Three Months Later

On Halloween night I ended up in the hospital instead of at the ward trunk-or-treat. I thought my cramps were just a bit more intense than usual and I wanted to sleep off the pain. Paul, however, took one look at me and told me he was going to take me to the hospital. Apparently the walls and I had the same white complexion. It didn't register with me just how much pain I was in until I was in the ER and my arms had been perforated so the nurses could find a good vein to get blood and run some tests.

Turns out I was having cramps, but of a different sort than I thought. I had been bleeding internally for a few days and lost so much blood that I was right on the fence as to whether or not they were going to have to give me a transfusion. A couple of days later when I went in for a check up the Dr. told me that I must have an amazing tolerance for pain and if Paul had let me have my way, he would not have been able to wake me up on Sunday morning. For the following week I sat at home watching movies (love the 5 Disc DVD changer) and having neighbors help me out when Paul had a class that he couldn't miss.

We decided to take some time for ourselves before we shared with others. We needed time to wrap our heads around what just happened and things of a personal nature like that, well I got teary eyed every time I thought about it let alone talking about it. It's crazy to think that it has been 3 months, even when I have talked to some of my family they can't believe how much time has past.

Over Christmas when we went to all the family dinners we had so many ask us how we were and what they could do to help. I want to say thanks to everyone.

I love all of you!! Thank you so much. And a special shot out to my friend in OK. I hate to know that she went through the same thing but it has been great to have someone to talk with who knows exactly what the last three months have been like.

Holiday Crafts

This post is coming a bit late - but better late than never. For Christmas, since things were a bit tight, we decided to do homemade gifts. There is something a bit more special about a gift that someone has put themselves into. As many know I took the opportunity this last summer to reteach myself how to crochet. Last year I made scarves and my mom absolutely loves hers. She said that people have given her so many complements on it and asked where she got it. This year we decided it would be fun to make a couple more for family. I hope they enjoy them.

I have come across a couple of cute beanie ideas and decided to put them all into one. With two new nieces in the family , who are just adorable, I decided to make all of our nieces and nephew a beanie. Of course the spiral design would not work for our nephew so I made it with a straight design and made the band a bit thinner.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera everywhere we went over Christmas break so I did not get any pictures of them in their beanies. However, Pauls mom sent us a couple. Oh my goodness I could not be more excited about how cute they turned out. Bailly already had a white one so I made her a grey one that would still work with her little flower clips. If I ever remember my camera I'll be sure to get more pictures and put them up.

Aggie Ice Cream

One of the great things about being up here at school is the Ice Cream. The school makes their own ice cream and their signature flavor is Aggie Blue Mint. For Christmas we used Aggie Ice Cream gift cards for a present in a family gift exchange. Pauls cute Grandma Yeates ended up with the gift cards so we told her we would get her some ice cream and bring it down with us the next time we came down. I have an Uncle who also loves the Aggie French Vanilla and he said he wanted one of those. We are going down to visit with family and so Paul can go to the dentist. Others have found out about the Ice Cream we are bringing down with us ~ you guessed it ~ we are now bringing quite a bit with us. So we decided to open it up and ask if there is any more family out there that would like a 1/2 gallon of Aggie Ice Cream.

Flavors Are:
Aggie Blue Mint, Aggie Bull Tracks, Caramel Cashew, Choc Chip Mint, Choc Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate, Chocolate Almond, Chocolate English Toffee, Cookie Fudge, Cookies n' Cream, French Vanilla, Lemon Custard, Maple Nut, Peppermint (just a couple left), Praline Pecan, Raspberry & Creme, Raspberry Sherbet, Rocky Road, Strawberry, Strawberry Cheesecake, Toffee Crunch, Vanilla.

It is $5.75 for a 1/2 gallon. Just leave a post or get a hold of us by 8 pm tonight. If there are more who would like some we can go get it and bring it with us tomorrow.

A Sophisticated Dog

Paul has mentioned a couple of times that he wanted to try and put a pair of Mr. Potato Head glasses on Bentley, or maybe a pair of wire rim glasses. With the bushy eyebrows and goatee we both thought it would be pretty funny. Over the Christmas break we were able to go down and spend some time with family. One of our new nieces happened to get a doll that had wire rim glasses. Her parents took the glasses off the doll so that our niece didn't tare them off and try to eat them or pock herself in the eye. So we inherited them.

How handsome! I don't think Bentley was all that amused but the rest of us sure were.

A fantastic chip dip

For New Years it seamed like everyone we had invited over decided to stay 'home' ~ all those various places they went to for Christmas ~ and so it looked like it was just going to be me and Paul. A girl I used to work with, she was fired a couple of weeks after I was and we also know each other from school, said that her and her husband were going to be up and wanted to come over. Fantastic ~ so it would be the four of us but she said they were going to make a chip dip first then come over.

As I have mentioned before we borrowed some movies from my sister and the next thing on our list of movie series was Harry Potter. Paul and I only have 2 and 4, very random and I have no idea why we have bought those ones and out of order. So we loaded up the 5 Disc DVD changer. Paul had also turned out cable back on ~ there's no TV service without it, uhgg ~ so that we could watch the ball drop. Well our microwave must be a minute slow. When we changed back to the TV the ball had already dropped ~ we all know it is recorded and replayed because we are two hours behind NY - but we caught the last five seconds of a countdown on another channel. Then back to our movies.

I felt a little guilty because I could not keep my eyes open any longer and took about a 20-30 minute nap. Come to find out so did Paul and my friends husband, I did not feel too bad after that. We only watched the first 2 that night, then two movies the next two nights as well. Wow ~ I needed a break after that and so we have not started on the Star Wars movies just yet. Ya know I do not think I have ever watched them all in order so it will be interesting what I pick up on.

Back to the Chip Dip.
Amazing!!!!
Ummm the melted, slightly crisp cheese on top and the
spicy pepperchini was what did it for me.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Christmas Meatballs

For the Yeates Christmas party every year someone makes a huge crockpot of meatballs. Paul absolutely loves them and so this year for New Years we made some of our own. The recipe is easy enough but like all crockpot meals, you have to plan the time to let it sit and cook. They are pretty delicious and the friends who were over for New Years said they really liked them as well. Give them a try and let us know what you think.

Just like my last cards these ones are ready to be saved and printed when you need them.
ENJOY!!!

Personal Progress

I am so excited to be in Young Women's. To be able to work with the girls, to go to camp and to work on my Personal Progress. It is like being on the Mission again and having goals to work towards. LOVE IT!! When I was in Young Women's - a long long time ago - I received all the Gold medallions. Just a little while after I was out they changed the program a bit and the medallion went to silver. Within the last couple of years my mom has been in YW and was able to receive the silver one - I much rather prefer the silver over the gold - and now I have the opportunity to get it.

The church has changed the program again slightly and added the value of virtue. The medallions have been changed slightly but there is still one in silver. Every time I go to mutual or class on Sunday I get excited all over again. Sometimes I wish I could run a USB cord from my brain to the girls and share with them everything I have learned. Since that technology is not around I will have to settle for teaching them how to recognize the Spirit.

On my brief sabbatical from living my life the way I knew I should, there was one thing that kept me from doing anything truly ridiculous and keeping me from harms way. It was all those lessons I had heard about how to act as a daughter of God, I knew he loved me NO MATTER WHAT, that I could talk to him anytime; these were all things that I remember hearing in class on Sunday's. When it came down to it I knew I was not as happy as I had been when I was doing what I knew I should. One night in my bedroom it hit me like to load of bricks and so that night I 'accidentally' lost my cell phone with all of my 'friends' numbers. That is what I want for these girls, and everyone, is to know that they can always come back and that they are never alone.

I just got an e-mail from the YW president with a link to the article in the New Era about the changes that are happening with Personal Progress. That's right, I am all fired up again. My mom has always been a great example of living the gospel and putting others first. I hope that I can do the same and show the girls through my example how excited I am to work on becoming a better person, improving my skills and my faith.