what a beautiful mess

that a brownie has special healing properties. that a Diet Dr. Pepper is the best drink in the world. that Annabelle gets really silly before bedtime. Okay~so maybe I do too. that conversations between women can be so enlightening when differing views are shared kindly. (I had a really great conversation with another woman at Y.W's tonight~she's so smart...I want to be like that.) that my kids are really great at doing the dishes. that Trevor tried really hard to keep the house clean while I was at Y.W.'s and I appreciate that. that Downton Abbey is the best show on t.v and I'm going to go watch it right now. Good night.

I was reading the book "Glimpses Into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley"  last week and came across this description of her: "Although she is unselfish and other-centered, there doesn't seem to be a question of her own basic worth. Perhaps her sense of self is so fundamentally sound that she can be completely unselfish without losing even a particle of her real self."  It has given me a lot to think about and contemplate. She was such an amazing woman.

gets quite messy on a Sunday afternoon.  We've got an empty chip bag, nail polish remover, tape(s), beads, scissors, paper...etc. Plus the boxes from Sams club that inevitably stick around for a  couple days because my kids swear they'll use them.  But...they've now been thrown away.  The girls made dessert for the family.  They made some delicious  brownies . I definitely recommend you making them for your family.... I just absolutely love Sundays.  It's Mondays when I have to clean up that I don't love so much.... (our after school mess~ although this does include 4 of the neighbor kids things) Candice sent me a picture of our house in Boise that received a ton of snow.... I think it looks so pretty and it's way more snow than we've gotten here!

 Emily gave her missionary presentation tonight and did a fantastic job!  We are so proud of her.  She put so much hard work and time into making it great. She was assigned to Peru and shared with us a lot of great information.  She also gave us a lesson on Lehi's dream and the interpretation of it.  She drew pictures to go along with her lesson  and we had a really good discussion on it as a family. Emily and I made authentic Peruvian food for dinner. She chose to make Arroz Tapado for our main course.  It's like a rice hamburger.  It has a meat mixture on the inside and cilantro rice for the buns.  Weird thing: the meat had carrots, peas, hard boiled egg and some peanut butter mixed in. It was actually really delicious.  As her side she made Ensalda de Choclo.  It's a ctirusy cilantro corn~ so so good! And for dessert she made Peruvian Alfajores; basically a sh...

Seriously, he does.   It was a very long 5 days that he was gone.  ***WARNING*** The following story might be kind of gross to you.  On Sunday, the night Trevor left, at around midnight we received a little visitor.  And he came knocking through the bathroom heating vent.  It was an annoying little mouse~ I don't like mice.   He kept me up all night with his banging against that stupid vent, trying his hardest to get out.  Luckily, he didn't succeed and so on Monday  I decided to shut the vent, hoping it would get him to go away. (Side note: since we live with fields surrounding us, mice apparently are not unusual.  And I have not idea how he got into the vent; it's something we need to investigate.) I heard him banging on the vent throughout the next day or two but not nearly as much as I did Sunday night.  Fast forward to today.  My bathroom stunk like nothing...

It's been over a month and he's still trying to figure out the treadmill.  Today I thought he was going to bite my ankles and so I of course got mad at him.  It's just that I kind of like my ankles.  Besides that, he's been driving me insane today. (something you already knew, Candice, because of an ill-timed phone call~ I just really like talking to you) He's chewing on everything, he constantly wants to play and he keeps bugging the kids.  But I know that the craziness will pass and really, it's just a one day thing; he really misses his playmate.  ******** Joshua and I made crazy cake today and so I'm going to eat a slice or maybe a big piece of that,  watch a movie and paint my nails.  It's a big and much-awaited-for day tomorrow. In preparation, I gave myself a full on facial today and will be washing my hair and shaving in the morning! The things we do for true love.... (Thanks Jenee for th...

has, so far, been a success.  I drank a gallon of water yesterday and have just finished off my gallon for today.  The only thing that I've noticed that's changed is that I use the bathroom a bit more  and that I don't want a DDP quite as often. Maybe it's not such a good goal after all.  (I'm only kidding~kind of)