Why I'll never forget Veteran's Day

One year ago today, James proposed to me. It was a Wednesday, he had class the next day, and with Thanksgiving break only a couple weeks away I would have never suspected it. (which, I think was his point) It was a red letter day for sure. We were married 6 months later and haven't wasted any time taking the next steps in life. I have never been happier.

On a side note, I remember after I got engaged how frequently I was asked "How did James propose?" I retold that story time and time again and it really never got old. After I was married the question was always, "When are you going to start a family?" I was always uncomfortable answering that question, and usually just lied and said, "I don't know, we'll see." When in fact I did know, and didn't feel it was anybodies business to ask. Now that I am pregnant the question I hear more often than any other question in the world is, "How are you feeling?" I get asked this a dozen or more times in a day from, co-workers, people I rarely associate with in the office and at church, and by strangers wherever I go. I find it interesting that people care so much about how I am feeling. And how the question changes drastically from the regular "how ya doin'?" to how are you feeling? when you are pregnant. And maybe I have found this question so strange, because other than the fact that my belly is getting huge, I feel great and really haven't felt too bad the entire time I've been pregnant. I guess I could complain about the heart burn, the fact that none of my pants will button up and how I am hungry all the time, but the truth is I really do feel great. I am happy and very excited to be a mother and especially to watch James be a father.

Never a bad time to be grateful

I guess I don't update my blog because I think I always have to have something significant to write about, and the perfect pictures to accompany my thoughts. I am going to throw away that notion that I have tonight and just write a little bit about some of the things I am especially grateful for tonight. I don't think there is ever a bad time to show a little bit of gratitude.

Sometimes I hate that other people's tragedies have to be reminders of why I should be grateful for something that I have. I know that God gives us individual challenges that our individual strengths help us to overcome. Often time it's hard being the one looking in on someones life wondering how they can ever get through such a thing. A lot of the problem is just that I personally was not given the right juice or the right stuff to handle such a tragedy at this time. But still I can trust that if given the same trial that the right juice would be provided by a loving Heavenly Father. I have faith that that is the case but it does not change the personal challenge that we each feel when trying to help friends and loved ones during these hard times.

With all of that said, tonight I am grateful for my dear James. I came home from a very long day of work, errands, grocery shopping, fully expecting to find the house as I left it this morning, (a smelly mess, with laundry needing to be done) only to be pleasantly surprised by a clean orderly house with laundry done and folded. James has been sick and out of commission for a couple of days so this really was a surprise, but I was so grateful for it.

I am grateful for the gorgeous fall weather. It was sunny today and I ate my lunch out on the lawn of the park next to my work. It felt wonderful.

I am grateful for a really great job. I hear constantly about people finishing school, only to be unable to locate any type of employment. I have been extremely blessed in this area of my life. I've been able to find a job at the right time at the right place for the last few years since I've graduated. It really is a miracle that I can't attribute to anything else but my Heavenly Father.

Working with children and people with disabilities, has made me ever grateful that my brain is able to send the correct signals to my arms and legs that make them move in the way that I choose, that my eyes are properly attached to occipital lobe that allow me to see images wherever I am, that I can see someone crying and understand what it means to be sad and provide some sort of comfort for that person, and that my mouth will produce the sounds that are appropriate for what I am trying to say. The brain does so many wonderful things, and it is very difficult to not take advantage of all the functions that it performs each day that allow us freedoms that some will not have in this life.

This has turned into a much lengthier post than I anticipated, but there are my thoughts tonight none the less. I am grateful to be an expecting mother, and with the growing pains of pregnancy I will be grateful also when I get to experience the pains of motherhood.

Fall is in the air and It's BEAUTIFUL!

Can you hear that?? It's the sound of crunching leaves underneath your feet. Can you smell it? It's the smell of stoves being turned on for the first time of the season. Can you feel it? Oh man, I can. It's the crisp air that screams IT'S FALL!!! I love fall. I wish it would last longer, but as I mentioned before I made a goal to just enjoy the season while it is around and not worry about what follows.

I loved the carving pumpkin family home evening we had the week before Halloween each year. I cared a lot less about having the most creative pumpkin, and mostly just enjoyed sitting on the back porch with the family. James and I had our pumpkin carving FHE a week early. We have zero holiday decorations, so at least we feel a tiny bit more festive with our pumpkins sitting outside our door. We still haven't bought candles to put in them, but they sit there looking pleasant and orange none the less.

I get to drive all over Utah County for my job. I have particularly enjoyed my drives this week. I have visited some fun neighborhoods. I wish I was more like my mom, and always had a camera on hand, I would've taken a picture of a few of them, with the leaves starting to fill the streets and pristine halloween decorations outside each of the doorways. I pictured myself with my family settling down some day in a neighborhood similar to the ones I visited. Maybe not in Saratoga Springs, or Lehi, but I just really enjoyed growing up in the neighborhood that I did, and I would wish the same for my children one day in the future. I'm not in a hurry to settle down, we've still got lots of school left, and lots of renting to do before we ever live in a house, but still I look forward to that later in life.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Well, we've had our ultra sound and it's official: we're having a girl! We're both really excited. I guess Lauri's desires and wishes and dreams weren't for naught. Seeing the baby on the screen and realizing that she's actually there and growing sets in the realization that I'm going to be a dad and Lauri will be a mom. Part of the reason why I'm so excited that it's a girl is that I would be scared that a boy might just end up being just like I was as a kid. That would be like having 3 kids at once. I'm glad we've got a girl to start off with. As for names, we both really like the name Lucy, but that could change before the baby is born. The due date is still for February 28. Lauri says that she can feel the baby moving all the time as well. One time I thought I felt her move, but it could have just been my imagination.

In other news, we've come up with the decision that I'll be going to Graduate School to become an Occupational Therapist. We've decided that it's the perfect fit because I really want to help those with disabilities, don't necessarily want to be a teacher all my life, and love to work one-on-one with people. So this is our exciting news!

Gettin' Ready for Conference

I do love this time of the year. It's like the flashback sequence of a movie, only it's a whole season of flashbacks of all the years experiences for me. I was in Mexico this time 2 years ago. It was a precious experience that I will cherish my entire life. I remember very well the food, the people, but I often forget the little things that made that experience so unique. I was taking a walk in a neighborhood close to our house one evening, and accross the fence of a small house a rooster crowed. This immediately brought a smile to my face. For the 3 months I lived in my small village, the roosters were my alarm clock, with no snooze button. They started calling about 5:00 am in the morning and seemed to just wake one another up until you had an entire chorus of roosters singing through out the entire village. I didn't enjoy this as much then as I do the memory of it now.

October conference is always a memorable, because it means St George marathon time. When we were much younger, I remember my mom and dad often took their European gettaways about this time of year. Traci and I would usually stay with my Grandma Sullivan while they were away, but we liked to go and spend the Friday night before conference with our Grandma Rose, so we could wake up early and go watch the marathon in front of my dad's office. Actually the tradition started because one year we went and helped pick up cups that the runners would throw to the side of the road. Some of the volunteers saw us helping and gave us a free t-shirt. We thought that was the ultimate, so each year we would do the same thing hoping to get another t-shirt. I don't believe we were ever wished the same fate but we had fun and helped out regardless.

Now I love conference time, mostly just that it is conference time. I love to hear the prophet and all of the apostles. I love to hear the messages they have each prepared. James' mom always made home made cinnimon rolls during the Sunday morning session. Ever since we've been together, I've done the same, and I look forward to it. At our house growing up I just remember every TV being turned on to conference. You couldn't miss a bit of it even if you tried, because the prophet's words were ringing throughout the entire house.

I add my testimony to those that will be born this weekend. I do know that God lives and this is His church restored once again on the earth. I know Thomas S Monson is a prophet of God. I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and is the only one through which I can return to live with my Heavenly Father again. I love my family and know that I can live with them for eternity through Heavenly Father's plan. I love my dear husband and I am thankful for the priesthood he holds. I hope you all have a wonderful conference weekend and I hope it is appropriate to share all of that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Things that made me happy this week.

It seems like all week long there have been little things that have made me soooo happy. I usually find things to make me happy each day but this week, all of them stuck out as something special that I needed to share with someone else.

It's only September but the mountains have already begun to change colors. This started to cause me some anxiety in the beginning, and I couldn't quite figure out why, because I love to look and see the mountains painted orange, red, and yellow, all my favorite colors, but I always know that it doesn't last very long. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it or take in enough of it to last through the dreary winter. I later realized that this was the real source for my anxiety. As much as I enjoy the crisp fall weather, and the beautiful colors that come with it, it meant that winter was coming... and I am not prepared for that. I have realized that it is not a very healthy way to live, waiting in fear of every winter that comes. I have since committed my self to enjoy the colors on the mountains, and live in the moment. Enjoying what beauties God puts before me now.

James is currently working at Provo High School as a math aid. I came home on Thursday and these were sitting on our table. How happy did this make me???? So happy! My first instinct was to cut up the wallet size pictures and start handing them out to family and friends. This was something silly that made me happy, it was mostly just nostalgic thinking about when I was younger and we'd be so excited (or very unexcited if the pictures turned out terrible, but at least you could find comfort that retakes were just a couple weeks later) to show my mom and change our old picture on the wall to the new and improved version for the year. I told him I wanted to frame the 8X10 and hang it on our wall. He admitted that he wondered if he should even show me them in the first place, obviously anticipating such a reaction from his overly sensitive wife. We didn't hang them up, but it made my day.

James knows when I make a meal that really hits the spot, because he hears my praises for hours after the meal has been cleaned up, and on occasion into the next day. We happened to have two of those meals this week. We made my friend Michael's italian beef on Tuesday. It was delicious, but even more delicious than the beef and the salad that I made to go with it was the great company that we had. Ashley, my old roomate and her fiance James happened to be wandering around Provo and she called to see if she could stop by. I always make too much food, so we had plenty to share. It was a great and perfectly composed meal.

The next day I made my mexican rice and beans that we ate with fresh corn tortillas. DELICIOUS!!! I love beans. I dare say they are my favorite food, and I couldn't get enough of this. I've been eating it all week long, because I made so much. I think it was one of Traci's roomates that made the comment once, "you guys talk about food so much." I do love food. And I love cooking for James. It's something that makes me happy everyday, to be his wife.

Monday I had my first doctors appointment. I wasn't expecting to have an ultra-sound but that's where they sent me. It was so fun to see that there is actually a growing human being inside of my growing uteris and not something else. Everything looked healthy and with the measurements taken they even upped my due date, to February 28th. I met my doctor for time and was glad to find that he did come well recommended from others not just the nurse at the Orem community hospital.

This made James happy today and he took a picture of it himself. I have nothing more to add except that we are all happy and well, and our baby continues to grow and we both continue to stay busier than we want to be sometimes.

On Our Way to Being Parents

Lauri is starting to notice her stomach getting bigger and bigger whether she likes it or not. She went and bought some maternity clothes the other day because nothing is fitting anymore. Oh, the joys of a being pregnant. Tomorrow Lauri goes in for her first appointment and then we should have a calculated due date. We are currently on week 16. Seeing all of these other couples in the ward with children always gets us excited to be parents. We also watched a BBC Special called the "Miracle of Birth," which made us both excited to have a child as well nervous all at the same time. You can kind of see Lauri's belly started to stick out in this picture. But as always, she looks great!

I just sent out a lot of family history to my family and talking about being a father reminds me of the experience that my ancestor describes of the birth of his first child, Owen Mets Stewart:

"The long and anxiously looked for day had arrived and Owen put in an appearance just a few minutes before midnight, or a few minutes after midnight. I was too excited to tell exactly, but he was present and that was the big thing for me at this particular time and place. I felt that a great battle had been won, the child was born and the mother who had been lingering between life and death for hours and hours had passed, at least, the first milestone. And now while the doctor was working with her I was watching the heir that had been the cause of all the trouble and while it seemed an age to me, when in reality it could not have been but a moment or two, I wanted to be sure that he was alive, for as yet he had not moved, or breathed; and while I waited those ages of 60 seconds each, there was many reflections passing through my mind. For mama and I had been married for ten long years and this little stranger, although it seemed that I had always known him, was the fist that had come to brighten our home. And would he stay or would I have to wait for another. But soon my hopes were renewed for I saw something which I cannot describe, a vibration, a shudder, or a thrill or a something and behold the babe was alive, a real live baby and my own; as he cried my heart was overjoyed as the truth began to dawn upon my soul that I was a father."