Category: Uncategorized (Page 5 of 118)

This big ol’ white board now lives in my office. I’ve spent some time this morning figuring it out and rearranging a few things (just a few). It’s the visiting teaching board for our Relief Society. I have a feeling I’ll get to know that board very well. With sisters moving in and out, changes seem to be necessary almost constantly. I feel bad for our secretary.

I’m thankful for my supportive husband. Yesterday, as I looked at the website for substitute teachers, there were 36 available jobs listed for today and in the next week. I look at those open jobs and I feel guilty if I don’t accept one of them. But I didn’t want to. I mentioned it to Ryan and he said “You should NOT feel guilty for not subbing unless someone specifically asked for you.” I realized today that this morning is the only quite time I’ll have around here for about a week (spring break coming up) and I really needed to prayerfully consider the sisters and the changes that need to be made, so I’m glad I had this morning to do it.

Today we will start our breadmaking. I believe we need to make 26 loaves tonight and tomorrow for the first baking day of Natalie’s fund raiser. She needs to earn about $600 to pay for her Debate trip in June to Texas. But we’ve had a GREAT response to the bread idea, and I think she can earn that money in the time we have.

On Saturday, the girls wanted to go to the festival of colors in Spanish fork. We had gone last year as a family and had fun, but I didn’t know if it was in the cards this year. I had a bells rehearsal in Salt Lake and wouldn’t be home until after noon, and John had a birthday party at 1 pm, but I told the girls I would go with them if they really wanted to go. They did. At least Natalie and Megan. Here we are on the bus to go to the temple BC (before colors).

Jenna did not want to go, so she stayed home with Dad.

I love how when you walk in, you see the WHITE people and the COLORED people. Talk about segregation.

It was a beautiful and warm day. We didn’t purchase colors, but as soon as you walk on the grounds, people start to toss a bit of color on you, or even pat you on the back or the face with some color. Personal space? Not here.

I like the shirts when they are colorful, but not TOTALLY covered in chalk.

In trying to protect my camera, I kept it in a bag. I tried to take pictures through the bag, but this was the result, so I tried to just take it out and take a picture or two and then put it right back in the bag.

Here it looks like Natalie is trying to eat our heads.

The bandanas are to protect your mouth and nose from the chalk in the air. When it’s the official THROW at the top of the hour, you can be sure we had our faces covered.

There are a ton of people there, so parking and traffic is a problem, but we didn’t mind waiting for the bus to take us back to our car at Salem Hills High school.

The important thing was that we all had fun. Yes, we had to shower, wash everything, even vacuum out the car afterward, but it was a fun experience!

Happy Spring!

I hate making doctor’s appointments. I put it off and put it off. Especially if it’s something for me that’s just kind of a nagging, non urgent thing. My mammogram gets later and later in the year every year, as I put it off.

Well, I’ve been having night sweats something terrible, lately. When I went to the doc earlier this year he wrote me an rx for estrogen, which my pharmacist cautioned me against taking this if my body wasn’t making progesterone, because it can cause cancer. So, I never took that. I also never took any of the pain med he prescribed for a stress headache I had at the time.

So, I gathered up my courage to call and make an appointment with an ob/gyn (I don’t have one currently, since I’m done having kids and all) and was rejected. Not taking new patients, only doing surgical consults, blah, blah, blah. It was like a slap in the face. Plus, I had just used all my gumption to call and make that appointment! Now I’ll have to wait 3 more months and stew about it before I can call again. Ok, not really. I summoned up the courage to call a DIFFERENT office and try to schedule an appointment, an they won’t even talk about making an appointment before April. FINE. But I made an appointment, at least.

Now I have to call the Orthodontist and CHANGE the appointment I made for the kids, because that turns out to not work very well. When you have to schedule so far in advance, things come up, I tell you.

But I can’t do that today because I’ve already called two doctor’s offices today. That will have to wait for another day.

Wow. Our show is over. 22 Shows is 3 weeks.

The show was so popular that it sold out, so they asked us if we could all do an additional show on Thursday night, which we did.

It was really awesome to get to know the other 7 people in the cast.

For the past four weeks we get there around 9 and start to do our makeup, hair, get out mics on and get in costume and warm up. A lot of mornings I was tired, or stressed, or really didn’t want to do JUST ONE MORE show. But once I got there, everyone was laughing, singing to whatever music we had on that day, and just having fun as we got ready. I mentioned to Ryan how much fun we were having, and he said, “this is the payoff. You did the 6 weeks of rehearsals and now you get to reap the pay off.”

Yep.

And what great people. Our director is in his 80’s. He’s a wonderful man.
We have a 57 year old dynamo with tons of energy, and she was also our choreographer.
We have a retired cop, now stay at home dad,
A 19 year old chemical biology student (something super smart like that)
A couple of 28 year olds who love theater and have been doing it for years,
A mom of 3 who only did her first play last fall,
Our Pinkalicious, who is most often a behind the scenes gal, directing and stage managing so many shows, but she was AWESOME and full of energy in this role,
And me.

Everyone was so nice. We talked about relationships, theater, husbands, boyfriends, dating, kids, makeup, music, underwear, school… everything. This past week I came on Thursday and had just learned of a young man’s death in our stake, and I was very sad. But doing a show forces you to leave your sadness at the door. There is no time for sadness in a busy, high energy show like this. I felt love and support from these people.

In a small show like this, you get a chance to sing and dance (at the same time) even if that’s not your forte. Often, n big shows, I don’t get to dance at all because it’s obvious that I’m not a dancer. I LOVED having the chance to learn choreography and dance. No, I’m not the best, but I CAN do it, and it’s fun.

Yes, it was a ton of work. Each show took about 3 hours out of my day, with driving to Orem, getting ready, doing the show, changing, and then driving home. On 7 of those days, we did the show twice, so that was about 6 hours. But I LOVED doing it. Yes, my house is a mess, and I was quite exhausted.

But it’s worth it to me.

Now the show is over and I have to go on with my regular life. I have a few sub jobs lined up already and I will continue with my chimes choir. I still have Bells, and we are entering a really busy season. I have enough to do, that I’m glad I won’t have to give up 3 or 6 hours of my day tomorrow. But a part of me is sad that I won’t get to see these friends every day. I hope to be able to do another show with each of them, and hope we keep in touch. Dr. Seuss said, ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’ I will always smile when I think of this show.

I’ve been a person of the overweight persuasion for just about all of my life. I was a chubby kid, then a chunky teenager, and a overweight college student. Having children added more pounds, pushing me from “overweight” to “obese” category on the friendly BMI charts. As I’ve lost and gained weight over the years, I have gotten back to overweight, but never have I been in the “normal” range. I may never get there. And that’s ok.

But that being said, since I’ve spent my life being overweight, there are things I do differently than a normal sized person.
I check to see if I’m the fattest. Yep, I’m checking you out, people. Let’s say we go to a waterpark (oh the horror!). Hundreds of people baring their skin in swimsuits of all sizes. I for one, opt for covering the MOST skin possible, and then wearing a sarong or a skirt or a shirt or any number of things to cover my white fat body until the moment when I actually step INTO the water. But there are a lot of people who are ok with flashing their fat. I’m always amazed to go to a water park and see the choices some larger women make with their swim suits. And there are actually a lot of people there who are fatter than me. It gives me comfort to look around and see that I’m NOT the fattest person there. I think, “well, if they can do it, I can do it,” and then it’s not so bad taking off the cover up and getting into the pool. Disneyland is a GREAT place to see all kinds of very large people. Not that I’m constantly looking at how fat everyone is, I just kind of like to make sure I’m not the fattest. (Fat is not the greatest word. I should try overweight).

That’s why going to a gym is very hard for me. Gyms are very intimidating. You expect to see a bunch of very fit people at the gym, and I don’t really want to be the fattest person there. I did join a gym last year, and it was actually ok. I eventually quit because I couldn’t justify that much money when I only went a couple times a week. Yes, it was SUPER scary to go in there and check it out for the first time, but once I got going, I realized that I am NOT the fattest person there. Most out of shape, maybe. Also, that people don’t really talk to each other at the gym (at least not much). It’s not like on Seinfeld where it’s a pick up place. You go, you put in your headphones, you work out, you leave. I did have a neighbor come up and try to talk to me about how my missionary was doing, and I found it so annoying. I want to be anonymous at the gym, not talk to you about my real life. Can you not see that I’m sweaty and not wearing any makeup? That is a definite sign not to talk to me.

In my head, I’m not nearly as fat. Sometimes I see pictures of me, and I think, “What? Can I REALLY be that fat?” Maybe that’s just an unflattering view, or maybe I really am. I see myself in the mirror and I’m usually looking at my face. Not my butt. But pictures. Ugh. I love/hate pictures.

But I’m working on things. With this healthy challenge, I’ve lost 15 pounds. I had bought two dresses and I like them both. I couldn’t decide which one to send back. I decided to keep them both. They are my reward dresses. I got to wear one yesterday and named it my “I’ve lost 15 pounds dress”. I hope to wear the other one when I’ve lost 25 pounds. Non food rewards.

Even though my body is not the greatest shape and it’s not in the greatest shape, I’m thankful for it. I can do amazing things, and it’s just going to get better. I can dance! I can walk, I can jog, I can ride a bike! I can take care of my family, I can serve others, I can teach, I can make music, I can sing, I can talk, I can hug! So even when I’m not happy with how much body I have, I’m so thankful for the body I have. I’m trying to treat it better, take care of it better, and enjoy it more.

Wow. What a week we’ve had with rehearsals. Tech and dress rehearsals are hard. Figuring out costume changes, and who’s going to help our little Pinkalicious with her many costumes.

Today we did two run throughs, one right after the other.

I also tried different undergarments today. My spanks-ish black thing and a supportive tank top. Ugh. UGH. That’s about all I want to go into that. While it did make it easier to change backstage in the wings, it was SO not comfortable.

Here’s a bunch of us before the start of the show yesterday.

Yesterday I managed to pull off a successful lunch for the teachers. When I went to Chick-fil-a to pick up the food at the agreed upon time, they did not really know about my order. I was there for 20 minutes trying hard not to panic. But they did eventually bring all the stuff, and I got it all into the school (aside from that one unfortunate gallon of lemonaid that JUMPED off the little cart in the parking lot), even though I really should have checked out Natalie or Jenna to help me.

Today, I also got run over by a piece of the set. I was turning it, and a piece opened up and SCRAPED right along the back of my heel/ankle. CRap, that hurts.

In other news, we’re almost done with our 4 weeks with the boys. This week they stayed up at a friend’s house on Wed, and they actually ASKED before hand, instead of waiting until 11:30, so we had no problem with it. Today was their final test, and I don’t know if they will do anything with us this weekend or not. I hope they’ve had a good time here. We haven’t really helped them have a good time, but then again, they haven’t really wanted to have anything to do with us, so we’re not really responsible for that. I understand it’s been a pain for them to travel way out here to Lehi, when a lot of their friends’ host families are closer to the school in Murray. Oh well. Now we know not to sign up for something like this again.

And finally, I just drove Natalie and 4 other debaters out to Herriman High school for a debate thing. I sure hope one of the other moms picks them up.

My family is amazing. Seriously, my sisters both take on SO much, from raising 14 kids to painting for Music and the Spoken Word, I have awesome sisters. My brother is no slouch, either, building and fixing things, taking scouts on outing after outing. Really. We must have been raised that way. We have awesome parents. I remember when my mom was the relief society president of our ward AND my dad was called as the bishop of the ward AT THE SAME TIME. They released my mom quickly. But anyway, I think we have some pretty great examples in our lives.

I was shocked and humbled this morning when I read my sister’s blog. I was looking for her annual Groundhog’s day letter, but instead found a wonderful tribute…to me! She had nominated me for a High 5 award from KSL.

Since her blog might be password protected, I’ll just copy what she said here.

KSL has a contest right now, where you can nominate a person you know to receive $500 and be on TV. I nominated my sister Paige. Here’s what I said:

Hope she wins!

I read it and tears sprang to my eyes. Oh, the sweet things she said. I’m honored. And humbled. And grateful. Oh, great, now my mascara’s running again.

Thank you, Amy.

Step ball change, jazz square and then the jazz hands? Or was it jazz hands with the Jazz square and THEN the cakewalk thing?

We only have one more week of rehearsals until we open our play, Pinkalicious.

I play Dr. Wink, who diagnoses Pinkalicious with Pinkititis. I have a whole song and dance number for the doctor. It’s really fun, but with all the dancing, I can’t get the singing right. If I worry too much about the singing, or if I’m already winded from the scene change that we do right before the song, I mess up on the dancing. Ugh. I’m not a great dancer and it takes me a while to get things cemented into my brain, and even when I THINK I have them right, I mess up, still.

Today we went over all the dances, and then did a run through. Even though we had JUST barely practiced it, I skipped an element of the dancing cupcakes dance. Rachel, my fellow cupcake followed me, and so we both did it wrong. I thought Felicia had done it wrong. Turns out I did it wrong, Rachel followed my wrong, and Felicia, who had done it right, only looked like she had done it wrong.

At night, I have music, lines, lyrics and dance steps going through my head. Over and OVER. Dr Wink isn’t a huge part of the show, so I’m also a cupcake dancing and a Butterfly who dances and sings. It’s such a cute show. I LOVE the show, I don’t mind rehearsal (once I’m there) and I like the other people in the show (There’s only 8 of us). But why am I stressing out so much about it that it wakes me up at night? I need to get over myself, know that I’ve got it, be confident in myself, and stop stressing. Right.

Yesterday we had a costume fitting and I was excited to see what I get to wear. A long white dr’s coat and scrubs. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Super tight blue capri leggings and a pink top go under my butterfly wings AND the cupcake outfit. Well, here’s a picture of the costume.

Do you see how short that is? That’s on a small lady, who is maybe a size 2. Imagine what happens when I put that same costume on my body. Let’s just say that without the leggings it would be slightly pornographic. The costume lady did say she was going to add something on to that, or maybe we’ll be wearing a tutu. Something to cover up the thighs, please. I really need to lose about 20 pounds from my hips and thighs, NOW, please. But that’s not going to happen, even with all the dancing and sweating I’ve been doing.

Anyway, I’m sure things will work out. I’m going to work on my memorization all weekend, do the dance in my living room, sing the songs in the shower, the car, at the piano, etc.

And YOU should plan to come see the show. Feb 9-27 on Mondays and Friday nights (also every week day at 10 am, but those are for school kids and not open to the public)

Let me start with….My hubby is the BEST, and without him, I would be throwing things (or people) through a window.

Sunday I went in for an interview with a member of the Stake Presidency who used to be our bishop. I told him we had these exchange students and that it wasn’t the smoothest of experiences we’ve had, in our years of hosting exchange students. He and his wife have also hosted Japanese boys and Chinese girls in the same program as we have, so I knew he would understand.

“15 year old boys?” he said, “And TWO of them? Why would anyone want to have Fifteen year old boys? I would rather have 12-13 year olds or 17-18 year olds. 15-16 year olds are about the WORST.”

Yeah, and we don’t really speak the same language either.

I’m trying not to complain too much, but when they got home from soccer playing at nearly 1:00 (on a school night? Yes) and then, just as hubby was coming back to bed and was falling asleep (I slept through their arrival, of course). There was a knock on our bedroom door because one of them had lost his phone and thought it was in the car. ARRGH!

I just sent an email to one of the coordinators asking if they could speak with the boys about courtesy, saying thank you, and generally trying to act a little nicer to the hosts. I don’t know if that will help, but I HOPE so. We’re into this thing 1 1/2 weeks, and we still have 2 1/2 weeks to go.

Ryan is the one who is driving them back and forth, so really I shouldn’t complain at ALL. Yet here I am. Complaining.

OK. I’m done. (with the complaining, that is.)

One of my least favorite things is driving kids places. I try to carpool and combine trips so I’m not just driving ONE kid to ONE place, but sometimes, that’s just what I do.

Today I feel like all I’ve been doing is driving people.

At 7:20 I took Natalie and 3 others to the high school.

At 8:55 I took the two Brazilian boys to the frontrunner station in Lehi. Instead of going home, I was going to make some copies, but I forgot to bring the materials, so I stopped at Costco to fill up the tank (love that gas is only $1.72!), and then drove to Orem for my rehearsal at the Scera. At 12:00 I was done, so I drove back home. Well, I actually stopped at Kneaders and got myself a salad for lunch.

The afternoon was pretty quiet, until about 4:45, when Natalie asked if I could pick up her friend and take them both to another friend’s house.

We had dinner, then I took Jenna to a friend’s house at 7:00.

I came back home, only to get a call from the boys that they were almost home and could I come get them at the station. Yes, of course. It’s my day to drive.

We ordered a pizza for them (delivery, please. I don’t want to go pick it up).

I’m so tired today. I think I might be getting a cold. I can’t fall asleep yet because I have to pick up Jenna and Natalie from their friend’s houses around 9. Then I can go to bed.