PIRANHAS, SHARKS & ALLIGATORS

I found this story on another blog (sorry, can't remember which one!) and loved it!

This is the story of a king. He was the king of a very small country, and he was a good king. He decided to have a contest to see who could swim the length of his Olympic size swimming pool. The winner would receive half of the king’s treasure. He invited everyone in his kingdom to come to his house. Everyone was so excited until they got there, only to find that the pool was filled with sharks, piranhas and alligators.Several days went by and no one was willing to take the king’s challenge. On the fourth day, all of a sudden there was a huge splash. Everyone turned to see a man swimming with all his might across the pool. The whole kingdom cheered him on as he made it through the sharks. The man continued to swim as the piranhas nipped at him until finally he had made it through the alligators. He threw himself up on the side of the pool out of breath and exhausted. The king was quickly at his side. "Congratulations" the king said, "now you will be rich". The man continued to catch his breath. The king looked at the man again waiting for a response and asked, "what do you have to say about your new treasure?" The man still out of breath looked up at the king and said, "King, half of your treasure is great, but what I really want to know is…WHO PUSHED ME IN?Have you ever felt like the man in the swimming pool? I know I have. We try to be strong and happy, but sometimes, all we can think about is that we didn’t ask for the sharks, piranhas and alligators. It seems that someone has pushed us in and now we have to give it all our might to get through the trials and tribulations we are faced with. We have to exercise our faith and know that not only will the swim end, but we will be spiritually wealthier because of the challenge. And, we are promised all our King has when the journey is through.
We have all been faced with trials and uncertainties in our lives, and we will be faced with many more. It’s what we do when we are pushed in that determines what we are made of. We are so blessed. And at this time of Thanksgiving, it is important to put our focus on our blessings, not on the sharks. EVER FELT LIKE SOMEONE PUSHED YOU IN?

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

I have so many crafts sitting neglected in my craft room just waiting to be worked on. As I mentioned before, I LOVE Halloween. So, I keep buying Halloween crafts (I already have more than enough, mind you!) when I REALLY should be finishing up a couple of Thanksgiving crafts and then moving on to Christmas. Sigh. Too much fun and not enough time! But, I have managed to finish a couple of Halloween / Fall crafts and even managed to squeeze in a baby gift! I love subway art and this literally took about an hour to put together. I already had the board, paint and ribbon on hand. So, it was just a matter of throwing it together and putting the vinyl on. I thought it turned out great!This one took a little longer. I am LOVIN' all of the wood creation stores that are popping up. The wood was already cut out for me, so it was just a matter of painting and adding the paper. I LOVE it. It's currently gracing my door at work and I'm not sure if I'm going to have the heart to take it down when Halloween in over! :(My adorable little sisters sis-in-law (did ya get that?) is having a baby girl sometime this month. Her sis-in-law LOVES anything retro, so I was having kind of hard time figuring out a good baby gift. I found these metal letters at the same store where I got my witch cut-outs and loved how it was kinda funky. Add some spray paint, black vinyl dots and hair bows, and voila! We weren't sure what color they were going to do the nursery, so I stuck with black and cream. We later found out it was going to be pink, so I found both a black and pink hair bow (yes, dual functions - decor AND hair accessory) and then will put black and pink ribbon around the top so they can hang it in the room. They are going to name her Evelyn and call her Evey, hence the E!I loved out it turned out and will probably be doing more in the future for gifts! Well, off now to finish some yard work and finishing putting up some goulish decor!

THRILLER!

We went last night to see Thriller up at Weber State University. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE October and what better way to kick it off then Thriller? I think this was our 5th year seeing it and it just never get's old! It's one of our favorite Halloween traditions. We ended up going with some friends and I managed to score front row seats. It was our friends first time seeing it, so it was fun to see their reactions. We didn't get the best pics. The one zombie pic is so narrow because I was trying to crop other people out of it! :) The Bubs took the second pic and I'm not quite sure why it was so blurry!
October also means Breast Cancer Awareness Month.As you know, the subject is near and dear to my heart! I'm sure there are also many of you who have been touched by, or know someone who has been affected by breast cancer. So, big shout out to sport pink this month and if you haven't done so recently, please go in for a mammogram! Or, if too young, please encourage the older women you love to go in. The earlier the detection, the better the chances!

GOODBYE & GOOD LUCK, ISAAC!

My little sisters husband just left on deployment for about eight months. We had a family bbq last weekend before he left, which unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of! :( Thursday night Isaac and Alyssa came over to drop his car off (he's going to store it at our house until he get's back) and we decided to go to Noodles & Co. at the last minute.
I think Isaac must have moved right before I took this one. The punk! I can never get a good picture of him without the goofy smile! Oh well! Aren't they cute together?It was a ton of fun and a good send off! Good luck Isaac! We're going to miss you!

SO TRUE....

Loved this! Posted it on the weight loss blog and thought others might enjoy it on the personal blog!

BRAG IT UP!

So I totally have to brag my husband up! I got the following at work today:The card pretty much made me cry. Eleven years ago today (the 13th)the Bubs made me the happiest girl in the world and asked me to be his wife. I can't believe he remembered that! I have it written down in my journal, but I didn't even remember until he sent me the flowers. So, I have to brag my man up and let him know how much I not only LOVE him, but so appreciate him and his thoughtfulness. Thank you love!

PLAYING CATCH UP!

Wow! These past couple of months have flown by! First off, Father's Day! I made these this year and thought they turned out pretty darn cute!
Awhile ago I recieved an email from Thanksgiving point announcing their annual princess festival. I have a niece who LOVES anything princess, so I thought it would be fun to take her (and her sisters) to the festival. We ended up going on a Thursday and it was SOOOO hot! The festival is held outside in the Children's Garden and basically consists of the kids going from princess to princess to get autographs and have pictures taken. I felt super bad for the poor actors who are in long sleeved velvet dresses (and coats in the guys cases), but they did a really good job. The highlight of the day? When we were leaving the girls found a splash pad. They had a blast!

On the way home we stopped at the Gateway Mall so my sis-in-law could exchange her iphone. I told her I would take the girls over to the fountain so she could go to the Apple store without the stress of kids. Again, highlight of the day! Should have saved the money and just went to a splash pad/pool instead! Love these girlies!

For the 4th of July we headed down to the Bubs aunts house for the annual family barbeque. Of course, the 4th of July wouldn't be the 4th without Julie's famous apple pie. The Bubs ADORES her pie and looks forward to it all year. It's became a tradition to take pictures of random people eating the pie and then posting it on facebook to rub it in the faces of all those who didn't partake that year!

Thanks Julie for hosting the barbeque this year (and making the pie)! And of course, what is the 4th without the fireworks? Boys will be boys! Sorry about the pics - it was late and my camera kinda sucks!
Finally (sorry - kind of a long post) this is what we've been doing the past couple of Saturday's - playing in the dirt!
We were having water problems and this is the first step to figuring out where the water is coming from. I won't get into the hole anymore because without a ladder, I won't be able to get back out! We've hit the foundation, so now it's a matter of scrubbing everything down and seeing if there are any cracks. Ahh! The joys of home ownership! Next time I'll hopefully be a little better at staying on top of things! Happy almost Monday everyone!
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TAKING INVENTORY OF YOUR GIFTS AND BLESSINGS

At work we are currently in a weight loss competition that I'm the facilitator of. It's been a ton of fun. I've started a weight loss blog for the company and try to post daily. Today's post was on taking inventory of our blessings and gifts. For some reason it hit home. It could be because I was stuck in traffic for over an hour due to the freeway being shut down. There was a man who was threatening to jump. I can't even imagine my life getting to the point where I even consider suicide as a way out. It's so easy to get caught up in life. The good, the bad, the busy and the crazy. It's not often we take time to really reflect upon our lives. It's usually when we have trials, or someone close to us is suffering from an illness or even death. Then it tends to hit home. So, I'm re-posting today's blog entry for just that reason.


"Should you find yourself at a loss, wondering what life is all about and what your purpose is, be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity to wonder."
- Unknown You'll probably spend some time this weekend thinking about the good things in your life and your loved ones. Before you do that, take a moment to just consider how lucky you are to be here in the first place. In the 21st century, we can experience more in a month than most people throughout history did in a lifetime. Instead of appreciating that fact, we usually just end up wanting to do and have more. We look at what's wrong rather than what's right. This is a perfect time to take a look at your life and priorities again. Can you make some extra time every day to just enjoy the moment and your loved ones? You've been given the gift of a lifetime of moments. Accept the gift and prove yourself worthy.

CROSS THE OCEAN

Don't know why, but this seemed very appropriate for today!

LASIX

Well, as of yesterday I'm on a new med. It's called Lasix. It's actually primarily used for congestive heart failure. Me? I'm using it to pee. Yep, you read that right. Pee (like as in a race horse!) Too much info? Probably. Why would I want to pee so much? One word - kankles.(and no, those are NOT my feet! I have better taste in heels than that!) Yes my friends, I currently have kankles. In fact, if you ask my lovely co-workers (note the sarcasm?) they'll be happy to tell you I have a new nickname at work. Miss Kankles. Lovely. For some reason my legs and feet have been swelling up the past two weeks. To the point where I pretty much have to wear flip flops every day. It's not super painful just annoying - imagine being stiff from the knees down for weeks on end. It finally got to the point the other night where the Bubs made me go into the doctor (after calling me sausage feet.) Even lovelier. Anyway, I refused to go to my primary care doctor as I've been there so much lately. So, I went to the Instacare. It was kind of funny. When the receptionist was checking me in she asked what I needed to see the doctor about. I told her the truth - kankles. The bubs (who was kind enough to go with me) started laughing hysterically. I got kind of a weird look, but hey, that WAS why I was there! After examining me, listening to my heart and lungs and squeezing the crap out of my legs and feet (I swear she did that on purpose just to see how much I would cringe!) the doctor was completely baffled. She ordered a blood and urine test. Guess what? Nada. Everything looks great. So, she put me on Lasix to hopefully get the fluid out and told me good luck with the kankles. She also suggested going to my primary care doctor in about a week if it doesn't clear up. Ummm, okay, thanks? I'll answer the questions I know you're thinking right now. Nope, not preggo. Nope, no increase in sodium or diet change. Well, small diet change. I decreased my caffeine intake (goodbye my beloved Red Bull) and increased my water intake. I actually asked the doctor if that could be it. She laughed and said, um, no - usually it has the opposite effect. I then asked her if she could right me a note saying it was medically necessary for me to DRINK Red Bull to prevent kankles. For some reason she laughed again and said no. Weird, right? So, I'll take a pic of the kankles and sausage feet tonight (we're going to be working in the yard today). They pretty much rock.

On a plus note! We've started a weight loss challenge at work that I'm in charge of. It's company wide and going to last for three months. I've got the blog up and going for it (it's under The Fit & The Fabulous). Check it out if you'd like. I post daily about weight loss & exercise tips, recipes and just about anything else I can think up! Yeah me! I'm so going to kick everyone's butt - especially when I start to lose my kankles!