Sheesh!

So, a meeting for church was scheduled for last night by a member of the bishopric.  He called about 2 hours before the meeting and said it was irrelevant now due to new developments and therefore was now cancelled.  Cool.  Extra, unexpected time to get some things done last night!

This morning, the same bishopric member e-mails the 3 of us involved in the meeting and says he mistakenly came to the wrong conclusion about the meeting's relevancy because he failed to read an e-mail in it's entirety.  So, the meeting needs to be rescheduled and happen ASAP.  "How about tonight at 7 pm?"

Ummm....  Did you forget it's Halloween?

Ok, you're in your 60s and your grand-kids don't live close to you, so Halloween is not a holiday you celebrate anymore.  One of the 3 mentioned above is a single sister in her 40s.  No kids, neices, nephews, etc.

I obviously have no kids either.

Number 3 of those mentioned above is a mother of 4 trick-or-treating-aged kids.  I'm pretty sure she will NOT be willing to attend a meeting at 7 pm. tonight.

The single sister could have a party to attend.

And, just because Dave and I don't have kids does NOT mean that we don't have holiday traditions or things to do or places to be or people to hang out with or have simply planned and looked forward to a weeknight of rare relaxation and togetherness.

That's what irritates me.  The attitude that because I have not procreated, I am expected to have a schedule that is not busy and therefore I can drop what I'm doing whenever anyone wants to rearrange a meeting schedule.  Or plan anything else for that matter!

Thanks, but no thanks.

Dave and I have a scary movie to watch tonight.

We've been planning on this time together.

And looking forward to it.


So there.

"Today I'm grateful for...."

Years ago, my friend Tyler Snell and I started texting each other every night saying one thing from that day that we were grateful for.  It was our way of helping each other see Heavenly Father's hand in our lives and stay positive.  It worked  :o)

Well, I recently started that with a new friend, Nancy.  It's been wonderful!  Even on the most horrible days, I know that I'm gonna have to find SOMETHING positive to tell her about my day.  It's felt so good to start doing that again!

Yesterday, I was grateful to get to eat dinner with my amazing friend Lily  :o)  Girls' night out was most definitely needed! 

I appreciate good friends who help to bring out the best in me!

Life.

Life is tough.

It really is.

However, I must admit that I have blessings far exceeding the frustrations and heartaches of life.  For that, I am extremely grateful.

The trick (and lesson to be learned) is the right place to keep my focus.

I'm trying....

Thank goodness I have this guy to help me  :o)

I love him a lot!

It's alive!!!

During our drive home from work on Friday, Dave told me that his goal for the next day (Saturday) was to get the bug running. Not finished, just running. He has wanted to hear it crank up for a long time! (It's his own fault for taking it COMPLETELY apart to restore it! ;o)

Anyway, he said that he was not going to sleep until it ran.  My thought was, "Oh boy...  It's going to be a long day..."

He had to run some errands in the morning so he didn't get started on the bug until about 11 or 11:30. Clyde came over around 2:30 to lend a hand and moral support.  (Thank you, Clyde!!!)

Around 6, Dave came and said he should be able to crank it up in about half an hour. I was like "what?!?!"  Sure enough, around 6:30 Dave called me downstairs and Kendra (Clyde's girlfriend) and I watched as Dave and Clyde pushed the bug outside into our backyard.

There were some tense moments and tweaks made, but the bug started!!!  Dave got that little boy Dave smile on his face and ran off saying something bout needing a bucket.  We were all confused.  Until Dave came back and put the bucket upside-down behind the wheel of the bug. The seats aren't installed yet but he just HAD to drive it around the backyard :o)

Oh, and Clyde had to follow the bug around because the fuel tank is not installed yet, but it needs gas to run (obviously) so someone had to run beside it with the gas can.  Clyde was the lucky one  :o)

So, we went out and got ice cream to celebrate!!!  Best part is, it wasn't 3 in the morning like originally thought!!!! 

This is a momentous day at the Wheeler home!!!!  Now, it needs the interior put in (Dave said the bucket seat is NOT comfortable at all  ;o) and some more tweaking done (as you could tell, something is wrong with the transmission or shifter because it would only go into 3rd and 4th gears...), but at least it runs!!!

And, isn't it beautiful!!!  I love the blue color!

Anyway, way to go Dave!!!!!!!

Happy Fathers Day!

So, I am hoping (like SO WAY ALOT) that someday Dave will have the opportunity to be a father.  In the meantime, he is doing a great job "fathering" all of our fish babies.  I've lost count, but there's at least 10-15 and he feeds them twice every day and cleans their tank every 1-2 weeks.  He also rescues them when they need rescuing, which luckily isn't very often!  One of the fish got stuck in the big rock/foilage thing in the tank and we thought it was dead.  However, when Dave got it free, it swam away.  Thanks for saving our fish baby, Dave!

I saw this cake at the grocery store yesterday and couldn't resist getting it for Dave.  From the fish babies, of course  :o)

I think it's supposed to have those blue, green, and yellow sprinkles all over it, but they ended up in a clump on the side.  Oh well...

It wouldn't be Fathers Day without giving a shout-out to my wonderful Dad!

I love you so much, Dad, and am so way grateful I am blessed enough to be your daughter  :o)

Also, Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful father-in-law!  I sure lucked out!!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Long story, but we ended up getting a new couch set for our living room Memorial Day weekend.  Since it was pricey (although we got a killer deal!) and close to our anniversary, we dubbed it our gifts to each other this year.

We found this set the very first store we went shopping in (totally didn't expect that) and we both fell in love with it!  It was a very good shopping experience.  It is a micro-suede (or something like that) on top with leather on the bottom.  The glider/recliner chair is my favorite  :o)

We had to re-arrange our living room, but we LOVE it!

Now to figure out where to hang stuff on the wall now, but hopefully that will be done before Jennifer comes for a visit in a couple of weeks.  Or, maybe I should wait and get her opinion  :o)

 

Oh, and for all those who have eaten dinner in our "crowded" dining room, it is a lot roomier since we moved the hutch into the living room.  We love it!

 

 

Now we just need everyone to come out and visit and try out our wonderful, new furniture  :o)

 

P.S.  Hard to believe Dave and I have been married 3 years already!  So way glad to be married to my handsome love!

my birthday treat

I share a birthday with Dave's niece, Camryn.  She decided to have a party at Build-A-Bear to celebrate her birthday.  Dave and I were invited to attend, and I was kinda excited because I had never been to a Build-A-Bear before.  I felt a bit weird because I was the only adult to "build-a-bear" but everyone insisted when they found out it was my first time.  Plus, Dave bought me a bear as a birthday present  :o)  Thanks, Dave!

Here's Mr. Snuggles!  (Don't judge me or laugh at the name  ;o)

He is super cute and super soft!

Dave bought me some bunny slippers he can wear so he can fit in with my bunny collection.

It was a very pleasant and successful Build-A-Bear experience  :o)

Yummmmmm!

I finally got on Pinterest a couple of months ago and am hooked!  Dave has endured a few Pinterest recipes and crafts already :o)

I took a picture of one of the recipes I tried, which was super yummy and so way easy.

I took a roll of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and separated the rolls.  Then, I put one roll on each of the 4 squares of my waffle iron and closed the lid.  It made cinnamon roll waffles  :o)  Oh, and Dave's favorite part was topping them with the icing!  Add scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese and a glass of milk and you have one of the best breakfasts!

Look at what I got, Mom!!

Mom introduced me to white chocolate M&Ms, which I had no idea existed!  They are incredible!!!!  And they are exclusively at Target stores right now.  Well, they came out at Eastertime, but most Targets still have them on the shelves.

 

I finally made a trip to our closest Target (which isn't terribly convenient) and took advantage of a sale + the use of 2 coupons and scored a sweet deal. Literally :o)

Thanks, Mom, for sharing the amazingness!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this year, and because I love my husband and try to find creative ways to tell him how much I love him, when I saw this idea on Pinterest I just had to do it!  I added my own spin to the original idea, and this is what I came up with.  I hope Dave likes it!

P.S.  I sent him to church wearing a green tie  ;o)

Crafty Things

A few months ago, my friend and I made a towel "cake" for a girl at work who was getting married.  Not too shabby, if I say so myself  :o)

We used her wedding colors and flowers.

For our Young Women In Excellence at church, I was in charge of making the dessert for the event.  This was a formal evening and the President asked for colorful cupcakes, representing all the YW Value colors.  Here's what I came up with, complete with a custom-made cupcake stand.  Full of glitter.  Yuck!  (The ONLY reason I used glitter paper was because the theme of the evening was "SHINE!")

See how the color reflects off of the foil cupcake liner!

my glittery workspace.  it was MUCH worse in person!

colorful cake batter

ready to bake!

yummy & colorful  :o)

my first try at frosting cupcakes with a cake decorating set....  not perfect, but there ya have it!

2nd Honeymoon, Pt. 3

(I am HORRIBLE!  I should've gotten this posted months ago!)

One of my favorite parts of our time in Tennessee was not having to wake up to an alarm every morning.  So nice!

On Friday, we decided to go hiking to a waterfall in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. 

Soon after we entered the Park, traffic came to a slow crawl.  After awhile, we passed a couple of Park Rangers who were standing right by the side of the road.  We figured that was the reason for the slow-down, but wondered why they were standing nearly in the road.  Just behind the rangers I saw a sign posted on a tree that said something about how bears were common in the area and to use caution while hiking, etc.

Bears!

What?!

In the road just beyond the first rangers we saw were a handful more rangers, some of whom were actually in the road.  Then we saw a large group of people taking pictures and pointing across the street towards the rangers.  What could they be so interested in??

Then I spotted it.  A BEAR.

Granted, it was a baby bear, but I am smart enough to know that the momma bear is not going to be too far away.  The bear was just hanging out on the rocks that sat along the side of the road.  The park rangers were there to protect the bear and the people who were anxiously gawking at it.

The bear was only about a car length and a half away.  That's the closest I've ever been to an un-caged bear!  That's the closest I ever want to be!  Been there, done that, let's just check that off my to-do list!

As we drove past, I started to have some serious second thoughts about our little hike.  Dave tried to tell me I was over-reacting, but my mind was going through every worst-case scenario that involves hikers and bears.  I so way freaked myself out!

Somehow, Dave convinced me to get out of the car after he parked next to the trail head.  I was still pretty nervous for the first 15 minutes or so and couldn't get the thought of bear attacks out of my head.

Dave kept saying, "We just have to run faster than the people around us and we'll be fine!"  That's all well and good in a crowd, but there weren't many people on the trail we were on...

Trailhead

nice and green :o)

Isn't the path perfectly picturesque?!

A tree.  In the middle of the path.  I think it wanted to be noticed.

A dirty, muddy stream we had to "ford"

Whoppers!!  I mean, deer poop.  Saw quite a bit on our hike.

One tree started changing colors before the surrounding trees.  Love fall leaf colors!

Yikes!  A bear!!!  (whew!  just a backpack...)



We finally reached the waterfall!

The waterfall was super cool because (it's hard to tell in this picture) the path walked you behind the waterfall and out on the other side.  Pretty neat :o)  It was beautiful!  Plus, it was quite refreshing getting sprayed by the cool water falling off the rocks.

A super nice photographer who was up there taking pictures offered to take ours.

That's my handsome hunk!

Not the greatest of me, but Dave is super handsome!

2 ways to go; of course he would choose the rugged path!  not me :o)

I still thought about bears on our hike back to the car, but I did feel slightly more at ease ;o)

It was a super fun, relaxing afternoon spent in the beauty of Tennessee with my best friend!

The next day (Saturday) was spent at the VW car show.  I had never been to one before, but it was pretty much what I expected:  a bazillion VW bugs and vans everywhere!  Plus, tons of people selling car parts, etc.  I took TONS of pictures, but here are just a few.

I just HAD to buy Dave this t-shirt ;o)



What was I thinking?!

So, a few months ago I asked the Young Women's President at church if I could take charge of the New Beginnings night that was scheduled for January.  She gladly let me because she had just spear-headed the Ward Trunk-or-Treat and Young Women In Excellence, which were both HUGE events and only a week and a half apart.

Both events were FABULOUS, however, and huge successes!

Getting back to New Beginnings, I felt like I owed it to the team because I was pretty sick during the Trunk-or-Treat AND the YWIE and wasn't much help.  So, I volunteered to take this one over.  How hard could it be, right?

Famous

Last

Words........

Tonight is the big night and I am A MESS!!!  Part of the problem is I am super nervous because most of the YW leaders are very much into cutsie and decorating and making things look absolutely perfect.  I am so way all for all of that, however, I am not good at producing cutsie and perfect decorations.

Luckily, our New Beginnings is a lot more low-key, so they hopefully won't expect another YWIE-type event!

I also spent a few days last week helping a friend and I had been planning on using those days for New Beginnings prep.  I don't regret helping one of my best friends at all!!!  It is just making me remember all those school projects that I waited until the very last second to do.  (Mom, there were only 2 of those, right???  ;o)

Yeah.

So, my poor husband has a house cluttered with "an-attempt-at-cutsie" YW stuff and a super stressed out wife.

Good news is, ready or not, tonight's the night!

Crossing my fingers that all who are part of the program will show up and that everything goes smoothly and, most importantly, that the YW feel super loved after all is said and done tonight!

I'll post pics sometime.