. . . happy last day of october . . .

. . . yes, i realize i've posted
this eighteen year old picture before . . . . . . but it probably represents the most effort
i've ever put into halloween . . .
. . . sorry kids . . .
{fyi: back row l-r = amelia, amber, amanda
front row = drew}

. . . oh, manders . . .

. . . don't act so surprised . . . . . . your birthday is always on the 28th of october . . .
. . . happy #25 . . .
. . . and in the words of your brother,
"have that baby already!" . . .

. . . mhs . . .

. . . forever the best . . .
. . . another custom order . . . . . . people are so darn ask-y these days . . .
. . . and i aim to please . . .

. . . pardon the blog neglect . . .

. . . we've been busy
a} having a fun party . . .
. . . for this cute pregnant girl . . .
. . . b} getting ready for baby "e". . .
. . . and c} sewing . . .
p.s. dear amanda . . . don't give birth this weekend, please.

. . . annoying . . .

. . . i used to think
this little guy
existed only in
the world of
animated cartoons . . . . . . i was wrong . . .
. . . can you see the little pest
clinging to the wall
right outside my office window? . . .
{that's as close as i could get without scaring him off}
. . . you should see
the hole he's managed to make
in the stucco . . .
. . . pellet gun, anyone? . . .

. . . good to know that halleigh's still halleigh . . .

. . . i was talking to one of halleigh's gym teachers at church yesterday. she told me that halleigh has a tendency to get a little out of control from time to time during class. one night in particular, the teacher said to her, "um, halleigh, i might need to talk to your mom about your behavior after class." to which halleigh replied, "well . . . she can't even hear you." busted . . .

. . . good to know that drew's still drew . . .

. . . it was so fun to receive an email tonight from elder verbica's mom. he returned to utah monday. in it, she shared some of the fun things their family's been doing since he arrived home. it was also so sweet of her to share a couple of stories about drew. here's one of them . . .


"michael also said that elder romney teased him a lot about agonizing over decisions. his second camera was lost with his wallet. (it turns out that their apartment was burglarized while they were gone -- but i'm probably not supposed to tell you that.) when he went to buy another camera, he asked elder romney if he should get the red one, the blue one, or the yellow one. (this was after deciding on the camera itself -- who knows how long that took!) elder romney just shook his head and refused to discuss it. he even walked away. michael finally settled on the red camera, and bought it. as soon as they stepped out of the store, elder romney said, "you should have bought the blue one."

. . . see? . . . he's still drew . . .

. . . planet orange . . .

. . . by special request . . . . . . for some phoenix suns V.I.B.s . . .
{very important babies}

there really was no alternative . . . i had to use orange

. . . responsible financial choices . . .

. . . let's say you really love
american idol
and
so you think you can dance . . .
. . . but, these are
crazy financial times
we live in,
so you need to
choose only one or the other
of the live tour shows
to buy tickets for/attend . . .
. . . for me,
the winner
~ hands down ~
is:
. . . the good news is . . .
. . . nigel wasn't there . . .
. . . and neither was mary . . .
. . . but the bad news is . . .
. . . cat wasn't there . . .
. . . nor was mia . . .
. . . the top thirteen dancers were there . . .
{twelve if you count comfort/jessica as one}
. . . highlights of the three hour show included:

1. "mercy" - the "door" dance - twitch/katee
2. "nutcracker suite" - the "russian" dance - twitch/joshua
3. "5 guys named moe" - "broadway" - mark/will/gev/twitch/joshua
4. "imagine" - {xoxo david archuleta} - "pas de deux" - will/katee
5. "no air" - the "army" dance - katee/joshua
6. "bleeding love" - the "briefcase" dance - chelsie/mark

. . . there was plenty of humor
including a running gag featuring:
gev's unrequited love for courtney

. . . the dancing was literally non-stop . . .

. . . favorite performer - twitch - what a showman . . .

• we did our part for the environment by loading eight full-grown adults into a yukon for the nearly 100-mile round trip
• we did not stimulate the economy concession-wise by refusing to pay $7.50 for a "souvenir" diet coke
• we wish to be known for our responsible financial choices

{no pictures were taken. we also chose to just enjoy the show.}

. . . my favorite moment . . .

. . . general conference weekends are the best . . .
. . . the combination of my comfy couch,
lazy pajamas,
and spiritual uplift
are hard to beat . . .
. . . aside from the addresses
that were obviously given
especially for ME,
there was one moment of conference
that was absolutely priceless . . .
. . . you probably saw it,
but please watch it again . . .
. . . unfortunately, that's not a direct link . . .
. . . so you'll have to click on
"saturday afternoon"
and scroll all the way to the right . . .
. . . it happens about
47 seconds
into the closing song . . .
. . . enjoy . . .

. . . neighborly advice . . .

. . . once upon a time, i had an amazing neighbor . . .
{i'm glad she's still my friend}
. . . she'd always remind us
{as the end of each month approached}
that, ahem . . .
. . . "it's time to do your visiting teaching" . . .
. . . we sort of named her
honorary relief society secretary . . .
. . . that girl was magical
with a glue gun . . .
. . . and we spent
many a late night
doing all sorts of projects . . .
. . . she learned a lot of useful stuff
during her "utah years" . . .
. . . but, for me, the best thing
she taught was
this rule of thumb . . .
. . . "plant your flowers
general conference weekend" . . .
. . . so at least i got started . . .
{still a long way to go, believe me}
. . . and, inspired by this birthday bouquet . . .
{thanks, jeff & lora}
. . . i added a little pink this year
to my usual red and white combo . . .
. . . i think i'll like it . . .
. . . thanks for the timely planting tip, frani . . .

. . . six/eighteen . . .

. . . twenty-five per cent . . .
. . . one/fourth . . .
. . . six months down, eighteen to go . . .

. . . i wonder if elder romney
is burning a tie today . . .
. . . i kind of wish he'd
just give one away
to some nice young man
in mexico, instead . . .

. . . the story of the chain . . . did you see it there to the right of my old-school phone? {yes, i know it blends in with the outdated wallpaper} but those lovely links of red, white and green {the colors of the mexican flag} were there to greet me after my flight back from utah six months ago today. amanda made this countdown chain so we could mark the progress of drew's mission. {she might have had a pink one exactly like it while brent was in thailand several years ago. during that time, she spent the summer at BYU Hawaii and when she returned home, she happily tore off eight links - one . by . one . by . one . . .} anyway, this one used to have two full loops, now it's down to one-and-a-half. yippee . . .

. . . the extent . . .

. . . of my "fall"-ish decor . . .. . . and my philosophy on life, as well . . .
. . . thanks, mary . . .