A LOVEly Week

So as far as school goes this past week has been much better. It's not that the pressures have lightened up it is more that I have been able to handle it a little better. As we have repeated many times over Matthew has been student teaching at Jordan Seminary. He has been enjoying it, but he has also been nervous so it has been hard for him to really be himself and have fun with the students. Every morning I have reminded him to have fun, but it hasn't quite sunk in, that is until this last week. Matthew and I both fasted last Sunday and among the other reasons for fasting we fasted that he would continue to progress and be able to connect and have fun with his students. Monday morning came along and Matthew woke me up to kiss be goodbye and when he did he said, "Kara, today I am going to have fun." When he said it I knew that he finally meant it. It was an interesting moment...a surge of happiness went through my body and it affected my whole day. I think that moment helped my attitude about school this week. Later that morning while on a brake from class I checked my phone and I had a text message from Matthew that said, "I had fun". That was a really nice way to start off the week.

On Tuesday I had the wonderful opportunity to eat at a restaurant called Charlie Chows. http://www.charliechows.com/index.htm It was really good food and for many men out there that can eat loads, it is only about $8 for all you can eat! Another cool thing about the restaurant is that with the all you can eat, you create your own dishes. I definitely recommend trying it! After lunch and a little work on a group project I went with some of my grad friends to the school gym (called the Field House) to play some racquet ball. Trevor has invited me to come play a couple of times and I finally went last week and although I am not very good I had a lot of fun. I even took Matthew to play with me and we enjoyed ourselves.

On Thursday I went to the Friendship Manor to do a visit with Sister Sams and Sister Thompson. We went to visit a new sister that just moved into the branch. Her name is Sandy Terry. She is a wonderful women. It was so fun to hear about her life. She has four children each of whom has a very interesting name. She spent some time in Hawaii and some of the Tongan Islands and so many of her children have names from that area. She also, within the last few years, decided to become a vegan and says that not eating meat and dairy has helped her body overcome many things. She tried to convince me that Matthew and I could easily make the transition to vegan after hearing that we love sushi, but I don't know if I am ready to give up chicken, fish or cheese just yet! What was so wonderful about this visit was how interactive Sister Terry was. She not only had an amazing life story, but she was so interested in us. She asked me to tell her about myself and I told stories of playing tackle football when I was in elementary school and making a funny zucchini infomercial with my husband when we were given a gigantic zucchini. It was such an enjoyable visit I didn't want to leave. After the visit, Matthew came and picked me up and we went and got a quick bite to eat them came home and cleaned. It is so nice to have our home just a little more organized.

On Friday, Elisa came over with her new boyfriend Alex. This was our first time meeting him and it was a fun night. We (I mean Matthew and Alex) went and got some pizza and then we ate and enjoyed talking with one another. I learned the reason behind Alex not eating sugar for the next year and learned how caring he is, not only to my sister, but also to those he is around. After talking for awhile we debated on whether we should play a game or watch a movie. After seeing our game selection Alex switched over to the movie team and we decided to watch Dan in Real Life. About half way through the movie Elisa's friend Shaley, her husband Howard and their baby Chloe came over and we had fun catching up and looking at some photos of Elisa and I. I also enjoyed holding Chloe, she is such a cutie.

Saturday Matthew and I spent the day at home. He was pretty productive, he got our finances, taxes and laundry done, as well as reading for some of the lessons he will be teaching this next week. On the other hand I just played around on my computer organizing pictures and music. Later in the evening we went to the Saturday Night Session of Stake Conference. At the end the leaders showed a movie about John Tanner, who was a member in the early days of the church who gave all he had. He was an amazing man who was full of faith and love. After conference Tiffany and Jason (TJ) came over with their baby Benjamin. Almost immediately Matthew and Jason started to talk about budgeting and finances and went into our office to look at our program. Tiffany and I were able to talk and enjoy one another and Benny. It is so good to have such great friends. Even though we don't live as close together as we have in the past it is always refreshing to be able to get together and feel like we can just pick up where we left off. It is always nice to be able to have friends who are there for you to talk with, get advice from, be lifted up, laugh and even cry with. It is always nice to know that we are not alone.

Today as we all know is the day our nation celebrates love! Don't we all love love? Or at least we all love being in love. For Valentines day this year Matthew and I had sushi, well technically we didn't have it today we had it yesterday and it wasn't the fancy stuff from any restaurant, we just got two small things of sushi from Smith's Marketplace when we went grocery shopping, nevertheless it was still yummy. This morning when I woke up Matthew was on his way out the door to get to a Stake Priesthood Meeting. I went into the living room to continue to work on the gift I was making him when I saw a small bag on the table and it had a little sticky note on it that said I should open it before going to church. Before I opened it I decided to finish the gift I was making Matthew (I know that surprises some of you, especially Matthew because you know how much I love to open gifts, but this proves I have some restraint!). When I finally opened the gift it was 4 pairs of earrings. They are very pretty and I decided to wear the red hoops today! Matthew came home from his meeting and I showed him the gift I got him. While we were engaged Matthew made two CDs for me with love songs and songs that we both liked. I have been wanting to create a couple more CDs with additional songs that we played at our wedding and as I was organizing them when I decided that I would also make a CD for Matthew. So, after getting the rest of our wedding songs on Matt and Kara Volumes 3 and 4, I created Matt and Kara Volume 5 for Matthew for Valentines day! I'm pretty sure he loves it! Unfortunately, I don't know how to make the cd covers so Matthew has to help me finish that part, but I had the music and pictures picked out already. While I finished getting ready for church Matthew made me breakfast...a toasted honey wheat bagel with cream cheese and raspberry jam on it with a cup of apple juice...yum! Now Matthew is starting to make the dessert we are bringing to Iron Chef SLC tonight for the Chinese food and Chocolate Edition so I should go help him, but don't worry I will post on the wonderful food and fun we have tonight real soon (with pics...I promise this time!)