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