Homemade Donuts, A Catty Weekend and the Mint-cident.

 Last week we made donuts for FHE. I'm finding that most of my favorite cooking pins from Pinterest are the sponsored posts by Pillsbury. Because Pillsbury is easy and yummy. So, not very pinterest-y at all. These pumpkin spice donuts were made from a can of biscuit dough.

 

They were overcooked on the outside and still doughy in the middle, but since my kids are so used to my style of cooking, they think this is normal. Good, even.

June's school picture from this year:

A few weeks ago, we had a new couple in our ward over for dinner. We asked them which things they wanted to do in the city while they live here temporarily, and the wife (Sydney) responded that she really wanted to see Cats on Broadway before it closes in December. Her husband has no desire to see it. It's like Dan and I were looking at ourselves in a mirror.

So I pounced (cat pun!) on the chance to see Cats with her as part of my birthday present this year. I saw it in seventh grade and have been wanting to see it again. It's equal parts weird and fascinating. The actors are so great in their cat-like movements, with their heads darting from side to side as they respond to sounds throughout the show. They were able to tumble and perform acrobatics without making a sound. But the most fascinating part is watching how they continue to live and breathe as they wear the tightest body suits I've ever seen. I mean, I was wearing my pants I usually have to unbutton when I sit down, and I thought I was roughing it.

I can scratch this one off my bucket list: Buy and wear the world's most obnoxiously over-sized sunglasses. And do it every day. Chhhhhhheck!

We scored 6th row seats.

And someone stole my training bra for the set.

It was so fun! Happy birthday to me!

We both agreed that it was good we didn't take our husbands. I know Dan would be whispering questions in an annoyed tone the entire show: "So what the heck is a jellicle cat?"

Speaking of shows, today was the primary program. My favorite Sunday of the year.

In order to ensure a smooth morning before our early morning practice before our early morning church, I made sure to set an alarm for the wrong day so that I could wake up an hour and a half late.

As I was running around, I noticed something different about my simple hairbrush.

 Peek a boo!

That Daniel.

Our primary pianist had a family emergency in England, so I was asked to sub on the piano. I had planned to run through the songs a few times this morning at our house, but my late rising resulted in my racing to the church in a hurry, running past lots of friends to whom I could only shout a hurried hello and arriving to the piano huffing and puffing for a quick run-through of a special musical number. 

It was at this point that I looked down and saw that I had neglected to button about half of the buttons on my shirt. And I started to recall the groups of people I had run past just a few minutes prior to my realization. Free show at church this morning, folks!

Luckily(?), my front looks pretty much like my back and so no damage was done. I quickly buttoned up and zipped through the practice and was ready to start the program.

Our next door neighbors came and so did June's school teacher. It was touching to see so many come to support her. 

June knocked it out of the park. While practicing at home, she had been saying her part too quickly, and it was hard to understand. So we worked on saying it slowly. She said it verrrrrry slowly (maybe too slowly), but I would rather have it slow and deliberate than too fast. 

She said: When people hurt Jesus, He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus forgave those who hurt Him.

I sobbed through the whole program. The Gospel truths spoken by young children always gets me.

At a particularly touching moment, my eyes wandered from the piano to see June.

Picking her nose. Almost violently.

I tried to get her attention to stop, but then it was time to play again.

At the end of the program, a counselor in the primary presidency came and found me. 

"Sorry about June," she said. She went on to explain that June was really squirmy through the last half of the program, so she gave her a mint to help her calm down. 

Well that child of mine stuck that mint up her nose and couldn't get it out. That's why I saw her digging like I'd never see her dig before. Finally, they had to take her down from the stand (I didn't see this because I was playing), and they asked a nurse from our ward to assist her. The nurse instructed June to blow out the mint. But June kept sucking it up farther. And farther. Until she sucked it up through her nose and was able to swallow it.

Ew.

But hey--no trip to the hospital, so I'll mark it as a win.

And on that note: a cute picture of our mini-football player.

The end.