Raisins

 


 It will be so awesome. :)

The last two days have been a whirlwind! I cannot even tell you how great they have been though... More on that after some more goofy pictures.

Quinci and I went to THE gas station... on our husbands' dime of course.








I told her that you're not supposed to look a goat in the eye or it will try to attack you... It tried to attack her. Haha



Boat house... On land.



Girl's night in IF. Olive Garden. 




Babe.


"Michelle is tiny."  ... Yes. Yes, I am.



Quinci the Explorer.



Yesterday morning I was still debating whether I should stay or go. I was questioning my motives and just really felt confused. Both options seemed equal to me. After talking with the doc and some prayer and pondering, the right decision became clear to me.
It is really interesting because I love every single class I signed up for this semester, I absolutely adore my room mates, and I was so looking forward to this semester. BUT as soon as the right decision became clear to me, it became the only choice.
24 hours later, everything has magically worked out. [I'm not kidding. It has literally been a miracle.] I am going home!

Is everything going to be easy? Definitely not. But I just feel amazingly at peace with this decision. I feel light and happy. This is how we feel when we put our lives and our choices in the Lord's hands. This has been the coolest couple of days. I have really been out of my element, but I know this is right. :) Cool scripture to go with this: Philippians 4:11. "...In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." 13 also fits as well. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

I have an idea or two of why I need to be at home right now, but I do not know all of the answers. It is gonna be a little rough. I am going to miss a lot of things [and definitely Quinci :( How does one make friends again...?] and I don't even really have a bedroom right now... But I am determined to find joy and be content in this state. This will be a great adventure, I know it! I guess sometimes you just have to trust in the Lord and take it day by day! :D "Isn't it great?!"

Much Love!!

James and I survived the journey back to the Burg.
A couple of highlights:

Listening to the Tarzan Soundtrack... 3 times in a row. Haha

Quality conversation.
M: Oh good! We're getting to the pretty part of the drive!
J: Uhhh, it's been pretty this whole drive. *Then gestures to himself*
Humble, ain't he?


The things you find while you unpack... A scary skull and cross bones T-Shirt [which I have been assured is an omen] and a mystery bruise on my stomach/hip! [Which looks a lot cooler today, I might add. It's getting darker and darker!]




I am so excited for this little plant!


I will not be putting it into the care of my sisters though... We all know what happened with my dear cactus, Beauford.
RIP Beauford, I think of you often.
And I repeat: How on earth do you kill a cactus?? Easiest plant to keep alive... [Love you, Jo. Love you, Cheek.]

I may be Brazilian. [But unfortunately I am not very good at interpreting Portuguese... Yet. I know that a taco has something to do with a baseball bat... That's about it.]
Avocado, milk, sugar. Sounds like it would make a nasty smoothie, doesn't it?


Believe me when I tell you with this oh-so-serious face, that it is DE licious.



Ready for the most exciting news of the week??
Quinci and I BEAT JENGA last night!
And then we 'worked out.'
Try this: It is impossible to put your arms up like this at 90 degrees and touch the ground with your hands.



And yes. We are aware that we are strange... We like it.

Goal this semester: Quinci will be able to do pushups like a champ. She is a body builder on the inside, trust me.


I absolutely lucked out with classes this semester! I am so excited for all of them! My teachers are fantastic and inspired and I have the easiest schedule on the planet. There will be a lot of homework, but it shouldn't be a problem if I am diligent.

Natural Disasters. Family Foundations. Archery. Young Adult Literature. China. Child Development.
So stoked. :)


My room mates are all very sweet! I feel really lucky to have them. Our apartment is a clean and happy place. :D

Devotional yesterday was wonderful and don't even worry... We have already been lectured on marriage.

College is all about learning.
I learned about hippies today.
I thought that hippies were peace-loving people... Apparently they never walked through Rexburg wind and had their hair attack them from all angles at once! Eek. [I really hope that someone in heaven got a picture of that moment. I laughed out loud on accident because I knew I looked ridiculous. :) Good thing no one was close by.] I just need to be brave and let a stranger take scissors to my hair. Being a hippie is overrated.

I've got some big-girl decisions to make about the foot and such coming up...
Quinci and I were talking about the options last night and realizing that both choices have some serious pros and not many cons, which is a great blessing. We were also marveling at the fact that people make huge decisions like this without divine help. I cannot even imagine. I am so grateful for the gospel. I would be so lost without it.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your prayers. I feel them daily. :)

Much Love!!

As weird as being home is this time, I LOVE BEING HERE! :) My family is just the very best. And Colorado has been showing its Sunny face a lot around here!

I love my little guys. Enjoy some pictures [Most of which are blurry due to high action sequences.]

I cannot believe that he is walking! Ah! Look at the chunky legs. :)


Cutest little happy guy. :)


Sneak attack with Thatcher as the decoy. Good one Liam. Haha


Liam was really mad that I couldn't stand up and play with him at first...


But then he learned that I could still roll around and get him.


Yep. Totally got beat up by a 3-year-old. :) No shame in that.


These pictures are from yesterday... or maybe the day before. But today Liam and I decided that the yellow ball is a pokey fireball and the blue ball is an "Ice Burger." Ahaha!

One-footed airplane? No big.


Yesterday was Melissa's Birthday! A Mom-Melissa-Jackson-Marc Birthday lunch was in order. :) We had a great time. Jackson was the coolest guy in huge sunglasses!


What a ham.



I love my little guys. I wish I didn't have to leave them again so soon!

I've gotten to see so many people that I love this week! And grades are officially in! Straight A's! I also got another MRI last night. Gosh, Life is good. :) This has been such a nice little breather of a break. So blessed!

Much Love!!

I may [never] complain against boring Wyoming again....James and I were doing just that when our journey got very exciting!

The window got stuck open... Going 80ish MPH in windy Wyoming! Exciting! [Especially when you drank a whole Gatorade 90 miles ago!! So funny!]

We had quite the adventure. We sang to Disney songs and James made fun of the way I wrap his burgers so he can eat it and drive. [I learned this from my mother. Thanks, Momma.]


10 hours is a very long time. We went through all of the phases of slap-happiness. AND We've decided that a road trip to the Shire would probably be the best thing we could ever do with our lives.
And we ended up screaming for basically the last hour of the trip due to another window mishap and the excitement of once again having Colorado air surrounding us.


Great road trip with my big, little brother. It is so good [and weird] to be home!

Raleena Reunion. :)
Believe it or not, we are not in pain in this picture. It was just really sunny.


Shay built a Go-Kart. We had a blast with it!


That thing can pick up some serious speed! So fun!!!



I almost got kicked out by getting a little air because it is so close to the ground with no shocks! This face pretty much sums it up.




Happy Easter!! I am grateful to know the meaning of Easter and the opportunity I had to go to two sacrament meetings yesterday. What a blessing it is to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. He died for us and He lives again! This makes true joy possible for all of us no matter the circumstances we are living in. I hope that we can always remember this and find that joy.

I love these little boys!! I've missed them so much! :)

I am done!!! :) I hope I am not saying this too soon... But I do believe I have all A's!!! I am just waiting for one final grade to be put in. :) I never thought I would be responsible enough for this...

Sister Holt's final though... Oh my goodness. No amount of studying could have prepared me for that. Brutal.
And now it is over. :)

Probably most of the reason I did so well was this nice note with string cheese that someone anonymously left me! Haha Whoever you are: Thank you. I loved it so much!



I spent 5 hours scrubbing today... Clean checks are a little... over the top. One of the items on my to do list: Clean pipes under the sink. ... Yep.

Good thing I enjoy cleaning! Haha :)

Mom, Dad, and I discussed "The Law of Rexburg" today. Unfortunately Rexburg... I really want to go camping this summer and I just don't think it is safe to go without men. We will see what little deal we can work out.

Great news!
I've vacated my old residence and moved into my new apartment!

Old bed.


New, painted room. Ooo la la!


This semester I am spoiled. I have an entire room to myself. AND we have 2 fridges! What the heck!? :)

Alexa and I are christening the new apartment tonight. :) In fact I am in my new bed right this minute! I am looking forward to a wonderful semester full of new adventures. Woopie!

But right now I am most excited to see family and friends at home! [Not to mention a new doc.] James and I embark on the journey home tomorrow. 10 hour drive? Here we come!

Much Love!!

Holy canoli! Life is good. :)

Saturday night: P Party to support the men while they went to Priesthood session. Ate Pizza and Pasta with Prongs [aka forks] and came up with as many P words as we could. At 9ish I decided I should Probably go home and write my Paper. Quinci and Rachel were not ok with this. So they sat on me. They watched a movie and I fell asleep.
It was a very Productive night, let me tell you. Haha I felt loved at least...

What does one do on a Sunday in between conference sessions? No clue. But TWO (being Quinci and Michelle) decide to eat waffles and shave their legs... It's a long story.



General Conference was amazing, wasn't it?? This year was the first year that I went into it with specific focuses and questions in mind. Coolest. Thing. Ever.
People always said that they get answers... Oh my goodness. They were so right. :) I hope you all got the answers you stood in need of.

After hearing all of the talks, there is no way that I could choose only one to be my favorite because I got such different things from each of them. BUT President Eyring's in the Saturday morning session gave me lots of food for thought. I'll share a little piece of my experience.

One part that really got me was the very beginning, talking about climbing mountains. I wrote a couple weeks ago about how I hope to be able to hike this summer so I can climb to the top of mountains and look out on all the good stuff. (And don't get me wrong, I still do.) But his talk helped me to realize that maybe I have been climbing a mountain.
It has been hard work to be sure. And it is completely obvious that I haven't been doing this on my own. [THANK GOODNESS] But through the blood and tears you can bet that I have seen some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. I have been climbing mountains and seeing the beauty around me, I have just been climbing them sitting down with scriptures in my hands.

August 2010. I wrote a blog post that is now quite ironic. I wrote about how I had had a change of heart about mowing the lawn with a defective lawn mower and always complaining about it. I wrote:
"While I am standing there vowing that I will somehow find a way to destroy the lawn mower, maybe someone else is sitting and vowing that they would gladly mow the lawn 100 times over if they could only have legs that worked."

I didn't know then that I would be here two years later wanting to mow the lawn. And who knows where the heck I'll be in two more years! While this experience has been probably the hardest thing I have ever had to go through, it will not be the hardest thing I will ever go through. This is my miracle. I know it. Because of this, I know that I am loved. I am learning now with a baby trial things that will surely get me through bigger ones. Blessing? OH YEAH.

Yeah... Conference was so fantastic! So many answers. [And contrary to popular belief, I do not have any children. I just wanted to clear that one up, Mom. ;) Haha. Someday.]


2 classes down! 4 to go! (And all of the hard stuff is over with!!!) Smooth sailing from here on out. :)

Grading Humanities papers in class was very funny. One person liked to use "curtain" a lot in their paper... They missed the memo that this is the wrong way to spell certain and they used it a lot. Very entertaining to read out loud. :) My group almost couldn't handle it. But maybe we were just slightly slap happy.

Today was "The Last Hurrah." Yep. Our semester of lunch dates is coming to a close. :( We celebrated a great semester by getting the ever-classy chicken quesadillas.


In case you were wondering, this is what people look like during finals week. Spacey and tired.

2 finals completed. 2 A+'s so far! Only 2 portfolios and 2 tests left! Then I move 2 doors down and embark on the journey home for break to see 2 of my favorite things: Beautiful Colorado and my Fantastic Family!
2 Just might be the best number right now. :)

Much Love!!