1 Year later...

Many of you know that a year ago I was married to a man that I believed would be my eternal companion. Well things changed when he moved out and then a few months later gave me divorce papers. No my life is not over from those changes. Some people may feel that way, but not this divorced woman. I admit that I never wanted to be divorced but I agree with Kristen Oaks in her book about being single. In the book she mentions what a sister said to her bishop and I agree with it completely! she said: "It is better to be single than to be badly married!"
I would rather be single living the gospel than to be in a situation where I feel that my standards are compromised be another. No offence to the man that I married. He is a good man, just not the one for me. I believed that he was when I married him and I don't regret that choice at all. I learned many things in the 4 and 1/2 years that I was married. On the other hand I learned much during the last year.
Today I went to the temple, then went bowling with my ex-husband (yes we are friends and we have done things together since we have been divorced), and then I came home to find my acceptance letter from ISU!!!! So all in all it was a great day. I am excited to start a new chapter of my life in Pocatello, ID. While I am single I am going to make the best of it- better than I did the first time when I was single. It is a time to KNOW who I am! It is a time to LIVE the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is a time to have a stronger knowledge of His gospel.
Needless to say I have felt many blessings for living the right way and for moving forward. I even had a doctor tell me that I am doing pretty good for having the situation that I do.
More to come later.

Me with my acceptance letter to ISU. I just had to share! :)

New Years Day 2011

So the New Year began with a day of work...so exciting when all the doctor's offices are closed. LOL So I actually got to go home early.

On New Year's Eve I decided that I would do something just for myself that would be fun and that I probably would not do again since I will not be up here next year. I took a cruise on Lake Couer d'Alene. It didn't cost much since it was a short one- less than an hour but still good. The first picture below is the entrance to the boat docks.

As we left the docks we saw none other than... The GRINCH!!!! He kept yelling at us that we would not have any fun. ( He was so wrong. lol)

The next part of the cruise took us to another side of the lake to see where Santa's Workshop was at the North Pole. Who knew that there was a North Pole in Idaho!!!

The next part of the Cruise was my favorite!!!!! I love Christmas trees and they told me before going on the cruise that there was a tree that was bigger than the one at Rockefeller Center. I thought that it was going to be a REAL tree decorated with all my favorites. Instead it was all made of lights!!!! Unfortunately I was not prepared to make a video of the entire song but I did take pictures and one short video. I hope you enjoy what I saw.

These next 3 pictures are all of when the rest of the lights turned on at the finale. Truly it was amazing.

This was the village that they had in lights.

This is supposed to be the workshop for Santa.

After all the lights turned on we headed back the the CDA Resort. The lights were amazing from the water. They are all over the boat docks that they have at the resort and it is even more amazing from the water.



I have actually become pretty good at taking my own picture and getting my entire head in the picture and some of the background. That being said this is me on the Boat by the stairs that lead up to the deck.

So the adventure on the lake begins the year off with something totally out of the ordinary. I am really glad that I took the time to do it and that I had the ability to go.

Now for what to look forward to for the rest of the year....

1. My best friend is getting married and I will be her maid of honor (I am so blessed to do that for her)

2. I will be moving in May to Pocatello to attend ISU and work towards becoming a pharmacist

3. Being around people closer to my age and with the same religion

4. Anything that God wants me to do to be the best daughter that I can be.

Here is to 2011!!!!!

Christmas 2010--part 2

Christmas morning in Oregon--This was the tree with all the gifts.

The rest of the pictures are only a few of the ones that were taken. I can't fit all of them on here without making a REALLY LONG post! :)

This is my sister with a gift that I made for here. It has lights in the middle of it and looks amazing when it is all lit up.

This is my mom opening the gift that my sister and I gave to her for Christmas. She is the other one in the family who took the pictures. We gave her a Josh Groban CD.

This is my dad with the picture frame that I put together with pictures that we had taken thorughout the year. I had the chance to see them a few times and thought it would be a great gift for their new house.

I was happy to have new towels. Who knew that the simple things in life can really make us so happy. I just really liked this picture that is why it is included.

My sister with her other gift from me. The second picture was taken at just the right time. She had so much fun throwing sacks out of her gifts into the air and I just had to keep trying til I could get it at just the right time. Well it worked. It looks like the sack is coming right at you...

The fun part of these pictures are the fact that in the first one my mom told me to hang on so she could get more batteries for their camera. So I held on to it quite litterally. my sister used my camera to take my picture hanging on... The second picture is me spinning the snowflake ornament that my sister made for me.

It reminds me of a movie that I watched each year growing up... It Nearly Wasn't Christmas.

There is a magic snowflake that Santa has the little girl spin at the end and I have wanted one like it but couldn't find one so she made one for me. I love it!!!

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, playing games, and we even watched a movie- Eclipse.

On Tuesday I left Portland and drove back to Coeur d'Alene in the rain. Yep it rained the whole way!! The next day it snowed and all was great!!

What a great Christmas!!!!!

And this is our sister picture by the big pile of wrapping paper on the floor after all the fun of opening the gifts. I really like this picture too!!!

Christmas 2010

For being my first Christmas as a divorced single woman, it was actually one of the best ones I have had. I knew that I needed to be with my family so I asked for time off and planned to go to Portland.

On the 23rd of December, I left North Idaho and drove through Washington. The only hard part of the drive was when I found thick fog just south of the Tri-Cities but it cleared as I got to the Oregon border. Then the rest of the way was good. I had been planning for about 2 weeks to get there a day early and suprise my family. (they had no idea I was coming on that day since the orignal plan was to work and leave on Christmas Eve, But a co-worker needed the saturday off before Christmas so we traded days) When I got into Troutdale, Or (just east of Portland but part of it) I got off at the exit and began to read my directions. My parents just moved into the house just after Thanksgiving so I had never been there. I had everyone on that page but the house number---yet I knew that their cars were outside the garage so I didn't have to call to ask which one.

I parked the car and went up to the door. My mom answered and was surprised to see me. (IT worked - I surprised them) when i talked with my family earlier that week I said that I would be there Friday for sure..... I am so sneaky. It was true I would be there all day Friday. I was so glad to be there with them.

We spent the evening together until my dad went to work since he works nights. But we girls had a good time just hanging out.

On Christmas Eve we all went to Vancouver, WA, at my request since I had not been there as far as I knew. We saw Fort Vancouver (with lots of old and historic buildings) and went to the mall. Then we drove back over the bridge to Portland and went to Deseret Book. That night we had dinner and then drove around a few neighborhoods to see the houses that were decorated with Christmas lights, manger scenes, and other characters for Christmas. It is a tradition that was started a long time ago when I was little. I loved every minute of it---even when my sister was using my mom's camera and the flash went off in my face. lol it was funny even enough it was really bright.

Here are a few pictures from what we saw:

These are just a few of the bright colorful lights that we saw that night.

More to come....