Let the good times roll!

Since I've been out of commission I haven't been posting about all the fun stuff that's been happening in our lives over the past month plus.  So here's a little recap!

1.  We celebrated Aaron's birthday and I'm so glad to say he's catching up to me.  Since I've opted not to age this year he should be caught up in no time.  I wanted to make this year special for him without spending a fortune so I decided to throw him an incredibly cheesy themed birthday.  For those of you who don't know my husband let me just tell you he loves all things techy.  His new favorite passion is the ham radio.  YES, the ham radio.  If you will let him, he will happily tell you why the ham radio is so cool and will one day save the world.  So being the fantastic wife that I am I threw him a "Ham Radio Birthday".

In my mind I have creative abilities that rival Martha Stewart.  In practice, however, the end product is always a little less fantastic than I had imagined.  I made him a cake in the shape of a ham radio.  Once again, I have proved just how special I am.  It looked slightly more like a tombstone than a ham radio but what can you do.  At least I'm getting the practice in with my husband's cake not my kids so that our kids won't get labeled because their mom makes weird tomb shaped cakes.  To make the cake more festive I covered it with black sprinkles and some special food coloring that made it more black.  This had the fun effect of turning everyone at the party black.  Lips, mouth, etc.

2.) My husband planned a fanstastic surprise date and took me dancing.  It was so much fun!!  There was a real live band playing big band music and I loved every minute.  It was once again confirmed to Aaron and I that we can't dance; but we sure had fun doing whatever you would call what we were doing.  It was so much fun to be out dancing with him because the last time we had been dancing was the night we were "unoffically" engaged.  Dancing brought back a flood of fun memories from when it all began.  Man, I love partying with my best friend for eternity.

Counting My Blessings

Well friends and family life has been really exciting lately. With the hope of sharing with you some wonderful lessons I've learned lately I've decided to let you in on some recent life events.  I've been absent from the blogasphere because unfortunately my health hasn't been the greatest lately.  About a month ago I started feeling ill every time I ate.  Then I started having a lot of pain.  To make a long story short after numerous ER visits and tests I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease.  I ended up being in the hospital for over a week and having surgery.  I'm still on lots of medications but am finally feeling almost normal again.

Although the last month hasn't been fun I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience it because I realized just how much I've been taking for granted on a daily basis.  My Heavenly Father has given me a wonderful, normally healthy body.  I'm so lucky to have that, some never do in their earthly life.  Furthermore, I am surrounded by loving family and friends.  I had friends who dropped everything to visit me in the hospital or to make my husband meals.  People sent flowers and books and movies to entertain me.  I also had a mother who dropped everything and got on a plane in order to take care of me once I was home from the hospital.  And let's not forget my wonderful husband who held my hand from the beginning of this whole experience.  It's such a good feeling to know that you are loved.  Being in the line of work that I am, I am fully aware that many people aren't loved and treated the way that they should be.  I've always been surrounded by people who love me and I have really taken that for granted.

The whole point of sharing all of this is to say thank-you.  Thanks to all of you who have been so kind and thoughtful.  I really appreciate all the people who went out of their way to take care of Aaron and I.  We are so lucky!  I also want to express my thanks to my Father in Heaven.  When I got home from the hospital it all hit me and I realized what a charmed life I lead.  I am so blessed and I take that for granted.  I'd like to say I'll never complain again but I guess I know myself a little too well to make that kind of promise.  But I certainly do have a renewed sense of gratitude regarding almost every aspect of my life.  I'm so grateful to know I have a Heavenly Father who loves all his children.  I'm also grateful to know that He has a plan for each of our lives and that his ultimate joy is to see his children experience joy and growth.

Oh gosh, so much cheese in this post!  I blame it on all the drugs:)  Thanks for putting up with my musings!  I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying your individual journeys!