The Highlight of My Weekend

Some of you may or may not know that I currently have a nephew who is serving a mission for our church in Argentina. He is frequently in my thoughts.

Thanks to my husband whose calling at church is to work with the missionaries in our area, I get to interact with lots of young men around the same age as my oldest nephew who are doing the same thing he is. Because of my nephew who currently serves and my parents recent return from their mission, missionaries have a soft spot in my heart. They are incredible young men and women. And older men and women. :)

So on Saturday, after recovering from heat exhaustion due to garage saling ( ha ha - funny but true ) these 2 young missionaries from our area showed up at our door.

Almost the first words out of one elders mouth were "Could I please do your dishes?" You might think that strange as I did. He went on to further explain that he had only been out on his mission a few days and back home he had a sister who was married and had 2 kids and was also taking classes in college. He explained that he used to go to her house all the time and do her dishes for her because he knew what a service he was giving to her with everything else she had to do on a daily basis. After getting over my embarrassment, I allowed him and his companion to unload my dishwasher, and then the original elder went on to fill my dishwasher with the dishes in my sink. I repeatedly thanked and re-thanked him. And he did it all with a VERY happy smile on his face.

When I asked him if I could take his picture for my blog, he looked at me like I was some kind of weird-o and then said the same kind of thing to me. I convinced him though and promised him a picture in return that he could send to his sister back home.

I have thought often of that elder this weekend. What an act of love and kindness he gave to me.

It made me so relieved the rest of the day to know the dishes were done because of him and gave me the time to do so many more important things.

I want to try a little harder to be like this Elder. Don't we all?

I want a haircut!

All right ladies and gentlemen, I want a haircut!

Here are your choices, all I need is YOUR opinion.

I need some opinions - Reed is afraid of me cutting my hair too short, I just want to make sure my hair is long enough for a ponytail (it's easier to run with a ponytail dontcha know?).

This is what I look like in case you forgot. Thought you might want to see me to see what I might look like with one of the above haircuts.

(I may or may not listen to anyone's opinions, but it's still fun to get them.)

Where My Head Is . . .

That's right. I'm thinking about running.

Just a few weeks ago, thanks to the challenge of a running friend, I really started running again. And really fell in love with it again.

So I decided to go for it and do the hard thing I've always wanted to do. I am now planning on running a half marathon. I'm already halfway there.

I can hardly believe it myself.

This is what will be on my mind most nights of the week as I will be jogging along 4 nights a week, adding miles to my shoes and aches to my body.

Feel free to cheer me on from the cyber sidelines.

The Purpose of Naps in our House

Take a child full of grouchiness. Run her around until she can't stop yawning.

Mix in a good dose of blankets, loves, and a quiet place to sleep



Ta-da! Our sweet Aftyn girl !

Happy Fathers Day

What's For Dinner Tonight?

Please Feed Me!

Do your children/roommates/spouses start to look at you this way when it's time for dinner?

Then do I have the solution for YOU!

It's easy, it's fast, and it's fun to make.

Pizza!

I have in my possession the yummiest, softest pizza crust recipe I have ever had in my life.

And all you had to do was read my blog to find it, lucky you.

Luckily for me, one of my sisters clued me in to it.

Total time to make and bake it with toppings already applied so you can eat it: 35 minutes.

You could have a yummy dinner from start to finish in 35 minutes, made from scratch!

We love to have it on Fridays to celebrate the weekend, but I've been in a bit of a dinner-making funk this week, so we ate it just last night.

As you can see, I bake mine on a cookie sheet which is contrary to recipe recommendations, but I've never noticed any issues with this method.

Aftyn even loved it (notice the red ring around the mouth).

Happy Dinner Making All !!

Give me your old, your tired looking, your distressed

Hi, my name is Alysa, and I am an addict.

*chorus* "Hi Alysa"

My sister Laura was the first to really identify that I had a problem. She noticed it this last weekend when we went looking at garage sales together. I picked up 5 picture frames in a matter of 2 hours, all for a total of $3.30. After seeing my booty she informed me that I had a problem. In total denial I stood up for myself and the bargains I had found.

Last night I broke down and bought myself some *satin* black spray paint. It had been on my mind ALL DAY.

Imagine my surprise when today arrived and I surprisingly had a free day to paint!

I'm so excited to get these little beauties painted and adorning my walls. After taking this picture to share I knew I had a problem.

Which is compounded by my picture-taking sister and all the beautiful pictures I currently hold in my possession which will fill these little lovelies.

Somebody stop me. :)

Just a taste - Don't you love the different varieties?!

The surprise Reed has waiting for him when he comes home. Good thing it mows out, right?