"The Real Joy of Christmas"

This year, we were fortunate enough to get tickets (again) to the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I love this devotional. It is definitely one of my favorite things about Christmas. I feel that the timing of it (they always have it on the 1st Sunday in December) is perfect. It reminds us of what Christmas is really about - the birth of the Savior. The messages were beautiful and inspiring. 

After the devotional, we went to Temple Square to see all of the lights on display. It was beautiful. I especially loved the simple, white nativity on the reflection pond right in front of the temple. 

Steve, Mechaella, us, & the Stevensons

It is my hope that I can keep this holiday season centered around the Savior and not let all of the other frivolous things stress me out and get in the way of the joy, peace, and love that we're supposed to experience during Christmas time.

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas..."

The Sunday we arrived from Idaho, I decided to put up all of our decorations before my busy week began. Thanks goodness that I did, because it wouldn't have gotten done at all after that since I got sick!  

I love walking down the stairs and seeing our living room lit by the lights on the tree. Christmas songs are on most of the time as well as our pine-scented candle. 

I'm so excited for Christmas and for all the activities, treats, vacation, family time and wonderful feelings that come along with this holiday season. 

Sick as Dogs

As I mentioned in my previous post, Blaine began to get really sick while we were in Idaho. His throat was killing him, and that is never a good sign with Blaine. By the time we got home, he had a fever and we both had a horrible night. I was up all night taking Blaine's temperature, giving him water, and changing our bed sheets. Yes. I had to change our sheets twice in one night. Blaine was sweating so much, that it even went through our comforter. Everything was soaked. It was horrible. I barely slept and didn't go into work the next day of how exhausted I was. Blaine had a fever in the 100s several times. Finally, around Tuesday, he started to feel better.

But of course, I had to get sick as well. As soon as I was done with all of my big papers and projects for the week, I became sick Wednesday night. I went into work on Thursday anyway because I didn't want to stay at home and let this horrible flu get the best of me. I really didn't want to be sick. I had all these plans for the week and weekend. There was this fun 5k on Saturday (Santa Run) that I had really been looking forward to. We were scheduled to take Christmas pictures on Saturday as well, among other things. Anyway, as soon as I was done at work, I went straight home and slept the rest of the day. Friday, I woke up even worse, was vomiting (dry heaving, really) and had a fever of 102. I slept all day Friday as well. Saturday, I felt slightly better after receiving a priesthood blessing from Blaine and Matt, but still had a fever and continued vomiting. It was all so horrible. Sunday, I felt decent enough to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I took as much medicine as possible and had a cough drop in my mouth the entire time.

Monday I felt better. I went to work, school and even went to a job interview. I cleaned up and cooked dinner (the house was a mess since I was sick and Blaine was fending for himself for dinner every night). Tuesday was a good day as well, until I started having a piercing neck pain. It was so annoying. I took ibuprofen and applied heat to it, but nothing seemed to help. Blaine wanted me to go to the ER but I felt stupid going for neck pain. I took some coughing medicine at night (it hurt the most when I coughed) and tried to go to bed. I woke up around 3 AM because the pain was too much. We got dressed and headed to the hospital, which is right across the street (so convenient). The wait at the ER wasn't that bad, but once I was seen it took forever. They took some x-rays of my chest to make sure that there wasn't any bacterial infection. After a while, the doctor told me that I had torticollis and pleurisy. Torticollis is basically a fancy term for having muscle spasms in my neck. He said that since I've been coughing so much for so long, those muscles are just going crazy (he really said that). Pleurisy is inflammation of the lining in my lungs since they have been rubbing a lot from how much I've been coughing. Usually, this causes severe chest pain but the doctor said that in some rare cases, it causes severe neck pain on one side of the neck. The doctor prescribed me 2 medicines and bed rest for 2 days. We were home by 6:30-ish. Needless to say, we were both exhausted.

I thought that being on bed rest would drive me insane since I had so much homework to do (being that it was the last week of class). But the medicines were so strong, that I had no problem sleeping all day. I've been tired the entire time. Blaine has been really nice and supportive. He's an excellent nurse :) I'm finally feeling better today. I'm still taking some of the medicine, but not as often. I can't wait to get back on track, go to work, study for finals, pack for vacation, and run again! Today was the last day of classes. We are so close to being done! One more week of finals and we're one step closer to graduation. Hallelujah.

Thanksgiving Break

So I feel like ever since Thanksgiving break, time has gone by super fast! I've been slacking on keeping up with the blog. Being super sick hasn't helped and neither has the fact that I've had a ton of homework to do. But today was the last day of classes and I'm FINALLY feeling better. So, it's time to get back on track. 

It was SO nice to have a break from school and work. Idaho is perfect for relaxing since Declo is so tiny. We only have a limited number of things that we can do so it's definitely a stress-reliever. I was determined to go running while on vacation and took Rue with me. She did great! I'm sure it helped that there was nobody on the road when we ran. That way, she wasn't distracted. She gave me consistent 9-minute miles! I need to run with her again now that I feel better. 

One night, Mekhi was able to sleepover. We played Monopoly Deal and Hangman. Mekhi actually beat me at Hangman several times. One of the words he chose was "Cuban" and I couldn't guess for the life of me! Mekhi is one funny and smart kid. We loved having him around. He and Blaine also played tons of video games together. 

On Thanksgiving morning, Blaine FaceTimed with Keith, Brian, Kim, Aston, Chase, and Tucker so that Grandmom could see them. It was so neat to watch. You can tell Grandmom really enjoyed it. Technology is seriously awesome. 

Thanksgiving dinner this year was smaller than other years in Idaho. It was just us, Aunt Jan, Uncle Lynn, Grandmom and PopPop. But Aunt Jan didn't scale the food down. There was enough food to feed dozens of people. We cooked for 2 days for all the food to be ready. I learned how to do almost everything since it might be the last Thanksgiving we spend with the Idaho fam. My favorite dish that Aunt Jan makes is her sweet potatoes. They are so good! I also made my first pumpkin pie, along with 2 coconut creme pies and a pumpkin cream cheese roll. It was all so delicious. We had leftovers for days on end. 

After our Thanksgiving lunch, PopPop and Blaine sat in front of the TV for the rest of the day. When football is on, these two can't seem to do anything else. The Redskins beat Dallas and Blaine was ecstatic for the rest of the day. 

During the rest of our stay, we did what we usually do. We help everybody with whatever they need around the house and listened to Grandmom and PopPop tell stories. I love listening to them. These moments with them are cherished and very precious to Blaine and I. 

After Thanksgiving, Aunt Jan and I got into Christmas-decorating mode. We made several wreaths and decorated the entire house. Uncle Lynn and Blaine helped us with the tree. I love her tree! It's gorgeous.

Rue had a great time in Idaho as well. She got to play (almost non-stop) with Rusty. We also had Chester (Janae's dog) with us for a couple of days. She was in doggie-heaven. One day, Uncle Lynn took her to the farm and she rode in the tractor with him all day. He said she loved it. 

She also got to cuddle with Grandmom. They really like each other :) 

On Friday night, I started learning how to knit. Aunt Jan bought this yarn for us to make scarves for our big family picture in December when the whole family is going to be together. I was intimidated at first and made several mistakes that required me to start over. But after a couple of tries, I really got the hang of it. I didn't want to stop till I was done. Blaine had to take it away from me so that I could go to bed one night. But I woke up the next morning and finished it before it was time to go. I love it! I'm asking for knitting needles and yarn in my stocking for Christmas this year :) 

We had a great time in Idaho, except for the fact that Blaine started getting really really sick towards the end of our break. We decided to leave a little bit early because it was going to snow and Blaine didn't want to drive sick in bad weather. I can't wait till everybody gets here in December. Grandmom & PopPop are going to be so excited. It's going to be great!