My Nana

This blog post is earlier than my usual ones, and will be much shorter. Yesterday my sweet Nana passed away, and tomorrow I leave early in the morning on a bus to Salt Lake City. From there I will fly home to California to be with my family and help prepare for Nana's funeral. I won't be bringing my laptop with me, so that is why I'm posting now.

I'm very sad, as most people are, to lose a grandparent. But I'm so glad that Nana is no longer suffering, since these past months have been especially hard on her. Since Jake and I got married, she's been in the hospital 2-3 times a month, staying as long as a week, or at least overnight. She recently had surgery, and had not been doing well. We were all very worried for her, and now that she has passed on we know that she's no longer in pain. Because of my family's knowledge of life after death and how families can be eternal, I don't have to feel as hopeless or discouraged as others might after losing a loved one--I know that I'll see Nana again, and that she'll be watching over me for the rest of my life here on earth.

I'm so grateful that the last memory I have with Nana is a pleasant one. The last time I saw her was at our wedding reception. As we were leaving the reception, surrounded by our friends and family with music blasting and people cheering, I bent down to kiss Nana on the cheek and said "Goodbye, Nana!" She smiled and laughed through happy tears as we walked past the rest of our friends and family to our car. I've thought back on that little memory the past few days, and it's given me so much comfort. I know this goodbye isn't forever.

Books + Kittens

This week was filled with more trips to the library, LOTS of reading, crafting, and trying to use my time productively. I've also started turning Jake into a fellow bookworm, so every night this week we've been enjoying reading our books together in bed before we fall asleep. It's nice enjoying the quiet and our stories together and just being together. I'm sure it's something we'll miss a lot when life becomes more hectic!

On Tuesday when Jake got home from work, we went for a walk since the weather was really nice. We stopped at a place called Four Paws; a cat rescue, and they were actually open for once! Normally they close earlier in the day, but for some reason on Tuesday they were open late. Even though Jake is allergic to cats, we went inside and played with the cats and kittens for about half an hour. It was a lot of fun being around animals again, and seeing Jake interacting with cats was VERY entertaining. Cats seem to be able to tell when you're allergic to them or when you hate them, and Jake has both of those qualities. Cats were literally crawling all over him after only a few minutes of standing in the doorway, so of course I had to take some pictures. It cracked me up.

Jake had the day off on Friday, and we were planning on taking advantage of the nice weather and going on a picnic at a nearby park, but of course that was the one day this week that it was extremely cold, and even snowed and hailed for a little while. So we stayed inside and read a lot, and watched some movies together.

Today (Sunday) Jake and I stayed home from church, because Jake's had a bad sore throat the past few days and got very little sleep Saturday night. We're fairly sure that he has strep throat, but hoping that it's just a virus...prayers on his behalf would be REALLY appreciated!

This Week's Spiritual Thought

This week, Jake and I finished reading the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. In one of the final chapters, war is still being discussed, as well as Moroni's response: "And he did raise the standard of liberty in whatsoever place he did enter, and gained whatsoever force he could in all his march towards the land of Gideon." (Alma 62:4) While this standard of liberty is referring to a physical flag of sorts, it made me think about the fact that we today should be carrying our own "standard of liberty," or our testimony of the Church, everywhere we go so that everyone we encounter can see it. Our actions and the way we carry ourselves can be a testimony to those we come into contact with, and it reminded me of a quote from President Uchtdorf: "Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words."

Our Temple Trip + Valentine's Day

The weather this week in Rexburg has been significantly warmer than previous weeks, which has been a nice surprise. We've had days where it's 50 degrees or slightly warmer! My body has adjusted enough to the temperatures here that when it's 45, I can simply wear a light jacket and be totally fine. To think I used to bundle up and complain about freezing when it was 60 back in California...

The beautiful Rexburg temple!

The weather was especially great on Wednesday, so I decided to walk to our public library and explore a bit. I hadn't been there before, and I've almost run out of books here at home to read, so I figured I should take advantage of the weather. I was pleasantly surprised by how big the library here is--Rexburg is a pretty small town, but their library was almost as large as the one back home in Simi. I spent about an hour there, and came home with 7 books...only because I made myself stop looking! I'll definitely be going back again soon, and I'll walk if the weather stays nice. Most of Rexburg is flat, no hills at all to speak of, so the nearly 1 mile walk there takes me less than 15 minutes.

On Friday, Jake and I took a trip to the Rexburg Temple. It was so peaceful and nice to spend time there! We were also able to participate in some sealings, which was SO special. I thought it was a great way to start the weekend of Valentine's Day; by helping husbands and wives who were unable to be married in the temple finally be able to be reunited for eternity. If that's not love, I don't know what is!  When we went inside it was still light out...but after all that we did, it was pitch black outside as we left! The temple is always lit so spectacularly.

Saturday I woke up to a sweet homemade card from Jake, explaining that my present is to get to play with puppies! Recently I discovered that there's a new company here in Rexburg that lets you "rent" puppies for 1-2 hours at a time, and they have a weiner dog AND a pug; two of my favorite breeds of dogs! So that will be happening sometime in the near future and I'm very excited about it. Jake had to work an afternoon shift, which we were bummed about, but it was only a few hours and I just read some of the books I got at the library. Once he came home, we went out to dinner, did some grocery shopping, and then came home and danced to our wedding song in the living room. It was a BIG difference from our Valentine's Day last year, where I was in California and Jake was in Utah, and we Skyped each other and sent packages. Just being able to spend time together was very special.

This Week's Spiritual Thought

In our scripture study this week, still in the book of Alma, I noticed a pattern that I'm sure appears in other places in the Book of Mormon. What I wrote down in my study journal was "Iniquity always leads to more problems in the end." It's a simple concept, and something most people have probably heard before, but for some reason it hit me more powerfully this week than it has before. When we make bad decisions, more problems usually arise, because of our actions.

Our Frozen Adventure + Genealogy Fun

This week was a pretty uneventful one, filled with work for Jake and things around the house for me. I've been steadily working my way through a lot of TV shows on Netflix, and I'm probably an expert at this point as to which shows are worth your time or not. So anyone needing any suggestions, you know where to find me!

On Friday Jake got off of work a few hours early, and we decided to have our date "afternoon." I'd spent the day looking online for some fun outdoor things to do around Rexburg, since we're starting to warm up slightly (it was a whole 50 degrees the other day!) and we need something to do that will get us out of the house. I found a place called Herbert Ghost Town that sounded interesting, so Jake and I set off on our adventure to find it. The "town" was really just an old shack out in the middle of nowhere, but knowing the history behind it made it cooler--Herbert was a really small town just south of Rexburg that was operated until the 1940s, when the invention of the car made it much easier for people to live in Rexburg than all the way out in the boonies. At one point, the town had as many as 150 citizens, woah! They were mostly farmers, since the area is entirely surrounded by farmland. The one building left standing was a two-room store, and it's actually still in fairly good condition. If we'd been able to get out into the field we would have been able to actually go inside, but the field was filled with snow and mud and we did NOT wear the right shoes haha. And while this information is exciting, it's not as exciting as what happened when we actually got to the area.

To get near the old store, you take a very narrow gravel road that leads down the hill. We pulled up near the store and of course there wasn't a parking lot, so I suggested to Jake that he just pull off the road and park so we wouldn't be in the way if someone else happened along. Jake pulled off to the side, but the area we were in was FILLED with snow...and we went down hard into a ditch. It was deep enough that the back driver's side wheel of our car was off the ground! Jake and I spent about 20 minutes trying to get out, with no luck. So finally Jake called his boss, who owns a truck, and he came and towed us out. On Saturday when Jake went in to work, he got made fun of quite a lot...but it was all in good fun, and definitely an adventure!

On Saturday I suddenly remembered that I had some genealogy stuff on my mom's side that I'd been wanting to do, but had gone to the back of my mind while I was in school last semester. So I pulled out the binder, and started working. That's how I spent my Saturday night while Jake worked the night shift, and Sunday after church.

On Sunday after church, I looked into the family history information I had on my dad's side just out of curiosity. I came to a page where I saw a woman, Cordelia, who had no maiden name. Her parents and any other ancestors past that weren't there of course, so the family line stopped there. I started snooping around on FamilySearch to see if I could find Cordelia's parents and after about half an hour, I found her mom! I compared all the records I had to make sure the information matched up, and contacted my Uncle Mike who's the genealogy champion on my dad's side of the family, and we figured out that the woman I found, Eliza, was definitely Cordelia's mother. I've been interested in family history work since the summer of 2013, and this was my first contribution to our family tree! It feels so great to be a part of finding our ancestors, not just looking at the work that's been done by my extended family.

This Week's Spiritual Thought

This week while Jake and I were doing our scripture study in Alma, we read about Amalikiah, a man who was angry with Moroni, a prophet. One of the things that I noticed about Amalikiah was how quickly he became angry with Moroni, and it occurred to me that Satan uses anger as a weapon. I've heard people say before that the Spirit can't be around when we're angry or holding a grudge towards someone, but I'd never really thought of the fact that this means that Satan uses those emotions against us. So my goal for the week is to make sure I don't give Satan another weapon to use in his arsenal against me!

Panera Bread Copycat Cheddar Broccoli Soup

**Unless otherwise stated, I take NO credit for the creation of these recipes! I can cook, but I'm not usually inclined to experiment on my own!**

Panera Bread Copycat Cheddar Broccoli Soup

1 tbsp. butter
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 cups water
3 tsp. beef bouillon (or 3 beef bouillon cubes) OR veggie broth for vegetarian version
1/4 cup butter (4 tbsp)
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups fat free half + half
3 cups chopped broccoli florets
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
2 cups mild cheddar cheese

In a small pan saute 1 tbsp. butter and onions over medium heat until onions are translucent. Remove from heat and set aside. In a small sauce pan bring water to a boil, add beef bouillon and whisk until combined. Remove from heat and set aside. In a deep pan or soup pot melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat. Slowly whisk in flour until mixture clumps up or forms a "ball." Add beef bouillon/water mixture and stir to combine. Slowly whisk in half + half and continue to stir until smooth. (If large lumps remain, mash them out with a rubber spatula.) 

Add broccoli florets and onions and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and allow to simmer 15-20 minutes or until broccoli is tender and easily pierced with a fork. Stir in salt, white pepper, and cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Serve hot and top with additional cheese if desired.

THE VERDICT: This soup was SO SO good. I've never had the Panera Bread broccoli soup, so I can't say if it's truly a copycat of their recipe, but it was great!! Jake, who claims he's "not a fan of soup," even loved it.

Service + The Super Bowl

This week was another fairly quiet one for Jake + I. Jake went to work every day and I stayed home doing things around the house, trying to stay busy so I wouldn't go insane. I made some decorations for our little front porch since Valentine's Day is coming up, and they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself! 

I've been having fun with an app I downloaded
the other day. Jake makes a GREAT cat!

On Saturday after work Jake + I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things + as we were waiting in a checkout line, we noticed a woman a few people in front of us having trouble with her items. The clerk scanned them a few times + she'd swipe her card, + apparently it got declined several times before she stepped out of line + walked a little ways away to make a phone call. The people in front of us had their items rung up, + then it was our turn. After we were done, the woman was still on the phone nearby, + looked very upset. I tapped Jake's shoulder + asked if we could pay for her groceries, + he agreed. We asked the cashier how much the woman's groceries were, + said that we'd like to pay for them. She was so thrilled, and as she was ringing the items up for us it seemed like our little gesture had really impressed her. Just as the cashier was finishing the transaction the woman walked back over + started to ask the cashier something, when Jake interrupted + said "it's been paid for," handing the woman the receipt. She looked SO confused! It was pretty amusing, + made both of us feel good. Apparently Jake had been toying around with the idea of paying for the groceries but was slightly unsure, + so my question had been just what he needed to actually take that step. We make a pretty good team, I think!

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of any kind of sports. I've had to put up with two little brothers + a dad that eat, sleep + breathe baseball for most of my life, so I try to steer clear of all things athletic now that I have the "freedom" to do so! However, Jake is a big football fan + since today is the Super Bowl, we plan on watching it (well, HE plans on watching it while I read or color or something) + I'm making some yummy snacks since the Super Bowl is REALLY all about the food, anyways.

This Week's Spiritual Thought

As I've said before, I've been reading Psalms on Sundays during sacrament meeting or while I'm at home, + I've been really cultivating an appreciation for it. The language is stunning, + I love how I always seem to find a verse that speaks to me + what I need on a particular day, or just to strengthen my testimony in general. Today I was reading some of Psalms again, + I came across this verse: "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." Psalm 91:2 It's a fairly simple verse, but the wording is powerful + it really struck me that God is our protector + will always be there when we need him!