Group Study Avoidance

Rather than spend a lovely Saturday afternoon studying, many of my favorite nursing friends gathered by the duck pond for a picnic and some group avoidance of studying. It was great.

Haley looks very intent about discovering the deeper meaning behind her lunch.

All of my friends!

This is the beautiful Melissa Maughan, she will be leaving for her mission this summer and she will be greatly missed. And not just because she gives the best back scratches during class... although that will be missed too.
I've gotten to be so close to all of my nursing friends seeing as we've been together for 2 years now in such a small group. I love these girls and can't wait for another year of nursing school with them by my side.

It's a sign

Dear Chad,
On Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining and the grass was green so I decided to prepare my relief society lesson in my swim suit, laying on a blanket in the backyard. It was the perfect opportunity for tanning. While I was flipping through the teaching manual, I heard a soft noise behind me and then a tabby cat was standing right next to me, looking at me curiously. He sat down on my blanket and curled up in a tight little ball. I know we've talked about this love... about me wanting a dog or a cat to take care of, well here's a sign! We have a tabby cat volunteering for the family!

As I got up to go inside and get a drink of water, the tabby cat stood up, stretched, and followed right behind me like it was the most natural thing in the world. While I was inside the house, the cat stood at the back door and waited for me. Of course I had to take a few pictures to prove to to you that we are destined to have a pet.

He then proceeded to curl up on the stone steps in the backyard, just making himself comfortable.I tried to go back to my lesson, but he decided to join in on the fun and I was far too distracted to actually prepare.

As you can see Chad, it is quite undeniably clear that we are meant to adopt a cat or a dog into the family. I know Roger said he was allergic, but I promise that we can cover up the door leading to the basement and no hair will get down into his part of the house to bother him. Maybe that just means we should get a dog. Either way, it's destiny! I love you. Hope you were persuaded.
-Your Wife

I have a sexy husband.

I have a sexy husband. Here is the evidence.
On Saturday morning, we went on a double date with our good friend Joel out to the Payson city limits for a morning of shooting. Joel recently purchased a shot gun, and he's been inviting us to go with him for a couple of weeks. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

...it's getting close to summer!

A Miracle and a Blessing

This is my wallet.
On Monday night I experienced a miracle. Yes that's right, a miracle. I left campus at approximately 6:45 p.m. and drove home. I made dinner and studied for a few hours before I decided to get all my stuff together for Tuesday. After putting in my binders & books, I rifled through looking for my wallet. It wasn't in the same front pocket where I normally put it, so I looked in my purse thinking maybe I had moved it. When I couldn't find it in my purse or backpack I started to get a little panicked. I checked the car, but my wallet was nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I was pretty much freaking out.

The only other place I could think to look was the parking lot where I park for school. By this time it was 10:30 p.m., almost 4 hours after I had left the parking lot, but I was out of ideas. I drove up to the parking lot and sure enough, my wallet was sitting on the ground right by where I had parked with about an inch of snow on top. I jumped out of my car, grabbed my wallet, and inspected it carefully. Everything was there! All of my credit cards, cash, and cards were all there! I was counting my blessings that I go to BYU where I lost my wallet for 4 hours out in public and when I came back, it was still there with all of its contents intact. Amazing.

In the process of recovering my wallet, all of the contents were soaked through after being snowed on. Naturally, I had to pull everything out and let it dry. In the process, I discovered a long lost gift.

There it is, just sticking out....

Isn't my mom the greatest? (I called my Mom to thank her profusely and she said that she put it in there at Thanksgiving!) It was a wonderful surprise.

Moral of the story: even when something seems quite unfortunate, sometimes its just because you need to witness a miracle and even gain a few blessings.

Got Strawberries?

We do. We have tons of strawberries. For the past 2 weeks we've bought the 4 lb box of strawberries from Costco and indulged in strawberries on a daily basis. This Strawberry Shortcake concoction from the Pioneer Woman was one such tasty treat.

Some other uses: cut up on top of Honey Bunches of Oats for breakfast, cut up and paired with some homemade whipped cream for dessert, and just plain cut up. Yum.
What other ways can we use our strawberries? Anyone have some good ideas/recipes? Let me know!

Easter at our house!

Look what the Easter bunny brought to our house! ....yum, just a few of our favorite foods and treats! Yes, that is sausage in our Easter basket, right next to the dried mangoes. We have very distinct tastes, Chad and I.

The next surprise, not so welcome, was the sight that greeted us from out our window: snow. At least it made for a beautiful sight on Easter morning.

Our tulip plants in the front yard have already sprouted, but it looks like they'll be resilient to these spring blizzards...Even though it was a snowy Sunday, we were grateful that it was conference weekend and we got to watch the two sessions from the comfort of our warm and cozy couch! Yay for conference weekend and Easter surprises!

Inspiration

"The Lord never ask the impossible. Often the difficult, but never the impossible."

-Elder David B. Haight

Sometimes when things get hard, when school gets so overwhelming and the future seems so uncertain, its comforting to know that Heavenly Father has it all figured out and He would never put something in my path that I can't handle. Thank Goodness.