Counting my blessings.

Wow. It's been a week FULL of anxiousness, stress, worry, busy-ness, and so forth and so on.

I went to the temple on Wednesday evening to pray and find peace.

It was there.

It was a super cold day, and it had snowed the day prior, so the temple was a little s l o w. When I arrived, there was no one else outside, and the temple glowed in the darkness of the evening. The words in my mind at that moment were literally "peace on earth."

Bill was out of town all week, running flying like a crazy man from one place to another. He got home last night (or I should say this morning) at 2am, then had to be out the door this morning by 8. It's been a little stressful and hard to be a single parent this week as I have worked diligently to prepare the house for Sister Syddall's return and the ensuing company, while also attending to the schedule and needs of Mar + Bishop wife responsibilities + worrisome grandbaby news.

Tuesday night was the Bishop's Bash, which the Bishop didn't attend... but it was at his house, so I guess that counts hahahahaha. Not trying to be over-anxious or anything, but I'm hoping this is our last Bishop's Bash EVER. Out of the past 9 years, I believe only twice we have not had this exciting youth activity at our house. {Can I be done already???} It started way back when I was in YW and our Bishop lived across the street from us... little did I know how many years I would clean and decorate my house in order to host tons of wet/snowy-shoed youth ready to party it up. As Bill patiently listened to my soul's complaint about it this year (since he was going to be MIA), he said, "But the youth LOVE this activity." 

This year those who planned it added a few new activities like caroling and cookie decorating + hot chocolate. And Bill is right, the youth LOVE it. I'm just glad it's over haha.

Mar had tryouts for the Spring musical on Wednesday, and she had practiced incessantly for several days to have her "16 bars" prepared. She stressed and worried for the 3 days prior that she was getting sick and would not be able to sing (and breathe, for that matter). At her designated time, I drove her to the school and sat outside and waited. When she came back to the car, she said, "I don't want to talk about it or I'll cry, but I bombed it." I asked her how she thought she bombed it (obviously ignoring her first request). On her list: forgot some words to the song (don't ask me HOW, since she had been singing the same 16 bars for dayssss), hit a transition note wrong throwing the rest of the selection off, and took two breaths where there should have been none. AND, because she was so stressed at the other mistakes, she didn't do half the expressive actions she had intended. 

Sigh. I gave her my best mom advice... "whatever is supposed to happen, will happen, and you learned some valuable lessons for the next time you tryout."

Today she texted me "I MADE IT IN!!! I'm a female villager!"

So so happy for her! And glad she's not a male villager haha.

Seriously, perfect. It will require less time than a larger part, but will give Mar some great experience.

ALSO on Wednesday I received word that my almost full-term granddaughter might have a little complication. Something a little concerning was seen on an ultrasound, and they wanted Nae to come in for some more tests. I quickly googled the complication and was sick to see what devastating possible outcomes there could be. But I loved Nae's sweet text that said "Just trying not to stress about it and put our faith in the Lord that everything will work out for the best."

Wednesday was hard, so a perfect day to go to the temple.


Yesterday (Thursday) I received a friend request on FB from someone I didn't know. Usually I don't respond, but I clicked on this person and saw that our other mutual friend was one of the senior Sisters that Shi had served with on her mission, so I accepted the request. Within a few minutes, I had a message from my new friend that she lived in the ward where Shi is currently serving (for the whole 10 days she served there), and Shi's companions wanted to surprise her at their zone meeting the day before she was going home with a video clip from me, and would I be able to make a brief video and share it with her, then she would make sure the Sisters had it for the meeting. I've said here many times that I am NOT tech savvy (which I also mentioned on the video), so it took some time to figure things out, then almost the entire day to find a way to get the video to send. I'm not sure if it wouldn't send over FB due to international regulations or what, but I ended up having to put it on youtube to send it. This sweet, amazing new friend went above and beyond to get this message to Shi.  Because I know that not many people (hardly any strangers) read my blog, I'm going to share it here for memory's sake and your viewing pleasure (***Warning... I'm an ugly crier***)

I'm still not sure if it's what Shi's companions wanted (did they want something longer? something funnier? something more entertaining?), but it was still fun to send her a message. I'm excited to hear how it all went down. My new friend messaged me this morning that the Sisters got the video in time, and that Shi was probably now on her way to London to spend the evening with President and Sister Stevens before they send her off tomorrow. LOVED HEARING THIS TODAY.

Also today, news that baby E looks good!! What a relief. 

I'm counting my blessings today.

27 1/2 hours until Lo is home. I hope I can sleep tonight!

Neighbor gifts 2016: I want candy + 25 ways in 25 days.

I'm diligently trying to check off my to-do list so I'll have time to focus on my family during the season. What to give for neighbor gifts is always a struggle to figure out. I decided {again} to do homemade candy, and since I wanted to get it delivered EARLY, had the idea {inspiration, prompting} to add the #LightTheWorld challenge (the perfect reason to deliver goodies on Nov. 30th).

I tried out a couple of new candies this year (I've been in candy mode... probably because I have been trying to cut the sugar in my life hahahaha). Some were more successful than others, but, honestly, I think they were all delicious (I HAD to try them before gifting, you know).

These are a new favorite... Big Hunks. Yum. (Recipe here)

I call these Weeping Martha Washingtons... since mine were weeping hahahahaha. (Recipe here)

(They looked better once they were trimmed and packaged up.)

White Chocolate Cranberry Fudge (Recipe here)

Almond Toffee (I'm getting better at making it). I don't really have a functioning candy thermometer, so I was going by sight and intuition... turned out yum. (This is a friend's recipe that I've had for years... I will post it on my recipe blog... soon.)

And of course I'm already on my third batch of Mrs. Allen's Candy. (Recipe here)

And I almost forgot (since I had no pictures), I also made homemade Butterfingers. These are super yummy, but they are a bit of a mess to make, with a lot of flaky waste that I ended up throwing away. This recipe is NOT the one made with candy corn, which apparently does not have the same crunch as true Butterfingers. This recipe has the same crunch as the real thing PLUS they taste better (made with real peanut butter). I will also post it on my recipe blog... soon.

I packaged it all up in the perfect white boxes I got while in CA on Spring Break at my favorite Smart & Final (wish I had one here!).

I ran out of my perfect white boxes, however, so I grabbed my little tin beauties I had picked up at the Dollar Store (for taking meals to people) a while back. They were pretty perfect, too.

Because I really wanted to get these things DELIVERED without seeming too sickeningly early for neighbor Christmas gifts, the #LightTheWorld advent challenge was the perfect addition... slightly simplified (with scripture references included) for our non-member AND member friends.

I switched a couple of the days (shhhhh... don't tell) so that the gratitude day was on our garbage day, just in case people wanted to thank the garbage men. Seriously, we've been giving them a card with a little cash for years and they BRING OUR GARBAGE CANS UP TO THE GARAGE EVERY WEEK. Every week, people. That's a lot o' extra steps for those busy guys, but it just shows me how much they appreciate the kindness.

Once everything was assembled, Bill and Mar took them all out.

I have a couple other things I need to get/take to a couple neighbors (one family follows a very strict diet, so I figured they wouldn't love the candy), then I can call it good. The goal is to have it all done by tomorrow.

9 more days.

How I roll.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

I post a ton, then not at all.

November is nearly OVER, people! Where the heck did it go??

I thought I would spend some of my Monday-but-didn't-get-an-email-from-my-missionary-because-it's-transfers-week catching up a bit on my own sad little blog. It is the primary way my parents keep up with what's going on with the Colorado Syddalls {wink}. Aaaaaaannndd it's a great way to journal for me, so I'd better not stop now.

I've been busy! I've been scurrying around preparing for Shi's return, which will also bring a flurry of guests and grand events, followed by Christmas, followed by the birth of a new little soul in our family. My nesting instincts are high, even though I've long passed "that" time of life (on to the colonoscopy time of life hahahaha). Here's the catch up:

We had a visitor about halfway through the month (yes, I know it looks like summer - Bill had been out mowing the lawn and blowing leaves. AND we get these kinds of visitors all. the. time. Just not as fearless). This big guy was not afraid of us at all, even when Bill got the leaf blower out.

He has some funky antlers, so he's easy to spot around the neighborhood. Yesterday Mar and I saw him on the neighbor's front lawn, but he had lost one of his antlers, poor lop-sided guy.

I signed up to be on the "Patrons of the Performing Arts" committee for LHS (doing my duty for this last lonely child at home), and volunteered to be over concessions. My first gig was for the Fall play (which Mar tried out for but did not make the cut. There were only a dozen parts anyway, which I think is ridiculous for a 2400+ high school to do a play with so few parts, but that's a rant for another day -- or not at all). Since this is somewhat new to me (I've done concessions for the marching band and swim team in my long-ago past), there was a bit of a learning curve. Apparently there are very few "seasoned" parents on the committee (and the organization is only a year old), so it was basically a learn-as-you-go thing. Did I learn? Oh, yes.

I had also signed up to help bring home-baked items (4 dozen cupcakes) to sell, so I spent the better part of my week making things, and then selling them. 

The first two nights I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. My next 2 dozen I decided to make chocolate with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Needless to say, the cupcakes were a hit, and all 4 dozen were gone before the final night of the play.

I was a little tired of making cupcakes, so I decided to make cookies for the last night, which were also a hit (and might I add, a little easier to make with less expense in ingredients + packaging).

And just because donation items were slim (pretty much chips, candy bars, soda, and water), I ALSO made caramel corn for each performance, which was also popular. I figure I personally brought in well over $150 for the program. {You're welcome} And I learned a lot. At the meeting the following week I was told that I must continue making cupcakes for future plays, which I'm okay with, but someone else better pitch in with the other stuff. It was an exhausting week.

 (the meager concessions at the Thursday night show...)

 Bill and Mar were a huge help, and it all went down pretty smoothly, I'd say. Bill kindly ran things so Mar and I could catch the play the last night.

We also sold roses for each performance, which someone else was in charge of getting, thank heavens. These were purchased at my favorite flower shop {Safeway} that I have previously raved about here and here. They were so pretty, Mar and I couldn't help but snap some pics of them.

Phew. So glad that week is done. The Spring musical will be much bigger (I believe they are doing Fiddler on the Roof... a Syddall family fave... hope it's true!) with a cast of 120+ (meaning more attendees, too), so at least I have a good base of how, what, where, and when.

Mar had her Winter choir concert.
This is Mar's favorite piece from her choir, Bellissima, called Cradle Hymn:

(Mar, btw, is on the 2nd row on the VERY END on the left)

A news channel (Fox31) came and recorded their choir singing this song a few days later at school to show on their Christmas Eve news cast. So cool.

They also did this fun song (which Mar tried out for the solo and was in the final selection, but didn't get it... although we both agreed that this girl rocked it):

(The choir director doesn't spend a lot of time on the "fun" songs, so Mar said they didn't know the words and choreography that well, HOWEVER, they did better than the other 3 choirs in my humble-and-maybe-biased opinion.)

Mar had a duet piano recital:

She and Addy had never performed their pieces with an audience prior to this, so it was a great practice for their upcoming regional competition in January. They determined that they needed to practice more with an audience, which is great because we will have an audience oh-so-soon (when Shilo + her sisters + her grandparents are here).

In between all this fun, we (mostly I) have been working on little house projects.

Bill installed a new laundry room sink.

Our old one was... well... old. And covered in paint from all my painting projects, and not worth the time to scrub and clean because it still looked very worn and very... old.

And I painted the walls. This laundry room takes a beating, and it needed a paint job desperately.

The door in this room (the entry from the garage, used more frequently than the front door) is pretty beat, so sometime in the next few months, I intend to paint it, too. A gal can only do so much at a time, you know.

Since I had a little paint left, we used a FHE to paint the pantry, something I've been dying to do for years.

It was still builder-grade white (for almost 15 years), and looked dirty no matter how much I cleaned. Now all that wear is gone-baby-gone, and it smells so so much like paint, which isn't necessarily bad, I'm just hoping my food doesn't start tasting like it hahahahaha.

While all this painting was going on, I was also refinishing our stair bannister.

Nesting... am I right?

It didn't necessarily turn out perfect, but I am very happy with the results.

(I still need to touch-up the white rails... another project for a month --or two-- down the road.)

Now I think I'm just down to cleaning, which is not my favorite job, which is why I'm probably blogging today.
That, my friends, is how I roll.

We had a simple Thanksgiving. We spent most of the day at our friends, the Leaks. It was a bit of a solemn occasion, since their mom and grandma (and great grandma) had passed away that morning. I tried to give my friend an easy out, letting her know that we would still be GREAT if they wanted to spend the time together with just their family, but she said she wanted us there (thankfully there was also another non-family family over, too).

I only snapped a couple pictures... of kind of random things... but here they are for memory's sake:

Our contributions to dinner, minus the coconut pie, which I didn't get a picture of:

(Not much you can do to dress up mashed potatoes haha)

Jamison and Spring's new pup, Rex.

Yes, Mar is in love.

Britt's coconut pie, since I didn't get a picture of mine.

NICE JOB, BRITT!

My favorite 2-year-old as a piece of corn.

Our after dinner walk-it-off with the Leaks...

...it was a beautiful day.

We enjoyed the time Bill had off work, stayed up late every night watching movies, and worked hard putting up Christmas lights (YES, Bill is nesting, too, so the lights are UP this year!).

It was the perfect weekend.

In 12 days Shilo will be home.

In just over (or possibly under) a month, we will have a new granddaughter.

Let the good times roll.

Today I printed up these (easy peasy printable format here)

to go in here

(my favorite advent muffin tin, lovingly made by my seester years back).

We are excited to participate in the #LightTheWorld initiative.

25 ways. In 25 days.

Join us!

How it all went down.

I know.

Weird that I'm posting so much this week.

I just happen to be alone (again) in the evening, and after spending a couple of hours searching the world wide web endlessly looking for an appropriate long dress for Mar and Addy to wear at their  upcoming piano competition, I'm done. (That doesn't mean it was a successful search, btw.) But I thought I'd bang out a quick post about how our Halloween 2K16 went down last night.

Mar took the pups on a walk in their costumes.

I have to say, I think they kinda like wearing clothes like people. They kept these on all day.

Mar initially told me that all of her friends already had plans (cue the violins), and she would be spending her lonely Halloween night with us. Thus our plans for Chipotle and a movie.

Next thing I know, she's got a couple pals to tag along AND they decided to dress up... more than just the token dress up required for our deal at Chipotle. 

AND, after dinner, they were going trick-or-treating. 

We put out the candy bowl and headed out.

(Bones is guarding the candy... and pens & flashlights with Bill's old logo on them haha... making sure those kids only take ONE.)

I don't know what I was expecting at Chipotle (other than the line), but wow, I was impressed. ANY burrito, bowl, salad, or tacos with WHATEVER toppings you wanted (including guacamole!!!), for 3 bucks, flat. Not even taxed. Proceeds donated to a sustainable farming program of some sort. Totally worth donning the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head again.

And lemme tell ya, this was probably THE BIGGEST burrito bowl I've ever had.

Not the expected small, skimpy chicken-only burrito I thought we were going to get.

When we rolled our fat bellies on home (had to throw that in there since this particular picture of Bill is slightly less than flattering haha), the girls left to trick-or-treat, and Bill and I sat on the sofa with the pups and watched a couple episodes of our latest Netflix binge, The Flash, season 2.

We chose to keep the candy bowl and sign out, so as not to be interrupted.

Mar came home with a perfect stash of a variety of treats.

Probably my favorite Halloween so far.