This week I celebrated an anniversary of sorts.

Five years ago I was diagnosed with an incurable illness the day before Thanksgiving. While I don't necessarily want to go into technical details, this moment in my life has been on my mind a lot this week. It began with a day of numerous tests and doctors not being able to figure out what was going on. It ended that evening in a conference room sitting across from the table from someone who finally knew what was wrong with me. Whenever a doctor pulls you into a private room, it's never a good sign.

It was all such a blur that I don't remember specifically what happened after that, just being incredibly scared and thinking that life as I knew it was over. Going through the motions, I got the immediate problems under control in a matter of months and then was left to deal with my emotions.

Six Months later: The moment that changed everything was when S and I decided to go to this conference where they have guest speakers and doctors who talk to a group of people in the same situation. I remember being incredibly optimistic, thinking I would learn something new that would help me cope. What happened was entirely different.

Upon entering the auditorium, I was cut in front of in line by a lady who obviously was sick with the same illness. She was using canes and was very adament that her problems were more severe than the others. She went up to the registrar and declared, "I have such and such." S and I kind of looked at each other in bewilderment, like, Yeah, duh, of course you do or you wouldn't be here. The rest of the night was filled with a bunch of sob stories from people who wanted other people to feel sorry for them. Again, I was amazed that they didn't realize that every single person in that room had the same problems. S and I high-tailed it out of there as soon as possible. It's the last "conference" I went to.

At that moment I realized 2 things. (1) I can go through life feeling sorry for myself or (2) I can realize that none of us get through life without SOME sort of challenge, suck it up, and live to the fullest I can while I still can.

Fast forward 5 years: I had no idea on that Thanksgiving Eve that I would be sitting where I am today as happy as I am. In the spirit of this past week's Thanksgiving, I am grateful for so many things.

• I am grateful that I live in a time in this world where medicine is so advanced and doctors know so much.
• I am grateful that I had such understanding professors and mentors at school that were patient and accomodating of me enough so that I could graduate.
• I am grateful to live in an incredible world that provides so many opportunities to be happy.
• I am grateful for friends who make me laugh so hard I cry.
• I am grateful for my supportive parents and in-laws who are always so sweet to S and me (even in the wake of a tumultuous football game.)
• I am grateful to have been blessed to have such an incredible husband in my life. The last 6 years since we were married have had their multitude of challenges but they have only made our relationship stronger and my love for him deeper.
• I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who provides me with so many opportunites and blessings that I will never be able to efficiently express my gratitude in words.

It's really difficult for me to write about these sorts of things because I don't like dwelling on my problems. However, if there is anything I have learned that I would pass on to you the reader, is to express gratitude as often as you can, take advantages of the opportunities that you have in front of you right now and, on the inevitable bad day that we each have, find the positives that came out of that bad day and move on to life's next experience.

Y did U have to win?

THE football game marks a somewhat tense day in our household each year. Let me start by telling you a story which pretty much sums up why.

One of the first times I was around S's Grandpa H, he let me know (upon hearing that I was a student at BYU) that when S was a teenager (maybe a little younger) that he would never, ever consider even talking to any girl that went to the Y. A diehard UTE fan, S was opposed to anything blue. Fast-forward 10 years or so, it was quite hilarious to Grandpa H that S was now marrying a Cougar girl.

I, myself, have honestly not always been a diehard Coug fan. For a lot of years I simply did not care who won THE game. However, after devoting so many hours to one campus, it became difficult to not get caught up in the yearly festivities of the Holy War.

Which brings us to this years game...

Early in the season my Cougs were doing really well and I took every advantage to let S know so. It's my own fault really, but when they were slaughtered in the TCU game, the U vs. Y line in our house became very apparent and I started paying for every derogatory comment I made against the U. Even worse was when the U ended up beating TCU. I woke up the next morning to the U of U fight song blaring in my ears with S singing along in a somewhat tone-deaf yet very exuberant manner. At this point I put all my energy into hoping for a victory in THE game.

As I made plans to go to a family football party (sans S, he had to work) I was running late...as usual. When I went out to my car to leave, I saw this:

I exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding!" took some pictures (for insurance purposes), and washed it off enough to be illegible. Afterall, I couldn't drive around town in a blue car with a BYU Alum plate and wearing BYU clothing with this crap on my car...ironically when I got done sort-of-washing it off, it looked like a giant bird had done just that.

Watching the game with my ILs felt sort of like a slow death. Every time the Cougs would manage to do something well, the good people of the group attempted to cheer them on, but not to the extent that the other people cheered their team on. I also now see after watching the game with my FIL that S's extreme UTE fanaticism must be inherited. I was grateful every time the U scored that S was not there. (Although he tried to call a few times at the end of the game. I say tried because I hung up on him twice and my SIL M hung up on him the third.) Not a happy time...

It did get better though. I healed my bruised ego with some retail therapy at Michaels after the game. I also ran 2 1/2 miles when I got home (thanks for the motivation, B.) And S has actually been really, really nice considering he could be rubbing my face all in it right now.

I guess the best thing I can hope for now is National humiliation for the U at their precious BCS bowl game... :)

~

Onto more happy things, I mentioned a few weeks back that S got me a surprise for my birthday. Namely, one my my cool scrapbook gadgets on wish #3 in my 10/26 blog: the Slice! I apologize in advance for sounding like an info-mercial.

The Slice is possibly the coolest thing to hit the Scrapbook-world scene this year. It is a personal electronic die-cutting machine about the size of a large camera, so it's extremely portable. I've looked into other electronic die-cutters but never knew how I could work them into my space because they are SO big! So when I saw this cool little gadget I knew right away it was for me. I wasn't sure I would get it this year because (1) it would likely sell out for the Christmas season and (2) it's a little pricey. However, I guess the advantage of having a B-Day early in November is that the Christmas rush generally hasn't hit yet. Plus S is very generous.

I actually think S was as interested as I was to see it in action. He read through all of the instructions as I pulled it out of the box. You simply select the image you want cut out:

And voila!

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

S and I were driving down Bangerter last week when I exclaimed,

"Holy Cow!! A Phaeton!"

[Apparently I do this a lot, you know, cry out something in surprise while we are driving to which S has to calmly remind me that for all he knows something bad just happened (like he just blew a tire out or something) and that one day it might actually cause an accident.]

I had good reason to be excited though! Anyone who knows me well knows I tend to be a fan of any German engineered automobile. The Phaeton is a luxury car built by Volkswagen for only a couple of years. Too pricey for the typical VW follower, they only sold a few thousand and went out of production in 2006. (After all, if you're going to spend 80 Grand on a car, why not buy one of it's more prestigious cousins?) This is only the second one I've ever seen outside a dealership. It's a shame more of these beauties aren't on the road...

Not to fear though. Those brilliant Germans have just released the less-expensive, equally luxurious CC and will soon re-release the Scirocco . Now I just need to work on my timing when I first see one of these on the road...and hope that S isn't driving.

[Note: this portion of the blog is inpsired by my BIL's airplane blog. If he can blog about airplanes, I can blog about cars.]

~

I love random things in life that make me laugh. Here are a few from this week that I thought I would share:

The first is actually more ironic than funny, but as I was parking my car to come into work one day, I went for a spot only to realize that there wasn't enough room to fit my car because the SUV in the spot next to it had taken up a foot or so past its alotted space. (Not a biggie because there was a spot across from it that I took instead.) Now for the irony. This SUVs plate spelled out MOVEOVER (Minus a vowel or two.)

The second is a billboard I saw for a local piano store which is, apparently, having a large sale on pianos. I'm not sure who came up with this marketing campaign, but the slogan "EMERGENCY PIANO BAILOUT" might give the wrong impression. My first thought was the image of a piano falling towards the earth and landing on Wile E. Coyote.

The last is by far my favorite. I followed a car into work today with "NKOTB: Forever Fans" painted on it's rear window. Cute, maybe, except the driver and passenger were 30-somethings. I wonder what their husbands think...

~

On a more serious note, I've been thinking a lot lately about the topic of self-reliance. I think it is such a valuable lesson that our society is straying further and further from.

I am reminded of the stories I heard growing up where someone would stop to offer a homeless person an easy job to earn some money and the homeless person would turn them down. It was much easier to just sit on their corner all day and wait for a free handout. While this is a little extreme of an example, I believe that we as humans have the tendency to be lazy because, well, we like to take the easy road. This will eventually be our downfall, though.

While I don't like crazy, busy days, there is something so gratifying to be able to go home and know that I worked my hardest and made a difference in my life and maybe the life of another. Work is a valuable lesson I learned while growing up. While I never worked a demanding job throughout high school, my parents certainly taught me the value of hard work and doing my best. I believe that these lessons carried me through some challenging circumstances in college and still help me every day on the job.

I cannot understand the individual who is comfortable with him/her self always accepting handouts from family, neighbors, work and the government. Even if they are merely working the system they are certainly harming the people around them and, even more troubling, harming themselves. This isn't to say that I've never had to rely on someone else at a time in my life. We all have circumstances arise which are beyond our control (many are seeing such circumstances right now from the poor economy.) These are even a blessing in a way because it teaches us humility and provides the opportunity of service to others around us. The important thing, though, is that we need to stand on our own feet again as soon as it is possible, learn from the experience, and progress from there.

(Note 2: if you are an individual or you know someone who needs/wants help, the LDS Church has a great resource.)

Yesterday was my 27th Birthday.

I don't know for sure why this year's birthday was particularly hard to accept. It could be related to S's comment, "Wow, do you realize three years from now you will be turning 30?!" It could also be related to the expression on an orderly's face yesterday when I told him how old I was turning ("You're HOW old?! Really?!)

In an optimistic spirit, though, I have tried to go along with the adage, "Another year older, another year wiser." I feel this past year that I have become much more self-aware, especially when it comes to knowing how my actions (or moods, rather) have a direct effect on people. I also think that I have become a much harder, more dillegent worker. I am relatively healthy and have such a great support system. So really, I have a lot to be grateful for! If this next year is as good as the last has been, then Bring On 28!

[By the way, when I *gasped* at that orderly's comment, he followed it up with, "No, no, I just thought you were 21 or 22." That's more like it :) ]

~

As for the day itself, I really had no expectations. Both S and I were scheduled to work so I figured our celebration would be postponed. Needless to say, I was very touched by the dinner at work on Friday, surprise mini-party S and I had when I got home that night (and the surprise gift...more to come on this one), the well-wishes and phone calls, and surprise goodies, delivery and LUAU awaiting me at work the next day. I keep saying it, but (despite the less-than-stellar work day itself) it was really one of the best birthdays I've ever had. As for those that helped make the day so great? You all know who you are; thank you, thank you SO much!

Halloween is fast becoming one of my favorite holidays.

Truth be told, I'm not sure if it's the day itself that I like or the whole season. I have to discipline myself to wait until at least October 1st before I start hauling out all of the seasonal decorations. Once that date hits, though, out come the autumnal sprays, the bat-o-lanterns, glittered gourds and, of course, this guy... A few years ago I started making Halloween cookies patterned after the cookies my mom made while I was growing up. The best part is decorating them, of course! It only took me 12 hours to finish them this year. They taste as delicious as they look, too.

This year I hosted a party. Let it be known I was not the creative genius behind this party. This genius must have genetic disposition to party decorating and creative food concoctions. I was absolutely blown away! For 5 hours my table was spread with yummy treats like these.

Even S, who is to Halloween like the Grinch is to Christmas, stuck around for awhile. I even caught him playing Rock Band and SMILING :)

~

I forgot to mention last week that S actually sold his snowmobile within a week of me blogging about it. There was a guy who was asking for the exact engine in S's old sled. S talked him into buying the whole thing, broken and all. Best part is we got more than half of what we originally paid for it. S was then able to get this "new-to-him" sled.

He's going to keep busy tuning it up until the snow hits. Overall it's in great condition, though, so there's not much that needs to be done. And with today's weather as it is, I'm sure it's not going to be long until the snow starts piling up in the mountains.

~

This week marked the last week for S at his station. As probationary officers, they are required to move stations halfway through the year. At first it seemed like it would be a welcome change (where S has been has just not been that busy.) But as his last day approached, he realized how great it's been and is actually very sad to leave. I work 70 hour weeks at my job and it feels somewhat like a second home. I can't imagine how it feels for a firefighter. They eat, sleep, and clean the station as if it is a second home. It would be hard not to bond with these other firefighters, too.

He invited me to come that evening and take pictures of him and his crew. (P.S.--I was able to ride along on a call in this truck last month. Imagine me in the back wearing headphones and grinning as wide as my cheeks would let me. It was so AWESOME!)

I'm sure that he will have great experiences at his new station. Good luck, S!