This is one of the most embarrassing photos I will ever show. We had friends and family over for dinner and I made the most delicious chocolate sheet cake for dessert. Brag. Brag. I ate a big piece with ice cream and floated into a sugar coma of sleep bliss after a long night of no sleep. When everyone left I got up to do the dishes and this is what I saw. I just couldn’t do it so I went to bed and faced it in the morning.
The impending “all-nighter” is enough to make you tired before the actual “all-nighter” even begins. Me and my projects. Actually it is Deb and I and our projects. We decided to put together a 14-Day Walk With Christ book so each woman in our ward could have one. We made one hundred and twenty books and there are thirty pages in each book. We knew it would be a big job and should have started it sooner in the week. This is my table as the day came to a close and I felt the sleepless night coming on. I was cutting and assembling and Deb was cutting and assembling. We called each other on the hour from nine o’clock until two in the morning. That was when the clocks moved forward and we lost an hour. We decided at that point we were just too tired to call each other any more.
What is cooler than watching tons of hockey players playing on over a dozen rinks on frozen Big Lake? Not much. Easton played throughout the day and we bundled up babies and ourselves and headed down. Lane is also on a team that plays tomorrow. It is just the neatest thing to see all the involvement, all the ages of players and the beautifully plowed and maintained frozen water turned into a massive ice arena. It was windy and chilly so heading up to the big “circus tent” as Hinckley called it was a great warm relief . . .and Easton appreciated me handing him a much needed Gatorade.
The beauty from my living room window comes in many forms. I find I gaze to watch the moose, either walking on through the yard or bedded down in the woods. I love to watch Mike mowing the lawn on the John Deere, love the sound of the mower and the freshly cut grass smell and the circular cut lines. I watch my grandchildren playing in the playhouse or bouncing on “grammie’s bounce house.” I look at the snow on the deck and how the melting parts move up and up until it is all clear. I desperately wait and watch for the green buds on the trees and squeal when I see them. And then, just today I just stared at my ice beauty hanging in plain view just for me.
My apologies go to my great-grandmother Sarah Clifford. It was she who precipitated our “sugar cookie” recipe that the girls and I have used for many years. It has been replaced. I now am using my all-time favorite sugar cookie recipe/ with frosting that was passed down from another grandmother or great aunt to a friend of mine. I asked for it and got it and now I am out of control. I can’t tell you how many batches I have made and how many watering mouths have messaged me with uncontrollable gratitude for my flower delights. I made a batch for Micah’s bridal shower she did and once again – an overwhelming response. May Sarah rest in peace.
I love the synonyms of talent – flair, aptitude, facility, gift, knack, technique, touch, ability, expertise, capacity, faculty, strength, forte, genius, brilliance, dexterity, skill and artistry. Micah has talent. She helped put on a bridal shower for a friend and she made the most beautiful flowers out of simple pink pieces of paper. I am sooooo appreciative to all the talented people in the world and most especially in my family. I draw strength from their ideas, their abilities and mostly just their dang talent.
This was my texting conversation with Rhea today while she was at school –
Rhea: Can I drop the one class?
Me: Yes
Rhea: But you are fine with me dropping it?
Me: Love bug. I am fine.
Later when she was in the counselor’s office the counselor said that permission was needed by a parent for her to drop the class. Rhea showed her our text messaging conversation and she said it sounded like “all was well” in our home. She got a kick out of “love bug.” The class was dropped.
Sunshine had her baby yesterday on Kyla’s birthday – nicely done. Shari and I made a run into Anchorage after church to see her little bundle. I am so proud of Sunshine and I felt like a “grandma” after knowing her since she was a teenager. Sunshine would spend the weekends with us years ago so she could come to church with us on Sundays. Now her and Josh are still a apart of our lives and Kyla and Sunshine spend hours talking “baby” stuff. Welcome to our world Bridger Lynn Hunsaker.
Hockey is done, well not really because Rhea has her other team she is playing on for a few more weeks. But, high school hockey is officially over and what an awesome momento/gift that was given to all the coaches. I love it!!!! Nothing grabs me more that a gift that is amazingly creative and thoughtful. Well done Lisa Humphreys. My “sweet pea” went to Mo Prom tonight and looked ravishingly beautiful and orange. Tyler’s shirt kind of muted the brilliance of the orange just a little.
Jamie Smith used to tell all the freshman at the first parent-team meeting for hockey that their four years of hockey will just fly by and before they knew it they would be at their closing banquet wondering where the time went. And so we are, at the closing banquet for Rhea, wondering how these four years could have flown by so fast. She is just a jewel of a person – a girl who stuck out (or rather enjoyed) three years of her high school sport being the only girl on the team. And then as her finale, there were four girls. Rhea loved her coaches not only because one was her dad and the other her brother but because they were good coaches and good mentors for her. Mike was an emotional mess but we all expected that – his little girl – his last kid to coach. For four years Rhea had her picture taken with her coaches – same lineup – same smiles.
Tara Truly 