Blessed & Grateful

Thanksgiving Decor

I took down the Halloween decorations...well at least the ones that were exclusively Halloween. The pumpkins pretty much stayed although a few started to get a little soft, so those ones are gone. Besides keeping a few pumpkins, I didn't go too crazy for the Thanksgiving decor. I put together a pretty simple wreath, drew on my chalkboard (basically copied someone else's idea), and made a garland out of pinecones that I collected from around our complex. I may or may not have faux gold-leafed the pinecones. Don't mind that the garland is attached to the wall with artist tape. I still have a bunch of plain pine cones if anyone wants some.

Time Off

James and I took a long weekend, taking off Nov 6th and 7th. We didn't go and do a ton of stuff, mostly relaxed at home. We did work on our budget and kind of renewed our commitment to be better about sticking to it. We are giving YNAB a go. We went to Oklahoma Joes for lunch one of the days. Besides that, James ended up having to go on an overnight scout trip and I had a baby shower. I worked on some hand lettering while James was gone. I really want to improve and I know I need to put in the time.

Last Day

The 14th was my manager's last day. So sad. She is one of those people that is just really good, loving, and extremely nice and makes you want to be a better person. I will miss her a lot. I have to say I actually did a lot of thinking between when she put in her notice and when she left. I think sometimes we hold back on our love and we really shouldn't. Love is the essence of the gospel and is perhaps one of God's most prominent attributes and the driving force behind everything he does.

Weather

The weather turned cold It was in the teens, twenties, and thirties most of that week. Our lake froze over a bit. We also got our first snow. This really has nothing to do with the weather, but I did a warm-up apple pie in preparation for Thanksgiving that day. 

Car Accident

So as I mentioned we got our first snow last Saturday. The trouble is it melted on contact with everything except the already mostly iced lake. That night the temperature dropped again and that melted snow turned into ice on the roads and then we got a bit more snow that did stick.

So anyway, Sunday morning we left early for church so we could drive slowly and be cautious. Apparently it wasn't enough. We hit some ice going reasonably slow down an un-salted hill and we slid into a curb and our right front tire went up over the curb. I am not exactly sure what we did to the car but probably something with the axel as after that the wheel was stuck sideways and wouldn't turn at all.

It turns out that we totaled our car. We have so many blessings to count though. First and foremost neither of us were seriously injured in the accident (although I have had some tight/painful neck muscles). Another huge blessing is that we didn't hit/damage/injure anyone else or property. The blessings don't stop there. Essentially everyone in our ward has to take that road to get to church, so we had tons of help and tons of people offer to give help. One of the first to stop and help us had a tow rope in their car and were able to tow us off the road and into the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex. Another person gave us a ride to church (which we actually were on time to) and another person gave us a ride home after church was over.

We are also blessed because we have insurance and because we were able to get a new car. Heavenly Father always takes such good care of us. We did the unthinkable and bought a car on credit. We never thought we would do it, but perhaps this was all a huge blessing in disguise because when we go to buy a house in a couple of years, it will be nice to be able to have some real credit history to our name so someone will give us a loan with a decent interest rate. Anyway, we bought a 2015 Subaru Legacy that we named Branson (because it is our fancy driver). We pretty much got the base model, but it is way fancier and has way more standard options than anything we have ever owned. We are excited about our all-wheel drive and hope that it will help keep us a little safer.

As always, we have a ton to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season. God is so good and I know that all blessings come from him. We are thankful for our lives and our health. We are grateful for a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear. We are thankful for good jobs and the blessing to be able to work to provide for our temporal needs. We are grateful to live in this country that certainly has its issues, but is still a place where we can exercise so many freedoms and not live in constant fear. I am grateful for second chances. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is always watching over us and who hears and answers our prayers. I am grateful for a Savior who made the ultimate sacrifice so I can be cleansed, freed from sin, healed, and comforted. I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost, which allows me to feel peace and receive personal revelation. I am grateful for the blessing to have such an amazing man, James, as my husband. There is nobody else that I would rather celebrate the happy moments in life with or weather the storms with than him and I feel extremely blessed to be sealed to him for time and all eternity through the power of the Holy Priesthood in God's temple. I am grateful for an amazing family and amazing friends who help us along the way and are such a sweet part of life. The blessings I have outlined here are just a tiny portion of the blessings in my life. I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving and that you all take a few minutes to ponder on the magnitude of your blessings and prosperity. I hope that you too, will be able to recognize God's hand in your life and feel of his love for you.
    

I Love Halloween

October 3rd — Football against Utah State. Such a tragic, season crippling game. Even the refs didn't escape unscathed.

October 4th-5th — I worked on my "carpet" bag and the chimney sweep broom/brush whilst listening to General Conference. As always, conference was wonderful. This time, I think one of the talks that stood out to me the most was Elder Holland's talk, "Are We Not All Beggars?" ...I hope that I can be better about helping those in need.

October 6th — We had investigators and missionaries over for dinner. 

October 7th — We had dinner at the Ferrins. Good food, even better people. We had a blast. Thanks, guys!

October 9th — BYU football Central Florida. Please enjoy this extremely unflattering photo of us watching football.

October 10th — Pumpkin patch and pumpkin painting. You guys... I had 16 pumpkins this year... and if I am being honest there were moments where I thought to myself how it would be nice to have a few more. Do I need to seek counseling?

October 11th — We fed the missionaries breakfast. Later in the day we went to see Meet the Mormons. It was great. There were some good stories.

October 12th — James and I and the missionaries all fasted for the investigators. It was getting to the point where there needed to be a little more action or the missionaries would have to move on to others who were ready to accept the gospel.

October 13th — We took the investigators to the Independence visitors center. After seeing a few things there. The missionaries did some teaching and at the end they invited the investigators to come to church. They declined and missionaries regretfully told them that they probably wouldn't be able to meet anymore then. Under those circumstances they accepted. I guess there was enough interest that they wanted to keep learning more, but they needed to be pushed a little out of their comfort zone. I think fasting helped soften their hearts. It is hard to gain a testimony of the gospel and the church or the Book of Mormon or any other part of what we believe if you aren't willing to put forth the effort to gain that testimony. God usually waits for us to ask —and ask with real intent. We have to show God we are actually willing to act based on the answer he gives us and sometimes that requires taking some actions before you receive a witness. You can't be a bird that stays in the nest, dreaming of a worm. You have to go find your worm. I know that God answers prayers and that anyone can gain a testimony if they search and pray specifically and with sincerity and with faith. Anyway, they did come that Sunday and they have come again since. Fasting works. Prayer works. Faith works. Work, works. I do not know if the investigators will choose to be baptized or develop the level of commitment needed to know for themselves, but the chance to fast for them has blessed our lives and strengthened our testimonies. 

October 15th —I went visiting teaching, James went to mutual.

October 16th — James left for Arkansas. I worked on making a chalkboard.

October 17th — Pest control came and now I don't have any spiders. I took a picture of one a couple of days before they came. I promise they are bigger in real life and there were always several of these beasts that would come out at night. Bye. Miss you already. Just kidding. Not at all. My only regret is not doing it sooner (I didn't know my apartment did it). 

October 18th — I worked on the artwork for my chalkboard. James returned from his trip and brought me 2 dozen roses. I made pumpkin pie. We chaperoned a youth activity and then watched BYU football against Nevada. When I die I want the BYU football team to put me in my grave so they can let me down one last time. —stolen joke. Thanks, Chelsea! Truthfully, who can blame them, they are basically running on all 2nd string players, thanks to Utah State induced injuries. It is sort of heartbreaking. We had a decent shot at going undefeated this season and instead we lost 4 games in a row.

October 21st — James went down to Tulsa Oklahoma for a last-minute business trip. I babysat for some friends who went to watch the Kansas City Royals play game 1 of the world series. 

Oct 23rd — I went to the Relief Society service auction and won the bid for family photos. I am pretty excited. 

Oct 24th — James and I took the day off and went to Ikea to pick up a few pieces of furniture, which we spent much of the rest of weekend building. We got 2 chairs, a bookcase, a cabinet, a bookcase, and a dresser. The other major project of the weekend was organizing now that we had storage. I organized a closet we have mostly neglected since we moved in because of lack of shelving. I also organized another closet and the pantry a bit. I was feeling very accomplished by the end of the weekend. I love projects. James puts up with them sometimes.

Oct 26th — I got a special assignment to be a girls' camp certification leader, which means I will be going to girls' camp next year. That will be pretty crazy.

October 29th — We babysat again so our friends could go to game 7 of the World Series. It was fun to watch her. It has also been fun to watch the Royals fight such a good fight this season. Go Royals!

October 31st — I took the day off so I could get ready for our Halloween party, bake and make caramel (some of which I made into caramel apples and wrapped up like witches' brooms. Next time I want to find real, food-safe twigs for the handles). James and I want to throw cool parties and stuff when we grow up, so we have started practicing. We were somewhat limited by our space (and seating), but we had a good time. I didn't get any pictures of the table fully set up with the food, but I am including a picture for you to get the gist. We had fun throwing the party and feel blessed to have such fantastic friends. Surprisingly, we did not get a single trick-or-treater this year.

I may or may not have taken a lot of pictures of my pumpkins. I really don't know what the deal is with my pumpkin obsession. 

November 1st — We had brunch at the Corner Restaurant with some friends that were in town. We went to a fireside featuring Jeremy Guthre of the Kansas City Royals. He was actually a very good speaker. One of the things he talked a lot about was putting God first in his life and how he has been blessed because of that. As an 18 year-old he sat in the office of the New York Mets and was asked to sign on with them. He told them he would sign if he could serve his 2-year mission and return to play with them. The man making the offer told him that would never work because those were the 2 most important developmental years for a pitcher. He essentially told him that he would never pitch in the major leagues if he served a mission and then posed this question: "What if I gave you a million dollars to sign and forgo the mission?" ...and to that Jeremy told him that not even for a million dollars would he give up serving a mission. The conversation was over and he went on his way. Guthre definitely has had his ups and downs in his career, but he attributes his success and his ability to press forward through the tough times to the things he learned on his mission in Spain where less than 5 times in 2 years did he ever get the chance to teach someone past the 2nd discussion. Anyway, I too know that God blesses us tremendously when we put him first in our lives. It is cool that he has gone on to not only pitch in the major leagues, but to pitch in the World Series games. 

A Change of Seasons

Another Post

Well, just over a month has passed since my last post. We have been incredibly busy.

Work was still very busy for me until about a week and a half ago. I always love when a trade show has come and gone. I just need to recover now. :) I really wish I didn't have such crazy hours in August and September, since warm weather is my favorite season and I feel like I didn't have many opportunities to really enjoy it before the change of seasons. Oh well, Fall is great! I can do this positive attitude thing...Plus it is pie season, so who can complain?

Business Trip

August 28th, James got a rental car and drove down to Arkansas for a work business trip/training and was gone for a few days. 

Traditions

Also on August 28th we had a pot-luck treats/girl's night/share your traditions activity for relief society. I made key-lime pie because I had limes that needed to be used and I could prepare it the night before. Too bad I don't LOVE key-lime pie and too bad James wasn't home to eat the leftovers.

As far as traditions go, I failed to prepare and maybe we just haven't established enough unique traditions in our little family, but I didn't have any great traditions to share. I feel like we have somewhat recently come from two different families with their own sets of traditions and have had a pretty transient student life the first few years of marriage. I think we haven't been as proactive about establishing traditions because we don't have kids, so it is easy to not place a big focus on it. I know establishing righteous traditions is important and I am grateful that we do have the tradition of reading the scriptures together and having family prayer. I hope I can be more conscious about making traditions that will help bind our marriage and help us be even more unified. I know that Traditions are important and I want to do better! Now I want to go watch Fiddler on the Roof...

Sunday Dinner 

We had our friends, Kyle and Kristi over for Sunday Dinner. My chocolate cake didn't turn out that well. I have varying success with baking it in rounds. I am going to go ahead and blame the pans since it always turns out when I make it in a sheet pan. I think nicer round pans are on my Christmas wish-list this year. 

Labor Day

On Labor Day we went to the Liberty Jail and then to the Independence visitor's center. We had a good time. After that adventure, we went down to the Plaza and grabbed some lunch at Brio. It was good, although a bit too salty.

Running

I have been trying to keep up with exercising consistently. I had a bit of a setback this month since I got sick, but I have been exercising for the most part besides that. I love all of the beautiful creations I get to enjoy when I go out. I saw a frog the other day and there are the most incredible sunrises here. I have included a photo of one of the more recent ones. The photo really does not do it justice.

Breakfast Date

James and I went on a breakfast date to The Farmhouse with some people James has worked with. The food was good (the food was too salty..is it just me??), but I think I prefer Succotash.

After breakfast we stopped in a coffee shop on the way to the car to get some hot coco on that brisk Fall morning. It was called Quay. Very hipster. I loved it, but the hot chocolate was totally weak-sauce. It wasn't overly sweet, which I appreciated, but it also didn't have a strong chocolate flavor, so it was kind of like drinking hot milk I guess. 

Flowers

After hot chocolate, we headed to Costco to get some needed groceries. While there, James decided to make history and get me some flowers out of the blue. Now I can't say he's never done it. I thoroughly enjoyed them for a week and a half. Lily's smell so amazing! :)

Fasting Works, Guys

I already had a testimony of the power of fasting, but it is always nice to build on that testimony with new experiences. This month one of the youth in our ward ran away from home was missing for several days. A ward fast was organized. I participated in the Fast even though I was still recovering from my cold. Two awesome things happened that day. 1. The missing youth was found the very day the ward did the Fast. 2. I made significant improvements in my recovery. I experienced the health that Isaiah spoke of in regards to the law of the fast in Isaiah 58:8: Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.

Relief Society Late-over

Sept 12th we had a Relief Society Late-over/dinner/fireside. We made beans in the crock pot to take (it was a taco-salad dinner). It was a fun activity, although it was soo... cold. Hello Fall! It got down into the low 40's that night. Anyway, I enjoyed the food, the company, and the messages shared. James was asked to be one of the priesthood at the activity, so he got to tag along.

Adam Ondi Ahman

The next day there was a stake youth activity at Adam Ondi Ahman. I tagged along with James to this. It was so awesome. Their is definitely a special spirit there. It was awesome to learn more about some of the things that have taken place there and that will take place there in the future. We definitely will have to go back. We learned that there are 12 (6 in the winter months) senior couple missionaries in the mission and President Monson is their mission president. I am so excited for the Savior to come again.

Missionaries

The next day, Sunday, we fed the missionaries. We had beef vegetable stew, rolls, salad, and lemon-merengue pie. As a side note, we have gone out with the missionaries to teach 3 times this month. W love the missionaries! We miss you, Elder Low and hope you are being fed. Congrats on your 1-year mark!

Ward Temple Night

We went to our ward temple night. I love the temple. Going to the temple is like stepping out of this world to feel peace, receive instruction and revelation, and refocus on the things that matter most.

A Package

We got a package from James' parents with goods from Canada. The box was destroyed in the mail, but miraculously the fudgeeOs were not crushed. We have been enjoying the treats. By the way, Oreos don't have anything on FudgeeOs. They need to sell these in the US! Thank you mom and dad Low!

This is how the box came.

Art and Ice-cream

We went to the Art Fair at the Plaza with a few friends. It was fun and there were some cool art pieces there. There was one guy who painted very geometric/flat scenes of farmhouses and barns. I think that was my favorite. We had a great time, but there were wayyyyy too many people there. After hitting up the art, we went to grab some ice-cream at Glacé. Such good ice-cream. We will be going back. they have really crazy flavors (basil, goat cheese, lavender, etc), so it was fun to try some of those. I ended up ordering Christopher Elbow Dark chocolate, Salted Pretzel, and Fleur De Sel Caramel. James just got the dark chocolate. It was sooooo good.

BYU Football

We have been having a blast watching all of the BYU football games with some of our other hardcore cougar fans. It has been fun and stressful at times. I love BYU football so much. I really want to watch them have a perfect season. GO COUGS!

Ward BBQ

On the 19th (Saturday )we had a ward BBQ, that we went to straight after watching a BYU football game. Anyway, I was supposed to take a cake to the BBQ and was planning to making the cake the morning of. We were totally out of flour and I had sent James to get more at Costco (along with a number of other items) the night before. Well James had a Golf Tournament Saturday morning, so he took the car. I got up and started making cake, but the flour was nowhere to be found and James was not answering his phone (supposedly in his golf bag), so I ran to the store with a backpack on and ran back home with a 5 pound sack of flour bouncing all the way home. It turns out he wasn't able to find the correct flour at Costco, but failed to relay that message to me. I love him anyway and the cake got made in time. 

Dinner with Friends

We had our friends, Brad and Chelsea over for Sunday Dinner. We had manicotti, strawberry-spinach salad, bread (sort of a big fail on this), and mixed berry pie for dessert. We had a good time getting to know them better.

Youth Temple Baptisms

This past week was the monthly youth temple trip. James went obviously because he is in the young mens' presidency, but I was also asked to come because they thought they were going to be short on leaders. It was lovely to be in the temple.

Camping Trip

Friday we went on an overnight campout at Smithville Lake with the Wongs, Storrs, and McCoys (lateover for them). We had a great time. The weather was perfect and it was very quiet for car camping, so that was super-nice. We made enchiladas for dinner and a bacon-egg omelet type thing for breakfast.

Tours at Owens Corning

James has been giving tours at Owens Corning the past couple of days for their safety fair. Saturday was family day and James did tours for a few hours. I dropped him off, got a private tour (we did get a tour when we came out for a plant visit/aparment hunting, but it was cool to go again). The plant has a million pipes going everywhere...I don't know how they keep track of everything. After the tour, we ate some lunch (the company provided ribs, pulled pork, brisket, beans, corn, and drinks).

The jacket, visor, earplugs, and glasses were mandatory gear for the tour.

Halloween Prep

While James was doing his thing, I took the car and collected most of the rest of the needed items for Halloween festivities. We are going to be Mary Poppins and Bert (Chimney Sweep edition). My wig came a couple of weeks back. I am going to have to style it in a bun, but I am including a few pictures. I am really excited about Fall festivities this year. I have acquired a number of pumpkins already and am making plans to jazz them up. I really loved my pumpkins last year, so we will have to see if this year's turn out as well. I need a Day's Market here. They had such a wonderful selection of pumpkins.

Women's Broadcast

I picked James up from doing his tours, we ate some dinner and dashed over to the church for the women's broadcast (James was on Priesthood duty again...I guess that is what happens when you don't have kids). Our ward did a little ice-cream social before the broadcast started. The messages shared were pretty solid. Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk on God's love and it was excellent. I am excited for the rest of General Conference this coming weekend. 

Preparedness

I have been thinking about preparedness a ton this past month. I feel like it has been the theme of my personal scripture/conference talk study, the lessons I have given, the talks that have been shared...Even the home-teaching message this month was on preparedness. There are many things to prepare for and and many ways we need to prepare for them. I want to place a greater priority on this. Spiritual and Physical dangers are all around and can come out of the wood works at any time. If we prepare and are obedient, we will be able to make it through perilous times. We plan on reviewing our emergency supplies and plan, and make adjustments as needed this conference weekend. We will also review our spiritual preparedness plan and hopefully add to it as we listen to Prophets and Apostles speak. Now, to prepare for that, we must study and pray and go to conference with an open heart and questions we want answered by the Lord.

These Things I Know

Today I bore my testimony and I would like to bear a portion of it now. I know God lives and that He loves all of His children. I know that God hears and answers prayers, even if the answer isn't what we think it will be or doesn't always come in our timing, I know he answers them. I know that His Son, Jesus Christ, is the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. I know that the atonement is real. I have been changed, healed, cleansed, and strengthened through the atonement. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's church and that it has been restored in these latter days through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is The Prophet on the Earth today and is God's mouthpiece to the world. I know that families can be together forever through the sealing powers found in the temple. I know that obedience brings happiness and the only way we can have true, lasting happiness is by living the gospel and keeping God's commandments. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sunday Dessert

James made brownies today. Yum. Good chocolate makes such good brownies. Thank you, Trader Joes for existing.