Give thanks

November is a month that really brings focus to gratitude and appreciation. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought I'd update with a few things for which I am thankful.

1) My husband. *cue sappy man crush post* I mean, y'all, really. This guy. He is the bomb. He makes the bed for me, he leaves out "night night clothes" which usually consist of his army PT shirts and his sweatpants, he cooks me dinner... sometimes, but he ALWAYS is concerned about my well-being. He rubs my feet when I'm exhausted, and just overall- even aside from his actions- I am just so thankful that he loves me. I know that we were meant to be together, and God shows me daily that he is my soulmate.

2) My family. Both sides. I can't believe how amazing each and every one of them are. Everyone is so supportive, caring, and loving of each other and of me, and my in-laws have been so welcoming of me into their lives. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be related to such great people. I miss my parents and brother a lot, and being 21 hours away is hard sometimes. I'm also thankful for routes of communication so that we can talk anytime!

3) My job. Sometimes it isn't easy. In fact, some nights it feels like the hardest thing I've ever done. Nursing school was a giant accomplishment and some nights I feel like just making it until 0700 is one of my life's biggest accomplishments, but it's absolutely fantastic. I love the children I get to work with, my coworkers are great, and the location is incredibly convenient. I still can't believe I got my dream job from halfway across the country. I know someone was looking out for me by blessing me with becoming a pediatric nurse! 

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers"

So, let's go back to October for just a minute.

First of all- it is my absolute favorite month. The weather is nice (everywhere except Texas), the leaves are changing colors (on the East coast), and there are pumpkins everywhere! The beginning of Fall is always such a happy time. Everyone is, for the most part, finished sweating for the year (unless you live in Texas), and it's beginning to look a lot like sweater weather (once again.... you catch my drift). I've lived here for 6 months now. I can hate on Texas all I want!

My brothers and sisters-in-law, Preston, the kids, and I went to the pumpkin patch about an hour away from Killeen in Marble Falls. It was super cute! Incredibly hot, but it was fun nonetheless. They had an entire corn maze shaped like the state of Texas with major cities being stopping points so we could stamp our cards they gave us. Side note, I will never understand the obsession Texans have with the shape of Texas. It's literally everywhere. I always say I suppose Texans just need daily reminders of where they live because they MUST forget. Anyway, I digress.

We also took the boys trick-or-treating. Porter was Iron Man and Benson was Captain America. Be still my heart! They were SO CUTE!

Yes, it most definitely DOES take 6 adults to take 2 children around the neighborhood for candy :)

In NC I also got to visit with the Wamback clan and the Christies, went to the fair with Tanya, had lunch with Lauren, drinks with Katharyn, and dinner with Taylor, my cousin Tiffany, and her boyfriend Dabney. It was so cold the windshield iced over one morning. Hallelujah! I got to wear long sleeves and turn the butt warmers on in the car! I'm glad I got to see everyone and catch up. I miss Raleigh. I miss the cold, and the views, and the trees (I will never get over the lack of tall trees in Texas). I miss the BOGO sushi, the lake, my friends, and my family. Maybe one day we will end up back on the East coast.

Lazy Bones!

So I am pretty lame at keeping up anything more than showering daily and arriving to work on time... I always say I'll be better about it, but lezbe honest here... that probably won't happen.

He's my spirit animal for sure. 

Anyhoo, onto the life happenings!

Back in September I went to the Time Out For Women conference in Arlington, Texas with my sisters- and mother-in-law. I wasn't too entirely sure about it at first. I figured it would be super church-y and Mormon-y and much to my surprise, it wasn't. (I mean, yes, there was prayer and mention of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon) but all of the guest speakers gave great speeches on relatable life stories. I laughed really hard, I may have shed a tear or two, and overall felt really uplifted by everything the speakers had to say. It was a good time after all! There was even a firework show across the street at the baseball stadium that lasted almost a whole year. Maybe that's a little exaggerated. Faith definitely took a 10 minute video, though, at least.

In October I worked a lot, finished my orientation and began life as a nurse all on my own.  It was pretty scary but they went really easy on me with my first couple of patient loads. I've found as I've worked for about a month on my own now that the assignments are hit-or-miss. You can't really plan for a baby to wiggle out of her IV or for a colostomy pouch to explode at 0620 in the morning at the same time...

They allow us to dress up during the week of Halloween, too. Usually it's a theme I guess but this year only 2 of us on night shift dressed up.  We were Belle and Elsa. Belle had to help me keep my wig intact and put my hair into it since it was super small. I walked through a monsoon to get that costume, though, so I was stuck in it until my scrubs dried off (wasn't until around midnight). I dropped more glitter than I thought humanly possible (Ke$ha would be jealous) that night.  The kids loved it, though, so it was worth it.

Also in October was my brother-in-law, Spencer's, birthday. We went to "B-dubs" for dinner and surprised him.  Faith did a great job pulling that one off, and it was a super delicious dinner. The whole restaurant sang him happy birthday and we got him a hat that the boys ended up wearing more than he did.  I don't even think I got any pictures of Spencer that night. Was he even there? No one will ever know....

I went home for 5ish days in October, also. What a busy month!! It was a great trip, but next time I go I need to not make as many plans. I didn't really get to do many things that I went home for in the first place (aka mountain visit and sunset lake pictures/walks), but I'm really glad I went because I got to see our family dog one last time.  About a week after I got back to Texas I received a text from Taylor (my brother) telling me that they had to put her down. She was 15, and started to have really bad seizures. She had about 5 Monday morning (the 26th) and finally one that lasted over an hour. My dad and brother took her to the vet's office who gave her 3 shots of a seizure medication that didn't do anything to her.  They said they usually only give 2 shots but gave the extra just in case. They told my dad they couldn't do anything to help her but that he could take her to the NC State Vet school because they had stronger drugs but he just decided to put her down at that moment. She was 15, lived a long, fairly healthy life, loved walks around the lake and chasing squirrels, was more deaf than Helen Keller in her old age, yet still so super spunky.  She was the best first dog a girl could have, and I loved all the time I got to spend with her. It will be so different going home without her there now. I will miss her so much. I get so teary-eyed thinking about her and even typing this up is a struggle at the moment.

I have tons of pictures of her, but these are some of my favorites. What a sweet Abby girl. I hope there are a billion squirrels and "spots" (laser pointers) in heaven!