Gratitude

The past month or so has been a real struggle at our house. With the stress of med school applications and finals, Christmas, a portfolio that I must do, papers to write for my masters class, and the Praxis exam coming up, I've really been feeling stressed/depressed/nervous and we've had a major case of anxiety in our house.  On top of that, I've been trying to find the motivation to start training for a triathlon and getting my body back where it was a year and a half ago.  Well with all of the other stuff going on I just keep gaining weight which has made me even more depressed.  Anyway, this blog isn't to complain, it's actually to express gratitude for the struggles I have.
The other day I was talking with a friend of mine at work.  She was telling me about this horrible illness she had a few years back which had started taking over her body and her mind and making it so she literally couldn't even take care of her family anymore.  After hearing her story my problems started to come into perspective for me. I may have all of these things do and so what if Brian doesn't get into school this year and is it really that big of deal to be carrying a few extra pounds?  Still I've been kind of down in the dumps about all of this crap, but after hearing that friends story and now another friends story today I feel truly grateful.
I talked to a friend today who found out the day before Christmas eve that his wife has cancer.  She went in for surgery that day and the doctor found more cancer.  On top of that his mother and father in law aren't well and are living with him and his mom isn't doing well either.  His oldest child is 15 and his youngest is around 3.  Hearing his story brought tears to my eyes.  How can I be so pathetic to think that my stupid little problems are so stressful and so overwhelming.  My heart goes out to my friend tonight.  I can't even imagine the pain and the stress he is going through right now. 
I am so grateful that at the time being my family is healthy, we may be on the edge of insane, but we are healthy.  I realize I need to be grateful for what I have and know it could always be worse.  My thoughts and prayers are with my friend, his wife and his family. 

Snow Day!!!

Never in my life have I had a snow day.  As a kid I remember thinking how great it would be to have a snow day, a day to stay home and play in the snow.  Of course it would be with my cousin Shayna and we would for sure have made snow forts and snowmen, and had a snowball fight or two and hopefully been able to coax one of our dads into tying the sleds onto the back of their truck to take us sledding.  Unfortunately that day never happened in my younger years.  However, now that I'm on the teacher/mom side of things, I actually had a "Snow Day".  
It all started on Monday, December 20th.  It started to snow that morning and it kept snowing, and snowing, and snowing!!  Now I wasn't to worried about the snow except for the fact that my dear husband was driving home from Missouri in this lovely storm.  Not only was he driving in the storm he was in a semi truck without a trailer. I'm not very semi savvy but I have heard that not having a trailer in this type of weather is not a good thing. I was expecting my ove home around 10pm, but 10pm rolled around and he still wasn't home and of course his phone was dead.  I stayed up late waiting for him and wrapping presents for my dear kiddos at school and getting ready for our Polar Express party the next day.  When I was finally done with all of the prep work for the next day Brian still wasn't home.  I was trying very hard not to be nervous about him traveling in the storm, it's now 1am and it honestly was still snowing! 
Around 5am on Tuesday the 21st my Love rolled in from his long journey to visit med. schools and to drop of the semi trailer my father-in-law had sold on Ebay.  When Brian came in from many hours of driving he told me of his adventurous ride home.  They did end up jack-knifing and sliding off the road, in Spanish Fork!!!  5 blocks from home!!!  They made it through Wyoming and Parley's Canyon and the place they slide off is Spanish Fork!?
Well, around 8 that morning I was woke by a text on my phone (yes I slept in extremely late due to going to bed at 1 and being woke up at 5 and then chatting for a bit) saying school is canceled.  What?  School canceled? NO!!!  I rushed downstairs and got online and sure enough it was canceled!!! Yay, a Snow Day!!!
Well with a day off school and it being only a few days before Christmas what better thing to do than go to my sister's and get my hair cut, so that's what I did.  I got my hair done and Bentley got to build a snowman with Kaulin and Sadie and have a snowball fight with Uncle Cory. What a day!

  

If You Can't Take The Heat

For Brian's birthday this year we decided we'd stay up all night and shop since his birthday landed right on Black Friday this year.  Brian has been Black Friday shopping alone the past few years.  He's so funny, he starts watching the Black Friday ads as soon as they're released on the internet.  He love's getting a good deal.  Me on the other had, I usually shop a week or two before Christmas online, have it delivered to my house, and pay a least full price for it. 

We decided that this year it would be fun to hit the stores together on this crazy night/morning of shopping goodness.  Walmart opened at midnight so we decided to hit there first.  Oh my, that really broke me into what all the crazies do on this day.  I've heard of people being trampled and I now believe it.  

If you look you will find Brian in the picture, these are people rushing the video games, including Brian.  I was standing on a bench laughing at the whole thing.  While standing there, this man comes out of that crowd you can see with his face scarlet red, screaming "Get off me! Don't touch me!"  Seriously this man was ready to hurt someone.  Honestly sir, if you can't take the heat of Black Friday, don't go shopping then!!
After Walmart, which was about 2:00am, we went home.  I fell asleep on the couch and Brian stayed awake.  Then we went back out at 4am to hit up Best Buy, Kmart, and Target.  We definitely got some good deals, and had a riot doing it.  We got home about 7am slept until 11am the headed out for our 3rd and final round of shopping. 
Later that night we went to the light parade then out to dinner for Brian's birthday.  We had such a fun day together. 

Halloween

This year for Halloween Bentley dressed up as Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Friday before Halloween we had school off so we went to Pirate Island Pizza and took one of Bentley's friends.

 Kindergarten Parade

 Pirate Island

Trunk or Treating in the Loop

San Francisco and Such

Over fall break we had the opportunity to go on a little adventure to San Francisco.  I'm calling this an adventure because the way we got there and back was quiet the adventure.  We decided we'd take the California Zephyr to San Francisco.  If you're not sure what that is, it's an Amtrak train.  Our journey started very late on Tuesday, Oct. 12th.  We boarded our train at 11:30pm.  This actually wasn't to bad because this way we knew Bentley would sleep through the night.  We boarded the train and found seats that didn't already have people sleeping in them and luckily all found seats to ourselves so we could "spread out" if that's possible on a train.  The train ride there was great.  Bentley and Brian slept, and I think I just laid there most of the night with my eyes closed.  I was worried that someone would kidnap Bentley on one of the stops and I'd be asleep and not even know he was gone.  I know I'm kind of crazy.  We made it to San Francisco on Wednesday, Oct 13th around 5:00 pm.  Yes, we were on the train for about 17 hours. I was worth it though to go to San Francisco.  I LOVE San Francisco.
The fun thing about our trip was we had absolutely nothing planned, we knew we wanted to go but it was to relax and hangout as a fam.  Our hotel was in Union Square which is my 2nd favorite place in the city next to the wharf.  That weekend was the Nike Women's Marathon, which was taking place in Union Square.  There was so much excitement, I was extremely envious of all the women there with their girlfriends to run the race.  I told Brian we're going back next year and my name will be on the Nike wall because I will be one of the participants in the race (med school budget allowing, if Brian gets in this round). 
Anyway our trip was so fun!  We went to the Exploritorium which is a kids museum.  Bentley loved it and so did Brian and I because of all the cool experiments there.  We rode the trolley all over town,  went to Golden Gate park, and of course we window shopped at all of the stores in Union Square.  My dream is to someday return with a huge shopping budget and by me a whole new wardrobe.  Seriously you should see the stores there, even their Old Navy blows ours out of the water, theirs is 5 stories! 
We spent a whole day at the Wharf where we had to go the the Hard Rock for Bentley.  Bentley was so excited because Eddie Van Halen's guitar was there!  Of course we had to get pictures. 
We were only there for 2 and 1/2 days but it was so nice to get away and relax. 
Our train ride home was where the adventure began.  We were stopped because we hit something on the track and broke our air hose.  The engineers had to get out and fix it.  Then a few hours later we were stopped because there was police activity on the track which ended up being someone trying to commit suicide.  A few hours later we were stopped for almost 2 hours because a freight train was broke down in front of us.  At some point in the middle of the night I woke up and the train was stopped again!!  It was a long ride home. We did make up some of the time through the Nevada desert and Salt Flats.

 Yes, that is Kaulin's friend Flat Stanly with Bentley outside the Amtrak station

 What a heavenly sight. I was afraid this might not happen, but it did.

 On a trolley.  It was stopped waiting for the trolleys in front of it to be turned around on the turn table.  Did you know the trolley drivers have to turn it around by hand?

 Look at the size of that tree!! 

 The Exploritorium aka children's museum

 An experiment in the Exploritorium

 Golden Gate State Park

 My little rock star with Eddie Van Halen's guitar in the background

 On the wharf

 This was the place Brian and I stayed on our honeymoon

 cathedral

 Next years goal: Nike Women's Marathon tent in Union Square

 The handsome hubs looking down over Union Square from the top of Macy's.

Overall, it was a great trip and so nice to take a break from school and work just to be together!

Kindergarten!!! Hooray!!!

Bentley started kindergarten on August 31st.  I've been waiting for this day for a long time, finally Bentley will be with me every day.  The excitement of kindergarten was quickly diminished due to Bentley getting SICK the first day of school!! Really?! He's so excited and I'm so excited and now he may possibly miss the first day of school. When Bentley woke up he wasn't feeling well, but he didn't have a fever or anything, he just said his stomach hurt.  I ran him to Grandma Vicki's and told her to bring him to school if she thought he was ok. She brought him over so he did it make to the first day of school. YAY!  Right after school I took him to his babysitters and he threw up as soon as we got there.  So the first week of school we missed a day.  Other than that, school has been great!! Bentley loves his teacher and his friends.  He loves learning.  It's so fun to hear him use the Spanish words he's learned.  It's so great to finally have Bentley at the school. 

Our Lives in a Nutshell

Wow!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone since school started.  Bentley started dual immersion kindergarten where he learns in both Spanish and English.  He absolutely LOVES it!! I have pictures of his first day, but of course they're still on my camera which is in my desk drawer at the school...sign...oh well, I'll post them sooner or later.  Bentley also just started guitar lessons.  He loves the band Van Halen and knows all about them and sings their songs.  The other day in school the teacher gave all of the kids a white board and told them they could doodle on it.  One kid raised his hand and asked if he could write mom on his since he knew how to spell it.  Bentley the raised his hand and asked if he could write Van Halen on his because he knew how to spell it.  I love having Bentley at my school so I can see his teacher everyday and hear stories and check up on him daily.
Brian has been crazy busy shadowing a DO and filling out his application for med school.  It's crazy how big of project it is.  He's also just finishing up his degree in Biology.  He would be done this December but one of the classes didn't fit into his schedule for this semester, so he'll be done this April. 
I have, of course, been teaching which seems to take up a ton of time especially during the first of the year.  I am totally enjoying the fall weather.  This is my favorite time of year!! It's this time of year that the med school in Maine sounds very appealing, a New England fall, who wouldn't want to live there?
That's our lives at the moment in a nutshell. Hopefully I will post pictures soon, if I can remember my camera from my desk drawer.