Foods I Am Loving

I eat these two things on a daily basis.

They are so fast, so easy, so healthy, and so good!

Number One:

Tomato

Avocado

Mozerella Cheese 

(or String Cheese, if you're cheap like me)

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Salt

Balsamic Vinegar

I feel so healthy when I eat this!

I have it for lunch most days, or a snack.

It is so good!

Number 2:

Special K Red Berries

Vanilla Yogurt

Blackberries

Raspberries

Blueberries

The picture doesn't look that appetizing, but it is delicious!

Perfect for breakfast, lunch or a quick snack.

p.s.  berries are on sale 3 for $5! Gotta love Lee's  :)

Good Foods Friday

Last Friday we had a "Good Foods Friday"

It was a party!

We only had one minor incident....

I was put in charge of documenting the event.

(I'm not even just saying that, I really was!)

I decided to take on the extra task of entertainment as well.

We played frisbee, and only had it go over the fence a few times.

Waiting for the food to cook

The finished product!

It was delicious.

So happy  :)

Slightly Obsessed

Wouldn't he be the best guy to have in the cast? 

He could fill in for any of the parts if someone was sick or needed a vacation of something.

I think he should be Javert.

TMI

Warning: Boys (and some girls) may not want to read this post, but it really isn't that bad. One day you're going to have to get used to this kind of talk, but if that day is not today, or if you just don't care to know, than I will not be offended if you choose to skip this post. Thank you. 

Remember this post?

Well, here are the promised details:

About four-ish years ago I started have "contractions" as we now so lovingly refer to them as.

Let me be clear: these are not normal cramps.

They come after my period (during I'm usually fine), and it's not every time that it happens. I never know when it's going to happen.

There have been a few times that it got to the point where I had to go home from work.
They called my dad to come pick me up because they didn't even trust me to drive the 5 blocks home.

I missed President Eyrings devotional and instead spent it sprawled on the bathroom floor (you know there is something wrong when I lay on the floor of a public bathroom) That ended up being a very eventful day and is actually a great story (the same day we had this prank pulled on us) but we'll save it for another time  :)  

I went to the doctor when it first started and they just told me it was cramps. They gave me some medicine (which I'm pretty sure is more of a placebo than anything) and sent me on my way. I felt stupid for making such a big deal about it, so I just dealt with it.
Surprisingly, things started to calm down slightly.

This year things started getting bad again. Even worse than before.

I had to have my friends bring me home early from shopping because I was having such bad  "contractions" that it was making me physically sick.

I missed the Super Bowl because of the pain.
I actually started to wonder if my apendix had burst and was seriously considering calling someone to take me to the hospital.

My contractions started waking me up in the night and they would last up to 2 days instead of a few hours like before.

Last month, after another restless night of contractions, I decided I was going to the doctor while it was happening so they couldn't just dismiss me like they did the last time. I went to work and told them I would just be gone for an hour and then I would be back.

I guess that plan didn't really happen....

I went to the doctor and the pain just kept getting worse and worse. Lets just say I pretty much cried through the whole visit. The good news is that everyone took me seriously  :)  They did an ultrasound and found a fibroid. I was told that fibroids aren't uncommon in older women, but for my age and health I was probably in the 1 percentile. Awesome!

Everyone was very good to me and by the end of the visit I was wrapped in a thick heavy blanket, eating crackers, and sipping on a juice box.
I was prescribed Loritab and given a note to take the day off work.

I had told Brie I would be back at work in an hour (which I had already missed by a long shot) and I have this unexplained fear of medicine.
So instead of following doctors orders, I went home and slept for a few hours and then went back to work for the afternoon.
I was achy and sore through the next day, but I was still functioning, so it was fine  :)

Friday, I had an MRI, but it wasn't very conclusive. I was told we would have to do a scope and they were pre-authorize my insurance for surgery. We planned to combine my pre-op appointment with the surgical consultation to speed the process up. My mom came to Logan so she could be with me (thanks mom!) Insurance was figured out. I scheduled the surgery for July 1 and had the week off work for recovery. Everything was lined up!

Then I went to the surgical consultation / pre-op and after talking everything over.... they put me on birth control.
I may still end up needing surgery, but we figured there was no need to jump straight to surgery if it could be fixed with something much simpler.

So please be understanding if I go a tiny bit crazy for a while. It's not my fault  :)

So there you have it! A little anti-climactic and a little TMI, but people have been asking and wanting to know.

Thank you everyone for your concern and support. It has been much appreciated.

Learning to Love My Calling

It was my turn to teach sunday school and I really didn't want to teach on the priesthood. I swear, we have been talking about the priesthood for the past two months. And not just in sunday school, but also in Elders Quorum / Relief Society. As great as the priesthood is, I think we're all a little burned out on the subject. So I presented my case and asked if I could please teach something other than the priesthood. Anything! I was granted permission to choose my topic. Hallelujah!

About a year ago I started listening to conference talks as I'm getting ready in the morning.

I love doing this! It always starts my day out right and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Anyway, remember how my last General Conference experience was kind of shot?

Well, I have now officially listened to and/or read every talk in the conference Ensign! (some multiple times)

So in choosing my topic to teach on, I immediately turned to two of my favorite conference talks that I had just marked the day before.


Listen to the full talk here

Listen to the full talk here
My favorite!

I actually really enjoyed preparing for this lesson and I think it went over really well!
We were combined with another ward and I was the only teacher, so it was a huge class. I received several compliments, and am still receiving compliments! It's good for me to hear because I honestly feel so inadequate! I think I'm finally getting it down though.

I strongly encourage you to listen to the full talks.
They are amazing.

Can I just say how much I really do love General Conference?

I really do. It is so great!

Ok, that's all.

Life is good.

:)

My Dad

I have a pretty amazing dad.

Funny

Patient

Optimistic

Supportive 

Thoughtful

Encouraging

Strong in the gospel

Worthy priesthood holder

Always going on adventures

Did I mention that he's patient?

Always putting others before himself

Provides, Presides and Protects our family

Doesn't take himself too seriously, but knows how to when it matters

The list could go on forever!

I think my mom did pretty good for herself.

I hope that one day I am lucky enough to get a guy like my dad.

He has set a high standard, boys!

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

I love you!

less than three

( <3 )

Lessons Learned From Grandma Hill

Once upon a time I didn't have to work on Friday!

I decided to celebrate by going to Draper/Provo to visit family.
It was such a great trip! But this story is specifically about our visit with Grandma Hill.

I picked Courtney up in Draper and we headed to Provo to see Grandma Hill. 

After visiting at her house for a while, we decided to take Grandma to the store for some groceries. 

I offered to take my car, since Grandmas car was at her neighbors house. 

really bad picture of me.... but grandma is lookin' good!

Grandma seemed worried. "Does your car run well? Do you think it will make it?"

Courtney and I chuckled. "Well I made it this far, so I hope we can make it to the store!"

I put Grandma in the back seat, turned the car on, shifted to reverse, and.... my car died! 

I didn't even make it out if the driveway! (We were actually half out of the driveway with the back of my car in the middle of the street)

Grandma is psychic!

I tried to start it a few more times. Nothing! It was completely dead. Didn't even turn over when I tried starting it. 

The steering wheel locked so we couldn't turn it to coast down the street to a parking space. I put the car in neutral and Courtney and I both got out to push it back into the driveway so it wouldn't be in the middle of the street. We could push it to the dip just before the driveway, but we couldn't get the back tires over. We kept trying to run and put the car in park before it would roll backwards again, but we weren't very successful. It was definitely a funny sight though and we got a good laugh out of it! 

Grandma was still sitting in the back of the car for this whole ordeal (just getting a kick out of us, I'm sure) I decided to take her inside so she didn't get heat stroke. When I came back out a nice man came and helped us. 

Throughout this whole thing, I kept having flash backs to the last time my car died and I just knew we would have to call a tow truck. 

My phone had died earlier that day, so Courtney set to work trying to get a tow truck.
We called AAA twice and they were no help because our parents weren't with us.

Lame. 

grandma looking up the a repair shop

Grandma kept saying: 

"I think we should say a prayer"

"Lets say a prayer"

"I think we should pray"

"Maybe we should say a prayer"

"Do you think we should pray?"

"I think if we said a prayer, your car would start again?"

To which we responded:

"It's not going to start again, we need a tow truck. We'll pray after we get a tow truck"

courtney on the phone forever

After a long time on the phone, we finally got a tow truck to come get us.

I told the tow man what had happened and he told me to try starting it so he could see.

I turned the key and.... it started!

Boy, did I feel sheepish.

I guess that's what we get for putting our "trust in the arm of flesh"

The tow man was very nice and said he wouldn't charge me. He drove away.... and then came back! He told me to drive my car up and down the street just to make sure it really was working ok (it was) He was the nicest tow man ever and he renewed my faith in humanity.

And they all lived happily ever after!

The End

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

The moral of the story: Always listen to your psychic, spiritually in tune grandmother.

Best Tradition Ever

I started a new tradition and I love it:

Friday night Slumber Party / Saturday morning Temple trip!

Best tradition ever, am I right?

I'm right.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

We decided to start our Friday night off with some Free Panda Express!

Unfortunately, I didn't notice the "pm" after the 9 and we were a little early.

We ate anyway and it was delicious!

Next on the agenda was slack lining!

Jana is so cute setting it up

Carlie is the expert slack liner

I have had friends try to get me to slack line before, but for some reason it is so scary to me!

We started out holding onto each other for balance

Then we graduated on to holding a rope

Melanie

 

I actually got to the point where I could take a few steps without using the rope!

Chelsey

Then we really started having fun!

We played Chicken and I was pretty good. 

Just sayin'

Jana in the tree, holding the rope

Chelsey climbing up the tree

planking on the slack line - that is real talent right there!

so graceful

doing tricks....

on handed!

classic

After our slack lining adventure, we went back to my place for the sleep over.

We got out our extra mattresses and the pillow talk began!

Carlie and Jana officially have me hooked on these two songs

I now love just about anything by The Wailin' Jennys

I made everyone at work listen to them on Thursday.

I have listened to this song more times than I can keep track.

I may be slightly obsessed.

Can't think of a better way to start the weekend off!

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

See, I told you it's the best tradition ever

:)