Life Really Is Amazing!

First off let me warn that I wrote and posted this at 2:00 a.m. I always think I'm going to go back and edit my posts before I publish them, but by the time I finish writing I'm usually too lazy to do it. If this were a career I promise I'd put more effort into it, but for the time being I'll just beg your forgiveness for poor writing :)

Earlier this week, my brother called to tell me I was an "angry white girl" blogger. He had just read my last post ("RANT"), and thought it was kind of funny (pregnancy problems aren't something a single guy relates to so well). We had a good laugh over it, and talked about lots of other things, but his comment has stuck in my head. I know he was teasing, but it did get me thinking--I sure hope that's not how I come off! I know that that particular post was pretty negative though. And while I'm not necessarily taking back anything I said, I just want to make sure that the positivity on my blog is the prevailing attitude. I mean, it's called "A Happy Reality" for pete's sake...

So, in order to up the happiness factor, I just wanted to share some things I've been thinking about lately that I'm so grateful for, and that have really brought me joy--or even just simple pleasures! I keep seeing the gratitude challenge going around on Facebook right now and have been secretly hoping someone would tag me, but I really don't need an excuse to share with you all my joyful life!

In no particular order:

My garden. I have to admit that I am so proud of myself for having my first garden ever (on my own) while I was pregnant! And when I say on my own, I really mean with tons and TONS of help from Derek. He has definitely been the one running it these last few weeks as my ability to bend down to harvest slowly decreases. We started off the summer saying that even if we didn't get a great crop we would still think it was worth it because the work we did was so satisfying--and the effort we put forth to follow the prophet's counsel was in and of itself totally rewarding! But we were blessed with an AWESOME summer of fresh produce. Admittedly we only got one ear of corn out of our four original corn stalks...but everything else did great! We have had tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and jalapenos, as well as lettuce and peas earlier on in the season, and we are just now starting to get some carrots--they are delicious! Last week it got down to about 20 degrees in the night, and despite knowing this was going to happen ahead of time we didn't cover the garden. I know we probably could have gotten a little more out of our plants...but with a baby due any day, we decided the garden was going to be neglected anyways, and it wasn't worth the effort to try and save anything. We're very happy with the crop we had, and even happier that we've been able to share it with so many people! What a great experience it has been.

My baby still being in my tummy. I've whined, I've cried, I've vented about how much I want this baby OUT of my body and in my arms. And I do. I'm really excited to have some semblance of my pre-pregnancy body back, mostly for the sake of being able to do normal things without it hurting (think...walking. Or sitting. Or standing or lying down). And I'm SO excited to see what our little boy looks like, and to finally have him with us. But believe it or not, I am still grateful to be pregnant. I am trying to really treasure every last one of my son's kicks and nudges from the inside. They are becoming more precious to me each day, even when it hurts. I'm grateful that my body made it to 39 and a half weeks carrying this child and nourishing him! I can't take any credit for that, but I'm so so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with a healthy pregnancy. And I'm also grateful that I've experienced so much of "early" labor with relative painlessness--here I am sitting pretty at a 5, fully effaced, baby in position, and I haven't even had painful contractions. Which means I have shaved off hours of hard labor, and I feel like a pretty lucky gal--especially for a first-timer!

My husband. If I were to order this list, Derek would definitely be at the top (well, excepting the Savior, which I'm getting to). Do you guys know how lucky I am to have this guy as my husband? I don't know if anyone could possibly comprehend how happy our marriage is. I know we're only a year and a half into it...but I never imagined that I would get even this far as blissfully happy as I am. I thought marriage was supposed to be hard! That's what everyone told us when we were engaged. But our marriage hasn't been hard--not even a little. We've had a couple of curveballs thrown at us this year, especially in the financial/health department, but they haven't affected our relationship in the slightest. Things between us are and always have been perfect. Lately a lot of little things have been standing out to me about Derek. Some are beautifully personal and need to be recorded in my journal, but others can be shared. I love the way Derek sleeps. It's so sweet to see him sleeping when I come in the room from one of many nightly bathroom breaks and have him reach out to me even though he's not awake. He's also been talking in his sleep recently, and he's the only person I've ever heard laugh in his sleep. It's pretty adorable :) I love how excited he is to be a dad. He truly is just as anxious as I am for our little boy to get here, and I know he'll be just as good a father as he is a husband. He's constantly doing anything and everything he can to make my life more comfortable. Even when things are difficult in his life, he is ever considerate of what I might be going through. And I'm so grateful to know that his heart is all mine. I know I'm getting super mushy, so I'll stop now, but I am so in love with my sweet husband, and nothing makes me happier than knowing he's just as in love with me.

The gospel. I've had some amazing experiences lately in learning about the Savior. I feel like I understand His love for me better than ever before in my life. I think pregnancy can teach a lot about the Savior and His love and sacrifice--a lot of women have expressed that they relate more to the Savior because of their pregnancy--but for me it's been a little different. I've come to know His love because I don't think I've ever felt weaker in my life than during this pregnancy. I've needed Him more during this time, and I've really felt the power of His love and atonement as I've struggled through some depressing days. He has taught me more about His character. I always thought I understood pretty well who Christ is, but I'm learning that He is infinitely more good than I ever realized. I'm so grateful for His love and forgiveness in my life, and for the knowledge that He's going to keep putting up with me and letting me crawl back to Him over and over again until I reach perfection--which is a LONG ways off :)

Little things. Zucchini bread made from zucchini I grew. Tomato sandwiches. Ice water. My dishwasher. Hot showers. Sleep. Fall decorations. No spiders. Two fridges. My wedding ring. The nursery. A clean house. A memory foam pillow. Cute fingernails.

Big things. My family--including the Allen side. I could write a paragraph about every single one of my siblings and in-laws and how much they mean to me. I'm blessed with so much family, which equals SO much love. The scriptures. The prophets and apostles. Derek's jobs. Tithing and the way it has made things work out in one way or another for the past few months. The temple and my marriage covenant and sealing. My baby.

And so many other things. I hope I will do a better job of conveying all the happiness in my life, because as you can see it is just FULL of it! I have an incredibly amazing life. I love it so much. And I want people to know that. So here's to more positive posts in the future--the next one probably featuring a hundred pictures of who is bound to be the best looking young man to ever enter this world :)

Thank you all for reading and for your support and love! You deserve to be on this list too :)