My sister in law just passed this cool song along. I was so excited to see it because the cellist was one of my friends in the music department at the University of Utah. (Steven Nelson) His cute wife Julie was my visiting teacher for a year. Wow! It is so cool to see what people do with music. For those of you outside of Utah who do not know Jon Schmidt.......he is AWESOME! He has inspired me since I was 13 years old.

I hope you enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

Indiana!

We are here in Indiana! It has actually been one whole week. I can't believe how fast this week has flown by. I absolutely love the home. No complaints whatsoever. We went on our first family bike ride tonight and it was gorgeous. There is a small lake two blocks away and we had fun feeding the ducks.
This week really has been a whirl wind, but I want to give a special thanks to Joey and Ashley for helping us move in! They drove 6 hours to be with us for less than 24 hours! And, they did the hardest labor in that short time. You are the best Ash and Joe! I hope you have a fabulous time in Mexico this week.
What to say...I go to church for the first time tomorrow. That should be interesting. It will probably make me miss our branch in Detroit...(or maybe not! ha,ha. Just kidding!) I have met 4 or 5 families in the neighborhood. This is a very family friendly city and feels extremely SAFE! We drove around a lot today and I saw only one building that was boarded up with broken windows. I said, "Hey, look, it's a Detroit building." We all went to the zoo today and had a great time. We have been using our backyard a ton. I love the deck and the last 3 nights we've had BBQ out on the deck.
Everything feels so fresh and clean here. We are loving the extra space! The weirdest part is knowing that we will live here for 5 years! That seems like forever to me. A lot happens in 5 years. I will get pictures up eventually, but for now all I can say is that I feel so, so, so blessed. There was such a "comfortable" feeling in this house the first second I walked through it. In a way it feels as if we have lived here much longer than one week. I guess the only thing I get a little sad about is the AWESOME friends I had to leave behind, and the beautiful neighborhood and sparkling water that I loved to drive past. Sigh. A new road ahead......

3 years ago

May 29th, 2006 was the day Maddie was born. It was on Memorial Day, at St. Mark's Hospital. I was so excited to have a healthy baby GIRL!!! Josh was excited about this new addition too!
Oh no! This picture is making me want another baby.....

What a sweet heart!

Out of the three births I have had, Maddie's is the most blurred in my mind. That was a crazy period in our lives. Dave was still in Grenada trying to finish his finals, so I flew back to the states 3 weeks before my due date. That was a memorable flight with Josh and flying for 12 hours! When I got to Utah, I was so scared I was going to go into labor without Dave. He could only come for one week and we were praying that everything would work according to plan and that I would have the baby during that time. I guess I get really lucky sometimes because my water broke the day after he flew in. However, the bad news was that he got food poisoning on the plane and was super sick the day Maddie was born. I can still remember him laying next to me in the hospital groaning because of HIS stomach pain. Everything with the birth went smooth. The only part I didn't like about the birth was the pain of getting the epidural. He had to poke me three times before he got it in the right spot. AHHHH! That was way worse than the rest of the birth. But as soon as Maddie came out I thought she was beautiful. Josh quite honestly frightened both Dave and I when he came out. He had a massive cone head, crazy hair, and didn't look anything like what I was expecting. Maddie seemed to have all the perfect little features and a sweet cry. Both Dan and Kate were on trips for Memorial Day weekend and were not getting home until Tuesday. But, when Dave knew that I was going to have the baby soon, he called Thomas, and Thomas was there in a flash! In fact, Thomas was the one who wheeled me up to my recovery room. I felt like the whole world was spinning around me as Thomas cruised by everyone. My mom had been with me the night before because Dave didn't believe that my water had actually broken so my mom went with me to the hospital to get it checked out. So, that is the birth story of Maddie in a nutshell. I love my little Maddie. I will post more pictures of this birthday girl in a few days. Happy Birthday Matts!

Silly Faces

Landlords!

Dave and I have had a lot of STRANGE landlords in our marriage, but this woman beats them all. Say hello to Mrs. Mitchell of St. Vincent.

I just realized that by the end of next week we will no longer have a landlord.......EVER! (most likely) I had a love/hate relationship with this woman. Some days I thought she was pretty hilarious and other days I wanted to kill her. We lived on the bottom floor of her house. She was extremely wealthy for a woman there. She had quite a few workers for her land and house of whom she treated like slaves. (I'm not kidding.) Every day she would tell me random things that I was doing wrong with my children. For example: not putting socks on them, having them outside in the night air, throwing rocks, or all the ways in which I am not protecting them from the dangers of the unknown! She was a funny funny woman, and just thinking about her makes me miss her in a strange way.

This is also one of the "STRANGER" nights of my life. We had our Thanksgiving dinner with her and her friends.

She only wears that silver thing on her head for very special occasions.

(This was a VERY special occasion. ha,ha)

Natalie, Elaine, and Lora
We did a little program of music for her friends and I think this is the only time I have ever seen Dave sing in a "concert".

There was not a local on the island who didn't know Mrs. Mitchell. They told us to BEWARE!

My favorite Mrs. Mitchell story is when she started yelling at me one day, and as I walked away from her I started crying a little bit. I was holding Josh and I said out loud, "She is so mean. She is so mean." When Josh got down from my arms he walked straight back to her and looked up at her and said, "BE NICE MRS. MITCHELL!" She could not understand him, so he repeated himself clearly 3 times in a very deliberate way for a two year old. I gave Josh the biggest hug ever when he came back to me. I couldn't believe how sweet he was to stick up for his mommy like that.

This was a gift Mrs. Mitchell gave me. When I look at how shiny my forehead is, I am instantly reminded of how much I was sweating that night. Everyday we were dripping wet with sweat- no matter what time of day or where we were. (I can't believe that is Maddie in my arms.)

See you soon in New York Natalie!

Goodbye Landlords!

The Race!

PARTICIPATION RECORDS SET AT FIFTH THIRD RIVER BANK RUN
An alternate 25K course due to flooding, early morning thundershowers and a steady drizzle just in time for the 25K's new 8:20a start didn't stop a record number of participants from taking to the streets of downtown Grand Rapids for the 32nd Annual Fifth Third River Bank Run! Thank you to the 17,564 people who participated in the May 9 Fifth Third River Bank Run 25K, 10K, 5K Run and 5K Walk events. Thanks, too, to the more than 2,000 volunteers who handled a variety of race management tasks to ensure a successful 32nd Annual Fifth Third River Bank Run event.

The race was AWESOME! Thanks Andrea for flying all the way from FLORIDA to come run with me! It started POURING rain on us 5 minutes before the race started. The first 2-3 miles we were jumping over puddles and could hardly open our eyes. Our shoes were soaked all the way through. Things cleared up pretty nice. Andrea and I kept a pretty easy pace for the first half of the race. The first 8 miles seemed to breeze by. By about mile 10 I was starting to get tired, took my gel pack, and put in the music to give me a boost. We picked our pace up quite a bit and kept pushing to the end. It is an awesome feeling to starting passing groups of people in the last miles. The last two miles seemed like they were never going to end for me and I was trying desperately to keep up with Andrea. Dixie Chicks were a HUGE help too. It felt so good to feel like I gave it my all as I sprinted hard for the last stretch. We finished in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Whew! How do people do full marathons? The 25K is a little over 15 miles. The thought of doing another 10 miles on top of that scares me to death! I'm definitely not there yet!

I have a big list of reasons why I love to run. I am not going to list them. But, I would say that one of the biggest motivators to run is because I want to stay healthy and set a good example for my kids as well as live a long, full life.

We had a very adventurous drive home! We thought everything was good until we heard a huge bang and could tell something was going on under our car. We pulled over and saw that the muffler and exhaust pipe were dragging on the ground. A bolt had come out. We didn't have any rope in our car so I took off my shirt (don't worry, I had another one on!) and tied it up and around. Then, I did something really cool....I put my keys in the trunk and slammed the door. Oh my gosh, we were stranded on the side of the freeway and could not get into the trunk. This was my first time driving Dave's new car and I could tell that the back seat could open up, but we didn't know the trick. After 10 minutes of calling our husbands on the phone and working up a sweat trying to get the trunk open, Andrea did something amazing! She pulled this little lever on the driver's side of the seat, and low and behold, the trunk popped open! (Duh!) We felt so stupid. (We are both pretty blond.) We then found the nearest service station and were thrilled to find someone who could fix it. It took a little over an hour and we were back on the road........the wrong road! We had no idea that we had been heading north instead of south. This story is getting way too long so I will just end it by saying that Andrea missed her flight out of Detroit and had to spend the night with the Orme's! We were happy to have her for an extra night. Thanks for the adventure Andrea. It was a trip to remember.

I realize that I rarely talk about spiritual matters on my blog. However, today was our last time attending our church here in Detroit. Dave and I both spoke today, and I decided to add my talk. (Or, the majority of it.)

I want to ask a question that each of us can ponder and ask ourselves. Why do we go to church? What gets us here? What motivates us? Why do we make such an effort to be here every Sunday for 3 hours?
Sometimes, I think there may be several answers to the question. Let me read a few that I brainstormed. There are so many reasons why people may go to church. Is it because it is simply our duty? Or out of obligation? Our parents taught us to, so now we must go? Or maybe we go to church for our children? Do we sometimes go because we feel pressure from our leaders or maybe we go just to fulfill our calling? Do some people attend church because that is where their friends are? Church is part of their social life. Or maybe someone might want to go to church to show off a beautiful new dress or outfit? I know that when I was 17 years old, all of a sudden I had a huge motivation to come to church. I moved into a new house the summer before my Junior Year of high school. After a few months I had my eyes set on one blond boy in particular. All of a sudden, my Sunday school class became the highlight of the week. I have never been so excited to come to church! This "secret crush" that lasted for probably 8 months before we ever said a word to each other is now the man I am married to.
So, as we can see, there are numerous reasons why we may decided to come to church. I have attended church for many years now, ever since I was a little girl. Now, I believe I have found the main reason why I choose to come to church every week. And, that reason is also the topic for my talk today. The topic I was assigned is, "The love of God." Coming to church each week is a sure way for me to feel God's love. I am able to strengthen that personal relationship between my Father in Heaven ,and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now, I could ask the question, "What are the reasons we choose not to go to church?" I bet we could rattle off 100 reasons or excuses for missing church. I will be the first to admit that I don't always have the best attitude Sunday morning as I struggle to get the whole family ready and out the door. Often times I get frustrated and stressed and even in a bad mood before I come to church. However, (maybe you know what I am talking about here) when you sit on the bench and this wave of peace comes over you saying, "This is where you should be." Then, as I sit in Sacrament, I have a prayer in my heart and ask my Father in Heaven to let me feel the Spirit and to feel of His love. When I feel that direct love coming into my heart, it just seems to make any worry or stress about coming to church all worth it. God's love is so real and so wonderful.
For the two years I lived in the Caribbean, I taught the Primary. It was very different than the primary that we see in most wards and branches. First off, I never met the majority of these childrens' parents. Most of our Primary kids would walk to church with or without their parents knowing where they were. Some weeks we would have 10 kids, the next week we would have 30. I knew that these children felt God's love at church. They felt the Spirit, they felt happy, but most important, they felt loved. That is the reason I believe they kept coming back. Tiffany Ross and I were the only two adults who worked in the Primary. We had one small room for the two hour block. On my last day of church before we came back to the states, I wanted them to remember one thing. The most important thing that would stay with them forever. I took each child aside that day: Akayla, Akevah, Jamal, Celina, Vashe, Sister, Trevor, and many others and spoke to them one on one. I told each of them that God loved them, individually, and always would, no matter what. I hope and pray they will always remember God's love, just as we must remember God's love. (I am skipping a few paragraphs)
When I looked up "Love" in the Bible index, we know that love is interchangeable with charity and also goes hand in hand with compassion. Some of the most common scriptures in the Book of Mormon on charity tell us, "except men have charity, they are nothing." "The love that the Lord has for men is charity." Without charity, men can not inherit the place prepared in their Father's mansions." "Cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all." "Charity is the pure love of Christ and endures forever." "Except ye have charity ye can in no wise be saved in the kingdom of God." "You can do nothing without faith, hope and charity." "Let your bowels be full of charity towards all men."
I like that last line, "full of charity for ALL men." It is not God's plan for us to pick and choose who we will show love to. It is not right to choose not to love someone because of the way they may dress, or talk, or because their beliefs are different from ours. We are commanded to love all men- even our enemies.
I want to share two examples of friends I have that show Gods love in all that they do. My first example is a girl who I knew vaguely in Grenada, but got to know her much better when she came to Michigan. She may be one of the most Christian people I have ever met. She is a member of the Baptist church. This girl radiates God's love unlike any friend I have had. her eyes sparkle, she is completely selfless and so considerate and compassionate for all. The other day Josh was at McDonalds with one of his friends. When Josh came home he said, "Mommy, I saw one of your friends at McDonalds." I asked, "Oh really? Who was it? Do you remember her name?" Josh didn't know the answer but he said, "You know mom, she is the friend of yours who always gives everyone hugs and is always happy and smiling." I immediately knew who he was talking about. Isn't it cool that my 5 year old had noticed her God like love.
Do we have God's love radiating in the same way to the people we come in contact with? Can we? Of course we can, and the more we know and feel of our Father's love for us, the more we can share His love with all.
The other wonderful example that I want to mention today is someone sitting in this room. A few weeks ago, Dave and I were talking in the car about people we admire in the branch. We started to comment about how the majority of us are all such good people who are trying to be more kind, or trying to be more loving, or patient, or just plain happy. I am emphasizing the word "trying". This "trying" seems to be work, and difficult at times. Then, every once and a while, there is someone like Sister Edwards who doesn't appear to be "trying" at all, she just "is". Sister Edwards, thank you for the loving and caring example you have set for me. You are another person, like my Baptist friend, who feels completely natural giving everyone in the room a hug, or giving a genuine smile, or kind remark. It doesn't look like work or effort, it just is who you are. This is an example of the love that our Heavenly Father and our Savior has for everyone on this earth. It is not work to love. It is not strained. It is given so freely and openly. It is unconditional. God's love will never run out. It overflows.
I want to close my talk by sharing a personal story and relating it to a very beautiful moment in the New Testament. My first winter in Michigan was not an easy one for me to get through. I had not had a winter for two years while living in Grenada. On top of feeling trapped in our little apartment and trying to deal with the cold and darkness, I was pregnant. Normally, I don't really mind being pregnant. I think the physical discomforts are very small compared to the emotional roller coaster pregnancy can take me on. On top of that, my husband was in New York for 6 weeks doing an away rotation. Then, on one cold morning I was driving down Mack and as I headed through a green light, a big black truck making a U turn crashed right into me, totaling our only car. This happened in the month of January, and as February approached, I felt that life was just getting too hard. There were a lot of other personal things going on in my life. But the point I am trying to make is that I hit a low point. A very, very, low point. I had so much anxiety about having another baby, I wasn't even sure I wanted to be a mom anymore. This was not just one or two bad days. This was two or three weeks of a complete breakdown. I was a horrible mom during that time and my poor two kids just watched me cry all day long.
One night, when I felt completely alone, unloved and unworthy of being loved, I got the impression to open my scriptures. A story in the scriptures burned into my mind and I became desperate to find it. I believe this to be such a beautiful moment in the Saviors life and I compared myself to this woman. In Luke Ch. 7, it reads...(37-39)
"And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner."
Jesus then tells a parable to relate to this instance and goes on in 44, " And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.........Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."
This story illustrates the kind of love that I am talking about. God loves us. Christ loves us...despite our sins, despite all the times we turn our backs to him. Even when we feel that we are so low that we may literally break. His love is still strong. This story in the scriptures spoke to me in my pleading that night. I knew that there was nothing that I could do that would make God stop loving me. His love is always there for all of us. What a gift, so undeserving and often I feel so unworthy of this love. Yet, I am eternally grateful to know that I have a father who loves me and can't wait for me to return to Him.
Just as I told the children in Grenada that God will always love them no matter what, these are the last words I would like to leave with you all today. Let our main reason that we come to church each week be because we love God. And each week as we partake of the Sacrament, let us feel of His love for us. Let us feel the love from the atonement, the price Christ paid for our sins, his suffering, as well as God's suffering while watching his son on the cross was all because of love. May each of us strive for this love.

I found a song about a little girl with Down Syndrome that is so cute I have to share it! I will be surprised if you can watch it without getting teary. Click on the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-CI9L0hFUw

4 years ago...

This is actually a continuation of the post below. I found a few more pictures to add. This of course is my wonderful husband. My friend Jacqualine Cheney did my hair for the evening. I LOVE having friends that do hair! (Hint hint...Aimee and Arika!)

My highschool buddies: Anne Jacobson, Andrea Derrick, Annie Waltman, Jenny Bunnell, Alta Davis, Summer Clark, Marian Roundy, Grace Rich. I love you all!

And here on the far right was not a high school buddy, but rather my favorite college room mate at Southern Utah University. We were both vocal performance majors, but did a lot more skiing and snowboarding than singing. Everywhere we went, people would ask us if we were sisters.

The end of one chapter...

As I was clearing out my emails, I found these fun pictures taken by the talented photographer Anne McDonough. I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the past. This night truly was the end of a very big chapter in my life.....and now I am preparing to end another chapter.

I sang my final Master's Recital when Josh was 7 months old, November 2004. This was a month and a half before Dave started medical school in the Caribbean. For the encore number, I took Josh up on stage and sang, "Summertime".

"........Oh, your daddy's rich, and your ma is good lookin, so hush little baby and don't you cry."

And here is my beautiful mother. My biggest support and fan.

Wow, it is so nice to see me smiling, because when I think back to those last few months of trying to finish up my degree it makes my stomach churn. Having a baby, finishing classes, doing a thesis paper, studying for oral exams, and planning a whole recital was the most STRESS I have EVER been under. I don't think I had a moment to breath until I was in that hot Grenada sun away from it all.

Katie King Christianson is my longest friendship that I still keep in touch with on a regular basis. Katie and I were inseparable from 4th grade to 8th grade. I love ya Kade. Congratulations to Katie for just recently having her third baby. Now she has a baby girl named Sarah to go along with her two handsome boys.

Jenny is being a drama queen in this shot. This picture makes me laugh because it is rare to ever see Jen without a big flashy smile. (Jenny loves it when I post picture's of her!)

Here we have Dave's wonderful grandparents who we love dearly. Pauline and Lloyd Graham. We love you both! And there is Chuckers in the background.

My sister in law Lindsey is holding Joshy. I would say Josh is a bit more dainty and pretty looking compared to Tyler. Tyler is all boy and a solid little guy, but there is still a lot of resemblance.

Anne is probably one of my most enthusiastic and crazy (in a good way) friends. Thanks for being a faithful follower of my blog Anne. And....she may be the only person who loves Zac Efron more than me. (Nancy is up there too!)

Can I share publicly my favorite Anne story?? Anne and I joke about it nearly every time we hang out. In 7th grade I thought that Anne was trying to steal away my new best friend Jenny Bunnell. We were totally fighting over her. Most of you all know that I have a rebellious streak in me that comes out occasionally. Well, I wrote Anne a nasty note that called her a bitch. This was the first time I had ever sworn at anybody and I must have thought I was pretty cool. She wrote me a nasty note back appalled that I would swear at her. We didn't talk for a few weeks. Then, I decided I needed to make a truce. I wrote her another note and added a stick of gum in it. The note said, "Will you be my friend again?" Isn't Jr. High the best??!!

It's hard to believe this is Josh!

The recital went wonderful although I was praying VERY hard I would get through it. The night before the concert I got food poisoning. I was throwing up all night and didn't think I could pull myself out of bed the next morning. I slept at my grandma's house that night hoping to get a good night sleep away from the baby. She came into my room in the morning and I was crying so hard because I didn't think I could go through with the recital. Well, I didn't eat anything the whole day, and I pulled together every ounce of energy I could and went on with the show. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?!

So like I said, this was the end of the "college days" chapter in my life. Now Dave and I have completed the "med school days" chapter, and moving into a 5 year chapter of residency. I would say that about 10 people a day ask me, "Are you so excited to move??!!" I don't really know; excited, compared to what? When I knew I was moving to Grenada I was so excited I felt like it was some kind of a crazy dream to be living on an island and I couldn't sleep because I was so excited for the adventure. Then, after two years, I was so excited to come back to the states that I literally couldn't sleep either. Dave and I would lay in bed and say: Can't you wait to go to _____ again. Or see ___ again. Or have ____ again. Or eat ____ again. You get the point. Moving from SLC to Grenada, to St. Vincent, to Utah, to Michigan, all seemed like much bigger and more exciting move than moving to Indiana. So I guess compared to those moves, I am not the same excited. I love, love, love Michigan and there is a part of me that doesn't feel ready to say good bye yet. I don't know if I will ever find a neighborhood and community that compares with Grosse Pointe. Dave and I have grown very attached but know that we will learn to love Indiana too.