Thanksgiving Pictures

So thankful!

Last Thanksgiving Dan and I were barely getting by. SO thankful for Dan and the hard work he put forth into getting a new job so that we could make ends meet again. Thankful for our own home and space. I loved living with my mom but it was so hard near the end.

I'm so thankful for my mom. There is no way I could make it through these first 8 months with Ava without her. She has been more helpful than anyone else. She is the only person that could help me get Ava eating solid foods and sleep trained.

And I am more thankful than anything for Ava. She is the best thing that ever happened to us and I cannot even remember what I did before her. I pray that someday we are able to have another baby, I worry often that it won't happen but I need to have faith and let it be. I just love being a mom so much.

Anyway Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks!

I don't know if I have ever had a Thanksgiving where I have been quite as grateful and thankful as I am this year. I remind myself sometimes that moving to Arizona hasn't gone according to the plan I had in my head, but I have to say in a lot of ways its better, even thou it may not always seem like it.

We have a lot of blessings to be thankful for this year and I hope that many family's around the nation are feeling that as well this season. With the increased hard times that people are going through with money, jobs and the economy, I hope it can bring families closer together rather than tear then apart.

I am so thankful for a loving husband who is so sweet to me and for our daughter, who I cannot wait to meet! I am thankful for the gospel in our home, as it has brought a peace to our hearts and faith that we can do all things that may seem impossible! I am also really thankful for a nice 4 day weekend with Daniel. 2 day weekends are never enough!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent the day at Dan's Parents house in Orem with his parents, Mark & Kathy, his brother Matt and his wife Kandace (who came down from Rexburg, Idaho) and my friend Mary!

We had a great meal and lots of fun! The boys have spent MOST of the past 2 days playing xbox and the girls have spent MOST of the past 2 days quilting!!! Kandace and I are in Kathy Calkins Quilting 101 for Impatient Beginners!!!

Saturday we woke up early and drove up Immigration Canyon in Salt Lake and went to Ruths Diner! We highly suggest it for anyone who wants to have a fun experience eating good food in an old train car! It has been a fun weekend and I am sad to see it end!

Calkins Weekly Update

We have almost made it to Thanks Giving!!! This week I have 1 class on Monday (and a million projects to work on) and Dan has 3 days of classes... We are excited to spend Thanks Giving at Dan's parents house with Dan's brother Matt and his wife Kandace and my friend Mary!!

A week and a half ago I had a cooking adventure! I made my first Pot Roast! I was pretty excited. I made it for a family in our ward that had a new baby... so I hope it turned out alright! I had to call my mom about 5 times to make sure I was doing everything right!

Before! After!

I have had a few other cooking adventures this week! I do have to say I am getting better! Dan and I had our friend Mary over so she could study on Thursday and I made STEAK for the 3 of us! Mary introduced me to the joy of broiling! It took us a bit to figure out WHERE our broiler was but turns out it was a drawer in the bottom of the oven!

I need to clean... all of this... because of STEAK!

Due to cooking skills increasing and nice Visiting Teachers that brought me some new recipes to try I made this calendar... we are really needing to eat at home like 99% of the time now due to decrease in income that will be coming soon (our choice, we aren't getting fired)... Other than cooking, we held a Recycling Focus Group at our apartment on Tuesday with Dan, Mary, Allyson & Jon! It was fun... They helped me to finish my project (well that section of it!)Tonight we fed the ducks at BYU's pond stale bread and we had a delightful evening around town and enjoyed spending most of the day together!

This week other than Thanks Giving I am going to get some school projects done/worked on and get ready for one of my classes Domestic Violence Awareness Day on Campus December 3rd in the BYU Terrace from 11-2!

Anyway thats all for now!

Giving Thanks

My sister in law Lisa sent the family an email this morning asking us what we are grateful for. She is giving a talk on Sunday on Gratitude... I have been in the dumps for the past few days (maybe even weeks) trying to make it through School, Work, Health and personal issues. Seeing Lisa's email helped me remember that there are so many things I can be grateful for!

I am a freak about Lists so in the spirit of Thanks Giving:

1. My adorably sweet patient and kind husband!
2. My Mom and Dan's Mom, both are willing to listen to me talk about what is going on in my life and give advice! (Not to mention Dan's Mom coming over to help me do dishes when I was freaking out the other day!)
3. Our siblings. I love my brothers and Kate as well as step siblings Scott & Penny and Steven & Mindy! I also feel like one of the great bonus' of marrying Dan was inheriting 6 more wonderful friends who have been through so much and I can learn from them and enjoy being around them!
   
4. The Gospel and the Atonement. This is what makes it possible for Dan and I to get sealed in the temple and what gives me hope for a better future. For the first time in my life I feel like theres no way I would want to miss church for any reason. Going to church on Sunday gives me a spiritual recharge to make it through yet another week!
   
5. My sweet little friends and cousins Chainey and Carley. They give me hope that someday I can have kids like them!
   
6. My friends! All of them! They support me and lift me up and make me laugh! I love them!
   
7. My education! As much as I moan and groan I am so thankful that I am nearing the end of my time here at BYU and I am so proud of myself for getting to this point and for making it to the end even though their have been times when I have wanted to give up!
8. My health!!! I am so quick to complain about my current health status but I cannot give enough gratitude to my heavenly father for the fact that my greatest health problem, (or what seems to me to be my biggest struggle) Pseudotumor Cerebri, was not in fact a brain tumor! Just a pretend one!
   
9. I am thankful for the Weight Watchers program because it has helped me so much in my struggle with losing weight in order to be a healthier person!
   
10. Ok this may sound dumb but I am so thankful for Blogging! It has been a great way for me to journal this year having limited time to sit down and write in a journal... instead this is something I can do between classes (during classes) and when I have a minute on the computer here and there! I also LOVE reading blogs! Its so much fun!
    

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daniel is a master Chef in the kitchen... note the Chef Coat! He is adorable.


We are thankful that we get to lounge around all day!