MERRY CHRISTMAS BLOGGERS!

On our cruise ship leaving NYC

My hubby in times square

Prest in beautiful central park

Our view of times square from our hotel room

Preston in Rockefeller Center

Me walking down 5th Avenue

Our view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the ferry

Me, Elmo, and Preston in Central Park

We took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty...amazing.

Having fun in times square

Wicked excited to go see WICKED!

Preston at WICKED

Preston a little excited for the cruise

In the dining room after eating dinner

Catching some sun

I loved getting dressed up for dinner

All ready to go to the spa for some pampering!

Preston's favorite towel critter


Double decker bus tour we took around Halifax


At Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia


Going to dinner.. just another night on the cruise

Playing mini golf on the top of the ship

Trolley tour around St. Johns

Prest at the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick
With my old roomie, Shilo, at Central Michigan football game

We got new furniture for our family room!

Another angle of our family room

Since we moved the TV to the family room, we rearranged the living room!

Another angle of the living room

New Decor for the dining room

Waiting for the Detroit Pistons game to start

Our dog is wondering what we are doing..

Cute Scrubs with her toy

I love this dog!


Halloweenie!!

My Halloween wig!

Me and Tiffany golfing

Tiffany and Mike

Preston by the golf cart

Driving the golf cart...fun stuff!

at Michigan Adventure

Preston at Michigan Adventure

I just want to start off by thanking everyone who commented on my last post. I consider myself immensely blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life. I cherish your kinds words, and am truly grateful for all the love, support, and friendship you've shown towards me through such a difficult trial. I couldn't ask for more.

Well, here are some pictures from this fall...finally. I seriously think Fall is now my favorite time of year. Fall was a little crazy as we stayed busy between working, school, golfing, church callings, going to Detroit Piston games, Michigan Adventure, working out at the Gym (I'm loving Yoga), etc, etc. I stayed quite busy at my nursing job and Prest took 15 credits of law school plus worked part-time at the hotel. I'm also just getting around to posting pictures from our New York trip and cruise from back in August. Better late than never, I suppose! It was seriously one of the best vacations I've ever been on...I totally LOVED New York City! We got to go see Wicked, a stand-up comedy show, the Statue of Liberty, stay at the Marriot hotel in Times Square, eat at Planet Hollywood, shop along 5th avenue, walk through central park, ride the subway, visit with some friends from Utah, and to top it all off we went on a fun cruise for a week to New England and Canada. Cruises are my favorite, you can do whatever you want, eat as much as you want, and its all-inclusive! We've almost cruised all the 4 corners of the U.S. now!

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful holiday season! As Christmas rapidly approaches, I've been able to reflect on the birth and life of my savior, Jesus Christ. I know it is through Him that we find true happiness in this world. "Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King." May the true meaning of Christmas be with you and yours throughout this Holiday season and the New Year. God Bless you all.

When Life Doesn't go According to Plan...

I know you're all in shock that I'm actually posting something as its been several months since I've blogged. After reading this I'm sure you will forgive me though.

Back in August we found out I was pregnant. We were very very excited to be expecting our first baby (to say the least). We didn't expect to get pregnant so fast after trying for just a month!! Both our families were thrilled for their first grandchild and great grandchild to finally be on its way as its been a long time coming (we've been married for over 4 years now). I was so happy to be pregnant and to have a baby in April, the doctor even told me my due date was April 10th--my Birthday.

Well, the excitement was short lived as it all turned out to be too good to be true. When I was 12 weeks along I miscarried. Nothing could have prepared me for the loss I felt for the weeks and months following the miscarriage. I felt like someone had played a cruel joke on me, and that all my plans for the future had been thrown out the window. I was completely devastated and depressed. "How can this be happening to me?" & "What did I do wrong?" were constant thoughts going through my head. I was a huge mess of emotions--anger, sadness, guilt, frustration, confusion, etc.

I know some of you have experienced miscarriages as well, and for those who have, my heart goes out to you. I can truly empathize with your pain.

It never use to bother me when I would hear about others' pregnancies, babies, children, etc. I always felt genuinely happy and excited for others, knowing that one day I would get pregnant and have a baby of my own when I was ready. Then, it would be my turn to blog and post pictures of my cute belly, and then baby. After my miscarriage, however, it all started to bother me. How could some people be on their 2nd and 3rd pregnancies when I had yet to experience my 1st? How was that fair? I was angry and frustrated constantly.

For months I felt like there was nothing going on in my life of any importance whatsoever, definitely nothing worth blogging about. Pictures of vacations we had been on, or pictures of my dog, or posts about movies we'd seen or new furniture we bought suddenly seemed so frivolous and mundane. How could any of these things compare to being able to blog about pregnancy or the birth of a new child?

Looking back, I can now say I've experienced the ever-so talked about "grieving process" [denial, guilt, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance]. I've finally come to the point of accepting the miscarriage, and realizing that my plan is not the only plan. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for me, a plan for each of us. I know His plan doesn't always run parallel to mine. All my life I've been a "planner", and this was one time life didn't go according to plan for me. I know I need to trust in Heavenly Father and have faith in His love.

I'm so grateful for a loving, supportive family (especially husband) that has been more than kind and loving towards me during this difficult trial. Through prayers & tears I've felt myself growing closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ, knowing that he has physically experienced the same feelings and emotions I have. I know the love of Christ has truly healed my pain. I also know the pain I've felt doesn't even compare to the pain & sorrows He felt and bore for us. "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes....we are healed." (-Mosiah 14:3-5)

Gotta love Summer!

On our trip to Chicago!

Preston, my uncle, and my dad in downtown chicago

Preston and my dad walking around downtown

I love Chicago

The men walking around

Me, my uncle, my dad in Chicago

Hanging out with some of my work friends

With my friend Monica before she moved to floridaa


Me and Rachel dancing

Lounging on the couch watching tv

Scrubs and Preston's arm!

Preston lounging around!

We're enjoying a great summer at the Nate household! Preston loves his summer job at the Marriot hotel and I love that he's not stressed about law school! We've been able to see and do a lot of new things and just relax and have fun! We've been going to the beach almost every weekend! There are so many beaches along Lake Michigan's shoreline that we can go to a different one every time! My dad came to visit us in June! It was fun to see him and show him our new house and dog! He flew into Chicago so we went down there to pick him up and got to hang out with my uncle that lives there! Of course we had to go out to eat some famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza...it was so good! Chicago is only 3 hours from here, so I'm already planning a trip back! We also showed my dad around Grand Rapids, went to museums, to meijer gardens (I loved their Chihuly exhibit...check out all the cool glass sculptures!), and of course we had to play a round of golf (my dad's favorite thing to do!) This is definitely my favorite time of year here, its so green and beautiful in Michigan during the summer! We hope all our friends & families are having a great summer too!

With my dad at mejier gardens chihuly exhibit

Preston and the beaver...oops I was focused too much on the beaver and cut preston out!

We looked so little next to the big horse statue

I think this was my favorite glass sculpture of the exhibit

This sculpture was a close 2nd place

Preston being silly

So pretty, I loved the Chihuly exhibit!

My dad loved our dog (he has one just like her)!

Playing fetch on the beach

We love Lake Michigan!

Look at those cute little backsides!

His is my favorite backside though ;)

Having fun in the water

My sexy hubby... woot woot!

Running along the beach

Having lots of fun

Preston loves to dress scrubs in his clothes!