What a month

It's been a crazy month and I can't believe it's not over yet. Good thing February is short. Definitely makes me feel better about the 3 more months that Ashton has in school. Counting days is probably not the way to make that go quickly.

Although this month has felt long and hectic, we've had some fun times as well. We had the chance to go to a Stake Fireside, a few weeks back, where former member of the Seventy, C. Max Caldwell spoke about the D&C. We really enjoyed his talk and learned a lot. Being in Utah has its perks once in a while.

We also got some tickets to go to the Draper Temple Open House in March (the Open House is 3 months long). Although the tickets didn't cost anything, we had to sign up for a day and time to go. It took a while to find a day and time that would work with Ashton's schedule, but we found one! I'm very excited about going. I can hardly wait. Temples are always so beautiful and it'll be fun to see what this one will look like.

We finally got library cards and have been enjoying it. We picked out some interesting books this time around. One is called, "Voices From The Dust New Insights into Ancient America," which compares early Spanish and Portuguese chronicles, the Book of Mormon, and Archaeology and Art History. So far, it's been very interesting. I've tended to shy away from books that attempt to prove the Book of Mormon is true through scientific means, but this one seemed intriguing. I haven't seen any attempts to actually prove the Book of Mormon is true, so far, but rather a simple show of facts. It's been especially fun for me, having taken several classes in Latin American history, which this book talks about it detail. I only wish I had kept all my notes from those classes. Anyways, it seems like it'll be an interesting read.

The most fun I've had all month was probably rearranging the apartment. We moved a bookcase and all my craft stuff from the living room to the office/second bedroom. It makes a cozy room for me to do my little projects and hang out. I was getting tired of the living room and the noisy people above us (I am currently listening to the music that they are playing...I can hear the lyrics clearly and can tell you that it is the Dixie Chicks singing "Landslide" and "Traveling Soldier"...yeah, they're a bit loud). In any case, in order to organize my crafts in bins, I had to steal some baskets and bins from other places around the apartment, which resulted in a lot of the apartment getting rearranged. I had a blast! I love organizing. I'm kinda sad that I'm done. Maybe I'll completely rearranged the kitchen and really confuse Ashton. He's still not sure where all of the stuff is currently kept; imagine what would happen if I changed everything around...hehehe.

Frost + Snow + Fog = Pictures!

The past few days, we've gotten some frost/snow on the trees and bushes without anything sticking to the sidewalks or roads. The affect was pretty cool, so I took some pictures before we went to Church. We have Church now at 9 am and although it's hard some days to get up, we're loving it!

A Leaf on the Wind

I was staring at our blog page, trying to think if I had anything worth writing a post about, when the title of our blog caught my eye, "I Am A Leaf On The Wind." I started to think about the different ways that could be taken. Some might say that it means wishy-washy-ness; going with whatever society deems as correct at the time because let's face it, society changes its mind so often that it's enough to give anyone a headache trying to keep up. However, as I was thinking about how it could be applied to life in general, I saw the concept in a different light.

Life takes us in all sorts of directions through trials and blessings. Sometimes it feels like I have to forge my own path through the muck and grime and in the past year, I've done my fair share of forging. It's common to think of life as a path. I often do so with the "straight and narrow way" in mind, but then I started thinking about how trials can be compared to as winds.

Sometimes, trials are a gentle breeze that just come gently to us, reminding us of our testimonies and strength. Other times, there's no wind or breeze; just the gentle, peaceful calm. These moments are wonderful, particularly after or before a storm. There are many more types of winds, howling, gusting, stormy, etc, just as there are many types of tribulations. It's hard to say what the best way to deal with wind is, but as I was thinking through my little analogy, I thought about what a leaf does in the wind.

A leaf simply goes where the wind takes it. It allows the wind to take it to a new destination that the leaf would never have been able to go on its own. The leaf may do a few little tricks in the air on its way, somersaults and the like, but it doesn't resist the wind. Perhaps it gets a little torn on the way, but I'm sure it's a better leaf for it.

Goings on around here

So far it's been a good start to the new year, even if it's been including a lot of snow in the past few days. We're excited for a few possibilities that the new year has for us, including graduating for Ashton in April! He started off his last semester this week and so far everything looks good. It might be too soon to tell though just how busy he'll be and how often we'll really get to see each other. It's only 4 months though. The end is in sight!

We're also excited with the possibility of moving somewhere, getting our first home, and settling down. It looks like we're going to have to wait a little bit on that, but we're hopeful that it'll happen this fall. We still haven't quite decided where we'd like to move. In my mind, I have it narrowed down to a couple states, now if I could only just read Ashton's mind...or send subliminal messages to his mind...we might have it decided! (By the way, I'd like to take this time to mention that we do take bribes...)

Ashton enjoys his new job. He's learning quite a bit and likes being a part of a smaller company. There's about 6 people in the company. It's been nice for him to have a shorter commute to campus and it makes a big difference with the hours he works.

I've been finding new hobbies and projects to work on, and recently picked up cross stitching. I've mostly finished my first cross stitch project, but still have to find a way to frame it or something. I'll post a picture when I get it finished. It's been a good way to pass time and I need a lot of stuff to do to keep me busy. I've always enjoyed multi-tasking so I like having many projects started so I have options.

Hope everyone is having a great start to their new year!