Grateful in Any Circumstances

In Relief Society today, we talked about President Uchtdorf's talk in the April 2014 General Conference about being grateful. We talked about all of the different trials that we may be going through in our lives. They may be little trials or even big ones. There are trials that I am going through in my life and after the lesson today, I left feeling grateful for them. There is always something that we can learn while going through trials even if we don't like the circumstances we are experiencing. I was reminded that our Heavenly Father does not give us anything that we can't handle. Listen to this talk and I am sure you will change the way that you think about your trials.

"Remember that when you feel like you're drowning in life, your lifeguard walks on water"

Words to Live by

Homemade Bread

It was so miserable today outside and I was not about ready to go outside in that heat. I had all the stuff that I needed so I decided to be Betty Crocker for a minute and make some homemade bread. I searched for a hour to find the easiest recipe that I could find and I finally found it. You can make this bread in a little over one hour. Eric came home totally impressed and I just went along with it but it really was so easy and yummy! 

Ingredients:

5 1/2 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 1/2 Tsp Salt

2 Pkt. (4 1/2 Tsp) Dry Yeast

2 Cups Very Warm Water (About 110º)

1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil

In the bowl of your mixer, add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Pour in warm water and the oil. Mix for 5 minutes. The dough will be very sticky. It is so sticky that my KitchenAid was struggling mixing it. Spray your counter and 2 bread pans with non-stick spray. Shape the loaves, put them in your pans, and then cover with a towel. I put them in my laundry room in the dark and it seemed to go pretty fast. It is warm in there as well so that helped. Let it rise until it goes barely over the bread pan. Mine took about 40 minutes. Bake it at 375º for 25-30 minutes. It makes 2 loaves. Get some peanut butter, honey, or my favorite is Trader Joe's raspberry jam. This is a bread recipe you will love.  

Sisters

There is just something about growing up with all sisters. I used to always want an older brother to protect me. As I started to grow up though, I realized that little sisters can do the same thing. I am the oldest of 4 girls. Whenever I tell people that, they say that they feel so bad for my dad. 4 daughters, a wife, and 2 girl dogs is a lot of girls in the house. There is drama, crying, and yelling when someone is in someone else's closet but there is also something that makes sisters become so close. My dad is a good sport and now that I am married, there is another guy in the house so that makes him feel better. This is picture overload but I am so grateful to have these girls as my sisters and best friends. McCall and I just talked on the phone for an hour and it made me realize that even though I live far away, my sisters and I are still best friends. Distance just doesn't matter. The baby sister Macie and I are 10 years apart but we still find fun things to talk about. Morgan calls and tells me all of her high school experiences and McCall and I don't have enough time to talk about everything that is on our minds. From the group texts, to planning gifts for mom and dad, talking about our futures, shopping, the color pink, and everything else, there is just never a dull moment. We will be best friends forever and that is so important to me. I am so glad I can call McCall, Morgan, and Macie my sisters! Thank goodness for girls!

"Because I have a Sister, I ALWAYS have a Friend"

Grateful

This picture is just gorgeous. Today I have been reflecting on how grateful I am for eternal families. This is one of my favorites because Eric and I were sealed in this temple. I am so grateful that my parents made the decision to be married in the temple and that my sisters and I are sealed to them. I am so glad that my parents taught me growing up the importance of a temple marriage. My mom got me a little plaque to put in my room when I was in college and it had a picture of the temple on it and it said, "If this is not your castle, then you are not my prince." I looked at it everyday and it helped me stay on the path and know that I wanted nothing less than a temple marriage. I have saved it and am going to make sure that it is in our home always. When I met Eric, I knew that he was worthy to take me to the temple and that we could be sealed forever. I am so glad that we made that decision and now because we have a temple marriage and are sealed together forever, we are able to have our future children sealed to us. I hope that we are able to do a good job in teaching our children the importance of this and that it can continue for future generations. Eternal families are such a blessing. 

I have always loved Greg Olsen's paintings. My parents have some in their house and they are just so pretty and bring such a strong spirit into their home. I have also been reflecting how grateful I am for the gospel in my life and that I am a member of this church. Eric and I are in a new place here in Texas and we do not have any family around. It is sometimes hard to be away. Thank goodness for the technology that we have. I am always on the phone with someone from my family or on face time. Eric goes to work everyday all day and I am usually home doing homework, runnings errands, or getting things done around the house. Eric travels quite a bit for work and with no family around, there are days and nights where I feel super alone. We are the youngest in our ward and are the only couple that doesn't have any kids. It has been hard to find our place at church but we are finally getting there. The thing that I love about being a member of this church is that wherever we go, there is a ward that we can attend. The people that you go to church with end up being your family. People have been so great to invite us over for dinner or just send a quick text to see how we are doing. Even though I feel so alone sometimes and feel so out of place at church, I know that the ward is there and there are people there that really care about us. I am also so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father. He is always there. I am so thankful for the comfort that I feel when I am missing Utah, my husband is traveling, or I am just having a bad day. Because of him we are never alone. How grateful I am to have this in my life. There is so much to be grateful for. I think it is important that we go through our everyday lives counting our blessings. We have been given so much. The blessing of forever families and the gospel in my life is what I am especially grateful for today. 

Hawaiian Haystacks

Do any of you other newlywed wives struggle deciding what to make for dinner? I am not a huge fan of cooking but Eric travels and just with his job in general, he eats out a lot. He gets sick of it and he just wants me to cook. I try and cook at least a couple nights a week and I have found something that he and I both like and that we can eat for leftovers for a few nights after. I am all about leftovers and luckily, Eric is a good sport and will eat them. I love Hawaiian Haystacks and remember my mom making them for us growing up. They are so easy. I am a huge fan of making things that don't make a huge mess and don't take very long to make so try these out.  You will need: 2 cans cooked chicken (I use the pre-cooked canned chicken from Costco) 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 cup milk White Rice Toppings: Pineapple, green onions, tomatoes, shredded cheese, and chowmein noodles (Coconut, Almonds, and Celery are also good things to add on top) Put the chicken, soup, and milk in a pot and cook it until it is heated through. It will be super runny at first but it will thicken up. The chicken that I use is in chunks so I always shred it while it is warming up. Make some rice and then when the rice is done, pour the chicken mixture over the rice and then add the toppings. This is a great dinner and very easy! 

Sour Patch Kids are the treat that I love and when I have a sweet tooth, that is what I go for first. My mother-in-law knows that I love them and she called me last week and told me about this new gum that had come out. I was at the store and decided which kind I wanted to try. I couldn't decide so I picked up all 3. I like mint gum WAY better but decided I would have the Sour Patch Kid gum on days that I have a sweet tooth instead of going to the pantry for my bag of them. The gum is way better for you. Try it out!

On the 4th of July, my cousin Megan passed away. She was 21 years old and had Cystic Fibrosis. I couldn't make it to Utah for the funeral and I was so sad to miss it. However, I am so glad that she is healthy and with my Grandpa Neal. Megan taught me to live life to the fullest everyday. She knew that she was very sick but did not let that get her down. She always had something to say that would make everyone laugh. I know that all of us Savage cousins have a funny story that we have shared with Megan. My favorite times that I spent with her were when she would be in the hospital and I would go up to visit her. It would just be her and I and we could talk and laugh for hours. I will always cherish the memories that I had with her. Miss you and love you so much Megan!

Tender Mercies

When I moved to Texas, I noticed that my finger nails were breaking, discolored, and they were very sore. I thought it was the shellac that I kept putting on my nails so I stopped doing that and started putting a nail strengthening nail polish on my nails. They still were just not getting better so I took everything off of them and thought it may have been the change in climate or an allergy that I had. Eric and I were at lunch about 2 months ago and he just felt like I needed to get into a doctor. I asked a doctor in my ward who is a family practitioner and he told me he had no idea what was going on but that I should go see a dermatologist. I got an appointment with a dermatologist and saw him about a month ago. He had no idea what was going on but decided to run a couple tests and make sure I didn't have any type of autoimmune disease. I had some blood work done and the ANA test that checks for autoimmune diseases came back positive. I was referred to a rheumatologist and I couldn't get into him for a month. That left me to think about it for a month and the unknown is the worst. Like anyone would do, I searched the internet and was trying to figure out what could be going on. I was worried I was going to have to take medicine the rest of my life or that I wasn't going to be able to have children. There were many nights that I would lie in bed worried about what was going on inside of me. Eric and I prayed that everything would be okay and that the doctor would be able to figure out what was going on. I was aware that autoimmune diseases can take years to diagnose but I was hoping that the doctor would be able to tell me what was wrong right then. Yesterday, Eric and I went to the rheumatologist and I was so nervous. I was afraid he was going to tell me something that I did not want to hear. The appointment went so well and I left such a happy girl. He explained to me that 20% of the time this test comes back as a false positive. We talked about all of the different autoimmune diseases and I did not have any symptoms. I told him I am healthy and my fingernails were just looking so weird and hurt so bad so I thought I needed to have them looked at. He checked and made sure my heart and lungs were okay and he said that I was in that 20% and that my test was a false positive. My test was just barely positive so he was surprised the dermatologist even wanted me to see him. Today, I am so grateful to wake up and know that I am healthy. I know this will probably not be the case all of the time but I know that this was a tender mercy and that I am very blessed to be in that 20%. I am grateful for finding such a good doctor that spent 45 minutes with Eric and I talking about everything and him making sure that I knew that I had nothing to worry about and that I was going to be okay. I am also so grateful for good health insurance. I have definitely been racking up those doctor bills these past couple of months so I am so thankful that Eric has a good job that provides us with such great health coverage. The doctor gave me his number and said if I want too, we can run the test again but he is 99% sure that it would come back negative so he thought we shouldn't do it again. Plus, I am not a fan of having blood drawn so I was good to pass this time. I know that I was being watched over and am so glad that I can put that behind me and move forward. Eric and I are so relieved and are so grateful.

Sonic Cherry Limeades

I love going to Sonic and getting a cherry limeade. Sundays are long when you can't go get one so I got searching and found a recipe and it is a good one.  You will need: 1 can of Sprite Minute Maid Limeade Concentrate 1 small jar of Maraschino Cherries I just threw as much as I wanted in and then when I liked it I called it good. Going to Sonic is super convenient but when that isn't an option here is Plan B and it tastes just like it. 

4th of July

This weekend was full of fun and the people in Texas are VERY patriotic. Eric's best friend Brian came into town from Kentucky and spent the weekend with us. They have been best friends since they were 12 years old so it was fun for them to spend time together. We spent the 4th going to the parade, having a BBQ, and seeing some fireworks. 

They are both super into history so they went to the USS Texas Battleship. I told them I would be bored out of my mind so I stayed home while they went.