What a Wonderful Week!

It was my spring break this past week and boy was I ready for a break! We sure had a lot of fun and played hard. We were busy with something each and everyday. It was great to get my mind of the craziness of school and I had a small taste of soon to be summer. I apologize in advance this may be a long post.

Day 1: Wicked
Back in October we heard that Wicked was coming to Salt Lake and so we found an awesome deal and bought tickets. We have been so excited and finally got to go! So we got all dressed up and went up to the Capital Theater on Friday night. It was incredible. We met up with my mom, dad, my sister Camille and her son Nathan. We were all able to sit by each other and had an absolutely wonderful time. I love the music and have listened to it forever. It was awesome to finally be able to go and see the show. I loved how they put it all together and all the fun surpises at the end! This broadway definately is tops in my book along with Les Miserable. It was incredible!

Day 2: Lunch with A Friend
One of my good friends Rachel from Utah State and I met up with each other for lunch. It had been a long time since I'd seen her. We were good friends up at USU in the Special Ed program. What fun times we had back then. I'm so glad she lives close. I've been so blessed with such great friends over the years.

Day 3: Easter with the Holden Family
Since most of Stephen's family is living back east. We end up spending a lot of time with my family. He does have a sister at BYU and a few cousins out here too. So we decided to host Easter dinner at our house. They all were able to come over and spend the evening. It was a lot of fun and we always end up laughing lots. We had a great Easter!

Day 4: Happy Birthday Camille!
Because I was out for spring break, I decided to head up to my mom's for the day! It was my sister's birthday so the girls went to lunch! It was great to be with my mom and sisters for the afternoon. After a delicious lunch at Olive Garden we headed over to the mall and went shopping. We had a great time. I always love hanging out with my sisters.

Day 5: Dirt
The next project in our backyard was finally finished. We got a trailer full of topsoil and put it around in our yard. I'm excited to finally be able to start planting. If it would only start to warm up and stop raining so I can get out there.

Day 6-9: St. George Get-A-Way
We had a blast with our good friends Justin and Carissa the past four days. Both Carissa and I teach in the same district and so we decided to do a little road trip while we had a few days off. We packed up the car and headed down to St. George. We were hoping for a little warmer weather. However, the first day was chilly and rainy, but it worked out okay. We ended up spending the day in St. George seeing a lot of the church history sights and driving up beautiful Snow Canyon. By the end of the day the rain was clearing out and it was a lot nicer outside. The guys were anxious to use their golf clubs and we decided to go to the driving range where I about made a fool out of myself. Afterwhich the guys couldn't resist the nicer weather and decided to golf 9 holes. So Carissa and I headed for the outlets and went shopping.

The next day we got up early and headed into Zion's National Park. Steve talked us into hiking up Angels Landing. It was a beautiful hike, although I didn't like the part where the trial ends and you head up the side of the mountain with just a few chains to hold onto so you don't slide down a thousand or so feet to your death. The view however definately was worth the climb. We were all a little sore and stiff so we spent a few hours the hotel's swimming pool and hot tub. What a relaxing get-a-way. It was greatly needed before heading into the last month of school which is always crazy with testing, transitions and now packing and moving classrooms.

Change Isn't Easy

Last Monday morning when I woke up and got out of bed, I would have never guessed that my life at work would be completely turned upside down.
First of all on Monday morning in between my many IEP meetings, my principal pulled me aside and gently broke to me some news that the district special ed department would be meeting with me at 8:30 the next morning regarding my assignment next year. I was grateful for this warning from him, but the next 24 hours was a long and stressful one. Then as I sat in the meeting, I was told that I'd be moving schools and be in a different position. I really didn't have a choice in the matter. It was either take the position they offered or interview around and get the luck of the draw, if anything. I felt like a little chess piece and they were making their move. I had 24 hours to make my decision. So the next day, I ran over to this new school and met with the principal. We had a lengthy, but good discussion and he introduced me to a few teachers. I was impressed with him and think that it will be a great school to work at. I've been so blessed over the years to have worked with some amazing principals and that makes my job much easier.
After much debate,discussion and prayer, I decided to take the position. So next year I will be working at Rocky Mountain Elementary in Lindon as a small group LD teacher. I'm not excited to move classrooms one more time. The count being 5 times in 6 years. But I'm trying to look at the positive side of things. Although moving won't be fun, I am excited about the fact that I'll be working in the same school as my adorable nieces. That will be so fun to be in the same school as them. They've always asked if I could be their teacher....well I won't necessarily be THEIR teacher, but I will be close by.
So now that it's Friday, I must say that I'm so grateful for the weekend. I always look forward to general conference weekend. It's so nice to just sit back, relax and listen to the words of our Prophet and leaders. We have such inspired leaders and I can't wait to hear their words. It will be a great way to end this crazy week.

Going Green...

So last weekend, Stephen and I spent the morning doing this......

And this...
And a little of this...

Yep! You guessed it! We now have some grass in our little back yard and we are way excited about the fact. After many hours of raking tons and tons of rocks and trying to level and grade the dirt, it so nice to look out our back window and seen some green. We were glad we actually had a nice warm day to lay it in. It got up to almost 70 degrees that day. Although it would be hard to believe after all the snow we got this week. But we got up early and the two of us laid the sod in about 3 hours. I have to say those rolls of sod are heavy. So needless to say, we were sore for a few days...but it was definitely worth it. I'm excited to plant a small vegetable garden and some flowers this summer. Now the work really begins!

Mac vs PC

This has been a very debated topic among our household the past few weeks. When I changed jobs and started working for Alpine District, they are very "Mac Savey" Everything is mac in that district. They even issued me a personal MacBook Laptop. At first I hated using it and felt like I couldn't get around and do what I needed to. But after a little exploring and time I found some pretty cool stuff with my apple and really started loving using it. I've always been a PC person, but I'd have to say I'm finding my apple to be a lot better computer. So now that Stephen's been admitted and accepted to BYU's MBA they require that all the students have a laptop. So Stephen's been researching and comparing Macs. He's literally spent hours reading about both. (When it comes to buying something Stephen always does his research whether it's a big or small purchase.) We've even been to the Simply Mac store a few time talking to people and looking at stuff. It's looking like we're making the jump into macs!

Call Me Crazy!

So I don't know quite what to call it...insane, crazy, deranged, or mad? Whatever it was it sure exhausted me. At school, I was talked into volunteering to go on an overnight field trip with 85 sixth graders. We had a great time, but I felt like I've been recouping the entire weekend. Our school took the entire 6th grade up to a camp that the district owns called Clear Creek. It's a huge piece of property down by Scofield Reservoir with a bunch of cabins, ropes courses, and hiking trails. It kind of reminded me of my EFY days except I was dealing with 11-12 year olds and I'm not quite used to staying up to 2 am. I not as young as I used to be. Actually it was really a lot of fun. After the 2 hour cramped bus ride we finally got there and the fun began. We did a lot of fun activities teaching the kids about Native Americans. My favorite was our constellations activity. Our school has this really amazing star dome. It's basically and inflatable dome room where we all crawled into and the stars where projected onto the ceiling. We looked at all the different constellations, how to locate them and all the stories from the Greek Mythology about them. Then we went outside and looked at the real stars in the sky! It was way cool and I learned so much.

Are You Guilty?

Let's be honest if you're an avid blogger, or even if your not, you most likely have done this. Yup...I'm talking about blog stocking. I can definitely say that I'm guilty! Why is it so intriguing to read about other people? And sometimes even people you don't know....I'm not quite sure. But I can easily spend hours just reading blogs and catching up. Although I don't always have the time, I find it very addicting. Does anyone else have this problem?

Anyways...I must say I now consider blogging to be one of my relaxing hobbies. It's been a great way to journal, write down thoughts and things that we've done. I used to be so awful at journaling, but ever since I started a blog, it's become much easier

So I must share one thing I found as I was blog stocking... I came across this quote that really made me think. I just had to laugh at how true this statement is.

"Blogging- Never before have so many people with so little to say, say so much to so few people"

It's Official...

Stephen's decided to go back to school for a MBA! This is a decision we've been contemplating for almost a year now. It's been stressful the past few months as he's been applying to different programs and looking at different career paths. He'll be attending BYU's daytime program starting Fall 2009. So that means, he'll finish up with his job at Principal this summer and dive into the life of a student full time. I thought I was long past the days of college, with papers, projects, and late night studying...but I guess not. I'll live vicariously through Stephen. We feel good about this decision, but it's definitely a scary jump to make...especially with the economy the way it is right now. We are hoping that after two years of school it will be turning around and Stephen will be able to find a job. We're glad that we won't have to sell our house and may possibly have some of Stephen's siblings come live with us to help us with the mortgage payment. I guess we'll have to see! We'll be living as poor students the next few years!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy To mE!!!

Even though it's been over a week, I'm finally getting around to blogging this! I turned 29 a week ago! I can't believe how fast time flies and that I'm only a year a way from being 30! Yikes! Stephen always seems to rub in the fact that he's 3 months younger than me. Thirty seems like such a scary thought. I guess I have a year to get used to it :) This past year was a great one! Bought a house, changed jobs, and traveled lots to sum it up in a sentence! I couldn't have asked for more. Stephen spoiled me and made sure I had a relaxing day. It was great! We slept in and he even did some cleaning around the house for our Saturday chores. We went running together and then he surprised me and told me he was taking me shopping for my present. We hopped in the car and ended up at a furniture store. He told me I could pick out a coffee table that I've been wanting for some time. He was very patient with his indecisive wife. We found one only after trying five different places. Then he took me to one of my favorites for dinner...The Olive Garden! Yum! I'm so grateful for all the wonderful family and friends in my life and those who I've met along the way. I am truly blessed!

Ready....Set.....Go!

I saw this on my friends blog and I wanted to do the same.
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!
Made with tons of love just for you! It might be a fun sewing project, a sweet letter to you from me, or some yummy goodies, you might be surprised what you get! Give it a try!

The catch?

You must re -post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a lovely little treat for themselves! Have Fun!

Ready........Set............Go!

Have a great day! :)

Weekend Get-A-Way

So Stephen and I decided to have a low-key Valentine's Day this year. We decided that chocolates were way to over-rated in a heart-shaped boxes...a bag of dove chocolates will do me just fine. I'm usually a sucker for flowers, but they are definitely over-priced this time of year and eventually die. Stuffed animals...I don't really see the point of these to begin with. What do you do with them afterwards? I told Stephen I just wanted to spend time with him.
So we decided to get away and go to my parents cabin for a few days. We had a great time! It was just the two of us and a lot of snow in the quite of the mountains. When we got there it was so cold being about 10 degrees with 5 feet of snow. We tried to warm up by the fire and drink hot chocolate. That helped a little, but didn't quite do the job. So we piled about 5 blankets on us and cuddled up to a movie. We were going to go sledding or snowshoeing, but I kind-of forgot to pack our
winter boots. Ooops! We had everything else, but didn't want to brave the cold when we just had warmed up. So we found the game Monopoly and decided to give it a shot. I think this one beats the record as the longest Monopoly game I've ever played. It lasted about three hours. And with both of us being just a little competitive, it made for an interesting and fun three hours. Stephen took charge and made me the most delicious dinner. Hibachi steak! Although he cooked for me quite a bit while we're dating, he hasn't done much cooking since we've been married. I had to take some pictures to document this. He was pretty proud of how it all turned out and so was I! After a little dancing in the kitchen, we popped in another movie before we went to bed. What a fun day! Even though we don't have kids that take our attention, life is busy. It was still nice to get away and spend time with each other. Happy Valentine's Day!



Lots of snow to shovel!



What a beautiful view of Mt. Timpanogos!

Reasons to Love...

I've always loved the month of February and thought I'd share the highlight. I think I've narrowed it down to the top 10. Enjoy!


1. Valentine's Day: I've always loved this holiday! Growing up my mom would make a special dinner and decorate with fancy red table clothes and candles. She would leave a little valentine on our plate.

2. Celebrating My Birthday: I've always been about celebrating your birthday! Ever since I was little we would wake up to crape paper hanging from our door. But I think I learned really how to celebrate from some previous roommies. We would do crazy things on our birthdays. Lots of fun memories. Like blowing up over 200 balloons, kidnapping people, and going around to 25 guys on my 25th b-day.


3. Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies: It's great to work in a school. There always seems to be at least one little girl who comes around my classroom after school looking for orders. Some teachers are annoyed, but not me!

4. Surprisingly warmer days: It's nice to see the black snow melt away and although we have occasional storms. I know that spring is just around the corner and that makes me SMILE!

5. Making heart-shaped sugar cookies: Okay I must confess...the really fun part is to decorate and eat them. I indulge in these probably to much during this month. I'll have to hit the gym harder in March.

6.Date Night: I always look forward to this every week. But this year with Valentine's Day over the weekend, I'm extra excited!

7. Handing out Valentine's: This must be the teacher part of me. I love how excited all the kids get around all the holidays. Valentine's is one that tops them all, especially with the 4th, 5th and 6th graders. The girls seem to be at the I like boys, but don't want to show it stage. The boys try to be really cool with all of their valentines. This year, I have Sponge Bob Valentines to hand out this year. I'm just as bad as the kids :)

8. Chocolate: Need I say more?


9.You can still get some good skiing in: As excited I am about spring, I do love skiing. Stephen and I were able to go a while back. Here's Stephen trying to attempt to learning how to Snowboard.

10.Love: I love being in love and I'm a total romantic and love being romanticized.

Seriously

(If you click on the picture, it'll make it bigger so you can read it.)

This is so indicative of today's troubles. Mind you, this comic was written over 15 years ago. I'm still amazed at how the economy has so quickly turned upside down. I just have to say with how crazy it is, I am so grateful that Stephen and I have a job. I realized how blessed we are, when at our last testimony meeting in church, it seemed like one after another person mentioned the effects of the economy in their testimony. Either by loosing their job or not making sales and having to live off of their food storage. It makes me more motivated to beef up our food storage. So needless to say...that Calvin is one smart dude! I hope you get a laugh. Enjoy!

2 Years and Counting!

Stephen and I celebrated our 2-year anniversary this past week. It's crazy to think that it's already been that long. It's amazing how fast time flies. I was grateful that he was in town (with him traveling every other week this month for work.) We were able to spend a nice relaxing night together and enjoy some dinner at the Cheesecake Factory! I think we found a new favorite restaurant! I saw this on my sister-in-laws blog and learned some new and interesting things about my brother. So I thought it would be fun to do one about Stephen. Enjoy!

*What is your husband's name? Stephen Wayne Holden
*How long have you been married? 2 Years
*How long did you date? Well, we knew each other a year before we started dating, but Stephen thought I was too tall for him, so he didn't give me the time of day. Then we went on a camping/hiking trip with a bunch of friends for Memorial day. After that we dated for 5 months before we got engaged.
*Who is taller? I am... but only by one inch.
*Who can sing the best? Definitely Stephen! He actually has a really good singing voice and sang with a few different BYU Choirs back in the day.
*Who pays the bills? Neither of us...we both check in on the Automatic Bill Payer and our bank account online. Thank goodness for technology!
*Who does the laundry? Me!
*Who mows the lawn? We don't have a lawn quite yet... it's more of a hue of green weeds in the backyard. We both spent a few time pulling them last summer.
*Who cooks dinner? I do, but sometimes I slack off when I get home late and am very tired.
*Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? We both take our turn.
*Who kissed who first? He kissed me first.
*Who wears the pants? He wears the pants, I just tell him which ones to wear. :)
*He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Anything on the Discovery channel, his top favorites are Myth Busters and Man vs Wild. He'll also watch House, The Office, Everybody loves Raymond and King of Queens.
*You're out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Most of the time if he gets a salad it's a cobb salad with blue cheese dressing.
*What's one food he doesn't like? The only food he doesn't like is Peas! I have to admit I'm the picky eater in the family.
*What kind of drink does he order? Stephen's a fan of all the specialty drinks & smoothies, his favorite soda is Sprite
*Where did he go to high school? Dow High
*What size shoe does he wear? 10
*If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Airplanes...that's just a little out of our price range.
*What is his favorite type of sandwich? He loves any sandwich as long as it comes with all of the fixings.
*What is his favorite cereal? Stephen's not much of a breakfast person. He'll occasionally eat a little Marshmallow Maties and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
*What is his favorite sports team? He's a big BYU fan, although he does cheer for Michigan.
*Who is his best friend? hopefully me!
*How many places has he lived in? 3-Michigan, Argentina, Utah
*You bake him a cake for his birthday; what would it be? Definitely Cheesecake!
*What could he spend hours doing? flying(in an airplane or on flight simulator) playing games on the computer and reading.

I am so grateful for Stephen and his example to me. He helps me become a better person. He is great friend that I can cry and laugh with. He is a great listener, especially when I've had a hard day at work. He's not perfect, but he's perfect for me!

Our Michigan Christmas

So even though it's already half way through January, I'm still catching up on my Christmas blogs. Being gone for two week straight and then heading back to work the next day with report cards and progress reports waiting for you, makes a busy past few weeks. We had a wonderful time this Christmas and was able to spend some time with Stephen's family in Michigan. It was so fun to be out there for more than a few days. Although, we barely made it to Detroit with the craziness of the holiday airports, stranded people and fire alarms going off while waiting for our baggage. We were glad to finally get to Midland. It's been over a year since I've been there and seen the niece and nephews on the Holden's side. Stephen's sister came up from Illinois and we played tons! We had a great Christmas Day (my first away from home)seeing the excitement of a 4-year old and 2 2-year olds. Kids always make Christmas wonderful. One thing we did lots of while we were out there was play games and watch movies. Two favorites for the Holden family! I think we pulled out the board games on a daily basis. It was great! Amongst all the game playing and movie watching we were able to go sledding (before it rained and the 2 feet of snow melted), tried to stay on our feet while ice skating, played with cousin who came up from Ohio for a few days and we visited Grandpa Wilke. As we drove back down to Detroit at the end of our stay, we were lucky to have Erin (Stephen's little sister who's here at BYU) fly on the same flight with us back to SLC. We made it back just in time to see my two brothers who's families were in town for the holidays. It was too bad that our plane was an hour late and we only saw them for a quick few hours before they headed out in the morning. Guess it gave us an excuse to stay up until 3am playing the wii with each other. We crashed the next day with all the jet lag, but it sure was worth it!

Christmas in the city

One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was spending some time right before Christmas in a hotel in Salt Lake City and seeing the festivities downtown. So this year since most of us kids have carried on the tradition with our families decided to do it altogether. It was great to get away for a night and spent some time together. We enjoyed the amazing lights, the Christus and the nativity scenes at Temple Square. Afterwards we warmed up with some delicious hot chocolate at JB's. We always have so much fun together. I love living so close to family and spending time with them. We are so blessed!

Rise And Shout The Cougars Are Out....

This about all I know of the BYU fight song. Being an Aggie, I don't cheer much for the coug's although Stephen on the other hand bleeds blue. We had some friends heading down to Vegas for the bowl game just before Christmas and decided to go along and cheer the team on. It was a fun and fast little road trip. I didn't realize how close we really live to Vegas...only a 5 hour trip. It wasn't too bad of a drive. the roads were great. But Vegas had just gotten two snow storms earlier that week and it was still very cold...especially for Las Vegas. We bundled up in our winter gear, but the people in front of us were from the area and had just light jackets and no gloves. It was about 30 degrees and I felt so bad for them. They left after the first hour. It was an intense game, until the end when BYU was just throwing it away. We were all very disappointed when they didn't win, but we had a great time. It was a wonderful way to start our Christmas adventures.

Waiting for the game to start!

Here comes the team!

Cheering on the Cougars in the cold!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly! Fa la la la la.....

Our 2008 Christmas Newsletter

So I decided to actually do a Christmas letter this year and put it up on our blog. This is a first for me. Hopefully it's not too long or boring! We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the Christmas season! This has been a year of change for us and we’re looking forward to the calm, relaxing days of Christmas. We'll be spending a week and a half in Michigan with Stephen's family. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to spend some time with some of you, but if not, here’s a little recap of what we’ve been up to this year.

Last January Stephen left his job at Fidelity, and started working for Principal Financial, consulting as a financial advisor . In a nutshell, Stephen travels around the Utah and neighboring states to meet with participants who have 401k's with Principal and tells them to save for retirement and get out of debt. It's been an amazing change from Fidelity, where we only saw each other 3 days a week. We feel extremely blessed and are grateful to be working for such a great company. Stephen has loved being able to fly airplanes, now that he has his pilots license. Although this summer we decided to put flying on hold and try to save a little more money. He soon found a new exciting adventure of scuba diving and became certified this fall.

Emily also had a job change this year. She is still teaching Special Ed, but just moved districts and schools. She is in her 6th year of teaching kiddos with autism, learning disabilities, ADHD, Behavior Disorders etc....and really trying not to become like her kids, as hard as that is sometimes. She is loving the 5 minute commute to school each day, but nonetheless it's been a stressful and crazy first half of the year. Emily has also found time to do things she really enjoys amidst the business of school, namely trying out new recipes, digital scrapbooking, blogging, and decorating.

We plunged into being "homeowners" in 2008. We have really loved living in Pleasant Grove the past 10 months. Not to mention we're a few minutes away from my sister and her family, which we see often. Along with the new house comes countless projects. Putting in a backyard is one of the many that's kept us busy. We also are so thankful to have a fabulous ward and amazing neighbors.

As we reflect on the past year, we feel very blessed to be where we are. We’re grateful for our testimonies of the Savior and are so appreciative of the sacrifices He made that allow us to be together as families forever. May His finest blessings be with you this year and may we all remember Him and His atonement during this season and throughout the year. We love you!

Have you ever?

I know this is a bit long, but it was kind of fun to see all the random things that other's have done. There may be somethings you didn't know about me! The bolded items are things that I have accomplished. Enjoy!

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to disneyland
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. seen in person the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch-hiked
23. taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden in a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or a sunset
31. hit a home run (in the park)
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagra falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen michaelangelo's david
41. sung karaoke
42. seen the old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. received a prestigious award
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistine chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theater
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. got flowers for no reason
64. donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. gone sky diving (does ifly count?)
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a check
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guards in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone's life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the alamo in person
96. swam in the great salt lake
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee
100. learned to play an instrument

Where is winter?

Lately I seem to have forgetten what month it is. Not that I'm really that spacey, but it's just that it still does not feel like winter. I can't believe we're already a week into December and it is 45 degrees outside. Yesterday was nice too, so Stephen and I decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and went on a hike up behind Cascade Mountain. It was great to get away from the business of all the holiday shopping and head up to the mountains. I honestly can say I've never been hiking in December before! Skiing yes, but hiking no. It sure was beautiful and believe it or not we weren't the only ones up there. We found a bunch of neat ponds that beavers had made and it was pretty neat to stumble upon. We also packed a lunch and had a picnic. It was great, but I'm really itching for some snow !!!

Just a little ice in the river!

Stephen trying to cross the river on some icy

logs. It was close he almost fell in!

Gratitude

I know it's a bit past Thanksgiving, but I've had a lot on my mind this weekend and wanted to share how grateful I am. At Thanksgiving this year, as always we go around the table and share things that we are thankful for before we eat our meal. I'm always amazed at how no matter how many people are there, we seem to barely skim the surface of the countless blessings we've been given. This year my parents gave each of us a gratitude Journal where we can record each day the blessings that we recognize. Here are just a few that top my list, I am so grateful I married a wonderful man in the Temple. He is an amazing friend who is so perfect for me. I love my family and am grateful for the close relationship we have with each other and the examples they are too me. I also am so thankful for my testimony of the gospel for the foundation that it is in my life.
This past Friday a good friend of mine and co-worker, received a phone call from her daughter who found her husband dead. She had only been home 2 hours earlier and talked with him then. What a difficult trial she's been given and is facing. Her whole world turned upside down in an instant. I can't even imagine going through this trial. Well needless to say, she has been on my mind a lot and I can't help but remind myself how precious each day is. So in this season of giving and thanks, I find myself very humbled and thankful for all the blessings in my life.