Christmas gift suggestions

"To your enemy, forgiveness.  

To an opponent, tolerance.  

To a friend, your heart.  

To a customer, service.  

To all, charity. 

 To every child, a good example.  

To yourself, respect.”

- Oren Arnold

I'm not surprised

I thought we had a semi-decent relationship going on and even envisioned a possible commitment in the near-distant future.  And then the inevitable occurred...life.  Doesn't it always?  It's a love/hate relationship we have, life and I.  I thrive on the busyness and anticipate its conclusion, all at the same time.

The commitment I was referring to was, to give a higher priority and greater consistency to documenting thoughts and memories of our little life.  So to portray effort toward my goal or commitment, I am "dropping in" to document these particular thoughts...

Today is Tuesday.

I slept three hours last night. 

I graduate on Friday.

I have three more finals left.

I'm grateful for a husband who will refrain from staring at me with a look of "who is this anxious, stressed, emotional woman with bags under her eyes?"  Instead he just looks at me lovingly and counts down the days until I'll "be a completely different person", free from the stress of school.

Thanks babe, you're the best.

Thoughts

This past week has been busy, similar to the preceding weeks.  I'm not writing to complain--that's not what this blog is for.  Although I have not decided or known what this blog is for yet, I know it is not for negativity.  However, I feel content expressing my acknowledgement of hectic and busy days because it reminds me that it is normal to have 'those days' or weeks for that matter.  It is an inevitable and bittersweet part of life.

Thankfully, it is because of the negative, difficult, and busy times in my life that I can better appreciate and recognize the simple joys and blessings in each day.  I don't have to be traveling Europe on lying on an exotic beach to have a good day {although I wouldn't pass up the opportunity either}.

Today I am grateful for the education I am receiving, despite the difficulties that inevitably arise while striving to excel in it.  I told my sister-in-law the other week that when I start to get overwhelmed with school, I just think of her and how much busier than me she must be.  You see, she's in medical school.  I would be lying if I said I wouldn't love to be in medical school right along with her.  But nobody asked, and, clearly I am not.  Maybe one day...

If I've learned anything about busy and stressful times, it is that no matter how hard they seemed in the moment, I've always appreciated them later in life.  Not only have I appreciated them, but I felt indebted to those experiences.  Without them I wouldn't be as prepared for the next busy time in my life.  How else can I learn and experience personal growth?  I hope I can continue progressing and learning, to eventually reach my potential--whatever it may be.

Now back to writing my research paper...

Kindness

Last week I saw this short video and it warmed me from the inside out.  I couldn't help but share it on this sabbath day.

Puppy + Snow

Within about twenty minutes, the grass went from clear and visible to covered in inches of fresh snow!  {I love fresh snow, it's so pretty!}  And we decided to let our pup run around in it...  It made for a fun and entertaining morning.

She loves to run...  I'd give the air on that leap about 7 out of 10

Tina and her friend Hazel

What happens after playing in snow for thirty minutes...snow balls get stuck in her fur!

After a bath trying to stay warm wrapped in a towel AND blanket...

Happy late halloween

Work with me here...  I know it's November 11th, but I am trying--so very hard--to 'catch up' somehow with our happenings, which inevitably puts me behind schedule.  I am aware.  And, I apologize.  I'm sure sometime in the future I'll be more on schedule...story of my life.

Anyway.  Unfortunately, we didn't do too much on halloween.  We had plans of carving pumpkins, dressing up {possibly}, making fun halloween-ish treats, going to haunted houses, and going trick-or-treating.  Ok, totally kidding about trick-or-treating...

So last minute, Halloween night, we decided we would go to a straw maze.  Sounds fun and festive, right?  Well, I kind of sort of didn't want to go because honestly, I get scared pretty easy and there is a possibility for potential bad dreams {yes, I am an adult, and yes I am afraid of having bad dreams}.  I guess I forgot to mention that after 7:30pm, the fun and festive straw maze becomes haunted!  Ah!  We ended up going pretty late, well past 7:30pm, with some friends to the haunted maze.  And I got a few pics with my phone!

Enter the straw maze if you dare...

I told the boys to "look tough or something!"...I think Chris is flexing and I think Z is folding his arms?

In other news... My sweet mother-in-law sent me fun halloween socks! Ha I love them...super soft and comfy, just what I love for Idaho's cold winters.  She sent Z some workout socks--they're awesome socks, just not soft and comfy like mine  :)

We finished off the night eating way too much candy, just like we were kids.  We were on a sugar high for about an hour, then felt sick to our stomachs and crashed {and unfortunately had to wake up early for classes the next morning}.  We don't ever eat it, so I guess you could say we're "light weights" when it comes to candy-eating.....happy {late} halloween!

Drama Queen

Quick background story...  My mom graduated in Musical Theatre and let's face it--it's her dream to be on broadway.  She'd kill for it.  Ok let's really face it, who wouldn't?  But really, she loves singing and acting and anything that could be slightly considered musical.  Oftentimes she would spontaneously break into song as my siblings and I would be cleaning, playing, swimming, watching tv, eating, basically anything.  She didn't need a reason or a stage or a mic, she would just sing.  The scariest part would be when you would suddenly hear the soft hum of background voices, which slowly evolved into backup singers--providing harmony for my mother's beautiful solo.  And the scariest part of that scariest part was that those backup singers, who unknowingly chimed in, were her children.  Us.  Ahhh!  Yes.  Yes if someone didn't know any better, they would have thought they walked into the Van Trapp family's home or for more modern times, a possible high school musical?   Surprisingly, and as embarrassing as it may sound, I loved it.  It was hilarious and it was awesome.  What a memory it is...

The point of my background story is that sadly, of the six children in my family, only one {really} took after my mother's musical talent and interest.  My sister Erica is not majoring in Musical Theatre, but she does sing and act and has real talent!  This past halloween Erica was the star of a 'Rock Opera', Deep Love.  It was incredible!

Here are a few pics from my phone of the night...  Also, my dad and younger brother Spencer were able to be in town for her performance!  It was a fun night of family, food, and entertainment.

It was Zuri's birthday the week before so we thought we'd let our server embarrass him and give him free ice cream, it was fun  :)  ps check out my steak kabobs with rice and veggies! love that dish.

Signing autographs!

More Autographs!   

Scary girls--part of the cast

Erica with friends who came to see the show

The three main characters in the 'Rock Opera'...to Erica's left is her creepy dead lover, and to her right is her new found love that abruptly ends when her dead jealous boyfriend finds out

He was part of the live band during the performance, he was amazing! 

 Just people who came to see the show and dressed up for the occassion

Funny part about this pic is that Matthew didn't even know I was taking a picture

 Scary dead-looking guy (an extra in the performance)

 Dead-looking guy insisting on me being in a picture with him

 I thought my dad's shoes were stylish, so I took a picture

 

 

 

 

 

Love you mom, thanks for the musical influence you have been in our lives!