There's so much to be thankful for

Throughout November, I've made it a goal to write something I'm thankful for everyday.  I've been sick for slightly over a month now and I have to admit, I was having a hard time being positive most days: I was tired, sick, with a mountain-sized list of "to-dos".  But, it's funny..... even on bad days, as I would sit and figure out what I was grateful for that day, there were so many things that came to mind.

As the month went on, I gradually became more positive and happier.  Where I am now compared to before is such a stark difference.  I'm so much happier and more positive now. Most of that was because I took time to be grateful and the other part I completely contribute to Joel's positive attitude.  I'm grateful for the difference gratitude has made in my life and how it's helped my change my perspective for the better.

Here's my list of things I'm grateful for, every day of November:

1) Today, I am thankful for having a chance to spend time with my husband.
2) Today, I am thankful for compliant students, easy midterms, and shrimp.   
3) Today I am grateful that John Stuart did well and didn't die during his jiu jitsu tournament and for a good radio station while I was at work
4) Today, I'm grateful that I got to hear from Elder Tad R. Christensen at Stake Conference today and for playing board games with friends tonight
5) Today, I am so grateful for brownies with caramel in them.
6) Today, I am so grateful that I live in a country where I can vote. Also, good luck Dad (Harold Stuart) on the school board election today!
7) I am so grateful for amazing friends like Angela Grundvig. I had a huge amount of heavy grading to bring home and she offered to walk home with me so I didn't have to carry it by myself. She is so wonderful!
8) Today, I'm so grateful for group projects that get done much faster than expected.
9) Today, I am so grateful for the fresh falling snow, absolutely stunning music (Mahler's 3rd symphony), and Creamery ice cream.
10) Today, I'm very grateful for heat in our apartment
11) Today, I'm grateful for technology that lets us talk to our parents, even though they live on opposite coasts.
12) Today I'm grateful that my cold medicine seems to be working! and that I have a very patient husband!
13) Today, I am grateful for an opportunity to sit after standing for 5.5 hours
14) Today I am grateful for God's tender mercies and helping me through a really stressful day.
15) Today, I am grateful for seeing rare license plates (Maine, Massachusetts, and Georgia all within 5 minutes of each other!) and for Pumpkin Spice soft serve ice cream.
16) Today, I am so grateful for having the chance to go bowling with my husband (and with a coupon that halved the price- woohoo!)
17) Today, I'm grateful for antibiotics that seem to be working
18) Today, I am grateful for seeing big smiles.
19) Today, I'm really grateful for running into old friends and that my husband knows how to change a tire (and that he taught me as we went)!
20) Today, I am grateful for next semester's textbooks costing less than $200 (the first time that's ever happened), fun flavors of Oreos, and the beginning of the Thanksgiving Break!
21) Today, I'm grateful for making pies, going to my first college basketball game, and getting some free frozen yogurt!

Most of these weren't big things (although some were), but I'm still so grateful. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Hauntingly Good Halloween

Halloween was really fun this year and full of lots of facets.

Facet #1. Fun at work

The Cannon Center had a competition for all of its employees.  A pumpkin decorating competition.  So, my group and I came up with the idea of decorating our pumpkin as Cinderella's carriage.  Unfortunately, we didn't win, but we had a lot of fun doing it and a lot of people told us that they really liked it.

We also got to dress us at work right by Halloween.  Me and my 3 coworkers in the Salad Bar decided to dress up as tributes from the Hunger Games.  But, since we work in a food establishment, we thought it'd be fun if we actually made it related to food.  So, I was Rue-barb, and my co-workers were Catfish Everdeen, Prime Rib Everdeen, and Peeta Bread.  It was a lot of fun!

Facet #2. Pumpkin carving.

Joel and I carved a really cute pumpkin.  I will admit, it was my first time carving a pumpkin with an actual knife (instead of one of those little pumpkin carvers) so I was a little nervous.  But, there was no injuries and it turned out really well.  

Yay goopey hands!

Facet #3.  Fun costumes.

In honor of the movie coming out and reading the book with my husband, I decided to dress up as a hobbit for Halloween.  With a $3 tablecloth for my cape, fuzzy socks for my hairy feet (I would have cut them up, but I was afraid it was going to be cold), and my CTR ring as the ring to rule them all, I was set to go.  Most people had to ask what I was, but that's okay.  I had fun eating a second breakfast anyways.

There were also some cool costumes around campus (like the 6'3" guy who dressed up as Buddy the Elf).  But, hands down, the cutest costumes I saw were my niece and nephew's costumes.  Miles dressed up as Yoda and Molly was an Ewok.  In other words, probably the cutest costumes ever.  They came trick-or-treating to our apartment, and we got to hang out with them for a while afterwards. It was so much fun!

Miles in his Yoda pose.

Molly as the most adorable Ewok ever.

So much to do, so little time to blog

Oh man, life sure has been a whirlwind recently!  With everything else going on, I haven't found much opportunity to blog about it.  So, here's some snippets of fun stuff that's been going on during October.

The Homecoming Parade.

I've gone every year that I've been at BYU and it was especially fun this year going with Joel, my brother, and my sister's family.  With blue chocolate chip pancakes, a wonderful husband, candy to almost rival Halloween, a very cute 3 year old who was so excited for the parade, dancers, a tortilla-throwing brother-in-law, cool floats, a smiley niece, awesome siblings, and warm weather--how could it not be awesome?

The delicious pancakes

A very excited Miles

Joel's first homecoming parade

My awesome family

Gerrit's mad tortilla throwing skills

Une soirée française.

One Friday night, for our weekly date, we had a really fun "soirée français" or French night!  We had French curry chicken, made Nutella crêpes (with strawberries and bananas of course), and watched Tintin!  It was super fun (not to mention delicious) celebrating the culture and language I've spent so many years studying.

A Roommate Reunion.

We even got a chance to eat dinner and catch up with my roommates from my freshman year.  It was great seeing everyone again!  It's amazing how much has happened since freshman year!

And more......!

October was a busy month, but lots of fun.  Hopefully, November will be too! (and hopefully, I'll actually blog about it during the month instead of just afterwards)

General Conference Weekend

My parents drove out from California this past General Conference Weekend (2 weekends ago now); they drove out some wedding presents we hadn't been able to take with us on the plane (which was super nice of them).  The only downside was that it meant our living room was full of boxes again.  But, that's okay!

So, while they were here we spent time with them, my sister and her family, and my brother.  It was great to spend time with family!  Here's some of my favorite pictures of the weekend:

Grandpa and Miles!

Molly actually smiled!

Miles loved the moving ball with water.

Best husband ever?  I have to say so.

I love Miles' smile here

Delicious apple cinnamon rolls my sister made

I love Molly's facial expression in this one.  It reminds me so much of Elisabeth.

I love my mom's smile here.

A real smile from Miles!

Look!  Miles is as tall as Joel!

How can you not love a good sucking thumb picture?

This captured a really sweet set of interactions between Molly and Elisabeth.

My debonair brother.

Molly loved my watch.

It was great to be able to spend time with my family amongst all the craziness of school and work.

When life gives you lemons.......

So, this past week has been rather lemon-filled for us.  Here's some of the lemons we've been dealing with:

1. Joel was sick.  Joel has had a headache and fever almost all week, starting about Tuesday.  On Thursday, his fever broke and we thought we were in the clear.  But, his headache persisted and when we woke up on Saturday, his fever was back at 103 degrees.  It broke later that day, and we're hoping it stays gone this time around.

2. The test of death.  I had what I like to call "the test of death" this week.  On Monday, my professor announced that he was going to push back our test until the following week instead of opening it on Wednesday like it was originally going to be.  But, on Tuesday I received an e-mail from the TA saying how the test was opening the next day.  Little did I know, it really was opening the next day after all.  Which was stressful.  Really stressful.  You see, since I thought it was opening later, I had done other homework first and hadn't studied yet.  So, that was also a lemon-y experience.

Although there's been plenty of lemons this week, there's been lots of stuff to help us make lemonade

1. A package from a friend I got a wonderful package from a good friend of mine full of crazy, fun socks and a few other things.  It completely made my day and made life so much happier!  There really is power in colorful socks.

2. Babysitting the best niece and nephew in the world! On Friday, I got to babysit Miles and Molly. It totally lifted my spirits and made me grin from ear to ear.  Molly had gotten shots earlier that day, so she wanted to held basically the whole time.  It was really nice and indescribably cute when she fell asleep in my arms.  Miles and I had a blast playing the same game for basically 3 hours (I'm always amazed by how much energy he has). It was great!

We're also looking forward to my parents coming out to Utah this upcoming weekend and to listen to General Conference.

So, even though it's been a tough week, there's still lots to smile about.  So, don't worry, I'm still making lemonade.