Well, my sisters both blogged, so I guess I can to

Ian's playing a round of DOTA 2, and I'm all caught up on my studying (for now anyway) so it seems as good a time as any to blog.

St. George is beautiful. The red rock set against a seemingly perpetual blue sky never ceases to take my breath away. The leaves have finally started to change over the last couple days. As I was driving today the wind was blowing the fallen leaves and I could have sworn they were pieces of red, orange and gold construction paper. The colors were so vibrant. I can honestly say I am growing to love it here.

That being said, something about Southern Utah seems to bring about a refiner's fire in my life. When I lived here during my freshman year of college, it was the adjustment of being away from my family. They were all living their lives and having fun and I wasn't a part of it. It was a difficult adjustment to say the least. Also, my experience with student housing was... well... kind of a disaster. I think most of that had to do with my own expectations, which were unrealistic. But I digress.

This move has brought its own set of challenges, which I don't really feel the need to list. Suffice it to say these last 2 1/2 months have been a roller coaster. I feel like Ian and I are (mostly) taking it in stride, and we've been incredibly blessed in the process, but that feeling of, "C'mon... SERIOUSLY?", however momentary, sneaks its ugly head in.

I know it seems like I'm complaining, but I'm more just trying to give some details to illustrate my point. My mom sent me this the other day and I think it applies:

Often we wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?” or “Why did God have to do this to me?” Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she’s failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, “Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.”

Here, have some cooking oil,” her Mother offers. “Yuck” says her daughter.

“How about a couple raw eggs?” “Gross, Mom!”

“Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?” “Mom, those are all yucky!”

To which the mother replies: “Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!”

I used to ask Ian all the time, "Why don't we seem to have any challenges?" Not that I was hoping for anything different, but things were so easy. We both had great jobs and always made ends meet with some left over; we lived in a fantastic neighborhood/ward and lived by lots of great couple friends, and any "challenges" that came up were small and easily corrected. What I realize after reading that is that was the sugar and the butter. Now we get a little bit of the raw eggs and baking soda that are going to make the cake that will eventually get us in to the celestial kingdom. (You like that? Clever, huh?)

There's a lot of beauty in the mayhem of the raw eggs and baking soda, however.

First of all, Hello! I got in to one of the toughest nursing programs in the state on my first try. I tell people that and their jaw hits the floor.

We went to a football game at Dixie and saw some of the coolest lightning I've ever seen.

We live among some of Heavenly Father's most beautiful creations,
sights that people come from all over the world to admire.

Our townhouse is adorable, thanks to my mom and sisters, and is in the ward boundaries
of another fantastic married student ward.

Living in a college town means community events like a drive-in movie with free popcorn.

And of course, this guy. Raw eggs and baking soda mean we get to grow closer than ever.
And any challenge is worth that pay off. 

As I've tried to focus on this part of it, I've realized that there's still a lot of sugar and butter. It may not be as easy to see, but it makes that raw egg a little easier to wash down.