It turns out, my wife loves video games... Who would have thought? She went her entire life never playing any of the typical game consoles, Sega, Nintendo, XBox, Playstation, etc. But if you give her a computer game, ie Plants vs Zombies, she'll spend all day playing it. I should probably attributed this behavior to her pregnancy, and lack of feeling well 24/7, but it does explain so much...
Some of the things that make me happy are.....
These past few weeks I've been thinking a lot about everything that I have to be happy about. The top things on my list have been the same for as long as I can remember (with some minor changes since getting married).
1. Matt - the love of my life
2. The child growing inside of me :)
3. My Families
4. The Gospel
5. Knowing that no matter how hard today seems, it will end.
6. All the little things in my life (food, house, clothing, washer, dryer, dishes, clean water, toilets that flush, heaters/fans, cars, ovens, refrigerators)
7. Knowledge
Each of these play such a vital role in my life that I can't even begin to imagine my life without them. I've been so blessed this past year that I can't even begin to list all of them, but the greatest blessing that I can think of right now is the blessing of family. I've been blessed this year with a knowledge of how much my amazing husband means to me, and the chance to be a mom this coming year. I've dreamed about being a mom and raising my own family for years, and now that it's finally here I can hardly believe it!!!
But above all, I'm so grateful for this time of year and the chance I've had to focus even more on the gift of life that Christ blessed us all with. I'm so lucky to know the truth and to be able to share that with all of the people I care about the most in the world. I love my family more then anything and am so blessed to have such a huge and varied family.
I love you all!!!
Merry Christmas!
It seems like Christmas comes and goes so quickly each year. We can’t believe it’s been over a year since we were married! It’s been a wonderful year.
The biggest news we have this year is that Melanie is pregnant! She is currently 9 weeks pregnant and is due July 22nd. The picture contained in this letter is the baby at 8 weeks. We still have a ways to go, but we’re already getting the nursery ready and Melanie has been working on blankets, booties and clothes for our newest family member. This will be grandchild #25 for Melanie’s parents, and grandchild #1 for Matt’s parents (great-grandchild #1 for Matt’s grandparents).
Melanie has finished up her schooling at Provo College and is preparing to that the NCLEX-RN. She is also looking for a job as a nurse, but in the mean time is still working at Heindselman’s (knitting store) and is working a holiday job at a shipping company.
Matt spent the summer in Oklahoma attending Basic Training for the Army. He was gone the entire summer, leaving Melanie all alone at home. It was tough for both of us, but we survived and it has brought us even closer. Matt is currently serving with a Field Artillery Battery in the Utah National Guard. He spends one weekend a month and two weeks a year drilling with his unit. He is also actively involved in the ROTC program at BYU where he is being trained to be an officer. Matt still has a year and a half of school left before he graduates in Mechanical Engineering.
Bray’Tac, our Himalayan Lynx Point Siamese cat, already suspects that he is going to be replaced as the baby of the family. As of late, he has been very needy for attention whenever we’re around. He’s a lot of fun. He loves to play but also loves to cuddle. He’s currently about a year and a half old. (The name Bray’Tac comes from our favorite TV show Stargate.)
We hope everyone travels safely and look forward to seeing everyone this upcoming year!
Love,
Matt & Melanie Long
It's official! Melanie is parturient! For those of you who are unaware as to the definition of parturient, you might want to look it up. We're super excited! July 22nd can't come fast enough, especially for Melanie. She has been under the weather for the past few weeks, but her spirits are high as her excitement is continuing to build! Just thought everyone would like to know, more updates to come soon!
Well after finally figuring everything out, a lot of phone calls, and nagging, I'm finally all signed up to take the NCLEX RN on December 9th. And yes having it scheduled is freaking me out more then ever. But It's time to just take it and be done with it. No more worrying about if I can even do it or if I'm too little or whatever other excuse my little brain can come up with. Besides I didn't spend 2 years busting my butt not to finish!!
So I will probably fall of the face of the planet until then but it'll be worth it when I pass the test and can get a job doing what I love!!
So it's bye for now and I'll talk to you again in 4 weeks!!
I don't know what it is about today, but I'm so excited for it!!! I was able to actually sleep through most of the night last night, Matt and I got to talk this morning before he left for school and I'm so incredibly happy right now that I feel like no matter what happens today I'm going to be happy. :)
Having said that I'm going to go find something for breakfast and clean my kitchen!! :)
Yes, I am excited about cleaning (more so having a clean kitchen though...)
So in an effort to write more on this blog I've decided to start using my "Journal Jar" that I made. So the one that Matt picked for this post is "What do you look forward to the most?"
For me, the thing that I look forward to the most is working at a nurse and being a mom. (Big surprise??) Other then that I just look forward to spending the rest of my life with the most wonderful man in the world, Matt. He's been such a blessing in my life and I can't picture my life without him. He's always there for me no matter what, even if I just need him to hold me while I cry for absolutely no reason at all. I know that no matter what gets thrown at us, we'll make it through because we have each other.
I look forward to working at nurse because I feel like as a nurse I can do some good in this world. And even if I never do anything great with my life, I'll know that I gave it my best and did what I could to help people around me. I wanted to be a nurse because I love taking care of people, I always have. Even as a kid when someone got hurt and was crying (especially my little brother Matt) I wanted to be the one to take care of them and help them feel better. Because it was something that I could do that not everyone around me would/could. I loved that blood has never bothered me, that (oddly enough) seeing blood and what ever else just makes me feel calm and level headed, like I'm supposed to be taking care of it and helping that person heal. I had a teacher tell me that I was scary because in one paper I said that "blood excites me." Which yes out of context I can see how that would scare her, and I did use poor wording to explain that when there is someone that's hurt and bloody, I feel so calm and like I can handle the situation. Which for me is exciting, because normally I have a really hard time going out and doing things because I feel so uncomfortable going out of my comfort zone; but, when it comes to someone being hurt or needing my help, it's like my comfort zone becomes the whole world and like I can do anything.
But for now I will just do my best and work towards my goals.
So I've been a victim of a Dinner Rut (can't think of anything to make and nothing sounds good.. grilled chicken and ... salad sounds dinner ish to me!) for the past week ish.. So I decided to surprise my wonderful husband who never complained about my terrible dinner ideas (or lack thereof...) by making Cafe Rio's sweet pork burritos. And I have to say it was the easiest dinner I've made in a long time and it turned out amazing! All I did was take a pork roast (or any pork/chicken you have on hand) throw it in the slow cooker with 2 cups homemade salsa (I used the salsa that my wonderful sister Whitney canned) 1 1/2 c brown sugar and let it cook all day. when I got home from work I just broke up the meat into little pieces (and since it was so tender all I did was take a spoon and pull it apart). Let it cook a little longer while I cut up some lettuce, tomatoes, limes, grated cheese, pulled out sour cream, and set the table. Matt fried the tortillas for us and melted the cheese on top. It really was so good and so freaking easy!! And cleaning up was even easier because I'd used a slow cooker liner for the meat so all I did was put everything in containers, throw away the liner and wash our plates, cups and silverware! Seriously doesn't get any better then that!!
