Long Time No See.

Part of our whole plan to go to UT for BYU's Parent Weekend was to meet up with a few of our Feil cousins. My sister and I have always tried to find time to get everyone together, but, let me tell you, it's exponentially more difficult these days. This, we thought, would be a perfect weekend to spend time together... to let the two last-children-left-at-home cousins reconnect. It had been almost a year since they'd seen each other.

These two baby-of-the-family girls have always loved getting together.

   

We didn't get as much time together as we had hoped this past weekend, and decided that with the craziness of all our schedules, we would need to plan a specific girls getaway... soon! A time where our agenda will be solely to spend time visiting and having fun together. 

We'd better get planning... these girls are growing up FAST!

CO Rocky Mountain High.

I've got oh so much to share, but with Sweet Scarlett visiting, I would rather be spending my time with her (she's on my lap as I type... one-handed).

So today I will briefly post the pics of the beautiful drive we took to UT last week.

Seriously, it couldn't have been lovelier.

Around every bend we were oooing and ahhhing. All of these pics were taken out the window of a moving car (with either my old trusty point-and-shoot or my old outdated Galaxy S3), so you can only imagine the grandeur of it in real life.

A true Colorado Rocky Mountain high.

Vingt et un.

Happy 21st Birthday to this beautiful girl:

I had some fun photo editing for a few minutes, then couldn't decide which one to post, so opted to post them all. There's no such thing as too much of a good thing, don't you think?

(Here's the original)
It can't get much better than the birthday girl AND Sweet Scarlett.

For you, Lex, I thought I would share a Jack-and-Ava video Mar and I shot this week. If I had more time I would put it to music, but.... I don't. I think you'll enjoy it anyway!

They like to eat bubbles! Kind of like you (remember?).

(circa 2010)

Happy HAPPY Birthday!

We love you!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO


Post post: I made this fun little fringe banner and put together a Birthday-in-a-Box to send to Lex for her b-day. It included a cake mix, frosting, candles, party favors, balloons, the banner, some candy, and a few other small items (mascara, chap stick, gum).
She loved it, which made me supa happy.

Life Lately + A Belly Laugh.

Last Friday (a week ago?? time FLIES) we attended the LHS Homecoming Game. I figured it was a great way to support some of the Laurels in my class who were participating in the festivities and a GREAT excuse for... going. I've mentioned before how I enjoy high school sporting events. 

Especially ones that are held on a beautiful evening such as this.

 Seriously, that sky was a-maz-ing.

 The halftime show was pretty amazing, too. The game was won. Who could ask for anything more.

Saturday evening Michaela headed out for her girls night Homecoming date.

The Melting Pot, no dance. Since she was driving, I missed getting a picture of her group.

Her comments: "a lot of fun and a lot of food." Sounds perfect to me.

I've been busy working on some secret projects. I would really love to share, but that might spoil the surprise for a couple folks. This picture gives two clues. That's all I can say.

 I can share one next week, the other one will need to stay under wraps for a bit lot longer.

(With how fast time is flying for me lately, more like a bit.)

On a random note: I'm kind of a sheet person. I like white sheets that are somewhat soft (however that is not my first criteria) and heavy-ish/thick-ish. Sheets with substance. For a lot of years I have just purchased the sets at Costco or Sam's Club, and, after making some adjustments to the too-wide pillowcases (I also like a snug pillowcase), have felt they have served their purpose just fine. However, the last couple sets I've purchased (one set from each big box store) wore out super fast. I don't know if Bill and I wiggle around more in our sleep as we have gotten older, but the fitted sheet on both sets ended up with holes within a year or two (I'm also a sucker for longevity) and had elastic that had lost any and all stretch (I HATE that).

A few months back when we were visiting my mom, I liked the sheets she had on her guest bed, so I checked the label. Vera Wang. I determined I would get my next desperately needed set at Kohls. I purchased the only white set of Vera Wang sheets available the following week with a sale + 30% coupon and still forked over $85. It would be worth it, I told myself. 

I like them, but not as much as I had hoped. This particular set is VERY heavy. I'm sure they will have longevity, and I will love them in the winter, but they are kind of a pain to wash & dry. They are that heavy. (Different from the ones my mom had.)

After a few weeks of having only one set of non-holy (unholy?) sheets for my bed, and having to wait to make the bed until the sheets were washed, I broke down and purchased a $50 set from Walmart. Although the elastic was different than any other set I've previously owned, I liked them. I still had to make adjustments to the pillowcases, but they were a great weight and easy to wash and dry.

Just this week one of my clients mentioned that she needed to purchase some sheets for her guest bed and asked if I knew if Target had decent ones. I told her I had purchased a set from Walmart a few months ago that I have been very happy with. The Better Homes and Gardens ones. She thanked me for the info and that was the end of our sheet conversation.

Fast forward to today. Mar and I were at Walmart very early this morning (for one of our surprise projects) and noticed the posted signs that all clearance was an additional 50% off. We quickly perused the clearance aisles covered with junk of all kinds. Then I came across these:

This is the very brand of sheet I had recommended, and this is the size I need for Mar's bed. Not more than a month or two ago, as I was organizing my linen closet, I thought how much I needed to get some new sheets for her bed. Could they be on clearance? Were they misplaced on the shelf? Could I be that lucky? Yes, I was THAT lucky. $17.50. And they were white. 

I only wished they had sets of king and queen sizes too.

My favorite bargain of the day.

I've also been sporting this around lately:

Bill says it makes me look "sporty."

The past few months I've had some terrible trouble with my elbow.

Call it what you want:

tennis elbow

golfer's elbow

housewives elbow

tendinitis

hairdresser's elbow (I made that one up)...

it's a bugger.

Tonight Bill and I are headed here:

I am not a red carpet person, and certainly do not own red carpet attire.

Should be interesting. I hope I can survive.

And for your entertainment and a good belly laugh for the day, here are the pictures Lex had been creating and splitting a gut over back here:

 Billiscarlett.

Scarlettwayne. 

Kriscarlett. 

Scarlettina.

Can't wait to head back to UT next week!

Lost and Found.

It's been a day.

Before I say more, I thought I would share some pictures that have been stuck on the "clipboard" of my point-and-shoot that I had previously determined "unretrievable," HOWEVER, after taking some shots of my favorite bean dip today, not realizing the setting on the camera was on "clipboard," I was bound and determined that I was going to figure out how to get ALL the pictures off and onto the memory card.

And I did.

It's a Little Red Hen moment.

The funny thing? There was a picture of EACH of my kids, so I'll take it from the top:

 I LOVE this picture of Lynnea and Tay... no longer stuck on the clipboard. Circa December 2011.

The lighting wasn't the best for the point-and-shoot, but can you believe that cake?? February 2012.

This is the oldest picture stuck in limbo. Circa April 2011. Run, Lex, run!

This is the most recent photo on the clipboard. June 2014.

And here's Mar - running 6th grade track. Circa May 2013.

What once was lost has now been found.

So back to a quick rundown of the near-catastrophic event of the day.

I was at a YW board meeting when my phone rang. It was Lex, so I excused myself to another room to take the call.

The job we had been so thankful and thrilled about was going to be gone, baby, gone if Lex didn't get her social security card (or passport, or birth certificate) to the HR office by 5pm. They had asked her to leave and not come back unless she had the required documents. And if she didn't have them by 5, don't bother coming back.

Ouch.

That feels like being fired.

I had sent Lex her SS card in the mail on Monday, making a special trip to our Parker post office to send it off in the first wave of mail out for the day. I figured she should get it by... today, at the latest. I hadn't realized that the job situation would be dire if she didn't get it by a certain day and time. She was only informed of the tremendous importance of having the actual documents TODAY when she was asked to leave. She told me on the phone that she had checked to see if there would be a problem back on Monday when she started the job - she had a scan of her card, and would be getting the actual card in the mail any day. At that time she was told it would "probably" be okay (that's what you get when you ask someone who doesn't really know - lesson learned).

I felt helpless.

I'll admit I had this tiny thought go through my mind...

I'm at a YW meeting, for goodness sake. I'm serving. I'm doing my best. Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't Lex have gotten her card yesterday?

I could tell that Lex was very upset (as was I), but I told her I couldn't think of anything she could do other than drive back to Provo and wait for her mail to arrive. We could pray the card would be there in time for her to make the 30 minute drive back to work by 5pm.

I returned to my meeting, still feeling sick in the pit of my stomach. I texted Bill and Britt to inform them of the situation, hoping that perhaps Bill could call Lex's employer and do a miraculous intervention of some type, and Britt could help Lex with her feelings of devastation. I was discouraged at the probability of Lex losing her job. I certainly wasn't a focused and participatory member of the YW board for the rest of the meeting. I felt a little guilty at checking my texts frequently and responding as necessary.

After about 30 minutes I received this text from Billy-my-hero:
Got her taken care of. She is going 1.11 miles from her house to get a certified birth certificate from the vital records department in Provo. This will work along with her drivers license.

Tragedy averted, thanks to my Mr. Amazing.
I never would have thought of that.

The lost job... found just in the nick of time.
Hallelujah.
Feeling blessed (again).