Tired.?

All I have to say is Hashimoto's disease.. Not know what that is? Google it. I dare you.

RIP

Today is a very sad day indeed.... My mom sent me a message this morning saying that she took our perro, Chico, to get put down. She said that she rubbed his head while they put the needle in. I did not see that coming at all. I cried for a little while. Let me tell you why. These are some fond memories:

1. When my parents first got Cheek, my friend, Leah, and I totally thought he was ugly.

2. My grandpa Harrison said that he is a face that only a mother could love. I guess in a way I was his mother because I love Chico, and I did end up thinking that he was SO cute.

3. He was my bed buddy. If I went to sleep without him, he would come upstairs and scratch my door. If it didn't come open, and I didn't respond, he would bark until I did open it.

4. When we first got him, he would cuddle up in between my legs, by my knees. It kind of bothered me. I got him to cuddle next to my side because the knee thing was not working for me.

5. He was the first person and sometimes the only person to greet me when I went to my parent's house. That was special.

6. He was my practice buddy. Chico loved to hear my practice. When I would practice high, he would screech sometimes (I wonder why ;] ).

7. Cheek was the boss. If Jake (Heather's put) or Jubilee (the big black lab or aka Jake's big black girlfriend) bothered Cheek, oh he could let them know it ! He was not scared of anyone. He would tell a mountain lion that he was the boss.

8. This is kind of funny... One day I got a phone call telling me that Chico had been in an accident. I was scared that he had died, but later, I had found out that he ran into the tire of a neighbor's suburban as it was driving down the street, and he bounced off.

9. My brother, Joel, tripped and fell on Cheek. His back was broken.. That made me sad. I made sure that he was taken care of when he was hurt.

10. what is the most annoying sound?? The sound of Chico's bark. I laughed so hard when I first heard it because it really is so ugly. The worst sound is early in the morning when he needed to go, he would bark or whimper until I took him.

I will always love Cheek, and I hope that I will see him again one day!

I might need one of these......

I have been made fun of by my husband for the last 2 years because of how heavy my backpack is. I can't help it!! By being a music major, I am required to have at least 3 books per class (well not really...) and for lessons to have most of my music with me (that is true).... My back is starting to hurt. I probably sleep on it wrong as well as carrying a heavy backpack. I saw someone today outside of the testing center with this sweet thang:

I was almost tempted to get one.... NOT! (I would be made fun of even more!)

SHtuff

Halloween-

SO much fun! We made a bunch of treats and watched Bewitched. We always have so much fun together. We also took the kids trick-o-treating. It was so much fun. I was kind of worried about being bored, but it was awesome! Syd didn't seem too interested, but Ethan was seriously always like 1-2 houses ahead of us all.

We made our costumes. I do not have a picture of me :(

Aidan-sweetie

cute little butterfly Sydney!

Last month, my good flute friend, Kelsey Ballif went on a mission.





flute friends: Nicole, Amber, Kelsey, and me

Boots-

I love wearing boots in the fall, winter, and spring times. I just got a new pair of boots and I love them!! However, Weston and James (his brother) make fun of my boots... My tan boots are called "storm troops." I don't wear them anymore.... NOT because of them. I can't give them that satisfaction. They have a stain on them, and it looks tacky. The other pair of boots I have were dubbed "Gaston" after our ward Halloween party. Our Sunday school teacher was Gaston, and that is where Weston received the inspiration.. WOW!

Self- Provident

(THIS IS VERY LONG BUT PLEASE INDULGE ME WITH COMMENTS)

After having a good sunday school lesson this past Sunday, I have decided that I am going to start making gifts for my family. IT sounds really cheesy, but it will be really fun :) I have some good ideas. I really think that my family (since we are going to be having Christmas with them) should have a rule of homemade gifts. That would be awesome.....

The lesson the Mike Thomas gave was awesome. I really had the desire to learn how to garden and to make things. My next door neighbor has a greenhouse that he has going all year long. That is amazing.... My sister, Heather, and I have been making our bread instead of buying it. It has been awesome to not have to buy bread. Homemade bread is better anyway. The reason why I feel so strongly about being self-provident in learning how to make things at home instead of the store is that in the future there may be really hard times. Right now is an especially hard time for a lot of us. There are not many job opportunities and everything is becoming more expensive. God gave us the desire to create and I really feel proud of myself when I do something instead of the store. I made some feather headbands the other day and it felt GREAT! Westy and I also made our Halloween costumes, and it felt awesome!!!

I have a couple goals for this holiday season:

1. Make homemade decorations for the tree for FHE. You can still have a cute tree with homemade decorations.

2. Make presents for this names that we draw for our family Christmas. I am going to try to think of what to make my parents for christmas. My dad is really hard. He just seems like a jolly old fellow and doesn't really care for presents (maybe he is lying). - can't we all agree that homemade presents mean a lot.. well I mean it probably means a lot when you get older because the desire for things dimishes or those things are WAY too expensive.

3. I plan on making Christmas decor and decorating my house "amazingly." Just you wait for the pictures. (for example, wreaths, table runners)

4. I am going to make homemade Christmas presents for our friends and those we home/visit teach. (like cookies in a jar, fudge or popcorn balls)

If i keep going... I will give away all of my ideas for my family!!

I hope you all are inspired as much as I am about provident living.

Love,

Erica

Our fun weekend.

Weston and I went to Joanne's to get material to make our costumes. I guess Office Depot must have gone out of business there because a Halloween store was in its place. We went into the Halloween store. It had some pretty sweet wigs. It also had an adult section.... I saw this guy and his wife pointing at something in shock and when I found what they were looking for I was quite shocked. ANYWAY! This is what I call WOBAMA:

Weston's dad was in town for "the game that must not be remembered." He likes to do projects around the house or at the house he is staying. Weston and I have been just sleeping on 2 mattresses for over a year now. I really have a hard time sleeping. So, Jeff and Weston got the box spring and cut it in half because it wouldn't make it up the stairs. I was not sure if they could get it back together after sawing it in half... but I was amazed at what I saw. I took a picture of it and accidentally deleted it off my phone, so I took one when they were upstairs in our room.

What I learned from MTNA

This is what I learned from MTNA:

1. I did not want to do MTNA because I lacked confidence in my ability, but I feel like my ability and confidence to play has grown greatly.

2. My ability to play more difficult music has increased.

3. Sometimes the things that cause us the most stress and grief are those that reap the greatest rewards. -I was so worried about doing this competition. I lacked faith. I did not think i could do it. Excuses.... A lot of excuses came into my mind.. "what if I mess up?" "I want to get good grades. I have no time for competitions." "I don't have enough time to get ready for the competition." "I am not good enough to compete." -Yes all of those thoughts came to my mind and definitely more, but my mind is not thinking right now.

4. My mind no longer cares what people think of how I play. We all have our own weaknesses in playing.

5. My practice habits are strong. At first it washard to get into the habit of practicing more, but it got easier to practice, the more I pushed myself to.

6. My understanding of prayer has grown. I know that I can pray for help on my music, and the Lord will help me if I work my hardest and endure, even if it doesn't see like I'm improving.

Weston and I are so blessed. We always thank the Lord for our many blessings. I know that sometimes we have to put ourselves in stressful situations to grow. Sometimes we may feel so umcomfortable that we are physically sick, but the Lord that does not leave us alone. He lifts us through our trials.