Conference and Christmas Light Season

In most households, October is exciting because Halloween is coming up and you get to find an awesome costume and start making things with pumpkin (cookies, cakes, milkshakes, etc) and carve pumpkins and the changing of seasons from summer to fall, the list is endless really. However in our house, October 1st indicates the beginning of Christmas Light Season. That's right folks, if you like Christmas lights that cover every square inch of the outside of your house, October 1st is the day to begin untangling lights, testing strands, buying replacements if necessary, and drawing out schematics for your light display (I wish I had a schematic to show you all but I guess you will just have to see the finished product). Basically staring October 1st I loose my husband to his other great love, Christmas Lights. I knew of this love prior to marriage so I guess I can't really complain that I rarely see my husband from October 1st to Thanksgiving day. There are worse things in the world. This year my husband and father-in-law have decided to make some grand additions to the display so there has been a lot of extra work done to put those ideas into action. I will admit, they are some pretty awesome additions. I look forward to seeing the finished project. I do wish that my husband didn't look like he was in a fight everyday from October to December. His tree really beats up on him. You'd think he was putting lights up in the whomping willow.

But enough with the Christmas lights. We still have a month and a half before it is Christmas time, truthfully it is even less than that almost (holy cow!!! Where has time gone?!?).

So two weekends ago was General Conference. That is truly one of my favorite weekends of the year. I love being able to listen a Prophet of God speak to us and give us those things we need to make it through this life and back to our Heavenly Father. There were way too many good talks to choose a favorite so I won't even get into that but I will just say that it was one of the most spiritually uplifting conference sessions I can remember. I still feel so positive and just comforted despite all the crazy scary stuff that's going on in the world. I am so grateful to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have definitely seen the blessings in my life and in our lives since we have been married because of the gospel. We have been blessed with financial stability, a place to live, jobs, and other  things that we maybe didn't need but  have been fortunate to have.

Life is good! We celebrated our 2nd anniversary in August [sheet fort, Texas Roadhouse, Coldstone and the Goonies. Perfection :)] and we couldn't be happier!  We look forward to the continuation of our journey together :)

So what a great nine month break it has been from the blog :) Yeah I am ashamed of my lack of dedication. Anyway, It has been a crazy 9 months and I will not be going into immense detail because that would just be boring. 

In November Me and the husband had the privilege of going to Disney World for 11 days with my husbands extended family. I was a little skeptical of going on a vacation with 30+ people but was pleasantly surprised at how amazingly wonderful that trip was. I already loved Disney but I believe I am now officially obsessed. Given the chance I would probably live there and never get sick of the cheesy magical world that is Disney :) I just love it! Anyway we were there over thanksgiving and got home at the first of december. We had to decorate for christmas before we left because the Husband was insistent that if we got home in December our house needed to be decorated. Hey, it saved the drama of trying to do it after we got home so its all good. Christmas was wonderful as always. I just love the holidays! And New Years was pretty great too. 

The beginning of the year was mostly uneventful. I started into more intense classes for the PTA program and Colton continued with classes for Electrical Engineering. We had a very nice Valentine's day in which Colton surprised me with several presents throughout the evening and we made dinner together and had some asphalt pie at wingers. 

April wasn't the happiest month we have had so far. Walker and Rachel's baby was stillborn. Such a hard thing but they have really been amazing and I look up to them and their strength at this difficult time. Manti was able to be buried right next to Dillon so that is a nice little set up. We can go see both our angel babies at the same time :) They are such sweet spirits and I feel blessed to have them as part of our family. 

In may I started my first clinical rotation for the PTA program. That started May 14th and ended July 3rd So I was back and forth between Pocatello and Logan for 8 weeks... not my favorite thing but you do what you gotta do. While I was a little nervous about this clinical rotation I am pleased to report that it was a WONDERFUL experience and I am looking forward to the next year of school and then being able to graduate and start working! It's crazy to look at life and realize that in a year from now I will be done with school... That used to seem like some far fetched intangible thing but it is starting to get real. I guess it's time to start being a grown-up. Scary. 

This past week and the week before we had family reunions for both of our families. As was started last year, my mom continued cousin camp which was, as we expected, a blast! We had a Cousin Carnival, went to Jensen's Grove, and did science experiments in the driveway. For the whole family reunion, we had our traditional camp out in Tonda and Clarence's backyard along with our movie which was Wreck it Ralph (such a cute movie! We love it at our house). On Saturday we had a photo shoot and took pictures for the family calendar. And then everyone went home on Sunday. 

This past weekend we went to Island Park with The Husbands family and stayed in a really nice cabin. We went to the Playmill three nights in a row so we didn't miss a single show they were putting on this season. The three shows were Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Fiddler On The Roof, and Beauty and the Beast. They were amazing of course and we loved seeing them. We also spent some time going through the park. We went to Mammoth hot springs, Old Faithful, and the Canyon. I love going through the park it is so beautiful and amazing to see all the things that our Heavenly Father has created for us to enjoy. I love it. We didn't see too much wild life, but we were able to see two bison that were "courting" when we were at Old Faithful. They were so close the park rangers had to clear a section of the walkway to keep people at a safe distance from them. 

All in all it was a good weekend and we have been having a good summer, especially now that I am staying in the same state and city as my husband. There are still quite a few exciting events left in our summer so hopefully (crosses fingers) I will be a little better about posting. But what is now documented will have to be good for the time being. Till we blog again :)