 Andrew and I have a goal to not only go on dates every week, but to have an occasional date or Sunday dinner with other couples. This week, we had both.
Last night, we went out with the Lymans (Sara and Zach). Sara and I have been friends since we were 14 years old. We definitely supported each other through those tough, teenaged years. We survived through the boy drama and various unreliable friendships with late-night TP-ing attacks (usually to boys we were crushing on) and excursions to the beach, with our windows rolled down and music blaring through the speakers of my little Nissan Maxima. Although our friendship has had it's ups and downs, we have always seemed to come back to each other. So now that I have Andrew as "my person", it only seemed right to go on a date with Sara and her husband, Zach, and create more memories and connections between the 4 of us. We ended up eating pizza at Malawi's and then painting at Color Me Mine in Provo. It was a truly wonderful night. We caught up on each others' lives, told stories, laughed our guts out, and the boys tried out a new activity. Andrew and I both agree that it was a great night, and we will definitely need to go out with Zach and Sara again :) Tonight, we have invited two couples from our new ward to share dinner with us. I will be making Vodka pasta (see the "What's cooking" section for this amazing recipe), and our guests will be bringing salad and dessert. While it's sometimes hard to find your place in a new ward, I love the opportunities we have already had to make new friends in our ward. I think that having a monthly (don't hold me to that) Sunday dinner with different couples will only help us deepen these relationships created at church. So, all in all, life is good :) We have good friends and are anxious to form even more.
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Our last big thing this week was our trip to California and Disneyland. I love spending time with my family, and it's sometimes hard that they live so far from us. Originally, Disneyland was just going to be Andrew and I with my little sister and my aunt (who both have year passes). However, almost the entire family ended up coming with us. And to put it in one word, it was MAGICAL. We went on some new rides, enjoyed the memories of old favorites, ate non-stop Disney treats, and stayed till the bitter end of the parks' closing. Yep, it was a great day and a wonderful weekend. Now to drive back tomorrow to Utah and finish up the semester. My mom told me about a tradition her friend has. Every week, she write at least a little something about herself, her husband, and her family in a little journal. Through the years, this has been an easy way to journal and mention at least something from the week.
So, I've decided to try it out. These little blurbs probably wont be much on most weeks, but I figure it will serve as a nice starting point to my journaling/blogging. This week I was back at school after my two weeks off for winter break. Boy, it was tough. I kicked out three students who were misbehaving, and that means I also had to call home and report on their behavior to their parents. It is definitely not my favorite part of my job, and it took a tole on me. There were a few days I definitely felt drained and a little bit sick. When I told Andrew I wasn't feeling well, he immediately took action. He rushed me to bed, tucked me in, put a movie on for me, brought me water and medicine, tidied up the kitchen. It shocked me; I had not had anyone to take care of me like this in years. Obviously moms are great at that kind of thing, but for a long time I have lived with roommates and friends. They are great too (don't get me wrong), but there is something different about someone a little more intimate proactively taking care of you. It was amazing. And once again it was reconfirmed to me that I married a very good man. On my end of the service scale, I love making dinner for Andrew and then helping him pack leftovers for lunch. Andrew is always complimenting me on my cooking and raves about it to friends and family when he gets the chance. His coworkers were making fun of him this week when he wouldn't go out to lunch with them, saying, "Oh, you've turned into THAT guy who has a wife to make him lunch." :) It's such a simple thing, but I love spending an hour or so preparing something delicious for us to share. (I might be singing a different tune once kids come along, but we will cross that road when we get there). All of this makes me think of some of the counsel our temple sealer, President Greene, gave us before he sealed us. He talked about service being a key part to a successful marriage. Service to each other and service to the Lord. He talked about there no longer being an "I" or "you" in the relationship, but rather a "we" and "us". These pronouns would help us think less of ourselves individually and focus more on supporting each other with love and service. It was a very simple yet powerful piece of advice, one we plan on applying throughout our lives. Welcome 2016! I am definitely a fan of setting goals. It seems like I am always making to-do lists that help me keep track of my priorities. The new year is an obvious time for the masses to set goals. But it is also a wonderful time for reflection of last year's accomplishments. In 2015...- I co-authored an article with one of my BYU college professors, Dr. Dawan Coombs. She was such an influential part of my first year teaching, and she helped me create some great lesson plans and units. A few years ago, she had asked me to participate in presenting one of our units at the conference for The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in Boston. Then, we decided to try and share our ideas in print. We spent a good portion of the year brainstorming, writing, editing, emailing back and forth, and eventually sending the article to possible journals for publication. After being rejected from one journal, our article was accepted by the prestigious ALAN Review.  - I studied for and passed the GRE, and then I was accepted into the University of Utah Reading and Literacy grad program. This was something I had thought about a lot since graduating college, and I had taken a few classes through the U. As a still single woman (at the time), I was excited to pursue this goal. However, with some very welcome changes in my marital status and some reevaluation of my time, money, and priorities, I decided to reassess this goal and end my grad program goals early. Instead, there are other less time and money consuming classes and professional development opportunities I plan on accessing throughout the upcoming year. I love learning, so in no way does this mean I plan on stop learning and always improving.  - Let's be honest, the all-time best thing that happened to me in 2015 was dating and marrying Andrew Macey. (See my previous for more details on the wedding day. And see our "About" page for more details on our courtship.) All I can say is that Andrew has been the biggest blessing in my life this year. He has made me happier than I ever thought was possible (and apparently more sappy than I've ever been as well). Yup, it's true. I remember writing in my journal last year about how I hated setting dating/marriage goals for myself because those goals seemed so out of my control. All I could do was be social and let the Lord do the rest. (here was my dating go-to scripture, verse 17). Well, the Lord definitely led Andrew and I to each other, and He helped us move past doubts and fears to ultimately reach our goal of marrying for time and all eternity in His holy temple. What a great blessing!!!
New Year, New GoalsNow it't time to focus on the next year and what it will bring.
First, I have my own personal goals. These include: - write on this blog at least once a week - have more effective scripture study to strengthen my personal spirituality - make and keep an exercise plan - learn how to clean up my eating habits - create and apply at least 2 new and improved teaching units - acquire a new artistic talent/hobby Andrew and I have some goals as well for this year: - have daily prayer and scripture reading as a couple - attend the temple once a month - make and keep some financial goals - run a race (still to be decided) Well, there you have it, folks. You can expect some updates every once in a while about how these goals are progressing. Thanks for your love and support. |
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