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 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 the fair

We LOVE the County Fair! We look forward to it all year. We love the concerts, the exhibits, the food, and of course the CARNIVAL!
It seemed like our family was at the fair the whole week this year! I am a 4H leader so I was asked to take a few shifts working "security" for the indoor home, arts & crafts exhibits. Brett helped with the fireman's challenge and there were just so many fun things happening so Quayd wanted to be there every minute. He visited the little red barn, participated in the candy drop and played at the carnival nearly every day. He also worked very hard this year and made some projects for the 4H exhibit. He is not an official 4H member until he goes into the third grade (in 4 more days) or turns 8 (in 9 days) so he wasn't able to compete or place for state judging this year, but he earned rainbow "Cloverbud" ribbons for all of his projects.




On Saturday, before the demolition derby, my mom and I took Brayden, Brennen and Quayd to the carnival. We all had so much fun! I started not feeling well after a couple of hours, so I had to leave a little early, but not before getting some great pictures!!!

the one about a quickie to the city

On Thursday evening while taking my trash cans to the street, I stopped and chatted with Danette, who was doing the same thing as me. We decided it would be fun to take the kids out to Salt Lake City to the State Fair on Friday and Saturday. Brayden had entered some 4-H projects in the county fair, and some of them went to the state level. We wanted to go see those things as well as have fun playing at the fair. The Brooks' go every year. Quayd and I had never been, but we will be sure to go in the future! We also needed to do some shopping for The Country Bear, so it just worked out perfectly. It was very last minute and impulsive of us, but we went and had a blast! Brett and Brandon were busy with work so it was just the moms and the boys. We drove out on Friday afternoon and went straight to the hotel to check in, then to the fair. We played at the fair until they shut off the lights! We were having so much fun we hated to leave. We slept in on Saturday morning, had breakfast and went shopping. We went to several places for The Country Bear and then we hit the mall. We also had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. We were headed for home by 6:00 that night. It was a fast trip, but very well worth it. Here are a few highlights of our trip.

These were at the Division of Wildlife Resources booth at the State Fair.


Check out my little daredevil! He is a ride junkie!!! Just like me. I LOVE RIDES!!! I rode every single ride with the kids. Danette is not a huge ride fan so she just watched, but the boys and I were die hards!!! This ride took you way up high, then just dropped you! I LOVE Brayden's face in this one!
This next ride was called the Moby Dick. It went really high and went around and around. This was probably our favorite ride there. I lost my shoe on it one time though, but the nice carney-workers stopped the ride and got my shoe for me!

Who doesn't love the tilt-a-whirl!?!?

I never could get very good pictures of the big slide... but it sure was fun!
I don't have any pictures from Saturday, because, according to the kids, it was a BORING day. We just shopped. and shopped. and shopped. Of course Danette and I thought it was lots of fun!

I am so glad I have such a fun sister-in-law. We have gotten so close over the last few months and I am so happy for that! Of course, I have the best nephews in the whole world and I am proud to be their favorite aunt. (Ask them... They will tell you I am their fave!! The better, anyway!! ;))Our kids are close and love each other so much. How lucky are we to have some of our best friends/family as next-door-neighbors!?!?!