Mannings on the Move

For the past several months, I've had a little lump on my back that has gotten larger. For a couple months, Kristin has told me that I need to have it looked at, but between work and school, I don't have much time as it is, so I put it off. Last week, though, it started to become tender, so I thought I'd better go get it checked out. I went in for my appointment today, thinking that they might schedule a time to have it removed, but to my surprise, the physician's assistant told me that the cyst that I had could easily become infected, and that she would like to remove it right then. She had me lay down on the table, told me I'd feel a small poke, (I didn't) and then she started cutting. I didn't feel a thing! In just a couple minutes, she had me stitched up and on my way. So, it was no big deal! But I was a bit nervous during it, because usually, if someone is going to have surgery, they have a few days, weeks or months to prepare themselves for it. So, that's my crazy experience of the day.

Seeing what has been happening with the economy lately has been unnerving and a little scary. Because of the turmoil and uncertainty in the world around us, I was greatly looking forward to General Conference this past weekend. One theme that I heard repeated several times was the theme of enjoying the journey and finding joy in the little things of life. If our economic struggles continue and worsen, that will be more important than ever, because there may not be as much money to go around, so we'll have to do without our entertainment money, which will mean more time making our own fun as families and friends, which means more memories, more laughter and more joy and happiness. Whoever said "I want money" was very fundamentally screwed up. I want to talk about some of the simple things that I enjoyed this weekend.

• Watching Josie do her excited dance.
• Helping Josie brush her teeth even though it was really hard. It was just so funny!
• Spending Friday evening with Matt and the girls while Kristin slept on the Love Sac at the Higley's.
• Talking with my dad and Kevin after Priesthood Session.
• Making breakfast on Sunday morning with Kristin for Richard Low's birthday.
• Playing Settlers of Catan with Kristin, Richard and Kristine (and not just because I won for the first time ever!)
• Participating in my cousin, Brian's baby, Hannah's, blessing.
• Spending time with Brian, Kambree, Willie and Amanda after everyone else had left.

Sometimes, it's good as was repeated so many times during conference to remember how blessed we are. There are so many simple things that go on in our lives that we can be thankful for. Now, if I could just remember to take pictures...

I went to my 12 week appointment today, and met the doctor. He's such a nice guy. We also got to hear our baby's heartbeat! It was so exciting! It made this whole thing so real to us! The nurse said we have a stubborn baby already. She would put the doppler in one spot, and we could hear it really well, and then the next second it would be gone. The baby kept moving! Hopefully we'll have a really active baby! I just want to say how blessed I am to have the husband I have! Chris is so good to me. He really takes care of all of my needs, and it's been happening ever since we started dating! He's the best! Chris, you rock! I promise to get on here and write more. I'm still trying to get into this blog thing, but I'll try to do better! Thank you all for reading this!