How Grateful I Am!

I have been thinking a lot the past couple of days of how blessed I am for the life I have and for the people in it. Jeremy and I have made it a goal again this year to go to the temple at least once a month if not more. So far, we are 100%! Actually a little bit more because there was a month or two we went more than once. It's actually gotten to the point where people at work know I'm going to the Temple when I am dressed up. I'm glad that people know I love to go to the Temple. My mother in law sent a powerpoint to me and I enjoyed it a lot. (I can not figure out a way to put it on here because it is a powerpoint but if you want me to email it to you I can. Just send me your email address in a comment or something and I'll be more than happy to. It's worth watching. )

It basically talks about how the world is becoming more and more chaotic and dark. The pictures of the temples on it are absolutely stunning and the message is powerful. Our temples will be and are now a refuge from the outside world. They are a safe haven and a place to go to forget about all the darkness and evil around us. I have definately noticed a huge difference in my life, my marriage and my happiness as I have made it a point to attend the temple. Not that my life was not happy before because it was, but regularly attending the temple has some how made a wonderful life and marriage....amazing.

I know that dark and terrible things are happening in the world today and how grateful am I to be able to have somewhere to go for complete protection from that awful dirty world. The temple has been my source of happiness in this time when Satan has taken hold of so many people. He is so very real and is trying so hard to tear families apart. But I know that going to the temple is the one place he will not be. And everytime I go, I feel that a little bit of it comes home with me which makes it so much easier to live the gospel and stay away from the temptations of everyday life.

I am so very grateful for the wonderful husband that I have. He is my rock that I lean on for everything. How wonderful it is to know that I can be with him for ETERNITY! (Which isn't even long enough if you ask me!) Going to the temple with him is my most favorite thing to do. There is nothing better in the world and I am so glad that he has the strong desire to go to the temple as well.

And there is nothing better than being married to a man who has and honors his priesthood. It has been a huge blessing in our life together. I can not imagine my life without that wonderful blessing and power.

And of course, we are so grateful for our families. I love living so close to both mine and Jeremy's families. We are able to do so much with both of them and I love doing that. Their love, support and advice are priceless to us. We love them and are grateful to be sealed to them FOREVER!

What Kind of Dog are You??

Yes, I am blogging about my dog. I don't have any kids to take up my time or attention when my husband isn't home, so something has to! Anyway, we took Koda to get a haircut since the weather is starting to warm up. (Or was until today) With him being a mix, I always find it interesting that he looks like a totally different dog when he gets groomed. Koda is a Shih-poo (shihtzu-poodle). He looks like a shihtzu, with slightly curly hair, when his hair is long. And I love his long hair because he is just a big ball of fur! But it is such a pain to take care of when you have to fight him to brush all his snarls out everyday.

So this is Koda before his haircut. I have come to the conclusion that he has the body build of the shihtzu but the height of the poodle. He is a lot taller than all his shihtzu friends.

This is koda after his haircut. Does he look like the same dog to you? Not to me! This is when the poodle in him comes out. (He almost looks like a schnauzer in this picture.) It must be hiding somewhere under all that fur! The first time we got him groomed I was completely shocked because he looks so different. (Plus Petsmart was the one to groom him the first time and they basically skinned the poor thing! We have since found a much better groomer!)

I wish I could post his fur on the computer becuase it is soooooooo SOFT! He is like a little cuddly teddy bear you don't want to let go! I guess in a way I have 2 dogs in 1!

5 Year Check Up

So, most people go the the dentist every 6 months right?!! Unless you have a TRAUMATIC experience like myself and become downright TERRIFIED of going! Well, I think that the last time I went to the dentist was the year that Jeremy left on his mission....2004. Yeah, that's right. Let me tell you why it has taken me 5 years to go back....
So I arrive at the dentist and I am greeted by a cute little oriental lady. I hadn't been to this dentist since I had my own insurance and they had also switched locations, so they had me fill out all of the paperwork all over, ya know the kind that ask if you have any allergies or health conditions that are IMPORTANT to know. So, it is the end of the day so this little lady was anxious to close up shop and go home. She handed me the papers, I sat down, then she said, "Just fill out no on everything." I thought..."shouldn't I answer it accurately so you know if I have any serious problems???" which I don't, luckily so I marked no on everything and she took me back. Oh how I wish I had never gone to the dentist that day!!!! I don't know how many of you have had your teeth "sand blasted" instead of polished with the little machine they normally use. I know they have a different name for it other than "sand blasting" but that is basically what it is. This cute little lady wasn't so cute anymore!! She got that thing in her hand and she went WILD!! She was sand blasting my tounge, my face, the air! It was out of control. She would occasionally hit my teeth and then I would hear "oh...uh oh..." and then more blasting.... Now, this little blaster doesnt feel good at all when it is blasting something other than TEETH! I felt like I had walked through a sand storm hurricane. My face hurt so bad because she had totally missed my mouth. I did not return to that dentist after that. I was a bit shaken up as you can imagine. So, my lovely husband made me a dentist appointment a month ago for today. I have been dreading it because I hadn't been for so long. Well, I am glad to say that after 5 years of keeping my distance, I only have 2 very small cavities that the hygienist said would fill back up if I would floss everyday. So, if I am good, I won't even have to have them filled! You can even ask Jeremy, he had an appointment before me and I made him stay with me cause I was so nervous. He so willingly told the hygienist my story and she promised me that she would never use it on me because she hates using them as much as I hated it. So here's to hoping that bad days at the dentist are over.

My Valentine

So it has been quite some time since we posted anything on our blog. It seems that January and February are very uneventful months in the Atkinson household. But since I did take pictures on Valentine's day, I figured I could put them on here just so I had a reason to post a new blog...

So, we did go and see The Confessions of a Shopaholic with Chris, Sarah, Dawson and Missy. Very funny movie. We went out to dinner the night before because we figured that everyone else would go out on Valentine's day so we just decided to beat the crowds. We went to Wingers...Mmm Sticky fingers... anyway, we all got together again for dinner. Heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphey's. You really had to use your imagination to see the heart shape...but it tasted great anyway. We all sat at the table for a candle light dinner. The funniest thing was when Jer lit the candles, dawson started saying "Birthday? Birthday?" Then Chris turned off the light to "set the mood" and dawson started singing Happy Birthday and then he was trying to blow out the candles. It was pretty funny.

After dinner we made some cupcakes which were delicious!! And played some games.

This is me and my Valentine!! He is the best Valentine a girl could ask for! Not just on Valentine's Day but everyday! He is the biggest SWEETHEART and the GREATEST husband and my BEST FRIEND! And I wouldn't trade having him in my life for anything in the world! I Love You Honey!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We definately did! I love sleeping out by the tree on Christmas eve so we slept on the couch. It was so windy and snowy that when we woke up the power was out. I wished for a white christmas, which we got, but the consequences of it meant that we didn't have christmas tree lights or christmas music while we opened our presents. But, it was ok. I love the snow!! So we opened our gifts after we woke up. We both got some good stuff. Even little Koda had a good christmas. Jer's mom made him a little blanket for christmas because he chews on the corners of ours.

We got him some bacon bones and chew toys. He chewed through one of his bacon flavored bones within two hours!! He loved it. And he played with his new toys all day. This is Koda and his presents. He looks really funny in this picture...but it's the best I could do. He doesn't hold still for very long.
This mirror hanging in my dining room was my christmas present to myself. Jer also got a big took chest to put in the garage.


After we opened presents our power decided it would come on, which was good so I could actually get ready. So we went to Jer's parents to talk to his little brother who is on a mission in Philly right now (he gets home in march). So we ate breakfast and then decided to go play in the snow. Jer's parents had so much in their back yard so we thought it would be fun. We bundled up and headed out... We made a snowmand that was really tall, at least 10 feet if not more...
This was the bottom...



This was the middle....


Thats how tall it was without the head...



This is the head that me and my Mother in law, Becky was trying to push. It was pretty heavy but we are tough!!
And this is Jeremy...I apparently didn't get a pic of the whole snowman after it was finished but by the time we were eating dinner, the whole face had pretty much fallen off and then went the head which took out an arm on the way down. So he is now a decapitated amputee snowman.





My poor puppy had snowballs just stuck to him EVERYWHERE! It took forever to get them off of him. He could hardley even walk but he didn't want to stay inside. He absolutely loved the snow.

We went to Jer's grandparents house as usual to see the whole fam which is always fun.


We had a very good christmas. We made the best of the snow and bad weather and it was a blast!

Lights Lights and more Lights

So we have been really busy this whole month. Christmas always seems to be that way. We had our Atkinson cousin party at our house (every year the married cousins on the Atkinson side get together for a party) and this year it was at our house. It was a blast and to my suprise everything went as planned. All the food turned out great, there was plenty for everyone and everyone walked away with a lovely white elephant gift. Mine and Jer's gift was a bright red sparkely man thong...(you would have to know his side of the family...) which we gladly handed over to the newly weds of the group! (Your welcome Sadi and Travis!). So that turned out to be a success and a really fun time!

We have been down to Temple Square to see the lights twice now. We went down to see the Mormon Tabernacle choir concert with tickets I got from my boss. It was a good concert. Then we stayed to look at the lights. The moon was so big that night so Jer took lots of pics of it by the temple.

It was absolutely gorgeous. The picture doesn't do it justice. But Jer turns into some photo fanatic when he gets behind the camera. I must say his pics are pretty good for not being a photographer and having a simple camera like ours. But here are some of the pics he took...

It is definately beautiful at Christmas time. A little chilly but we all bundled up close for a snapshot....I can't wait til Christmas day so I can finally get my coat I have been waiting for all winter (and the last few winters...)

(Tyler, Heather, Missy, Sarah, Dawson, Chris, Jer and Me.)

So that is the most recent excitement of our life...how exciting, I know. But I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

Tagged...

So I was tagged by Sarah to go to the 4th picture file on my computer and pick the 4th picture in that file and tell about it. So this is it...

This is a picture of hockey jerseys that are hanging in a very stinky very dirty locker room... For those of you who don't know, my husband plays hockey. His jersey is the #22 on the right. Our first year we were married, Jeremy tried out for the UVSC hockey team and made it! It was fun and challenging at the same time. While going to school almost full time, working full time and playing hockey full time, I never got to see him. Jeremy would wake up at 7:00 am go to work get off about 4-ish drive down to UVSC right after and go to classes then right after class go straight to hockey practice which wouldn't get over until 11:00pm or so. I was long gone asleep by the time he got home so as you can see I never saw him!

This is him in gear. I think he's pretty hot when he's all geared up! Sorry, lost my train of thought there for a sec.... I did have fun watching him play and LOVED going to the games to cheer him and his team on. It's a lot more fun to watch a team when you know them personally. Although, I am a big ball of nerves the whole time he is on the ice. I'm not the biggest fan of my husband being checked into the boards or on the bottom of a dog pile. He took a few hard hits. Some of the guys on his team told him once that I was their entertainment in the stands when they were on the bench because they loved watching my face whenever he got checked. It was "priceless" apparently... I will admit. I do freak out when I think he will get hurt. There were also a lot of really good fights that were pretty much the highlight of the games for me. Those are always fun. I do remember a funny thing. Jeremy really isn't the type to pick fights and he usually walks away from them. Well being fresh from his mission and being 1 out of 3 RM's on the team he was pretty much known as the "peacemaker" type on the ice. Well there was one time when Jer got a little fed up with someone and kinda got in his face. His coach was like "Is that Jeremy? What is he doing?" and one of the guys said "Don't worry coach. He's just preachin the gospel". It was funny.

I had a lot of fun with his team though. I went on a few road trips with them when they traveled to play other schools. We went to Washington, who by the way has the COLDEST ice rink ever! It was the middle of winter and they had their AIR CONDITIONING on right where we sat!! Who does that? Any way, we got to stop in Yellowstone National Park, which I had never been so that was fun. Then I also went with them to Las Vegas, which was my first time as well. I'll tell ya what... you want an adventure? Go on a 15 hour bus ride with a bus load of hockey players....I'll just leave it at that!

Well Jer doesn't play for UVSC any more. He just plays on a local league here now. After that first season we decided it was just too hard not ever seeing eachother. And he got to play atleast one season. He made a lot of friends and really really enjoyed playing in a competitive league.

One more thing and then I'm done I promise!! Before UVSC had a team, Jer's coach coached BYU. To make a long story short, there was a boy on that team named Logan Jackson. He was about to leave on his mission I believe and one night in a hockey game he slid across the ice to block the puck from going in his team's goal. At the rate the puck was going and the rythm of his heart...the puck hit him in his heart and he died there on the ice. From that time forward, they would give out awards at the end of the season and they named an award after him. It's called the Logan Jackson award and it's given to someone who plays as a team member and tries to bring the team together by encouragement and optimism. Well, I am so proud of Jeremy because he got that award. I was so glad he did because he truly deserves it!

Anyway, that's the story behind that pic, I didn't think I would have that much to say about it!!

I tag Sadi, Ryley, Julie, Kristie.