Ghetto-Ville

Our landlord is trying to fix up the apartment so he can sell the place. Lately, he's been replacing all the old, rotting windows, with beautiful new ones. However, I think he forgot one minor detail about the window in the bathroom.... it's completely transparent!!!!! When we mentioned this to him, his solution was for us to go by some kind of paper to put up so that nobody could see through (I think he said onion paper, does that sound right?) However, we still had to shower before we could get to the store and ended up nailing a towel to the window to cover the view of our shower up. Could we be anymore ghetto!!! Ha ha. I constantly have this fear that there is a hole in the towel that I didn't notice or that a random burst of wind will fling the towel up in the air, exposing me to the world. We really don't want to go track down and buy this paper he was talking about, but it would be nice to not have a towel being the only thing keeping me from being embarrassed and shocking some innocent person walking down the street. Any ideas?

Punkin Carvin'

Monday night we decided to carve our awesome white pumpkin that Katie grew for us. I don't really like the actual carving part (mostly because I'm so bad at it!) but I love scooping out the guts! Richard doesn't like having the nasty goop on his hands but he likes carving so we make a great team. It was SO thick it was hard to cut through but the challenge just made it more fun!

Here's me doing my favorite part:

And here's Richard final product:

It made a very fun FHE and I highly recommend that if you haven't carved a pumpkin yet this year, go out and do it!

Halloween, Doctors, and Family Time

The weekend started out being really great for us. Friday night we went to our ward Halloween party. I'm glad we went because hardly anyone was there! I felt really bad for those who had put a lot of work into it. It was a pretty lame party, but we did meet a lot of nice people! After the party we went to watch Bella at BYU's International Cinema. It was SUCH a great movie and I highly recommend it.

Richard got my cold a week or two ago but has been feeling slightly better lately. However, Saturday morning, he woke up with a very sore throat and we could see a bunch of nasty white stuff on one of his tonsils (ha ha, good description, huh?). We took him in to be tested for strep (and spent about 2 hours between the doctor's office and the pharmacy trying to get him taken care of) but it came back negative (although they told us those quick tests are only about 70% accurate). They put him on antibiotics and told him that if he doesn't feel better in a few days, it could be mono. Wonderful... It was a gorgeous day outside and I got a good run in but poor Richard had to spend the day resting. I ran around trying to take care of him, clean as much of the house as I could, and finish a TON of homework that has caught up with me.

Sunday Richard was feeling even worse but still went to Church and we had a GREAT sacrament meeting. That night we had our monthly FHE with my family at Grandma and Grandpa DuVall's house. My Aunt Rita taught a lesson on forgiveness and really started me thinking about some things I need to be changing in my life. My cute Grandma had put together a scavenger hunt for Halloween items around her house and then Scott provided some yummy cookies for dessert.

Even though I can't say the same for Richard, it was a great weekend for me!!

My Testimony

The other day I received a comment on one of my posts from someone I did not know. This person asked me if I have ever thought that the Mormon Church might not be true. I guess my first reaction was that I was insulted that he was insinuating that I had ignorantly followed this faith without ever finding out for myself that it was true. My next thought was that I felt sorry for this man who had, at one time, had the truth in his life and had chosen to leave it behind for something that he felt was better. If anything, reading about how his life is different now and the bad things that he has to say about the Mormons strengthened my testimony instead of shooting it down. It was so sad for me to see someone who was so lost and confused when he didn't have to be, and I'm grateful that I have so many things to point me in the right direction. But to this man who has lost his testimony and to everyone else who reads this- I want you to know that I KNOW that Christ lives and that he is the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints today. I KNOW that my Heavenly Father loves me and is constantly watching over and protecting me and that His greatest desire is for me to be happy. I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I'm very grateful I have those words in my life to help me to know what do. I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to bring forth this Gospel to bless all of us and I KNOW that Pres. Monson is a true Prophet of God and that he is speaking for God to all of His children and that if we listen to his counsel, we will be blessed. I KNOW that Christ's Atonement was for ME and for all of us and I am so grateful for that selfless gift that was given so that we could return to our loving Father. I KNOW that I have struggled and searched and found my own testimony and that nobody will be able to convince me otherwise. I have a testimony of my Heavenly Father and I would never go back on that after He has blessed me with so much. I love having the Gospel in my life and I don't know how I would get through a marriage, get through school, get through hard times, or get through ANYTHING without it!!! And I say that in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

"Fun" New Calling

I love playing the piano! I didn't always, but now that I have the skills and don't have to practice, it is a lot of fun and very relaxing. However, I have a really hard time playing it for other people. So, I guess Heavenly Father decided that I needed to get outside my comfort zone a little bit because I was called to be the ward pianist. It's interesting how teaching doesn't scare me at all, like it would a lot of people, but playing the piano in front of people does. It even took me a while to be able to play the piano in front of Richard! However, I have not been able to play the piano in a long time so I am really excited to be able to practice for my calling and fine-tune my skills that have become rusty. And at least they didn't ask me to play the organ! :) Even though I had to be convinced by Richard that I COULD do this calling, I am grateful that I finally do have a calling in the ward. The Church is true and I love it! Wish me luck in my new calling.

Cute Hubby

I don't mean this in a bad way at all, but Richard is normally not super romantic. Which is good for me because I'm not a romantic person either and I am pretty awkward in romantic situations anyway! (You should have seen me when Richard proposed!! Ha ha). But one thing that he has always been really cute about is bringing me flowers when I am down. On Sunday I wasn't having a very good day and Monday he surprised me by bringing this gorgeous bouquet home to let me know that he loves me. I am so lucky to have an amazing, thoughtful husband!!!

P.S. Richard wanted to let me know that apparently I had misinterpreted the intent of the flowers. It wasn't because I had a bad day, he just saw them and thought of me and wanted to get them for me to make me happy. Even cuter!!! Thanks babe, they are gorgeous and I love them!

Nano's Baptism

Last Saturday my oldest nephew, Nathanael, was baptized!!! It seems so weird that he is that old! I remember when he was born (I was 13) and how the family had to practically fight each other over who would get to hold him because he was the first grandkid and we all loved him so much. He is such a good kid and I'm proud of the decision he made to be baptized. I haven't been to a baptism for a really long time and it was cute to see how big the smile was on his face the WHOLE time and how much he trusted and looked up to his dad who was able to baptize him. After, we went to the Awerkamp house to eat dinner and chat with the family. It's amazing how your attitude switches from wanting to be with friends all the time in high school to loving every minute you get to spend with your family as you get older. I wish I could see them more often!!!! (sorry for the little tangent there) Congrats on your baptism, Nano, I love you!

Born to teach

This last week, Richard was observed by another professor to see how he's doing in his teaching. And, of course, he got an amazing review!!! The only criticism she had for him was that he needed to have the students repeat words more than once when they studied vocabulary, but other than that she had nothing but good things to say about him. She told him that she noticed a great relationship between him and his students and a couple of them even went up to her and told her that they love having him as a teacher! Then she told him that most of those things can't be taught and that some people are just born to teach! I have been to his class twice and KNOW that what she said was true, Richard is just naturally a great teacher. And I am SO proud of him!!!!!!!!!

The Sick Life

There are many reasons I hate being sick, as I'm sure many of you can relate. But one of the biggest reasons is because I feel like I waste so much time!!! Yesterday I felt so sick when I was done with work that I came home, popped in a Saved by the Bell DVD and watched my favorite tv show for over 5 hours!! I went to bed early that night and missed my class this morning, which means I slept for about 12 hours straight. While there is part of me that loves being able to shirk all of my responsibilities to waste my life on the couch, it does get old pretty fast. On the bright side, I usually only get really sick during Christmas or Thanksgiving break so I guess I should enjoy the fact that I'm sick this time without missing out on all the holiday fun!

Mission Woes

Ever since high school, I have wanted to go on a mission. In fact, I was pretty determined that I was going on a mission and wouldn't get married for a while. I guess the Lord had other plans in mind for me... When I would see my guy friends leave soon after high school, I was happy for them and couldn't wait for the day when I would serve as well. Now that all the girls my age are old enough to go on a mission, I get really jealous that they get to have these wonderful experiences that I will miss out on until I'm too old to learn a new language, too weak to walk all over new cities (or countries), and lose the confidence that I can do anything. However, I am very happy for my friends who will get that chance! Two of my old roommates will be in the MTC this month and are so excited to leave! Since Mandy will be going into the MTC this Wed, we tried to get a group of friends together on Friday night to be with her one last time before she leaves. It was a BLAST to be with some of my friends again and remember the good times we have had. Even Halee came up from the Weber to be with us! We mostly just talked, but also ate a bunch of junk food and played Boxers or Briefs, which is a really fun game. I love moving on and starting new adventures but I also really miss being with my girls. Good luck Mandy, you will be an amazing missionary!

NIGHTMARES

Here is a new blog (finally!) that will hopefully satisfy Kristi's need to constantly read about my life :) It's hard to think of things to write about when all I do is homework!! I hope this one doesn't creep you out too much...

There have only been two dreams in my life that have seemed so real to me that I couldn't remember what was real and what I had dreamed when I woke up (One was about my wedding day and the other was about a crazy murderer who had a crush on Richard). Last night it happened again with quite possibly the scariest dream I have ever had. I dreamed that there was a really creepy guy in one of my classes that nobody liked. I felt bad for him so I tried to be nice to him but he was kinda crazy and became obsessed with me and started stalking me. One night, he broke into my house, grabbed me, and pinned me down on the floor. I kept trying to slap him but every time I tried to slap him really hard, it would just barely touch his face and he would just laugh, while I just kept getting frustrated. He forced me to "cuddle" with him on the floor and the last thing I remember is trying so hard to scratch his face, particularly his eye, and it wasn't doing anything and he was just laughing like crazy because he enjoyed that I was so feisty. It was SO CREEPY!!!!! I woke up dripping with sweat and breathing really hard. In fact, my quick, short breaths woke Richard up and he thought something was wrong. It seemed so real to me that poor Richard had to hold me at 3:30 in the morning and tell me that it was ok and that he was there for me. I felt like a 5 year old, needing comfort from their mom or dad, but it was the only thing that would get me back to sleep! Does anyone know of a way to control your dreams to make them all happy?!