Spring Break In Reno

Happy Birthday, Corbin! He's sitting on a little John Deere tractor that he got for his first birthday. Just me and my mother-in-law went over there for a few days. I had days off work; Mike did not. His Spring Break comes later. Eric had other appointments, so he couldn't go. So it was just the two of us.
Little kids are SOOOOooo into electronics these days! I watched Hayden playing "Angry Birds" when we were there at Thanksgiving. He showed me how to play, actually. He has improved a LOT since then! I have not, sadly. I don't think I've played it since Thanksgiving, but then, that wasn't really on my list of things to do, either. ha. And I only have a "dumb" phone, not a smart phone. I s'pose there's a game on there somewhere to play, but I do good to just answer phone calls and text occasionally. And voicemail? Forget it! ;-) Too challenging.
Corbin was sharing his mom's green smoothie on Saturday morning. Katie and Casey didn't really have any time off of work other than the weekend while we were there, so since we got there on Thursday, we'd planned (Berenice and I) to drive over to Chico, CA to visit with Mike's older sister and some of her family. However, the weather was not in our favor. We checked the road conditions, reports, etc. and determined that we should not risk the 3 hour drive over the Sierra Nevada mountain passes. Snow tires or snow chains were required on both of the roads we would have had to travel on. The winds were awful. We opted to stay home at Katie's house. So, at noon, Katie picked up the boys from daycare and we got to spend some more time with them! That was fun to just play. We couldn't even watch TV because I don't know how to turn on their TV. Sound familiar? ha. But Hayden and I played trains and cars, and read and had lunch together. And the wind blew HARD all day long. We were glad we were just in the house, chillin' all day long. Literally. You have to wear a sweater at all times in their house on the main floor. It's chilly.

Saturday, Casey had a class to go to for his degree he's working on, but Katie was home. We'd wanted to try to go to a children's museum; however, Katie and her boys all had snotty noses, it was still very cold, snowy and windy, so we just stayed in. We go in a couple of movies over the course of our weekend ("I Don't Know How She Does It" and "Happy Feet 2"), and just had a good time relaxing. And wiping snotty noses. All day long. ha.

I made a trip to the grocery store on Saturday, too. And sorted baby clothes that Gail had sent. We may have even had a nap... It was relaxing.

OH! We learned how to play Hayden's favorite game, which is "Don't Eat Pete." Cute!!

We found out Saturday afternoon that one of the friends we wanted to see in Reno had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. That was sad news. She's a lady in Katie's ward, but Berenice has known the lady since they were on their mission in Hawaii, and had even attended their wedding!! They go way back. So, going to see sweet Sister Easter Stockman. We did that on Sunday evening.
Katie and Casey have a really nice, friendly ward. We enjoyed our meetings there.

We headed home on Monday morning, but dropped the boys off at daycare on our way out of town. That saved Katie a little driving and time that morning, and it had snowed and iced a little, so that saved her even MORE time, as she said drivers in her area slow to a crawl if there is any thing at all on the roads. It made for a rather rushed departure, as we had to time it just right in order to accommodate the schedule of the day care provider, but we made it with a minute or two to spared. But only a minute or two.

Berenice and I decided to take a more southern route home, rather than the usual highway 50, "America's Loneliest Highway." We went through Hawthorn, Tonapah, and Caliente. We had good weather, no incidents, so it was a "good drive," in my estimation. I listened to an audio book while I was driving, and almost finished the whole thing on that trip. What a lot of driving!! But we were grateful for a safe trip. Sorry that we missed out on seeing Anita in CA, but glad to have spent time with Katie and family.

Sunday Dinner

For many MANY years, I have been an "Anti-Sunday Dinner" woman. That's not to say I don't like to eat dinner on Sunday, but that I don't enjoy preparing a big dinner on Sundays. I think my feelings began in the early years in Texas. My mom prepared the easiest meal possible on Sunday's because our Church attendance required a lot of travel time and simple was good. Broiled Hamburgers were what we mostly had, I believe.

When I got married and started having children, Church attendance was nearby--minimal travel when you live in Utah! However, the exhaustion factor was HUGE. Kids and callings just plain wear me out. Fixing a meal was the last thing on my mind. A nap, or nursing a baby, or tending to crabby, worn-out kids was really the top priority. Mostly the nap. Sunday's not really a day of rest for any active Mormons. It's a day of rest from other worldly activities, but it's hardly restful in the worldly sense of the word.

But, I'm in a new phase of my life now. I enjoy preparing a meal (most of the time, at least) for my semi-extended family on Sundays. It's just Me, Mike, and Eric at home, but on Sunday's we invite Mike's mom and Gail's family over. Sometimes an extra friend will join in. And I truly don't mind preparing a nice meal. (Well, they are nice by my standards.) The difference is the rest factor. It doesn't really matter what my calling happens to be, I don't have to deal with babies, etc. at home. I can just have "me" time before or after Church. I can use the time for lesson preparation and/or food preparation and it seems like most days I even have time for a bit of rest!! What a marvel. Whether we have the 1 pm church or the 9 am church (with Choir practice at 7:45 AM, for goodness sake!!), there is time. It's a miracle. It's just proof positive that all those exhausting child-bearing-raising years were worth it, gals. Yes, it's hard. Yes, you get tired. But, YES!! It does come to an end!! And, yes, it was worth it. Even if we did just have leftovers, or pancakes, or peanut butter sandwiches and popcorn for Sunday Dinner . We survived.
Love,
MommaLinda

Rubber Bands

source

I'v been trying to be a little more fit lately. "T-Fit" is a program through work, and they offer some opportunities to participate in stuff. Like yoga--for free! And weight training--for free! There are walking groups, a basketball tournament this month, I've done water aerobics in the past. . .it's all good. My goal is to go to weights at least 2 to 3 times a week. This is not to get strong or buff, but just to stave off osteoporosis. I also want to attend Yoga 2 to 3 times a week.

So, the other morning in yoga the instructor was telling us to ". . .stretch and relax, stretch and relax. Think of your muscles as rubber bands, stretching and pulling. Gently, no pain, just a gentle stretch..."

Then this thought came to my mind, "Wait. . .OLD rubber bands break!" And so I pictured my old muscles just snapping * snap * as I bent, pulled and stretched.

I don't know that I'll enjoy doing those stretches quite so much in the future. Either that, or I'll just start giggling.

Presidents' Day Weekend

It's the long holiday weekend. We will miss having Robert's family being here for the weekend, as per our tradition. Sarah has volleyball games during the weekend . We debated about going up there, but then Mike had a bunch of OSHA trainings in Las Vegas, so he headed down to those after work on Friday.

SOME of the tradition is still alive, however. I did remember to bring Abe home with me so he could spend his birthday with us. I'm sure he would just cry his eyes out if I ever left him behind in the Library on his birthday! He's been spending the weekend of his birthday (or at least Presidents' Day weekend) at our home for YEARs. It's like he's an extended family member. Right, Abe? ;-)



The flowers are a Valentine's Day gift to me fromMike. They are lovely.




As for the long weekend, we will be doing our regular weekend chores, along with mending and taxes. Sounds fun, huh? I hope yours is fun.

Faces

This is just one of those silly things you see and don't really talk about . . . at least, not past the age of 10 or so, I suppose. But Lexi and I got a kick out of this last month, and Gail and I talked about it this afternoon, so I decided to put it out there for everyone. Facebook might have been easier, but not for me. And that's just TOO much exposure of my silliness. Only my dear readers need know the depth of my craziness, er, silliness.

So here goes.

You know how the electric company has used the picture of the little outlet to look like a face and take on a persona of it's own? Here he is below, with the two eyes and the mouth. Simple stuff. We see it all the time. Most times, it's just an outlet.


Well there are other faces at my house. Many faces. Like the one below. He's lovingly referred to as our "Tiki God." It's our wood-burning stove in the living room. When blazing hot with a fire roaring within, the "eyes" and mouth glow red with the embers from inside. It is a site to behold! Definitely a face to be reckoned with.

The one below is kind of stretching it. Two eyes and the grill-work of the range hood could possibly remind one of the grillwork faces on an old auto or two.

Some are contrived and man-made, such as the magnets placed on the sides of the metal filing cabinet.


The speakers of the CD player make positively alien eyes!

But the one below is my absolute favorite. It's the one that Lexi and I got a laugh out of. I think you will, too, dear reader. It is the sight I see first thing in the morning. It makes me smile. Gail thought the face was a bit strained, but really there is a bit of a grin.

if seen from the side. :-)

I hope you enjoyed the quick tour of some of the faces of my house. Care to share any of yours?

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Here's two of Mom's!