Answered Prayers & Conference Weekend

This weekend was one of my favorite weekends of the entire year: General Conference! Over the course of 2 days, hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saints  gather in Church buildings around the world, gather around their TV, computer or iPad, and inside the Conference Center in Salt Lake City to hear living Prophets speak. The weekend of Conference is one of my favorite because it's a spiritual feast for my soul. Listening to President Thomas S. Monson, his Apostles, and other Church leaders give advice  guidance  and tell stories is something I cherish and love about the Church. 

There are 2 general sessions a day and another Priesthood session on Saturday night for the men. We had the opportunity to go to Saturday Morning's session with all of Todd's siblings, which was wonderful. We hadn't all been together since our wedding last March!

 Usually, I prayerfully think about what questions I should have in mind while listening to the talks during the weekend. I did this my first Conference before I had even made the decision to get baptized and every single one was answered specifically. It is amazing the answers you get. 

That morning though, I found myself in need of an answer to a prayer urgently. I ate breakfast in the morning and took my insulin like a good diabetic. By the time I got myself seated in the Conference Center I started to feel a little funny. I checked my Continuous Glucose Monitor (his name is Gordon. He's pink) that gives me a blood sugar reading every 5 minutes and saw that my sugar was steadily falling. It went from 100 to 90 in 2 readings. And being the bubble head that I am, I forgot to pack something to eat. I knew I wasn't going to make it through the 2 hour session without getting into serious trouble. 

I leaned over to T and asked him to say a quick prayer that I'd be able to get through the session without problems. I said a quick one as well, begging Heavenly Father to help me. I felt calm the entire time. I knew it was going to be okay, I just didn't really know how. My sister-in-law offered up her muffin that was sitting in the car and T offered to go get it. This was a half hour before the session started and I knew he'd be hard pressed to make it back in time, if they even let him back in. He went running anyway, with my keys and his ticket in hand. 

About 5 minutes later, he comes back. Well, that was quick! I thought. He told me to come with him, that he had found something for me. He told me that he had passed 4 or 5 volunteers and suddenly got a prompting to ask the next woman he saw. The woman he asked just happened to be standing near the snack room filled with food for the session volunteers. She said 'you've come to the right person! Bring your wife back and we'll get her some food!' after he explained what went on. 

With my sugar still dropping (it was around 80 at that point and the 'low' alarm had gone off on my monitor) I bounced up the stairs behind my husband and bolted to the room. I think I shoved 3 cookies in my mouth while the woman left us in privacy. Then, an elderly man came in and probably thought we were totally stealing the food because he said in a not-so-nice tone 'Can I help you?' I explained the situation and his face lit up. He pulled out a little fast acting glucose shake from his jacket pocket and handed it to me. He was a diabetic too! I mean, again, what are the chances?! 

I happily took my cookies, juice, and rice krispies back to my seat (I got some odd looks but whatever) and happily stayed at a normal glucose level for the rest of the session. If it weren't for my CGM, I would have never known that my sugar was dropping and if it weren't for my wonderful husband and our quick prayers, I don't know what I would have done. I would have been in trouble, that is for sure. 

Usually, the answers to my prayers come quietly in a small voice or a tiny answer but this time was different. Our prayers were answered with this loud voice that said "I'm here! I'll take care of you my child!". Loud and clear Heavenly Father! Thank you! 

When the Prophet walked into the Conference Center, my eyes filled with tears. I don't know if it was because of my experience that morning or if it was the Spirit confirming what I already believed, but I knew in that moment that the Church was True and President Monson is a Prophet on the earth today. I can't wait to attack the Conference issue of the Ensign when it comes in the mail. T won't even have a chance to read it, I'm stealing it. ;) 

I can't wait until October and the next General Conference! 

Spring Cleaning!

The entire time I've been planning this post I've been imagining what my mother is going to do when she reads this post. Probably fall out of her chair laughing. Mom, please don't hurt yourself! 

I am not known for my love of cleaning, that's for sure. But last weekend as T and I were sitting in the kitchen watching little dust bunnies amble across our kitchen floor, I suddenly had this great big urge to clean everything. I asked him if he wanted to do a big spring cleaning day with me the next weekend and the silly husband agreed! So, off I went to plan. 

If there's one thing I've noticed after a year of working in the position I'm in it's this: I have turned into a list monster. Dude, I love lists. I have never really used lists to their full potential before this but oh my goodness, let me tell you. I love my lists now. My lists have lists. Wonderful. 

So, I bring you Ordinary Fairy Tale's Spring Cleaning Check List of 2013!

Living Room

         Wipe down bookshelves

         Wipe down Tables

         Wipe down Lamp

         Wipe down TV & TV stand

         Clean windows

         Vacuum

Kitchen

         Organize pantry

         Wipe down pantry shelves

         Clean out fridge

         Deep clean dishwasher

         Deep clean oven (this method works amazingly. Seriously. My oven is spotless)

         Wipe down stove top (Works wonderfully but I had to do it twice to get the baked on grossness off)

         Deep clean microwave (I had to do this twice, but the microwave was pretty gross)

         Wipe down fridge outside

         Dust Fridge top

         Organize and wipe down pans

         Sweep floors

         Mop floors

         Clean Windows (inside and out)

         Wash counters

         Dust light fixtures

         Vacuum fridge coils

         Clean sink

         Wipe kitchen table

         Clean cutting boards

         Organize kitchen clutter (papers, bills, etc)

         Wash dog bowls

Bedroom

         Wash sheets

         Wash pillow cases

         Clean out makeup

         Wash makeup brushes

         Organize closets

         Wash windows

         Vacuum

         Dust ceiling fan

         Clean box fan

         Flip mattress

         Clean mattress

Bathroom

      Replace plastic shower curtain

      Clean toilet

         Clean sink
Clean tub (sprinkle baking soda, spritz vinegar on and let it sit for a little while. Scrub and voila! Sparkling! Seriously, sparkling.) 

         Wash mirror

         Organize drawers

         Wash window

Entrance

         Shake out and wash rug

         Sweep floor

         Mop floor

         Rotate out winter shoes from shoe bin

Laundry Room

         Sweep floor

         Mop floor

         Deep clean washing machine

         Clean dryer lint trap

Miscellaneous

         Change fire alarm batteries

         Change air filter

         Wipe down doors and knobs

         Clean vents

         New bathroom rug

         Replace fridge light (this one is only if your husband has smashed the light out of it on Christmas morning and you've been living without a top light since then. Not that this is us or anything. . .)

         Replace fridge water filter 

Supplies

         Vinegar

         Sponges

         All purpose cleaner (this works and is spectacular. I made it the night before and let the lemon peel sit in the bottles over night. It smelled fantastic)

         Rags

         Gloves

         Baking soda

         Lemon

         Window cleaner

         Toilet bowl cleaner

         Clorox wipes

         Spray bottles (2-3)

         Scouring pad

Some of the miscellaneous and supplies will change from time to time, so feel free to adjust those! Also, if you'd like this in a word doc or PDF form, please email me (jacquelyn(dot)smith13(at)gmail(dot)com) and I'll be glad to email them to you. I tried to figure out how to upload it on the blog, but I was unsuccessful. I may work for an IT company, but I am completely hopeless when it comes to technology.

Happy Spring Cleaning! 

State of the Union

One year ago today I had the privilege of going into the Temple of the Lord and got sealed for time and all eternity to the most amazing man I have ever met. When I woke up this morning (thanks to Charlie jumping up on the bed. I guess he thought it was time to wake up at 7am!) and I first looked at my husband sleeping beside me all I could think about was 'wow. It's been a year. I've been his wife for a year.'

I don't remember much from the morning of our wedding. It was all kind of a blur. I remember the girl doing my hair had forgotten that the wedding was that day and was at her other job. I remember freaking out that I was going to be late to my own wedding (I wasn't) and I remember leaving my Temple dress at the apartment. I remember my mom keeping me calm. My best friend Amanda talking sense into me as I rushed to the Temple, 'Jacky. Calm down! It'll be okay!'

I remember seeing T in the parking lot as I got out of my car. I remember the sense of joy and happiness I felt when I saw him knowing that when we came out of the Temple we'd be husband and wife. 

That day was perfect. 

The year that has passed since hasn't been easy, but it has been fun. We've learned so much from each other and from Heavenly Father. Honestly, I was worried the transition from being single and living on my own to living with someone else 24/7 would have been difficult. It wasn't though. It seemed completely natural. Like this was the way it was supposed to be forever. We just...fit. 

Marriage hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been hard either. Which is a weird thing, I know. I can't really describe it. I've learned more about myself by being with T than I ever had by being alone. We just work so well together that the transition period was so fluid, so natural, that I find it difficult to remember a time that I was without him. 

In the year we've been married:

I've started a new 'big girl' job for a company I adore

We've bought our first house

We adopted a second dog

We had a flood in our basement

We found the most perfect Ward family 

We both received wonderful callings working with the youth in the Church

We've attended the Temple regularly

We've fought

We've fallen deeper in love. 

I know it sounds cliche, but I love this man more than I ever thought possible. And I love him more today than I did in that Temple getting sealed to him. I know that a year from today, I will love him even more. He's shown me what it means to truly love and accept someone for exactly who they are. His pure spirit and loving personality has made me a better person simply by being near him. 

T is out running errands right now (I think he's doing some last minute shopping!) so I decided now would be a good time to write this. We went out to breakfast this morning and are going to go to the Temple where we got married this afternoon and do sealings. Tonight we're going to The Melting Pot to celebrate. 

Since we really didn't get a honeymoon last year, we're treating ourselves to a trip in May as a belated honeymoon and first anniversary present. Where are we going? We're flying into Seattle and driving down the coast to San Francisco! 8 days just the two of us. I am so excited. 

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life. I am truly lucky to count myself his wife. Marrying him was the best decision I have ever made. T - I love you. You make me whole. I am so happy that we're together. Happy first anniversary my love. And here's to many more wonderful years to come! :)

bedroom sneak peak

This weekend T and I flew in our decorator from Michigan. 

And by our decorator, I mean my mother. 

See, my mom is the most talented decorator I know (I think I missed the decorator gene that she and my grandmother both had) and every time she comes for a visit, we choose one room to decorate in our house. At Thanksgiving it was our living room and kitchen. This time she tackled our bedroom. 

I have to take some better pictures, but I wanted to give you a sneak peak into what we did:

bedside table in progress

  

I'm going to take some better pictures soon with the room completely put together. 

Oh, and! The basement is done! Finally! I'm going to start work on my craft room next. 

Books 1 & 2

I am terribly behind on my reading goal right now. I'm just barely finishing up book #2 and it's already the end of the month (uhm,  it's the end of January guys, when did this happen???) but I think I'm already 1.5 books ahead of my book count from last year! 

At the beginning of the month I flew home for a few days for a quick trip to Michigan (it was lovely) and I picked up a bunch of books (and stashed them in my carry on). My dad asked as he dropped me off at the airport, "Do you have books in here?!". He was kidding. 

So, I have plenty of material, just not the motivation. I'm trying though. 

Also, I have a confession. I already broke a rule. I started reading 'Pride and Predjudice' and just couldn't finish it guys. I tried. I really did but it took me hours to read a few pages and I had no idea what was going on. So, I'll try again later in the year, but I had to move on or I was going to get stuck on the first book of the year and then I would be really mad at myself. 

So, the real book #1 I read was Philippa Gregory's 'The Red Queen'.

source

I've always loved historical fiction, the Tudor period in England, and all things Royal related. The Other Boleyn Girl is one of my favorite movies. The Red Queen is the second in Gregory's "The Cousins War" series and even though I read this series out of sequence, it wasn't like I missed anything. In fact, this one takes place before the first book in the series does, so they're not a typical series in the way you usually read them. 

The Red Queen focuses on Margaret Beaufort, who was the grandmother to Henry VIII. Margaret was convinced from a young age that she had a higher calling in life. She idolized the young French Maid Joan of Arc and believed she was a special chosen woman of God. She would rather spend her life in a nunnary than get married and she tries to protest when she is given in marriage to Edmund Tudor at the young age of 9. She becomes a mother at 13 and a widow shortly after. Like her belief that she is destined for something more noble, she believes her son, Henry, is destined for something more noble too. He is raised by her brother-in-law Jasper even after she remarries again and leaves her beloved son behind.

I loved this book. It was rich with detail and humanized the plight of a young woman that, in her time, was seen no more than a human bargaining chip and a piece of property. She started out an an innocent, obedient daughter and blossomed into an intelligent, political mastermind that was highly responsible for placing her son on the throne. If you like historical fiction, this is for sure a must read. 

I'm currently reading, and about to finish, the third book in the series The Lady of the Rivers, about Jacquetta Woodville, who was the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV.

source

 I haven't reached the end, but this one has been entertaining as well. It's set before The Red Queen but they both cross the same time period around the middle of the book. 

I should be finished with this one this weekend. 

Up next is The White Queen which is about Queen Elizabeth Woodville, the daughter of Jacquetta. 

Flood.

Let me tell you a little story...one that is still in the progress of being told. 

It's been extremely cold in the Salt Lake Valley the past few days thanks, in part, to a lovely inversion that has parked itself over our heads. The inversion traps the cold air and as a result, there is very little fluctuation in the temperature. 

We woke up on Wednesday morning and got ready like normal. Until T tried to turn on the shower. Nothing came out. Nada. Zip. No water at all. It was weird because everything else was working. Except our downstairs shower and faucet. We didn't hear any water gushing, so we figured it was a frozen pipe. Both showers butt up to the outside wall, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. So, we cranked the heat and hoped for the best. 

When I got home that afternoon from work, I checked the faucets. They were working! We were in the clear! We put space heaters in both bathrooms to keep the pipes from freezing again and kept the heat cranked. 

When I came home yesterday the first thing I heard stopped me in my tracks. I didn't even close the door at first. All I heard was splashing. And gushing. And water. I flipped out. There were several expletives said (oopsie) and I ran downstairs. My first instinct was to shut the water off. Thank heavens T had shown me where the water shutoff valve was in the front bedroom. As I booked it to the valve, my shoes splashed in the carpet...our entire basement had flooded. 

I went into the laundry room and was greeted by a gush of water and 2 inches of standing water. Our furnace, water heater, and brand new washer and dryer had been sprayed by water for goodness knows how long. The leak was directly over the washer and dryer. 

The pipe must has burst soon after T left for work because that little hole flooded our entire downstairs: the living room, hallway, bathroom, and 2 bedrooms. Completely soaked. 

Our back bedroom had a lot of our stuff just hanging out there in storage. All of the boxes were ruined. I was extremely overwhelmed. But about 2 hours after I got home there were a few knocks at the door. Our Bishop walked in and asked us what we needed. He told us that he had called a few people and they were on their way over. 'A few' people turned into 7 wonderful ward members who started moving boxes from the soaked room. They helped T rip up carpet. And they helped me keep my sanity. One by one, boxes and keepsakes were brought up. We lost a lot of our wedding cards from people and most of our guest book was ruined. We also lost a few letters T wrote to me while we were still dating. I think those were the losses that hit me the hardest. The printers, books, purses can all be replaced. But the letters he wrote me, the notes from our wedding guests, the cards they gave us, they're all smudgy from water and quickly warping as they dry. 

That was the hardest thing about this flood. 

The entire contents of our basement sat in my living room all night. Now, if you know me, you know that I get overwhelmed fairly easy. If it weren't for our wonderful ward members, T and I would have spent the night (him) lugging up boxes and (me) crying and having anxiety attacks.

The basement is drying out now. Insurance should be paying for everything to be fixed. It's cold in the house because of the fans drying out the carpet and the mildew smell is already starting to set in. But, T knows what he's doing (he does this kind of clean up for a living!) and we're a lot better off than we could be. 

My poor poor laundry room. Where T is standing is where the pipe burst and the entire wall is going to have to be ripped out and replaced. It's going to be a long road and it's going to be stressful. But the fans are going, the dehumidifier is going (it's really humid in here now...), and we're beginning to fix it. It's been a nasty introduction to homeownership for sure, but we're learning. We're learning that bad things happen when you least expect them. We're learning that we're surrounded by people who care and who love us. We're learning that all we have to do is ask and someone will be there to help us. 

We're also learning how much the winter sucks in Utah. womp womp. 

2013

Well heck. I keep managing to forget this little corner of the internet. Things just don't seem all that interesting in the Smith household lately, so I just don't ever think to blog. 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas around here. Nice and quiet really. It was our first Christmas together and I'm looking forward to spending many many more with my wonderful husband. 

Most of our nights are spent on the couch watching Netflix (West Wing is now on streaming. #winning!!) and cuddling with the dogs. Wally is a serious cuddlebug. 

I started to think about the New Year tonight and what I wanted to accomplish in 2013. I always seem to make these big huge resolutions and stick to them for about...oh...5 seconds. I'm not going to say that this year is going to be different, because it might not be. But right now, I'm going to try. I'm going to avoid the word 'resolution' though because it kind of makes me twitch. We're going to go with 'goals'. 

Goal #1 is a big one though. Maybe I should lead with something a little more... predictable? Okay, change in plans. Goal #1 is now Goal #2.

 New Goal #1 is the required "I will eat better and exercise in the New Year." But this year, this one is required. I have diabetes. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when I was 14. I recently was told that if I ever wanted to have kids, I needed to get my diabetes under control (it wasn't). I want children more than anything else in this world. I always have and that desire is such a basic need within myself. If I want to successfully become a mother, I need to take responsibility for my health this year. I need to take my insulin regularly, test my sugar regularly, exercise regularly, and eat better. The husband and myself are planning on joining the local rec center down the street from our house soon so I'll have a gym to go to at a fairly reasonable price. I'm excited. 

Goal #2 (formerly known as Goal #1) is to read 50 books in 2013. Told you it was a tough one, didn't I? I know. I'm crazy. I used to read like crazy. You used to have to pry a book our of my hands. I used to be one of those girls that stayed up until all hours of the night (morning most times) reading a book because I was so enthralled. Somewhere between college textbooks and Netflix, I've begun to loose my desire. I need that back. I want that back. This one came to me a few nights ago as I was struggling to get to sleep. I have so many books sitting on our bookshelves that have gone unread. My first book of 2013? Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen. I have to confess, I already started it a few days ago, but I promise it's only a few chapters. I have a few rules: I can only buy 10 new books this year. All others must be already owned or come from the DI. I also may not read a book that I have previously read and if I start on that I haven't read all the way through, I have to start it from the beginning. I must record the books that I read here and give my review and no matter what, I must finish the book once I start it. If you have a suggestion for a book I should read, please email me or leave a comment! I am certainly open to suggestions! 

Goal #3 is my spiritual related one. I will finish Personal Progress. Personal Progress is a program put together by our Church that encourages young women to come unto Christ. I was recently called (given a voluntary assignment in Church) to be in the Young Women's Presidency. Basically, I help with our congregation's Young Women's program. It's probably the best calling...ever. And since I'm a convert, I didn't go through this program during my teen years. So, I'm going back now. I want to set an example for my girls. I can't ask them to do something that I haven't done or wouldn't do myself. I've already started on this one as well and I can feel myself inching closer to a better relationship with Christ, with Heavenly Father, and with myself. 

So, that's it. Those are my three goals.

Get healthy. 

Get my passion back. 

Get closer to God. 

I hope every single one of you lovely people has a wonderful New Year and a happy 2013.