My refrigerator door - right now

I've been wanting to do this post for a while, and when I got a new refrigerator magnet from the Dance's today, I took it as a sign that it's time to get 'er done!

I am not the sort of person to have a completely bare fridge door.  I guess I like to be reminded of the good things in my life on a daily basis, and since I can't seem to stay out of the fridge, I like the door to be a big reminder.  So if you will indulge me, I will give you a little tour with short explanations of each item. (Starting at the top left hand corner.)

Yes, that is a picture of two adorable boys with moustaches.  It is a Valentine from Ashley's family.  The caption reads..."I moustache you a question...Will you be my Valentine?"  I'm not sure I will ever be able to take that picture down!  I love it!!!

It seems that the most recently married couple makes a few appearances on my metallic bulletin board.  Allison and Ryan got married last summer, and this is a picture of them right as they came out of the temple.  It is also a reminder that I did something I never thought I would pull off.  I made her dress!  I actually still can't believe that it all worked!

John's mom had a milestone birthday this year, and this is the invitation her daughters made for the surprise party.  I know the party was back in April, but I think this is a beautiful picture of her and I especially love the border of the invitation.  It has all the roles she plays in the family - wife, mother, daughter, etc.  Its really a lovely card.

Ah, Downton Abbey - who knew you would capture our hearts as you have?  You probably can't read the caption of the cartoon, but it shows a woman in tears, with a PBS coffee mug and a Union Jack flag hanging on the wall of her cubicle.  The man says, "Why is she so sad?  And who are Matthew and Lady Sybil?"  The woman walking by says, "If you have to ask, you'll never understand."  If you are asking the same questions, I can only echo the above sentiment.  It's a Downton thing.  

Under the calendar are two magnets which really mean nothing to me other than I really liked them, so I bought them when we were at the BYU Bookstore.  

Having spent the last 4+ years in Relief Society, the next magnet holds special meaning for me.  Hopefully in those years, I honed my Charity skills, and when I call on it, it will not fail me.

Yep, you'll recognize the boys again, this time clean shaven, but hiding behind super hero masks.  This time they are joined by their little brother.  Those pictures are probably over a year old, but I still love them.

Next we come to the reason for this post.  Tucked in an orange Shutterfly envelope was this little cutie!  We love you too, little buddy!!

This is the most unusual wedding picture I have ever seen!  How did he get that high, and how did the photographer capture the shot?  I really, really love this picture!!!

5 Things to Forget Not...a good reminder from President Uchtdorf about our worth as women.  Something that often comes in handy. 

My kids bought me the magnet in the top right corner at Disney World the last time we were there. I love my kids and I love Disney World, so I'm not sure that magnet is going anywhere anytime soon!

The light blue magnets are reminders to be happy and seek joys in life.  They are OLD, and I probably should get them off, but I guess I hope they will spark someone's desire to do either of those things, including me.

I put in another copy of the picture to prevent having to scroll so far to refer to it.  I do what I can to help. :)

The two Korean magnets are from Yoon, a friend of my good friend, Sue.  They hold between them a fortune that reads "Courtesy is contagious."  One of my girls put that fortune up on the fridge after being home from college for a few days.  She no doubt felt we needed a friendly little reminder.

The final magnet is from my dear friend who moved across the country several years ago.  Aside from being a reminder of my friend, it also has wise words for all - "No matter how many cookies you consult, you will find that love is the greatest fortune"  

Of course, my fridge door holds a calendar to help me at least try to remember appts, games, meetings, etc.  It can only do so much though!  :)

And finally, the bottom door holds two drawings by T1.  Again, they are several years old, but they are keepers.  The magnet on the left is from the Bingham Copper Mine, there is also a magnet of one of the Cars characters.  His name slips my mind at the moment.  Another nod to the grandsons.  

Last but not least, there is a magnet that says "Poppins Penguins Catering".  A nod to one of my favorite childhood movies.  My mom bought it for me when we were shopping at Disneyland after Allison's wedding.  (That trip where we stayed across the street from Disneyland, but chose not to actually go to the park.  We know it sounds crazy, but we feel totally justified in our decision!)  The movie means even more to me after seeing "Saving Mr. Banks", which I know isn't totally accurate, but is probably pretty close to the truth of PL Travers' life.  I loved it.

So there you have it.  A long post I know, but just a little slice of my life right now!  As I type this, I realize I don't have anything about my sister missionary.  Hmm, I better rectify that!

California Top Ten

Just a note before I get to California. This is post number 30 of the GBE!!  Whew! 

I have really gotten into the spirit of blogging again, and plan to keep posting a few times a week.  I bet you can't wait!  ;)

It has been cold here!  Its like Indian Summer just skipped right on by, and we are into full-fledged fall, which as you know, is my favorite time of year, but I really love a good Indian Summer to make the transition between seasons.  Oh well.  In honor of warmer weather, I thought I'd reminisce a little about California.  In true California style, these are casually random!  Laid back, baby!!

The hole in the wall where we ate yummy, greasy hamburgers,  and hot, tasty french fries.  I just had to turn off the part of my brain that wondered about the fat content!  I still block that thought out!!  Our plan was to eat there with Shannon and Steven, but they couldn't find a parking place at all, and ended up going inland to eat because they were getting "Hangry!"  I know the feeling!!  We later met up with them at a park and had a nice wind down chat before we headed to the airport.

The condo we stayed in was right across the street from Disneyland, and although we didn't actually go to the park, we spent part of the afternoon at Downtown Disney.  There you will find the most awesome Lego store.  Here are two of my lovebirds in front of Belle and the Beast - MADE OUT OF LEGOS!!  Amazing!

We spent a couple of afternoons at the beach.  Thanks to the kindness of strangers, Trev got to try his hand (belly) at boogie boarding.  No surprise - he picked it right up.  The beach was a lovely place.  He didn't realize it, but at one point, a seal was swimming in a wave very close to him.  There were also dolphin sightings, and of course, the requisite seagulls were all around!!

Grandma enjoyed shell seeking.  She, herself, is a California girl and told us a few tales of her life when she lived here.

Taking advantage of a little down time to catch up on some reading, and catching a few rays.

A very nice man offered to take our picture, and as I am rarely on this side of the camera, I jumped at the chance to be in the family picture.

We had a nice, cool lunch at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.  You can't beat the atmosphere there!!

Ryan's dad treated us to a California Angels baseball game.  Trev wore Ken's hat in hopes that it would bring the team some good luck.  It was a valiant effort!  :)  Two crazy things - Mike Trout hit a homerun that night which made it the second year in a row that he has done that and when Trev walked down to get closer for this picture, someone yelled out something (positive) about BYU!  Cougar Fans are everywhere!!

We walked to the end of the (very stinky) Newport Pier.  Lots of fishermen, and lots of fishy smell!  We were there on Sunday afternoon, and there were so many people!!  We were so glad we had gone to the beach on less busy days and we were really ready to get back to a quiet park and just relax!!

Finally, we couldn't leave town without a few pictures of the beautiful Newport Beach Temple.  We stopped to snap some pictures after Sacrament Meeting at the building right across from the temple.  It is unique and we love how it fits in with its surroundings.  It is a stunning building, and if you would like to know a little of its history, click here, although that link won't tell you how the members increased their tithing donations to pay for the temple.  It is gorgeous and knowing the back story makes it more meaningful! 

California was a great place to witness and celebrate Allison and Ryan's wedding.  I think our family agrees it is a fun place to visit, but we don't want to live there.  We are just country mice!  ;) Its good for us to see how the other half live!

A lesson learned a little too well...Day 12

Some of you may remember this post wherein I told of the great lesson I learned to live in the moment and not always try to capture it on the camera.  Well, I am here to tell you, there must be a happy medium somewhere, but I have yet to find it.  

There are ZERO pictures from Allison and Ryan's open house because I DIDN'T TAKE ANY!!  Really! None of the dessert table.  None of Alli and Ryan chatting with some of the guests. None of the present table, or the Mexican banner strung along the bottom of the deck, or my 3 friends who slaved in the kitchen to keep things organized, or Ryan's parents who traveled from Southern California to be here, and, you guessed it, none of the beautiful flowers my friend, Roberta, put together!!  AAUUGGHH!!!  I am so sad about this!

The best I can do is show this picture of the lanterns the girls made for the trees.  This is actually the day after the Open House, when we lit them.  Logistically, we just couldn't work out getting them lit for the actual event.  I know - Lame!!  And truly, this picture doesn't do them any justice, but you will have to take my word, they are charming, and will be perfect next time we need them.

Here is a sweet little moment from my day.  As I was cooking the usual Saturday night hamburgers, I noticed a bird on the edge of this lantern.  The bird kept dipping into it as if it was eating, but all I can figure is that there is water in there from our recent rain, and it was getting a little liquid refreshment.





I decided that this moment is one benefit of my blogging experiment...I notice little things like this and run to get my camera.  I truly had to run Trevor over as I was getting it.  It was not my finest moment. :)

30 days, 30 pictures, 30 posts

In a valiant effort to get back on the blogging horse, I'm posting 30 posts/30 pictures in 30 days.  It may be a failed experiment, but if one doesn't try, one won't know if something will work, will one???

So here's to a new blogging day, and we must start with the big event of the Summer...

Allison and Ryan's wedding!!!

The beautiful Newport Beach Temple was the place, August 10th was the day, and it was all a wonderful and fun experience.  There will no doubt be more pictures from the trip, but here are two of the happy couple.  (The top one is my favorite!!)

How did he do this???

A beautiful bride, and a handsome groom.

Here are a few more tidbits of info...

-Everyone from our family was able to come except Brandon, T1 and T2.  (You guys were missed!!!)

-Grandma Sollenbarger came to California for the big event, as did Shannon and Steven.

-I made Allison's dress from 2 patterns and a picture off the internet

-Their reception in California was a Mexican Fiesta!!  Ole!

-It was wonderful to have 3 of our daughters, and 2 sons-in-law in the sealing room.

-We had a simple open house in Lewiston after Ryan and Allison got back from their honeymoon cruise. 

Now the newlyweds are getting settled into their apartment and getting ready to start classes next week!

We couldn't be happier, (nor could they, I think!!)