Life By Lindsey Rae

This week we had a Relief Society (women's organization at church) activity with a "Christmas in July" theme. We signed up to do a craft thing ahead of time and I signed up for learning to do cake decorating (because it cost the least. Haha. So cheap.)

I did the poinsettias on these 4 cupcakes with an icing bag cut at the end, but no tip. It was pretty easy, I thought, but I was slow so I could get it looking good. Not too bad for a first try though, right?




I brought mine home and took a picture, but I don't really want to eat them, because I don't like that much icing. Jerrod said he would have one, but then he didn't. They've been in the fridge since Tuesday, so I don't know if they still will taste OK, but, the missionaries are coming over tomorrow and they'll usually eat anything...I always give the missionaries stuff I don't want! haha!

Speaking of Christmas in July, I am so irritated by seeing Christmas stuff already out in stores! I shop at Hobby Lobby a lot for scrapbooking stuff (and like to support them, because they close on Sunday's) but, it drives me crazy that they have had their Christmas stuff out for at least a month now...maybe even since June. It's ridiculous! I mean, it makes Christmas seem less special when it's around for more than half of the year! Who is really thinking about buying new ornaments and lights for their tree in the summer?!

The Nashville Zoo has an annual event called "Ice Day" that I have been wanting to go to for about three years now and we finally made it this year. At Ice Day, they make up frozen treats for the animals and then have scheduled times where they feed them. The tigers, for example, get a 5-gallon turkey flavored ice block. Elephants get large fruit flavored rings of ice, and this sort of thing.

We ate free ice cream.

It was sooo humid and hot. Temperature was in the 90's and it had rained the day and night before so humidity felt like it was 100%!

Actually, I mostly wanted to go see the meerkats get ice treats. As I have said in the past, we used to be crazy about Meerkat Manor and we have our meerkat painting we got at the zoo auction last year. They were so cute...but a bit fat. These meerkats seem to be a little overweight. Their keeper called them, "pleasantly plump." As a result, they weren't moving very fast!

As I mentioned previously, I was building a dry stone wall along one side of our property. I finished it about 2 weeks ago, but I still have a few small things that I want to do to improve it.

I still need to post pictures of my work! I have some now, but Jerrod took so many for me and I still have to go through them and pick out some good ones.

So, I was getting my rocks from a lot of the nearby construction sites, but those houses are getting closer to being done, and as they get closer to landscaping, they've removed a lot of the piles of dug up rock from the surface that made them so accessible.I gathered lots of rocks for my wall piled up around here.
And, even though my wall is finished, I really wanted to get some extra rocks for repairs that might need to be done as it shifts with the seasons or maybe for an edge on a flowerbed in the future. They have huge piles one or two blocks down, at the edge of the subdivision, but when you are carrying a wheelbarrow full of a couple hundred pounds of rocks and it's 95 degrees outside, you don't want to walk any further than you have to (especially on hills). So, I've got to take advantage of the ones I've got here now before they are gone!

My neighbors across the street are a retired couple who spend a lot of time sitting on their front porch smoking their cigarettes. I believe they have quite enjoyed sitting out there day after day watching me carry 50 lb rocks around. I feel like I provide a form of entertainment or something. They always are telling me that I "work too hard" and I'm "so strong" and this sort of thing, which I think is absolutely hilarious. They make sure to mention this to Jerrod too. And my cousin, Steven, when he was over. I'm sure then both totally agree! haha.

Tonight they told me that they are starting to worry about me now that I am still gathering yet more rocks.I pretty much broke the first wheelbarrow from putting too much weight in it. We got this new one, which works pretty well. It's still holding up! I tried to explain why I was doing this and they just insist that I am doing too much all the time, (again, haha) and that I am too tough and I am going to seriously injure myself if I keep lifting rocks. I told them I don't exercise and I am pretty scrawny, so it's a good work out for me.

I probably won't get more though, because I am running out of places to put them. I just think it's better to have them while they are available, so I'm stocking up! Searching for the best rocks for your wall becomes a bit addictive, maybe....when I see see good ones that have been dug up after the fact, it makes me want to rip parts of the built wall down and re-build it with better stones to make it more stable. After you've already gone to all that work, it's tempting not to! I had to make lots of rock piles around the house...and then get them moved quick enough that they didn't ruin the grass!
The thing is, after you put so much time and effort into something, it's hard to leave it alone when you know how to make it better. Now that I have made one wall, I think I know how to make the next one better!

I stole this picture from my sister, Shara's, facebook album and am posting it because I think Grandma look very nice here and I liked this picture.

I'm not sure why the dog is wearing a sweater...maybe because it's always cold in Grandma's house??
haha, Grandma, just kidding!

Haha. I guess you have to be a Napoleon Dynamite fan to think this is funny. I thought it was.

A kid imitates Napoleon Dynamite in a Spelling Bee and the response from the commentator is great: "Was that a secret message?"

I talked to my Japanese sister, Yuri, a couple of days ago and found out that they are coming to see me in October! I'm very excited!!! It's been 3 years since we've been together. The last time I saw them was when they came to Canada for our wedding. The only thing better would be if it were me going to Japan to see them!

I lived with Yuri and her husband, Hideaki, when I was living in Japan. (This picture is of us at the beach in Okinawa in July 2002...back before they had any kids and when I still had blonde hair.)

I turned 25 today. I can't believe I made it to be this old. Comparatively speaking, I guess it's not as old as an age I might someday be, but it seems like it to me, because at one time, I remember thinking that even being 22 or 23 was so far away and I would never make it this long.
It must be because I always wear my seat belt.

Today in my primary class I was able to get one of the kids to say a prayer who has never, ever done it before. In fact, up until about a month and a half ago, he was still screaming and crying and throwing himself against the door for 45 minutes straight; wanting to go see his parents. So, I feel this is quite an accomplishment. Of course, I helped and I couldn't understand 99.9% of what he said, but the fact that he kind of imitated me amazed me. In fact, I don't know if I've ever even been able to get him to fold his arms before. After all the crying and screaming for so many weeks, It's amazing to me that he is happy in primary all of the sudden. So this is a big step. I guess you have had to be there to really appreciate it, but we're coming far in the Sunbeam class!