Life lately has been good. Last night Nate & I watched the new Cinderella movie. Nate did not want to watch it & was just going to grade papers while I watched it, but once it started he actually liked it and didn't even get to grading his papers, haha! I thought it was such a great movie and really loved how the theme of it was to "have courage and be kind". It really got me thinking. First, I feel so grateful for my life right now. I have an amazing husband who loves me so much and would do anything for me. I love him so much and am so incredibly happy to be married to him. We have a comfortable, lovely home. We both have jobs we really enjoy. We live close by family and get to spend time with them weekly. We get to visit Nate's family in San Diego often. We have been able to go on trips to beautiful places around the world. I really just feel so incredibly blessed. I know that it is easy to feel thankful and happy when everything is great. I haven't had any really hard times compared to others. The time in my life that was hardest for me was probably just going through breakups during college and wondering when I would ever meet my future husband. During those times, I really strengthened my relationship with the Lord and found peace in going to the temple, doing service, and not focusing on myself.

Another thing I was thinking about when watching the movie was 2 different types of attitudes. People who see the good in everything and everyone, no matter what situation they are in (Cinderella) & people that only see the negative and let it run their life (Evil Stepmother). In the real world, it is the same, maybe not so extreme, but you really can choose to focus on either the positive or the negative. The happiest people I know don't have everything perfect in their life, but they choose to see the good and to be kind to others.

I want to make sure to focus on seeing the good and doing acts of service for others. That is going to be my focus the rest of November and all of December.

"Have courage and be kind."

Living by family is the best!!!

Nate & I went to visit Melissa, Sam, & Jenna in St. George for Fall Break. We went there last year at the same time, so it is becoming a tradition!! We started driving after work on Friday and arrived late at night.



Classic Nate face when I'm trying to take a picture


Melis and Sam needed some chicks and they were selling some in Surprise but not in St. George anymore, so we brought some up for them and surprised Jenna!



I have a picture of when I was little with a chicken on my head (I was that weird animal girl) and last year, Jenna was so concerned about me putting a chicken on my head. She brought it up every time I talked to her! This time, she really wanted us to both put chickens on our heads, haha!


They used to have a yellow chick named Chippy who was HUGE and ate so much food, so I staged some pictures to scare Melis and Sam that there was another Chippy, haha!



Saturday morning we went to Jenna's soccer game & it was so cute seeing her run around in her cute little uniform!



Later Sam showed us how to make his famous pizza in his pizza oven and we each made our own. They turned out delicious!!! Then we went to the pumpkin patch. We had gone to the same patch last year & it is so cute. They had Wickedy Witch, who Jenna loves, a petting zoo, lots of little games, a pumpkin patch with the prettiest views of the red rocks, a corn slide (which I made Nate go on, just like last year!!), and a corn maze. We had a lot of fun walking around and trying out everything & then ended our night by stopping by Swig for some Coconut Rootbeer & cookies!

Everybody loves the corn slide






Sunday we went to church at Melissa's ward. Nate & I went to primary with her and she taught the cutest class! Sam was supposed to go on a business trip but sadly missed his flight. I'm sure Nate was glad to have another guy around for the week!



On Monday, Jenna took us to the duck park and told us to be careful of "Biter Girl", a huge white goose. She was very nervous when Nate kept chasing Biter Girl and started to lead her up the playground steps with pancakes.. We did some obstacles courses that involved sliding down the slide & going through a tube headfirst. Nate won of course! After that, we went back to Melissa's to get ready to go camping!



We went to Winger's for dinner (Nate & Sam were in heaven with the all you can eat wings)! Then we headed to Red Cliffs & were lucky to get a spot! It was soooo beautiful there, camping right under the cliffs!!! The guys spotted a huge tarantula the minute they were checking out the campsite, so I was a little freaked out!! Jenna was so brave & kept saying, "Come on guys, it's just a spider!" & even trying to move it with a branch!!

We set up our tents and then explored a little. We walked up a trail and saw 3 real dinosaur tracks!!! They weren't even blocked off by anything, you could touch them! There was a plaque showing what the dinosaurs might have looked like. I am also so interested in that kind of stuff so I was loving it! We had Reese's smores and stayed up late talking at the campfire.



In the morning, we had breakfast & then went hiking in the cliffs. It was sooo beautiful hiking around there! There were little ponds of water and the cliffs were so pretty to look at!



On Wednesday we went driving up a canyon to see the pretty fall leaves. We loved having a fall season when we lived in WA & it was awesome to see fall leaves again! We pulled over to hike around and ended up finding a really pretty children's fishing pond! Jenna wanted to fish, so we made her a little pole with a stick and some fishing wire and stuck some bread on the end. She didn't get any fish to bite but was actually really good about casting it in the water!!



When we got back to Melissa's, Brooke & her boys arrived! We all walked to the park together and then Sam helped everyone make pizza in his pizza oven for dinner. He also made the best peach dessert pizza, sooo good!!



Thursday we went hiking in Pioneer Park with everyone. It is so beautiful there, I wish there were pretty hiking places like that near us in AZ!! It was so cute seeing the boys talking and hiking with Jenna, they are all so cute together!!




After hiking, Nate & I started our drive back. We stopped in Vegas for a little break. We had lunch at Shake Shack and then walked around to see some of the hotels. I had never walked around and it was fun to see the cool hotels. It was also depressing to me to see the casinos though, there were just lots of people sitting all alone, looking like they were just playing videos games. Gambling does not look at all fun to me. We walked to the Bellagio and saw the dancing fountains to music and it was awesome!!!



Friday we did a lot of errands & Saturday Nate had an all day wrestling training/meeting, so I went to a movie and made Halloween crafts with my mom and dad. I love living by family!!! Now if only all of my sisters could live in AZ together!!! :)