Maid Marian and Home Slice

Let's give it up for the CA Cushing kids' 2010  Halloween costumes!  Here they are........



The Rapper/Gangster and Maid Marian

Rhiannon absolutely LOVES her costume!  She's been telling people she's either Maid Marian or a medieval princess.  Hopefully I'll get a picture of her friend JenAi with her--JenAi is going to be Robin Hood!

Home Slice or Word Up Wade!  His serious pose freaks me out a little bit! :) 
Quite the departure from store-bought character costumes in the past!

Happy Halloween--stay safe and have fun!

The power of a quiet day

Yesterday I was feeling a little off, like I might be coming down with something.  After the kids went to school, I did some cleaning while I felt up to it (mopping, laundry, porch sweeping) and then I took it easy.  The calendar was completely blank for the day (rare!) so I relaxed, drank a lot of fluids, had soup for lunch, and took a nap.  By the time I had to go pick up kids, I was feeling better and had enough energy to get us through the rest of the day (turns out there were things to do after all--took Wade to WalMart, helped Rhiannon finish a school project and took her to piano group lesson which we'd forgotten about, and made some 3-ingredient pumpkin cookies for our new neighbors!)  I'm thankful for quiet days that seem to come around right when I need them!  I'm back to normal today and don't feel sick at all!

We've got some fun things to look forward to this weekend:

--a visit from Uncle Matt, Aunt Heather, Sam, and Tyler!!!!!!!!

--Halloween fun on Saturday at a big trunk-or-treat activity!

--first Primary program practice (okay, maybe not so fun, but it'll be good to get through it)

And then on Monday I have my first sub assignment:  a 1st/2nd grade combination class from 9am to 12pm.  I'm looking forward to it and trying not to dwell on the fact that it will be the morning after Halloween!!! :) 

Make up my mind already!

I'm killing a few minutes before I go help an older sister in our ward with some packing.  I'm digging Brant and Chris's blog playlist and have it turned up loud.  It's awesome!

So Friday afternoon I wrapped up the substitute teaching process and registered with the phone system, etc.  I've been really up and down deciding on this, so much so that I've started to laugh at myself now.  I hesitantly got online to check for future jobs and then I was surprised and bummed when there were none, zippo.  I wondered if I needed to lift some of the limitations I'd placed on my assignments (for now I've requested calls from only the kids' school, grades 1-5) and then reminded myself that I wasn't trying this out to make life more hectic and stressful on my family! :)  Just to try something new and maybe make a few bucks! 

So the weekend passed by, with no phone calls.  Wasn't this what I'd wanted, something low-key that wasn't stressful?  Yes, but I was still anxious anyways.  At that point I was hoping I'd be able to at least get enough work to be able to pay off what I'd already put into it for fingerprinting, credential fees, and a TB test!

Then yesterday afternoon the phone rang with an automated message about my first job, a 2-hr stay in a second grade class at the kids' school.  Perfect!!!!!!!!!!  Then this morning at 7:45 the phone rang again, this time it was a real person asking if I could take a job today.  What time, I asked?  As soon as you can get there!, she said, at Las Flores!  I looked at myself, barely out of the shower, and at the kids, who were finishing up breakfast and didn't have to go to school for another hour or so...just as I was going to politely say that I was only taking jobs at my kids' school for now, she said, Oh, never mind, it just got picked up.  I thanked her for the phone call and patted myself on the back for making up my mind and making a choice!

Just call me Wishy Washy!  I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy subbing, if I can just have a positive attitude, have fun, and remember that I'm the one making the choice!

Final recap on Wade's 7th birthday!

On Friday we had some friends over after school for an Iron Man 2 party.  I gave Wade some parameters this year for his guest list.  #1, he could invite 7 kids, and #2, those he invited had to be kids who were good friends and had nice party manners.  I was impressed by Wade's choices--and it made for a VERY smooth, fun party! 

We started out with a little background on Iron Man's nemesis Whiplash.  The games we played helped us be mentally and physically prepared to defeat Whiplash, as well as being able to work well in a team.  First, we went outside and did some circuit training--there were 8 stations, everything from jumping jacks to bicep curls to yoga moves to my personal favorite--boxing moves with Wade's Incredible Hulk hands. :)  We rotated every minute and stopped when each kid had tried each station.  The kids really enjoyed this, and so did I! 

Then we broke up into two groups.  My party "helpers" Rhiannon and her friend JenAi took one group outside for 3-legged races (teamwork!), and I tested the other group mentally with a "guess what's in the bag?" game.  Then we tested our hearing as a big group--one person was blindfolded and had to guess which party guest was saying "I Am Iron Man."  There were a lot of giggles in this game as the kids tried to disguise their voices as best they could. 

Then we defeated Whiplash with some water balloons (this is the third year Wade has asked to do this--it's turning into a birthday tradition)!  We finished up the party with cupcakes, present-opening, some free time, and an Iron Man cartoon on Netflix for those who were interested.  There was quite a bit of popcorn spread everywhere, but that was an easy clean-up with the vacuum!

The night wasn't over after the birthday party, though. After all the guests left, we went to another birthday party for a cute 1-year-old that we know, and THEN we came back home and watched Iron Man 2 "on Blu-Ray". It was nice to sit back and relax!

Party guests:  Matthew, Isabel, Kyler, Keagan, Jacob, Nick, and Halle,

with Rhiannon and JenAi as party assistants (they were very helpful!!!)

On Saturday Howard and Sandi came over and made the birthday celebrating complete.  We were grateful for their visit, especially since Sandi was  recuperating from some surgery!  It was great to catch up and hang out!

After that the kids and I threw on some Halloween costumes and went to the Okerlunds for another party.  Wendy had called me to see if I could come and help her by just being another adult body in the midst of everything!  Her 3 kids ran the show, and I helped a little bit here and there.

One present that has gotten a lot of use so far is the Lego Harry Potter board game from Grandma Deb and Grandpa Rod.  We put the game together first.  So far this weekend the kids have enjoyed using their imagination with it--it's very, very cool!

A happy thought among many

We've had a full weekend and finished it up with our stake conference meeting this morning.  I LOVED the talks and testimonies, especially the ones from our stake president and the visiting authority, Elder Nelson Cordova. (To give you an idea, he had ALL of the Primary kids come up impromptu and sing "I Am a Child of God."  That was a first for me.)  I'll post more about the talks later.  The other thought that has given me all kinds of happiness today is this:

9 more Sundays until we get to switch back to the morning schedule!!!!! 

I'm loving the peaceful, quiet afternoon today--time to relax, time to cook up goodies, time to play games, time to ponder.  Can't wait to get a whole year of it!

How's THAT for an intro?

So this morning we were having a "work party" in the front yard helping Jason muck out the ponds a bit.  Jason did the hard part while the rest of us just put the yucky pond goo and weeds in the trash can.  I should have filmed him and sent it in to that show Dirty Jobs!  Just imagine him with his pants rolled up, wearing sandals, standing in the water and pulling stuff out with his bare hands...yeah, he's our superhero! :)

Somehow the end of the world came up in conversation.  We've watched the Cusack movie 2012 a lot, and I think that's where the talk started.  The kids were joking around about how funny it would be when 2013 rolled around and the earth was still okay.  I made some comment about how we don't know the exact date when that will happen.  Wade froze, eyes opened wide, and said,

"You mean there's REALLY going to be an END OF THE WORLD?" 

He wasn't afraid, just surprised!  Why this didn't come up when we were watching the movie, I don't know.  (The movie got to a point where it was SO over the top that we started laughing at parts...) But it was a neat thing to give Wade a 1-minute run-down of the 10th Article of Faith and the Savior's Second Coming, about how we don't need to be afraid if we're prepared, while we were in our work clothes, in the front yard, deep in dirt.  I said we could talk about it more for a family home evening lesson, and Wade was pretty excited about that.  Score one for Mom, taking advantage of a very unique teaching moment! :)

One more thing to sing about

10/22/10:  RANGERS ADVANCE TO WORLD SERIES! Game 6--Texas 6, NY Yankees 1

Wade is SEVEN!

Personalize your own free scrapbook

Wade had a great 7th birthday!  He started the day out with birthday balloons on his bed and a message on the bathroom mirror from the "Birthday Fairy."  Donuts for breakfast.  4 birthday phone calls before he went to school.  A surprise visit from Mom at lunchtime.  Vampire teeth and pencils to hand out to his school class.  SUPER birthday presents.  Tacos for dinner.  And an Iron Man cake for dessert!  The rest of the night he played his new Lego Harry Potter Wii game with Rhiannon, and then we worked on putting the Lego Harry Potter board game together--yes, half the fun is creating the game, and the other fun is when you actually play it!  The kids were thrilled to watch a version of Hogwarts Castle come to life as they put the pieces together.  We've got more celebrating after school with a "friends" party, so I'll write about that later!  LOVE YA, WADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There and back again

Tomorrow is Wade's big day. He's been counting down since, well, since his last birthday! We've got a fun day planned: birthday donuts for breakfast, some "goodies" to hand out to his class at school, lots of gifts to open, and his requested dinner (tacos) and cake/ice cream in the evening. Then on Friday after school we'll have a small "friends" party with an Iron Man 2 theme.

It's been a weird week for me so far. Even though I've been driving across town, back and forth, over and over again to pick up supplies or check prices or whatever, I'm not lagging or exhausted like I feel I should be. I'm not complaining--it's nice for a change.

So far today, I've vacuumed, visited a friend, picked up paperwork to complete the sub process (almost there!); stopped by Dollar Tree, the thrift store, and WalMart for the third time this week (thankfully NOT normal), and gone to the bank twice to fix and then fix again a PIN for my new debit card. There's still quite a lot to do today, too: visiting teaching, pick up library books, mop, fill out sub paperwork, and make a cool birthday cake!!! Somewhere in there I'll make some dinner and find time to RELAX with the fam!

I heard angels

I heard angels in the kitchen tonight. I wanted to cook some chicken using the handy grill pan that Jason and I got for a wedding present. I love the grill pan, but I'm not a very intuitive cook and have never been able to cook something "just right" with it. I thought if I could cover the pan a little the chicken might cook more evenly and be juicier. So I grabbed the nearest lid I could find (which goes with the big wok pan we got from Grandma Deb), and.........cue the angels.....
the lid was a perfect fit. It took me more than 13 years to figure that out, but that's okay. I AM THRILLED! And, yes, the chicken was "just right." Hallelujah!

Score!

Dear donors to the local DART Thrift Store:

I wanted to express my sincere appreciation to you for donating your cast-offs.  You may not think the white, silky, 100% polyester peasant top or the va-va-voom, floor-length deep red gown were anything special.  You were wrong.  Today I found them and showed them to my daughter.  She tried them on together.  We purchased the top and dress for a whopping four dollars and seventy five cents. 

Now we are home.  I am walking on air because I hit the jackpot and don't have to panic about a costume idea change.  My daughter is walking on air because she feels like an absolute princess and CANNOT wait for Halloween weekend to hurry up and get here.  She can be whatever she wants to be in that costume, a medieval princess or Maid Marian or a queen or Little Red Riding Hood, or, heck, even a character from Sound of Music.

Keep donating!
Sincerely,
a grateful mom

ps.  If you have any cast-off gangster items, let me know.

Human after all

After a wonderful day in the temple yesterday, a very inspiring sacrament meeting, and 3 batches of cookies to hand out for bringing scriptures each week, I got to Primary and seemed to switch gears. 

I got cranky with some 12-year-old girls for sitting in the back of the chapel instead of with their class, and I refused to let them sit back there.
 
I got cranky with some older kids for running in the hallway and JUST ABOUT LOST it in front of them; thankfully I was able to get a grip and just raise my voice a little and make them go back and try it again, with a curt "Thank.You." when they did.  I seriously thought I was going to start crying in front of them.

I scared a talkative Sunbeam and said she'd have to come sit with me if she didn't stop talking.  She started to whimper.
 
I was annoyed that two teachers didn't show, with no calls or subs (thank goodness this is a rare thing!!!!!!!). 

I scared some CTR 6 girls and said they were going to be split up if they didn't stop talking.

I took a breath.  I pulled a lesson together in 5 minutes and taught the class who still needed a teacher.  I taught the lesson.  And I was humbled and appreciative to the 5 kids in my class who were ABSOLUTE DARLINGS.  A rough day ended up being great.  Thank heavens for good Primary kids! :)

Temple trip

We weren't planning on attending our stake's temple session yesterday.  But a friend changed our mind when she called late in the week to see if we'd like her daughter (a wonderful girl who's babysat for us before) to watch the kids for us so we could go.  Jason changed his flights so he could get back sooner from DC on Friday, and then we woke up early yesterday and rode down with the friend, her husband, and some older ladies from Lone Pine.  It was a wonderful, peaceful day--there was a huge turn-out from our stake, too.  We found out later that we had been an answer to this friend's prayers.  She'd been concerned about something, had prayed about what to do, and felt that she should give us a call.  I'm so glad we changed our plans and went to the temple!  We were gone for 10 hours, but the day flew by for me, being able to enjoy such good company and knowing that the kids were having a great time, too.

Girls, 61; Boys, 24

Rhiannon's 5th grade class had a visit from Mr. Morgan, the school counselor today.  He's great about coming in regularly.  R told me they were playing this game, and the girls CREAMED the boys, so much so that her friend Chase, one of the boys, said, "We got murdered!"  Rhiannon thought this was so funny!

I thought it was funny when I found out what they were answering questions about.  Can you guess?  The topic was all about feelings! 

That girl's got SPIRIT

This morning I spent two hours going to Super Star assemblies at the kids' school.  These happen regularly and they're a lot of fun.  Usually my hands hurt afterwards from clapping so long!  Today I sat next to my friend Kathyrn.  This woman is a recipe of cheerleader and team mom mixed with high doses of caffeine.  She is wonderful, funny, and energetic.  When I first noticed her at last year's assemblies, I was a little embarrassed for her.  She was LOUD.  The rest of us parents clapped politely, but she was woo-hooing and shouting kids' names with joy through the WHOLE thing.  I've now learned that she's like that all the time, and I appreciate how her good vibes roll off to me.  I was woo-hooing and shouting right along with her today, and it felt good.  Thanks, Kathryn, for making a long couple of hours feel very, very short. :)

Well, now I know

A couple weeks ago our Primary presidency was discussing ideas for Christmas gifts/thank-yous for the adults serving with us.  One friend suggested making cake pops--she didn't know what they were exactly but had heard about them and a blog called bakerella.com.  After the meeting I got online to see what she was talking about and instantly fell in love with the idea of cake on a stick.  I even put the blog author's new cake pops book on my wish list.

Slowly I rounded up supplies--candy melts, cake mix, and frosting.  I couldn't find lollipop sticks so I figured craft sticks would be okay.  And then today, with a quiet morning ahead of me and a bake sale on Friday to get ready for, I took the plunge and tried to make them.

 



I'll admit that I probably did a few things wrong--the cake balls were too big and the candy melts weren't the recommended brand (and very thick).  But the root of the problem was entirely out of my control.  No offense to Bakerella and her super cute ideas, but the end result, a concentrated mixture of cake/frosting/candy melts/sprinkles was NASTY. Totally gross, even in small doses.  I can't believe I'm saying that because I'm a person who thinks dessert/sugar/sweet stuff is its own must-have-daily food group.  But these cake pops made me sick.  Enough to seriously consider mending my unhealthy eating habits!   Hopefully our Primary teachers will be okay with a candy cane instead! :)



More like cake bombs

 

Not your average Billy Bob

Wade, aka Legolas

I had to keep a HUGE laugh bottled up yesterday when Wade tried on the mullet wig from our Halloween stash.  While I had redneck names running through my head, Wade was thinking something totally different:

"Cool!  Now I can look like one of those Lord of the Rings guys!"

Here he is doing his best Legolas pose!

Columbus Day fun

Scrapbook created with Smilebox

Well, the Columbus Day "cube" has been a big success today.   After we had breakfast, took showers, and made sure the house was picked up, we drove up to the community college to take some pictures.  We've had good luck with great family pictures there in years past, but I was SHOCKED and sad to see how much it had changed.  I didn't recognize it until I saw the bridge that we like to pose on.  Crazy.  Thankfully the other areas of the campus were unchanged, but this beautiful park area was trashy, full of weeds, and dirty.  Wade even saw a rat digging around in the rocky area that used to be a cool fountain.  There were a couple of workers there--hopefully a sign for better times in the future.  We took some silly pictures and then went home to watch the final episode of Robin Hood Season 1--LOVED it!  Then we moved on to the next thing!

After stopping at the grocery store for a giant bag of carrots (what's the better deal--$3 for 2 pounds or $6 for 25 pounds?!?), we picked up lunch at McDonalds, ate at a park, and then made our way to the wild burro facility.  SCORE!  The last time we were there, the kids had fun but didn't have much success getting animals to come up to the fence.  This time we had the opposite problem. :)  It was hot and dirty and we didn't like the flies everywhere, but the trip was so worth it. :)  We fed the whole bag of carrots to a herd of horses and burros, and they were still hungry for more! 

We've read some books, just got out of the hot tub, and now we're chillin' til dinner time.  Then we'll make some fun Halloween decorations, have a little FHE lesson, and call it a night!  I'm tired but happy, and I think the kids are surprised at how much fun we've had "in town." :)

We've got plans...

The kids were bummed that I decided to save our Lancaster trip for a later weekend, but I've got some surprises up my sleeves for them today, i-n-p-o*:

--pancakes for breakfast
--reading!
--silly Halloween photo shoot up at the college (need to fix the absence of blog pictures lately!)
--finish watching BBC Robin Hood Season 1!  Yippee!  (yes, the kids and I are HOOKED on this show)
--make some Halloween decorations (thanks, Amelia!), ghosts and spooky trees to be exact
--get in the hot tub  (Wade's request)
--feed some wild burros and visit the animal shelter (Rhiannon's request)

I'm going to write the ideas on our go-to paper cube and roll the die!  (I've used this so many times, not just for chores.  My favorite was when we used two--one was a work cube, the other was a play cube.  After a chore was done on the work cube, the kids got to roll for a fun activity, too)

Dad had to hop a plane today for a week in PAX--we'll miss him on our adventures today! 

Happy Columbus Day!

*inpo:  in no particular order, hee-hee!

Floater

I really enjoyed church today.  There was a steady stream of testimonies and General Conference thoughts shared in sacrament meeting.  Primary was fantastic, too.  In the year that I've been Primary president, most Sundays have been GREAT, and that's a big blessing!  Occasionally there is a stressful Sunday, but never so horrible that I can't move on and still look forward to coming.

Today I got to be the floater while the other ladies in our presidency did everything else.  I got to float around, check in on classes, and observe.  It was fun!  My favorite part was sitting in on a CTR 5 class.  We recently split this group of kids because it was so big, and it was nice to see the effect of a smaller class size!  I loved how patient, kind, and well-prepared the teacher was, and how she handled distractions well (a LOT better than I would have! :))  When one boy tried stuffing his whole tie in his mouth, or another kid pretended to be a birthday cake on the floor, she smiled and calmly redirected them.  It.was.awesome!!!!  And, no, she didn't have to deal with that the entire lesson, just a few times. :)

I loved peeking in on my 1st counselor's Sharing Time lesson--it was the first one she'd done in our ward (her family is new), and it was fantastic.  I am excited to work with her--she has MANY years of experience serving in Primary.

Another fun thing was helping out a couple of our substitute Nursery helpers who were having a friendly "disagreement" over the wording in the Popcorn Popping song.  Turns out I've been singing it wrong forever--instead of saying "it wasn't really so, but it seemed to ME," I should be saying, "it wasn't really so, but it seemed to BE."   Primary is great--I learn something every single week! :)

Shut down

The Cushing swimming pool was officially closed down today.  Man, I already miss it!  Jason did 99% of the work, and I turned the water faucet on and off. And on and off.  And on and off some more.  I'm glad I was there to help him, though, because the whole task of winterizing the pool is NOT a one-person job.  Thankfully it's not hard, just time-consuming.

It's slowly, vvvvvveeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy slowly starting to feel more like fall.  We haven't run the swamp cooler for a couple of days, which is nice!

Tonight Jason is going on a Scout campout, and I'm going to stay up "late" with the kids, hanging out and watching the BBC Robin Hood series on Netflix.  Tomorrow we'll clean up the front yard and then chill til Dad comes home.  Then Mom and Dad will go to our monthly game night--yippee!

Blog fun

It sounds silly, but I've been posting more lately to reach a personal blog record--I'm about 16 posts away from 500!    Many thanks to my friend Aimee for inspiring me to try some new things on the blog, too.  I liked the tabs at the top of her blog which ended up being "pages", so I added a couple extra "pages" to this blog--they're on the sidebar on the right. I started labeling posts today, too.  I tend to get pretty specific on my labeling, though, so I don't know how long I'll keep that up!

Last night we watched Prince of Persia--it was pretty good, but I'm glad we didn't go see it at a movie theater.  When in Rome was the same way--I watched it by myself and was so glad I didn't go waste money at a theater because it wasn't that great.  Good things come to those who wait, and I'm starting to fully appreciate the awesomeness of Netflix.  If we add a movie to Netflix and just wait for it, we can watch it in the comfort of our home, can pause it when we want to, and best of all, don't have to spend money on treats and eats that a person feels compelled to get at a theater! :)  Don't get me wrong, the theater experience has its perks, too, as in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1,..

Reminds me of that 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon game...

Often I find gems or treasures online by way of a blog which was in a news article which was mentioned in another blog, etc...and I end up kicking myself for not bookmarking the "treasure" when I can't find it later! 

Well I didn't want to forget a fun link I found today.  Here's how I found it:

1.  Read an email from Heather Vogel Frederick about 2 new books she has coming out.
2.  Clicked on the link to her blog and read the "Nurturing a love for reading" post.
3.  Clicked on the link to Darsa Morrow's post

Boy, was it a good kick in the pants!  I haven't read aloud to the kids consistently in a long, long time.  I'd say it's time to pick it up again!

Good things come in 3's

This is going to sound disgusting, but we've enjoyed ice cream sundaes for THREE nights in a row.  Some of the young men and their dads came over for ice cream after the priesthood session Saturday, and, well, we just couldn't let all those yummy toppings go to waste, right? 

Wade's favorite combination:  vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream sprayed from a can and sprinkles

Rhiannon's favorite combination:  vanilla ice cream, lots of sprinkles, lots of marshmallows, whipped cream sprayed from a can, lots of strawberry syrup

Mom's favorite combo:  a little ice cream, a banana, toffee chips (OH MY!), a little caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, and a little whipped cream

Dad's creation:  "German chocolate cake" sundae made with vanilla ice cream, coconut, toffee chips, caramel and chocolate syrup

Friend to the rescue!

It was my turn for the lesson tonight during Family Home Evening. I wanted more discussion on bullying and friendship. We're doing fine in that department, but prevention and preparation go a long ways, ya know?

The September 2009 issue of the Friend magazine was exactly what I needed! There was a great story about a girl who sought help for someone else being bullied, and then a good couple pages of lists that described examples of bullying, what to do if you're a victim, and what to do to help someone else. The kids were very attentive! After that I had some strips of paper with either a "situation" to act out or a question to answer. My favorite scenario was when Wade was supposed to be the bully and I was the kid he was picking on. The kids were a little shocked when I said, "STOP!" in a very FIRM voice, but I think they got the message! Jason had some great input on what makes a good friend, too.

Here are links to the articles I used:

Scriptures and Bullies
Stop Bullying Now

Now THAT'S a first!

Today was a first for our family.

1. We watched ALL of Saturday's General Conference sessions.
2. We ALL stayed in the same room.
3. We ALL stayed awake!

It was awesome! Here were things that helped us:

1. Legos
2. Conference packets for the kids
3. Going through the 72-hour kit beforehand for goodies that were almost expired (Starbursts, jerky, and Easy Cheese with crackers--a feast!)
4. Yarn (inside joke on that one)
5. Taking notes on each talk (SHORT ones--each talk got its own sticky note, which got put on the temporary "Conference Wall")

Tomorrow we get to do it all over again! :)

Reminds me of the Joker

Flex Fridays rock! Jason and I worked for 2 hours and filled both outdoor trashcans to the brim! That signalled the end of our yard cleanup, but it kind of stunk because we were on a roll. One lady walked by and thanked us for the tree-trimming job: "Now I don't need to stoop down when I go under them!" So yeah, it needed to be done.

The kids had a great day at school, too--they had fun painting at the bi-weekly FAME workshop (Fine Arts and Music education), and they were EXCITED that the Scholastic book order finally came!!!!!!!!! Rhiannon was happy about the bit of rain they got, too, which came right during her recess.

Jason gave Wade a golf lesson tonight. Rhiannon has outgrown the nice set of clubs Jason got her, and Wade was excited to have them. I had to tease Jason, though--he reminded me of the Joker's famous line: "Why so serious?" Yes, golf is a serious game, I get that, and Wade does need to learn the correct form, but you gotta keep it fun, too. :) Hopefully with consistent practice Wade will grow to love the game, too, and enjoy another fun way to hang out with his dad!

Tonight is Taco night for dinner--more Friday happiness! And then tomorrow is General Conference. Yes!!!!!