Thursday, December 2, 2010

Happiness is...

Listening.

I've found that as I listen to the little voice inside of me, no matter how difficult it may be, I am happy.

The little voice might tell me to not eat any more of the donuts or Almond Joy's that are in my desk, or to stop checking and re-checking my e-mail and Facebook and instead get a little more work done, or to put the dishes away, or to make dinner, or to read a book, or to study the scriptures, or to write in my journal, or to go to bed...  All of these things are things the little voice tells me I should do instead of sitting around and being lazy.  Basically I find that I'm happy when I stop putting off the more important things I keep meaning to do.  I guess they have a name for this sort of thing - prioritizing.  (And not being lazy!)  And not only that, but putting less important things behind more important things.  A talk comes to mind, Elder Dallin H. Oaks' "Good, Better, Best" from the October 2007 General Conference.  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "Of Things That Matter Most" from October 2010 General Conference is also a goodie on this matter.  This is something we could all benefit from I'm sure!  I know I have.  I'm trying to be better at listening.  And even though it's hard sometimes, I find greater happiness in doing instead of doing nothing.

Gotta love the amazing gift of the Holy Ghost.  I would be so lost without Him.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Oh a cluster of things!

I am proud to be an American and grateful that I have the freedom and ability to VOTE!  It was Adam's first time this year, so we made documentation.  See our "I voted!" stickers?


Man, I can't wait 'til my face isn't puffy anymore.  I want to take pictures of us to capture the fun we're having in this time of our lives but I'm hesitant because my face makes me look ridiculous.  Oh well, it could be worse.


Last week I made a little something Adam calls "Biscuit Baskets," or also known as "Barbecue Biscuits."

Mmmm...  Are you ready for this?  It's super easy!  (I love those words when we're talking about making dinner by the way!)


Biscuit Baskets

Ingredients:
  • Regular sized cupcake pan
  • 1 1/2 lb. hamburger
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 cup barbecue sauce
  • 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
  • Worchestershire sauce
  • ketchup
  • mustard
  • 2 cans regular sized biscuits
  • shredded cheddar cheese
Preparation:
  • Preheat oven to 400o.
  • Brown hamburger and drain.  Lightly saltAdd onion powder, barbecue sauce, and brown sugar.  Sprinkle Worchestershire sauce, ketchup, and mustard - taste as you go to add the amount desired, not a lot.
  • Grease cupcake pan.
  • Open first biscuit can, take 2 biscuits out and flatten together.  Lay in cupcake pan and push in so it's secure.  Continue until you use all the biscuits in both cans.  Put in meat mixture.  Top with shredded cheddar cheese.
  • Bake at 400o for 10-12 minutes.
  • Enjoy!


The day of the 5K came and has gone (Nov 6).  I was reluctant, but I did it!  I ran (well actually jogged and sometimes walked) the 3 miles in about 40 or 45 minutes!  I think that was a pretty good accomplishment for me and my lack of running.  Now that I've done a 5K I don't ever have to do another one!  Haha.  Should've gotten a picture...  Oh well.



Things are coming along with my new business!  (Modestly Formal - http://www.modestrental.com/)  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you missed this post, check it out!  I haven't fully received any dresses yet, so if you want to be the first or second or third to help me out and donate a dress or two, please by all means feel free!  :)

I bought some car stickers for our windows for advertisement:


We shall see what fun this brings!  :)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Introducing!!

So a couple years ago I had an idea to gather together a bunch of modest prom dresses and rent them out to make the search for a modest formal dress in Tucson a little easier.

Well, the idea fizzled and withered, BUT it has come back to life!

I'm starting small but I have ambition to grow big!

Here's a little description:
(Sorry if you've already read this, I've posted it just about everywhere on Facebook!)

Modestly Formal is the name, and renting modest formal dresses is the game.
Some of you may remember a couple years ago me asking for your prom dresses for a rental service I wanted to start. Well, I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and really do it for reals! You can help by donating your old dresses that are wasting away in your closet, and/or by telling others about this great new service!
Check out the website: www.modestrental.com
Tell all your friends!
Thanks to all of you for your help and support with this new endeavor! :)
(Located in Tucson, AZ)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Update on the goals

I'm happy to report that I'm doing pretty well with my goals!

I've been getting to bed around 10, and most impressively (especially if you know me and how I like to sleep and NOT get out of bed :D) have been getting up around 6!  That's in the A.M.!  Last week it was more like 6:20 but this week it's more like 6.  And it feels good!

Also, I've been working out every day during the week.  And this week I started running in the mornings (yikes) to train for the 5K I decided to do which is in a month.  (Why?? I don't know.)  I switch off days running and working out on the Wii.  Gotta build those muscles!  So don't forget to let them rest.  :)

My current book of the month is House of Learning: Getting More from Your Temple Experience by M. Richard and Kathleen H. Walker.  It is such a wonderful book!  I'm really loving it.  I definitely recommend it, whether you've been "through" the temple or not.  It's a short little book and I'm getting through it pretty quick so I may be able to squeeze another into this month..  Or I may start reading one that is more lengthy and read it through November..  I haven't decided yet what the November Book of the Month will be but I'm thinking The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith.  I'm not going to buy any more books for a while till I at least get through the ones I own, and I also want to utilize the great resource of the library more.  That means I'll need to get my hands on this Joseph Smith book by way of persuasion...  Either someone close to me or the library...  Dun dun dun!  I actually sent in a request on the Pima County Library website for them to get it.  We'll see if they do!  They have other LDS material.  We shall see what comes of it.

For the last four days I've written in my journal EVERY DAY!  Aren't you so proud??  (We're allowed to say that we're proud in this sense, it's not being prideful.  President Uchtdorf discussed this in his priesthood session talk this past General Conference.  Very good talk.  I recommend you take a gander.)  I'm trying this out, writing every day.  It definitely makes journal writing less stressful when you write a little each day instead of having to "catch up" and write tons of things you've been meaning and wanting to write about but hadn't found (or made) the time.  Thumbs up on this one.  It makes me feel good!

My craft of the month is a continuation of something I've been working on for, well, a long time.  I started crocheting a UofA colored blanket for Adam almost a year ago...  Wow, a year ago??!  ALMOST a year ago.  I think I started it last December.  I haven't touched it in most of that time since...  So there isn't much to show for it and I still have a long way to go!  To be honest I put off the making of it because I'm intimidated by it.  I want to try to put a big University of Arizona "A" in the middle of the blanket.  But I'm scared I'm going to screw up and that it's going to be BUTT UGLY since there are so many yarn changes and measuring and yikes!  But I finally decided that I'm just going to go ahead and DO IT.  I'm pressing forward, saints!  Hopefully it all works out okay.  He's going to love it no matter what I'm sure, so I guess it's not really that big of a deal.  But I want it to look good, especially since he's probably going to keep it around forever.  By the way, I'm thinking about giving it to him as a Christmas gift...  Which means I can only work on it when he's not around...  This may be tricky.  Or maybe it just won't be a surprise.  Hmm.

Speaking of crocheting, this makes me think of the time at good ol' EAC when my roomies and I all got out our crochet projects and had a crocheting party in our little living area.  Good times.  :)

Shout out to Becky (soon to be Brimhall), Cheyenne (now Shepherd), and Stormy (now Garner).

Yeah for craft parties!!!

I'm doing pretty good on the other things as well (remember we're talking about goals here, I almost forgot too).  Haven't started the memorizing stuff yet.  I'll get around to it.  Lol!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Family Home Evening

Last night for family home evening Adam and I read through The Family: A Proclamation to the World and memorized two lines from it.  Our stake president asked us to memorize these lines four months ago when we met with him prior to us getting married...  Oops.  Better late than never I suppose!

"Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."
Amen to that!

Next week I want us to make a plan for putting together our 72-hour emergency kits and beginning our 3-month supply of food storage!  Hooray for preparedness!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Run run run!

So I learned in church today that our annual stake bbq will be held on Saturday, November 6th.  Along with this bbq (and games and entertainment and stuff...  It's going to be fun, you should come!) there will be a 5K run.  And for some cRaZy reason I've decided to join on this embarkation of running.  (Does that make sense?  Just go with it.)  I've never done a 5K.  I've had tiny slivers of wanting to do one, however.....  So here we go!  I'm a little nervous!  I have 4 weeks to train.  Yikes!  That means I'll be running every day (except Sundays of course) for a while starting tomorrow.  Ahhh.  Hello 6:00 AM.

Feel free to join me if you wish.

I think I want to make t-shirts.  I'm pretty sure I'll need the support!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

"Set backs" help us enjoy life

When I go to visit my GI doc I can't help but notice the "live your life" aroma that fills the place.  All the magazines have pictures on them of people with huge smiles on their faces, usually doing some fun-looking activity, and usually there is water or green grass in the background.  Today it made me think about the fact that we all have something that "sets us back" in our lives.  It could be a various medical issue, like Ulcerative Colitis like me, or a various emotional issue, or a various family issue, or whatever.  Whatever it is, it has the potential to bring us down and cause us to potentially not be happy about our lives.  As I continued to ponder on this I thought about those people in the pictures who look like they are really enjoying their surroundings and the varies titles of the magazines such as "Living with Crohn's Disease."  I believe that having problems, especially ones that are somehow or at some point life-threatening, helps us look more at our surroundings and have greater realization of our many blessings and the great beauties of the earth.  Each one of us has something that we deal with, but what a blessing it is to have that challenge to push through!  Yes, some days are more difficult than others, but it's the accomplishment of making it through each day and each trying period that can be that rising sun for us, and the motivation to push and make it through another.

Isn't life wonderful?  :)

So I'm feeling quite relieved after visiting with the doc today.  I was worried that whatever medication we ended up putting me on may be a cause for potential harm on a potential child in the future.  The medication they are trying to get me approved for (it's FDA approved for Crohn's disease, which is similar to Ulcerative Colitis, and a number of other things, but conveniently NOT for UC... yet) is called Cimzia.  The good news is that although there aren't extensive tests done on pregnant women, there have been no traces of the drug in the bloodstream of children whose mother was on Cimzia.  They believe that the drug does not cross the placenta, so the baby stays safe and drug-free.  The only problem, however, is that my insurance is denying my usage of this drug (stupid) probably because it hasn't been officially stated by FDA that it is okay for UC patients.  My doc is going to do another appeal, we'll see how that goes.  He told me though that he just found out about a study regarding UC and Cimzia and I may be eligible to participate...  That would be great!  Another plus of that would be that I wouldn't have to pay for it at all!  Hopefully one of these two options work out.  If not...  we'll just keep trying.  I'm currently on a steroid called Prednisone (which at this high dosage makes my face break out and puff up) which is only temporary, and we need to get me off of it.  This drug ain't a good one for long-term.  We're cutting my dosage in half now, thank goodness, now that my UC is under control.  So I need this in the mean time while we try to get this Cimzia thing worked out.  I feel bad and weird asking, but, prayers are always appreciated.


"It is my prayer and my blessing that when you look at your reflection you will be able to see beyond your imperfections and self doubts and recognize who you truly are, glorious sons and daughters of almighty God."
~ President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do."

Monday, October 4, 2010

A weekend get-away to Utah

Oh what a wonderful weekend!  Road trip, Utah, General Conference, family, and some nice relaxing time with my husband.  :)

Friday night was his mission reunion.  I got to meet his mission president and his wife, President and Sister Yardley.  They are so delightful!  Really great people.


We stayed at Adam's uncle's house in Kaysville.  Beautiful house!  Love the greeeeen yard!!  Great family!  We didn't think to snap any pics with them though.  :(


We got to go to the Saturday morning session of Conference.  :)


The Salt Lake Temple is so beautiful!


The bagpipe guy who always plays at Conference time!  He is so awesome!


My most attractive husband.  :)


We decided to split up the drive home.  This is the cute little motel we stayed at in Hatch, UT.  I would totally stay there again!



And this is what we faced while taking the above pictures.


I don't even know what to say about this other than "hahaha."



I feel refreshed and renewed after the many inspiring messages given this Conference weekend.  I feel a new sense of responsibility and cheerfulness about it, and I am so excited about life!  There are always things to be tweaked but things are good and I'm eager to do the tweaking and work on my goals!  I can't wait for Conference to come out on cd and to read them all again in the Ensign!  Hopefully our double Conference issue subscription will start coming to us this month!!

You can watch the broadcasts on the new General Conference website!  So cool!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Goals goals goals!

Goals are important.  They help us progress and be better and just feel like we're doing something with our lives!  Which is why it's important to have both long and short term goals.  Because seeing no results can be frustrating and depressing.

MY GOALS (either already made and in process or recently made and newly in process):
  • To bed by 10:00pm
  • Out of bed by 6:30am
  • Work out for at least about 15-30 minutes at least 3 or 4 days a week (on Wii Fit!)
  • Read at least one book every month
  • Make dinner a couple times a week
  • Get better at playing the hymns on the piano
  • Attend the temple at least once a month
  • Study in the scriptures every day
  • Write in my journal more often, like once a weekish
  • Be more involved, go to activities
  • Be crafty once a month
  • Memorize the 100 mastery scriptures
  • Memorize the Articles of Faith
  • Memorize the Relief Society Theme
  • Memorize The Living Christ
  • Memorize The Family: A Proclamation to the World
  • Work on family history at least once a month
  • Food storage!
  • Get our 72 hour emergency kit together
  • Work on learning Spanish...  Rosetta Stone
  • Drink more water!  For starters I'm trying for at least: one glass in the morning before work, one bottle at work, and one glass at home before I go to bed.
  • Be more careful not only about what I eat but when and how much

I think that about covers it?  I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting.  Look at all this fun stuff to do!!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Remembering Derek, especially today.

Today marks the day when my cousin Derek passed away from cancer last year.  He was 31 years old.  We miss him.  I miss him.  I regret being so far away.  He was a good cousin.  We were buds.  I could have been better.  I hope I was good enough.  You live and you learn.

I'm grateful to know of the Plan of Salvation, Heavenly Father's eternal plan for us to return to Him.  My gratitude is full toward the Savior who with the Atonement made it possible for us to be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father through repentance.  I'm glad to know that this life isn't the end, and that there is purpose for our being here on the earth.  And what a beautiful earth He has made for us!  We have been blessed with so much.

Life certainly is precious, and sacred.  Nothing should be taken for granted.  Each of us deserves love and respect just like any son or daughter of a king.  Which is precisely what each of us is.  God is our Father, we here on earth are his spirit children, and oh the divine potential we possess!  Let us strive to live up to it each day!  Oh how grateful I am to the Savior who makes up for the rest when my best isn't enough.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Look at me being crafty!

First let me show you my fall decoration.

TADA!


Cute, eh?  I'm proud of it.  I bought each piece separate and put it together!  I confess that my mom helped a little.  I'm not much of a decorator but I want to learn!  And while the cash ain't rollin' in just yet, I'm going to keep it small and simple.  Which is why I went to the dollar store.  Three of these items were $1 and two were $.50.  :)

And I wanted something Halloween-y so I got this (for a dollar):


Being festive is fun.  :)


Alsoooooo...  The Mia-Maids (14-15 year-old girls) in my ward (church) asked me to be on a dating panel for them for mutual (youth group).  Cute huh!  The lesson is on the law of chastity and being clean to enter the temple and stuff.  This is something that is SOOOOOOOOOOOO important, especially for the youth.  And especially in a world that right now is so vastly wicked and sinful.  Because we have to be clean to be able to enter into the Temple, the Lord's holy house, which is where we are sealed to our families and to the Lord forever!  So not only have I been fervently praying to be able to share my thoughts and feelings and to be able to know the things they need to hear, I wanted to make them something.  This is what I came up with:


A picture of the Mesa Arizona Temple with the 3rd verse to the Hymn "More Holiness Give Me" underneath which says: "More purity give me, more strength to o'ercome, More freedom from earth-stains, more longing for home. More fit for the kingdom, more used would I be, More blessed and holy, more, Savior, like Thee." and the scripture from Proverbs 31:10, which you should be able to read in the picture so I won't repeat myself.


It's real simple, and I feel a little silly.  But I hope they like them.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I think I've finally found my happy place

It's really hard to find the words to say sometimes.  Converting feelings into words isn't so easy!

I feel like I've been filled with such great joy in the last little while, something I've been lacking for too long.  Funny how things happen and then you realize that it's an answer to your prayers!  Heavenly Father DOES hear us and he DOES answer us, in His own way and time, which seems most of the time to be something different than what we think it will be.  But it is always good, and better I'm sure!  Adam and I made our monthly visit to the Temple last night.  It is so beautiful.  I had a wonderful experience there, as always.


Looks like my camera lens needs a cleaning.  Annndd maybe next time we'll take the picture during the day so our faces aren't blurry! (dang it)


ON THE MENU!  Chicken Pillows!  These are so yummy.  I love them so much!  I forgot to take a picture of the masterpiece the night of the dinner so I captured the goodness in left-over form (which is just as tasty, don't be fooled!).


And then when I ate it for dinner the next day I took the opportunity to get the true feel of the meal on film.


This picture was actually taken before I heated it up...  But I guess you would never know the difference if I hadn't told you!  Oh well.  Just imagine it hot.  Yummm.  :)

The recipe goes as follows (makes 8 pillows):

For the pillows:

In a bowl, combine a cup or two of cooked shredded or cubed chicken* with an 8 ounce package of cream cheese (which you can leave out on the counter for a while or stick in the microwave to soften it up for easier mixing) and a cup of shredded cheese (I use cheddar but I guess you can use whatever kind you want, depending on the taste you're going for!).  Mix it good.  You can add some garlic salt and pepper for extra taste if desired.

Using one can of crescent roll dough, separate into the already perforated triangles.  Lightly smash each triangle out a little bit as to stretch them out a little, but not too much, you don't want them to rip!  Place a spoonful of your chicken/cheese mixture on each triangle and stretch the remaining dough over the mixture to cover it up and make into a "pillow."  Dip each pillow first in some melted butter or margarine and second in bread crumbs (I like Italian flavored bread crumbs, just sayin').

On a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray, place your pillows!  Stick it in the oven, pre-heated to 350 degrees, for 15 or so minutes.  They should be brown on the outside when they are done!

*The way I cook the chicken is by cutting it up into small (but not too small) pieces and putting it in a pot of water on the stove: bring to a boil then turn down to a low heat for 15-20 minutes.  Season the water with salt and pepper or whatever -- I like to use garlic salt and lemon & pepper seasoning salt.  (Extra tip:  Save this broth you just made to use in the gravy!)

For the gravy:

You can use one or two cans of Cream of Chicken Soup.  Only add half a can of water (or milk!) for each can of soup you use.  A yummy tip is to use the broth made from cooking the chicken as your water for the gravy.  Heat up and serve over pillows!

Enjoy!


Relief Society broadcast tonight!  So excited!


A few quotes for your enjoyment:
"Lack of forgiveness is like injecting yourself with poison and waiting for the other person to die."
(I don't know who said this)
"Just like everything in this gospel, it's never about skill, it's about obedience.  Because if we are obedient, God can do anything he needs with us, but he can't work through the disobedient."
-Elder Weslin Pullen, missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ currently serving and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of the Philippines-

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
Walt Disney

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Lots of happy things!

Alright, let's see here...

We updated our walls!  Probably about a month after the wedding we put up an "F" and it took a lot out of us so it's been lonely ever since...


But now we put up the wonderful painting Grandpa Gene Coltrin painted for us:



And I finally got a beautiful picture of Christ and also The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and The Living Christ documents (yayayay!):



And this cute little number:


I'm still working on getting my wedding wall worked on.  And I need to figure out what picture of the temple I'm going to put where...  Those are the next items on the Wall To-Do List!  I am happy that I am making progress.  :)


NEXT!  I make dinner every so often, and Adam is happy that he doesn't have to eat the same thing over and over and over again.  This week I made Hawaiian Haystacks!  My first time.  I've never made rice on my own before and I was home alone when I started making this so I ended up cooking the whole bag of rice.  It wasn't a big bag but it made a lot of rice!  It came out well though.  Adam says that it's better to make more than to make it bad!  I like it!  For those of you who don't know how to put together Hawaiian Haystacks (because that's essentially what you do, put it together) here's how it goes:
  • rice
  • gravy made from Cream of Chicken
  • sprinkled with Chow Mein Noodles
  • topped with pineapple chunks
  • and your choise of an assortment of things such as shredded cheese, mandarin oranges, coconut shreds, chopped onions, peppers, celery, tomatoes, olives, peas, nuts, etc.!
Adam also likes chicken or ham added to it (unless you use a chunky chicken gravy! or you could do both)



Easy peasy.


ALSO!  We bought a car!  Finally!  After searching and searching we at last located the car we wanted.  It's a 2003 Honda Civic EX.  Woohoo!  We have two cars!  I feel like a real grown up making such a large purchase.




ANNNNDDDDD!  The U of A game!


What a great game!!  And we got to be there for it.  ALL the way up on the second to last row!  We had a great view though on the 45.  We could see all the awesome action!




We got there super early to beat crazy traffic and to get a spot in the Institute parking lot and to cheer on the players at the Wildcat Walk.  It was cool!  There were tons of people! 


We got there at a perfect time so we were right up front.  Adam got to high-five all the players!  I'm sure he was in heaven. 

 (This is where a video of Adam slapping the hands of all the UofA players
should be but I can't get it to load.. It might be too big.)

Bear down Arizona!


And this is us being happy after we WON a fantastic game:



Yeah!

We finally got home, exhausted, around 12:30.  And had church early at 9am.  But it was worth the fun and good times!  But I would rather not do that every weekend....  :D

Friday, September 3, 2010

The evil attack of the dishwasher

Another glass down.

It kind of looks like Chip from Beauty and the Beast!  Maybe I will keep it as my special friend.

These are my favorite and our dishwasher keeps destroying them!!!  This is the second glass it has managed to sever.  Our nice set of 8 tall and 8 short beautiful glasses (which we bought from Wal-Mart for $10!) is now down to 7 and 7...

Well at least it's even now.

:(

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Today I feel very blessed...

...because I am.

There are so many things to be grateful for!

1. My job.  The fact that I HAVE a job in this economy is great to begin with.  But I have such a wonderful job!  I feel silly when I say I work for my mom but she is the best employer.  Good pay, flexible hours, fun, convenient.  I am so blessed!

2. My husband.  He is so wonderful!  He is so good to me.  I can tell he just loves me so much.  He is a good, hard-working person and I am proud to help put him through school (with my great job that I'm blessed with!) so he can be a successful businessman as an architect and support our family.

3. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  What an amazing gift.  Life just makes sense (for the most part) and I know what great things lie ahead.  The Savior helps me so much through all the walks of life, I couldn't ask for a better Friend.  I would be so lost without Him and His Gospel.  I'm so grateful to know who I am, that I am  divine and a daughter of God and that my soul is of GREAT worth, and that the blessings which await the faithful after this life are so incredible that I can't even imagine how wonderful it will be.  Having this knowledge gives me so much peace and joy.  Every day is special.  What a wonderful life!

4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The organization of the Church is such a great blessing!  It makes available so many wonderful things.  The support system from the Prophet up top down to the ward families, which includes home and visiting teachers, is so small thing.  There are always so many people around you that love you and are willing to help out no matter where in the world you are.

5. My family.  Every family has their dysfunctions, but when it comes down to it I know they are there for me when I need some back-up.  And I know deep down they really do love me.  Isn't that just great?
Of course these are in no order of rank.

I have a good life.  :)


"Let us be no more tossed to and fro by every worldly wind and doctrine of man (see Ephesians 4:14). We declare to the world that the heavens are open and the truth of God's eternal plan has again been made known to mankind. We live in the dispensation of the fulness of times. We live in a day when we have the witness through the scriptures of the great plan the Lord has given to His children from the beginning of time down to this present and last dispensation. The evidence is well documented; we are not left alone to wander through mortality without knowing of the master plan which the Lord has designed for His children. He has bound Himself by solemn covenant to give us the blessings of heaven according to our obedience to His law. Oh, remember, remember that these things are true, for the Lord God has revealed these eternal truths unto us."

- Elder L. Tom Perry -

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I love rain and lightning and thunder!

A perfect day for a pensive post.

I've been having a hard time some days lately feeling a purpose.  I know I'm preparing to eventually become a mother one day and I try to keep up with the little things to be doing that.  But what else in the mean time?  We are NO WAY ready to have kids yet, although I feel like when we do start having kids I will feel more like I have real meaning in my life, like I'm actually doing something worthwhile.  But then that makes me worried that when they eventually grow up I'm going to be left again without anything to do!  I'm sure that's not true though.  I'll probably have developed good hobbies and strings by then.  But still.

But I just don't know what to do with myself.  It seems as if my days pretty much consist of going to work and cleaning up the apartment.  I have books that I've been wanting to read so I'm trying to read more, and that helps me keep my sanity.  Reading helps me appreciate thinking outside myself and have meaningful thoughts.

I guess I don't have much to look forward to...  I've completed some of the "big milestones" of life: graduate from college, GET MARRIED...  After planning extensively for a wedding I guess my life seems pretty dull!  Maybe it's just the sudden contrast.  Maybe I'm having planning withdrawls!  It wouldn't surprise me; I like to plan.  I was one of the Activities Committee co-chairs in the singles ward before I got married.  My calling is in the Primary now where I get hardly any adult interaction and I don't have a clue what's going on in Relief Society and it doesn't seem like my ward does anything anyway.

I'm not complaining...  I have a good life and things are going well for me and for us.  Adam started yesterday at the UofA and he's working toward an Architecture degree.  He is going to do so well!  I'm just getting bored with my own track I suppose.  I don't know what to do with myself!

I'm trying to do new things and keep up on little things I should be doing, and trying to be cheerful and willing in everything that I need to do.  Let's face it, we need to ENJOY our lives!  I'm trying to do just that.

I'm going to go read a book.  :)
 "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.-

UPDATE NOTE (10:02 PM):

I feel good about life!  I love listening to the words of the prophets.  I need not worry, I just need to do.  I finally contacted my ward mission leader to go out with the sister missionaries in my ward.  I'm nervous!  I've wanted to go out with them for a while now, and there must be good reason, so I need to, and so I am.  I'm excited.  :)  Our purpose in life is to make it back to our Heavenly Father, who loves us so.  Our second purpose is to help those around us to make it back too.  We can't do it all, but we need to do what we can.  Meet a need one at a time, as Elder Christofferson taught us on Sunday.  Jesus Christ lives!  And we CAN be happy NOW.  :)
"I pray, I get an answer, and I do it."
-Stephanie Nielson-

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Kitchen Shenanigans

So since becoming a wife, if one hasn't already done so one begins to learn to be a cook.  Gotta love the bumps along the way!

I just gotta say that I'm happy we now have a fully-functional toaster.  We got one as a wedding present -- didn't pop up.  Adam made black, smokey toast the first time we used it.  Yum!  The second toaster came with the pop thing broken off AND it didn't stay down.  The third and final toaster (for now), which by the way is a different brand and from a different store, works wonderfully.  The timer works, it pops up with nice golden brown toast, I love it.  I also love that I don't have to use the oven to try to toast things, which brings me to my next point...

I don't remember what I was making, but it was something that I wanted to toast some bread.  I thought I would try using the oven, not broil, since maybe that would make it toast better and more even instead of just on one side like broil would do.  So I put the bread in the oven.  When I check the bread, I flip them over to see how the other side is cooking.  I didn't think to pull out the rack, however I did use an oven mit.  First piece, successful.  Flipped.  Second piece, not so successful.  I proceeded to drop the bread through both the oven racks and directly onto the burner.  Can you guess what happened?  The bread caught on FIRE!  Whoops.  My first thought was to throw water on it (you know, they always teach you growing up to throw water on a fire to get it out!), but I remembered a previous experience that reminded me not to, and I'll get to that in a sec.  I just blew it out and pushed it with a spatula into the oven and off the burner.  Oops!  I'm glad I have a toaster.

About a week previous to this bread catching on fire in the oven, we had another kitchen fire.  A real, could-have-burned-the-place-down fire.  I think I was making spaghetti, heating up some noodles on the stove in a big pot.  A few minutes later my pot is on fire!  Okay, pots don't burn fire.  But there must have been some goodies under the burner because they were burning good!  This is my favorite part:  I peeked around the corner to Adam who was sitting at his computer and said with a big smile, "Umm, the stove is on fire."  Haha.  He came to my rescue and blew it out.  There is still some evidence on the microwave, which sits directly above the stove.  We still haven't used that burner.  Maybe it's time to clean it, or get new ones.  Maybe.

My last fiasco for now is my attempt to make ranch from one of those packets.  I made it the other day and hadn't looked at it until today.  It looked a little goopy, which I thought would probably be fine.  But when I tasted it.......  It's basically Miracle Whip with some extra flavor.  Haha!  I tried to imagine eating it with something I would put ranch on, but I'm just not so sure about it.  It doesn't even run at all; it gooped into the container I put it in.  I followed the directions on the package....  I don't know what happened.  Maybe I should use a different kind of mayo?  Hopefully next time will be more successful!



That's all for the shenanigans.  I'm sure there will be much more to come.  :)

Monday, August 2, 2010

I guess this is what I get for thinking nothing is happening in my life...

Adam broke his foot!

Yes.  It's broken.  It's really dumb how it happened.  Okay well, maybe not THAT dumb!  He was playing water basketball on Saturday with some friends, no big deal they do it all the time.  He was standing on a step in the pool and jumped into the shallow end -- a distance of about 3 feet probably -- and just landed on it bad.  Oops!  And it is very. broken.


Since I've been taking care of my sweet husband I keep kind of forgetting that he is my husband, a capable and competent adult, not my child who needs constant supervision and care and reminding of how and when to do things.  I find it a little strange that I'm feeling this way!  I think my mother instincts are kicking in.  I take it as a good sign.  I'm so excited to have kids to take care of and love and cherish someday!!

So not only do we have this crazy broken foot to throw a wedge in our days, but Adam has been without insurance since he got dropped off his parents' when we got married 2 months ago.  Saturday night we knew we needed to get his foot x-rayed to see what the problem was so we went in to urgent care Sunday morning anyway.  But we only had a $30 co-pay??!  Turns out Adam is STILL on his parent's insurance.  Phew!  But then, was he truly allowed to be?  We are looking at thousands of dollars to be paid here in the next week or so with the surgery and facility fees and getting his foot all fixed up...  We searched out many options and talked about a lot of things with his parents and my parents...   Adam's dad called him early this morning after doing extensive research and told him that Adam is still good on their insurance through August 31st, as the renewal date is September 1.  !!!  What a blessing!!!  Definitely did not expect that one!  I feel so undeserving though, I've been procrastinating getting our tithing checks written out and handed off...  We just have so much to catch up on.  But it's no excuse!!  But don't worry, I'm taking care of it THIS WEEK.

Was that too much info?  Well, the point is that the Lord is very VERY aware of us and our needs.  We would have been able to handle everything either way, though one way would have been a good chunk of our money bye-bye.  But we are trying to live our lives right and do what we are supposed to do.  If we try our best to do our part, He WILL take care of us.  He will.  He always does.

"Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you."
- Madeline Bridges -

"One can never tell what will be the result of faithful service rendered, nor do we know when it will come back to us or to those with whom we are associated. The reward may not come at the time, but in dividends later. I believe we will never lose anything in life by giving service, by making sacrifices, and doing the right thing."
- Heber J. Grant -

Friday, July 30, 2010

Hello to the blogging world!

I decided I needed something new!  Hellooooo blogging!

I'm trying to find things to do that I enjoy and that help me be excited about life.  I can only work on family history stuff for so long in one sitting!  I think I need things to help me be more dedicated...  Like I'm going to play soccer again this season, but for fun on the C league so I can feel good about myself, ha.  I'm also thinking about taking a dance class or two at Pima this semester.  I like to dance and I want to learn.  I just get discouraged sometimes because I feel like I don't know what the heck I'm doing!  But just like with anything in life you have to start where you are and keep learning!

Also in the meantime I'm going to develop skills that will be useful when I eventually become a mother (yay!).  Such as making dinners, being crafty, getting better at playing the piano, writing in a journal even!  And this can count as working on that I think.  :)  And just plain having fun!

Speaking of having fun, my cousin Trista and I sang the National Anthem at the Diamondbacks game at Chase Field last Thursday!

These are all our groupies who got to come onto the field with us and this was our personal conference room where we waited, complete with water and a bathroom.
My mom took video of us and put it up on youtube.  In about another week we'll get pictures and video from the Chase Field people.


:)
"You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make."
- Gordon B. Hinckley -