Nurtured by Nature

Pictures from our Thanksgiving trip.

This world is a beautiful place isn't it?

Giving in a time of need

This is Karin and her husband Barry. Karin is a friend of mine that I went to nursing school with. Thanksgiving eve, she and her husband were hit head on by a drunk driver. They were both hospitalized as trauma patients requiring several surgeries for multiple injuries. Gratefully, they are recovering well but will still require additional surgeries. With 9 kids at home, this fundraiser has been set up to help them with their expenses in a time of need.
I was able to see Karin last night at the hospital during work and she is the optimistic Karin we all remember her to be. She has several broken bones but said she was grateful her left arm wasn't broken since she's left handed. :) Let's do whatever we can to help her and her family through this trying time.
I have set up a paypal donations account for them. Please donate whatever you are able to give with the donation botton at the top of this page. Every bit counts. Thank you.

giving thanks in colorado

I'm most grateful for family. Without family, nothing else matters. 

we LOVE you ALL!

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for the wonderful memories and laughs! :)

my first wreath

I don't know what I was thinking. I volunteered at work to decorate the Surgery Department holiday wreath. Each department decorates a wreath to be auctioned off in the hospital lobby and proceeds go to a charity. I don't do crafts but no one else wanted to so I stepped up. My wreath is a little sad and pathetic looking... and i'm pretty dang sure no one will buy it, but it's my first christmas wreath i've ever made and i'm proud of it.

I might have to place an anonymous bid to get the money flowing on it... and to boost my ego. Ha.

belated birthday weekend... 3 weeks to be exact

My birthday feels like it was forever ago. Ryan was sick my birthday weekend and we finally had a weekend together to go out and celebrate. It was a great weekend for both of us because not only did we have all day saturday and sunday to each other, but we made a very important decision. Ryan is graduating in 3 weeks and has received 3 job offers. Phoenix, Corpus Christi, or Vancouver. After much talk and prayer, we've decided to take the Phoenix offer! :) HOWEVER, this doesn't mean necessarily that we'll be moving to Phoenix. It's the Phoenix southwest district which means we could be anywhere from southern california to western Texas. And the best part is not knowing where we will be placed until 3 weeks before he starts his job!!!! Yay! i LOVE not knowing and not being able to plan.....NOT. haha. It's the small price to pay for being able to work for a great company. Either way we are so grateful for the blessings we've received and love and support from our family and friends.

We spent the rest of Saturday heading out to St. Anthony to a great local resturaunt called Chiz's. It is the neatest place plus a little awkward at the same time. The place is super small and and it's a wrap around bar seating. The waitress is in the middle serving and taking orders. If all the seating is taken, you are standing with your backs against the wall, watching people eat until there is a spot open. Luckily, our wait wasn't very long and we didn't have to breathe down the people's necks to have them hurry up. I wanted to take a picture of the inside but felt completely out of place because i'm sure everyone would have looked up at me. No thank you. You'll just have to go yourself if you want to see the inside. :) We also went back to my favorite little theather the Roxy to see Breaking Dawn. We had our "grandma's floral print couch" in the back corner of the theater again. YES! Best date. You know you have a good husband who agrees to take you to a movie like Breaking Dawn and acts all excited with you when you know this is the last movie he wants to see. It was my "birthday" after all, so he was happy to do it. :)

Deja vu

Did you know that studies have shown we often marry someone like one of our parents? There's the daddy-daughter situation where a girl wants to marry someone like her father which is what i have done. I saw a lot of similarities before we were married, but it wasn't until this last week during a convo between Ryan and i that i had a childhood flashback.

Ryan asked me where the fingernail clippers were.

Me: I don't know, check the bathroom.
Ryan: I've checked everywhere and you were the last ones to use them.
Me: I'm pretty sure i put them back where i got them. I just don't remember where i got them.
Ryan: do you know where the other pair is at? We have two.
Me: no idea honey. Sorry.
Ryan: Do i need to buy my own and hide them from you so i know where a pair is at all times? That's what my dad did and i guess i'll have to too.

I heard this same conversation growing up between my parents and I'm seeing a pattern here. Because not only did my father-in-law have his own pair, but so did my dad, and soon will my husband. It's a vicious cycle marrying someone like your parents.

Side note- next day Ryan came home and showed me how he had to bite his fingernails down. I've got a Christmas gift idea now! Ha!

El bus de taco

 

Saturday night after hitting up the movie theater, we went over to Tacos Tepitos...aka... the taco bus. We had the spicy pork burritos (YUM) which was a little ironic after watching the movie Contagion- an epidemic outbreak of a new virus created by pigs and bats. To be honest, I think the burrito was the best one we've ever had there too.

It was also here that my lovely husband announced that he received the job offer from a company based in Phoenix, AZ (my hometown baby!). He had found out the day before but wanted to wait and tell me and i guess eating alone in the taco bus eating pork burritos was a fitting moment. Then we found out Sunday morning about another job offer in Corpus Christi, Texas. We have been extremely B L E S S E D and are so G R A T E F U L to have these opportunities. We haven't made a decision yet and will be praying faithfully where our new home should be. Either way, both options are warmer than here! :)

I knew I took that pre-interview picture for a purpose. Pre/Post job offer.



 

Doris

It was a Doris Day night last night. I just want all of her clothes in these movies! A new favorite, Lover Come Back. Isn't Rock Hudson dreamy? I would name a son after him if only his name wasn't actually Rock...

I went to bed last night at 3:30 am and woke up at 8a. This is going to be a rough welcome home wife for the hubs.

Close your eyes before you read this...

Can I just say one more time how much i L O V E my husband?
He knows me better than anyone, he let's me wear his shirts to bed, rub my cold feet on his legs, and always carries chapstick around which is convenient for me because I always need to use it.
Plus, he writes POEMS for ME and ONLY me.
After our first date, the next day he left a poem for me on my truck window. And last night I got another lovely poem from him while he's in Washington.

Tonight we find ourselves apart,

lying alone in rooms at dark,

The sweet smell of you i miss,

as i ponder our last kiss,

Dream of me my beautiful girl,

for tomorrow night we'll lie in a curl.

Dr. Seuss would be so impressed. :) He was supposed to come back to me tonight... but one flight was delayed which made him miss his next flight from Denver, which happened to be the last flight to Idaho Falls for the whole night?? and other airlines were already booked!!! What are the odds? Ugh. So, another night using my body pillow to keep my company.

back to my snowy rexburg residence

Back after my long weekend in AZ. It was busy busy busy and I know need another vacation day to relax but unfortunately, it's back to work nice and early tomorrow morning. My weekend in a nut shell:

Time with my bestest Karn. Plus I have to share the coolest birthday gift, decorated bobby pins. Hand painted and decorated for special occassions and holidays. How cool is she? She knows I need my bobby pins too.

 Went and watched my older brother at his softball game.

 Dad making us breakfast as usual. Best breakfast chef I know. Plus, he's always so chirpy in the mornings. :)

 Belated birthday dinner at Spinato's. My family claims it's the BEST pizza in town. If you ever go to Phoenix, stop by.

 Getting my brothers to smile normal for photos is next to impossible.

 Wonderful weekend. It's nice to be back because the last time I saw my husband was last week at a cheap motel in idaho falls where we crashed a night before both of us left town the following morning. (I work at the hospital down there and he happend to be returning from AZ and flying out the next morning to Texas) We're just classy like that. :)

Saving Second Base

My mom, brother and I ran in the Susan G. Komen half marathon run this weekend. I told my mom we should make shirts that said Saving Second Base, but when she didn't know what second base was i told her to forget it.

It was a great run. It was such a great experience to see my mom accomplish something this big. It was beautiful weather with beautiful scenery and we had our own cheer team (dad and little brother) who would quickly move ahead to the check points to wave and cheer us on. My bestest friend also showed her love and support at the finish line... what would i do without her? (thank you Karn) :)

This run went a lot smoother than my first. Thankfully, because it might have ruined my experience if i didn't have a quicker time. Ha. This run was also more fun because of all the creative shirts runners made and posters family waved at us as we ran by. One of my favorite said, "Big or small, Save them all!" So true. Now all I need to figure out... which run to sign up for next?

Little brother jumping in to cheer/pull me along :)

Little bro again being creepy in the background- he calls it "photo-bombing"

Real men wear pink- or at least a gray shirt with pink writing :)

best friend and best supporter

Oh, I almost forgot. My older brother did get 3rd place in his division. :) or 68th place out of over 3,800 runners. He's amazing right? Me on the otherhand, 2,013th.