It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

Although I love summer weather, I am a fan of this time of the year.  The holidays seem to bring out the best in people, well, maybe not Black Friday, but beyond that, we tend to look more towards Christlike behavior such as charity and service during this time of the year.  I love seeing Christmas decorations and hearing Christmas music everywhere, oh it's so exciting!
This Thanksgiving I did something I have never done before during a holiday break: I did absolutely nothing.  It was awesome. Jenny, my roommate and I, just hung out and watched movies, football, ate, slept, screamed, decorated for Christmas--our place looks LEGIT, and just had so much fun doing absolutely nothing! This is a lesson I learned this semester, sometimes it's nice to not have a to-do list or a calendar filled with this and that.  This semester has been the most chill four months of my life.  It's been great to regroup in many different areas I needed some improvement on.
Yesterday, the talks during church were focused on being grateful, and I realized I have so much to be grateful for.  I decided I would make a top ten list, like SportsCenter Top Ten.....here it goes
10. The ideas and dreams of the future. I can't wait to be a mommy! I can't wait to watch my daughter have her first ice skating lesson or my son catch his first touchdown.  I am excited for when the 49ers go to the Superbowl again and I am there with my boys. I am excited for graduation. I am excited for painting my children's playroom with my husband.  I am excited for everything life has in store, ups and downs, I just know whatever happens in life is part of this marvelous plan.  I love my life right now. Being single and having fun is always exciting, but I am grateful for the thought of the future that helps keep me on the right path.
9. The luxuries of life I have. Whether it's money for food, or shelter, or being able to attend college, or my ability to walk, there are so many things that I am grateful for that many people around the world don't have.  I don't understand it, but I am so thankful.
8. I have the greatest job ever. I love everything about health. I believe in it. I love my clients. I just love it. and I'm grateful for money!
7. Contributions and hard work of others. Whether you are one of my doctors or professors or my bank teller who always knows my name and is so good to me, I am grateful. Thank you for your hard work and for serving me and being kind to me.
6. Sunshine and Country Music...no need for explanation...they both just bring me a TON of happiness and smiles.
5. Football. This year has been awesome for me in football. I have had more time to watch football this year, then I ever have had since college.  The Razorbacks have done awesome.  It's brought me so much happiness.
4. Friends.  I am so so so fortunate for my relationships with others.  There are so many of you out there that are racing through my mind right now.  Each friendship fills a different need in my life.  I am blessed with the amount of people that can not only put up with me but truly love me.  I am so grateful that as of yesterday I have a nephew.  My best friends/practically family members Jared and Brittany gave birth to a little angel named Brady Michael Evans. I think he and I are going to have a special auntie-nephew relationship.  My best friend Sarah Schow gets home from her mission in fifteen days and I couldn't be more thrilled.  There are friends that have been in my life for a very long time and still haven't left, and new ones that love and accept me for who I am.  Some friends have come in the form of a whole family, a family that I couldn't have lived in Provo without. The people who have the awful responsibility of living with me and yet many of them are now my best friends.  Talking about an old friend yesterday who I loved very much and as he is no longer a large part of my life helped me realize that we truly are all so connected and God knows what He is doing.
3. Memories.  President Thomas S. Monson said, "God gave us memories, so we might have roses in December." I am so grateful for memories. There is nothing happier than sitting around with my family and friends and reminiscing about the good ol' days. The great thing about memories is they are created everyday. For me, it's a way to enjoy the happiness of the past while continuing to create happiness for now. I am also especially grateful for memories that help us see the hand of God in our lives. Moments we did not think we could pass through, and then we see the Lord lift us up and place us in His arms.
2. My family.  There are days, and there have been days this year, in which I felt so overwhelmed by each member of my family in one way or another.  However, I would take every single one of those difficult times because the good times have always and will always outweigh the challenges.  It's a choice to love people and to be happy with them, and I can honestly say I love my family and wouldn't change a single member.  My dad and I have some incredible memories and he has taught me so much.  Anything from details of a fumble to who Osama binLaden was.  My mom is my best friend. There is not another human being like her. Michael is one of my heroes. When I was a little girl and about to go into nursery, Michael was super worried about me and whether I'd be okay and he told my mom, don't worry I'll watch out for her.  He has never stopped. I don't know what I'd do without his advice.  Oh, and my little baby RyRy.  I love this boy so much, it's crazy.  I know God meant for him to by little man. I hope to marry someone who has a lot of the qualities of this adorable boy of mine.  I am so grateful he loves me so much and we have the relationship we do.
I love my aunts and uncles and cousins! I can't believe how close I am to some of them, and I feel so grateful. My grandparents love me so much and I have really appreciated this love and their examples.
I was also given some new family members this year, and I think we will have some good times together.
1. My faith in the Jesus Christ.  I have had some particularly difficult moments in life, and some specifically this year.  Several of them have been experiences very few people know about, and some of them have been experiences I have shared with many.  As grateful as I am for my family and friends, I know the only way I truly got through the particularly difficult moments was my Savior Jesus Christ. No one truly understands us the way He does.  This is why He is our personal Savior, because He is the only one who knows how to succor us, or deliver us. Every aspect and truth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helps me know God and my Savior better and for this I am eternally grateful.

My New Blog!

So, I have been having slight difficulties at work trying to figure out how to get enough information to my clients in the small time I have with them. So, I started another blog to help them with nutrition and it will have  a few other tips as well. I just need to finish getting it organized, but it's gotten started, thanks to Sarah for helping me with that. I'm an idiot on blogs! Anyways, it's steph-anappleaday.blogspot.com
I don't claim to be a cooking genius by any means. However, I am going natural and partially organic with two of my roommates, so I'm having a lot of opportunities to learn even more! I do enjoy cooking, so it's been really fun so far!! I am just loving my life! My mono is all gone, so I have energy and desire to get back to the thrills of life!
If you want healthy recipes, check my blog out. You'll be surprised how easy it really is to eat correctly.  You can get a lot of food for low amounts of calories, but without neglecting nutrients that our body must have!! My roommates and I are loving it!
We did a cleanse as well...not so fun, but it was needed, my body was overloaded. It was nice to rejump my immune system before winter!!
Anyways, if you want, check out the new blog!
Happy Eating and Exercising to all!

He Cares!!

I have the coolest story to share. I am so excited about something that happened this week.  So during conference, I began thinking about how much I miss President Hinckley. I loved that man so much, and even though I know President Monson is the current Prophet of God, I just have this attachment to President Hinckley, as I'm sure most of us do.
I have loved the YouTube Mormon Message videos the Church has been putting up every couple of weeks and I was thinking how great would it be if there could be one from President Hinckley.  I said a prayer about it, and then didn't really think too much about it for a couple of weeks.
Last week, I logged on to the Mormon Messages on YouTube, and sure enough, the latest video is from President Hinckley!! I was so excited, I may have cried.
I know that this is so silly, but I just think/know that Heavenly Father cares about the smallest to largest things in our lives.  It seriously made me so happy and feel so much love!

Conference and My latest Goal

It seems surreal to think another General Conference has come and gone. During one talk, they encouraged us to use our blogs to proclaim what we believe for our friends and family to read, so I will share my feelings from this weekend. General Conference, to me and I'm sure many, is a time to reflect about where my standing is and what progress (or lack of progress) has occurred in the past six months since the last Conference. This weekend was depressing for me in that aspect, to be honest. I really wondered what progress I have made. I couldn't think of any goals that I had reached or any bad habits I have overcame. In fact, some new bad habits popped up and some good habits decreased. I am so surprised with how many distractions there really are in this world. The thing that has been hard for me is that many of the distractions don't seem bad at first...and then they do just that--DISTRACT. I feel like my faults this year definitely stemmed from being initially distracted and then just spiraling down. I can't express enough how much I feel like the little things we do everyday are the BIG things. I know that if we begin to miss reading our scriptures and forgetting to pray and express our gratitude and ask for the Spirit to be with us throughout every day..eventually, we lose our place in life. We have so much purpose for being here. I know that we have a Father in Heaven who is watching over us and a Savior Jesus Christ who atoned for our sins and has felt all the pain we have to deal with. I know they are ready for us to talk to them! I hope I can have a better relationship with them, I know that I"m happiest when I'm doing the little things everyday. I know I'm the most miserable and not myself when I forget these little things that happen to be huge things! Elder Bednar said that we should live and focus on the Spirit being with us everyday, that is the way to make it in this crazy world. I know the things that I heard this weekend are true. I hope I can be a better person to show my gratitude to my Heavenly Father.

Okay so another thing that is on my mind that I am really, really excited about is health. Being in health and exercise classes, and working at Gold's Gym, a lot of time is spent thinking about health. I've really gained a deeper love and understanding for the Word of Wisdom. I have also been doing some readings from church leaders about health, and I decided that I am going to try out a new lifestyle. I haven't got it all figured out just yet, but it's going to be centered around natural health and beauty. It's in the very beginning stages, but once it's all figured out, I'm going to start a blog about it. It will focus on several different areas, but the main points of interest will be nutrition and exercise, spa-like treatments for hair and skin, and developing inner beauty. I am really excited!

I am going to start by doing a healthy, safe, and natural toxic cleanse. This will be especially good for me, because it will help boost my immune system and clean out my liver--both of which were completely wrecked by the mono and meningitis. Then, I am going to start the natural food meal plan. I'm also doing a "spa day" every Friday afternoon. I did one this past Friday and it was incredible. Anyways, there's a lot to it, but I'm going to try it and play around with it. It's not going to be like vegan or I'm not going completely over the top with anything, but I hope to really get to a place where my inner and outer body are at peace. I feel like this is actually one of the hidden challenges of our time, like Satan uses anything to slow us down, and I really think bad processed food can. And well, obviously, it hurts our heart, veins, etc. After I play around with this, then, I want to help other people achieve the same thing, This is why I love training. It's such a rewarding job. Oh, I just love it! I'm so excited for this adventure. Hopefully, I'll have a new blog up and running by November. I am headed home for a week soon, so I won't be able to do my cleanse till after I get back, because I will NOT give up my mama's food. :) But, once I'm back, I'm going to get it down!! Oooooh I just love living!

Family and Monday Night Football: Isn't it about...time?

Yesterday I was sitting, well actually, standing and pacing , as I watched 49ers Quarterback, Alex Smith turning over the ball to the Saints like it was their Christmas present. And as I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror in my brothers old and over sized but still ridiculously awesome Niners jersey, yelling at the TV; my mind flashed back to many years ago. If you would have told me when I was seven years old that I would have willingly chosen to change my plans so that I could watch a football game, I would have said you're crazy.

You see, I have a very distinct memory from a very, very young age. I was laying in bed, angry because I couldn't sleep because of the obnoxiousness of my boys. It was a common occurrence to be annoyed with all the testosterone in the house: I come from a family of only boys, besides my mom. I, being the only girl, felt I had many disadvantages (now, after living with girls for so long, I have found that I was actually very blessed :)) and I always had to voice my opposition to..well..everything. I used the, "daddy, I'm the only girl and it's not fair" complaint as much as possible.

Well, anyways, as I am laying in bed, I all of a sudden hear a very loud and deep, TOUCHDOWN 49ERRRRRSSSSS from my dad, followed by two other yelps from my brothers. I remember getting out of bed, walking out of my room and saying "BE QUIEEETTTT, I'm trying to sleep, you know". My dad told me to come watch it with them, and I walked out and sat in "the triangle". (This was a place on the couch that was perfect for my little tiny body, made by my dad's bent-knees against the couch.) I sat and watched the game with my boys..oh I love my three boys. I was probably 8 or 9 years old. My whole life I have known that when it comes to football, it's all about the Niners. My dad grew up loving them, and passed on the tradition to us.

Growing up, my dad was an extremely busy man. At this point in particular, he was opening up several additional branches, President of Rotary International, and President of Chamber of Commerce. He was also bishop. He was gone all the time. Stress was just my parents life, I don't know how they did it. Fall time meant football time. I knew that football games were just a part of life on Sundays, Mondays, and Saturdays. It seemed like something that I could never get away from, and I was more interested in watching the figure skating competitions, cheerleading competitions, or Boy Meets World. I remember at 7, 8, or 9 years old just waiting for the day I could control the TV and I would never watch this crap again.

Well, to make a long story short of how I grew to love the game, I did. I'm sure being in junior high and high school and going to the games made an impact. I'm sure that gaining an understanding of what was going on in the game helped. But the biggest reason: football represents my boys. One night I got home from ice skating practice. It was kind of a rainy night. Ryan had a lot of energy and in order to get rid of it, wanted to throw some ball in the front yard. So, being exhausted, but loving that little one, we went outside. I had to do 10 pushups every time I fumbled the ball. I loved it, well, maybe not in the moment of my 38th push up...

Anyways..By the time I hit college, I had a solid love of the game. I remember crying the first Friday night of the football season, knowing I couldn't watch my lil man play for White Hall. (even if he only cheered on the sidelines on some games) I remember crying the first time the Hogs played, knowing I wasn't in the good ol' South to enjoy the sweetness of D Mac's success. I remembering smiling from ear to ear the night in my freshman year, Ryan talked to me for THREE hours on the phone about different plays used by coaches and his opinions on them. The list goes on...

As time has passed and family dynamics have definitely changed, I still feel close to my boys through a game. We are all in very different places in life, geographically not being the only one, and yet, every time those Niners come on, and every time I hear, "Are you ready for some football..a Monday night party..." I think of me wearing one of my daddy's big t-shirts and shakin my butt singin that song. And then, in that moment of deja vu, the distance doesn't seem as far and the personal differences don't seem as separable.

It may sound dumb to think that seeing 22 guys on a field, all trying to get a ball to one side or the other can draw a family closer, but I believe it can. When it comes to family, it's all about the simple things; the memories; the not-so-picture perfect moments that are perfect in some bizarre way. It's about the moments that you think you can't wait to be over, but when they are, you'd do anything to have just another breath in that moment. With family, it's all about the time.

P.S. Are you ready for some football?? I am!

Life..some days it can be simply exhausting

I'm not one to go into a serious amount of detail and release it to the world..I'm fine with others doing it, it's not usually my style. I also don't keep a journal, but this is something I need to record, so I'm breaking my rules and releasing personal details online..forgive me!!

In the very first week of July, I noticed that I had a fever one or two nights in a row. No big deal, right..so I just ignored it. A week later I went to my mom's wedding in Arkansas, flew back to Utah, and realized while I was on the plane that I was absolutely miserable. Well, I had a fever from that day, July 11, until, well, I'm still sitting here with a fever on August 13. Every now and then I would feel it break, via incredible amounts of sweat, but within literally thirty minutes it would be back. For weeks I endured it, because I had no other symptoms. Until one day I woke up with the absolute worst migraine I've ever had. Just like the fever, I tried to break it with Tylenol, Aspirin, etc, but to no avail. It did not work. Nothing made the migraine go away. I continued to do my usual fourteen hour days and the migraine just made me want to shoot myself and everyone. Holy cow, have I been moody since this fever hit, and even more when the migraine did. Well, after four days my mom insisted I go to the doctor on Friday. I did..there were all types of things wrong with my vitals, and they all happened to be with the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. The doctor wanted to run more tests but wanted to get rid of the migraine first, so he gave me codeine and said it would do the trick. Well, it didn't. I took several, but then realized that the hallucinations and dizziness I was already experiencing just got worse. I kept fainting and so finally my mom got super worried, because I was getting worse. I had also found that my lymphnodes were extremely swollen, but I still had no symptoms of the common cold. And my fever was getting out of control. By Saturday night, I was feeling like I wasn't even the same person. I was going to go crazy. The next week and half is somewhat of a blur.

I continued to get worse and the symptoms weren't looking good. A doctor I'm close to suggested getting an MRI because there could be a blood vessel problem or tumor. Other medical professionals were also suggesting this could be a dangerous problem. I bought a plane ticket to come home, found people to pay to pack my house, clean my house, and get out. I stayed with a friend and relied on wonderful loyal people to help me out the next few days. My older brother flew into Salt Lake to help me fly home. My blood pressure had dropped so low there was serious danger of me losing consciousness on the flight, because I had been losing it during regular altitude. Let me preset this by saying that I workout everyday, I eat nutritious food everyday, 2100 calories about, sleep seven hours a night, work long, hard days, have good, fun weekends, and have a high pain tolerance. I had a surgery that doctors said one could only understand if they went through 8 days of childbirth. I know I'm a tough, healthy, unsickly person. Ok, I passed out getting out of the car and had to be escorted through the whole airport on a wheelchair. The flight was dreadful. And I love to fly! I want to be a flight attendant. By the time I got to Arkansas I had already wanted to die seven times that day. I couldn't feel my legs, I couldn't see straight, the list goes on. Well, I go back to a hospital that I have a great history with, good ol' UAMS Hospital. Always go to hospitals that have medical schools. They have the best technology and best knowledge cause they have to pass it on to the future, so they know what they are doing.

Anyways, so I'm sitting in a wheelchair in the doctors office. We talk, I explain the timeline of events I was dealing with. She asks my family to leave, and says she needs to talk to me. She does the whole physical and then says we need to have a serious talk. I could tell by the look on her face it wasn't good. She then goes on to tell me that there are two paths she is looking in to. The first is a viral path. She explains a few things about that path, and says I would never wish these viruses on anyone, especially together, however it's better than what I think may be happening. Big gulp. "Well, what do you think is happening," I ask, DREADING the answer. She says, "um..we need to..umm.. check you for cancer. I think you may have cancer in you."

My heart literally dropped completely out of my body and I can't even explain. I started sobbing. I know that many people have had harder things in life than I have. However, I had hoped that my effort to be healthy would have paid off. I couldn't control myself. But I had to, because I had to go see my family in the waiting room. Well, it was written all over my pale, pale face. I go get my tests done. They kept adding things to look for in the blood, like what they originally needed wasn't good enough. It was awful. I got the tests done, and then I finally had enough control to explain to my family what she said. Not a word was uttered on the way home. My mom just cried, I passed out asleep. My brothers, without my knowledge, were in the backseat looking up cancer on their phones. Every symptom I had could be explained by them. My brother said the odds that I had three viruses: mono, menagitis, and strep at the same time, versus the odds of cancer were just too hard for him to think about. We all go to sleep when we get home. Until we hear the phone ring....

The doctor called. She didn't sound okay. She stuttered as she explained to me what they found in the tests. "Well you have mono, and though, I've never said this, that's good. But they also found something else," my heart is dropping along with tears. My brothers start to hold me as I shake. "What did they find," I ask, not wanting to know the answer. "Well, you have some cell growth that isn't supposed to be there, and your white blood cell count isn't correct, and well...umm.. we had to send it to the pathology lab to look for the cancer in the cells. We think we found it, but hopefully we're wrong. Umm..We'll know tomorrow."

Okay well if the fear in the doctors voice didn't freak me out, my brothers both started crying, my mom obviously was crying, and I just sat there trying to be strong until I let out a loud shreak, and lost it. No words can express my emotional state of being this week. Thank the good Lord the cells replicated because I had so many viruses and the mono is one of the worst they have seen, not cancer. Thank the Lord my fainting, etc is not because of cancer but because I have a complication with my heart, that I have known about for a while, but thought was fine now. Thank the Lord for good, loyal, caring friends who I have been humbled by in this hard time. Thank the Lord for my supportive and incredible family and for prayer. I said a prayer right after that phone call, and I knew everything was going to fine. Thank the Lord for faith and the marvelous gift of the Holy Ghost. You never know what life has for you, but He does. I can't even begin to describe my sorrow and sympathy for those who get that follow up phone call after the pathology lab looks at things and they say, "you need to come in..you do in fact have cancer." I never was able to know an ounce of that fear, but now I have a small, small ounce of understanding, and my heart just breaks for those patients. I do know we have a literal Savior who felt everyone's pain. He is there through all of it. Two years ago is my last reference to that hospital, and oh man, do I remember the pain I experience, but oh how I remember my Savior being there for me. I know He needed to have me refocus on what's important in life. I hope I learned. I am grateful for His wisdom.

The menagitis and other bacterias have passed through or are on their way of passing through, the mono may take time, but I hope to be ready for fall semester. I'm going to slow life down. No need to live in the fast lane. My motto is going to be taking it slow, and remembering my priorities. Life may be short but it doesn't need to be shorter than necessary. For those that want to live in the fast lane, just pass me, I don't want to be a part of it anymore!!

One More Day

Life is full of ups and downs. Changes come and go regularly. We were sent here to grow from these changes. The Lord knew what we would experience, and allows us to because He knows what is to gain from it. Henry B. Eyring said, "It is clear that we will need more than human strength. The Psalmist was right: “But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble.” The restored gospel of Jesus Christ gives us help in knowing how to qualify for the strength of the Lord as we deal with adversity." One thing I've been thinking of lately is the lesson of not taking people for granted. You never know when someone won't be in your life again.
Diamond Rio came up with the perfect song to express my somewhat deep thoughts today.
Last night I had a crazy dream
A wish was granted just for me
It could be for anything
I didnt ask for money
Or a mansion in Malibu
I simply wished, for one more day with you

One more day
One more time
One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied
But then again
I know what it would do
Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you

First thing I'd do, is pray for time to crawl
I'd unplug the telephone
And keep the tv off
I'd hold you every second
Say a million I love you's
Thats what I'd do, with one more day with you


One more day
One more time
One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied
But then again
I know what it would do


Leave me wishing still, for one more day
Leave me wishing still, for one more day
Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you

I know that I speak for myself and many of you when I say I am surrounded by so many people that love me. It's so easy to get caught up in the things of the world, but I know that the most important gift we can give ourselves and those around us is love. Be grateful for those who love you and those you have the pleasure to love. We have no guarantees with those around us, our only solid guarantee is that Heavenly Father knows and loves us, and our Savior Jesus Christ is our personal Redeemer and Friend. They will compensate every tear shed and every heart broken while we live and learn on Earth. How blessed we truly are!!