I never ceases to amaze me just how powerful music is. Last night, my mom took "Tollin" and I to see Jon Schmidt. I love his concerts. It was so enjoyable, as always. About a quarter of the way into the concert, he decided to play the Taylor Swift meets Coldplay song. It's still difficult for me to listen to Coldplay in general, much less Viva La Vida. And of course, I bawled. It was just so intense and beautiful I couldn't help but miss Adrianne so much at that moment. Even though I felt like an idiot, I was so grateful for the experience. It was weirdly therapeutic. I was so grateful for having known such an incredible person, as well as having the gift of music on this earth. It really is a passion of mine. I resolved to dedicate more time to it last night. There's a few things in life that I've neglected that I've really enjoyed that I want to pick up again. I do too much "required" work and not enough enjoyment. So I'm going to change that.
I also wanted to take a moment and list the things I'm grateful for. I know Thanksgiving is still a week away, but if I don't do it now, I probably never will; on the blog, at least...
1. I'm eternally grateful for Cory. I still am in awe of how I found such a perfect guy. He's so genuine, honest, trustworthy, loving, talented, and thoughtful. I hear "I love you" 5 or 6 times a day just before we go out the door in the mornings. He never ceases to make me laugh, calm me down when I'm angry, hold me when I'm crying, help me when I need it, or just make me feel awesome. He is my rock. He's such a shining example to me and always helps keep me on the right path. I'm so grateful for his priesthood power and his ability to use it whenever we've needed. I love his talents and work ethic. He's my best friend and my guardian angel. I love him with all my heart and soul. (sappy, but true).
2. I'm grateful for the Gospel. I love how much security and happiness it brings into the lives of those who embrace it. I love the ability to change mistakes. I love the gift of forgiveness. I'm grateful for the blessings of the temple and the sealing power that keeps families together forever. I'm grateful for the scriptures. The guidance and lessons found within their pages are priceless. I love the power of prayer and knowing that our Father in Heaven is always watching out for us. What an incredible gift. I can't imagine my life without it.
3. We're so blessed to have such wonderful families! Both Cory and I have such amazing parents who have worked so hard their whole lives so support their children and bring happiness into the home. We've never had a moment where we've felt unloved. We have incredible, caring siblings who watch out for one another. With a team like that surrounding us, we're the luckiest people on earth.
4. I'm grateful for our home and cars. We have so much more than many people on this earth. It humbles me every day to know that we've never had to suffer without the things we need before. We've always had money to pay our bills. We've always had food to eat, clothes to wear, and a warm bed to sleep in. I can't imagine complaining about that. I get so upset when I see people who are so wrapped up in greed and possessions. No ones perfect obviously, but I always have to tell myself how lucky we are that we have what we have. We've been so blessed.
5. I'm so grateful to have such wonderful friends. It's been a rough year in the friend department for me. But I can't explain the gratitude that fills my heart when I think of those who have been there for me and continue to enrich my life. I have some amazing influences to rely on. Thanks for being there and loving me for me, and teaching me so many wonderful things. I love you all!
6. I already mentioned this above, but I'm grateful for music and for my talents in the subject. I'm no Mozart, but I'm glad I can help share this gift with others.
7. I'm grateful for a strong head on my shoulders. I'm far from perfect, and certainly not a genius, but I'm happy to have my smarts and ability to think logically. Most of the time :)
8. I'm grateful for our jobs. They're a tough commodity these days so we are truly so lucky to have them. Not to mention, a job I absolutely LOVE!! It's tiring and stressful some days, but I never have to wonder what my purpose is or if I'm making a difference. I am so lucky to be able to do something I love and be surrounded with such incredible, happy children.
9. I don't understand how people can go through this life and never appreciate the nature that is around us. God has created a breathtaking world for us to enjoy. I am so grateful for that and for the chances we take to get out and forget the trivial cares of our lives.
10. I'm happy we have the opportunity to get an education. Knowledge is such an incredible power, and I'm grateful for the chance to expand on mine (Cory, as well) and use it for greater purposes. It's such a huge deal!
We have a life overflowing with blessings. I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for the countless blessings we enjoy. Life can't get much better than this! :)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Cutting Loose
I can't take it anymore. I'm kind of losing my mind and it's becoming difficult to be kind to others. I'm too weighed down by things I can't control. I'm not a valuable resource anymore. I'm done trying. Sometimes when things get messed up so bad, you need to throw away the pieces and start over. So, time to start fresh. Tomorrow is a brand new day.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Black Island Farm
Today was a lot of fun! Cory and I, my mom, Lisa, Tory, and the kids headed to Syracuse to spend the day at Black Island Farms in Syracuse. We had a ton of fun. When we first got there we hopped on the hay ride (that was missing hay...) out to a pumpkin patch to choose a pumpkin.
Once in the patch they let you loose to go pick out a pumpkin. It's a shame they didn't have a big selection...
These are the ones we chose...
Then it was back on the hayless hay ride to put the pumpkins in the car.
After dumping the pumpkins, we headed off to see what other fun things there was to do. We started at the slides made out of hay... (finally, there was hay!)
Bradlee had a blast and was brave enough to go alone.
So was Cory...
Sadly, COry had to leave to go to work, but the fun continued. The kids discovered the crooked play house...
And then the train ride that took them through the corn...
Next was the corn box. It was tricky keeping Brock from eating it.
Then the seesaw...
On to the big bouncy pumpkin. It took her 3 times to get the guts to stay inside but clearly, she loved it.
And lastly the petting zoo
And we were given a fond farewell with this site...
There was also pig racing, which was fun, but I didn't want to waste the time to upload pictures of pigs... I hope you understand. Finally we wore ourselves out and headed home. I crashed on the chair while the girls painted their pumpkins.
It was a really fun day. Even the trip back to Syracuse a second time to get Tory's lost phone was fun :). I love spending time with family.
Once in the patch they let you loose to go pick out a pumpkin. It's a shame they didn't have a big selection...
These are the ones we chose...
Then it was back on the hayless hay ride to put the pumpkins in the car.
After dumping the pumpkins, we headed off to see what other fun things there was to do. We started at the slides made out of hay... (finally, there was hay!)
Bradlee had a blast and was brave enough to go alone.
So was Cory...
Sadly, COry had to leave to go to work, but the fun continued. The kids discovered the crooked play house...
And then the train ride that took them through the corn...
Next was the corn box. It was tricky keeping Brock from eating it.
Then the seesaw...
On to the big bouncy pumpkin. It took her 3 times to get the guts to stay inside but clearly, she loved it.
Then we ventured into the kiddie maze.
And lastly the petting zoo
And we were given a fond farewell with this site...
There was also pig racing, which was fun, but I didn't want to waste the time to upload pictures of pigs... I hope you understand. Finally we wore ourselves out and headed home. I crashed on the chair while the girls painted their pumpkins.
It was a really fun day. Even the trip back to Syracuse a second time to get Tory's lost phone was fun :). I love spending time with family.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Explanation
Ok, sorry for the explosion of frustration regarding last week. It was super stressful and resulted in a couple meltdowns, one was sparked by a piece of gum a student gave me slipping out of my pocket and landing on the bathroom floor... yeah, I was wound tight... it was wrapped but I wasn't about to touch it. Aw ladies, don't we love all that emotional crap? My student giving me that gum was the nicest thing that happened to me all week. Allow me to explain.
The Friday before last week Cory brought home the application packet for the Kennecott, Rio Tinto scholarship that he has been wanting to apply for. Of course, it requires letters of recommendations, a major essay, TONS of paperwork, and even a safety, essay-style survey. Then he tells me it's supposed to be turned in TO KENNECOTT on Friday. We have 1 week. So, this application took precident over everything else. I busted my butt the first of the week helping him get his essay done - we really wanted it to be a great essay - and worrying whether his teachers would get their letters of recommendations done in time. Finally, we finished the packet and Cory drove out to Kennecott and turned it in.
In the meantime, we still both had hours of homework that we'd been putting off. I went to class Tuesday and we began a discussion about the book, Where the Wild Things Are because we're going to go see it as a class (which totally rocks) one night instead of having 3 straight hours of discussions. "Cat Girl" as I've affectionately named her pipes in saying that the book represented child abuse to her and made her cry and blah blah blah. Of course, the English professor eats this all up and decides it would be a great idea for EVERYONE to write a paper on their interpretation of the book. It's a friggin picture book. I don't have any insane, far-fetched ideas that could somehow be twisted to seem like the book is delivering a message. Sorry, that's just not my forte. So thanks to Cat Girl, I now have another paper to write. I went to class Wednesday and was quickly reminded that I'm supposed to give a presentation this week about a chapter in the book involing visuals, handouts, summaries, and it has to be 45 minutes. That tacked on a bit of stress. Gotta love school... NOT!
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday was also parent teacher conferences. They weren't too bad, but Thursday we had them for 5 hours and I didn't get home till 6. I was so hungry and exhausted by the time I got to my car to go home I just bawled the whole way home and made Cory buy me a Whopper :). He's the best. Also, that night, Cory had about 6 hours of homework to complete by midnight that we'd put off. We somehow condensed it into 4, but we didn't make it to bed until 11:00. His work schedule makes it really hard to get his work done so it's usually a struggle to get things done. I hate it.
Friday we decided we'd had enough. I came home intending to go to the gym and grocery shopping, but instead collapsed on the bed and was out for probably a good 2 hours. We agreed that we needed a date night, so we went to Chili's. Except for huge seating problems, them never giving Cory any fries with his Burger, and us not getting a discount like the waitress said she'd do, we had a good time together.
I know all that doesn't sound as bad as it was, but trust me, it sucked. In other minor updates, we are LOVING our new car. It's weird, I actually kind of enjoy driving. It's nice to have a car where the tires don't come off, the engines doesn't fall out, the doors open, it doesn't rattle to pieces when you go over 70 on the freeway, and that doesn't release a horrible odor when the engine is running. Oh, and that has air conditioning. I could go on but I won't bore you. However, we have decided to keep it for the time being so we now have 3 vehicles. Yikes. The decision to keep the Jetta may have also added to the stress. It was like I was Luke Skywalker and I just found out the Jetta was my father...
The Friday before last week Cory brought home the application packet for the Kennecott, Rio Tinto scholarship that he has been wanting to apply for. Of course, it requires letters of recommendations, a major essay, TONS of paperwork, and even a safety, essay-style survey. Then he tells me it's supposed to be turned in TO KENNECOTT on Friday. We have 1 week. So, this application took precident over everything else. I busted my butt the first of the week helping him get his essay done - we really wanted it to be a great essay - and worrying whether his teachers would get their letters of recommendations done in time. Finally, we finished the packet and Cory drove out to Kennecott and turned it in.
In the meantime, we still both had hours of homework that we'd been putting off. I went to class Tuesday and we began a discussion about the book, Where the Wild Things Are because we're going to go see it as a class (which totally rocks) one night instead of having 3 straight hours of discussions. "Cat Girl" as I've affectionately named her pipes in saying that the book represented child abuse to her and made her cry and blah blah blah. Of course, the English professor eats this all up and decides it would be a great idea for EVERYONE to write a paper on their interpretation of the book. It's a friggin picture book. I don't have any insane, far-fetched ideas that could somehow be twisted to seem like the book is delivering a message. Sorry, that's just not my forte. So thanks to Cat Girl, I now have another paper to write. I went to class Wednesday and was quickly reminded that I'm supposed to give a presentation this week about a chapter in the book involing visuals, handouts, summaries, and it has to be 45 minutes. That tacked on a bit of stress. Gotta love school... NOT!
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday was also parent teacher conferences. They weren't too bad, but Thursday we had them for 5 hours and I didn't get home till 6. I was so hungry and exhausted by the time I got to my car to go home I just bawled the whole way home and made Cory buy me a Whopper :). He's the best. Also, that night, Cory had about 6 hours of homework to complete by midnight that we'd put off. We somehow condensed it into 4, but we didn't make it to bed until 11:00. His work schedule makes it really hard to get his work done so it's usually a struggle to get things done. I hate it.
Friday we decided we'd had enough. I came home intending to go to the gym and grocery shopping, but instead collapsed on the bed and was out for probably a good 2 hours. We agreed that we needed a date night, so we went to Chili's. Except for huge seating problems, them never giving Cory any fries with his Burger, and us not getting a discount like the waitress said she'd do, we had a good time together.
I know all that doesn't sound as bad as it was, but trust me, it sucked. In other minor updates, we are LOVING our new car. It's weird, I actually kind of enjoy driving. It's nice to have a car where the tires don't come off, the engines doesn't fall out, the doors open, it doesn't rattle to pieces when you go over 70 on the freeway, and that doesn't release a horrible odor when the engine is running. Oh, and that has air conditioning. I could go on but I won't bore you. However, we have decided to keep it for the time being so we now have 3 vehicles. Yikes. The decision to keep the Jetta may have also added to the stress. It was like I was Luke Skywalker and I just found out the Jetta was my father...
Friday, October 16, 2009
I Have Mountain Dew, or Crab Juice
I've been concentrating on a way to deliver the fact the this week just plain sucked that isn't negative and too "Debby Downer". Since I frequent the need to vent on my blog, I was trying to throw a fast one and actually be happy. But... that's not looking promising. So folks, our week has SUCKED!! It's the suckiest kind of suck that ever sucked. GAH!!! There. Now that message has been delivered.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Moab
This past week we had our annual Moab trip. It was a lot of fun, as usual. We left Thursday morning and drove down in a caravan with Tyler and Collin. Driving through Spanish Fork Canyon was actually wonderful. The leaves were amazing! I can't remember the last time I saw such vivid reds and oranges. It was incredible. Anyway, we arrived in Moab Thursday afternoon and just hung around the camp. It was still pretty cold so we made a fire, had dinner, and enjoyed spending time with family...
Friday we woke up and decided to do Hell's Revenge. It was an all day experience, but we had a great time.
Some kid caught this giant lizard and tied his ipod headphones to it. It was enormous.
After exhausting ourselves in the car Friday, we went back to camp and enjoyed dinner. Tyler and Tory left to go spend the night in a hotel. It was their anniversary so we decided to let them have a night to themselves. We put the kids to bed then crashed ourselves. Saturday we woke up to a beautiful day. We had breakfast then set out to try Gold Bar Rim. We went as far as we were able. After a while the kids started getting fussy from being in the car for 3 days straight so we headed to a giant sand hill to play around. We all had a blast acting like goof balls. And the kids loved it, too. Saturday night was really warm so we spent hours around the campfire talking about politics and religion. I know, I know. But I realized while sitting there that I am the happiest with family. There's nothing better on this earth. I love being with them all.
Sunday the storm was heading in so we packed up in between rain spurts and headed home. It always sucks to leave Moab. That place is so awesome. But as always, we were grateful to be back in our warm beds and have running water again. It just stinks having to come back to reality and dive right back in to homework and the stresses of life. But it was an awesome vacation.
I also had an "ah ha!" moment on our trip that made me realize there are many things I need to work on. We all have faults and imperfections. Rather than focusing on and discussing the problems of others, wouldn't it be more beneficial to focus on our own? I think so. And that's my top priority now. It's time to change the way I think.
Friday we woke up and decided to do Hell's Revenge. It was an all day experience, but we had a great time.
Some kid caught this giant lizard and tied his ipod headphones to it. It was enormous.
After exhausting ourselves in the car Friday, we went back to camp and enjoyed dinner. Tyler and Tory left to go spend the night in a hotel. It was their anniversary so we decided to let them have a night to themselves. We put the kids to bed then crashed ourselves. Saturday we woke up to a beautiful day. We had breakfast then set out to try Gold Bar Rim. We went as far as we were able. After a while the kids started getting fussy from being in the car for 3 days straight so we headed to a giant sand hill to play around. We all had a blast acting like goof balls. And the kids loved it, too. Saturday night was really warm so we spent hours around the campfire talking about politics and religion. I know, I know. But I realized while sitting there that I am the happiest with family. There's nothing better on this earth. I love being with them all.
Sunday the storm was heading in so we packed up in between rain spurts and headed home. It always sucks to leave Moab. That place is so awesome. But as always, we were grateful to be back in our warm beds and have running water again. It just stinks having to come back to reality and dive right back in to homework and the stresses of life. But it was an awesome vacation.
I also had an "ah ha!" moment on our trip that made me realize there are many things I need to work on. We all have faults and imperfections. Rather than focusing on and discussing the problems of others, wouldn't it be more beneficial to focus on our own? I think so. And that's my top priority now. It's time to change the way I think.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Bah!
I understand this may sound rude, and I don't want it to. But I'm getting a little frustrated with people. I'm running out of energy making time for people who never make time for me. I know that sounds selfish, but hear me out. It's hard ALWAYS having to be the one to call or text. It's frustrating when I suggest hanging out with people and they say it sounds like a great idea but they never follow through, even when I try. It's hard hearing people are having a hard time and when I tell them I am honestly there for them, they never utilize my friendship. I guess it's just crushing knowing I can be written off so easily to some people. Perhaps it's time to go against my instincts and just throw in the towel. Friendships can't exist when only one person is giving some effort. It just sucks. Maybe I'm just not that great of a friend...
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
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