. . . twenty-three/seventy-three . . .

. . . we've been over this before . . .

. . . all of the people in these two photos . . .

. . . are a year older today . . .

. . . except me . . .

. . . happy birthday . . .

. . . to my daughter, amelia nathel . . .

. . . and my mother, nathel . . .

. . . a•non•y•mous . . .

. . . -adjective . . .

. . . "without any name acknowledged" . . .

. . . let's just say that 

the receiving end of service 

is not my favorite place to be . . .

. . . with that said, 

it is where we've found ourselves 

all too often lately . . .

. . . during the past week, 

we've found on our doorstep 

•a large box of haagen dazs bars, 

•a fresh pineapple, 

•trail mix, 

•yogurt covered pretzels, 

•potted mums & 

•fancy whipped honey 

. . . all left {anonymously} . . .

. . . our driveway has been swept/blown clean . . .

. . . {anonymously} . . . 

[but we really know who did/does it]

. . . professional cinnamon rolls were delivered . . .

[we know the pro]

. . . our trash/recycling cans have been set out/put away . . .

. . . {anonymously} . . .

. . . valentine's day flowers from my sweet husband 

were purchased & delivered . . . 

[thanks, bishop]

. . . we've had house calls 

- including one on sunday - 

from our physician . . .

 [we know him]

. . . we've had dinner brought twice by our daughter . . .

[we know her, too]

. . . perfect fresh-from-the-oven homemade bread . . .

[know her]

. . . hours were spent digitally creating birthday cards 

for one of my church callings . . . 

[vector art? never knew what it was till now. 

i know who did this, too - 

(7:00 p.m. edit) and she just brought 

the biggest pieces of birthday cake 

you've ever seen]

. . . despite anything i've said in the past . . .

. . . people are nice . . . 

. . . thanks . . .

. . . re:stocking . . .

. . . get 'em while they're hot . . .

. . . a fresh supply of oops! . . .

. . . lots of polka dots . . .

. . . pom poms . . .

. . . paisley . . .

. . . stripes . . .

. . . soccer balls . . .

. . . retro florals . . .

. . . leopard . . . 

. . . cheetah . . .

. . . harlequin diamonds . . .

. . . and jumbo ric rac . . .

. . . apologies to december oops! customers . . .

{demand stayed high, but production came to a screeching halt}

. . . the shop is open again . . .

. . . eighty•two . . .

. . . well . . . 

. . . as {bad} luck 

{and even worse health} 

would have it . . .

. . . my dad spent his valentine's birthday 

in the hospital . . .

. . . again . . .

. . . but, our prayers are being answered . . . 

. . . and he is feeling/looking SO much better 

than at this time last week . . .

. . . believe me! . . .

. . . permission was granted to 

celebrate in the hospital cafeteria . . .

. . . which closes at 7 p.m. . . .

. . . and children under the age of twelve are allowed . . . 

. . . i would be personally in favor of 

some kind of immunity . . . 

. . . you know ~ protection from breaking an arm 

when you are 80+ years old . . .

. . . which is {sadly} exactly what happened 

four weeks ago today . . .

. . . it is nothing short of miraculous that 

my siblings and i were 

all in the same place at the same time . . .

. . . because as soon as one brother 

finally moved back to arizona 

{following many years away} . . .

. . . another promptly moved out of state . . .

. . . such poor planning . . .

{hospital lighting/cheap camera flash = not so flattering}

. . . thanks for coming, daren . . .

. . . so that baby jack 

{not daren's baby} . . .

. . . could meet baby ava 

{daren's baby} . . .

. . . and baby elliott . . .

{i'm upset about no photos of baby tagg or baby tyler}

. . . addi and halleigh were 

proud to present 

their handmade birthday cards . . .

. . . and birthday hugs to grandpa great . . .

. . . uncles . . .

. . . aunts . . .

. . . and longtime . . .

. . . friends were on hand . . .

. . . to mark the start of year number eighty•three . . .

. . . happy, happy birthday, dad . . .

. . . love you lots . . .

. . . giving credit where credit is due . . .

. . . thanks, heather, for getting us all together . . .

{and just for fun at our house, 

we're sporting a nasty case of MRSA ~ 

bill's version of job's boils, apparently}

. . . happy valentine's day . . .

. . . need a laugh? . . .

. . . vicki found her own cupid . . .

. . . and shellene has a blog! . . .

{go ahead . . . click . . . you'll be glad you did}

. . . my wish for you . . .

. . . {part two} . . .

. . . is that your daughter 

could be so amazing . . .

. . . enjoy this sneak peek of 

the darling enrichment night

she planned and presented . . .

. . . amber's pretty wonderful . . .

. . . maybe she'll have time 

{now that it's over} 

for a new blog post . . .

. . . done . . .

. . . is a GREAT four-letter word . . .

. . . and this little project is 

quilted, bound, and on the wall . . .

. . . thanks to a super speedy/talented/amazing quilter . . .

{call me ~ i'll hook you up}

. . . she did a 

cross-hatch {she taught me that term} design 

in the hearts . . . 

. . . tiny stippling in the background areas . . .

. . . a chain of hearts in the frames . . .

. . . and a darling 

scrolly freehand flower design 

in the border . . .

{you should know that 

i dropped it off wednesday afternoon 

and picked it up saturday - super speedy!}

. . . here's a peek at the back . . .

. . . it might be hard to take it down 

when february is . . . 

. . . done . . .

. . . mutual night {aka: torture} . . .

. . . these darling young women are laurels in my ward . . .

. . . i used to think they were my friends . . .

. . . right up until last wednesday night 

when we rode bikes ALL THE WAY TO QT . . .

. . . meaning TWICE up & over the freeway . . .

{front row: carol [our fearless leader] and morgan

back row: staci [another leader who is often mistaken for one of the girls], 

nichole, sarah, ashley, amber, madison & jennifer}

. . . they have no concept of the fact that 

i am three times their age . . .

. . . nearly a week later, i've mostly forgiven them . . .

. . . now that i can sit/walk again . . .

. . . next up: volleyball . . .

. . . it's hip to be square {times 529} . . .

. . . i survived teaching 

the young women yesterday . . .

{i bet you wish you had that cool silk tree!}

. . . in spite of how it looks here . . .

. . . the girls paid attention & participated . . . 

. . . i think it went okay & it's over! . . .

. . . btw ~ we have darling girls in our ward . . .

. . . so when last i posted about 

this "distraction" . . . 

. . . i was sewing rows together making pairs . . .

. . . then i sewed pairs together . . .

. . . making pairs of pairs . . .

. . . then i sewed pairs of pairs together . . .

. . . making . . .

. . . you see where i'm going with this . . .

. . . it turned out super scrappy . . .

. . . remember back in the day 

when we used to hang wallpaper? . . .

. . . you'd spend DAYS papering the walls . . .

. . . then half an hour slapping up the border . . .

. . . which made all the difference in the world . . .

. . . same with quilting . . .

{my inspiration}

. . . ten/fourteen . . .

. . . how to make yourself feel super tall . . .

. . . serve a mission in mexico . . .

{for those keeping track . . . yes, i know this post is one day early}