AnoTHeR ChRIStmas DoNE

Well another Christmas is over...well almost over we still have the Dalton party to go this Saturday, but close!  I put up my Christmas decorations so early that by the time Christmas comes I am ready to take them down, so that's what I plan on doing tomorrow.  Except for the tree I always procrastinate and save that until the last minute so I will probably end up doing that on Sunday after church.  It's funny I always put it up first and take it down last.

This was our first Christmas as a married couple and really the first Christmas we spent together because last Christmas we did our own things with our families.  We split it up between our families and did Christmas Eve with Ry's parents.  We had a great time we ate some yummy soup in a bread bowl and watched the cartoon version of  The Grinch and then White Christmas.  The best part was Dad Stewart singing along to the songs he made me laugh ;)  We then exhanged gifts.  We gave a lot of pictures this year I guess thats what happens when you get married,  and Mom Stewart made this awesome calendar with everyone's anniversaries and birthdays listed.  I needed one of those!  We also got some cash which we are using to buy a electric hedge trimmer,  I know so boring and grown up!  Ryan's family is scattered all over so we weren't able to be with his siblings but we had his brother Jared's family for Christmast this year and gave them their gifts at Thanksgiving time.  We were the boring aunt and uncle who gave them clothes, because thats what their mom wanted.  BUT we also got them these cool coloring books that were erasable we had just as much playing with them!

Ryan and I then went home and opened up our Christmas Eve gift from my parents (pj's as always)  My mom decided to be funny this year....

Ryan was Santa

and I....

Believed in Santa :)

I woke Ryan up at 7:30am on Christmas,  I was up at 7:00am and tried to wait but 30 minutes later I wanted to see my presents (ok I know Im still like a kid) and so Ryan and I exchanged our gifts.   Ry got me some clothes, perfume, slippers, hairspray and this cool watch..

 

I got Ryan clothes, a new pair of converse shoes and a running suit, kinda boring but that's what he wanted

We tried to take a family picture but after a few uncooperative dogs and unsuccesful tries this was the best we could do.

We then went over to my parents at 9:30 and had breakfast and exchanged presents..  It was the year of household appliances for my brothers. :)  I remember when I got my first house and my first Christmas after all the appliances I got.  You know you are getting old when you are excited for cookie sheets, measuring cups and a rice cooker.  Matt got a dining room table from my parents, the rice cooker from Josh a garbage can from us and a whole bunch of other gadgets.  Josh got a surround sound, and blu ray player from my parents and a costco membership and sheets from us.   Ryan and I got a picture of the temple, new bedspread, this amazing shadow box with all our announcements etc from our wedding.  We also got separate stuff,  I got clothing gift cards, a new light for my kindle,  accessories for my iPad and ornaments.  Ryan got a dewalt drill from my dad and some drill bits,  a iPod Shuffle from my parents, a movie, the shakewight and Itunes gift cards from matt and Josh.  The shakeweight cracks me up when Ryan uses it!

My dad surprised my mom and got her a iPad and alot of her other gifts were accessories to go along with her.  Her face was priceless...

All I remember her saying is Daddy you shouldn't have LOL

My dad got a Flip Camcorder thing,  its awesome and I already want one.  We got him a netflix subscription and the boys got him books and a iPod accessories.

We then went and saw the movie True Grit which was really good and I was asleep by 8pm :)

It was a great Christmas and I feel so blessed to have both our families so close that we are able to go see them 10 minutes from our houses.  Family is everything to me...its not about what you get or don't get its about who you are able to spend your time with.

And even though I love Christmas and I love giving and getting presents,  I never forget the true meaning of Christmas,  the birth of my beloved Savior.  I collect nativities and I don't just collect them because I think they are cute,  I collect them to have them surround me and help me to always remember the real reason I celebrate Christmas.

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and was able to be with your loved ones, like I was.

Here's to 2011, where I will once again make a resolution to stop drinking soda and lose weight.  Neither ever stick :)

DeCeMBeR ALreaDY!!

Before I start in on December let's wrap up November :)

Thanksgiving was great,  we went to Mom and Dad Stewart's and had Thanksgiving with about 20 of Ryan's relatives.  I am still trying to get to know names, faces etc so I sort of just sat in the corner and watched football so I didn't make a fool of my self. Ryan's mom put alot of work into the meal and it was yummy!  Ryan's sister in law Darci made one of the best chocolate silk cream pies I have ever had and if I could have I would have skipped all of dinner just to eat the whole pie.  It was a nice time had by all. 

We then loaded up the truck Friday morning and headed up to St. George to do some ATV riding with my family for the weekend.   We just chilled on Friday met up for luch at the Pasta Factory and then my mom and I went and did a little Christmas shopping while the boys napped back at the house. Ryan and I also got to meet up with our friends Adam and Tazia and their adorable daughters Bella and Gabby for dinner Friday night.  I love seeing them and wish we lived closer so I could see them more! Saturday morning we got up and going and Uncle B and Aunt Cara brought Chris and Ty down and we headed out for a ride.   It was alot of fun,  until the last hour when it turned really cold and my butt was really hurting from my make shift seat I made on the back of the Arctic Cat. 

We veared off course a little bit and it ended up being a 4 hour or so ride, but it was a fun time had by all

Yeah it looks cold huh???

We came home Sunday morning and since we had gotten subs for our primary class,  Ryan and me and the girls basically slept all day.

The next week is a blur,  work was horrendous my home life (ei...cooking laundry housework) all went to crap.  We had Ryan's parents and sister along with her adorable baby MaryBeth over for dinner Tuesday and it was such a bad day at work we served them Chinese takeout...CLASSY I know :)  But we got through it and I ended up flying out Friday afternoon to San Diego to visit my best friend Jaime who was there for a conference.   I was only able to actually be in town for about 25 hours but we made the most of it and had a great time catching up.   Oh and if you are ever in San Diego and looking for something fun and educational the USS Midway Muesum was awesome.  I would reccommend it to anyone of any age.

Last night we went to the NFR with my parents and got to see a great show.  It's my dad's Dex (steriod) day and so he wasn't tired at all.  We had a great time and got to visit with my Grandparents and Uncle Mike and Aunt Bev before heading home.   My bestie Mel is a flag girl in the NFR and my dad snapped a few good pics of her last night.  I am so proud of her!!



Now we are all caught up and on to December! Seriously where does the time go? 

  I cannot believe it is December already,  another year almost done.  This year has gone by so fast with so much happening!  This year has been the best year for me (getting married to Ryan of course!) and the worst year for me ( having my dad diagnosed with cancer) .  I will be married 4 months this December and my dad will be going on 8 months of treatments...crazy! Through it all though we are a family and we stay strong,  have fun and live every day to the fullest :)

Thank you everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers.  

I hope everyone has the spirit of Christmas in their hearts! 



THaNKsGIVinG!

Everytime I have a gathering/party at the house I always forget to take pictures.  I get so mad at myself,  these are the times I want to remember and yet I am too busy being a host and running around like a chicken with my head cut off to remember to take pictures.  Case in point,  last night we had a Thankful For Friends Thanksgiving dinner at the house and I had spent 2 days making this turkey from Bobby Flays throwdown and finally when I take it out of the oven and its golden brown and ready to eat,  do you think I snapped a picture of it NO, not even a crappy one on my phone.  Before I know it its cut up and gone and all I have is a scrap bird.   Oh well one of these day's I'll be better about that.   We had a pretty good turnout we had about 20 people over and everyone brought a portion of the meal so we had plenty of food and desserts and just had a good time.   Our friends Jared and Pansy have been over at least 5-10 times but this time their little 11 month old baby boy was not loving the dogs.  He was crawling on the floor to his mom and Zoey  my little lover went right up and licked him and that was it.  I felt so bad!  On the other had Rachel and Jacobs two boys love the dogs and ran them so ragged both girls were exhausted.  I loved it.   Easton, their 4 year old got bored being with the adults and wanted to play with toys,  I searched the whole house and the garage and I have NO kids toys.  Thank goodness for a Fisher price nativity and the movie The Game Plan,  the ended up having a great time.  With Ryan's nephews and friends with little kids I defnitely need to have a toy basket though :)

Ryan and I also FINALLY ended up getting our new car.  We got the new 2011 Jetta we thought it would be a nice little family car for when we start having kids and our goal is to have it all paid off in the next 4 years by the time Ryan graduates so once we have to start paying student loans we won't have a car payment on top of that.   It was a fiasco getting the car and I learned one very valuable lesson.  I am NEVER I repeat NEVER buying a car in Las Vegas again.  After 2 weeks of torture I finally had had enough and we ended up getting it in St George last weekend.  We went up and back in the same day and it was the best experience I have ever had.   Just as we were pulling up to the driveway in our new car all in a happy state we notice Ryan's old car that we are planning on selling to Car Max leaking brake fluid all over the driveway.  Needless to say his brakes were shot and even though he has a extended warranty they covered virtually nothing of the costs to repair it so $600 later for a car we never plan to drive again,  yeah for extended warranties...NOT. He is finally taking it to Car Max tonight to get rid of it and I couldn't be happier.  With the whole fiasco of buying a car and now getting rid of the old car I am exhausted and lucky we know have 2 relatively new cars and dont plan on having anymore car purchases or sales for 10 years!!  Its been a rough week.  I feel bad for our pocket book and bad for Ryan because I have dumped the old car on him,  I have reached my breaking point and I just dont want to have anything to do with it anymore.  Hopefully after tonight we never have to utter the words Ford Taurus ever again :)

One thing I AM happy about it I already have all my Christmas decorations up!  The lights went up outside last weekend and we finished most of the inside this weekend.  Here is a picture of the tree its not a good one but its all I have :)

After the week I have had I need Christmas in my life to calm me down.  Christmas music and wassail always cheers me up!

So I think I mentioned Ryan and I are team teaching the Valiant 9 (even though most of them are 10, weird) I grew up in a completely different primary where we all weren't Valiants..but anyways.  So we have 12 kids,  pretty evenly split boys and girls.  And they are SMART.  I should just rotate and let each one of them teach the lesson every week.  They keep talking about Veggie Tales which apparently tell Bible Stories so I told one of them for Jonah and the whale to bring in a tape and they can us what this is all about.  I just can't bring myself to watch something called the Veggie Tales alone :)  They are good kids but just very active.  I am COMPLETELY on the bribing train and they earn points for everything.  Hey as long as they are quiet it works for me.

We are doing Thanksgiving with Ryan's family on Thursday,  his sister Roxanne and baby MaryBeth are already here and we got to see them on Sunday.  She is so cute and such a good baby.  It should be a fun day and then we are headed up to St George to hang out with my family and ride the quads with my parents, siblings and maybe some Dickman cousins.

Hope everyone has a GREAT Thanksgiving!  Eat tons and GO COWBOYS :)

Quick UPdate

Last night was family Wednesday night so I met my parents over to Matt's house to put together a light fixture and finish putting together his barbecue.   I have promised him dinner will be at my house next week and we will not have any new projects for a while.  He's over the house projects at the moment.

Here is a few pictures I took last night of the work we have been doing over the last couple weeks,  hanging shelves and pictures to make it more of a home.   He has asked for a dining room table for Christmas and the one he picked out will fit nicely in his dining room.  I am really liking the way Matt's house is coming together.

The light has alot of extra chain and wire right now,  once we get the table we will complete the light.  But doesn't it just say guys poker night??

Also for those that are waiting for a update from my dad,  we got the latest blood work and his protein went from 2.23 to 1.69 so we are hoping with his November round we will be really close to 1.0.  They go meet with the doctor on November 19th to determine next steps.  I am thinking SLC is looking like January now because the closer he is to 0 the better so I think they are going to want him to do another round in December to get as close to 0 as possible.  He looked good last night and other than being tired over all his side affects on the REV are better than what they were on Velcade.  Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers,  the REV seems to be working its magic!

Until next time...



Is OcToBer ReaLLy OvER??

When I look at the calendar I just cannot believe that is is November already...where does the time go??  I already have plans to take down all the Halloween stuff  this weekend and plan to put up Christmas the weekend of November 13th.  I really think all my Christmas decorations deserve a good 6 weeks of being on display.  Christmas really is my favorite holiday,  I can't think of one thing I don't like about it. My parents always made Christmas so special for us, my brothers and I stayed up as late as we could and got up as early as we possibly could to get the day started.   This year now that I am married its going to be a little different and a little bit of an adjustment (ok a big adjustment for me) but I know that Ryan knows how important being with my family on Christmas is so I am sure we will make a schedule work where we can see both families and still have time to start our own traditions.

I can honestly say that was one thing that scared me about being married, sharing holidays, the thought of not being with my family on a holiday does not sit very well with me.   My mom has been talking about Thanksgiving and maybe they will go out of town this year since my Dad will probably not be up in SLC until December and all I can think about is they will be having a holiday without me.  Ryan and I will be spending Thanksgiving with his family this year and not that I am not excited for that, because I am they are great people and now my family too and I know we will have a great day.  I just for the last 30 years have never been away from my family for any holiday and I'm not really looking forward to it.  I knew it would come but just not the first holiday we came to after marriage. LOL Ryan tries not to bring it up because I tend to get a little teary eyed and he will say,  its okay we can go up Thursday night or Friday morning wherever your family is and spend Friday with them and I love him for it,  but its just not the same.  :)   I know a year from now none of this will matter to me and we will get plenty of time with both sides of the family,  its just that first time is rough.. 

On a happier note,  its a good thing I am a planner because also a new concept of getting married is we now have 2 whole sets of families to shop for Christmas for,  so I started in September and as of today I am over half way done! YEAH!

I've also been thinking of doing a little family picture with Ryan and I and the girls for Christmas cards and might make all 4 of us wear crazy Christmas sweaters for cheap because I'll have to modify them for the dogs LOL.  So now I'm on the hunt for them...If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears :)

PumPKins FinaLLy!

It's FINALLY time to carve pumpkins tonight.  So excited I love it!!  We wised up a few years ago and we carve the fake carvable pumpkins now so we get pretty creative and then just pack them up in the garage for the summer and bring them out the next year :)  We are going over to my parents tonight they are having a little pumpkin carving party with their bishops family, the Pectols and us.  Should be fun I'll have pictures tomorrow!   Oh and I spent the $10 in my Bountiful Basket and got the sugar cookies and icing so I'm sure all the boys will have fun decorating and eating those tonight.

Speaking of Bountiful Baskets,  so glad I split with my mom its alot of fruits and veggies what I got will last me 2 weeks,  not bad for $9.00.  I already used my broccoli last night.  Now if I can just figure out what to do with the parsnips we got in the basket ????

Oh and remember those boots I said were a steal at $68 at Urban.  I'm sticking by that I have worn them like 4-5 times now since I got them and I'm in love.

3/1 more days until we are off to Cali...Can't WAIT!

The CoRn MaiZe

I like to feed people,  I have come to accept this :) 

It seems like once a week at least we have friends or family over to eat and I realize I love it, I really love cooking for a big group of people and hoping they enjoy my food.   Monday night we had my brother and our friend Mike over for dinner, Thursday night we had some friends over for dinner and then they treated us to USwirl for dessert (Thanks Barney's!) ,  Friday night we went and met our friends Nycole and Christie for a movie we went out to dinner before the movie to celebrate 2 months of marriage Saturday we headed up to St George for the corn maze and dinner with my friend Fred and then yesterday we had my parents,  my brother and Ryan's parents over for Sunday dinner.  I enjoy when we have both my family and Ryan's family for dinner and it helps that our parents knew each other before we did so we always have good conversation.  Not that I dont love just having Ryan and I at dinner but I love a loud roudy table of conversation with friends and family.  I am sure once we have kids I will be wishing for the quiet of a dinner with just us two :)

I am on this kick about meal planning.  I got so tired of going to the grocery store every week  for little things here and there that I decided I was going 2 times a month and that was it! So we went on the 1st with our 2 week meal planner in tow and then Saturday morning I went through the freezer and pantry and made our next 2 week meal planner and I am happy to say I only have a list of about 9 things I need from the grocery store to last us the rest of the month.   Milk, eggs and rice are the 3 things we go through fast in our house.  We got a rice cooker for our wedding and I think we use it 2-3 times a week.

Saturday we headed down to St George to go to the corn maze and to stop by TaiPan for me for co-worker/neighbor christmas gifts.  We had a good time.  We got a late start because Ryan volunteered to clean the church and only him and one other guy showed up so I was grumpy on the ride up, but once we got there and got everything done we set out to do I cheered right up.  We went through 2 of the mazes and just walked around,  stopped at Tai Pan and then window shopped for cars before our dinner with Fred.  We would like to get a new car beginning of next year so we have 2 fairly new cars paid off by the time Ryan is out of school and we have to start paying student loans.  We haven't made a decision yet but we have narrowed it down. 

All in all it was a great weekend,   getting excited only two more weeks until we are in California for Halloween weekend! 

Hope all is well.  Until next time...

PiCTuReS GaLoRe!

I am determined today to finish going through our 1000+ pictures our amazing friend and photographer Rachel took for our wedding and send off my order to her.   We have officially been married 2 months today and I need to get them picked out and ordered if I want to have them ready for Christmas presents.  I was so good about sending out thank you notes right after I received a gift because I didn't want to be one of those brides that 6 months later I realized I still haven't done it yet, but I have been such a slacker on these pictures.   Not that I haven't opened them and looked at them a few times,  I have, there are just so many I like and I obviously shouldn't have more than a few up in the house or it will look like a shrine to our wedding day so I really need to study them and get crack a lackin!

Wednesday night is Ryan's late night for school classes and he normally isn't home until 7:00-7:30pm so I spend Wednesday nights with my brother and parents because we are a family of freaks and can't go a few days with out seeing one another!  So,  last night I met up with my parents, and Matt at Matt's new house to hang some pictures and shelves.  My dad was feeling great,  he had worked a full day at work,  went to a surveryor's meeting and then came over to Matt's and I put him right to work.   Hopefully he didn't overdo it and doesn't pay the price today.  We had some nice family time,  shared a pizza and just chatted.

Matt's house is coming along I really like the color and decoration choices he is making, he really is growing up!  Next week when I go over I'll take some pictures and post them :)

We are off to the pumpkin patch in St G. this weekend so I'll be posting my amazing carving skillz soon :)

Until next time...

It's FaLL TiMe!

I love the fall, it's my favorite season!  I pretty much love everything about it the weather,  the trees, the smell of fall and especially my fall wardrobe.  I love wearing layers so sweaters, turtlenecks, jackets, boots, and scarves OH MY!  I found a great deal on boots,  these cute boots will be my favorite of the season and they are a steal at $68 at Urban Outfitters.

Ryan and I are both getting over bad colds as you can see from this picture

(he is breathing vicks vapor rub LOL)

We pretty much have been hermits for the last week but after starting to feel better we ventured out to see the new Katherine Heigl movie on Friday night which was so cute. We then went to the temple on Saturday afternoon with my parents and had the best sushi we have ever eaten Saturday night with my boss and his girlfriend at Sen of Japan on DI and Durango.  It was amazing.  We will definitely be going back.

Other than that not much is happening,  we got our tax refund back and paid off the remainder of our honeymoon (YEAH!!!) and booked our tickets to Universal Studios for Halloween weekend.  We are headed to St. George this weekend to go to the corn maze and hopefully pick out some good carving pumpkins.  I love to carve pumpkins, it's the best part about Halloween I think. 

Until next time....

So What's New?

Ryan and I are getting close to being married for 2 months now,  still getting into a routine but I am so proud of how hard Ry is studying.  I know sometimes it gets old for him that his routine is school,  work,  dinner, study and bed.  Really the only days he eases up on the studying is Friday date night and Sunday,  other than that every night he retreats to the office and I see him either when he comes to bed or if I don't wake up then the next morning.  But his hard work is paying off,  he had a particularly stressful week last week when he had 3 classes all having big tests during the same week,  but he was diligent and scored A's and B's on everything.  Hard work does pay off : )

We really haven't made any plans for this fall as we didn't really know the time schedule for my dad's transplant and wanted to make sure I was available when my family needed me,  but I think we at least know Dad will not be going up to Salt Lake in October and so we are going to try to head down to Cali and take advantage of the fact we have Nevada Day off and they don't and hit up Universal Studios over the Halloween weekend.  I'll miss handing out treats to the kids at the annual Trunk or Treat but it will be nice to get away from work and school for a weekend and just have fun.

Speaking of my dad,   he got his 2nd round of Revlimid numbers and the "M-spike"  which signifies the level of monoclonal protein is continuing to drop.  An average person would show none,  but myeloma produces abnormal protein cells which increase this number so therefore your m-spike is the number that is higher than the norm.  They watch alot of numbers in myeloma but this is the main number we watch right now as this determines when he will be ready for a stem cell transplant.  Originally upon diagnosis in April 2010 it was a 6,  August 2010 it was at a 3 and this last test shows it as 2.3 so its continuing to drop.  The transplant team would like the m-spike to be 1 or below prior to transplant so we are thinking we have at least 2 more rounds of Revlimid to go.  Earliest to SLC is looking like either end of Nov, beginning of Dec.  So for now Thanksgiving is up in the air.   We can handle it though,  like my dad says we are looking to win the marathon not the sprint. Please just keep him in your prayers that Round 3 has a big drop! 

My little brother Josh came up for the weekend from AZ so its been nice to hang with him this weekend.  I miss him and I know my mom misses his pup Addie they watched her for 4 months this summer when he had a rotation that kept him from home 12 hours at a time.  We will be doing dinner with them tomorrow night after conference.

   We also had the opportunity to go to dinner with Ryan's parents last night to a Cuban restaraunt,  it was good food and we had good conversation.  I think his parents are happy being empty nesters,  in the 7 weeks we have been married they have already re-done his room to a sewing room,  bought a new couch and are buying new recliners and a new flat screen for their bedroom LOL 

That's pretty much all for now, 'll leave you with this :P  I have noticed since starting a blog I have had more interest in reading family and friends blogs,  and as I was watching conference this morning it made me think about a post I read on my cousin Suzy's blog.  She has two little boys and they are so full of life. Thomas, her oldest, was singing Follow the Prophet and asked her "Mom,  what happens if I get in front of the Prophet?" I love kids and how black and white everything is for them! ;)

Until the next time...

Let's do This!

So...techinically this is my 2nd attempt at blogging,  a few years ago I made a Dalton Family Blog and gave every one access so my parents, brothers and I all could post.  I think we made it to 3 or 4 posts and 2-3 of them were me so it wasn't so successful that time.  I'm hoping for a different outcome this time.  

My dad started a blog its is at http://www.nlvsurveyor.blogspot.com/ and he is blogging about his current trial in life called Mulyiple Myeloma which is a blood cancer in his bones.  He was diagnosed in April 2010 and we are hoping his first part of this journey will be finished this year when he goes up to LDS Hospital  later this year in Salt Lake City, UT for his stem cell transplant.  He enjoys blogging and I think it helps him get his feelings out there.  He is actually the one who inspired me to start a blog.  I enjoy reading his blogs and the other blogs I have come across since discovering this nasty bug we call "MM"  It has really helped me understand this disease better and I went from thinking I wouldn't have a dad in 5 years to really believing my dad is a fighter and believing they are getting closer and closer everyday to a cure, while at the same time coming up with new treatments all the time to help control and maintain the disease and I know I will have my dad around for a long while!  For those friends and family who follow his blog,  he goes in spurts sometimes so hopefully I will be blogging pretty regularly and can fill in some of the gaps.  But rest assured I just saw him last night he is doing well,  he is tired but other than that his spirits are high,   we have faith in his doctors  and are ready for 2011 and a new year!  See he is smiling in the picture below (dont mind the grizzly bear look he forgot his razor that weekend)

This first month of marriage has been busy busy!  We are loving it,  and settling into a routine.  Ryan has a full school schedule so pretty much during the week we see each other at dinner and that's about all.  He goes to his corner to study and I go to my corner to watch chick shows. (Which doesn't suck sometimes when I can watch Grey's and Glee uninterrupted)   We save the weekends for our time to hang out with family and friends and just chill!

We were able to go up to Parowan for Labor Day weekend and that was alot of fun, I love the parade and seeing how excited the kids get when the candy is thrown.  They even brought back the fire hose shooting water this year it was a relaxing week to be had by all.  This is the picture this year from the church steps,  its a ritual after the Lions Club breakfast.

And I know I made this our header but this is the latest picture of our little family until we add 2 legged children sometime in the future. For right now the babies Maggie and Zoey will do just fine!

And lastly speaking of adding children we are excited to add MaryBeth June Petty to the Stewart family,  Ryan's sister Roxanne delivered a healthy baby girl on Tuesday weighing in at 7lbs 5oz.  We can't wait to meet her when they come down from S. Dakota over Thanksgiving time.

I am going to try to be good about updating at least a few times a month,  and probably more when I am in Salt Lake this fall with my parents during my dad's treatments.   I was talking to them last night and they think I am weird that I am excited about his treatments this fall.  I am just ready for my dad to be feeling better and am going to be thankful and enjoy my favorite time of year in the snowy Salt Lake City and make the best of it.  Even if we have to eat take out for Thanksgiving or make a turkey in the microwave at the hotel they are staying at!   I love the feeling of Temple Square during that time and am excited to be able to do a few sessions with my parents  ( and hopefully Ryan and Josh if the temple is open when they are able to come up for holidays).  Everytime I go to the temple I kick myself that it took me so long to get their, but I made it and am so thankful for the gospel in my life.

And just because, here is a official picture of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart (which is still weird to say BTW).  I couldn't have asked for a better guy.  He loves me through thick and thin, and it just so happens this year there has been more thick than thin..

Until next time....