Happy Things

Lookie what we found for a super duper awesome deal on craigslist this weekend? 

We are so excited to hopefully not get extremely fat during the snowy months.  And we are keeping our fingers crossed that it won't bug our downstairs neighbor...


Speaking of exercise... I made these delectable little darlings yesterday and they turned out marvelously.

In case you can't tell... they are eclairs and they are very yummy. I thought of my Brookie Lou (who is pro at these) the whole time and wished we were making them together. It was my first time making them. PLUS, I have the world's most ghetto oven which loves to hurt my feelings by burning EVERYTHING I bake. I have to bake everything at least 200 degrees lower and it never tastes right. So we prayed that it'd work for the first time ever and thanks to Heavenly Father, they turned out so good and I was dancing around singing opera about how happy I was that my treats turned out so deliciously! 

PS the maintenence man called today :) He is bringing our new oven tomorrow


Also, as a side note- the lady we bought the treadmill from was going through a divorce. I just felt so bad for her.  You could tell she was really having a tough time. She had sad eyes.  As we drove away I just kept thinking about her and really wanted to turn around and talk to her. So we did. I wrote Mormon.org on a piece of paper and told her we were Mormons.  I said we knew she must be going through a really rough time and that our religion has brought us so much happiness.  We gave her the site address and I just told her that I knew that God loves her and we hoped everything would work out for her. As we drove away I started to cry.  When I told her that I knew that God loved her- I could really feel that He did. The spirit totally bore witness to me that God really does love ALL of his children.  I just know that.  

Playing Catch Up

I won't go back too far, but I do want to catch up on the last month of living here in Indiana.  I'm so proud of Ryan!  He works really hard and is a great example to me.  It was hard to move away from Utah and we miss everyone so much. But so far we are really enjoying it here in our new home.

That being said... Dear Ry-cheek, I SO would not mind moving back to Utah as soon as business school is over. K? :) love you

Here we are after 5 million hours of driving. Needless to say, we were so happy to arrive at our new home and see it for the first time. Did I mention happy to not be driving anymore?

Definitely need to give a humongous THANKS to Roah for driving my car out here!
 It was fun having him on the trip with us! We explored Chicago the first weekend out here as well as Notre Dame's pretty, pretty campus. 

This piece of beautifulness in front of Roah is Chicago Deep Dish Pizza... mmmmm. Yes. It is THAT good.  Thanks to Matt for the recommendation on Giordanos.

Touch Down Jesus! :) 

The Golden Dome (Why ND helmets are gold)

Here is some GREAT news- We have a BEACH just 45 minutes from our house :) and it's such a pretty drive too! Ryan and I have already gone to the beach at least 5 times so far... gotta go as much as we can before the snow...

This was on our one year anniversary! Can't believe it's been a year! by far- best year of my life :) Ryan, you have surpassed ALL of my hopes and dreams of my husband and marriage. I love you so much. 

The Van Wagoners came through South Bend on their way back to Utah to take Danny home. It was so fun having them and fun to officially meet my brother in law! 

Brothers reunited

First American meal

And how could Ryan live anywhere without a bike path? We have a pretty neat-o one.

This is the view from the bike path. Pretty huh? 

My biker man husband love.

Why I'm starting a blog...

I just finished reading "Heaven is Here" by Stephanie Nielson- she was burned more than 80% of her body and went through so much pain and heartache.  Being on the brink of death made her realize what really mattered in life and changed the way she looked at life.  It seemed she had it all in her earlier life-beauty, great husband, 4 kids, job as a yoga instructor, nice home etc.  Then everything changed.  Due to a plane crash the fire burned away so much of her skin and tissues that it not only caused pain, discomfort, and disability, but it also drastically changed the way she looks.  One of the most heart wrenching parts of this book was when after several months of avoiding mirrors, she had to look at herself and accept the way she looks.  I balled my eyes out.  It would be so hard to go through so much pain and trauma, to also have your looks completely changed, and to see people staring at you for the rest of your life.  I'm sure Stephanie didn't feel that she fit the criteria for "beautiful".  However, as I read her book, I was so inspired by her courage and faith that I knew she was one of the world's most beautiful women.  Her perspective changed the way I look at beauty.  I have definitely found myself complaining about a zit, moaning that I'm so white (as the members in Ukraine said "white like sour cream)," or feeling "fat" every now and then. But after reading this book I realized how silly that is.  I'm lucky I have skin! I'm lucky to have a body that is healthy and strong- that can run and exercise and perform daily tasks.  Wanting to look or be perfect is dumb.  It's not possible and it's not important.  What's important is to love myself and others in the most Christ-like sense I can and to appreciate all of the millions of blessings that God has given me.  ANYWAY- life changing book! I definitely recommend it. Probably my new favorite! 

Here is a short clip about her story- 

She is known for her blog, nieniedialogues.com and looking through it has inspired me to start a blog. I love the idea of keeping a journal but a digital one (like a blog) with pictures seems much more fun and doable.  Plus- since we live far, far, away in Irish land I thought it'd be fun to update family/friends about what we're up to out here.  I love the idea that one day Ryan and I can look back on our life and have this "book of remembrance" if you will. So, here's to starting a blog and hopefully keeping up with it!