The Progression of Big Hair

Thursday night I went to Mandi's for a fun Girl's Night Out. We watched an awesome movie and then sat around and talked, and laughed. We reminisced about all the trends that we thought were so cool in the '80s, pegged pants, plastic charm necklaces, and Unit clothes (remember the jumpsuits and the bands you wore layered around your waist?), oh, and layered socks. Well my pride and joy of the '80s was my hair so I thought I would share some pictures of my beautifully big hair. The pictures aren't great, they are pictures of pages out of my mom's scrapbooks, but still fun.

This is 8th grade. Notice how my hair looks wet on the sides, that is from the hairspray.

This is 9th grade, the hair clipped up on one side is very stylish. Also notice the scarf-fabulous.

This hair do is work of art. To get it to just flow like that, took talent. Don't you love the little cowboy slide thing at my neck. It was a stressful picture day by the time I got to sit down for the picture I didn't notice that my neck slide was twisted and one end was in my pocket. This was my sophomore year of high school.

So there you have it. Trends I did once that I don't have to do again. I do think it would be fun if our neighborhood party gals all dressed up like it was 1989 for Halloween!

Red Box

Have you tried the Red Box? I gave it a try because I got a couple of coupons for free movie rentals from McDonald's. The Red Box is an interesting thing. Its a great idea because first of all its only $1. So, you rent your movie and then take it back the next day, which is great because I forget about returning a movie on Thursday that I watched Saturday night. Plus if your late to the other places they charge you for another five days and the Red box only charges you for one more night. The thing I don't like about the Red Box is that there is always a line, at least in this neck of the woods, and if there are people waiting behind me I feel self conscious. In a regular video store I can browse and not worry about how long I'm taking, but at the Red Box I feel like I need to know exactly what I want get it, and move on. This must have been invented by a man, because I just described shopping with Darren.
Last night I was returning a movie (after promising Shelby that I would only return the movie and not a buy a drink too, She worries about me keeping the Sabbath day holy). There was a line, of course, it was getting close to 9:00 when the charge for another night is added. There was a lady trying to rent something, it was taking her a while to find what she wanted, so she was getting nervous. She found what she wanted, and then was swiping her card the wrong way, so it wouldn't work, and instead of anyone saying anything, we all stood and watched. So, after about 5 tries she gave up and left. The next lady in an effort to be quick put her movie in the machine and walked away, only to have the machine spit it back out because she put it in wrong. The kid behind her, wearing turquoise and black checkered pants, didn't know what to do with her movie. Good thing the lady was still watching, and came back. She had the movie in the case backwards, once someone pointed this out to her she was able to successfully return her movie and move on. Funny how someone helped that lady, but not the poor lady that had her debit card turned the wrong way. I guess someone decided that helping the second lady would move things along and helping the first lady would only make her be in line longer. Funny that. So, another thing about the Red Box is that it makes for good people watching. How will people behave under pressure? Hope I haven't totally bored you, but I had fun thinking about this.

Dance!

Yesterday was the girl's dance concert! Shelby is taking a creative dance class, and she and the rest of her class got to choreograph their dance. It was a total 10 year old girl kind of dance, complete with Hannah Montana music. I loved that Shelby happened to have a flower that matched her costume perfectly (thanks Mandi). Sarah is taking Jazz, she danced to "Under the Sea", her costume is seaweed like. This is the perfect dance for Sarah since she dreams of growing up to be a mermaid. Also notice that they have curly hair! I battled through the tears (theirs), and put spongy curlers in their hair Friday night, don't they look great! They love dance and they love their dance teacher. It was a great show. It always cracks me up how the little 3 year olds always seem to have the biggest and loudest group of people there to cheer them on. What can you say they are cute! After the show we went to JCW's for shakes. Here are my girls passed out in the car when Darren and I stopped at Maverik for drinks (Diet Coke with grape flavor is surprisingly yummy!)

You are beautiful girls and I love you!

This is love!

My girls walk dogs four days a week. When the flowers and trees started to bloom they would often come home from their walks with these little flower gifts. I started putting them on my dresser in this candle lid. I always thought I would throw them away, I would think of the bugs that the flowers could be holding. The reason I didn't throw them away is that its Sarah's job to take out the garbage and I thought if she saw the flowers in the garbage she would think I didn't love them, or her. The kids are often devastated when they find beloved (to them) things in the garbage. Then, one day I was visiting with Mandi and she told me that Sarah (just to be clear Shelby and Sarah bring home flowers) had given her flowers after they had walked Sandy. I thought "that is love". I know my girls admire Mandi and that giving her flowers was Sarah's way of letting Mandi know. So, for now I wouldn't dream of throwing away my little collection of love.

I am making a quilt!

I am reading a book called If You Want To Write for my colloquia (a cool word for book discussion group) this month. It has totally inspired me, not just with a desire to write, but to be creative in general. The author says "Now this creative power is the Holy Ghost." I love that, as I think about how the thought of a new project makes me feel, it makes sense to me to describe that feeling as the Holy Ghost. This thought is was made me decide that I was going to do something. "We have come to think that duty should come first. I disagree. Duty should be a by-product. Writing, the creative effort, the use of imagination, should come first,-at least for some part of every day of your life." I LOVE that! Duty is my biggest hang-up when it comes to doing things I want to do. I think "When I get this load of laundry done or this room dusted or change my sheets, and on and on, then I will scrapbook or whatever". Well this book has sparked in me a desire to make a quilt. I saw the cutest pink and black quilt on Good Things Utah one morning and thought it would be perfect for Shelby's room. So I am going to do it! My mother in law has agreed to help me with the piecing and putting it together. I am so excited. I will post more pictures as I make progress, because I know you all want to see how it comes together-of course you do!

Chickens-Saturday Sentiments

My computer says its 12:22AM so, I guess technically this is now a Sunday Sentiment. I know that when I try to get up at 7:00 to "surprise" Darren with breakfast in bed I am going to regret being up so late. But, I felt bad that I have skipped my weekly Saturday Sentiments post, and I have been wanting to write about this so I am going to just do it. I should be able to get a nap tomorrow.

There is something that I just love about chickens. I started collecting different chicken things when we moved into this house. I think its the earthiness of them. I love that I look out my window and see my neighbor's chickens. I also love the rooster/chicken stuff that friends have given me, that just makes them special. The yellow chicken on the shelf is from Mandi, and has rebar legs-so cute. The white chicken is a pitcher that Darren brought home from his mission. It is called the barfing chicken and comes with a ceremony-weird missionary stuff.

When I saw this plate rack I had to have it, and I had a great time accesorizing and figuring out what I wanted to go on the plate rack. Yellow and red are my favorite colors, so I look at this and smile.

Now, this isn't a rooster or a chicken, its a Turkey. This platter was given to my by my mother in law, it belonged to her mother. No one else wanted it-I can't imagine why. I saw it and fell in love. My Grandpa Harward was a turkey farmer in Richfield. I remember going to see the turkeys (not pleasant, turkeys flock to the fence when you drive by ugly things happen to the ones in front and they stink, but I'm talking about happy memories here). Making marinated turkey is a close to a religion in my family, and eating is the best. My grandparents and uncle's homes where decorated with all kinds of turkey things. So, I love this platter. It gives me a connection to my Harward roots, even if it came from Darren's family. Like I've said before, it doesn't have to make sense to you, it does to me, and that's enough.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

After our trip to Logan, in April, Darren and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to Ephraim, to visit Snow College. Darren and I met during our first year at Snow, so this is where it all began. Plus, we try to talk about college whenever we can to get them pointed in that direction, so visits to college campus' are a must. My parents did the same thing with my brother's and sisters and me, it must have done some good even if I did decide at an early age that I definitely did not want to go to BYU (not that I had the grades that made that an option, but I digress).

We thought it would be even more fun to go during the Manti pageant. Darren's parents have some property in Fairview so we decided to camp. We didn't make it through the entire pageant, Sarah woke up about 10 minutes before it ended and was crying because she was so cold, so we left.


This trip was a little different for me than our trip to Logan. I had a great time in Logan, going to USU. I had great roommates, I really figured out what I wanted to do with my life, I got engaged, and then got married. Everything that college should be. Oh yeah, I did graduate too. The thing that made this trip different was that as I walked around the campus of Snow College I remembered how hard life was. I was always worried about my grades, that during my first year weren't very good. Meeting Darren was great! Saying good bye when he left for his mission was hard. My good friend at the time also left on a mission a year later while I was still going to Snow. It was a time to grow up and learn some hard lessons, like you have to study to get good grades, and if you don't get good grades they take away your financial aid, and if they take away your financial aid, all the studying in the world doesn't matter when you can't go to school. I also had lots of roommate drama. Note to Moms: If the kids don't really like each other when they are in high school, its not a good idea for them to live together. That might be a good topic for a future post: What I learned from living with 27 different girls over 4 years.

So, why is this post titled Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy? Two reasons. First, I did figure out a lot about who I was and who I wanted to be. I learned that I could do hard things, I actually made the dean's list the next year. Quite a leap from academic probation. I figured out how to live with different kinds of people. By the time I went to USU I knew what to do and how to do it and I got to have a lot more fun.

My most inspiring thought came as I was watching the pageant. There was Mormon handing off the plates to his son Moroni, and going off to battle knowing that he would die. As Moroni walks off all alone thinking "Where I go mattereth not." I thought about my life now. I know this world is changing and things seem to be getting harder, and there seems to be a lot to be worried about. But, I felt so grateful that I'm not alone, like Moroni was. I still have my family. I still have great friends. I most of all I have the gospel. This came to my inbox this week, and I've thought about it a lot.
"We all go through different life experiences. Some are filled with joy, and others with sorrow and uncertainty. . . .
". . . Aren't the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and our membership in His Church great reasons to rejoice?"
(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, ""Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?"" Ensign, Nov. 2007, 18)
I've been reading the Conference Ensign this week, and have found a lot of joy and comfort in the words of our leaders. There is much to find joy in. I am so grateful for my family, my home, Darren's good job that lets me be home with my family. I am so grateful for the gospel it is the good news. I love my Savior. I just want to put some happiness out there!

Weekend Review

We had a great weekend! I thought I would share a few photos .

Friday night we went on our Ward's camp out. It was in Ophir, which is this beautiful spot just around the mountain from Cedar Fort. It is surrounded by cliffs with holes that have been drilled into them from past mining explorations. The kids had to check them out, so after much begging Shelby, and her friends got Tom Davis to take them up to check out the caves. We arrived at the camp ground early and got set up, which was great because then we could relax and enjoy ourselves. Unlike other ward camp outs when we get there late, set up, eat dinner, and go to bed, only to take it all down first thing the next morning. We had a great time.


Saturday afternoon we went out to my in laws to help work on the garden. After years of my own garden performing poorly, and receiving lots of produce from my in laws I decided that we would help them with their garden. I clearly need help to learn how to grow a garden and they have it down pretty good. After we finished weeding and planting tomatoes Shelby asked Grandpa if she could drive the lawn mower. She did a pretty good job, and I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. Too soon that will be the steering wheel of a car.
Darren also wanted a turn on the mower, and Sarah wanted to drive too.
Tiff bought Singstar "90s" as well as a Wii so we went out to her house Sunday evening for a fun night of video games. Singstar is my favorite game, I think. Its karaoke on the playstation, I always wanted to be a superstar, this is as close as I seriously want to get. I also love Guitar Hero and Rockband, but I really like Singstar. The playlist for '90s is fun Tiff and I had a hard time getting through Wilson Phillips "Hold on" without laughing. This game also had New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, Cranberries, Extreme, and Vanilla Ice-fun stuff. I'm holding out hope that they will come out with a Singstar Show Tunes now that would be fun to belt out.