New Year's Resolution

I just wanted to give a quick update on my health, more for my own records than anything. I have continued to get stronger and feel better. Although I feel like the last couple months I have reached a plateau. I have only been able to gain about 10 of the 23 or so pounds that I lost. I also haven't been trying as hard, but it is my New Year's resolution to gain wt! Chris has been making me smoothies everyday the last week to have in addition to my breakfast I normally eat (which will be super fun to make with our new BlendTec we got for Christmas from Chris' Grandparents)! I am going to have to just start eating more...tonight I actually ate TWO pieces of pizza and TWO pieces of crazy bread, which is really good for me. Chris was so proud.
 My rheumatoid arthritis has been bothering me a lot more than normal, so I am taking another medication for that. It won't start working for about a month so she also gave me a weeks worth of steroids to help. This morning my hands are very swollen and just throbbing, hence why I am awake and Chris is sound asleep next to me. (When I started writing this post, it was early in the morning). I have found an essential oil that does help, thanks to Chris' Aunt who told me which ones to try. The rheumatologist had me get some blood work done for a baseline because you have to have it checked regularly while taking the new medicine. My Vitamin D was low, which can cause muscle pain, so I will also be taking a very high dose of that for awhile. One of my liver enzymes was also slightly elevated, not sure why. I have to have that checked again this week.
My stomach is fine for the most part. Except for I just don't have a great appetite sometimes and I can't eat a lot at once.  Other than that, I would say I am doing so much better. I go to work everyday and don't feel exhausted like I used to. I used to count down the minutes until I could go home and crawl in bed, and now I can't believe it when it is already 5:00. A couple times a week I even end up working 9 or 10 hours and I'm tired, but I'm not dying like I was before.
Anyway, that's where things are at right now. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for my health everyday. It is something I definitely don't take for granted! (On a side note, we found out a couple weeks ago that my $120,000 bill from the University of Utah was paid 100% by the insurance, when we were originally told they would pay 60%)! Thankful for blessings everyday. :)

Getting ready for Christmas

I think that I am ready for Christmas! I just want it to be here. Here are just a few fun pics of what we have been doing this Christmas season.

We had fun decorating our tree.

Thanks again to my momma for loaning us her decorations.

I've been making some crafts, of course. I couldn't find anything I like for a good price to hang our stockings, so I made this. It will do for now I guess.

Chris' favorite movie is The Grinch. :)

We had a Relief Society Christmas dinner. I don't know why but I volunteered to decorate a table. I had to bring dishes and a centerpiece, and a salad for my table. This is what I came up with. I think it turned out pretty good. I just brought every snowman I have and put them in the middle. :)

The is the tree at River Park Square mall, downtown Spokane. We live pretty close to it. I was four stories up when I took this picture!

I talked to a pt one day who seemed so sad and kept saying he wanted to go home. So I made him this cute little tree and took it to him the next day.

Chris took me ice skating the other night at River Front Park. I had been wanting to go. I got home from work and Chris said, "Lets go!" It was so fun. I have been once before on a pond, but that was it. I was scared at first, but I think I was doing pretty good by the time we left. Nothing like Disney on Ice, but Chris had a hard time keeping up with me. :) Just kidding. 

We are so thankful for the Christmas season and the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior. 

Thanksgiving 2012

Well I know it's late, (as always), but I though I would write a quick post about our Thanksgiving. I had Thanksgiving off of work, so we were able to go home for a few days. It was fun to see everyone. I was really missing my momma! We left at about 1:30 Wednesday afternoon and got to Burley Wednesday night at 11:00. We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners and one big Thanksgiving breakfast between our 4 parents. We spent time with our nieces and nephews. Chris got to see his best friends for a couple hours, and he got to shoot his new gun with his dad and brothers, which he has been DYING to do. :) He also made me shoot it when we went to my dad's. We went to Walmart on Black Friday around 10am just to see what was there and ended up buying a 32" TV for $97. Door buster deal and we didn't even have to get up early! :) We drove back early Monday so Chris could make it to class at 4:00. It was a fast trip and we basically saw our four parents in 4 days, but it was worth it. I have to work on Christmas, but we are planning on being home for New Year's. Another quick trip but we are excited to see everyone again!

Here are a few pics of our trip:

Chris and Damian

Me and Cooper

Kelsi and Halli fell asleep on the couch together

Evelyn found the perfect spot to sit and read a book.

Like Father like Son. Haha!

Chris really missed Howard

Taylee and Taylor

I found several of these pictures on my iPad. Silly boys.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are so thankful for all of our blessings!

Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream

Ok we all know how much I LOVE anything Disney. Disneyland is my favorite place, (I really want to go to Disneyworld someday), I have tons of Disney movies, I have tons of Disney puzzles that I collect, and I did a research paper in high school on Walt Disney. Right after we moved here, I found out that Disney On Ice was coming to Spokane. I really wanted to go because I went 4 years ago with my nieces and nephews and I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it more than they did. We talked about it and decided not to go this time. At the time we were buying tickets to Silverwood, an amusement park in Coeur d' Alane, so we decided not to do both. Well a few nights ago I was longingly looking at tickets online just for the heck of it. We could get a discount through my work so I was curious to see how much of a discount. Chris caught me looking at them. After a couple of minutes he disappeared and came back with two tickets! He said, "My question is, do you want to sit in seat 10, or seat 11?" I couldn't believe it and almost started crying I was so excited. (Don't judge me, Disney makes happy). He said he bought them a few days ago, and he was planning on surprising me the day of the show. But he didn't want to see me sad for a week, so he decided to tell me then. What a great husband I have. :) We had really good seats. We sat in Row D (4 rows back), and there were 3 row on the floor, so technically the 7th row. I was surprised it wasn't very full. This year the theme was "Dare to Dream." It went through the stories of The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Rapunzel, three princesses who have a dream. It also had Mickey and Minnie and their friends, and all the Princesses came out at the end. It was so fun and such a great experience. When we got home I told Chris I wanted to go back. :)

Here we are right before it started. SO excited!

Please don't mock the ridiculous amount of pictures I posted. Some aren't the greatest pictures, but I chose the best ones. I had a hard time narrowing it down!

The Princess and the Frog

Cinderella

Tangled

OK, also please don't think I'm crazy for posting so many videos. I just couldn't choose. I just love all the characters, the costumes, the music, and the special effects. I couldn't get one video to post when Flynn and Rapunzel are swinging in the air but I'm going to keep trying. Chris said that was his favorite part. You can choose to watch them all if you want. 

Don't worry, we're alive.

Well I just thought that I would write a quick update about our life here in Spokane. I've posted about some things we have done here but lots of people ask me how I like my job and how Chris likes school.
So, to answer those questions we are beginning to like it more and more. I actually thought it would be much harder living away from family than it has been. Probably because I have such a great husband who I get to be with all the time. We are getting to know more people in our ward and beginning to really like it. I like my job pretty good. I have some long days sometimes, but its much easier to handle those days now that I'm not constantly sick. I work with really great people too so that makes it easier. Chris is doing well in school. He very busy and a little stressed at the moment, but I think he likes it.
Don't get me wrong, there are days I wish we were back in Twin. There are days when I really wish I could just see my mom, or times I think of all our adorable nieces and nephews and how we're missing all of their cuteness! Ryan and Amanda's little girl Evelyn is walking now, and I would have loved to see little Halli in her witch costume on Halloween. My mom told me today how my nephew Luke is talking so much. Pictures sometimes just don't seem like enough. I miss having my sister a few blocks from me, and Chris' mom right next door, and his dad just up the road. I miss being able to see my mom anytime I want. I miss walking two houses to church. (We drive 4 miles now). I miss being able to be anywhere in 10-15 minutes. I really miss everyone I used to work with. They were such a big part of my life the last 2 years and wonderful friends. It's also hard being away when big things happen. For example my Uncle George (who is really my Great Uncle), had a stroke about a month ago and we didn't think he'd make it even a few days. I was sick realizing that I will probably miss his funeral. He paid me a dollar when I was little if I could say my ABC's backwards, and I still can to this day. He always corrects you if you say "yeah" instead of "yes." He took my cousin Danielle and I to The City of Rocks once with his Granddaughter and we heard him say "yeah!" He paid my cousin Jamie and I to clean his carpets a couple summers ago when neither of us had jobs. He was in Young Men's when he was like 90. I think he is around 94 now. He is doing ok right now, so who knows, maybe he'll live to be 100!
Anyway, things really are going well. We really are grateful that Chris is in school and will be done in 18 months. We are so thankful I was able to find a full time job with benefits. And it's been nice being in a new place, meeting new people, and seeing new things.
I have been feeling really good. It's so nice to not constantly be sick. I have not been able to gain any more weight but I'm going to start trying really hard again. I have mustered up some motivation so we'll see how that goes. :) I know that it's important for me to gain weight if I want to be able to get pregnant, (which is still a ways away, btw). Anyway, I am still recovering and getting stronger, but things are so much better than they were. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday that I'm getting healthy again.
So I guess that sums up our life right now. We are super excited to be able to go home for Thanksgiving in 3 days! Yay!

Halloween

 I realize this is way behind but I wanted to post about our Halloween. A week or so before Halloween we went to a Pumpkin Patch here in Spokane. Actually it really not in Spokane, kind of in the middle of nowhere as you can see. I have only been to a Pumpkin Patch one other time in my life, I think for Young Women's. We had a fun time picking out a couple good Pumpkins. They also had a Pumpkin launcher, but we only got to see them launch straw. Still pretty fun to watch though.
The Saturday before Halloween we had a Ward Halloween Party with a Trunk or Treat. We brought our pumpkins for everyone to see and some candy for the kids. We didn't dress up but it was fun seeing all the other costumes that people come up with. Maybe next year we will have to get more into the spirit. We didn't have one trick or treater, so Halloween night we just had a quiet night at home.

 Cutting it off the vine

 Here we are carving our awesome pumkins. Notice the very long stem mine had. :)

WSU Cougars and Mario. I'm all about using a pattern because I cannot carve a good pumpkin by myself, and I figure if you're going to go to all the work of carving a pumpkin, you want it to look good. We didn't put them outside because they probably would have gotten stolen, so we just enjoyed for ourselves.

 Here a few Fall crafts I made this year. We made this Spooky banner at a Relief Society Activity.

I saw versions of this wreath and Autumn sign on Pinterest so I had to try them out. I had so much fun making them!

I love Fall but I am even more excited for the Holidays. Can't wait to get out Christmas decorations!

Happy Anniversary!

 Last weekend we celebrated our First Anniversary. Can you believe it? It's been a pretty amazing year. In honor of our First Anniversary, here are our top 10 "firsts" we have experienced in the last year:

1. We got married (you don't do that every day).

2.We went on our first cruise to the Bahamas-hope to go on many more.

3. We moved into our first house together and made it a home.

                                          

4. Chris was the guinea pig for many of my first meals, including my first Sunday Dinner, which I didn't have to make until me moved due to the fact that we were blessed to eat at one of our parents' every week since we got married.

5. I experienced the first time I got attacked in my sleep-you can read about it here.

6. We had our first Thanksgiving and Christmas together (and Valentine's Day, etc).

7. We went snowboarding/skiing together for the first time-I proved I could keep up with the boys.

8. We experienced our first trip to the hospital together, (and our 2nd, 3rd, 4th). 

9. We slept in the same tent for the first time (we went camping together when we were engaged last summer, but of course slept in separate tents).

10. First time moving-to another state!

Our Anniversary was last weekend, October 7. It was Conference Weekend (which I loved by the way but that is another post). Saturday night we went out to eat at Olive Garden, one of my favorites. After we were seated it took 20 minutes for someone to come order us drinks and give us bread, so another server took it upon himself to take care of us, and he gave us a free appetizer. It was yummy!

Sunday was our Anniversary so after Conference we took off. I had been told to pack a bag but wasn't told where we were going. Chris took me to Coeur d' Alane and we stayed at a place right on the lake. It was beautiful. Each room was themed and had a hot tub. Ours was ocean themed. Chris said it was like 7th on his list but all the rest were booked. It was pretty fun. Sunday evening we took a walk along the lake and then had a nice evening together. We even watched a little Full House. haha. Monday morning we got up and went to Newport because Chris wanted to see his Grandpa Leiser's grave. Then we went to Priest River where he used to go visit his grandparents. For those of you who don't know, Chris lived in Spokane until he was about 10 years old. His dad was in the Air Force, along with his Grandpa and two Uncles. Chris' family, his dad's sister and his dad's brother and their families all lived on the base at the same time. They visited their grandparent's in Priest River all the time, where his dad grew up. I've seen home videos that were taken at his Grandpa's so it was kind of neat to see where it took place. Anyway, here are some pics from our trip:

This pic turned out dark. :(

Chris made me this scrapbook of all of our "firsts." He even used my Cricut Cutter and everything. It was very sweet and I was very touched. 

I made this book for Chris of all the reasons why I love him: he holds my hand when we go places, he is so funny and makes me laugh, he is a handyman, does laundry and dishes (probably more than I do), loves Saved By the Bell (or SBTB at our house), opens the door for me, etc. I put cute little stick figures on each page that I found on the internet, and I had to draw a few myself. I thought it turned out pretty good.

My friend Garnet from work brought us this super yummy cheesecake and adorable Halloween decoration. I thought that was so sweet and it was so yummy!

Well I know I say this all the time but I have to say that I love Chris so much and am so glad I found him. I can't imagine life without him. We had a great First Anniversary and I am excited for the many more, and an Eternity, we get to spend together.