The Start of a New Year (Well a Month Ago :)

The Start of  a New Year:

I recently read a suggestion that once a week you write a family journal entry and include one picture from that week. Being a horrible journal keeper, I thought this to be an excellent idea. Of course our journal entries for the next few years will be full of Alex studying, trying to keep Ellie entertained and keeping my sanity intact. I still hope that you might find something interesting in these entries and know that our family is just a regular family, trying to do what we feel is best, staying close to the Lord and loving every minute of our crazy filled life!

I guess our first entry will be a month J seeing as it’s February 1^st. Christmas break was GLORIOUS! I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to spend two full weeks with Alex and Ellie (and the rest of my family). It was so relaxing to sleep in, eat yummy food, talk with siblings and let Ellie play with her cousins to her heart’s content. I’ve never seen Alex so relaxed. He deserved it after doing wonderfully on his first semester of medical school. Unfortunately our welcome to 2015 was like a slap in the face! Alex started right into the semester with a full and loaded schedule. His second half of anatomy is a real doozy! It’s amazing how many nerves, muscles, bones and other things you have from the neck up! Luckily his degree in Neuroscience is helping, but he still studies almost all of the time. Here is a brief look at his schedule the last month: 6:30am- Wake Up 7:40am- Leave for School 4:45-5:00pm Get home and wrestle with Ellie 5:00pm- Eat Dinner 6:00pm- Study in office 7:50- read scriptures, pray and put Ellie to bed 8:00pm Study 10:15 (sometimes later)- Talk with Josalyn while brushing teeth, scripture study, prayers and try to be asleep by 11pm!

Needless to say, Alex is amazing and I love him so much. I realized how demanding this is on him when I have found random things in the refrigerator (vitamins, an empty cup). I try to tell him how grateful I am for what he’s doing during the hour or so I get to be around him! Don’t worry, some weekends we actually get to go on walks or maybe grab a pizza for dinner. He tries to squeeze in as much time for us as he can, the above is just a typical day. His anatomy class is finished in March, so his schedule won’t be quite so demanding then.

Ellie and I have found a few things we love. 1. Library Toddler time! We go at least once a week and sometimes twice if we don’t have anything else to do. 2. Play group! On Thursdays we try to attend the playgroup and get some interaction with other kids (and I get grown-up talk too!). 3. Grocery Shopping! Ellie is becoming quite the shopping partner and we usually have a pretty good time at the store, as long as it’s before 11am.

With the cold weather, we don’t go outside as much as she’d like but we like playing indoors. She can sing over 30 songs (primary and other) and she can count to 14 and knows quite a few letters. She loves getting to watch a show in the morning while I workout on our new to us Elliptical. She also has started watching other movies besides Frozen (thank goodness). She loves Cinderella and recently started to like Peter Pan.

I love participating in a book club and just started a craft night with friends. I enjoy indulging in watching Netflix at night and reading my books. Sometimes I get lonely, but overall things are good. Alex recently got called to be a counselor in the Young Men’s and I just got called to be the Relief Society Secretary. We also were called to be a “ma and pa” for our Stake Youth Conference in June. We love to be involved in our ward and stake as much as we can. I will be sad to be released as the primary pianist and nursery music leader. I love teaching those little ones primary songs! Every day I feel the blessings of the Lord. We try to do what’s right, but we are far from perfect. I am grateful for the Atonement, as a mother and a wife, I need it every day. 

So that’s our Month! I guess I should include something specific from this last week. I hosted my first craft night! It was very fun. I made a few things to go on my “mantel” for Valentine’s Day. Alex also got a night off and played church basketball with some other friends. Ellie has called her Dad Alex most of this week. We have to remind her that his name is Daddy. Until next week I guess!