Best morning break

One of the simple joys of marriage is having someone that can help turn the day around and one of the things I love about my husband is how he helps me. Today I had a rough morning at work and I needed to get out of the office and clear my head and needed someone to vent to for a minute. So for my morning break I text Jason to see of he could meet me for five minutes at his library. He graciously agreed and then he met me half way between his library and work (which is only a five minute walk, I love it) and he gave me a good hug which immediately relaxed me...seriously there isn't anything else in the world like a hug and kiss on the forehead from your husband and he let me vent. Then randomly he took me into a curious George store around the corner from my work and picked up a dr. Suess book and said "this break was brought to you by Dr. Seuss" and proceeded to read the book. He then told me I was tough and thanked me for working so hard and that was it, I was back at work and feeling much better about life. I've recently have discovered and am still discovering that you are in charge of your own happiness and I don't think having a Husband instantly makes you happier but today I learned that what my husband does for me is provide a great environment which makes it easier for me to choose to be happy and for that I am ever grateful.

Monday

What a heck of a day. One of those days that was probably better off spent in bed. Work was hectic, the sky is gray with rain and the sidewalks are covered with ice which goes along pretty well with my mood. As I sit here and wait for Jason to finish his school so we can take what I'm sure to be treacherous walk home I'm trying to to be positive in hopes that the evening can turn itself around. At least I'm enjoying the best part of my day so far... A good strong chocolate drink with my new favorite pandora station. Also a glimpse of Jason as he does all his school stuff and I'm reminded how lucky I am that I have him and we are here. At least that's something.

Snowed In

Sorry about not posting in January. January sometimes can be so bleak and I never feel like I want to do anything. But now we're on to February and things are looking much brighter. We are completely snowed in today. Not going anywhere. Love it. I'm finishing all my craft projects, finishing the hobbit, cleaning the house, and cheering Jason on as he takes on the enormous task of shoveling! Staying inside drives Jason crazy but I love it. Yesterday work got cancelled early so I came home, ate, read, took a nap, it was heaven.

Anyway here is the one thing of note that happened in January, we went to New York City to visit my dad who was there for work and it was so much fun! We went to Evita (not awesome but that's okay), the Frick collection (one of the coolest museums), and tons of good food, notably a wonderful French restaurant that was delicious.

Merry Christmas!!

I know it's been a couple of months since I've written anything. First of all, once November started life got super crazy and honestly, until this weekend, I can't remember the last time that I sat down and didn't have anything pressing to do. Secondly, I've decided that sometimes it takes a lot for me to sit and reflect and write about events and experiences. Often times it's easier to just keep moving, don't think, just move. But I've also discovered that it's not always healthy that way either.

So without further ado, I will tell you about the wonderful December that we have had. It started out wonderfully with the Heath's coming in to town to visit. Our first visitors! Not to mention it was the Heath's :) You know those people that you can just share everything with and you know they understand you and you can express whatever it is that you want without being judged? Well that's what I'd say the Heath's are for us. Cousins + Friends = a wonderful weekend.

The second major event was that we went back to Utah for a long weekend. It was so wonderful to see family again. Man how I miss them! We got to drive on the nice I-15 freeway system, eat at Cafe Rio, go shopping, but best of all we spent time with my family making gingerbread houses and we even had a mini Christmas the Saturday before we left. It even snowed the night before so we got our white christmas :)

This would be my sister husband and brother playing on our new Ipad Mini for Christmas! This picture is currently my background on the Ipad and I laugh every time I turn it on.

When we left I was so overwhelmed with love I felt from my family and particularly my parents. I think the real Christmas present I received this year is that the power of love is strength. It's what allows us to go forward and what makes life worth it. The world is full of messages about how love hurts and is painful. We're taught that strength comes when we don't feel love because love makes us vulnerable. But after this weekend I realized that the real truth that should be spread is love is strength and power and I can't think of anything more beautiful.

Jason and I are back in Boston and will be spending Christmas together, just the two of us. Kind of romantic, I'm excited :) But I hope that Christmas finds you well and at the very least feeling love from Heavenly Father since that was the true gift that was given those many years ago.

Hurricane Sandy

The hurricane is coming. And Jason is giddy. He, with his Idaho background, is apparently built for natural disasters and survival. I just have to thank his mom and dad for doing such a good job raising him with a lot of practical skills. A tree branch (aka full size limb) fell in the middle of the road narrowly missing two cars. As Jason was bravely facing the storm (exaggeration here, it was lightly raining with minor gusts of wind, no bravery needed) to get the flashlight from his car he watched as the branch fell and he went and pulled it out of the street. Now he is home and at the slightest noise he looks at me with big hopeful eyes and asks "did you hear that?" to which I reply yes, it was our neighbors upstairs and then his hopes crash when he realizes he can't go pull another branch out of the street. Now he's going to go in the basement of our house to see if the owners have any tools to help us survive. Tell you what, I definitely married right since natural disasters are not my thing. Neither is survival really. Overall we don't feel too threatened and we now realize the security that comes with having food storage which I think we will make a goal to build from now on. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures from the last of our fall activities as winter is fast approaching....By the way it was a win win for homemaking this last weekend, I cut Jason's hair for my first time ever  and it actually looks good! I felt so accomplished! I also made pumpkin cookies which are addicting and we have a mildly clean house :) 

After a really hard week Jason brought home these glasses and new shirts for a good smile on Friday night.

I promised my sister pictures of the fall colors so here you go! These were trees from the temple and few on my walks to work.

Oh and don't forget Salem for Halloween, crazy stuff here, definitely beats frightmares at Lagoon.

Midterms

As much as this blog would make you think that we do awesome things all the time, it's not entirely true. After all we (Jason) are at school which comes with the fair share of college life including midterm papers, projects, worrying about paying rent and finding quick meals to make. I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing this post other than it's therapeutic and Jason is over in the dining room typing a midterm paper so why should I let him have all the fun? It's been two months to the day that we arrived here. I feel like life has settled down somewhat into a pattern which I've decided isn't always the best. It's nice to feel like things are different, like you have a new start, and everything is fascinating. When I settle into a pattern I start to think about my life and where I'm going which isn't always so fun. Also with the seasons changing I find myself homesick for the Utah mountains full of colorful leaves, normal fall temperatures, roads that I can actually drive on and grocery stores I can actually go to more than every other week. Not to mention a warm house, the smell of pumpkin cookies and being surrounded by family where life is just comfortable, you can just be you wether that's the tired, stressed, worried "I don't know what to do with my life," or the "life is awesome and I just want you all to know." *sigh*

Wonderful Conference Weekend

Wasn't General Conference wonderful this weekend? So many beautiful messages of service and that Heavenly Father and Christ are there for us no matter what. Besides the wonderful messages it was also nice to have a weekend to spend at home curled up on the couch. We were very grateful for the internet which allowed us to enjoy conference from our own home. We also had Columbus Day off so we got to go see a couple things too. 

First was our first experience with seafood! And it was surprisingly really good, we felt completely satisfied and wouldn't have ordered anything different. Crab cakes and New England Clam Chowder were so good! (By the way, did you know there are different clam chowders? google it, you'll be amazed)

Then Sunday morning before conference (since it starts at 12 here!) we went on a walk to Mt. Auburn Cemetery which is just down the road from our house. Here were a couple of our favorite tombstones and the leaves have started to change! 

Finally we went apple picking today at Honey Pot Hill. We brought home so many apples! Jason was pretty skeptical at first but he came with me anyway and I think somewhat enjoyed it. Especially those fresh apple cider donuts. Can't get much better than that.