Have you ever....?

Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night with a bloody nose? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night because your husband smacked you in the face? Yeah, that happened two nights ago.

Have you ever packed a car in 11 degree weather, driven across the country and celebrated at the sight of 43 degree?  We did.

Have you ever seen schools (even universities) announce they are shutting down TOMORROW because the prediction of a little snow? Well, that tomorrow is now today, the snow came and things are a mess.  Amateurs.

We're off to a great start here in North Carolina!!

But really, we are.  We once again are blessed with an amazing place to stay.  It's again in a friend's basement but this time we even have our own kitchen.  And Ryno has neighbor dogs to play with in addition to the adorable cockapoo (cocker spaniel-poodle mix) that lives upstairs.  We have two cars again.  We already went to a birthday party the night we arrived and were able to see good friends.  There is already a Duke Basketball game tomorrow that we will hopefully be attending.  We're going back to our old ward (congregation) where we will get to see a lot of old friends.

All in all, we're pretty happy to be back.  But we're also excited to leave again. :)

Whirlwind December

We're over halfway through January so I thought, "Hey, what better time to post pictures from last month, right?"
 Right.  So here you go.  Our month of December...

We love the temple here in Omaha.  It's "our" temple (where we got married).  We were able to go with family twice this month! Our nephew Braden turned 12 and was able to do baptisms for the dead for the first time.  My younger sister, Shelby, went through for herself and it was a whole family affair.  (For more information on what I'm talking about, click here and here)

 

We went to the tree lighting at Boys Town with Rob and Melissa (she works there).

 

 I was able to hang my stockings for the first time.  I still love them!

 

Our power was out for almost 24 hours so what did we do? Make finger puppets, of course!

 

Poor Ryno got embarrassed when we brushed his hair and he ended up with a halfro.

 

There is always some of this every month...

I organized a night out to go see Beauty and the Beast at the Orpheum theater with some of my best girlfriends.  

I'm thinking this needs to happen waaaay more often!

   

We celebrated Christmas with the fam.

And took our annual Ugly Sweater photo.

Ryan and I also go out looking at Christmas lights each Christmas Eve.
We recruited my mom and dad this year and found this gem of a house:

In looking through baby books I discovered that my niece looks exactly like me. 

Since those of you who have met Ryno know him as a bump on a log, this is what he's really like when he's not terrified of the world around him.  This little pup was loving fetch in the snow.  But as you can see, his tracking skills are terrible.  He would NEVER survive in the wild.

 

To finish off the year, we spent a lot of time with these two and the rest of their family (darn Kristina, you left before we could have photographic proof that I actually know you!)

Dontcha love Ryno's scarf? He's so hipster.

One More Week

One more week is all I get with this little chub (already 17.5 pounds!).  She's now five months old and finally getting into the fun stages and more interactive.  When I get back she'll probably be crawling and terrorizing the whole house. I sure am going to miss her!

Past Projects

Alright folks, I'm getting really excited about this whole Graphics Design thing!  And when I offered to create something for you, I never even thought of charging you and making a profit.  But I'm going to think about it and decide if it really is something that could earn me a few extra bucks here and there.  If I do decide to charge, believe me, it wouldn't be very much.  I know we're all on a budget and I'm not here to break yours.

I just thought I'd share some of the projects I've done in the past year or so.  As you can tell, I keep things simple.  Sometimes too simple, but that's just how I roll.  Maybe one day I'll branch out some more.

I've posted the "I Am a Child of God" before, and I'm thinking about updating it. 
As a challenge to myself to be different, I made this birth announcement for Luna (the little girl I babysit).

It was suggested that Ryan get business cards so of course I jumped right on that!
Although I love the pennant idea that I came up with (bottom) it's not all that professional so
we stuck with the Vitruvian Man (top).

Although simple once again, I've had fun creating and framing these prints for wedding gifts.

 

I also had the privilege of designing my friends Save the Date as well as their
entire wedding invitation. It was a challenge but a lot of fun!

If you are interested in the birth announcements or wedding gifts, they are very quick and easy to customize and change for your needs.  (And make for inexpensive but personal gifts).

My biggest problem has been figuring out how to match the color I see on screen with how it prints.  That is currently my biggest challenge and what I want to research the most.  Once I develop some standard colors that I know will print as expected, I will feel much more comfortable sharing my talents.  I also don't have a way of printing anything myself.  Most of the prints I just send to Walgreens or the like and I've been using Vistaprint for fancier things like my Christmas Postcards.  Maybe someday when I have lots of money and the time to really develop a portfolio, I'll have my own expensive printer that has been carefully matched to correspond with my monitor.  Someday. :)

A Humongous "Thank You"

You people are awesome.  If I could give you all a giant hug, I would.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those of you who responded to my last plea for help.  I'm pretty sure most of us have been in similar situations so I am always grateful for the reassurance of others when I am down in the dumps.  I spend too much time with my own thoughts and they got the better of me.  But it's now time to move on to bigger and better things.

I have a great opportunity before me to take time to figure out who I am and what I love to do.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this time off and have learned new skills or improved upon the ones I already have.  I want to be dedicated enough to really master the ones I truly love.  All my life I've good at a lot of things, but I wouldn't consider myself proficient in anything (though I'm really good at faking it).  I want to use whatever resources I can, whether it be a class or the internet, to learn Photoshop and the other Adobe software I use.  It's one of the only things in life that I can say I'm passionate about. (Obviously grammar is not one of them, considering I just ended a sentence in a preposition).

If any of you want me to design something (Christmas card, announcement, invitation, etc) I will do it.  I really will, I mean it!  I love it and I love doing it for others.  There are only so many things in my own life that I can design for so it's up to you to give me new tasks and challenges!

As I mentioned briefly at the end of my last post (and I added it later after Ryan's approval) my frustration stems from the fact that I'm not pregnant yet.  I know some people hide the fact that they're trying but Ryan and I don't really care who knows.  Yes, we want a baby.  No, it hasn't happened yet.

This is one of the only things in my life that I can't control and it is driving me crazy.  I always get what I want.  I really do.  I plan it, I work for it, and I get it.  However, apparently I have something to learn and some humbling to do because Heavenly Father hasn't blessed me with what I want this time around.  I have good months and I have bad months.  This was obviously a bad month.  On the good months, I'm sad for a brief moment and try to be better person and improve for the next month.

After my last post, a friend encouraged me to read an article from the July Ensign.  It was a great suggestion.  I think we can all benefit from it:

Waiting on the Lord, Renewing Our Strength   By Christy Nielson

"Most everyone has experienced anxiety or anticipation while waiting for something. As a single adult, I certainly have learned what it means to wait. For this reason Isaiah 40:31 has come to have special meaning for me: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (emphasis added). Many of us dread waiting, but through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord tells us that waiting can actually be a good thing.

In the past I’ve thought of waiting as wasted time, such as when I wait for a plane to take off or wait in line at the grocery store. This kind of waiting requires little action on our part; it’s mostly a matter of biding our time. This type of waiting is also usually paired with frustration and impatience. Consider how you feel when someone you are waiting for is late. By the time the person arrives, you may be so upset that you had to wait that you don’t appreciate the fulfillment of your anticipation.

Of course, this is not the kind of waiting that Isaiah said could “renew [our] strength.” On the contrary, impatient waiting tends to leave us physically and emotionally exhausted. I have been guilty of this kind of waiting too often.

So what kind of waiting was Isaiah describing? The Hebrew word translated as wait also means “hope for” and “anticipate” (Isaiah 40:31, footnote a). To add my own interpretation, I like to think of waiting in terms of a waiter at a restaurant. In this sense, to wait on someone is to serve that person. A good waiter—or server—gives his or her customers excellent care and attention by checking in often, learning their desires, and attending to them. When I adopt this attitude toward the Lord, it adds purpose to the time I spend awaiting a particular blessing. In fact, time seems to pass more quickly when I am diligently working to serve God. Ironically enough, it’s through this work that I “renew [my] strength.”

The same amount of time will pass whether I am squandering it in anger and impatience or using it to serve the Lord and His children. Choosing to “wait upon the Lord”—or viewed another way, to serve Him—yields far more satisfying results. This choice also helps me remember that because Heavenly Father’s greatest desire is to bless His children with what will ultimately help us be happy, He will not only give me what I need, He’ll also give it at the time that is best for me.

Shifting my attitude from one of “just waiting” to “waiting upon the Lord” has shown me that waiting can be a good thing after all. This perspective has opened my eyes to the many gifts Heavenly Father has given me. Most of all, it has given my life renewed strength, purpose, and meaning."

 In addition to Ryan and I's combined New Year's resolutions, I have my own separate goals to "wait upon the Lord" at this exciting but frustrating time in my life.  I also would appreciate any extra prayers you can send our way.  Because on those bad months, I sure do need them.  Luckily I do have a Heavenly Father I can turn to and a supportive and loving husband who has been buying me what I call, "I'm-sorry-you're-not-pregnant" flowers when the dreaded Auntie Flow comes to town.  I really am blessed.  

Thank you all again for your support!

Taking a Step Back to Look Forward

That's a really deep heading, isn't it?  Well, whether you like it or not, this is another serious post.  Maybe one of these days I'll get around to posting some pictures of the last month because I know most of you just scroll through the photos and skip the words anyway.  I'm often guilty of that on your blogs too.  So don't worry, the feelings are mutual.

With the new year and moving (again) I'm just trying to formulate a plan for my life.  The problem is, I have no plan and no ideas.  I was supposed to start my job back up at UNC when we move back to North Carolina in 2 weeks, but my boss retired leaving me once again unemployed.  Then, when we come back to Omaha in May I will need a job to keep me sane and productive

So what do I do?

• I don't want to be an Engineer or anything like it (thank you five years of school for nothing).
• I don't have time in NC to get a real job - so I'm thinking craft store again, it is!
• I realize that Graphic Design is what I really love and I can get by learning on my own but I kind of want official training.  So do I take some classes at the community college? Work to actually get my associates?
• Do I just use this time to develop all the talents and hobbies that I will never have time to learn again?
• Do I use my current talents to create an Etsy shop? But let's be honest, there are thousands of women out there with my same talents selling the exact same things I can make.  Although I would love it, I'm not too hopeful on this one.
• Do you all judge me and think I'm a lazy bum for not having worked since June? Because let's be honest, that's what worries me the most.  Why do we do this to ourselves? I had a breakdown a few weeks ago because I feel like I have nothing that defines me anymore.  I used to be "the engineer" or "the music girl" or "wifey" but with all these transitions I feel lost.  I meet new people and feel like a nobody. I want to be ME again, but I have to figure out who that is.  And don't you worry, my freak-out was due to hormones and I just suppress those feelings until they come around next month. :)

Wanna know the original plan? I was supposed to be pregnant by now but that hasn't happened, yet.

So seriously, what do I do?

Yep, New Years Resolutions.

Alright ladies, (I won't even call out the gentlemen, because Ryan is most likely the only one who reads this blog) a new year is upon us and with that comes resolutions.  I am the first to admit I am terrible at setting goals.  In fact, I never even bothered to set them until last year.  The whole being married thing and having someone to report to and hold me accountable is definitely a factor in that one.

Ryan and I are very realistic in my goals.  I'm going to be honest with you here.  We are terrible at doing the things we should be doing (aka praying together, reading our scriptures, etc).  So we go with Ryan's life motto which is, "Aim low and achieve."  

Here are our goals. I figure the more I share them, the more they might actually happen.  If you would be so kind as to keep reading and to comment, you will see where I can use your help!

• Our focus is ATTITUDE! (Last year it was HABITS... we are still working on those same habits)
• Read the Doctrine and Covenants together (keep on track with Sunday school)
• Pray once a day together (at least)... like I said "Aim low and Achieve"
• Attend the temple once a month with a purpose in mind each time
• Take 20 family names to the temple
• Remember to fast each month for 2 meals (with a purpose)
• Go on a planned date once a month
• Make holidays special days (learn the meaning of each holiday) and develop traditions
• Eat salad as a meal 2-3 times a week
• Work out 3 times a week

Now, here is where I need your help.  In addition to reading the Doctrine and Covenants together, I want/need to improve my own scripture study.  Because let's be honest again, I suck at it. It is a daunting task.  Last year I read the entire Book of Mormon.  But again, I just read it, not STUDY.  Do I do that again?  Do I study by topic?  I've been wanting to study Preach My Gospel - do I do that? And how do I study? How do  YOU study?  I've been finding some help from blogs online that give some good tips.

The Redheaded Hostess gives a lot of great tips if you are interested.  One of her biggest tips, and one I just heard as a recommendation on Sunday as well is to keep a study journal.  Do any of you do this? I'm definitely thinking about it...

Last item of advice, por favor: Holiday traditions.  Put your thinking caps on and do share what you used to do as a family growing up or what you do now as a young family.  Lately I've heard myself saying over and over again, "I'm not a holiday person." But that's boring.  It's time to stop being boring and make holidays fun.  

Here's to 2013!!