The True Meaning of The Season

The other day my husband went outside to shovel the snow off of our driveway.  Dinner had been ready for a while and I waited patiently for him to return, but it seemed like he should be done by now, and so I went outside to check on him and see what was taking so long. 

Our neighbor is an elderly lady who lives by herself.  We don't her story or if she has any family near by, but we do know she lives alone. My sweet sweet, wonderful husband, after finishing our driveway, noticed hers was still covered in feet of untouched snow.  Being the wonderful, generous, service oriented man he is, he went over there and shoveled her snow. 

She will never know it was him, he will never be given praise or thanks for his caring act of kindness, but he did it anyways.  This, is the true love of Christ.  This is what Christmas is all about.  This is why we celebrate.

I love my husband more than words can explain, and ever single day he reminds me of why I fell in love with him.  This is the man I want helping me through life, this is the man I want raising my children and setting an example for them.   

If you are tall enough to reach that high...

Cleaning the isles at work today I came across this lovely mess someone left for me.  Someone emptied out the entire contents of a bag filled with moss all over the floor and the bin below where the bang hangs, and then hung the bag back up.

I would find it less vexing if I thought it was a young kid, probably bored while his/her mother shopped around and paid no attention to him/her.  However, the bag was hung about 5 feet high, whether a kid did it or not, someone capable of reaching 5 feet was aware and involved...and left the mess there- probably assuming someone else will clean it up.  Ye buddy, someone else will clean it up...ME!

If you are tall enough to reach that high, you are old enough to know better than leaving it there.

Thank you, Michael's customers, for the courtesy

Sincerely, Annoyed.
 

Temple square

Despite the cold weather and slippery roads, Christmas time is my favorite season of the year.  Christmas music, lights everywhere, and the constant reminder of who we celebrate this season for make this season fun and heart-warming.

Temple Square in Salt Lake City has the most beautiful display of Christmas lights and the most stunning life-size nativity scene.  Last Sunday evening Cody and I went to Temple Square with his sister and her beautiful family to see the lights.  We went just in time too, because two days later a huge snow storm came in and the weather dropped a good 20 degrees.


After watching the nativity scene we went inside and spent some time looking at a beautiful statute of Christ.  It was such a wonderful way to kick of this holiday by taking some time to think about the true meaning of Christmas that so often gets forgotten by the hustle and bustle of the season.  I'm so grateful for my wonderful husband and the great man that he is.  And for my family and all the blessings we receive all year-round.
 

Budgeting

We are planning on buying a house in Grantsville this summer which is super exciting, but also it means that we will be paying a lot more for our mortgage than we are paying in rent right now.  Wanting to make sure we don't become "house poor" we have decided to kick our budgeting up a notch so we can practice living as if we were paying a mortgage. 

We came up with this clever little chart where we have allotted ourselves a carefully calculated budget and then we just deduct what we spend.  That way we are both aware of what we have spent that month and what we still have.  Then whatever money is left over for that month we save, so that when we run into trouble (say a car needs expensive repairs) we have the money.  Or if one month we need extra gas money (say we drive down to Cedar to visit Cody's families for a holiday) we already have the money saved up and we don't need to stress!  So far it has worked out wonderfully!

All Hallow's Eve

This month was really busy with work and school so I didn't manage to find any time to carve a pumpkin.  My brother as it turns out has no memory of ever carving a pumpkin.  So on Halloween night my brother came over and we carved a pumpkin together!  Neither of us have a lot of experience with carving pumpkins, but we figured it out- although there was a bit of learning curve to it. 





When we were little we used to carve pumpkins as a family and my mom would bake the seeds.  My brother decided we should try our hand at it and surprisingly they turned out really good.



The final product!

Halloween party

The perfect chocolate chip cookieAmy Reiter

 

Tonight Cody and I went to a family Halloween party.  The highlight for me was seeing my nieces in their adorable little costumes.  All three of them dressed as Disney Princesses. 

 

Whitney dressed as Merida from Disney's Brave and wore a big curly red wig.  She got tired of all the adults calling her Reba (a comparison I'm sure she did not get,) and threw her wig on the table and walked away.  So...my sister-in-law Kory put it on the baby, Zoe.  And here is what we got:

 

The cutest Little Mermaid ever!  What A Doll!

Minion Pumpkins

Since Halloween is coming soon, this week Michael's hosted a pumpkin painting activity.  Two of my co-workers painted minions.  They turned out awesome!

What a girl wants...

For some reason last night I was just really craving something sweet.  So I mentioned to Cody my craving and he said he would be right back.  Oh bless his heart he ran out to get me a treat while I finished up the dishes. 

He came back with 4 pints, 4 wonderful flavors of delicious Ben & Jerry's ice cream!  And then we sat in bed and ate ice cream while watching Home Improvement.  What a stud I married! I could not ask for a better partner.
   

If you don't want to wash the dishes...

Ever read Shel Silverstein's poem about washing dishes?  It goes something like "If you don't want to wash the dishes, break the dishes on the floor and they wont ask you to do the dishes anymore."

My husband was trying to break up a half frozen chunk of meant this evening, so he slammed it against a plate.  I was right about to warn him not to when he did it, and it shattered my plate!  I knew it wasn't a good idea but I had no idea this would happen!

On the bright side, (for him) I wont ask him to thaw the meat anymore ;)

If your old enough to tie a bow...

I am constantly peeved at work when I find the messes people leave.  Adults should not make these kinds of messes, and kids should be watched by their parents so they don't either.

Today while cleaning the isles I found a pile of ribbon left by one customer.  So you unravel the spool (After removing the plastic wrapper keeping the ribbon in place,) you tie a bow in it, decide it isn't what you want....and you just leave it there?  Really? C'mon! 

If you are old enough to tie a bow, you are certainly old enough to know to clean up your own mess!

Just my venting for the day, cleaning up after customers really stresses me sometimes.

Just Practicing

This morning my wonderful husband made me breakfast.  I was a little surprised to come to the table and find a mickey mouse pancake looking back.  With a big grin on his face, my husband said "I'm practicing for when we have kids!"

What a sweetheart!  My kids are so blessed and lucky to have him as dad!  And I am blessed and lucky to have him as partner, best friend and spouse!

The Man Pedal

Since my brother Taylor recently joined the "Men's Club" by turning in his automatic for manual car, Cody and him got matching shirts that have the gas pedal, break pedal, and clutch pedal with an arrow pointing to the clutch pedal saying " The Man Pedal."

Cody hates, absolutely HATES getting his picture taking, which is why he is making this particular face, 

Goodbye Breakfast

The morning my Dad left for the summer Cody wanted to see him one last time to say goodbye so we all got together for breakfast before work.

I happened to look over and see my Grandpa, Dad and brother comparing the size of their wenis'.  Not really sure what started it though, I missed that part.  But it was kind of funny.

Cody and Seth really bonded this summer. I'm not sure what they were doing here, but the above picture is one of my favorite pictures of the two. 

 
 
 
 

Seth has a thing for pulling hair.  Don't know why, but he loves to pull hair.

Seth and Grandma!




We love having Seth around. 

Handy Man

One thing I absolutely love about my husband is how clever and handy he his.  He just thinks of the funniest, but smartest solutions so problems. 

Yesterday Cody was jumping his truck with my car.  Instead of sitting in the car pushing on the gas an waiting for it to be charged...He took my window scraper and jammed it between the seat and the gas pedal, AND THEN he set the cruise control to keep it at the pressure he wanted!  Genius! I would have never thought of something so smart!




 

The Best Birth Control

My sister-in-law and her husband had theirs anniversary this weekend so we got to watch their precious three girls for a few days!

Here's Cody and the older two, Whitney and Bree watching T.V.  As you can see, he is really enjoying watching Brats! 

The next morning I got out of the shower to find Bree huddled in a corner pouting.  I asked her what was wrong, and with tears in her eyes she cried "Cody wont let me watch Barbie's ballet."  Haha, poor girl.  He asked her if they could watch some mechanic show and she didn't say no, so he thought it was ok and changed the channel.  Hadn't even noticed she left the room upset.  Reminds me of me at the age, I probably would have left pouting too!
 


I loved spending so much time with this little angel.  Got some mashed up bananas my eyes though, turns out it really burns.  I can wait a little longer to have kids, but I am so excited to raise a little family with my wonderful husband.  Watching him with my nieces, I know he will be a great dad!

3 Days of Easter

This year for Easter we celebrated three different days.  We had Easter at home with each other, then another Easter with my grandparents and cousins, and then the third with Cody's family down in Cedar City.

Last summer before we got married i found two little Easter baskets at a garage sale for 25cents each.  They weren't very cute, but for 25cents i thought why not!

I decided I wanted a cute Easter basket, so i took some ribbon and things from my craft room and put together this little thing.  Much cuter.

Since we were having 3 Easters I didn't want to go overboard with our baskets, but being our first Easter married I wanted to do something.  So I bought a few DVDs and some dollar store candy to fill our baskets. 

For Easter every year my grandparents have a big Easter party for all the grandchildren.  My grandma fills the basement with candy, and toys, and little knick knacks and we all fill our grocery bag with whatever we can grab.  Then My Grandpa hides a $20 bill for each grandchild and we all have to find our $20.

At the end my grandpa always makes up some sort of challange that we all have to compete in for a $100 and a $50.  The last two years in a row we had to bounce a golf ball and land it my grandpa's old shoe.  This year we had to throw a golf ball from across the room and get it into one of the two holes.

The first person to get the ball into the hole on the left gets $100, and the first two to get it into the bigger hole on the right get $50 each.  This year Cody was the first to get it into the small hole, and won the $100!  Between the two of us we came home with $140 this Easter!

"It loks like a cave!"

Today I finally got my bandages off!  My appointment was at 11:30, but i waited in the waiting room from 11:25-12:20.  Finally the nurse called me in, took my bandages off, said "hmm, looks good!" and sent me out the door.  Seriously, I waited 5 minutes shy of an hour, for a 2 minute doctors appointment. Pssh.  

Anyways, I'm amazed at how well everything has healed up in just two and a half weeks.  My incisions all look great, well except for my unfortunate looking belly button!

I now have 1and a half bellybuttons.  I showed my sister Brittney, and she responded with "It looks like a cave!" It kind of does though. :(

All in all i guess my bellybutton is worth the sacrifice for being healthy and feeling good, right?  

Yup, He Loves Me!

My sweet husband makes me happier than I have ever been.  He truly is the half that makes me whole and my best friend.  I love him so much..and apparently, he loves me too! ;)

All that air in my stomach, finally being able to eat fats, and laying in bed for 3 weeks has left me feeling rather large, and quite self conscious.
  

I have mentioned several times to Cody how gross I feel, and how the second the doctor gives me permission to exercise I want to go at it!  Unfortunately the only exercise I am allowed to do for 4 more weeks is cardio, but I don't have a gym membership and because of my bad ankle I can't run outside- because of the uneven pavement. 

My darling husband Went dumpster-diving at school and work, collected all the scrap metal and wires he could (didn't really dive in the dumpsters, just to clarify, just collected the scraps from work and school), and spent 3 days stripping wire.  He then took all the scrap metal and copper and turned it in for money.  He then took that money and bought me a brand new elliptical! He carried all 200 lbs of it from his truck, into our house, up the stairs, and put it together, all by himself!

It's the NordicTRack E5.7

It connects to the WiFi, and you can download any trail from google maps and follow it on the screen.  It also has speakers that you can plug any audio device into, and the audio plays out of the elliptical itself!

My picture isn't as good, with the sun coming in and being a camera phone. But here it is!

And now we wait and see...

March 4th I finally got rid of my pesky gallbladder!  The surgery went well and Cody took the day off of school to be with me.  I forgot how painful abdominal surgeries were, until the nurse made me get up and walk around.  I can't wait to be able to get out of bed by myself again. 

Luckily the doctor was able to do a laparoscopic operation, which makes the healing process much quicker.   

They have to pump air into your abdomen to make room for the tools, but apparently they have yet to figure out how to get the air back out.  Look how swollen and puffy I am!  It's supposed to take 7-10 days to begin to deflate, can't wait!

Besides making me feel fat, the air bubbles like to move around and cause a shockingly large amount of pain, especially in my shoulders, who'd of guessed? Three days after the surgery i had to go back to the E.R because i couldn't breathe- turned out to be just air bubbles caught in my lungs, but of course they had to stick dozens of needles in me to do tests before deciding what the problem was.  I hate needles more than just about anything else in the world.   

So as it turns out I was born with an under developed gallbladder, making it too tiny to fully digest fat and cholesterol.  After years of unsuccessfully digesting, my gallbladder began to store layers and layers of cholesterol- until finally it hit it's limit and just quit.  This explains why I used to get sick when I eat, why I didn't notice a problem until about age 11, and why it has been getting worse over the years. 

Finally I can drink milk, eat cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, ice cream, butter, fried foods, etc.  Besides not being able to get up by myself, i feel better than i have felt in years!  

Oh, I Love My Husband!

Since my gallbladder crashed I've been stuck in bed, which may sound fun and relaxing at first, but after a couple days of it..it gets pretty boring.  I actually wish I could go back to school, never thought I'd say that!

My favorite video game as a kid was, (and still is) Donkey Kong Country, so my sweet sweet husband ran to walmart and bought me Donkey Kong Country Returns to play while I'm stuck in bed. 

He's so good to me!

Seth's Blessing Day

This Sunday was Seth's blessing.  Cody gets of work at 2 A.M so it was going to be hard to make it.  However, we wanted to be there so Cody was going to drive down to provo after work and pick me up, and we would drive all night getting to my sister's house just in time to change clothes and make the blessing.  Unfortunately with my gallbladder completely fried we couldn't make it.  

Here is Seth in his blessing outfit on the day of his blessing.  Sad we couldn't be there, but were so happy for my sister and her husband, and for Seth. 

Well, that certainly is ironic

The other day I was talking with my sister-in-law and we got to talking about Valentines Day. 

 I mentioned how every year in high school I managed to land myself in the Emergency Room.  Different reasons, but none-the-less every year i found myself in the E.R on Cupid's birthday. 

That particular trend ended in high school, and of course by telling her so i jinxed myself. 

This February 14th I woke up with a stomach ache, which was nothing out of the ordinary so I ignored it.  I made Cody a compleatly heart shaped breakfast in honor of the holiday and went about my day.  The pain escalated quickly and by about noon I found myself once again in the E.R on Valentines day.  (Side note, my adorable, law-abiding grandpa burned rubber skidding through a red light to get me there.) 

Long story short, after several needles, blood samples, tests, a CT scan and a HIDA scan the doctor may have finally found the cause of the past 11 years of pain, feeling crappy, and getting sick whenever i ate.

Apparently a healthy gallbladder has an ejection rate of 40% or higher and a normal gallbladder 35-40%.  My gallbladder has an ejection rate of...12%

As soon as i can get a surgery date they'll take my gallbladder out, and hopefully fix years of pain and getting sick whenever i eat.  Just hoping for the best. 


As a party favor from my fun day in the E.R, they sent me home with a picture of the inside of my stomach! Those with a weak stomach don't scroll down, those who are curious...keep scrolling.... 


..........

.........

........

.......

......

.....

....

...

..

.   




    

What the inside of my stomach looks like.