A New Addiction... Of the Best Kind???

So my husband has recently acquired a new and rather bizarre addiction: buying me stuff, especially ski and climbing gear. In all honesty, it's the best kind of addiction for a husband to get. He's constantly trying to spoil me or buy the things we need to go out and have a ridiculous amount of fun and be safe and warm while doing so. I let him buy me a set of skis, bindings, skins, and poles that all in all would have retailed for over $700.00 but since we bought it off KSL.com and the woman really didn't know what she had since it was given to her by a friend it was only $200.00! Pretty freakin amazing! Anyway, that has instilled in him a new bug to find the best deals on all the rest of the gear we need to go skiing without the resort passes. (which actually is still turning out to be cheaper than to get a season pass for both of us and just use the skiis we already have. It's cute and funny how much I can tease him now because I can almost always catch him on the internet searching KSL for the next piece of equipment he's decided we need. He's so funny about it too. Last night, I was reading my book, waiting for him to come to bed and I asked him what he was doing. I knew he was on the computer and he knew he was busted so he said "I'm on Facebook." Which just made me bust up laughing because that is the very last site he would be on late at night. First choice would be KSL, then weather, then the daily avalanche report. Always looking for the next ski trip!!! I just love that amazing yet silly guy!

The talent of the Allen girls!

Allen girls have musical and theatrical talent, it's just in the blood. My sister got the lead parts in a lot of plays and musicals all through junior high and high school. My cousin Taun was an amazing star of the BHS drum line in her day, and now her little sister, Kirsten, is performing the lead role in the musical Hello Dolly. I, however am not to be included in this since all I ever did as far as the performing arts goes is score some great background and chorus roles. I'm not a solo girl, they had me sing a solo for one acts in high school and I nearly passed out although it didn't go as horribly as I expected I just have a very strong case of stage fright when it comes to singing. Anyway, the point of this post is to tell the world, by which I mean the few people who actually read my random banter, that my cousin is amazing! The play was great as is expected of a Bonneville High production although they don't have as strong of a chorus this year during the ensemble pieces (see, I did play a very important role!). The leads were all amazing and very energetic and in tune with the mood of their parts. My cousin as Mrs. Dolly Levi was just incredible. She was able to adapt her singing and talking voice to fit the time period the musical was set in and she was just so funny. I have been very impressed with how much my younger cousins are accomplishing nowadays. It's crazy to see her on stage in the spotlight. Go Kirsten!!!

A lighter note

We had a very good weekend! It was so much fun to play with our friends and family the entire weekend. On Saturday we went to see Inception which was a mind-blowing must-see movie. Sunday was the usual: Breakfast with Jeremiah (gourmet belgian waffles this week), followed by disc golf in Riverdale and showing JJ how to trim his hair. and then climbing at the Ramp Routes with Andy and Emily, stopping by the Bauters' house to visit and see Grandma Henderson's new 9 week old french bulldog puppy. We finished out the weekend by coming back home to let Ben study and then we cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie on Netflix.

Today I'm very excited because my Dad invited us to see my amazing cousin Kirsten perform in Bonneville High's production of Hello Dolly. She got a lead role and I'm stoked to see her!

The deeper side of things.

I watched the movie Charles Darwin: Creation today while working on my painting and christmas presents for Ben's mom. That movie was so interesting and not at all what I was expecting. I was worried that it would bash on belief in God but that's not even close to the message it was trying to send. Charles Darwin was a very smart scientist who was not trying to disprove God, in fact quite the opposite: he and his wife were a very loving, religious family. Darwin was actually quite afraid of his own research because he did not want to alter his belief in God. He also didn't want anything to damage the relationship between he and his wife. When he was working on his research he tried at every opportunity to end it and to just continue living his normal quiet life. In fact, when he finished his book "The Origin of Species" he didn't honestly know what to do with it. He wanted to have it reviewed from a more religious perspective so he gave it to his wife and said he'd do whatever she wanted him to do with it as long as she read it first. His wife was very opposed to his work as well but after reading it she said it had to be published. The struggles caused such a strain in their marriage that Charles said it may have been a mistake for them to get married in the first place. I was left in awe of her final statement: "Knowing what I know now, I'd still marry you tomorrow." They continued to be happily married through the remainder of their lives. I feel like that is the key thing to be learned from this: no matter how big the differences and struggles may be as you go throughout marriage, it can still work, and the love doesn't have to waiver. I love my husband and yes, he is very different than me, we don't always see everything in exactly the same ways but that is what makes us work. We are best friends and fit so well because of our differences and I love that he keeps me well rounded in everything by opening my eyes to another view on this same big world. With those differences also come a lot of very fundamental similarities that also help us to connect and have fun growing together every day. It doesn't matter to me whether you believe in God or not, the key is to always see the beauty in life and love and the situations that come about due to both.