full of food and gratitude

Well my three Thanksgiving meals were a success and I managed to eat full portions without getting sick. Seriously though I've never eaten that much food in my life! But besides being stuffed with homemade deliciousness all day my heart was full too. I got to to see the things I was grateful for most. My family. 

There was this moment late last night at my Abuelas house and Tyler and I went outside to sit by the fire to just talk alone for a few minutes. I turned around to look back into the house through the dining room window and there was my Abuela, aunts, uncles, and parents playing a game. Everyone was smiling and laughing and I was so thankful to be able to take a step back to take it all in. To feel how happy this moment was and how much Heavenly Father has blessed my whole life. It really was a happy Thanksgiving. 

goodbye mel

Yesterday was a very sad day at the Farr house. We lost our pet chameleon from some sort of sickness she caught. We had her for a long while and took good care of her which admittedly was a lot of work. But out of nowhere she just stopped eating and we did all we could to help her eat her crickets. She started doing better last week but I think it was just too much for her. Seriously it was the saddest thing to watch and I even considered taking her to a vet to put her to sleep but I tried to make her comfortable and give her some water to drink before she passed. Some may read this and think, "she's not a dog. She's a lizard." While this is true, I am a sensitive human being and get attached to everyone; animals included. I cared for this animal everyday and always had a genuine concern for her reptile happiness. I was texting Nellie and she said, " I bet she's in chameleon heaven." which was the best piece of comfort ever. Tears were shed and I think we might only have plants for a while because they won't break my heart. 

On a happier note tomorrow is Thanksgiving and what a wonderful time to enjoy the company of family and be grateful! With all my family living here in AZ I've grown up having two Thanksgivings and now that I'm married I have three! I don't know how we manage to make it work but I know it's a blessing to have so many loved ones to be with from different families and cultures. On the other hand it is rough keeping up with all that turkey and side dishes. I've been working out hardcore the past few days to physically prepare!

When I think of being grateful I always think of President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk called "Grateful in any Circumstance": 

"Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count. True, it is important to frequently “count our blessings”--and anyone who has tried this knows there are many--but I don’t believe the Lord expects us to be less thankful in times of trial than in times of abundance and ease. 

In fact, most of the scriptural references do not speak of gratitude for things but rather suggest an overall spirit or attitude of gratitude.It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances--whatever they may be." 

babies and homecomings

The past few days have literally been about babies and homecomings. 

On 11.19. 14 little Roman was born. His awesome mom is my cousin and best friend since forever. I just wish I could be up in Utah to see them! There were so many complications during the birth, but I guess he was really meant to be here with such a loving family. Thankfully I'll get to see Nellie, Justin, and Roman for Christmas! 

The next day 11.20.14  another sweet boy, Shane, was born and he is my first nephew! Kristen went into the hospital as scheduled and it was so exciting to get that text that said he was born! Tyler and I were able to go the hospital on Saturday and sit and talk to Mike and Kristin, while I just held Shane. Babies are just so perfect I could just stare at them all day. 

When we saw pictures of Shane, Tyler thought he had a ninja turtle shaped head so of course we bought a newborn ninja turtle onesie for him. Tyler cracks me up! Mike and Kristin just laughed and said, "he's so big it might not even fit him!" 

You gotta love chunky babes right? 

The thought of starting a family seems daunting and scary but so beautiful at the same time. I'm so grateful for the miracles I'll be able to be apart of someday. And honestly, I feel so lucky to have two brave women to look up to and give me advice when I'm in their shoes. 

As for the homecomings, I had a really good friend come home from Washington DC after serving an LDS mission for a year and a half and I got to listen to her speak. She had that sister missionary glow and I loved hearing about her experiences. I really missed her and am happy that she's stuck here for the holidays! After her talk, Tyler and I sped back to our ward to accept callings and be sustained (he's a ward missionary and I'm a primary teacher!) and then we raced to the singles ward to hear two more sister missionaries speak. One came home from serving in Spain and the other in El Salvador. There's seriously nothing better to hear during church meetings than conversion stories. 

We came back to our ward to teach our Sunday school class for the last time. The funny thing is that we only teach two girls but I absolutely love watching Tyler teach them and give them a hard time. It's the cutest thing and ill miss that the most. I really enjoyed having the same calling as my husband especially right after we got married, but I'm sure my new calling will be tons of fun and Tyler seems like the perfect fit for his calling too. Change is good! 

Also, not related to babies and homecomings, I was driving down the road and a quote from a friend came to mind. 

keep your face toward the sunshine

Yesterday I had my Practicum evaluation at the elementary school I've been at for 45 hours. It was so much better than I had anticipated and the positive feedback I received was such a boost of confidence! I've contemplated being a teacher A LOT and sometimes I feel like I would get so overwhelmed with the work and responsibility that comes with it. Other times I just think there's no better goal I can have than to help children. But as I sat down with my instructor after my evaluation of my lesson and she gave me her thoughts my doubts were gone and I know I was where I was supposed to be. 

Later that day I had a less than pleasant discussion with Tyler and it turned into tears and frustration. I so badly want my marriage to be perfect and sometimes I have to swallow my pride and realize that's pretty impossible right now since we are two incredibly flawed people. But I constantly have to remind myself that the love we have for each other and for our Heavenly Father trumps all that. So like always we apologized and had a bonding moment. We both agreed to do better next time. We could easily just agree to disagree, not talk for the rest of the day and let those bitter feelings linger but we worked it out instead.

Like everyone I have struggles. Hard ones and not so hard ones. But I feel like it's harder when you have all these little struggles because they start to add up and turn in to stress and overwhelming emotions. At the same time things are so great! Finding a balance seems nearly impossible at times but I've learned you have to just enjoy the happy parts and push through the darker parts. 

trying this blog thing out

Here I am giving this blog thing a try. I'm about as beginner as they come but I love to write, paint, read, explore, and share. 

I might share a funny story from a classroom I'm in since I'm an NAU student studying education. Or maybe I'll show you some pretty watercolor paintings I wish I had more time for since I kind of own and etsy store.  Or post pretty pictures from a while ago at my wedding, yummy foods, or my crazy family. 

Either way I want to share meaningful bits from my life since facebook and Instagram get to be slightly annoying and overwhelming. (Or a lot annoying). 

Lots of love, 

Liv