Consider The Blessings

 

Wow, it has been a year since I posted on my blog. Time really does fly! As I was praying this morning, I felt that I should start posting on my blog again from time to time. So, even though most of my friends have probably given up on looking at my blog, I thought I would write a post today.
 

The beautiful sunrise from my balcony

I looked out the window this morning and saw the most beautiful sunrise! I walked out to my balcony to see it better and stood there for a few minutes enjoying the view and thinking. First, I was thinking about how interesting it was that I could stand on my balcony on November 1^st with only a jacket. We really have had the most beautiful fall weather.

But then I started thinking about many of my blessings and thanking Heavenly Father for them. I was thinking of President Monson’s talk from October conference, “Consider the Blessings” and how much that has helped me the past month.

The past few months have been very difficult for me in many ways and I have had to work a lot harder at being happy day by day than I have in a long time. And yet, I feel bad even saying that…I really am so blessed, my family is doing well and we have not had any major problems, but some of my family members have had some unique trials in the past few months.

I have also had some difficult trials that have seemed almost “laser guided,” as Elder Johnson said in his April 2011 General Conference talk, to my weaknesses. (It is a really great talk. Here is a link:  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/more-than-conquerors-through-him-that-loved-us?lang=eng.) These trials have really tested my patience and faith. I have prayed and fasted more in the past 6 months than I ever have, seeking guidance and help from Heavenly Father as I have tried to navigate my way through the things I have been dealing with.

October General Conference was so wonderful! It seemed to reset my thinking and helped me to remember how blessed I really am, despite the temporary trails I am facing.  There were so many wonderful talks about faith and choosing to be happy; so many talks about how God is intimately involved in our lives and will never forsake us! One of my favorite talks was President Monson’s talk in the Sunday Morning Session; the talk I was thinking about this morning. Here is a quote from that talk:
 

I have found that, rather than dwelling on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness. … My brothers and sisters, the Lord is in all of our lives. He loves us. He wants to bless us. He wants us to seek His help. As He guides us and directs us and as He hears and answers our prayers, we will find the happiness here and now that He desires for us. May we be aware of His blessings in our lives. (President Thomas S Monson, “Consider the Blessings”, October 2012.)

Isn’t that so wonderful! How lucky we are to have a living Prophet on the earth to help us through difficult times.

I have thought a lot about that this past month and it has really helped me to consider the blessings of each day. My trials have not really changed, but my perspective has. So, I want to review just a few of the many blessings in my life:

My family: My family is my greatest blessing! I am so lucky to have a close, supportive family and so many nieces and nephews that love me. Here are some recent pictures of my family:



Some of my nephews at our boy's sleepover



Many of my nieces at our girl's sleepover 

With my niece Liza

 

My five brothers at a family baby blessing--such great brothers!

 

Jena and I with my nieces Annika and Mieka at a BYU football game

 

With my niece Lizzie and nephew Truman at October Conference

 

My job: I really have such a great job. I love that it is so flexible--that it gives me the opportunity to spend time with my family and in my callings. I also love what I do! I love working with patients and their families and I love teaching and training new staff.

I recently got this comment on a patient discharge survey: “I was a wreck when we first arrived and Janice helped me by understanding what was wrong, what to expect, and everything in between. I seriously love her!” I am so blessed to be able to make a difference for other people in my job!
 

The beautiful world we live in: Like I said, it has been such a beautiful fall! I have been up to the canyon a few times and have loved the fall colors. Fall also seems to have the most beautiful sunsets. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

 

 

The beautfiul river in AF canyon. I spent a lot of time there
this fall pondering and enjoying the beauty of this world!

 

The fall leaves up AF canyon

 

Beautiful sunset!

 

The Gospel: I do not know where I would be without my testimony of the Gospel! The things that have helped me the most this past few months are prayer, the scriptures and talks from the General Authorities of the church. All of these have helped me navigate my way through the day to day difficulties. What a blessing in my life!

The greatest blessing of my life is my testimony of Jesus Christ—my knowledge that He loves me beyond my comprehension, that He will never forsake me and will lead me to wonderful things in my life!
 

Those are just a few of my many blessings. I could go on about my wonderful friends, my many material blessings etc., but this post is already long enough. I want to end with a quote from Elder Johnson's talk that I referenced earlier:

Time after time we see marvelous blessings on the heels of great trials…Many times a particular challenge helps prepare us for something vitally important. In the midst of problems, it is nearly impossible to see that the coming blessings far outweigh the pain, humiliation, or heartbreak we may be experiencing at the time.

That is the biggest blessing of all! I know that these trials will work out and that Heavenly Father has great things in store for me, in this life and in the next.

So, in this month of Thanksgiving, I invite all of you to consider the blessings in your own lives!

The Wisdom of Youth

Well, it has been 8 months to the day since I have posted on my blog. I have been thinking lately that it is time for a post, but then I think of trying to catch up on all that has happened in the past 8 months and it overwhelms me a little bit. So, I decided to just do a quick post for now because at least I would be posting!

I want to start this post with a picture of the beautiful sunset tlast night, reflected on the east mountains as seen from my front window. Don’t we live in a beautiful world?

So on to the title of this post,which is based on a conversation I had with my niece the other day. I was telling her a story from my high school days, about a time when I really wanted something and did not get it. I was hoping to teach her that we do not always get what we want but that we can still be happy. After I told her the story I told her that, now that I am older, I can see why things had not turned out the way I had hoped and that Heavenly Father knew what was best for me at the time.

Then I told her that I think that is the same reason I am not yet married; that even though I have wanted to be married for a long time, Heavenly Father knows what is best for me in my life. So, here is the funny part… She then said, “I think I know why you are not married.” (I always love the viewpoint of a 6 year old, so I listened up.) She continued, “It is either because he is not born yet or because he is still a teenager.” Ah, that is why! No wonder! I just need to wait for him to grow up! ;)

But as we continued to talk, I realized that I really do believe the things I was trying to teach her and into my mind came a quote from Sister Holland that I love:

I want you to know that in my life when I have had disappointments and delays, I have lived to see that if I continue to knock with unshakable faith and persist in my patience--waiting upon the Lord and his calendar--I have discovered that the Lord's "no's" are merely preludes to an even greater "yes." I have learned … that the very delays and denials we worry about most, the very differences from each other that trouble our self-esteem, are the differences and delays that are the very best for our happiness and fulfillment.–Sister Pat Holland, BYU Devotional January 1989

I shared that concept with my niece and told her that I know that Heavenly Father has something better in store for me; that He knows what is best for my life. The best part of the whole conversation was when she said, “I feel right here (pointing to her chest) that what we are talking about is true.” Aren’t children the best!

Well, I’ll end with one recent picutre of me and two of my sisters at October Conference. I will try to put more in later and catch up. Life continues to be wonderful!

For Lori...

Two weeks ago my friend Lori asked how things were going with me and Jen. She said that she doesn't ever know how we are doing now because we never update our blogs. I told her I have been writing a lot more in my journal lately so I haven't been writing as much on my blog and then promised her I would do a blog within a week.

Well, alas, when I saw her the next week I realized I had broken my promise!  So, I told her again that I would post within the next week. Since I am going to see her tonight, I decided I'd better keep my promise. So, this is for you Lori!

I am glad that she is prodding me to blog because I really do like blogging, but I have just not gotten around to it lately. So, I will just do a little catch up.

Things are about the same. January is always kind of a harder month for me, and it was again this year. I think it is hard because I always seem to get a cold (which I did again this year), it is cold outside and it gets dark really early. February is always better because it seems that spring (my favorite time of year) is right around the corner. I get little glimpses of it in the weather, like the 58 degree day yesterday.

But I did do some fun things in January. One of the highlights was our Stake Youth Conference at Aspen Grove January 21-22. We were quite busy for a few weeks before planning it, but it was worth it and it turned out really fun. We had some great speakers and workshops and had some fun times in the snow.

And best of all, I found something out about myself. I mentioned already that I don't like January because it is cold, so I have always thought I didn't really like snow activities because I always get so cold doing them. I have never been skiing or done much outside in the winter except for sledding. I do like sledding, but only for awhile because I start to get cold and then it is not so fun anymore.

Well, when I was preparing for Youth Conference the Stake Presidency Counselor who is over us told us to make sure that the kids had snow gear. I realized that I did not have snow gear, so I decided to invest in some.

I went to a sporting goods store and told the nice lady there that I was pretty clueless about what to get and asked for her help. She showed me the things to get, including a "base layer" (who knew?) and the right kind of socks. Well, wonder of wonders, I loved the snow activities at Youth Conference and did not even get cold! I went snowshoeing for the first time and loved it! It was so beautiful and it made all the difference to have the right clothing so that I could focus on the beauty around me and not on the fact that I was cold.

Here are some pictures of Youth Conference:

Me standing in front of the lodge where we stayed. Isn't it pretty with the snow covered mountains in the background?

Sledding with the youth; this picture is of Rachelle Bolingbroke (Stake YW Pres) me and Emily Ables (wife of President Ables, 2nd Counselor Stake Presidency.) We all roomed together and had a lot of fun. Notice the snow pants...

A picture of me snowshoeing--so fun!

Beautiful views while snowshoeing!

I put this one is because it shows the view that I saw while sitting in the lodge listening to the speakers. I loved feeling the Spirit and looking at the gorgeous view during the workshops!

Other than Youth Conference, life has been about the same. I still love my job, although it has been incredibly busy. We have been training several people the past few months to Peds to help us staff our busy winter season so I have been very busy with that. In January alone we oriented 13 people to Peds and I was in charge of coordinating schedules for them and making sure they were trained well. I loved it though--I was able to meet some great people!

We are now in the midst of that busy winter season, so I am back to the 14 hour shifts clinical shifts. But, even with the longs shifts, I love being able to help. Just yesterday I was able to help with a little baby, only a few weeks old, that was admitted for RSV and was quite sick. I was able to spend time helping the family understand what to expect and assure them that we would take good care of their baby. I love making a difference in my job and helping people that are in difficult situations to feel some peace.

I also continue to spend any free time I have with family. Here are a few pictures:

With my niece Kate at our monthly family birthday party in January.

With two of our new babies--Bella and Savannah. They are two months apart in age but about the same size, so cute!

Holding our newest baby, cute little Mikayla.

Holding sweet Bella--I love "my" babies! (Thanks for sharing them sis and sis-in-laws!)

So that is a little recap of how I am doing, but now I've got to get ready to head to the temple. Hope all is well for all of you!

Thanks for getting me to post Lori! See you in a few hours.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

(Our Christmas wreath on our front door)

Remember how I love Christmas?! Well, here we are again already. I can't believe we are already a week into December!

This last weekend we had one of our girl's sleepovers (which was so fun again, by the way, with 10 girls under 12.) On the way to the sleepover I went to pick up the pizza and I had one of my nieces with me. We had to wait a few minutes for the pizza and while we were waiting, my cute 5 year old niece kept singing, "It's the most wonderful time of the year" over and over. We had been listening to Christmas music in the car and I guess that was what stuck with her! It was so sweet.

I have thought a lot about that phrase since then and how, for me, it really is "the most wonderful time of the year." I started memorizing "The Living Christ" last week and I love the phrasing about Christ in that document. I was thinking as I was memorizing this weekend the He is the reason it is the most wonderful time of the year.

As much as I love the Christmas music, the decorations, the parties, the food (especially the food...), the reason I love December is because it gives me so much more of an opportunity to ponder about Christ and His life and sacrifice. I love that all over are words like "joy," "peace," "hope," and "rejoice." All of those hopeful words are because of His life and what He did for all of us!

Here are the phrases that struck me this weekend as I was memorizing:

As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice…


He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.

Aren't those beautiful phrases? I love the whole thing of course, but those were the ones that stood out to me this weekend as I was studying it. His life and sacrifice are the greatest gift we will ever receive!

I thought I would again include a few of the Christmas decorations at my house, mostly because I like to look back each year and see what my decorations looked like:

We have done a few fun Christmas things this year, but Jen has the pictures on her camera at work, so I will write about those later.

I did want to end with a few pictures I took on Friday when we went to the Festival of Trees:

This was one of my favorite trees, mostly because I loved that it has many of those wonderful words I was talking about before.

I thought this was the most inventive tree--a snowman Christmas tree!

This one reminded me of my sis-in-law Stace since it was all purple--this one is for you Stace!

So, this picture is lopsided, but I had to put it in because I loved this house, especially the entryway with the big candy canes!

Check out this gingerbread village. Can you imagine the hours it must have taken to make that!

I hope you have a wonderful December!

P.S. Look below for a post I wrote three weeks ago and never posted!



A Baptism and a Funeral

(Saturday, November 13, 2010)

I have had a few experiences this last week that gave me a chance to "let the solemnities of eternity rest upon [my] mind." (D&C 43:34)

The first one was a baptism. On Saturday November 6 my nephew Logan was baptized. It was such a nice day! Logan, who is normally very active, was unusually subdued that day. He really seemed to sense the significance of the day and that made it really special.

Jen and I went over to Seth and Karla's a little early and I read a book to the kids while we we waited. I love being an aunt!

Right before we left for the baptism we had Logan open up his present. Here he is holding the baptism book and "future missionary" tag we gave him. What a handsome boy!

Here are a few more pictures we took before the baptism started:

Logan with his parents and his Southern grandparents. (Doesn't my Mom look great? She has lost 100 lbs this year!)

Jen and I with Logan



After the pictures we went into the chapel and waited for the baptism to start. It was fun for us to sit again surrounded by our many nieces and nephews.

Logan was the only one being baptized in his ward, so he asked Jen to give the talk on Baptism and me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  That was a sweet experience. During my talk on the Holy Ghost, I noticed that Logan was attentive and nodding at things I said. It was so neat to see him listening so carefully!

After the baptism we had a luncheon at Seth and Karla's house. Overall it was a really nice day. I love the Spirit I feel at baptisms and the opportunity it gives me to reflect on the blessing of my membership in the church and the restored Gospel!

On a sad note, we also attended viewing on Sunday night and funeral on Monday for the mother of one of our good friends from High School. She passed away at the age of 61 from a brain aneurism. They lived in Orem in our old ward and stake, so even though it was a sad time, it was so nice to see so many wonderful people that we had grown up with.

It was also so nice to see my friend Tammy and her family again.  They have been good friends for many years, but we have not seen them as much lately.

We spent a lot of time with Tammy and her husband when her first two kids were little. That was before we had any nieces or nephews of her own, so we were really close to her kids. In fact, once when her daughter was very young, she asked Tammy if Jen and I were family! So cute!

Well, we got to see that daughter this weekend and she is now a beautiful 18 year old! It was so good to talk to her and see the wonderful young woman she has become. She was even wearing her Young Women Medallion. Here is a picture of her with Jen and I:

The picture turned out a little yellow, but I thought I would include it anyway. I can't believe one of my high school friends has a daughter that is so old! She is already taller than me!

The funeral the next day was so inspiring even though it was very sad. My friend Tammy is the oldest of nine kids and they had all the kids participate except one who is on a mission and one who has autism. As I sat watching those kids pay tribute to their wonderful mother I thought about how motherhood is the highest calling and best work we can do in this life! I thought of my own parents and the sacrifice they had made to raise nine kids. I also thought of how grateful I am for the gospel--even though it was such a sad time, each of the kids that spoke bore testimony that they knew she was happy and that they would see her again.

I was especially touched by one of the talks by her son. He talked about a journal entry by his mother that he had read after her death in preparation for his talk. In her journal, written a few years before her death, she wrote about how she had been pondering and studying about faith and that one night she woke up in the middle of the night with this thought: "Faith is the antidote to any trial." 

In the entry, she talked about how she thought at the time that antidote was an interesting word to be used in that context, but that as she looked it up later, she found it meant "something that relieves, prevents or counteracts injurious or unwanted effects." She talked about how she realized again that because of Christ's Atonement we would be protected and supported in trials. She then wrote this, "Our whole lives should be spent rejoicing because of our faith in Christ."

I thought that was so profound. Because of Christ, we can survive any trial! He truly is the antidote to any trial because He has experienced it! He knows how to "relieve, prevent and counteract" the injuries we receive from our trials. He truly is the great Healer of our Souls! I am so grateful for Him and what I learned about Him at that funeral.

 

I am grateful for the experiences we have in life to reflect on the "solemnities of eternity" and for what we what we have waiting for us in the eternities because of the sacrifice of Christ!

I'm Back...

Wow, where did three months go?  I can't believe it has been that long since I blogged! I was telling my sister-in-law Stace that I was finally going to blog today and would be including the birth of her baby (three months ago) and she said I could say, "This is Savannah and now she is in college..." (Ha, Ha, Stace, you are funny!) That is about how it feels though!

I don't have any REALLY good excuse for not blogging. I guess the best one is that so much has happened in the last three months that it was a little overwhelming to think about trying to blog about it. So, I will put the highlights, and hopefully you won't get bored!

JULY

July was a packed month but so much fun! The week of July 11-17 I went to the Oregon coast with my parents and my brother Dave and his family. It was really fun. About ten years ago we went on a sisters trip to the Oregon Coast and loved it so much that I have been back four times now. It is so peaceful and beautiful!

My sister-in-law Melissa, who is amazing at finding deals on the internet, had found a great rental house that was a three minute walk to the beach with a gorgeous view of the ocean. We spent a lot of time at the beach, built sandcastles and had a treasure hunt with the kids, went on a boat trip, went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, went to lighthouses and watched sunsets. My favorite part was being with family and walking on the beach.

Here are a few pictures:

Jen and I on the windy beach. Look at the beautiful waves!

My Dad at the Yaquina Bay lighthouse. I like the smile on his face--we don't often get candid pictures like this of my Dad. Don't you love the combination of green trees and ocean behind him? I love Oregon!

My Mother in our beach house.  You can see the big windows behind her that had a beautiful view of the ocean. I think she looks really pretty in this picture!

Cape Foulweather--one of my favorite places on the Oregon coast! It is up on a promontory overlooking the ocean and had a cute little gift shop. This is the view looking north. So breathtaking!

This is Dave and Mel and their cute kids at Cape Foulweather. What a sweet family! We had so much fun with them.

This is kind of overexposed, but I thought it was cute with me and Mieka. This was waiting to get on the boat.

On the beach with Annika. I loved walking on the beach!

I couldn't resist a sunset picture, since I am "enamored with sunsets!"  This was a beautiful night! It was really cold, but worth the cold to see the sunset progress.

I got back from Oregon and was back for two days before I left for girls camp.  On one of those days (July 19th) my sister-in-law Stace had her fifth (and unplanned) baby Savannah. She is such a cute baby. Like I said before, she is 3 months old now, but here are a few pictures of her birth:

Holding Savannah--isn't she a pretty baby?

You can't really see Savannah's face, but I thought this was a cute picture with me, Jen and Stace. Doesn't Stace look good for just having a baby?

I left for girls camp the next day and was there July 20-23. Camp was really fun, but I won't spend a lot of time writing about it since I still have a lot to write.

My favorite part was our sunrise hike. We decided to raise a flag of virtue as Sister Dalton, the General Young Women's President, has suggested. We hiked up to a beautiful lake and I was assigned to give a talk on our theme, "Daughters of a King" and virtue. It was a challenge and I prayed a lot, but it went really well and the spirit was strong. I actually got a sweet note later from one of the girls that said it had really helped her. I love the blessings we get from fulfilling our callings! Here are a few pictures from the hike:

The sun just coming up and hitting the mountains--it was so peaceful and beautiful!

This is Rachelle Bolingbroke, my good friend and the Stake YW President, and I on the hike with the virtue flag. After my devotional all of the YW and leaders signed the flag as a commitment to return to virtue. It was a really special experience!

On July 31, my niece Kate was baptised. It was such a neat day. Kate is such a sweet and good girl. She is so helpful to her Mom and sisters. She had asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost and it was nice to have time to reflect on how grateful I am for that precious gift. Here are a few pictures:

Janelle, Kate and my brother Mike.

Jen and I with Kate. Such a sweet girl!

Kate and I at the luncheon afterwards.

AUGUST

August was not nearly as busy as July, other than my normal day to day things. In fact, I only have a few pictures:

Another sunset... I know; but this was so beautiful I had to put it in. This is a picture I took at a YW activity on August 18. Even though I am in the Stake YW, I go to weekly activities because our Stake is small enough that we combine. So, every Wednesday night I have YW. I have enjoyed it a lot, especially getting to know the YW. It does make my week busy with YW on Wednesday and the temple on Thursday, but it is worth it!

On August 20, I went to Lagoon with my sister's family and another niece. It was a fun day. I just love summer activities! I will only put one picture, one I took of myself with my two nieces, Annika and Emma. I just love that I have all these wonderful nieces and nephews that love me so much. What a blessing!

This next picture is from our family birthday party on August 22. Our family gets together every month for birthdays and I thought this was a cute picture of the kids on the balcony at my parents house:



SEPTEMBER

On September 16 I had another little niece born. My sister Emilee had her third baby and named her Isabella. Here are a few pictures:

Emma and I holding Bella. You can't see Bella much, but I liked the picture.

There is a picture of Bella, such a sweet girl!

This next picture is me with some of my nieces and nephews at my parents house on September 19. We had gone over to my parents because my sister-in-law Janelle had found out she had an abdominal tumor that the doctors were suspecting could be cancerous, so she was getting a blessing from my Dad. The blessing was very comforting--I am so grateful for the Priesthood--and during the blessing my nephew Joey and two of my nieces came and snuggled next to me.  How can I even feel bad about not having my own kids when I have so many wonderful nieces and nephews?

  

The weekend of September 25-26, Saturday and Sunday, Jen and I watched Mike and Janelle's kids while Janelle was in the hospital recovering from her tumor removal. (We found out later that it wasn't cancerous. It really was a miracle--even when they took it out they were sure it was cancerous--it wasn't until we got the path report back that we knew for sure. We are all so grateful!) Even though we were worried about Janelle, we had a great time with the kids. We took the kids to a movie and had a sleepover. They really wanted to have their cousins come along, so Emma and Matthew are in the pictures as well:

In the car on the way to the movie. We were singing songs and having a great time!

The girls at our house for the sleepover. So cute!



OCTOBER

Really, if you have made it this far in my post I am proud of you. It is really far to long. I should have not tried to catch up, but when I started looking through pictures I found so many cute ones. Actually, you should feel lucky, I left quite a few out! :)

The last thing I wanted to write about is Conference. I loved Conference this year! The weather was perfect, the speakers were amazing as usual, and overall it was a great experience.

On Saturday morning Jen and I took Logan and Kate, our two newest 8 year olds (well actually, Logan was not quite 8, in fact, his birthday is today...) to the Conference Center to see Conference. They slept over the night before and then we drove up early to get good seats. They were so good and we had a great time. Here are a few pictures:

Kate and Logan at our house before we left in the morning. Don't they look so nice all dressed up?  And, I just have to mention that I tied his tie...we didn't realize he would have an actual tie until that morning, so I got on the internet and found instructions.  Looks pretty good for a novice, doesn't it?

Me with Logan and Kate before Conference--perfect weather!

Logan and Kate in front of the fountain. Notice they are holding their Conference packets.

Jen made these great little packets with pictures of the General Authorities and other activities to keep them occupied. We got there at 8:30 to get good seats, so they ended up sitting up for 3 1/2 hours, but they had a lot of fun before Conference and were very reverent during Conference. 

The highlight before Conference was seeing all of the General Authorities walk in. Our seats are close to where they all walk in and Kate and Logan were so excited to mark them off in their packet as they saw them. Sister Wixom, the new General Primary President, came up and shook their hands and asked them their names. About ten minutes later, she came back and introduced them to her counselor and remembered their names! Later in that session she gave a talk about ministering one by one. I thought she was a great example of that.  They also got to shake hands with President Samuelson (a member of the Seventy and president of BYU), Sister Dalton, (the General YW President), and Larry Gibbons, (a member of the General Young Men's Presidency).  It was so neat for them to get individual attention from some of our leaders. 

After Conference, as the General Authorities were all walking out, Sister Perry saw them and nudged Elder Perry and they both looked over and waved at them. That was really fun for them.

 Overall we had such a great time! What a blessing to be able to take these kids up to Conference and to help them understand the blessings of having Prophets and Apostles and the importance of Conference. Here are a few more pictures (including a picture of all of us at The Roof restuarant, where we took them for lunch afterwards):

 Congratulations! You have reached the end of my post! I hope it wasn't too long and boring...

Other than all of these fun activities, life is the about the same. I am still working at the hospital and loving my job and still working at the temple and serving as a Coordinator on Thursdays and loving it. As I have written this post this morning I have been struck over and over with how blessed I am! I really do have a wonderful life.