Gratitude

So I realize that I haven't posted anything since June and have probably lost interest in most, if not all, of my few followers.  I guess I better explain why.

As I stated in previous posts, we spent most of the summer in Arkansas and Louisiana.  We did our time out there then headed home in the beginning of July, only to move a month later.  It was such a huge move for us that we pretty much started over from scratch, selling, lending out/storing, or giving away most of what we had.  The baby's crib plus two boxes were shipped to our new address.  The only other belongings we brought were our 2 pieces of luggage each plus carry-on.  Saying we were overwhelmed when we arrived would be a definite understatement.  Although everything that could go wrong did, we had so many answers to prayers.  Since it is November I will go ahead and list them as my "Daily November Gratitudes" and add more things I feel blessed about.

1. Finally getting an apartment 5 days before moving out here.

2. James and Jamal, who are other students in the PhD program, for going to apartment showings for us, having never met us before.

3. Jamal for picking us up from the airport.

4. Jamal for driving us to the rental car place once we picked up the apartment keys from the landlord.

5.  For Darren making an accidental phone call to James, when he meant to call Jamal, who got us in touch with a couple in his ward who had a futon to give away.

6. Brett and Heidi, who were on vacation, letting us go into their house to get the futon while they weren't there.

7. Their friend who met us there to convince the landlord to let us in.

8. For this futon that we hate so much and slept on for two weeks and are still using as our couch.  No matter how much we hate you, you were a life saver because we would have been sleeping on the hard, laminate floor without any blankets our first night here without you.  

9.  Finding a good running car for the right price.

10. Finally getting everything taken care of at the DMV after about 5 visits.

11. Judge for excusing the ticket Darren received because our tags weren't up to date because of DMV issues.

12.  Brother-in-law Chad for going online and setting up our car insurance because our internet wasn't hooked up yet.

13.  Finding free dining chairs and an inexpensive table on craigslist.

14. Our first friends out here Heidi and Greg

15.  All the friends we've made since.  We have an awesome social life and haven't been this cool since we got married :)

16. Getting to pick out a perfect mattress and finding it for a great price at Costco.

17. My calling Young Womens.  I love the women I get to hang out with dearly and am really enjoying working with the girls on their person progress.

18. Rarely having a weekend with no plans with friends.

19.  Going to my Tuesday night sewing class with Haley.  She is one of the greatest people I have met and am so glad she liked me enough to invite me to go with her.

20.  Baby girl has many cute friends in the ward that she loves to play with.

21.  She gets to go to nursery now and loves it!

22.  Darren works so hard at school and does everything he can to make sure we have a wonderful life to enjoy now and even more to look forward too.

23.  Living in such a beautiful place.

24.  Getting to go to the beach almost as much as we want.

25.  Little miss 18 month old takes naps and goes to bed for the night so easily, usually with no crying at all.

26.  Getting any sleep at all with sharing our room with our 18 month old because we only have one bedroom.

27.  Desire and willpower to exercise consistently for the first time in my life.  Usually I get excited for about a week then quit.  My husband is my inspiration because the stronger he gets, I want my body to match.

28.  My beautiful, happy, smart, strong-willed, tender, sweet, energetic, loving baby girl that I get to hone, love and protect.

29.  Living far from my parents, I feel that I appreciate all they have done and do for me/us more.  I only wish I was better at showing my gratitude for them.

30.  The sweet songs my girl sings at home, while sitting in the shopping cart, in the car, anywhere and everywhere.  She knows Elmo's World, Elmo's got the Moves, "Arthur" theme song, Popcorn Popping, Twinkle Little Star, ABC's, Book of Mormon Stories, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Patty-cake, Hello! Hello!, the Ants Go Marching, and many more.

31.  My in-laws for accepting in to their family almost 4 years ago with open arms and for making sure I know that they love me.

32.  My amazingly hot husband, who knows how to make me happy in every way.  He is so kind and never selfish.  I can't imagine my life without him, and I'm so glad we met when we did.  I wasn't planning on getting engaged at 19 and married at 20, but baby I'm so glad we did!

33.  For the complete strangers who walk up to us in public to talk to little miss and tell me how cute and beautiful and good-natured she is.  I know she is but it's always great to know that other people think the same thing.

34.  The new camera we were able to get from our reward points when our old one started dying.

35.  Staying 100% debt free all through undergrad.

36. Finally getting out of this creative rut!  You can definitely expect more from me in the "nearish" future as I have a couple projects planned though not started.

There are many more things that I haven't listed but I can only recall so many things in one sitting.  I'm so grateful for the beginning of the holiday season.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Summer Plans

It has been way too long since I have posted anything but I have many good excuses.  Really, I do!  I went through a pretty tough bout of mono... actually still going through it but life goes on.  My husband came down with it before I did but was diagnosed with strep throat (no throat culture was done).  When I came down with it we rushed to urgent care because it was a Sunday morning.  I tested negative for strep but because my husband "had it" the doctor said the test he did was wrong 20% of the time and it looked like strep to him.  He wrote me a prescription for some strong antibiotics and sent me home.  (I say wrote me a prescription and sent me home like he did it in a timely manner... ha!)  My husband at this point was pretty much back to himself after only having it for a week, but for some reason mine wasn't going away.  I finally made an appointment with my doctor after about 2 weeks of pain.  She asked me a few questions then told me she thought I had mono so she sent me into the lab for a blood test for mono to which I tested positive.  At this point I was a little stressed out because of all we had going on (which I will dive into later), and I was worried because we had a 10 month old baby girl.  After much googling, I found that the younger you are the less mono affects you.  Some children can have it with no symptoms while others will seem a little tired with maybe a runny nose.  With that information I decided that our Little Miss most likely had it first and gave it to us because about a week before my husband came down with it  she had been a bit cranky and sleeping for a good 12-13 hours at night.  She also had a runny nose.  So there we have it.  I still have no idea why my husband was able to get through the mono so fast and I still am dealing with it.

Not long before this whole mono thing happened, my husband was accepted into graduate school to obtain his PhD in psychology!  He was accepted very early in the process, before most students even get interviewed.  It is very nice knowing that he is already so valued by the professor he will be working under.  He has worked so hard to be qualified to work with this man in his field of study.  With this acceptance comes a HUGE move for us.  Although I'm not comfortable making our location known on here, I'm talking we can't take very much with us.  We have already had three garage sales, sold things off craigslist, and given stuff to family.  We still are trying figure out what else we can leave behind.

We are currently in Arkansas where my husband has joined a team doing sales for this summer, hoping to make up for the lack of income we will be experiencing very soon when we move.  I am fine giving up this location because it is so short term.  By this weekend we should be heading to Louisiana for the team to finish up the summer!  We will be leaving early in July so we can tie up loose ends before the big move.  But right now I am living it up, exploring this part of the country I have never been, and making good memories with these cuties!

My baby girl turned one out here in Arkansas!  I was in a frenzy before we left to get her birthday party planned and done before we came out here.  It was a big success and I will be posting about it soon!