Over The Weekend. The Great Gnome Prank Begins.

Over the weekend I didn't:

finish painting Tayler and Cali's bunkbed
study for my math test that's tomorrow
do any math homework at all
find my missing iPod
paint the doorframe of the upstairs laundry room

But what I did get done:

the yard is (mostly) decorated for Halloween (it still needs my favorite witch curtains on the porch)
got rid of a bunch of Halloween decorations (I've been in a simplify/declutter mode and have been getting rid of all sorts of things)
we finally started our great gnome prank with this guy:

We have neighbors with garden gnomes in their front yard.  She loves them.  He hates them.  Our plan?  To quietly add a holiday themed gnome every holiday in their garden and see how long it takes for them to notice and react.  So this guy has been placed.  The gnome we bought before (here) will be for Thanksgiving.  We're going to bloody his axe and give him a headless rubber chicken.  And we'll have to keep our eyes open for a Christmas themed gnome.  I'll post pics tomorrow of their garden and our gnome placement.

And also, General Conference... even a session in person with B.

We emphasized to the Young Women in church that if they had a question or a struggle that they wanted to find help or answers to, that they should pray about it and somehow one or more of the speakers would touch them and help them find what they're looking for.

Generally I try to take what we tell the Young Women into my own life, because, come on, we give some pretty good advice to them :).

And I did.

Not that I really had a specific question in mind, but rather two general thoughts that I was hoping for a little direction or confirmation with.

And it did come.

And the spirit touched my heart.

The thing I love about the gospel is how absolutely happy it makes me feel.  It doesn't matter what stress I'm feeling, or what burden I'm facing, I feel in all things an underlying happiness that makes me certain that all things will come out for the good.  A happiness that makes me want to be kind and do what I can in this life to make the world a better place than I found it.

Quietly placing gnomes in a neighbors garden is a good start, don't you think?

Small Things from the Weekend

We tend to go a little stir crazy around our house when we don't have something to do.  Sitting around and watching movies is all good and fun, but after one movie we're ready to get up and get going.  And after one day at the house, we need some place to go to stretch our legs out a bit.

I guess we're high maintenance?

But man alive do we get to see a lot of things and do a lot of things.  I only wish our bank account could keep up with the pace of life we want to be living.

As it goes we had to spend this weekend at home.

Sort of.

Circus Family Pictures. Plus conference, Wicked-er, and a shout out to Sarah Sanderson's cape

If you live in the Salt Lake Valley I would highly suggest you get your pictures taken at Foto Fly.

We laughed so hard.

It only took an hour.

Our full family session only cost $79 and that gave us a cd with all of the pictures and the copyright for them.

Check them out.

I love that they just eek out the personality of the circus.  I love that the photographer encouraged them to be themselves and allowed for candid looks and moments.

 Over the weekend I found myself completely alone two mornings in a row...

How in the world did that happen???

The kids were all off with their other parents and The Man ran into work Sunday morning and then just plain old had to work yesterday while I had Columbus Day off. 

West starts complaining about how the post office was closed and the banks were closed and all the government employees...

I had to butt in and remind him, "don't bite the hand babe."

We had a lot of fun this weekend.  We went and checked out the new Scheel's which is kind of crazy with the arched aquarium and the ferris wheel right in the middle, but ultimately, it's just a sports mall.

Also, because I found myself alone on Sunday morning, I was able to watch a full session of General Conference with out interruption...

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland... there are no words to express how I felt during and after his talk.

Just. Wow.



We also saw Wicked-er with our friends Meb and Makenzie.

(P.S. Happy Anniversary to those two).

My favorite part of the play was their rendition of the song, "Defying Gravity."  We all know how I'm in love with that song anyway (here)...

Their rendition had me laughing so hard I was in tears, which isn't too hard to do to me, but seriously... you all need to go to Desert Star and see that play just for that song alone.

I sewed a cape.  Do you hear this Misti?  I SEWED it.  I didn't hot glue it (although I totally could have).  I pulled out that sewing machine The Man gave me on my birthday and I put it to use for a good hour or so.

And it even looks like a cape.

And it even fits Cali, because it's our Sarah Sanderson cape.

Holler.