The Candyland Perspective

It has been an eon since I posted anything.  Life gets away from me.  Well, maybe that's not exactly true.  Caring to post on my blog is what gets away from me, truthfully.  I've been rather busy, and mostly the good kind of busy, I might add.  In the past year and a half, I was released from serving in the stake Young Women's organization as secretary, called as the ward compassionate service leader for two months at Christmastime, and then called to serve as first counselor in our ward YW program.  I served as 1st counselor for four and a half months, and then around Christmastime 2016, I was called to be the ward YW president.  It has been an interesting year and a half. September 2016, I became a college student.  I took advantage of the Pathway program through the Church and Brigham Young University-Idaho.  I also became a Mary Kay consultant that summer.  MK, Pathway, Young Women, and LIFE all combined took their toll on me....

Beloved and I have no little ones of our own, so when it comes to developing new Christmas traditions, it's actually harder to come up with ideas than I expected.  One thing for certain though is that we really do want to keep the focus on the birth and life of the Savior.  This is a list of ways that we will keep a good focus all December long.  Dan & I just brainstormed, and this is the best we could do for now.  I'd LOVE to hear some of your ideas and/or suggestions! Merry Christmas! The Whites Keeping Christ in Christmas Watch "The Nativity Story" Make Christmas cookies for home/visiting teaching families Visit the Mesa Temple Christmas lights Read Luke 2 together early in December Make a Kramer paw print ornament for the tree Pay for the car behind us at McDonald's (or wherever) Deliver Christmas cookies to neighbors we don't know Say "Merry Christmas" to someone new every day Drive around looking at Christmas lights while lis...

Sometimes I don't do too well with change.  I'm a creature of habit, like most, so rearranging life's components can be a wee traumatic.  However, there are times that I completely welcome change and all the promise it can hold.  Today, I'm embracing change. For three years, I've lived in Virginia Beach, having moved here from Chandler, Arizona.  From the desert to the sea, it was most certainly a big change.  It was a very worthy endeavor though.  I came to be near my sweetheart, the man I would marry.  I also have enjoyed the added benefit of being much nearer to my three brothers and my parents.  It was a very good thing for me to move to Virginia Beach.  For the past three years, I have enjoyed the ocean, even though I've not visited it as often as I'd like.  I've heard, felt, and been amazed by the near deafening thunder of hundreds of fighter jets flying into and out of nearby Oceana.  I've marveled every si...

And that means Thanksgiving is upon us.  I love Thanksgiving.  I don't necessarily love Thanksgiving dinner though.  I don't necessarily love football watching, cleaning up an obscenely messy kitchen, or all the busyness in the grocery store.  What I do love, however, is the crispness in the air, the gorgeous colorful leaves, the devotion to gratitude... even if for just one day for some folks, and that I get the day off of work to spend time with people I love.  My love for those things certainly outweighs my unlove for the other aspects of the Thanksgiving tradition. Kevin (Beloved's youngest son) will be coming home from Central Michigan University for Thanksgiving.  He'll be home late tomorrow afternoon!  I'm excited to see how he's changed in just a few short months since he left for school.  Will he have gotten the freshman (though he's really a junior) fifteen?  Slimmed out a bit?  Gosh I hope he hasn't taken on the attitu...

{this morning's entry into my gratitude journal received from relief society on sunday} Even though the election last night didn't go the way I had hoped & prayed that it would, I am VERY grateful that Mitt Romney ran.  He has opened so many doors of opportunity when it comes to missionary work.  I am grateful for my faith in God and that I know He is mindful of His children.  I am grateful for the Book of Mormon, as its lessons & stories do truly give me better perspective for life now.  And I am grateful for my dearly beloved husband Dan.  He is the best. ♥♥♥♥♥

I voted today in the fifth general election for which I was of age to vote.  I vote in the mid-terms too.  I feel very good about being able to vote, and I take it very seriously. When I arrived to the polling place this morning, the line was a bit outside the door, and it was a chilly morning.  Dearly Beloved had already voted by the time I arrived, so he warned me what I was in for.  He arrived at 5:55 a.m. (doors opened at 6), and he left at 6:56 a.m.  I arrived at 7:15 a.m. and left at 8:40 a.m. When I had inched my way up into the school, I could see that there was a poll worker giving out sample ballots to everyone so they'd know who was on the ballot today.  I saw folks in front of me looking over the names, some intently, some as if it was just another flyer handed out to them on the street.  But mostly, none of them seemed to have ever seen these names before, had ever read about the two different Commonwealth amendments...

(not that there are only ten... or that these are the ten best reasons either)  1)  He stopped on a busy road at night in the pouring rain to help a stranger get her huge SUV out of the road.  He pushed and pushed 'til it was safe in a parking lot.  He was a drowned rat & she was able to comfortably wait for her friend to bring her some gas.  2)  He has The Most Adorable voice when he's mimicking.  It's scratchy, a bit high-pitched, and cute.  3)  He actually called Kramer "son" when K was in BIG trouble.  4)  He knows that I have a favorite candy bar, and will get one for me when he sees it's needed.  5)  He is a true Christian gentleman.  6)  He always kisses me goodnight or goodbye.  7)  He prays for our families & friends.  8)  He set up Pandora channels just for me... without me even knowing it.  9)  He checks in on me after a sad day, just to make sure...

My dearly beloved gifted me with a beautiful and lovely engagement ring just over two years ago, and just 2 1/2 months after that, he gifted me with an equally lovely wedding ring.  I've loved these rings.  I love wearing them.  I love looking down at them.  I love feeling them on my finger.  I do not love, however, the nasty little rash that has cropped up underneath my rings. }:( Grrr. I would wake up at night finding myself scratching my finger 'til it was raw.  It burns, it itches, it looks awful.  When I was in middle school, I had a strange case of something skin related.  Eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis... it was called everything by varying doctors.  There were different treatments tried, but ultimately, I think I grew out of it.  Given my history, I thought maybe the same thing is going on with this ring issue.  I bought a little topical stinky gel medication for the problem area the other day, and it has done not...

My dearly beloved, Dan.  What's not to love? These are The Best Mints Ever. Almost any Reuben is a good Reuben, but this one is really good.  It's not my favorite of all time, but it's good. Fun-colored toes are always a favorite, though here I'm seriously in need of a real pedicure. Heaven on Earth.  Literally. The perfume of lillies is intoxicating.  I love lillies.  And I especially LOVE it when my dearly beloved sends them to me at work. ♥ Self portraits.  

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WE DID IT! Quite possibly the BEST day of my life thus far.  Words are not enough.  I don't think I can describe the feelings I had on 1/19/2012 (our endowment day) and 1/20/2012 (our sealing).  Here's a little snippet of what I had put in an email to a friend who had asked how it went shortly after we came home: The sealing, our endowments, and everything just seemed perfect. Friday, Dan & I arrived way early to do initiatories for his dad, his grandma, and then we did their endowments. After that, we were sealed. After that, Dan baptized me for my grandma & another relative. It was super amazing. It was the first time Dan had ever baptized anyone...so way cool, huh!?! Though we were pretty much mentally exhausted, we could've gone on forever like that. And though we weren't totally aware of it at the time, we both remarked on how wonderful it was to have not a single thought or care to do with anything out in the rest of our lives. Not a job thoug...

Lookie what I got for Christmas from my dear husband Dan! He found it on Craigslist.  We went to see it and not only was the piano cool, but the people he bought it from were great too.  Dan's Home Teaching companion, Jason Bosko, helped Dan bring it to the house.  HOORAY! I'm not musically talented, or at least I don't think I am.  I had two or three lessons when I was five years old.  I know middle C.  My knowledge ends right about there.  However, I am hopeful and I believe I am a good learner.  I've been practicing, and so far I can play "I Am a Child of God" pretty well, but just with my right hand.  None of this left hand business is down just yet.  Anyway, I practice everyday and I can't wait until I play a perfect waltz! So, this is me in my quest to BE POSITIVE.  With hard work, some blessings from above, and a positive attitude, I will develop this talent.  YES!

Our first anniversary was AWESOME!  We had a great time staying down at the oceanfront in the same hotel where we stayed on our wedding night.  We had originally thought we even were in the same exact room, but we were off by a couple floors.  Oh well.  Anyway, we enjoyed a FABULOUS dinner at Eurasia Café, exchanged thoughtful gifts, and simply enjoyed ourselves.  The next morning we went to Pocahontas Pancakes down on Atlantic Ave.  We had gone there the morning after the wedding with Holly & her cousin.  Nothing says honeymoon quite like dining with your friends! I had the almond French toast.  IT WAS DELICIOUS.  And I don't even like bananas.  Dan had a sampler of sorts, which he found absolutely edible--in other words, not as fabulous as mine, but definitely good eats. We decided to start an anniversary tradition.  On our anniversary, we will take a photo of ourselves holding the photo taken of us the year befo...