Faith

This is just what I needed to start this crazy day off with a positive attitude! I have faith that the Lord gave me this trial right now in my life to learn and grow from it, even if I do not understand why. I will eventually. Until then, I will stop and enjoy the little more important things in life. I will count my blessings everyday, and be thankful for all that the Lord has blessed me with. For that, I will be forever grateful and Happy. I choose to be HAPPY!

About a year ago I found a lump in my left breast. We got them checked, and the radiologist said that everything was benign (Non- cancerous) and everything will be fine. He was kinda rude about it, telling me I was basically over-reacting. Well that was 8 months ago. Since then we moved to Phoenix, and the lump has gotten bigger. We had it re-checked, and that Dr. wouldn't tell me the size, but basically said "You are too young for this, you need to contact a surgeon ASAP and get it removed." I don't know what it is about Dr's, but they bother me. Only the one's that don't tell you ALL OF THE INFORMATION like this Dr who gave me the results of my ultrasound. A week later, we received a call from my initial Dr in Mesa (LOVE HIM, he tells it how it is and doesn't sugar coat it!) Apparently, it is something to worry about. They gave me my results again and said that it is a "Suspicious abnormality and I need to get it out NOW!" I know I shouldn't worry... but this is scary. Especially since breast cancer runs in my side of the family. I have faith that everything will work out according to God's will, but it's still terrifying. I have my first appointment with the surgeon on the 17th of February. Prayers would be appreciated.  

October 2013 - December 2013... I know, I'm awesome.

I know this is lame, but not having a computer for a several months makes it hard to blog. So basically this is going to be an INSANELY amount of pictures.

October - Lexington turns 1!!!! October 3rd was Lexi's birthday! Since we already had a birthday for her in Arizona, we just did a small birhday for her at our house in Rexburg.

Crying because Daddy shoved her face in the cake. 

On her birthday we went and got a free cookie at Broulims, and her Aunt Melissa bought her these two birthday outfits. Aren't they adorable? 

 Halloween! (Once again, our very lame attempt)

 Louis LOVES Halloween. Or well, used to anyway. So I bugged him for MONTHS in advance asking him what he wanted to dress up as. No answer. Then on the DAY OF Halloween he asks what we are going to dress up as, REALLY?!?!?! So this was my lame attempt at finding the first thing I could...










*NOVEMBER*
Louis got a job in Scottsdale at Vangaurd. So we moved back to Arizona Thankgiving weekend.

 We spent Thanksgiving with Louis' family. The food was delicious. =) Afterward we went to the movies to watch the new Hunger Games movie. IT. WAS. AWESOME!

Little did we know, that after just 2 days of being at our apartment it would have moldew/smoke problems. So we had to break our contract and move. Again. =( Luckily, Louis' family is pretty awesome and his Uncle Melvin let us stay at one of his houses in Gilbert until we found something closer to work.

*DECEMBER*

Even though we didnt have a place of our own for Christmas, I still had to set up our Christmas tree. Even if I did have to set it up 3 DIFFERENT times! 1st time, just to set it up. 2nd time to add more lights, and a 3rd time because I woke up to it tipped over. Awesome.

We didn;t have a whole lot to do so Lexington was very patient letting me play with her hair! 

Safe to say she liked her gifts from Grandma S! 

We were able to drive home to Colorado and spend Christmas with my family. =) 

Leah, Morgan, and Lexington. The youngest 3 girls. So fun! =) 

My awesome Fam-damily! 

Challenges

"Challenges of Life"

Smooth roads never make good drivers
Smooth seas never make good sailors
Clear Skies never makes good Pilots.
Problem and hassle free Life never makes a strong person
Be Strong enough to accept the challenges of Life
Don't ask Life, "Why Me? . Instead say "Try Me!"

 Author: Unknown

I've been thinking a lot lately about challenges in life. Everyone has their own challenges  trust me I have plenty! 

Reading has always been a challenge of mine. I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I love reading for pleasure, that is until someone finds out that I am reading the same book as them, and then I stop. I feel like I always have to re-read chapters several times in order to understand the content well enough to remember it. So when I was called to serve as a Relief Society teacher, I kinda had minor freak-outs upon preparing my lessons. Louis would tease me when I would start reading my lessons a month in advance, but if I didn't I wouldn't know the 5 pages well enough to be able to teach them!

Along with reading, a challenge that I have always had, but hated to admit it, is that my mind is a simple mind, and thinks COMPLETELY different than an average person. I wouldn't say I'm a slow thinker, my mind just automatically puts things in a "simple" way for me to understand things better. However, when  I am working in a group or even in my own marriage its been quite a challenge to communicate this to others. Even though I think my way of thinking is the easiest, others who are "smarter" find my way of thinking extremely difficult. This has been extremely hard over the years, and especially hard serving as Relief Society President. I love that I have this oppurtunity and I know that this is the Lords way of helping me overcome these challenges, but boy.. has it been a rough road.

My challenges have helped me to stay motivated and push through the hard times. I've learned to say "TRY ME!" instead of thinking, "Why me?"

Who said you only get 1 Birthday?

So Saturday after the wedding, we figured since we were going to be in town we might as well have a little get together Birthday party for Lexington, since our family from AZ wouldn't be able to make it for Lexington's REAL birthday! 

      
                 

Cute huh?! My sister made all the poms poms and had them though her house. I cheated and printed the water bottle labels, cupcake topper, and banner off of Pinterest. Tehe! =) 

Lexington looked so dang cute! I cant believe she is going to be one!! 

 

Lexi waiting patiently for Mommy to give her her cupcake! 

 She went straight for the frosting. Thatta girl!! 

My older sister Bev with her beautiful daughter Morgan.  

Lexi's AZ birthday party was a success! We bought her cupcakes from GIGI'S bakery. They were DELICIOUS! Cant wait til she actually turns the BIG 1!! No promises my decorations will be as cute as this one, but it will be fun!!! 

Palangi + Tongan = Love!

So last weekend Louis and I was able to fly to ARIZONA and attend Louis' younger brothers Coltons' wedding! It was a blast! I loved getting to meet Sharon and her beautiful family! Tongans are pretty awesome. Everyone already knew that though. 

Part of the Stradling clan, minus the 3 dudes in the middle. 

My little family of 3!

The beautiful Bride (Sharon) with my sweetheart Lexi
and Handsome Groom (Colton)
 with my nephew Bennett.
I wanna say the other two girls are her cousins? 

                 

      

BEST. PICTURE. EVER!
Lexington with her Grandma Shelly.
So cute!

But seriously though. I will never forget the experience I had this weekend. Their sealing was very powerful, and the Lord knew exactly what to have the sealer say. I think we can all learn a lot from his wisdom. Being that a Tongan was marrying a "palangi" (White person), there are a lot of cultural things that can be hard to make a successful marriage work. The sealer put i beautifully when he gave this advice, "I advise you two, to take the best things from each side and use that into your marriage, and live under the Lord's culture." Isn't that just awesome? Good advice for ALL of us! Take the best things from each side, and only worry about living the Lords way. That is advice that EVERY newly married couple should hear! 

****************************************************************************

I wouldnt mess with them... Just sayin!
CONGRATS COLTON AND SHARON!!!!