joshua tree

well folks next stop is joshua tree! we are so excited to spend a little while with sams sister jenny and her husband nicholas! i promise i will post pictures of our WONDERFUL time in sacramento for grandma t's 80th birthday bash!

oh.. and my AWESOME new hat... your gonna love it!

x0x0

presidents day ramblings

ok this has nothing to do with presidents day- although if i was in school i would be very happy to have a day off :)

with really not much to do the past few weeks besides sleep in and spend time with sam, family and friends, ive had a lot of time to think. (dont feel too sorry for me- i know its a rough life) anyways. sorry about my somewhat depressing posts these days i dont know exactly what has gotten into me... maybe it is all this time to think.

ive been having kind of a hard time understanding trials lately. i do know that trials are given to us to grow and to learn, but sometimes i wonder if it is ever going to end. to me it seems like when it rains it pours. and its been a freakin hurricane for many people i know lately.

i did however come across this quote recently and i had an epiphany!

"There is one thing the Lord expects of us no matter our difficulties and sorrows: He expects us to press on." (Joseph B. Worthlin)

yes, life can get hard. for most people it is harder than they might think they can handle, but we are expected to keep going, to keep pressing forward.

my dad has been having a very rough patch in his health lately and i think that is why ive been having such a hard time. as im sure most of you would agree, watching someone you love so very very much suffer so severely is a horribly painful thing. all you want to do is help, but for a lot of people especially those with physical pain, you cant do a single thing about it. except pray.

oh how thankful i am for prayer and fasting and priesthood blessings. the power of God is REAL! although it has been hard to watch sorrow and suffering, my faith has been increased so tremendously. i do know that my Savior knows me and loves me and does answer my prayers. He does know my deepest desires, my wishes, my questions, my beliefs, my thoughts, my doubts, everything! and im thankful to truly have a testimony of that.

He is on our side. He is sending us subtle and even sometimes extreme promptings to say or do certain things to lighten a burden or even two. all we have to do is listen, and then act.

the truth is, life is good. people are good. trials happen and its ok, its just how we respond to them that makes the difference.

im thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life- without it i know i would be lost. and watching those i love suffer would be much more unbearable than it is now.

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ill move on with something a little more upbeat. we are now in sunny california.

we moved out of our house on friday.

oh what a day friday was... oh heavens what a day.

we went to a wedding in twin falls- lovely, on our way home i (yes meaning it was me driving and it was my fault) got in a wreck. it could have been a heck of a lot worse than it was. whew Heaven was smiling down on me. we packed all day as soon as we got home and cleaned and then headed to my cousin carlis wedding reception. wow the most beautiful and classy wedding reception i have EVER been to. so awesome.

saturday we started our adventures!

we are enjoying very much the sunny, warm days here. we are currently visiting sams grandma and grandpa. it is his grandmas 80th birthday this week so we will be having a festive celebration with all of sams family!

valentines day was pretty low key this year. and i loved it. we actually celebrated on thursday night because we knew the weekend would be crazy.

i was in charge of the valentines date this year and wanted to do something a little bit different than usual. so putting my incredibly creative mind to use (right) i came up with
something (ok not so creative) but it was really fun and really cheap!

last semester sam and i took a kayaking class at isu. awesome. anyways on thursday nights they have an open kayaking night so for FREE sam and i spent a little bit of time flipping our kayaks in the pool. after that we raced for a $5 hot and ready with some soda from home and ate in the car. we then went to an awesome show that my beautiful friend stephanie is in at mystique! i was planning on this ever since i read on her blog that she was in it, but while searching for tickets discovered that it cost quite a bit of money... any how i still wanted to do it but was avoiding buying tickets because of price, then i got a text from her saying that if you brought a can of food you got in for $12! AWESOME! problem solved.

i think its so hard coming up with fun, new, cheap date ideas, but i think this valentines day was a successful one.

anyways it was a great night and i have a wonderful husband. he really does treat me like a queen and honestly wasnt even mad at me about our car! phew.

sorry there havent been any pictures recently but i promise soon enough they will be plastered all over your screen!

i wish you all well!
x0x0

the secret life of bees.

i watched this movie this weekend and tonight realized how much i am like a character from this movie. do you remember may boatwright played by sophie okonedo? if you have seen this movie she is the one that mourns for the world. in the movie if she ever hears of something in the least bit upsetting, she is set off and has to go to her "wailing wall" to mourn.

i am her.

i cry often. too often in fact.

somehow, somewhere along the line of my life i like to think i learned sympathy. lately though- maybe the past year i have felt myself become more sensitive than usual.

and i cry.

there are many people that i know that are struggling with sickness, distress, heartache, and yearning. and i cry for them. i dont exactly understand why i cry so much… i know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that we have a living God who knows what is going on in our lives and blesses us even still.

yet i cry.

im so grateful for the temple and especially for the opportunity that we have to pray for others. what a blessing it is to participate in such a glorious blessing.

im not mad that i cry, in fact im thankful that i do. im thankful that i am able to "mourn with those that mourn and (hopefully) comfort those that stand in need of comfort". even though i cry i understand that we all must endure trials and heartache to grow and "overcome the world"

and im thankful.

to all of you out there who are struggling with personal and family trials, my thoughts are turned to you and i love you. please know that there are people thinking of you and praying for you.

and its ok to cry.
if you ever need someone to cry with you my tear ducts open quite easily :)

x0x0

i leave for idaho again tomorrow (or today since its 3 am). its very bittersweet. i miss my sweetheart, but my im going to miss little stella too. :/

dear february

i cant believe your already here. what will you bring?

this is the month of love.
a month of red and pink.
a month of candy hearts and boxes of chocolate.
a month to spend with my sweetheart.

im excited for the month of february. a big reason i get to see sammy again. its only been since thursday, but i do miss him.

its been lovely seeing stella. you wouldnt believe how beautiful she is. so incredible that such a miracle has come into all of our lives. her real due date was yesterday- boy am i thankful she didnt wait until yesterday to come. she will be a week old tomorrow- holy!

hopefully tomorrow the ground hog wont see his shadow and that will mean winter will be over soon! im really more of a fan of the warm weather.

another reason to be excited for february. miss carli is getting married on friday. she will be lovely. im so excited for her.

super bowl sunday comes soon too. usually im not very excited about it, but this year we're attending a party in logan- and the saints are playing! WOOOhoo go saints! (thats for sam)

we are moving out of our apartment. im a little sad about it because it is a lovely one! 3 bedrooms, washer and dryer, storage room and hardwood floors. if your looking for a new place this one is a GREAT deal and we have awesome landlords- talk to me if your interested! and the ward is the bomb dot com (ok so lame i know) but really its a good one.

we are leaving on an adventure. we will be traveling up the coast. starting in southern california and heading to seattle- all while driving on highway 1. have any of you done this before? PLEASE tell me the dirty details of where we MUST go!

february should be a good month.


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on another note: my dear friend katie shared a fabulous recipe with me and i want to share it with you.

wingers sticky fingers:

buy a bag of frozen breaded chicken strips, a bag of brown sugar and FRANKS hot sauce (only franks will do)

this is seriously the easiest and tastiest thing (way cheaper than $20 for two of you to go to dinner)

bake the chicken strips

heat on medium until the brown sugar dissolves (on the stove of course)
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3 TBS Franks hot sauce (more if you like it spicier)
2 TBS water

wala! thats it! then in a large bowl mix the chicken and the sauce.

so easy and so good. if i were you i would double the sauce recipe so you have more but its up to you!

its way cheaper than going out and tastes VERY similar to the real deal. we will definitely be eating this on superbowl sunday!

i hope everyone has a great day! i love you sam!

x0x0