I loved this when I saw it because it captures the ambiance of one of my life mantras. There have been so many times in my life where I have felt the waves of trials continuously coming and pounding me beneath their tumultuous surface. But the funny thing about it is that by the end I became a strong enough swimmer to break through, get my breath and regain my footing.
With the results of the election yesterday I feel like everyone is forecasting such gloom and doom. I understand the implications and weight of the outcome, however I am choosing to not focus on it negatively. I am planning to continue living my life as fully as possible, regardless of the direction the nation is going. I believe that our home can be a true safe-haven for our family and that through trials we become stronger, better people. I am leaving this one in the Lord's hands and trusting that He will guide our family through any potential storms. I have such faith that He will always reach down and pull me up out of the waves if the under-toe becomes too strong.
The next four years could change our country significantly in political and economical aspects. But we cannot always see the destination that is planned for us. I know that ultimately regardless of how we get there that my Heavenly Father loves me and this country and He is watching us become stronger and more self-reliant, even if it requires some hardships along the way. We were put here on this earth in this time and this place because He knew that we were best suited for these trials. My life has changed so much in the past four years. I could have never imagined my own present as it is now, but I could not be happier. I have the same hope and faith that in another four years, regardless of our nation's policies, practices and politicians I will be a better rounded, more fulfilled individual and Daughter of God.
So I've been working on baby Johnathan's nursery pretty steadily the last while. I'm sewing everything {and I mean EVERYTHING} for his room myself. Considering I went on bed rest and never got to make my quilt...so the last real sewing project I had was a pair of pajama pants when I was a MiaMaid that Mary Johnson basically completed for me...I knew this project could go one of two ways: absolute disaster or semi-success. I'm happy to say that it's been neither. I would call it a success. I have actually been quite impressed with myself on how nicely everything has been turning out. Here are some snippets of it all coming together.
{These are going to be pennant banner curtains}
My plan is to have the nursery totally finished by Thanksgiving when our families are here to visit. ::fingers crossed::
I've also been working on some prints for a collage on one of the nursery walls. Here's what I came up with. I'm going to pair them with some fun different coordinating signs/decor for a hopefully cute accent wall.
{Ignore the grey lines...those are trim marks for me when I go to cut them for the boards/frames.}
Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have some more pictures of the completed project :)
I have been pretty busy lately with some fun design projects that are outside of my Sarah Nelson Studios stuff. Just thought I would upload them to show off. And yes...I did design my own baby shower invitation...I am that neurotic / in high demand ::wink::
Did anyone else see What To Expect When You're Expecting? Sometimes, I just feel like Wendy...
"I just wanted the glow. The one that they promise you on the cover of those magazines. Well, I'm calling it - pregnancy sucks. Making a human being is really hard. I have no control over my body or my emotions. Gar-bear, I'm sorry, all I want to do is punch you in the face...""
Michael, I'm sorry, for all those times where all I want to do is punch you in the face. At least it will be worth it in the end right?
It has been an embarrassingly long time since I have blogged, but I have finally decided to that this streak has to end. I have always been a toe-dipper when it comes to getting into the pool, which is probably why I have been hesitant to just jump back into the blogging world...but here we go.
My hiatus from blogging started back in May when we found out...wait for it...
We are pregnant!! We found out the weekend before Mother's Day. Perfect timing! So we decided to use the holiday as a way to surprise our families with our {little} secret. We were in Las Vegas with Michael's parents that weekend and we gave his mom her Grandmother's Day card. She literally shouted and jumped in the air clicking her heels.
When my mom opened her own Grandmother's Day Card she had quite a different reaction. She was happy, but cried quite a bit.
We were still in Vegas the first time that I realized the effects pregancy was having on my body. I could smell EVERY nasty cigar and unbathed slot machine pulling armpit. And the all you can eat buffet didn't stay down more than an hour after I ate it. But everyone gets sick when they are pregnant right? Morning sickness...the obvious side effect of a growing fetus.
Except it didn't take long until my morning sickness just turned into sickness. Period. Sick all day. I couldn't keep a single thing down and was on bed rest for about 6 weeks total. I call this period, the dark ages. My existence consisted of being in bed all day every day in our dark little basement apartment. My diet consisted of Gatorade, toast and on a good day a bagel. Poor Michael had a totally inept wife almost all summer {or at least the better part of it}
IV treatments helped boost my system and I was on a consistent cocktail of medications. But overall, just waiting out the first trimester proved to be the key. As time goes on I just keep getting better. I am into the third trimester now {28.5 weeks} and finally feel like I'm at about 90% of where I was pre-pregnancy. Still taking meds every day, but I'm able to work and have almost all of my energy back. Plus my photography side business is starting to gain momentum, which is fantastic supplemental income for all the medical bills from the Dark Ages.
Michael is in the middle of his next-to-last semester at BYU. He graduates in April and I am so proud of him!! Our plan is for him to be Mr. Mom after the baby is born. Not really what I ever pictured, but we both decided that my job pays really well, has awesome benefits and is only a 5 minute commute...which combined is too good of a thing to give up when you are saving for medical school. So he gets a 1 year vacation being full time daddy before we move out into the great yonder for his higher education.
Well, for now that about sums things up. I'll have to do a separate entry about all things baby so this one is not too overwhelmingly long.
So the article this month for visiting teaching is on doing your visiting teaching. If you haven't already read it you can find it here.
I am personally so grateful for visiting teaching and the monthly opportunity it gives me to enrich my life with both the gospel and friendship. I have really grown to love my calling as a visiting teacher over the last year or so and am so grateful for the organization of the church and my relief society sisters.
So a good friend of mine at work, Shari, decided to take on the task of organizing her kitchen. She asked if I could help her out by making her cute teal and orange organization labels. Of course I pounced on the chance to do anything frivolous and fun with my lunch break, so this is what I came up with.
They can double as labels for treats you give away with the little "From the Kitchen of" label at the top. Ta da! One more lunch break down and one more woman {me} saved from insanity and a drought of creativity. Plus she is making me delicious macaroons as a thank you...double whammy! Woot!
So I have been on blogging hiatus for quite a while now, but I do have to say that this time I have a very valid excuse. I finally got my knee surgery! Yay!
Long story short, a couple of years ago it got hurt on the job and I was misdiagnosed a couple of times until I started demanding better health care and some answers. 2 years, 3 x-rays, 1 MRI and 3 doctors visits later I was finally correctly diagnosed and scheduled to have surgery on March 30th. It does help that I also decided to make the insurance pay for the best orthopedist in the area...he works on the BYU football players when they get hurt. Only the best for me :)
It turns out that when I was running and stepped wrong I got a fissure in the cartilage of my left knee that went clear down to the bone. And my patella got shifted and has been popping whenever I walk for the last 2 years. To fix some of the constant pain and popping their game plan was to do a release of the patella by splicing the lateral tendons on my left knee and to scrape clean my nasty fissure so it wasn't constantly inflamed.
Fun fact...once they got in there it turns out that I had an extra tendon (the plicae) that most people aren't born with. It's supposed to dissolve when you're developing in the womb. But mine didn't...so they went ahead and took it out completely to avoid further complications with my patella. I like to think that it was my unborn twin...like the lump on that lady's neck on My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
For a girl who has never had a cavity or broken a single bone it should be pretty easy for you to imagine the utter fear I had in just anticipating surgery. But the staff at the surgical arts center was so friendly and took the time to explain everything in detail on the day of, which made me feel a wee bit better about the process.
{Me trying to be brave.}
{The inside of my knee...I like to think that the last one is when they put ginger ale in my knee...I'm not positive what was going on at that point...}
They put me under general anesthesia which was bizarre. The last thing I remember before getting super dizzy and everything going black was very weirdly/graciously complimenting the staff on how incredibly nice they were. After that I woke up out of the operating room and shaking like a leaf. Apparently that's how the anesthesia works its way out of your system...your body shakes and teeth chatter like your naked in Antarctica. But I didn't know about the side effect at that point in time so all I could think while I was laying there looking at the ceiling was "This is it. I was allergic to morphine and now I'm dying. I'm dying from complications on knee surgery. What a lame way to die." Then I overheard a nurse telling Michael that it was normal and the shaking should calm down after a couple of hours. It was a pretty close call / near death experience for the most part though. The drugs didn't make me too loopy, but Michael did me the wonderful courtesy of taking some thoroughly embarrassing video I thought I would share. For your viewing pleasure...
{I want to explain that I am not crazy...and the reason I wanted to tell everyone that I don't own waterproof mascara was because they taped my eyes shut during surgery which made them red and super watery. And I had been watering off my mascara for about half an hour. It's not just the drugs talking...}
Recuperation has been far from fun. For the first four days all I could do was lay in pain on the couch taking as much Oxycodine as possible. Then the next three days weren't quite as painful but I still just laid there like a slug/good for nothing. But all my friends, family and ward members have made it so much easier. We had people bring us dinner every night for almost a week, my sister and visiting teacher both came over to clean my house and you don't even want to get me started on the number of cookies/candies/ice cream treats that were dropped in my lap. Between all the yummy food and slothfulness of healing, my figure is going to be begging me to get back in the gym as soon as the doctor gives his okay at the beginning of May.
On the bright side I did get to watch more TV than anyone could ever want image watching...here is a summary of what I have done with the last couple of weeks.
{Shameful, guilty confession. I have to say, I now have respect for the Biebs...}
{I've watched Season 1 - Mid Season 4...yes that is like almost 70 episodes...but I am OBSESSED with this show now}
But life is moving on and I am getting better each day. In fact this last weekend I went on a date AND went to CostCo. I am woman hear me roar! Now no more excuses...I have to start that quilt that I deluded myself into thinking I could work on while on bed rest...
I have decided recently that I want to dive into the world of photography. I took a few classes in college and have always admired it, but I think it's something I could convert to more than just a hobby {with quite a bit of practice}. So I am in the process of doing a bunch of shoots to fluff my portfolio and eventually make a legitimate website to solicit other work. Ideally I would be able to couple my design with my photography. I've just noticed a parallel with how most people get photographs taken for Christmas cards, baby announcements, wedding announcements, etc. and I think it seems like an easy way to fulfill a need without having to generate one out of thin air. If they are needing pictures there's probably a 50/50 chance they have a design/card/announcement need as well.
Over the next few weeks I have a few different photo opportunities that I am getting to take advantage of including maternity, graduation and newborn pictures. This last Saturday was my first official shoot and I was super anxious since I haven't even really assistant camera'd before. Most of what I know I have just picked up from my old job doing video production and digging through other photographers websites. But you have to start out somewhere right? Considering I've only had my DSLR for 3 months and this was my first time out I was really pleased with the results. Now if only I could have gotten Jayden to not cry. The only time he wasn't crying or making an "I'm so angry" face was when he was on his Radio Flyer bike. Good thing we brought that...
So here are a few of shots from Saturday...You can see my top 30 pictures on my Flickr account here.
I know I am super late posting this, but our visiting teaching had to be rescheduled for later in the month, which means I procrastinated my handout until a couple days before our appointments.
The message this month was on being a daughter of God and helping build His kingdom. If you haven't already read it or are interested, you can find it here.
It was a really good article that I found particularly thought provoking. I think sometimes the role and responsibilities of women can be diminished in our world today. But from The Family: A Proclamation to the World, we know that the role of a wife and mother is a hefty one. It requires the utmost selflessness, diligence and consistent effort. So my handout was meant to reflect how strong of a woman you have to be to be a daughter of God. Enjoy!
I have another confessional from the diary of a craftaholic. I have recently become absolutely smitten with quilts. I keep oogling every quilted treasure my eyes can find on Pinterest and numerous blogs and somewhere along the way I got it in my head that this was something I could do.
I am the daughter of a woman whose sewing machine literally collected dust in the attic and claimed rights to writing the book "How To Sew With Safety Pins and Hot Glue" (she really could, she made the top to my prom dress with a scarf and no-sew glue..see below).
With this heritage, I have NO IDEA how I have convinced myself of a sudden ability to sew. But after a trip to the Fabric Mill and falling in love with 20 different absolutely gorgeous fabrics, I guess now I am committed to this project. Oops.
{See How Beautiful?}
I am telling all of you out there in the infinite bloggersphere and universe of the internet because I need someone to be accountable to. You know how when you are in Alcoholics Anonymous you have a sponsor to hold you accountable? Well my blog is now my sponsor and by posting this I know I am going to have to make a follow up post of my progress and the final quilt.
So here I go...on the journey of quilt-making. And as Michael's very wise Aunt Karen told me "Now you are a piecemaker." Get it? :)
I have realized lately that being happy is just a matter of deciding you are happy. It wasn't the fifty times that Michael told me this that made me realize it, it was a little old man. I spoke with him on the phone at work and he was quite enjoyable. At the end of the conversation I told him to have a good day, to which he quite animatedly responded "I will if you will!" I answered with a laugh "I'll try." "Don't try! Do!" he said, "life is all about what you make it, so say you are going to have a good day and you will!"
So here's to you optimistic little old men out there who are just overflowing with wisdom. I will glean something from your years of experience and start doing not trying.
