Cheese Crackers

It's crazy how things can all seem so wrong and then something will just bring you back. Things will go from being a giant tornado to being simple again, simple like a small child. I guess all of the email days are good. But I can definitely say that today was a really good email day. It's only a couple days until Christmas and we have really been missing each other. I know that he has been having a hard time being away from everyone during the holidays. A while ago, Mike had said to me how he was going to be devastated when his mission ended. I guess I kind of was sad because it's not like he will be coming home to this horrible life. I don't think he meant it the way I took it. I loved what he said in his email today... "Being away from you and my family and friends is the hardest thing I have had to do mentally. It is crazy. I feel like the day will never come that I will be able to see you guys again, but it will be here soon. Just over 18 months. Not too long Kenz. The habits and things I am learning out here will help our family out so much when we are raising children. This shouldn't be the best time of my life, this time of my life should be the best time to prepare for all the great times that are going to come. I have had an absolute blast out here, but I know they won't compare to when we are married and have a family. We need to enjoy these two years and prepare for the life we are going to have together when we are reunited once again." Gosh, I love him. It was so nice to hear this from him today. What a good email day. He also included this picture in his email. It is so simple, but made such a difference on my attitude. Mike got crafty with some cheese crackers.

Mike and Elder Lee - his companion in Negril

 

I guess now I should say Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! Love my boy.

Surgery: A Brand New Foot

Well, this is something that I have been anticipating for a good portion of my life now. It's the dreaded bunion surgery. I have always danced, so foot surgery was never an option during those years of my life. But now that I am older and have completed the dancing portion of my life, I decided I better sign myself up for bunion surgery before I start with my teaching career. I found a good doc and scheduled my surgery for December 12th. I thought it would be a good time since school would be through for a month. I was very excited. No joke. A lot of people looked at me weird when I said that I was excited, but I am just weird and I get excited about weird things. I guess I was excited for a new foot. It meant no more grandma bunions and a whole new foot. It was decided that I would just get one done at a time since I could not take too much work off. I plan on doing the next one come next December when I don't have school again.

Well the day came. My mom, dad, and best bud, Madi joined me in the surgery room. The doctor's prepared me with a gown, cap, IV, and a heated blanket. It was all smiles early that morning. My cute little doctor was chipper as a bird. I remember my anesthesiologist came in and gave me something that would make me feel weird, but not sleep. Now, that was the weirdest feeling. Two doctors were talking to me and I just remember trying so hard to be normal while they were asking me questions, but I could feel that my body was being taken over. They wheeled me across the hall and all I remember is them placing stickers all over my chest and that was it.

Next thing I know I wake up to a nurse asking me what kind of juice I want. She told me, "good choice" when I picked cranberry. I don't remember drinking it, but I do remember the empty cup tipped on its side next to me. I wondered where the juice had gone. My parents and Madi came in to greet me and I think they were greeted with an angry look that was painted on my face. They all say that I was glaring at them.

So, I'm stuck in this evil shoe for two weeks, well one week now that a week has passed. I am not sure as to what I will wear after that because I know I am not fitting my foot into some tight shoe any time soon. I'm considering flip flops in the snow. We will see. The pain is not too bad; there is just a lot of pressure in my foot. I took lots of loratab for four days and now I am off of that and feeling good. HoorAH! I will show a before and after picture on here and then I will do a blog post later on of the healing process. I would like to take a picture each day when I take the bandages off and put new bandages on. Those will be soon to come, but here's what I have for now.

Payt has been sick for a while with her liver, so I had a resting buddy.

 



Definitely slept a good majority of the weekend. Kept myself drugged up. 

NOW here's to the before and afters.
 

 

This is day five when the bandages first came off 

 

This is day six. Already looks a little better.

 

 

I know it's not so great looking now, but once it de-swells, it should look much nicer. Notice that my big toe is now straight rather than going to the side. AND... no bunion.

 



 

EWWW. Hope that's not a nasty scar.

It's all good except for the fact that my fashion sense is lacking and I can't quite feel my big toe. But don't worry, it will get better.

More pictures are soon to come!! It's already looking much better than this first picture.

A Toast and Three Cheers to Start us off Right

So, Mike and I are starting something this week. I am so excited and I think it will really bring us together. We will be reading the Book of Mormon together. I know, I know you're probably saying, "Well he's in Jamaica." Don't worry, I know. We will be staying in the same place and discussing. We have decided to read twenty chapters a week and then we will discuss when we email on Mondays. I am so excited since this will be my first time reading it through and the fact that I get to do it with my best friend is even better. I'll keep updates on how it is going every once in a while. Here's to us, Mike! I sure love ya.

 

ALSO: Might I add that there are only two weeks left until Christmas? That means I get to talk to Mike. Best. Christmas. Present. Ever. Holy crap, I can't wait.

 

Best Friend Birth Marks

So this weekend for Madi's 20th birthday she reserved a hotel room at the Sheraton. We were all so excited. It was going to be me, Madi, and Tay. We also had been talking about getting a best friend tattoo for a while. Taylor came up with a design. We just could not figure out where to do it and we had kind of lost the desire to even get them. Once we got downtown, Tay found a place for us to go and we practically had to drag Madi in the building. In this tattoo is a K, M, and T. See if you can figure it out.

 

We rode around downtown trying to look for a trusting shop. We found the perfect one on State Street called Lost Art. We really made a good choice. They were so nice and made us feel very comfortable. I was wishing I would have gone there for my other two. They genuinely cared and they even cared to know what our tattoo was and what it meant to us. It was such a fun experience. We reminisced about it all night. One guy that was in there was just cracking jokes all night. He made fun of Tay's brown tattoo, saying that it was drawn with a poop marker. It was hilarious. Madi was feeling what she would like to call "woozy," so they got her some sprite and candy. She did end up spilling her sprite all over the floor. We really just felt right at home.

 

After the tattoos, we went to The Spaghetti Factory. It was so yummy. I had some homework that had to be done before midnight so we went back so I could finish that. Madi and Tay went to Walmart and had a blast and a half without me while I stayed at the hotel doing the WRONG assignment (that's a whole story in itself). The rest of the night was spent doing footography, laughing our butts off, rubbing vaseline on our ankles, and wrapping saran wrap around our legs. Madi and I ended up falling asleep while Taylor proceeded to create Elf Yourself videos. What a fun night with the girls.

LOVE THEM.

They're Getting Older Too

This is my mom and this is my dad.

 

 

They have given me my life, everything that I have. Often times I wonder what life would be like without the parents that I was given. I then realize how truly blessed I am. My father has always worked so hard, ever since the day I was born. The other day someone asked me where I learned to have such good work ethics and I could proudly say that it was because of a hard-working father whom I love and look up to. Not only is he a hard worker, but he was the first one to make me feel like I was worth something and that I was beautiful. I know that if I ever need anything, he will help me. I usually go to my dad when I want something because he really can't say no. I know that when I walk in the door of the house he is going to want to know everything that is going on in my life and what I have been doing. He will listen. I can count on him to always tell me when it's going to snow and he'll text me several times while I'm out driving just to make sure that I'm okay. He shows me how much he cares. I always knew he would be up waiting for me when I would come really late at night. He has always loved me and supported me in every single decision I have made. He was at all of my dance performances and I still remember seeing him cry the night of my very last dance concert my senior year. My mother has been there at my every need my entire life. I am so lucky that my dad has such a good job and it has allowed my mom to stay home and raise us. She always tells us how that is her greatest blessing and she wouldn't trade it for the world. She has been there to dry every tear, wipe every booger, and pop every zit. She is the ultimate taxi driver because what taxi driver lets you out of the car with an "I love you," a hug, and a kiss. She has taken me to every dance practice, competition, or dance concert and was always there to cheer me on. I knew that I could always count on seeing my mom's face out in the crowd each and every night of my high school dance concerts. She would not miss one night for the world. She is the most selfless person I know. She would give the shirt off her back or the food from her plate to any of us kids. My parents are amazing and I can't imagine life without them. They have raised me to be the person I am today. I know that I am growing and changing every day. I'm becoming someone that my parents have raised me to be. I also need to realize that they are growing older too. I can't wait for what the future holds. I can't wait to see them be the grandparents to my children. Love you, mom and dad.

Twenty

Wow, I can't believe that I have gone five whole months. It is insane to even be saying that. It seems unreal. Month twenty is done. It is gone and I am now in the teens. Nineteen months left. It seems so much smaller now. I really can do this.

I can't say that it has been the best month, but definitely the fastest. Once you get past month three, time really speeds up. Well there has been a lot going on for me in my life. I guess you could say that I am in a crisis. I am not kidding. It is something that I am not ready to share yet, as I am still coping and trying to understand myself before I involve others. Mike knows what is going on and I worry that things won't be the same, but we are working on it and I have faith in us and our relationship. When I come to my conclusion and have a better understanding, I think that I will be able to come to terms with it and share. For now, I do not think that is the best idea because it is not even a set thing. I have realized that I just need to go day by day and just be my best self. That's all I can do. School has been good for me this month and it is almost OVER. I am so happy. It is going to be wonderful to have a break and I am going in for bunion surgery next week. It will be pretty exciting. Work is going well, but it has been hard to concentrate lately with everything that has been happening.

For Mike... he is doing wonderful of course. He just barely moved to Negril about a week ago. I am not sure the exact day that he got there. It was five hours away from Kingston. He has a new companion named Elder Lee who is 25 and I believe he is from Jamaica. He is a quiet guy and Mike says he has kind of been talking a lot more. Mike says that the area is very pretty and green. I guess they will ride up this hill and it is really peaceful up there. He was sad to leave Kingston. I think it seems very hard to leave your very first area. He loved it there and he loved all of the people. I know that he will love his new area as well. I guess it is really small with very few members. He says that they hold their church meeting in the upstairs of this house. It seems like this area will be a lot harder, but it will be good for him. I am so proud of him. He is so strong. To celebrate his five month mark, he was going to this restaurant to do a burger challenge. It is a four-patty burger with fries and a pickle. He said that he thought he had to eat it all in ten minutes and if he didn't he had to pay like twenty bucks for it. I wish him luck and can't wait to see how it went. I bet he did it!

I would like to of course share the monthly memory. One that I was thinking about the other day was the night we went downtown. It was just about a week before he was leaving. We went down there so that we could walk around Temple Square. I remember that it was such a quiet and peaceful night. It felt like we were the only ones out. It was perfect. We got to just talk and just really enjoy each other's company. It was funny because while we were walking around there was this lady who asked for money. Mike gave her like a dollar and then she asked for more. When Mike explained that all he had was a twenty, she asked for that. He said no. But it was so funny. We laughed about that for a while. That was such a wonderful night and it was very special with his departure hanging over our heads. I knew that we wouldn't be back to Temple Square together for two years. It was hard to accept. It was like that with everything though, everything we did was for the last time. I don't like to think about that.

Anyway, it is wonderful to be done with month twenty. Only nineteen more left! I know this next month will fly since it is Christmas. This month we get to Skype. I can hardly wait. Next time I write, we will be a fourth of the way done.