Fear not, I have not forgotten you, dear little blog. Indeed, I have thought of things to post about, lots of them. But you know, I think that this blog’s time has come. So although I think that this post is mostly for me, I’m just saying that I think that it is time for me to move on. This blog and I have been together for a long time, and we’ve both come a long way, so I’ll be sad to see it go. But I have moved on in my life, and I feel like like starting a new blog is the right thing to do. It is time.

Seeing as I’m not sure how many people actually still read this blog, I ask that anyone interested in my new blog please write me a comment with your e-mail address and I’ll send you an invite (I’ll leave the comment unpublished).

Do zobaczenia–
(see you later)

Nelka

First off, just before leaving for Christmas, Jon and I got to witness another southern Utah flood. We drove around for a couple of days taking note of the transformations and destruction.

And then we were off to Ohio. After having lived in the Buckeye state for a short time of my life, the place grew on me. Sure, winter is not my favorite season of the year there, but I’ve even gotten an appreciation for that since moving to southern Utah where we don’t normally get snow.

We got to spend loads of time with Jon’s family. We had several family parties that we attended. More family parties than I ever had in my life up to that point. And suddenly I went from having a very small, manageable family size, to coming to the realization that I may never know all of their names. How scary is that? For one “get-together” we rented out a gymnasium. And filled it. Okay, it wasn’t a huge gym, and all told there may have been about 70 people there, but it was quite the jump for someone who grew up with one living aunt and one living uncle and a easy to remember handful of cousins. So I may never remember all of their names, but I’m happy to be a part of a huge family. Its really nice.

So, family photos:

John, Sam, and Sarah

The day we add wore red

We don't know where she found these. . .

Uncle Jim, Nancy, Dave, and us.

The Jaspers and Peters

J & S

Jon, John, Sam, and Sarah

Adventures with family:

There was a little outing with the folks to Sharonville. We walked around Heritage Village Museum and checked out old buildings from around the area that had been transplanted into a makeshift village. Jon was busy taking photos with his Nikon (digital) while I had a selection of analog cameras on hand. You’ll be able to tell the difference right away, I’m sure. The colors give them away.

Digital View

Analog View, taken by my Canon Canonet QL

Jon and folks

Schoolhouse waiting for some fixing. (Polaroid Land Camera photo.)

Schoolhouse as seen through my SX70 camera’s lens.

Elk Lick Home. That is really what's its called, because that's where its from. (PS, this is a Polaroid.)

But I had to add that tonight, while Jon was playing with Luna, he turned a corner too quickly, and tried to duck away from Luna and ran his head straight into a corner. Thankfully we have rounded corners in our home. That didn’t stop him from putting a dent in the wall, though.

Owning a chihuahua can be painful.

We’re both ok. Hopefully neither of us will start seeing sounds. Can you believe that? I hardly can.

Dad, before I was around

First, its my dad’s birthday. He passed away in 2005 so the 19th of January has become a memorial day of him. I think of him more on the day of his birth than the day of his death. I took issue with some of his parenting, but I did learn a lot from him. He was outdoorsy, he was hands-on, he loved to show us National Parks and places of historic interest. I got all those things from him. I occasionally find myself wishing that things could have gone differently, that he would still be alive today to see me happily married. (I’m sure he knows and is happy, but it would be nice to have another heart-to-heart with him face-to-face right about now in my life.

Second, on this very day, two years ago, I went on my first official just-the-two-of-us date with my husband. We went on a magical hike in the snow and he kissed me in a little frosty sparkly glen, right after helping me up to get a better vantage point of the landscape (sneaky little devil). And, should you think me loose-lipped, I assure you, I’d known Jon for over three months by the time we first kissed, and I hold that that’s plenty of time to decide on a kiss. And it was a lovely little kiss. And I may as well have floated back to the car holding his hand, I was so giddy. From there, he took me to Market Street Grill to dine, and we had impressive seafood fare and celebrated my dad’s birthday with ice cream. (His favorite treat.)

So the nineteenth of January is a bittersweet day for me. I can remember my dad in all of his glory, the good and the bad, and I miss him. I miss getting the chance to interact with him as an adult. I missed him like crazy when I got married. I’m sure that I’ll continue to miss him when I reach further milestones in my life. On the other hand, I’m happy to be progressing in my life. I’m busy doing things that I love. And I’m so happy that I married the love of my life, my best friend, my other half. I married a man who is my balance, who still surprises me, who makes me laugh, and squeezes me tight when times get rough. I’m a lucky woman.

And today? Today we celebrated our 2nd anniversary (of dating, of the beginning of our journey together) by going out to eat dinner, and we ordered Bluebell ice cream for dessert.

*If you’re thinking that you’ve read about my dad’s birthday before, its because you just might have. It would also mean that you are one dedicated reader. For backlinks, check here (first date) and here. There is overlap, but today’s writing is from today’s perspective, and from a different place.

I got to the hospital around 4pm. Several tubes of blood were taken, more questions were asked… a few ideas were thrown out on the table, but more needed to be figured out for a diagnosis. 900 milliliters of Berry-flavored barium sulfate smoothie, a four hour wait, and a CT scan later, other tests were ordered up. I had two ultrasounds, and waited another couple of hours.

Somewhere in there, Jon took the time to take this amazing photo of me on my camera:

Girl sucking down barium sulfate (cups on bedside table)

Thank goodness for cable in my ER room! And what did my dear man and I watch while waiting? About four hours of HOUSE, for starters. (Frustratingly, I missed the endings of two of the episodes during some of my tests.)

They finally came to the conclusion that I had to have surgery. Right then. I had enough things going wrong coupled with a high fever, and those kinds of things worry doctor people. (Fevers can imply horrible things going on inside, from what I gather.) So, I got wheeled into the operating room, switched a gurney for an operating table, was introduced to everyone in the room, and started getting woozy. Just then a voice from behind me said, “By the way, I dosed you already.” For a moment I had this thought, “This has the makings of the start of a thriller/action movie.” –Then I slid into a blessed painless black. It seemed like the next moment I was very groggily awake and asking to see Jon. After Jon shared just how relieved he was to see me again and to really know I was o.k. more photos were taken. The nurse cooed, “Aw, you can tell she’s really trying to keep her eyes open.”

Girl Going Home

Not to say anything about doctors, they’re good people and all, but fourteen hours all at once hanging out with them is too much.

It was a long, long day. I’m glad to count it as done.

Highlights of the day are as follows:
1. The narcotics they gave me. They helped. A bunch.
2. The barium smoothie business surprisingly wasn’t all that terrible. I didn’t throw it up.
3.  The doc came in and talked about the surgery and then called upstairs to the anesthesiologist and had to get my age from me, I’m guessing, because he replied, “I’m not sure. She looks about twenty, but she’s probably older.” And then turns to me to ask me just how old I am. Loved that.
4. I had a lot of love from family and friends via texts and phone calls. So much so that my phone died. (Thank you, thank you, thank you.)
5. Jon being there with me, holding my hand, letting me watch all the HOUSE I wanted, praying with me and for me, etc. He was the best part of my yesterday. I love my man.

Jon and I have had a conversation about religion going ever since we started dating. He has known a lot of other LDS folks, including some great neighbors growing up, and a few of his past girlfriends. So he knew some of the basics of my beliefs, and that was good enough for him at the time. I invited him to church after our first date, and we’ve been going together pretty much ever since. After over a year and a half of dating, we got married, and then we got to attend church together as a married couple. Which is a big deal. We’re in a home, we’re settled, no more moving me every few months or so. . . which means we get to really put down roots and get to know people in our neighborhood in real and meaningful ways. We have a ward family now.

After getting married, Jon decided he was ready to talk to the missionaries, to hear more of what they had to say, and to learn more about what makes me happy and grateful. As his partner and his wife, I was more than happy to tell him about the things that are near and dear to my heart, but I was also quite willing to let the missionaries give him reading assignments, etc. So yea, I basically had them do all of the hard stuff.

Its been just over two months since he started meeting with our wonderful sister missionaries, and Jon got baptized. Its true. And it was wonderful. And now we have another anniversary to share.

Here is the rundown of the event:

1. Driving to our stake center (meeting house), Jon and I got to see one of the most amazing sunsets we have ever witnessed in the St. George area. 

2. When we got there, we were greeted by friends, our missionaries, and lots of people from our new ward. We are so grateful for all the people that were a part of it. Our friends Chrissy and Tamron came with their adorable brand new little baby, Tamron’s parents came, and we had a lot of ward support. There were lots of people. I was so grateful that one of the lovely ladies I visit teach also brought cookies. (Yay for Rachel!) I doubt there would have been enough with just my contribution.

3. The baptism service was great. All the speakers did a wonderful job. Sister Morgan spoke first on baptism, then the Bishop performed the baptism ordinance. (There was a small glitch wherein towels were forgotten, so we had a soggy Jon and Bishop Olson come back in their church.) Then the sisters and I sang “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” –which was followed by Sister Hyde spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Bishop spoke for a bit, and then Jon shared his testimony. It was great. I kept the tears in for as long as I could. Or, rather, for as long as I needed to– I didn’t want teary eyes and a weird voice for the musical number, but by the time Jon started talking, I was definitely crying. Why does that happen when I’m happy? And trust me, I was super happy. It is amazing how much closer we’ve gotten, and to hear him speak so openly about his faith…  Anyway, I didn’t find out until Jon was sharing his testimony that he was hoping to have another reassurance that what he was doing was right. He shared in his testimony that he’d been praying for some little display of beauty, since he equated that with God, to know for sure that what he was doing what God wanted him to be doing. And then he got this sunset that lit up the entire sky with so many different colors that grew stronger as we headed towards the church building. How neat is that?

4. We ended the evening by taking the Sisters out to eat at Pier 49. What better way to finish out such a wonderful day than by eating Jon’s favorite food at our favorite pizza place in town and sharing it with our sisters?

Does’t Jon look dapper in his suit?

And, if you want to hear more about what people from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe, you can read and see more about us at mormon.org or at lds.org.

PS: In case you’re wondering, I found the arrangement for the song we sang HERE. As a side note, and an additional “God answers prayers anecdote” check this out: I have been sick for the last two weeks, like man-voice sick. It has not been fun. Well, my voice cleared up in time for the baptism, but then it went right back down hill just after. So I’m raspy and whatever again, but at least I didn’t sound gross at the baptism.

At least I just burned the very tip of my tongue. The candied walnuts ended up quite tasty– I have that on good authority (three separate people, not my burnt tongue).

Note to future self: If faced with similar situation, just shake it off onto the ground and clean up later. Your tongue will thank you.

Places I could live:

As seen HERE. What a beautiful collision of modern and cottage? Are you imagining what it would be like to sit in the all glass room during Spring? I am. Imagine all the new leaves, the flowers opening, all the activity of Springtime. And you could just sit back and enjoy it, or a cup of chamomile tea and a book.

There’s also this place:

Found HERE. Gorgeous. Together, its the perfect contrast/compliment. Plus it is right next to a windmill and a pond. Who could ask for more? The inside might be a bit stark for my taste, but I can easily picture it getting all warmed up with a few rugs and some artwork on those walls. I know, I know– not the look that they’re going after,but that’s what I’d do with it.

There is also this lovely, in Texas. Barbara  Hill owns it along with a really great condo, which you can read about and see HERE. (It really is amazing what she’s done with that place. I’ve seen another condo in that same building, and it was over the top plus. I like her take on it much better.)

The plants outside are a bit geometric/too-evenly-spaced for my taste, but look at the texture of the outside walls… like velvet. And how fun is this bed/bathtub combo? Have some nice fluffy towels at the ready and you can hop out of a hot bath into bed just like that.

The above two images were found HERE.

Or how about this Water Villa?

As seen HERE. Your back door would take you directly to water, and there’s still a spot for plants outside your front door. What a great mix of benefits (as long as you don’t get motion-sick).

There is also this beauty in the woods…

Its called the Y House, and it is gorgeous, as I am sure the views are. Found HERE.

Look at the art you can make using a TV:

The Wobbulator from blair neal on Vimeo.

Who knew?

What not to do:

First, don’t go for a long run just because you’re feeling a bit better. Sure, your legs might thank you for helping them out, but there’s a good chance it’ll set you back. You could slide back down into icky sad grossness. (Ask me how I know.) Your legs can wait a few days. Still want to get out of the house? Take a walk.

Second, although it may seem like a good idea at the time, don’t eat 3/4 of a big can of pineapple slices all in one sitting. Okay, so you’re missing warm weather and the illness-free season of summer, and pineapple for some reason is connected in your brain with happy warm long days, but learn to limit yourself. Your stomach will thank you.

Things that work:

Suck down as much mint and chamomile and other herbal teas as you can. Its comforting, and sometimes actually helps. I have about five flavors that I rotate through for when I’m sick.

Wrap yourself up in a comfy blanket for as much of the day as you can get away with. You don’t have to stay in bed, either. Blankets can travel nicely from room to room. Feeling cold while you’re sick is just no fun.

Try elderberry syrup. Not only does it taste delicious, but I swear it helps.

Do whatever little things you can do so you can make use of your sick time. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I hate feeling like a lazy blob, even when I have every excuse to, so I take my sick-leave and turn it into time for: planning, sketching, catching up in my journal, catching up with friends (via the internet as not having a voice would make phone conversations rather one-sided), and working on easy crafts that don’t take much energy (i.e. crocheting). You might also blog, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Eat good, healthy, and comforting foods. Read: pamper yourself. You deserve it.