The Tale of the Sleepless Lady.

So. Today is a good day.

Why?

I'm glad that (I made) you ask.

I slept last night! The whole night. I don't remember waking up once.

Let's back up a little.

For those of you that didn't/don't know - I have very low Iron. My doctor calls it Anemia - but what do doctors know, eh? I've actually known this for awhile and even bought the Iron pills that I was told to - but taking them was a different story. I apparently suck at remembering to take pills. I actually have an alarm on my phone to remind me to take my 'No Baby Maker Pill' (as my wonderful husband likes to call it) every day.

Anywho.

So with the help of my stubborn, I mean pushy, I mean loving, husband I've been taking Iron regularly every day for the past month or so. I started to feel a difference - I had more energy then normal. Fantastic! Why didn't anyone tell me to take Iron earlier! (*cough*)

But. (There is always a but)

I was still really tired - especially by the end of the day (and when I say end of the day I mean 5:00 p.m.). For some reason I was not sleeping well. I could fall asleep just fine - I could even fall asleep just fine at 6:00 at night. I would even sleep good for an hour or so - but then it would hit. I would wake up constantly, toss and turn, basically never feel like I was truly in a deep sleep.

The best part? When someone in the bed doesn't sleep good - the other person in the bed doesn't either. So not only was I making myself misreable, my poor husband was reaping the rewards of a restless wife.

Awesome.

So we started to discuss options.

Option 1 - Sleeping pills. But this was an automatic no for me. I'm not the biggest fan of drugs. Mainly because they effect me really well. Wanna see something funny? Get me on Lortab. Plus you hear so many scary stories of people getting so hooked on sleeping pills. Pass.

Option 2 - Muscle Relaxers. Maybe if I was able to relax my body I would be able to sleep? Again another immediate no, and for the same basic reasons as Option 1. Plus I wasn't so sure that just having my muscles relaxed would help me sleep.

Option 3 - Vitamins. Vitamins are good for you. My doctor tells me to take Vitamins. Hmmmm. this could work.

So we went with Option 3. We went over to our local friendly Healthy/Organic/My-food-is-so-good-for-you-we-make-it-to-expensive-for-you-to-afford store! Go the the vitamin aisle. See a little sign that says 'sleep'. (See how easy they make it?)

My oh my. There were hundreds of vitamins - how am I to know which one is best? Then I remembered (are you getting bored of this story yet!?) that my dad had been having similar problems with sleep and had started taking a vitamin that helped! So I gave him a call and he told me that he has been taking a vitamin called melatonin. A gander at the shelves of vitamins before me showed a whole shelf dedicated to melatonin. He proceeds to tell me that 5 mg was too much for him but half that is perfect. So I grab a bottle that is 2.5 mg (orange flavored) and head happily for home.

Bedtime comes - I take my vitamin (without need of any coaxing from the husband this time). And that's basically the last thing I remember.

I wake up in the morning - having slept the whole night through (yay!), but upon standing feeling a little woozy/fuzzy/dizzy (you pick one). So I went to work feeling slightly buzzed (or what I expect it feels like to be buzzed). I finally started to feel clear headed around 3:00 - needless to say not the funnest day I've ever had.

So apparently 2.5 mg is a little much for me.

So our story final finds us at last night. I nervously decided to cut my pills in half (thats 1.25mg for my fellow math nerds) and see how it goes.

Well my friends, I'm here to tell you it went wonderfully. I woke up feeling refreshed and energized. I haven't yawned once today. Not once!

That's a freaking miracle.

So that is why today is such a good day. I'm hoping that if I keep taking my Iron and a little melatonin everyonce in a while that I'll continue to feel energized and rested.

Who knew sleeping could feel so good.

:)

Once Upon a Time.

Once upon a time I decided to write mine and Braedon's story down. After I finished it I was happy with the words but wasn't particularly happy with the format I had written it in. This is when I went to my wonderful English major friend Kelci. I asked her if she would look at it and switch it around so it sounded like someone else was telling the story. BAM. She returned to me a wonderfully true tale that we loved so much we printed it on little cards to put on the tables at the reception. The plan was to then post this story on my blog shortly after the wedding... obviously that didn't happen.

Better late then never right?

So for those that don't already know it, haven't already read it or feel so inclined to read it, I present to you the story that is Katie and Braedon:

            Never one to look for that 'fairytale ending', somehow love found this one girl in particular, Katie. Now, prepare yourself for some good cheese, I'll try and keep it short, but this tale is fairly epic - you've been warned.

            It was in the sixth grade that Braedon and Katie met, when she switched schools after her family moved. If you don't know already, Katie was an extremely energetic girl, while Braedon was just fun-loving enough to keep up. They instantly became friends - best friends, in fact. After awhile, it soon came out that Braedon was developing a crush on Katie - he even attested to it, so she knew it was real. Katie, of course, being the out-of-control tom-boy that she was, didn't share the feelings. She loved him, but like a brother - and made sure everyone knew.

            Well, they continued to be great friends all through middle and high school, the whole time he still had a crush on her - again, he'll tell you the same. She got pretty good at ignoring Braedon's advances and made sure to use the "friend" word a lot. Now, don't get me wrong, Katie cared for Braedon a lot, and at times would even say that she had started to like him, but the timing would never seem to work out and she'd go back to just thinking of him as her best friend. Well, they went to Junior Prom together, and shortly thereafter Katie finally began admitting that her feelings towards him were more than those of a platonic nature.

            So, that summer our heroine stepped up her game, turned on the charm ... if you can call it that ... and dropped the clues that she liked him. If you were to ask him, there were no such clues -  but we promise, there were. It took him until the end of summer to finally get the courage to ask her how she felt about him. For him to have the courage at all to ask, once again, about where her affection laid is pretty astounding. She, of course, responded that the feelings were very much mutual, and they soon started dating. Braedon her first and only everything -- first hand hold, first relationship, first kiss (which was during a rainstorm in the mountains, she likes to point out), even her first, real "I love you".

            They dated through their last school years and a year after, at which time Braedon was called to serve an LDS Mission to St. Louis, Missouri. Although both knew it was coming, nothing could prepare them for how hard those two years would be. While it was the right thing to do, going through something like that was not something they would wish on anyone. Alas, Katie waited for him, wrote every week, and together they grew stronger and more in love with each day that passed.

            Then, as the mission wound down, plans were made for his family to drive to Missouri to pick him up, on their way back stopping in Moab. Katie started talking about it with Braedon's mom, and together cooked up a little plan: they got permission from his mission president and decided that she would meet the family in Moab and surprise him there. It was one of the hardest secrets to keep, but it never slipped and Braedon had not a clue.

            When the moment of truth finally came, there was no stopping Katie's fidgeting; she sat, stood, paced, and twitched in the hotel room as she waited for the family to walk in, those 15 minutes lasting longer than the two years, collectively. When Braedon walked in never had he looked so dumbfounded, never so confused and stunned in his entire life. After the initial shock wore off, he came over and gave Katie a great big hug. Best. Hug. Ever. It wasn't until then that she realized how incomplete she felt with him gone and never realizing how she could love someone so much. It felt so right having to be back in one another's arms, both knowing that the waiting paid off.

            Well, if you haven't been able to tell the end of the story by now, I'll fill in the last bit, now -- they waited a month before getting engaged on November 16th - another cute story for another day. They set the date for May, both in school, Katie graduating from Utah Valley University, this April, with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics.

            For all my efforts in wrapping this up, I couldn't have said it any better than Katie herself, when she said, "I couldn't imagine a better person to spend the rest of my life with! I am so glad that he waited so long for me so that I could wait for him, finally marrying my best friend of 10 years!"

The End.

Or for you cheese balls like me:

The Beginning. :)

Life = Good.

The blog bug has bitten - but sadly I don't have anything particular to write about.

Bullet list time!

- I'm at work. Running a mass speed button. This bascially is a command that add's something to someone's profile... the reason why it says 'mass' is because you are doing it to multiple people - in my case 9,867 people. Thus the reason why I have lots of sitting time to blog. :)

-I'm loving my new job. It's fun to learn new things and push my mind in different directions. Plus the people I work with are awesome - so fun, funny, and happy - with a touch of sarcasim. Perfect environment if you ask me.

-The husband and I are going camping with his family this weekend. The tradititional... something hunt (and also the place me and Braedon had our first kiss. Fer presh.). Bow hunt maybe? I'm not sure. No one ever really does any hunting... it's more just an excuse to get out of town and relax in God's beautiful mountains. Mmmmm. Excited.

-What makes this trip even better then others is that me and Braedon actually get to sleep in our own tent in the same sleeping bag. Nuff said.

-Braedon starts his new job on Tuesday. I'm so excited for him - I hope he loves his new job as much as I love mine. Or at least more then the one he has currently.

-Lately me and Braedon have been trying new recipies - one new recipe a week to be exact. It's been fun to try new things - once I have a few more new dishes under my belt I'll fill you in on the good ones and the not so good ones. :)

-The Young Women and Young Men are doing a Book of Mormon retreat to Bear Lake the last weekend of September. It's times like this that I am glad both me and Braedon work with the youth in our ward. (Okay, so there are a lot of other times that I am grateful to work with the youth - but free trips to fun places is always a perk.)

-Last night was the Ute's first game of the season. Talk about awesome. I went up to my parents house for our traditional football party - meatballs, homemade maccoroni (so good), the best wings ever (drool), and donuts. It was fun to be with the family and enjoy an awesome game! Go Utes!

-I'm going to the Library today during my lunch to pick up some books for the weekend. I'm pretty sure I'm far more excited then I should be. Eeee. I love the library.  :)

-I love books.


That's all for now folks.

Have a most lovely Labor Day!