Queen of the Grill

Last year I bought Cory a gas grill for his birthday. Let me tell you, I think that was one of my top five decisions of all time. In all the time we have had it, Cory has used it about a million times to make us super yummy dinners. I, on the other hand, haven't used it at all. Until Monday night, that is. He always jokes with me about going and using the grill because he knows I am sort of afraid of it. Dealing with anything flamable has never been my thing. Well, Monday I surprised him (and myself a little)by saying I wanted to learn how to use it and make us hamburgers. He dutifully showed me how to do everything and watched over my cooking. He is actually an awesome teacher, much better than me. I always want to take over and sometimes literally have to clasp my hands together because they are just ITCHING to do it. He was very patient and let me do everything myself, which I love. I did rather well, if I do say so myself. I manged to not drop the burgers on the ground or burn them up. I think he was pretty impressed because he didn't even protest when I named myself "Queen of the Grill." :)

Until I tripped, flinging my spatula across the garage. He laughed and promptly demoted me. Oh well, I guess I still have more training to do!

Sesqui!

This weekend Cory and I went to Sesquicentennial State Park to go kayaking. It is only about 5 minutes from our house but it was the first time we have been since we moved here. It was a gorgeous day and we had such a fun time! The lake is pretty small, only about 30 acres, but it was a nice refresher since we didn't go at all last year. Before we left we had a race "around the island and back to the shore." Cory said I sounded like a pirate when I challenged him. I should have taken advantage of him laughing to get a head start but I didn't so of course I lost. My only hope was that one of the geese on the island would start to chase him or something which probably would have made him go faster and win by even more so oh well! I still like to race even if the chances I will actually win are slim to none. :)
It is nice to have somewhere to go that is really close. We are thinking of buying the Palmetto Pass that lets you into any state park that charges admission for $50 a year. The best part is that it applies to your car, not just the people who bought it so we could take people with us, which would be fun.
Here are a couple of pictures I took. I didn't take the camera on the lake because this was our test run for everything. Meaning: Cory knows how clumsy I am and wanted to make sure I didn't end up in the lake before risking the camera. Well, I passed with flying colors!

The Kayaks loaded up and ready to go!

After kayaking.

In the Den...

There were old school rap videos playing on you tube when I walked downstairs this morning. There was also my husband dancing like he was in the club while he was getting dressed. He always gets dressed for work downstairs and I have no idea why. I never really thought about it as weird until writing this post. Anyway, super funny and awesome way to start my Friday. :)

Progress

When I start a progect, I am already wanting it to be done. Immediately. It is part of the reason I'm so good at my job(This is how I justify this personality trait as a semi-good thing:)). I hate having things hanging over my head that are undone. It makes me feel like I am in some sort of prison. With that said, I realize now that buying a fixer upper does not necessarily mesh that well with my personality; HOWEVER, I'm try to learn how to let it go and celebrate the progress in smaller steps instead of one huge this must be done now or off with your head scenario. :)

This post is about our recent progress on the house. Sometime it seems very slow going because we are so busy and what renovation takes the most is time, which we don't have a lot of. A couple of weekends ago Cory's dad came over and helped him rebuild the railing on our front steps. There were some overgrown bushes next to it that kept a lot of moisture on the wood so it started to sag. When we took down said bushes in September, the railing all but came down with them. Over the months since, more and more of the post in the railings have come loose and been literally blown off by the wind. It is all now fixed and I'm so excited! All that is left to do now is wait for the wood to dry out and repaint! It has been so wet lately that I haven't been able to get any pictures. It started raining when they were finishing up and hasn't stopped for long since. I finally got some last night so here they are!

Before:

After!
I had a little flag on my flag pole but the wind blew it off and into the neighbor's yard within the first hour. Boo wind. But yay fixed railing! Now I can't wait to paint! :)

Conference Thoughts

Basically, I love conference. It is so relaxing and uplifting. It has been just wonderful to snuggle up to my husband and listen to the words of living prophets. This conference, I couldn't stop thinking about how grateful I am for that. We have a LIVING gospel and prophets who have been called to receive revelation specifically for us. I loved Elder Hollands talk. He always makes me cry, but his message was so true. The spirit will teach us the things we need to know if we just listen. Every time I thought I had picked a favorite talk, the next one would change my mind. I should just give up trying to pick a favorite! Elder Scott's talk was up there though. Hearing church leaders speak about their wives gets me every time. He is my favorite apostle because I always feel like his messages apply so much to my life. Cory says I shouldn't have a favorite when it come to apostles but I just can't help it. Since there is no difference in my love for the apostles, I think it is okay. I feel so good and can't wait to tackle all kinds of things and become an even more dedicated Latter Day Saint. Not just a follower of Christ, but a disciple.

Conference Craft

I have started the tradition of doing a craft every general conference weekend. Since I have to slow down and not make plans for a weekend, it works out as a really good time for crafting! Today my mom came over and we made Easter egg wreaths together! It was fun being able to spend some time with my mom while making such a cute wreath! We both saw it on Mom&Wife and bought the supplies to make it this weekend. I happened to mention my plans to her so we decided to make them together. It was SO EASY and I think it turned out really cute! Mom made the bow for me because I am still pretty hopeless at doing that. Everything else I did myself and I even have the hot glue burns to prove it! :)

I had to go to the grocery store tonight and when I drove up and saw it on the door, it just made me smile. Goofy, but true!

Making Mole Hills Out of Mountains

I stress a lot. I mean seriously, it is ridiculous. I like having everything planned in advance. I make a lot of lists. I counted the other day and have eight different calendars. EIGHT! Who does that?!? Crazy people, that’s who. Unfortunately, that’s also me. This week has been particularly stressful for me and many things haven’t gone as planned. Yesterday when I waited in line at Taco Bell for 15 minutes only to be told their card machine was broken (I never carry cash) when I was already running late getting back from lunch I almost burst into tears. The only reason I didn’t was because I was determined not to cry over something as silly as Taco Bell. I came back to work, vented to my long suffering coworkers about the craziness and snacked on some goldfish. As I was being particularly petulant, I checked the blog of a family from my home town to read about the progress of their daughter who had heart surgery on Wednesday. As I was reading the things this mother had written about seeing her baby girl with tubes coming out of her body after literally having her chest ripped open, I felt so humbled. The words she wrote were so beautiful and heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine what she and the rest of her family are going through but I was so touched by the positive outlook she has on everything. At that moment I was so grateful for my trials. They seem so small in comparison. So what if I don’t get lunch one day. There are children in this world who haven’t had lunch all week. I am so blessed but sometimes I look past all my blessings and only see whatever is not going perfectly with my many plans. I have decided today that I’m going to try a little harder to be a little better, as President Hinckley once said. To count more of my blessing and not worry so much when things aren’t exactly how I want them to be. That’s life. I won’t always be able to change the circumstances, but I can change my attitude. So look out world, I’m now turning my mountains into molehills!

To read about the Penningtons and their sweet Mary Clare, visit Baby Pennington. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers.