This is the first time since we got married that I've been away from Devon for more than 12 hours. This week is gonna be a doozy.

Romanticized.

I would like to live in a cabin in the woods and go hiking or skiing every day. When I was exhausted and flush with the outdoors, I would come home to cuddle up with my man. He would make a fire and we would eat dinner on the floor, basking in it's warmth. We would read old classics to each other as the snow fell quietly outside. No city lights, no traffic at all hours of the night. Just us. Devon and Hannah.

A knot in my stomach

A client came in last night with tears in her eyes. Her husband had been in surgery for six hours the day before for a tumor in his abdomen. She was heading to the hospital right after our session. As I grounded myself for the emotion that I was about to work with, the aching thought came to me. What would it be like if my husband were to be diagnosed with some dreadful thing? How would we fight against it? What sort of nightmares would we create? I hate the thought.

I am so grateful for our blessings and for our health. I am so grateful that we have one another. He's my best friend and my perfect compliment. I love him dearly. And I hate cancer.

Like dolphins fighting

Devon is sick, his work is crazy right now, and my sewing machine is making this awful sound. But all in all, it is good. I'm wearing sweatshirts and knit socks 'round the clock. We're going apple picking this weekend for my birthday. I'll be hearing if I got accepted to PMI soon.

Oh, and I want a dog now more than ever. I miss my Fred so much. 

May he rest in peace, surrounded by bacon.

Weekend Recap

This was such a wonderful weekend. It made Monday easy!

On Fridays, I get to spend time with my beautiful best friend, Janna. Neither of us work on Fridays so we usually get together for lunch and errands. This Friday, we got ourselves a cheap and tasty lunch at the Institute where every Friday they have a "feast" for the younger folks in the area. It's fun to see everyone from the different wards and catch up. Anyways, after that we went and got our nails did. We're really good at that. Followed by Vampire Diaries. Oh man.

That night, Janna, Scott, Dev and I all piled into our car and drove to Renton. Ashlee and Jordan are house sitting out there in an amazing house, so it's fun to pretend like we have money and nice things. TV shows, pizza, 3D projectors, and cookies. Amazing.

Saturday, I worked.

Sunday, we spent the day at Janna's apartment and watched General Conference together. The spirit was so sweet and there was so much love in that room, all day long. I love hearing the words of the prophets and reflecting on how I can become more Christ-like. There was one talk that stuck out to me in particular called "First observe, then serve." I love serving those that I love, but sometimes I have a hard time knowing how or when I should step in. It's so easy to fall into the mindset of "a service must be organized and grand." I've gone to so many service activities where we are faced with daunting tasks but we tackle them anyway. You get it into your head that all service has to be like that. But it's really not the case! Service can be as simple as genuinely asking someone how their day is! I'd like to work on serving more and being more openhearted to those around me. Additionally, I want to be open to being served. Letting people serve you gives them just as many blessings. It's a beautiful thing, really. Our God is a great and loving God. I am so grateful that I can be a part of the LDS faith and know of his love for all of us.

I'm sorry if this was rambly or boring. I'm feeling very blessed and I wanted to remember all of the sweet things that are in my life right now. Speaking of which, Dev just handed me a slice of his fresh-from-the-oven bread! Our FHE's are the best.

Sunset Run to Drums -- 10K

I'm a pretty avid runner and have been for the past seven years. All through high school I raced in track and cross country. I love the feeling of the wind blowing past me and the unleashing of my legs. Once you hit that groove, nothing can touch you.

It's been over two years since I last raced. And that race wasn't much; just a small 5K fun run in my home town. So a few weeks before the wedding, I decided I needed to sign up for a race. The Sunset Run to Drums was sheer perfection. It was a smaller race, so there wasn't the pressure of a huge crowd, and it was right along the Seattle waterfront. Gorgeous.

The least embarrassing shot I could find.

All in all, I'm really happy with my time -- 63 minutes! I haven't run 6+ miles at a time since last fall! It definitely served as a great motivation and I hope to continue, adding more and more miles. Next up: a half-marathon! Not sure when or where yet. Maybe it will just be me and the open road. Whatever it may be, I have no intention to stop.

Falling for the end of summer

The weekend always goes by much too fast. I am so glad that I don't have to work Friday nights any more. Devon and I haven't had Friday nights together for a very long time. So this Friday was the first day of fall, aka the best time of the year. I forced Devon to go buy a giant can of pumpkin with me so that we could make cookies for our neighbors. I haven't done much baking in our new apartment so I was having lots of fun. One thing though: any idea why all of our flour and sugar is clumping? Humidity? Wrong kind of storage? It's really annoying and I'm not a fan.

Anyway. It was a nice Friday night. I love baking and I love my husband.

Saturday after I got off work, we made our way to the Puyallup Fair to spend an evening with Jojo and Ashlee, our favorite married couple. Some old friends of Ashlee's were also there and it was fun getting to know them. We were all loaded on fried food, milk shakes, lemonade and cotton candy as we saw the sights, pet some animals, and rode some rides. It was real fun. I don't think people understand how excited I get about rides. I was a giggling fit. I just wish there weren't lines. Blah! First world problems.

And of course, Sunday was wonderful. Next week we're having a special stake conference where they'll be rearranging the wards. I'm excited to get settled into a new ward.

A wonderful weekend, indeed. And now it's back to work.