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I’m pretty sure those aren’t your real teeth. You haven’t gotten your braces off yet, Natalie.
What an amazing yet crazy year this has been.
Having an exchange student here for the whole year really has added to and enriched our lives. Yes, there have been some challenges and irritations, but we lucked out and had a wonderful girl living with us this whole school year. I mean REALLY lucked out.
Tonight we are going to pick up her mom from the airport and she’ll stay with us for a few days. And hopefully soon I’ll have a new camera and can post all kinds of pictures again.
Last Sunday was Cole’s “farewell” talk in church. It was a super meeting, with a confirmation of a wonderful young lady who is currently living in our ward. Her baptism was the day before, and it was a wonderful experience. There was also a fabulous talk by a sister in our ward who was just released from her mission in Salt Lake at the family history library. Her husband died while on their mission, but she was still so amazingly excited about missionary work. Cole also spoke. He did such a GREAT job with his talk, and didn’t get all sappy or make me cry. He spoke on the Atonement and his take on avoiding sin. Some things I remember from his talk are (and believe me, I was kind of emotional and don’t remember all that much), but he talked about harrowing, as in Alma 39:7 And now, my son, I would to God that ye had not been guilty of so great a crime. I would not dwell upon your crimes, to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good.
Definition of HARROW– a cultivating implement set with spikes, spring teeth, or disks and used primarily for pulverizing and smoothing the soil, so when you sin, the guilt from that sin is like something raking across your middle.
He also said that if you enter into a minefield, you will explode. So stay far away from the mines of temptation.
After the meeting, we were greeted by pouring rain.
Really?
It was sunny when we left, and we had set up 4 tables outside, even putting tablecloths on them, so they would be all ready for our crowd.
Well, we just had to get cozy inside.
Here’s Cole with a bunch of his friends. One of these friends had his farewell talk at 9:00 that same day. So these boys went to two sacrament meetings to hear each other speak.
Lots of people, and this was just the family and friends who came over right after sacrament meeting. Luckily, we were set up in the basement, too, so we could spread out a bit.
We had made an insane amount of rhubarb pie on Saturday. Well, 6 pies. I guess that’s not an insane amount. It just felt like that when we had all of the kids picking, washing and chopping it.
There was actually plenty of food, so that when the ward members started to come over, we just got out something else. I bought too many rolls, but oh, well.
Here’s Cole with my mom. Love them!
Once the crowds left, my parents wanted to play a game, so we played… What was that game called again? King’s something? Anyway, it was fun to play with them.
It was a beautiful day. I can’t believe it was only one week ago!
K
Instead of writing all about our trip to the MTC yesterday, I’ll direct you to the mission blog we have set up for Cole.
http://cole.ericksonfamily.com/
It’s our last day with Cole here before he enters the MTC. So much to write about, but that will have to wait. He did a WONDERFUL job on his farewell talk, and we are SO proud of him. It’s been a wonderful weekend.
If you’d like to keep up with Cole, you can follow along on his blog here.
Saturday we were finally able to go to the Temple with Cole. I had hoped we could go earlier in the spring, but he just couldn’t fit things into his schedule until he was out of school. Saturday night was the best time, so we met at the temple. We were all a bit nervous and excited, especially Cole.
Ryan and Cole went to the temple at 5:30 (Don’t they both look sharp in their NEW SUITS?) and the rest of us met in the chapel at 6:30 for the 7:00 session.
My sister, Amy, was going to bring her kids over at 6:00, but at 6:15, I couldn’t wait any longer, so I left, and told the kids she would probably show up with her kids to be babysat, but I wasn’t going to wait.
Being in the temple with my parents, my family, Ryan’s parents and siblings and Cole was wonderful. I thought I would cry the whole time, but I didn’t. I was just very happy that we have a son who is worthy to go through the temple, and who is willing to the serve the Lord and the people of West Virginia. Happy.
We had originally thought we would go out to dinner after the session, but then we thought twice about that. How about frozen yogurt instead?
So, after the temple, we went back home and got the kids, who deserved a break after babysitting (Megan told me the kids were pretty wild and crazy), and went over to our local frozen yogurt shop, Orange Leaf. 
It’s one of those serve yourself places, and while I always make sure my own kids don’t load up on too much yogurt and toppings (try not to be greedy, right?) I cannot control how others load up those huge yogurt cups. Ryan insisted we pay for everyone, and I was a little shocked at the price of yogurt for that many people.
But, we had a nice time socializing with the family and friends who had come to share this special evening with us.
So proud of my son and excited for the next two years.
Hubby left for Hong Kong yesterday, and I must say, my closet’s been wondering when he was going to leave. This is his first trip of 2013, much to his dismay. Last year he earned platinum status and this year, he’s not gone anywhere for the first quarter of the year? What’s up with that? Anyway, I use the time when he’s gone to do some big project that disrupts the bedroom. I know, I know, I could do these things when he’s home, but then I’d have to clean up my mess every night so that he could actually sleep in the bed. This way, if I get interrupted or lose steam during the day, I can just leave it a big mess and finish it later. And talk about a big mess! I took some pictures, but I can’t post anything until it’s done and I have a clean after picture, or you’d all just gasp and wonder how I can be such a slob.
Anyway, I’m cleaning out my closet, which really should happen once a year, but actually happens about once every 3 years. I just tried on EVERY pair of pants I own, to find out which ones to donate, which ones to put into the “too small, but a girl can hope” box, and which ones actually fit and I can wear them. Some observations..
–Why do I have so many pairs of pants? I mean, really…why? And if I do indeed have this many pairs of pants that fit, why do I wear the same two pairs of jeans every single day of my life? I’m going to have to stretch outside my comfort zone and wear more slacks and other pants, even other jeans, instead of my ultra comfy Target jeans that I can’t live without. And when did I buy these velvety black pants and have I ever worn these. I found a pair of leggings and said to myself, “Leggings? When did I buy leggings? The tag is still on them. Then I put them on and realized WHY people wear leggings. Very comfy, if you don’t care what your bottom half looks like. I can’t even bring myself to wear leggings under a skirt, but I’m working on it.
–When I say “fit” with pants, there are various stages of fit.
**There’s the regular–these fit.
**Then we have–these fit, but I wouldn’t want to wear them all day.
**There’s also–these fit, but I’m not sure I would wear them because they make my thighs look like gigantic watermelons (you could also substitute “butt” or “tummy” for the thighs. I’m sure you get the idea.
**Then we have–these kind of fit, on a non bloated day, probably about a week after my period if I’ve been exercising.
**Things go downhill from there, with –these fit, if I don’t plan on sitting down. Ever.
There are also surprises, like when you look at a size that is actually bigger than the size you are currently wearing, and those darn things are too small. Or the opposite side of the spectrum, when I look at the size and say, oh, those won’t fit, look at the size (one size smaller than I am currently wearing) and they actually fit. Whatever.
But I did manage to get rid of a few pairs of pants, including the beloved pair I wore all last summer and they are now so ripped and threadbare it’s no longer decent to wear them in public. I also filled a box to put away of “pants that do not currently fit”. I’ll put the box in the top of the closet, where it can gently remind me that there are cute clothes to be worn, if I will only stick to an exercise program and stop eating cookies, but yet those pants don’t mingle with the clothes that actually do mostly fit, so I won’t get frustrated when I pull out pair after pair of pants that do not fit. I did the same thing with the skirts and dresses. Box it up, baby. I’m not quite ready to toss them all, because I do PLAN to fit into those things eventually, but better in a box than crowding the closet.
Shoes. Oh, how I love shoes. My shoes, however, are all over the place. I’ve had to get rid of quite a few pairs, which I will offer to the girls in the family before I toss them into the DI pile. I’m also putting away all the boots and ‘winter shoes’, so I can make room for sandals and flip flops. Because I tend to buy things at the end of the season when they are on clearance, I’ve got sandals I’m finding in there that I’ve never worn! “Why hello, gold wedges! Where did you come from?” So, yes, I’m excited to try out a couple pairs of new sandals that I bought last winter.
Shoes, while most of them fit (not like that pants, shoes still fit even if I’m having a fat day–or decade), they have different comfort levels. With sandals and dress shoes, the question is always, ‘could I wear these to bells?’. Because besides having to stand and rehearse for 2 hours, there’s the half hour of hauling boxes of bells and tables for set up and take down, as well as the uphill/downhill walk through the tunnels to get from the parking garage to our rehearsal space under the tabernacle (called the horseshoe, if you are familiar with the undergrounds of the tabernacle). A lot of us end of taking our shoes off during our two plus hour rehearsal, since not all shoes fit the comfort level of “bells worthy”. It’s funny to see a bunch of boots under our chairs in the winter, and many girls standing playing in their socks. Some shoes are ok for church, but not for nursery. Or they could be ok to sub in the junior high, but not for younger grade elementary, where there is a lot of walking. For kindergarten, I wear only my most comfortable clothes and shoes, since I won’t see any other adults, and I will be kneeling, walking, crouching, out for recess, and all over the place.
So, I will continue to try to clean out that closet, getting rid of the random things that are stored in there (a whole box of frames? Really? Why is this in my closet?) and getting rid of the things I can let go of. Hopefully I’ll have an AFTER picture for you by the end of the week. Or I may get lost in there, or worse, injured by things falling from the top of the closet. It’s pretty dangerous.
I am often torn between two personalities–we’ll call them “Fun Mom”, or the fun mom who takes her kids to do great things on a Saturday, and “Cranky Mom”, who would be the mom who just wants everyone to STOP WHINING AND DO YOUR JOBS.
I discovered a recipe recently that is just so good I have to share it. Chocolate covered peanut butter pretzel bites.
I made them once, and then my kids have made them again, and they are so yummy, but they get gobbled up pretty quickly. They are kind of like a take 5 bar! I saw many different recipes floating around, but I found this particular one on Sally’s Baking Addiction, and if you would like to take a few minutes and drool over recipes, that’s a good place to do it.
Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels
makes 30 bites
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
60 pretzels
1 semi-sweet Bakers Chocolate Baking Bar OR chocolate melts
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium size bowl, mix together peanut butter and butter with a spoon. Stir in sugars until thick dough forms. Roll peanut butter dough into 30 small balls. If it is too sticky, add more powdered sugar.
Sandwich balls between two pretzels and place on prepared baking sheet. Freeze for 10 minutes.
While the pretzel bites are chilling, break up the chocolate and melt for about 1 minute in microwave, stirring every 20 seconds. Dip the pretzel bites halfway into the melted chocolate and place bite back on baking sheet. Refrigerate the dipped bites for at least 10 minutes for chocolate to set.
Pretzel Bites are fresh up to one week, stored in the refrigerator.
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