Among the Wildflowers

Memories and Goals

2012-01-03T12:17:00.004-07:00

I absolutely love this time of year!! I love the hope, optimism, and anticipation of the beginning of another year. To commemorate this time of year, I am going to list my highlights of 2011 and some goals I have for 2012.

First, the Highlights:
1. PIANO:
I started taking piano lessons from Angie L* in February, and so I almost have a year of lessons (as an adult) under my belt. I'm now at the point where I can sight-read most of the Primary Songs of our church, and I'm making headway at being able to play most Hymns with a little bit of practice .
2. TENNIS:
Chad and I played three seasons of mixed doubles in Ultimate Tennis--definitely a learning experience for us, figuring out how to #1, play mixed doubles, and #2, try to win without sacrificing the fun of the game. I think we made a lot of headway by our third season together, and I'm really looking forward to another season starting in February. Overall we had a lot of fun! Our overall record is 9-5, and we even won our division in our third season! Go us! And I also had my first seasons of singles (record 3-4) and doubles with my friend Rasika W* (record 0-5...here's for a better season for us this year, which starts in a couple weeks). And Chad has also played singles....he played so well this year, they bumped him up to the 4.5 level, and he still had a winning season in that level!
3. SEWING:
We bought a sewing machine in February, and this year I've been learning how to use it. I helped make a quilt with my sisters for my mom for Mother's Day. I also made some pillow covers for our house! I'm excited to use it for more projects this year!
4. TRAVELING:
This year we made some unforgettably awesome memories with friends and family in:
-Bryson City, NC
-Rome, Italy
-Naples, Italy
-Athens, Greece
-Northern Israel
-Jerusalem and the Dead Sea
-Ephesus, Turkey
-Rhodes, Greece
-Chania, Greece
-Zermatt, Switzerland (and the surrounding area)
-Murren, Switzerland (and the surrounding area)
-Utah, visiting family
-Eugene, Oregon (just Abbi)
-Malawi (just Chad)
-Hilton Head, South Carolina
-Savannah, Georgia
5. WORK:
Chad graduated from his fellowship at the CDC in June and is now working with the pneumonia division. He has continued to outdo himself, presenting at several prestigious conferences, writing several articles for prestigious journals, analyzing several complex data sets, and traveling several different places in his effort to reduce the prevalence of flu and pneumonia in children world-wide. And I worked 3 days a week at Creme de la Creme, trying to reduce the prevalence of hitting, pushing, screaming, whining, and crying in the ten 3-year-olds in my class.
6. MOVIE-MAKING:
This year I made my first two videos of pictures put to music. I've always wanted to learn how to make these videos, and it's been fun to start this hobby.
7. TEMPLE:
May 1 was the greatly anticipated rededication of the LDS Atlanta Temple. I got to attend it (as well as the cultural celebration the night before), which were two very inspiring experiences. My Aunt Elaine and Uncle Morris came out to visit us for it, and it was a really special time with them. I started working in the LDS Atlanta temple once a week in November. It has been an awesome opportunity that I am so grateful to have.
8. CHURCH:
This year I've been teaching the 12 and 13 year-olds at church and Chad's been teaching the 16 and 17 year-olds. We work with the best kids, and they really inspire us with their faith and commitment to do what's right. I was also published in an online edition of our church's magazine, the Ensign.
9. CELEBRATING 11-11-11
Enough said.

And here's our 2011 Soundtrack:

1. When It Don't Come Easy, by Patty Griffin
2. Trapeze, by Patty Griffin
3. Icicles, by Patty Griffin (sensing a pattern yet?)
4. Rain, by Patty Griffin
5. Everybody, by Ingrid Michaelson
6. Anna Rose, by Vienna Tang
7. Hallelujah, by Allison Crowe
8. Falling Slowly, by Linda Eder
9. Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol
10. One Moment More, by Mindy Smith
11. Till Kingdom Come, by Coldplay
12. Fields of Gold, by Eva Cassidy
13. This Year's Love, by David Gray
14. I Know My Love, by the Chieftains and the Corrs
15. Mr. Rock and Roll, by Amy Macdonald
16. Winter Song, by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

And now for my GOALS for 2012:
1. Don't sweat the small stuff
2. Practice the piano at least 3 hours a week (not including my lessons)
3. Make at least 3 sewing projects this year (ambitious, I know)
4. Make and set 2-3 Personal Progress goals a month
5. Have a better attitude about meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking
6. Plant flowering bushes and plants in front of our home
7. Make new goals as needed throughout the year...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Happy 11-11!!

2011-11-13T12:04:00.006-07:00

This weekend Chad took me to Hilton Head Island to celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime experience of the date 11-11-11. It was all I would have ever imagined the best day ever to be. We took a walk along the beach: We went kayaking, where we saw pelicans, ibis, osprey, anhinga, grey heron, and many other beautiful birds:We ate at my favorite restaurant, Panera Bread. We relaxed in the hot tub of our hotel. And of course we celebrated the time 11:11:11 both times it occurred that day: Happy 11-11 to Everyone!!

Happiness Is...

2011-02-20T12:03:00.006-07:00

1. Being married to Chad C*.

I'm sure all y'all have other routes to your happiness, but mine is definitely being married to Chad C*. He makes me so happy! He hasn't had to go out of town for work since we went to Ethiopia together (knock on wood), and it has been so good to be with him for five solid months! Here have been some of the fun things we've done recently:

Had our cute nephews over for dinner, and then Chad took the three oldest to a hockey game while I stayed home with cute Joshie pie.

Had our cute nieces over for a sleep-over! We love the G* girls sooo much!
Gone to Beehives/Deacons basketball on Friday nights. They put me (yes, me!) in charge of Beehive Basketball, and my family has been so supportive of me in this. The program is over now, and I am happy to say that it was a success (thanks to everyone who helped, especially my sister Audra!).
For Valentine's Day Chad and my brothers-in-law made me and my sisters an absolutely DELICIOUS meal. After dinner we watched funny youtube videos and played the Kinect. After playing the Kinect, we ate DELICIOUS cheese-cake. It was such a fun night!

For Valentine's Day Chad also got me a nice card, roses, pearl necklace, chocolates, and the game "Ticket to Ride." Chad is such a great gift-giver, and I won't deny it--I love getting his gifts! :) (Aren't the roses beautiful?!)

Yesterday we went on a fun date to celebrate the 75 degree weather (don't be jealous). We went to play miniature golf and then go out to eat. Miniature golf is typically a "dating" or "family" activity, so it was fun to do something unusual for an old married couple with no kids like us. I loved it!

We bought a sewing machine! I'm so excited to learn how to sew now! At almost 26 years old, I finally feel ready to join the crafty Mormon women club. Or at least make an attempt at it!

And last, but not least, Chad has really encouraged me to take piano lessons, and so I started taking lessons this month. I cannot tell you how much I am enjoying it! I love practicing the piano so much.

2. Living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I feel like I have been really buoyed up by Him recently. Today during church I read some of the verses of my favorite hymn, "How Firm a Foundation," and I was deeply touched by how real and true the words have been in my life. In the song, Jesus is talking to us, and He says:

"Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed. For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

"When through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not thee overthrow, for I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine."

This is exactly how I've been feeling recently, like God is carrying me through everything, giving me strength and grace to endure, improve, and even enjoy the experiences I never, ever would have asked for. His hand truly is omnipotent, and I am so grateful for how it is constantly steadying me, supporting me, upholding me, and guiding me.

I know that while being married to Chad is only part of my route to happiness, living the gospel of Jesus Christ is everyone's one-and-only route to lasting happiness.

Snowstorm in Georgia!

2011-01-19T17:28:00.007-07:00

Last week on Sunday night it started snowing at around 10:00. Of course right away everyone started calling and emailing to spread the word that everything would be shut down on Monday, and so we were so excited to have a snow day! Well, it turns out that snow day turned into a snow week! The public school systems were closed for the entire week; my school was closed until Thursday (and even then there were about 7 total kids in our 3 year old class); and Chad worked from home the entire week except for Thursday, when he braved the roads (which resulted in an hour and a half commute--twice as long as usual). Needless to say he chose to work from home again on Friday. :)

Despite the fact that it only snowed 6 inches in one night, everything stayed closed because (unlike the usual snow we get here in Georgia) it didn't melt! We don't have too many snow plows around here, and so the usual protocol for snowy weather is shut everything down until it melts. Well, this time around it took a week to melt! And the craziest part of all is that all the snow turned into ice. Six inches of snow turned into six inches of ice. Scary!!

Despite the fact that Chad and I have both lived several years--almost his entire life, in Chad's case--in snowy-winter climates, we had never seen anything like this before. By the third day all the fields and yards of undisturbed snow resembled ice hockey rinks! It was incredible. On Thursday I thought I'd just walk through the snow to get the mail, only to be reminded that it wasn't snow anymore, and about fell on my hiney!

To get an idea of this transformation, look at this picture of our neighborhood the first snow day: (I love my ear-warmer Michelle! I've gotten lots of compliments on it!)

And what it looked like on the fourth snow day: One thing that this experience showed me is something I did know before, but it was still nice to have a confirmation of: Chad and I genuinely like each other. You'd think we'd get sick of each other after spending three days in a row together in the same house--and mostly the same room--but not so! Well, I guess I can't speak for Chad, but I loved it! :) Although Chad did have to work from home, I got to work on projects in the same room as he was, and so we got a lot of good chatting time in. Plus each night we watched one of the Bourne movies! And we got to eat all our meals together. I'd call it a very successful week.

One of our favorite parts of the snow week was being home when the birds visited our bird feeder right outside our living room window, which makes for great bird watching. The cardinals always look so bright, but this time of year they look especially bright and beautiful. They are really shy, so it's hard to get a good shot of them, but here is what we got:

Notice the other red cardinal in the trees in the background: We love our cardinals so much!!! And we love these cute birds too: We love our home and our backyard, and it was really nice to spend some quality time together. However, by Thursday we were both happy to get out of the house. :) Happy Winter Everyone!

Win-Win Situation

2011-01-04T10:51:00.002-07:00

A little over a year ago, I read a piece of advice in this Ensign article. It said that in your family, you should consider any family member's success an accomplishment for the whole family. Considering how smart, talented, accomplished, skilled, athletic, and good at winning games my husband is, this advice works really well for me!! :)

2010 Soundtrack

2011-01-03T18:18:00.006-07:00

I love to periodically listen to the CDs Chad and I have made over the past few years. It's fun to listen to different music that used to be our favorite--it always brings back memories of different roadtrips or experiences we've had together. With that in mind, I've made my "2010 Soundtrack" of my 12 favorite songs of the year, in no particular order.

1. Life is Sweet, by Natalie Merchant
2. Ordinary Miracle, by Sarah McLachlan
3. Mary, by Patti Griffin
4. I Fall Out, by Matthew Birkshire
5. Hey Soul Sister, by Train
6. Superior, by Girlyman
7. Inside Still Beats, by Ellem
8. Adventures of Isabel, by Natalie Merchant
9. Haven't Met You Yet, by Michael Buble
10. Fall Stories, by Girlyman
11. John Saw that Number, by Neko Case
12. Corner, by Allie Moss

It's exciting to think what music 2011's soundtrack will be made up of!! Here's to a year full of happy music.

**To listen to any of these songs for free, go to grooveshark.com

Holidays

2011-01-02T17:25:00.009-07:00

We had the "most wonderful time" over the holidays with our family!

First, we were able to spend time at our place with Adam and Jessie, who came from Tennessee: and my parents, who came from Eugene, OR: Then on Thursday, Dec. 23, we flew to Salt Lake, where Chad's parents picked us up and let us borrow their car for the rest of the trip. Thanks Neal and Carol!!

The next morning we drove up to one of our favorite spots on the planet: Chad's family's cabin. Here we are driving up to the cabin, with Chad's parents in their truck in front of us: Here is the cabin, hiding among the trees. Thanks to all the boys in the family for hauling us and all our stuff there via snowmobile. That would've been a long walk with all our stuff. At the cabin, we had a ton of fun, including:

Playing tons of different games: (this last picture thanks to our awesome 4-year-old nephew Carson)
**games not pictured: Bohnanza, Never Trust a Penguin (aka "The Dice Game"), Werewolf

Had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with Joe, Kjirsten, and their gang. We remembered to take a picture just before Joe left on his snowmobile--we were sad we were missing Crystal, Sue, and Cless in this picture (with them, we would have had all the C*-H* connections in one photo): Opened presents on Christmas morning: My creative-genius sister-in-law Michelle made these headbands for every girl in the family for Christmas. So cute, huh!! Thanks Michelle! Leg-wrestled: (Neal was the champion) Played with our new toys: Read good books: Sledded, star-gazed, and snowmobiled (no pictures of these three S's, sorry), and just generally enjoyed ourselves in the cozy cabin: On Tuesday on our way down the canyon from the cabin, we took a short drive and took shots of:

The incredible snow plows that plow tons of snow into six-foot banks on the side of the road: And kite-boarders: And a beautiful view of Mt. Nebo: On Tuesday night we got together with Chad's friends from high school and their families (sorry, no pictures).

On Wednesday we went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art with Caytee and Preston (so neat and powerful!), went out to eat with them and Neal and my aunt Sue at the BYU Cougareat, bought BYU clothes at the Bookstore, and ate dinner and watched football with Neal, Carol, Caytee, Preston, and their adorable baby Carl at their house. It was a really nice and relaxing day (sorry, no pictures).

On Thursday we visited our good friends Becky, BJ, and their cute kids. It was so fun to reunite with them, play games, and eat their delicious cooking. Love these kids (Luke is hiding behind his dad)! Me and Becky: After visiting with them, we visited our Grandma C* and then got together with the fam to eat dinner and watch football (sorry, no pictures).

On Friday morning we ate breakfast with Curt and Carrie and then Neal gave us a ride to the airport.

A very successful trip, I'd say! I am convinced I have the best family in the whole world, on both sides. We love you and are so grateful that we got to spend time with you!! Thanks for all you did to make our Christmas fabulous.

Also, Happy 2011 to everyone! We're pretty sure it's going to be an awesome year, given that it's '11 and all.

Tutorials

2010-12-19T07:14:00.004-07:00

On Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of going to the PATH center in the afternoon, I stayed at Temanj Yaze and taught English tutorial classes for the older elementary school kids there. PATH sponsors these after-school tutorial classes (for math, English, Amharic, and so on), and so I taught with Abenazar and three other teachers: Meselu, Gabeyaw, and Yared. They spoke great English and were really great to work with.

Meselu and Gabeyaw (both high school math teachers): And Yared (a middle school English teacher): I was under the impression that I would be "helping out" at these tutorial classes, helping individual kids with their homework or something, so it was a bit of a surprise the first day when they had me stand in front of all the kids and teach a lesson. Needless to say, I didn't have any experience teaching elementary school, I had no idea how much English the kids already knew, and I didn't quite know what I was doing! Haha. But it turns out they have pretty low expectations there, and are grateful for anything they receive, so it turned out okay! :) But I like to think I improved over time--I know I learned a lot from teaching these classes! Here are some pictures from these tutorial classes: Look at that beautiful smile!!! Here name is Meckdes and I think she is so gorgeous. And last but not least, this is one of my favorite kids: Tariku. He was so enthusiastic and eager to participate in all the tutorial classes. He was always smiling and was my little shadow, following me around wherever I went. Every day during his lunch at school, he would stand right outside the entry of the KG annex (the older kids weren't allowed in that area ) and wait for me to see him so he could wave to me. Sometimes I would come out of the annex and into the school courtyard to visit with him. The KG teachers would all tease me about how he was my little friend. :) He is such a special kid, and I love him so much!! You would too if you got to meet him.

In case you need a smile...

2010-12-15T08:17:00.006-07:00

you can look at these pictures of these adorable KG-2 kids.

Even-tempered Abdurizak, friendly Samrawit, smart and gorgeous Frehiwat: tough Yohannes, quiet Howdia, darling Mintessinote: funny Zainaba, innocent Hiwat, good-natured Halima: kind Tinsa'e, precocious Se'ada, affectionate Fikre: enthusiastic Muluken, sweet Sofia, playful Biniam: obedient Meckdelawit, loving Dawit, shy Abel, lovable Joppi, mamacita Hajira, smiley Meckdelawit amazing-dancer Hana, social Henok, sweetie Tsihai: best friends Delawit and Hana, active Abel: cutie-pie Danawit, sweet Mecksut, mischievous and energetic Kidist:

Temanj Yaze

2010-12-14T15:55:00.011-07:00

While we were in Ethiopia, I volunteered in a government primary school during the day before going to PATH in the afternoon. Here's 'tis:

The school has a kindergarten annex (where I'm standing while taking this picture). The kindergarten building has three classrooms: one for 3 year olds (KG-1), 4 year olds (KG-2), and 5 year olds (KG-3). I worked in the KG-2 classroom, and loved it! Here I am with the teachers and beautiful KG-2 kids: This is Selam. She was the lead teacher in KG-2, and she helped me so much!!! She spoke excellent English and was so friendly and helpful to me. Because of her and the other teachers here, I got to learn a lot of stuff about Ethiopian culture that I never would have otherwise. She is an awesome teacher and is really dedicated to doing a good job teaching the children. In this picture she is coloring a poster of the Amharic alphabet. These are three other teachers I worked with: Haregowin (other teacher in KG-2), Redit (KG-3 teacher), and Hirut (KG-1 teacher). They were really nice to me, and Selam would translate what they said for me. Here we are in the teachers lounge during our break. Here are two pictures of the playground: In the morning all three classrooms line up and do exercises and sing the national anthem together. Those teachers have some excellent discipline going on in their classes! (I think it helps that corporal punishment and public shaming for bad behavior is not considered a no-no.) Here's the KG-2 classroom: All 30 kids lined up to go outside: They brought lunch from home and ate around noon. Each child brought pretty much the same thing: injera with vegetables and a water bottle, as seen here: Here are some close-up shots of some of my favorite kids (okay they all were pretty much my favorite, but I got some good shots of these kids): Zainaba: She is so hilarious!! She made me and the other teachers laugh every day. What a cutie. Fikre: She is a bright light of shining happiness. Her name means love and it fits her perfectly! Love this sweetie pie: Mintessinote: the epitome of suave, charming sweetness. He was such a good kid, so well-behaved, mellow, and easy-going. He would always wink back at me with a half smile when I winked at him. Me with some of the kids: Teaching these kids English was such an awesome experience. They all came from low-income (or in other words, no-income) families, and it was at times painful and at times inspiring to see how they learned how to be tough from such an early age. They never cried, complained, whined, or threw fits. They were so grateful and responsive to any attention/things they received. They were so loving and affectionate. And they all had their own light about them. Man I miss these kids!

PATH

2010-12-05T18:02:00.011-07:00

It's been a month since we returned home from Ethiopia and almost two months since I blogged last. Sorry for the lack of posts while we were in Addis Ababa--for some reason the blogger website was always blocked while we were there (except for that one exception when I was able to get to it and make a quick post).

I loved being in Addis Ababa so much. The people there were so humble, grateful, kind, resilient, strong, and funny. I miss them so much and I pray the Lord will bless them in all they do. I loved my time there because of them. The people I worked with (Abenezer, Tesfaye, Bisrat, Yared, Gebeyaw, Selam, Tigist, Haregowin, Redit) are heroic in so many ways for what they are doing to help their country's rising generation. I admire them so much and wish I could do more to help them in their efforts.

While I was there I volunteered in three different capacities: in a preschool class at a government elementary school (Temanj Yaze Primary School), in after-school tutorials for the elementary students there, and at PATH. Today I will post pictures from PATH, and later in the week I will post pictures from Temanj Yaze.

PATH is a program that assists disadvantaged families in the Kirkos sub-city of Addis Ababa. It provides school supplies and after-school activities and classes for the kids; assistance in applying for high school and technical schools for the older kids; and opportunities for economic development for the parents and older kids. There are 54 kids enrolled in the PATH program, and they are free to bring their friends to hang out at the center.

The PATH center includes a courtyard for hanging out, a library with a collection of children's and teenager books and a TV for watching movies in English, a computer lab with four working computers, a bathroom with indoor plumbing, two offices for the social worker and financial manager, and a room for the mothers/guardians of the children to spin cotton to make blankets, shirts, scarves, etc. to sell.

I taught English and computer classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at this center. We also would visit there sometimes on the weekends (one time we went there right after church--hence my dress in some of the pictures). Due to the high number of kids that were always at the center, I don't remember every person's name from the pictures. But for history's sake I have listed the names of the kids who attended regularly that I got to know.

Back Row: Be'emnet, art teacher, Abenezer, Henok, Cherinet
Next Row: ?, ?, Eyob, Zainaba, Yeshework, ?, ?
Next Row: Gebramikael, Natnayel, Kidist, Hermela, Helen, ?, Tewabech
Next Row: Abram, Iyuel, Yonas, Henok, Tamirat, Abdushukur, Tariku, Shukriya
Bottom Row: ?, Ashanafi, Yacob, Iyeros, ?, Herasarik
The PATH center and part of the courtyard. Me with two of the moms who spin cotton--they tried to teach me how to do it, but I couldn't get it! It was hard. Iyuel, Yonas, Natnayel, Gebremikael. I love these boys!! They were so funny, always trying to make me laugh. Look at those handsome smiles! Ethiopians have such white teeth, their smiles are so beautiful. Tariku and Yacob--I love these boys!!! They were soooo sweet. Abenezer (the super awesome, really nice social worker who does almost everything at PATH) and me ?, Selam, me, Iyerusalem, ?, ?, hanging out behind the PATH building. I think Iyerusalem is sooo beautiful, and she is really smart too. I really hope she goes to college. Ashanafi and Abdushukur--good boys goofing off for the camera. Bilen, Yeshework, Hermela, me, Helen, Asnakech. I love love love these girls!!! They were such great students--very well-mannered. You could tell they really wanted to learn English and were working hard in school. I pray for them so much, they deserve a good future. Yonas and Natnayel again Tamirat
Back row: Ashanafi, Cherinet, Natnayel, me, Tamirat
Middle Row: Iyuel, ?, Abram, Yonas, Be'emnet
Bottom Row: Herasarik, ?, ?, Tamirat, Saba
Me teaching a class on using Excel It was always four per computer so that as many kids as possible could receive the lessons.

My heart hurts looking at these pictures, I miss these kids so much!

Ethiopia

2010-10-12T00:29:00.007-06:00

No pictures yet of Addis Ababa, because we're trying so hard not to look like tourists. But here are some pictures from our trip out to the Afar region a few hours' drive outside of the city. (We'll take more pictures of Addis later in our trip.)

(This last picture is of Chad with our scout at the Awash National Park, with the grand and beautiful Awash River Falls behind them.)

And here is a list of interesting facts about Ethiopia that we have learned since our arrival:

-They have their own calendar with thirteen months (the thirteenth month has five or six days in it depending on whether it's a leapyear or not). September 11 of this year was their New Year's Day for the year 2003.

-They have their own way of telling time. At 6:00 in the morning, they start their day. So at 7, it's 1 o'clock, 8 it's 2 o'clock, and so on. At 6:00 in the evening, it turns 12:00 and then it starts over as 1 o'clock again at 7 in the evening.

-Ethiopians are early risers. We were out and about at 7 in the morning last Saturday, and it was already busy and bustling everywhere we went.

-The traffic rules could be compared to pirate's code--"more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." There are very few traffic lights, and no signs naming the streets. And many of the streets and villages throughout the country have at least two, sometimes three, different names that they go by.

-The language spoken here is Amharic, which has 213 written characters. I don't know how the kids learn it, but they do. Also, there is no official translation of Amharic to English, so spelling of Amharic words in English can vary greatly.

-The employees here at the Hilton call me "madame." And they greet you by saying, "Good morning," "Good afternoon," or "Good evening." I like that.

-The exchange rate now is 1 dollar to 16.5 birr. A liter of milk or loaf of bread is about 25 birr, a meal at a really nice restaurant for two is about 350 birr.

-Most of the cars look old. One taxi ride I took was in a Renault car that was built 44 years ago (or so the driver said--and I believe it!).

-When you say thank you to people, they respond by saying, "OK." And "OK" translated to Amharic is "ishee," which they say a lot.

-To show respect, they hold their elbow when they shake hands with you, give you something, or take something from you.

-Women outside of the cities always wear skirts or dresses, and they can often be seen carrying heavy loads on their backs. (And in the Afar villages we visited, the men wear skirts too.)

-You will rarely see a man and a woman holding hands here, but it is very common to see men walking along holding hands with each other, putting their arms around each other, etc. It doesn't mean anything but friendship. I've seen the same with women, but it's more common with the men.

-Running is the popular sport here. You can see runners in the morning and throughout the day at Meskel Square, a huge, two-block-long open area with steps--the runners run back and forth along the steps.

-The beggars are really grateful when you give them anything, even if it's a very small amount.

Full-Time

2010-09-24T18:34:00.008-06:00

There is a pattern of family responsibilities that is upheld by our religion: the husband works outside the home to provide for the family and the mother works inside the home to nurture the family. Of course not every family in our church fits this mold, but it is held as an ideal to work around.

This pattern has never made more sense to me than now, after I have had a couple years of full-time work under my belt. Sheesh! It's exhausting. After a day of long hard work, the last thing I feel like doing is cooking dinner, or cleaning a bathroom, or washing the dishes, or running errands. And after a week of work, the last thing I feel like doing on Saturday is cleaning a kitchen, or doing laundry, or planning healthy meals, or going grocery-shopping. And I am certainly not putting any energy into learning how to beautify our home, cook, bake, decorate, flower garden, vegetable garden, sew, can foods, or grind my own wheat to make my own bread.

And so a lot of these things get a little bit neglected (or completely neglected), as Chad and I both work full-time. And although life is wonderful and we are happy, I really look forward to the day when I can put more energy into the things listed above, because I think it will really add to our quality of life. But I digress, the real point of this post was supposed to be...

It makes sense that someone be in charge of the household duties, because when you're working out of the house all day, you don't really feel like working in the house when you get home at night--I don't even feel like doing half of the household duties when I get home from work.

Some day I will be a full-time mom and homemaker. Two years ago I wished I already was a full-time mom and homemaker. But part of me is glad and grateful it didn't happen then. And this is one of the (many) reasons: the last two years have helped me appreciate what working full-time is like. How tiring it is, emotionally and physically and mentally. And how challenging it is to leave work at work, and not bring it home with you. So when I am a full-time mom and homemaker, I will hopefully better understand the weight Chad's work puts on his shoulders, and hopefully be a more supportive wife to him because of it.

**Disclaimer: In writing this post, the only person I had in mind was myself. I promise, I am not even thinking about how you and yours divide up family responsibilities. Obviously, I'm too tired to think about it! :)

Words

2010-09-24T17:32:00.003-06:00

Fortunately, our last month has been very fun and eventful . Unfortunately, we have had some camera issues and therefore haven't been able to record pictures of these events. So instead I will attempt to record them with words:

Sun, August 28:
Sunday dinner
Awesome family (David, Jessi, McKenna, Lydia, Emily, Summer, Chloe, Audra, Kyle, Jordan, Tanner, Josh)
Spaghetti by Jessi
Bread and fruit by Abbi
Salad and dessert by Audra
Walk to the neighborhood playground

Fri-Sun, September 3-5:
Labor Day Weekend
Great Smoky Mountain National Park
Super Nice Cabin
Very steep driveway
Great Friends (Chad, Connie, Alan, Lindsay)
Cute kid (Calvin)
Cute babies (Henry and Amelia)
Adam and Jessie close enough to drive and join us!
Hiking
Appalachian Trail
Old-growth forest with moss
Mountain views
Hot-tubbing
Star-filled sky
Delicious food
Games, games, games (read: laughing, laughing, laughing)
Cool mountain air

Mon, September 6:
Labor Day
Tallulah Gorge State Park
Awesome family (see above + Mike, Adam, and Jessie)
Stairs
Beautiful waterfalls
Breathtaking gorge (read deep, very narrow canyon)
Fun picnic with boiled peanuts and yellow watermelon
Fun wobbly suspension bridge
Being together=Happiness

Fri, September 10:
Dinner Party
We hosted
Chad's (really nice) coworkers
Food tasted good
Catch-phrase and Name Game were fun
Successful
Relief

Sat, September 11:
Morning:
Watching the news
Remembering

Afternoon:
Kyle and Jordan's tackle football game
Hot
Intense parents and coaches
Talented fourth graders (especially Kyle and Jordan)

Evening:
Chloe's Birthday Party
Chloe opening her presents
Chloe screaming and laughing in delight
Yummy Hawaiian Haystacks (thanks Jess)
Belly dancing
College football

Fri-Sun, September 17-19
Road Trip!
Tallahassee, FL
Add another state to the number we've been to together (27 down, 23 to go)
BYU-Florida State Game (actually, maybe we'd rather not remember that one)
Great friends (Scott, Stephanie, Liz, Rommel, Meagan, Tim)
Cabo Grill
Running into old friends (Anna, Jeremy, Janika)

Mon, September 20
Chad flies to Kenya

Now
Preparing to join Chad in Ethiopia
Feeling safe (thanks to handy-dandy security system)

Ups and Downs

2010-08-31T17:08:00.004-06:00

Last week was Chad's birthday. Happy Birthday to the man of my dreams! We celebrated by going out to the one Hawaiian BBQ restaurant in Georgia and then going to a Natalie Merchant concert. I LOVED it! It was so much fun. I am an even bigger fan of her after going to her concert. I was on a high for two days after hearing her music live. And then I read Mockingjay, the third and final book in the Hunger Games series. **Spoil alert.** I finished it last night and have felt sick since finishing it. Literally ill. This is not how a series is supposed to leave you feeling! I feel so betrayed by the author. For good or bad, I have the ability to feel like I'm living in books I read, and this is the first time I can remember wishing I did not have this ability. I am having a hard time getting over what happens in this book. I keep telling myself, "It's not real." But of course my next thought is, "That's not what actually happens to Katniss, Gale, Peeta, Prim, Finnick, Haymitch, etc." I guess I still want to believe that these characters exist, just not the fate their author wrote for them. But I'm having a hard time separating the two from each other. So if you want my opinion, don't bother reading The Hunger Games series. They are gripping, compelling books, but the author botched the final book in the series which makes them not worth your time. So. Sad.

Thank You, Lightning Storm...

2010-07-27T20:26:00.006-06:00

For the gift you dropped on our front steps.

Er...I mean, backyard: And roof: However, these branches will suffice indefinitely, and so please henceforth direct your surprises to someone else.

With regards,
Abbi and Chad

Tre's Visit

2010-07-27T20:07:00.003-06:00

Tennis Fun: Swimming Fun: Braves Game Fun: Yard work fun: Visiting the CDC Fun:

The Burglary

2010-07-27T19:56:00.005-06:00

Our back door door did not have a good night (that clump of glass on the rug is due to the fact that we started cleaning up the glass, and then remembered to take this picture): I think our clean, organized lives must have bothered the burglar, because he seemed intent on making a mess:

Utah Trip--Manti

2010-07-27T19:42:00.004-06:00

Manti is a very special place for the Chad and Abbi family. We were able to spend two afternoons there during our trip, one to visit this beautiful LDS temple where we were married (almost exactly three years before): And one to attend the Coach Braithwaite 4th of July Tennis Tournament: Look at that beautiful serving form! Chad and an old high school tennis buddy. We were also able to get together with a lot of Chad's friends from high school at Wes and Susan's place. It was so fun to be with everyone again, thanks for hosting Susan and Wesley! (And sorry, no pictures of that event.)

Utah Trip--Harry's Monument Hike

2010-07-27T19:15:00.007-06:00

One afternoon we decided to hike up to Harry's Monument, which is a big pile of rocks that may have been started by one of our ancestors. Thanks to Preston and his mad four-wheel-driving skills (and car), we started the hike pretty close to the actual Monument. Early on we ran into some breath-taking views: And a huge herd of elk! These were just a few of them, there were tons and tons more: They ran away from us as we hiked, until they all ran into that clump of trees to the left of this next picture. I'm looking down into it, because they were all calling to each other in the forest. It was incredible. It sounded like a whole bunch of whales calling to each other in an ocean. Sooo cool. Harry's Monument: (aww, what a cute couple, Nate and Michelle!) There were wildflowers all over the place in this hike. This is our attempt at taking a picture of ourselves "Among the Wildflowers." Maybe we'll have better luck next time. :)

Utah Trip--The Cabin

2010-07-27T19:01:00.004-06:00

The Cabin is the place!! The place for good quality family time, relaxation, and feel-good vacationing. We ate great food (thanks everyone for it--it seriously tasted soooo good!), put puzzles together, and played games: Laid around, watching movies and reading books: (I had to take a picture of this couch to remember how good it felt to lay there for hours reading The Help--which, by the way, I would very very highly recommend. It's the best book I've read in a long time. I finished it about a month ago and I still find myself thinking about it.) Slept in: (how sweet is this??!!) Enjoyed the cool temperatures: And the beautiful scenery (you can see the Cabin if you look hard): It was beyond wonderful to be with the C* Family. We love each of you so much (even if we didn't take any pictures of you) and wish we could be with you more often. Thanks for a wonderful trip!!

Utah Trip--Drive Around the Cabin

2010-07-27T18:50:00.003-06:00

I really tried to be better at taking pictures during this trip, but after I got home, I realized I mostly took pictures of the scenery and not so much of the people. Oops. I'll do better next time.

One afternoon while we were at the cabin Chad and I went on a drive around the area, and here are three scenic shots from that drive. I don't know if it was just the time of year we visited, or if being away for a year helped me appreciate it more, or if I just plain forgot how beautiful it was, but I kept being floored by how everything around the cabin was just so gorgeous!

I mean, seriously, does it get any prettier than this: Sorry about the rain spots, I took this picture from the car while it was raining: If you know me, you know the Number 11 is pretty important:

Utah Trip--Gone Fishing

2010-07-27T18:28:00.003-06:00

One of the many fun activities we did while up at the Cabin was going fishing. I didn't actually fish, but I LOVED soaking in the beauty of the lake and the excitement of the boys' catches. Here are several pictures documenting the fun: Grandpa Neal holding the albino trout Preston caught: Enjoying some male bonding time: Logan's first ever catch: Chad caught the biggest lake trout he's ever caught before! This picture totally doesn't do it justice, it was a huge trout. All the boys in a row, Preston W*, Grandpa Neal, Chad, Logan, Colby, Preston H*: Can you say paradise? Colby was so proud of the fish they caught!! And this picture is from a different day--Chad fishing alone at the end of an afternoon drive we went on. You can't really tell, but it's pouring down rain. Despite the rain, he couldn't keep himself from going out to cast a few lines. My man sure loves to fish!! (And I love staying dry in the car, reading my book! :) )

Utah Trip--Other Visits

2010-07-27T18:15:00.004-06:00

I was also able to visit with some other wonderful people while in Utah, including this beautiful young lady, one of my dearest college friends, Tasha T*: And my Aunt Elaine and Great Uncle Max and my brother Adam: (my Uncle Max looks and sounds a lot like my Grandpa P*, so it was really special to visit with him). Being together with them made me feel so happy. We laughed so much and just generally enjoyed ourselves. Thanks, Elaine, for taking the time to make this such a special afternoon! And thanks for the delicious lunch, too! And one of my greatest heroes, my ever-loving Grandma H*:

Utah Trip--Friend Get-together

2010-07-27T17:50:00.006-06:00

We got together with our old neighborhood friends the Sunday after arriving, and then the next Saturday just us girls went to see "Eclipse" together. It was so, so, so good to be with these ladies again. I miss them so much. They are the best friends a girl could ask for.

At the Sunday evening get-together, in Marilee's GORGEOUS backyard:
After seeing "Eclipse" together: (I think Twilight brings out our silly sides.)

Month in Review

2010-07-27T17:35:00.004-06:00

This last month has definitely had its ups and downs.

It started fabulously, with an absolutely heavenly trip to the beautiful state of Utah. It was like paradise being with family and friends for a whole week. Heaven.

When we arrived home, we were excited to go out with my sisters and their husbands to "The Phantom of the Opera" four days later. It was lovely, but when we returned home, we walked into a home with a broken back door and our stuff (albeit less stuff than we left it with) scattered all over the place. We are still recovering from this unpleasant experience. We will both feel very happy when a security system is installed and our home insurance claim is finalized.

About a week after this happened, our spirits were lifted by a visit from Chad's little brother Tre from PA. We enjoyed time together playing tennis, swimming, going to a Braves game, having dinner with friends, and visiting some other sites in Atlanta. We hope you will come again Tre, that weekend went by too fast.

In the last week and a half, there have been two exciting things that have happened: #1, I got my hair cut at a nice salon for the first time. I loved it, but--typical me--didn't take a picture of it, sorry. When I style it at home it doesn't look nearly as good, pretty much just the same as it did before. And #2, last night we had a BIG lightning storm that caused a big ole tree branch to fall in our backyard (thankfully not on top of our house--a smaller branch covered that area).

Stay tuned for pictures of all these exciting events in our exciting lives.

Anniversary Tradition

2010-06-24T17:40:00.006-06:00

Yesterday Chad and I celebrated 3 years of marriage. Our anniversary tradition is to watch the (amazing) wedding video that our sister-in-law Carrie made for us. It was such a treat to watch it together last night.

Our photographers (Matt Christensen and Audra C*) did such a good job taking pictures of our special wedding weekend. And Carrie, like I said, did an amazing job compiling those pictures (and the great video footage she took) into a video that is one of my greatest treasures. Every time we've watched it, I leave feeling inspired to face the world anew and to be the person I ought to be.

So this is a big THANK YOU to these three individuals who gave us these gifts. I will be forever grateful to you.

And I also have to give a big THANK YOU to Chad for putting up with me these last three years and for promising to stick by me for the eternity of years to come. I love you!

Then:

And now:

(Okay, you're right--this isn't exactly Chad and me watching our wedding video together...is it bad that we haven't taken a picture of just the two of us in the last year?)

But here's a picture of us last summer, and I think we look pretty much the same now. (Thanks to Jessie P* for this picture of us.)

Pictures

2010-05-21T04:58:00.012-06:00

Riding on top of buses and trains is common practice in Bangladesh. I suppose it's much cooler on top than inside.

Boys playing cricket. Surprisingly this is one of the two most popular sports in Bangladesh. The other is football (American soccer).

Man gathering straw near Bajitpur (northeastern Bangladesh). Look close and you may spot a young boy wandering on the train tracks in the background.

Boys gathered to watch television at a city shop. Some things are universal.

Bangladesh

2010-05-17T02:44:00.016-06:00

9 things I've learned about Bangladesh 1) Bangladesh is almost entirely surrounded by India with the southeastern edge of the country bordered by Myanmar (Burma)

2) Bangladesh has one of the highest population densities of any country in the world. Dhaka (capital city) is the most crowded, but even in the countryside you'll rarely see a spot of land devoid of human presence.

3) Driving in Bangladesh is not for the faint of heart. We've all driven on a two-lane highway and had a car pass, while another car is coming quickly in the opposite direction, both cars narrowly avoiding a head-on collision. Now imagine that happening once every minute and two-thirds of the time, you're the car that is narrowly missing the head-on collision. That is the best way that I can describe driving on the roads outside of Dhaka. Inside of Dhaka there is gridlock traffic of rickshaws, mini-taxis, cars and buses.

4) May is the hottest time of the year in Bangladesh with temperatures in the 90s-100s and relative humidity of 80%.

5) People here are curious. You may be talking with somebody in an open area and within 5 minutes you'll have 5-6 people standing right next to you, listening to your conversation.

6) The major religion practiced in Bangladesh is Islam (90%) while a sizable minority adheres to Hinduism (10%). The LDS church does not have a presence in Bangladesh.

7) People are very giving of their time, attention and their resources.

8) There are exactly 12 time zones separating Utah and Bangladesh, or in other words, Bangladesh and Utah are on opposite sides of the world.

9) I'm not very good at remembering to take pictures. I've included a couple below and hope to post more during my time here. Man playing the guitar and singing while riding the ferry across one of Bangladesh's many rivers. Pediatric staff of medical college in southern Bangladesh.

I am head over heels in love

2010-05-08T19:18:00.006-06:00

With this man:

He is tough, yet compassionate. He's smart, yet humble. He's funny, yet tactful. He's adventurous, yet prudent. And I am the happiest girl because I get to be married to him for time and all eternity! Oh happy day!!

The DifferenceTwo Months Can Make

2010-04-17T06:41:00.003-06:00

We absolutely LOVE our backyard. It brings so much peace and enjoyment to our lives. It has been so fun to watch the changing of the trees over the seasons, from bright yellow and red leaves shaking in the wind, to brown leaves falling off the trees, to snow falling on the bare branches, and now to budding green leaves that are growing so fast! As spring has come, we have also derived so much pleasure from watching all the colorful and diverse birds that visit and live in the trees in our backyard. We couldn't be happier with the setting of our home.

I don't have a picture of our backyard in the fall, but here are two pictures to document the changes that have occurred in the last two months. Here's the view from our upstairs hallway taken on Saturday morning, February 13, 2010:

And here's a picture of the same view taken on Saturday morning, April 17, 2010:

The Joys of Spring

2010-04-08T17:59:00.003-06:00

11 Joys of Spring

1. Seeing a tree sprout leaves overnight when you've been watching and waiting for the leaves for weeks.
2. Waking up in the morning to the sound of singing birds.
3. Opening your windows to get fresh air in the house.
4. Turning off the heating system and not having to turn on the air conditioning system yet.
5. Not wearing a jacket to work.
6. Eating lunch outside.
7. Bird-watching as multiple kinds of birds (including gorgeous cardinals!) visit your bird feeder right outside your living room window.
8. Seeing pastel colors in people's clothing and nature again.
9. Tulips and daffodils.
10. Going home from work in the light.
11. Realizing that people actually do live in the homes in your neighborhood when you see them out walking, exercising, going to the park, etc.

I love spring! It's my favorite time of the year. I love the rebirth of everything colorful and green, the renewal of life in all the plants and animals, and the reminder of the hope and happiness found in Jesus. Happy Spring everyone!!

Sunny Days in London Town

2010-04-02T19:19:00.012-06:00

*Last three photos thanks to Audra*

My last blog post included pictures of me ecstatically happy about being in London. And that is what these pictures are of as well. Me, in one of my favorite places on earth, bursting with joy for being there again. The whole time I was there I kept thinking, "Why do I love this place so much?" Aside from the fact that it is beautiful, historical, and full of interesting and exciting things to see and experience, I think the reason I'm so passionate about it is because of my experiences there during my London study abroad.

I cannot say what a tremendous blessing that study abroad has been in my life. It was there that I started critically thinking about how I viewed the world and subsequently where I felt my place was in it. I came home from my semester in London with a much stronger sense of who I was, what I believed, what I liked, what I cared about, and what I wanted in life. My memories of my study abroad in London are some of my most treasured, and I am so grateful that I have been able to add to them more memories of being in London with some of my favorite people on earth--my sisters Audra and Jessi and Jessie, my brother Adam, and my mom. This city holds a special place in my heart, and I have a feeling I am going to be drawn back to it again and again.

Okay, enough of the sappy stuff. What you really care about are the pictures, right! :) So here they are, organized by highlights:

Green Park/Buckingham Palace/Seeing the Queen

Yes, you read that right. We saw the queen! Drive right in front of us in a Range Rover at this intersection in front of Buckingham Palace. What a perfect way to start our week in London! And to add to the perfection, the weather was sunny the ENTIRE time we were there! I think we must be living right! (Either that, or my mom has an enormous amount of faith, because I know she had been praying for clear skies!)

The last two pictures were taken by Audra. I love this last one of Green Park with Buckingham Palace in the background!

Trafalgar Square/National Gallery/Concert at St.-Martin-in-the-Fields

This trip was as nigh near unto perfect as they get. The entire time I was on a high. I kept thinking, "It doesn't get any better than this." And "I am loving every second of this!" And "Oh my gosh, I love this place so much!" And "I could not be any happier!" You get the picture. That's what I was thinking in these places:

Above photo by Audra

St. Paul's Cathedral

Amazing. Spectacular. Incredible. Breath-taking. I'd never been up in any of the domes before, and what an awe-inspiring experience that was!

Above two photos by Audra

Seeing "Macbeth" at the Shakespeare's Globe with my Aunt Sue

Jaw-dropping. The actors, set, special effects, music were all so good!! We were groundlings and leaned up against the stage, and the actors were very interactive and fun. It was one of the most exciting parts of the trip for me. (As well as seeing "War Horse" and "Oliver!", but I don't have any pictures from those plays.)

Spending Time with Family

I really like them. Like a lot. They make me happy. London + My Family = Bliss.

Above photo taken by Audra

Evensong at Westminster Abbey

I was awestruck by this church! I did not remember how huge, impressive, and gorgeous this building is! Evensong was beautiful and I really enjoyed the spirit in the building as the choir sang. What a neat experience to be able to worship in such a historic and monumental building.

Windsor and Windsor Castle

I loved this quaint town and the castle was exactly as you would dream it to be.
And a few more highlights for history's sake that I don't have pictures (or good pictures) of:
Buying a painting of pears at the Portobello Road Market.
Eating at our hotel's delicious breakfast bar, Cafe Diana, Wagamamas, "Le Pain Quotidien" (that French restaurant at Covent Garden), and the Horse and Groom pub in Windsor.
Visiting the British Museum (wow! what an amazing place that is!) and the British Library.
Riding on the tube again. Ah, how I love that system.
Walking around the beautiful streets of London.
Going to church at the Hyde Park Chapel.
Visiting Piccadilly Circus.
The Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall.
Visiting Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station.
Walking through Hyde Park and along Embassy Row.
Seeing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament again.
Visiting the incredible Borough Foods Market.
Learning about British history from my Aunt Sue in the living room of her flat.
Riding atop a double-decker bus along Kensington Church Street and Kensington Road.

In conclusion, THANK YOU to the best husband in the world (that's Chad of course), my Aunt Sue, and my parents for making this all possible! I missed you so much Chad and can't wait to go to London with YOU next time! I don't know how I'm going to contain my happiness when that happens.

SPOILED!!

2010-01-31T21:13:00.002-07:00

Do you see how happy I am in these pictures? Well, it's because I was in LONDON! And that is exactly how I feel tonight, because I am going back!! Chad--ie, the best husband in the world-- surprised me tonight with the plan that he is sending me to London next month! He found me a hotel, tickets, everything. Oh my gosh! I am beside myself with joy. :) I am so spoiled. I'm going with my two sisters and mom. It's going to be so much fun! THANK YOU CHAD, I LOVE YOU!!

Recommendations

2010-01-10T09:27:00.011-07:00

Chad and I have had a record two weekends in a row spent at our new home together, and we are loving every second of it! It's been so nice to have a relaxing start of the new year after the hustle and bustle of October, November, and December.

Chad has done so much work for our home lately, including:

Buying lamps to light up the downstairs.
Replacing all our lightbulbs with energy-efficient fluorescent lightbulbs.
Assembling our Shelf Reliance system (a huge feat as anyone who has tried doing this knows).
Buying and putting together two beautiful new bookshelves to house the boxes and boxes of books we own.
Researching pianos to determine a good one to buy, which we did the day after Christmas, thanks to Christmas money from our parents! We play it every day and are SO excited about and grateful for this huge purchase (investment) for our home and family life.
I have also enjoyed working in our home, the most exciting tasks being:

Putting our books on the bookshelves.
Organizing our pantry, including our food storage and cans in our super-duper Shelf Reliance system!
Buying a jade plant to go by our kitchen sink. We had one in our Utah home, but I had to leave it behind with a friend, and I've missed it so much. This plant brings so much joy to my life!
Our house is really starting to feel like home and it is so exciting!

We also have a few recommendations to give if you are interested.

#1: I read a VERY good book last week called Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. My sister Jessi recommended it to me, and I am so glad she did, because I absolutely loved it! It was so thought-provoking, funny, suspenseful, heart-wrenching, and touching. This is a book I will think about often for many months to come. #2: Yesterday Chad and I went to see the movie "Avatar" in 3D. It was so creative, imaginative, and fun! If you want to see it, 3D is totally the way to go! It was very entertaining. I would sum it up as "Star Trek meets Pocahantas, with a couple Transformers- and Harry Potter-like scenes thrown into the mix."
#3: Chad's sister Caytee recommended we use the financial planning website "Mint.com" to help us track our spending, budget, and help meet our financial goals. Boy are we glad we took her up on that advice! We have loved it! It is so much simpler and less time-consuming than Quicken, it gives you a very clear overview of all your financial accounts on one website, and it is very helpful to track your spending. We've loved it and would recommend it to anybody. It's free too! We hope everyone has had as good of a start to 2010 as we have! We are looking forward to visits from Nate, Jon, Neal, Carol, Grandma C*, and Grandma M* over the next couple of months! And to everyone else, come visit us, it would make us so happy!

2009 from 1-9

2009-12-27T18:10:00.008-07:00

Here's our year in review from 1-9:

1: The number of tickets Abbi has received in 2009 (and in her entire life). Thanks to the wonderful A* police system, she received a $196 ticket for failing to come to a complete stop in the middle of a very quiet neighborhood in the afternoon of a very quiet weekday. Lame! And lame judge for not revoking the ticket when she contested it!
2: The number of half marathons Abbi ran this year.
3: The number of houses we made offers on this year (luckily we only bought one of them, and happily it was the prettiest of them all!).
4: The number of months we lived without a home this year, either in a hotel or someone else's home (thanks to everyone who hosted us!).
5: The number of weeks Chad was away on business for his new job as a Lieutenant for the Public Health Service in the Commission Core (two weeks in Virginia for Officer Basic Training and three weeks in Florida to oversee a big research project on the H1N1 flu virus).
6: The number of employers we have had this year (University of Utah, Families First Pediatrics, Mountain View Pediatrics, KinderCare, Public Health Service, and Creme de la Creme).
7: The number of roadtrips we have been on this year (Salt Lake to St. George, Salt Lake to the National Parks in Central Utah, Salt Lake to Atlanta, Atlanta to Ocoee River in Tennessee, Atlanta to Hershey PA, Atlanta to Birmingham AL, Atlanta to Charlotte NC).
8: The number of tenths of a mile Abbi lives from her new job as a preschool teacher (in other words, Abbi has a 0.8 mile commute--not bad eh?).
9: (AT LEAST) The number of times we have taken advantage of the 2 for $20 deals at Chilis and Applebees. Yum!

We both feel so grateful for the help the Lord and our families have given to us during this year of transition! We feel so blessed to have sold our home, been able to buy such a nice new home, to both have great jobs, and to live so close to family in both places we have lived. The highlights of this year have definitely been spending time with our family and friends. It's been a busy year full of work and it feels good to look back at all we've accomplished.

I think I've done pretty well at the resolutions I made at the beginning of this year. The three I remember best are to write in my journal more, read more, and have more faith. I think I've improved in all three of these areas, and hopefully I can maintain these improvements while also focusing on new goals for this next year. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season (we did!) and has a very Happy New Year!

The Pictures You've All Been Waiting For...

2009-12-12T11:22:00.009-07:00

Our Home!

BEFORE...

On July 3rd when we went under contract:

On July 19th: (Notice all the trees in the background)

This was the view of our backyard from the greatroom windows:

On August 2nd:

AND AFTER...

On December 12, nearly two months after moving into the home:

More pictures to come of the inside...

Last 3+ Months

2009-12-08T17:35:00.007-07:00

Hello all. We're still alive and kicking! Our jobs are keeping us really busy (hence the lack of blogosphering going on), but we're loving it! We've also had a whole bunch of other things fill up our lives with happiness, which I will list now:

During Labor Day weekend we moved back in with my sister Audra and her family--they are saints!
Chad spent two weeks in DC during September training to be a super Public Health Officer (just call him Lieutenant C*).
On October 13 we closed and moved into our beautiful new home (pictures to come later, I promise).
On October 31 my sisters and I ran our half marathon together in the pouring rain (go us!).
On Nov. 6-8 we babysat our nephews for the weekend, which was so much fun, especially going up to spend time with Jessi and David on the 7th.
On Nov. 13-15 we visited Charlotte, NC and our wonderful friends there Nate and Veena and family, plus Lindsay and Alan and Wendy met us there! Such a fun trip.
During Thanksgiving time we visited Utah and our beloved friends and family there! I got to be there from the 21-28, but thanks to Chad's work he only got to come the 25-28. It was so much fun but way too short!
Chad spent a week and half in Florida before and after his time in Utah in charge of an H1N1 study. He's hopefully going to come home tomorrow, hip-hip-hooray!

Here are some things we've been loving the last 3+ months:
Georgia's colorful and long-lasting fall. Wow! We have a whole bunch of trees in our backyard and it was such a joy to look at their vibrant colors and see them change every day.
Georgia's mild winters.
Our home. One of my favorite things about our new home is our master bathroom. I just love how the floors, walls, and countertops are brown so you can't even tell when they are dirty!! I also love how tall the countertops are--it's wonderful to not have to bend over to your knees to wash your face! :)
Our jobs. They work us so hard, but luckily we enjoy the work. There's something wonderful about working hard and coming home tired at the end of the day. I try to focus on that wonderful feeling and not on the feeling of guilt for never cooking or beautifying our home. Every day I tell myself there is a time and season for everything and to focus on enjoying what I have and what I do rather than on stressing over all the things I don't have time to do.
Our church ward. The people at our church are seriously so nice and friendly and welcoming!! We're excited to get to know everyone better.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'm terrible at taking pictures. But as I just said, I will focus on what I did do rather than what I didn't and feel proud of myself for finally blogging! And just maybe if you're lucky this weekend we'll take some pictures and we'll post again soon! :)

P.S. Happy Christmastime Everyone!!

Happy Birthday Chad!!

2009-08-24T05:57:00.003-06:00

I'd post a really good picture of him so you can see how he just gets handsomer in time, but alas, we don't have any pictures on this computer. But here's to a great birthday to a guy everybody loves, me most of all! Thanks for all you are, Chad, you deserve the best birthday anybody could have!

10 Things I've Noticed About Georgia

2009-08-02T19:09:00.003-06:00

1. Georgia loves skin, and my skin loves Georgia.
2. Georgia has a fascination with peachtrees. If you drive from point A to point B here, chances are you'll drive on a street that has the word "peachtree" in it. Like Peachtree Corners Circle or Peachtree Industrial Boulevard or Peachtree Dunwoody Road or Peachtree Parkway. And the funny thing is, I haven't seen a single peachtree in this state as of yet. (But I've seen plenty in Utah.)
3. Another thing about Georgia roads--they just can't seem to make up their minds of what they want to be named! One minute you'll be on Old Milton Parkway and then it'll turn into State Bridge Road and then it'll turn into Pleasant Hill Road. Make up your mind, roads!
4. The Alpharetta, Georgia police and car registration people are out to make your life miserable and complicated and difficult.
5. A brilliant person came up with this brilliant idea to have a weekend before school starts as a tax free weekend. That means no tax on computers, school supplies, and clothes. And Georgia is apparently brilliant too, because it said, "Hey, that's a good idea!" And I love Georgia for it.
6. Georgia has really pretty birds in all sorts of colors! And then at night it has bugs that make really pretty sounds. And if you're really lucky, early in the morning you might see a fox in your backyard or a bull-frog by your side door.
7. Georgia has really sweet rainstorms, with LOUD thunder and cool lightning and really strong downpours.
8. Chocolate fondue in Georgia just tastes better than chocolate fondue I've had anywhere else. I'm still unsure of why this is, but I think it might have something to do with the fact that Audra and Jessi and their families live in Georgia.
9. The people who go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Georgia are really friendly and welcoming and good at fellowship. In fact, most the people that we've met in Georgia have been really friendly and nice.
10. Reading "Ava's Man" while in Georgia is a very fun and culturally enriching experience.

Road trips = Happiness

2009-07-27T16:06:00.004-06:00

You'd think Chad and I would be road-tripped out after our cross-country trek last month, but we've been on two road trips the last two weekends. The weekend before last we drove to Tennessee to go river rafting with his work friends. And boy was it fun! I was sufficiently scared beforehand, but I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was, and much less scary than I had anticipated. And there were even class 3+ rapids!

And last weekend we drove to Pennsylvania to attend the wedding of Chad's old roommate. A lot of his old medical school friends were there and it was a blast! I got to meet a lot of his friends I'd never met before, which was nice. And it was super fun to catch up with Mitch & Wendy and Lindsay & Alan, who we've hung out with before. Mitch and Wendy were so nice to host us and Lindsay and Alan! After the wedding celebrations, the six of us hung out and talked late into the night. Those people are so funny, by the end of the night my cheeks hurt from laughing so much. I sure do like them.

During the 22 hours of driving in just over two days, we read "The Mysterious Benedict Society" (which I highly recommend), talked about what was on our minds, ate, took cat-naps, and enjoyed the pretty scenery. One of the things we talked about was how many states we've been to together--27 in all. And between the two of us, we've been to 44 of them. Only Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Maine to go!

As we drove, I thought about how much I love this country. It is seriously so beautiful! In college I was blessed to be able to travel to a handful of European countries, and absolutely fell in love with Europe. I loved traveling and I loved Europe! But since marrying Chad, he's taken me on several roadtrips throughout the US, and through them I have fallen in love with America. Like when he took me to Washington state (where I lived for seven years!), I was like, "Woah!!! This is so beautiful!!! This is amazing! How did I not realize how spectacular this was when I was a teenager?" I used to dream about traveling to Europe (and I still do occasionally), but now I mostly dream about the places in America that Chad's taken me to. We really do have such a gigantic, diverse, beautiful country, and I wonder if most of us don't even realize how many amazing places there are to visit just hours away from our homes.

In Utah, the beautiful things made me think, "Wow!!!" And here in Georgia, the beautiful things make me think, "Ahhhh." The beauty here is more charming, quaint, relaxing, secluded. The beauty in Utah was more majestic, awe-inspiring, magnificent, and grand. But I really do love them both.

I love this country, and I love taking road trips through it. But mostly, I think I just love Chad, and any place feels beautiful to me when he's there with me.

Phew!

2009-07-10T16:18:00.008-06:00

What a month we've had! It's been full of big changes and big fun!

BIG CHANGES

We’ve each slept in twelve different places in the last month
June 11: Grandma C*’s home
June 12, 13, 14: Chad’s parents’ home
June 15: Bighorn Lodge in Grand Lake, Colorado
June 16: Peak to Peak motel in Estes Park, Colorado
June 17: Super 8 motel in Gothenburg, Nebraska
June 18: Microtel Inn and Suites in Urbandale, IA
June 19: Hotel Nauvoo in Nauvoo, IL
June 20: Sleep Inn in Nashville, TN
June 21, 22, 23, 24: Fairfield Inn in Atlanta, GA
June 25: Abbi at Red Roof Inn at Asheville, North Carolina; Chad at Jessi and David’s home
June 26, 27, 28, 29, 30: Fairfield Inn in Atlanta, GA
July 1, 2: Audra and Mike’s home
July 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: Reed and Andrea’s basement (aka, our home for the next three months)

Here are some photos of our day in Nauvoo:

We got to go to a temple session there. It was so inspiring and wonderful! We visited the old historic sites, like this home of Joseph and Emma's: We stayed in this fun old building called Hotel Nauvoo: Chad started his new job at the Centers for Disease Control on July 1st. It is going really well so far.

We found our new home! We went under contract on July 3rd, but it is still in the process of being built. It will probably be finished mid-October, and we will close on it then. It is north of Atlanta and in a beautiful neighborhood with tennis courts, walking paths, swimming pool, basketball court, a pond, and a playground. We can’t wait to move in! Here are some photos of it:

Us putting the "Sold" sign over the previous "Available" sign:

We moved into our temporary housing—Mike and Audra’s friends Andrea and Reed are so kind and generous to let us live in their basement until our home is finished. Their home is super duper nice, and so are they. We feel so blessed!

We both got new cell phones, Chad has already changed his phone number, and I will change mine soon too.

BIG FUN

Our road trip out here was a ton of fun, with stops at Rocky Mountain National Park, Winter Quarters, Nauvoo, and the Grand Ole Opry, as seen here:

On our anniversary we took the CNN tour and visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site in Atlanta. We also got to see our nephews kick some trash at their swim meet. It was such a fun day! Happy 2 Years to Us!

The weekend after we arrived, my sisters and I took a blissful trip to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore House. It was so so so so so fun to spend a whole day having fun just the three of us. We will definitely have to do it again! Thanks to Chad, Mike, and Dave for making it all possible. We laughed so much when we realized that for a one-night trip, we packed six boxes of cereal. Are we P* or what?! Chad and I went to a Brave’s game on July 2. They beat the Phillies! Go Braves!

We had a family reunion with my family on July 3-July 9, which included awesome 4th of July festivities, family pictures, a trip to the Georgia Aquarium, a day of swimming and skiing at the lake, and lots of fun time talking, eating, laughing, and playing games. My family also did other fun things that we weren’t able to attend. I love my family and am just thrilled to be living closer to them!

In summary, we are so excited to be here in Atlanta, and we want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us in the process. Thank you for your prayers, kindness, and help. And to all our Utah family and friends, we miss you and think about you very often!

Whirlwind Week

2009-06-16T20:41:00.006-06:00

The last week has been a rollercoaster week for us. We packed up our suitcases to spend the summer in Atlanta, moved out of our house (well, I should say the movers moved us out of our house—they are putting all our stuff in storage in Atlanta until we get into a home there), cleaned our home, closed on our home, said good-bye to all our dear friends and family in Utah, I was down sick for the whole weekend (don’t worry, it wasn’t the swine flu), and then on Monday morning we left on our road trip to Atlanta. We are taking it nice and easy, enjoying a lot of scenic spots on the way. The drive on Monday was gorgeous. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures, but it was just grand. Let’s just say it started through Provo Canyon to Heber Valley, went on State Road 40 through Utah and Colorado, and ended in Grand Lake, Colorado. Anyone who’s been to either Provo Canyon or Grand Lake knows how beautiful it must have been. (Jessie, I’m in love with Colorado! It’s so beautiful!)

And then today we spent the day in Rocky Mountain National Park. Wow!!! We drove the Trail Ridge Road (which opened today by divine providence!) through the park, and enjoyed some fun hikes. We did a peak hike, a lake hike, and a waterfalls hike. It was just magnificent. Have I mentioned that I’m going to miss the mountains? I am.

Here are some photos to document our last week:

Good-bye Housey! We'll miss you! (And our neighbors even more.)

Chad made our yard look 100% better than it did 3 years ago. We really hope the new owners will keep it up nice!

Here I am getting everything ready before the carpet cleaners came and we locked up the house forever.

This is our view from our hotel in Grand Lake, CO:

Carol and I hiking up to the summit of a mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park: Rocky Mountain High!

Our trusty Hondas that are taking us all the way across country.

Look how happy we look! We are apparently quite excited to be going from the Pacific Ocean drainage to the Atlantic Ocean drainage! :) Alberta Falls.

This was a storybook forest we walked through. I just loved it! There were Elk all over the park! How fun!

P.S. To all the Utahns out there, I want to say we love you and will miss you terribly! And also, we want to recommend two companies that really helped us out in the last month. They are Brokerage Windows and Doors and McKay and Associates Real Estate. Five stars, two thumbs up, 100% recommended, gold star to each of these companies from us.

Central Utah Trip

2009-05-31T16:04:00.009-06:00

Here is a photo tour of our trip last month with Adam, Jessie, Caytee, Preston, Jon, and the H* clan. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the H* clan.)

Upper Calf Creek Falls in Grand Staircase/Escalante: Lower Calf Creek Falls: Snake we saw on the Lower Calf Creek hike. Mike, is it poisonous? Goblin Valley: Little Wild Horse Canyon/Bell Canyon Hike: We had to shimmy over water in a lot of places: Adam carried Jessie and Chad carried me through the water in some parts: What a fun trip! Thanks y'all for going on it with us!

P.S. I didn't get any pictures of Sue's amazing cabin or Capitol Reef--so Jessie, could you post the ones you took?

The Joys of May

2009-05-30T19:27:00.012-06:00

May in Utah is one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. Everything is so green and alive and BEAUTIFUL. This is my fifth May in Utah and I think it might be my favorite. I'm sad it's almost over! Knowing that I'll be leaving soon helps me appreciate everything all the more. I just can't get over how perfect everything is. The mountains are just so magnificent and green, the temperatures are ideal (we are hardly have to use the AC at all!), the flowers are blooming everywhere, it's light far into the night and early in the morning, and everything just feels light and happy. It's the funniest thing to think that it used to be Christmas and white and snowy here, because everything just shouts SPRING.

Two days ago Chad rung the doorbell with this flower in his hand for me. It's from our rose bush in our front yard.

Here it is. I think it's so beautiful!

Plus, we have done some really fun things this May as well.

-We went to Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase, and Goblin Valley (pictures to come in another post) with Adam and Jessie, Caytee and Preston, Jon, and some of the Joe H* family. We stayed at Sue and Cless's AWESOME cabin and had lots of fun hikes and adventures.

-We got together with Chad's mom's side of the family to play a super-fun game of dodgeball.

-We went to Ephraim for Chad's 15 Year High School Reunion.

-We got together with all of Chad's family to do a session at the Salt Lake temple--we surprised his mom there and it was so special, and then we had a fun dinner together afterwards.

-We went to see the movie "Star Trek." I loved it! I still think about it from time to time. I think it's so funny that I liked it as much as I did, because I'm not a big Star Wars fan and I knew nothing about the previous Star Trek movies.

-I've gotten together with my neighborhood friends to watch Twilight, have a picnic, and have the monthly book club. I love them so much and am going to miss them so much! Here's a picture of the picnic we had that was a good-bye party for us and our other friends in the neighborhood that are moving as well.
-We finally had an offer made on our home! Hooray! Our home is currently under contract and everyone pray that everything goes well so we can close on time!!

-I've gotten together with my London friends, a friend from Romania, and friends from college.

-We went to a ReAl Salt Lake soccer game that had perfect weather and was so close and exciting!!!

-And last, but not least, I've been able to visit my Grandma quite a few times and had a blast every time. She is seriously the funnest person to be around!! I love her so much and am going to really miss visiting her. We have so much fun.

What Direction Are We Going?

2009-04-29T20:09:00.002-06:00

Chad and I got back yesterday from a 12 day trip to Georgia. We found a beautiful home we'd love to buy if we can just get our home here sold! And Chad did great in his conference and was matched to work in the Influenza Division of the CDC. So watch out swine flu, 'cause here comes Chad! We are hoping it will be a great kick start for his public health career. And I got to spend some heavenly time with my sisters and their darling kids. I love them so much! All in all, it was a very successful trip.

While we were there, I was reminded of an experience I had as a child that I thought was so funny! When I was 2, my parents moved to Eugene, OR and we lived there until I was 10. When I was probably about 8 years old, my dad's parents visited us. Whenever we drove around Eugene anywhere, my grandpa kept asking, "What direction are we going?" I thought it was so funny that he kept asking that silly question! I remember poking fun at him for it. Well, what do you know, the whole time in Georgia as we drove around from place to place I kept thinking, "What direction are we going?" It was so disorienting to not have the mountains as a guide as to which way I was going. I guess I'm getting to become more like my Grandpa P* and more of a Utahn.

As I've been looking forward to this move, it's been very interesting. Growing up I never thought I'd like to live in Utah, but the more I think about moving, the more I realize how Utah feels like home to me. The way the sky is so big, the way the mountains are always there to help you feel safe and secure, the way the air is dry, the way everything is easy to find using the grid system...even the long winters! And then I'm reminded how Oregon, Washington, Michigan, England, and Romania at one point felt like home to me as well! And then I decided that the earth is my home. I told Chad that and he said wait until you move to southeastern Asia or Africa and then see if I can say that. But truly, I believe that given enough time to make friends and adapt myself to a place, anywhere could become home for me. Right now Utah is my home, but who knows what other homes there are in store for me? Atlanta is our next stop, and as sad as we are to leave Utah, we look forward to making it our new home!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T14:38:00.002-06:00

Happy Easter Everyone! Today I am just filled to the brim with gratitude and happiness for the life, love, and light of Jesus Christ. One of the talks in church today was on all the New Beginnings that are made possible because of what Jesus did for us. The new life we feel when we are healed by Him (spiritually, emotionally, or physically), the new life in springtime, the new beginning we will each have as we will someday be resurrected and unite with our loved ones who have already passed! There are so many reasons to rejoice today! I hope that you too are feeling happy because of Christ's Atonement and Resurrection!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2009-04-07T14:25:00.008-06:00

Today is my Dad's birthday! He has been such a huge source of strength, security, and happiness in my life. The longer I live, the more I realize how truly remarkable he is, and how LUCKY I am to have had his love and support all my life. Here are some pictures of me with him: (sorry I don't have any from when I was really little)

At the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival when I was about 11 (with Audra): With his parents at their home when I was 12 (and Adam, my mom, and Audra): At the Grand Coulee Dam when I was about 15. He let me and my friend Amber tag along with him on a business trip to Sun Mountain Lodge one weekend, and then on Sunday we drove to this Dam together to check it out: Us at a lodge on Mt. Rainier when I was 16: Us at my Homecoming assembly my junior year of high school: Him watching me at one of my tennis matches my senior year of high school: On my 18th birthday, with the 18 roses he and my mom gave me: At my high school graduation: At a restaurant in Italy, where he took me, my brother, and my mom right after my junior year of college: At my wedding in 2007: And I couldn't resist scanning these pictures, too. Look at how good of a grandpa he is!

With Lydia as a baby: With Kyle as a baby: Like I said before, my dad is a remarkable man! Here are some of the things I really like about him:
-He takes really good care of everything he has--all his belongings (car, clothes, home, etc.) stay new for years because he takes such good care of them.
-He is extremely slow to anger.
-He is a man of 100% integrity.
-He would take me on walks, take me out to get a McDonald's ice cream cone, and attend my concerts and sporting events to show me that I was important to him.
-I think he is so funny! He says he likes to be around me because I laugh at his jokes, but I really do think he is so funny!! He is always able to laugh at himself, too.
-He is a morning person and will sometimes get more done by the time I wake up than I sometimes get done in a whole day!
-He will do things he doesn't especially love (like play board games, watch sci-fi movies, etc.) just to be able to spend time with those he loves and show them he cares about them.
-He gives great hugs! That's one thing I remember my friends telling me about my dad: "Your dad is so friendly! He always gives me a hug when I see him!"
-He never complains about anything.
-He's the best dad in the whole world!

I hope you've had a wonderful birthday Dad! I love you!

So Much Good Stuff!

2009-04-05T21:59:00.004-06:00

Chad and I had the most lovely weekend spending time with family and watching General Conference together! I am so excited to read the talks we've heard today and yesterday, and in that spirit I'd like to share my favorite quotes from the last General Conference talks, quotes that I've thought about a lot or that have changed my attitudes or behavior:

"I urge you to pray for the opening of those areas, that we might share with them the joy of the gospel." President Monson

"Talk, and give emotional comfort to each other." -Elder Perry

"Be more specific in your missionary efforts." -Sister Allred

"You don't know everything, but you know enough!" -Elder Neil Andersen

"Just because someone has not acted on the promise of [the Book of Mormon] does not mean that others have not done so." -Elder Aidukaitis

"We are seated well before [Sacrament Meeting] begins." -Elder Oaks

"Hope, on the other hand, is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances." -President Uchtdorf

"Learn to laugh." -Elder Wirthlin

"Angels are still sent to help us." -Elder Holland

"In His goodness, God has ensured that the truths regarding God are understandable to all His children, whatever their level of education or intellectual faculty." -Elder Causse

"Every good thing depends on getting and keeping the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives." -Elder Corbridge

"Rather than judge these early Saints too harshly, however, we should look to ourselves to see if we are doing any better." -Elder Christofferson

"Let me recommend that periodically you and I offer a prayer in which we only give thanks and express gratitude." -Elder Bednar

"A friendly smile, a warm handclasp, a sincere testimony of truth can literally life lives, change human nature, and save precious souls." -President Monson

"Search for anything on which we agree...[and] speak well of each other." -President Eyring

"[Christ's] love...is the only power that can subdue the adversary and answer our accusers without accusing them in return." -Elder Hales

"Heavenly Father answers all sincere prayers." -Bishop McMullin

"You must never underestimate the power of your righteous influence." -Sister Dalton

"[God] isn't asking us to walk across a continent; He's asking us to walk across the street to visit our neighbor." -Elder Ballard

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." -President Monson

"President Monson is ideally suited for the challenges of our day." -President Packer

"Harmony in marriage comes only when one esteems the welfare of his or her spouse among the highest of priorities." -Elder Nelson

"Show love to those you teach." -Elder Oswald

"Love and service are like twins who seek each other's companionship." -Elder Gavarret

"A testimony...may come through a process of experiences that, perhaps not as remarkable but when combined, testify in an indisputable way that what we have learned and lived is true." -Elder Godoy

"At times when we may feel to say [to God] 'Hope you know, I had a hard time,' we can be assured that He is there and we are safe in His loving arms." -Elder Cook

"May we live together in peace and harmony and love." -President Monson

In Love

2009-03-29T16:09:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago marked two years since Chad and I got engaged. It is so fun to look back on the two years since that day. When I think that we have almost been married for two years, it sounds like a long time to me--like we're not newlyweds anymore. But I still feel like we're newlyweds because of how in love I still am!

Just the other night we were talking about how we really like to be around each other--that if we had a choice to spend an evening with anybody, we would choose each other. It's so nice to have someone to go through life with that you really like. I just adore Chad and am so happy to be married to him!

I love romance, and one of my most favorite romances is found in the book "These Is My Words" by Nancy Turner. It is so fun! I love how Sarah describes Captain Jack as filling up any room he's in. One time right after Captain Jack left the room Sarah was working in with her sister, mom, and neighbor, she said, "It seemed like he had just filled up the room with himself, and now the door shut and it was so empty." That's how I feel about Chad. That when he's nearby, his presence just fills up all the space, and when he's gone, I can feel his absence keenly.

In February's Ensign there was an article that I really liked and that I have thought about a lot. It was "A Reflection on Gratitude" by Michelle Van Tassell. In it she talks about how over a period of years her relationship with her husband deteriorated because of how critical she was of him. But then one morning she looked at herself in the mirror and realized that she should feel grateful that her husband would actually choose to wake up to her every morning. She realized that she should be grateful for her husband instead of focusing on what she didn't like about him. I love that! I think that is so true. My love for Chad has grown so much as I have thought more about all that he puts up with in living with me! That gratitude translates into so much love!

Ever since last General Conference I have thought a lot about President Monson's talk "Finding Joy in the Journey." It has helped me focus on the positive and enjoy the good things in my life. I absolutely love the quote by Sarah Ban Breathnach he shares in that talk:

“Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend … when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.”

I think that applies to love and romance, too. When you focus on everything that is lacking in your spouse or that bugs you about your spouse, of course you're not going to feel very in love! But when you let go of those things and focus on everything they do do, all the ways they do make you happy, all the things you do like about them, all of a sudden you just want to jump for joy that they married you and are still married to you! In short, you experience "heaven on earth."

I am so grateful for Chad and all he does for me. He is so supportive, compassionate, hard-working, loving, reliable, genuine, funny, smart, trustworthy, patient, and forgiving. I just want to jump for joy and shout out to everyone how much I love him! And I pray that this love will just continue to grow, that we will be one of those old couples that people look at and think, "Wow, that's so neat to see how in love they still are, even after dozens of years together." And I'm sure we will be if we apply the principles in these two articles. Here's to (almost) two years and dozens more of being in love! I love you Chad!

Feeling Inspired

2009-03-18T14:42:00.002-06:00

In the last month I have felt so inspired! It all started with the family get-togethers surrounding my grandfather's passing. We spent a lot of time talking about the lives of Grandma and Grandpa, looking at pictures of their life together, and remembering the influence they had on our individual lives. During this time, I couldn't help but be in awe of the lives they both lived. With every story, memory, picture, and comment about them, I felt a renewed desire to be the kind of person I want to be--or in other words, to be a fraction of the people my grandparents were (and are). They were so humble, generous, hard-working, selfless, intelligent, kind, loving, and dedicated to living lives of integrity and righteousness. It is so inspiring to me!

Since this time I've also had the honor of visiting my Grandma H* a few times. A quote from Elder Holland's last General Conference talk pretty much sums up my Grandma H*: "Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only work that comes to mind." That is my Grandma H*!!! I don't think I have ever been around anyone who is as uplifting, loving, and affectionate as my Grandma H* is. And I'm not just exaggerating, I'm saying it in honest. Every time I visit her I feel so inspired to reach out to others more in love, compassion, and service. Her hands are all worn out from years and years of patient, loving service, and I hope someday my hands will be like hers! The last visit I had with her, we both had tears come to our eyes several times because of the strong Spirit that was there. It truly is like being in heaven visiting Grandma H*.

In an effort to prepare for the upcoming General Conference, I have been trying to read (or reread) all of the last General Conference talks. The veil seemed to be so thin during my Grandpa's services, and I've been trying to keep it that way by staying close to the Spirit. We just had Stake Conference last weekend, and our visiting Seventy told us something he once heard Elder McConkie say, and I paraphrase: "Of all the talents there are to develop in this life, the talent I think is most important and am focusing on the most is the talent of spirituality." I've been thinking about that a lot, and hoping that I can keep the Spirit close to me as I have felt it around my grandparents.

Another thing that has inspired me so much is reading the book My Antonia, by Willa Cather. The stories of pioneer women inspire me so much, and this book is about one in particular, Antonia. If you want to read this book, stop reading now because I'm going to spoil it. I LOVE that Antonia ends up being a mother of a very large family, and that the academic, sophisticated, urban narrator can sense the dignity, honor, and happiness in a life worn out in service to one's family. Most of the book is about Antonia as a young girl, but at the end of the book (and after 20 years of being away from her) the narrator goes to visit Antonia, and finds her as a mother of 11 children. This is how he describes her:

"She lent herself to immemorial human attitudes which we recognize by instinct as universal and true. I had not been mistaken. She was a battered woman now, not a lovely girl; but she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture that somehow revealed the meaning in common things. She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last. All the strong things of her heart came out in her body, that had been so tireless in serving generous emotions.

"It was no wonder that her sons stood tall and straight. She was a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races."

Can I just tell you how much I love that quote!! Oh my goodness, I just love it. When I read that quote, I think of my Grandma H*, and what I want to be some day.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

2009-02-25T21:03:00.003-07:00

Last night I treated myself to over an hour of reading my journal and looking at pictures from Romania. It made me so happy! I hadn't thought about those experiences for a really long time, and it was so good to look back on the people I was with and the hard things I faced there. Every day there I witnessed so much suffering, and yet it was always juxtaposed by so much hope, beauty, and light. The part of my journal that I read contained the deaths of Iulia and Ionut, two babies we had visited daily for over two months. Their deaths were so sad for us, but it was also a happy thing, too, because they were finally released from their suffering.

Right after I finally pried myself away from my journal, I realized I had a missed call from my mom, and there was a message from her saying her dad, my Grandpa H*, had been hit by a car and that he was in serious condition. He ended up passing away later that night. I find it really interesting that death was already on my mind when I heard the news. Almost like I was being prepared for the news.

There is no question that I wished a lot of the things I was around in Romania never had to happen, but there is also no doubt that when I look back on my time there, the number one emotion I feel is joy. Joy in the goodness of the children, joy in the hope of improvement, joy in the love I felt for the people there, joy in the things they taught me about long-suffering, gratitude, and resilience. It's almost like the pain magnified the joy and made it all the sweeter.

And that's how I feel as I think of Grandpa H* and his death. There is so much to be joyful about! His life, his legacy, his love. And how even though we wish he could still be with us, he is in a better place and will be there to welcome Grandma H* when it's her turn. I am so grateful for my knowledge of God's eternal plan, and that this life isn't the end of it all. Because of the Sacrifice and Love of Jesus Christ, there can be beauty, light, hope, life, and joy to offset and compensate for all the pain in this world.

Grandpa, I'll miss you, but I promise I'll try to be good for a change so I can meet you again and feel the sweet joy of reunion with you, our ancestors, and our Great and Loving Savior.

Entertainment

2009-02-21T22:01:00.001-07:00

I just realized it's been more than a month since we've posted on this thing. It's been a good month. We've mostly just been getting our house ready for sale (it's on the market on Monday!), but we've also done some really fun things too, like:

-We went to Park City with Adam and Jessie--walked around, ate at the Eating Establishment where my mom and dad had their second date, and went into some fun shops.
-We had a fun Settlers of Catan and Rock Band party with our neighbors Bryan and Maegan and Jono and Kristi.
-We went to a big birthday party at Chad's parents for three of his family members. We love our family so much!
-I went out to lunch with my friend and cousin Rachael.
-We went to a curling lesson with Jon, Caytee, and Preston (yes, curling, like the winter olympic sport).
-We went out to eat with our friends John and Jane at our favorite restaurant, Sawadee.
-Chad has played in our ward's really good basketball team and has done SO WELL!! I've loved going to these games with my friend Maegan to cheer on Chad and the rest of the team.

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to read two books a month, and I've read three so far, so I'm almost there. I've really liked all of them. They are:
1. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale--loved it just like I did the other two books I've read by this author (Book of a Thousand Days and Goose Girl).
2. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley--a little slow in the beginning, a little too descriptive for my liking, but it was still very interesting to me and I loved the last quarter of it. I loved the ending!!
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins--All I can say is that I am OBSESSED with this book. I cannot stop thinking about it. I started it on Monday, finished it on Thursday, and continue to think about it all the time. It's the first book of a trilogy and the second book doesn't come out until September! I can't wait!!! It is seriously so good. If you read it, please call me so we can talk about it!

These three books contain the stories of three girls who are so RESILIENT. Miri from Princess Academy, Harry from The Blue Sword, and Katniss from the Hunger Games inspire me. I've been thinking a lot about how these girls were so resilient, and how I want to be like them--to accomplish great things even in the face of real challenges. It's not just these three books that have this theme either--it seems like that's what makes every book good, and every compelling character likable, is that they face hard things and rise above it. Harry Potter, Sarah Agnes Prine, Edward Cullen, Jane Eyre, Anne Shirley, Katniss Everdeen, Danny Saunders--these are some of my favorite characters from my favorite books, and they are all so RESILIENT! Bad things happen to them, but do they just give up, feel sorry for themselves, and hate the world? No--they pick themselves up and go forward and make the best of things. And I love them so much for it!! I want so badly to be a person who is resilient.

I also wanted to list some music that I have fallen in love with in the last couple of months. I have listened to these songs over and over again without getting tired of them:
The Call, Regina Spektor
Pretty Fair Maiden in the Garden, Tim O'Brien
Reason Why, Rachael Yamagata
Song for a Winter's Night, Sarah McLachlan
This Is Home, Switchfoot
Camera One, Josh Joplin

And last, but not least, a list of my favorite entertainment from winter 2009 would not be complete without mentioning the youtube videos I have watched over and over again from "So You Think You Can Dance" of Chelsea and Mark dancing to "Bleeding Love" and Joshua and Katee dancing to "No Air." Dancing can make my heart soar, and watching these dances does just that!! Thanks, Audra, for introducing me to them! :)

The BEST Weekend

2009-01-19T13:49:00.007-07:00

This weekend Chad and I went to St. George together. It was SO SO SO fun! Seriously, I am still just so happy thinking about it! If I had to make a list of my most favorite things, "Road Trips with Chad" would be very high on the list. We have so much fun together. This trip was one of those trips I will definitely remember and draw from during hard times.

On Friday we caravaned with my friend Becky and her family to St. George. It was so great to drive away from the inversion and towards beautiful sunny weather! On the way we listened to some fun music (some of which was the soundtrack from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" which I had never listened to before--I loved it!). As we drove into the valley of St. George, it was at the tail end of the sunset and the contrast of dark land to dark pink sky was so pretty.

That night we went out to eat at Bajio with Chad's parents, Chad's brother Curt and his son Brady, and Chad's grandma. Sorry, no pictures, but it was fun. I couldn't believe how supportive Chad's parents and brother were to drive all the way down to St. George to cheer for me in my race. THANK YOU so much Neal, Carol, and Curt, it made the weekend that much more special and fun. (And thanks also to my mom, Nate, Michelle, Jon, and Maegan for calling me to wish me luck and see how it went--that meant a lot to me.)

On Saturday morning was Becky's and my big half marathon! It was so fun!! Last April my friend Maegan and I ran the Salt Lake half marathon together, and a couple months later Becky started running with us. All three of us were going to run this race, but Maegan ended up getting pregnant, so she wasn't able to run it with us. We missed you, Maegan! :) It has been such a blessing for me to have time set aside every week to socialize and exercise with these great friends. They are the best friends and I will miss them so much when we move to Georgia!

Our race went just perfect. We had such a good time. We ran the same pace pretty much the whole race, except for the last two miles we ran even faster. Go us! :) Here are some pictures of us:

Getting ready to run! :)

Chad's dad, Neal, and Becky's little boy, Josh, about to give us high fives at mile 6. Everyone was there to cheer us on. You can see how excited that made us feel! :) Our great cheer-leaders enjoying themselves while we ran:

Josh, Brady, and Curt
Carol (Chad's mom), Luke (Becky's baby), BJ (Becky's husband), and Sarah (Becky's little girl)
This is us at about mile 12.9. About to cross the finish line! We did it! After the race we pampered ourselves by soaking in the hot tub at Becky and BJ's hotel, while the husbands and kids played in the pool and sat with us too for part of the time. It was so nice to relax and bask in our accomplishment. :)

Later that day Chad and I went to the St. George temple. It was so great. I was already feeling so happy, and then I felt even happier to be in the temple with Chad. It's a really beautiful place. And then after the temple we went out to eat at Arby's. Who knew Arby's could taste SO good! I'm usually not much of a fast food gal, but I don't think any food could have been more satisfying than the french dip sandwich, curly fries, and chocolate shake I got there. Mmmm-mmm! What a happy day!

The next day we got up, went to church at a local church there, and then drove to Zions. I've decided that Zions is my favorite place on earth. It is the most majestic, awe-inspiring, beautiful, peace-giving place I have ever been. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. I have so many happy memories there, including a family reunion, getting engaged, and doing lots of fun hikes with my favorite person on earth, Chad. Every time I go back, I love it more. This time there was some snow in places, which gave it a different look that I loved. Here are some pictures: (but none of them do it justice)

And no trip to Zions would be complete without a couple pictures of Angel's Landing, where Chad proposed to me: After spending some time at Zions, we drove home. On the way home we stopped to visit with Chad's family. We talked and laughed and had a great time. And thanks for the ice cream, Nate and Michelle, it was scrumptious and we devoured every bite on the way home! :)

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day everyone!!

Positive Thinking

2009-01-07T19:31:00.004-07:00

After reading my last post, Chad said he thought, "Man, if I didn't live with her, I'd be thinking, 'What's wrong with Abbi? Is she really upset about moving to Georgia?...'" Sorry it sounded kind of negative.

Things are so good in my life right now. I have good health, a good husband, good friends, a beautiful home, lots of good family close by, good church callings, and good opportunities in my work. The other day while running I thought, "My life is so good right now! Most of my problems right now come from my mind." I've been struggling with negative thinking, and so Chad recommended that I read the book Feeling Good by David Burns.

It has helped me so much. It's helped me analyze my thinking and how it goes awry. And one of the things I've realized is that I put myself down quite a bit. Burns suggests that you write down your negative thoughts and try to come up with a logical rebuttal to it. Like, if you think, "I am a bad mother," you'd write that down and then write in response to it something like--"I have some room to improve in how much time I spend helping Billy with his homework, but I do a lot of good things, too. There's no such thing as a bad mom or a good mom, I'm just a mom trying my best. And all in all, I'm doing okay." He says it's much more constructive to focus on how you can improve ("I can try to help Billy more with his homework") than on how you are failing ("I'm a bad mom").

I've been thinking about that a lot today. Focusing on the positive. Like in negative situations, instead of thinking, "This sucks, I hate this," I can think, "Hmmm, how can I make this better." Or when I fall short, instead of thinking, "I failed today," I can think, "Tomorrow I am going to try harder to do this differently." That's a much more hopeful thought!

And I've found that writing down my negative thoughts and forcing myself to come up with a rebuttal is helpful, because otherwise I just end up thinking, "It's true! All my negative thoughts are true! I am failing!"

I've realized that this works when it comes to setting goals for healthy habits, too. When I set goals like: "Eat fewer desserts," I set myself up for failure. But if I set goals like: "Eat at least two different kinds of vegetables every day," I set myself up for success. Because instead of thinking about what I can't do, I'm thinking about what I can do. And with that comes less of an obsession about how I'm falling short and more of a positive feeling that I'm doing good in my life. And most of the time, a happy by-product of eating more vegetables is eating fewer desserts anyway! :)

If any of you are like me and struggle with negative thinking, I would highly recommend Feeling Good to you!

Faith

2008-12-28T15:19:00.003-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We did. In fact, we have just had a wonderful December all together. We've been able to spend a lot of time with family, which made it wonderful. And now I am really looking forward to New Year's! I love this time of year--looking back on the past year, looking forward to the new year, and making goals for improving life. I have a couple goals for each aspect of my life, and I'm looking forward to hopefully becoming a better person. One of my goals is to increase my faith.

Recently I've been thinking a lot about faith. In the summer I took the inventory of the Christlike Attributes in chapter 6 of the Preach My Gospel missionary guide. I was impressed with the entire thing, but the statements on "Faith" really stuck out to me. Since then I've been thinking about if I have faith in my daily living, and I've concluded that I have a long way to go.

In the past I've thought of faith as believing that Jesus Christ lives. I have absolutely no doubt that He does. I know that He does. And because of that, I've thought, "Hey, my faith is strong. I'm doing good with faith." But while that is a big part of faith, I'm learning it's so much more than that. Preach My Gospel pointed that out to me.

It's not enough to know that He lives--I also have to have faith that He loves me, that He can empower me to do good things, that He can heal my soul, that He has the power to heal every soul in the world. That is the greatest miracle in the world! I am in awe of how Christ has changed my heart. It is the greatest miracle I have ever experienced--the way He has taken away bad feelings from me and replaced them with good feelings. I know He has, because I've prayed for Him to, and there's no way I could change my heart like that on my own in so short a time. It is truly a miracle.

And even still, after I have experienced these miracles, I still struggle. I struggle day to day having faith that I am a person of great worth, that I can do good things through Christ. I forget to turn to Him when I am hurting or feeling inadequate to the task in front of me. And I struggle to have faith that the task in front of me will be good for me. Instead of having faith and looking to Christ and saying, "So, what would You have me do? How can I learn from this? How can I serve in this situation?" I think, "I hate this! I'm not good at this. Please take this away from me. This is not fair. Why are you making me go through this? I can't do this..."--on and on, feeling sorry for myself and hoping things will change soon, but not really having faith that Christ can help me make good things out of it.

Those, I think, are the two hardest things to have faith in: His will and His ability to make me equal to His will. Because a lot of time His will just doesn't seem to be very fair, or very fun. And I just don't feel up to doing what He's asking me to do. It's a whole lot easier to feel sorry for myself than to have faith that He can make good things out of crummy situations, that He will make all things right, and that He can help me fulfill my mission to serve others. And that is my New Year's Goal. To have faith in Christ's will, despite the fact that I wish it was different, and to have faith that He can make me equal to it, despite all the self-doubts I have.

Introducing Ava Rose!

2008-12-22T19:10:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to share the happy, happy news that my best friend Amber from Washington had her baby girl a week ago. Congratulations to her and Gabe! They named her Ava Rose and she is a cutie. You can go to their newly created blog to see pictures.

More Beautiful Things

2008-12-21T19:54:00.014-07:00

So apparently my mom has too many talents for me to remember in one post! In my last post about my mom's beautifying talents, I totally forgot to highlight her jewelry-making, hair-styling, and hair-cutting skills. So here are a few pictures to show even more of her beautifying skills:

In this picture you can see the beautiful fresh-water pearl necklace she made me for Christmas last year. I love this necklace and wear it a lot, but this is the only picture I could find that shows it really well. It is from Jessie and Adam's wedding. Can you believe how much little Joshy has grown in just seven months? My mom also always cuts my hair--she saves me so much money that way! Thanks Mom!

She also made me the jewelry I wore on my wedding day. This jewelry is sooooo nice! I could not find jewelry I liked for my wedding, so I told her what I was looking for, and she just went and made some for me!! I've been able to wear it quite a few times since my wedding, and every time I put it on, I feel like a princess! Here are the earrings and necklace:

And the bracelet:

And she is also really good at doing hair. She did my hair for my high school dances and my wedding. I LOVED my hair for my wedding! It was exactly what I wanted, along with my jewelry. Thanks again, Mom, for everything!

And here she is, ladies and gentlemen! :) Love you, Mom!

Beautiful Things

2008-12-15T19:22:00.006-07:00

The name of my mom's blog is "There Is Beauty All Around." I don't think she could have picked a better name for it! My mom is SO good at creating beautiful things. I am always amazed at how she can make things look so good.Here are some examples of her beautifying work:

She gave me a lot of these gold ornaments for our Christmas tree: She made my Christmas stocking (she made one for each person in our family with different fabrics).

She gave me this nativity scene:

She made me this beautiful quilt for me. I love this quilt so much! I asked her to make me a quilt for me when I was about eleven or twelve, and I got to pick the color scheme and pattern and everything. About two wedding quilts, eight baby quilts, and countless other projects later, she finished it and presented it to me. It is such a treasure! She labels each one of her quilts. I love that!

And here is our wedding quilt she made for us! I love this quilt so much! I often just sit and stare at all the fabrics. Each fabric (over 800 of them) is different! My mom said this quilt is like her quilting life history, because she can remember where she bought different fabrics and what project she bought it for. I LOVE this quilt!!! A close up:

And last but not least, my mom gave me this beautiful painting for my birthday this year. It hangs in our front room to remind us of the love, thoughtfulness, and constant care of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray I can walk with Him throughout my entire life.

Thanks Mom! I'll never be as amazing as you, but I sure will enjoy your talents as good as anybody could! :)

Atlanta or Bust!

2008-12-07T14:19:00.005-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Chad got accepted into the Epidemic Intelligence Service, and so we will be moving to Georgia next summer! I am so proud of Chad for being accepted, it is a very competitive fellowship program and he did so well!! When he interviewed there, they told him that they would meet in early December to discuss the applicants and that he would hear back if he was accepted or not by mid January. And they called him to offer him the fellowship on December 2! I guess they accept the applicants in rounds, and Chad was a first-draft pick! :) What a compliment to Chad. I just had to brag about how smart, personable, talented, and humble (he was unsure of whether he would even be accepted or not) my husband is.

This has been Chad's career dream/goal for quite some time now, and I am so happy for him! He is really excited to be working in this program and the opportunities it will afford him to help improve international children's health. Hooray for Chad! But even though he is so happy about that, he is also really sad to leave Utah and all our family here. Both of us have mixed emotions over it. I'm really going to miss my friends and family here, but lucky for me I have 13 beloved family members there that I get to look forward to spending more time with!! Thinking about that makes me feel giddy inside, I love them so much! So Jessi and Audra, get ready, 'cause here we come! :)

P.S. Mom and Dad--how soon can you retire and move to Georgia? ;)

F-U-N!

2008-11-23T20:01:00.006-07:00

The last two weekends for Chad and I have been so fun!!

Last Saturday was the super-sports-Saturday. Here's what we did:

In the morning I ran seven miles with my friends, the first three with Becky and Maegan, and the last four with just Becky. I am loving training for another half marathon--it is so good for me physically, socially, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. My friend Becky and I are training for St. George half marathon in January, and Maegan (who I ran my first half marathon with) is running the shorter runs with us during the week. Maegan is pregnant (hooray for her!!) and so that's why she's not doing the long runs with us.

After showering, Chad and I went to watch Jens and Jan's football team's state championship game in Provo. It was a blast--well, except for maybe the ending. We cheered our hearts out for them, and they played so well, and it was such an exciting game. And even though they didn't win, I was so proud of them! Plus it was fun to just be with lots of family that morning.

After that, we drove to Curt and Carrie's to watch the BYU-Airforce game. Unlike last night, it was a very happy experience and we were all happy they won. It was a really relaxing afternoon. Thanks to Curt and Carrie for being the world's best hosts, especially last-minute ones.

And then to top it all off, we went to the Real Salt Lake semifinal game at the Rio Tinto Stadium. It was so much fun! It was the first professional soccer game I have ever been to, and I LOVED it! The brand new stadium was super cool--really bright lights, a little new-age feeling, and not a bad seat in the house. There was so much energy in the stadium the entire game, probably because it was such a big game. The whole game everyone was making noise with their voices, hands, feet, and noise-makers. I felt a little bit silly at the beginning of the game, sitting there reading the basic soccer rules that Chad had printed out for us from the internet, while everyone around me cheered loudly. But it was worth it so I could understand the rest of the game better. Early on the opposing team, the New York Red Bulls, scored a goal, and after that Real made so many shots for a goal, but not one went in! And four of them hit the goal post! It was killer! But so fun, too. The final score was 1-0. We're definitely going to have to go to another game next season.

How's that for a lot of sports in one day?

And then this weekend was also super-duper fun. On Friday my parents came into town and I got to get out of work early. We spent the afternoon chatting, showing each other stuff, and my mom gave me a haircut. And then in the evening Chad came home from work and Adam and Jessie came over, and we had a delicious pre-Thanksgiving dinner. YUM! Then we laughed our heads off playing Loaded Questions, one of my favorite games. I love my family so much, and so of course it was the best of nights.

Then yesterday morning I went on a long run with Becky and then went to see the new Twilight movie with her and three other friends. My review: Watching the movie was like reliving the book for me, which I loved, and so naturally I loved the movie. It was so fun to watch sitting next to Becky, who talked me through all the books and shares my enthusiasm for Twilight. I admit I did laugh at A LOT of things that I thought were overly dramatic, cheesy, bad acting, etc., but that didn't keep me from absolutely loving the experience. I went into it expecting to hate it (thinking it's pathetic and cheesy), but I was pleasantly surprised to actually really like it DESPITE it being pathetic and cheesy! Haha. I've been thinking about Twilight all weekend and am so grateful for Stephenie Meyer for bringing this happy story into my life.

Chad and I spent the rest of the day with family again. We got together at Alan and Koleen's to watch the BYU-Utah game. Even though BYU didn't win, it was still such a happy night just being with so much family. I have the BEST family! Thanks Mom and Dad for buying the food and thanks Alan and Koleen for hosting! I'm sad we won't be able to get together with my dad's side of the family this season, so I wanted to let them know I love them too, and am sad I'm missing their Thanksgiving dinner.

My parents will be in town for the next couple days, so that should be fun to be with them a little bit more, and then on Wednesday we are off to Georgia! WOOHOO! Man, am I one lucky girl or what. Two fun weekends in a row now, and I'm sure it'll be up to three after this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pictures from Kenya

2008-11-15T08:09:00.018-07:00

Here are some other pictures from my time in Kenya that I thought you might enjoy.

This is Miss Lucy. She runs an orphange in the slums called "The Little Bees". The day after our arrival to Kenya we took the Little Bees (about 80 children total) to the Nairobi Animal Orphanage. Lucy said that this was the first time they had been out of the slums in several months. During the violence in Kenya that erupted after the election earlier this year, Lucy was beaten and one of the orphans sustained two gunshot wounds to the leg. Despite this adversity, I was impressed with how upbeat and happy these children are.

My bed in Myzenzeni. The mosquito nets worked wonderfully to keep the bugs away.

These pictures were taken in the Masai Mara National Park near the Serengeti.

This is the primary of the Eldoret branch. I tried stooping down so that we would be the same height. The kids instinctively followed my lead and all of them stooped down for the picture as well.

On the bumpy dirt road on the way to Myenzeni we saw a number of children in front of their homes. Each of them greeted us by waving and jumping up and down with excitement. There are certain memories that you will never forget and this is one for me.

Neonatal Resuscitation

2008-11-15T07:10:00.015-07:00

I'm back from Kenya and wanted to share with everyone a little bit more about why I was there.

In addition to providing aid for disaster relief efforts, The LDS church has several onoing humanitarian projects, the largest of which are:

1) Clean water
2) Wheelchairs
3) Vision treatment
4) Measles vaccination
5) Neonatal resuscitation

The project I was involved with was teaching neonatal resuscitation.
Most babies who are born (90%) make the birth transition without difficulty. A lot of changes have to happen simultaneously for this to work right. The lungs are filled with fluid when the baby is born and have to expel the fluid, replacing it with air, in the first few seconds of life. About 10% of babies have a hard time with this change and come out limp, blue and not breathing. If you can help open the babies lung's up, you can save 90% of these children. The basic principles behind caring for these babies are taught in the Neonatal Resuscitation Program.

The Church works with countries throughout the world to identify where resuscitation training is most needed (usually these are countries with high infant mortality rates). They then send volunteer physicians and nurses to teach skilled birth attendants in these countries. The training typically lasts two days. On the first day participants receive training in neonatal resuscitation and are able to practice the skills using equipment donated by the Church. On the second day, they are taught how to become better teachers themselves so that they can teach others when they return to their clinics and hospitals. The church provides a set of equipment for each clinic/hospital to help them in their teaching efforts.

I was asked to be part of the training team for two cities, Mnyenzeni and Eldoret. Our team was comprised of myself, a neonatologist, a nurse and her husband who served as the administrative assistant. While we were in Kenya we also worked closely with the Humanitarian Service Missionaries who are stationed in Nairobi. In Mnyenzeni we trained about 30 participants and in Eldoret we trained 50.

I loved being a part of this program because of its self-sustaining nature. As we taught these bright students, the majority of whom are nurses and midwifes, you could see their confidence increase. With that increase in confidence came a desire to teach others when they returned to their villages.

So, if you've ever wondered where a donation to the humanitarian fund of the church may go, it is quite possible that it would help to pay for a well to be drilled in Tanzania, a wheelchair in Laos, measles vaccinations in China or quite possibly you could have helped to pay for neonatal resuscitation training in Kenya.

I Feel Special

2008-11-05T21:45:00.003-07:00

This week I have received two emails and one phone call from Kenya. I feel so special! Chad sounded great on the phone during the brief chat we had, and in his email he said to tell everyone hello and that he is doing well. And to hear more from the source, Chad himself, read the post below!

Mnyenzeni, Kenya

2008-11-05T09:12:00.002-07:00

I've been promising Abbi to write a post on our blog (she changed from a single's blog to a couple's blog a few months back with the intention that both parts of the couple would write.....Sorry I haven't been so good Abbi!). Some of you may know that I departed for Kenya a week ago. I am working with the LDS church's humanitarian efforts here in Kenya by teaching Neonatal Resuscitation to nurses, midwifes and skilled providers. So far the trip has been a whirlwind of travel between villages, intermixed with teaching wonderful Kenyans. The first part of trip was spent near Eldoret in the Northwest portion of the country. Yesterday we flew to Mombassa and are currently staying in the village of Mnyenzeni. Internet reception here is poor as you can imagine. I'm on a laptop in the middle of a field next to the village community center. All around me are the sounds of bugs and children laughing in the distance. This land is truly beautiful. The news of Obama's victory has reached Kenya quickly. All of the students here were so excited during our training today. Kenya is home to Obama's father and they take great pride in his Kenyan heritage, so much so that they have declared tomorrow a national holiday. I hope that you are all well. Thanks for your support and prayers over the course of the past two weeks. Abbi and I appreciate it! P.S. Abbi I love you!

Second Half of our D.C. Trip

2008-11-01T08:07:00.007-06:00

The second half of our trip was really fun, but more so for me than Chad, since he had to work. While Chad was slaving away taking his boards exam, I got to tour the National Gallery of Art, Archives Museum, Museum of African Art, and after falling asleep during a video at the Air and Space Museum, I decided I'd probably had enough and went back to the hotel. But woo-baby was it fun! I got to see the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, a whole slew of famous art (sigh!!), and lots of other cool stuff. It reminded me so much of Europe with all those museums and famous art, I was in heaven.

Chad did great at presenting his poster and we are so happy that his boards exam is over! Way to go Chad!!

On Tuesday morning we got a personal tour of the Capitol, thanks to Chad's awesome brother Jon. It was SO neat and interesting! What a beautiful building, and all the history that's happened there! It was exciting to be there, especially right before the election. I was totally inspired to be politically involved by my American Heritage class at BYU, but never did until I met Chad. He's helped me understand the political world a little better, and it was exciting to be where it actually happens. By the way, Jon, if you're reading this, I totally think you should run for office and if you do I would love to volunteer in your campaign!

We also got to see the White House on Tuesday morning before we left for the airport, and that was neat too. Chad and I parted ways in the airport, and I went through some major withdrawals for the next couple days. I missed Chad, WA D.C., Europe, my family in Georgia (that Chad got to spend two days with--no fair!), and being on vacation. But I've been doing a lot better yesterday and today. Except for the missing Chad part. :)

Chad's interviews in Atlanta went well, and now he is in Kenya! I am so excited for him! I know he is in Kenya because I saw on our bank account that some money was withdrawn in Nairobi. If I hear from him via email or phone, I'll let you know.

Unfortunately, I forgot to upload our pictures onto my laptop before we left D.C., and then Chad took the camera with him, so I don't have any more pictures to show from our trip, but I uploaded a picture of the Capitol from the internet that shows what it looked like for us.

I hope you all had a fun Halloween, and Happy Thanksgiving Season to all of you!!

Thursday through Saturday

2008-10-25T14:49:00.007-06:00

Thursday we flew into D.C., then drove to Pennsylvania. The drive from D.C. to Pennsylvania was so beautiful! At times we were surrounded by farmlands and at times we were surrounded by colorful trees. We also stopped by Gettysburg real quick and drove around the fields there. It was right at dusk and all the memorials were contrasted beautifully against the dark pink sky. Chad quoted the Gettysburg Address to me, there was smoke coming from a cabin in the distance, and it was a very special moment. I didn't get any pictures of these things, sorry.

Then we drove to Trevan's house, where we visited with him and his family. Chad was Trevan's Big Brother all through medical school. They have talked on the phone regularly since Chad left medical school, but this was the first time they had seen each other in three and a half years. Tre has gotten so much bigger! He is in high school now! We had a really fun time with them.

On Friday we got up and went to the Chad's medical school. Here's a picture of it. We took it as we were driving, so it's not completely centered. :) Chad gave me a tour around the hospital, showed me the library, some classrooms, and where he lived. We also got to visit with two of his old roommates that still work there, Alex and Mike. Then we went to Chocolate World. I don't think Chad could have picked a better place to go to medical school than HERSHEY, PA! :) We both love chocolate so much. The tour was a ton of fun (especially with the singing cows!) and we loved the free chocolate at the end. After that we went to Lancaster County where we drove around Amish country, visited a Farmer's Market, and went out to eat a family-style dining restaurant that served Pennsylvania Dutch food.

A lot of the Amish people were out farming with their horses. They are such a hard-working people! I loved how all the Amish houses had laundry hung out on these pulleys, I thought it was so picturesque. I felt a little bit weird taking this picture, though.

The restaurant we ate at was called Good 'n Plenty. And boy was there PLENTY of food! It was like a Thanksgiving dinner with chicken and ham instead of turkey. It was delicious and filled us up for the rest of the day.

After that we drove back to D.C. and went to a session at the temple that night. This morning we woke up and toured all around "The Mall" in D.C. Here's a picture of Chad in the WWII Memorial with the Washington Monument behind him. Chad is always good to have me pose in creative ways. :)

I like this picture Chad took in the WWII memorial. The monument for Utah's soldiers is just to the right of the Washington Monument:

Here are two pictures of me in front of the Lincoln Memorial, with the Reflecting Pool behind me in the first one.

On the way home we got drenched. I asked Chad if we could walk instead of ride the Metro, because I was supposed to run three miles today and figured we could walk it instead. Well, we had a good walk, but the second half of it was WET. I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but we were absolutely sopping. If you look closely, you can see a drop of rain hanging from my chin. :) It was a fun time, still, though! And a good memory.

Our trip is halfway over, and it's been great so far! I'll let you know how the other half goes.

Upcoming Events

2008-10-21T16:48:00.003-06:00

Chad and I are really excited to go to Washington, D.C. this weekend. I have never been to D.C. before and so I’m especially looking forward to all the stuff we’ll do and see there. I think we’ll have a lot of fun. But it’s not going to be completely care-free, because look at what the upcoming week has in store for Chad:

Sunday: Present his poster at a medical research conference in D.C. His poster is about his research on the haemophilus influenzae disease (don’t ask me what that is, but if you’d like to know, I’m sure Chad could tell you all about it!).
Monday: Take his pediatric boards exam in VA (an all-day test that is comparable to the bar exam for lawyers).
Tuesday: Fly to Atlanta.
Wednesday: Interview all day for the Epidemic Intelligence Service fellowship.
Thursday: Fly to Kenya.

Needless to say, your prayers will be greatly appreciated during the next week!! Especially on Monday during his boards exam. I have complete confidence in Chad that he will excel in each thing coming up, but I wish it didn’t have to come on him all at once! And I’m sure your prayers will help. I have such a testimony in prayer. I know that God listens to and answers the prayers of His children.

Park City

2008-10-18T21:45:00.003-06:00

I just got back from a really fun weekend in Park City with Chad. He was there for the intern retreat and so I got to join him! It was lovely. The weather was perfect, the leaves were gold and orange, I got some great shopping done at the outlet mall, the food was delicious (AND free AND I didn't have to prepare it!), and the bed was very comfy for sleeping in and taking an afternoon nap. Thank you, Chad, for such a great weekend!

I've decided that I LOVE Park City. It is in such a pretty location and I like the architecture of all the buildings. It is a great get-away spot that's less than an hour away from us!

I have three great memories from Park City:

Going to the a concert by the Utah Symphony at Deer Valley last fall. It rained on us pretty bad, but it was still so much fun! We huddled together with our blankets and laughed at how wet and cold we were getting. And we got to enjoy some really yummy hot chocolate and hot cookies. Such a good memory.

Going to the Sundance Film Festival with Nate, Michelle, Jon, and Jon's friend this January. That was just the happiest night for me! I remember feeling so much joy that night. We were lucky and got to park right next to each other in the crazy Sundance traffic. And then we rode a bus (I love public transportation!) to where our show was playing, and then after getting our numbers, we walked to a fun Italian restaurant and got some pizza. We were one of the very last ones to be let into the show and and watched "Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?" The whole night we talked and laughed and it was so fun to be together.

Going to the intern retreat this weekend. It was so relaxing and beautiful and just perfect.

Thank you, Park City, for all the good times you've given me! :)

Small Things

2008-10-18T18:33:00.002-06:00

I recently saw a picture of some of my kids at school that was taken during July. I could not believe how young they looked, and the picture had only been taken three months before. Also, when Audra's camera was broken for a couple months, I didn't see any pictures of her boys. And after those two months, Joshy had changed so much--older-looking and with a lot longer hair.

That started me thinking about how changes can be imperceptible. I never thought, "Oh, wow, Tyler and Megan sure are getting bigger and older" from July to October. And I bet if Audra's camera had never broken, I wouldn't have thought Josh's growth was so remarkable. Things in life change slowly, without us even noticing it most of the time.

It was the small changes, day by day, that made the difference in these cases. And I think that's how it goes in most of life. The small things make the biggest difference. Our daily habits, the way we live from day to day, determine who we become. And the small things we do to help every day will determine the good we do in the world much more than the big acts of service we do. Day by day, week by week, we are shaping who we are and what influence we have in this world. I hope I don't take any of life for granted, but enjoy every minute I have and use it to do good.

Shout out to Caytee

2008-10-18T18:08:00.004-06:00

It seems that this is the season for blog tags, and this one's for you, Caytee! :) I'm supposed to write one word answers for everything, but I kind of cheated with hyphens a few times.

1. Where is your cell phone? nightstand
2. Where is your significant other? bed
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? inspirational
5. Your father? good
6. Your favorite thing? kids
7. Your dream last night? funny
8. Your dream/goal? helping
9. The room you're in? resort
10. Your hobby? running
11. Your fear? failure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mothering
13. Where were you last night? Deer-Valley
14. What you're not? extroverted
15. One of your wish-list items? debt-free
16. Where you grew up? northwest
17. The last thing you ate? trail-mix
18. What are you wearing? sweater
19. Your TV? football
20. Your pet? nonexistent
21. Your computer? Dell
22. Your mood? relaxed
23. Missing someone? family
24. Your car? Civic
25. Something you're not wearing? necklace
26. Favorite store? Gap-Outlet
27. Your summer? FUN
28. Love someone? Passionately
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Recently

Another Tag (I'm such a sucker for these things)

2008-09-30T18:17:00.015-06:00

My good friend Katie tagged me, so here goes:

5 Lists (everything in no particular order)

5 Joys:
1. Changing seasons
2. Laughing with children
3. Running (in moderation)
4. Sleeping (with no moderation)
5. Attending the temple

5 Fears:
1. Spiders
2. Not having enough emergency preparedness stuff
3. Failure
4. Heights
5. Chad dying

5 Obsessions:
1. Checking my hair for split ends (or I guess that's more of a compulsion...)
2. Children's books
3. Staying within budget
4. Chocolate
5. Being on time for work

5 Surprising Facts:
1. Chad and I have an Obama sign in our front yard.
2. I don't mind having to wear my KinderCare shirt every day (it simplifies life quite a bit).
3. I finally put together our 72 hour kits on Saturday!!
4. I could have gone to Kenya with Chad in November. But when we started planning for me to go with him, I started feeling really anxious about the whole thing, so I opted not to go. And I am so surprised that I'm not stark raving jealous of him that he gets to go and not me. I feel perfectly wonderful about everything! (Other than worrying about him just a tiny bit.)
5. I love winter! I really don't mind the cold and snow all that much.

5 People to Tag:
1. Kari
2. Jessie
3. Michelle C*
4. Kami
5. You (if you want to)

P.S. A big thank you to Jessi for helping me fix the html on our blog!

Grinnell Glacier Hike

2008-09-26T20:11:00.008-06:00

Exactly a month ago I said I would "post more details later" about our trip in August, and although it's quite a bit later, I'm finally getting around to it. One of the highlights of our trip was a 15 mile hike we took in Glacier National Park to Grinnell Glacier. It was absolutely breathtaking! I was flabbergasted by the beauty of Glacier, and totally amazed that it is not more well-known. The start of our hike was close to our campsite, seen here:

The beginning of the hike was pretty flat through some pretty forest areas. There were signs that this was bear country, so we were watching out for them. And sure enough, we saw one. After about the first mile we emerged out of the forest to the outskirts of a lake, where it became a little steeper. To our left below was a lake and to our right was a pretty steep hill.

We both heard some branches snapping up the hill and stopped to see what it was making those noises. I never saw anything, but I could sense immediately when Chad saw something because he tensed up and started walking very quickly up the hill, motioning for me to pass him. There had been a big grizzly bear only about 15 feet away from us up the hill!! I had been looking too far up the hill and so that's why I didn't see him. Chad said that the bear was looking down, apparently looking for some berries to eat. It was pretty exciting, but a little too close for comfort! :)

The rest of the hike we didn't see any other dangerous animals, but we did see some amazing views! This picture is probably about five miles into the hike. That's Grinnell Lake, the third of three lakes we hiked past.

If you look closely you can see me in the upper right part of the picture below, with Grinnell Glacier behind me.

The whole hike there were so many beautiful wildflowers, and this is the one attempt we made of taking a picture of us "among the wildflowers." :) You can't really tell, but believe me, the flowers were beautiful.

Another picture of Grinnell Lake. Its color is just so amazing!

This one is a better picture of wildflowers. Again, with the Grinnell Glacier behind me.

Yes, I was almost hyperventilating when I took this picture, and no, of course Chad wasn't one bit afraid to venture onto that cliff! Chad trusts his balance much more than I do.

Grinnell Glacier is melting rapidly because of global warming. The water was coooooold!!

Chad and I standing by the spot where the glacier water starts flowing down to Grinnell Lake. We joined up with a tour going past the glacier, and the really cool tour guide took this picture for us. We saw so many beautiful natural water falls in Glacier, and most of them reminded me of the water features we try to make in our suburban communities.

The three lakes we hiked by. It makes you feel good looking how far you've hiked!

And this is a close-up of the farthest lake you see in the picture above. A couple nights before going on this hike we were lucky enough to stay in the super nice lodge seen in this picture. I think we fit into the camping crowd better than we do the lodge crowd! :) After we took this picture we went back into the forests and finished our hike. It felt good to get back to camp and sit and read. I love the outdoors, and you can't beat these outdoors!

Busy Busy

2008-09-18T21:41:00.012-06:00

So it turns out we don't make a very good blogging couple. :) It's been three weeks since our first post and we haven't posted a thing, but not for lack of things to blog about. Life has just been so busy-full of good things! Here's a quick overview of what we've been up to:

Chad is getting ready to go to Kenya for 10 days in November as a service missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--teaching clinicians there the basics of neonatal resuscitation. He is also getting ready to present a poster at a conference in D.C. and studying to take his pediatric boards test. Oh, and not to mention his job as Chief Resident. :) He's also been maximizing his extra free time by playing a lot of tennis with his brother Jon.

I started teaching the private kindergarten class at KinderCare this month. Can I just say that I LOVE teaching kindergarten? My life just keeps getting better and better. Teaching the 3's class was way better than my job at Pingree, teaching the schoolagers this summer was way better than teaching the 3's, and teaching kindergarten is better than them all. But it's also taking up more of my time, energy, and mind. It's worth every second of time and ounce of energy though. I love my kids so much, sometimes I think my heart will burst from it. And I'm still enjoying running twice a week with a couple friends, being the Activity Days leader in our ward, and going to book club once a month.

Chad and I are loving having every weekend together. We have gone to his family's cabin, had a game night with some friends, taught our Sunbeams class every week for three weeks now, went to the Manti temple together, went to two fun-fun-fun BYU football games (Go Cougs!!! and THANK YOU Neal and Carol for the sweet tickets!), went to Chad's cousin Madi's production of "High School Musical," hung out with Adam and Jessie, and watched movies together.

And last but not least, my sister Jessi had her baby Chloe Faith!! Oh happy day! Congratulations Jessi and family!

We're Back

2008-08-26T20:00:00.011-06:00

We're back from our big trip to Alaska by way of Montana and Wyoming! This trip definitely increased our awe for God's creations. We visited the most beautiful places. It was such a fun trip--both relaxing and fun. I'll post more details later, but for now these pictures are from some of the highlights: The Tetons: Fishing on the Lamar River in Yellowstone: Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the world: Glacier National Park Grinnell Lake in Glacier: Biking in Waterton Park in Alberta: Salmon fishing in Ketchikan, Alaska: Look at the 12 pounder I caught! :) Tracy Arm Fjord: Kayaking in Juneau: Driving through the Yukon: (a hitchhiker we picked up took this picture for us) The Butchart Gardens near Victoria, B.C.: P.S. (Because a post by Abbi is just not complete without one.) I find it appropriate that the first post of our blog together is about a vacation in which we were literally “among the wildflowers.” The wildflowers were plentiful and beautiful in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, but I did a terrible job getting pictures of them, so you’ll have to use your imagination.