Me & My Husband {Second Edition}

Continuing from this post.

Question 2:

When you knew he was the one: Self explanatory...But how and when did you know? 


I THOUGHT that Race was the one pretty soon on in our relationship. I was PRETTY SURE he was the one when we went to Vegas. While we were there Race went to the temple sealing of one of his companions from his mission. I had not yet been through the temple so I sat in the waiting room of the Las Vegas Temple . While I was sitting there a cute little old lady was leaving the temple. I imagined her walking up to me and asking me who I was waiting for. In my head my answer immediately was "My husband." And then I backtracked and said "I mean my fiancee." And then I backtracked again and said "I mean my boyfriend!" This conversation did all happen in my head but it really let me know that Race was someone I truly loved and wanted to be with for forever. This was still of course pretty early on in our relationship so after a lot more praying I did come to KNOW that he was the one I was going to choose to be with for eternity.

I do believe that we choose who we are going to marry and decide to commit to them for eternity. There may be more than one person out there that we could be happy with but there is one person that we choose to be with. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "Be worthy of the mate you CHOOSE. Respect him or her. Give encouragement to him or her. Love your companion with all your heart. This will be the most important decision of your life, the individual whom you marry." 

I chose to respect, encourage and love Race with all my heart and I KNOW that was the best decision I have made in my life. 

 

 

{Photos by Jessica Downey of Sierra Studios Photography }

  

Watches

So, I found a new love.

And that love is: WATCHES! 

 This is actually not a super new love.
When I was little I was OBSESSED with my dad's watch and always wanted to borrow it.

This didn't work out too great since  he needed it (this was before EVERYONE had cell phones).

So one year I got a watch for my birthday but it was never quite as cool as my dad's watch. 

Over the years I got over watches but they have returned to my life. :]

I have two now. A white one and a brown one and they are pretty dang awesome.

I feel really cool when I wear them. 

The funny thing is that I still check the time on my phone. 

The first day I had my very first watch (a cute white one) I was walking around downtown 

Flagstaff with my friend and staring at my watch since it was making my wrist look so dang cool 

and he asked me what time it is and as I stared at my watch I reached into my back pocket 

and pulled out my phone. Skilled, huh?

Even when I do check the time on my watch I double check on my phone since I'm not super great at reading the clocks with the big hand and the little hand.
That is an art that has been lost over the years with all the fancy digital clocks.

Now that I have a couple watches though I'll have it down in no time, right?

Here are some pictures of my cute watches:

Pretty dang cool looking!

So I figured that while I was on my blog I could write a little bit about what's been going on in my life as well as blab about watches and the like. 

So here goes! 

I am done with two weeks of my fourth semester of college. 

I just switched my major to Psychology although I am sure it will switch again before I graduate.

What I really want to go into is some kind of therapy.

Either Recreational Therapy or Occupational Therapy.

I really want to work with children who have disabilities.

If anyone has suggestions for other majors or anything I would love to hear them.
I need all the advice that I can get.

But anyway, this week barely even counted as a full week of school because...

We had MLK Day off. And then I went to school Tuesday.

Wednesday they cancelled all 8:00 and 9:10 am classes because of the snow.

And then Jasmine and I drove down to the valley with our fingers crossed that we would get snow days on Thursday and Friday.

And...those crossed fingers paid off! 

So, school was canceled for TWO days! 

And we are enjoying the nice-ish weather of the valley.

There has been a lot of rain but it's much warmer than the snow.

And rain in the valley is always a treat. :]

Of course along with nice valley weather I have been able to enjoy being home and having my Aunt Suzanne in town. So it's lots of good stuff. 

School this semester should be pretty fun.

I got into Spanish 201 which I was SUPER excited about.

I haven't taken Spanish for about two years but I remembered just enough to place in 201 (or the third semester).

And if I do well I can pay just a little bit of money to get EIGHT credits for 101 and 102. 

That was a happy way to start out the semester and so far Spanish is my favorite class.

I love the language and I have a fun teacher. 

We interact and get to know the other students which is different from most of my other college classes.

It is definitely a nice change and a nice way to start my day.

I am also taking a PE class again this semester and I learned how to use all the weight machines.
I also had my teacher tell me how many reps to do and all that fun stuff so I work out FOR SURE 

at least twice a week.
I am looooving feeling sore again. :] 

Overall:

Life is good.

All is well.

And to end this all, a quick quote that includes my favorite word and some very good advice, "If you are waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today? Because if tomorrow never comes, you certainly will regret for the rest of your life not having spent some extra time for a smile, a conversation, a hug, a kiss, because you were too busy to give that person what ended up being their last wish." --Elder Claudio R.M. Costa

Home Sweet Home

I am home for the holidays and it is absolutely wonderful! :]

In the Bible Dictionary under the word temple it says:
"Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness."
Each and every time I go home I am reminded of this phrase as my parents have done such a wonderful job making our house a HOME.
Today I was sitting at our extra-long kitchen table that we've had forever
looking at our white board/bulletin board and noticing all the little things that have been stuck to it/written on it over the years: Family engagement pictures, pictures of new baby cousins, a picture of Jackie we've had up since before E.B.'s mission, a dollar bill, a picture collage Gelsey made when she was in kindergarten (or maybe it was Solomon), notes on the whiteboard, new cell phone numbers; just lots of random things that have little memories connected to them.
I love my family and being at home around them all the time despite all the chaos.
Over this break I decided that I am going to work on being "More Diligent and Concerned at Home" as Elder David A. Bednar challenged us this past October General Conference.
I am going to work on:
1. Expressing Love and Showing it.
2. Bearing Testimony and Living it.
and
3. Being Consistent.
There are lots of things to focus on during the Christmas season and
family is a very important one.
I hope that I can share my love and my testimony with my
family through this season and through the coming years.
I have been blessed with wonderful parents and siblings who do this for me and
I want to return the favor. :]

So far this Christmas season I have taken the kids to get their hair cuts for my brother's wedding this Saturday. This turned out.....not so great. Here are some before and after photos...the boys' hair honestly did not look very different. And my mom was not too happy about that. But I'm not a mom so I didn't know what to tell the hair cutting people. :/
So here's the before. I love how they are all sitting the same. Hahaha. And I told them to look mad. Gelsey did an acceptionally good job.

Here is the after picture.
Uhh yeah the boys' hair does not look different.
We might take them in to get it fixed before the wedding this weekend...
But Gelsey's is nice and cute and short though. :] Like mine! GO SHORT HAIR! Also over the break I have taken kids Christmas shopping. It is our first year doing Secret Santa with the whole family (now that the kids are all old enough to earn some money with chores and pick out presents mostly on their own) so I get to cart the kids around to all different stores to get this final shopping done. YAY! ;)
Today I made three double batches of chocolate chip cookies for the wedding luncheon dessert. Holy heck that was a lot of baking for me! (Roommates: I thought we baked a lot...this topped it all (at least for in one day) and I still have more to do. HELP!!! :/)
I have also been able to spend time with my Grandparents (they are here for a month and for my brother's wedding)
With having my grandparents here I get to here my Grandma play the piano and it is absolutely beautiful. I tried to upload a video but I couldn't figure it out. So I'll try again later.
Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed being home although I'm sure in about a month I'll be ready to head back up to Flagstaff with my wonderful roommates :]
To end here are some WONDERFUL pictures!

Here are the Olmstead girls (plus Jasmine and minus the sister-in-laws)
Here is one of Rachel and I at the temple lights. I was also able to see Katie Wilson, my friend Chris Brown, and I got to meet Katie and Rachel's friend Ryan, but I forgot to take more pictures. :( But here is one of Rachel making me look RIDICULOUSLY short!
And here is one of me trying to make Rachel look RIDICULOUSLY short. Haha. Did it work??
Well, that's all for now. There will be more very soon though because we have a WEDDING coming up! :]