true confessions

Greg and I have been married for 5.5 years and in all those 5.5 years we have pretty much never missed a Saturday night adult session of Stake Conference. When we were first married I failed to realize that it was an expectation that we always attend these events. But under the assurance of Greg telling me that "these are always the best sessions" we went. So there I sat - ticked off and mad that we were "wasting" our Saturday night. Thank goodness my friend Lindy and her husband showed up so that we could make faces at each other as the speakers pulled up a white board and identified houses in our stake boundaries that weren't LDS. It was, to put it mildly, a very "odd" adult session. Since then the adult sessions have been kind of hit or miss but we have always hit them. Once, when we first moved back to Provo, we forgot that it was Stake Conference and we left IKEA and hustled back so that we could make it. So you see - the point of this is that we have been dedicated.

Except for this weekend. We didn't go on Saturday night. Don't judge. After all that work we were starving and we needed some sustenance and we were dying. So instead, we decided to hit up Joe Bandido's and "support" a ward member/friend that works there. So you see, we had good intentions. Kind of. Really, we couldn't even remember if she was working that night but once Greg got a taste for Bandido's delicious chips (thanks to Tara and the Red Rock Relay) he had been talking about going there all week.

And of course, from everyone, we heard that really the adult session of Stake Conference was amazing and awesome and fantastic. The BEST part is that we heard that there was a slide show featuring our missionaries AND that one of the speakers said that sometimes, if they are lucky, the missionaries will come over and share a special ukulele song with her and her family. I just want to clear something up - yes, having the missionaries in our house is much better since the recent transfer but it is not all roses. For example, this morning our house was apparently a missionary party house for p-day breakfast. It was fine - but I felt a little awkward in the kitchen - hence I ate my cereal in the garage while waiting for Greg to finish getting  ready. No problem. But also just because they are missionaries - sometimes they still lose their temper - case in point - we found this busted ukulele in our garbage a couple of months ago. Apparently, one of the Elders had just had it with another one of the Elders and took it out on this poor instrument.

When the Elders move out we are going to hang this on our wall in memoriam of the experience. Kind of like a rock star's smashed guitar - but better.

Whoa. This post is verbose.

another fail

As I've said before and as I'm sure I'll say again - this primary bulletin board and I just don't mix. I chalk this up to another FAIL!

But I must admit - these spotlight boards are a total WIN!

In other news - I continue to remain selfish with the missionaries. We have some delicious and often hard to find "graham canyon" ice cream from the BY's Creamery (hence the need for that fancy treadmill) - the missionaries came home while we were scooping some up and I didn't even offer them any. Jerkface!  In my defense, Greg didn't offer them any either.

made my day

With the fall semester, Tuesday's have become my loooooooong days. I teach a class from 7:00-9:00 pm - yowser. It is purely coincidental that Tuesday nights were also my nights with the Young Ladies. But now that I am working with the kiddos (someone has got to take roll and provide a five minute knock!) it's no longer a conflict between my job and the Ladies.

With that long introduction - Tuesday night I came home and found this on the garage from those Young Ladies. I kind of loved it. A lot.

the cougar is out

So things were crazy this week. On Sunday a letter was read at church asking for someone to volunteer their home to have the missionaries live with them. The requirements:

1) Own room and bathroom (check)

2) Laundry facility they can use all on their own one day a week (check)

Since our house satisfied the requirements we decided to be awesome and volunteer. All week we've thought about what it would be like to have "roommates." This would mean the following:

1) Sleeping with the door closed

2) More "modest" wearing around the house attire (modest is hottest!)

3) We would have to actually make sure the a/c was on upstairs.

4) Probably fix more meals

Despite all these inconveniences - we went for it. However, we just got the call, apparently I am too much of a cougar - and can't be trusted alone with the missionaries.

Rarrrrrrrrr.

book suggestions(?)

Not to brag or anything, but I've been reading a lot of good books lately. A lot. In order to memorialize everything - I thought I'd make a list of what I've read so far this year with my starred reviews (best of 4):

The Time Traveler's Wife (I don't need to remind everyone of this -****)

These Is My Words - ***1/2

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society - **1/2

The Help - ****

The Reader - *

Revolutionary Road - *

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay *

From Good to Great **1/2

Hunger Games - ****

Catching Fire - ****

Eat-Pray-Love - **** (cliche but I loved it)

some random Mary Higgins Clark book - * (brain candy of predictability-ness).

I'm open for suggestions . . . please please please . . . .

If you're still reading - this weekend Rosscat and I went to the ward luau - where Hawaiian attire was encouraged. Of the 20 people there - we were really the only ones dressed up - as Hawaiian tourists. I must say we looked awesome albeit extremely out of place. Rosscat told me to own it - I tried . . . but we all know that I don't have a poker face (see german chocolate cake picture if you need a visual).

It was as if we had on the bad luck tiki-tiki from that famous Brady Bunch episode (you know, where Greg almost drowns surfing, Alice throws her back out, the spider almost bites somebody etc.) - I half expected Vincent Price to show up at the cultural hall.

Could it be true?

My friend Seth told me that Snoop Dog was taking the discussions. I scoffed in his face. . . and then I found this article from CNN:

"Though Snoop Dogg has been hesitant to publicly discuss his recent spiritual journey, he commented on the experience of attending his first “Family Home Evening” in a recent interview with People Magazine."I was hooked from the start," Snoop Dogg said. "We talked about the purpose of life, played Mousetrap, and ate brownies. The kids thought it was off the hook, for real."

I'm sorry for scoffing.

I am a BFB!

I really don't cry that often. I guess you could say I am a bit private - it takes a lot for me to share experiences which I hold really personal or I feel are secret or sacred. Because of this I really didn't want to do a post about the death of President Hinckley. But I can't help it - I have been such a BFB about it all week that it just seems like I need to mention it. I have found myself at work choking up about his death - this is so unlike me! I have had to hurry and look out my window because I don't want anyone walking past my office to see me (but if they did they would think that I was crying over work . . . it happens a lot here - but not by me). Anyway. . . I think it is safe to say that this week I am mourning the death of this beloved prophet. It has hit me much deeper than I would have ever thought. Uh oh here I go again. (Also BFB is short for big fat baby).