if i had a dime for every time i felt the urge to write “i have the best friends (you know who you are) ever!” as my status update on facebook, i wouldn’t need to sing the “i wanna be a billionaire” or the “if i had a million dollars” song.

ever again.

and while the simple and thoughtful ways in which my friends (you know who you are) often brighten my days and lighten my load are too numerous to name, sometimes i feel the need to just take a picture and write about it already.

so here goes:

i’ve mentioned aprons a few times before. donning the appropriate apron before cooking or baking or apron and gloves before cleaning is a great motivator. equally as effective as good mood music. (another round of thanks to those of you who have bestowed such gifts on me before. you know who you are)

truth be told, one can never have enough aprons.

and it can be difficult finding the perfect apron.

i need pockets in the front (cell phone). i’ve been told i cook like julia child (the messy part, not so much the irresistibly delicious part), so a bib is always a good thing. and color. i crave color.

red is my favorite energizing color.

and while i may never have admitted this publicly before, i have a thing for toile. i don’t actually own any toile, but i love it.

(red and blue are my favorite.)

so imagine the joy and rejoicing in my heart when i opened up this sweet little beauty yesterday.

pocket: check. bib: check. color: check. toile: check.

that may even be me on the front

thank you sweet and thoughtful friend (you know who you are).

you made my day.

xo

this is my friend melody

this is what my friend melody’s front yard–which is truly a haven even without the tents–looks like at the moment

melody and i often refer to one another as each other’s sisterfromanothermother. there are many things i love about this wonderful woman–nurse, mother, sister, favorite aunt, nana, poet, teller-of-truth, sister-friend–but one of the things i love the most is how she treats children. melody has never been one to turn away the little ones. instead she opens her heart, her arms, her home, and loves the children with a pure love that is one of the best examples of christlike love i’ve ever known.

she has always welcomed the neighborhood children who want to play in her paradise-yard, even though sometimes they wear down the grass from their bikes and trucks and cars. every summer before school starts up again, melody builds tents for them in her yard, knowing if she builds them, they will come. and then she comes out to visit with the neighborhood kids who can’t resist–even taking them refreshments or treats on occasion.

little ones are not invisible to her in the way they often are to other adults. she knows their names and she treats them like they are real.

which of course, they are.

and she is way better than a band-aid or a kiss when they are hurt.

a nurse, melody is the first person we call when one of my children is injured.

“can we treat this at home or do we need to see a doctor?”

usually the answer is we can treat this at home. and usually melody has just what we need in her professional-strength first-aid kit.

but it’s not really about the antiseptic wipes, antibacterial cream or the gauze.

one day after we had returned home from having melody treat a wound–i forget which one, there are so many–on my daughter’s arm, suze said to me,

“i still feel melody’s hands on my arm.”

i didn’t even have to think of what to say. i knew.

“that’s the love. it stays with you.”

it’s started already.

a couple of weeks ago a widowed sister in my ward stopped me in the hall at church.

“i’d like to buy a suit for your son for his mission.”

she wasn’t the first.

another widow–this one whose husband has been gone since before i was born–purchased a raincoat for luke before he left on his mission. luke had been her home teacher.

she pressed a check of equal value into zack’s grateful hands well over a month ago.

while we do live in what may seem to be your average–as far as incomes go–but aging middle-class neighborhood, we continue to be stunned and enormously grateful for the extraordinary generosity extended to us by our friends and neighbors. widows, widowers, a couple of small business owners, educators, contractors, only one attorney and maybe a couple of accountants. everyday people reaching into their not-so-deep pockets to help us outfit and send off another missionary.

just now i responded to a knock on the door. a retired gentleman greeted me. we are not well acquainted, but there he stood, extending an envelope with zack’s name written across it. i know what’s in it without even opening it. there will be more of the same next week after zack speaks in church just days before flying to the mtc in preston. i say this not because it is an expectation, but simply because it’s what the people around here do. they–even those who are currently supporting their own missionaries–do the same for all of the missionaries.

my good friend lil just came to the door to get some fresh eggs. we visited for a few minutes. lil and her husband, phil, though barely returned from serving as missionaries in New Orleans, currently serve what is almost a full-time mission in another area of town.

lil pressed a check into my hand.

“we’re sorry we can’t be there next week. will you please give this to zack?”

setting up transition in the rain (left of, but not under the umbrella).

rounding the bend with my new friend melanie.

my friend, training partner and inspiration, ~j.

my loyal friend and sister-from-another-mother melody, who ran in with me at the very end. on heels, no less.

my loyal family who cheered me on. k~ walked the first mile and some of the final “run” with me.

this is me.

at my first *triathlon.

it kicked my trash.

but i finished.

and avoided coming in dead last…

by a mere .004 seconds.

and a bunch of people who registered but didn’t show.

and a handful of people who started, but didn’t finish.

one woman’s sprint is another woman’s endurance race…

2:35:009

(*technically it ended up being a dualthon last minute, as it was so cold and wet this morning the race administrators were worried about hypothermia and revised the race at the last minute. it ended up run, bike, run; instead of swim, bike, run. that was a disadvantage to me, as the “run” isn’t my best event. but such is life. and, frankly, hypothermia could have been a worse disadvantage.)

i’m posting over at segullah today. and giving a shout-out to my sister gym rats (you do know who you are, right?). please run–don’t walk–on over.

i’m passing on the story of supervising my friend and her daughters (ok yes and mine) while they stalked taylor lautner at provo towne centre in order to tell you the story about this cute little plate.

try to tell me you don’t just love this

so eventually my friend and i did end up at that little meeting i like to call “the meeting formerly known as homemaking.” i hadn’t signed up for a craft although the frames, scrabble charms and cake plates they were making did look kind of cool. i actually need a cake plate, but i knew i would be picky about both the plate and the stand, so i decided to pass.

mostly i went to hang out and visit with my sisters.

because i do love them.

i made my way to the cake plate table to check out the creations and saw some nice work. and i saw that cute little rooster one and said to myself, “i can’t believe someone else made my plate.”

because i totally would have made that plate.

while i danced with envy for a brief second i may have even brushed past covetessness (may not be a real word, but you know what i mean).

i moved on and worked the room and didn’t think anything of it when a couple of people mentioned “my plate.”

“no. i didn’t sign up. i just came to visit,” i said.

but then the story worked its way out.

the cake plate project was planned by a few of my good friends: jane, olga, lynda and tonya. they’ve been buying up plates and candle holders and such from every thrift store within a 30-mile radius.

apparently tonya saw that rooster plate and found the perfect base.

olga put it together.

they made it just for me.

it’s just perfect.

and i love it!

but shhh. don’t tell my friend “belinda.”