God's Happiness

I moved to Salt Lake expecting to hate it- praying that we wouldn't be here long, but I have found several opportunities in Salt Lake that would never have come up in Moab or Lyman. Take for instance a couple years ago our stake had Stake Conference just like you would anywhere else, but when we got there- guess who also showed up. James E. Faust. It was so exciting.

Last weekend our Stake was given tickets to Women's Conference at the conference center and we attended as a ward. It was a very hectic day with a test in the morning, grocery shopping all afternoon and then a RS dinner at 4:00. We then car-pooled down to the conference center through the Utah football game traffic and then through the conference traffic. It was also an intense drive- I was greatful to be riding and not driving. We got there later than we were supposed to and hurried to the conference center from our parking spot at the Energy Solutions Arena and by pure luck found the rest of our ward and sat down right as it was starting. I was feeling tired, and overwhelmed with the crazy day until the spirit hit strong.

I was especially touched by President Uchtdorf's talk about creating, serving, and not being so hard on yourself. It was just what I have been needing. I have been feeling exactly what he meant when he said we struggle to "keep our heads above water." I have felt overwhelmed by the pressure I put on myself to succeed in school, among the other pressures of being a mother, serving in the church and being a good wife and homemaker.

I love that he talked about "God's happiness" and how we can all "have a taste of it" even though we still have to face trials and hard things. It has/is helped/helping me put my life into a greater perspective.

I hope you all enjoyed it and was touched as well.

Man tag

What's your husbands name? Daniel Morgan Torgerson

How long have you guys been married? almost 3 and 1/2 years

How long did you date? We were good friends for a couple months, Dated for 9 months before getting married.

How old is he? 25

Who eats more sweets? Me. Daniel loves chips and soda, but I love sweets!

Who said I Love You first? I can't remember - neither does Daniel

Who is taller? Daniel is slightly taller than me.

Who is the better singer? Neither of us sing extremely well, but we can both carry a tune. I can hold a harmony part better than Daniel.

Who is smarter? Daniel is definitely smarter. He is the smartest person I know.

Who does the laundry? Usually I do, but lately I have been so busy with school and other priorities that Daniel has been doing most of the laundry

Who pays the bills? I do

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? It depends on who has to get up earlier, the alarm is on the right so when I have school I do, when Daniel was work he does.

Who mows the lawn? The maintenance people.

Who cooks dinner? I usually cook dinner. Daniel cooks once in a while- he is a better cook than he will admit to.

Who drives? Long distance is usually Daniel because I like to sleep, but around the city I usually do.

Who is the first to say they are wrong? Neither of us like to admit it.

Who kissed who first? Daniel kissed me- it took him a loooong time to do it, but I waited patiently.

Who asked who out first? Daniel asked me to a play at Snow College. It was a stupid play and didn't make any sense but we had so much fun anyways.

Who wears the pants? Daniel thinks I do- and I think that I could if I wanted, but I think we share the pants.

I tag: Mom, Michelle, Camille, Teresa and anyone that wants to do it.

I want to be a dietitian.

I want to be a dietitian.

This is the whole reason I struggle through everyday trying to be a good full time mom along with squeezing in being a good full time student. I also understand that to be a dietitian I will have to "live what I preach" which means balancing my diet and choosing healthier foods and reducing the amount of sugar I eat.

I decided now is the time. I have been feeling good and eating better, not dieting, not trying to lose weight, but making small healthier choices. I have also been enjoying the benefits the nutrition classes I have taken tell me I will experience.

All until I found out last week that I have a nutrition test on Saturday. I have been so busy with all my other classes that this online nutrition class was put on the back burner. I have been stressing and studying as much as I can stand all week to learn what I should have spent the last 5 weeks learning and all I can think about it food. Not healthy food like the book tells me to eat, but snacks.

I love to snack while I study- especially in really intense study. So I sat there after a couple weeks of very little sugar and trying to eat better, eating my favorite treat- rolo's and pretzels, reading about how a person's appetite is triggered by environmental cues like studying and seeing/ smelling foods etc.

Yep. My nutrition class is the cause of my unhealthy food choices for this week. One of these days I will get it down.

Chase has decided that it is hilarious to grind his 4 little teeth- he loves the noise it makes. What he doesn't realize is that there is only about 1/4" of teeth there right now and if he grinds they will soon be gone. Any advice on making a 10 month old realize it's not funny to grind his teeth?



Scroll down if you want to see how great my husband is.....

Can I brag for a minute?

If you don't want to hear it- don't read.

It seems that everyone wants my husband. It all started when I moved to Snow where I met him. We started dating a couple months after being good friends and then I found out all of my room mates except one had liked him at one time or another. I actually asked permission to date him from one of my room mates who had liked him just previous to him asking me out on a date.

Then two years ago Daniel was a full time student in the very intense computer science program and working at least 30 hours a week to keep our benefits. When he was offered another job that would pay more and let him work 20 hours a week for benefits he felt he had no choice and took the job telling his boss that he liked working at EDO but had to move on for his family. They wouldn't have him leaving. His boss asked what they could do to keep him and went to the big guys of the company and asked to have the policy changed so that Daniel could get benefits so only 20 hours a week. They changed the whole company policy to keep him, an intern, there.

Now flash forward to this year. Daniel had two professors that he worked with in the past that really wanted him to work on a PhD under them. Daniel finally decided recently to give up the idea of a PhD for now and help me get through school when suddenly yesterday Daniel got an email from another professor asking him to come do a PhD under him and that he would be able to pay Daniel for his research.

They just can't get enough of him, and how can I blame them?

I would also just like to mention that yesterday I went to class in the morning with the house a mess. I have been slacking this week because of an intense test coming up on Saturday that I put off studying for until now. When I came home from class (gone for a short two hours) the whole entire house was spotless. Bathroom scrubbed down and all the dishes washed, floors vacuumed, and the outside of the windows (which have been splattered with mud since we moved in a year ago) where spotless. I have been looking out the window all day, and I keep thinking that the window is open. I came home from class and sent him off to work a 9 hour shift (until 9:00 at night) after all that cleaning. We are both feeling exhausted lately but he still does so much for Chase and I.

Working the toys.

This is a daily routine at our house. Chase selects the perfect toy for the job and then pushes it to the perfect location and carefully climbs on top. He then spends the next ten minutes looking through my books on the higher shelves of the bookcase. What a silly kid.
By the way- I realize that my baby boy needs a hair cut, but I can't bring myself to do it. I've seen what it has done to other babies, it turns them into a little boy and I'm not ready for that- so his hair will continue to hang over his ears.


Oh yeah... I finally got a good picture of his cute little teeth. Now he has two more coming in on the top.


I just caught him again as I was writing this post. New post- same plan.

Canning

I wanted to learn to can so last weekend we went to Moab to learn. It wasn't as bad as all the stories I've heard, maybe we just didn't can enough. :) We also made three large cookie sheets worth of fruit leather (and it's already halfway gone), and some jam that didn't set up, but we had a lot of fun anyways.

We will never forget....

We had some fun today!

If you can get past the fact that the recording slowly moves off Chase (hard to video tape and tease him at the same time), you can see what a silly little guy Chase is. He had me laughing hysterically until it was nap time.

Oh yeah... don't mind Opera in the background :) She was talking with Elizabeth Smart (now 20 years old by the way) so I had to watch!

Well school is now in full swing- about 2 weeks in and I am already feeling the pressure. I am nervous and excited at the same time about the variety of projects that will be required that are unique to anything I have done in school yet. I am taking mostly all Health Promotion classes but these ones are different than most of the ones I have taken previously and so I don't find them so boring. My nutrition class is similar to ones I have taken so I know most of the information, and Family Economics Issues is surprisingly interesting. I just wish I had more time for hobbies.

Daniel decided to put off a Ph.D. so that he can help me get through school. He is sacrificing so much for me and is working odd hours so he can work full time. He has gotten into "Ham Radio"- (I don't know what it is either :) and is busy being a part time stay at home dad to Chase.

Chase still brings more joy to us than we could have imagined. He has the two bottom teeth and is cutting the top two now. (Pictures to come when I can catch the cute pearly whites on film). He balances really well without holding onto anything but isn't interested in taking any steps. He has the cutest little giggle and a funny little personality.

There's that funny little personality I told you about!

Going to the cabin is one of my favorite summer activities. (Have I already said that?) Here are some of the reasons why:

You can get away with your hair looking like this-
No one seems to mind if you face looks like this...


Or this......


And there are alway happy people having a great time!

Cabin weekend

We had another fun weekend at the cabin and since I haven't had any time to go through the pictures and play with them, I will post them later, but here are some cute ones my mom sent