(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday to one of the most creative, artistic, funny and handsome young men I know. He is my co-worker, my nephew, my next-door neighbor, Quayd's hero and my very best buddy. I love you Brayden!! Happy 15th Birthday!

the one about bragging

So I feel kind of weird talking about this because I don't mean to brag. But I am kind of excited to share it. So here goes.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to St. George for 4H Leadermete. It is a conference for 4H volunteers and leaders to learn about new projects and ideas for our 4H programs. We get tons of great information and we usually come back all pumped up and ready to rock our 4H program. It is mostly just a bunch of women that go and we spend lots of time bonding (aka: shopping, eating, laughing, being silly). Oh, and its super fun!! I had been contacted about a month before to see if I would be attending the conference because I had been selected to receive an award. That was all they said to me. I had no idea what the award was for or anything. Fast forward to the night of the banquet... I received the 4H Volunteer of the Year Award! It was super cool, and a huge honor! Brett felt terrible that he couldn't be there the night of the banquet (it just wasn't practical for him to drive to St. George for one evening.) So I had Tara take pictures for me to bring back and share.

This is my award



This is what my bio said

Uintah-Mandy Lane has been involved with the Uintah County 4-H program for four years. Her project areas are Arts & Crafts, Drawing, Painting, & Sculpturing, Photography, Clothing and Textiles, Clothing Construction, Rabbits, Science, and Flower Gardens. Mandy serves on our Adult Advisory Council and is an Advisor to our county Teen council. She frequently does Friday day camps for the Uintah County Extension office. She is involved in the County Fair, and will presenting at Leadermete this year. Wherever Mandy goes, there is laughter and fun! Mandy helps our youth and leaders develop and expand their creativity. Mandy thinks outside the box, and we don’t even know if she knows there is a box. We so appreciate all she has done and is doing for the youth of Uintah County.

Isn't that so nice?!?! I LOVE 4H and I am so glad to be involved with such an amazing program. And to be recognized for my service on a State level?!?! Incredible!!

the one about my purse

This is another part of my challenge. A lot of my friends that are doing the blog challenge and actually sticking to it, did this one the other day and it sounded fun. So since I am the rule maker of my blog, I want to do it today. :)

What would I find in your purse? My purse was a filthy mess, and I really needed to clean it so this was a great time to do this blog post. Here are some of the things that were floating around in there.

3 watch faces
2 watch bands
necklace
two rings
lotion
hand sanitizer
cash (which is VERY rare!)
4H coin purse
2 granola bars
3 pens
various cards (debit, id, insurance, gift cards, punch cards, hunter safety card)
Scentsy sample
business cards
time sheet
ziplock bags (not sure why)
gum
tampons
advil
2 oz. Vemma bottle
lip gloss
chapstick
carmex
blistex
keys
my camera

Wow! That was a lot of stuff for my cute little purse. These were taken AFTER I cleaned it.

all about things I like

I realize that nobody probably cares about my favorite things besides me. It's not like I am Oprah and planning on giving one of each of these to my audience members. (Sorry friends!) It is just a way for me to express my love for silly things. My first pick of the week HAS to be my very most favorite beverage in the whole wide world. My heart skips a beat when I even think about it!! Yummy Yum Yum.

Sonic Unsweetened Raspberry Iced Tea.

ahhhhhhhhh...... so refreshing.

My addiction to this drink of wonderment is pretty ridiculous. I was going at least once a day there for awhile, but it was getting a little expensive. So I decided I needed to limit myself to 3 times a week and I can only go during happy hour. (That is 2-4pm and drinks are half price) I love to go to the car hop things, especially when Shae is working.

When I decided to blog about this, I knew I needed to make it worthwhile. I called Tara to see when my cute little Shae would be there. I wanted to get a picture of her as a car hop delivering my drink. Shae knows of my insanity when it comes to unsweetened raspberry tea so I knew she would be the perfect choice to get a picture of. Also, she is pretty much the cutest, coolest car hop EVER!! Anyway, we took the picture as planned. Here it is......

But then she did something that I will forever be grateful for. She actually took the camera inside and took pictures of the making of my unsweetened raspberry tea. AwEsOmE!!!!!! I feel like a 13 year old girl who just won backstage passes to Justin Bieber!! SO Amazing!!! SO here it is...... First add ice....
Then the raspberry flavoring.....
then the tea..... then serve to your creepy customer and see her face light up like an excited little girl. :) Yummy. I love it so much!!! So there it is. My fave drink ever and my very first pick of the week.

the one about some of my friends

It is no secret that I have been blessed with some amazing friends. I am not sure how I find such wonderful people to surround myself with, but I am sure glad I do! :) Part three of my blog challenge is about friends. It says to post a picture of yourself with your friends. I actually have a picture of me with two of my awesome friends that we took last Friday night in St. George. I guess this is a perfect opportunity for me to tell about our super fun night!!! I went to St. George, Utah last Wednesday-Saturday for a 4H Leadership conference. I learned some incredible stuff and I will be sharing more about it in future posts. Anyway, on Friday night we had a nice big banquet. Afterwards, we had free time to do whatever. One of Tara's sisters lives in St. George and she was letting Tara use one of their vehicles while we were there. Tara asked if anyone would like to go for a ride with her. My cute friend Sheri and I hopped right in! The car was a BEAUTIFUL black convertible mustang. Tara is very familiar with the area so she knew just where to take us. We went to a beautiful place that overlooked the city. We had so much fun taking pictures and being silly!



We headed down the mountain, stopped at McDonalds for snacks, then went to the hotel. As we pulled up to the front door, we decided to get a couple more pictures of Sheri with the car since we had better light. (She LOVES Mustangs!!) As Tara and I stepped back with the cameras, two police officers happened to be walking out of the hotel. It was obvious what we were doing, so they wanted to play along! Ther didn't skip a beat and hopped right in the car! It was so funny!! We joked with them for awhile, told them we had stolen the car and that there may or may not be weed in the trunk, laughed our butts off, then finally headed in to bed. Good times!!


Here is a picture with some of the other girls that went to St. George with us. L to R: Me, Tara, Sheri, Danette, Necia

Now since this is a post about friends, and I have talked about my trip to St.George, I have to finish with this picture of my new bestie, Judy! She is da bomb!!! <3

the one about my blog name

The second part of my little blog challenge is "What is the name of your blog and why?"

The web address of my blog is "www.craftymandy.blogspot.com" My email address has "craftymandy" in it and for a lot of my different Internet stuff, my user name is "craftymandy." It is just kind of the name I have given myself, and it has really stuck. Sometimes I wish I would have re-thought my blog address and had it be more about my family. But I don't feel like I can change it now. I have been blogging for 3 1/2 years!!! Besides, my blog is written by me and only me. It is about my family, but in my words. So I guess it works.

The title of my blog is "All About the Lanes." I went with that because, well, I am a dork and I love the show Friends. All of the Friends episodes are titled with "the one about..." I have always liked that, so I copied it. Most things in my life are connected, one way or another, to an episode of Friends.

Here is a funny little story about my blog. I just got home on Saturday from a four-day 4H leadership conference. I met the funniest, coolest lady there. We started calling each other "my new bestie." We hung out a lot and she is just awesome. Her name is Judy. Anyway, we spent all of this time together. I emailed her today and my blog address appears on my signature at the bottom of my email messages. Judy noticed the address and decided to go look at my blog. She quickly emailed me back to tell me that she had snooped my blog and she had no idea I was married. She thought I was an old teenager or in my very early twenties!!! Flattering, I guess. I was sure to inform her that I am actually 32, been married for 13 years and have an 8 year old. It was funny. And sweet. And kinda weird.

the one about getting back into blogging

Truly, blogging os one of my favorite things ever. But sadly, I have gotten out of the habit. I have noticed that several of my bloggy friends have been doing a 30 day challenge. I thought it might be a good way to get back into it and help it become a habit again. However, I am afraid that committing to blog every day will probably overwhelm me. My cute friend Lindsay kinda said the same thing, so she inspired and reminded me that I can do whatever I want. It is my blog afterall! So I am just gonna modify the challenge a bit and hopefully it will work for all of us! I will occasionally post "Wordless Wednesdays" too. Sometimes, I just see something that kind of takes my breath away. Sometimes funny, sometimes tender and sometimes gross. So when I am feeling speechless (which isn't very often!) you will see it on Wednesdays! I also want to start "Mandy's pick of the week!" I have tons of stuff that I love and adore so I want to feature those things on my blog. I love my blog so much and even more, I love the people who follow it! So I am working on being a better blogger. I promise!

Today I am going to start with the first of my 30 post challenge.

Recent Picture of You and 15 Interesting Facts
I actually have a very recent picture of myself! I took this picture of myself on Friday evening in the back seat of a convertible mustang in St. George, Utah.
Interesting Fact #1: I love people. Really, I do. I believe that overall, people are good. People have good intentions and just want good things for themselves and their loved ones. Yes, I agree, there are some exceptions. But for the most part, everyone has good in their hearts and I love finding that. I believe that everyone has a story and I love to be able to hear it. I try to be kind to everyone. I am not always the best at this and I am certainly not perfect, but I know a little kindness goes a LONG way!

Interesting Fact #2: I love food! I love trying new things and experimenting with different tastes, textures and cultures. Not only do I love to eat it, but I also love to cook food. I consider myself a pretty good cook. I learned to cook from two of the best cooks I know.... My mom and my Great-Grandma Karren. Usually, I prefer my own cooking over a restaraunt. I live with two VERY picky eaters, so I try not to get to adventurous in the kitchen. When we go out, I LOVE to try different things. Almost everything I order at a restaraunt is seafood. Brett and Quayd hate seafood so I never get to have it at home.

Interesting Fact #3: I am left-handed. And I mean TOTALLY left-handed. I cannot do anything with my right hand. I use my hands for EVERYTHING so I get nervous thinking about what would happen to me if I broke or injured my left hand. It would be a sad day. I love my hands!!

Interesting Fact #4: I have such a soft spot in my heart for animals. Every kind! However, I am not a big fan of reptiles, bugs or birds.

Interesting Fact #5: I don't really care one bit about college sports. I know that is horrible to say and I will probably get hate mail over it, especially since March Madness is going on right now, but seriously. I just don't give a crap.

Interesting Fact #6: I really want to learn how to knit. My cousin Brooke knits all kinds of cool things and I think it is AWESOME!

Interesting Fact #7: I am SO happy to be involved with 4H. It is something that I just love! I am a teen council advisor and working with those kids is awesome. I also work with younger kids and I get to teach them skills that they can use forever. I was introduced to 4H a few years ago and it happened at a time that I really needed to feel involved somewhere. I seemed to be kind of loanly and "empty" right then. Feeling needed and accepted was HUGE for me. Life-changing, actually. I am so grateful for the people I have met and the skills I have aquired.

Interesting Fact #8: I love iced tea. Like, OBSESSIVLY love it. I rarely drink soda anymore. I just love iced tea (and water.) Incase you ever want to bring me an iced tea, I DO NOT LIKE IT SWEETENED!!! Just regular. Yummmy. :)

Interesting Fact #9: I play the mandolin. I learned when I was young, but haven't played for years. I have recently started playing again since Quayd has been taking banjo lessons and it is so much fun. I go over to my grandpa's and we just pick out tunes together.

Interesting Fact #10: I love having my hair played with.

Interesting Fact #11: I am creative. I don't mean to sound boastful, but I am. And I am proud of it! I love being able to create things. It's really pretty cool! I like to sew, scrapbook, paint and all kinds of other crafty things.

Interesting Fact #12: I HATE mornings. I hate everything about them. My alarm clock makes me SO mad every morning. Ugh. NOT A MORNING PERSON!

Interesting Fact #13: I love to travel!!! However, I hate driving to my destination. I get car sick, bored and so uncomfortable. I can't read or do anything in the car. I can only look at the road. :( Driving home from St. George this weekend nearly killed me. We finally put in a movie and I watched the whole thing while fighting back nausea.

Interesting Fact #14: I had 5 wisdom teeth! Two were on the top left side of my mouth. Weird. And kinda gross.

Interesting Fact #15: I am a total girlie-girl. I like to be pampered. I like dressing up for different occasions. I love make-up, purses, jewelry and things that smell nice. I love fashion and experimenting with different looks and styles. I like trying new things with my hair. Infact, right now, I have feather extensions! They are kind of different and weird, but I like them! (these are not mine, by the way)

Ok, so there it is. The first post of my challenge. It was kind of fun! Stay tuned for more posts!! :)