Christmas Time!

Today we pulled out the decorations and turned on the Christmas music! Yay!

Here is our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Last year my mom gave us a lot of ornaments from our wedding. Since our tree is quite small, we had to be creative in finding ways to hang them up.

It was fun!

Mom hand made each of these ornaments…

… as well as dozens of these tiny silver bells.

I didn’t realize how much work my mom put into my wedding. I probably don't realize how much work my mom puts into my whole entire life! Sorry mom. I love you and I appreciate all you do for me (especially the stuff I don't realize).

Life Update #347... I think. I lost count!

I just got done with my fourth week of nursing school. I've discovered that this program is not very difficult, but there is an insane amount of busy work and it is difficult to stay on top of everything. I imagine that's what being a nurse will be like. It's probably not extremely difficult to put in an IV or pass a medication, but it will be hard to keep up on the needs of ten patients at once. I had my first exam yesterday and I have a lot less homework this week.
I chose this program because it allowed me to start right away and get the education I want done as fast as I can. Even though I could have waited a few years and gotten into a fancier school, I feel really guilty about waiting to have kids until Michael and I are done with school. I feel like I am being disobedient and selfish and am not "straightway leaving my net" to follow the Savior and act on the promptings I have felt. I know that waiting is the most prudent option since Michael is having a hard enough time with his computer science degree without the extra stress and I would most certainly have to drop out and stop working, leaving Michael to provide solely, but I have wondered if I am risking my salvation in exchange for a degree. These feelings of worry and doubt have really pulled me down into a depressed fog.
Anyway, I love nursing school so far and I am so glad I got accepted and got to get started right away.
One of my favorite things that I've learned so far is a quote from my teacher. She told a story about a co-worker of hers who was called every name in the book and insulted by a guy in a meeting. After enduring over an hour of verbal abuse, the meeting was over and she got up and went back to work. My teacher who had been with her in the meeting asked her how she could let him say such awful things about her and be so calm. The nurse replied "it was never about me. It was all about him." I thought that was really powerful.
I learned in institute class today that no one can make you angry. You chose to react with anger, but the choice is yours. I have a hard time with that. Sometimes I get really angry with Michael over little things. He is the only person I really express anger to. He is the person I am closest to and I know he can do better and I see so much potential in him that when he lets me down it is really frustrating.
I am going to try harder to choose not to be angry. My friend has a great family rule: no yelling unless there is a fire." I love that. There really is no excuse to yell unless it is an emergency.
Last night Michael and I cut each others hair. 

Look at all of that hair!

We can't afford a salon, but my split ends were starting to get split ends and Michael looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. Michael did a pretty decent job and I think I am getting really good at cutting Michael hair. I haven't dyed my hair since our wedding night and I'm just now starting to cut off the ends of red hair. It's grown so fast!
Well, enough pictures of my kitchen floor.

I love all of you, family and I miss you.

Cuddles

Yesterday we gave up our cat of almost a year. Michael was very sad to see her go and we both miss her. I thought I'd put up some of our favorite pictures of her as a memorial of our time together.

Moving

Michael and I are moving on April 30th to Camas Commons! YAY!

Calling all participants!

Hi. :) I am preforming a research study. Sort of. I'm not a professional or anything but if you would like to participate in my study I would love to have your feedback!
I've heard that eating sugar at night makes it harder to get up in the morning. The study will last a week, whenever you want to try it (if you do). No sugar, including fruit, after 6 pm. In the morning write down when you went to sleep, when you woke up, and on a scale of 10 how hard it was to get out of bed (1 being a bulldozer does not have enough force to get me up, 10 being no effort at all). I am trying to control for lack of sleep so that's why I am asking for the bed/wake times. It would also be good to get a weeks worth of normal late night sugar eating so we can compare the two weeks. If there is a difference I am hoping to do more studies after this one to see if fruit and artificial sweeteners have any effect.
Yay science! :)

Our Little Christmas Tree

I wanted to say thanks to my mom for getting us this awesome mini tree. It is perfect for us since we have such little space in our apartment. I still had a hard time figuring out where to put it but I think my solution was marginally creative. As you can see in the picture the gifts are technically "under" the tree :)
But what is more important than a silly tree on a chair and fancy bows is to remember that Heavenly Father send his son as a gift to us and that and the atonement are the two greatest gifts ever given. Merry Christmas everyone. Be safe and happy.

Love,
Jessica

I love being married!!!

Michael drew this picture for me a few nights ago while I was stressing for a big final. He wanted so badly to find a way to cheer me up and this made me laugh out loud. It's me riding on a camel with 3 humps with my backpack behind me. I have recently discovered a new found love for camels. They are my new favorite animal. Did you know racing camels can run as fast as 40 mph? If they run 8 mph they can go for 17 hours! Camels are very strong and resourceful. I am trying to be more like a camel, trudging through the hot winds of temptation armed with my filled testimony on my "back" :) Anyway, enough about camels.
Before I left for school the other day, Michael made me a sandwich and packed it with a kiss in my backpack. "Save that for later" he said (referring to the kiss.)
I love my husband and I love being married. I am so lucky to have Michael and to go through our trials together. These are happy times for us.