Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Harry Potter Surprise Birthday Dinner!

 November started out festively with my friend Shelly's surprise 40th birthday party. It was a Harry Potter-themed mystery dinner at Meredith's house. Mystery dinners are one of my favorite things! And so are fun friend get-togethers!

My pre-assigned character was "Ruta Skooter" (known in the books and movies as "Rita Skeeter"), a gossipy and manipulative news editor and journalist. I'm not that kind of an editor, but for the evening I was! I ordered a cheap green dress suit from Amazon for my costume.


Because of trademark (or is it copyright?) issues, the actual names of the characters couldn't be used. 😂

Dinner and intrigue


And cake, after the perpetrator of the crime was revealed! (It wasn't me 😩)


And the obligatory group photo to finish the evening out.

It was a fun and memorable evening! Even if I didn't do it!

Sunday, January 11, 2026

October Randoms 2025

 October was such a special month, with getting married and going on a honeymoon, but there was still plenty of randomness to be had.

I thought this image of the temple on GPS was cool.


I miss President Nelson a lot, but I know he's in a wonderful place and is continuing his work there in a different way. I'll be forever grateful for how much his teachings and guidance influenced me during the hardest time of my life. I hope someday I can thank him in person.

Getting closer to the big day! (unrelated to the rose, which was from Sam to his girlfriend, Veronica)

A beautiful picture of the temple taken by David one evening.

I cleaned out some of my Halloween decorations to give away and took pictures of some of them. They hold fond memories from the past.


General Conference weekend (and also the weekend before the wedding!)

Book club was fun--we all came dressed as a favorite book character. My favorite is Jane Eyre, so I got a Jane Eyre t-shirt on Etsy and wore that with a black skirt and cameo earrings. Simple!


The new First Presidency


Spotted on the honeymoon--owl energy bars!

A perfect match!

Working-from-library selfie

Working-from-home selfie

Books I saw at the library that I want to read:



These pictures are from a fun Halloween event we went to with Sam and Veronica.



Sam and Veronica got their fortunes read


Beth and I coincidentally wore coordinating dresses to church, and we had to document it!

Another library selfie, this one from the break room. Sometimes I can't get enough of myself. 😂

I did the Census!

Cioppino 😋

I worked in the Children's Room at the library on Halloween, which was fun! Here was my somewhat lame attempt at being a cat (the kids all knew what I was!).

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Wisdom, Humor, Inspiration, and a Little Bit of Crazy Times in October 2025

 It's January 2026, and I'm still writing about October 2025. 😱 I'll get caught up this month! 

Like him or not, this was a great accomplishment.


Interesting.

Screenshot from an interesting MWEG event I attended. These statistics are sad. I've been feeling particularly motivated to try to become less partisan and divisive in my outlook. 

Sorry to contradict that now a bit with this image, but I'll always be an advocate for Christopher Columbus. I object wholeheartedly to what's been done to his name and legacy in our twisted day and age.

"Richly blessed and highly favored"...I love that response.

I have long believed this.

Vaccines + Tylenol can be a dangerous combination for babies. I believe it may have harmed one of my kids, and I feel guilty about it. 

I love them all!

Legal immigration is good. Illegal immigration is harmful.

Hello, America! We need to teach history better, all of it, as well as deeper critical thinking.  
"...all of these pathologies are common worldwide...only in the West was slavery first outlawed and tribalism curtailed."

YES!!



Honey is so cool! I love that David does beekeeping and harvests delicious honey from his hives.


I was reading The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, and I found it very insightful. This paragraph really resonated with me.

😂

So funny!