#2 and #6

I've read two more books since I posted my list:

"How Do You Know When You're Really In Love?" by Robert K. McIntosh. It was really good. Since I've decided to become a Marriage and Family Therapist, I've started reading more books about relationships and stuff. There's a lot to learn and I'm definitely learning a lot. It's fun and I enjoy reading about it, especially from the Church's point of view. (That brings me into a whole other area of thought... one I'll probably blog about, but now right now.) Anyway, it was a really good book! I highly recommend it to everyone!

The second book I read was the first book in the Children of the Promise series, "Rumors of War." SO GOOD!!! I forgot just how much I love those books. I finished the first book last Thursday and haven't had a clue what to do with myself since. (I don't own any of the other books and I couldn't find a copy of the second one.) I went to Barnes and Noble on Saturday night to buy the second book, but apparently the Children of the Promise books are exclusive to Deseret Book. So obviously, I stopped by today and bought the second book. I'm already pretty far into it. It's such a great series.

Today I'm Grateful For...

Today I am feeling especially grateful for the many blessings I have and I thought I would just share with you (whoever you may be) some things that bring joy to my life.

Clouds. No matter what mood I'm in, if I go outside and I see clouds, it makes everything better. And the clouds around St. George are the best. White clouds, blue sky, green trees, red rocks. There's so much color around here and the clouds are the best part!

Swimming. There's nothing better than squeezing into my racing suit, putting my goggles on, pressing the air out of my cap and diving into cold water and feelings the air bubbles wash over my arms and legs as I streamline down the lane. There's no feeling like it. I love the way the water sounds and feels and yes, I even like the smell. (Chlorine... Mmmm!) I love that my whole body gets sore after I work out in the pool. It's great to know that the simple streamline, stroke, flipturn, streamline, stroke, flipturn gives me a full body workout and it's really not that hard.

My cello. When I was in 4th grade, my teacher passed around a piece of paper that described the music program Debbie Thornton has established in Hurricane. It explained the group practice schedule and explained a little about each instrument. I was interested and I thought about playing the violin, but I saw "viola" and "cello" and I remember thinking that I had never heard of either of those instruments before. So I picked the cello because it was different. Best decision of my life!! The cello is such a beautiful instrument. I've always said (always as in since I started playing great cello music) "If you're watching a movie and the director wants you to cry, you'll often hear a cello in the background." It's a deep, emotional instrument and it goes straight to my heart when I hear it. Playing the cello has added so much to my life. I can't watch a movie without hearing the score and it's made me much more aware of the smaller, beautiful things in life. I miss playing in an orchestra. Playing Hebrides along with a recording just isn't the same as playing with a symphony. Hopefully someday (soon) I'll get back into playing. I miss it.

The Gospel. The temple is a beautiful place and I love living so close to it. It reminds me of the potential we all have of returning to live with our Heavenly Father. No one is perfect. I'm so far from it. I have a lot of learning and growing left to do, but it's great to know that we all have the potential to be perfect and that if we do our very best, God will recognize that and we will gain all that he has. I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's the greatest blessing in my life. I love the perspective it adds to my life and I love the positivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My family. What can I say to describe how grateful I am for my family (including those not pictured)?? It was (and sometimes still is) hard to come from a "broken" family, but through every trial there's something to be learned. Now, instead of 2 great parents, I have 4, and with that, another 10 plus siblings. (I lose count, don't judge, ha ha.) My family has more than doubled and I have had the time of my life getting to know every one of my new family members. I am so grateful for the happiness I feel when I am home and around my family. I love them all very much and am so grateful for each one of them. I love you guys!  

Kappa Delta. I remember walking around the Quad at Utah State with Tierra during Welcome Week our very first year of college. There were tables all over the place, each group looking for potential members. I passed tables from each department, sports team and group available at USU and I remember thinking as I walked past the "Greeks" that this was straight out of a movie! It was so surreal. Little did I know being Greek would mean so much to me someday. Kappa Delta added so much more to my college experience. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. It was perfect for me at the time and I am so grateful for KD and the sisters I met up at Utah State. I miss so much about KD and I can't wait to get back up there. 

My journals. Where do I even begin to express how much I love writing in a journal? I know it's not for everyone and I definitely know it's not an easy habit to get in to, but it's been a huge blessing in my life and I'm so thankful for it. I started keeping a journal when I was 14 and I've been pretty consistent since. It's so much fun to read back through my journals and relive the experiences I wrote about. It's especially great when I go back and read through spiritual experiences because I feel like my testimony grows all over again when I read through the words I wrote. I hope my future children will benefit from reading through my experiences and that they will come to know who I was and who I am. They are who I write for.

 

And last, but not least, I am so grateful for Ian. He is my best friend; the best friend anyone could ask for. He is one of the few people who can really make me laugh, he knows me better than I know myself most of the time and he's the most amazing guy I've ever known. He is so sweet and funny and charismatic and I love that he is just as stubborn as I am (except, of course, when it drives me crazy. Ha ha) I love the way he loves his family and the loyalty he shows for his friends. He has taught me so much about love and he definitely makes me a better person. I love you, Ian, and I thank God every night for your love. I don't know how I got you, babe, but you are the greatest. I love you!

My Crying Pills

Yes, the doctor gave me crying pills... at least that's what they are to me.  They're supposed to be helping me get over the rash of my allergic reaction and sure, they're helping with that too, but they make me cry!! Ha ha ha!! And I wouldn't mind so much, except I cry about everything anyway! As Jude Law says in The Holiday "I cry all the time. More than any woman you've met... a good book, a great film, a birthday card, I weep. I'm a weeper." So add my new found crying pills to that, and you've got yourself a great time. :)

I watched Across The Universe on Sunday. I cried through the whole thing! It's a good thing I didn't watch Moulin Rouge like I was gonna! I would have been a mess... well, more of a mess than I am now. Ha ha :)

Yesterday was my Bishop's 50th birthday. We threw him a surprise birthday party with the whole ward. It was so much fun watching him walk towards us, not knowing that we were all there just for him. He took his blindfold off and I thought "How great is this?!" And then I shed a tear.

This morning, I was driving to work and I heard on the radio a story about a boy that took his 90-year-old great-grandma to his Senior Prom because she never got to go to hers. She wasn't allowed to dance way back then and ever since this boy can remember, she's always expressed her desire to go to Prom. So he took her. And I cried.

Julie and I were talking about the boy that died last week from Dixie High School. He's about the same age as my little brother and from what I hear, he's about as sweet and funny as my brother, too. Well, I know this boy's older sister and she gave the eulogy at the funeral.  Julie was describing it to me and it seemed so sad and beautiful all at the same time. Of course I cried!

Ian surprised me today at work. He just wanted to say hi. How sweet!!! I cried.

Ian got annoyed that I cried the whole time he was at Maly's. He didn't understand and I couldn't spit out the reason I was crying. I rolled my eyes at him, he got annoyed. Ha ha, he left and I went back to work... after I wiped the tears from my eyes.

I just watched that video that Nikki posted on her blog of the young lady that was in that plane accident. Oh my gosh! I was crying through the whole thing. First I was crying because my heart went out to her. What a terrible thing to have to go through. And then I started crying because I know what it's like to have to learn to live with scars. They don't go away and you don't have any control over how your skin heals. Scars form they way they will. And then I cried because mine aren't even bad compared to hers. And then I cried because through all of it, she's been so positive and has relied on the Lord for support and comfort. And then I cried because of all the things the Lord has done for me. I am so blessed! So I shed more tears of gratitude!

This sucks!!! I'm crying all the time and I can't even blame it on "that time of the month!" I'd stop taking these crying pills, but I really want to get better... ha ha

So now I'm turning on some happy music and I'm going to have myself some chocolate and wait for Miss Tierra to get to my house so we can go watch The Back-Up Plan... but then again, I'll probably cry so maybe we'll go see something else

Itchy Update

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW!

So apparently I am allergic to one/both of the antibiotics I was taking for my spider bite. Who'd a thunk?? Ha ha! There's no telling which one at this point because I always took them together, but eventually I will have to find out which one. Hopefully it's not both. The Doc at the ER last night pronounced my spider bite "better" so now I'm only taking antihistamines for the allergic reaction. I'm still really itchy, but I should be better in the next couple days. Yay!!!

Not Fun

Oh boy... where to begin! It all started about a month ago...

Andrea and Colby invited my family to go snowmobiling with them on Kolob a couple weekends ago. I had never been and it was supposed to be 80 degrees in St. George the day we planned on going so I wasn't sure if I'd go or not. (Note: St. George's weather had been extremely bipolar during this time making the 80 degree day, on my day off, seem like a miracle!!) Anyway, back to my story. I was deciding between laying out all day in a swimming suit by the pool and soaking up the sun or bundling up in all the warm clothes I could find to spend the day in the snow... And I was having a hard time deciding. I think I even asked Andrea "Is this even going to be fun? Because I've never been snowmobiling before so I have no idea if it's even fun or not and if I sacrifice a day in the sun for a day in the snow and it's not fun I'm probably not going to be too happy about it." Anyway, I ended up having a BLAST snowmobiling!!! It seriously was so much fun!!! We rode all over the place and I even got some pretty good air off some jumps. However, the fun didn't come without a price. My back and arms and shoulders got so sore from riding all over the mountain all day long. I had trouble sleeping because my muscles seriously wouldn't relax so I thought about it for a week and decided to get an hour long, full body massage to help me out. (Another note: I'm poor and I'm saving up to buy much needed tires for my truck. I don't really have an extra $40 lying around to go spend on "relaxing," but I figured "I haven't slept in over a week. Desperate times call for desperate measures." Needless to say, I NEEDED that massage!) So I called and scheduled myself a massage at Escape Hair and Body for Thursday, April 22. Talk about an excited girl!! I was so looking forward to this massage. Finally, I'd be able to get a good night's rest!

So April 22nd rolls around and while I was getting ready for work I noticed a spider bite on my leg. I had actually gotten the spider bite a week earlier but thought it had gone away. It hadn't bothered me since that very first day so I didn't notice it was still there. Anyway, I got myself ready and went to work thinking nothing of the spider bite, but throughout the day the bite got really swollen, red, 3 times the size it was when I woke up and it was putting off a lot of heat. You could see it through my pants, it was so swollen. I knew I needed to see a doctor, but my massage was scheduled right after work and nothing was going to come before that! I figured I'd just go to the doctor after work on Friday or Saturday. No big deal, right?

Wrong! The massage was wonderful, but it increased the circulation in my body, spreading the bite infection everywhere! But it's not like I got sick all of a sudden. After my massage I felt a little light headed, but the massage therapist told me that was normal and to make sure and drink lots of water so the released toxins in my body wouldn't make me sick. So I thought, ok. No big deal. I got home around 8pm. I went with Ian to get some food and by 9:00 the infection had spread and I had a really bad fever. InstaCare had closed already, though, so I asked for a blessing and toughed it out until morning. p.s. You know that good night's sleep I so desperately needed? Yeah, didn't happen. The bite was so swollen and painful it kept me up most the night. (I laugh at it now looking back, but it sure wasn't a laughing matter at the time. Ha ha)

So the next morning, when I went to the doctor he told me it could be a couple things. Either an allergic reaction to the bug bite, or just an infected bite. He did mention that it could have been a brown recluse bite, but that he wasn't sure. So yeah, he kinda had me freaking out! He put me on some antibiotics to help clear it up and sent me home. After that, it was all downhill. I've been taking the antibiotics morning and night like I'm supposed to and the bite looks tons better. It's not all the way gone, but it's not swollen, painful, or producing heat and the color looks ten times better than before. No worries, right?

Wrong again. Not last night, but the night before, (Thursday) Makenzie came over to highlight my hair. She's been doing my hair for years now and nothing's ever happened so I didn't think anything of it, but apparently getting my hair done while taking these antibiotics was a bad idea! My scalp became irritated and yesterday while I was at work, it spread down my neck, onto my chest and back, down my arms and stomach and onto my face. So I was itchy, all over! I don't really have hives, but if you look closely, you can see a rash spreading across my whole body. (Real excited about that.) I took some Benadryl at work, but the rash/itch kept spreading so it was back to InstaCare for me this afternoon! The doctor didn't want to take me off the antibiotics because they're obviously helping the spider bite, but I needed something to help the rash/itch so he gave me a steroid pill to take morning and night until the itchiness goes away.

So here I am now, 4:30 in the morning, trying so hard not to scratch. (That's not really working out too well for me.) I know it's only been 11 hours since I started taking the steroid pills, but you'd think it'd start to help at least a little by now? But you know what, the bite will eventually be gone. The itchiness will (hopefully) be gone soon, and I'll be back to saying "life is good" in no time. Until then, "life is... alright."

On a happier note, Iron Man St. George is this weekend and my older brother, Doug, is in town. If I can get some sleep tonight, I'll be hanging out with him a little and having one last day with Lanae. She's moving back home early Sunday morning. I'll be sad to see her go, but she's going to be starting her photography business once she gets back and I'm really excited to see where that takes her! Best of luck, Lanae, with everything! You're an amazing person and an amazing photographer. I can't wait to see what you'll do!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!