A list of appreciation

My mom once told me to make a list of reasons why I liked myself. And then when I feel bad or insecure, I can go back to that list and look at it. It really helped me out at times when I forgot how great I am. Lol.

Now I know that I am sooo blessed in many ways, but I often forget those things when life gets hard. So to remind myself, I am going to take my moms advice and just twist it in a way. I am going to make my list of some of those things I am grateful for.

I AM GRATEFUL:

-that I have such an awesome mother and father that would be able to give me such awesome advice when I need it. And love me not only because they have too, but because they want too.

-for my siblings and the way they always look out for me. ALL my siblings. In laws count! They would do anything for me, and I love that about them. And, they are so much fun!!

-For all my nieces and nephews and how CUTE they are! Man, they are sooo cute. ( I know this picture is from FOREVER ago, and it is missing baby Tessa... but its the only one I have of almost all of them on this computer. So it will do)

-actually, for all family in general. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. They have all played an important part in my life, and I know I have learned a lot from my family. It is lucky that we have big families, and we appreciate all of them.

-for my Geoffs. He is soo wonderful with me. I appreciate his patience with me, hard work, willing to help me with anything, the respect he has for me and others, the fact that he's a feminist, his dang good looks, his curly hair(because it means hopefully our one day children will have curly hair!! hurray!!), his love for the gospel, how bad he is at nintendo's Dr Mario(because it makes me feel like I rule at it), that he would rather be with me than so many other things, that he can sleep through me being on the computer in bed and doesn't get mad, the way he looks at me when I've said something funny, how he doesn't care if I shave my legs, how he often acts like a little boy, he doesn't expect me to be this perfect housewife (because I am so not), his calf muscles, that he doesn't snore, he will kill a spider and not tell me so I don't get scared, that he makes me feel like he is the luckiest guy around, AND SO MUCH MORE

-for the fact that when life sucks or things aren't going the way I want/expected them to go, that I have a belief it will get better. I have a belief that I am going through what I am going through for a reason, and that I know it will get better. There are so many times that I do not know how people can go through things with a positive attitude without a belief in something. I appreciate that I have a belief, and that it makes me happy.

- that I know I will never be homeless. That we can take chances like moving to Dallas, TX for a summer to do sales, and know that we have a support system at home in case things go terribly wrong! That even if Geoff and I lose all our money and go into serious financial problems, we will never be living on the street. That we have parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, and so many people that would be there for us if we desperately needed them!

-speaking of friends... I am deeply grateful for the friends that me and Geoff have acquired. They make this life so much more bearable and enjoyable! Just hanging out and playing cards with a good group of friends can make my week! And man, do we have some good friends. Especially when it came to moving out of our apartment in a couple of days... All those friends who spent their time and energy to help us get out of there, we are sooo lucky to have such great people in our lives!!!

- for the internet. Yeah, that sounds so lame. But I appreciate it in the fact that it helps us all keep in such close contact! I don't feel as disconnected to the people I love! I can see them on facebook, their blogs, email... Man, there are so many options to keep in touch! And it sure makes living in Dallas that much easier!

-ice cream. Actually, Canadian ice cream. Call me crazy, but the ice cream down here just isn't as delicious as the ice cream in Canada. And the funny thing is, who needs it most? It has been above 100 degrees Farenheit all week here, and it snows 75% of the year in Canada. I would say, Dallas needs good ice cream more than Canada. But oh well... Sucks for Americans. Lol.

-the freedom to do whatever I want. I got my degree in Social Work, but I have been thinking lately that I might not want to do that anymore. (MAYBE. Don't jump to conclusions!!). But I love that I can just go back to school to be something else if I want too. Sure, I will have to go more into debt which isn't desirable... But I do have that option. And I appreciate that.

-That my family doesn't bug us too much about having babies. This doesn't include Geoffs parents, becaue they tease us all the time about how much they want grandbabies. But I feel that we get enough questions in church, that I appreciate it not coming from them. They know that we will have kids when we feel we should.

-One Tree Hill seasons. Ha. No, but really. They are keeping me sane here in Dallas. I have watched the first 5 seasons, and I LOVE THEM!! In fact, I appreciate TV series in general. It is so much better watching TV seasons when they are not actually on TV.

I know that there is SOO much that we appreciate. Our car, yummy food, our place and the stuff in it, our healthy bodies, etc etc etc. There is so much in my life that I am grateful for, and so much that I know I am lucky to have. But I already tried earlier for an hour to sleep, and now I think I am finally ready for it. So I am going to try and sleep again... soooo tiirreedddd.............

moving blows

We move on Sunday! And i am really nervous... We are moving to Dallas Texas to sell pest control for the summer. It will be such an exciting adventure, but I am sooo nervous! Plus, I am insanely stressed out right now.
At the beginning of April, we were told by our landlord that we could have about a quarter rent each month for the summer, because Geoff has been working for them for the last 2 1/2 years. We were pretty excited, because not only do we LOVE our apartment, but we also really didnt want the stress of moving everything before we left. Plus, Geoff has finals until April 30th, and we move May 1st... So it's more that I didnt want to move everything all by myself.. And we also didnt want the worry of finding somewhere to live at the end of August. This was all fine and dandy until April 18th-ish, when our landlord told us we couldnt have cheap rent anymore. BAH. I learned, get everything in writing!!! So now we are moving. I worked until last thur, and then had previously bought a bus ticket from Calgary to Lethbridge tomorrow(April 27th), because i didnt know i would be packing. So I did as much packing a i could (which wasnt very much) last week in between working, and seeing friends before we leave. That leaves me 3 days to move everything I own to Calgary.

Once I heard that i had to move, i sort of shut my brain down. I was proud of myself for at least getting boxes... But it wasnt until today, that me and kristine finally started calling around for moving trucks. what was i thinking? last day of the month i want it for, and it is the time that ALL the students are moving home!! of course, there were no trucks anywhere!! for the whole week! we did luck out and get a truck for friday though.

What a stressful couple of weeks. But it is slowly coming together. I will have such amazing people to help me! all the way down to kristines parent-in-laws taking the kids so she could come down thur and help me move until friday. And she is a moving queen!! so its going to be a busy couple days, but i think im ready for it!

And if anyone wants to help move, we are moving everything into the truck in lethbridge at 4 on friday.. and then moving it all into pink nanas garage at 8 in calgary. lol.

it has almost made me not excited about dallas... but i am trying to be optomistic!! once i get through these next couple of days, it will be such a fun adventure!!

3 Dates in 2011

The other day, we went to the Rotary Auction dinner something, with our good friends the Cahoons. While we were there, Cheryls mom pointed out that because we had been married for over 2 years, we need to go on at least 3 dates this year. And then it keeps going up, the more years we are married.
At first I thought it was silly, because we have already gone on way more than 3 dates and its only February. But then again, it must be harder to do when you have children. Right now, basically anything we do could be considered a date. Which I actually enjoy a lot.
I have decided to take part in this challenge. I'm sure it will be harder throughout the years, so I am hoping to make it a type of habit. If we can do this while we are alone, maybe it will be easier to keep it up when we have little ones (if we have little ones?).
I am blogging this at work today, BECAUSE IT IS SO SLOW!! And I am soo bored. I need a new job... But when I get home I am going to try to put the picture we took while at the Rotary Dinner. It was such a fun night. And I was even able to get Geoff to dance with me for a couple of songs. He is an excellent dancer, and it was so fun to just get out there and cut a rug. Afterthe dinner, we went to Jess' parents that live in Raymond, played games, watched a movie, and had a sleepover! They also spoiled us with a delicious breakfast the next day! It was wonderful.
Oh, and the night before we had a slumber party at our baby apartment for the girls. It was such an awesome night. There were 10 of us there, which I was worried about since our apartment is so little. But it actually turned out really well! We pampered ourselves with avocado face masks and gross strawberry exfoliant, played some games, and watched a movie. It was wonderful. But we didn't get to sleep until about 400am. So when we went to the Rotary Dinner the next day, we were all pretty tuckered. I have had to spend the last couple of days recuperating, but it was totally worth it!!
Okay... my work day is almost done, so I better finish off or I'll lose it all.

Julie and Julia

Today we watched the movie Julie and Julia. Has anyone seen it? It is about 1 hour too long, but was actually very entertaining to me. It gave me the desire to cook more french cuisines, and to also keep my blog more updated. She made it look so fun. Ha. I haven't been doing it much, because I just don't really see how people could be interested in my boring day to day activities. Even though I seem to love reading about theirs... So why not.

Hm... Where to start. I will tell you a story that I think was funny, but those I tell never seem to agree with me. But Geoff was there, so at least he agrees. We have been staying at Geoff's parents house since Christmas Eve, to bask in the joy of family. It has been really fun, and I have learned a lot of interesting quirks about each of the members in his family. ...I was also able to get some much needed laundry done, which was also a plus... WELL anyways, we are sleeping in the spare room in the basement, where the deep freeze is also habitating. Christmas Day night I was insanely tired from waking up at a ridiculously early time in the morning (Geoffs family are early risers... not me), and drained from the excitement of a family dinner full of 50 people or more. So I was pretty excited to go to bed when midnight rolled around. That deep freeze had been known to make extremely loud banging noises, about 4 in row, but had never really bothered us before that night. I must have been having a scary dream or something, because at about 1am the deep freeze went into its typical exploding, which half woke me up in a frenzy. I continued to yell at Geoff, because he was on the wrong side of the bed (which he wasn't), until I was able to wake myself enough to realize the yelling was unnecessary. Not long after, the deep freeze made its angry noises again. It sent me into a fear I have not felt in a long time. I made Geoff get up to turn on the light, and investigate the noise (even though I full well knew where it was coming from, and had heard it before), while following with a waterfall of tears. The worst part is that the deep freeze continued to make these noises off and on for the next 20 minutes. And each time, it seemed that it knew I was beginning to calm down, and would make the intrepid noises that would send fear into me once again. Each time I would start bawling uncontrollably. Haha... What a night. I have no idea how the deep freeze was able to make me cry so much... Which is why I have to believe that I was also having a scary dream. Because, I would never cry so easy normally. .............. It's a good thing I have a husband who loves me, to put up with my unnecessary crying all the time.

But I feel like its fair. One time Geoff was sleeping, and karate chopped me. Yep, that's right. He even did the "hiya", and proceeded to hit me with the edge of his hand. He was having a dream he was a ninja. It was hard to believe I got karate chopped in the middle of the night, but the bruise was there to prove it. So in my head, he owes me years of comforting when I'm crying in the middle of the night. Getting out of bed to look on the balcony (because for some reason awhile ago I thought someone had climbed up 4 flights, and got onto our balcony... It was just the wind), or holding me as I bawl, because the deep freeze is going to attack... ....Right?

Geoff quit his job!

So the greatest thing happened to our little family... GEOFF QUIT HIS JOB!! Which is weird to say that it is great, because he was making more money than me. BUT, it means there is no random crazies knocking on our door, no cleaning disgusting apartments, no other ridiculous staff members, no knocking on our windows late at night because someone left their keys in their apartment, and NO BLACKBERRY!!!!!!!! Wow. We went for dinner the other day, and he wasn't distracted on the blackberry 90% of the time with some stupid drama at the apartment. I don't even know what I'm going to do with all the attention I now get from Geoff. But I think I'll enjoy it. Well, I guess at least, until school starts again.

We also had to move, because we could no longer live in the managers suite. We now live on the top floor overlooking a beautiful park! You would be surprised how better it is not to be on the main floor. We can now leave our windows open, and let the sun in! It feels so bright and sunny! AND, i can sit on my balcony, and not watch randoms walk by and stare at me. I also don't need to worry about hearing the people upstairs all the time(because there isn't anyone above us). So all I need to worry about is unpacking, which I'm not very good at.

We are planning to go the temple tomorrow, which we haven't been able to do in so long without being stressed out the whole time that something will be happening at the apartment, and we will get in trouble for not being available. Tomorrow is going to be a good day, and I'm so excited.

Kandace Graduates!

I GRADUATED! I officially have my Bachelors of Social Work. Just some pictures from the awesome day.

They surprised me with matching shirts!

It was so fun

Kristine made these cupcakes

me and my degree

My crew that went to the actual convocation! They yelled so loud when I was on stage. Haha. It was fun

Me on the stage

I'M A GRADUATE!

It was such a fun day. And now school is over, and who knows where I go!

Expert Baker

I recently found that I have a hidden love for baking. But only baking. Stick me in front of a stove to cook chicken, or make a lasagna, and it almost makes me want to hit my head on a wall.Cookies... Muffins... Zucchini bread... Now thats fun stuff.

Because of the new found love, we decided today to try making actual homemade muffins. Delicious blueberry muffins. Makes your mouth water just thinking about it, right? I'm not sure what homemade blueberry muffins are supposed to look like, but they sure didn't look like the picture in Company's Coming. Haha. I guess just because you like something, doesn't automatically make you good at it...

No dye...

They do look kind of fun though, don't they

They don't look anything like the pictures, but they sure were delicious

I added this one to show my mad skills at baking. These are my baby cupcakes for Nadia's baby shower. Ha ha.