Thanksgiving Fun

Thanksgiving week has arrived and it was definitely worth the wait.  This week has been great, being able to spend some down time with family and to just relax.  This was the first time we have taken Gracie on a long road trip and it was interesting; she was pretty good for the first half of the trip, but started to meow and scratch at her carrier about an hour into the drive.  I took her out of the carrier and her personality turned into a dog!  I had the carrier on my lap, in which she decided to lay on top of it and look out at the road and up at the stars for the rest of the trip.  We haven't had her for long, but she has been one of the sweetest animals I've ever owned.  I'm so glad she is our first pet!

Thanksgiving day was amazing; we all slept in, had Thanksgiving lunch, rested all afternoon, played cards and games all night, and decided to go shopping around 10 pm to see what deals we could get on early Christmas gifts.  (The shopping that night wasn't as bad as we had anticipated either, we were only out for about an hour and a half before arriving back home).  I always feel so at home when I'm with the Owen family, I couldn't have been blessed more to have married into such a wonderful, loving, and caring family as them.

Another highlight of this week was getting to see Catching Fire, which I would rate a five out of five stars.  I think  the producers did a fantastic job of following the plot closely to the book without changing much.  Watching the movie made me want to re-read the entire series all over again!  Mockingjay is going to be an awesome ending to the movies as it was to the trilogy.

I'm looking forward to Christmas break and all the blogging that I'll be able to accomplish!  As this week comes to a close, we should all remember what we are thankful for and continue to take this thankfulness with us the rest of the year.

Thanksgiving & Family On My Mind

Good evening blogging world!  It's been a few days.  The semester is finally winding down!  There's only twenty more days until Thanksgiving break, and then I'll get to see some family, and have some much needed R&R.  Here is a good photo of the great family I married into. :)  Daniel is my younger brother-in-law, Darrel and Robin are my father and mother-in-laws, Sara is my sister-in-law, Kiefer is her husband, and Carrie is my younger sister-in-law.  Over the past few years I have had the privilege of getting to know each and every one of these amazing people, and I'm glad to be a part of their family.

(From left to right; Daniel, Darrel, Robin, me, Michael, Sara, Kiefer, and Carrie)

Every family is different, mine especially, because I grew up in a military home.  Growing up in a military home is great, but it makes it difficult to do "family" things such as eating at the dinner table every night and have family card/game nights on a weekly basis.  The Owen family is like the family I never had growing up.  I remember the first time I met Micheal's family and we had dinner at the kitchen table, and shortly after we finished eating we sat around and played card games until late night.  This was something that I could get use to, and fast.  This being said, I still love my own flesh and blood family with my whole being, we're just different than the normal family.

(Dad, Mom, Michael, Me, Brandon, and Grandpa)

My family is small and I really don't know my extended family well, but I wouldn't trade who my grandparents, parents, or brothers are in a heartbeat.  There will probably be more posts about my family to come, but the short version will be posted here.  My mom was in the Navy for twenty years, and she retired when I was a junior in high school.  I'm super bias for the Navy!  Having a mom who traveled the world protecting our country was one of the coolest things I would ever tell going through grade school.  Not only was she standing up for her family and nation, she was able to support her family and be an outstanding mom who would do anything for her kin.  My grandma and grandpa helped raise me and are like my second set of parents.  My step-dad and brothers became part of our family about ten years ago, and I'm so glad to call them mine!  Any who, I'll get off this rant and finish up.

Family is great and I'm glad to have a great one!

Praxis and Home

This past weekend was great!  For once this semester I actually felt married!  The only thing that I had to do this weekend was take the Praxis: Music Content & Instruction exam.  For those of you who don't know, the Praxis has multiple different sections and subject tests, and education majors across the nation are usually required to take and pass it to get fully licensed as a teacher.  I wasn't planning on taking it this semester, I had my mind set for taking it next semester; but something told me to check the ETS website about a month ago.  Upon checking it, I found out that the music subject test was not offered at Murray State next semester....so I decided to crack down on studying and take it on a whim.  After this past Saturday, I feel that I did pretty well!  I just have to wait four weeks to receive my scores, and hopefully they're passing.

Back to the feeling married part; because I only had to take the Praxis, I was able to have much needed time at home and with the hubby!  We were able to spend some quality time together and catch up on one of our favorite TV shows, Battlestar Galactica.  Only 39 days until it is officially Christmas Break, then I'll really feel married. :)  Being a full time college student, a Music Education major, and having to commute an hour every day really takes a toll on being married.  It has taken some time to adjust to this busy lifestyle, but thankfully next semester will be better on me and Michael.

This is one of the more recent photos of us, yet it was taken back in May!

What a Week

A glance at this past busy week:

1. Monday and Tuesday night was PASIC rehearsal until 10pm each night.
2. Wednesday night was dress rehearsal for the concert last night.
3. I had to observe a choir class early yesterday morning, and the concert was last night.

TGIF!

Yesterday was one of those days....everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.  The whole west side of Kentucky was slammed with rain and storms all day, setting the "spooky" mood of Halloween.  I spilled a glass of water in one of the lunch lines at the T-Room, squirted hot sauce everywhere at the condiments station, was rushed everywhere all afternoon, and to top it off I couldn't find my mallet bag during the concert...right before I had to go on stage to play...during the concert.  I have never been so scared and nervous in my entire musical career.  My heart was racing and it suddenly felt like I was going to get sick.  With the help of some friends, I grabbed a set of mallets that were laying around back stage, walked out to the marimba, and lo-behold...my mallet bag was sitting there on stage.  I had a rush of emotions flood over me, and all I could tell myself was "Count, when you count you focus."  That method worked in helping me focus and play that piece, but as soon as I walked off stage I fell apart.  I was able to pull myself together before I went back on stage, and finished the concert with a bang.  I'm so thankful I had my percussion family back stage to help support me!

Despite yesterday's pitfalls, this morning was greeted with a beautiful sunrise on the commute to Murray.  I'm usually a early bird and happy in the morning, but after yesterday's fiascos I had no idea how today would start.  But seeing God's creation at it's fullest surely started off the morning swell!  I'm always amazed at how gorgeous nature is right after a storm; it's kind of like life.  We go through multiple frustrating events throughout our lives, yet after those events we can rejoice in what we accomplished, and the fact that we made it through.  My spiritual tank has been sitting on empty lately, but through prayer, music on K-Love, and church services, I've been holding on.  I'm so thankful that we have a God who never leaves us, even when we stumble and fall.