A Dog And Her Boy....

Today while Jake was doing some math he kept having trouble focusing because....

Sadie was under the table trying to distract him.

It has been a nice day, after several really chilly ones, and Sadie was in and out all day.  She kept coming in and checking to see if Jake was ready to play yet.  Finally I told him to take a break and go outside with her.   This crazy dog loves her boy!

A Birthday Temple Trip

 Mom's birthday was yesterday and the day that Mom and Dad work at the Temple.  We decided to drive down with them and enjoy Mom's birthday with her in the Temple.  On the way Jake and I were reading Walden...We have got to finish it once and for all!  It is a slow read and it isn't our favorite...which means it is really easy to pick another book to read...But we are finishing it by Friday.  Jake is lucky and he is 50 pages a head of me.  After reading for a few minutes my eyes got very heavy and then I woke up...not sure how long later....When I looked over at Jake he was sleeping too.

  There is just something about this book...

When we got to the temple we dropped Dad off because he had a meeting to get ready for.  Mom, Jake, and I headed to the Temple bookstore.  We tried to take a picture with the Temple in the background but the sun was glaring in their eyes.  I know it shouldn;t laugh at their pain but I just can't help it.

I had them close their eyes as I counted to 3.  On 3 they were supposed to open their eyes.  Jake opened his eyes but forgot to tell the rest of his face to be ready for the picture.

 (At the bookstore Jake found the 2nd book in a series he started and it was only $8 so I couldn't resist. I had to be back to the Temple for 5:00 but Jake didn't have to go in until 6:30 so he read in the car...Guess what he read.  The new book.  As of this morning when I woke up he had been up for an hour and had already read 182 pages of it...but he really should have been reading WALDEN!!!...He did read it today and I told him all other books are off limits until he finishes Walden)

After we checked out the bookstore we took Mom to the Temple but we still had a couple of hours until the Temple was open.  Jake was dying to go to Waffle House and there just happened to be one down the road.  He was one happy camper!

Back at the Temple we tried to take a selfie...

I had more luck taking a picture of Jake.

By the time we were done at the Temple it was dark out and my smart phone is awesome enough to still take great pictures in the dark.

I was out before Jake was taking pictures and got him coming out.

I love the feeling of peace I have when I leave the Temple with.  It is a place where you can totally shut out the stress of the world and clear your mind.  I always feel rejuvenated and ready to face the world when I leave.  I always have a better perspective on what really matters.  I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and I am reminded every time I go to the Temple and leave feeling closer to Him. 

What a way to spend Mom's birthday with her-in The House of the Lord!  I am so grateful for you Mom!  You are an amazing inspiration to our family and we love you!  I am so glad that we are all sealed together so that we can spend eternity as a family.

I am not doing "week in reviews"...

...unless I just didn't get to post the week before. Let's face it, I am already using it as an excuse to not keep up.  I keep finding things I should have posted last week and didn't...So here are a few more things that have been happening around here in the past week.

This is what Nee and Papa's house looked like on Friday when we went to help pull up nails and staples. They are getting ready to put in laminate floors.

Sadie has the prime spot in the living room.  Right in front of the vent.  And some times she uses the curtain for a little extra cushion.  I am still trying to figure out what to do with the curtains.  I hate to tuck them up so the heat can come out because it looks horrible.  But I like them there so I can open the blinds during the day and people can't see in...What to do...what to do...

 When we were at Sam's Club on Saturday the berries looked and smelled delicious.  We decided to buy some and I made mini fruit pizzas.  Can you guess which cookie Jake picked?  If you picked the biggest one than you are correct. :)

I have no idea what Aaron is looking at but it is obviously not the camera...PTPP.

 We share our building for church with another Ward and our times for church overlap.  Last year we went to church from 9-12 and the other ward went from 11-2.  We flip flop at the beginning of the year so now we meet at 11:00.  Our little Sunbeam class (3 year olds-they just moved up to Primary from Nursery) would normally be eating lunch and napping during the time Primary starts (if they were at home) so the transition is tough for a month or two.  Riley has no problem still getting her nap in!

Sadie is always happy to see us when we get home from church.

 She isn't allowed on the couch but her back legs are still on the floor so she it is okay. :)

Co-op was back on after a day off last week for Martin Luther King Day.  In art class we are working on color theory and the color wheel.

In science we are finishing up with Friction and Newton's Laws.  The mom that teaches (mentors, tutors...I don't know what the right word is because the child's mother is still the teacher but you know what I mean...) our Physical Science class (who I co-taught with last year in General Science...I was scared because I am not a science girl but it was fun) had to leave early on Monday because her daughter had a fever (they are all down for the count now except her husband) so I had to step in a do the class at the last minute.  We had to both the experiments outside and is was freezing on Monday!  But we got through it.  We had fun and learned something so we will call it a win.

This one didn't work the way it was supposed to we got the gist.  Vinegar and baking soda....the cork was supposed to pop out.  There was some bubbling but not enough to blow.  There wasn't enough vinegar.  We will try it again next week if there is time after our other experiments.

I almost forgot!  Last Wednesday at church the Youth had an activity that was a lot of fun.  They divided into two groups and made a 3 course meal for the judges (Aaron, the Bishop, a couple of the youth leaders.  Jake said Aaron was the best because he was funny).  Jake was on the winning team.  I wonder if he will remember what these dishes were made of in twenty years...

Classic Jake...again...

Curse you social media.  I always forget to blog about it if I have posted it on Instagram!  This happened last week and I forgot to post it and I forgot to include it in the week in review...and in a post about classic Jake-ish things...

A Week In Review: 1/19-1/23

*I will not be rereading this post.  Hopefully it will make some kind of sense....

*I forgot to mention last week that last week was Jake's first Shop Class with Papa Harmon.  Last week they talked about safety in the shop and while using the machines.  They are going to make a lamp...and I am hoping a couple of bookshelves. :)


*This Wednesday was "School For Thought" at the library.  Their once a month homeschool event.  Jake got to eat Ramen noodles while learning about the Japanese culture, how to speak and write a few phrases in Japanese-including his name and just plan having fun!

*It is official. Sadie knows when it is time to pick up Jake from church on Wednesday night and feels the need to tag along.  It is the little things that bring sheer joy to a dog.

 *I got a couple of wrong number texts last week and didn't let it bother me...

hehehe....

*My jam at the moment.  Aaron bought it for me because he loves me.

*On Thursday we went on a field trip to the Peace Center in Greenville and saw "To Kill A Mockingbird" and it was AMAZING!  We laughed.  I cried!  It was so well done.  And it is their "Pops for education" program so the tickets were only $9 each. 

We went with the Cluney's (they are searching Google in this picture to end a light hearted debate the boys were having about something super hero related.

Aunt Sheila, Nee, and Papa G all came too! 

After that we had lunch at Zaxby's.
 Jake looks so tall.  Ethan is about to turn 13 and hasn't hit that growth spurt yet.  He will though. His dad is 6'2" inches just like Aaron.  I wonder in six months which one of these guys will be taller...





*And this picture doesn't want me to type beside it so I will type above it.  Right after the play we headed back to Sparkle City and I dropped Jake off for shop class with Papa Harmon.  Luckily it didn't have to get cancelled because Papa was able to cover with a tarp and brace up a place in the rood where a tree limb had come through the roof the day before.  No equipment was hurt luckily.

 

*On Friday night we watched Transformers: Age of Extinction (Aaron's choice for movie night).  It was pretty good....but would have been better for me personally if it hadn't been 2 hours and 45 minute.  Take an hour off and it would have been better....for me.  They loved it.

*On Saturday morning I (along with my Primary presidency: Cindy Peterson 1st councilor, Lindsay Chapman-2nd councilor, Sue Graves-otherwise known as Nee/Mom-secretary, Rebecca Everett-chorister...I type all this to see if I remember all these people in 20 years...I hope I do!) was lucky enough to go to Primary Stake Training and it was great!  While I was gone Aaron and Jake went to the Waffle House and then the comic book store.  They are thrilled that there is a brand new Star Wars comic book and a Darth Vader one that is about to come out.  They are true geeks!

*On Saturday afternoon we headed to Sam's club and enjoyed some taste testing while getting some groceries.  If I ever had to be stranded somewhere for a few days (or weeks) I would pick Sam's Club.  They have everything you would need to survive.  I am of course assuming it would just be me and my family.  Adding all the other random shoppers and workers would take away from the the fun.  I am also assuming that the power would still work so the food would stay fresh, the TV's still worked and there was light to read by.

*Lot of other things happened I am sure but this seems like a pretty good list of what went down in the Harmon household last week.  Add in Aaron working in some very muddy weather, Jake and I still trying to finish Walden because it is boring us to tears (not really but kind of)...so much so that I read a few pages in Mr. Darcy's Diary (I said I wouldn't read any other book- besides the scriptures-until I was finished with Walden as motivation to just get it over with....) to keep myself from never reading again....I keep finding little gems in Walden, but the over all read it excruciating... More on that when I finally finish it.  

*Here is hoping that I will either forget about this week in review business or actually do it in a timely fashion!

 

 

Thank you Zucchini...

...for making it possible for me to still enjoy garlic bread in moderation, since you replace the over load of carbs that is pasta. 

Ignore my finger nail polish, and note this fancy contraption I bought at Walmart.  It is now my new best friend.  You just put the Zucchini (or whatever veggie you want) in and twist and out comes the healthy replacement for pasta and you can do it thick or thin!

This is why I am not a fan of cooking all the time.  I love the mess when it is happening.  All the chop, chop, chopping!  But then I hate to clean it up after.  I usually clean as I go but this day...not so much!  Check out the 2 bottles of Febreze..I found them at Aldi (a great, cheap grocery store) for $2-something.  They are usually $4-something at Walmart!  SCORE!

You can boil it (but I always feel like all the nutrients end up in the water...) or saute it.  A little olive oil, salt and garlic...Oh I can smell it again right now! 

It doesn't look that inviting...

but add some other veggies...

....my world famous spaghetti sauce...hahaha!....

...cheese!...

...and stir.

It is sooooo good!  And that makes this girl happy because I could (but I can't!)eat spaghetti every day of my life (in different versions)!  Next time I will put the "zoodles" (you see what I did there?) on a paper towel to soak up some of the moisture.  But it was so satisfying and yummy!  It really felt like I was eating pasta.

I am also loving this because although I love spaghetti squash "noodles" their slight sweetness wasn't what I was looking for in spaghetti.  They are perfect with alfredo sauce or just a little butter and garlic.  The "zoodles" will pair with anything that you would eat with spaghetti noodles.

I am a happy camper!  And I have eaten this again since I took these pictures...and that was just a week ago.  And right after I get Jake to stop reading his book (can you imagine!) and get back to his science test I am going to make some homemade meatballs...that I will put ontop of zoodles or spaghetti squash noodles for dinner tonight!

****Disclaimer for anyone who knows my guys:  I made real pasta for them and they didn't eat the extra vegetables.  Neither of them would even taste the zoodles.  They are not herbivores by any stretch of the imagination and I don't want to lead anyone astray by making you think that I actually talked them into eating this.*******