Oops, I did it again!

Have I ever mentioned that reading is something of a downfall for me? On my nights off, I go to bed...fully intending to sleep...and start reading. Around 2 a.m., I start glancing at the clock and thinking, "Jo, this is your chance to sleep nights! Take it!". Usually, however, I am way too engrossed in the story and justify reading for 'just a little longer'. The past two nights, I've not gotten to sleep until somewhere in the 5 a.m. proximity. This severely cuts into my daylight freetime because I then proceed to sleep until 1 p.m. or later. I really am a night owl and wish everyone else were too. If that were the case, then the world would run on my unorthodox schedule and I'd get alot more done on my days....er, nights...off!

Shopping is a girl's best friend

One of the joys of being an 'honorary aunt' is that occasionally I get to totally spoil my cuties. Tonight I took Jayne shopping...a few days early...for her third birthday. Jayne's wardrobe has been sorely lacking in long pants as Sara fully wore out all the pants in the 3T range last year. So...hitting the shops, we had fun! Soon after arriving at our destination, Jayne spotted hats. She loves hats! After having to inform her that the hat she really wanted, a brown newsboy cap with a cute blue bow, was too large for her head, we settled on a fuchsia newsboy cap with rhinestones. Big surprise from such a girly girl, right? We then headed to the jeans section. Faced with a fairly largish selection of jeans in her size, Jayne narrowed down the selection to her three favorite. All three have lots of embroidered flowers, etc. The deciding factor in picking these particular pairs, however, was that all three had belts! Shiny belts! One even has a large pink rhinestone studded heart for the clasp! She just had to have them! After trying on the jeans to make sure they fit right (and Jayne had modeled them in front of the mirror in the dressing room to her heart's content), picking out a cute shirt and an adorable outfit for Miss Abby, who is also soon to have a birthday, we picked up a 'to go' bag of Oreos and headed home. By the time we arrived, Jayne had conked out in my car, complete with hat slumped over her eyes and Oreos clutched tightly. So much fun! I could shop with this girly any day!!

Climb Ev'ry Mountain!

This weekend, I had a whole two days off work. To celebrate having a weekend off, Tom and Margo, Am and Nathan, Margo's brother, Kate, and I went camping in Provo Canyon. It was gorgeous, cold, and a blast!!

After a lovely breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we (all but Margo's bro) set off on a lovely trail up the back of Mt. Timpanogos. The weather was perfect, the leaves were changing colors, the air was fresh. We explored waterfalls, played in trees and just had fun. Other than my rebellious joints and lungs, it was great! Early afternoon, Tom and Margo, Kate and I turned back with Am and Nathan pressing on. Kate and I proceeded back to my place, where we freshened up and took off for an evening of shopping (Kate's main purpose for coming down this weekend anyhow!).

Yesterday was my first day in my new calling. I'm in the nursery, which is pretty much the most fun place to be in church. The other leader and I are just newly called and are working on getting things organized, so we just let the kids play this week and had snacks. We have some pretty darn cute kids in our group, including two EXTREMELY energetic little boys from Korea who don't really know English. So much fun! I guess the Church has put out a new lesson manual for Nursery this year and it's supposed to be wonderful. I can't wait to get it!

And a hut, two, three, four....company MARCH!

Happy (belated) Labor Day everyone! It was a great weekend here. On Saturday, the sibs, their spouses, Tammy and Dan et familia, and I went hiking to Cecret Lake. It was great fun! We weren't sure how the kids would do, as it was their first real hike, but they were little troopers and did great! It is so gorgeous up there and I was excited to see so many wildflowers still in bloom. We did the hike just in time, as the storms rolled in on Sunday.