All She Wanted For Christmas...

When I asked Holly what she wanted for Christmas she said she wanted me to take her to the Living Planet Aquarium.  Well, lucky for me, I found out they were having a FREE day today.  So, I surprised the girls by checking them out of school early to go.  Holly did a happy dance when I told her where I was taking her.  Merry Christmas Holly!

 

 

A Quiet Thanksgiving

Q farted...which made us all smile

This year it was just the three of us for Thanksgiving.  We spent the day at my parent's house.  Thanks mom, dad and Tara for a lovely dinner!

Counting My Blessings

Honestly, I have felt pretty gloomy for a while now.  I attribute that to a few things...I've had some level of constant pain for almost 3 months, I haven't been sleeping well, and I haven't worked out in 12 weeks.  Time to count my blessings...

I have an awesome husband.  Through all of it, he has remained helpful, cheerful, positive and still loves me.  And, we finally got all the paperwork approved to be sealed!!  That is a huge blessing!

Qyntn is the sweetest little guy!  He is constantly calling me mama wonder woman and gives me the best hugs and kisses ever.  The others have been pretty great too, especially Alyssa.  During those days just following my surgeries, she was the one who was always asking what she could do to help.   

We were able to finish our basement this year, that is pretty sweet because it increases the value of our home, which puts us that much closer to being able to stop paying mortgage insurance.  Yay!

I really enjoyed summer this year.  I was able to do tons of fun stuff with the kids and I didn't feel so overwhelmed for the first time in several years. 

Serving as YW President has also been pretty sweet.  It can be overwhelming and I have some very stressful days, but I get to work with some incredible women, and absolutely love serving the young women.  I have made a goal to finish the requirements for my young womanhood recognition award again.  I love working on personal progress, it builds my confidence, helps me feel closer to my father in heaven and brings more peace in my life. 

I love that our kids are learning to speak Spanish.  I get a little jealous when I see the other moms send their kids off to the bus stop and I have to drive my girls to and from school every day so they can go to a school that offers dual immersion Spanish, but it is starting to pay off.  The kids understand a lot of Spanish and are starting to speak it better too.  It's a huge payoff for me.  I started speaking to Alyssa and Holly in Spanish when they were babies.  This has been a goal for me for a long time!

Alright, I'm feeling better already.  I should do this more often!!!

Another FREE Day at the Zoo!

Super thankful that the Hogle Zoo offers a few free days every year!

MUA

It has been a rough 12 weeks.  The recovery from my shoulder surgery has been more frustrating than I could ever imagine.  A few weeks ago I met with my surgeon and told him I was done trying to rehabilitate it.  My plan was to just let it heal on it's own, which I knew could take 18 months or longer, but I wasn't making any progress at physical therapy and the visits were adding up.  Turns out I had adhesive capsulitis which means that my body had laid down so much scar tissue that it had encased my shoulder joint, making it extremely hard to gain any range of motion.  This happens to about 1% of those who undergo shoulder surgery.  The surgeon recommended we do an MUA (manipulation under anesthesia) which means they would put me under and manipulate my shoulder in every direction to break up the scar tissue and get my ROM back.  With Christmas right around the corner I knew it was either pay for the surgery or buy the kids Christmas presents.  We couldn't afford both.  It wasn't a hard decision, I told him I simply couldn't afford it.  When he asked why, I burst into tears and explained the situation.  He immediately said that he would do it for free and that he would talk to the surgical center to see if they would waive the portion that wasn't covered by insurance and also talk to the physical therapist to see if he could help too.  I would have to pay the cost of the anesthesia and some for physical therapy.  A few days later my dad called and said he would cover the anesthesia.  Feeling overwhelmingly blessed I scheduled the surgery.

The MUA went well.  I immediately had full range of motion, but the next day when I went in for PT my body was already laying down more scar tissue.  I had lost 10 degrees of motion overnight.  I started to panic a little, pray a lot, and stretch my arm as much as I could at home.  The first week of PT post surgery was awful, but finally over the past few days I think I have begun to turn the corner.  The pain isn't nearly as strong, my range of motion is starting to come back, I finally feel some hope!!!

On the eve of Thanksgiving, my heart is full of gratitude to my surgeon, physical therapist, the surgical center, and my dad for making this surgery possible.

Personal Progress Can Change the World!

For our YW in Excellence we saw a cute theme on Pinterest and decided to go with it....  Personal Progress Can Change the World.  The theme was based on a New Era article called 5 Reasons to Love Personal Progress from 2006.  I created a video presentation that went along with the article to show that evening.  It is very amateur,  but I think it turned out nice.  You can watch it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDkGOLFxL4A.  For the closing song we sang Guardians of Virtue.  My remarks were meant to inspire the YW to earn their Young Womanhood Recognition award.  I spoke about Erik Weihenmayer and his ability to achieve so much based on a simple formula...1.  Make a goal  2.  Make a plan  3.  Follow through with the plan.  Next year we hope everyone will be receiving awards.  I also announced my goal to complete all of the requirements to receive my medallion at YW in Excellence next year. 

I am blessed to work with leaders who did an incredible job with the invitations, programs, decorations, refreshments etc.  Everything was perfect!

 

 

 

 

ENGAGED!

When we eloped in Las Vegas, I was the one that had proposed.  Now that our paperwork has been completed and approved to be sealed in the temple, it was Ben's turn...

Friday night was an FFFFN (First Friday Female Fun Night).  The first Friday of each month the women in our neighborhood get together and hang out.  This time, Ben was in cahoots with the ladies to make a surprise proposal.  That evening we went to a spa.  Unbeknownst to me, Ben was waiting in one of the massage rooms to pop the question.  My friend told me she was giving me a tour of the place.  When she opened the door and I saw Qyntn and Ben standing there, I knew this was the moment.  They were both dressed up and Qyntn handed me a note...

So I pulled up his shirt and saw this...

I got a little choked up, grabbed him, hugged him, then kissed him all over his sweet little face and told him I would love to.  Then I turned to Ben who was on his knee.  He simply asked if I would be his wife forever to which I said, of course.  It was super sweet.  I love these two guys with all my heart, and I am super excited that we get to be sealed together forever.