Every once in awhile you meet someone who really inspires you and recently one such person that came into our lives was Beth. Ben made a video about her for the Center for Service and Learning at BYU and I love how it turned out.
She and her family were a joy to work with. The best part was going to their home to watch the "premiere" of the video with their family. Beth was so excited- grabbing Ben's leg and hollering the whole time. I'm so proud of Ben and how he tries to incorporate service into his life, and I think this was one of his best projects yet.
Fun note: Beth later told me she wanted to marry someone as handsome as Ben one day :) It just melted my heart.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
October Happenings
Here's a little update on some fun things we've been doing this October:
Ben's Mission Reunion
(L to R: Ben, Me, Landon Larkin, Jessica and Nate Shepard, Tim Wood,
Trevor Atkinson and Ryker. Not pictured: Brian)
Ben's Mission Reunion
(L to R: Ben, Me, Landon Larkin, Jessica and Nate Shepard, Tim Wood,Trevor Atkinson and Ryker. Not pictured: Brian)
On Saturday the 15th Ben invited a bunch of his mission friends over to our apartment for a get together. It was really fun to see many of the people so dear to him and also to get to meet Tim, a member from his mission who was visiting from Texas. We chatted until late and I got to hear some great stories from Ben's mission. He served with some great people and I loved having them come to our home.
Gardner Village
Just a few beautiful things from the shops (and things I'll only be able to afford when we earn our first million)...
This chair, priced at $929 dollars, stole my heart. The fabric can be purchased for only $179 dollars a yard. What a great sewing project right? For that price I think I'd rather just buy the chair and forget the sewing.
And this amazing rug...
And of course, my beautiful sisters and mom:
Someone made a comment about my pregnant belly
Gardner Village
Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without a visit to Gardner Village. It is so fun to see the shops and how they decorate it. My sisters and I have the tradition to go every year.
Just a few beautiful things from the shops (and things I'll only be able to afford when we earn our first million)...
This chair, priced at $929 dollars, stole my heart. The fabric can be purchased for only $179 dollars a yard. What a great sewing project right? For that price I think I'd rather just buy the chair and forget the sewing.
And this amazing rug...
And of course, my beautiful sisters and mom:
Someone made a comment about my pregnant bellySunday, October 16, 2011
A Fall Outing
Yesterday Ben and I had a lot to get done, but ended up going up the canyon to look at the leaves instead. We filmed a little footage while there, then realized that the audio wasn't on when we filmed. However that didn't deter Ben from making a fun little film of our excursion. Enjoy our outing!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
My Secret Obsession: Bedding
This will be the third time I've shown a picture of my bedding on this blog so it must be evident I have a small obsession. That and a huge tupperware in my closet full of extra sheets and bedspreads for every season and color scheme: creme, red, blue, brown, white, spring, summer, winter, twin, king size... you can never have enough!
Having a mother who decorated three homes with six or seven bedrooms in each gave me the bug. When I went home once this summer, I saw two beautiful pillow shams she was going to give away. I had to have them. I brought them home to a puzzled husband asking, "Since when do we need more bedding?" and more importantly, "What's a sham?" After realizing that the shams would only match with my winter bedding, I put them in the tupperware and waited patiently for the first snow. This year I was rewarded early.
However since then it seems to have gotten warm again and Ben and I wake up each morning sweating under the feather comforter. But it's so worth it! The bedding is so beautiful! At least that's what I keep telling Ben and myself, mostly to avoid having to switch back to the summer bedding. We'll see who breaks first: me or the warm weather.
Having a mother who decorated three homes with six or seven bedrooms in each gave me the bug. When I went home once this summer, I saw two beautiful pillow shams she was going to give away. I had to have them. I brought them home to a puzzled husband asking, "Since when do we need more bedding?" and more importantly, "What's a sham?" After realizing that the shams would only match with my winter bedding, I put them in the tupperware and waited patiently for the first snow. This year I was rewarded early.
However since then it seems to have gotten warm again and Ben and I wake up each morning sweating under the feather comforter. But it's so worth it! The bedding is so beautiful! At least that's what I keep telling Ben and myself, mostly to avoid having to switch back to the summer bedding. We'll see who breaks first: me or the warm weather.
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Best Mission on the Planet
Please do not think me arrogant, but I have to state my opinion on something. Just like everyone else who has served a mission, I believe I served in the best mission on the planet. It's a similar emotion to a parent believing theirs is the most adorable child ever born. There is no true validation for said parent unless they win the Gerber "Most Beautiful Baby" contest or something, but even without winning a contest, I know my mission was the most wonderful ever. If you're not convinced, here are my arguments for why the El Salvador San Salvador / Belize mission is the best:
Argument #1) I got to serve in two countries, see numerous cultures, and learn multiple languages. Not only did I get to enjoy the culture and people of El Salvador upon my arrival in the mission, but I was also able to serve the people of Belize for 14 months. In Belize we spoke English, Spanish, and even a little Creole sometimes.
Argument #2) I had the opportunity to see/do all this and more:
Argument #3) Look at this handsome group of ex-missionaries:
Don't they just look like they changed lives? :) These are just a small number of the missionaries I served with in Belize, including the Dunford's, the senior couple that are sitting.We had a reunion at their home the Friday night before conference and it was such a great event. We spent most of the time catching up, reminiscing about Belize, talking about the members, discussing areas and people we taught, and we later skyped my mission president and his wife in Guatemala. For great memories from our last reunion click here.
Argument #4 (the same reason every other returned missionary believes their mission is the best): For a time, Belize was everything to me. For 14 months, my life was the church, the investigators, the members, and the salvation of the Belizean people. And for the other people pictured, it was as well. We all gave everything we had for the same people and culture and that common purpose ties us together. That and the fact that we all lived through the same heat, illness, and at times, rejection. I guess some of that suffering can tie you together too.
Note for Ben: I guess the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission was pretty cool too :)
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Pregnancy Chatter: 13 weeks
I hope you all enjoyed Ben's last post as much as I did. He's such a funny guy and I really love him so much.
On that note, I hit 13 weeks this week (yes, I am counting every week). Woo hoo! I'm almost out of the first trimester. One night shift this week I had a coworker Doppler the baby's heart beat just to reassure myself that there is a reason I'm still feeling sick (the experience of having your baby die and make you vomit every day after for 6 weeks makes you desire some reassurance in the next pregnancy). It was strong and regular at 145. What a relief.
And more good news: I'm starting to feel a little better. Still nauseated at times but my energy is coming back. There's no longer a perpetual pile of dirty dishes in our sink now. And my bedside no longer looks like this:
Granted this was taken when I was pregnant in DC, but the idea is the same. Please note the box of flavorless cereal, water bottle, juice bottle, puking bowl, crackers, scriptures, and computer. Also the untidy bed. When morning sickness hits, I feel proud if I only shower and make the bed each day.
But now I exercise (wow!) and cook (incredible!) and clean the house (amazing!). Okay maybe not so phenomenal but I'm relieved that I'm starting to feel like myself again. When you're pregnant and morning sick, that's about all you can ask for.
On that note, I hit 13 weeks this week (yes, I am counting every week). Woo hoo! I'm almost out of the first trimester. One night shift this week I had a coworker Doppler the baby's heart beat just to reassure myself that there is a reason I'm still feeling sick (the experience of having your baby die and make you vomit every day after for 6 weeks makes you desire some reassurance in the next pregnancy). It was strong and regular at 145. What a relief.
And more good news: I'm starting to feel a little better. Still nauseated at times but my energy is coming back. There's no longer a perpetual pile of dirty dishes in our sink now. And my bedside no longer looks like this:
Granted this was taken when I was pregnant in DC, but the idea is the same. Please note the box of flavorless cereal, water bottle, juice bottle, puking bowl, crackers, scriptures, and computer. Also the untidy bed. When morning sickness hits, I feel proud if I only shower and make the bed each day.But now I exercise (wow!) and cook (incredible!) and clean the house (amazing!). Okay maybe not so phenomenal but I'm relieved that I'm starting to feel like myself again. When you're pregnant and morning sick, that's about all you can ask for.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
IKEA catalog/catalogue, pregnancy, and the things Athena says when she's high
(Please have your personal copy of the latest IKEA catalog nearby or you will not enjoy this blog post)
I’m sitting here debating what the most efficient use of my time should be in this moment. You see, I’m developing a blog post in my little mind, yet Athena’s IKEA catalog just came today. The debate is this: do I cut carefully cut the cover off the catalogue (I’m not sure how to spell catalog, so I’ll utilize both versions sequentially, besides, it’s such a nice catalog/catalogue, it’s worth mentioning twice) and replace the contents of the catalog/catalogue with something entertaining, say, a heap of papers from my sophomore year of high school, or should I simply go through with a Sharpie and make ridiculous comments throughout the entire magazine, OR should I write a blog post? So many tantalizing choices… I think I’m going to save the hassle of finding scissors and old papers from high school. I’ll write a blog post while I make snide remarks and draw pictures throughout the IKEA catalog/catalogue!
Some day I’ll write a blog post about IKEA, Sweden and the endless desire women have to decorate and how this is the cause of global warming. Today is not that day. No, today there are more important issues of national merit that need addressing. Like, say, why did Athena call me no fewer than six times in less than two hours? I will try to explain, but this particular topic may end up on the new IKEA shelf that surely will be the dire result of our new catalog/catalogue. (I found the perfect shelf for my future topic depository… see page 259 of the latest catalogue/catalog. I chose the green one. Why don't you pick out your favorite too? In the meantime, I’m feeling a little light-headed from the Sharpie. I never knew IKEA could be so much fun for so cheap. I didn't even have to stop and buy any Swedish meatballs! I drew several figures sitting in the chairs on pages 64 and 69. They seem like comfortable chairs, or, at least the people I drew seem comfortable). I digress. On Tuesday, I was planning to meet with Athena during her break at work. We’d established a ballpark time of when we’d get together. Pregnancy and ballparks don’t mix. Athena called me 6 times to confirm, reconfirm, and rereconfirm when and how I was coming. Pregnancy does strange things to a woman. But then again, so does morphine. You see, the last time we did this whole pregnancy thing, it ended it a bit of a mess. As an analogy, let’s say the unattended candles on page 286 of our fine catalog/catalogue were to catch the fine flowers next to them on fire. This would be a mess like unto the last time we went through this pregnancy bit.
Speaking of flowers, let’s go to the hospital where we find Athena in a state of delirium the morning after her miscarriage. She’s coherent, yet still missing the finer points of her usual intellect. Enter me... with a beautiful bouquet of red roses and a big smile. Athena: “Wow! Who are those from?” Ouch. I laughed about it, but I learned a good lesson: buy more flowers for your wife more often or just say someone else sent the flowers and pretend to be the delivery boy.
Back to the morphine. Let’s go to the Sunday evening when we rushed to hospital because Athena was bleeding like a… like a… no analogy here… she was just bleeding. They swept her off to surgery and dropped me off in the waiting room with a mediocre sandwich and a stack of magazines. I paced around the waiting room for what seemed like hours while Athena went to the operating room for an emergency D&C. Finally, after what really was hours, I went prowling around the deserted hospital in search of my wife. I found a nurse who kindly directed me to where Athena was coming to after surgery. What followed then was several hours of morphine induced remarks that will forever cause our posterity to double over in laughter. So, cozy up in an easy chair (the one on page 67 of our catalog/catalogue looks comfy), put your Swedish meatballs on that particle board coffee table from IKEA and enjoy what I’ve titled, “The things Athena says when she’s on drugs:”
• (in the OR right after the surgery) All you ever think about is food and Honda.
• This is such a drug trip.
• (I was feeding her ice) One for me, two for you
• Man, this catheter is a trippy feeling. I feel like I could pee all over this room right now, but I know I can’t.
• (To the nurse… 6 times) What was your name again?
• Do you know how good this ice is?
• Nurse: How are you doing? Athena: I’ve got a balloon in me, so I guess I’m doing fine.
• Wow! I’m tripped out. I’m never, ever doing drugs.
• To the nurse: Jorge do you speak Spanish? I speak Spanish. Yo puedo hablar español por la anesthesia (I can speak Spanish because of the anesthesia).
• (after the blood transfusion) Somebody else’s blood runs through my veins now. Am I still a DeBry? Who knows.
• Can I have some more drink? What Jorge brought me was wonderful, but I finished it.
• (To the nurse) Did you spike my Sprite?
• Tell Landon it’s too bad there isn’t a nurse name Betsy—I’d get more views than him on YouTube. (watch this for high quality entertainment)
• This catheter thing is great isn’t it?
• The pain isn’t terrible, but it’s just bothersome. Do you have some anti-botherment medicine?
• Wow what good blood pressure! I get to go home! Good job body.
She had me rolling. I don’t know if reading this captures the spirit in which the statements were said, but she was so funny! I wouldn’t wish a miscarriage upon anyone, but if you’re there anyway, make sure to write down the funny things that happen. Well, I’m blogged out for the day. I will wrap this up with one mystical question that may turn into a future blog post: why in the world is there a printed ruler on the spine of the IKEA catalogue/catalog? I’m just going to leave that on my new particle board shelf and walk away, gently humming ABBA songs to myself.
I’m sitting here debating what the most efficient use of my time should be in this moment. You see, I’m developing a blog post in my little mind, yet Athena’s IKEA catalog just came today. The debate is this: do I cut carefully cut the cover off the catalogue (I’m not sure how to spell catalog, so I’ll utilize both versions sequentially, besides, it’s such a nice catalog/catalogue, it’s worth mentioning twice) and replace the contents of the catalog/catalogue with something entertaining, say, a heap of papers from my sophomore year of high school, or should I simply go through with a Sharpie and make ridiculous comments throughout the entire magazine, OR should I write a blog post? So many tantalizing choices… I think I’m going to save the hassle of finding scissors and old papers from high school. I’ll write a blog post while I make snide remarks and draw pictures throughout the IKEA catalog/catalogue!
Some day I’ll write a blog post about IKEA, Sweden and the endless desire women have to decorate and how this is the cause of global warming. Today is not that day. No, today there are more important issues of national merit that need addressing. Like, say, why did Athena call me no fewer than six times in less than two hours? I will try to explain, but this particular topic may end up on the new IKEA shelf that surely will be the dire result of our new catalog/catalogue. (I found the perfect shelf for my future topic depository… see page 259 of the latest catalogue/catalog. I chose the green one. Why don't you pick out your favorite too? In the meantime, I’m feeling a little light-headed from the Sharpie. I never knew IKEA could be so much fun for so cheap. I didn't even have to stop and buy any Swedish meatballs! I drew several figures sitting in the chairs on pages 64 and 69. They seem like comfortable chairs, or, at least the people I drew seem comfortable). I digress. On Tuesday, I was planning to meet with Athena during her break at work. We’d established a ballpark time of when we’d get together. Pregnancy and ballparks don’t mix. Athena called me 6 times to confirm, reconfirm, and rereconfirm when and how I was coming. Pregnancy does strange things to a woman. But then again, so does morphine. You see, the last time we did this whole pregnancy thing, it ended it a bit of a mess. As an analogy, let’s say the unattended candles on page 286 of our fine catalog/catalogue were to catch the fine flowers next to them on fire. This would be a mess like unto the last time we went through this pregnancy bit.
Speaking of flowers, let’s go to the hospital where we find Athena in a state of delirium the morning after her miscarriage. She’s coherent, yet still missing the finer points of her usual intellect. Enter me... with a beautiful bouquet of red roses and a big smile. Athena: “Wow! Who are those from?” Ouch. I laughed about it, but I learned a good lesson: buy more flowers for your wife more often or just say someone else sent the flowers and pretend to be the delivery boy.
Back to the morphine. Let’s go to the Sunday evening when we rushed to hospital because Athena was bleeding like a… like a… no analogy here… she was just bleeding. They swept her off to surgery and dropped me off in the waiting room with a mediocre sandwich and a stack of magazines. I paced around the waiting room for what seemed like hours while Athena went to the operating room for an emergency D&C. Finally, after what really was hours, I went prowling around the deserted hospital in search of my wife. I found a nurse who kindly directed me to where Athena was coming to after surgery. What followed then was several hours of morphine induced remarks that will forever cause our posterity to double over in laughter. So, cozy up in an easy chair (the one on page 67 of our catalog/catalogue looks comfy), put your Swedish meatballs on that particle board coffee table from IKEA and enjoy what I’ve titled, “The things Athena says when she’s on drugs:”
• (in the OR right after the surgery) All you ever think about is food and Honda.
• This is such a drug trip.
• (I was feeding her ice) One for me, two for you
• Man, this catheter is a trippy feeling. I feel like I could pee all over this room right now, but I know I can’t.
• (To the nurse… 6 times) What was your name again?
• Do you know how good this ice is?
• Nurse: How are you doing? Athena: I’ve got a balloon in me, so I guess I’m doing fine.
• Wow! I’m tripped out. I’m never, ever doing drugs.
• To the nurse: Jorge do you speak Spanish? I speak Spanish. Yo puedo hablar español por la anesthesia (I can speak Spanish because of the anesthesia).
• (after the blood transfusion) Somebody else’s blood runs through my veins now. Am I still a DeBry? Who knows.
• Can I have some more drink? What Jorge brought me was wonderful, but I finished it.
• (To the nurse) Did you spike my Sprite?
• Tell Landon it’s too bad there isn’t a nurse name Betsy—I’d get more views than him on YouTube. (watch this for high quality entertainment)
• This catheter thing is great isn’t it?
• The pain isn’t terrible, but it’s just bothersome. Do you have some anti-botherment medicine?
• Wow what good blood pressure! I get to go home! Good job body.
She had me rolling. I don’t know if reading this captures the spirit in which the statements were said, but she was so funny! I wouldn’t wish a miscarriage upon anyone, but if you’re there anyway, make sure to write down the funny things that happen. Well, I’m blogged out for the day. I will wrap this up with one mystical question that may turn into a future blog post: why in the world is there a printed ruler on the spine of the IKEA catalogue/catalog? I’m just going to leave that on my new particle board shelf and walk away, gently humming ABBA songs to myself.
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