Thanksgiving

Due to a promotion I received a few months ago, I hadn’t taken any time off work, so when I finally had a few days off for Thanksgiving weekend, I was definitely grateful. Dylan and I spent Thanksgiving Day at my parent’s new house. This was Dylan’s first Thanksgiving with my family since last year we went to Utah to be with his family. We talked about the different side dishes that our families make. His family always makes green bean casserole, which I just learned is a traditional Thanksgiving food. As far as I can remember, we have never made green bean casserole in my family. My favorite dish is always the candied yams. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

After stuffing ourselves, Dylan and I decided to head to Prescott for the rest of the long weekend. As I mentioned before, Dylan grew up in Prescott, but now he is the only one of his family that lives in Arizona. Still his parents own a home and guest house in Chino Valley, so we spent this past weekend there. The cool weather and open prairies make the trip worth it every time. We spent most of the time playing board games (our current favorites are Ticket to Ride and Farkle). We also hiked around Watson Lake and the Granite Dells.

Prescott is one of those snow globe cities to me. If I collected snow globes, I would want the layout of Prescott in one because of the memories and the feeling of wonder I get being there. It’s the place I fell in love with my husband. Before meeting Dylan, I only remember travelling to Prescott once.  In the 6^th grade I went to a leadership camp; I’m not even sure where it’s located but I always say Prescott.

Since Dylan was living in Prescott when we met, I ended up spending a lot of time there all of the sudden. Luckily the house he was living in had a spare bedroom, so I could spend the whole weekend there with him and his roommates. Dylan would come to my parents’ house some weekends as well, but he only had a couch to sleep on.

Watson Lake and the Dells

One of our first dates in Prescott was hiking in the Granite Dells. Dylan just made up a path through all the rocks and took off. I remember trying to keep up with him as we scrambled over boulders. We also went to the best Chinese buffet ever. Now I am pretty sure I really only think U-Like Buffet is the best because of the snow globe effect, but even today it seems like the best $10 meal a person can get. Other memories like geocaching, game nights, and Aroma’s pizza are also tied to Prescott.

One of my favorite funny memories happened on a date in downtown Prescott. We went to the Courthouse Square. The Christmas lights were still on all the towering trees and it was a cold night. We meandered through the local shops musing over the souvenirs and relics of the Old West. Then we stopped for some ice cream because even on the coldest night, I want ice cream. My hands were freezing trying to hold that ice cream cone. Dylan and I would hold hands and stick our hands together in his coat pocket while I use the other hand to eat ice cream. After a minute or two, we would swap hands so the other hand could warm up as we walked around.

 Later, he drove us up a little hill to look at all the city lights. We were chatting and enjoying the warmth of the car heater. Dylan was holding my hand and then leaned in for a kiss… on my hand (he held out for the first lips kiss for a while). I saw the gesture and just figured that my hands were too frozen to have actually felt the kiss. We continued talking.  Then after a few minutes, Dylan said, “wait I think I kissed my own hand!” I died laughing. Apparently instead of kissing the back of my hand, he actually kissed his own hand and I was too cold to know the difference.  This is still our little joke, and we commonly kiss the back of our own hands for fun.

I definitely enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday and the opportunity to relive those fun memories of falling in love. If only it could all fit in a little snow globe; luckily it’s all not too far away from our current home.

 

 

An Old Note

Yesterday I decided to rifle through my old cellphone. It’s an IPhone 4 that sits on my nightstand and now functions only as an alarm clock. That IPhone 4 was my first smartphone. I received it when I came home from my mission but only because the rest of my family was already upgrading to the newest version. I forget which sibling used the one they gave me, but I do know that when I left on my mission, my family only had dumb phones and then a few months later, they emailed me to say they all changed to IPhones. I guess those are the type of blessings a family receives for a having a missionary in the field? Anyways I digress…

I opened the notes app not remembering what I had stored there. I am typically a pen and paper type person, so the notes app normally remains abandoned as I prefer to write in my planner. However, I was surprised to find that I had kept quite a few lists in that phone. First was last year’s Christmas list for Dylan. I always try to scribble gift ideas down throughout the year whenever he mentions something he thinks is cool or he wants. Some of last year’s items included jeans, a guitar book, a knife, and a belt.

My next notes were quotes and song lyrics. One was a list of songs that I wanted on our wedding reception playlist.  We had a live guitarist at the reception who was able to play several of those songs, and the rest of the music made it to the dance playlist.

Finally, my last note was a list of goals I had written down in January 29^th 2016. I was in Spain at that time on my solo backpacking trip. I am trying to figure out what inspired me to write down a list of goals. Maybe it was a late night video chat with Dylan, a common occurrence as I travelled. Maybe it was something I heard in a Spanish ward meeting. No matter the inspiration, it was fun to see how I compared to the 2016 Emilee.

My list of goals included:

• Run a marathon ( I had recently ran my first and only half marathon)
• Remain healthy and raise a healthy family
• Create a home where the spirit can always be by reading scriptures, turning to forgiveness, and always showing love.
• Become a yoga teacher
• Serve an old people mission
• Get a Master’s degree
• Travel the world

I love how this short list shows both the change and progress I have made. I came home from Spain with an extra 10 lbs. I am sure, and I definitely didn’t lose it while running. I haven’t ran anywhere near 13 miles in the last two years, and really don’t have the goal to do so anytime soon. I still try to be a health nut but my love for ice cream and exploring new foods keeps inhibiting that goal. As for the family aspect, my tortoise Walnut is on a raw food diet, so I guess I am doing well there. Back in January 2016, I was entering my last semester of my undergraduate degree. I had talked to a professor who encouraged me to get a Master’s in Political and Environmental Science. Now that is definitely not even part of my current 5 year plan, but I did continue my education by joining the Yoga Teacher Training program which was something I always imagined doing when I was older. I still love to travel but recently haven’t been a world traveler. We do have some plans to go out of the country in 2018 though.

I used to think of goals as only a checklist. Once they were written down, I had to get them done. Of course some of the goals I wrote like “create a home where the spirit can be” are not something I can just check off, but a majority of my past and current goals are checklist worthy. With the checklist, I found myself stressing about the person I used to be or used to want to be. I felt I had let myself down or had become less of myself because I hadn’t accomplished certain goals. In the past few months, I have tried to accept that I can change and still be just as much of a person. Maybe I haven’t started my Master’s degree even though education is a top priority, but I do have my first full time job and have received 2 promotions in the last year and a half. I haven’t wanted to run my heart out, but my yoga practice is becoming stronger every day. I always thought I would be a great mom and would want to have kids very early in marriage. Instead, today motherhood seems terrifying, and I am currently enjoying the freedom and time I have with my husband.

Last night, as I looked at some of the items on my list, for once I wanted to laugh. I think a while ago I would have wanted to push myself harder or “get back in the game”. However, instead of feeling that I had fallen off the running or health food wagon, I thought about other interests I have developed. These changes really have much more to do with what takes up my time than who I truly am, so why stress about it. What I am realizing is that it is far more important to make sure that with the changes in hobbies or ideas, I am still on the right track to who I want to become. I still want to be able to serve “an old people mission” and have the spirit in my home. Am I doing the things I need to do to still be that person in the future? In the end, I probably won’t care if I don’t run a marathon or visit every country (although both would be awesome), but I will want to make sure that I had a positive attitude in life, through the running, yoga, motherhood, education, all of it and make sure that I remember who I am as a child of God.

I will continue to set goals and fill my journal with dreams. It’s exciting to work hard and to accomplish. However, I hope that in the coming months, I continue to embrace change in myself and recognize we aren’t letting anyone down by evolving into different people with new talents, strengths, or goals. I hope for change that is for the better and brings me closer to my loved ones and to who I ultimately am.   

A night in the life of a traveling sole

Last night was relaxing, much needed as we approach the holiday season. I ran to Fry’s after work to get some food for the week. It was a mad house and Thanksgiving is still 3 days away. The cashier assured me it would get worse. Dylan stayed to work late, so the house was quiet when I got home. Even though it wasn’t a very cold day, I felt like making soup. I turned to the recipe book from my mission in Chile. I leafed through the pages of hand written recipes remembering the people and families who I had learned the recipes from. How each of them has touch my life, I hope they remember me with the same fondness. I found a Columbian soup recipe I had written after having lunch with some recent converts. They had immigrated to Chile looking for better jobs in the cooper mines. They lived in studio-type apartment complex with several other Columbian families, they had struggles but were always anxious to share the gospel with their neighbors. It was always a joy to be there with such lively people.

The Columbian soup consists of plantains, potatoes, carrots, cilantro, and spices. My interpretation of course did not turn out as tasty, but it was a hearty soup for a mildly cold day. Dylan doused his bowl in hot sauce (his favorite food) and even had a second bowl, so it could not have been that bad.

After dinner, I was off to my yoga class. Monday night’s class is a two hour hatha yoga class, but last night we spent the final hour doing some restorative yoga. I hadn’t done a restorative practice for a while, since I am normally challenging myself to get deeper into the more traditional and “impressive” poses. I was grateful to have the evening to think and focus and feel the subtle shifts in my flexibility.

Soon I was back at home, cuddled on the couch with my hubby. I love relaxing evenings. Hopefully I can carry some of that peace from last night into the holiday season.

 Take the time to find the stillness in what can sometimes be chaos, and always remember to be grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Change and Learning

Two years. That exciting last post about Spain was published just six days before I met the man who would become my husband. When it came time to leave for Spain, my heart was in a different place. The last two years have definitely been a whirlwind of change and learning; some of it embraced and some of it met with resistance. In all the excitement, I’ve needed a place to dump my thoughts, so once again I have returned to my mostly abandoned blog page.

I’ll do a quick recap of the last years for anyone who is actually keeping up. Like I said I met my husband just after purchasing my plane ticket to Spain. We met briefly at an YSA dance at Northern Arizona University and then he came back to NAU for a night of swing and salsa dancing the following weekend. That night I could just tell Dylan was something different. Besides the fact that I was literally head over heels with all the flips and twists he was showing me, I was instantly drawn to him. When he left that night to return to Prescott, I knew I wanted to see him again.

A few days later, I left NAU to live with my parents for the few weeks leading to my departure to Spain. I still had one final essay to complete for the semester and I thought I could get could use that assignment as an excuse to talk to Dylan again. At the time I didn’t have his phone number, so I sent him a Facebook message telling him of my so-called “essay dilemma”. He responded that he would gladly help and that we should video chat. I do believe we were up until 3am that night chatting and very little of it had to do with my essay.

I quickly felt that Dylan was my new adventure and I changed my plans for Spain. I ended up doing a 3 week backpacking trip and took some online classes. May 5th, or Cinco de Mayo, Dylan and I were married and sealed for time and all eternity. I graduated from NAU the following weekend.

Now we have been married for just a year and a half and as I mentioned before, it has been an exciting whirlwind of change and learning.

Current day has us living in our home state of Arizona. Both Dylan and I are in school. Dylan is working on his undergraduate degree in Phycology and nutrition, and I am getting my yoga teacher training certificate. We both work full time and have a beautiful Hermann tortoise we call Walnut. While we have definitely put on some newly-wed weight, we still love dancing, hiking, and chasing adventure. Life truly is good.