Tales of a Shoebox Princess

A picture I stole from facebook. Those feet are not Jim's and mine, those are Katie's and Christian's. So Jim and I get promoted from dad and mom to Granddad and Grandma! And all the kids get promoted to aunt and uncles!  (except Katie, who is already an aunt to Christian's nephews)(and besides, Kate will be promoted to Mom!) First of all, my official mother of the mother-to-be congratulations to Katie! And mother-in-law congratulations to Christian as well! Yes, I have known about this for a while, but Katie made me not broadcast it because she wanted to do it herself, which I guess I can understand. I can't wait to be a grandma! I had two fantastic grandmas from which to draw some lessons on how to be a grandma. Sadly both of them have gone on to heavenly things, one just little while ago. Grandma Hawley, if you're listening, you are going to be a great-great grandma! I wish I could have told you while you were still here. And Grandma Talberg, you a...

I get to talk to my out-of-the-country boys this week! Elder Paul on Tuesday, and Elder Jimmy on Wednesday. We are so excited! Katie and Christian (and possibly Morgan) will be on facetime with us for Paul's call. If you have any questions for either Paul or Jimmy, post them in the comments and I will copy them down and pose them to my sons. I will probably forget the answers, but if I don't, I can relay them to you or post answers here. In other Christmas news, I took the photo for this year's picture ornament of my children. The picture is of whoever is home at Christmas time, and we're down to two kids in the picture this year. It's been nearly 20 years since I had only two kids in the picture. I didn't get happy cooperation from the participants this year, well at least from one. The other one was happy to oblige with picture-taking. Time to print the picture out and stick it in the photo frame and put it on the tree.

Tomorrow morning around 8 a.m. we take Paul to the airport. He has spent most of the day packing and sorting through things. We got the last few things on his list, one which was a certain kind of insect repellant that is available only at a few places. Last night we had a collective near-heart-attack moment when Paul couldn't find his passport. Katie had wanted to look at it before she left for the airport, but it wasn't in all the places we thought it could be. My stomach was churning as I helped Paul search. Jim said he hadn't even seen it since we got it in the mail with Paul's travel plans. But he thought he would check his truck anyway, even though he KNEW it wasn't going to be there. And yet it was, in a manila envelope under some other papers. It's a good thing Katie asked to see it, otherwise we all would have assumed it was where it needed to be, and then tomorrow morning would have been even more hectic, scary, and panicky, with possible tears. ...

Here we are in the single digits, counting down the days until Paul heads to Peru. And we're pretty sure that it will be Peru where he is going. He called the missionary travel office, and the person he talked to said that as far as he could tell, he was scheduled for Peru. He said also that we should receive Paul's visa, passport, tickets, itinerary via FedEx sometime 3-10 days before the day he leaves. So we will be watching for the FedEx truck. Peru. Paul has some requests before he goes. Last night his request was that we play Killer Bunnies. Tomorrow night, we are going out for Juicy Lucys at the 5-8 Club (Dave and Marissa should know where this place is since they live pretty close to it. I pass it when I drive to their house). Another request is for his last dinner--he wants enchiladas. Homemade cheesy enchiladas with red sauce. I am glad that Katie is coming out for the weekend to say goodbye to Paul. It will be fun to have her around. And Granddaddy too! It's...

So I'll have to encapsulate in a Ten Things format. It's the only way I can organize my thoughts. Ten Things that threatened to blow up my brain while also making me happy: 1. I turned 45. Mind blowing, but happy too. I lived to see another year and what a year it was. And barring any major changes (such as my demise), I will live to see another year. 2. Paul came home from college. He is applying for jobs and a mission. Dental exam yielded a few cavities that need repair, and Uncle Dentist has a few buildings that need repair so a trade might be enacted between the two needy people. 3. Christmas. Little tiny Legos, regular-sized Legos, headphones, photo books, a suit, a wool coat, chocolate, books, gift cards, and other goodies made their way into the house and into the possession of three good little children in our household. 4. THE PHONE CALL, or should I say the Skype call? We got to chat with our Elder Evans for a 1 1/2 hours. He showed off his Spanish skill (girls ...

I can. These were all taken by Jen of hawleyfocus (with the possible exception of the very last one). We like her photography skillz. We also like her. Under the olive tree bouquets Bride and bridesmaids Boys don't like to watch kissing The wedding party male contingent looking very manly He couldn't stop kissing her--and right in front of her parents! And his! Very happy! A bunch of people who showed up

This is a story from the wedding. It is 100% true. Most of you have probably heard the story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. Sunday morning of our Utah trip was spent slowly getting ready for church. Daylight Savings had kicked in so we were up early with plenty of time to spare before we had to head over to the Tanner Building on BYU campus for Paul's ordination in his priesthood class.  As we were getting ready, Jim grabbed the suit bag for the suit he brought, which he was going to wear both to church and to the wedding and reception. He bought the suit a few months before and had the pants tailored to fit. He unzipped the suitbag and eased the suit coat out. Then he reached in for the suit pants. But he couldn't find them.  "I think I left my pants in Minnesota," he said with a perplexed look on his face. He was so sure he had packed them.  No suit pants anywhere. All he could find were jeans. We still had an hour before we had to be at the church ...

I just watched my baby get married.  I got to hover over her all morning, while everyone else had to wait in the waiting room for her to get ready. I got to hover afterwards while everyone waited outside for her and her new husband to exit the building. I was the first one to see what she looked like in her bridal finery.  She was a beautiful bride.  I'll post pictures as soon as I get some.  She picked a good young man. He picked a precious young lady. *Sniff*

I have a good friend Pam who loves to have parties. (I suggest you all get yourself a friend who likes to have parties) I was feeling a little down and out a few months ago when I realized that Kate would be having bridal showers without me. I was not despondent, but the corners of my mouth were turned down just a hair more than normal. But this good friend of mine, sensing in herself the opportunity to host a party, approached me and asked if she could plan and throw Katie a Skype bridal shower. (Y'all know what Skype is, right?) I thought what a fun idea! I could be a part of a bridal shower for my daughter using the wonders of technology!  And my good friend did not disappoint! She goes all out to decorate. We'll start off the picture fest with one of ME. Because you all need a little more me in your life, right? The table. On the right are candies that are either purple (who knew that purple Twizzlers existed?) or wrapped in purple foil Macaroons--YUMMY! ...

We leave for UT in two weeks. Then a few days after that, we'll gain another son and Katie will change her last name. Weird. But good. And there is still so much to do. So, while I am getting stuff done (like sewing Hayley's dress for the wedding and purchasing shoes) you can look at a couple of pictures of the happy couple.

Matt asked for a simple party with three friends to play the Wii with him. Maybe a little pizza and cake. No presents, just some laffs with three boys he has known for years (two of them since birth, and the other is a cousin of one of the boys he has known from birth and has gotten to know over the years and has become very good friends with). An easier birthday party there has never been, at least in my house. Matt asked for his birthday presents to be given to him a day early, mostly because he guessed one of them was going to be a Wii game and he wanted to play it with his friends. So we indulged the boy and let him open his gifts this morning. Labeled for your convenience He's nearly 14 and he still wants Legos. I suppose he'll be asking for Legos into his adult years. When he gets Legos, he puts he set together in 5 minutes. Then he loses a figure, wails about it for a while, then we find it under a couch cushion several months later, and then he asks for an...

Scout camp looks fun. Jim took a few pictures during his short stay at Many Point with Matt, and I wish YW camp when I was a teenager was more like scout camp. In fact, I wish YW camp NOW was more like scout camp. Matt makes his wilderness survival shelter He has to sleep in this shelter for one night.  Granted, I might not want to sleep out in a shelter I made myself unless I was able to make it spider-proof, but I would love to have had to MAKE a shelter at camp. Sticks and I got along pretty well when I was a kid. My mom always said kids don't need toys, all they need are sticks and dirt and they'll have plenty of fun. Matt gets ready to kayak I suppose I didn't need scout camp to tool around on a lake in a small paddle-powered watercraft. Julie, Jenni and I went out in mom's canoe on Lake Minnewashta plenty of times so I do feel I fulfilled the "spend time paddling around a body of water" aspect of scouting. There are more adventures to ...