Tis the Season; Finding my Way

 Is it me, or do the holiday seasons always seem to fly right by? It feels just yesterday we were having our Thanksgiving dinner, and just today we put up our tree and decorations. And Christmas is just around the corner, and will quickly be gone.

Our sacrament meeting yesterday was wonderful. We had beautiful music, singing by the choir and others, and a wonderful narrative of the birth of Christ during so. In Gospel Doctrine, we had a wonderful lesson about eternal families. How blessed I am to be sealed to my family, as well as my husband. And my husband to his family, which brings us all together. Our families are so important on this earth. All families are different, ranging in different sizes and have different circumstances; whether positive or negative. But we always have the chance to create our own families, to improve things within our given family, and bring new members and find lost members together. We have that power, each and every one of us.

One thing I'm especially grateful for, is the power of the Atonement and forgiveness. My goodness I don't know where my life would be without the knowledge that God forgives and forgets our sins and imperfections. There was a point in my life where I never believed I deserved a worthy man of God, because I had made past mistakes which temporarily set me on a different course than the straight and narrow. I was a lost sheep, wandering off and needing to find my way back to the flock. Before I had met my husband, I had been single for some time. This hadn't been a problem to me, because I was enjoying the single life. I had felt independent, strong, and even happy. Yet, the idea of marriage and finding a worthy man was a weight on my mind. Past mistakes were also adding to that weight. Although I had already prayed to the lord for forgiveness, I still didn't feel like I did all I needed to do. When Gary appeared out of nowhere, and made it clear he chose me for his wife, I started evaluating everything, thinking maybe there had to be a flaw in that. I became so torn because I had never met such a man, who held the Priesthood so worthily, and who had a good head on his shoulders; I was convinced there had to be something wrong. At this point, I started thinking about the mistakes and sins I had made in the past...and although I had prayed and fasted for weeks to be forgiven, I just couldn't shake that feeling of there being something wrong. This is when I made another choice to visit my bishop and share my concern. I confessed to him my past mistakes, and expressed my fear of making the next step in my life; going to the temple and being sealed for time and eternity. The bishop immediately suggested we pray together, which we did. I left the meeting in tears with such a spirit. I especially came to realize how the bishop himself turned to the lord immediately, confirming the true power of the priesthood. A week later, the bishop called me back into his office to ask me how I felt. I couldn't believe it...the weight had been lifted and I felt so...happy. More happy than I had felt before. At this time, he said, "The lord has forgiven you, he has confirmed this with me while I spent the past week praying. He had forgiven you when you first turned to Him many months ago. All He needed you to do was come to me, the Priesthood. Because of this, you are clean and your weight is lifted." Another meeting I left crying. That same day, I knew Gary was the one I was to marry...the spirit had confirmed it. And while we spent our relationship together before marrying, we promised each other to stay worthy for one another, as well as ourselves. Because of this, we were able to become sealed in the temple of the lord. I promise each and every one of you, using my own experience, although the pain of seeking forgiveness may feel unbearable at times, the feeling and knowledge that our Heavenly Father has forgiven us when the time arrives, is more joyful than ever imagined, and makes the pain we suffered worth it in the end. I can't even begin to express the joyfulness as well.

Heavenly Father knows who we are. He knows our trials, feels our pain, knows what's within our hearts. At times we may not understand why we are given specific trials, and how long we must endure them. But here's something I've always found comfort in:

When Jesus's disciples were on the Sea of Galilee, and their boat was rowing against the wind in toil, Jesus came to their aid. He didn't come until the "fourth watch", meaning dawn, but he did come.

When Joseph Smith was in the Garden praying, you read the following: "After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me."

 The Lord will come, but sometimes it won't be until our "fourth watch." We may not be there yet. But I testify He will come. No giving up just yet...strive to do the best you can, and you will find His hand reaching out to take care of the rest. I promise you this; I know this from experience. Not only that, but the spirit tells me this as well.

Wow, I totally went spiritual, didn't I? :) This Gospel is amazing; and true.

Anyway, time to settle down with some hot chocolate and a nice Christmasy novel. I'll post another blog later of our past week and week to come. Bye!

3 Years

 As most of you know, today is our 3 year anniversary! December 14th, 2006, Gary and I were sealed in the Los Angeles temple for time and eternity. Marriage seriously gets better and easier each year! I love married life with my hunky husband! We've also been together for almost 4 years. :)

I married such a patient, hardworking and loving man! Especially a man who puts up with crazy ol' me! ;) But seriously, he is the best!! He works hard everyday, and pushed his way through school so he could support and take care of me, and someday our children. I have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home-wife, and although I'm looking for work to add something more to my schedule, I feel so blessed. It's rare to live in such an expensive city on a single income; but we can thanks to my husband. He's loyal, honest, fun, silly, adorable, and very loving! He treats me sooo well and I love how I can completely trust him with everything! He also has incredible ambition. When he wants to accomplish something, he'll work hard to get there. I LOVE that! I'm definitely looking forward to our future together because of it :)

 Aww, what a perfect day that was!

 Anyway, about our day today! Gary unfortunately got sick overnight, and had to see a doctor this morning; sinus infection. Poor man. So he had no choice but to call in sick, so sadly we couldn't go out and do much to celebrate. But that's okay! We instead walked over to the store, bought some dinner, and came back and made it together. We had yummy jalapeno cheddar things for an appetizer, pizza for our main course, and Susan cookies for dessert. I never had those before; yum! We also had Martinelli's for our drink. We set up our living room like a picnic, and sat on the floor while we ate and watched a pretty good film: Escape from Sobibor. It was a miniseries on television years ago, about a labor camp during WWII, and how the Jews had planned an escape. Pretty darn good. Recommended! Absolutely clean, too. So, that was our fun evening together!

This rain has been incredible as well. I went outside one day to see this:

 Very pretty rainbow! It was full; I had never seen an entire rainbow before (sad, huh?). Usually just a side.
 Okay, time to go back to husband for the rest of the night. And in case you haven't seen, we had Christmas pictures taken.

Bye!!

Our Day

 Our day today was absolutely fun! It's still not over, but we are definitely worn. We'll probably finish the night killing zombies. :)

 That's pretty much what we did Friday evening. Instead of going out and doing stuff, we stayed indoors, watched some shows together, then did a couple of campaigns on the zombie game (Left 4 Dead 2). It's definitely a fun game! Not kid friendly, though, just a warning. The language isn't bad, it's just the fact you're killing zombies that may be bad, lol.

 Anyway, we slept in this morning until about 10am, and I cooked up a big sausage/waffle/egg breakfast. Gary had the waffles, I had the eggs. That definitely filled us up! After breakfast and showers, we headed back over to Woodland Hills/Canoga Park, where we did some Christmas shopping! I know, expensive place to shop, but eh...lol. We didn't shop the mall or anything, just some of the discounted stores like Big Lots and stuff. After that shopping, then we hit the mall. Wow! It was huge. It's a Westfield mall, like ours, except this one made ours look teeny. It's 3 stories, has an ice-skating rink, and just...lots of stores; big companies like Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton, Coach, etc. You name it, it was there. Beautiful, too.

I think what I loved most was the Target attached. I've never seen a Target attached to a mall before. This one was huge! Two story Target. It was marvelous.

So, naturally, by the end of the trip we were worn and ready to head home! Since it was around 7pm, and we hadn't eaten anything since our big breakfast, we decided to eat a nice dinner at Souplantation. Yum! Now we're definitely stuffed for the night.

On another note, we got new phones! We have had our old phones for a couple of years now, and were ready to get new ones. They're not as cool as the Droid or iPhone, but we still love them.

 It's the Samsung Solstice, totally touch-screen. We didn't want the iPhone, since it would have cost much more each month just for the bill, and it wasn't worth it. I mean, c'mon...we're not important enough people to need so many things. Plus, these phones are all we need! We have unlimited text, calls, and data usage. We can pretty much do anything online, and we have lots of apps to use. One of the things I discovered while we were on the road, was the Google apps. I downloaded (for free) Google maps. All you have to do is open it, and it will quickly show your current location on the map. From there, you can get directions to and from places just by tapping on them, and you can add locations to your favorites so you can quickly pull them up. I thought it was cool anyway. I don't think it's a GPS, I think they just triangulate your position. Considering we have a good network on our phone, the internet is super fast, and so are the features. I can instantly check my e-mails and facebook as well, too :) Anyway, we enjoy our new phones!

Okay, that's all for now. Time to play video games with the husband. Goodnight!

Lotsa Updating

 I've gotten pretty bad with this blogging thing, huh?

Well, Thanksgiving weekend was busy for us! I hardly had time to sit down and blog about it all. But, I am available now, so here goes!

After Gary came home from work Wednesday, we started to leave for Bakersfield. However, after a quick prayer for a safe drive, we heard a funny noise from my car. We then drove to our mechanic to have him take a look. The guy was already backed up with customers, and when we mentioned we were on our way to visit family, he was kind enough to shove us in there. He noticed the belt was almost destroyed; it would have been bad had we driven to Bakersfield. Luckily we caught it then. So, we walked back to our place and waited until he finished.

Finally, we were on the road. We had a fun night in Bakersfield, and Thanksgiving was great as well. I got to see almost all of my siblings, as well as nieces and nephews. The dinner was sooo yummy, too! Gary and I brought our Wii over, so we all got to sit around and enjoy some games. We played Super Smash Brothers for a bit, which was pretty fun. It was funny to see Grannie and Mom trying to figure out how to play, too. So, here's a few pics from Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving smooch

Brother Quinn and sister Jazmine

Mum and Pops

Sammie and Katrina wanting popcorn

 So anyway, we had a lot of fun there! The Friday following wasn't exactly the most exciting day for us, however. Our brakes now needed to be checked out. So we drove over to Pep Boys (since they know my family), and had them check out the brakes. They discovered the front and the rear brakes needed to be replaced, as well as some other brake-related things. While they were working on that, however, we met up with the Joneses and went out to lunch at Sequoia Sandwiches (also got to see their new cute place). Their son Tyler is just too adorable! He was so happy and full of grins the whole time. So, that was the highlight of the day at least! We had a good time hanging out. The car, in the end (including the belt which was replaced on Wednesday), cost us a little under $600 for everything. So, that was no fun. We do feel blessed that we had no problem getting the money, though.

 Anyway, we drove back home on Friday, and Saturday morning, my parents and other family came and picked Gary and I up, and we all went to Knotts Berry Farm for law enforcement day. We had fun! Gary and I first checked out the Ghost Rider roller coaster, and told ourselves, "Never again!". That ride HURT! It was so bumpy and threw us around. It wasn't too pleasant. But, the other coasters were definitely fun! We also went on some water rides, and got completely soaked on one of them, the Perilous Plunge.

  So fun!! It did kind of hurt on one of the bumps, thanks to another lovely ride we took before it. It was another water ride, some Tidal ride, that damaged my poor tailbone. Okay, so the ride flips you a lot...it hangs you upside down, then flips you back over. One moment I'm resting on my shoulders, the next, my bum slams into the seat. No problem at first, right? Well, next thing I know, I'm being slammed into the seat, yet my bum landed on the leg divider, and I heard an unpleasant sound to go along with it. I said, "That didn't feel too good." And since then, my tailbone has been super duper sore! So many times I'll forget about it, and plop down, only to cry out moments later. Not cool.

The ride which injured my poor bum.

All who went to Knotts: Grannie, my cousin Sally, Mommy, Jazmine,  Daddy, Jazzy's cousin Tiffny, then Gary and I. I was wearing Gary's sweater, so the picture is unflattering, but who cares? :)

 So, Thanksgiving weekend was definitely exhausting, but fun! We came home Saturday and crashed super hard.

 Yesterday evening, we decided to put up our Christmas tree and decorations. It's not all completely done yet, but here's some pictures:

Our little tree

Dexter's new favorite spot (I'll catch him chewing branches every now and then, although the tree is clearly fake). He's currently napping under there right now.

This adorable set from my in-laws. Love it!

This is another cute set from my in-laws. Our little Nativity Set.

 
Santa!

And of course, we all need our mistletoe! :)

Our stockings, and yes there is one for the pets. And of course, the huge stocking here :)

 So, that's that! Gary has gotten me into shooting games, so we've been playing a lot of Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. Makes a husband happy!

Okay, that's the update!

PS-I hate blogger, I hate blogger, I hate blogger, I hate blogger as;dlfkja;sjka;oskdjf;oaskdjf;ok2j345r09uiwertoija;dflkja;skljrpoqi234rj   whoever created the new image thing should not be employed for blogger anymore. It should NOT have taken me over 30 minutes just to post these pictures correctly. Stupid, poorly made blogger. as;ldkfja;sldkfj

All better. Good luck making it to the comments.

Time Spent

 Isn't this just a wonderful weekend? The weather is incredible, and I get to spend time with my favorite people. Plus, Thanksgiving is coming up, and I get to spend time with even more of my favorite people. With the season of Thanksgiving, there's so many things to be grateful for. This weather, my family, my friends, the Gospel, I could go on forever. Life is wonderful!

I also love when my husband brings out his spontaneous side. We've had fun trips to the beach and overnight hotels all due to a husband's spontaneity. Last night was another fun example. We started off the day doing some local shopping and browsing...got lots of jeans, too, because I was out and needed some. Also discovered I dropped a pant size (yay!), but anyway. When we came back home, we watched a couple of our shows together, then sat around completely bored. I had been browsing and making phone calls, trying to find a specific book I've been looking for. It's part of a trilogy, but I only had the first and third. When I saw they were out of stock everywhere, I gave up and flopped on the couch. Gary then looked at me, and said, "I have an idea. Let's go to Fry's."

Most of you might have heard of Fry's Electronics, but it's a huge electronics store. I mean huge. It's a heavenly place for fans of electronics; including computers, appliances, audio, television (just think of it as a giant Best Buy...but better). Now, we don't have a Frys in our area. The two nearest us are in Oxnard and Woodland Hills. So, since Woodland Hills is the closest, we went there. Woodland Hills is about 30 miles south of us, between Thousand Oaks and Burbank. So, we went there, and had fun! We spent a good amount of time in Fry's, with Gary looking at expensive computers and talking about buying one for himself. Luckily he didn't jump into that just yet, lol. But we had fun. We also stopped by Borders, where I found the book I was looking for, so yay! We drove around the city for a bit, and our thoughts were, "It looks expensive here." And it definitely is! Much more expensive than Valencia. The median home value in Woodland Hills is $730,000. So...yeah. Lol. But we definitely liked shopping there, so it looks like a trip we'll be frequently taking for now on, especially now that Gary knows how to get to Fry's :). So, we stopped for burgers while there, then headed home. So, here's some pics of the Fry's there:

See why Gary loves it so much? That's okay, I like it too! Woodland Hills:

Looks pretty expensive, huh?

Anyway, that was yesterday, and I loved it! Sunday today has been wonderful so far, too. We're grilling up some pork chops; yum! And this wind is great!

Friday, we had some Spiced Apple Pork Loins, from Sam's Club. When I went shopping there, they had the holiday tasting there. Sam's always has tasting when you shop there, but this time was different. Big chunks of cheesecake, full buffalo wings with ranch, hot cocoa, Martinelli's, etc. Let's just say that was my lunch that day! But the meat came out DELISH!

Well, time to get started on the salad for dinner! This week should be even more amazing; Gary works Monday and Tuesday, then gets home early on Wednesday, we visit my family for Thanksgiving, and then Gary also has the following Monday off. So yay, lots of husband time. He gets a 5 day weekend. Woo hoo! I'm excited!!

Gary and Emilee

Most of you got my medical update, but I'll post it below anyway, after this blog.

 I was reading stories on people's histories together, so I thought I'd share the history of Gary and I.

In October of 2005, Gary and I met at the institute building in East Bakersfield. None of us had planned on being there. Me, being the social anxiety type, wasn't really fond of going to YSA (Young Single Adults) activities. That, and I didn't really care to be in a relationship, nor get married at this point. Although Institute revolved around having a spiritual lesson, to me it looked like a gathering place for people who were desperate to be married. There was always flirting  and things like that, and I had lost interest completely. Now, I know not all Institutes are like this, but it was for me. Gary, who had been traveling to and from Bakersfield almost daily for school, was usually too exhausted by the time Institute came around to attend. It was either he goes to classes then stays in Bakersfield all day until Institute that night, or go home, just to turn around and drive all the way back for Institute. Plus, he wasn't interested in it either, like me.

However, I met a friend, who was extremely popular with the YSA. She's much more social than I am, and she was always attending everything. Everytime she and I would go out, she'd always run into people she knew. Talk about Mrs Popular (yes, I'm talking about you, other Emilee). Eventually I started going to activities, because she would always go. Sometimes I'd even complain, and she'd drag me anyway and tell me I'd have fun; which I always did in the end. Well, Institute this night had been one of those situations. I didn't want to go, but she pulled me along anyway. Gary, on the other hand, didn't want to go either. But, the Sunday before, his bishop approached him and a couple of friends of his in church, and told them to attend institute, telling them, "You'll meet your wife there.". So, Gary took Derek Wednesday night, and then took Jeremy the Thursday night (the Institute night for those who lived in Southwest Bakersfield). We met Wednesday night.

It was just a handshake and introduction, then a group of us went to Sonic for slushies. Gary and I sat at the same table, and only did a little chatting, but nothing special. Thursday night, Gary, Jeremy, Emilee and I all went and got food, just the four of us. We all chatted a bit, then went our separate ways.

Near the end of October, the YSA was having an auction night. We all went. Gary jokingly auctioned himself for a date. I barely knew the guy, so I wasn't interested; and remember the part where I mentioned I wasn't looking for anybody to date? Yeah, that. As bids were going (yes, other women were bidding), I felt myself throw up my paddle...and won. Surprised at myself for doing such a thing, I quickly threw my paddle back down and glanced over at Gary. So, that was that. We went on a date to John's Incredible Pizza. We also walked around a display of street art. The date honestly went pretty well. It was me who didn't go pretty well. I became uncomfortable when Gary would do small things like hold my hand or put an arm around me. He was being a complete gentleman, but I was too nervous. Eventually our date ended.

Some weeks later, Gary made a comment to friends, clearly a joke, saying, "You only marry a woman so she can learn how to use the kitchen for you." (or something along those lines, and I'm sure there was a dirty part thrown in there). Now, you all know Gary, and you all know he likes joking around. Now I find it cute, but then, before I knew him, I found it rude. The joke came across me, and I instantly hated him. I mean, really disliked him. When Gary learned I thought he was a jerk, he had a few words to describe me as well. At this point, he hated me back. We didn't like being around each other because of this. Although, yes, a part of me was really attracted to his sense of humor and personality, there was no way I was going to admit it. And Gary, admitted later he was attracted to my independence and affection, but couldn't admit it either at the time. Silly us.

New Years Eve rolled around. Jeremy and Emilee were now dating. Jeremy, who lived away from Bakersfield like Gary, needed a ride to the New Years Eve dance so he could spend it with Emilee. Emilee wanted me to ask Gary, which I didn't like doing, but did it for her anyway. Gary's response, "fine, I'll bring Jeremy to be with your friend, but in return, you are my date." This didn't sit well with me, but I accepted. We hardly looked at each other during the dance, however, and Gary, would dance with other women. I felt a hint of jealousy, so I'd dance with other men (so mature we were, haha). Finally, that ended.

Around the end of January, I had homework; I needed homework help, and I needed a strong opinion on a history topic. Because I had asked Gary to drive Jeremy to Bakersfield for New Years, I had Gary on my instant messaging program. I had received his e-mail address so I could ask him that question; that was the only reason he was on there. So, glancing at his name and seeing he was online, I said to myself, "Well there's a person who isn't afraid of sharing an opinion.", and sent him a message. He responded, kindly, and began helping me with homework. I realized then how smart he was (and no, Google couldn't help with this specific problem...trust me, I tried). After a long discussion, we both said goodnight and signed out. The following few nights, we started saying hi to each other more often. Eventually we'd get off the subject of debate and start talking about other things. Movies, music, you name it. It came to me how easy it was to talk to him, and started to realize how much fun I was having learning about him. Long conversations online went to conversations over the phone. Finally, Valentines Day rolled around and he told me had a gift certificate to build-a-bear, only valid on Valentines Day. He then asked if I'd be interested in having another first date. I accepted.

Eventually one date turned into two, which turned into three, etc. Finally, completely unexpected, in April of 2006, Gary proposed (after getting permission from my parents...isn't that sweet?). Most of you were there to witness the situation. Gary had purchased another build-a-bear, this time it had a squeezable hand. When you press it, it says, "I love you Emilee. Will you marry me?". Well, not knowing you can squeeze the hand, I put the bear back. We were all getting prepared to leave for a "Winter Formal" (Sarah, Emilee, Jeremy)...except Jeremy and Emilee were running late. My lovely sister in law noticed, however, and asked to see the bear. She pressed the hand. At this time, my nephew started whining about something. I completely missed what the bear said. All I heard was, "I love you, Emilee." I said, "Thanks, that's sweet." And attempted to put the bear back. "No, really, did you hear it?" I was asked. I looked at the bear, and pressed the hand again. Once again, "I love you, Emilee, blah blah blah." ...my nephew was crying, so it blocked it out. Again, I said, "That's sweet", and attempted to put the bear back in it's box. This time, however, it was dead silent, and everyone was staring at me like I just slapped a baby. Slowly, I pulled the bear back out and pressed the hand again. This time I heard it. Of course I was shocked because I never expected it, at all. In fact, Sarah, who knew all along, had led me to believe he was going to propose over the summer. And this point I blurted out yes before he could go into his speech, but he shh'd me and said his speech anyway (which is saved to our computer, so cute), then got down on one knee and proposed.  I then said yes again. Aww, I love him!!

We didn't get married until December of that year, because he still lived away from Bakersfield and needed to find an apartment. Before he found an apartment in October, we had only been seeing each other once a week. We'd meet at the Marketplace, and see a movie or go to dinner. Then we'd go our separate ways. We saw each other on Fridays. Sometimes, however, things would come up, and we'd have to skip that Friday and wait until the next Friday before we got to see each other. So, yes, the first 8 months of our relationship, we saw each other weekly (even when we were first dating), sometimes every other week. And you know, it wasn't that bad. We both had separate lives, and were both so busy, it didn't really bother us being long distance. We knew we had eternity to spend together ahead of us, so we enjoyed the time as it was.  Besides, there was no temptation whatsoever. We couldn't screw up since we didn't spend enough time together. Finally, Sarah and I went apartment hunting, and we found a small one bedroom in Southwest Bakersfield. I took it, quickly, so he'd have a place. He moved into the place a couple of weeks later. Since he was closer now, and our wedding was a couple of months away, we'd only meet up and see each other if we had a friend to accompany us. Yes, we had rules. But it was important for each of us to be sealed in the temple. And it wasn't that hard.

Finally, in December of 2006, we were sealed in the Los Angeles temple. The first year and a half of our marriage, we joke we were roommates. I had 2 jobs, Gary had 2 jobs AND was a full-time student. We hardly saw each other. Then, in May of 2008, he was offered a job in Valencia. And in June of 2008, he graduated; and we moved here. We spent the first year living in Canyon Country, and now we're living in Valencia, less than a mile from his job.

Our 3 year wedding anniversary is coming up, and I can say we're both so happy! I'm not going to be one of those people who claims an argument has never happened, because of course it has. But an argument does not mean fighting or shouting. We've never done that, we've hardly raised our voices to one another. Sure we've had disagreements and have gotten on each others' nerves, but no more than that. We both work hard and both see great results because of it. We've learned to live with one another, and we've learned how we're each different. And we're happy because of it. The more I treat him with love and respect, the more I get it in return. Yes, being a very stubborn and selfish person, it definitely was not easy at first. But once you realize it's not about you, and strive to meet the needs of your spouse, you'd be surprised what happiness you receive in return. I love him so much! He's still a gentleman. He still opens my doors, including the car door. He still offers me his coat and warmth when needed. Even after a long day at work, he'll come home and give me a big hug and kiss. I love seeing him sneaking in chores to help me out and surprise me. Even though he can be stubborn himself and isn't afraid to speak his mind or stand up to strangers, I find that quality very attractive! I always told myself I'd marry a stubborn man who had a playful and affectionate side, and I did. I love how he'll go from a hardworking, brave, and opinionated man to a sweet, gentle, playful, and loving man. So perfect! :)

So, that was our story. Sorry if it was long and boring :) Don't worry, you'll get an even mushier one on our anniversary. We're taking a vacation in January to celebrate.

Quick: Medical Update. Test results came back normal...in fact, they looked better than last time. Woo hoo! And, I've lost 10 lbs already, in just a few weeks. Thanks, guys!

Flu Season

 I feel like I've been hit by a bus. For the past couple of weeks, I've been feeling blah, but boy did it hit me later! Yesterday was miserable, and I know today will be the same.

 We went to church yesterday anyway, because I hate missing. During Sacrament I was sniffling and sneezing and coughing, so we left after...I really didn't want to infect anyone. Will this thing ever go away??

 The weekend went pretty well besides that. Gary and I went out Friday night, and Saturday, my parents came over and enjoyed a meal Gary grilled up. So that was fun!

 It's been so cold, but I love it! Gary and I decided to buy a heater fan to put in the bedroom. It has a timer, clock, and everything. It's super cute. The regular fan we had in there is getting old, and although dust needs to be cleaned out a little deeper, it was still having some issues with noise. Besides, now that's it's freezing, we don't want that running at night anymore. I need a fan sound to help me sleep, and Gary hates waking up at 5am to frozen air, so that's what made us decide to buy a heater fan.  Sure, we could always run the heat in the apartment, but we choose not to. This little thing will do the trick. Poor Dexter can't go outside anymore, because, well, it's too darn cold to have that door open. In fact, he's brushed up against it a few times already, but all I can do is tell him sorry, haha. That's okay, he's finishing off the last of the flies in here :)

At our Canyon Country apartment, even in the colder weather, it always stayed in the mid to low 70's inside; mainly because everyone else was running their heater. Here, however, since we don't share any walls, it gets a bit colder, like mid to high 60's. Even low 60's at some point. So, yeah. Good ol' heater.

 Something interesting I read. Well, saw. Gary and I like watching the show "Surviving Disaster". It's hosted by a retired Navy Seal, and he tells you how to survive disasters like earthquakes, virus outbreaks, home invasions, mall shootings, and even nuclear attacks. It's pretty awesome. Anyway, he made a comment during the "virus outbreak" episode, and mentioned people who have chronic illnesses; saying we're more likely to catch a virus, and when we do, it effects us more than the usual person; and it takes us longer to heal. After the episode I decided to look that up. This is because my immune system malfunctions; and it seems nowadays I seem to catch pretty much everything. It made complete sense.

Did you also know allergies is an immune system thing, too? I'm sure you do. When you intake a particular food, or even pine or pet dander (or whatever you're allergic to), it's your immune system responding to it. It sees those things as a threat, and out of defense, your body begins fighting to keep it out. Like when you have a cold, your sinuses swell up. This is a defense mechanism your body uses to keep the virus out of the rest of the body. Therefore, when you inhale or eat something you're allergic to, your sinuses swell, inflammation occurs, etc; your immune system is trying to block it. In my case, I don't have allergies, but my immune systems sees parts of my own tissue, my own body, as a threat. Therefore, autoimmune. And since I have a malfunctioning immune system, I'm more likely to get sick and catch viruses. I spoke to a doctor about this, who recommended some natural immune boosters, so I'll have to try those out. I take multivitamins everyday, too.

Anyway, my hearing has temporarily gone out due to the congested head, and I feel like total crap, so I'm going to snuggle up in a warm blanket and take care of myself today. I have an appointment on Wednesday to have hormone tests run; let's just hope I'm not sick then. Bye!

Insanity in my Sleep

 For realz.

 Last night was an interesting one. My dreams were so strange, I thought I'd share. Some even brought back past memories :)  Now, I'm the type of person who remembers my dreams, even details and names. I could tell you what I dreamed of yesterday, last week, even months and years ago; including details and all. I have no idea why I'm able to do that. Also, I have the ability to fall back into the same dream even after waking up. At one time, I was having a specific dream, woke up, went to the couch because I wasn't feeling well, and went back to sleep, continuing that same one. Maybe it's because I'm a light sleeper? Who knows.

Anyway, the first one I clearly remember. Now, you'll totally laugh at me because it's lame. So, you know how the whole "Twilight" thing is huge right now, especially with the new movie coming out? Honestly, I read 2 of the books, and half of the 3rd before I stopped completely, losing interest. I just didn't like the writing, and thought I'd see how far I could stick it out. I think the whole teenage thing ruined it for me as well. Okay, now for the dream part. The actors and actresses of Twilight were coming to Valencia to do some stage movie performance. Because we were residents, we were told we could go backstage and be there the entire show. I wasn't interested. But, of course, Jazmine called me up, frantic, demanding I take her at least. So, I did. We were sitting backstage with a bunch of crazy hormonal teenagers, and a bunch of the cast came out, but nobody huge yet. They were dressed up and getting ready to go on stage. So, they walked down some stairs, to the stage, and I remember thinking, "Well, this is lame. What's the point of backstage seats? We can't even see the performance. I don't care about these people." And then, of course, Edward walks backstage. Not even in my Backstreet Boy days did I hear this much screaming and insanity. And this point I was looking for ways to escape, but I was out of luck, considering Jazmine was gripping my arm and pointing, "It's him, it's him!!" Well, the British dude who plays Edward was posing and taking it completely to his head, saying, "Yup, it's Edward, I'm so awesome" (you know, babbling like an idiot). Because of this, I rolled my eyes and paid no attention to him. Then, to join him, the chick who plays Bella and the other dude who plays the werewolf, Jacob, came out to accompany him. Again, more hormones broke loose and I thought this would be my death. Eventually they disappeared onto the stage. Thank goodness.

Well, some girl brought her toddler, who was running around backstage, holding a back of uncooked chicken. Clearly I was confused at this point. And, the toddler ran to the stairs. But since the mom was probably Jazmine's age (which wasn't confusing or surprising at all, unfortunately), she was frantic like the rest of the little girls and was paying no attention. Okay, so maybe she was big sister, I don't know. Was I the only adult there?? I had no idea. Well, as the baby was holding the chicken and running for the stairs, I ran over to him and got him, just in time...probably saved his life. The girl ran to me and thanked me, and I stole her bag of chicken and said, "I'm taking this as payment; now get out of here."  She nodded her head and ran off. Seriously the strangest thing ever. I even remember at one point telling her I'd buy her more chicken if she controlled her baby the rest of the performance. So, because I was closer to the curtain at this point, some girl actress came backstage and started demanding I do my job and make her look nice (she thought I worked there). I said, "Sorry, honey, all the makeup in the world won't fix that.", and went back to my seat, leaving her to storm off mad. I'm not that mean in real life, honestly, lol. I'm too shy to be mean like that (to a stranger, of course :) ).  But, I believe that was the end of that dream. I just remember it coming to an end, and Jazmine and I walked out to the street to meet the rest of my family.

Now, on to dream #2. This brought back slight memories. Gary and I were staying at my parents house. While in this dream, I remembered the first dream, so this could have been a continuation, I don't know. Anyway, a whole bunch of relatives and other family members were over. Gary and I were locked away in a bedroom, to avoid the chaos (it was LOUD). I looked on the floor and found a whole bunch of sewing needles. So, I got down on my knees and started picking them up. There were a lot. As I was collecting the needles, I was putting them aside on a desk.  At one point, I felt pain in my hand. I looked down, only to see a needle buried deep in my hand, the upper part, below the middle finger and ring finger. I thought, "Well, that's not good." and started pulling it out. It was seriously half-way in there. Although there was pain, I pulled it out of my hand, and put the needle aside. There was a nice hole in my hand, too. So, I wrapped it up and continued. Gary eventually joined me, and then it happened again, except my other hand. There was a lot of pain involved, so clearly my brain thought I was in pain. So, yes, you can feel pain in your dreams. I pulled this one out, annoyed at this point, and wrapped my other hand to stop the bleeding. It seriously felt like hours, before we collected all the needles we could find. Frustrated, I walked out of the bedroom to find out HOW that happened and why I had to spend so much time cleaning up someone's mess. Now, in reality, I would probably be slightly annoyed, but not like this. This is the memory part; I felt all hormonal like a teenager (I guess the situation is reversed from the first dream, right?). I finally got someone's attention, and asked who had needles out. My mom jumped in and said, "Oh, it was me." Before I could explain what I just went through, she pulled me outside to show me her project. There was a new dining room set, new sofa, and new beautiful furniture. The sewing part was not the wood, of course, but the seating pads and a few other touches. I wasn't mad at this point, just confused on how my mom pulled this off (no offense, Mom). So, I went back into the bedroom.

I then realized it had been days since I had taken my medication, and I became desperate to find it. When I walked back out into the danger zone, I started asking my mom if she's seen it. She would begin to answer me, then get interrupted by someone, and eventually forget I was asking. This happened to every person I'd ask. Eventually I was getting completely ignored because everyone would not shut up and stop yapping their traps a mile a minute. Once again, teenage hormones raged, and I started shouting, demanding my mom find my medication. At this point, it made me look crazy. I mean, who wouldn't see a lady screaming for medication like that and not think it was for mental issues? This ticked off my dad, who followed me with a flashlight to the bedroom, and began chewing me out about respect. Okay, so not just a flashlight, a mag light, and clearly I was a little worried I'd be bashed in at this point. Gary, sat quietly on the bed and didn't say a word. I screamed back at my dad to shut up and leave me alone (oh, the memories)

and tried to explain I was just looking for my medication, but everyone was ignoring me. But, naturally, he ignored me during my explanation, and walked off. Now I was furious. I glanced over at Gary who was in lala land, probably blocking everything out, and stormed out of the bedroom. I walked into the kitchen, and started pulling things out onto the floor, trying to find my medicine. My mom came up behind me and tried to hug me and apologize, but I kept screaming at her to leave me alone, blaming her for the entire problem in the first place (really, Mom, so sorry). When she wouldn't hush, as well as EVERYONE else still yapping away in the super loud chaotic house, I went "SHHH!!!" really loud. I then realized at this point I was in bed, and I had just Shh'ed myself awake. I took a deep breath, and thankfully, knew it was all a dream. Of course the cats looked at me like some crazy woman, but immediately began meowing for food. Was I really that bad as a teenager? Dang, so sorry. I wonder if having a  stressful dream like that can actually harm you in reality? Lol.

Oh, but that was my interesting night. Not much to do today, except run a few errands and mail off a package. Hope you enjoyed laughing at me. Later!

Odd

So today, I was having issues trying to get into one of my e-mail accounts. Is it just me, or is it strange when your passwords to things suddenly don't work, no matter how many times you type them? Lol. It's been happening lately. E-mail, Facebook, even my blog some time ago.  Seriously, people, if you need information, just ask me, don't hack into my stuff. Weirdos...not to mention creepy. I'm not hiding anything you're probably looking for anyway.

Anyway, that was the main reason why I moved blog locations in the first place. Not only because I wanted Pollocks instead of Emilee, but because of password issues. Crazy stalkerish person. Not stalkerish as in reading my blog (because, well, it's public, and anyone can see it), but stalkerish as in trying to get into my stuff. Don't know who in the world has enough time on their hands to do that, but yeah. No worries, nobody's tried anything with this blog (not yet anyway).  I mean, I know I'm shrine-worthy, but still... :)

Anywho, onto a new subject. I'm now just waiting to hear back from my doctor. She didn't say exactly when I'd be contacted, just sometime this week. I'm sure I'm fine, though. I've been so tired today, and already ready for a nap. Especially looking at an orange sleeping cat curled up on a blanket. I had a nice hot bath earlier, but I felt nauseous and got out. Maybe I'll just rest a little more today and see if I feel any better.

But yeah, that was my quick blog for the day :) Now go away weird people trying to get into my information.

The City and Holidays

 

 

  Just going around town Saturday with Gary has me all excited for the holidays. So much to do here! There's a few events we have our eyes on doing throughout the season. It's so beautiful here as well.

Saturday, we went to the Town Center Mall, and it was really nice. Busy, but nice, with all the holiday decorations and events. We did a bit of shopping and strolling as well. It's always so wonderful spending time with my husband. There's such a peace to it. I can't believe we'll be 3 years married next month! Exciting!!

 The weather has been pretty amazing, too. Windy and cool. It's been a little warmer than it should be in November, but I suppose the low 70's isn't too bad.

 Anyway, Gary and I were watching some HGTV earlier, and it made me think about our place and city, which got me writing a blog about the holidays and going around town. We really love it here. So does Dexter: he seriously spends most of his days in that chair, either napping or hanging out. Our new outdoor kitty.

  Anyway, a couple of nights ago, I was on Newhall Ranch (just a beautiful road) in one of the shopping centers, and the sun was setting. I thought it was really pretty so I took some pictures:

Pretty, huh?

Random, but while at the mall and doing some shopping, we stopped at a cute little store called Utopia Home and Garden, and purchased a nice chess set. It's adorable. And, considering I had forgotten how to play chess, Gary was kind to teach me how when we got home. He kicked my butt, but at least I learned how to play again!

So, it was a good weekend. We played it safe on Sunday because we're STILL having the sniffles from this cold (will it ever end??), but we'll hopefully be back in the swing of things next week. I was super nauseous Saturday night, so I had to walk around for a bit to let it calm down (like around 2am), then went back to sleep. Hopefully Gary and I will fully recover this week.

Oh, and I'm down 6 lbs now! Woot!

Probably this week, as well, I'll get my blood work results from the doctor. She not only tested my thyroid for its routine, but since I mentioned a few more body aches, she ran other tests to check for things like arthritis or lupus, etc. Gotta be sure, ya know? So, hopefully I'll hear back, and definitely keep y'all updated. The nurse left a nice fat bruise from the needle, too. Normally it's just a little pinch, but when she went in, it hurt just a little more, so I knew there'd be bruising after. Looks pretty sweet, too.

Anyway, I suppose that's all for now. Later! 

Lifestyle Changes

 So, as you know, I've been working on improving my health. Well, the health of everyone here! You know how I mentioned buying the new EA Sports Active for the Wii? Talk about wow! Love it! It begins with a 30 Day Challenge, which I've been doing.  Now, some of you think that Wii exercise is for lazy people, who don't want to go running or spend hours in the gym, but it's far from that. I made Gary workout with it yesterday, and he was moaning and groaning 10 minutes into it. He completed the workout, though, and is terribly sore today. My rib area is sore...how does that work?

Anyway, there's running, jumping, upper and lower body exercises, sports, and loads of cardio. First of all, you enter your height and weight information, then you choose your exercise level; easy, medium, hard, etc. For the 30-day challenge, they'll pick out exercises for you, targeting on specific body parts. You start off with a walk, then run, and in between sessions of upper or lower body exercises, they'll have cardio exercises to balance that out and keep your heart rate up. You set goals and receive trophies when you've reached those goals. You also get a medal depending on your exercise for the day. Since I've been doing an hour of exercise, I reach gold. They'll also set rest days for you, which today is my rest day (twice a week is a rest day). If you choose to exercise on your rest day, then that's fine too. Anyway, I'm a week into it and have dropped 4 lbs. Pretty good, right?

Also, not only have I been working out like that, I've been tracking my calories on livestrong.com/thedailyplate . They pretty much have every food, so you type in what you ate, and they'll calculate not only calories, but other nutritional information. Much easier than writing it all down and adding it up on paper. You can also enter your weight and height, and set a goal of how many pounds per week you want to lose. From there, they'll tell you how many calories you should be taking daily based on that information. It also tracks protein, sugars, fat, carbs, sodium, etc. So it's helpful. And free, of course. Because of this, I've been eating much lighter (was surprised when I realized how many calories I was consuming before), and more meals per day. I eat every few hours, but small amounts, of course. Dinner is the last, and I stop after that. And, I feel great! Been suffering a bit of insomnia, but I think that's because my new routine might have done something with my thyroid level. Tomorrow's my appointment...lady appointment and thyroid appointment.

Well, that's that. In other weight loss news, the cats have lost weight too! Lila, who was almost 16 lbs, is now 13.8 lbs. And Dexter, who was reaching 14 lbs, is now 13 exact. I don't open feed them like I used to. Cats usually don't overeat, but considering they're indoor cats, it's best I ration anyway.

Okay, that's the update!

Dinners

 It's nice having a candlelit dinner with my husband. After we both had long, good naps, we dimmed the lights in our dining room and enjoyed a beef fried rice dinner. Yum! Oh, and made a few more changes.

 Time to finish the night watching a scary movie. We still have some recorded from yesterday. Goodnight!

Marriage and Compromise

 One of the biggest things you learn while married; you don't always get what you want. You have to start compromising so both people can be happy. Gary and I are both very stubborn people, and admit we had trouble adjusting our first couple years of marriage. Of course, once we realized it, we both started working much harder on that aspect, and things have improved tremendously. Our 3rd year anniversary is coming up next month, and I can't believe how much we've grown and matured over these years.

 Now, on that note, today we had to deal with compromise. Last night wasn't a good night for me; I awoke several times unable to breathe. I relied on my nasal spray to get me through. When morning rolled around, I dragged myself out of bed and began getting ready for church/choir. I began speaking to Gary about choir, and hearing my voice, Gary asked if I was feeling well. I said I was fine, while coughing and sneezing. I then realized how selfish it would be of me to spread my nasty germs around church. I also recently learned that there have been 50 cases of swine flu in our ward, and with a current weakened immune system, that was another risk I wasn't willing to take. So, naturally, I'm home today. Gary's almost fully recovered, however, so I'm glad he's okay.

ANYway, onto the rest of the story. I curled up on the couch in my favorite blanket (although Dexter would argue, if he could, it's HIS favorite), and turned on HGTV. While dozing in and out and watching the channel, I began having thoughts about our dining room. When we first moved here, we decided to throw our dining room table outside, claiming we never use it anyways. We hardly did, I admit, but it was still nice having it there, ya know? When company came over, it was available. It always adds a nice touch to a place as well, right? Throughout the weeks, however, I started missing the idea. I hated having to go outside and eat when company was over. So, I brought it up to Gary, who shrugged it off. I began running ideas through my head, and came up with another plan. Again, he shrugged and said he didn't like the idea. So finally, thinking there was no other way, didn't mention it again. But I did want to start cleaning, which I started doing. Eventually Gary came up to me, and asked, "What about this?" He then added a new idea. So, we went with that.

I wanted, originally, to get rid of the black computer desk. I don't like it. I thought we could get rid of that, and use the computer on the brown desk instead. By getting rid of the black desk, using the smaller brown desk, and doing some arranging, we could make the table fit in the dining room. Gary wanted to keep the black desk, and didn't want to arrange anything. However, he mentioned how he could use a workstation outside where his tools would go, and he could work on things non-computer related. By doing this, we'd move the brown desk outside, fit the table inside, and do a lot of cleaning and organizing. So, it's what we did. Gary moved the furniture, I agreed to take the cleaning and organizing task. It's not completely what I wanted, yet not completely what he wanted. It's just part of marriage :) Anyway, here's the result:

We have 2 chairs right now, just for us. When company comes over, we'll just pull the table out and add 2 more.

And, the extra space now. Gary wants to put a gas grill next to the charcoal grill.

And his little tool workstation. This way, when he needs to work on something, he has space for that.

 It's much different downsizing from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 1 bedroom apartment, because we have to have arrangements we don't completely like. But it's okay. Most of you may remember our first apartment in Bakersfield. You know, the super super tiny one? This is much better than that. We're both very happy with this place, and the neighborhood. All the benefits that come with this place make up for the fact we lost space. And who says we need all that space anyway? :) For a 1 bedroom, this is a pretty large place anyway.


Okay, all that moving and cleaning is making me want a nap. Meds helped get me through the day so far, but I'm still ready for a nap because I'm not 100%. Still blah. But yeah, that's been the day so far. Bye!

Happy Halloween!!

  Seriously one of my favorite Holidays! I believe it was my all-time favorite as a kid. Mostly because I loved dressing up and getting all that candy! There was always the ward Halloween parties, and trick-or-treating, etc. Christmas came as a second favorite while I was a kid, because of all the presents. This was before I really understood the whole spiritual aspect of it. Now that I'm older and understand Christmas, it's now my favorite. And not just the day, the whole season! I'm honestly already excited about putting our tree up a month from now and decorating for Christmas. After Christmas last year, Gary's parents gave us a beautiful Nativity set, as well as many other Christmas decorations; but since Christmas was over, I never got to display them. Now I get to this year, and I'm sooo excited!

 Anyway, this is a Halloween post, not Christmas :)

The ward Halloween (or what we named it- Spooky Spectacular) party had a pretty big turnout last night. I was never really a part of it, because I was helping to run everything, but I hope everyone had fun at least! There was lots of good food and desserts (which we never got to eat, either!), and we kept having to refill everything because it kept going so quickly. But it felt sooo good to help out with everything. We had a few dessert judges (Gary, Josh, Bishop Williams, and TJ), and they had their own little party trying out the desserts. I spent over an hour washing dishes near the end. Gary and I had been running late, and I felt so bad I wasn't able to help more with everything, so I stepped in and washed lots of dishes. So I hope that helped save some time for the Strangs, who had been working since 2:30 that day setting up.

So, our costumes. The plan was to leave and be at the party at 5:30 to help setup. Around 3, I mentioned Gary and I do costumes. We hadn't purchased anything, and had nothing to wear, so I had to throw a few ideas around in my head until we came up with something. Since I have a couple of silk kimono's, I thought I should dress as a Japanese doll (or Geisha, for that matter), and Gary could be a Samurai. So I made a run around town looking for toy Katanas, and eventually found what we needed at Walmart. I had been to a few other stores before Walmart, why didn't I go there first?? Anyway, the traffic was pretty bad, but to keep from stressing out, I just blasted my music and sang to myself until I got home.

They were still pretty ghetto, but they turned out well enough. Now, the pictures suck because we were literally running out the door, but here goes:

Gary's wearing my blue silk kimono, and yes, those are old curtains around him as well. Notice Dexter's interest?

We didn't get a full body of me, because we were running late, and I didn't care. So it's ugly. But I was wearing a black kimono. Totally looks like I'm trying to be sexy, but I'm not, lol. In fact, the camera shot this photo on it's own, before I was ready.

 I had originally purchased a black wig to go with it, but the wig was terrible. It made me look like a hooker mime. Seriously, it was bad. I had taken my camera to the party, but being so busy, I never got the chance to take any pictures. Oh well. :(  All is good, though!

 Anyway, stuff to do today. Hope everyone has a spectacular Halloween today!!

 PS- Blogger's picture thing is irritating me again.

 PPS- Poor husband has been sick this week. He did so much at the Halloween Party, I was surprised he survived it. When we got home, we crashed hard. The bed felt sooooo nice! Hopefully he'll be feeling much better today!!