Memorial Day Madness!

A memorial three day weekend. Not long enough for a vacation, but oh boy did we milk every ounce out of these three days! I had a project in mind. I wanted bright either green or orange chairs for my cute {but empty} porch. I mentioned to Cody that I would like a cute little table to go with the cute chairs we had... I could just picture it all in my head: Me on my cute chair, Cody on his, and a little table between us where we could set the salsa while we watch the sunset.  So he found me a table. A little bigger than planned... but it came with two free chairs....for $30! And the project evolved.

I picked out my paint. I wanted COLOR. I love color i WANT TO LIVE IN IT :) So here's what I picked. Easy as 1 2 3. Ok so I added yellow later...

If you haven't painted something with your hunny, you should. We cranked up the radio and just sung along and talked and laughed and made a big mess. What could be better?
Here was our big project. We drove up to Salt Lake to pick up the table and ran to home depot...a few times.

Step 1. Sand. Everything. Nice and smooth. 

Step 2. Prime whatever needs it. Cody taught me that because these chairs were black, I would want to prime them, so that the paint would stick to the primer and the black wouldn't show through. Maybe we should have primed everything, but since I wanted it all distressed after, I didn't mind if the natural wood showed through or if the paint chipped off a little bit here & there. 

 Step 3. Paint!

Step 4. Goof off until the paint is dry. Or run to Home Depot..again

Step 5. Paint again!

 I wanted it to look distressed...so we SANDED...again. But this time is much more fun.

Ahhh I just love it. Wasn't planning on having a table and SIX chairs....hehe I just had to add 2 more...also KSL finds. See?

And now three days later and I have a whole new fun set! I sit there at least 10 times a day.  When is the next 3 day weekend and what will our next project be....hmmm...

Love Notes

I really really like love notes. I got a hate note once, did not like that at all. I stumbled across Cody's little stash of love notes I had written him over the last year or two. I realized that if he saves them, he must like them. So yesterday I wrote Cody a love note. I was so sneaky about it, I snuck out to the truck and put it on the dash when he didn't even suspect it. I knew he had a big test that day. And guess what?! I got a love note back today...plus a flower on my desk! Made my day! Made me so happy I thought I'd write some more love notes.

Dear Utah thank you for sending us gorgeous sunshine today, I love your mountains and I love living here. Thanks for bringin' the pioneers this way.

Dear Mom, thank you for the books you let me borrow and for letting me hang out with you almost every day when I'm in Alpine. I just love it.

Dear macbook, I love how smooth you are. I love carrying you with me everywhere I go. Thanks for being so fast at everything you do.

Dear Better Homes & Gardens Magazine: thank you for all the inspiring ideas for my amazing future home. I sure love reading you these days. I love your style, the make-over and renovations you do. So motivating.

Dear Cody, of course I love you. Thanks for studying so hard this summer term. You're such a smartie.

Dear cozy bed, thank you for being so cozy and for helping me keep my feet warm. Ah...I love all the time we share together.

Dear Air Popper: Thanks for the great popcorn you make. I love it with olive oil and salt and pepper. You are the best.

Dear bobby pins: Thanks for saving my bad hair day today. I owe you big time.

El Natural!

There is just something about this nice weather we've been having that just makes me want to hang around in the forma natural. Ya know, the cool breeze blowing blossoms through your hair, going barefoot in the yard, and getting covered in dirt in the garden or playing in the mountains. I love it.

Lately I have totally been feeling it. Didn't wear mascara the other day to work, left that big zit on my chin uncovered. Ew. But there is something liberating about it all.

This has been settling in for a while. I usually have lived by Sheri Dew's philosophy:

take the time as you need to get ready in the morning to feel confident when you look in the mirror, then forget about what you look like and live your day without worrying or fussing about it again.


But sometimes, I don't feel like taming the mane, and I just bag the "take the time in the morning part" and live my day, in the el natural:

Try it. Love it.
Ok so sometimes I hang out like this for too long on too many days. But now you know. Hmmm, feels good.

Bless The Day I Married My Man

Saturday is my first anniversary with Cody!! I'm so excited. I'm sitting here pondering my excitement one year ago today. I had 4 more days until it we would finally be together and it would be forever. I remember planning the seating chart for the luncheon, making the name place cards, writing thank you cards and compiling gifts for my bridesmaids, and I feel giddy all over again!! This weekend we are going to SLC for the MS walk and then spending the day & night up there. The celebrating will never end! I will always celebrate April 30, 2010, the day I married Cody!!

Dearest Cody

 You light up my life

I admire everything you are

Thank you for making me feel beautiful, every day

And for making me laugh so hard I can't open my eyes

The dance of life is a riot with you

 And every day I have with you is a gift I treasure

 Our names will forever be side by side

And I will never let you go.

 I love you.

Sittin' Waitin' Wishin'

Here I am. Just sittin' waitin' wishin' for Cody to come home. 

I made some soup. 

Cleaned the kitchen. 

He is such a little busy worker. I'm so proud of him. 

But home isn't home without Cody.

Ohhhh now he's home!!! SEE YA!!

Determined Me

Hooray! Winter semester is over I can hardly believe it. I'm at the half way point. 3 Nursing semesters down, 3 more to go. Cody and I celebrated by makin' some green spicy soup {interesting stuff} and dancin' in the kitchen while rockin' out to Smile by Uncle Kracker. True love.

And so now I'm determined this summer shall not go wasted! I am in the process of making a summer list of goals. Of course, I'm so excited to spend tons of time in my cowgirl boots, in the hammock out back, kissin' Cody in the back of the truck up the canyon, and goofin' the time away with Coders. BUT, I also have a few goals for inbetween...

To Do:
1. Read some books...I'm thinkin' at least six. That's do-able. Textbooks don't count. Yay!
2. Try 2 new recipes a week.
3. Visit 3 new temples.
4. Paint my 2 wobbly chairs for the front porch: orange? yellow? blue? green? Pick a color.
5. Finish "Civ 2" and "Arts" GEs. How I still have GE's left I have no idea.
6. Save some cash.
7. Use my sewing machine. I'll need a project. Any ideas?
8. Train for 13.1 in the fall.
9. Re-commit the Living Christ to memory.

And now, there. My goals are set! I'm committed. Phew.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” 

-C.S. Lewis

The Wonderful World of FOOD!

We definitely have a new found appreciation for food. Especially Cody. I can't even tell you what it was like to watch him CHEW, TASTE, and SWALLOW his first solid food in 25 days.

Cody: "oh my gosh, this is so good I'm going to cry".

Wanna try some of what he's been eatin'? Try this:
Mix some cottage cheese with 3 Tbs. Flaxseed oil {it's good for what ails 'ya!} we mixed it in our magic bullet. It comes out nice and thick and creamy. Slather it over some sliced apples or grapes or whatever. Sooooo good. Ok so this is like dessert. He's mostly an herbivore.

Cody's favorite animal of late: All they eat is greens, and looks how big and strong they are.

The animal I covet lately:

Ya. I wish I could cook like him.

I've always tried hard. Yeast breads hate me, cookies turn out like pancakes, and anything that should be "golden" always ends up charred and smoked. But I have a new determination to make good quality veggies for Cody. Already I've learned how to cook/use things I never knew existed. Enter: Quinoa {ok so this one is a grain}! It's so fun! I feel like an explorer in a whole new food adventure land. Like candy land, but....with veggies.

I've made a whole list of things I can hardly wait to make:
Ratatouille haha...no but really.
Brussels
Zucchini Spaghetti
ya ya ya...

Ok I'm officially a crazy lady. Try them with me, it'll be an adventure.

Things New

I dare say I have been waiting in great anticipation for the annual somethin-mums to pop up this year. I'd walk out on the porch each morning, and look at the green thick promising leaves. Sure enough, they finally shot up out of the ground, their red buds preparing for bloom. How did they do it? It was such a brutal winter. The fragile red buds have even survived the rain, the hail, the snow this spring; they are determined to bloom despite it all.

Each time I see them I feel like like they communicate a subtle message that I like to let sit in the back of my mind. A message of hope, of life, and of joy! Hooray for spring! Come rain, hail, sleet, snow, and life can be beautiful in all of it. A perfect message for the last 4 days of the cleanse, for the last few days of long study hours for finals, a perfect message for any hopeless or gloomy day that makes you want to pull your hair out.

A huge hug to the green thumb that can tell me what kind of flowers these are?
Perhaps I will plant some wherever I go

So, the "all things new" spring theme has settled in my mind. I have never felt so grateful for Easter as I do this year. We have felt inspired to clean and brighten things up a bit:

Drowning in dull....

Ta-Da!
My new favorite pillows I can hardly stop staring at them they are so fun.
Should have taken a close up. 

And....2 things new in the Wilson nook. Lucky KSL finds. Did I forget to mention how handy it is to marry a skilled KSL hunter? Best. thing. ever.
Look at the desk he got me!! I don't have to use the fold up banquet table anymore. Ahhhh I love it.

Have you ever seen a desk with such character?! 

 And a bookshelf. Same KSL venders. We had to stop letting them show us all their cool cheap stuff for sale.

And now, our apartment is clean, some color has brightened our home, and the message of Easter has filled my heart with joy and gratitude.

And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the firstfruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.

Because of our beloved Redeemer, we can lift up our voices, even in the midst of our darkest Fridays, and proclaim, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Can you imagine that? Life at our prime? Never sick, never in pain, never burdened by the ills that so often beset us in mortality?

If today is you're dreary Friday, Read this: Joseph B. Wirthlin, Sunday Will Come

I'm so happy for Easter! Life will always win, and Sunday will always come. I just know it. 

Two in Eden

There's nothing like being in the middle of nowhere with your favorite hottie hubby. Cody's sweet aunt Kim & uncle Vance let us hide out in their cabin for the WHOLE WEEKEND in the lovely little town of Eden. Just what we needed. Not even nursing homework could find me! And there is no internet. Just the two of us in a cozy cabin. I even left all my make up home, part on accident, but wonderful. We just hung out in our PJ's except to visit the Eden 1st ward (and perhaps the only ward for how small the cute town is) on Sunday morning.  What did the two do?

Played pool. 

Played pingpong. 

Watched a movie in the theatre room.

Played Tic-Tac-Chek-my win. YES.

Played Guillotine. Cody's win.

Juiced some veggies. 

Watched another movie.

Cuddled. Talked. Giggled.

Played SkipBo.

Played Settlers of Catan x 3. 

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. 

Love. Love. Love. 

Now we are home. But today is great because we are celebrating day 7 of the juice cleanse. It's very hard, but we're excited because we're told it gets easier right about now. Day 1 and 2 were almost impossible---so hard emotionally, physically, and mentally. I had to add a few fruits to keep my blood sugar up, and a few whole veggies to keep down the nausea. That helped me a ton. But Cody is strictly juices per nutritionist orders. It's so hard to listen to his stomach growling at night. Cody is dropping weight like I drop my cell phone---which worries me. Our bodies feel good. Energy is low, but hopefull feelings and determination are high. We love to plan healthy recipes that we can eat after it's over.

On the way home from Eden, we visited the new Whole Foods Market at Trolley Square in SLC. Wow. I felt like a rat at a circus~~HEAVEN! We had to leave quickly. But holy cow we are going back when we're done. It was amazing. Lots of healthy foods there I hadn't even heard of, and had no idea how a person would go about eating it. Can't wait to try it all.

Green Juice

plug your nose for the green stuff

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!!

This weekend we visited a doctor recommended by a fellow MS friend. A very big change is coming, it's just LOOMING! I have mixed feelings--ya know, the same feelings that come with any big change: Excitement, fear of failure, determination, mourning old habits etc. etc. What is the big change?
The goal is three fold:
1. out with the bad. 
2. in with the good. 
3. channel energy expenditures.
That doesn't sound so bad eh? What body wouldn't like that?

Let's just say the new change involves excessive use of this big guy: 

The Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer. Never thought I would have one of these. Sure, we like how he looks sitting on the counter...we're just afraid to taste what he'll make out of spinach, kale, and dandelion greens. Pure vegetable juices for 3 weeks is the foundation of the cleanse. This will help cleanse the colon of toxins, and pave the way to eliminating some of the 52 stressors they said Cody has in his body. My favorite stressor listed under "heart" was "excessive joy." Haha. I hope he keeps that one.

Anyway, this all starts Tuesday night.

Until then, we're saying our goodbyes. Like so: 

Tonight we'll eat a farewell to Enchiladas and take "before" measurements, just for fun. Haha. I'm not exactly sure if this is my idea of fun... but if saying goodbye to old ways means goodbye MS symptoms, hey, we'll try it. We have great motivation. Besides, together I think we can do anything. 

  

Raindrops and Happy Thoughts

There is something about being home with Cody when it's raining outside that I like. It sure is a drizzly night...cozy. I'm nervous for clinical tomorrow, nervous I won't even bat an eye until 10 o clock AM and that I would have missed 4 hours of clinical.
Tonight I will pray extra hard to wake up on time.
Cody said our prayer last night. He thanked Heavenly Father for me and he told Him how much he loves me. Hmm I wish EVERY girl had a GREAT guy so she could hear him pray for her whenever it's his turn. It's the most humbling/best thing there is. But you see, Heavenly Father and I both know, I'm the lucky one.

The other thing I like about being in my house tonight: the new happy things I have around. Cody let me pick a plant from IKEA (they have SWEET ones...real orchids, and cactuses that are RED, it took me forever to pick one). Here he is:

and the Sunflower canvas we got togetha (Sunflower's are my favorite...they are symbolic). Cody took this pic and captured some of the Sunflower canvas...the rest of my messy desk I cropped out :) 

"Happiness is not a destination, it is a way of life." This sign was given to us on the condition that we put it somewhere we could read every day. I do read it every day, but I haven't picked a location yet--I have two possible spots. Then Cody will hang it for me. "A little to the left, no higher, higher, no too far! Back a bit, no, other way" haha love it.

Oh and tomorrow is all things GREEN.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Just another great reason to celebrate.

Walk for MS--Celebrate with us

It just so happens this week is MS Awareness Week, the week after Cody's official diagnosis. It also just so happens that the 2011 Walk for MS in SLC is on our first anniversary: April 30, 2011. Save the date! We walk in hopes that someday MS will have a cure; that it won't be able to take away physical function we now take for granted. We also walk to celebrate what MS can never take away from us--our choice to love, our choice to be happy. 

The walk is approximately 3 miles {with fun a long the way}. Come join our team! I want Cody to see his supporters. It doesn't cost anything to do the walk, but our team will be raising $$ for the MS society. To join our team, strongWIL, click here
 
Here's the agenda for the walk
April 30th 2011
8:00 a.m.           Check-in Begins at the Union Pacific Depot Grand Hall (Gateway Shopping Center @ 900 S. 400 W. in SLC)
8:00-9:45 a.m.    Breakfast Snacks & Festivities at the Olympic Legacy Plaza including
                             -    Kids Zone
                             -    Mission Tent and Team t-shirt voting
                             -    Team and Sponsor Tables
9:45 a.m.           Program Begins
10:00 a.m.         Walk MS Starts with the approximate three mile route heading north from The Gateway. 
-    Snacks, festivities, and bathrooms will be available at rest stops along the route.
-    Walk MS will end to the cheers of supporters and a huge "Thank You”!

To read more about the walk you can click here
More team info to come! :) 

En la Chateau d' Amoure 2011

Life is a roller coaster, that is for certain. It's a good thing though, that roller coasters have two seats. One for the screamin' joy rider {me} and one for the crazy thrill-seeker {codes}.  They say, the trick to life is enjoying the ups and downs.
Cody reminded me that in the craziness of late, I hadn't blogged about one of our "ups" {we have plenty} this year, our first Valentines day as a wedded couple :)
Valentines day was blissful this year.
Cody and I celebrated the love holiday all weekend long.
Friday: shared a salad at Cafe Rio and watched a movie on the love sac.
Saturday: We had a blast making kiss-ka-bobs for our siblings. He took me dancing. He wore his suite, I wore my pink dress. I felt like a little girl in giddy in love, as I so often do with Cody around. We had a great silly time. We danced in the swing contest, we didn't even get disqualified for lack of skill.

Sunday: Visited the Wilkes & Wilson families. Dished out the kiss-ka-bobs. Candle light dinner for Cody's family monthly event. We always draw names and decorate a giant sugar cookie in a way that would describe that person. Then we guess who drew who. It's so fun.

Monday {valentines day}:
I had no school.
Cody and went to the gym together.
I kissed him goodbye and sent him to work.
Then I went to town; I decided to turn our house into the Chateau de Amore! {cheesy, yes; fun, double yes}
I decorated.
I decided on a menu, and got started cooking and preparing.

Fresh spinach berry salad topped with feta cheese and candied almonds, 

drizzled with blackberry poppyseed dressing. 

Chicken Cordon Blue served on a bed of wild rice

 a side of fresh and seasoned green beans. 

For dessert, chocolate covered strawberries, courtesy of my mother. 

It was so yummy :)

My favorite salad....yummm

Dessert: thank you mother

Believe it or not...Cody kisses me like this EVERY day :)

Enjoy the ups. Survive the downs. Love through it all. Bring it on!!

Your Prayers are Our Tender Mercies

It is so interesting we can see little blessings in the midst of something that may seem so big and overwhelming. It is the little blessings that helps me to know that God is in it all. And each one I feel is a gift sent to us because someone faithful prayed for God to give it to us.

Cody had to have an MRI, but we found out yesterday his insurance paid for it all--- 100%


Cody had to have a lumbar puncture, but it wasn't too painful for him like he thought it might be...he's so tough.


Cody had to stay flat for the first day, but my mom was able to take care of him while I worked so he could have proper royal treatment :)


He developed a spinal leak, but the doctors were able to get him in for a blood patch.


Cody was nervous for the blood patch, but this time I got to be in the room with him, and the head anesthesiologist did it.


He had to miss 2 1/2 days of work, but they were so flexible and understanding. 


I had to miss class, but my sweet friend took notes for me so I won't miss a beat.


I started to have a pity party, but then I met someone who had a new diagnosis of breast cancer, and I was immediately humbled and filled with compassion.


In the middle of all of this, I started to cry, but someone gave me a big hug and told me we're stronger than we think, we got an email of encouraging words, and received a letter in the mail full of testimony and truth. 


I pray to thank Heavenly Father, and he fills my heart with love and gratitude for all those who exercise their faith in our behalf. Thank you. We will love you forever.