Girls Night: Washburn Style

Friday night I hosted the Washburn family's first girls night in my tiny apartment. There were eight of us squeezed into my itty bitty living room/kitchen, but that didn't stop us from having fun. We started the night off with a little car accident outside my front door (thank goodness it was none of our cars), followed by Chinese take out. I was a little worried I didn't order enough food, but we had plenty to go around, and Dragon Diner is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. For our "craft" we made little terrariums (really succulent bowls), and finished off the night with cake and dessert in celebration of our birthdays.

I am so glad we decided to do this and that we could all get together including Wendy and Julie who are cousins. It was very nice to finally be able to meet them in person and get to know them a little bit. The circumstances we had to meet under were really sad, but I am so glad I could give them a little break from dealing with funeral arrangements and sorting through Aunt Judy's things.

My sister's have been doing girls nights for quite some time in Twin Falls, and I love to get together with them when I come to visit. When I come home, back to Utah, I tell my sisters-in-law about all the crafts we've made and how much fun we have when we have girls night and craft days, so they all decided they wanted to do one too. I really shouldn't compare my families, but they are SO opposite each other; it cracks me up. I have fun with both family gatherings. My sisters in my family are more serious crafters, and really get together to have dessert and chat. We talk, and laugh, and tell each other whats new in our lives. The Washburns are pretty much the same way, but MUCH louder, haha, there's no chatting--its talking to everyone, over everyone, and lots of laughter. I love my family! And our terrariums turned out SO cute; what a fun project!

Early Morning Scare

I have been up since 5:00 this morning. I woke up to a strange beeping noise coming from, what seemed like, the kitchen. At first I thought I had just dreamed it, but as I laid in bed waiting to hear it again, sure enough there was a beep, but only one. I was confused because it sounded a lot like a phone that was running out of battery, so I went to the kitchen to check my phones, but they were plugged in charging for my upcoming day for work. I had never heard this noise before and was just befuddled. I went back to bed hoping to fall asleep again, but to no avail. Twenty minutes later the beeping started up again. I laid in bed waiting for it to stop. It did for another 10 minutes before it started again.

By 6:00 am I laid in bed waiting for it to go off because it sounded like the smoke alarm. I got up to disable the smoke detector and had a hard time getting it off the wall. Once I did I took the battery out, but the beeping kept going, so I put the smoke alarm back on the wall to investigate the source. I text Stephen a few times because the beeping was getting more and more frequent than when it had started an hour and a half earlier. I was starting to get worried I was waking the neighbors, because the beeping was so loud and I couldn't turn it off. I went to the spare bedroom and the only thing that was plugged in was the printer, so I unplugged it hoping it would quit. It didn't. It got more and more progressive when I remembered there was a carbon monoxide detector behind our couch. I moved everything out of the way, and sure enough, the carbon monoxide alarm was the culprit. It kept flashing telling me to get to safer air. I was freaking out by this point because I couldn't think of any source where this poisonous gas could be coming from, and there was no way to turn it off. Besides, what was I supposed to do, go stand outside in the freezing air in my pj's and slippers, and then what? I have no clue what I am supposed to do in this situation!

I remembered back when we moved into the apartment last year Stephen tried to disable it, but had no idea how to do it. He tried unplugging it to put it in the closet, but when he took it out of the wall the alarm sounded, so I didn't want to take any chances with a full blown alarm going off this early in the morning. I took two pillows off my bed and covered the alarm to muffle the beeping so I could get some sleep. I scooted the couch back against the wall to make the pillows stay in place, and laid back in bed. The noise stopped a little while later, thank goodness! But I didn't ever get back to sleep before I had to get up for work. How annoying.

March Craft Day

I went to Boise for craft day last weekend with Mom, Becky, and Heather. It has been years since I last made a trip to Boise--it was supposed to be our girls trip, but only half of us went. I had a blast! We spent the night at Aunt Linda's and shopped until we dropped. We made table runners for our craft and I had no idea what fabric to pick out to make it with. I was looking forward to shopping for fabric with Mom and Becky, but they went without me the day before:( I ended up picking out the cutest fabric and here is the end result! I only wish I had a table to display it on....
 

The Final Count Down

He comes home in two weeks!!!! I am so excited to finally be with Stephen again; I don't think anyone really understands how ecstatic I am. I am so excited I feel like I could just burst, but on the other hand I feel sad that I can't be at his graduation in Georgia. He told me yesterday that he is practicing with another guy to sing the national anthem at the opening ceremony. I hope someone will get it on video for me. I can't wait for him to return, and that means getting used to living with someone again. I'm not complaining--it won't take long to get back in the swing of things. It will be so great!

Bake Sale

This last weekend I had the pleasant surprise of a visit from my parents. We spent all day Saturday together shopping and dining out. Rachel asked me a few weeks ago to make a  cake for a bake sale/auction for their ward to raise money for their girls camp this summer, so I planned out and practiced what I was going to design for a week. I planned on finishing my cake on Saturday and taking it over to Rachel's, but Mom and Dad dropped by so I had to hurry and finish the cake in two hours so we could go out.

I rushed through all the piping and just hated the way it was turning out. I put the roses on top and hated it even more, but I had to hurry because Mom and Dad were waiting on me. I put the finishing touches with the roses climbing up the side of the cake, stood back to take a look at it--despite all of its many flaws, I ended up loving the way it turned out after all. It was so nice to have a surprise visit from my parents. Thanks Mom and Dad for a great weekend!

The Sweetest Sounds

Isn't it amazing the power of music? No matter the genre you are listening to, music has the awesome power of changing your mood and disposition instantly according to what kind of music you are listening to. What's even more amazing is the affect it has on your memory. You listen to a certain song and instantly, it takes you back to a certain person or place in time that you might have otherwise forgotten had you not listened to the song. Not only do you recall memories, but it also moves you to feel all sorts of emotions. I love just laying on the couch at night in the dark listening to some of my favorite artists--especially ones that remind me of Stephen since I can't fall asleep while he's gone.

I also love listening to music from growing up taking me back to the good old days in the 90's on the farm hanging out upstairs in my bedroom with Becky. I thought it was so cool when I got my first set of blank tapes to record my favorite songs off the radio; that way I could listen to my own music on my walkman whenever I went outside to do chores or play. Anywho, I'm just grateful for my ears and the ability to hear and listen.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I teach the three and four year old Sunbeams in primary, and today my lesson was on prayer. I have four kids with very excited and vibrant personalities. So to start the lesson off we said a prayer, then I asked the class, "Since we are here on Earth and Heavenly Father is in heaven, how do we talk to Heavenly Father?" One boy says, " Well, we could write a letter and mail it to Him." Then my only girl says, "We could write a letter and throw it in the air so that it reaches outer space and Jesus will catch it! And then He will read it." Another boy answered and said (in response to the girl), "No that wouldn't work, we'd have to take the letter and tie it to a balloon so it would fly up into the clouds, and then Jesus would catch it and read it."

So I told the kids that those were all very creative ideas, but all we have to do is pray. When we pray we are speaking to our Father in Heaven--He always knows exactly what we need and what we want. During our prayers we thank Him for the blessings we have and we can also ask Him for things we need. The girl pipes up, "So Jesus tells Santa Claus what we want for Christmas? So that's how it works! I told Jesus I wanted a bike and He must have told Santa because I got a bike for Christmas!" One boys adds, "Yeah, all you have to do is tell Jesus what you want and you get it just like Santa Claus!"

I have to admit I couldn't stop laughing as they were going on and on about how Jesus conspires with Santa what to get the kids for Christmas each year. This was such a fun lesson to teach the kids; if I learned anything from giving this lesson it was that the kids really have faith that if they pray and ask Heavenly Father for things they will get them.