Technology

I am so grateful for technology. It shrinks distances. It is a resource of endless knowledge. This past year three of our siblings have moved away and things like email and Instagram have helped me feel closer to them in spite of the physical distance.

Taylor and Mercedes getting ready for Halloween!

All ready for trick or treating!

Grandpa Price took Seth to his first cattle auction. He's our little cowboy!

Spent the day at Grandma & Grandpa Price's farm.

It's not easy being away from these growing kids and their parents, but I'm grateful that I can still see them.

Excuse Me, But Can I Have My April Back?

Today can't really be the last day of April can it?

I seriously believe that time is speeding up. Please stop! There is so much that I still need to get done before I am ready for next month.

This month, though a blur, was good. Jonathan and I went to UC Davis for a series of Physics lectures. Oh man, it was good! I'm so glad that I have someone to share those kinds of things with.

The guy sitting next to Jonathan kept falling asleep.
We were both rather alarmed!

My birthday celebration started on Thursday and ended on Monday. I don't think my birthday has ever been celebrated for that long before. I liked it and am expecting the same thing next year. (Good luck Jonathan!)

It started out with my two favorite red heads and miniture glofing.

My gorgeous friend got married! I am so excited for her and her handsome man. We now feel like real grown ups!

Just gorgeous!!!

That same night, I lost my phone and about a week later got set up on Jonathan's old phone. Yes, it is a flip phone and yes, I do feel like I traveled back to the early 2000's with the lack of technology. (It's really only about 4 years old, but it seems older.)

Before we moved in with my parents, there was some water damage in one of the rooms we were going to use. It seeped into the carpet, so after a couple of months of trying to decide on what carpet to go with, it was finally installed. It is amazing! I sometimes just lay down on it because it is so soft and lovely. Now that we have the carpet, we've been able to set up the room the way we want it. My favorite thing that we've done so far is setting up Mega Desk. One entire wall is a desk with plenty of space for both of us. It is awesome! (I'll share pictures when it is actually done.)

Things have been good and productive this month. Next month will bring the end of another semester, Taylor and Kenzie moving (BOO!!! It's actually good for them, but I'm in denial of that part), and more projects. I guess I will be okay that April is over.

Five

For those of you on Instagram, I'm sure you've been seeing a lot of posts with people sharing five things about themselves. Well, my cute friend Jamey tagged me in her blog version and so mow here are my five.

  

1. For the first year of my life, I watched Peter Pan every single day. It had to stop because I wore out the VHS. (Boy, do people even know what a VHS is anymore!)

2. In my entire life, I have lived in a 3 mile radius. Thanks to Jonathan, I at least left the city I grew up in for almost two years. That should be changing by the end of this year though.

3. I can out belch just about anyone, including my husband. I refused to do it in front of him because I was worried that it would scare him off. Luckily, it didn't and now I've been helping him to not burp like a little baby.

4. When I was in high school, I really wanted to get through school, have a career, and eventually settle down and have a family. That seems pretty typical in the world we live in. What changed it for me was my nephew Tyler. I was rather uncomfortable with little babies and toddlers because I'm the youngest of my family. I babysat a lot, but they were usually older kids. By the time Tyler joined the family, I had already been an aunt for 3 years and was feeling really comfortable with kids. I don't know how to describe it, but the best I can come up with is that Tyler and I are kindred spirits. I loved spending as much time as I possibly could with him and was very bad at sharing him. (Sorry mom!) He helped me realize that I really do want to be a mom when I grow up.

5. Thanks to watching my mom do a million crafts and various projects throughout my life, I have no fear of trying things. We installed my ceiling fan when I was in high school, my first sewing project was a clutch, last month I did a little bit of simple embroidering, and this month I'm trying something new for a birthday present for one of my sisters. Trying new things is fun!

FYI, because you are reading this you are tagged!

I Am Grateful For So Many Things!

So, I know I've been slacking off with my daily gratitude post, but I blame school, family filled weekends, and more school! On the bright side I get to share quite a few things that I am grateful for! (That means this will be quite long.)

I am so grateful for my job. I just love my job! I work in the office of a landscaping company (the kind that rips everything out and makes it pretty, not the mowing kind). I work with such wonderful people and am so grateful that they hired me. It has been really interesting learning all that goes into running a business and learning how to use a Mac. I really am so grateful that I can be of help in an office setting.

I am grateful for extended family. I love my family. A couple of weeks ago, my great-uncle Gerald was in town. I just love him! As soon as he saw me, he asked me if I brought my saxophone so I could play him a song. He loves that I play the saxophone and was rather concerned when I switched to trombone. (He told me that a pretty girl shouldn't have move my arm back and forth to play music. He's so cute!) We also spent some time with my cousins and grandparents that weekend. It's such a blessing to be part of a loving family.

I am grateful for Primary Programs. Once every year, the children in my Church participate in our Sacrament Meetings. They sing songs, share scriptures, and bare their testimonies of Jesus. It truly is my favorite Sacrament Meeting of the year. The spirit in that meeting is so sweet and the children are unintentionally hilarious! One little boy got up to the pulpit to share his part and in the middle of his sentence, he hiccupped! He paused and then continued as though nothing happened and hiccupped again! It was adorable. He stayed calm and shared his entire part. I am so grateful for Primary and all of the wonderful things that are taught by the leaders and teachers.

I am grateful for the men and women who are willing to sacrifice their lives for our freedoms. It is such a blessing to have so much freedom in our lives that we don't even realize how much choice we do have in this country. That has been preserved through the sacrifice of so many brave and courageous men and women. I am grateful to them and their families for their daily sacrifice to ensure that our freedoms are not taken away. 

I am grateful for 6 hour lunch dates. On the Monday after Veteran's Day, I went out to lunch with my mom, Amy, Garrett, and our good friend Lisa. Well, no surprise that there was so much talking and catching up, but we didn't expect to be there for 6 whole hours! It was dinner time by the time we left the restaurant. It so wonderful to have such good friends that you don't mind spending the entire day talking with them.

Clara and Lyla playing on the floor.

The little boys watching a cartoon.

I am grateful for all the time that I've been able to spend with my nieces and nephews. I just love my kids (yes, I call them my kids). They are all so different and funny. I am grateful that I get to be part of their lives. They are so wonderful and each has amazing parents. I love watching my siblings being parents.

I am grateful for shelter from the cold and the rain. I love our little apartment especially when it starts to be cold and rainy outside. I feel so blessed to have a warm and cozy place to call home.

I am grateful for girl's night. Last week, I had a girls night with Kenzie and Christina. It was so much fun! We talked and snacked and watched a movie together. It is totally becoming a new Nelson girl tradition and next month Hannah and Mom will be with us too!

I am grateful for fall leaves. I love that as the wind blows, the leaves fall from the trees. It almost looks magical. I think that is one reason why I love fall. The leaves just kind of dance on their way down to the ground. Don't believe me? Watch for it. It's wonderful.

I am grateful for funerals. I know this one sounds really, really odd, but let me explain. I went to a funeral for my sister in law's cousin. During the funeral, sweet stories were shared about her and the sweet person she was throughout her mortal life. Her life was much more difficult than for most of us, but she still shared her love. Sometimes we forget how vulnerable our mortal bodies are and how much we rely on each other. I am grateful that I know that there is a purpose to life and that we will be with our loved ones that have gone on before us. I look forward to the day that I get to be with my grandmother, Barbara Jean Patterson. I am so grateful for the reminder that funerals are to me.

I am grateful for Sunday School. I love that I get to share lessons that are really meant for me (at least it feels that way to me). I love it when my class engage in the lesson (sometimes they all decide to be silent... it's not good). I love my kids (yeah, I have more kids). They are quite the bunch and I love each of them. I can't believe that another year is almost over. It seems like I've only been with them for a couple of months!

I am grateful for two cars that mostly work. (Jonathan has been having some minor problems with his battery dying and my brakes are starting to wear out.) I am so grateful that we can get to where we need to be and that we can rely on our cars to get us there safely. I am grateful that Jonathan knows how to maintain them and fix some of the problems. (He's planning on fixing my brakes. Yeah, he knows how to do that!)

I am grateful for the jinxing game. You know what I'm talking about. When you say the same thing as someone else and you shout "Jinx, you owe me a soda!" Yesterday, Jonathan came and visited me while I was in the Physics lab waiting to use the lab equipment and we were talking. When he was getting ready to leave, we both said the same thing and then I jinxed  him. I did request cranberry juice instead of soda (that stuff is bad for you!) I forgot all about it until Jonathan walked into our apartment carrying a bottle of juice for me. I just love that man!

I am grateful for this time in my life. I love having a cute little apartment to share with my sweet husband. I love spending time with him and our silly nieces and nephews. I love that we are still getting to know each other and learning how to be even sweeter to each other. I love that our life is simple. I am grateful that I have Jonathan by my side in all that I do.

Family Easter Celebration

We are so lucky to have our families so close. Sometimes it gets a little tough with sharing holidays, but some how things work out. This is how our Easter went.

We started out with a wonderful morning at church. The choir was so beautiful and the talks were wonderful. Something that a speaker shared was the various names and titles that Jesus has like Jehovah, Savior, and Redeemer. He shared a very well known scripture "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13. He made the connection that Jesus gave his life for us, his friends. I want Jesus to be my best friend!

The Easter bunny really likes us!!!

After Church, we headed over to my parent's house. Garrett looked incredibly handsome in his new Easter outfit. He loved playing outside, throwing Easter eggs and stomping on them. The missionaries came over and had dinner with us. It was really nice and easy going. We had to leave before Andy's family came, but Ryan left us a sweet note from the day before. I love how thoughtful he is!

Don't (take) tell Easter
Happy Easter BJ and Jounithin.
From,
Ryan
Happy Easter Miek and Amy
From,
Ryan

We then made the trek down to Davis to spend some time with the Nelson gang. Jonathan scared Christina when we walked right into their apartment. It was really funny. Mercedes is still not sure about Jonathan, but she still loves walking around in my shoes. Anyways, we listened to some comedian and played Uno. One of my favorite games growing up! Before we left Mercedes even let me tickle her! It was so much fun spending time together as a whole big family.

That's Adam's hairy head!!!

It was so wonderful being able to spend time with both of our families. They are the most important things in our lives. I love Easter and how fresh everything is. It is such a blessing!

Hermana Leshelle Hoer

I like to think that I'm a pretty good friend, well at least that I try to be. Before Jonathan and I started dating, I was in the Roseville YSA ward and met some wonderful people. I was able to become really close friends with Leshelle Hoer (it's pronounced her) especially since we were in the Relief Society presidency together. Before we finished our presidency meetings, I would have to give an update on what was going on with Jonathan. I would usually saying I wasn't sure about how I felt and Leshelle would always ask when are you getting married. At the time, it seemed like she wasn't listening to what I was saying. I was wrong! A few months later I was engaged and she was called to serve a mission in Chicago, IL. Leshelle left for her mission the same week Jonathan and I were married. I wrote a letter to her a few weeks later and it's still safely in my possession. Luckily, I found out today that she has a wonderful blog and now I can send her that letter and many more. She is an amazing woman and great story teller.

This is from Halloween 2009.

It is so great to read about her wonderful experiences in Chicago. I am so grateful for her friendship!