MaeLyn's Musings

California - Born and Raised Oregon - Visited on vacation as a child.  I remember visiting Crater Lake . Washington - I think I visited as a child on vacation. I believe an uncle lived there. Nevada - I drove through many times on the way to Utah. Utah - Frequent vacation destination, attended BYU and MTC . Idaho - vacation destination, including a family reunion at Bear Lake Arizona - Served 2 months of my mission for LDS church New Mexico - Visited Carlsbad Caverns on a vacation as a child. Colorado - Current home sweet home. Wyoming - Drove through on the way to Utah, visited Yellowstone Park . South Dakota - Visited Mount Rushmore Nebraska - passed through on way home from Mount Rushmore. Florida - saw interior of Orlando Airport on way home from mission. Georgia - saw interior of Atlanta airport for 6 hours on way home from mission. To get your own map, click here . (Thanks Becca for the link!)

I had a wonderful Valentines' Day! On Sunday, I discovered an invitation on my pillow: Two free tickets to a dinner theater production of "We Live in the Jungle 2" by the Hiatt Kidz! On Valentines' Day, Steven picked the boys up from school, and when they arrived at home, they had roses. When dinner time approached, I was shooed away from the kitchen as the children took over. Finally, my date with Steven arrived. Dressed up a bit, we left the house and took a short walk, then arrived at the "restaurant" where we were met at the door by two adorable hosts/waiters who took us by the hand, led us to our seats, and presented us with a menu. After we ordered, the chefs in the kitchen filled our plates with salad, spaghetti, and fresh baked french bread (Steven made).   After we had been served, the show began. A year or so ago, we saw a performance of "We Live in the Jungle" and enjoyed it so much that we watched it a few times, and even reco

 I wanted a new dress. The last dress I made for myself was fraying at the seams. I think the cats ruined my one white blouse that goes with everything. (I didn't catch them in the act, but there is a series of holes in the back, about the distance of a cats claws. I'm really not happy about that.) So my options for what to wear on a Sunday were severely limited, and I wanted a new dress. Unfortunately, due to Steven's current job status, buying a new dress was not an option. Fortunately, I did have some fabric on hand that I bought several months ago (Wal-mart bargain barrel, 5yd bolt for $5) and I had a stock of patterns for clothing I had made in the past. So.... I decided to make myself one. The pattern that I really wanted to use was one I made a dress from when I was in high school. I loved that dress and got a lot of use out of it before it wore out. Unfortunately, when I made that dress, I was about five sizes smaller than I am now. So I spend a day prewashing the

Last week at parent teacher conferences, Josh's teacher let me read a story he had written about his trip to visit his Grandma and Grandpa over the holidays. At one point he wrote that he had "played with a girl. She was hot! (pretty)." Curious, I asked Josh what the girl's name was. Apparently he had really enjoyed playing spy with his cousin Savannah. This week Hannah helped Josh write some poems about Savannah. I found the poems today while I was cleaning up, and thought I'd share them: (original spelling and punctuation preserved)  (haiku) Savanah is cool. She likes to play spy with me. I like Savanah! (cinquain) Savanah Creative, Fun Sneaking, spying, working Savanah is neat-o! Girl (?) Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Savanah is Nice She is really true (acrostic) Savanah is Awesome and Valiant. She Always has a Neon Amazing Happy face on.

The kids' school was canceled today for an "ice day". It snowed a bit yesterday, but there is only a few inches of snow on the ground. Normally school would have been held as usual today, but the temperatures were cold. The high was about -2* F . Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! Anyway, since Steven didn't have work to go to today either, we were able to sleep in. Steven made breakfast for us, including hash browns made from scratch. He made brick alley bread for lunch. I made some oatmeal crackers for a snack this afternoon, and Steven made English muffin pizzas for dinner - making the English muffins from scratch too! I was very impressed. I could have stayed home all day today, except that I had agreed to help out a sister in our ward, giving her a ride to an appointment, since she doesn't drive. I was grateful that the main roads were plowed and I didn't slip and slide as much as I worried I would. Other than that, it was nice to have an entire day to relax at home, with