I delight in 56 degrees.

Today it was 56 degrees. Even at 9:00 at night, it was still 56 degrees in Utah on December 30th.

That's crazy. But Utah stays true to its truly unpredictable weather.

At the same time, it was fantastic to go on a walk at 9:00 at night and have it be pleasant in a light jacket. Now it is 11 and the wind is a blowing. Snow? Probably not. Here's to a snow-less December....weird.

I delight in a new kind of quilt.

Why my computers camera reverses the image in photobooth, I will never know.

I feel like this always happens.

I get busy or a new phase of life comes along and I stop blogging. Its not intentional. I just have to adjust into a new routine, I haven't found it yet.

I may not find it for a while--just saying.

In the meantime, Christmas happened. For me I experienced it in kind of a "whoosh...Christmas is over?" Though, I'm really happy Christmas was on a Sunday this year. Going to church on Christmas seems more than appropriate and helped me to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, on Christmas.

Christmas at my house is a pretty magical experience in terms of the maintenance of the "childlike love" of Christmas traditions. Could Christin be any more excited or any more full of hope of the treasures not only for herself but for others on Christmas morning? Could Craig smile any more as he opened "oldy moldy movies and CDs" that remind us all of the good 'ole days of "worry free media." (Pardon all of those quotations...geez!) And could I enjoy my siblings more? I'm so blessed.

Since Christmas, lots has happened. Lots of good, a little bad, and some in between.

Currently, I'm working buried in a project--a luxury of my last "Christmas break." It is a t-shirt quilt I started an entire year ago. I'm pretty proud of how its turned out thus far. The binding...well that's the last part and I've never done it before but I found a fantastic tutorial here that's proving to be very helpful!

What I've really been thinking a lot about lately is how to approach all I want to do in the following year--habits to be refined and developed, hobbies to enhance, time to be spent doing more worthwhile things, jobs to be found, and always always things to learn and people to help.

And so, I think I need to shake it up this year--approach it in a new way, only I have no idea what kind of new way. All I know so far is that it has to be something different.

How do you approach your new year?

I delight in being home for the holidays.

these folks are no longer my neighbors but i have enjoyed their decorations for EVERY holiday...they're hardcore

Well I'm playing the catch up game but the end of the story is--I'm home for Christmas and couldn't be happier. The past week has been incredible--incredibly stressful and incredibly joyful!

• I finished my last final ever. Boy does that feel good to say.
• Christin slept over at my apartment
• Went to Provo with LB, saw Grandpa and visited BYU (and Cabelas)
• Craig slept over (it was his first sleepover and boy did we have a blast! I hope we can do it again! Nothing compares to quality time with my amazing brother!
• Ate red iguana, went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert and saw the lights at temple square, drank hatch's hot chocolate AND drove around looking at Christmas lights with Mary (and we did it all while NOT discussing homework)
• Moved home
• Went to church at my Salt Lake ward where I sang in the choir and felt the spirit of Christmas so strong
• Hung out with my awesome neighbors
• Feasted with friends--always an entertaining experience
• Organized all the stuff in my life--its way too much stuff
• Did some Christmas shopping
• Watched Christmas movies
• Bowled with 'the gang'
• Organized a semester's worth of papers
• Burned a pile full of PHI info and bank documents--why is that so refreshing?

The point is, there is no place like home for the holidays. Eating meals with other people. Playing two games of Skip-bo over lunch. Praying and delighting as a family. Living in a house with heat and insulation! Finding joy watching Craig and Christin find Clyde, the family elf, every morning. Listening to the canada geese land in the back field. Playing with Ruby--worlds cutest puppy. Singing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer with LB, world's cutest sis. Moving furniture around and creating a scarf rack with dear dear dad. Enjoying a trip into Sam's Club (for the first time EVER) with my big brother Craig. Watching Mom smell all the different types of perfumes Dad and I "potentially" picked out for her for Christmas. I have so much to be grateful for and so much to delight in. What have you delighted in lately?

I delight in the ability to remember and pray.

I remember these days as if they were yesterday.

They were hard. But they were days of learning and growth.

Tonight as I talked on the phone with my Dad, we complained at length about being grad students and I delighted in every minute of it. Not that I delight in complaining but I delight in the company with whom I am able to complain with.

On my mission (see here), I had the opportunity to come to love a lot of people. When I hear about good things in their lives, my heart becomes so full of gratitude and love that I know them and love them. But when I hear of painful things, my heart is filled with pain. Cancer has come into one of their lives for the second time. Unfortunately, it never affects just one. The family, the friends, the ward, the community, every person who cares for them, the list goes on and on.

The word tumor makes me shutter. I think it always will. My heart goes out to those who are dealing with hard things and my heart is continually marveled at how they endure it with faith. I'm grateful to be able to remember. Remember the good, remember the bad. Remember the pain, the sorrow, and the rays of hope. Remember the lessons learned and the decisions made. Remember the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and remember the power available through covenants. Remember that we are children of Heavenly Father who knows us personally. Remember that change is always possible. Remembering that we signed up for an eternal plan. These are the types of things I am grateful I can remember. I am grateful that where'er we are and where'er we go, we can always pray. always.

I delight in love.

I'm so grateful for the capacity to love.

I believe that certain opportunities are given us to increase our capacity to love. I was given many special opportunities this past semester.

Today I had to say goodbye. I've never been a fan of good-byes. I try to make them like a band-aid. Rip them off and run. But inside it always hurts for a while.

Today I finished my time working as a clinician at the University of Utah Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic. I've been there 3 semesters now (4 if you count my apprenticeship) and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Every minute (well sans the paperwork).

And so, I'm grateful for the ability to love. I'm grateful to love what I do. I'm grateful to love the clients I've been able to work with. They've changed my life.

I delight in a Christin-ism.

"Sis, I put our dogs in a kennel. I say, "Ruby kennel Ruby." "Ruby say, I think not." "Run away." "Leash, I say, Ruby come, come Ruby." "I trick our dog, leash. Kennel."

"Our dog need puppy school Sis."

I delight in "no worries."

because dogs never have worries

Lately, I have been S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D.

No surprise right?

It is the end of the semester.

My delight today is rooted in someone sending a reply to a very important e-mail and in the closing line saying, "no worries."

These seemingly insignifiant words might seem worthless to you, and they usually do to me too because they're usually a lie.

"Yeah no worries," they say but really they mean..."Its only 1/2 your grade."

or

"Don't worry about it," says the friend whom you've had to cancel on for various but legitimate reasons for the second time but they really mean,"I'm really disappointed you're canceling on me AGAIN."

But this time, even though it was something big and important, the "no worries" seemed sincere and I didn't feel worried. I did not feel worried.

And it was nice for a change.

And so, my goal because of this realization is: When I say, "No worries" to someone, I need to mean it so that the person I'm saying it to can feel a sense of relief. True relief. Its nice.

I delight on a night at temple square.

This is not a picture of this year...we don't have snow like this yet!

Going to temple square every year isn't a tradition for me. However, I'm 2 years strong.

To me, few things epitomize the Spirit of the Christmas season than the feeling at temple square. I delight in temple square whenever I'm there, but Christmas is particularly meaningful. If you can, go. If you need someone to go with you, I'll go. My wardies might agree I am a great and commanding tour guide, but maybe it goes to my head. :)

I delight in the cousins party.

Christin waiting for the guests to arrive.

My entire life, I've heard about "the cousin's party."

On the first Saturday of December, my Mom and her cousins all get together. It is not a fancy ordeal, it is completely about the company. They eat dinner, laugh, talk, catch up, and best of all, they play bingo for white elephant gifts.

All of my cousins and I have always known that we were not invited to the night our parents seemed to talk about and look forward to so much. A few years ago (or more than a few now), Craig and Christin became regulars at the cousin's party. And because I was home tonight...I got to meet my Mom's cousins, some of whom I'm not sure I remember ever meeting before. They're all delightful people. I'm proud to call them family.

While the cousins party is not a tradition I participate in regularly, I would say a 45-year tradition, stands in the forefront of my mind of the way traditions should be. This one is centered on family, love, and making both a priority. Some cousins flew in just for the occasion.

I'm grateful to be a part of such a strong heritage of making family a priority through quality traditions.

I delight in a new tradition.

image

In my last post, I mentioned I was going to start sharing Christmas traditions with you.

Today I started a new tradition for my family. In case you don't know this already, I have the best family ever.

One of the amazing characteristics of the best sibilings ever is their ability to have a constant child-like ability to believe in all things good and hopeful. And as such, as any good girl and any good boy knows, it is the season for Santa to send his elves out to check on all the children of the world.

This year a real elf showed up. His name is yet to be determined but he's already on the loose in our house. That's right, he's watching all the good kind deeds done by those who live under this roof, but he also has his eye out for those 'not so nice' things that may happen including but not limited to:

• looking at Christmas presents before Christmas
• saying not nice words
• pretending not to hear the words of other family members

Needless to say, the elf has his work cut out for himself this year.

***If you have not seen this book, check it out asap. Google it. Search it on pinterest. And whatever you do, start this quality and wholesome tradition straight away.

I delight in December 2011.

This is not a picture from today. Today it was windy x 4 but no snow.

I delight in ringing in a new month, the last month of the year of death (that's what my friend Mary and I termed the year 2011 due to 3 semesters of grad school).

I'm grateful to ring in not only a great month, but a great special and spiritual season. The time that the world rejoices, remembers, and celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

December is a very traditional month for me. There are decorations I place (but not this year, see previous post), places I go, things I eat and drink, books I read, songs I listen to and people I get to see that I don't do any other time of the year.

Last year however, I decided something needed to be different in the future. Throughout the season I was repeatedly asked in essence, "What are you giving to Jesus?" At first I was taken aback by the question, but upon thinking about it, I re-examined my commitment to coming to Christ and my commitment to change and progress.

I decided it would be fun to add a little "S.A.S." to December this year. I don't want to ruin it though by telling you what my acronym stands for but it is going to be great.

I'm curious about what other peoples traditions are. What places do you visit? What are the books you read? Things you eat? Songs you listen to? I'm going to make sure I share some of mine with you this month as I delight in each one of them.

On the first day of December my true love (who?) gave to me...1 final report, one study guide and soaps x3. I'm sure the other days of Christmas have more promising things in mind. I'm just certain of it.

I delight in warm.

Note the scarf, jacket and space heater.

Gloves and wool socks.

Hat and boots.

Hot showers.

Car heater.

Number 3 on the electric blanket.

Hot chocolate (with those mini mallows).

Hoodies and sweatpants.

Sweaters with high necks.

Ear warmers and ear mitts.

Winter is here. I'm permanently cold.

Feeling fortunate that a) I have a "warm-ish" place to live, b) That I served my mission in Canada so I have plenty of warm gear and c) that Utah has seasons.

I delight in other's Christmas lights.

This was my Christmas tree last year and this year I'm afraid its not going to make it out of the box. No, this year, I'm delighting in other people's Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and Christmas decorations. Although, I love love love decorating for Christmas, I'm going to miss out on it at my house, and at my other house (aka, my apartment). Its okay though, living where I live, I'm blessed by the decorations of the amazing homes in the aves, the decorations in the institute building and the lights on the Christmas trees outside the clinic (literally the only bright spot of coming out of a late session is a dark night filled with the light of Christmas joy). Happy decorating!

I delight in family history.

Today at church, we talked about Elder David A. Bednar's talk from October General Conference entitled, "The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn."

I remember going to a class about how to get started doing family history work and how to use PAF files. As my memory remembers (Craig, correct me if I'm wrong) Craig and I went to this class together during high school. He has always loved learning more about the relatives and needed to learn something more about how to use PAF files so he could store all the information he had somewhere besides his head. The course was an hour long and a good portion of that hour was used describing to the other participants (many generations older than us) how to turn on the computer, how to open files (including how to "double click" and how a mouse worked), and how to close files using the little red 'x' up there in the corner. Needless to say, I got a little bored, and while I learned enough to know how to get started, I realized that at the rate around me, family history work was never going to get done. No offense intended to those of the older generation who do family history work. I am so appreciative of your passion, desire, and motivation to learn things (like how to use a computer) that are foreign to your generation. However, in that family history class I took so long ago, I had an epiphany moment...my generation is being trained how to do this, and they don't even know it! Computers, and buttons, typing and searching is not foreign to us. Most of us could text or type with our eyes closed. We were made to do this work.

As the years have passed since that first epiphany moment the feeling I had then has only been confirmed. Elder Bednar says in his talk,

It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

I delight in just how mindful our Heavenly Father is of the skills we need to develop to carry on his work in every capacity.

I delight in the hope of the future.

Thanksgiving was great. Pictures (all 3 that I took) to come. Delicious turkey, salads, vegetables and desserts--yum yum! Being surrounded by people I love, playing games, and chatting it up with family I just don't get to spend enough time with--it was great.

The downside (because somehow there always seems to be one), paperwork. And so, after a good family fix, down to my cave I retreated to write some final reports/soaps.

But then, I had an epiphany--this is the last Thanksgiving/Holiday I'll be spending doing homework! Ah ha!!! Once I made that connection, I was a happy camper. Somehow it all seemed just about time!

And so, a few more things to add to my thanksgiving thankful list:

21. This being the last thanksgiving I'm doing homework.

22. Watching my parents happily prepping thanksgiving dinner together

23. Watching Christin try to take back the garden hose from Rubes. Can you say tug of war?

24. Watching my adorable brother smile as he ate the unique dessert made devised for him

25. Getting a hug from the sweetest Grandpa in the world who I hadn't seen in ages (the one downside to not living in P-town).

26. Cutting out turkey's with Christin

27. Chatting about the day and Christmas with my parents around the table at the end of the day.

28. Knowing I was finally going to see a good friend I haven't seen in ages.

29. The list goes on and on but I'll stop here.

I hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving friends/family/mystery readers who read about the things I delight in. Thanks for letting me share. Thanks for your kind comments. I want you to know that I really do believe in hope. Hope of good days today and better days to come. Hope of the hard times getting better. Hope in "an High Priest of good things to come."

thankful list 2011

if you read my blog on reader, check out the blog's new header in real life!!!

thankful list 2011

1. The opportunity to live here and now
2. The opportunity to get a good education
3. A fantastically supportive and loving family who loves to talk to me as much as I like to talk to them and has recently discovered facetime so I can see them all the time too!
4. Fantastic people who fill my life with good examples and constant reminders of just how wonderful people can be
5. To be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know my life is better because of my faith in my Savior Jesus Christ and the opportunity it gives me to change and become something better.
6. To live within walking distance of a temple
7. A grad school study buddy who has helped me be a "successful graduate student"
8. Kindred spirits and friends who "get it"
9. The ability to write. I may not do it well, but it is a big de-stressor to just be able to write--journals, blogs, study guides, gospel lesson lectures, etc.
10. Ruby the puppy. Its amazing how having someone in your life with a little 'spunk' really adds to the zest you have for life. Rubes has brightened my life and torn apart my poor families backyard. Penny's a great pup too. She's finally warmed her way into my heart as well.
11. Books. I love books because I love to read and learn new things. In a sense a physical book is becoming outdated but I will always love them even though they give me back and neck pain as I lug them all over...I still love them and all the treasures they contain.
12. Grandparents.
13. Make-up, because it makes me look more awake than I ever seem to feel.
14. Compensatory strategies like planners, sticky notes, visual diagrams, graphic organizers, and index cards. I'd be constantly late and forgetting more things than I already do without them. It also makes it easy to come up with compensatory strategies for your client when all he/she needs is to employ the strategies I already use daily!
15. A good ward. I love my ward and I've had the opportunity to serve in the Relief Society Presidency this year. Its been such a privilege to get to know and love all the amazing sisters in my ward. I'm already missing it and I still have a few more weeks left.
16. Feeling okay about my circumstances in life. This feeling seemed to be a long time coming but this year I really went on the search of some perspective to find it. Life is good, and although so many of my friends are in such different circumstances in life than I, I'm grateful for where I'm at and what I get the opportunity to do.
17. Lessons learned. I'm grateful for the lessons Heavenly Father continually teaches me and I'm grateful to recognize them for what they are--significant lessons to serve as stepping stones to further growth and attainment
18. Boots. Not really typical with other things on the list, but I do love boots.
19. Living in Salt Lake. Its been great, its been fun and I think I might actually miss living in 'the big city.'
20. Sleep.

The list could go on and on, the things I've named are just a few. The final thing I want to include is being grateful for an extra-adorable little sister who jumps around outside when you come home and draws twenty-something turkeys to decorate the kitchen for thanksgiving.

I delight in breaking down.

I'm in the process of breaking things down. Moving is my least favorite activity in the world. That's why I try and do it as rarely as possible. However, that only seems to work out so well--case in point in my current situation.

Moving entails cleaning up and out the papers I've accumulated. In school, that's a lot of paper and books and more paper and more books. The thing about moving home is that all my stuff has to be consolidated and fit, somewhere. Home does not require needing the toaster, microwave, crock pot, rice cooker, panini maker, dishes, silverware, couch, chair, shower curtain, desk, bed, bookcase, and the list goes on. And so, sorting the 'still needs' and 'not now needs' is interesting. And so, for the next 4 weeks, life is in limbo--somethings here and somethings there and nothing having a home.

In other news, thanksgiving is this week. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. I love thanksgiving and I'm working on a thanksgiving post, be excited. I am. I'm so grateful for all the things I have to be grateful for. More on that on Thursday. :)

I delight in ASHA 2011.

picture courtesy of megan b's facebook

I just returned from my third and final trip to California for the year. This time I went a little further south than the previous two trips to San Diego. It was absolutely fantastic knowing it was snowing in my home state of Utah, and that I was no where near there.

ASHA stands for the American Speech Language Hearing Association. I'm currently a member of NSSLHA (pronunciation determined by your region) or the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association. Each year, a community of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists gather together for a huge conference (and I really do mean huge). There were classes on everything from total laryngectomees to trach babies and vents, to dysphagia and the lifecourse of the lung, to assessing pragmatics in autism, to ipads and apps. Of course you've also got your typical ebp (evidence based practice) study results for new programs such as hanen's more than words. There were also classes on everything from morphological awareness and literacy, to traditional articulation approaches now taught with ipad apps. There is certainly something for everyone at ASHA and it does not disappoint.

To fill in the spaces, there was always the exhibit hall full of a seemingly million companies selling everything and anything that you might possibly ever/never need during your career. The postcard was just one treasure found at one booth. I also found a place with a notepad of animated vocal fold vibrations so as you flipped through the pages, the vocal folds moved. I kid not. It was hilarious. But probably only hilarious to a "speechie."

I also determined that it is quite possible that to become a "true speechie" you have to have short hair and wear scarves. I've got the scarves but I'm holding out on the short hair, at least for now. There was a booth selling cashmere scarves and it was always swarmed with people!!! I was shocked every time I walked past it!

My stock of pens, sticky note pads, clips, pedometers, sunglass holders, hand cleaner plus holder, waterbottles, measuring tapes, and bouncy balls was restocked. I have 10 or so bags I collected from the exhibit hall as well. On an even better note, I had the opportunity to talk to lots of potential employers from all across the United States. I gave them my resume, and learned more about their company. It was a fantastic experience. Now I just need to figure out what 'experience' I want to have for my CF aka Clinical Fellowship. Decision time.

What I haven't even talked about yet was the amazing people I went with. 10 girls from my same year in the program also went to ASHA. I stayed with 2 of them. We had a blast together. Searching for dinner in little italy, looking for the the pizza place in the gaslamp, eating dessert for dinner at pinkberry, going to the social gathering for the Intermountain West Universities where I saw professors from my days at BYU as well as talked to professors and supervisors in a more casual setting than the clinic.

The trip was great. The learning was incredible. The company was better than ever and the food was really yummy. Now back to real life, papers, clinic, reports, and projects. At least I have a more distant goal insight than just making it through grad school. :)

I delight in Disneyland Part 2!

This is a complete report so bring on more pictures. We were there for 5 days. I wouldn't recommend this amount of time for most however, since it was LB and I's 'first' trip we actually remember, we decided we should take advantage of all the time we could. As most people who have a child in their life with down syndrome know, the words, 'hurry' mean 'go slow as snails.' Our goal was to have plenty of time to move slow as snails, see it all and enjoy. 5 days allowed us to do that.

When you walk around with someone as cute and as memorable as Christin, you make friends fast. A family with 2 children with cerebral palsy were there the same days we were. We ran into them almost every morning and took turns taking pictures for each other.

Disneyland decks out for Halloween!

Space Mountain.

We loved the Alice in Wonderland ride AND the Queen of Hearts bathrooms.

General consensus: favorite ride was the matterhorn. We even rode it one night when there were fireworks going on. Super memorable and amazing!

Gotta love those tea cups.

I love the store behind this teacup--the Mad Hatter store.

LB's hiding in the elephant behind me.

Here we are on the storybook land ride. We went on it twice. The first time was at night. Apparently there's a cat that lives in Cinderella's palace, with the scale of the castle taken into account, the cat looked huge. It definitely added to the experience!

Christin saving me from Monstro!

Main Street USA

We'd never been to a lego store before. It was Ah-mazing! Seriously though, I hope one day my children love legos, because I think they're amazing and they promote creativity!!!

Splash Mountain: during

Splash Mountain: after. We all got soaked.

This picture is for my first mission companion--Only she'd get it, if she remembers.

Another day at Disneyland

Oh, we have a good time!

Anyway to save on the walking was a good idea for LB, especially by the end of the trip. Here we are riding on the official Disneyland Fire Truck. Walt himself used to drive it around the park himself. We became friends with the driver...he took good care of us in getting us from the entrance of the park, to the magical castle.

If Disneyland hadn't won my heart already--this huge piece of petrified wood sealed the deal. Me and rocks=love

Somehow we missed this ride the first few days we were there. Thunder Mountain was a great discovery!

Woody and Christin

We love Toy Story!

We also love that they had a petting zoo. Random? Yes. Fun? Sure.

Nemo pumpkin.

A trip to toon town.

Animation studios---We didn't know what to expect, but we are sold. I think Mom could have stayed all day! Here's mom's version of winnie the pooh. I think her's looks the most true to life.

Here's mine.

And finally, Christin's. I'm pretty impressed at how awesome she did! Click the picture to see it a little more up close. LB is the artist of the family!

Oh the street where we want to live! :)

#1 Recommendation: To escape the mid-day heat--go to the Aladdin show in California Adventures. Its approximately an hour long and it is broadway quality. I kid not. They were super accommodating to let us sit second row so Christin could see. When Aladdin winked at her and waved...I thought her little heart was going to explode with happiness! We would have gone again, but it doesn't play everyday. So make sure to check out when it does play and GO!!!

Christin really does like this ride. Even though, she looks less than impressed.

Mom giving Christin a hug. She needs lots of those!

The shuttle bus.

Star Tours: This was Mom's favorite ride. We went on it 3, maybe 4 times. It's a good cool ride and with our pass, it made the line super short. Super blessed!

It was my favorite ride when I was 6 and it probably still is. Its a small world after all is fantastic!

Our landing spot around 12 everyday. We'd sit for about an hour or so, drink our diet coke, coke zero or regular coke (we all have our preferences). From this spot, we could watch the princess' come and go and do some great people watching.

Christin and her fairy godmother, contemplating what to wish for.

My favorite ride: Peter Pan

Christin's battery was empty by the end. A nice train ride around the park was a perfect (and cool) way to end our trip. I did a little sleeping as well on our ride around.

Long story short: Craig would LOVE Disneyland, but not all the little kids and their parents. So, we brought him a few things on his wish list. 8 of the 80.

Matchy matchy! How cute is she? She loved Disneyland. We all did. Christin is ready to go back anytime. We've decided to make it a more common occurrence. It was a smooth trip. We didn't have to rent a car. LB didn't get sick from the food (EVER) (*this is amazing coming from someone with Celiac right?). She never had a seizure (and we battled 90-100 degree temperatures all week). It was fantastic!