#GiveThanks: Flo

Flo

I'm grateful for our fish, Flo, who is still alive, even though I don't change his water as often as he probably wishes I would. He's been through a lot with us :) Bless him. 

60 to 0 to 5

It's safe to say that moving to Florida has been an adjustment. May was a difficult, rather sad month, and I'm glad we've moved on to June :) Life has been getting better since I've started to get more of a schedule going, but it has gotten even better since I've started asking God for more help.

Days generally consist of waking up in the morning to go with Jared to the hospital to drop him off, then driving back home. In the afternoon I go back to get him again. Each day has study time, and then there's a day for planning what we're going to eat and buying the food, a day for going to the laundromat and washing our clothes, a day for cleaning/watching a movie, a day to FaceTime with friends. I could be a lot more productive each day, and I know I'll get there, but I need baby steps :) People talk about how fast they can go from 0 to 60 -- this adjustment has felt like going from 60 to 0, and now I'm starting to slowly pick up speed again, but this time driving on a different road doing different things than I did before. The change is hard, but it's good because I'm closer to God because of it.

Hello, again!

Hello!

I've been wanting to write for awhile, but I ran into the problem of having so many things happen that deserve so many words to be written about them, and not making the time to write. I felt a little stuck, like Pooh Bear.

Solution: Here's a brief overview of all of the things so I can post again with you being caught up on all of the changes. This post is like watching a movie in double fast-forward. Quite a shame seeing as how the movie was so good. But, it is what it is, so here you go :)

I think it's sufficient to say that a lot of things have happened since April 17, 2018, which was the last time I posted.

Pretty soon after that, I went and bought a tree with a friend in my ward named Jared. Sometime during May we started dating each other (sometimes we say May 5th because that's the first time I was pretty sure we were on a "real date", but we never really had a conversation about it . . . ).  Over the summer we had good and growing times which included things like Jared meeting my whole family (all 30 of us, at the time) when he took our family picture at the end of May, fish pedicures, sitting outside talking, going to the BYU planetarium, Jared coming to the cabin, bonfires, Sunday dinner with Jared's parents, lots of dance parties, and lots of long walks.

At the end of August, Jared and I went to California and visited where I used to live (a.k.a. the Promised Land). We had a great time. Then we came back to Utah (on a Thursday) and broke up.

(It's okay if you feel confused--so did I.)

As you can imagine, many tears were shed. Lots and lots of tears, and lots of Desperado. I was a very nice basket case.

Happily for me, Jared realized he didn't really like being broken up. On Sunday night we went on a walk, and Jared asked if we could start dating again. I told him we could :)

A few weeks later we talked about getting married. We got engaged on the stormy night of October 3rd with a ring in a box of chocolate truffles. What a happy thing!

We were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on December 22nd. It was, and is, wonderful.

PC: Tracy Anderson Photography

I love this good man. And he loves me. I'm grateful God helped us find and recognize each other.

After we got married, we lived in Orem, UT for about three months while I worked in Human Resources and Jared did school. He's almost finished with a masters in Speech Language Pathology. Halfway through April, I left my job, and we went to France, England, and Ireland for two weeks! So fantastic. We really loved our time in Europe, so maybe I'll tell you about it sometime :)

We came home from Europe on April 29th, and then drove to Florida starting on May 1st. It was quite a long drive, so it's a good thing we like to be together :)

Now we live near Tampa, FL where Jared is doing his last externship before graduating. We live, love, and learn in a one closet-one bathroom-one room (bedroom/living room/dining room/kitchen combo) Airbnb that we call home. And that, my friends, in a nutshell, is the happy adventure in which we currently find ourselves. 

           

Also, we got a fish named Christopher Columbus Florido, and a frog named Frederick lives outside of our front door :)

Here's Flo :)

Frederick seems to be a little nocturnal though, and I don't have a picture of him yet.

And there you have it.

The other day someone told me that I have olive skin. Some statements you just accept, without regard as to whether or not they're true. I'll embrace this one. (The someone was a redhead, but we won't let that invalidate anything he says about skin tones.) 

Life feels a bit fancier when you buy a can of whipped cream to put on top of your yogurt and berries. (Or really anything else you feel like putting it on top of, like a spoon.) 

I got to talk to the bestie this last week. I love her.

I had a nasty bout of stress and procrastination recently, and I'm glad to be over it. Although I did enjoy the panda videos I watched. 

The Bumb and I watched Sense and Sensibility with the parents two Fridays ago, and we all enjoyed ourselves. 

The Bumb and I also had two very enjoyable car rides this last week involving Billy Joel, an NPR broadcast about the Stoics, Jordan Peterson at Harvard, In-N-Out, great 80s music, good conversation, and The Killers.  

They changed the email list to be alphabetical on the scanner at work last week, making life ten clicks easier :) Thank you, Mom and Dad, for giving me an A name. #blessed

I found these blossoms by one of my favorite places to walk on the south side of campus. They were delicious. You should go smell them.

Sometimes life feels rather sad, lonely, lost, and frustrating, and that's hard. But really, overall life is happy and everything is going to be okay :) I don't really have any idea where I'm going or what I'm doing, but I'm sure it will all be fine because God knows all of the things and He'll help me :) because He loves me. 

He loves you, too.

Enjoy <3

Day Twelve: These People (Costco Sample Size)

Hello, again!

I've really been meaning to post, but sometimes things are a little bit crazy. So . . . yes. Here you go.

Let's count this as day 12 of 30 Days of Gratitude with Anna :)

#betterlatethannever

As I was laying in bed last night, I was thinking about a bunch of people for whom I'm grateful, and I made a list to share with you. 

I think we'll probably need to have multiple posts like this because you can't fit all of the wonderful people in one post. Let's be real, you can't even fit all of the wonderful things about one person in one post.

For you, this is my Costco sample of gratitude for these 10 people.

1. Mr. I

Mr. I is a man I work with. He had a supervisor whose name is Kerri G. (he's on a different team now). He always thought Kerri's last name was Fischer because that was just what came after the name Kerri in his head. So, that's the name he would write on his auto-break deduction forms he would turn in to me. I got a kick out of it every time.

2. Katie

I get to live with Katie. Lately, we've had some really good conversations. I love her. She's a saint with a beautiful soul.

3. Caroline

Caroline is my sister. After weeks and weeks of phone tag, we finally matched up, and when we did, she had just the right things to say to me.

4. Lauren

This girl is a gem. She goes running with me. She listens to all of the things I have to say about everything (which is quite a lot because, obviously, I know exactly how this world should be run), and she talks to me. Something I especially love about her at the moment is that we planned to go to the store together on Saturday, but she was thinking groceries and I was thinking shoes. I showed up at her house and said, "Let's try the mall. I need boots." Without saying anything, she tossed her food list, and we went to the mall and found boots for me and jellies for her. She didn't tell me about the grocery store until Sunday night, and she only told me then because she thought I might think it was funny. I did. :) I even made her miss stake choir practice while I was looking at boots, but she said it wasn't a problem, and that she was just happy to be with me. I'm not sure that people get much better than her. Everyone should have a Lauren.

5. Rebekah

She's one of my wonderful friends. Among many other things, I've especially appreciated some of her outfits lately. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures so you could have all partaken in the joy. If I were to name the outfits though, they would be called The Jazz Fanatic (even though she doesn't really follow the Jazz and just has the big t-shirt and beanie because her brother gave them to her) and The Athletic Colonial Boy.

6. Joyce

I also get to live with Joyce. The other week we watched Tangled and very thoroughly enjoyed it together. I was grateful for the much needed mental break and a friend to share it with.

7. Rachel

Rachel is another one of my sisters. She lifts me with every interaction and still chooses to love me, even though she knows basically everything about me. That's really saying something.

8. Mom

On top of everything she already does for everyone on earth, she cleaned my throw up out of my car and my clothes. TMI? That was an interesting day. True love, friends.

9. Marcus

The best friend. We talked. He listened to me tell him all of the things. He fed me pizza and we watched an episode of Band of Brothers (with all of the things I don't like cut out :)) It was great. A throwback to our old days of funemployment, except that now . . . we're both employed. #win

Last, but not least

10. Jonathan

The Bumb. He takes such good care of me. He'll come check on me and take me to dinner. We have meaningful discussions and lots of quality time. He's the best. I love him.

Day Eleven: The Temple

Hello!

Today, I am grateful for the temple.

I always know that if I can make it to the temple, everything in life will be okay.

I'll feel peace.

I'll find answers.

I'll know even more deeply that God loves me.

The temple is another one of my favorite happy places.

Also,

check out this sunset from when I came out!

Preeetty nice, eh?

It was better IRL.

Day Ten: Friends

Tonight, I laid by the fireplace and watched a little P&P. I finished the episode where Mr. Darcy first proposes to Elizabeth. (Can we take a minute to remember how very terribly awkward Mr. Collins is? He kills me. Well done, David Bamber.) 

After the episode finished, I kept laying by the fireplace having my internal struggle of kind of not really wanting to go anywhere, but knowing that I should probably go do something with my life.

The latter won out, and I texted my friend, Alexa.

We ended up painting/calligraphy-ing and watching a movie.

It was just what I needed.

Aren't you happy when you find friends who enjoy doing the tranquilo things with you when you don't feel like being a really exciting person? 

I am.

Today (and everyday), I'm grateful for friends.

 

The Painting 11.10

We don't really know what it is.

It just is.

Day Nine: Future Opportunities

This has always been one of my favorite Mormon Messages.

Especially the guy who starts at 3:36.

"I'm grateful for future opportunities. If you have a hard time, you can always overcome that. There's always positive in the future."

Amen.

There is ALWAYS positive in the future.

One thing I have seen time and time again during my months of not having a job is that God always provides more hope. More future opportunities. Even when every light seems to be out.

I'm grateful for that.

Like Maria says, "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window."

A window with light streaming through to guide us to the right door.

Good things are ahead for you!

 Things so good that they're out of the scope of your wildest dreams.

(This may sound cheesy to you, but it's true.)

So, keep going, friends.

Heavenly Father loves you, and He knows what He's doing :)

Day Eight: The Cabin

Nearly 100 years ago, my great-grandparents built this cabin off of the Snake River in Island Park, Idaho. 

PC: Becca

It's one of my favorite happy places.

A place where everything but the important things slow down.

Where good memories are made and remembered, and eternal bonds are strengthened.

It's our family gathering place,

and that's why it's heaven.

Day Seven: Devotional

Tuesdays

11:05 am

Marriott Center

BYU

We began by sitting in Portal F for family, fun, food, friends, and future family ;) 

Eventually, we decided to stop beating around the bush and to just sit in Portal M--for marriage. 

The portal change worked for two of the people in this picture! So, that's great!

(That doesn't count my dad, though. He was already married :))

I love going to devotional.

Devotionals and forums have expanded my views, broadened my intellect, and brought me closer to God.

On a regular basis they speak very directly to my specific needs. 

Among other things, the conglomeration of lessons I've learned from forums and devotionals has shaped who I am.

Of most importance, they've helped to solidify my knowledge that God cares for and knows me individually. 

The Pride Cycle

Change and Becoming: Thoughts from a Reluctant Grower

Waiting upon the Lord: The Antidote to Uncertainty

The Rock of Our Redeemer

The Power of Not Knowing

My Life is a Gift; My Life has a Plan

His Grace is Sufficient

Be a Light to the World

Becoming Men and Women of Integrity

Appropriate Zeal

Devotional. #youshouldtryitsometime

Day Six: My Dentist

I love going to the dentist. 

I get to sit in the chair and have a good chat with my hygienist and friend, Loreen, while she cleans my teeth.

Then, Dr. Mark makes sure I don't have any cavities, and if I do, we set up another appointment for me to come get them fixed. 

They put fluoride on my teeth and give me a new toothbrush and floss.

They're happy to see me, and I'm happy to see them.

If I have a cavity, which, I might add, hasn't happened for a long time (20 points for Hufflepuff), they fix it while I get to sit there and listen to music on their little iPod. 

As if taking care of my teeth wasn't enough, they send me a postcard on my birthday.

What's not to love?

After all, you know what they say:

Day Five: Pandas

Once upon a time, I decided to like pandas.

I think my friend Allyson Austin posted something about the panda cam on her blog one time and I began watching it. That was a game changer. 

Sometimes during finals week I would be up in the middle of the night stressed, either studying or writing a paper, and I'd go to the panda cam and watch them walk around, or sleep, or eat bamboo. It's quite therapeutic. I highly recommend it. #annalifecopingskills

You know something is truly fantastic when you can sit and watch it do nothing and still love it. I think one of the things I love most about pandas is that they never seem to rush. They just do what they're going to do when they're going to do it, and eat bamboo.

Last November, I got to see the pandas from the panda cam IN REAL LIFE.

Needless to say, I was a very happy soul.

(The girl who took this picture for me probably thought I was nuts, except she was there looking at the pandas by herself too . . . )

Day Four: Chocolate

I’m not quite sure when my love began, all I know is that it did, and it’s been going strong ever since. It could be that I was indoctrinated with this as a young child:

Or it could simply be the fact that chocolate is the food of the gods, the breakfast of true champions, and the ultimate sustenance, physically, socially, and emotionally.

We may never know.

The best chocolate experience of my life took place circa August 2012 when my brother, Jonathan, brought a Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate bar home directly from the motherland. One square of delicious, milky chocolateness melting in my mouth was all it took. Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate is recommended to keep on hand both for daily use (between zero and two squares) and emergency purposes (up to six squares, or as needed).

Other delectable chocolate experiences include Tillamook Mudslide ice cream and Costco’s All American Chocolate Cake. 

But, really.

Day Three: Things that keep me warm

I'm grateful for the things in this world that keep me warm because, let's be honest, being cold is the worst. 

When your name is Anna, you find all sorts of things to keep yourself warm: 

the sun

ovens

toasters

stoves

warm food cooking on stoves

candle flames

blow dryers (fantastic, except when they melt your dress :/ what's with that?)

space heaters

the big, soft blanket that Mark and Ali gave me for Christmas last year

holding your hands under hot water

the steam that comes off of the rice cooker

the steam that comes out of the dishwasher when you open it in the middle of a cycle (or even just standing by the dishwasher)

warm clothes from the dyer

those heaters they have over the doors when you first walk into Costco during the winter

and especially,

this fireplace

just to name a few. 

Day Two: Faith

Today I am grateful for faith.

I’m grateful for the faith I see in others as they press forward through hard times. 

Their faith helps to increase mine.

I’m grateful for the power that faith in Jesus Christ gives me. Faith in Jesus Christ enables me to become more than I am, or ever could even dream of being, on my own.

I’ve recently been reminded that living by faith is a choice I need to make everyday.  

A Grateful Month

     Happy November!

The ambitious side of myself decided that I want to post about something I'm grateful for everyday this month. 

The realistic side reminds me that I just finished day 29 of 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene, and that I started that two and a half years ago . . . so we'll see how this 30-day thing goes.

Friends, I present to you 

30 Days of Gratitude with Anna!

Day One

I am grateful for the Bristol "Apostrophiser".

 

He who lives the life the rest of us can only dream of.

Making the world a better place, one apostrophe at a time.

Bless you. 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lewis!

I love C.S. Lewis. I will be forever grateful to him for the profound ways in which his writings have impacted my views of life, others, and myself. 

Seeing as how today is his 118th birthday, let's enjoy some of the fabulous gems he's left for us:

We are what we believe we are.

There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.

I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me. 

He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away his hand; and if only the will to walk is really there, he is pleased even with their stumbles.

Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth.

One of the drawbacks about adventures is that when you come to the most beautiful places you are often too anxious and hurried to appreciate them.

We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art . . . It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. 

I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait.

I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun. Not because I can see it, but by it I can see everything else.

Those who have not learned to ask Him for childish things will have less readiness to ask Him for great ones. 

I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand. 

We have nothing, if not belief.

The grand point is not to wear the garb, nor use the brogue of religion, but to process the life of God within, and feel and think as Jesus would have done because of that inner life. Small is the value of extended religion, unless it is the outcome of a life within. 

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road. In that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

We read to know we are not alone.

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally - and often far more - worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.

For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. 

Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward. 

Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do. 

[To have faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you. 

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in. 

Do not waste time bothering whether you "love" your neighbor: act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find on of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. 

I don't believe that good work is ever done in a hurry. 

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations-these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals who we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously-no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.

Mmmm. It's like chocolate for the soul.

Spring

"When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest."

-Ernest Hemingway-

Sometimes These Things Happen

Hello!

Sometimes your parents only invite their favorite children to Thanksgiving dinner. 

Sometimes it only takes two hours, four tree lots, and four opinions to get a Christmas tree!

Sometimes you want a new profile picture but then you can't use the one you take because it makes you look like you're engaged to your brother. 

Posting profile pictures that make you look like you're dating your siblings is against Rule #53 in the Pike Family Single Sibling Society (S.S.S.) Handbook, as it may be detrimental to dissolving said Society.

Sometimes you get to talk to Jonathan for a long time! 

(Side note: HE'S COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS SOOOOOON!!!!! :').

I feel like Fran (40:58). 

"We're to be together all Christmas long!" 

We'll play games, sing songs, dance around in circles, watch movies, eat chocolate, play in the snow, have good talks, laugh, and solve all of the world's problems.)

Sometimes you send Jono and Becca screenshots of the PandaCam, because pandas make life great.

#lightsaberpanda. Win.

Sometimes you have wonderful work-friends who get excited about snow with you.

Sometimes it's your favorite author's birthday tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Sometimes, these things happen.

The Day We Died and Went to Heaven . . . and then some

Hello! 

We* finally did it!!!!!

We went to Pioneer Book!!!

Just look at those books! Aren't they beautiful!

If you're feeling a bit healthy and wealthy, you could buy this first edition copy of one of the greatest books ever written! 

I sufficed myself with these two gems: Draw to Learn Français! and Small is Still Beautiful: Economics as if Families Mattered. 

Books. Mmmm!

*We = Allison Barrett and me

Alli Barrett: A stellar individual.

stel·lar - ˈstelər

informal: exceptionally good; outstanding.

synonyms: marvelous, outstanding, superb, first-rate, out of this world, heavenly, dazzling

I have two more things to talk about.

1. So, I took this Buzzfeed which-Hogwarts-house-are-you-in quiz, and I got Hufflepuff.

I had a really hard time with this at first, but I learned to embrace it :).

But then, I took another quiz, and look what I got.

89% Gryffindor/89% Hufflepuff?

 What? 

I feel like Marty on Madagascar. "Alex, I don't know if I'm a black zebra with white stripes, or a white zebra with black stripes!"

I think I'll just take the best of both houses. It's like ice cream. I'll have a little bit of both :). #norealsortinghatprobs

2. Number two has two parts: 

(a) Graduating from college is hard. Period. 

(b) Jonathan (more affectionately known as Bumb) is the best.

We recently had a conversation that went something like this: 

Anna: Jonathan, can we just have an intellectually stimulating conversation!? I haven't had one for so long!

Jonathan: Sure Anna. Go get [insert C.S. Lewis book here], read it, and we'll discuss it.

Being born into a family of geniuses is the best. You get built in professors :). I'm glad I got to tag onto the back. #youngestchildperks

  

Well, I think that's all! Happy Friday tomorrow!