it's like the annoying little brother that just won't go away!

So it seems like all of this semester, ever since it started getting cold outside, I've been battling the cold virus. I'll have it for a week or so, and then it will go away and I think 'Great! it's gone! Now I can breathe and sleep and maybe get other things done!' but then a few weeks later, it hits me again. I'm so tired of this. I swear it's like an annoying little brother that just won't quit picking on you. It leaves me asking "WHY ME?" I'm almost positive it's brought on by stress. Because it always seems to resurface during the weeks when I've got papers or tests in all my classes. I think I want one of these:



















hehehe. JK...kinda. Seriously I feel like I need a big ole box of Kleenex and about 50 DayQuil tablets. I just hope it's gone before we leave for Disneyland on Tuesday!

I really am Thankful for things!

Ok. I fail at being consistent at writing my thankful posts. BUT in my defense, I try to only work on homework when I'm at school, so that I can have a chance to relax when I get home, and Matt's computer, the only one that actually connects to the internet, has been having issues. (half the time when we turn it on the keyboard won't work or the mouse pad won't work.) This makes it very hard to want to blog, typing with a mouse and the on screen keyboard is way harder than it sounds. If you don't believe me, try it! It takes forever!

I'm just going to list off some things that I have realized I am grateful for:
- I am grateful for my hoodies! I wear them all the time. I can't wear them to work, so I don't usually wear them to campus, but as soon as I get home, I put it on. I have a few of them, but it's almost always one of two, either the one from Yellowstone, or the one that my grandma gave me for Christmas last year that says Riley University. I love them!

-I'm grateful for Hymns. Yesterday at church we sang some of my favorite hymns. I loved it. I love how some days there are things that I want to say, and I can't find the words to express my feelings, and then suddenly a hymn will pop into my head that manages to convey my feelings so perfectly. Half the time I end up in tears by the end of the song. I love that when I'm having a bad day, I can think of a hymn and suddenly my day isn't so bad, or there's hope that it will get better. I can't think of the name of they hymn that we sang at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting yesterday, but I remember listening to the words and thinking that it was exactly what I needed at that moment.

-I'm grateful for Raid. Ya know, the stuff that you spray in your house to get rid of bugs, what, you don't have that problem. Well I do. I HATE spiders. Yet because we live in a basement, they seem to love our house. Yuck! Friday night I got up to go to the bathroom and while I was sitting on the potty, I felt something on my leg, and when I looked down there was a big, nasty, hairy spider crawling on my thigh. (shudder just thinking about this) Any of you who have seen me when there is a spider around know exactly what happened next. Yup, I screamed bloody murder and Matt came rushing in to save me from the evil spider. Needless to say, he killed the spider and sprayed the whole house with Raid so that I could settle down. My knight in shining armor!

- I'm grateful for my phone calls home at 5pm. I love talking to my mom and the little kids on my walk home from work. My mom always tells me that it's the worst time to call, and it probably is for her, but I love to hear the kids in the background and listen to her tell them how to do their homework. If I close my eyes while I'm listening to all of this, I can almost pretend that I'm right there with them. It keeps me from getting too homesick.

I'm Thankful for... 2 & 3

Ok. So I didn't post a thankful note yesterday...guess I'm not off to a good start. Today I'll just have to come up with two.

2. I'm thankful for my warm socks. Most of you are laughing while reading this, thinking that I don't even wear socks. I'll let you know that I have seen the error in my ways and that I now LOVE getting home from work and putting on my wool winter socks and my slippers. I'm pretty sure that this comes from the fact that we have a tile floor in our little basement apartment and it is always freezing cold! When Matt and I got into bed last night, my feet were nice and warm, and his were cold, which is the opposite of how it normally is, and I kinda liked it! Until he put his cold toes on me!

3. I'm thankful for the Internet and e-mails today! We got our first e-mail from Austin today! He's doing well and loving being a missionary! Here's the letter he sent home, Mom said she felt like she'd won the lottery jackpot when she opened her e-mail this morning:

Hey Family!

Its goin great here! i honestly love it so much! when i got outta the
car i went through a bunch of paperwork verifacation to make sure i
was who i said a was then dropped my stuff off in the class room and
met up with the other guys in my district. then it was right into
class. all spanish all day everyday haha its the best way to learn it
i guess!! my companion is Elder Summers, he's from Parker CO! so you
all could meet his family i bet sometime! and we just got a new
companion yesterday Elder Leigh from Ogden. i love them both so much!
they're great examples and we have a great time together! The
cafeteria is alright but i miss the sizzle and scent of mama's cookin
in the kitchen! collin, eat thirds for me tonight please! haha I gave
Elder Summers a blessing last night because he was feelin a cold
coming on. that was so so amazing to feel words be put into my mouth.
wow! Lessons are fantastic here, i understand them more than i
expected. we only speak spanish in the class room and try to speak as
much spanish outside the class as we can! its pretty fun! Im learning
so much... SO much! the spirit is so strong with all these sisters and
elders floatin around bearing their testimonies right and left! The
days here are very long. but i enjoy almost every minute of it. the
ones i dont enjoy are the 20 minutes after dinner when i eat too
much!! not very enjoyable physically! but i love the learning. We're
learning the first lesson of PMG and starting to practice teach it to
eachother and get taught! we're also learning about the love that
Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father have for everyone on this Earth.
Sometimes i think we forget that even those who rub us the wrong way
are children of God. that was great to learn about! so all of you
remember that the people on this earth are our friends and we should
be treating them with respect. tonight is the General Authority
Devotional and im so so excited for that! Today our district went to
the temple! that was incredible! The second time was MUCH better. i
was way more calm and could pay attention much better. i wish we
could've just ast in the celestial room all day. i know i could have!
I read the last chapter of Moroni in there and loved every word! its a
very good chapter! You all should read it one night before bed! Oh and
thank you for the letters! i love getting those! they are such a treat
at the end of a long day! so im scheduled to get outta here dec. 27 so
i cant call on christmas but in the airport i shouldbe able to! I
miss you all a lot really. but its the kind of "miss" tha that i know
i should be having in my life right not :) just like you all should
too! Theres a website called dearelder.com that is for emailing
letters and packages and stuff to us missionaries! check it out! its
pretty self explanatory i imagine, and its a bit faster than snail
mail! Well my time is winding down, :( tell the Larsens Hi from Elder
Page!

i miss you all a bunch! but always love you even more!
LOVE
Elder Page

Yay for e-mails, they are so much faster than snail mail! But I can't wait to get a real letter from him, hopefully soon!

I'm Grateful For...

I'm going to try to post one thing I am grateful for everyday from now until Thanksgiving. These are not in order, simply one thing I am glad to have in my life. Today, as weird as it may sound, I am grateful for healthy food. With all the junk that we have had in the last few days, and by we I really mean me, I was so excited to come home today and eat a bowl of grapes. Now that Halloween is over I'm sending all the candy to Austin so he can share it with his companions, he needs some fattening up, right? And I need some "unfattening" aka I need to eat fruits and veggies and really go to zumba twice a week.