Christmas Eve Tradition

This week's family memory will be about what our family does on Christmas Eve.

So we always do the put on the traditional Chrismas play (which turns out to be I guess not so traditional because there are only 3 of us kids, and a lot more roles than that, especially since we always do the BofM part of it too (Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy of the birth of Christ) so that may have to be its own blog post for another day). But after the play, at the sole request of our mom, we always end up singing some Christmas songs around the piano. Mind you, the only one in our family who is not completely tone deaf is probably my brother Sean, so it's always a somewhat painful experience.

After that, we always get to open two gifts. One of which is always the stereotypical Christmas pajamas. The thing that isn't so stereotypical about them though is that for some reason, years ago, my mom decided to start using the food storage machine to can them so we actually have to open it with a can opener. Now that I am writing this, I am realizing how weird of a tradition it kind of is, but let me tell you, that it must be a good one, because the years she has forgotten or not been able to get them "canned" we've all complained. So I guess the lesson to be learned here is if you are looking for a way to spice up the Christmas Eve pajama idea, you might try putting them in a can. After opening our cans, we all get to open one more gift which is always a children's book and then Mom makes us each read them.

After that, we always put out hot cocoa and cookies for Santa (and yes, even now, when the youngest kid is 21 years old) and then we all go and sleep in my room. We used to all sleep in the guest room bed because it was the biggest, and then I got a queen sized bed in my room too and so we started just sleeping in my bed, and then as we got older, I made the boys sleep on the floor next to my bed and they would just drag in blankets etc., but now as they have gotten older as well, still unable/unwilling to stop the tradition, but also unwilling to sleep on the floor, they have started dragging their mattresses into my room. It's a tight fit, but always fun and it made it easier for us to be able to coordinate who would go into Mom and Dad's room each hour on the hour starting around 2 am to ask if it was time to get up yet.

So I realized today that I really don't have any pictures of our family at Christmas, so I'm going to have to work on that when I go home this year. This picture was the only one I could find, that was Christmas-related and really isn't that great other than the incredible bow I have on top of my head (yes it does match my shirt, thank you mom-made clothes and accessories) and the lite-brite in the background which is probably one of the greatest Christmas gifts of ALL history.

Family History

So this month's visting teaching message was about doing family history and temple work. Family history is something that I have been feeling pretty guilty lately about not participating in and so I set some goals of things I can do to start doing my part a little more. Most of my goals are about finding things about my ancestors, but I also set a goal to be better about leaving things for my posterity (I guess I should say POSSIBLE posterity) to have to know more about me and our family. So I am going to write in my journal at least once a week (I realize that for some of you, this may be a shockingly low aim of a goal, but it would be a definite improvement for me from where my journal writing is at now) and I also am going to try to write about a family memory, tradition or something of the kind on this blog at least once a week (you all can monitor me and chastise me if needed on this part of the goal).

Random Funny

Sign posted in the bathroom in the building of one of my patients says:

"When you are finished using the tolit (underlined two times), Please Flush the Tolit!! If everything dose not go down, it is your (underlined 5 times) Responsibility (underlines 3 times) to plung the tolit (underlined three times. Thank you (underlined once)"

I like to think that the person actually pronounces toilet as two-let and that the number of underlines is an equivalent ratio to how loud their voice would be raised to emphasize that word.

Just Do It. . . Please

Have a second?

This is my cousin's husband.

He has CF and is trying to get a scholarship to help them pay for Optometry school.

All you have to do is send a text or vote online, or both. :)

And it honestly only takes 20 seconds. Or less if you are a turbo-twitch texter. (I couldn't think of any other t things at the moment. Don't hate me.)

Miracle of Miracles :)

So it has now been a little over a month since I arrived in Boston, and up until two days ago I had experienced no real signs of progression or seen real signs of hope in me getting a job as an RN anytime soon.

I would like to share with you what I read in my scripture study two days ago BEFORE any of the good job news came along.

The previous day had been one of the hardest and most discouraging days since I got here. Not for any particular reason, but I was starting to doubt again the soundness of my decision to move to Boston without having any sort of job set up for me when I got here. And I realized then just as I know now that I shouldn't be doubting it because the answer came very clear after a lot of work and prayer. But I'm human and when things are tough and not going as well as I dreamed, it is hard not to wonder if I really did make the right decision. Anyway I was reading Elder Holland's Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence. (Do you italicize talk titles or put them in quotes? I forget.) Anyway, I was reading it and came across these lines:

Everyone runs the risk of fear. For a moment in Moses’ confrontation with the adversary, “Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell.” 9 That’s when you see it—when you are afraid.


That is exactly the problem that beset the children of Israel at the edge of the Red Sea, and it has everything to do with holding fast to your earlier illumination. The record says, “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid.” Some (just like those Paul described earlier) said words to this effect: “Let’s go back. This isn’t worth it. We must have been wrong. That probably wasn’t the right spirit telling us to leave Egypt.” What they actually said to Moses was: “Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? … It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.” 10 And I have to say, “What about that which has already happened? What about the miracles that got you here? What about the frogs and the lice? What about the rod and the serpent, the river and the blood? What about the hail, the locusts, the fire, the firstborn sons?”

Now I don't get me wrong. I do not wish to compare Provo to Egypt; however, I cannot deny that I know that I should not be living in Provo at this period of my life, just as the children of Israel should not have been living in Egypt at that time in theirs. And reading this talk made me see how ridiculous I was for thinking about turning around. I had always wanted to laugh when I read in the scriptures about the children of Israel wanting to turn around and enter back into servitude in Egypt, but when I read this talk, I realized that I was doing the same thing by wondering if I shouldn't have ever left Provo or if I should just go back.

I decided then and there not to question my decision again. I knew that I was supposed to come to Boston and nothing about the correctness of that decision has changed yet.

Now we also know that although the children of Israel had to wander about the wilderness for 40 years, they experienced many miracles along the way.

My miracle came within 30 minutes of me finishing reading Elder Holland's talk and my resolution not to question the decision to move again.

About a week after moving here, I got a call from a man who ran a temp agency here in the Boston area telling me that he thought he could for sure get me a job with a home health agency (not my FAVORITE field of nursing, but hey in these economic times, any field of nursing is my favorite. . .). I was super excited and spent a day and a half filling out his paperwork and taking some tests, etc. But then nothing happened. He kept saying, "oh after Labor day" and then "your resume is in their hands, they will call you if they need you" blah blah. And after about 3 weeks of that I kind of wrote it off.

But this day I got a call from him saying that the agency wanted to have me come in so they could meet me. And then the next day (yesterday) I went in for an "interview" and I will be starting to work on Tuesday. This last part has happened so quickly that the whole thing seems kind of like a dream, or I guess MIRACLE. :)

Then if that all wasn't good enough, I got a call from another lady a couple of hours later from Mass General Hospital that my background check had FINALLY gone through and that I will be able to go in and get everything set-up on this next Monday so I can start working for them as well. (This job is just as a sitter/observer, but it will allow me to apply as an internal candidate for a few of the major hospitals here in Boston so I think it's a good thing).

After these two phone calls, which occurred literally within hours of each other and hours of my decision to stick with it and stop questioning my prayerfully made decision, I couldn't help but feel so overwhelmed with gratitude and faith in my Heavenly Father. I know He lives. I know He loves me. I know that He knows all of the little details of my life and of my every day. And I know that He is the ultimate "trainer" and knows exactly how far to push us so that we will grow and develop, but that He also knows our limits and will never push us farther than we can handle.

I re-read the talk again today and this final part stuck out to me:

How soon we forget. It would not have been better to stay and serve the Egyptians, and it is not better to remain outside the Church, nor to put off marriage, nor to reject a mission call or other Church service, and so on and so on forever. Of course our faith will be tested as we fight through these self-doubts and second thoughts. Some days we will be miraculously led out of Egypt—seemingly free, seemingly on our way—only to come to yet another confrontation, like all that water lying before us. At those times we must resist the temptation to panic and give up. At those times fear will be the strongest of the adversary’s weapons against us.

And I know that even after all of these miracles and blessings I have been given lately and even now that it looks like I won't have to worry about having work to do for a while (I will likely even have too much between the two jobs), I know that my testing period is not over and that I will have to continue to push myself and go through experiences that will make me grow and develop even greater faith and love for my Father in Heaven and His plan for me, but I'm excited for it. And I say, "BRING IT ON!" (Okay, maybe not really, but I know I'll get through and be better for any trials that do come my way.)

Joy in the Little (or LONG) Things

My hair touches the bottom of the back of my neck when it's in a pony tail.

I'm super excited about it!

I still have the urge to chop my hair off whenever I see someone with a cute short cut, but I am committed to letting it grow until at least my next birthday, so here we go.

Check it Out!!!

Please check out the new blog I just created inspired by my last post.

http://justablogaboutbooks.blogspot.com/

I'd love it if any of you wanted to join as authors.

Libros Libros Libros

Okay so I know that I should have a TON to blog about seeing as I have recently moved to the other side of the country and I promise I will. I will blog about our trek (Sean and I) out here to Boston and our adventures together, about my new house and roommates, Labor day Maryland cabin and Amish peeps trip, and the like, but not today.

Today I just want to talk about books.

Maybe I am just missing school more than I thought I would or something. Actually I don't think that is the case, because the GRE studying I am doing now is a good reminder of how school isn't always fun. Or maybe the GRE just isn't always fun. Especially the ridiculous vocab. ANYWAY, back to books. Lovely books.

I want new suggestions.

Here is a list of the books I have read and enjoyed this summer:

The Book Thief
The Help
The Glass Castle
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
I Feel Bad about my Neck
Peace Like a River
A Room with a View
The Hunger Games Series
Things Fall Apart
Born to Run
False Impression
Into the Darkness
Sense and Sensibility (don't know how I got this far  in life without having READ it)
Pride and Prejudice (re-read)
The Forgotten Garden
Jamaica Inn
Rebecca

Okay so some of these, I am realizing I actually read this spring, but spring/summer same thing.

And now I'm looking for some suggestions. So if you've read a good book lately, please post it on here, because being jobless, I've got some time. ;) I've heard good things about the "Uglies" series and will likely be starting them soon, but if you have others, I'd love your suggestions.

And if you haven't read some of the ones I read this summer and want to know more about them, just ask. I would STRONGLY recommend reading all of them except maybe "A Room with a View." It was one I was supposed to have read in high school and never finished, and although I liked it more and got more out of it this time around than I would have in high school, it still wouldn't make my love list. Or actually "I Feel Bad about my Neck." I just didn't get that into it.

Aparment Enrichment Night #1

So a few weeks ago in church I found a paper on the floor with ideas for enrichment nights and some of them sounded really fun to me. However, neither I nor any of my roommates are currently in any positions in which we really have any influence over enrichment night activities. So Reenie and I came up with the idea of having weekly Apartment Enrichment Night.

It seemed an especially good idea now since in the summer everyone seems to be traveling around and with Meagan now being engaged and Reenie dating someone, there isn't ever a lot of time where we all just get to hang out and do "girl talk." Hence the need for a planned weekly apartment enrichment night.

So for our first activity, we stole one of the ideas off the paper I found. Yoga and smoothie night. 

Reenie and I doing our ohms at the end of the workout

Meagan didn't end up coming, so we invited our neighbor Laura to join us, we all put on our best and tightest yoga pants and had a fabulous and enlightening (or should I say "enriching") time. 

Special thanks go out to my home boy Tony Horton for leading us in the rigorous workout and to the old classic Orange Julius for providing us with much needed refreshment after it was all done.

Aparment Enrichment Night #1 = Success! 

Welp. . .

So after thoroughly enjoying the cute header and design that my friend Andrea made for my blog last summer, which I have used now for over a year, I was able to con another good friend into helping me spruce up my blog a bit. (Thanks Kiley!) And I am really hoping that this will get me excited about writing on here again. Because after all, if I have titled it, "Kate's Summer Adventures" I better get going on writing down some of the summer adventures I have already had, and get excited about planning some more before the summer ends.

So here's to hoping that this will be the catalyst to get this blog going again. . .

Thanks again Kiley!

Please be my Consumer Report

So I have decided to sell my car. It was actually a pretty sudden decision. I am moving to Boston in the fall and planned to take my X-Terra along with me, because I heard that especially as a nurse and working crazy hours, I will definitely still want a car. However, I think ever since my mom got her Camry hybrid and my little brother his Nissan Altima which both nearly double the gas mileage I get in my car, I have been a little jealous. So, even though I have totally LOVED my little beast, I think it is time to sell it and get a more gas friendly friend.

Okay now here is the part that concerns you. I am looking at Mazda 3s. I don't know why. I've never actually even ridden in one. I just think they are cute looking mostly and I know Mazda is a good brand. But I want to know if any of you out there own a Mazda 3 or 6 or know someone who does and whether you love, like or hate? OR do you have a gas-friendly car that you would recommend?

I probably won't start looking very seriously until I start getting offers on my car. But I am hoping that might be soon because I just posted it today on  kslcars.com and I don't even have pictures up yet and I have had 2 people contact me.

Counting Up Again

I'm training for another half-marathon this summer and I think I'll restart my "odometer" on the side bar of this blog. I don't know why, but it really is exciting and motivating to me to run more when I get to find a fun new picture to put up each day. Lame I know, but hey, whatever works!

Cute Video Revival

I watched this little 30 second clip last night. I actually saw it for the first time a few years ago, but feel that it deserves being revived. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPibcB1Rego

Can I please take this little boy home?! So cute!!

PS Does anyone know how to just load an acutal video not just a link onto a blog? I used to, but as you know, have kind of sucked it up at blogging lately and I can't figure it out now.

Roley Poley

I have been  sitting in the Harold B. Lee Library for 6 hours straight now. I didn't even leave for a lunch break. I have of course put my 20-page final research paper off until the last week even though I have known about it all semester. But that's not what I want to write about right now. (Although I do have a pretty amazing story about trying to make a copy of an article out of a nursing journal 2 days ago that you will have to remind me to share)

Today I want to write about roley poleys. I am sitting in periodicals, one of the only places in the HBLL that has a good window view to the real world. There is a steep hill that I know most all of you know about that leads down to the windows. It is a nice day outside and I watch about 10 kids all jumping onto their bellies and rolling down the hill.

"What makes us do that?" I think to myself. Why when we are kids do we see a hill, and think, "Hey! I know! Let's make myself dizzy and nauseous and hurl myself down this hill!" I'm not saying it's a stupid idea, I know I did it all the time as a kid, but I do wonder who was the first person to do it? What gave them that idea? Would we as kids have thought to do it if we hadn't seen older kids doing it before?

I just looked up and saw that now a pretty overweight father is rolling down the hill behind his kids. So I guess it isn't just a kid thing. And now one of the older kids is sick of just "lamely" laying down on his stomach to start the roll and is now jumping down the hill and doing a belly flop into his roll!

Well, I better get back to my paper, or. . . maybe back to watching the hill to see if any other new tricks develop.  

The Dangers of Returning a Late Book

So yesterday, I was attempting to return my book from last month's book club to the Provo City Library. Yes. It is now 2 weeks late. Why? I am not really sure, because I finished it just 3 days after the due date which would have fallen into the Provo Library's lovely grace period.

Anyway, on to the action. It was a super snowy day and so I was having a fun time just trying to get around and for any of you who have tried to pull into the Provo City Library's book-return drive-through, you know that it is a pretty tight corner even when you aren't dealing with inclement weather.
Anyway, so I pull in, but I was a little far from the slot so I ended up dropping the book down on to the wet and snowy ground below the car. Without even thinking, I open my door and just start jumping out to save the soon-to-be avalanched-in book. (PS I think I might be a little dash happy tonight)
However, in my haste to save the helpless book I forgot that I had not put my car into park when I stopped so at the same moment I put one foot on the ground and start moving my other foot (which had been on the brake) out, the car starts rolling forward! Perfect!
I quickly move my foot back into place on the brake even though my other foot is still on the ground and the car screeches to a stop.
I catch my breath, jump back in the car, put it into park. Jump back out. This time the car doesn't move. I grabbed the book and returned it. It was a little wet, and I hope I don't get fined, but mostly I am just grateful that a) my car didn't end up a permanent fixture in the side of the library and b) that my body didn't get sucked in between the open car door, the book vaults and the underside of my car!