WEEDS...

Now I remember why I was thankful when the snow came last fall...

I don't know if we can conquer this acre--and voles ate the bark off of the bottom of some of our poplars.

This is what they do for fun all winter.

(what alot of our grass looked like when the snow left)

That's what we get for buying a home built in an alfalfa field.

But who is complaining?

(okay, I guess I am a little)

...and how was your Friday?

I started out my day calling every windshield replacement shop between here and Idaho Falls. After finding the best deal, I made an appointment and struck out on my errand to fix up our "kid car" (Bethany's coming home, Madi's taking driver's ed, etc.). It only took an hour to get the windshield replaced (I hemmed Madi's easter dress while I was waiting) and things were looking pretty rosy. I then preceded on the Sam's club to replace the tires.

At Sam's club the wait was an hour and a half. Not too bad. I had a piece of pizza and a rootbeer, and then wandered around the store, shopping for this weekend (my mom and dad are coming to visit) and putting things into my cart, then changing my mind and putting them back. I managed to take up the whole hour and 1/2 doing this.

I paid for my groceries, and headed to the credit union to deposit checks from clogging classes. On my way home my phone rang--my kids. As I was hearing about what was going on, I preceded through the stop light at the corner of Hitt and Yellowstone. All of a sudden a rock flew up and smacked my new windshield on the driver's side, leaving a nice dime-size rock chip.

.

A rock chip!!!

In my new windshield!!!

I pulled into the corner gas station, exclaiming about what happened to Seth. I said good bye and turned back around, heading back to the Glass Doctor. They said that I set a new record for visits in one day.

sunny weekend...

The sun has been shining for a couple of days here now...Taylor wore shorts to school (It is supposed to be almost 60 here today--yesterday afterschool her friend Sydney thought it might be fun to run through the sprinkler--brrrrr).

Seth asked us to take him to a concert Friday night at the Colonial Theatre in I.F. for his birthday. We went to see Jake Shimabukuro. He plays the ukelele. This is the video he credits for his discovery. Check it out--he is amazing!

On Sunday after conference, John and I went for a drive up to St. Anthony to check out a little park I wanted to visit and to walk along their greenbelt. Here are a few pictures...

These homes are on the other side of the river from the park. Looks like fun, huh?

The park is on an island.

This is a cascade on one side of it.

It's a veteran's memorial park.

The Henry's Fork in St. Anthony

Today I am being very domestic: I have whole wheat bread and honey wheat bagels (w/cranberries and cashews) rising, and I am attempting to make chocolate chip cookies healthier. I am using all whole wheat flour (I ground white wheat this morning), whole oats (I grind them up in my food processor so they are more like flour), and I am substituting mashed white beans for 1/4 of the fat called for. Last time I made them, I did them just the same, but I didn't try to substitute anything for the shortening. Everyone liked them (even Madi). Hopefully they won't be able to detect the difference this time...

...(a couple of hours later) TA DA!

The cookies taste great, but their texture is different. More cake like--like a pumpkin cookie.
My recipe has 1/2 cup margarine/butter and 1/2 cup shortening. I wonder if I substituted for the margarine/butter instead of the shortening if it would make any difference. They didn't spread out well. I guess this is the result of trying to make cookies good for you.

Not too bad, but you can definitely tell--

no trying to be sneaky about it!

Just to clarify...

I sprained my ankle; it's not broken. I am getting around on it now, although somewhat slowly.
As I am speaking snow is pouring down on us. I think it is 4" thick on our stair railing. I think I'm going to take a picture and show you...shall we sing some more Christmas carols? You can see, we still have our lights up on our house
(It is too hazardous to try to take them down as of yet)--
we could turn them on to really get into the holiday spirit!
(Just kidding--John would kill me!
See his drift boat sitting in the driveway;
he wants to use it.)

Yesterday I subbed at the jr. high and the high school for the band/orchestra teacher. I had to wear flip flops because my foot with the aircast on it wouldn't fit into anything else. And yes, it snowed yesterday too.

I'm just going to have to learn more Easter carols and buy pastel-colored snow boots to match the girl's Easter dresses...

Snap...

(this is a picture of my aircast that I was fitted with last year around this time--at least I am getting a little more use out of it)

...that is the sound my ankle made last night as I missed that last step on my way out into the garage. I had my hands full--a bag of garbage in the left, my purse in the right. It was time to pick up Madi from driver's ed.

Then I was going to run into Broulim's and grab some milk and eggs.

Then get John and Madi off to Scouts and Mutual.

Then finish ironing some stuff.

Then start cleaning up the room Bethany is coming to reside in.

Then finish sewing easter dresses.

Then get ready for clogging lessons for Wednesday afternoon...but now...

I'm grounded.

So I have to cancel substituting for tomorrow and Friday (kindergarten--I don't think so), and Madi will teach my classes this afternoon while I supervise.

Nothing like a little injury to slow down life.

I'm spending my day crawling and hopping from one place to another.

It makes one appreciate carpet.

I'm going to find Taylor's volleyball kneepads...