Christmas time

One more week till Christmas Day! We are so excited to finish up school/work and head back to Alberta to celebrate with our families... Can it be Friday yet?!?

Merry Christmas everyone!

most wonderful

Christmas is by far my favorite time of year.

This year we set up our tree November 2. Yes I am one of those people.. And I am happy to be one! Our Christmas tree makes me happy so I think why wait!? I am loving how cozy our house feels with the tree on, I love having our beautiful nativity set up and I love all the red, green and gold.

I'm enjoying all the pre-Christmas prep but what I'm looking forward to most is going back to Alberta and being with our families. The last couple months have a lot of ups and downs for both of our families so we are so grateful for time this holiday season to be with them.

My family is all pretty big on Christmas and Brynn was one of the biggest fans of all. She loved to be cozy, she loved to get the tree up and start listening to Christmas music as soon as she could and she especially loved to give. She was a huge example to me of always remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

I'm grateful for this time of year and the chance it gives us to re-evaluate our lives and remember what is most important. I'm grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ, the miracles he performed during his life and the perfect example he set for us to follow.

Shall I falter or shall I finish

The last couple weeks I have been so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father and the knowledge that I have that he hears and answers prayers. I am also so grateful that he is aware of our needs even before we know what those needs might be.
Looking back at this past conference I can now see how many of the messages are just what I need to hear now and I am so thankful for that.

The last couple days have been tough for our family as we lost my cousin Brynn and then Ropes Grandma Dixie a few days later, both after battling cancer.
Brynn was the sweetest person I have ever known, and will probably ever know. For the past couple days I have been able to reflect on my memories with brynny. She was the best at putting a smile on your face and gave the most sincere compliments. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be there as their family was sealed in the temple last year, I will always remember how beautiful and pure Brynn looked all dressed in white. I am grateful for Brynns example of bravery and faith no matter what you are up against. I always loved to see her sweet smile and hear her infectious laugh. I am so thankful I get to have her, her parents and her siblings a part of our family forever. Love you Brynn.

I am so grateful that I got to have Dixie as a grandma for the past 2 years. I am especially grateful for the time we got to spend with her while we were home for thanksgiving. Grandma Dixie shared her testimony at ropes nephews baptism we attended while we were home. It was such a sweet and simple testimony of the things that she knew to be true. I'm so thankful we were there to hear it, it strengthened my own so much and helped me to remember those things that matter most. I am grateful for her example of courage and hard work. I feel so lucky to be married to Rope and that I get to be a part of her posterity.

One of the things that most recently stuck out to me from conference came from President Monson's talk during the Sunday morning session, while talking about adversity in our lives her said,
"The difficulties which come to us present us with the real test of our ability to endure, A fundamental question remains to be answered by each of us: Shall I falter, or shall I finish? Some do falter as they find themselves unable to rise above their challenges. To finish involves enduring to the very end of life itself."

I feel lucky to have known two amazing ladies who didn't falter and did endure to the end regardless of the difficult things they faced each day. 

In the same talk from President Monson he also says,

"We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were; better than what we were, more understanding than what we were, more empathetic than what we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before."

I hope that through these sorrows I will become better then I was before, and that I might be more able to help those around me who experience trials. I am grateful for the many experiences I have gained in this life so far and how they help me become more compassionate and Christlike. I am also grateful for my testimony and the peace and comfort it brings me to know I can be with my family forever if I live worthy. 

Comfort

Last night I Had the opportunity of attending the General Relief Society Broadcast. It was amazing and I would recommend to anyone who has not watched it yet.. Watch it! You will not regret it.
If you would like to watch it or rewatch it here is a link
I love coming together as women and the strength that a feel and the sisterhood. I really enjoyed the medley song that the sister missionary choir sang it was beautiful!

One of my favorite quotes of the night came from President Monson. This quote brought me a lot of comfort which I have been in need of lately. I know that if I do my best to do my part and draw near to my Heavenly Father he will be there for me and never leave me alone, and I am so thankful for that.

Sweet Summer

Between Rope studying and me working full time it has felt like summer has flow by for us! We did get away for a week at the end of July and headed down to Montana to spend some time with our families,

It was so nice! The weather was awesome and we loved being with everyone and staying up late visiting and playing cards. We love our families and have learned to appreciate our time with them even more since we have moved away. 

Going home was SO nice but now that we are back we have really enjoyed our Saskatoon summer, I don't want it to end!

We spent a few days at Kevin and Christy's cabin at Ashley Lake. We boated, kayaked and jet skied. We loved every minute of it and loved spending time with my family and the Lunds :) 

Then we headed to Bitter root Lake to spend a week with all Rope's family. More boating and staying up late, it was the best! We love being with the aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews :)

Rylee loves Rope!

Trying out the paddle board, Rope doesn't have the best balance..

Yes i am plugging my nose.. I hate water up it! :P

Last weekend we celebrated Rope's 24th Birthday with a BBQ at our house. It was so fun to have everyone over now that we are all back from our summer holidays. We love our Saskatoon friends! 

Rope teaching his friends how to be Cowboys.. haha

rope-isms

Sometimes I feel bad for everyone who doesn't know Rope as well as I do...
He has made me a better person in so many ways, and really just made my whole life better
Rope is the best guy I know and also happens to be the funniest.
Sometimes I can't even believe the things that come out of his mouth or even begin to understand his train of thought... It's pretty amusing
So I'd like to let you in on a few of my favorite rope-isms

• he uses descriptions such as: "i'm as tired as a wolf", "that's as red as a chimney", "i'm as hungry as an ox"
• when he tries to use commonly used phrases he usually gets them just a little off... "you're just not cracking{cutting} it" or "this is a class end restaurant" or "I'm going with{out on} a limb here"
• he likes to use the little dessert forks because he "feels bad for them because they don't get used as much"
• He makes up songs to sing about EVERYTHING {i will keep those to myself though}

He might kill me for this picture.. but i
couldn't resist...
he sure loves his Iron Man cup!


I LOVE YA ROPEY!

home sweet home.

It's been almost 2 months since we moved to our new place and we have settled right in.
Soooooo... Here it is!

We are Loving our LARGE front window
{much better than tiny basement windows}

Rope's Argentina stuff that finally
got a spot in the house 

This awesome Map is from Canadian Tire.. weird i know

This Dishwasher was the main reason we moved.. haha

Purple feature wall! haha

 My Favorite spot

Sorry for the picture overload... But we are LOVING it here :)

Polyester...

Rope has a pair of 100% polyester royal blue shorts
{kaylee, lyndsay or Dana if you are reading this you know the ones}
When we were dating I would dread when he would wear them..
His mom and sisters would threaten, bribe and beg him not to wear them around me, but for some reason he loved them.
When we first got married I managed to hide them from him for the first six months, I even contemplated getting rid of them for good, but some how rope managed to find them.
It wasn't until recently that rope rediscovered the shorts and has started to wear them again
Now to the point of this story..
I was doing laundry today and came across this particular pair of shorts, I was surprised because I couldn't think of a time that I had seen rope wearing them. Earlier in our relationship I was brutally aware of any time I saw him in these shorts, or anything else that he might wear that I didn't approve of. I'm Happy to report that although the shorts are as hideous as ever I have stopped caring!
Now this might sound like a bad thing that I have stopped caring but it's actually a very good thing.
I'm embarrassed to think about some of the things that I have started fights over in the past but I'm happy to see that I am making progress and learning to be a better and more relaxed wife! {and just in time for our three year anniversary of being together :)}
I'm grateful for little moments like this where I can realize that maybe I'm not such a lost cause after all!

On the bright side.

There have been a few changes in my life lately.
Some GREAT and others not so great
The best change that took place was moving to a main floor of a house!
We are so happy to be above ground again. Just from seeing the sun I feel happier in the mornings and more motivated when I get home from work.
I definitely believe that the weather can affect your mood... So it's a good thing it's finally getting nice outside!
I can't wait for more warm weather and to get outside this summer.. Even if it is only evenings and weekends. {someone has to pay the bills :)}

I'm thinking of planting some flowers in our front yard and maybe buying a planter for the back... I can't wait to beautify our new house even more!

Abril

April is my favorite month.
And not just because of my birthday (although I do LOVE celebrating my birthday, I don't think I'll ever be one of those people that gets too old for a birthday)
To me April means spring is here! Unless you live in Saskatoon.. In that case it means winter is still here but you can pretend its spring.
I am a big fan of celebrating anniversaries of all the firsts in our life together so far and April happens to have a lot of things to celebrate..
First time he texted me
First date
First kiss
(Things progressed quickly, don't judge ;) )

Conference also takes place in April. I'm excited to watch it this weekend. I love to hear from the prophet :)

(by the way Abril is April in Spanish.. In case you didn't catch on)

a great week

Lately I have been trying to fill my time with better activities.
Since I'm working full time there is nothing I hate more then sitting on Sunday night thinking back on the past week and realizing I really did nothing..
I aboslutely love our IPad that we got for Christmas but unfortunatly I feel that is where I lose most of my time..
BUT...
All this has started to change!
Instead of playing a pointless game I listened to conference talks on my new favorite Mormon channel app
Instead of aimlessly browsing kijiji for a new place to live I got a few new things to beautify the place we are living in now.
Instead of scrolling through Pinterest wishing I had a different wardrobe I made another batch of freezer meals
And instead of creeping people on Facebook I went out with my husband
What a great week I've had! 

just for me

Don't you love when you hear something and it seems like it was meant just for you?
I love that! And it seems like for me more often then not the thing I hear is a song.
One of theses times happened to me when I was driving home from church today.
We have the same CD in the car to listen to on our way to and home from church every week and I got the CD in young women's so I'm sure I've heard the song 100 times.... But today was different.

If you would like to hear the beautiful song by Jenny Phillips this was the only place on YouTube I could find it... I love the message it shares. Enjoy!

My new favorite

Is there anything better then a meal plan for the next two months and a freezer full of crockpot meals...

Don't think so!
I think I'm finally getting used to the fact that supper happens everyday.. and I'm not COMPLETLY dreading it...
Shhh don't tell Rope though :)
It's kind of exciting to make something and since I like to try new dishes it really is a surprise every time... Thank goodness for Pinterest and the unlimited supply of recipes on there!
Now if only I could learn to love doing the dishes...

Our Holiday

Rope and I had a GREAT couple of weeks over Christmas. We spent lots of time with both of our families going back and forth not missing any of the fun. Here are a few photos highlighting our time back in Alberta.

Love these little girls! It was sooo fun to spend time with Ropes nieces and nephews.

Annual Pyramid {we switched it up a bit this year}

focusing on BINGO

Christmas Morning :)

MyBEST present from the BEST husband

Ice Fishing at the Cabin

preparing for next year- can't wait to use them!

learned how to crochet.. again.. and I'm currently working on some boot cuffs