a new hope

Yes, that is a Star Wars reference. I will explain. Be patient, young Skywalker.

This month has been crazy, to say the least, with lots of ups and downs. My favorite up, however, was our Thomas Family Reunion. It was just with my immediate family -- which has grown in the past few years and added on two more sons (and we're adding a third next month!). It was beyond wonderful. I spent a week with my family. Actually I spent 9 days with my family. Please remember, I see my entire family probably about once every 6 months. Maybe a little longer than that. They are many, many miles away from me and I miss them everyday.

We went boating, fishing, and just RELAXED with each other. One day we went and checked out the local fair and got a snow cone. :) It was so fun. Memories I will never forget. :)

Since coming home, we got to see Jodie and Kira (hooray!) and spend time with them.

We love all of our nieces and nephews so much. They are all the cutest babies we have ever seen. :)

We got settled back home just in time for a sickness to hit us. This round has really hit me hard emotionally. I just feel really exhausted. I've been surprised -- usually the summer means no stomach bugs, lots of outside activities, energy, exercise, eating healthy. So far there has definately been all that, but way more lows that I expected. Anybody else not know what to do with their life after they graduate college? Or think you know but it's not working out? We should make a club. :)

Our ward has recently split, and I've had the chance to serve as Relief Society prez. It's been keeping me busy. Man, I don't know what I would do without service. I would literally go crazy. Even in the short time that I've been feeling sick, I've had three sisters offer to bring me dinner. Seriously? How blessed am I?

I think the biggest lesson I've learned so far this summer is that serving others brings us true happiness. Yes, seeing Harry Potter with my friends AND getting a bucket of popcorn (splurge of the year) made me very happy.  (We all dressed up as the Seven Horcruxes - it was as cool as it sounds. I'll make a whole post about HP - it deserves one!) Yes, going to Seven Peaks makes me smile. BUT, being with my family brings me joy. Alex's smile when he sees me when he gets home from work brings me joy. The things that don't cost a cent bring me true joy. Thinking about the gospel, and knowing that Christ has felt everything I have been feeling, brings me peace and comfort. More than I can say.

When we feel like we have no control is when our faith is really tested. It's our chance to prove that we believe in the better things; and that we know that all will work out for the best. And knowing that the future is bright, that there are so many things to look forward to, has given me a new hope. :)  And now, I think I'll watch Star Wars.

Start spreadin' the news...

Shortly after graduation (okay the very next day at 5 am) I headed to New York City with my friends in Divine Comedy for a whole week. You guys, it was heaven. I was kind of expecting to hate all the smoke, smog, and weirdos through out the city, but I absolutely loved every aspect of New York. The energy, the pizza, the bagels, the subway, the theater. It was amazing. I'm so grateful to Divine Comedy for letting me come. The best part was that it was for a whole week, so we had time to work hard performing and play hard seeing shows. By the last few days, I felt like a real New Yorker. I could find my way anywhere on the subway system. The first day I was a little nervous about getting lost, but by the end of the trip I was a pro. I told Alex we have to live, or at least visit often, NYC. I just fell in love with the city. And now, a million pictures to show of my adventures. :)

About half way through the week, Alex flew out and spent my free time days with me. It was amazing. As you can see, we won the Wicked lottery and scored front. row. seats. I had already seen Wicked before, but Alex hadn't. It was a once in a lifetime experience.


Thank you Divine Comedy for taking me to NEW YORK! :)

Best Friends Forever Club

Can I admit something? I have a hard time hanging on to friends. Or at least I feel that way. I seem to know and like tons of people, but I feel as though only a select few people care enough about me to call me their "friend". From elementary school through college, my "best friend"s have come and gone, and none have really seemed to want to stick with me.
I struggled a lot with this when we were first married. None of my old roomates where married. I didn't have a friend to confide in. Thankfully, I had a beautiful older sister to talk to. I still missed my friends. I still do. Especially since I'm no longer in Divine Comedy, I can see me friendships once again slipping into something less than they used to be. I know it's just part of getting married. But sometimes, I feel lonely. Believe it or not, marriage can be a lonely thing sometimes.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. The point of the post is to express my indescribable gratitude for my husband. Whenever I make a new friend, this old insecurity comes back. I think "how long will it be until they get sick of me"? Which makes me think, like any other girl, "What the heck is wrong with me?".

That's not how it is with Alex. Not only is he my best friend, but I absolutely know that he always will be. Forever. I can't describe to you what kind of a calm this has given my spirit. I know that someone will always care about my day, will always remember to call me, and more importantly, I know that someone thinks of me always. I want that so badly for everyone, because everyone deserves it. Everyone deserves a best friend forever. I am so grateful for mine. I've never been a huge Valentine' Day person, but I was so overwhelmed today with gratitude for Alex today that I just had to express it somehow.

So Happy Valentine's day! Please know that whoever is reading this, that I love you. I really do. I'm grateful for my friends and family that read this little blog, and I hope that today you can feel the love of the Savior. Because He will be and can be your best friend forever. No matter what. And not only does everyone deserve that, but everyone can find joy in it.

Love to you all!

xo
Nat

(If you recognized that SpongeBob referencein the title then a thousand points to Gryffindor).

Two years ago...

Two years ago today (well tomorrow) I kissed this boy for the first time.

I'm not a super sentimental person who remembers different milestones, but

I remember because we had watched Groundhog Day on Groundhog Day.

And then kissed. Double awesome.

I'm glad I get to kiss him for lots more years. :)

Happy Groundhog Day! :)

Best. Recipe. Ever.

I love bread. A lot. Bread and butter may be my favorite snack/meal, especially is the bread is fresh. At restaurants I tend to eat more of the before-the-food-comes-out bread than my actual meal. Since I am at work/school all day, I love using my crockpot whenever I can. I found this recipe on my friend Whitney's blog (see my list of family and friends) and decided to modify it a bit.

Here's the recipe for white bread. In a crock pot. It really works, I promise!

Classic White Bread:

1 envelope (0.25 ounce)
OR 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 c. warm water
1 egg
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. lukewarm water
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
31/2 - 4 c. flour
In a bowl, combine yeast, 1 tsp. sugar, and 1/4 c. warm water.
Allow yeast to foam, about 5 minutes.
Add egg, oil, lukewarm water, salt,
1/4 c. sugar, and 2 cups of flour.
Beat with an electric mixer 2 minutes on low.
With a wooden spoon, stir in the remaining flour.
Place dough in greased 4-5 quart slow cooker.
Cover and cook on high heat for 2-3 hours.
Remove stoneware from slow cooker and
let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.
Makes 10-15 servings.
Serve with butter and your favorite jam!




Yum. Now, yesterday I really wanted to try it, but I was in the mood for some rosemary bread - like they have at Macaroni Grill. So, I added some rosemary to do dough, and sprinkled a little bit olive oil, garlic seasoning, and a tiny bit of cheese on top. It was almost gone before I could snap a picture!

Alex loved it, a requested it again today. It takes 3 hours to finish baking -- perfect timing for church :)


Hope you are all doing well!

xoxo
-Nat

The Testing Center can't even handle me right now

Although my official Divine Comedy days are behind me, Alex and I got to do something awesome with them yesterday. For a music video they are working on, they needed a large crowd to come and turn the testing center into a club. That's right, we had a dance party. In the testing center. Where tests are taken. It was so, so fun, and an experience I will tell my kids about when they're at BYU.

In further news, here's a picture update of our December. Sorry it takes me so long to update this thing! I'll be better. I promise.

They had a nice little goodbye moment for me in the middle of the last show. Tears were inevitable.

Weirdos.



These lovely people cam into town for my last show. (Well, it was just Mom and Josh who came in to town.)



We had the chance to go to the Christmas Devotional. So awesome,

We took a stroll around temple square. It was gorgeous, as always.

The weekend before finals I hosted a DC girls sleepover. Tons of fun, and very little sleep. :)



Then, after finals, we headed to MN! We spent a lot of time with these awesome people.



Played in the snow. A lot.

The Jazz where playing Minnesota while we were there, so I got Alex tickets for his anniversary gift!
It was tons of fun!

We got to Skype wiht Ty on Christmas!

Did a lot of laying around and watching Thr Grinch. :)

Merry Christmas! :)

 

And lots of puzzling.

My camera died on Christmas, but we also celebrated Alex's birthday and had a really fun New Year's party.

 

It was a blast, and now we're back to reality. Darn. :)

Hope you're all doing well, and are enjoying your three day weekend :)

Happy birthday Alex!

24 reasons I love Alex Preston Madsen on his 24th birthday ** WARNING: sappyness ahead!** :


He kisses my hand
He loves to brush my hair
He opens the door for me
He fixes my car for me
He does the dishes all the time
He loves to vacuum
He loves anything I cook
He always holds my hand when we walk together
He is so goofy
He hugs me so hard it cracks my back
He loves his (our) family
He loves my (our) family
He holds my hand whenever we walk
He tells me I look pretty everyday as I leave the house
He can sit and talk to everyone and anyone
He has big goals
He works hard to make his goals happen
He knows the gospel really well
He goes to the temple with me
He is very, very talented
He is the most loyal person I know
He loves his parents and always wants to help them
He is a wonderful uncle
He is the best husband in the world


Happy birthday, Alex! Love you!




Nat

For those of you who missed it...

Hey friends! For those of you who read this and couldn't make it to my last show, here's a few fan-filmed videos from the show. A few relatives have asked when the DVD would be available, but here's something to watch in the meantime. :)


Here's some gems:


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Barbershop: I helped write this one, but it was so fun to perform!





A song from our headliner "Sound of Music and the Spoken Word".





 One of my favorite roles for Mallory (the shut up everyone I just got dumped girl).





This was my dying sketch -- it was my favorite song I've ever done! Thanks, Whit and Mal for writing it for me. :)





I'm barely in this one, but it's still one of my favorites.





So there ya have it. It's kind of like being at the show, right? :) Hope everyone is relaxing. Tomorrow is Alex's birthday, so make sure to call him! :)


Love you guys!
xo
Nat

Merry Christmas from Minnesota! :)

Hello all!


It's been forever since a post, and a lot has happened. My last Divine Comedy show, Mom and Josh came out for visit, finals, and now I am home. I promise a better update soon. In the meantime, we will be lounging around my parents house for two weeks doing whatever we please. Life is so, so, good.

We'vr got a lot of snow here -- in fact it's the most snow on record in December. Ever.


We will be having a white christmas. I think I'll work on our Christmas card today...(oops) and just e-mail them out to everyone. Leave your e-mail in the comments if you want one!


Love to you all! :) (And see some of you soon!)


xoxo


Nat

If the first year's the hardest, we're in good shape!

Hello world! I hope all is well. We've had a crazy week here. I can't believe Thanksgiving break was just two days ago! This morning my car was having trouble starting in the cold (not our new car thank goodness), so I had to call a sub for my class. I just realized that I don't often blog about my pre-school class. I need to devote a post or two about those cute kids. I have picture, but feel weird about posting them on a public blog. Long story short, I was sad that I couldn't go to work this morning, and I think when you're genuinely sad to miss work that means you're in the right line of work. :) I'm so very blessed to have that job.

This past weekend was so fun. As the title of this post may suggest, we had our first anniversary (and I bet the first year with a baby is the hardest. Just sayin.)! It was a fun, relaxed day. We promised each other ahead of time that we wouldn't do any homework, and we were true to our word. :) I let Alex sleep in, but I was too excited for the day. I woke up and made these (Whitney would be so proud! ), and yes I snitched. Nothing like sugar for breakfast.
 
Then we drove up to the Mt. Timp temple to kind of relive the day. As we were walking up there was a wedding taking picture. It seemed colder this year than last year. We went and did some sealings. I can not adequately describe the Spirit I feel when I'm in the temple, and especially when I'm in the temple with Alex. We were in a sealing room just next door to where we were sealed exactly a year from that moment. Vivid memories came back to me, including the tears. I remember the way that Alex looked at the me, the way my Mom and Dad smiled, Grandpa sealing us, all of those hugs afterwards from so many people that I love. And, of course, the Spirit I felt. What an amazing ordinance we have been given. What a gift from Heavenly Father! I understand more and more why the sealing ordinance is the New and Everlasting Covenant, it is the greatest gift that we can be given in this life. I am so incredibly blessed to be able to enter into it, and I will never take it for granted.
 
We went and watched the BYU game with the Madsens, which was fun and a little disappointing. But, our boys sure put up a fight! Then, we went out to dinner and for a walk around the Riverwoods. They remodeled and put fun little fires along the sidewalk and Christmas lights everywhere. If you're in UT, I suggest going there and taking an night time walk. It was a magical day!
 
I apologize that I seem to only update on our last weekend and then give a spiritual thought, but oh well. I guess that's just how I role. The other day, I was reading this:
 
Acts 1:10-11
And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into aheaven?
 
I love this image, for some reason. Lately I feel as if I've been really focused on my relationship with myself and Heavenly Father. I've been trying to pray and read more, been trying to talk with Him more often. But I still haven't felt as spiritually "on" as I have in the past. I was trying to figure it out, and I read this verse. The Apostles have just witnessed this miracle, have seen Christ be brought up into heaven, and two messengers ask why they continue to look to heaven. It is time for them to do work on this Earth.
 
I think I often look right to Heavenly Father to fix my problems. While I know that He can, that He is in everything, but He has given us something wonderful. Agency. He is relying on us to chose to help others, to be aware of what is going on around us, not just sit idly by until Christ comes again. This is our chance to work, to serve, and to help others. We need to be more aware of what is happening around us. I think of how well I can mask a bad day, and I'm an open book to most of my friends. Who else do I know who is having a hard time? Probably nearly everyone. During this holiday season, I hope that I can keep my eyes on those needs around me, but my heart still in heaven with my Savior.
 
I'm about to hit a "change" part of my life. I'm nervous. Actually, really nervous. This means doing new things that I'm not used to. It seems like as I've gotten older new things stop being as excited and start being more scary. I need to feel close to the Savior if I'm going to make it through a happier person. I need to focus more on others around me, and the work that I have been sent here to do.
 
Hope you're all doing well!
 
Nat

You know that's right

PyThings that make me happy today:


1. THIS. :)

2. THIS starts up again tonight.

3. It will soon look like this everywhere.

4. I'm married to this. For almost a year now. :)

I am a very blessed girl. You know that's right.

Whaaaaat? (fist bump).

Halloween and November!

So, a lot has happened since my last post. Halloween was busy but fun. We're on the activities committee for our ward, so we helped with the Halloween activitiy, which was very fun. We were in charge of bobbing for apples, and I taught the ward Thriller. :)

Super easy costume. We didn't have much time to come up with anything.



We stole a baby for this picture.



Halloween was fun. Not a ton of candy, but that's okay. :) This past week has been a Divine Comedy show week for me, so I didn't see my husband all week. We did a Sound of Music parody, and it was a blast! There were lots of characters in the show. I got to be Liesel and sing a "16 going on 17" parody which was fun. I'm uploading videos right now, but it takes forever!

If you missed it, then that is sad. It was an awesome show. We'll do Sound of Music and Reception (Inception) again during the first week of December in the Best Of show. You should come -- it'll be my last show in Divine Comedy. Which is pretty weird. It really hit me last night that I only have one show left. I'm happy and excited to move on with my life, but this has been such a HUGE part of it. It's been my entire college experience. It's enabled me to travel, to learn, to make life-long friends. I'll be sad to see it end, but happy to spend more time with my husband :)

And finally, and most excitingly, we've started a new small business. Alex and I have been very excited to start it, and the ball is finally, kind of, rolling on it. More details on that later.

Midterms are starting to settle down for us, but that just means finals are approaching. I have two huge papers to write this week, so wish me luck! Alex is doing GREAT in his classes, he's really been working so hard. Just a couple more weeks until Thanksgiving break!

When I think about this time last year, it just makes me feel stressed. This time last year I was sick with Mono, about to travel to MN and then back to UT to get married. It was a wonderful time but at the same time a really hard time for me. There was so much I wanted to do for the wedding that I just couldn't do because of how sick I was. Yuck. I'm so grateful that I married Alex, and we've been married for almost a year now! Where does the time go? Anyways, I really can't wait for Thanksgiving break :)

Hope you are all doing well!

Love you guys!

Natalex