Day 3 - Look at Me!!!

Third day in a row. I promise I won't be too proud of myself too often. :)

And since I only slept for maybe three hours last night, this will be my rambling thoughts post.

1. This is also day three of me going to the gym. Again...not too proud yet.

2. I went to water aerobics tonight for my workout. Great resistance, decent cardio, and a whole lot of internal laughter. The class was taught by Cecilia. She must have been 80 years old, but she commanded our attention. Apparently she usually uses a whistle, but she forgot it tonight. I don't know - I just think there's something funny about 30 people cramming into a pool and jumping, kicking, and working it out all together. We had several bathing caps. You know - the ones with the flowers on them that allow you to tuck all your hair in. Not the Michael Phelps kind. I get it - the women don't want to get their hair wet. OK. But why was the very hairy man wearing a swim cap? And it really was only on the top half of his head. The purpose? No idea. I am, however, looking forward to more classes with Cecilia and the gang.

3. I still haven't seen the new Harry Potter. I really want to. Hmm...maybe this weekend?

4. Do you ever have days when you want to just hit someone? ("Here - hit this!" Can anyone name the movie?) I had one of those today. I didn't hit anyone. And exercise worked it out of my system. I think I was having one of those days years ago when my beloved sister took my spot on the couch when I got up to go to the bathroom. That time I pulled her hair. I know. Bad. Today...not so bad.

5. I talked to my niece on the phone last night. Again...why do they live so far away?! My favorite part of our conversation was when we were talking about Halloween costumes. I told her I was making one and asked if she could guess what it was. After guessing Mickey and Minnie Mouse, a witch, and a pumpkin, I told her she had one more guess. What did she guess? POPCORN! Love it!

6. I am actually making my Halloween costume this year. I asked my grandma if she would teach me some more about sewing. Since it's ok if a Halloween costume isn't perfect, I figured that would be good practice. We've got the pattern and the fabric. We're on our way.

Tomorrow's Friday!!! HOORAY!!!

Some Summer Adventures

I think that when I left off in June, I was about to go on our annual family trip. This year we went to Idaho/Wyoming, and it was beautiful! I'm not sure if I've ever seen mountains as majestic!

But probably the best part was that I got to spend the entire week with these crazy kids.

Yes, for the first time, we did a family t-shirt...which I LOVED!!! This was not because I designed them but because it's so fun to have matching t-shirts. :) And in case you can't see, that's a bison (the state mammal of Wyoming) with our family acronym "HA!" for Harlow Adventures written on the inside. Nice, huh?

Isn't this gorgeous? The Grand Tetons.

One day we went horse-back riding. It's my cousin Emma's favorite thing to do. This was my horse, Zeus.

Can you tell that he and I became great friends?

It actually was really fun, but Emma is a much better horse person than I am. Look - she even has her own helmet that she travels with.

More to come!

Day One

My sister arrived in a foreign country today. She'll be there until December. This is incredibly exciting for her, and I think she's amazingly fabulous for setting off on such a grand adventure, but it means that I can't just pick up the phone and call or text her.

So I made a commitment that I may regret later on.

I told her that I would blog something EVERY day for the duration of her stay in Costa Rica.

Am I CRAZY?! Quite possibly.

But today is (barely, but it still is) day one. And here I am.

Now, daily blogging may not mean that I have exciting or even interesting entries. However, I will get the chance to share what's going on in my little head. Here' what's been in my head today:

After I saw Mary Poppins on stage a couple of months ago, I bought the original London cast recording. I was listening to it this morning as I was getting ready for work, and I LOVE this song.

I realize that this isn't a live video recording of the show, but that would be illegal, so just listen and enjoy the words. I kind of feel like this song fits my sister right now. "Anything can happen if you let it." She's letting great things happen. Shouldn't we all do that a little more?

Before my exhausted ramblings set in, I'm going to sign off. Now everyone can fall asleep with Mary Poppins in their heads. :)

What an Adventurous Week!

Holy moly! What a crazy busy week this has been! Not that you need a travel-log type blog from me, but I'm going to kind of give you one today. Sorry in advance.

Wednesday was a first for me. I DROVE a jet ski! It was not the jet ski pictured below, but it kind of looked like it. This was a spontaneous adventure for me. I got a call and we were on the way to the lake within 20 minutes. I didn't think I wanted to drive, but it really was pretty fun. I got up to 40 mph. I know - impressive. And the water wasn't even that cold when I got tossed off. :)

Then I got to go see Mary Poppins! The broadway musical came to Sacramento, so a few of us decided to buy the cheapest seats we could get and go see the show. It was terrific! Sorry about the blurry picture. It was the only one I took. And I wanted to prove that I was there.

I have also decided that most of my favorite musicals involve tap dancing. Not all - but definitely a good number of them. :) Now I'm totally ready for Music Circus starting in July (I usher then see the shows for free)!

Friday evening began the weekend of Young Women fun! Some of you may know that I work with the youth in our church - specifically the girls ages 12-18. We've kind of started the annual tradition of having a sleepover. At my house. I LOVE IT!!! I think it's so much fun to have everyone together. Eating, playing games, talking about boys, etc. It's very relaxed and just fun.

This year, however, the sleepover fell on the same weekend as our fundraiser for Girls Camp. Since we had some things to prep for the Saturday fundraiser, I didn't let the girls have dinner till the first phase was done. I'm so mean, huh?

Here's the hot dog roast. Hey - you make five batches of Oreo truffles, and I'll let you roast food over an open flame. I think it's a fair trade. We did struggle at first to get the fire going, but we are resourceful Girls Campers, and we made it happen.

This is how many people can sleep on my living room floor. I count 12 in this picture, and then I slept on the side of the couch where Amy's head is. 13. Not bad.

"If you girls stay up till 1:30/2:00 am and then wake up at 6:30, I am definitely going to make you cut ALL of the potatoes for the salad before I feed you breakfast!" That was my thought process in the morning. :) I have to say, even though they were up at the crack of dawn, they were delightful rays of sunshine while they were working. Look at those early morning smiles!

More potatoes! My roommate, Dana, said she couldn't believe how many people and potatoes we had working in the kitchen.

But...I did make a delicious pancake breakfast, as promised. Watermelon and bananas too.

The trampoline was definitely a huge hit!

We finished the sleepover at 10, and we met back up at the church at 2 for our take-out dinner fundraiser. We prepped about 150 dinners (wraps with either pasta or potato salad) and about 90 dessert boxes (gourmet cupcakes and/or the truffles and chocolate dipped pretzels). Then people came between 5 and 6 to pick them up. Huge success!

Here's a chocolate dipping station.

Faithfully cleaning some of the spilled chocolate.

Slicing bell peppers.

Packaging potato salad. And DJing. Hollie was one of our music gurus. :)
In the kitchen.

Our saving grace in the world of chocolate!

Having too much fun waiting for people to pick up orders. We played Catch Phrase in here toward the end. So hilarious!

We had more than a little left-over lettuce. :) And Jamie was kind enough to humor me with this picture.

Our curb-side deliverers. So cute! they put the "fun" in fundraiser! (horrible joke, I know)
It was a long week, and I am now officially exhausted. I have to say that I generally loathe the fundraiser. It's just not my fave. But we had an amazing coordinator, and the YW worked so hard, that it actually was a fun couple of days.

And now my thoughts are done and I must sleep. Maybe I'll eat another fundraiser cupcake first and then sleep. Hmm...They are REALLY good cupcakes. :)

Adventure: Paramount Theater

Not long ago (ok - it's actually been a couple of months. I'm behind on my blogging!) my friend Kristen gathered a group of us to go to the Paramount Theater in Oakland. What a fantastic gem! It's this terrific old theater with beautiful architecture, great balconies, and a live organ playing before the show. I think that they have lots of different types of performances there, but they also show old movies. We were there to see this one:

If I EVER lapse in memory, please, Please, PLEASE remind me that I NEVER need to see this movie EVER AGAIN!!! In the first place, I don't really like birds. Secondly, I really don't like birds that randomly attack people and peck their eyes out. And, finally, I don't like movies without plot resolution. I was literally cringing from the moment the movie started. Because it starts with birds. Did I mention I don't like birds?

But...even though the movie was horrible for me, the theater and the friends that were there were fantastic, and I'd love to go again. Just with a different movie. Preferably one without birds. :)

Here's the group after the movie. With the flash you can see the people but not the theater.

Without the flash you can see some of the coolness of the theater but you get blurry people. Maybe I need to learn how to use my camera more effectively. :)

Here's one more blurry shot of the inside of the theater.

I'm in LOVE...

...with Magnum ice cream bars. Until last week, I hadn't had one of these since I was in Belgium oh, so many years ago. And then, they came to America.

Oh! Happy Day!

Take a look. My family and I savored every bite of our double caramel Magnums.

Can you see how there's a layer of beautiful Belgium chocolate, then the caramel, then another amazing layer of chocolate?

I also think that these ice cream bars may have single-handedly kept a missionary on her mission.

Seriously.

They are that powerful.

Which is why I love them.

Eet smakelijk!!!

What Can I Say? We're Planners!

This past weekend I attended my cousin Kristen's wedding. She looked beautiful and happy, and the setting (my aunt and uncle's home/yard) couldn't have been prettier.

During some of the time between the wedding and the reception, my grandpa came over to talk to me, my mom, my grandma, and my cousin Jamie. The conversation went something like this:

Grandpa: I was just talking to Bob (my uncle), and we think it may be time to get the whole family together for another trip to Mexico.

Us: (big smiles) Definitely!

Grandpa: Yeah...we were thinking that with our two rooms, Bob's two rooms, and if we borrow two rooms from Bev and Tom, we should have plenty of space for all the families.

Us: (bigger smiles) That sounds fantastic! Count us in! You just say "when" and we're there!

Grandpa: We were thinking that it might be fun to go for Christmas...

Us: (huge smiles) Cool! Christmas on the beach is never a bad thing!

Grandpa: ...next year. Christmas 2012.

Us: (slightly deflated but still happy) Oh.

There's nothing like planning ahead! Here's to a potential trip that might happen in a year and a half! :)

New Beginnings

OK - this happened back in February, but I just couldn't resist posting because these Young Women are just too fantastic and adorable!

Each year at the beginning of the year, the Young Women put on a program called New Beginnings. It's an opportunity to invite the parents of the current YW and those who will turn 12 during the year to come and learn about the theme for the year and to get everyone motivated to work on Personal Progress.

This year our Mutual theme is the 13th Article of Faith. As we talked to the YW about this, they decided that something virtuous, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy are flowers. So we based our decorations and our object lesson/hand-outs/YW participation portion of the evening on flowers. The YW made everything, and it was so great! I LOVE them!

Here's a big group shot of all the girls and leaders (and leaders' cute babies!). Several of the girls are holding their vases with flowers representing the different YW value colors.

Some decorations and the refreshment table. A must-have at any function. :) And, yes, I didn't ask if I could hang things from the ceiling. I just did it. I'm such a rebel.


So...the girls wanted to make flower hair clips to wear at the event and then give to the incoming YW and the YW who may be less active. Here's Marianne with her pretty flower. She was very proud of the fact that she used EVERY value color for her clip. Way to go Mur!

Me, Natalie, and Meegan = happy orange-flower girls. :)

The Kathryns (and baby Jocelyn). So cute!

Who doesn't love a silly shot? We are pretty good at these. :)

Yes, I've Been To A Monster Truck Rally

Yesterday I got to play monster trucks with Ariane's cute 4 year old nephew, Allan. I'm pretty sure that I didn't follow all of his rules or play the "right" way, but it did remind me of the time that I went to a Monster Truck Rally.

Yes, several years ago I went to the Energy Solutions Arena (that's in Salt Lake City where the Jazz play) and watched a whole evening of this:

Amazing, huh? It was quite an experience. I can't say that I'll be attending any more Monster Truck Rallies, but I'm sure glad I got to go to one.

And it was all thanks to this wonderful friend.
Thanks, Jen, for breaking up with the boy that you bought the tickets for (she's now happily married) and inviting me to go instead! We always have a ton-o-fun together!

And that's my monster truck memory for the day. :)

The Madness of March (Almost)

It's almost time folks!

The family bracket challenge gets pretty intense.

Can you guess who my pick usually is?

I made that shirt. Pretty good, huh? Too bad I don't have it anymore.

Truth be told, though I now know that Duke is truly a good basketball program and I love them, I started rooting for them in 6th grade when I had a crush on a boy who liked Duke. Thank you 6th grade crush for teaching me about Duke basketball. :)

Also, BYU may make a good showing this year. It's the year of the Jimmer.

Bring on the tourney!