Saturday, March 28, 2009

Flying Home Again

I had some time to kill sitting in the JFK airport, so I thought that I'd update the blog. I've spent the last week in Maine with family. I wasn't too excited to come back out East this time. Funerals aren't the best reasons to go on a trip. It turned out to be fun though, after the funeral stuff ended that is. I spent a week with my brother Jacob and his family. I got put to work playing with the kids, helping packing some stuff up, cleaning, and sorting through baby clothes so that they are ready when my new niece arrives in August. Not to mention, I got to learn how to make some more yummy food.

Anyways, after a false start yesterday (sorry and thanks again Jacob and Heather!), I am headed back home today! I'm happy that everything appears to be on time, of course, I still have a couple hours to go before I get on my next plane. Someone knock on wood for me.

I'm excited to see Ashton, as well. I thought when I got married that I wouldn't do too much traveling by myself anymore. Guess I was wrong. We're hoping that he'll be able to come out to Maine with me when I come back out in August. Of course, we're also hoping that I'll be able to come out in August (the plans aren't finalized and surprises always seem to happen when you count on something working).

The nice thing about coming out in August is that it'll be summer time! The last time I was in Maine during the summer was when we got married, and that was more spring than summer. While I was packing for Maine this time, I realized that my wardrobe looked pretty similar to what I had taken to wear the last time. It'll be nice to be able to pack something else besides sweaters and socks. Much lighter, too.

Anyways, thanks for a fun week Jacob, Heather, Liliana, and Mattie! I'll miss you all and getting to be around. I'll especially miss hearing my name being called "Awah" all the time and being asked once every two minutes what I'm doing, if I want to play a game, and being told that a certain little girl wants to help, even when no help is required. I'm glad I got to see the rest of my family while I was there, as well. It's always sad to leave, but it's always nice to go home.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Howdy Howdy Howdy

This weekend, we had a ward activity that was a chili/pie cook-off with a Western theme. We were in charge of decorations and I had a lot of fun picking stuff out, although it was a bit stressful. Thanks to our brother-in-law Trevor, some of that was made quite a bit easier. He let us borrow some cowboy hats, a saw horse, lasso, and some other stuff. He even taught us how to use the lasso that morning. It was fun to watch Ashton get in touch with the hick within. Apparently my hick side isn't too far from the surface because I roped the target (a shovel handle) with the first try. Granted, I did grow up what most people would consider out in the middle of nowhere and it's not like it took Ashton a long time to get it. In any case, we had a blast at the activity and took a few pictures to remember it by.

This was our "horse." We put a saddle on the saw horse, and to make it look more like a horse, we rigged a stick horse to it that I had found at a dollar store. I just couldn't resist a picture when Ashton sat on it.


What can I say? It looked like fun and Ashton decided to get me back for the previous picture.


I was a big bully and "stole" the horse from the kid. He wasn't too happy and decided that the way to get me off was to "rope" me. I believe his exact words after getting the rope over my head was "Ok, let's go!"


It's been a while since we've taken a picture together, so I decided that tonight was a good night to do it. Turned out pretty well I think.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Power of Gratitude

A couple weeks ago, I had a Relief Society lesson on gratitude. I immediately thought of the quote that Heather had put up on her blog months ago by Melodie Beattie:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It turns problems into gifts failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."

I should have written it down when I first read it, but I have now. I continued to think about this quote ever since that lesson and especially the past few days. The past few days, I've been focusing about what I want and what I don't want, rejecting the fact that I have a genuine opportunity to accomplish something important for myself. Having this attitude blinded me from seeing what a gift and blessing this might turn out to be. I've failed to be grateful that this opportunity has pretty much fallen into my lap. Even though I'm not sure yet if this will actually work out, I should really be grateful that I have a chance at all.

It's so tempting to be grumpy when I don't want things to change or things aren't changing fast enough for my liking. I do tend to get grumpy when things don't go the way I envisioned and when I forget to be patient and grateful for what is going right. When I'm grateful for the things that I have, and the opportunities I have, it's easier to see the Lord's hand in my life. I realize that things generally happen when they're supposed to, although it's not a perfect formula for everything in life. (There are some things that I believe should never happen and that aren't supposed to happen, but because of choices people make, they do. The only thing we can do in those circumstances is to try to overcome those consequences.) Coming to these realizations are never easy. It's not easy to look back over the past year, admit that my way probably wouldn't have worked at all, and to be grateful for the way it did work out, but when I get to that point, the journey ahead appears easier.

President Thomas S. Monson, quoting Sarah Ban Breathnach, said in November 2008, "Said one well-known author: 'Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend...when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present -- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness] -- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.'"

I love this quote. It's so true that we have the choice to decide. It really becomes a conscious choice when I catch myself being negative, because I have the chance to turn my thoughts around. It's amazing what we are capable of doing when we put our minds to it. Besides, who doesn't want to experience heaven on earth? If all it takes is some gratitude, I'm all for it.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Hopefully the Creative Bug Will Bite Me...

I'm usually such a wimp about this kind of stuff. I figure what I have to offer isn't always that super. But with a year time commitment, I just might be able to swing this. And I couldn't resist the friend it came from.

So, here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!

Just the thought of receiving something in the mail that isn't a bill is delightful!

Come and play!

Now, remember "ya get what ya get and ya don't throw a fit".

Post Copy Edit : One of my goals this year is to encourage my lack of creativity. This looks like it will provide the nudge I need.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Draper Temple Open House

Yesterday, we got the chance to go to the Draper Temple Open House. It turned out to be the perfect day to go. This week has been wicked busy for Ashton with both school and work and so it was a nice chance for us to spend some time together and for him to take a break.

We had to park at a chapel nearby, and, after watching a short film, take the "green" bus to the Temple. The color was for us to be able to get back to the right chapel. It being Utah, there are plenty of chapels nearby. When we got up to the Temple, we got to walk through a maze of tents to a "secret" entrance. It sure seemed to be a secret entrance, because when we walked into the Temple, we were on the bottom level instead of the main level and since we were going through these tents, we couldn't see where we were going exactly. Ashton tried to peek out the seams, but it didn't look like he could see much. They were shut tight.

Once inside, we were both a little surprised to see most of the flooring covered so people wouldn't walk on the nice new carpet with their shoes. It made for a nice path to follow though as we walked through the building. I was finding walking straight and slow a little difficult though. The Temple, however, was beautiful, as all are. I'm always impressed by how unique the temples all are in their looks and style, while still having the same things. Of course, the Spirit was there and made the Temple that more beautiful and special.

I really enjoyed walking through the Temple and seeing the different rooms. It brought back memories of the Boston Temple Open House, getting to work during it for a few hours, and then getting a tour.

Of course, when we got to the Sealing Room, I was reminded of my wedding day. It was nice to sit in there for a few minutes and remember that special day in my life. I was touched as I looked in the mirrors and saw Ashton and I reflected infinitely. It's great to know that we're married for all of eternity.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Humor Us In Our Delusions

One thing that Ashton and I love to do is to take things out of context. We tend to giggle a lot when we think about a quote that sounds normal when you know the story, but makes absolutely no sense if you just say it.

For example, the other day I said, "That's what everyone says until they rub a penguin on their head." Yeah, makes no sense without the story, but it sent Ashton into near hysteria just thinking about how random it was out of context. I'm not going to even tell the story of why I said that, because it's just funnier to leave it at that.

When we're both on top of things, we have a lot of fun playing on words, double meanings, and such. It's not so much fun when only one of us gets the joke, which happens often as one of us is usually a bit out of it. When we're both out of it, we just tend to laugh a lot about nothing. Nothing like a bit of delusion to make things funny.

Anyways, the whole rubbing a penguin on someone's head made Ashton think about posting random quotes that we either hear or say. So, if you see random quotes that you don't get, just laugh at the randomness.

Speaking of random, we finished programming my Yahtzee game last night! After spending a couple weeks playing Yahtzee at Dad's the last time we were in Maine, I wanted to program a Yahtzee game so I could continue to play. I did write some of the program, although Ashton told me exactly what to write, and designed how it looked, but decided it'd go much faster if Ashton just wrote it and I help him. I did manage to provide some help in suggesting how it worked. I'm just happy that I understand what the code says/does. Now all that's left is making it look nice.

Here is one last random thing, http://www.fandome.com/video/106571/Flip-Throw-TO-THE-FACE/?q=c. Ashton shared this with me and I thought that it was absolutely hilarious. Enjoy!