Counting Blessings

Steph showed me her post recounting all the things she is grateful for and I really liked it and decided to do my own. I think it is always a good thing to list out all the many blessings that impact our lives on a daily basis from the small things to the much much larger ones. So these are just 10 things that I am thankful for.

1 - I am thankful for her. I don't really know where I would be or what I would be doing with my life. She gives me direction and focus. She has helped me establish what I want and what I need to do to get there.
2 - I am thankful for her love and patience toward me. It takes a lot to be able to co exist let alone want to marry a Tobler boy. But, no matter what happens she is always there to give me a hug and a kiss to let me know she loves me.
3 - I am grateful for serving a mission in Canada. I am eternally grateful for all the memories from the many experiences I had up in the great white north, and the friends I was able to make and the lives I was able to touch.
4 - I love music. There is so much that can be captured by music. So much feeling and emotion. I can always find a song that suits my mood. Especially piano music.
5 - I am grateful to able to work hard. I remember a quote that I always really liked. "There is very little regret if any at all from working hard."
6 - I am grateful from family and friends and the support they are to me. Knowing that there is always somebody there for me when I need it.
7 - I am thankful for the gospel and all the comfort it brings with it. Knowing who I am and why I am here and where I am going are questions that I found most people don't know. What a blessing it is to know and the direction it brings with it.
8 - I'm proud to be an American... enough said.
9 - I am grateful to be able to learn. To always be improving and learning new things. That there is and always will be something new out there for me to discover.
10 - I can't lie... I'm grateful for food. There is few things that are as good as a Burger fresh off the BBQ while being in the company of good friends.

Name Them One by One

Something I have decided to record as of late are the things I am grateful for. Too often I find myself in a "looking-at-the-glass-1/2-empty" mood. I was preparing a lesson on gratitude for FHE in Canada when I came across a quote from President Monson,

"Said the Lord in a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “In nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things.”10 May we be found among those who give our thanks to our Heavenly Father. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.
Despite the changes which come into our lives and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days—as much as we can—with those things which matter most. May we cherish those we hold dear and express our love to them in word and in deed."
So here is my list of things that I am grateful for. Hopefully I'll be able to do this once a month :).

1. My family, be them near or far that no matter the circumstance always find ways to show their love and wisdom. For my Mom and Dad words cannot describe how much I love you.
2. My future husband who loves and supports me. I'm so grateful for all of the sacrifices he is making and for all that he goes through to support us. I appreciate his wisdom and am grateful for the patience that he shows as I make this transition in my life. I love you.
3. The gospel. Plain and simple, I would be lost without the church. I am grateful for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and for our Heavenly Fathers never ending love.
4. For friends. My dad always said it's better to have one good friend then a crowd full of bad friends. I have gone through some bad friends and I am thankful for the good ones that expect me to be my best and push me to be better. For their words of encouragement at 2:00 in the morning.
5. (This is going to take a wild spin in a different direction) I am thankful for flushing toilets! Every time I go camping that is right up there on my list.
6. For simplicity. Such as the smell of an orange peel, the sound of the rain splashing on the soft green grass. The way peoples eyes crinkle when they truly smile or how when one violin plays it's beautiful but when it plays in an orchestra it sends shivers throughout your body!
7. For freedom, be it in Canada or the USA I am grateful for the ability to have the right to chose, to be and to live.
8. For my health and for the ability to move. Too often I take for granted how healthy I am and how lucky I am that I can walk, talk, think, learn, hear, and excel. I look forward to learning more throughout the years.
9. For music. It has always been amazing to me how readily people connect with music. How there is always that song that explains exactly how you feel. My friend Caitlin says "This song is the story of my life." I love that. I love how that story expands and as it does there is always a song that fits perfectly.
10. For journals. I love that I get to keep a journal. I am struggling as of late to to it daily but I love being able to look back over the past five years and see how much I've changed. I'm grateful that a young woman's leader taught me the importance of writing in my journal.

Funky Furniture

In reality Jakob has only been moved out for 3 months but to him it seems like an eternity! He decided that it was time for him to upgrade from an air mattress to a big comfy couch. We hopped on Criag's list and found an ad for a table. Not exactly a couch BUT we could only have romantic picnic lunches, that took place in our living room, for so long. It being dark wood we decided to go and check it out. The previous owner bought a one way ticket to London and decided to go back packing. She was leaving the following morning and she needed everything to go. So we stole Duke's truck and upon arriving decided that we needed a couch as well. She being in a pinch gave us both for $450 and she threw in the place mats, cushions and napkins too :P. I must say we are pretty proud to have something to sit on!

Disgusting Discovery

While doing laundry Jakob decided that he would clean the lint catcher in our new appartment. Turns out the previous residents must have never cleaned the lint catcher EVER! it is at least an inch thick. GROSS!

Note to self:
Clean Lint Catcher!

Counterfeit Parents

Last week the couple I babysit for took their 4 year old Trystan to Disneyland. Not wanting to have to haul 8 month old Seven around they asked me to watch her over night. Jakob and I had a ton of fun watching her. We defiantly realized that we want to hold off on the baby making business for a few years after the wedding. But we'll gladly watch Seven again.



Seven is 8 months old and she is the funniest baby ever! She's cutting her top teeth so she was a little cranky, solution take her outside. She loves playing in the grass and her ball. but for the most part Jakob and I had fun watching her.


For Jakob having never held a baby up until last Christmas he was really good with seven. He fed her and put her down for naps. Gave her bottles. I was quite impressed. However the when I asked him if he wanted to help me he drew the line at changing diapers. He was a great help. It was adorable watching him play dad.



He had to leave early in the morning for a stocks seminar (which went very well) so I had Seven all to myself. I am not a very good single mother :P. It is a LOT of work being a parent! I had a ton of fun and Jakob and I look forward to Wednesday when we get to watch Trystan as well.

You can learn many things from children.
How much patience you have, for instance.
~Franklin P. Jones

An Early Birthday Present for Jakob

We'd Like to thank Mom & Dad Tobler for Jakob's early birthday present. It's a BLENDER! Jakob's not one for "making" food in the morning so this is perfect. He really enjoys his new toy & he's experimenting on us. Mint chocolate chip , cinnamon peach or strawberry chocolate chunk milk shakes. Come to our place for some green shakes in the morning & some sugar filled milk shakes for desert. Very delicious. :)

Thank You
<3 br="">

One Hard Week

It's crazy to me how one week everything is going great and the next you wonder if you're being punished. Poor Jakob as had a rough one. Somewhere in between getting sick and other mishaps he stepped on his cell phone. Thinking that we would simply take in my iphone to synced to at&t then he could use my phone we ventured out to do just that. Upon arriving we found out that my iphone was "locked" to Rogers (my previous provider). It wasn't originally "locked" to anything because it was a gift and it was purchased on ebay. They told us that we would have to jailbreak the phone which could result in ruining it all together. But before we attempted that we called Rogers, who directed us to apple, who directed us to a bigger apple, who directed us to at&t, who directed us to Rogers and so the circle continues. After 3 days of calling and visiting the best advise they gave us was to a) sell it in ebay, b) jailbreak it ourselves (they don't do those sort of things in stores :P c) re sync it to itunes (which we did which updated it which made it almost impossible to jailbreak because they haven't created the software for the updated iphone) or d) buy a new one for the tunes of $599. I'm so luck a appreciative to have a fiance that will spend 3 days tying to fix my phone. Our advise... don't buy an iphone! The upside.. I have a 16G ipod :)

Birthday Bliss!

A Story For Mom & Dad,

WARNING : This blog is horribly written. I apologize in advance!

This weekend I had my first ever solo birthday party! YAY! It was so much fun and went so horribly wrong that if I wasn't doing it for a friend then I would have been the worst High School Musical Sharpay in the history of all time. Does that sounds dramatic or what! :) In weeks prior to this experience my friend Britni proposed this plan to have this HUGE inflatable water slide for her sisters 5th birthday party. (Britni is the one who hooked Jakob and I up with our sweet Care Bear Job.) Her plan later developed into having ME (someone who has never done a birthday party on her own and has only watched 2 on previous occasions) come as Sharpay from High School Musical. I wouldn't have been so nervous had it not been for her calling me at 11:00 p.m. to share more ideas as to how I can be the "perfect" Sharpay. She told me to watch all 3 of the movies so I did in a span of 24 hours (talk about an overload) only to discover that I am to portray this wildly dressed, stuck up girl who can sing, dance and she takes orders from no one. Hmmm?? For a month she and I planned this party. I couldn't sleep the night before, I was so nervous, and all over a 5 year old's birthday.

Well the day arrives. Britni came over previously and picked out my outfit the day before. I threw it all in my bag and went to work. They had me scheduled to "observe" 2 parties before I had to do Brit's. Thinking I have this all under control I call Britni outside of her house and she helps me get my bleach blonde wig on while I change. Oh, no hair net. Good thing she had a spare in her car. With Brit trying to hide the last of my brown hair under the hat and wig I reach into my bag to find I forgot my pants. Yes it was one of those things that people only dream about. I was previously wearing scrubs, defiantly NOT very Sharpay. No worry! We get Britni's pants I try them on only to find that they are slightly too big. Standing there, holding these pants freaking out that they'll fall down right in the middle of the Hokey pokey, Britni darts into her stepmom's closet and throws something at me. YES! Capris & they fit perfectly. I leave my clothes and my cell phone in the house and race to the car to get the rest of the stuff. Face Paint Kit, Check. CD Player, Check. Magic Cupcake, Check. Cupcake inside of cooler, MISSING!!!!
(Crash Course on Magic Cupcake: Take ingredients (flower, sugar, magic dust ect.) and place in pan. Mix it up. Show kids... no cupcake. Put lid on. Bippity boppity boo cup cake appears!) And that cup cake was missing. No worries I'll call Brit. Oops, my cell phone is in the house. Well now I'm practically in tears. I go to the door. Jessica opens it. Took her awhile to figure out who I was but she was thrilled! I start face painting. Tell Britni of the Cupcake so she leaves and drives to find one. She returns. Thinking I'm in the clear I try to relax. Time for dancing. Open CD player and there's no CD. Perfect. Britni races to my car to see if I had a spare YES! Do dances. Scavenger hunt time! Flawless until... some girl didn't find the golden rock that gets you another prize. So she starts screaming. :) Oh boy. Then time for magic. Yes it went well until I go and tell her to take a bite and she looks at me and says "I'm allergic to eggs." I look at her, look at Britni and then I say "Well, It's Mothers Day tomorrow how about this birthday treat goes to mom." YES she agreed. Then pictures and YAY! ALL DONE!

For my first party I think it went rather well! :)

Home Sweet Home

Welcome to Jakob's NEW Home



This is our bathroom.

And our Fire Place. Cute but inconvenient being that you can see into our bedroom from our living room. One of these days we think we'll put a TV in front of it.

And our kitchen.
Everything is nice and new so that is a bonus and we live in a nice SAFE part of town. (I'll be okay here mom I promise :) ) It's perfect for us and I can't wait to move in. Now we're on the hunt for furniture! What a thrill!!