My List of 22

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My family was able to come up and we had Thanksgiving with my great grandma, and my grandparents. We also took family pictures (woot woot!). Needless to say, it was a great weekend, jam packed, but so relaxing and definitely the break I needed to power through the rest of the semester.

Anyway, I've seen everyone's posts on facebook everyday about some things they are grateful for. I had this thought that for Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, all that good stuff that I would take the time to reflect on the things I am truly grateful for. 

THANKSGIVING + GRATITUDE = the BEST holiday in the ENTIRE world

1. My husband: I'll try to keep this one simple, because I could dedicate an entire blog to the little things that he does each and every day to make me fall more and more in love with him. He's my rock, and my best friend, and I don't know what I would ever do without him, and what I ever did do without him. 

2. My family: Enough said. Without them, I would not be here today. I owe everything I am to them and everything they have ever given me. I will spend the rest of my life trying to show them how much I really do appreciate them and everything they have done for me.

3. My in-laws: I could not have asked for better in laws. Seriously, they are amazing. I have the two best sister in laws a girl could ask for, and I wish the three of us could take a little vacation together. We'd have a ball. I have a great brother in law, and the two cutest nephews IN THE ENTIRE world. 

4. My nephews: Well, they really are just the cutest thing in the entire world. Seriously, Kason is this little spit fire that I miss so so much. You never realize how much you love them, until they move some 3000 miles away. Thank goodness for Skype. And Camden, oh man he's just the cutest chubby baby, and has such a personality. Ahh I love them!

5. My education: I am so blessed to be able to pursue a career that I so desperately desire, and a career that would be able to provide for my family should the need arise. 

6. The school I attend: where I can learn the Healer's art and incorporate the gospel freely into my nursing practice. I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to take religion classes from teachers who have dedicated their lives to the study of them. I have learned so much about the scriptures and I come home with all this information and I just can't wait to share it with Dan as soon as I come home!

7. Dan's job: He loves his job, and it more than provides for us. It was the greatest blessing that he even got it in the first place, but the fact that he loves the people he works with and really enjoys being there every day is just an answer to so so many prayers.

8. Financial stability: Seriously, enough said. 

9. The holiday season: I love love love this time of year because I get to remember all the things I'm grateful for and especially remember my Savior. I love temple lights. I love Thanksgiving. I love Christmas music. I love Christmas trees. I love the idea of a "white Christmas." I love ornaments. I love tree lights. I love it all. 

10. The ward we live in: We had a pretty great ward when we lived in Provo, and I was afraid that anything else would pale in comparison. Fortunately, I was wrong. We have a fabulous ward, and a phenomenal bishop (who conveniently lives next door) and everything is just great.

11. The home we live in: We found it on KSL. It was perfect. We have awesome landlords and a cozy little place that we love. Seriously, I love it.

12. My health: I really don’t know what else to say. I am so grateful that I have great health and that I have been able to do everything I have ever wanted, and not be held back by my health.

13. My faith: I don’t know where I would be without it. Really. It is what gets me through the day, especially when the days are really really hard and I feel like I’m losing everything.

14. Our two functioning cars: This one is pretty self explanatory too. I am so grateful that we have cars, especially that work well enough to take us home, and on vacations. It was such a blessing to find the second one. HUGE blessing, and I’m so grateful that we were able to find it, and have the means to purchase it.

15. My friends in the nursing program: I really don’t know what I would without these lovely ladies. Seriously, I’m pretty sure that we keep each other sane, because one of us  has always got it together, and helps the rest of us that are freaking out to get control of it.

16. My two best friends: I am so grateful that I can call each of them at a moment’s notice and they are there. They listen, we gossip, we laugh, and I’m so incredibly grateful for the friendship and sisterhood we share together. I can’t wait for the day when we live in the same state again. It’ll be parties every other weekend!

17. My temple marriage: This means more than I will ever be able to express. I am so grateful that we were both worthy for us to be there. I’m so grateful for the blessing it has been in my life, and for all the blessings that we have been promised for being in the right place at the right time.

18. The scriptures: They provide so much comfort at the most unexpected times, and in the most unexpected places. I take them so much for granted, and I’m working on developing a better relationship with the scriptures.

19. The food on my table: I’m so grateful for the means to take care of our family, and for the food that sits on my table day in and day out. I can remember back when we were very first married (because it was SOOO long ago) and there was a time when it was hard to get food on that table. I look back on that, and I am so grateful for the blessings we have been provided with to make this simple gift possible.

20. Prayer: Provides so much peace, in this crazy crazy world. It allows me to communicate with my Heavenly Father, and express myself to the person who completely, and fully understands.

21. The Prophet: He gives so much direction and provides guidance in this crazy messed up world we live in, and he still offers so much wisdom. I’m so grateful that he is still so positive and happy. It helps me to remember to be happy.

22. My Savior: He is my rock, and my salvation. And I will never complete anything in this life worthwhile without His help, love, and guidance.

There's the grateful list that I've been wanting to write for quite some time now. 

The mystery of the dissolving chicken bones

So...funny story. Lately, we have been buying the chicken thighs from Costco instead of chicken breasts (1/2 the price for the same amount of meat!). Anyway, of course they have the bones in the things. No big deal, you just cut them out. Well, I made a crock pot meal yesterday for dinner and just threw in the chicken without cutting out the bones because I was
#1. too lazy to do it right then, and
#2. I figured it would be way easier to cut off the bone when the meat had been slow cooked.
Well, I started to shred the chicken and could find no bones to speak of. Literally strained the entire crock pot full of juices hunting for the bones. After we finished eating, we had only come up with a few small fragments of cartilage. So naturally I came to the conclusion that the bones must have dissolved in the crock pot because I definitely had NOT cut them out of the meat and I could not find anything that even remotely resembled a bone in the crock pot. Today, I was making dinner (chicken again--we eat a lot of that stuff around here) and I pull out the chicken to cut out the bone...only get this: they are BONELESS thighs. So folks, bones definitely DO NOT dissolve in crock pots. The mystery has been solved

Back in the saddle again

I feel like this will be a recurring cycle in my life. I hope that at least this time I will be able to maintain some sort of control over this cycle and stay in it for quite a bit longer (ideally the rest of my life). I went to the gym today. GASP. Anddddd ran 1.6 miles. Woot woot!

So before you get all "what's the big deal," here's the big deal:
1. I haven't seen the inside of the gym in months (literally)
2. I have way more stress and anxiety in my life than I can handle
    -PROOF: I started balling in my wound care pass off this morning. Can we talk about embarrassing?
3. I just want to feel good, and feel some sort of confidence again.
4. One of my best friends is getting married on Friday, which means lots of pictures. And I know that one week of exercising really won't make that much of a difference, but at least I will FEEL good about myself. And that kind of confidence totally carries over into pictures.

So I'm back in the saddle again. 1.6 miles down. Pretty freaking rough, but better late than never. And why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?

Any pump up running song suggestions would be much appreciated. I still want to run a 5 k on Thanksgiving...even if it takes me an entire hour!

Abide with me

In lew of the recent election results, it would not be too far fetched to say I haven't been in the best of moods. Okay, I'll be honest, I voted for Romney...but in the back of my head I always kind of felt like it wouldn't work out. It would be too good to be true. After all, these are the days that try men's souls, and when men's heart's shall fail them.

Aside from all that, it's been a pretty hectic week or two with school, just generally feeling behind and not on top of things. So that's adding quite a bit more stress and anxiety. Now I should probably start considering that the next 4 years will be less than ideal. But I have faith. I have faith that the Lord will provide a way, that this is what is supposed to happen, and that for whatever reason, this is to be the enduring trial of faith. I didn't pick him, I didn't elect him president, but somewhere, someone else did because they believe in him. This is the reality, that we're in for another four years.

I saw this on a friend's post (I think it came from the Church's official press release about the results of the election) that we need to now pray for our president, that he will make decisions in the BEST interests of our country, pray that he receives guidance and direction, pray that the legislature will be able to make decisions for our country and come to agreements. Pray, and have faith.

Things will be alright in the end. If it's not alright, it's not the end.

One of the lines from a Church hymn that I absolutely love, Abide with Me, came to mind on Tuesday, long  before the results were in, and it has since given me great comfort.

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord...abide with me.

And to be honest, I'm not worried (this could be a moment of strength that will pass, but I surely hope not). It doesn't look like a bright and ideal future, but that's what I've been given, and I for one am going to do my very best to make that future "as bright as my faith." (Thomas S. Monson)

Date Night

Dollar movie theater + Dark Knight Rises + the best husband in the ENTIRE world = one fantastic date night.

Let's just say today has been pretty successful.
I'll break it down for you
1. Got an A on my nursing test (woot woot!!)
2. Hair cut (3.5 much needed inches off the bottom)
3. Sanded the benches
4. Stained the benches (and now my entire house smells like it...I forgot to close the door. Woops)
5. Went to see Dark Knight Rises with my mister.
   -This last point was definitely the highlight of the night. No small joke. We've been meaning to see this since the summer when it came out, but we were in Aurora where the shooting was, and not that I'm superstitious, but I really didn't feel like seeing Dark Knight in Colorado. Didn't really feel right. Anyway, it was definitely worth the wait, and I already want to see it again. It will probably be a stocking stuffer for Dan, which I informed him would really just be a gift to myself.

Basically, I love Batman, and the Dark Knight Rises was so freaking epic. I can't even put it into words. Go see it.