More on marriage

These are a couple of good articles for husbands and wives.

http://ldsmag.com/church/article/8174?ac=1&start=4
http://www.ldsmag.com/component/zine/article/7979?start=1

Sunday Summary

Today was a wonderful day at church. We had three talks about faith, and they addressed some things I've been thinking about. I just agreed with everything they said, and I felt like they were things everyone should hear! For the last month I've been thinking a lot about my faith, what it stems from, how I have such conviction in my beliefs. It is such a basic principle, but so important! I guess it is because my faith was called into question, and afterward I was just reflecting on why I believe what I do. So much of the time, I am just going through the motions, living the gospel, going to church. Because I love it and it makes me happy and has since I was young. But sometimes I forget where my belief comes from. I love that, because of this experience, my testimony has grown even more. Faith has always been easy for me, and I have realized that that really is a spiritual gift from God. I know that God imparts his wisdom to us the more we choose to have faith and live righteously, and it keeps building and growing, making us stronger and more sure. But He also warns us that, if we choose to not have faith, He will take it away from us until we know nothing. This concept has been resonating with me lately.

The more I think about the principle of faith, the more I want to share it with others. Raimo and I teach the Gospel Principles class, and we are enjoying it. I feel like it has a mission-feel to it because we go back to the basics of the gospel. Plus we have a newly converted member in the class. The class is small, which makes it more intimate and everyone gets involved. Today we talked about the Holy Ghost, which went nicely with the talks on faith. We are enjoying the calling. I had a really eye-opening experience today--we have a pretty incredible ward. There are a lot of humble, hard-working people in our area, and some of their stories are pretty amazing. I am learning a lot from them.

Relief Society focused on the "forget-me-not" talk by Uchtdorf. That is such a wonderful talk--I think everyone can benefit from it! But it is especially for women, who need constant reminding of their worth.

Each Sunday, I don't particularly feel like getting up and getting ready and hassling a baby for 3 hours at church, but without fail, each Sunday I come home feeling extremely grateful and lifted and spiritually energized.

Dating Diaries 11

I will skip ahead to Raimo. I dated a TON my sophomore year of college, but it was a ton of first and second dates, and not a lot of serious dating. I was having a hard time making up my mind about anyone. Even dating Raimo was very slow in the beginning. We met in our Gold 1 Latin Ballroom class. I think it was at 8 a.m. in the KMB --which has since been torn down :(  I remember thinking he was a hottie and also thinking he kind of had this cool factor. As in, he was a much better dancer than anyone in our class and was therefore cool and aloof. In truth, Raimo has a lot more natural dance ability than most girls. However, I later found out he is as friendly as he is talented, and that cool exterior really doesn't exist for me anymore (sorry, babe!). It was his silliness and kindness and romantic heart that eventually won me over. So anyway, we didn't ever speak in class. Everyone was always switching partners, as you always do in ballroom classes, and every once in a while Raimo would ask me. But I thought he wasn't interested in me because he rarely asked me to dance.

Read Raimo's story here:
http://raimolovesjessica.blogspot.com/2008/09/chapter-1.html

Current Events

Currently netflixing: Kimora, life in the fab lane and Braxton Family Values, both reality tv and both kind of uninteresting and interesting at the same time

Currently eating: kielbasa, garlic potatoes, broccoli... I'm eating solo tonight

Currently Rose: is sleeping. She is doing great... has started to be really needy lately. She never wants me out of arm's reach. I don't get it. She is also starting to be a little more adventurous with food-- crackers, bread (very small amounts), sometimes juice from a cup! She has also tasted but not really eaten ice cream, pizza, tomatoes, spinach. I was really surprised that she would not eat real bananas even though she likes the baby food version

Currently Raimo: is working a lot. He's enjoying his work overall, but I know it can be hard being on his feet so much and being so busy.

Currently I: am enjoying rehearsal and singing. It has been a while! I get to sing first soprano and there are some high parts so that is fun for me.

TODAY I: cleaned the oven. Just want to add that in there because it was a big accomplishment!!! And I don't want to do it again! I don't like sticking my head in there.... makes me uncomfortable. Is that dumb? Think Hansel and Gretel.

Currently enjoying: my view out the kitchen window of pink trees and beautiful green grass (actually weeds, but they look nice!) and a willow tree!

Currently feeling: tired. Had a nice day at home today just getting some things done and playing with Rose.

I love pomp and circumstance.

It is so regal and so completely connected with graduation. No other piece of music will do. It gives me this little excited feeling, even when I am not the one commencing into a new phase of life. I loved school, I loved looking forward to each of its milestones, and I knew that each promotion or graduation represented a celebration of my accomplishments as well as a new beginning. Hearing pomp and circumstance makes me feel those things again, and though it can be extremely redundant (let's get real--they play that thing like 20 times in a row as the graduates parade along in that goofy get-up) it reminds me of my own graduations--they really were important events for me. For me, those types of events marked the passage of time even more than birthdays or holidays. I also enjoy hearing the little pep talks. They are these polished offerings, specially prepared for people who are embarking on a new phase of life. One talk that really resonated with me was about the making of a pearl. The young lady also talked a lot about the atonement (unusual choice, but we can do that at church schools, and I thought it was very fitting), which I have been thinking about lately since I just spoke about it in church. I enjoyed putting those two ideas in connection with 'becoming who we want to be'. I think in the past few weeks or so I have been re-assessing what pearl I envision for myself. I don't have any more graduations in the foreseeable future, and I am wondering how time is going to pass if I don't have them as markers!! I guess I can handle being 25 forever! Perhaps the birth of each child, the accomplishments of each child will take their place. I was telling Raimo that I never really thought much about my future beyond my 20's. Becoming independent and moving away, going to college, getting married and having a family were all exciting, futuristic kind of plans. Yeah, I did all of it by age 24 (with the exception of the growing family bit, though we did get that ball rolling). Now what? I guess I had some other lofty, seemingly-unattainable dreams. Maybe I'll think about taking on one of those. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Today we watched my sister graduate from college. It is a little strange that she has reached that milestone. Can she possibly be that grown up??

We are proud of her. All the sibs are growing up!!!

It was a beautiful day. And a little PF Chang's mahi mahi and tiramisu made it even better.  ;)

Fun With Friends 2

Getting to know Ana Maria was an unexpected, happy occurrence in my life this year. We, along with our husbands, were members of the BYU ballroom company together while we were in college, and the four of us carpooled to a competition in Vegas a few years ago. While we haven't seen much of each other since then, we both ended up moving to Salt Lake County around the same time and also happened to have our first-born babies 2 months apart. Circumstances just made it very possible for us to be friends, and I am glad it happened that way.

To be quite honest, while I thought she was nice, I did not feel like I could identify with Ana Maria that much when we first met. In fact, we have since pointed out that she is more like Raimo (spontaneous, enthusiastic, outgoing, happy) and I am more like her husband, Ryan (organized, strategic, realistic, serious). But as we have spent more time together, we have connected in many different ways and have been able to share our early experiences with motherhood. I have liked the fact that she is all those things that I am not, and I've been glad to spend a lot of time with an optimist. It is always a pick-me-up! I also enjoy the fact that she is always glad to talk about the gospel with me--it is great to be able to share thoughts, ideas, and even scriptures on various aspects of the gospel with a friend.

Ana Maria is constantly exemplifying service. It is just built into her personality--she is always looking for ways to help me out, make my day easier, or just do something for someone else. Being more introverted and focused on my own family, this giving nature is not something that comes naturally to me but is something I am trying to work on. I have been grateful for her little acts of service, and even for the times she offered and I didn't take her up on it. She is someone I know I can call (and would feel comfortable calling) if I were ever in a bind. And I know she would be THRILLED (you must know that she always speaks in capital letters). Now if only she will allow me to do the same for her sometimes!!

We've bonded over newborns, good food, movie nights, sleep training, zombie sleepless-ness, ballroom costumes, mall walks, husband-less nights, marital ballroom partnership "bliss", and bowls of ice cream. It is a really fun friendship, and it could not have happened at a better time in my life. 

And now, the cuteness that is our babies:

A Marriage Post

This is so true. I am naturally feisty, and learning to lose has been/will be really important for me.

http://drkellyflanagan.com/2012/03/02/marriage-is-for-losers/

9 months

 I took Rose to the doctor yesterday. She is 15 pounds. I was a little concerned that she only gained 1 pound since the 6 month appointment, but he pulled out her growth chart and everything is good. She is in the 7th percentile for weight and has been around there all along. She is now 26.9 inches, around the 20th percentile. She still has a little cold, but I think she is slowly getting better. This month she...

-Still loves the song "I Would Walk 500 Miles" so much. It totally calms her when she is crying for any reason
-Is crawling/traveling so much faster, still doing the army crawl with a little knee thrown in every now and then.
-Smile. ALL. the. time. At anyone who will look at her. They are these whole-face, ear-splitting smiles.
-She just cut her bottom two teeth within a few days of each other. They are really sharp!
-She sits up really well now, without resistance like before (she refused to bend!)
-She eats fruit in the morning and a veggie and a fruit at night, sometimes has fruit for lunch. She still loves her milk so much. She refuses to drink from a cup or a bottle. No water, juice, or pumped milk. I'm hoping she'll learn soon because I'm about ready to stop the breastfeeding. Every once in a while I will trick her into the cup in the middle of a meal and she has no idea what is going on.
-Still loves books so much. She likes to touch all the pages.
-She uses her right pointer finger to touch everything. So unusual and so cute!
-Hated the swings at the park
-Has started climbing up onto things.. like her humidifier, the side of the crib, our legs...
-Is still very bald, though she is starting to grow some blonde fuzz
-Has extremely sensitive skin. Can't bathe her too often or she dries out

-This is such a fun stage. She is so easy and happy. I really thought I'd never love anything more than the newborn stage, but I love this too.

Living the single life

I'm spending a lot of time as a single mom these days. Raimo is working a lot. I don't know how so many women in the world do it and work full-time jobs too! It is hard to be the only parent, not to mention it is kind of lonely. Rose has an early bedtime of 7 pm and I love it! But then I don't know what to do with myself in the evenings. Well that's not totally true. I take my time making dinner, taking my time eating it and really enjoying it (as opposed to wolfing down my food while simultaneously trying to feed the baby). I do a little yoga, and I daydream and listen to music and maybe watch some shows. So. That's what I'm up to these nights. Other than that, just did 5 loads of laundry today. It was a lot of work!

It is really really weird to be by myself. I have noticed that when I am totally alone I feel really nostalgic.

Fun News!!!

I am going to be a nun in Sound of Music! Auditions were the longest ever, starting a week ago Saturday with lots of call-backs. I am excited to have made the ensemble and will be performing every other night at Hale Center Theater all summer. Get your tickets early because they are expecting it to be a sell out!

http://www.halecentretheatre.org/2012Season/the-sound-of-music.php