Some REAL Housewives from the Holiday Magic Boutique...

Life has been crazy the last few weeks... or maybe it's been months... it sure feels that way! I feel like I need to come up for air! And speaking of air... the nice cool mornings and evenings sure feel great and do wonders for our a/c bill!

So what has keep me soooo busy?? Well, for starters, I'm working on my 3rd annual HOLIDAY MAGIC BOUTIQUE... It's coming up next week (Friday, November 6th and Saturday November 7th) here at my home. I have about 30 vendors signed up selling homemade and resale items. Christmas gifts for everyone on your list! Lots of baby stuff, jewelry, purses, candles, hair accessories, aprons, crystal nail files, pictures, yard art, gourment food storage, tamales, cinnamon rolls, and tons more. I advertise all over, find vendors, answer 1000s of emails, get okays from the HOA, make signs, and get the house ready, etc. Many hours a day for the last couple of months. Every year I say I'm not doing it again and then somehow the bug hits me and I get talked into it. I guess cuz I love boutiques and browsing all the cute and creative things that people make. It gets my creative juices flowing...

My boutique is also being featured in Go Gilbert Magazine! One of the editors found out about it and put it in the calender section of the magazine. She also asked about doing a feature on the boutique, why I do it each year, and who some of the Gilbert moms are that participate. She also had heard about my "REAL Housewives of Gilbert" blog that I posted in May of this year. And so, we wrote a human interest/feature article for the magazine and had some pictures taken. It's a spoof on the Real Housewives shows (New York and Orange County) on Bravo TV. Unfortunately the feature won't make it out before the boutique happens, but maybe it will be great publicity for next year! Oh wait! Didn't I say I won't do it ever again?? Yeah, I say that every year! So at least we're in the calendar and that has already gone out to over 25,000 households in Gilbert and Chandler!

So come experience the magic of the holidays and see what some of the REAL Housewives of Gilbert have up their sleeves!!

Fall is in the Air (or is it??)

It is officially FALL... Time to put away the swimsuits and shorts and quit wearing white!! But how do you do that when the forecast for today is 105 degrees?? It doesn't look like or feel like fall around here in AZ! I long for cool autumn days and chilly nights sitting by a cracklin' fire and sipping hot chocolate... and listening to the sounds of leaves rustling in the breeze as they change to colors of blazing oranges and rusty reds... and, darn it, just having enough cool days to wear all those sweaters in my closet before it gets too hot again!!

Don't get me wrong... we love desert living!! In January when half the country is digging themselves out of the snow and scraping ice from their cars, we live outdoors! Yeah, it's only in the fall that I turn a little melancholy watching BYU football games on TV and wishing I was there breathing in the crispness of the mountain air and admiring the beauty all around!

So, as I have for the last 17 years of living in Arizona, I'll hang my fall wreath with fake leaves on the door, I'll put out my fake pumpkins on my front porch (real ones would turn to mush within a week), and I'll fill every nook and cranny inside with some of the same!

Oh, and maybe I'll bake an apple crisp for dessert tonight!

And I guess I could turn the a/c down to 68 degrees and put on a sweater...

Jon is 22

August just flew by without a post... A trip to Utah for a family reunion at Lagoon, school starting for Katelyn, Jon starting college, and working hard getting my line of ornaments designed, manufactured, and marketed kept me very busy! So here it is the last day of August and I don't want to leave the month without at least one post. I should have done it yesterday because this morning I got stung on my finger by a baby scorpion and it is still stinging and tingling... AND yesterday was Jon's 22nd birthday!! So here are 22 things I love about Jon:
1) his big smile
2) likes to shop for clothes and look nice
3) returned with honor from his mission
4) is always positive
5) never speaks ill of anyone
6) is very hard-working
7) is always helpful and does things without having to be asked
8) is a loyal friend
9) volunteers to serve at every opportunity
10) does beautiful woodworking
11) does tile and stone work and all kinds of construction
12) earned the money for his mission by doing his woodworking
13) likes country music (like me)!
14) brings a great spirit into our home
15) has a big heart!
16) was always his teachers' favorite student-- every year in elementary school
17) learned to ride a 2-wheel bike when he was only 4 (he got impatient waiting for his dad to take off the training wheels, so he found some tools and figured out how to take them off himself... and off he went!!)
18) got his first "play" set of tools when he was 3 and has been become a master of tools and fixing things ever since!
19) has a natural ability riding dirt bikes... his 1st was a YZ50 when he was 6... by 10 he was racing!
20) is kind and respectful to everyone
21) has a strong testimony and is faithful in his callings
22) tells me he loves me every day!

WICKEDness is Happiness!!

Several months ago I bought tickets (5th row center) to the musical Wicked. I was so excited to see it! I tucked them away in a safe spot. And then forgot about them. Well, sort of...

Every year my daily planner pages end in June so I start a new one on July 1st. I forgot to record the show dates in the new calender. But the date that stuck in my memory was July 27th (today). So last Thursday morning (the 23rd) I pulled out the tickets just to look at them. And to my horror they said Wednesday, July 22nd!!! No! NO! It can't be! I think I was hyperventilating and I was so sick I wanted to throw up.

A couple of hours (and friends' condolence phone calls) later I had finally calmed down. So I got up the courage to call Mark. I told him something horrible had happened this morning. Of course, he thought I'd wrecked the car or had something that really was horrible happen. When I finally spilled the news he began to laugh. I mean he wasn't thrilled that I'd just thrown away $400, but he was so relieved that that was all it was. He had no interest in going to the show anyway.

Next, I called the Box Office and begged. So sorry... nothing they could do. And the final shows were all sold out. BUT, they said, I could come down 3 hours early and put my name in a ticket lottery. Ten names would be drawn for 2 tickets each. I asked how many people show up for that? Usually a couple hundred. Pretty bad odds, I figured. And standing out in the heat... unbearable. And I'm sure the seats are in the nose-bleed section. So I decided to wait for the next time Wicked came to the valley again which would probably not be for another 2 or 3 years... Bummer...

And then a little miracle happened thanks to my wonderful friend Sharon. She heard about my story and she had also desparately wanted to see Wicked. So she and her husband went down to Gammage on Friday afternoon to put their names in for the lottery. But no luck. They went again on Saturday morning. No luck again. They went again on Saturday afternoon. And... drum roll please... her name was the 2nd one drawn!! She called to tell me and I was so happy for her and her husband. (Really, I was!) And then she said "You're coming with me 'cuz my husband doesn't want to go! The monkeys scared him when he watched The Wizard of OZ as a kid and he has really never liked it since! I have a ticket for YOU!!!"

So her husband chauffered us there... and to our amazement and delight... our seats were guess where?? FRONT ROW (yes, ROW 1) and Center!!! The best seats in the house!!! We could see every detail of their costumes... and every expression of their eyes and faces... and it seemed they were looking right at us! It was phenomenal!!!

And then last night Mark came into the office while I was emailing our missionary Josh. He said he had something I needed to see. "But I'm kinda busy." "Yes, but you really need to come and see this" he insisted. So I reluntantly followed him to the family room where BYU TV was on and low and behold the Women's Choir was performing the songs from Wicked!!

And I relived the magic all over again!

A years supply of egg custard...

It's a hot, hot day and I'm thinking about making some egg custard... sprinkled with a little nutmeg... the cold smooth cream slithers down your throat. Yumm...

It's always been one of my kids' favorite desserts. They loved it from the time they began to eat solid foods. Jello brand sold it in little boxes like their puddings and it was quick and easy to make. And then one day there was not one box of it at the grocery store! Week after week it was on my grocery list and the store was always out of it. I checked other stores. They all had an empty spot where it once was stocked. I asked the store managers. They didn't know what happened to it. I had my mom check the grocery stores in Utah (they always have everything) and nothing! I checked out Jello's website. They didn't even show it as a product anymore. We could probably get along without green jello, but not custard! I emailed them and got no response. I was getting frantic! I searched for it on all kinds of hard-to-find food websites. I mean HometownFavorites.com even has Danish Dessert (the best strawberry glaze) on their website and I've tried for years to get Arizona stores to carry it!

Months (it felt like years) went by...

In the meantime, I made some from scratch but my kids didn't like it as well. I guess their tastebuds got used to the powdered egg taste!

And then last week I fretted to my husband about it and he said to just google it! So I did. And guess where it showed up??? On Amazon.com! I knew you could buy books, CDs, DVDs, electronics and all kinds of stuff on there! But I NEVER knew you could buy food on Amazon! (Thank you Jeff Bezo!) So I ordered 24 boxes (that's the minimum) on Saturday and on Monday morning it was on my doorstep! Now I've got my years supply of it!

And guess what's for dessert tonight??

Kona - Hawaii

A couple of months ago Matt went over to the big island to see his best friend Vasu get married in the Kona Hawaii Temple. (The Laie Temple is closed for renovations.)
Here are some of the pictures he emailed us... I'm just a little slow getting them uploaded.

The wedding party...Matt sang and played the guitar at the reception...

I think he keeps that talent a little hidden!

Duck Creek

We had a Weathers' Family Reunion in Duck Creek Village, Utah over the July 4th holiday. Duck Creek is east of Cedar City by Cedar Breaks and in Dixie National Forest. High altitude (8500+) and low temps (50-60's)!! A nice reprieve from our 110+degree days. It was fun to share a few days with extended family. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Can you guess what the main form of recreation was??
Miles upon miles of trails... through gorgeous mountain vistas....

Inside Mammath Caves...

Check out the dirty smiling faces...

Cousins hanging out together in the hammock...

And playing in an evening concert...

Mom/Grandma and her four kids...

And most of the gang that could come...