Something Good Can Come Out of Getting Up Early

It's been cold here in Utah for the past few weeks, although the past few days have been actually fairly nice. This morning when I walked outside to go running, I was surprised that it was actually warm enough to not need a sweatshirt. Found out while I was running that there's a storm coming. I don't mind thunder and lightning for the most part, but I don't particularly like being out running in it. Thankfully there were only a couple flashes, two big drops of rain on my arm, and apparently that was it. Weird right?

In any case, as a result of some storm that's somewhere, there are cool clouds hovering over the mountains. It was too dark to really enjoy on my way home, but since Ashton's car needed to go into the shop this morning, I got to go back out and drive him to work. As we headed back down to Provo, I found myself wishing I had brought my camera because the sky looked amazing.

The drive back to Provo was much the same and I pleaded with the sky to just hold that pose until I could get my camera. Well, it changed a little bit, but stayed pretty much the same while I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and headed back out to get a better angle (there are fences that surround the entire apartment complex that are just a little too high for me to get a good shot). I headed out to a nearby business and took pictures in their parking lot. Since I took them at about 8:30 in the morning, it was still a little dark, but I'm still happy with how they turned out.

So Many Projects, So Little Time

As most of you know, I like crafts. I'm not always the most creative, but I like trying lots of new things and I like to be busy. It's little wonder then that I have a lot of projects going on.

These projects include: scrapbooking, crocheting, a few plaque projects that are almost done (just haven't bought the hooks to hang them), and somewhere there's a cross stitching project that I started several months ago. I like all of these things and want to finish them, but I think there's just something exciting about starting a new project.

I realized today that I'm starting to get that itch for a new project. This time, however, I'm determined not to actually start a new project until I've finished up some other ones. I did temporarily satisfy the itch by looking at some cool ideas for projects online. I think I've found what I'm making people for Christmas this year!

(By the way, we haven't heard back about any jobs yet, but I'll let you know when we do!)

Diving into the Unknown

As many of you know, Ashton and I have been planning on moving out of Utah come November when our apartment lease is up. So, Ashton started looking at job options back in August and soon after started applying for jobs. Although we have a general idea of where we'd like to end up (he's got his favorites, I've got mine), but we applied for jobs in multiple states. Even States we don't really want to end up in. A job is a job.

Well, we've had no responses yet on the job front. Not one reply. It's been kind of discouraging and we started thinking that maybe we'd have to stay here. After talking to his boss, Ashton discovered last week that his job most likely won't be there for him after November. Not because they don't like him or anything, but because of a lack of funding (the company that he works for is funded by grants). I found out a couple days later. That news made things more stressful. Now we can't just sit back and think, well if Ashton doesn't get a new job, he's got a job already and we can just renew our lease or maybe try to find a new apartment. Ashton needs to find a new job by November.

The hardest part of this news came down mostly to what to do about our living situation. There were so many options to consider. Do we stay in our apartment and renew our lease for a few months? How long should we renew it for? Should we put in our 60 day notice and hope that Ashton gets a new job? What will we do if he doesn't get a new job? We spent a day or two talking about it. Discussing our different options, our first impressions on what should be done, thoughts, feelings, etc. Thankfully, we had been planning on going to the temple this week, which was just in time since we had to make a decision by today in order to put our 60 days in if that's what we decided.

I love the temple. There's no other place that's more peaceful. Although I was a bit stressed about getting an answer, as answers don't always come when we want them to, I was happy as I entered the temple. Fortunately, we did get an answer and thankfully we both got the same answer. We're putting in our 60 day notice and moving to some unknown location in November.

Although we both feel good about our decision and know that everything will work out, it's still scary. It almost feels like plunging into a dark room that you aren't familiar with. You don't know if there's going to be furniture in there, where it is, how tall it is, or even how big the room actually is. It's enough to make you move forward cautiously. Even moving around in a room you are familiar with is dangerous. I can't tell you how many times I've hit my head on the side of the closet door because it was open and I couldn't see it.

I'm also thankful that this decision has come right before General Conference. Hearing inspiring messages from the Lord's servants is a great way to soothe troubled feelings. I love General Conference. Such a great way to spend a weekend.

This may be the scariest decision we've made yet since we don't know how it's going to turn out. We have great support though and family that'd be willing to help if we needed it. For right now though, we're diving into the unknown.

What's in a Name?

Our Stake just started doing an adult institute class on Thursdays. The teacher is a former CES teacher, having taught seminary and such. Ashton saw it on the program this past Sunday and immediately asked if I had any interest. Well, when Ashton is interested enough to point it out to me and ask, it means that he really wants to do it. I thought that it could be a really good idea, so we made plans to go this week.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but we got a few surprises last night. We met the teacher out in the hallway as we were walking to the Relief Society room in the Stake Center. He introduced himself and asked what our names were. Now, he's an older man, probably in his 60's, or around there, so he repeated our names to make sure he heard them right. Well, Ashton said his name first and no problem there. Then came my turn. He repeated my name and I confirmed it. He looked slightly confused/surprised (not a name you normally hear) and asked me to spell my name. He repeated my name again after I spelled it. This is fairly typical of me introducing myself.

When we walked into the Relief Society room of our Stake Center, we saw that the room was full of older people, mostly women. (By older I mean there were a few probably in there 40's-50's and quite a few in there 60's-70's.)It kind of felt weird to be the youngest couple there. There was another sister there who was also younger, and another couple or two walked in, but for those few minutes, it felt slightly weird. Not in a bad way, just a little odd as I was expecting a few more younger couples since our stake is mostly comprised of younger couples. It made the dynamic of the class so funny though. Older people have such interesting insights.

Anyways, we found some seats right in the front and sat down. Then the class started and the teacher had those who were new introduce themselves (the class started last week, so some of the people there had attended before). Well, he came to us and he was standing right in front of us and when it came my turn, he told the class, "Now she's going to tell you her name and you have to remember it." He said this while putting his hand on my head and turning my head around for everyone to see my face. So, I said my name and immediately there was a general murmur of people repeating my name and some people saying how pretty it was and that they liked that. The teacher also repeated my name, trying to remember how to say it, and asked me if I went by "Z." I kinda laughed, a little surprised, and said that I have gone by "Z" before so, that was fine (Ashton was definitely getting a kick out of this, by the way). Well, that was that, or so I thought.

Then came time to read. We were taking turns reading verses and it came down to my turn, but this time the teacher called me, "Z," repeated my actual name, and then must have had a light bulb come on because then he said, "Hey! I can call you Zorro!" He sounded so happy to have made that connection. I couldn't help but laugh and then start reading. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd prefer any other nickname to Zorro. Ashton definitely thought it was funny because he laughed quietly to himself and nudged me.

After the class was over, and as we were leaving, I asked Ashton how many nicknames he thought I could acquire during this class. I'm thinking of keeping a running tally.

"Sometimes the Seagulls Don't Come!"

As we were walking into Gospel Doctrine class yesterday, I noticed the saying above on the chalkboard. It came from our teacher, who has the most interesting ways of saying things.

It was fitting then that we were talking about hardships, in particular the handcart companies. Not much to do with seagulls, which was fine. At the end of class, he brought up the miracle of the seagulls, but only to say that sometimes the seagulls don't come. He told a few stories including one about some latter day women who had gotten up in Sacrament meeting to tell beautiful stories of fasting, prayer, and receiving Priesthood blessings to cure their husbands of cancer and the miraculous blessing that was. While these sisters were telling their stories, there was one sister sitting on the bench. As the others, she too had fasted, prayed, and received Priesthood blessings, but unlike the others, her husband had died from his cancer. Sometimes the seagulls don't come.

I loved the saying from the moment I read it. I thought over my own life and the trials I've been through. Sometimes things don't work out the way I thought they would or hoped they would. I've come to realize that sometimes it doesn't have anything to do with righteousness or faith, or a lack thereof to obtain the desired blessing. Bad things happen to even those who have the greatest faith. I think the true test in those circumstances is not do we have enough faith to be healed or saved from that trial, but rather will our faith last even when there is no end in sight? Will we persevere through the hard times even when we've been praying for relief from the beginning and we haven't yet received an answer? Do we have enough faith in the Lord and His plan to give Him our will? For our will, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, is the one true gift that we can give Heavenly Father.

Sometimes, the seagulls don't come, and I find that it is those times that I gain the greatest strength. It is these moments that can either make us, or break us.

A Dream Come True

Normally after coming home from Maine, I get bored within a few days, especially while Ashton is at work. Most of the boredom comes from not having a set schedule anymore. I do enjoy being able to have some time to myself, but there comes a point when too much alone time is just as bad as not having any. I've been fortunate this time that I only had to spend one day where I was sitting around wondering what I was going to do.

One of the first things I usually do when I get home is sleep in. It's easy to do when you don't have someone waking you up and when you're a bit jet lagged. Although it felt like sleeping in, considering the time difference, I actually got up at 7:30 the first morning. To some of you, this really is sleeping in, but when I'm home, I've been known to not get up until at least 8 - 8:30. I was a little worried how long it would take for me to go back to my old ways, but fortunately a solution was provided.

My friend Tiff got back into Provo a little while ago after serving a mission in Puerto Rico. We were talking and she was saying that she needed someone who would be willing to go running with her in the mornings. Well, I've been wanting to go running for a while now, but not having a running buddy hurt my motivation to get up and do it. I could see all kinds of light bulbs going off, arrows pointing straight at Tiff saying, "Helloooo running buddy!" So, I said that I'd go running with her. The catch: we go running at 6:00 in the morning. Now, this wouldn't be bad if we lived in the same town, but since I live a 15-20 minute drive away (if there was no traffic it'd take maybe 10 minutes), I get up at 5:30 to get to her house by 6. I'm actually quite proud of myself because I have been doing it. I find that if I get up right when the alarm goes off, I mumble a whole lot less. It makes the whole morning so much better. Not to mention, it feels nice to exercise. So, my goal of getting in shape and getting up in the morning is taken care of. I'm a little worried about what'll happen when it gets cold and snowy, but I'm also hoping that I won't have to worry about that for a while. Call it wishful thinking.

The other thing that I was worried about when I came home was having enough stuff to do during the day. Thanks again to Tiff I have a big project to accomplish. Like I said, Tiff just came home from her mission and she has a lot of pictures that she wanted to scrapbook, but neither had the time nor felt that she had the creativity to do it. Although she's creative enough to do it, she's entrusted me to scrapbook her mission experience. Like I said, this is a big job. There are about 500 pictures to go in this scrapbook so it'll take me a while to do, but I'm excited.

Another thing that I've been doing is a photo session with Lance and Stacy! They wanted to take some family pictures, but didn't want to spend too much money on them so they asked me if I'd take the pictures. Can I just say that I was thrilled about the idea! A tad nervous, but thrilled. I love taking pictures, if you couldn't tell, and I am happy that they trusted me to do them. So Saturday we found some cute places to take pictures and spent maybe an hour or so taking pictures. They were fun to photograph! I spent the next few days touching up pictures and playing around with them. I had so much fun! I would love to do this every day. I can't put all of them on here, no matter how proud I am of them, but here are a few!

A Vacation is Just Doing Something You Don't Normally Do

So I got to spend the last two weeks in Maine on "vacation." My vacation was actually a lot of fun. I got to spend it with Jacob and Heather helping them with their new baby girl and two other girls. Definitely stressful at times, especially when it's the end of the day. You're tired and they're tired, and it becomes a battle of the wills. However, it's always nice to "experiment" parenting on other people's kids. Sure, that's what anyone really does, even with their own kids, but it's nice to sort of get an idea of what to expect, even if it's vague at best.

I did do a lot of reading, they were mostly kids books though and the same few books over and over again because they were the favorites, which isn't a problem until you've read the same book ten times in one day. Even two to three times in ten minutes is pushing it. When I did try to read a grown-up book, I got told by Liliana to stop reading that book and read to her; either that she would try to negotiate telling me that I could read that book when Mommy woke up and I could play a game with her now. The nice thing is that she can now read and so I could sometimes get her to read to me!

The one thing that I really came to appreciate though is quiet time/nap time. Although I didn't usually take a nap, it was a time that everything was quiet. It would be just Liliana and me awake so, while Liliana would watch a movie, I could go check my email, read, or just relax with Liliana and watch whatever movie she had picked out. I now know why quiet time is so essential to mothers.

Jacob and Heather were nice enough to plan a trip down to Farmington to see more family, so I got to see more of my family while I was there. It was great to see everyone, even if it wasn't for very long. It's so hard to spend enough time with everyone to make it last until the next time I get to see.

As always, I took lots and lots of pictures. It's a good thing my camera can hold a lot of pictures because I definitely went overboard this time by taking over 300 pictures. Yeah, I might have an addiction or something. The truly hard thing about taking this many pictures is that so many of them are keepers and over an extended period of time that it makes choosing a few wicked hard. So, I'm going to pick a few of each of the girls.

Liliana loves posing for the camera.
She did more poses for me, but this is my favorite.

Being silly with her cousins.

Such a great big sister.

Mattie actually let me do her hair in pigtails this day.
They didn't stay in very long, but oh well!

Mattie chasing me.

Bumpa and Grammy bought Liliana and Mattie these cute little backpacks. Mattie loved hers.

My newest little niece Jane.

Here she is awake.

Chilling in the pool.

Eating popsicles after painting themselves.