Gratitude

In Relief Society we had a gratitude project where every day for 10 days we had to write down three things that we were thankful for. I wanted to share some of them.
1. 2:10 when school gets out.
2. Half-days when I only have to teach until 11.
3. Meetings that end early
4. Teaching/coaching- just being around the youth
5. Long weekends
6. ICE CREAM
7. New soccer shoes
8. Cooking class with friends
9. Reverent Sunbeams
10. Friends old and new
11. BOOKS!!!
12. Nathan- how did I get so lucky??
13. My family-being the youngest is awesome, big sisters (and sisters-in-law) are the BEST, moms and dads are irreplaceable, big brothers....well they're good too.
14. Forgiveness- When I forgive and when someone forgives me
15. My testimony-I've worked long and hard for it, I don't want to lose it now
16. Priesthood blessings and the faith to ask for them
17. Patience
18. Hymns and Primary songs- Hardly a better way to brighten a crappy day
19. Thank yous
20. Prayer
21. Tender mercies
22. The knowledge that I am a daughter of God, so now matter what gets me down I can remember that this is something to be proud of.
Well those were somethings a thought about....but there were so many more. I'm soo lucky!!

Interesting or.....NOT

Amanda bullied me into saying six things that are interesting about me or not so interesting. Since I just hate talking about myself.....who am I kidding. These were the things I thought of.

1. When Nate and I lived in New York we went to several Broadway plays. They were all great but one of the highlights for me was being selected to be IN the play Spelling Bee. I sat on stage with all of the actors. They even sang a song and danced all around me. Then I had to go to the mike and spell the word "Jihad" I asked if i could have it in a sentence and for the definition (they were my big lines) after being scared to death and sweating beyond belief I spelled the word wrong. So my career in acting ended pretty quickly as I was escorted from the stage

These were a few of the ones that we went to.

2. I am the youngest of a big family. I have 5 brothers and 2 sisters. I remember wanting to grow up and be just like my sisters. My oldest sister is 10 yrs older then me. So when she was home visiting form college I thought it was so cool that she would stay up late. I would sneak down stairs and she would let me hang out with her and her friends. (Even now I hate to leave a party or "get together" early in case I miss something) Really I would just fall asleep, but still i thought it was cool. I shared a room with my other sister. She loved Broadway plays, which is were I think I got it from. They were both the best big sisters that I could have asked for. Now they are mothers and still good examples for me.Here's a pic of the fam. A few people are missing, but you get the idea.

3. I enjoy reading. This is something that is new for me. When I was younger I hated reading. It was always so hard for me to concentrate. I would read books way to easy for me because when my mind wondered, I wouldn't get lost. In high school I became a champion cliff notes reader. About a year ago I decided to start going to book group here is the ward. They were reading books that I liked. Some of the ladies here suggested books to read, and Ive been enjoying them ever since. My new favorite author has been Shannon Hale (Probably because were like second cousins twice removed), but I have enjoyed a bunch of others.

4. I can touch my tongue to my nose. The interesting part about it was when I was like 12 I taught myself how to do it. I would stick my tongue out and hole it to my nose. Then I would move my finger and hope that my tongue would stay. One day it did. I also taught myself how to wink with both eyes (not at the same time of course because that would be blinking). I used the same technique as I did with the tongue thing and held one eye shut. I would let go and hopefully it would stay shut. Eventually it did and I could wink.

5. I love to play sports. I played soccer all my life and I even played in college. I played at a small university in Iowa for two years. Then I transferred to SUU and finished playing. I've traveled all through the US playing soccer. I've also run two marathons. My best time was two years ago, 3:55:12. I bet a few people that I could finish in 4 hours and I wouldn't lose that bet. I guess you could say that I'm pretty competitive, but that goes back to being the runt of a big family.

6. The last thing is that I know how to sew. I even have my own sewing machine. I have even sewed two quilts. One is a jean square quilt and the other is all of my old high school and college soccer T-shirts. I cut them up and put them together. I have failed to tie these quilts, but I have all of the stuff. If anyone actually reads this far and knows how to tie and is willing to help, let me know.

Well that was fasinating I know... Now its Liora's turn.

Finally Up To Date

October came and went fast. Nate and I started off the month with the St George Marathon. We drove up Friday and woke up early that next morning to get or registration packet and get on the bus that ships you to the starting line. Nate and I ran together for the first 5 Miles. Then he wanted to go faster so he took off. I caught up to him again around mile 24. We finished the race together at 4:20:35. We felt good about that time. It's no record breaker, but good for us. Nate decided that he would NEVER run one again, But I told my sister Emily that I would run one with her when she turned 35 (Em-I hope you don't forget). So It seems that I cant quite put up my running shoes. We don't have any pictures, but we are hopefully going to get some soon.
The weekend after that Nate and I went to spend time with some of Nate's old mission buddies in Bullhead City. They have a vacation home right on the Colorado River. It was a nice weekend. I read my book and played games, Nate fished as much as he could. The next weekend I flew home to visit my family and say by to my brother who is going to be spending the next 6 months in Afghanistan. It was fun to see that family and also my brother blessed his baby, so it was a double whammy.
The weeks following consisted of Nate studying for finals (yay they're over) and me starting my soccer coaching again. I'm the JV coach at Mt. Ridge. It's fun to be around soccer again, I even went to get new soccer shoes. Sorry there are no Pictures this month. Hopefully we'll take some good ones for next time.

September Fun

The rest of August and September flew by. We moved apartments. YAY!! We are now across the hall in the huge two bedroom. I started school again, but this time I'm teaching much closer to home. I teach Chemistry at Mt Ridge HS. I have a great department and a huge classroom. Most of my students seem to be pretty good kids, so far. We'll see how that changes over the next few months.

Over labor day weekend, Nate and I went to Lake Powell. Nate's dad and Kelly rented a houseboat with their friends and invited us to come along. We left late Friday night and by the time we got there it was too late to find a camp ground. We ended up sleeping in our car with the doors open and our feet sticking out because we couldn't fit. The next morning we got picked up and spent the next few days on the lake. It was fun. I had never been to lake Powell and it was a great maiden voyage for me. On the way home we stopped at Natural Bridges Natl Park and a few ancient ruins.

We also made it to the ward campout. It was fun as usual. I'm still upset that Heather beat me in speed. I hope she knows that it will never happen again!! We woke up in the morning to a rain storm and spent the morning huddled under tarps. Nate was secretly glad for the rain, so then he could go home to study and not miss out on anything.

The last weekend in September we spent in San Diego for a OAO conference. I spent one day there with my brother. It was good to see him again, since he just got back from Kawait. We went running together and I thought I was going to die, but it was still fun. The rest of the weekend was spent at the conference. I really don't know what went on there, Nate will have to fill anyone in who is interested. I did have fun with the other wives that were there, even though we never did get to go shopping together.