Halloween Shenanigans!

This Halloween was definitely one for the books! I was really wanting to have a Halloween party even though Austin’s grandparents were going to be out of town. I got together with Austin’s aunts and we planned a really fun party!

I made a Photo Booth for the kids and their pictures were AWESOME!

We also played a lot of really fun games! It was fun to see everyone getting into it!

And the food!! I had so much fun making Halloween dishes and we had quite the selection! Let it be known that I carved the barfing pumpkin all on my own. It is not a secret that I’m not very patient with things that don’t come easily to me. Almost every year I cry from frustration when it comes to carving pumpkins. I’m proud to admit though that I carved the barfing pumpkin all on my own and there were no tears shed! I thought he turned out really well! I made queso to put inside of him and his barf is buffalo chicken dip! I also tried to make some zombie guts! (aka red velvet cinnamon rolls) I was so happy with how they turned out!!

Also, I’m pretty sure we killed it for Halloween this year. I present Gru, Agent Lucy Wilde, and our little minion 🙂

Now, I know by looking at these pictures and reading this post it seems like we just had the perfect party right?? Haha, just goes to show how pictures can really be deceiving. So let’s just start from the beginning…I worked Sunday night before the party. I came home, slept for about 2 hours, and then the food and party prep began! I cooked all day and then got myself ready. Austin got home from school a little later than he was expecting. We needed to leave our house by 4 to go over to Emily and John’s house to set everything up to be able to start the party by 5. Austin got home about 3:15/3:30 and I was scrambling to get him ready. I have never used a bald cap before and it’s not as easy as one would think! We were both getting frustrated, and I took a time out. I felt myself getting worked up, so I went and loaded the car. At this point, it was about 4:30. I came back in and asked Austin if he would be offended and I let him figure out his bald cap while I went to set up for the party. I drive to Emily and John’s and it is so windy!! Our big plan was to do the Photo Booth outside because the pictures would look better. There were 4 of us out there trying to set up streamers and banners, and I couldn’t even use half of the decorations I planned to use because the wind was too strong. At this point, I kind of felt like crying, but I was trying to brush it off and try and have fun anyway and not let it get me down. Austin calls pretty close to 5 and tells me his bald cap has just ripped. I told him it was okay, I wasn’t mad, he could just put on his nose and come over to the party. He told me he would figure something out. He ends up at the theatre costume store where I bought his bald cap and prosthetic nose in the first place, and the makeup manager said his schedule was full but that he could sneak him in a quick window and get him a new bald cap and get his nose applied. At about 6:30, Austin made it to the party and he looked incredible!! I was beyond excited. I know he did it for me too. He knows I love Halloween and get really into our costumes, and it just means a lot to me that he would go out and get that done knowing the time commitment it would be and also on top of a month where our budget was already struggling. He is too good to me!

All in all, everything worked out and I think everybody had fun. Here’s to already thinking about next year’s costumes!! 😉

Sunday Reflections

I was quite the little homemaker today! I made homemade dinner rolls for the first time today! I love the way bread makes the house smell. I also tried this new Oreo hole poke cake. I combined the recipe for better than sex cake with another recipe I found and it turned out flipping delicious. I have eaten way too much this weekend. Here marks the beginning of the season of eating way too much!

 

 

This has been a seriously crazy week. I’ve been picking up a lot of shifts lately trying to make some extra money. Today we had the missionaries over for dinner and while I was getting everything ready, I just kind of realized I’ve been moving a little too quick. I’ve been doing a little “running faster than I have strength.” I’ve also just been so tired and cranky….not good. I started to realize that my car accident was about a year ago. I can’t believe I fell asleep at the wheel a year ago. That accident is still one of my biggest learning experiences. I started to feel today that I need to slow down and make sure I’m getting enough sleep. I could feel that everything else will work out.

Our cute little missionaries were honestly a little awkward. Austin and I were trying to ask them questions but they kind of just ate quietly! Haha! My point in saying this is, even though they were awkward and it wasn’t quite what we were expecting, it was still special. I love the spirit the missionaries bring into homes. I love the message they share and there is just something special about them. I’m so happy we had them over 🙂

I was at the hospital yesterday and I worked with a different nurse since my preceptor, Mary, was called off. It was a crazy day…I was physically and emotionally exhausted by the end of it! We had the sweetest patients and they really tugged at my heartstrings. It was confirmed again to me how much I really love nursing, and even more so, how much I love pediatrics. I also realized that some of these kids and families are in really hairy situations but our Heavenly Father knows. He loves them and he’s watching over his kids. I love the opportunity to be with them and help them smile and support them during their time in the hospital. This week I met with the nurse manager of the women/children’s float pool at Utah Valley Hospital and I am so excited to apply for a job in December! In the float pool, the nurses work pediatrics, mom/baby and the NICU. I just think I would learn so much and gain so much experience. Keep your fingers crossed for me! But any who, back to my shift yesterday. Being a nursing student is kind of hard sometimes. Most of the time you feel like an idiot, you always ask stupid questions, you always wish you knew more than you do…it’s tricky. The nurse I was working with had asked me to draw up an IV medication while she did something else. She had administered the same dose earlier in the day and told me to draw up a certain amount of the medication. I did just that, but for some reason I decided to look at the vial again (I’m usually paranoid and double and triple check everything). As I looked at the vials, I realized I needed less of the medication than she told me in order to give the proper dose. I notified the nurse I was working with and we were able to give the correct dose. This experience for me was huge! As a student, it can be easy to assume the nurses know better than you do, but I realized today that I’m not completely incompetent! It just made me feel good and now I feel a little more confident in my own skills. It’s so important for us to help each other out! All in all, I am obsessed with the hospital. I come home absolutely drained but I really love it. I hope and pray I can get a job and work in for a little while after graduation!

On the track of nursing school….I had some really meaningful moments this week. My teacher came to visit me at the hospital on Saturday to see how things have been going. We talked about some of my experiences and she told me that I just light up when I talk about pediatrics. She said every time she has come to the hospital she’s been impressed with me and she said she just never worries about me because she knows I will be great. Now, I definitely don’t feel that way because I worry about all the things I still need to learn but hearing that from her was definitely a pick me up for me! It was just awesome and made me feel so good!

This week I also helped quite a bit with one of my cute home health kiddos who got pretty sick. I worked closely with his parents this week and one night, his mom sent me this message: “Thank you Lexi! We sure love you and appreciate that you care about us (sounds cheesy), but it really shows. You are a good nurse!” Now this just made my whole week. I really do love and care about this family and it was just reassuring. This message made me feel like “Oh, maybe I really can be successful at this!”

Life is good. I love these little pick me ups that Heavenly Father is constantly sending me 🙂 Also, I love nursing.

 

Hot Chocolate Season!

Tonight Austin and I went to watch his cousin Logan’s last football game! It was pretty chilly, but I have officially learned the art of using blankets instead of coats! I think I’m just going to wrap blankets around me all winter instead! After the game, we went out for hot chocolate to celebrate. Maverick’s hot chocolate bar is pretty impressive and it’s cheap! I think we just found our guilty pleasure for the rest of the winter 😉 Here’s to the first hot chocolate of the year!

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My Favorite Season!

I adore Halloween. I mean, I really adore it. This month has been so crazy…but tonight I finally had the chance to finish my pumpkins for this year! Halloween decorations make me happy! I am obsessed with my dog skeleton too. Watch out…in the years to come, I’ll end up with bat skeletons, bird skeletons, cat skeletons, and maybe even snake skeletons!

Next week we’re having a Halloween party with Austin’s family and I have been working so hard on planning some activities and food! It is just going to be so fun! I really love this time of year 🙂

Temples, Temples, Temples

True confessions…I am not very good at attending the temple. I’m not quite sure if it’s a time/busy thing, or a feeling like I’m not righteous enough to go thing, or a combination of lots of things, but attending the temple regularly is not one of my strengths. I haven’t been since I was in Ecuador(yikes)! Last night, Austin’s cousin, Ashton, got endowed since he is getting married next month! I was so excited that we were invited to go through the temple with him for his first time.

I really had an incredible experience. As I participated in the session, I felt so many things. First of all, I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I know that his Atonement is real. I’ve been carrying around some hurt feelings lately and some stress and some worries. I just felt that He totally gets it. He knows exactly what I’m feeling and He wants to help alleviate that burden. I can turn all of those feelings over to Him and I can be strengthened! I can let things go! As I learn to trust Him more, I can walk around with a lighter load.

My second huge impression of the night is that it’s okay that I mess stuff up all the time. It’s okay that I sometimes struggle to read my scriptures every day, or sometimes I don’t serve as much as a should, or sometimes I make really dumb decisions, or sometimes I’m just flat out too tired to be productive all the time. I really felt that the Lord understands and it’s okay. It’s okay that I have weaknesses. He knows where I’m at and He knows how hard I’m trying. I was just so comforted and filled with so much love. I adore the peace and perspective that the temple brings. I really should go more often!

My last impression is that I am exactly where I need to be. The Lord is pretty clever in setting all this stuff up. I married Austin for a reason, I married into Austin’s family for a reason, I’m in the nursing field for a reason, I have the personality and weaknesses and strengths that I do for a reason, and we live where we do for a reason. I felt so comforted to know that there is a plan and certain things are hard for a reason. We all have something to learn. I’ve been trying to read my scriptures more this week and tonight I was reading in 2 Nephi about the fall of Adam and Eve and the reason for opposition in all things. This life is supposed to be kind of tricky! I realized tonight how grateful I am for those things in my life that are hard for me because, at the end of the day, working through them makes me stronger and better. I am becoming more like the Savior as I work through things that are more difficult for me. It’s been awesome to look back on this year and see how much I’ve grown.

So today was kind of a crazy day…I went to Paige’s bridal shower and then I had a disaster drill at BYU. Basically, all of the last semester nursing students worked with the BYU EMT’s to work through a fake disaster scenario. There were a ton of volunteers that came all day and pretended to be injured during a caving in of the bleachers. Their makeup was actually really good! Some people had bones sticking out, some people were actually crying too! They had some really good acting skills! Our job was to triage victims, transport them, and then treat them. I ended up being asking to transport, so it was all heavy duty lifting for me today! It was a good experience to learn a little more about what to do if I’m ever in a mass casualty situation like that. I came home and had some dinner and took a nap and I’m working a night shift tonight with one of my home health kiddos. I am obsessed with my dog and he was pretty excited I came home for a little break in between all of my activities today. I love him so much and hope he’s happy with us!

But anyways, while at work, I decided to read my patriarchal blessing….it has been a loooong time since I’ve read that baby! I love how at different times in life, completely different phrases really stick out to me. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do when I graduate, where to work, when to have kids, all that fun stuff. As I read my patriarchal blessing tonight, I noticed how my blessing states, more than once, that I will “establish a career” and “work for a time.” I have never really noticed this before but tonight it hit me hard! It brought me to tears actually and I can’t believe I never really noticed how much this is mentioned before! I always planned on working after college, and really, throughout my life. Living in the heart of Provo surrounded by Mormon culture though can kind of make you feel bad for having that plan though! I’ve been reading the Family Proclamation a lot recently and….I don’t know. Growing up you always hear at church “dads provide for their families and moms take care of the kids.” However, when I read the Proclamation, I don’t really feel that. My main take away is that Austin and I are supposed to be partners and we are supposed to help each other out. I ease his burdens and he eases mine and one of my main goals in this life is to take care of him. There is give and take, push and pull, and at different times in life, we may take on slightly different roles. This is what I feel the Lord expects of me when I read this counsel. So anyways, I think Austin is in a pretty tricky place right now! He’s taking hard classes at BYU and he’s trying to prepare to take the MCAT and trying to get into medical school. I feel like it’s my responsibility to support him at this time, to help try and ease his burdens and be more of the family provider at this time. When I read my patriarchal blessing tonight and saw phrases like “establish a career” “earn a living” and “work for a time after college” I realized that it’s okay. I’m not a bad Mormon if I don’t kick out kids right away after graduating! I know it sounds silly, but I worry a lot about if I’m doing the right things, if I’m really following what the prophets and the Lord have counseled me to do. I think it is an incredible blessing that the Lord helped me get into the nursing program at BYU. I have had an incredible experience and I know that I am right where I need to be. This is a profession that will allow me to serve others and it will allow me to provide for our family while Austin is trying to make it to medical school. I feel blessed to know that Heavenly Father has an individual plan for each of us and it’s okay to break away from cultural expectations. I don’t write this post because I’m trying to explain myself or anything like that, but I write on this blog so that someday my kids and my grandkids and maybe even great grandkids can read this and know who I was as a person and how I came to understand certain gospel principles. I hope that someday they can read this and and know that their mom or grandma really tried to do what’s right and tried to seek after the Lord’s guidance in so many decisions. I hope that this can help strengthen their own testimonies of a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for each of us.

Figuring Out Stress…

I have been struggling to find my zen the past two weeks! I was just living the happy, blissful, everything is awesome life until about 2 weeks ago! I don’t know what happened! I’ve been feeling pretty stressed about pretty much everything in life. My semester is about halfway over so I’m starting to feel real nursing stress. I’m really worried about not getting a job in pediatrics. I mean, the truth is, that really wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I’m just all freaked out about finding a job and when to apply. Not to mention, it’ll be the first job interview I’m actually terrified for! Haha! Every other interview I’ve had I was basically hired on the spot, so I’m scared of applying for highly sought after jobs.

I’ve been really stressed about finishing all of my clinical hours on time as well. My nurse works part time and I may need to work with another nurse to complete my hours.

I’ve been all stressed about being healthy and trying to exercise and honestly, I think stress about these two things always comes whenever I’m stressed about something else.

I’ve been stressed out about trying to read my scriptures and go the temple….really the same applies to this type of stress too. Whenever I’m freaking out anyway, I decide to freak out about this stuff too.

I’ve been stressed about Indy and how we can help him not be fearful. I’ve been feeling all bad about working more and not being home as much. (Let’s be real though…I still walk him every day and he’s probably fine, I just get myself all worked up).

I’ve been stressed about trying to save money each month too. (Let’s be real, Austin and I are both working part time, and the plan was always to just stay afloat during this semester). However, since we’re doing better than we thought we would, now I’m all stressed about why we’re not putting money away each month and going crazy about sticking to a tight budget (even though it’s Halloween and duh, we have to have costumes) 😉 I’m pretty sure I’m actually crazy.

Long story short…yesterday I was feeling pretty stressed out. The stressed out where you can’t organize your thoughts and your heart is pounding kind of stuff. It’s been a little over a week since Indy and I went hiking and we pretty much just ran away to the mountains. I just needed to clear my head. We hiked for about 2 hours and it was so refreshing! I love having something hard to focus on so that I honestly can’t really think about anything else. I felt myself calming down and starting to relax. I still can’t believe I live in such a beautiful part of the world!

This week I’ve been reading my scriptures a little more too. In Nephi, the Lord counsels him to basically go to the mountains often and pray. When I first read it, I thought about how I need to go the temple more (real talk, I haven’t been since Ecuador, yikes!). After hiking today though, I realized that in addition to the temple, I need time to myself to get away and think and relax…maybe this means actually hiking in the mountains, or maybe just going for a walk. As I take time to quiet my mind and pray, the Lord will show me the way. He will help me feel peace and He will help me to know what to do. I was reading my scriptures when I was at work the other day (it gets pretty quiet on the children’s unit after 8pm when everyone goes to bed ;), and I came across the scripture about the Lord never being able to forget us because we are engraven upon his hands. He remembers us the way mothers always remember their children. I felt so much peace. I know Heavenly Father is aware of me. I know He’s got a plan. I know that if I can chill out long enough to listen to Him and let him guide me, I’ll always end up where I need to.

So here’s to me practicing my smiling, taking things one day at a time, and learning to trust a little more, and worry and fear a little less.

Imagine Dragons Concert

This fall is concert central! It’s all thanks to Rachel Rawe haha! Tonight Austin, Rachel, Lauren and I went to see Imagine Dragons. Before the concert we had an absolute feast at Outback…I think we overdid it a little. But hey, who can resist Outback cheese fries??

The openers were a little sub-par, but Imagine Dragons was really good! It was a fun concert, and part of me loves taking Austin to concerts since he hasn’t been to very many. He staked us out a nice spot on the lawn and he just loved it. It makes me want to take him to more concerts!

It was slightly freezing though. We may or may not have been wrapped in blankets the whole night. I think it has officially crossed into the time of year when it’s too cold for outdoor concerts!

Haha, but we had fun 🙂 Sure do love my sweet sweet friends and family!

Husband Appreciation!

I have been so grateful for this guy lately! I feel like we have grown together so much in the past year and a half. I am so grateful to have Austin to do life with! I have a little bit of a quieter semester so it has been awesome to have more time to do things to help out Austin. When I’m at work, he helps take care of Indy. I love having someone to share my feelings with and help work through my weaknesses with. I just feel like we hit that sweet spot finally where we are just so in love! I know it sounds so cheesy, but we’re just in a really good place and it just feels good. I feel so lucky to have him and I’m grateful for all of the fun adventures we have been on. Here’s to many more adventures and possibly even many more trials!

Tender Mercies

So I may or may not have had a more difficult day today. A lot of things happened at once and I kind of felt like “Jeez Louise Heavenly Father, I can’t do this. I can’t handle this.” I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. I took Indy to the park and walked a few laps and when I came home, Austin was waiting in the driveway with my favorite yellow roses! He knew I was having a rough day and he got flowers on his way home from school. I pretty much just burst into tears.

It was just one of those moments when Heavenly Father said “I got this. Look at all these people I’ve given you to help you out!”

Tonight I read 1 Nephi 17 when Nephi is asked to build a boat. I imagine he felt a little out of his league. As I read I just felt comforted that Heavenly Father knows he is kind of asking me to work through something hard. He knows that, I know that, and He’s going to help me figure it out! I’m so grateful for my sweet sweet husband and also for the scriptures. I should crack those guys open a little more often 😉 

Family Partying!

Austin’s family has been in town the past couple of days. His parents attended a conference in Park City and Austin and I partied with the kids! I really wanted the kids to have a fun time, so we tried to plan some fun activities we could all do together. Monday night we went to Cornbelly’s! I have almost gone to Cornbelly’s like 3 times, but this time I finally went in! Some of Austin’s cousins came with us as well.

I just absolutely love this time of year. We took the kids to the Haunted Corn Maze and it was so fun! It was their very first time doing anything scary and the Haunted Corn Maze was actually pretty creepy! They got some good screams out of us 😉 I thought it was going to be like a corn maze with creepy people in it, but it was actually a bunch of trailers with different themes and they were planted in the corn, so it wasn’t actually a maze, you just followed the path. It was really well done though! I got excited because now Anna wants to get a group date together and go to something haunted in Ohio! Cornbelly’s is just such a cute little place, I think we’re going to have to make a yearly tradition of going!

We also went shopping and the girls found some super cute clothes! Nathan even made a Chewbacca Build a Bear! Plus how cute is this Beast one?! I almost had to get a Build a Bear! 😉 Since Nathan was such a good sport shopping, we rewarded him by taking advantage of $5 Tuesday and going to see the Lego Ninjago movie.

The kids also got to try Slab pizza for the first time!! Ahh, everyone needs a little Slab in their life.

Earlier in the day we went shopping for pumpkins and paints so that we could all decorate pumpkins together. The kids’ pumpkins turned out pretty great and I, myself, am going to be painting pumpkins for the next week. I’ve got a whole color scheme and everything 😉 Let’s just say…I’m excited about pumpkins.

All in all…it was a really fun couple of days. I’m really grateful for my parents and for how much they have taught me and shown me about the importance of relationships. I grew up watching my mom spend time with me and my siblings and even with lots and lots of other kids and teenagers. I hope to be the kind of person that puts in the time. It was really fun partying and getting to know the kids a little bit better. They slept over for a couple of nights and I hope they know how much we love them!