the searching. We finally gave up and I ordered another pair. I assumed I had somehow thrown them away. Then, last night Peter found them in this cupboard. Too funny! A sign that I am getting old because I don't even remember putting them in there. 

A rough week

January blahs have entered in full force - it's been a discouraging week where I only managed to barely survive it. Life is hard despite keeping myself super busy. Hopefully this next week will be better.

I started the week attending my Great Aunt Sherrie Misel's funeral. Oh, she was the sweetest lady ever and I love her so much! She was so happy despite struggling so badly with depression, and chronic pain. I loved to go over to her house and listen to her stories of when she was a little girl. Then we would laugh and laugh. 

She was so kind to me and let me borrow all of Great-Gma Chamberlain's recipes that she had. I am so grateful that I managed to get them all uploaded to family search. She desperately missed her sisters - especially Aunt Donna with whom she was very close. Whenever a loved one passes away I feel a bit jealous. Mortality is difficult - and I'm just hanging on for the hope that I may mange to earn an eternal reward in the heavenly choir. #celestiallifegoals

Her funeral was delightful and my sister, Amy, and I listed to each one of her daughters speak. She was one of those rare people that absolutely love everyone. One habit Aunt Sherrie had was to sneak $20 bills into your hand or pocket before you left her house. She was so generous that way. I know she is  having an absolute blast with her family right now. I only feel badly for Uncle John - her hubby that is now alone. Thank goodness he has a daughter nearby that will be his caregiver. 

I worked a lot of hours M-Th this week so that I only needed to work 2 hours on Friday. Since it was a long weekend (Martin Luther day tomorrow), it was especially nice. I forced myself to go to Spanish Fork and do some clothes shopping. I hate spending money on clothes so much, but I was able to find 2 shirts, a cardigan, and three pair of shoes! I love buying shoes at the end of January because the boots are always so cheap! The cheapest pair I got this time was $13. Hurray! I also got a pretty blue necklace, and a new turtle platform for Otis. The only problem is he doesn't like it very much. It's smaller than the last one I bought him.

Went to church choir today. We have a lively group that attends. Sadly, we are always short of men - I wish the many men that know how to sing in our ward would actually come to choir. It's annoying that they don't. Nursery was more of a challenge then we are used to. It's just taking a while for the tiny kids to get used to senior nursery. Hehehehe! It will be my turn for the lesson next week and I'm already getting nervous. Fingers crossed. 

Springville still doesn't have any snow. I think we've only had one tiny storm that left a little skiff a snow. It's such a weird winter that way. 

Over the Christmas break

I had lots of time on my hands during Christmas break this year. Truthfully, I've got to do something different during Christmas break '26 'cause I almost went completely crazy. One of the things I did do, was visit Pirate O's Gourmet Market in Draper. They have so many yummy European treats. I took Luke in December, and wanted to go back and see what they had on Christmas clearance. 

I scored! These, my friends, were the best haul of the trip. So, so yummy! Next year I need to go back and get more. 

Since I was in Salt Lake County anyway, I happily agreed to go and pick up the daughter of my bestie. Her daughter is going to BYU. We had a very lovely ride down to campus while she filled me in on the first semester of her college adventures. I loved hearing all about it, and was so thankful it wasn't me trying to navigate college classes and boys. Bwahaha! 

Our new advent calendar

January 1, 2024 - I was lucky enough to spend time with Larry ringing in the new year at his place. I now treasure every single picture we have of the two of us together. In the background of this picture you may notice a Christmas tree advent calendar.

After Larry passed away, I looked high and low for the exact calendar. I could not find it anywhere - but I found one similar. I bought it, and then put it away for a time until I could get my grief under control. 

Almost a year later, I pulled out the project and started working on it. It's intense! I think Larry would be amazed at my determination to finish it, even if it took me a long time. I am grateful this project will always remind me of Larry, and the gift we had of one holiday season together as two people who loved each other very much. 

It was a very Merry Christmas

I kept expectations low this year, so the holiday was absolutely beautiful! We did our multiple advents, ate loads of holiday treats, danced around the Christmas tree, watched The Muppets Christmas Carol, and retold the Nativity story. I don't remember a Christmas season that felt so comforting and special. I am grateful. 

Christmas morning I had to wake up the kids to come open presents. That was a first. I was so thankful to have the financial ability to buy the kids Christmas gifts.   

Stewart Falls

A dear friend and I were talking a few weeks ago about the beautiful fall weather. I was telling her how much the mountains were calling to me and I wanted to go for a hike. She is a big time hiker and she immediately said she would go with me. We went to Stewart falls. It was a little bit harder than I thought it would be, but so worth it. It took us about 3 hours round trip.