Thanksgiving...a much needed/enjoyed break

This Thanksgiving (like those in years past) we spent here in Kentucky with friends. Unfortunately it is just too short a break and too expensive to really go anywhere.  And since we wanted to be able to travel over Christmas/New Year's I decided to make Thanksgiving the winter holiday that I worked. My parents drove to Utah to spend the weekend with my sisters, so I missed out on some good family time there and also over this break missed my 10 year high school reunion! (yes, that officially makes me feel crazy old...) I've come to realize that high school reunions aren't like they used to be though, with facebook now, there really are no surprises, so I wasn't that sad to miss out on it.

For Thanksgiving dinner, we went over to Ben and Carly's and enjoyed an enormous feast with their family and Travis and Beth. As is common with meals like these, we had way too much food, but it was all SO delicious. Here are Grant and I after dinner (next to the thankful tree-where we all wrote things on leaves we were thankful for and then the kids read them off after dinner)...on this day in particular, I was extremely grateful for a healthy body that allowed me to go on a long run in the morning before consuming a delicious meal. I am extremely grateful also for family and friends who make life so much fun and are there as support always.
As I mentioned above, Thanksgiving was my holiday to work. Day shift was already full when I requested, so I agreed to work night (7p-7a).  I was a little nervous about trying to figure out when to sleep, etc. but I think I made it work.  I attempted to take a short nap around noon on Thanksgiving day (but I wasn't very tired so I had a hard time sleeping) but I just went in thinking I only had to make it through the night and then I could sleep all day Friday.
My shift started out busy...hair went up immediately upon walking on the floor as a code was coming in... the night was full of thanksgiving-related "emergencies" (remember to completely chew your food when eating large meals...) and I surprisingly felt pretty good until about 4:15 am. I took my lunch break then (where I then ate a second Thanksgiving dinner-we had a work potluck and that was really more food than we could have ever eaten!) I filled up my cup with Diet Coke in a desperate attempt to stay awake, and then around 5 we had a little more excitement and I was good for the rest of the night. Grant picked me up in the morning and we headed to one store and then I came home and crashed for several hours!

I brought rolls and a dessert for the potluck.

As mentioned, I spent most of Friday sleeping and recovering, so Saturday we went out and did some shopping, bought our Christmas tree and decorated our house for the season! One day I hope to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our tree again (like I did growing up), but for now, Lowe's continues to provide us with quality trees at our discounted military price ;)


My favorite part of moving is decorating a new house in each season. There are obviously parts of our other house that I miss since I had certain decorations that went in certain places, etc. However, I was SO excited to get to use these cool glass drops here this year. I bought them after Christmas at Pier 1 about 6 years ago and hadn't used them yet (I knew they could be cool but didn't have the right spot). And this shelf over the table was my inspiration this year, I love it!

Pinterest interest

Like much of the country, I have recently developed a new relationship...with Pinterest. It is an absolutely fantastic idea, since I used to waste a lot of time copying and pasting links to projects, recipes, etc that I wanted to do, then would totally forget to do them!

So, I love the idea of having different categories (boards) which are so easy to pin to, so it stays organized and there is a picture to go along with each post so I can remember what the idea was and gain motivation to make it happen.

Like any good thing, there comes a point when it becomes too much, so I'm determined to not let that happen. I've decided that I actually need to put into practice some of the things I pin...so here is a recent update on some Pinterest favorites of mine from the week.

It's funny how something little can provide motivation...but this phrase really hit home.
Grant and I have been getting up at 5:40 am to run every morning, and although the run is never easy, I can definitely attest to the fact that getting out of bed and out the front door is the hardest part. I tell myself this every morning, along with the Nike slogan when I put on my running clothes, "Just do it!"

I am loving all the pumpkin recipes recently, and since we bought Pecan Pumpkin butter from Williams Sonoma last year in bulk on clearance, I'm trying to find creative ways of using it. I was inspired by this recipe. It is gluten free and uses rice bread, so I didn't follow it to a tee, but gained my inspiration and made some of the best french toast I've ever eaten for dinner last night! Topped with with some chopped nuts and buttermilk syrup...breakfast (I mean dessert) for dinner.
Another recipe I just tried tonight was this 30-minute french bread. It was SO easy and delicious! I will definitely be making it again...

And finally, this is some art I plan to hang in my house one day...it is absolutely true...I LOVE IT!

Other than my Pinterest addiction, not much new is going on at the Layton's. Grant is still growing a gross mustache (public service announcement, get your prostate checked-although I know my male population following on this blog is probably not very high:) We also had the lottery for our synthesis spots (where we will be working full time as a "nurse" for the second half of next semester). There was a lottery and I was assigned #77 (of 78), so didn't think I would get anything good, but lucked out with a cardiothoracic ICU, so I'm really excited about the experience I will gain there as I embark on the end of this student journey! YEAH :) We got to Skype with our favorite triplets yesterday, it was 72 degrees here today...I am loving the weather so far this year (although I do not anticipate it lasting much longer), I'm looking forward to Taste Night tomorrow, and life is good.

Bodies Revealed

Grant had a crazy final this week (his last really big test-besides boards-of dental school!) so we decided to take the weekend off from school work and hang out and have some fun. We didn't really have the time/energy/money for a trip...but decided to spend Saturday together. We babysat in the morning in Louisville at the temple and then spent the afternoon shopping in Louisville. I found some awesome stuff at The Loft on clearance and felt good about buying it since I haven't shopped ALL semester, and I worked a 12-hour shift the day before ;) Then we came back to Lexington and decided to go downtown and continue our adventures...

The Bodies Revealed exhibit has been in Lexington for about a month now, and I have been wanting to go to this for years now (since I first saw it advertized). I took anatomy the second semester of my freshman year of college, and although I do not love the smell of the lab, I found it fascinating. It was this class that led me towards a degree (x2)/career in the healthcare field. A few more anatomy classes later (for both Grant and I), we now both only work with patients who are not dissected, trying to help keep them healthy and alive :)
This exhibit really was amazing, and I was so sad that you aren't allowed to take pictures in it! But, I guess that just means you'll all have to go check it out for yourselves. It was amazing to see how well these bodies were preserved and the dissection was so precise and amazing. As you walk through the exhibit, it goes through each organ system, and has full bodies dissected to show different things, but also separate organs (both healthy and diseased).
I feel like I'm fairly conscientious of what I put into my body, how much I exercise, etc. but this truly made me grateful for my body and its functioning and continued to motivate me to take care of myself. Near the smokers lung display there was a clear box where people could throw away cigarettes. There were some in there (not sure if it was just for show or if people had actually deposited them in there) but the concept was neat. If we could see what was going on inside, maybe we would make better decisions. In talking with a group of substances abusing teenagers this week, they said that actual visual examples like this were the only things that really made them think twice about their poor health decisions.

I was proud of us for getting out and going because sometimes it's too easy to just sit at home and be comfortable, but I am trying to be better about taking advantage of things going on around me.
On a less positive (in my mind) note, Movember has begun again, which yes, means that we are trying to change the world one prostate at a time, but also means my husband looks "scary" for lack of a better word, the entire month. Can't wait until December when I can get my husband back :)...and this semester will almost be done!