Embrace This Day??

Sometimes you just need to hear something no matter how hard it is to hear. And today I need to hear "Embrace this Day"...so I thought it would be a perfect excuse to tell you about the title of this blog.

When I was playing volleyball at Western Wyoming Community College, Kortnie (Christiansen) Ballesteros became one of my biggest role models.  Kortnie was from Tremonton, Utah and was on the volleyball team.  For those of you who know Kortnie, she is always upbeat and happy.  I can't remember a time when she would ever say an unkind word about another person.  She is easy to talk to and quick to help whenever needed.  During the season, I asked Kortnie if she would fill my IPod with music.  When she returned it, I found a folder called "From Kortnie" with 2 things in it.  First was a talk from President Hinckley, one that I love to listen to when I need re-motivated for life. The second made a lasting impression on me.  It was called "Advice from Elder Busche."

 This talk was given at a BYU Devotional in 1996 from Elder F. Enzio Busche of the Quorum of the Seventy.  It came to me at just the right time in my life.  It is essentially a list of thoughts to ponder and seek identification with.  Whenever I feel discouraged or simply down in the dumps, I have turned to this talk (which is still on my IPod).  At various times in my life, a different individual thought I had not considered before touches my heart and make a difference for me.  The very first advice he gives is this: "Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks."  This thought always touches my heart first.  At times in our life, we may wake up feeling physically tired or just emotionally weak, and this advice can help us through.  "Embrace THIS day!"  It doesn't say tomorrow or next Saturday or when you finish school or when this pregnancy is over! It says, "Embrace this day...., no matter how it looks."  That is something I have tried to adopt into my life.  Especially during this pregnancy, when I am constantly feeling sick and even when I do feel good, I am just emotionally drained and worrying all the time, learning to embrace THIS day can really help me through this difficult times.

When I was at Western Wyoming and Kolt was on his mission, there was another piece of advice from this talk that really helped me.  It is actually the very last words of this talk. "When you are compelled to give up something, or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now. But know also that as you are learning this lesson, God wants to give you something better.  I can still remember how I felt when I listened to this the very first time.  One of the things that I was compelled to give up was Kolt.  That wasn't an easy thing for me at all.  It was so hard to live without my best friend and my other half.  Every day was a new test for me.  However, when I applied the "Embrace this day" advice and listened to this advice, I quickly learned that "God wanted to give me something better."  I didn't know what it was at the time, but I cannot even list all the "better things" I learned from the 2 years we spent apart.  The most important thing God gave me was my eternal family with my sweetheart and our sweet little baby.  I am so happy that I made that sacrifice because I got the best gift in the whole world...my family.

If you have 7 minutes, I really hope you all will watch this video.  I promise you that you will get something out of it that will help you in your life right now.  It's amazing how that works! And if you read this, you will now know the story behind the title of this blog, "Embrace This Day". 

15 Week Update!

Today I hit my 15 week mark of this pregnancy, a little over 3 months!  I thought it would be a good idea to write a little bit about this pregnancy. Here's the highlights of our last few months:

-Listening to the heartbeat at the doctor's office! I can't believe how fast the baby's heart beats!  It says a baby's heart rate can be between 120 to 160 beats per minute. It's no wonder I'm SO tired every day!

-Crazy dreams! Running away from the shooters, taking care of my baby, playing with my high school volleyball team again, and going on vacations! My brain is very busy every single night! I actually have more dreams that our baby is a girl, when the doctor keeps telling us it's a boy! As of late, our baby is actually twins! Don't worry...the doctor told us yesterday, there's only one! :)

-Baby's favorite foods: Jimmy John's, carrots, mangoes, kiwis, bagels and cream cheese, BLT sandwiches

-For the first time in my life, I heard that I need to focus on putting on a few pounds....I never knew it could be this hard!

-Exercise Routine: Rough....walking around ISU's campus, coaching volleyball, and a little bit of playing volleyball too!

-Had to go in twice to get an IV with anti-nausea medicine because I couldn't keep down any fluids.  Both days, I threw up over 10 times!

-My favorite thing to do: SLEEP! Kolt is such a good sport, but I usually lay in bed at about 8 every night. He usually does homework on the computer while I fall asleep SO early!

-Foods that this baby doesn't like: milk, sausage, anything orange flavored, crackers, smoothies

-Kolt is the best husband in the world! He gets me breakfast in bed every morning, helps me pick out my clothes in the morning, brings me lunch to work, and rubs my back every night before bed!  Couldn't do this without him!

-At one point, I had 4 days in a row where I didn't throw up!

-Haven't felt the baby move yet! Can't wait to feel it because he is always moving in the ultrasounds! Kolt says he looks like a ballerina in my stomach!

We can't wait for our 20 week ultrasound on February 18th!

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Christmas Surprise!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We have had a great holiday season and are excited to welcome in the new year! We are excited for the new adventures 2013 will bring!  We had a great Christmas, but Thursday was the highlight of the week for us! We had an official ultrasound at the doctor’s office.  We had an excellent nurse that gave us a great view of our new baby! The baby was wiggling and waving the whole time. It’s no wonder my stomach always feels sick! Our nurse has been doing research on how to determine gender earlier than 20 weeks.  There is a place in Salt Lake that you can go get an early ultrasound to determine your baby’s gender. She has been predicting gender early for about 6 months at this office and so far, she has been 100% on every one! So of course, we were happy to hear her prediction! And….It’s a boy! We are so excited! I have actually felt like it was a boy all during the pregnancy, but I think secretly hoping for a girl. Now that we know it’s a boy, I have had a little internal crisis because I realized I don’t really know how to raise boys! Kolt is really excited to have his boy though, and he will teach me all the things I don’t know! The nurse did ask us not to buy all the boy clothes yet, in case we are her first mistake! We will get an official ultrasound at 20 weeks which happens to be Valentine’s Day!

This week has been a very nice break from finals and classes.  I was very happy to finish with A’s and B’s in all five of my classes.  Kolt did very well in his classes getting all A’s and one A- in Chemistry.  He had an interesting story with finals…Kolt got an unexpected B+ in his English class and was really disappointed when grades were posted late on the 27^th.  He immediately wrote an email to his teacher explaining that he couldn’t see his grade on the final and explaining that he believed over the course of the semester, he had earned an A.  Kolt worked hard to draft a well-organized email and sent it immediately. He got a response from his professor immediately telling Kolt to call him in the morning on his cell phone.  When Kolt called his professor, he found that for his final, he had turned in one complete essay booklet and one unfinished booklet, taking home the second part to his final.  His professor was very understanding, and Kolt took over the completed second half of the final to his home.  He was very glad he sent the email when he felt like something was wrong! And now that he has turned in the second part of the final he will probably receive a better grade in the class!

I have had work this week at the Post Register despite the holidays! I missed Friday because I wasn’t feeling well, and I couldn’t seem to remember what the office schedule was this week! I have now learned that we were closed on Christmas Eve and actually open on the 26^th, although I had problems remembering that this week.  I am told that is the pregnant mind failing me! My boss gave me a key to the office and the building this week, so I can now work when I drive in, even if no one else is! 

We had a great Christmas Eve party on Monday night at Kolt’s Aunt Karla Denning’s house.  I look forward going to this party every year because I went with Kolt before his mission.  We had yummy potatoes and ham for dinner, the annual gift exchange, and a surprise visit from Santa. This was the first year that I haven’t seen Kolt’s dad as Santa, so I was pretty surprised! Kolt ended up with an Axe cologne set and I got one of the surprise money envelopes and chocolate truffles! After the party, I got a call from one of my longtime friends Candace Clifford! She just returned from a family cruise, and I am excited to hear her engagement news HOPEFULLY soon!! 

Christmas morning we got a sweet awakening from Nathan telling us it is “Present Time” because it is “Birthday Jesus”.  We opened presents with the Lindley’s in the morning. We got a fire proof safe, a pancake grill and lots of new books for babies. Kolt got some new large scriptures and a case, socks, a robe, and a medical kit for all the days he has to take care of me.  I got boots, a scarf, a purse, a car seat canopy, and socks! For our sibling gift exchange, we had Natalie! We gave Natalie some supplies for her crafts, Brady a pizza stone, Nathan a big block set, and Brooke a cute outfit!  Tyler gave us a donation for our swim with the dolphins over the cruise! Thank you thank you!

After we opened presents, we headed out to Kolt’s parent’s new house! They finished and moved in on Christmas Eve, and we are very excited for them! I got a beautiful pink pearl ring from Kolt’s dad.  I haven’t even taken it off yet! I just love it! We got chocolates and a new white camera that I love! Kolt got a pair of pants, sweater, shotgun shells and clay pigeons.  And we both had excellent stockings with all the bath supplies to make us smell good all year! For our sibling gift exchange, Kolt gave Rope a big box with an X on it (the Xbox he has always wanted!) with an iPod dock inside and some Itouch covers for his new Itouch. Landon gave Kolt a new watch!  Shauna and I drew each other this year! I gave her a foot spa and a zebra scarf and gloves! She gave me 2 super cute maternity shirts and some Palmer’s cream for all those stretch marks on the way! We had a great time visiting and eating breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Piquet and Karla and Scott and then came back to Lindley’s to eat Christmas dinner. 

Wednesday we had family pictures at Bell studios.  Our Lindley family has now grown to 17, and it’s a miracle to get all the kids together! We are looking forward to seeing the pictures!  Right before I got there, Kolt and I went to the Social Security office and the DMV to officially change my name to Susan Lindley Piquet! We also found that we didn’t have an official copy of our marriage license and we were happy to get a hold of that! 

Thursday Makayla Wilde came and picked me up at work and took me to lunch at Café Rio with Hailey Asbury, Kim Cooper, and Erica Shenton. We had a fun time catching up. I always love getting back together during the holidays when everyone comes home from school! I was also really excited to show off the new ultrasound pictures!

Friday night we went to Kylee Searle and Riley Sessions’ reception at the Riverbend Ranch.  I played volleyball and basketball with Kylee at Bonneville and miss her dearly! She looked absolutely beautiful. Thank goodness for weddings to get all of us girls together again. We missed Mailie Medina though and are excited to see her in January!  We were so happy to have Makayla back in town and be able to take her with us. We even stopped by Arby’s on the way home.  Hopefully, we will live closer someday! 

Saturday I was asked to play at the Museum of Idaho Christmas Production for an hour.  It was really nice to play on the beautiful grand piano in the big room and got many nice compliments from the guests and elderly volunteers.  It went perfectly minus one quick run to the bathroom after about 20 minutes! I left Kolt on the piano to fill in, but he assured me that my music for Deck the Halls didn’t look anything like the one he had been practicing!  In the evening, we went and saw Playing for Keeps at the Centre Theatre with Kolt’s parents, Rope & Brand. It was about a dad who coaches his son’s soccer team.  We enjoyed the movie, but we were all disappointed that it wasn’t what we had expected! 

Sunday we went up to the Wilford church house to my cousin Kenny Dalling’s pre-missionary talk in church.  He leaves January 9^th for the Tucson, Arizona, Spanish Speaking mission.  He did a great job and shared stories about Christ-like examples in his life, his mom, Grandma Nickol, and dad.  He finished with the story of Abish in Alma.  He is going to be a great missionary. We had a great visit with Uncle Rodney, Uncle Jared & Aunt Trish at the lunch afterwards.

We are so grateful for this opportunity to reset goals and make resolutions for the New Year. I am anxious to learn all the things about being a mother and hopefully continue to be a good wife (because I am still working on that!) We are grateful for the gospel and the blessing of our Savior.  Hope all is well with each of you over the holidays. Here are some pictures from the past little while!

Baby's on the Way!

Well, I finally succumbed to my family tradition of the “Forgotten Family Letters.” I finally got around to writing today and wanted to first of all, let you know we are alive! Second of all, for those of you that haven’t heard, we have announced that we are having a baby due on July 9^th.  We are very excited and can’t wait to see this new little one.  We are a little more excited to first get out of the first trimester! I have been very sick for the past 4 weeks including many Wal-Mart prescriptions and 2 IVs.  I have had a hard time keeping fluids or food or anything for that matter down, and when I went to the doctor, they have given me IVs to help keep me hydrated and boost my start to some anti-nausea medication. I got one a couple weeks ago and then went in for another one on Friday.  It has helped quite a bit and today, I have felt pretty well.  Hence, I am finally getting a family letter out.

Just a few highlights from the past few weeks—We did get back from the cruise. We had a good time on our trip, but unfortunately, I started my first morning sickness symptoms while on the cruise. Plane flights, a rocking ship, foreign countries, new food, and small cabins were a little rough for someone with morning sickness! Kolt was a great sport and took good care of me.  The highlight of our trip was swimming with the dolphins and stingrays, all-you-can-eat ice cream, underwater caves, and the weather of course! We have talked about going on a cruise for years and were glad to be able to go at this time in our lives.   We have decided that if we ever have a chance to go again, we definitely want to make sure to bring family or friends along. 

When we got back, we geared up for finals and pushed through until the end of the semester. We barely finished on the 20^th of December which is way too late for me! Kolt is hoping to pull out A’s in all his classes, and I am really hoping to pass! We are excited to celebrate Christmas with our family. We are very less than ready for Christmas. We did a load of shopping on Saturday.  I ran into Kylee Searle’s bridal shower at noon.  She looks very happy and we are excited for her to marry Riley finally! We took off to Tyler’s basketball game at Marsh Valley at 2.  The team did very well and they have made a very good start.  After the game we went to the Lindley Christmas party.  We had a good time eating soup, sharing our most memorable Christmas gift, and hosting the Favorite Goodie Gift Exchange.  

We are grateful for this time of the year and are excited to celebrate the birth of the Savior.  We hope you each have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope to be better at writing the family letters. We will try pictures another week! We love you all.

More Football & Birthdays

Happy Birthday to my sweet sister-in-law Ashley and my little brother Tyler! Winter has hit in Idaho. It has gotten cold very fast! This week has been a busy week catching up on school, so we can be ready to leave on our official honeymoon trip this Thursday.  I took three tests this week and Kolt has three tests this week.  We are looking forward to Thanksgiving break away from school.

We were sad to hear the news about the election this week.   We are facing the future with faith as we honor our country's leaders.  Monday we celebrated Tyler's birthday.  It's hard to believe he is 18 and will be leaving on his mission as early as June! This week we also had Nathan at our house.  Nathan is now 2 1/2. He is such a smart boy and is very attentive to detail.  He loves to play with his cars wherever the action is at, whether it's up on the kitchen counter while you are cooking or along the couch where you are sitting.  He is always making sure he has accounted for everyone in the household.  Anytime someone mentions going or even starts to put a coat on, he grabs his jacket and shoes and says, "You ready to go?" He is sure sweet, and we have loved spoiling him while he was here.

The highlight of the week was going to Tyler's football game at Middleton on Friday.  Bonneville played for the semi-final game in the state playoffs.  Middleton was a great team and had a beautiful facility, including a turf field.  Tyler was really excited to play and prepared all week to do his best.  I included a picture of the boys doing the Haka before the game.  Kristi put together a touching gift for Tyler.  It was a picture frame with 3 pictures, one of Grandpa Lindley playing football, one of my dad playing football at BYU, and one of Tyler playing football this year.  It was the 3 Lindley Generations.  Bonneville played hard starting the game off with a field goal, but we had trouble stopping Middleton in their tight running offense.  Tanner Smith, the quarterback got injured, along with a running back, Tray Walker, and even Tyler hurt his ankle pretty good, but kept playing.  The game ended up with a two-point conversion that would've tied the game, but we didn't make it happen.  We lost 32-30.  It was pretty hard on the boys, but they did a great thing for Bonneville, putting us in the state semifinals for the first time since 1996.

We rode home with Kamrie, Kristi and Bryant on the way home.  We stayed at their house Friday night, and then woke up in the morning and worked on their house.  They are almost ready to sheetrock! Kolt did great working, and I had a fun time babysitting Kamrie! They have sure made a lot of progress, and we are excited for them to finish next month.  In the afternoon, Kolt went and helped his dad work on their house.  They are almost finished and sound pretty excited to move in.  In the evening, we went over to Kevin and Ashley's house to babysit Evan and their new foster children, Saydie (3) and Charlie (1).  We had a great time watching The Great Mouse Detective.  We are so glad to have such great family close by.  After the kids went to bed, I even had time to start on my 10 page report for my Business Communications class that I've been putting off for weeks.

Sunday morning we got up early and went to choir.  We are working on a beautiful Christmas arrangement that should be sounding better by December!  The Keck's spoke in Sacrament Meeting and did a great job. Haylie spoke on the importance of daily scripture study, Mandi spoke on gratitude, Sister Keck spoke on the family, and Brother Keck spoke on Prayer.  I sure love this family very much, but they make me miss Makayla! I hope someday we can live closer together!! I'm so glad we stay in contact often!  I also played the organ this week to fill in for Sister Long.  It has been a few years since I have played, so it was a little rusty.  I really enjoy being part of the music though and hope to be able to find time to practice because it sounds like this job will be a permanent soon!

Kolt taught his Sunday School class today about sacrifice.  He shared a neat story about President Benson and when his father was called on a mission.  President Benson was 13 at the time and the oldest of 7 children.  Another story was about a lady who had lost her husband and had to make a trek across Germany with her four young children.  One at a time, all 4 children died.  Nevertheless, she stood up a bore her testimony in church saying that she knew that Christ lived.  I am so grateful for my testimony and hope to be able to sacrifice whatever the Lord asks of me.

Kolt then taught the Priests in Priesthood about how to teach the first lesson.  The Priests are going out Tuesday to teach the first missionary lesson to 10 families in the ward.  The leaders seem very excited to start, and I think the boys will come around also.  In Relief Society, we learned about preparing your food storage.  Kolt and I have talked many times about preparing for our food storage.  I was in heaven during Relief Society because I got to hold Andrew Schwieder while his mom was in Primary.  He is just a few weeks older than Brooke! We had a great birthday celebration for Ashley after church and then got to visit with Katie, Hannah, and Chris Harker.  It is always good to visit with them.  I only wish Katie could live closer!

Hope you all are enjoying the start of the Holiday season!

State Playoffs

November 4, 2012

Dear Family,

Happy Birthday to Kolt's dad! And also Happy Anniversary to his parents! We are grateful that our family is sealed in the temple! We have already started celebrating the Thanksgiving season.  Today we had Thanksgiving dinner with the Staker family.  Kolt and I brought the mashed potatoes for the dinner. Don't worry, I practiced a couple of times before, so I was a master today! It was a great dinner, and we had great company.  Kolt's mom had her parents there, her sister Terry and her family and her brother Gerald and his family there.  It is definitely a different experience for me, as the Dalling family dinner consists of over 150 people.  We had a good group of 22 at dinner today and had a great time.  I was in heaven holding Terry's little 2-month old Bentley Beck; she is a very sweet baby! Kolt challenged Landon to a game of chess.  I think he won by accident! We also enjoyed listening to Grandpa Staker's testimony of the atonement before dinner.  We will miss Grandma and Grandpa Staker as they head to Arizona this week to avoid the Idaho weather!

Tuesday night was Family Night for Kolt's Chemistry class.  There were lots of sweet little kids that came with their parents to class that night.  His teacher, Professor Jolley, put on a Halloween magic show with a lot of neat experiments that really wowed the kids.  They had a great time and Kolt enjoyed seeing the things he'd learn be put to practice.  We also had our last week of the call center this week.  We are very excited to be done with that! Kolt has really been picking up the piano this week.  He has been begging me to start giving him lessons since he got home.  He says he would've really loved to be able to play the piano on his mission.  He even wrote home to Tyler a couple times about playing the piano, and it sure helped Tyler get on the piano a little more.  I finally gave Kolt a lesson on Monday. He has been diligent in practicing at least an hour every night.  He is already through the Primer level books and sounds great!

Friday Dad, Kolt & I took off for Moscow to watch Tyler in the State playoffs.  Despite the mud hole they played in, they did great and won 18-6.  It was a pretty intense game and we were sure glad to be there.  They gave a really nice tribute to Dads before the game, invited them down to the field, and gave them sweatbands to match their sons.  It was pretty motivating, and the boys came out playing sharp.  Tyler is holding up the left tackle position very well, and we are sure proud of him.  We got to take Nathan with us to the game.  He is such a smart 2 year old and talks very clearly.  He was such a big boy all day without his mom until Kolt and I dropped him upside down on the pavement.  He was so nice to still like us after that!  He has a pretty good goose egg on his head still.  We were excited that his mom still let him come home with us for a week!  He has been great company!

Friday night we drove over to Moses Lake to stay with Natalie and visit sweet Brooke Leigh.  She is a good baby and doesn't have much of a cry.  We had a great time playing with her for the day and then ventured to take the long 10 hour trip home.  I read Kolt The Goal, a book I am reading for my management class.  After I got to the chapter I needed to for the week, Kolt said, "You can't stop! I gotta know what happens!" You wouldn't believe this book is actually quite intriguing!

We are really excited to go on our official honeymoon on the 15th.  We have determine to work extra hard these next two weeks on homework, so we don't have to take a single textbook with us.  Wish us luck!

Love,

Kolt & Susan Piquet 

Happy Halloween!

We are enjoying the beginning of the Holiday season.  Today we had a great day at church with Evan's Primary Program first.  His ward had a huge Primary filling all the stage and the first three rows of the chapel.  He knew all the songs and sang very well! He did a great job singing in Nephi's Courage when "The Lord commanded Nephi to go and build a SHIP." He is such a good kid and I'm so glad he is close, so we can see him often!  Kolt taught his first Sunday School lesson to the 12 year olds.  He taught about the miracle of forgiveness and seeking repentance and forgiveness.  He did a great job, and he was excited to start teaching again. He had a hard time remembering to call me Sister Piquet to his class today! I learned about the Holy Ghost during Relief Society & Kolt learned about revelation and duties of priesthood holders in Priesthood.  After church we went out to Shauna and Landon's new house in Rigby.  Shauna made pulled pork sandwiches and Kolt's mom made yummy clam chowder! After dinner, we carved pumpkins for Halloween. They looked awesome! We had a great time and we are so glad to have such great family!

This week we have kept busy with the last week of volleyball and our second week of the new job.  I was able to keep up on school work a lot better without so much volleyball.  Kolt has had an awesome week too getting a 100% on his Biology test.  He was sure proud of his score after all his studying.   We are both looking forward to the end of this week when both our big writing assignments will be done!

Tuesday we were able to watch Rope & Brand play football.  We got out of class late, so Kolt made it to Rope's game first.  He lost in a close game against Sugar.  Rope has improved so much this year, and we are happy for his great season.  We both made it to a little of Brand's game that was also Tuesday night.  He beat Rigby in a tight game.  They scored a couple touchdowns in the last few minutes to make it look like they handled them, but it was a nail biter! Brand's win put his team in the championship on Saturday.  He beat Eagle Rock pretty handily in the championship making them the 4 time Grid Kid champions! (including one year of spring ball) They were pretty excited about that, and Brand is still feeling like a champion today.

Friday and Saturday I also got to be part of the Volleyball State Tournament with Bonneville's Varsity.  We were sad to miss Tyler's game in Preston, but it sounds like they did very well.  We are excited for the State Playoff game next week.  I practiced with the girls on Wednesday; I think I'm going to miss playing good volleyball every week.  On Thursday we went to Olive Garden with the team.  I had a good time visiting with Sean, Chantal & Dave.  We are very fortunate to have a dedicated coaching staff.  On Friday, the volleyball team lost their first game out of the starting gate to Skyview, but then came around the beat Bishop Kelly, Sandpoint, Twin Falls, and finally Skyview to get another chance at Century.  They lost to them in the District Championship last week also.  It was so exciting to be part of another State Championship.  They came out playing great and beat Century in the first set, but then lost a little energy and lost the next three sets.  They were pretty heartbroken to place second, but Century was an excellent team.  It was a little close to home getting second in Skyline's gym again.  I took 2^nd my junior year at Skyline against Sandpoint 4 years ago in 2008.  I'm so glad I had the chance to be with them this year though, and have loved staying a part of Bonneville's team.   We will sure miss the seniors, Ashlee Trane, Taeja Davis, Ashlyn Smith, Katee Bennion, Rina Grover, and my adopted little sister, Mandi Keck.  They are going to do great things in the future!

Friday night Kolt experienced his first snowfall in 2 years! He was pretty excited to enjoy it outside, although I think it's still pretty cold! We are excited for the week and can't wait to go up to Moscow for Tyler's game and then over to Moses Lake to visit Miss Brooke! She seems to be getting cuter every day!