I’ll respond to pretty much anything…

  Here’s me—8:50 am, Sunday morning,  coat on, kids in the car, ready to head to church, preparing to be released from my calling that I’ve had for the last 3 1/2 years.  And yes, I’m smiling, then a few tears, and then more smiles, tears, smiles—it’s a pattern…  I have loved serving in the Relief Society, and now I am delighted to get to be a Sunday School teacher for a class that I even have a child of my very own in!!  With every call, there is a release, so I’ve heard…

It is truly bittersweet—I love the lovely ladies of my wonderful ward and the people I have been able to work with are of such classy character, I’m the fortunate (albeit attempting to become more refined) one.  Deb and Amber are actually 2 of the very first people that I met upon our arrival in the Beehive state, 10 1/2 years ago.  They lived on my street when we moved into our previous home, and amazingly, not only are they still speaking to me, but we all even live in the very same neighborhood again—hmmm…

We were part of the kitchen staff for a very sad funeral last week.  I so appreciate good friends, and when those same good friends can cook a mean ham, bonus…

And now I get to go try and find this “Firsten” so maybe she can cash this jumbo rebate check…

Fifteen Big Ones…

I had one of the very nicest things happen to me 15 years ago today—I became the mother to this darling baby boy!!

And now he is handsome and tall (er than both of parents for a while now) and FIFTEEN YEARS OLD!!  So glad he’s mine…Happy Birthday, Curtis!!

Not so deep…

So I do like to think of myself as one with a certain amount of character and at least a little bit of depth, but then I see something red, and not just fantastic regular red, but polka-dotty on a tea pot red, and I realize that I can be okay with my own shallowness as long as pretty colors and polka dots are in the mix…

The Children Were Nestled…

After last night’s Goff Family Christmas Extravaganza, from the bottom of our cozy little hearts:

We wish you a very Snuggy Christmas!!

Trees a Trimming, Birthday Girl a Grinning…

 

This week started out so nice—the cute Young Women of our ward have been working on a tree for the “Festival of Trees” all year, and Monday was set-up day.  (People decorate the trees to be auctioned off with all of the proceeds going to benefit Primary Children’s Hospital.)  A couple of us lucky moms were needed to transport these tree-trimming girlies and so we just had to check out all of the festively fantastic sights and sounds!   Such lovely, creative, clever, sweet, gorgeous, gingerbready, piney, touch your heart,  Christmasy things to experience—I highly recommend it…

And then this little lady had to go and turn 13!!  Morgan has been highly anticipating the usage of the new bedding that was specially selected just for her, by her!  It is peppy and fun, just like my December birthday beauty, Miss Morgan!!

And what could be better than getting some face time with Kris Kringle??  Cael had been talking about this meet and greet for a good week, but then got a little bashful when it was time for the real deal—I do believe he managed to put in his request for a Haunted Mansion scooter and a Splash Mountain t-shirt.  Santa may have his work cut out for him, I’m not entirely certain that those North Pole elves do a lot of work on Haunted Mansion scooters—I’m not so sure the demand is super high…

And if you are me, and it just so happens that I am indeed me (so deep) things are looking up because the Christmas story books for the sweet Relief Society sisters of my ward are all d-o-n-e,  DONE!!  I do love Christmas stories, I love reading sweet Christmas stories, hearing sweet Christmas stories, Christmas is such a lovely time of year.  Andy Williams thinks it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I for one think he’s definitely onto something-- I will joyfully be on that bandwagon/toboggan/flexible flyer…

Thoughts on Turkey…

Because this time of year is so grand—I ADORE the Fall transitioning into Christmas season—and because just the sound of the lovely word “Thanksgiving”  is so pleasant, I mean “thanks” plus “giving”, what could be better??  Because good memories are hopefully bounteous during this cozy and turkey-infused time, I thought I would share some of my favorite turkey time tidbits from days gone by…

** The year that my wonderful Grampa Len began the Thanksgiving dinner blessing on the splendid meal (cute Grampa was such a wonderful example of good cheer, graciousness, gratitude, and was not known for brief prayers) and I realized mid-prayer that I should of used the restroom pre-prayer.  In my 7-year-old brain, I thought that if I was really, really quiet and very, very soft on my feet, I could simply slip away from the table and make it back in time for “amen”—didn’t quite work out as seamlessly as I thought it could…

**My freshman year in college when it had been nearly 3 long months since I had been home—and I was very ready to go home –I was greeted at the ginormous Tri-Cities International Airport by my whole fam and my super friend, Emily, with happy faces and a big “welcome home” poster!  Aww, so sweet and so fun!!  My room at home was still my room and it was even decorated extra-special for my arrival—good times…

**My junior year in college when two of my dear cousins and I drove from Logan to Seattle, where about 20 miles from my parents’ house, my cousin got pulled over, and somehow managed to not only avoid a speeding ticket but to get us a police escort to make sure we were on the right route  to the smaller highway because it can be tricky to get around in the dark!  (On a more personal note, the very few officers I have encountered upon being pulled over have not been nearly so friendly or helpful.)  The next morning, my cousin, who shall be nameless, accompanied me to the local Safeway for me to pick up a few things for my mom, and for him to pick up some black hair dye for himself in an attempt to counteract the orange hair that he was sporting (it was supposed to be subtle blonde).  I got my items and he, of course, had made his deliberate selection.  We got to the check-out counter and he gave me some money and asked me to just get his special item with my goods.  I thought this would be no skin off my nose (that actually sounds mildly disturbing) until he started in with the cashier about “you know girls and all their hair products”—wait a sec, was he speaking of me and his ebony hair tonic??  Wow, I could have made more than one snide remark about authentic and natural tones and highlights, but I took the high road, the one it seems I’ve veered off of here…

Good times, great company, terrific turkey, sweet memories, and always so much to be thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tis the Season to be Smu-ug…

So the fella in the shorts is feeling pleasantly smug because he made the good call of getting the Christmas lights strung on the house last Saturday…

And the little corduroy jacket-clad fella is also feeling seriously smug because this Saturday brought to him a winter wonderland!!

I know nothing of the smugness felt  at this particular residence, and I just can’t quite figure out how this scenerio came to be (we were on our way to our nephew’s championship football game and this sight most certainly caught my eye) –it looks like one those insurance commercials where the devastation happens and then it all rewinds back to normal, unfortunately the memo for the “return to normal” part was not received here.  Did the RV run into the fence and then back through the wall with the fence still attached and decide to call it a day??  Wow, sorry there guys…

And hey—the mom is the smug one here because not only did I get to pick Gretel’s hair, but she even let it stay that way and I bet she’d yodel for me if I asked her—hmm, and now I want a mug of Swiss Miss…