i love my husband

Matt was out of town from Thursday morning to Sunday morning last week. It was a hard time. I didn't sleep well and it was depressing to go home and know Matt wouldn't be there. I packed my nights up with activities with friends, but at the end of the day, they went home and I slept alone, and it was sad. Now he's home and it's really nice. Granted, he's in class and doing homework all day and all night, but at least he's in the house. Now, the reason I felt like I had to write this post is because I'm in the front room on the laptop, and he's in the back on the "real" computer working on his physics homework, and I have to kind of leave him alone so he can finish it and we can go to bed soon. Well... he was singing along to Jason Mraz and it was really cute!!! Anyway, for some reason I really wanted to take a picture of what I was hearing. It's a feeling that's hard to explain, but that was me trying. At least now, I can look back at this post and remember how I felt. I just love him. He's awesome.

Fun with Googly Eyes

We got a Halloween card from Matt's sister and the googly eyes of the ghost had fallen off. It was a cute card anyway, though. (Thanks Amanda!) Well as we were cleaning up the table to have dinner tonight, Matt found the googly eyes and had some fun, and asked me to take a picture. Matt never asks for pictures to be taken of himself, so I jumped at the chance. Hope you enjoy them.



In other news, I got a treadmill the other day on Craigslist and I went walking on Thursday and Friday morning :) Yesss. I'm excited. Today I went to distribute some flyers to some people in my ward and my lungs were burning by the time I got back. I'm SO glad I get to walk inside this winter, that means I might actually walk! Yay!

Also, I have had an empty sink before bed 5 nights in a row! I've picked a spot and beautified it! (See Pres. Uchtdorf's General Relief Society Meeting address: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-37,00.html)

General Conference Report, Day 2

Sorry about the delay. I was at my sister's house for the second session and we had dinner and chatted, so we got home a little late. Then last night I decided it was time to catch up on the dishes and it took forever, so I wasn't really up to blogging. Anyway, without further ado...

Sunday Morning Session

>>Pres. Eyring's talk about unity was great. I liked how he talked about speaking well of others. He counseled us to remember that we will be judged in the manner that we judge others. In every situation we should look for what's best in any person's performance. That is what Jesus will do for us when we meet God at the judgement bar. I like that idea.
>>Elder Hales said that we need not defend the Church with overbearance or anger. We should always respond with love. He said to stay on the higher ground of mutual respect.
>>I was really impressed by Sister Dalton. I know I shouldn't say this, but sometimes it is hard to listen to the women speak in General Conference. Sister Dalton's talk was either really good, or I'm maturing, or both, but I loved it. She called for a return to virtue. I think she quoted Pres. Monson as saying, "No friendship is more important than your own clear conscience." So true.
>>Pres. Monson closed the session advising us to "take joy in the journey now."

Sunday Afternoon Session

>>Elder Nelson's analogy about marriage and shopping was awesome. He compared conjugal living to marital shoplifting. Interesting perspective. His advice about marriage was to minimize personal demands and maximize acts of selflessness. That is something I know I need to work on.
>>I liked Elder Cook's quote, "Every cloud we see doesn't result in rain." We should be prepared for unexpected challenges simply by keeping the commandments.

(Like I said, I was at my sister's house. She has three kids, so I eventually came to understand why she wasn't taking notes. It was much harder to pay attention, but it was fun to see them. They're such fun kids.)

P.S.

Adding pictures to a finished post on Blogger is nearly impossible. I couldn't drag this photo to where I wanted it, so I just decided to do a little P.S. instead. I really like this photo I took on the way up to Provo Canyon. It's a little artsy, and I think it's my favorite one, so I wanted to add it. Hope you don't mind. I wasn't driving, by the way. No worries!

General Conference Report, Day 1

I love General Conference. When I was little, my mom used to make little conference packets for us, with pictures of the General Authorities, crayons, stickers, and a little candy. We had to go to the Stake Center to watch because it wasn't on TV in Connecticut, where I grew up. So, we had to dress up and sit in the chapel quietly. I loved it, though. I think that's where my love began. Now I actually love to listen and take notes.''

Here were some of the highlights for me.

Saturday Morning Session

>>I loved how Elder Perry got the base of his talk from Henry David Thoreau's experience on Walden Pond. It's great to hear insights from books outside the LDS faith. I didn't know a lot about Thoreau, and I found it really interesting. I liked how when asked, "Have you made your peace with God?", Thoreau answered, "I was not aware we ever quarreled."
>>I liked the story Elder Andersen told about the little girl who was born deaf, how she told a handicapped boy in the grocery store that Jesus will make everything all right.
>>Elder Oaks is great. He's no nonsense. There are something that are very cut and dry. Do thing the right way, no excuses.
>>Matt said that Elder Uchtdorf is now his favorite speaker. He is completely wonderful, I agree. I loved his topic as well. Hope. I liked the lines, "In the deepest winter, we find within us an invincible summer" and "Never give in, never surrender!" (to despair). I also like how he pointed out the opposites of faith, hope and charity--fear, despair, and failure to care for our fellowmen.

Between sessions, Matt and I took a drive up Provo Canyon. My brother-in-law went with my sister last week and told me I had to go soon. It was raining hard today which gave us dark tree trunks, and pretty good lighting. Photos never do the colors justic, so I admit that I did a little tweaking on my pictures, but Matt says they're still not as bright as they were in real life. So, I hope you can believe that my pictures aren't too doctored. I'm sorry I'm posting so many, I had a hard time deciding.

This is from our balcony before we left.


We went down a little street off University Avenue and took a few shots.

I really liked this grass in front for some reason.

We ended our drive at Bridal Veil Falls and turned around so we could eat before the next session began.

Saturday Afternoon Session

>>Elder Wirthlin's story about his daughter's blind date was hilarious.

>>Elder Holland is so awesome. I love to hear him speak. I want to be more angelic now.

>>Elder Corbridge really impressed me. He's a new Seventy and I have never heard him speak before. He was so great! I think he was called to speak to the logical thinkers in the Church. He made so much sense and the combination of scriptures he used were linked together so beautifully. I never thought of things quite as he put it, but it's true--through Jesus Christ we can never thirst, never hunger, never walk in darkness, never die. Believing in Him, remembering Him, keeping the commandments--it's the only intelligent thing to do!

>>I liked Elder Bednar's challenge to say prayers solely of gratitude sometimes. I'm definitely going to try that.

Well, it was a good day. I hope it was enjoyed by all who were able to listen. For my friends out there who are not LDS, if any of this seems interesting, please read or listen to some of the talks at lds.org

current calligraphy craze

I took a calligraphy class my second semester of my first year of college. I got really into it. I learned four fonts that semester. Matt got me a book of other fonts and I picked it up a few days ago and I have had a lot of fun. Just thought I'd share.

Work

I get so busy at work. Sometimes when I finally go to the bathroom, I find myself wondering how long I've been putting it off. Two hours? Three? That's not healthy. I just had lunch at 3:15pm. How does work become priority over my physical needs?

I feel advanced.

So, I know this is a weird reason to begin a blog, but I had something I wanted to say and I wanted people to read about it. I just brushed my teeth. (Here's the preface now.) I am starting to fall asleep and my husband said we were going to go to bed earlier tonight than we have the past couple nights. Well, he's been working hard on homework, so he wanted some time to wind down and play his game on his PSP. I was sucked in to various sites, so I don't mind. Well, I finally tore myself away from the neverending web-browsing that can take place to brush my teeth. We started a new tube today. It's Aquafresh Advanced. It gives you 25% stronger enamel*. Have you ever noticed the * at the end of statements like that? I work for Nature's Way and they have those all over their products. So, I thought this * would lead to a statements I have seen many times on many of Nature's Way products, "This statement not approved by the Food and Drug Administration." But it didn't! It said, "as shown in laboratory tests compared to regular Aquafresh." Wow. I definitely feel like my enamel is stronger after using this. I don't know if I would go as far as 25%, but I feel like I have stronger enamel, and therefore. I feel Advanced, with an intentional capital A.