Monday, February 29, 2016

Strictly coincidence...

Hunter's shoulder surgeon is serious and precise about rehabilitation. 
He has a detailed, week by week, 6 month physical therapy program.


We sure like our surgeon
and our physical therapist. 

They helped Zac with his broken femur condyle 
during his Senior year of High School...



  (Thanks, Andrea's family, for the fun picture.)

...and now they're helping Hunter with his broken shoulder 
during his Senior year of High School.

Our girlie is hoping this is strictly coincidence 
and not a trend!
;)

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Knock knock...

Dance invitations and answers are a whole adventure 
in and of themselves where we live. 
I often think, it wasn't like this when I was growing up
 50 years ago in Idaho. 
I don't know if that's because it was 50 years ago
 or if that's because it was Idaho.   ;)

Here are a few of the twigs invitation/answer adventures. 

The whole goal seems to be anonymity. 
Well, that is until the "puzzle" part of the invitation gets solved.
Keeping that anonymity causes one to do some crazy things!

Our girlie left this invitation after dark one evening on a friend's porch.
The letters of her first and last name were written on the "cuties."



Then the crazy began!!!!! 

Amidst mounds of ice and snow in the middle of winter, 
she and Hunter knocked and ran..... nothing happened. 
 Hunter is so nice and he's super fast so he kindly
 climbed the steps to the porch and rang again 
but no one came to the door. 
A third time, Hunter climbed the steps to the porch 
and reached out his hand to knock.
Right then a car pulled up in front of the house
and the front door swung open. 
Hunter dived into the shadows and the intended young man came out the door
 but not to answer it, he came out to move his pick-up truck.

 He stopped for just a second 
and looked at the signs and box of cuties 
but the car that just pulled up honked 
so he went to his truck.
 If he had walked around the front of his truck 
he would have tripped right over Hunter who was hiding there in the shadows.
 That would have been a sight!   :)

 Luckily he went around the back of his truck
 and backed it out instead of running over Hunter! 

The young man's mom and sister were in the car that had pulled up
 and he was moving the truck out of their way 
so they could pull their car in the driveway. 
Again Hunter almost got squished, 
this time by the car. 

The Mr. and I were sitting in our car in the dark, 
just down the street, watching all the craziness. 
We could see Hunter sneaking around a third car
 parked in the driveway when the pick-up truck came around the corner.
The young man had just driven it around the block 
and was parking it in the driveway again. 

A third time now, Hunter almost got squished in the driveway. 
The young man had seen someone 
when he pulled the truck back into the driveway 
but by the time he got out to see who it was, 
Hunter had taken off down the street. 
The mom and sister were on the front porch 
looking at the invitation and oranges.

Our girlie was hiding in bushes watching the craziness too. 
What a lucky girl to have a brother willing to be her stunt man!



This next invitation was pretty much the opposite of the first one. 

This was another of our girlie's invitations. 
This young man's front door was all glass
 and there was a light on in the front room. 
Despite the lights, 
the twigs weren't concerned 
when they went to the front porch. 
They could hardly get people to answer doors, remember?
So although they were dressed in black, and were being quiet,
 they weren't thinking about getting caught in the act.  

They walked up the front step, 
barely set the posters and balloons down
when in an instant the door came flying open 
and out jumped the intended young man onto the front porch!!!!!

Hunter took off running around the house. 
and our girlie hid on the side of the front porch. 
The young man just kept mumbling something about "I'm so sorry" 
and "this is so awkward, oh man this is so awkward." 
He gathered the things off of the porch and took them inside. 

Turns out he thought it was some doorbell ditcher friends 
of his little brother's and he was going to catch them. 
Catch them he did!   :)

A few weeks ago, this was left on the doorstep for Hunter.



He answered the invitation with this. 


He left it on her front porch, rang the bell, 
and disappeared into the bushes. 

 She came out, looked around, 
gathered the balloons and note, went back inside and 
flashed her front porch lights off and on, off and on. 

No crazy this time, just cute.   :)

Monday, February 22, 2016

Does that floor anyone else?

Congrats to our sweet girlie who was inducted 
in the National Honor Society this week. 


Her High School has a Sophomore class of 300
and to be nominated as a member of the National Honor Society
a student must have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. 
There were 120 Sophomore Inductees. 
Does that floor anyone else? 
More than a third of their class has GPA's of 3.5 or better??? 
What kids!!

Induction Pledge
I pledge to maintain high scholastic standing, 
to endeavor intelligently and courageously to be a leader,
to give of myself freely in service to others,
and to hold as fundamental and worthy
an untarnished character.
In so doing, I shall prove myself worthy
of a place in the National Honor Society. 

Those are some serious ideals.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Sweethearts Dance and a photobombing Yeti...

Our girlie and Hunter were in the same group 
for their High School Sweethearts Dance. 

Our girlie's date arrived and they put on their flowers. 



Our girlie's date brought her a beautiful flower in a heart balloon. 
She thinks it's so pretty!


Then we headed to J & J Nursery and Garden Center 
where it was warm and green to take pictures of the group. 

This is probably the weirdest Sweethearts Dance photo 
but I could not help myself when I saw this statue.


After all...


...nothing says "Sweethearts Dance"...


...like a monstrous Yeti.  

Can you see the little photo bomber Yeti?
They were everywhere I'm tellin' ya!    ;)
  

I hope these next pictures made up for the Yeti shot.





At the end of date nights, 
the twigs snuggle up with me and 
talk and talk about the great time they had. 



This night was no exception. 
They both said it was the best group ever! 



They say that all the time after dates. 
It makes me smile.   :)



 It warms my insides to hear their experiences meeting fantastic people. 
There are so many on the ball, super smart, 
interesting, kind, genuine, hilarious teenagers. 

It makes me happy for today and excited for the twigs futures. 


After dinner and the dance, 
the group returned with a few more friends to watch a movie 
and do Tim Tam Slams. 


Good times.   :)


The other day I read this...

Doc. & Cov. 90:15 ...study and learn, and become acquainted 
with all good books, and with languages,..and people. 

How wise.    :)

Monday, February 15, 2016

Our girlie says I'm hired...

Last month Hunter was in a group for a High School Dance 
and heard that one of the couples got together before the dance 
and made their flowers. 

Totally genius! 


Thanks Aaron and Jessica for passing on the great idea.


Hunter had two dances coming up this weekend
 and our girlie had one dance
so we decide to try our hand at making corsages and boutineers. 


Madeline joined us.   :)
She and Hunter were going to her Sweethearts Dance on Saturday.


 Pinterest had some great tutorials...


and everyone let their creativity flow.


These were the finished products. 


Our girlie made this corsage and
 decided she'd like to have a flower shop.   ;)


She asked me if I'd come work for her. 
Cool!


Hunter started Madeline's corsage, then she helped him finish it up 
after she whipped up his handsome boutineer lickety-split. 


So pretty and so fun!  

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Creepy stalker cat...

Our Mr. is allergic to cats so we've never had one.
That is, until two weeks ago 
when we got a hypoallergenic cat (is that really a thing) 
and it was even free!!

We couldn't wait to write to Zac, our missionary, about our super cute cat.
I wrote this to him:
Dear Zac, You won't believe this but it's totally true and so fun!! 
We got a CAT!!!!! :)
Yup, you read that right, a cat. 
He's a chubby yellow tabby cat, super sweet, 
so soft, and pretty low energy. 

Once in a while the dog likes him too much 
so the cat sits on the back of the couch in the family room 
where we can all see if Rascal starts to get too close.

Hunter took a "catnap" before his night class tonight 
and it was the cutest sight.
Hunter laying on the couch, the dog laying on the floor at his feet, 
and the cat laying on the back of the couch at Hunter's head. 
I should have snapped a picture! Sorry...

You need to help us pick a name!!
Hunky Hank?
Cat?
Mellow Yellow?
Dog?
Gus?
Butterball?
Sprinkle cakes?
We'd love to hear any others you've got! :)

The Mr. wrote this to Zac:
You won't believe the next sentence. We actually got a cat. 
A big yellow cat that sits around all day 
up on the back of the sectional sofa near the piano. 
Luckily I haven't had any allergies yet. 

We still haven't decided on a name, I don't think. 
It reminds me of the creepy stalker cat in Pres. Uchtdorf's talk
"Summer with Great Aunt Rose." 

video here

I can't believe I caved!! That thing better keep its distance.

So...do you think Zac believed for even one second we got a cat? 
He reads our emails early in the day on Monday's 
(p-days - the day they do laundry, grocery shopping, wash the car etc.)
and writes his emails back to us during the day. 
We usually receive his email about 4:00pm.

At 8:13am he wrote "Do you have a picture of the cat?"
Hahahah...I don't think he believed us but we did have him wondering! :) 

So we sent him a picture of our kitty. 


That night we got this from Zac. :)

Haha, y'all are jokers. 
Nice cat.
I think "sunshine" is a good name.

Monday, February 8, 2016

A girlie, a pup, and a little man with wooden earmuffs...

After shoveling snow the other day, I noticed our girlie 
hadn't come inside with her dad.

I looked out the window and saw this.


She and Rascal were making a snowman.

Nice job, Sis.  :)


Actually, she was making the snowman,
Rascal was eating the snowman.   ;)


We sure love that pup!  :)


Happy February 
<3

Thursday, February 4, 2016

The Jabberwocky returns again...

Birds have been flocking around the feeders the last few weeks. 
Some have even tried out the birdhouse.
Those are exciting signs of the coming Spring for me.  :)


But as in years past, flocks of seed-eating finches and sparrows bring the Jabberwock.

Suddenly I'll notice the little birds are gone and then I'll see why.
I'm always surprised at how quickly things go from this...


to this.


Do you see what he has in his talons?

Here's a better picture (maybe a little to good - yuck!)




We've watched this same scenario play out over and over the last few weeks. 

Funny thing, I didn't feel an overwhelming desire to
send the twigs out with "vorpal blade in hand" to "snicker-snack" this year
like I have the last few years when this same thing happened. 

Maybe I'm learning to accept the fact that we are...


 ...equal opportunity bird feeders.  :/

Monday, February 1, 2016

Lasers, stuffin', and a tongue hangin' out...

Rascal was a great dog this year 
so there was no coal in his Christmas Stocking. 
In fact, he had the best Christmas ever. 


He liked opening gifts.


Linda and Roxy were so kind and gave him a treat and a chew toy. 
He loved the stuffin' right out of that toy, squeaker and all.


Santa gave the Mr. and Rascal a laser pointer. What a hit!



He chased that little red dot till his tongue hung out.  :)


His favorite thing!