Witchapalooza

Witchapalooza at Gardner Village

What a blast!

Kim (my sister), Kristy (my sister-in-law) and Joan (my mother)

Sandra (me) and Jane (my best buddy)

Nanette (our family friend), Amy (another family friend) and Cindy (my sister)


While at Witchapalooza Cindy and I discovered that Merilee Webb played the character Esmeralda and the keyboard. Last December, Cindy and I recorded a CD for our dad in Merilee's recording studio. We have also been in her choir "We Also Sing. It was so fun to see her on stage and her personality is hilarious on and off stage.

Here are some pictures of the other witches who were in the musical.

I loved the show so much. I did not want to leave. I am so hyped up for halloween now. Jane and I have decided to dress up as witches. We are still working on our new witch names. Don't worry, we will take pictures.

Good Times

Bowling with Friends

Jessica, Matt, Levi and I went to dinner at Salsa Leedos and after that we went bowling. We had a blast. Matt and Jessica are hilarious.

Jessica and I discovered that our husbands have a lot in common. They both always receive lousy service at resturants and as you can see they are extremely photogenic.

General Conference

I love General Conference. It reminds me of my childhood. My parents would turn conference on every TV and radio in the house. You could hear it for miles around. I am surprised the neighbors never complained. I never really listened to it as a kid, but now I love hearing the General Authorities voices. I absolutely loved President Monson's talk on change. I felt like he woke up one morning and said I need to share this talk at General Conference just for Sandra. I liked how he talked about enjoying the journey now. Sometimes I forget to enjoy what life is handing me. I focus too much on the things I cannot control instead of the things I can. I decided to make new goals. They are to focus on the small things that make my day and to live every moment as if it is my last. I feel it is important to live life to its fullest. I also want to recognize other for their talents and be grateful that they are willing to share them with me. I hope all this make sense. I am not the best at expressing myself.

Fall

It is that time of year when the warm sunny days leave and the cool colorful days arrive. I really enjoy summer and can be very sad to see it leave. Each year I convince myself that it is okay for fall and winter to arrive by saying the following things over and over.

1. I can decorate my house for my favorite holidays, Halloween and Christmas.

2. My birthday is coming soon. I am so excited to turn 28 and I cannot wait to be 30. I know that sounds weird, but seriously I cannot wait for that magical day. Oops, I forgot to mention that Levi’s birthday is in October too, but he just does not get the same thrill about his birthday as I do.

3. Now that the weather is getting cooler I look forward to pulling out my collection of long sleeve shirts and sweaters that I have missed wearing. If I am not totally satisfied with my options, it gives me a reason to go shopping.

4. Last, but not least. I love fall colors. I enjoy going up to the mountains to take pictures and collect leaves and other intriguing items. Be careful collecting pinecones. I have put pinecones in my car to later find them completely full of earwigs. It was a mess trying to get them all out of my car.

Now that I have told myself these things for over 2 weeks, I believe I am ready to face the cold.

I love picking pumpkins. So, last year I started the tradition of going to a pumpkin patch and picking pumpkins for my front porch. Levi is such a great sport. He goes with me even though he would rather be doing anything else, but picking pumpkins. He still puts a smile on his face while he pushes the wagon and helps me pick out the pumpkins. I just love everything he does for me. I am the luckiest girl around.

Last Weeks Happenings

Welcome to 1 week of Sandra's exciting life.

Monday:

I worked for most of the day. Levi and I ate dinner somewhere (I don't remember). Later Levi and I watched The Closer (one of my favorite shows) and after that I fell asleep. Probably not one of my most exciting days.

Tuesday:

I started work at 7:30 a.m. Levi and I ate dinner at Fortune Cookie. At home I made progress in my craft room (cleaning and organizing - you can actually see the floor). Then I scrapbooked with Jessica. While scrapbooking, Jessica and I decided to be work out buddies starting Wednesday.

Wednesday:

At work I got several Speech and Language Screeners done. I also completed 2 classes Health Checklists, Classroom Environmental Checklists and Best Practices Inventories. I was so focused and organized that I completed so much work. It felt AWESOME. Later I went home and ate dinner with Levi and then went to the gym with Jessica.

Thursday:

This was probably my busiest day. I started out by working then going straight to my musical number practice. After that Levi and I met our new adoption caseworker. I ate Village Baker on the way home and went to the gym with Jessica.

Friday:

I went to Girls Night Out at the Olive Garden with Jane and Jamie. We had so much fun and the dinner was great. We always have so much to talk about. After dinner Jane and I went shopping. I found 4 pairs of pants for $10.00 each. I was so pleased with my purchases.

Saturday:

I started off my day by meeting Jessica for our walk to the gym. While there, a lady in our ward invited us to attend her weight lifting class for free. This class was amazing. It seriously kicked our butts.

Once a year in the Fall my work has a Family Fall Fest at Wheeler Farm. Jane and I were in charge of the Nail Polish table. We decided to take a few pictures of the fun environment. I totally want picture taken here with Levi.

This is our favorite picture. We are actually sitting in a 2 seater outhouse.

After Wheeler Farm, I met Levi at the Volkswagen Dealership to get my headlight tightened and while waiting we ate lunch at McGrath's Fish House. Then I went home and vegged in front of the TV with Levi (I even snuck in a nap).

Sunday:
I got up early to practice the musical number with the sisters in my ward. Levi and I taught nursery and a little boy reminded us what raisins are for again (they help him poop). I had to skip out of nursery to sing in Relief Society and then quickly return for snack (my favorite part of nursery). I stayed after church for the Visiting teaching meet and greet somehow never meeting any of the ladies I visit teach and my partner. To end the day I ate dinner, posted this blog entry and enjoyed a couple of TV shows.

I'm sure this was probably more than you ever wanted to know about me.

Lagoon or State Fair?

For our day date, Levi gave me the choice of the Lagoon or the State Fair. To decide what I wanted to do I created lists of pros and cons for each in my head. Here is how they played out:

Lagoon:

Pros: Rides, games, food and water.

Cons: Rides by myself (Levi does not enjoy rides).

State Fair:

Pros: Rides, games, ANIMALS and food.

Cons: None.

As you can clearly see we went to the State Fair.

My favorites of the fair were the animals, caramel apples, corn on the cob and the High Jump. I was even brave enough to do 3 back flips.

I was daring enough to taste the Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. It was actually pretty good, but very sweet. Definitely not worth the 5 bucks.

Levi's favorites of the fair were the spaceship made with legos and. . .

going home.

All in all, it was AWESOME!

Later that night Levi and I had a "How I Met Your Mother" season 1 marathon. While we were waiting for the shows to download we jammed out to music. Here is an awesome music video starring me.

I know, I rock and I have some serously rad moves.

Tea for Two

TEA PARTY




Jane and I met on Saturday for a girls day out. We went to Protea Cottage at Gardner Village to have a Tea Party. When we first got there we picked out our tea. I had Cranberry Apple and Jane had Orange Grove Vanilla. Then they took us to our table.

Before we sat down to tea, we needed to pick out a hat, boa and other accessories. And of course, take pictures.

Our tea was delightful. In fact, it tasted a lot like warm Kool-Aid. They later brought out our lunch. We had scones with cream and jam, grapes, small sandwiches with the crust cut off, chocolate covered strawberries, tarts and other desserts.

Jane was very proper and only managed to spill six times. Way to go Jane. Don't worry Jane, we will keep working on it.

Whenever we are at Gardner Village, we always take the time for a fun and fabulous photo shoot. What do ya think?

Back to Work

On our first day back to work we went on a Safari Scavenger Hunt at the Gateway Mall. It was so much fun.

We had to read clues to find the next store/location that had another clue.



At each store/location we also received items such as: hats, walking sticks, backpacks, etc.


We Won! My team was the first to find all the clues.







Are you ready for an awesome picture? It is my favorite picture.