Spring Break

This post is a little (okay... a lot) late coming but I've got to take these precious (not) blogging moments when I can. In case any of you were wondering if Mike and I had nothing new to blog about... that's really not the problem. (More posts should be filing on here soon!) It's been more a lack of time and internet access than anything. But I did start this blog post about a month ago and wanted to finish it. It's just a recap of our enjoyable Spring Break adventures. Being low on money but having a whole week for Spring Break (our last one ever, in fact) we wanted to do something fun. So we decided to migrate down for warmer weather to the beautiful St. George. We stayed with my amazing grandma and enjoyed home-cooked meals, lots of laughs and oh so sweet relaxation.

One day we did a hike up to the 3 waterfalls in Zion's National Park. It was great! The rest of the time we swam in the pool, read books and watched the movie "Babe". Yes, I know, weird. It's a Grandma Allie thing.

Here's some pictures from the hike:

And last but definitely not least... we got to see my aunt's amazing new home she's building in Ivins, UT. I should have taken pictures of the inside. It is incredible! Floor to ceiling windows looking at a giant, red rock. It's literally breathtaking. Can't wait for my parents to build there's next door so we can start making the memories!

The Visible Hand

Mike recently told me about a book called The Invisible Hand. Apparently it is a book about the "invisible hand" that guides the economy. So that in the end, everything works its way out.

Well, I know it's been at least 2 months since I've blogged (I know) but I want to tell everyone out in blog world about the very visible hand in my life the last few months.

It began in January which some of you may know was the month of the dread competency exams. For all who are interested (although the number may be limited), my comps consisted of two 4 hr days of written tests, 1 hour of practical completing an evaluation of a patient, 1 hour of practical doing a hearing aid fitting and an oral defense of your answers and actions during all the following. It was five long, stress-filled days. Truthfully, I did not know if I could do it. I used to joke and tell myself that I would drop out of the program before I actually got to the point of going through comps. Additionally, I was set apart as Relief Society president the first week in January-- the week prior to my comps (explanation of this would require it's own lengthy blog).

Mike gave me a much-needed blessing and the words he said could not be better defined than as Balm of Gilead to my heart and mind. I remember him distinctly saying that the Lord had helped me to this point and he would not abandon me now. I purchased a framed sign for the presidency message I taught in January and it has been my mantra ever since... With God All Things Are Possible.

And let me tell you... they are! I made it through comps! I spent some 6 hour days going over everything I learned in the last 3 years of my doctoral program. Despite that, I think the most difficult part of the whole experience was getting the courage to walk into the room every day. Nonetheless, with the Lord's help, I passed my comps with high scores and compliments from my professors. It's difficult to describe how big of a deal this was for me. Basically the pinnacle of my doctoral degree. The relief of passing is immense. The hand of the Lord.

After comps, next on my list was to finish my clinical research project (which is required for my degree before I leave for my 4th year) and then obtaining a externship placement for next year. These also weighed on me. But chanting every day to myself, with God all things are possible, I see the very visible hand of the Lord in my life. To keep it short, I am finally done collecting data and working on my paper. I am presenting my final project to my committee on March 8th.

Now for the more exciting part? After wondering, worrying and traveling thousands of miles around the country, Mike and I have definite plans for our upcoming future. And thankfully, they involve actually living together. Some of you may know, in the effort to allow Mike and I both to obtain our professional pursuits, we had seriously considered living apart for a year. Yet with faith and patience I saw the Lord had for me a better plan than I had for myself. Three weeks ago I was offered a position at a brand new Ear Nose and Throat physicians office in Draper. The perfectness of this position for me was surprising and very unexpected. The office is large, with brand new, top-of-the-line equipment, 8 rooms dedicated to audiology and more diversity than I had ever imagined in an off-site placement. The opportunities to expand and have exciting options for the future keep coming and I am beyond ecstatic. On top of that, I absolutely love the audiologist I work with and feel like I've known her for years as opposed to weeks. Another blessing... the position is paid (which is not required during your externship) and provides benefits!!! If I said "I'm excited" 500 times-- it probably still wouldn't cover my excitement! Miracle #3.

Finally! Miracle #3 allowed for miracle #4. Mike and I are very excited to move onto the next big step in our lives... (if you now think I'm pregnant, you might be very disappointed) We are buying a house!! Living in the same state and both beginning work has allowed Mike and I to take advantage of that tax credit everyone else has been telling us so much about. SO... we found a rambler in Riverton that we are currently under contract for. We are planning to close at the end of April beginning of May and will move in immediately following. What word describes ridiculous giddiness and excitement? Well, whatever you thought of, times it by ten and you might reach where we are at! We can't wait to leave the student life behind (not that it hasn't been wonderful) and move onto a new life in Salt Lake closer to both our families!

In the end, we have been overwhelmingly blessed. It is not difficult to look back and see the Lord's gentle shaping of our decisions and lives. We are so grateful. I have learned many, many things these last few months. They have been grueling in many respects but also have done much to strengthen my faith and testimony. I have learned two very important things I will always remember from these experiences: #1: with God all things are indeed possible! and #2: the Lord's plan for us is infinitely more beautiful than we could possibly dream and plan for ourselves!

Christmas 2010

Truthfully, I have way too many adorable pictures to put on here. I want to. Really. But due to the fact that I would be on here for hours waiting for my images to load since every 5 pictures seems to take about 5 minutes to load (Does everyone's take that long?!). So I'm doing something I am primarily against-- making a post without pictures. Here is the fastest Christmas recap ever recorded.

Mike and I left on Dec. 17th to go hang out with my parents a few days before Christmas. Here we celebrated Jonny's b-day and played lots of games (mostly Settlers of Catan).

On the 21st we head to Vernal for an incredibly relaxing and fun week. Every day was a nice sleep in till 9:00 (okay, some days it was 9:30!), followed by movies, lunches, chatting, games and hanging out. Some things to note: I learned how to make Mike's mom's famous poppyseed bread with almond glaze and also got our scrapbook page done for the calendar (with help, of course). Woohoo!

Christmas Eve we had a big dinner with all of Mike's family. We opened up our P.J.'s and watched a christmas movie. Christmas morning we woke up and Mike and I did our stockings for one another. Santa brought us some great stuff. Including our own raclette grill! Afterwards, we got ready and went and visited all of Mike's family members to see what they got for Christmas. It really made me want to have kids seeing all the excitement of the nieces and nephews. Mel was sweet enough to invite us over for breakfast where we had yummy cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole. Later that day, Mike and I opened our gifts for one another. We mostly gave each other some much-needed clothes. That evening the whole family came over and opened gifts together. That was my favorite! I loved watching everyone, adults and children, open the huge variety of gifts. Mike's parents gave us clothes, another amazing Santa Claus village piece and a movie. From the Rusts and Mansfields we both got games-- practically our favorite gift ever!! :)

On the 27th we left Vernal and drove to Oakley! My parents had rented a cabin that was pretty much a lodge. They got a great deal as the owners was just trying to figure out how to rent. Oh my goodness-- it was beautiful. (I really should post pictures). The night we got up there we sat in front of an amazing fireplace and did our own mini-Christmas. Mike and I both got some great clothes from Marisa and Joe. My wonderful parents also gave us a new game and a good start towards our food storage (which we were totally stoked about)! While we were at the cabin we played games, cooked for one another, snow-shoed, watched movies and went sledding (absolutely hilarious with ages 1-50+ all on sleds). Again, this is picture-worthy. If I get ambitious later, I will post some. It was so much fun and our attempt at a Dan In Real Life experience. I love the memories we make every year doing these adventures my parents plan!

After some wonderful family-time, we finally arrived home in Logan on the 30th. We celebrated a quiet New Years together and I got ready for the big week of competency exams I'd been dreading for the last 2 and half years!

December Happenings

So I know I'm a little late but here's some pics of our annual celebration of Same Klaus Tag. It happens to be one of my favorite and most exciting traditions and I love that Mike has indulged me to celebrate it every year. It was also nice since for Christmas we mostly asked for clothes, for Same Klaus Tag we got some toys (AKA toys, books, etc). We also started a new sub-tradition for Same Klaus Tag this year. I asked Mike to start giving me a children's Christmas book every year so we can start building our own collection. One of my favorite things to do at Christmas was to sit in front of the fire and read the same Christmas books (with amazing illustrations) every year. I want that tradition for our children as well so Mike started this year with copies of "Berenstein Bears Christmas Tree" and a new version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Loved them!

Funny note about Same Klaus Tag. This year it fell on a Sunday. That day in Relief Society the lesson was on how we need to focus less on Santa Claus. Ya, I thought that was kind of funny. Mike and I waiting to go home and celebrate "Santa Claus Day" or Same Klaus Tag!

Another fun happening in December was making gingerbread houses. I love making them every year (although it's a serious waste of candy). I didn't think I was going to be able to convince Mike to make one this year and then I was saved by Sammy! Sammy is a girl in our ward who invited us and another family over to their house to make gingerbread houses (Thank you so much guys!!). It was so much fun! I left absolutely ill from snacking during the long process of making our house but it was a riot watching everyone figure out how to make those again. Ours had some issues staying up (twice) but after one night left outside... it was holding strong all the way till the second week in January before it died a strong but definite death in the dumpster.

Postherpetic Neuralgia

So just because I can't break my arm or get stitches like any other normal person... this week I got diagnosed with shingles on my arm. Yes, shingles. Now before you all start wondering if I've touched you, talked to you, coughed within 30 feet of you within the last week... calm yourselves. Although shingles is the varicella (chicken pox) virus in your body acting up when your immune system is low or you're under stress... it is only contagious with direct affected skin to skin contact and only when the vesicles burst (yummy, huh?). I've had it covered, hence no one has ever touched it and being a compulsive hand washer... all is well.

Luckily, it's been more of an annoyance than painful. Looking shingles up online is enough to scare you silly. (Mike and I have concluded they only post the most severe and disgusting of cases). I also learned as an audiology student in my medical aspects course that shingles (which I learned as Herpes Zoster) is the cause of Ramsay-Hunt syndrome-- which can cause hearing loss, dizziness and Bell's palsy. Talk about a career killer... (ha ha). Of course, mine isn't anywhere near that and not affecting the nerves near my head/face. Interesting nonetheless tho, huh?

Anyway, I know there are some serious cases where people have it all over their body, get really sick and are dealing with a lot of pain. Don't let your imagination go wild. I'm really not a diseased, pustulated woman whose been writhing in pain... no need to shun me. I've actually been very blessed. No spreading, no real pain, no being sick. Yay!

The only problem now is that as the shingles have cleared, I've started having weird pain in my arm. Looking into this more, I've found out this may be called "postherpetic neuralgia". Since shingles attacks the spinal nerves, specifically the dermatomes (C8 in my case), even after the shingles are gone the nerve is affected. It can't send the signals correctly after being attacked and sometimes it sends mixed messages that register as pain. This can last for months in some cases years after the shingles leave.

Well, anyway, I found it all to be quite fascinating. Of course, that might be because I've been reading a medical dictionary lately for fun and watching Dr. Quinn episodes. Anyway, that's the new medical case study happening with me. Never a dull moment in the Mansfield home. I knew you'd all enjoy that anatomy lesson. Class dismissed! =)

The Friends That Go Beyond Friendship

I have been thinking about this for over a month. In October, Mike and I went to a missionary homecoming for a family we are friends with. I was excited to see all the family together again and looked forward to hear the missionary's talk. The talk was great, the food divine, the conversations wonderful. However, after we left we were not 10 minutes from their home when Mike commented, "Isn't it amazing that after leaving them you somehow feel better about yourself?" It struck me. I always knew this family was unique and they've never not put a smile on my face. But Mike hit it on the nose... this family had the ability to do something extraordinary. Every single one of them, has a special way of making you want to stay with them. They make you feel special and in turn, you want to be better.

Mike and I drove home with smiles on our faces, warmth in our hearts and really... wishing we could go back. The love, the charity, the kindness, the fun, the laughter... it's tangible in their home and in each interaction. It doesn't matter how long it's been or how horrible a friend I've been in return. I truly don't know if I have ever met a family that has touched my heart the same way. I hope you know how special you are to me. You may not ever read this but someone out there should know how amazing you are. You have affected Mike and I in a way no one ever has and we appreciate your friendship and support more than you'll ever know. Time or distance... we pray for you. No one deserves happiness more than all of you.

You truly are the friends that go beyond friendship.

We love you Satterthwaites!

Halloween

No this is not a mistake. I took the bright, fall pictures two days before it snowed. And boy, did it snow! Quite the juxtaposition. Luckily, it melted!

Carving pumpkins at the Obergs! Our end result pumpkins.

We also carved pumpkins with our friends Don and Heather. As far as I'm concerned, you can't carve too many pumpkins! This is my Frankenstein and Mike's scared pumpkins adorning our pumpkin-filled doorstep.

Annual Halloween Party

The kids on Halloween night.