for granted.

Lately, I have noticed so much sad news. So many friends and neighbors have been overcoming some pretty big trials. So many losses of loved ones and friends, and countless other setbacks. Noticing this has certainly caused me to reflect on my blessings. That, and I always get very nostalgic of the good times around the holiday season.

I have a healthy husband. This is such a huge blessing to me. Devin has a great job that we both love, an ever-growing education that he works hard for, and we have an incredibly strong marriage. Not every couple has all of those things, so I feel so glad to know that we do. 

Our family and friends are also happy and healthy. We love enjoying their successes and hearing all the good news. All of our friends seem to be advancing to such great places in their lives. Landing amazing jobs, getting signed to record labels, having the most beautiful children. It doesn't seem to end! We hear good news almost every day!

Not only to I feel like we are blessed, but we have just been down right fortunate. We've been lucky to have it so easily, even with all our hardships, which believe me, we've had our share. I'm glad to know that Devin and I can mutually approach our challenges with an optimistic attitude. It makes handling the troubles so much easier, and we are much more efficient that way. I also think that is one of the things that brings us closer. We have been married for 6 months, and have still never fought. No arguing, never yelling, although we regularly disagree. I am glad we handle it the way we do. It makes our days run smoothly, along with our marriage.

One recent story, though, has seemed to strike me in particularly hard. When we started attending our current ward 6 months ago, I noticed that one of my high school classmates was in the same ward. Except now, just 2 1/2 years after graduating, he is in a wheelchair. I later learned that he was in a dirt bike accident about a year ago, which left in paralyzed (I think...). 

This blew my mind. 2 1/2 years? Things happen so fast. Your life can completely change, irreversibly, in a matter of seconds. So it shouldn't be taken for granted. Not in the good times, or the bad. We should appreciate every minute of it.

Last night, after tithing settlement, Devin and I were visiting with a member of the bishopric who said he was in the process of making a go-cart for my old classmate. He asked Devin if he would be willing to photograph this process, since it is such a sincere act of service (of course Devin said yes).

But it has just left me thinking, along with all the other stories I have heard lately, that life really is too short to not enjoy every minute of it. The trials are there to make us stronger, to test our faith and strength and abilities. They are not placed in our lives to overcome us and defeat us. They are here to prove our worthiness and trust in the Lord. 

I have definitely not been one to flourish in the bad situations, and I could definitely do better. I hope to just remember these things the next time a trial comes my way, which won't be long now. 

I guess it's just nice to hear about the good stuff going on in the world. It seems like the media can only stand to focus on the bad, and it seems like us as a society are all so socially involved, only focus on the media. 

It has been an incredible couple of weeks. And in light of Thanksgiving this week, here are a few things I am feeling especially thankful for these days:

1. said wonderful husband. In all his health and hard-work-ed-ness. and handsomeness :)
2. my amazing family; all so supportive and loving.
3. seat heaters in my mazda.
4. pearl jam. and their 20 years of rocking of this world.
5. my burly, grown up kitty milo. even though i never see him.
6. our awesome ward, and adorable nursery kids.
7. my nanny family. they have become some of my closest friends, and i love those kids so, so much!
8. slatkin & co. candles.
9. Stephen's hot drink mixes, getting me through every morning drive.
10. the 24+ episodes of Friends on my DVR, for my own endless, mindless, unwinding entertainment. 

sizzler

is it just me, or is Sizzler like a 65+ club?

Devin was at school tonight, and my younger sister, Kayla was planning on coming over to steal some of the awesome chicken gnocchi soup he made last night. When she got here, I told her I wanted her to hang out with me all night and she said she couldn't because the family was going to dinner for FHE.

I promptly called my mom to inform her I was inviting myself.

We did some storytelling and a little secret christmas shopping (ahem). until we got the call saying when and where. 

to our disappointment. Mom and Dad had chosen Sizzler. (sigh). 

Maybe I'm just not a steak fan? I don't know what it is. I've just never liked the place. 

But what only assured me further that my complaints were actually backed up by a small amount of fact, is when we ran into a big group of seniors in our home ward out together, and our grandparents. 

Yeah. It must be an old people thing.

Maybe I'll like it more in 50 years? 

The steak was actually pretty good. And I'm not one to complain about free soft-serve. 

But still.

Oh, I love my family. 

We spent all dinner telling funny stories from the past that still make us laugh. 

Like the time my dad was talking about some weird guy who annoyed him sarcastically and he said "i just wanna stick 'im... in a..." and my mom finished his sentence, saying very formatively "a microwave?" while nodding her head like she was being totally logical. kills me every time!

another classic?

when Milo was still just a baby little kitty, my dad was in his recliner holding milo on his chest and petting him, and Kayla sneezed (it scared milo a little bit) and dad immediately scolded her and said "KAYLA!" and she said "...what?" dad says "that was UNnecessary" and she said "dad. i sneezed." (bahahaha) and then he says "NO YOU DID NOT." kayla and i had to get up and leave because we were laughing so hard. 

again. love my family.

weekend + a 2 ingredient recipe

had such a busy weekend.


on friday, I was feeling so sick (sinus infection), but Devin and I had planned Friday to be our date night. he decided to take care of everything, and when I got home, I was feeling a little better, so we went and picked up his skis from Park's (getting the bindings fixed for his new boots), met Shannon there (finally. she's awesome.), and then we headed to Olive Garden to grab take-out for a date night in. 


after our dinner date at home, shawn came over and we watched the byu game. the only good part was Nelson high-fiving the ref after his touchdown. hilarious. 


saturday, we got up early-ish and headed to help out the family at Amanda and Jason's yard sale. Devin spent all day lifting and moving and hauling all the heavy stuff into trailers to be taken to his parents or to their storage unit, and Amanda, Chloe and I sat in the [freezing] cold and ran the yard sale. It was a pretty big success! They sold almost all of their big stuff (couches, desks, bookshelves, etc) and tons of other stuff. So glad we could help them out, and I loved spending the afternoon with my sisters!


we headed home to relax and rest a little bit after running a few errands (decided to get a real christmas tree this year!), and then had Josh and Amy over for a movie night! We watched The Uninvited, which is an awesome scary movie, and we had some awesome snacks. I made a nutella fruit dip that was delicious! 


Nutella Fruit Dip
1/2 cup nutella
1 cup vanilla (or plain) yogurt


mix well.


HOW EASY IS THAT?! I know. And it's seriously delicious. We ate it with apples and bananas, and I'm sure any other fruit would be really good too. Especially strawberries.


When the movie was over, we naturally had to watch several episodes of The Office to counter the scariness of the movie, and then Josh and Amy headed home.


Today, we slept in and then did some organizing around the house (surprised?! hope not. so typical.) before heading to church. We hadn't been in 2 weeks because of a photo shoot and my cousin's mission farewell. The talks in sacrament meeting were so good! I love a good talk. 


Nursery? I would hate it if I didn't love it so much. I've never had to stop so many fights! We have 2 little boys that are both known to get a little aggressive and they just seemed to keep running into each other all afternoon! All the kids are so cute, though. They are smart and hilarious and easily entertained, even though they seemed to have record-short attention spans today. 


After church, we headed straight to my parents for dinner. My Dad waxed Devin's new ski's (we are SO excited to get out this season!) and we saw milo for awhile. He has grown into this bulky little bear-looking thing. His neck is HUGE, and his tail is totally mutilated. Too many cat fights, I guess. He looks a little ridiculous, but I love him anyway. 


Our week doesn't look busy YET, but I better not speak too soon. It seems like every second has been so packed with plans these last few weeks, so I'm just not convinced that anything will be slowing down any time soon. 

5 things + a princess sequence

lace toes

our daily dora.

super girl

milo's still alive. don't worry.

 

homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza! It was SO yummy but SO spicy!


 princess aria: dressing herself.

tough cat

Milo's been living outside for awhile now.


I went about a week and a half without seeing him, until a couple days ago when I caught a glimpse of him running away from Sammy and Buddy.


Since then, he's at the back door every morning, whining to join us for breakfast.


I would say it's annoying, but it's nice to have him back around!


I must say though, living in the "real world" has really roughed him up. He has new scratches every day. Like this one:

 it doesn't really seem to be bothering him all that much, which is good. i think it gives him more character. and you know what the best part about all of this is?










he still loves to cuddle up to his mama :)

my mom once had a cat growing up, and they took him on a trip with them somewhere far, like oregon or washington, and he either ran away, or the abandoned him on purpose... either way...


a couple weeks later, they were back home here in Utah... and he showed up at their house. He literally found his way home. They called him TC after that. for Tough Cat.


now I'm kind of afraid I'll find Milo hanging out at my apartment! actually, that would be kind of awesome. haha

one more thing...

MILO would like to wish you all a Happy Valentine's day.

and he would like me to let you know...

p.s. in case you were wondering, he ripped that ribbon right off and is now attacking it repeatedly all over the house in a squirrel-esque manner.


he's a keeper!

gnomeo? REALLY?

so, there is this new movie out... or coming out... about...


GNOMES.


seriously? are we really that far out of ideas? i keep seeing these interviews about it with elton john... he produced it or something, and he keeps saying how the movie will help raise the new baby he and his husband just adopted.


you are going to raise your children on lessons from gnomes? that's just weird.


I personally apologize to Shakespeare, on Hollywood's behalf, for turning one of his masterpieces into something so lame.


Then I noticed that there really haven't been any good movies out lately. I haven't seen any of the new movies, but that's because they aren't really appealing!


Here's hoping Sherlock Holmes' sequel will cheer me up!
Oh wait. Of course it will. It's Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, My dear Watson! Duh!


Anyway, the point is:

P.S. In case you were wondering... the last couple days, whenever I am at home... Milo seems to be attached to my hip! He follows me around, and insists that I hold him constantly. He's like a little baby, it would be adorable if it weren't starting to annoy me! He even cries when I put him down... he will just sit there and stare at me and meow. He is laying on my lap right now, see:

it's hard to take pictures of him, because he's constantly going after the camera cord. also, I weighed him a couple days ago, he's 8 lbs now! what a fatty, haha. 8 lbs, and 8 months old. he's so weird.

couple things...

first of all, i am now officially genuinely concerned for the mental health of my kitty, Milo.

He is completely convinced that he is a dog.

Not only does he chase his tail, 'sit' for a treat, carry things around in his mouth, and whine and cry when hes lonely....

He also wags his tail, and I fear I am beginning to see early signs of interest in "fetch"...

I love him.

secondly, after watching Iron Man 2 for the second time, I have officially stabilized my belief that men are MUCH scarier with a toothpick in their mouth. [ie: Whiplash (Ivan Vanko)]

third, today as we drove home from camping this weekend, I saw for the first time in a long time, the full display of fall colors in Provo Canyon. it was absolutely gorgeous.

Fourth, on Friday at school, I was sitting in math, and at about 10:35, the fire alarm went off. Of course, the entire LA building was evacuated, along with the PE building and library.

I was standing outside with my math class, when another student from a different class taken by my same professor approached him and said, very adamantly that she heard someone had broken out into a rash, hence the 2 fire trucks, multiple police cars, 3 ambulances, sheriff, and shrieking fire alarm... I turned to one of my classmates and said, "so naturally... you pull the fire alarm..?"

honestly. some people's stupidity must be meant for my sheer enjoyment.

The truth? a "potentially dangerous" natural gas leak...

problem is resolved. no rashes. everybody's fine.

GOLL

fifth, I have, without a doubt, the most HILARIOUS FAMILY on the face of this Earth.

My sister was worried about having to ride in the seat with the broken window behind her, making up stories of broken glass gashing into her eyeballs and newly scarred shoulder... I turned to her, in all seriousness and said, "Kayla! Don't worry! You can almost die as many times as you want this year! Our insurance will cover it!"

I am poking fun at the fact that every surgery ever needed in our family is being done this year, due to having met our deductible. Mom is getting that TKR (total knee replacement), Kaya's z-plasty and Dad's dual foot surgeries.

haha

6: I had a dream about Mitch Oldham the other night. He was on the Cincinnati Reds.

This dream is ironic on SO many ways. And probably the most random dream I have ever had.

seventh: there is this tattoo parlor on north state street called "forever yours tattoo" that makes me giggle. HOW APPROPRIATE. I wish there were subscript saying "whether you like it or not!" hahahaha

And finally, I watched an amazing YouTube video clip of a woman giving a speech about abortion... a woman who had survived abortion (don't read any more red if you can't handle the graphic details I'm about to type...)

Her 17-year-old parents decided to abort her, a 7 1/2 month old baby, (which means her mother was in her third trimester) via saline injection into the womb, also known as SALT POISONING. The baby is to gulp up the solution, and then almost immediately burn from the inside, out. To their utter shock and surprise, Giana was born, not only alive, but with no apparent defects. She should have been blind. She should have been burned... she should have been dead. The abortionist (who later had to sign her birth certificate, haha) wasn't present, so instead of the routine, which is killing the baby by suffocation or strangulation, Giana was transported to a hospital. She was then diagnosed with cerebral palsy, due to the lack of oxygen to her brain during the attempted murder, and now, at 35ish, only walks with a slight limp. Her speech is so powerful. I don't understand how anybody can watch that, and still consider abortion to be a just act. Women's rights? It's your own damn fault. What about the rights of the child inside you? You put that child in there! You knew the risk! You knew how to prevent it! Yet you were lazy! So you justify it with murder? Abortion IS murder, by the way. There is no justification for taking the life of a child-- an INFANT. You can't excuse yourself from that. You have absolutely NO RIGHT. Whether somebody lives or dies is NOT your choice. It is completely up to the Lord. And taking that matter into your own hands is going against everything we are here on this earth to do.

Giana researched the abortionist who had tried to kill her, and found a quote from him stating that he had killed over 1 million babies... One single man. He KILLED ONE MILLION PEOPLE. WILLINGLY. KNOWINGLY. and most likely, WITHOUT EVEN THINKING TWICE ABOUT IT. In the 1940's (WWII), this would NOT have flown. This is the EXACT SAME THING HITLER DID. We didn't put up with it for ONE SECOND then. Why is abortion any different? Enlighten me. 

The kicker? The end of the quote... said that he considered it to be his PASSION.

You have EARNED your spot in hell, my friend.

What a sick, twisted, perverted man. Who in their right mind would not only admit, and take pride in single-handedly killing so many innocent people... but consider it their PASSION?

No. A passion is running marathons, or serving people abnormally large donuts on the weekdays from your family-owned bakery... not MURDER.

I could go on about this. It is so completely horrible and I cannot BELIEVE this has even been as issue! I cannot believe there are people who actually consider the latter?!?!?!

This was the first time I had heard of abortion being referred to as the Silent Holocaust. So true. Because that is EXACTLY what these people are doing. Killing innocent people for no reason but complete and absolute SELFISHNESS.

This is complete mayhem. What a world we live in.


this is the link to Part 1 of Giana's speech, given in 2008 in Melbourne. Make sure to also watch part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPF1FhCMPuQ
I hope the link works. I've never done a link before.

Now that I have that out of my system... for now, at least... I will post our pictures from the camping trip :) It was gorgeous. Perfect weather, so much fun. Amazing spirit from conference! I love camping.

starting the trip off right. dad broke the window loading the 4-wheeler into the back of the truck.

the best part is that he laughed at it, whereas if it was anyone else's fault... he would have been PISSED.

ran into some sheep being herded on our way into the campsite. they were cute. except for that creepy black one!

gooooood morning! what a beautiful day. every day was like this. 80 degree weather. PERFECTO.

Kayla and I. and breakfast.

some nature. and some Johnson Conference Morning Fun.

so. sort of a long story. But that tree on the top says "KD BUG" like my nickname... Katie-bug...

anyway, how it came to be... is that in 2002, when I was 11 years old and Kayla was only 8 or 9... we were camping here, at Strawberry, Dock Flats, and us two went on a 4-wheeler ride. As I was trying to point out a trail to Kayla, I turned the handle with it, and crashed us straight into the tree (bottom). We were both flown across the road. Kelli saw it from behind, and she said it looked like an intense action movie. Anyway, we didn't get seriously injured, just some bruised ribs and such... but later that trip, Dad and I went back to that tree and carved "KD BUG 02" in it. Every year I go back, I carve the year into the tree...

Kayla decided that since she was part of the crash too, her name should also be on the tree. Hence the "k-la" haha what a great memory!

In between sessions on Saturday, the boys hiked up B Jorkman down through Willow Creek... Kayla napped, and mom and I beaded! I made these bracelets. The top two pictures are of an especially cool one because it's made out of semi-precious aggots!

there cows were CUTE. I'm serious. first time i would ever admit to COWS being CUTE. but it's the truth.

After conference, we went to the Marina to fish. Dad caught an 18 inch cut throat right away, but it was too small, so we had to let it go.

so then we had a campfire, of course. and decided to experiment with peeps... we also had forgotten chocolate, so Kyle (bottom) improvised with a Reese's peanut butter cup... NASTY. even HE said it wasn't too good, which is definitely saying something. because that boy puts BBQ or Syrup on EVERYTHING.

We had a huge yummy breakfast the last morning: bacon, fruit, and CARMEL APPLE FRENCH TOAST. it was divine. Dad wrapped me in paper towels... thinking he's just hilarious. But I just ate anyway!

so the trip was great. it was exactly what I needed:

fresh air

outdoors

conference

and an excuse not to text back!!!