Happy Birthday//Happy Anniversary!

Last Saturday, the 16th, was Russell's birthday! He wasn't expecting anything and we couldn't really afford to do anything or buy anything as a gift which was harder on me than on him. Growing up in my house birthdays were kind of a big deal. We got to choose what we wanted for breakfast and dinner, had to pick someone to say the prayer at every prayer that was said as a family that day, my mom always made our favorite dessert and we got to go out with our dad for lunch whenever we wanted.

Anyhow, I was disappointed that I couldn't do anything spectacular...at first, but the day turned out to be really special. Here's some pics to kind of walk you through the day. :)

Now, yesterday was our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!! I know that, in the grand scheme of things, one year is like well nothing but it's still an accomplishment I suppose. For us, celebrating one year was more about looking back at the past year and seeing where we were when we got married to where we are now. We've grown so much, spiritually, together and individually.

We've learned to trust each other and rely on one another and when we don't know what else to do just give it to the Lord. It was a very very very interesting year, a very hard year but a very wonderful and beautiful year. I'm so happy that I get to spend an eternity with HIM!

My best friend! How blessed I am to know that we will be together for eternity because of the beautiful plan of happiness Heavenly Father has set before us. So very very blessed! :)

Here's something odd that happened yesterday, though. We got home last night after our very full day of activities and remembered that we were supposed to eat a piece of our wedding cake...ya know, the top tier? Apparently it's tradition, you save the top tier of your wedding cake and eat it on your one year anniversary. Well...............it was awful. I would advise anyone who plans to do the same thing to seal their wedding cake....not just leave it in The Cake Factory's box that it came in!

Yeah, that was definitely dumb on our part, why we didn't think that it would taste like a freezer I have no idea! :/ But we ate the cake on the inside which wasn't bad...it was just the icing that was terrible. So after the cake we just made popcorn, watched a movie and snuggled. I think it was a very successful anniversary if I do say so myself. :) Here's some pics from the day! :)

This has been a VERY interesting week!! Monday-Wednesday I was very sick to my stomach and couldn’t eat or drink anything without feeling like I was going to throw up…this was a little bit concerning but Thursday I woke up and I felt much better….EXCEPT my throat was totally swollen and my right eye was burning. I drank loooots of hot chocolate and ridded myself of the sore throat…the eye though, the eye! Yesterday I finally took out my contacts and looked under my bottom lid…EWWWWW, a sty the size of a pin head, you know, the yellow ones??? So.gross. Oh! I need to backtrack! Last weekend I tripped over Russell’s BIG BOAT-SIZED SHOES and fell and caught myself, hurting my wrist, yes, that wrist. Yes, that same wrist that has been hurt TWICE before. :/ Unlucky hand! So yesterday at work I went to the therapy department and asked the OT (occupational therapist) to look at it and see if she what she thought. Well, my wrist was too swollen for her to even feel my bones; she told me to go get an x-ray stat. I told Russell but then included that I didn’t think I needed to go, it would be fine….much to my dismay he disagreed. He said, “You’re going to the dr tomorrow and there’s nooo question about it!” Soooo just to make sure I went he took me to school so I wouldn’t have a car. J I didn’t mind, that meant I didn’t have to walk across campus in the coooold weather! He picked me up and away we went…yahoo. :/ They took the x-rays and have sent them off to the radiologist, we should hear back from them in a couple weeks….I think it’s just sprained but better safe than sorry I suppose. J

Now, onto more fun things! I get to go home this weekend!!! My mom’s birthday is on Monday, yes on Valentine’s Day (don’t remind her!) so Me, Russell, and Fancy (the facility dog that I’m watching this weekend) will be making the trip to Amarillo tomorrow morning!!! I’m so excited! I usually only see my family once every couple of months and I’m due for a family fix! I need it….this is why I live so close to the fam…I would not want to live any farther away! It would be too hard for me, I honestly don’t care what others think! I’m a mommy/daddy’s girl and I don’t care! J

Soooo Fancy is the facility therapy dog at Lakeridge Nursing and Rehabilitation (ya know….like where I work) and she’s kind of goofy looking…and she wears a diaper which was NOT easy to get on her! There are fashion diapers….yes fashion. They have one’s with polka dots, checkers, plaid, etc…. Poor dog, I’ve already warned her that my mom’s dogs are going to make fun of her but I don’t think she will care. I guess that’s all of my ramblings for the time being….My swollen/very painful wrist, my nasty sty infested eye, Fancy and myself have a little date with popcorn and Saturday night t.v…. or Golden Girls, not sure which yet. J

Just noise on a cup

Tonight I met up with a good friend, Ashley. Talking to her will mean more to me than she'll probably ever know! I noticed something tonight. I love the way my rings sound when they make a **cling** noise on glass cups. It's just noise on a cup...no, it's more than that. That noise reminds me of the covenant I made with my husband to the Lord. This got me thinking about other things I love....

-I love coming home to my apartment smelling like the scentsy: Baked Apple Pie

-I love talking to my family even though I know when I talk to any of them it's going to be a loooong conversation

-I love the flat, so sue me. But I love how flat West Texas is

-I love that when I go home to visit my family in Amarillo my house will always smell and feel the same.

-I love that I have more Texas Tech blankets, clothes and pillows than most people I know

-I love that I have a beautiful, healthy niece and nephew and that they have wonderful parents

-I love that our window facing the street is completely decked out in Halloween window clings

-I love that my mom calls me just to chat

-I love that when I feel like my life is falling apart Russell pieces it back together

It's odd that people being out of your life can make a world of difference. Just as people being IN your life can do the same. The past couple of months have been a little difficult; adjusting to my new role as a wife. Friends who I had previously had daily conversations with don't even cross my mind. My life is different now, but my oldest friends remain the same; people who knew me before I was Rachel Reed...before I was really even Rachel are still my friends. They call me, look out for me, love me. I'm blessed to have people like that in my life.

My life has felt kind of like a whirl wind lately...it's almost out of control for me. I go through the motions of living but sometimes I just don't want to. School is stressful...beyond stressful. I'm taking 19 hours... who's fault is that? MY OWN, though I assure you that does NOT make it any less stressful or easy to deal with. I walked out of my Research methods class confused as could be..."I don't have any idea what she's talking about, this doesn't make sense to me. I take notes I listen, I ask questions...why can't I understand!?" Negative, suppressive thoughts about my ability to perform in the class are rushing and swirling in my head....I try to click on the calendar app on my phone, my thumb misses, I hit the notes app. ****Pause****

"YOU ARE LOVED" is the first note that reads.

Russell got onto my phone, presumably that morning and wrote it. I'm walking through an ocean of students but I feel alone. I read the note over and over and over until tears come to my eyes. I gulp a deep breath of air in. I smile inside and out and walk on.

I am so blessed.

Peer Pressure...I gave in.

So I've finally given in to all of the peer pressure! Everyone keeps telling me that Russell and I should keep a blog so that we can remember our first years of marriage since ten years from now that will probably be hard to do. Also, as my teacher pointed out to our class, "You can print it [blog or journal]out and put it in a notebook and it could increase the chances of your kids thinking you're cool...then again, maybe not." Wow...inspirational. ;) So keeping those things in mind I have started a blog.

We have been married for about 2 1/2 months (yay!!) and I could not be happier. Russell and I were definitely made for one another; he's the only person that can calm me down when I'm really upset. He knows how to talk sense into me, which is a good thing because if he didn't I would be one reeeeally crazy person! I fell in love with his family the first time I met them and he...well he embarrassed himself the first time he met my family but quickly fell in love with them after they harassed him about his embarrassing actions.

It's safe to say that the "Honeymoon stage", as Brother Cluff calls it (counselor in the Bishopric), is over but we're still just as in love as we were the day we were married. About a month after we started dating we knew we were going to be together foreverrr. We were moving slow though, he had just gotten out of a relationship and was still trying to be friends with his ex and I am just very careful when it comes to relationships. Nevertheless we decided that forever was what we wanted, even if it didn't happen soon.

That didn't last long, we started dating at the end of October, were engaged the first week of March and married on July 23. Obviously the whole "move slow" thing didn't work out for us...but I'm glad it didn't. I can't imagine not being married to my best friend and for eternity? That's EVEN better!

I'm off to go cook dinner for a hungry husband but something to think about: "...becuause of Him, each of us can be in charge of his or her personal world, even as tragedies beset us."~Keith B. McMullan