these two weeks have gotten away from me....

"My earnest prayer is that you will have the courage required to refrain from judging others, the courage to be chaste and virtuous, and the courage to stand firm for truth and righteousness. Your life will be filled with love and peace and joy."
~president monson

We are trying to taking control of our time better and use it more wisely. it seems like time passes without my decisions and everything else just creeps in. we have a good life just a busy one right now....may is especially full and we just started.

my uncle brian came for a work related visit but we were able to visit with him last night and enjoy a yummy dinner at magnolia's deli + cafe. so fun to see him.

Regional Sacrament Meeting:

our seniors were invited so it was a big long weekend that started with an early, early saturday at the temple.

CES fireside=elder bednar gave a fabulous fireside this last sunday. really everyone should read it when it comes out!

Read it---it is fabulous!!

Saturday night activities. it was really fun! but i finally went home at midnight telling chris to call me when they were done because it was dead tired. and then after 1 am he started walking home because it

His home away from home

our leadership training meeting went really well--more on the YW blog but the treats were so fun and yummy! Laurel had the best recipe

our unit conferences are finally over and now it is back to tuesday nights with the units. 4th ward had a great activity with the missionaries on testimonies. very fun!

1st ward did a remember your divine potential and brockport is doing one next week on class presidencies!

I am back to my running schedule and hopefully will be ready in June for the 5K with the YW

Amy Butler is one of my favorite fabric designers but she also has a book of patterns and ideas which i have been playing with these last two weeks. This was a one night project that ended up having a few issues but that is what makes it homemade right.

i have the durrant blood running through my veins for two reasons....i have to sleep with a fan on no matter the season! and two i take baths almost every day!

i found this cute little fan instead of our cheap walmart plastic one and it fits perfectly into our bedroom....

we have some of the best little shops in our neighborhood..this one metro retro was a new find this week and i just had to stop in. park ave, university and east ave are fun little side streets with cafes, shops and the streets are lined with big trees...

work has been crazy! our funding is a little iffy since the economy has declined. we have all been asked to increase our family files, take on more outreach and spend more time with children in the community. i love it but feel stretched to the max some days.

i travel most days to different locations and this is one of my favorite streets to take so i snapped a picture last week....these are magnolia trees and they were covered with bright pink blossoms.

i have enjoyed my course through cornell but the last two weeks two ladies in my class feel the need to tell their personal opinions on everything and like to disagree. it would be one thing to share opinions but no one is allowed to disagree. it just put a sour taste on class and now i leave feeling rather irritated than empowered!

i did do a presentation in class about "mormons" and that was wonderful to be asked questions and talk openly.

and today we started self defense with my co-workers. we had way too much fun with it! and it really did not help that our netflix movie was Kung Fu Panda. our poor instructor just had to shake his head!

Spring has arrived!

every year i forget how beautiful it is in upstate NY....everything has color!

we were talking about what a sweet spirit this season brings. new starts with the new growth. probably why we celebrate the resurrection in the spring time. it is a great reminder of the gift of the atonement.

our lilies are coming back all six of them...thanks mom + tina (we got them last year at the public market)

FHE

Monday was FHE at our house--we played games outside, hung out in the hammock + shared a short lesson on "What manner of men ought ye be." it was fun and what a blessing the YSA are in our lives....

today i enjoyed the 70 degrees on the hammock with a book....chris always says "you know it is spring when the toes turn red!"

this was really random but it is what we have been up to lately!

spt

tuesday, february 11--resolve, i resolve to take more pictures of the everyday things i love to do


one of my very favorite things in the whole wide world is to talk with my husband. we can go to bed early and suddenly it will be 1:00am simply by chatting. chris likes to think that this is mostly because i like to talk but he does his fair share. i love sharing our testimonies, stories of trial, faith and as much as i think i know about chris i am constantly surprised at the amazing person that he is. he listens to my crazy dreams and helps me calm down to even go to sleep. i wish that this time could stop and that we had more time to do it.

this tuesday i woke up early to do a quick run, then off to my class by Cornell-family development credentials. it has a wonderful curriculum but sometimes the class gets out of control with personal discussions and stories. this week we talked about communication skills specifically confronting "hot topics" with clients.

i was lucky to have time to swing by the house for lunch and then off to the office to finish paperwork and for two family visits.

then home for a quick dinner with chris. we had some dishes left so chris finished those and i made dinner. he grabbed the ipod and played some of our favorites. at one point we ended up dancing in the kitchen in the middle of dinner and dishes. it is one of my favorite memories that does not happen often enough either. we have been creative with meals lately but love the quick and easy ones. tuesday was a simple Caesar salad-yum! i headed to the church for a ym/yw committee meeting-always exciting!

i got home in time to say goodbye to chris as he slipped out the door to play football with a local team he formed with co-workers. literally we slipped pass each other. i did some house work and sent some emails about yw things and then off to bed when chris got home at 11:00pm.