The Golden Grahams

Dear Elder McMillan, Man it feels so good to be writing that out and to see it on paper (or on my computer). I'm so proud of you for representing our family as well as the Lord with your choice to serve! I'm super excited to have a missionary out in the field that I love again. You're a great example to me even though you're my little bro. I hope you've been having fun in the MTC and not feeling too homesick. I'll have to ask Josh how he dealt with homesickness, but I don't remember him feeling too bad about it. He said most of the time you're so busy you don't really have time to think about it. I don't wanna make this too long but I do want to say that I have been thinking about you a lot and we have been praying for you every night in mine and Josh's prayers. I'll just leave you with a spiritual thought for the day. After you share scriptures from Ether in your farewell talk, it made me want to read it again. So I did, and I...

Every year Josh resists my efforts to get him to dress up in a cutesy couples costume with me. Not this year!!! (Unless he has to work...in which case, poop). These are my top choices, in no particular order: Bert and Mary Poppins. Wouldn't Josh look sooo good in this 'fit?? Black Widow and Iron Man Others I couldn't find good enough pictures of... Aladdin & Jasmine, Sailor Jupiter & Andrew, Goku & Bulma...I need more ideas!! ...and lastly, if I had a son, I WOULD TOTALLY DO THIS!!!

Tonight I had a great learning experience when I was surfing. I often find that the ocean has taught me most of the lessons I've learned about myself and about life in general, so I decided that maybe I should start documenting them. I have this awesome book called Surfer's Code: 12 Lessons for Riding Through Life ...and it is AWESOME! The great thing is that you don't exactly have to be a surfer to understand and apply these lessons...maybe I'll do a separate blog post on that. Anyway, I was feeling very moody today... I was grumpy when Josh and I woke up to surf at 5:30 am. I was grumpy when we got out of the water. I was grumpy when we surfed Turtle Bay at 10 am. Grumpy when we got out of the water. The horrible part is all the while, Josh is going out of his way trying to make me feel better (like...very out of his way....like embarrassing himself to make me laugh out of the way) and at first I always reject his efforts. After awhile though, he manages to so...

Most of you probably already know that I "waited" for Josh while he was on his mission. The reason I put that word in quotations is because the definition of that word varies from crazy girl to crazy girl...my definition entailed writing him for two years with the hope that we would marry when he came home. Eventually. And we did! Anyway, I was contemplating what he and I have been going through over the last couple of months and this entry from a week after he got home really helped me. But here, and now. This. This is what I have waited two long years for. This is what I had faith in. This is what I have loved. And...it's working. I love that it's working. I can't describe it adequately but I am so happy, the happiest I've ever been. And I'm trying not to slip into this "honeymoon phase" where the couple is just happy and thinks everything will be all fine and dandy... I know that every healthy relationship has hardship to some degree, and ...

Summer Session A finished on June 7th and our lives have been a whirlwind since then. After three ER visits, Josh was admitted to the hospital that weekend for a 105 degree fever and they did another CT scan (he had one a month prior) and found a second kidney stone, and it was 4 mm this time rather than 2 mm like the other one was. Here it is: It was a scary experience for me trying to care for Josh as he recuperated from his illness but I surprised myself at how strong I was. I was there every time he needed me. I stayed in the hospital every single day with him, not caring about surfing or seeing daylight or anything. I just wanted to stay by his side and care for him. I think that's true Christ-like love. At least I hope it is, because that's the kind of love Josh deserves, and the kind of love that will carry us through all obstacles in marriage and in life. I have never seen him in so much physical pain, I have never seen him so weak. And I think it was like I h...

:( I'm going to take a break.

This is from an article from LDS.org by Carolynn B. Spencer. “ I sat in the temple seeking peace, but there it was again: the first commandment given to Adam and Eve, and to all of us, to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28). I wanted nothing more than to obey this commandment. I had a firm testimony that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7). Why, then, could I not get pregnant?…. ….I learned to dread few days as much as I did Mother’s Day. On many other days, I cringed when I listened to women complain about their pregnancies or their children or the responsibilities of mothering. Didn’t they realize how blessed they were? Didn’t they realize that others longed to be in their shoes? Month after month, and then year after year, Tim and I rode waves of hope, only to feel them come crashing down when our dreams failed to mate...

I hired the young and talented Amber Mozo to shoot Josh and I surfing for our 2nd anniversary! Which will be on June 10th. Josh wasn't excited about it because he hates taking pictures (I think it's a guy thing...) but I know he will be grateful in the long run! This is a unique time of our lives as we are in school, still preparing for the future (career, kids, etc.) so I wanted to document the memories we make all the time. It was so much fun and I hope to work with Amber again for our next milestone, whatever that may be! Here are a few of my favorites:

I had a dream last night that I was cradling a baby girl close to my chest. It was a beautiful, tender moment, and it melts my heart just thinking of it.

Before my birthday (March 13) I had been hinting to Josh that I wanted him to surprise me. And he did! I'm a little too sneaky and nosy though, so there were some things I wasn't as surprised about, but for the most part he really surprised me and I was on cloud 9 the entire day! It started the night before, Josh told me, "I'll tell you one part of your birthday-day. I'm taking you to O&P tomorrow." I had suspicions about this because I was sitting next to him one day in church and I had unknowingly glanced at his to-do list for my birthday on his phone (once I realized what it was I looked away!) but I saw "Get Breanna and Haley's phone numbers." They are the two girls I would ride to my Practicum with in Kaneohe. So when he told me he would be taking me I was stoked! Also, he came home from working in town around midnight and I was supposed to be asleep but for once I was wide awake and I watched him walk in with a huge bouquet of l...