Mr. Layne Turns 43

Q. What was your highlight for age 42?
A. Summer vacation in Idaho with our families.

Q. What are you looking forward to for age 43?
A. Getting our new garden(s) all fixed up.

Q. How many times do you expect your wife to be nice to you this year?
A. One more than last year....maybe three.

Q. What do you enjoy doing the most?
A. Working on a project (at home & at work).

Q. What are you going to give Cassie for your 19th anniversary this year?
A. I'll let you know on August 19th.

Q. What are your hopes for the next Presidential Election?
A. Anyone with common sense that believes in the founding principles of our nation.  Can George Washington run again?

Q. Do you plan on reading anything this year?
A. No.

Q. What is your favorite meal?
A. Too hard.  Rice & Milk with cinnamon and sugar.

Q. What are your plans when you get to Idaho next week?
A. Scotty's for a burger & iron port


**Update:  Layne claims that the answer for the question Do you plan on reading anything this year was incorrectly interpreted.  I'm not sure if it bothers him that I'm insinuating that he can't read or that he just doesn't read.  Just for the record, he can read and the things I've noticed him read the most are books about George Washington, church history, and the classifieds.

2011 Wrap Up

I feel kind of bad.  I have not one Christmas morning picture on my camera.  Layne did get it all on video so maybe I'll figure out how to get some pictures off of that.  I have been preoccupied with my 'condition' and pretty much if it isn't in my face or needed at this moment it wont happen. (It isn't a big deal, it has just taken over my mind....more on that another day.  No, I'm not prego.)  I think I was putting the last of the Christmas cards in the mail box on Thursday and the last of the neighbor treats dropped off Christmas Eve night.  So not like me.

***nevertheless***

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Everyone was thrilled with their gifts and we all felt very spoiled and loved.  What a wonderful time of the year.  The house is all decorated and pretty.  Lights sparkle in different parts of the rooms and make things seem extra special.  The yummy treats and goodies that were given to us were thoroughly enjoyed.  One thing we did miss this Christmas was snow.  Poor Mitch.  His new snow board is still sitting here waiting for its debut.  We've got another couple of months to get some fun time in the white stuff.

And even though most of us would have loved to have gone to church in our jammies, I really did like Christmas on Sunday.  The talks and music were perfectly beautiful.  What a wonderful day to celebrate.

***

This time of year we miss our families even more than usual.  It was fun to Skype and see a lot of our family in Idaho.  Little ones are now walking and big ones don't stop talking......it is so much fun.

Then the day after Christmas was my dad's 60th birthday!  We got to see him on his birthday (via Skype) and that made it extra fun.  He had his whole day planned out.   Five Guys and a movie, and Audrey was there scratching his head while we talked.  I think that is pretty close to a perfect day for him.  My dad is amazing and I love him more than he'll ever know.

And now we are wrapping up 2011.  For whatever reason, I like odd numbered years.  Weird, I know.
Just one more thing to check off our 2011 list...Layne's birthday is Friday.  The big 43.  I'm really not nice enough to get into head scratching so I hope he has a different plan.

Who's Been Waiting for This?

The Napoleon Dynamite Cartoon

Fox in 2012

I'm Trying. Really.

It has been a wet year.

As of today, we have made it to the 3rd wettest year in Ohio.

All 54" of the wet stuff.

I know I've mentioned the rain in other posts this year, but I just wanted to whine about it one more time before the years end. 

Why?

I'm sick of MUD IN MY HOUSE!  and on my kids, and on my car, and in my garage, whine whine whine.

When the kids showed up for church I was so happy to see that Justin remembered to wear his belt.  (Layne & I were already there.)Then he turned around and there were muddy, puppy paw prints/streaks on the back of his shirt, on his belt, on his pants and even on his tie.  If I wasn't so sick of mud I might have giggled.

Then our home teacher came and shared this months message from Elder Eyring about being Grateful.  (awesome article, BTW)

I really liked the challenge at the end.  It was geared toward the youth, but we should all do this.

Take a Gratitude Challenge

By John Hilton III and Anthony Sweat

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Let’s not just talk about counting our blessings—let’s do it! Write a list of 100 things you are thankful for. If that sounds like it is too many, try this:

1. Write 10 physical abilities you are grateful for.

2. Write 10 material possessions you are grateful for.

3. Write 10 living people you are grateful for.

4. Write 10 deceased people you are grateful for.

5. Write 10 things about nature you are grateful for.

6. Write 10 things about today you are grateful for.

7. Write 10 places on earth you are grateful for.

8. Write 10 modern inventions you are grateful for.

9. Write 10 foods you are grateful for.

10. Write 10 things about the gospel you are grateful for.

When we make a list like this, we discover that a list of 100 doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of all the things God has given us.

So now I'm trying to find a few things to be grateful about with the 3rd wettest year & all of its mud. 

I'm trying to get past not seeing the sun for most of the year, the farmers not being able to get crops in & out of the fields, a really bad year for hair, and did I mention all of the mud?

Go ahead, try to prove to me that way too much rain and mud can be a positive.  

Happy Weekend

Here is a little ditty to jump start your weekend.
This makes me smile (and laugh too).
Have a good one!

Will Work for Food

Good ol' Layne.  He's always busy with some project of his.  And most of the time he ropes Todd into working along with him.  (Todd secretly loves it though.)  I like to make him something special when he gets something accomplished off of the never-ending to-do list.

This time he chose to build the dog & cat condo.  It is starting to get chilly outside and since I refuse to have a house dog and he officially kicked the cat out last spring (won't go into why) he figured he'd better keep them comfy cozy this winter.

You can see the insulation here between the walls.  You can also see the 'sleeping area' and the 'front porch' area where they eat their food.

Top door is for Cat and bottom is for Jimmer.

And here is the final product. 

Wall to wall carpet inside the bedrooms and door flaps on both the inside and outside doors so no yucky wind, snow, or rain can ruin these two's night sleep.

Can you see Cat looking out?  There is a ledge where she can jump up to so she can walk in.  Before that was installed I thought she was going to have to just take a running leap and pray she hit the hole.  But Layne had the plans in his head and he built her a ledge to leap on.

Here is the front door open so you can see in their food area. 

Another project he decided to do this week was build the mantel in the living room. 
One year ago this week we started to move in this house.  It is really nice to see the fireplace area finished.  (I didn't mind that it took that long.  I was happy that so much got done out in the yard this spring & summer.)

Now I need to dig in some totes downstairs and get it decorated.

He did an awesome job.  Thanks Layne!

So this leads me to today's thank you lunch.

Around August I decided that I needed to try my hand at making my own tortillas.  Now that is all my family wants to eat.  Flour or corn, they don't care.  They just love them and eat them all when I make them.  Then when Holly (my sister in law) came to visit she showed me how to make the yummiest refried beans EVER and I will never eat those out of a can again.  Some things just taste better homemade, and more often than not, more healthy too.

So when I want to say thank you (or just when a taco or a burrito sounds good) I like to grill a steak and serve our favorite Mexican lunch.

After a few times rolling my own I bought a tortilla press because it is way easier and way way faster.

Throw them on a hot, dry griddle and in a few minutes life is great.

I can't wait to see what is next on the to-do list.  I did see a lot of dry wall being hauled to the basement this morning.....hummm 

Eat something healthy & yummy today!

(and share what it was in case I want some too)