Roadshow

Em performed in our ward roadshow last night - she did a

great job singing "Popular" from the musical Wicked!

She played a cool kid who eventually learned that the

most important thing is to be friends with everyone!

She was also part of the script committee and we hosted

the cast party at our house after the performance...

so she was involved from beginning to end!

Be Yourself

pic from Because Films Inspire


I have a fun desk calendar sitting on my
kitchen desk with great quotes
for and mostly by women (Hey, Girlfriend).

This is one of many favorites - by Judy Garland...

Always
be a first-rate
version of yourself,
instead of a second-rate version
of somebody else.

...discuss among yourselves!

Kodaly

Emily had a chance to participate in a CCW concert today as

part of the National Conference for OAKE (see above).

I got to attend the concert as a chaperone

(which basically meant figuring out the

maze-like conference center

at the Mariott Wardman)

in an effort to help choristers

find the

restrooms,

elevators,

practice room,

ballroom

and parents/rides

afterward!

It was a great concert and seemed

well-received by the conference participants.

It's Cookie Time!

Here

While enjoying a Girl Scout cookie (or two!)

I am reliving/missing my days as the
Troop Cookie Mom...

Over the years we have:
sold
loved
eaten
ordered

delivered
consumed
and
reordered
Girl Scout Cookies!


Make sure you do the same...

DGW - Know About It!

Had a great time last night

at the DC screening for

Darius Goes West

Pictures to follow...

The nephew of good friends of ours is in the crew.


You will Laugh

You will Cry

You will Become Aware
Click Here

Create

I'm running to a meeting and not tech savvy

enough to put this video on my blog....

Try here

It is a short video based on Elder Uchtdorf's talk.

CREATE!

Why, Oh Why....?

Why must we change the clocks forward every spring?

It is a rhetorical question.

I don't really care what the answer is.

I just dislike it greatly.

4:45 a.m. comes so very early...

...the pic is from www.napier.govt.nz

It is a war memorial sundial.

Sunday Times

banner from Times Online

Church

Sausage & Spaetzle German Linner

(Lunch/Dinner)

Pleasant Walk

Gorgeous Weather

Tarts Perfected

Banana Bread

Lighter Later

Tabascos

Is it necessarily a bad thing when you eat at a favorite restaurant and the manager not only remembers the last time you were there but also makes a reference to something that you said the last time you were there?

I like to think that it says a lot about their customer service and not necessarily anything about the frequency of our visits?!

We "Heart" Tabascos!

Giving

http://www.redcross.org/

Sadly, the Red Cross did not

want my blood today.

My iron level was low.

Maybe that is why I have been
craving liver and onions?!

Route 44 and Spring Break (Round 1)

pic http://www.sonic.com/

Would you drive 3 1/2 hours (1 way) for this?

I would

and

I did

and

I added vanilla

and

Cara!

What Smells So Yummy?

This is the sight that I came home to after my weekend get-away in PA. Better than the sight was the wonderful aroma of cinnamon, apples and pear filling the house. Although not a huge fan of fruit per se - this not only smelled delicious but tasted the same.

He doesn't just shovel snow... he also cooks!

Finally Finished

A view of the Baltic Sea, near the Sea Bridge in Palanga, Lithuania.

I finished my scrapblog.com album of our Summer '07 Baltic Cruise. I semi-finished it back in January but hadn't had it printed yet. The impetus to get it finished came in the form of a 25% off coupon - made especially worthwhile because I needed to order 2 books (one for the family and one for Cara).

I am so happy to have it finished.

I finally had to force myself to stop tweaking.

I think it is possible to tweak forever.

Can't wait to see the finished product - sorry for a semi-repost.

I should give out prizes if you can spot the differences!

See it here ...

Snow Day!

Official Snow Measurement!

I'm happy to report a snow storm that didn't involve Craig being out-of-town. Please note for the record however that he was scheduled to leave town today and be gone for the week. My general observation - that he is always out-of-town when it snows - still stands. Fortunately (for me, my back, and my frozen toes) his trip was cancelled.

Thanks for shoveling :)

Collegeville Collage

Weekend Collage

I obviously need help with my picniking resizing skills...

3 Things I Love About Collegeville, PA

1

Quaint Looking On-Campus Housing

2

Great Traffic Signage

The sign between the lights reads

WAIT

FOR

GREEN

What were my other options?

3

Knitting Sculpture

As soon as I saw this I wanted to go to school here - but already having

2 degrees to my name and being unable to commute,

I sent my DD (dear daughter) instead!

You Can Only Eat the Edges!!

pic from BakersEdge

When I was posting about my family thinking that nice things in the fridge are never for them, it brought back memories of the delicious brownies that my mom always made. They are possibly the best brownies ever made and topped with delicious chocolate frosting - nothing out of a box or premade. They were her signature treat and we took them everywhere. However, she never served anyone (outside of family) the edges. We grew up eating edges and watching the center pieces being given away. I have often kidded her that I have never actually tasted one of her brownies from the center of the pan.

Coincidence that I love brownie edges - I think not!

Great pan for us edge lovers!

Small World

pic from Wikipedia.org

While at a CES broadcast for Seminary teachers,
we ran into someone that graduated from high school with Craig.
I've been sitting in the same room with his wife one Saturday a month for 3 years..

Who Knew?

It really is a small world.

Is This For Us?

pic from the Jello website

I may need to pick-up the pace

with regard to dinner time around here

(particularly after posting about McDonalds)!

Yesterday I made a fruit salad early in the day and put it in the fridge.

Craig arrived home from work before we got home from chorus and called to

ask about our dinner plans. When I mentioned the plan (tuna casserole)

and that there was also fruit salad in the fridge he responded that he had

seen it but assumed it was for someone else...

Ouch!

Eating like Royalty

This will only make a couple of people laugh

(and you know who you are)

but I want to write it down so I don't forget it.

While traveling to CA during the summer for our Disneyland trip, we ate at a McDonalds and Emily mentioned to her sisters that I usually make a quick trip through the Mickey D's drive-thru after she has her ortho appointments. Conveniently, there is a McDonalds right across the street from the orthodontist's office. She always enjoyed having a quick bite to eat after the adjustment and before her teeth started to hurt. Apparently her sisters didn't know about our little trips and were a little surprised that they hadn't been included (or that I hadn't done it with them).

Emily just smiled and said:

Yes, after my appointment I eat like a queen.

Every six weeks or so I eat like royalty!

I'm not sure what that says about our eating habits?

But it made me smile :)

No braces?

No eating like a queen?

Outliers: The Story of Success

from www.gladwell.com

I am so loving this book.

These are two quotes from an interview on his website regarding the book:

In this book I'm interested in people who are outliers—in men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are as puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August.

My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances— and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds—and how many of us succeed—than we think. That's an amazingly hopeful and uplifting idea.

Fascinating!

Magical Moments

Magical Moments Scarf

From www. jojoland.com

I am working on this scarf in a different colorway - more autumnal.

Rediscovered Knit and Stitch = Bliss in Bethesda today.

I love that name - because it is bliss for me.

I was there to put together an auction basket for CCW- is it my fault

a scarf pattern and sock yarn fell into my basket?

What's a knitter to do?

V is for Virtue

I spoke about Virtue today in church.

By the numbers...

1

Asked to be the concluding speaker

2

Nervous about having enough/not enough material

3

Listed in the bulletin as middle speaker

4

Started mentally cutting material

5

Told not to cut anything - the bulletin was a mistake

6

Kept cutting while waiting for other speaker to arrive to clarify

7

Other speaker had never been asked to speak

8

Now the youth speaker and I have the entire time

9

Start adding to my talk

10

Spoke

11

Ended on time

12

Told the bishop that my talk should count as 2 talks - told him I would

speak again when the economy improved!

13

Took a nap

Red Dress Gala

...borrowed from Alicia's blog from last year...

Alicia's

Alpha Phi Sorority

is hosting their annual

Red Dress Gala

tonight in honor women's heart health.

I had the opportunity to attend last year and

enjoyed spending a delightful evening with her sorority sisters.

You would think that a girl raised with sisters might shy away

from adding any more sisters to her life but I'm sure glad she did.

I must admit I was very impressed by their

poise,

commitment,

dedication

and

high-level energy!

Happy Red Dress Gala!

Picture of a Pitcher

Warning!

Diet Coke pitchers may actually

be larger than they appear.

Had to blog this picture of the pitcher -

which was actually not a refill pitcher but the

mug/ewer/flagon/glass/cup/container/? of Diet Coke

that was served with my delicious lunch*.

Can you believe that?

Can you believe it is almost gone?

Can you believe I wasn't up all night?

This really should be two posts - one about the Diet Coke

and one about the pleasure of eating lunch with a friend.

The conversation, the laughter, the listening,

the ideas, the creativity, the plans.

It is nice to be fed - both body and soul!

Thanks for lunch...

*if you would like your own pitcher full

of the soda of your choice... come here...

Amish Market

You better hope that you don't crave

Ham Loaf

and

Pepper Slaw

on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday

because the Dutch Country Farmers Market is only

open Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

The drive isn't as quaint but it is much closer than

our favorite Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant and Deli in PA.

What's In a Name

I enjoyed this article in my hometown newspaper

The Herald Journal

regarding the most popular names in Cache Valley for 2008.

I guess my parents were on the cutting edge of the trend

when they named me

Lisa

which was the number one name on the SSA list of popular baby names from

1962-1969.

This might explain the large number of Lisa's that I went to school with.

Same thing happened to Emily

(it sounded traditional and a little old-fashioned to us at the time)

but it made #1 nationally from 1994-2007.

The SSA lists by year, by state and nationally

and makes for some enjoyable browsing on a cold grey, winter day...

It is true, I still read the HJ News - front page, local sports and

yes, I'm still reading the obituaries. Don't tell anyone at the Post ...

Don't Sneeze You Might Start a Pandemic

During our visit to Savage Mill we
visited a great game store - actually called
The Family Game Store . It is owned/run by the nicest family. They
were so helpful as we described the kind of game that we wanted,
the types of games we have played as a family, how many players, etc.
We couldn't be happier with their recommendations.
I will blog the 2nd game another time.
Our latest obsession is:

Pandemic

The Board Game Geek describes it this way:

"You are specialists at the CDC/Atlanta where you watch several virulent diseases break out simultaneously all over the world. The team mission is to prevent a world-wide pandemic outbreak, treating hot spots while researching cures for each of the four plagues before they get out of hand."

It is perfect family game for us -

I love it because you win together or you lose together.

It is definitely a cooperative-play type game.

You know it is an obsession because we are plotting strategy, comparing

notes and fine-tuning our moves even when we aren't playing the game!

If you have a chance to play/purchase it we highly recommend it!

All Smiles :)

BEFORE

AFTER


Everyone smiles in the same language.
~Author Unknown

What will we do with ourselves now that
we don't have to visit the orthodontist every six weeks?
I figure we have been going at least every six weeks for the past
8 1/2 years - not all for Em - that includes all 3 of our beautiful children
who all have beautiful smiles.
thanks Dr. M

Em didn't want pictures - no time for the hair straightener, etc.
this am... hence the covered face - because I guess none of you will recognize her? :)

Dance

Just turned 14...

1st Multi-Stake (6) Valentine's Dance

Too cute for words...

and so nervous too!

I love the way it almost looks like it is her

name above all of the family pictures!

Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day

To the Ones I Love!

You know who you are...

Especially to the One that sent

me a copy of this Sonnet

Fall/1980

XXIX Sonnet
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself, and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

W. Shakespeare

TGIF

Some Fridays are TGIF Fridays.

Today was one!

Glorious Nap

General Housecleaning

Grateful Missionaries for Dinner

Going to Bed Early

Have a Heart!

Here are our Cookie of the Month

offerings for Em's teachers this month.

Do middle-school teachers ever get thanked enough?

Hopefully they will

fit nicely into these...

Greener Grass

A deep and lengthy conversation with a friend

seeking balance and fulfillment

ended with this phrase:

The grass isn't greener anywhere else...

This

is

my

grass.

Enough said.

Add your own emphasis.

Enjoy yours...

Beginnings New

Timothy 4:12

Let no man despise thy youth;

but be thou an example of the believers, in word,

in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

WORD

CONVERSATION

CHARITY

SPIRIT

FAITH

PURITY

Here is the Church and Here is the Steeple, Open the doors...

I love spending two evenings

a week in the

Sanctuary

of this

lovely building.

Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church

The colors behind the altar are the

most beautiful shades of lavendar.

The stained-glass windows are magnificent.

The choir rehearsals are postively angelic!

Whimsey

Artcraft

This perpetual calendar just made me smile :)

These are the words around the inner border...

The Secret to Life is Enjoying the Passage of Time

Make the Time Sweet

Grow a Garden

Follow Your Heart

Seize the Day

Relish the Night

Cherish Family

Celebrate

Accept Change

Live Life to the Fullest

Look Up

Dream

I fancied it yesterday and remembered it today when thinking about

Men are that they might have joy...

Savage Mill

Savage Mill

One-of-a-kind shops and

artists housed in an historic textile mill.

Fun Shops

Outstanding Purchases

Great Company

Yummy Lunch

Beautiful Weather

Life is Good!

Books

It's Not About the Book

Book Group

This month we read:

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest

to Become the Smartest Person in the World

by

A.J. Jacobs

so fun I stayed up way past my bedtime...

Cast List

Apparently these are the pictures that I was supposed to post...

Apparently the mom is always the last to know!

Following in the footsteps of:

Bernadette Peters

and

Kristin Chenoweth

Emily has been cast as...

Lily St. Regis (After the hotel!)

All the more exciting because that is the role she wanted?!

Question Mark ?

What could that possible be about...?

Maybe you should ask my sis...

Mrs. Gibbs

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Mrs. Julia Hersey Gibbs:

Dr. Gibbs’ wife, who represents a typical housewife

in the first two acts; in the final act,

she is seen as a spirit. (http://www.cliffnotes.com/)

Posted belatedly (performed in Dec/08) in honor of another

audition today for the school musical - Annie

Break a leg...

Fish, Anyone?

Today I gave each of my seminary students a small bag of goldfish. We are finishing the Gospels in the New Testament and were discussing John 21 - when the apostles return to fishing after the resurrection of the Savior. They have fished all night and have caught nothing. The Savior tells them to cast their net on the right side of the ship and it fills with fish - to the point that they are surprised that it doesn't break.

After eating with them, the Savior teaches a powerful lesson. He asks Peter, "Lovest thou me, more than these?". Peter assures him that he does. Jesus tells him to "Feed my Sheep". Jesus repeats the question three times (perhaps as a reminder of the way that Peter was given three opportunities only days before to claim allegiance to the Savior). Finally, "grieved", Peter answers, "Yea Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus replies, "Feed my Sheep".

We will spend time discussing the "feed my sheep" part of the conversation as we move into Acts, but today I wanted them to focus on "lovest thou me, more than these"? The tag I put on the fish turned the question around - Lovest thou these more than me?

What are the these/fish in our lives?

What do we love?

Where do we spend our time?

Does the way we spend our time reflect what we say is important to us?

What do we love more than the Savior as evidenced by the

things we do and the way we spend our time?

In Seminary you are never quite sure if they are "getting it". Today I got it and am grateful.

Floats

How do we celebrate

Super Bowl Sunday?

Chips and Dips?

Chicken Wings?

Pizza?

No - Rootbeer Floats!