Another Shameless Self Promotion Post from Steve

Go read my blog. You'll like it. Although, remember: you get what you pay for.

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Confession

I have a confession…. I secretly love “self-help” books.

When I was in college, my roommates stacked up all of the books I owned about marriage or dating. It was a little embarrassing.

Now that I am married, I still enjoy books about improving your marriage, but my tastes have diversified. Currently the “self-help” books I am reading include:

• Emotional Intelligence 2.0
• Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office 101: Unconscious Mistakes Women Make to Sabotage Their Careers
• Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life, One Conversation at a Time
• How to Never Look Fat Again: Over 1,000 Ways to Dress Thinner—Without Dieting

I enjoy reading these books because they uplift me, and help me want to be better—A better wife, better friend, better employee, better Sunday School Teacher, etc.

But it’s kind of embarrassing how much time I spend thinking, talking, and planning about how to improve myself, or “realizations” I have into the human psyche. My.poor.husband. (He is such a sweetheart for patiently listening to me, and DESERVES A MEDAL!)

I worry about sharing these thoughts with others, lest they think I am comparing them to my proverbial yardstick of progress. I don’t. How can you compare apples and oranges? We are all trying to be the best we can be—my guilty pleasure just includes reading self-help books!

I figured...why not?

Hey all,

I decided to start my own little spin off blog. Marina and I will still both write to this once in a blue moon as usual, but I'm going to be doing more on my other site. Drop by www.stantonsays.com if you feel so inclined.

Hasta suerte!

Stephen

Buried Alive!!

The last couple of posts I've written have been a bit on the silly side. This one will be more informative, but with my usual strange brand of humor. Things haven't really changed much as of late, with a few notable exceptions.

First, Marina graduated!! Quite tragically, both of our point and shoot cameras died right as the festivities started. Luckily, my dad had his camera, and took lots of pictures--now if we can just get him to send them to us! We are really happy the way graduation went; my sister, her husband James, my mom and dad all drove to visit us. It was a long drive for them, but we sure appreciated having family to celebrate with. Since moving out to North Carolina, we've not seen much of our family, so it was a nice treat.

Second, we flew out to Arizona for a few days to visit Marina's family, and to go to the temple with her parents. It was a really great experience. We also got to spend time with Kristine (Marina's sister), Les, Marc, and Loren (her brothers), Marc's girlfriend Tiffany, and the rest of the family as well. Here's a photo of Marina in Arizona with one her new dresses she got for graduation.

While we were in Arizona, we had the great fortune to have my sister Liz house sit and watch our insecurely attached dog. Fletcher grew quite fond of Liz, too!

Another event we're happy about is Marina's first 'grown up' job. She is working with a research grant that she had previously worked on during her Master's, except now it is full time and official.

Then, this last weekend, we went to the beach for the first time this year. We went with almost the whole Thayn clan, which was lots of fun. I did something I've never done before, and got buried in the sand (except for my noggin). It was actually kind of fun! Sand is pretty heavy, so breathing is kind of difficult, but other than that, it was fun.

And now, story time. I'm kind of a gorilla--in that I'm kind of a hairy guy. Well, when I was buried, I had to lay down in this pit, and then get covered in sand. When discussing it later on, one of the Thayn kids became quiet, and when asked about his thoughts, he decided that, "I don't want a beard on my chest!". Yep, I'm a gorilla. Beard on my chest, and all.

Well, that's all for now. Have a great week!

Dear Internets,

It is with great gusto that I announce that Marina and I are having a...we're still alive. We're approaching Marina's graduation in 10 days. We're approaching mine in approximately 10 years.

Our dog is alive still. We still like the usual things. Also, here's a picture.

Hopefully we shall have more posts to come in the next weeks as the graduation festivities commence. See y'all later.

Recent realization

Sorry in advance that this is a bit long!

I had a realization the other day. If you clicked on either of the links in my last post, you might realize what I am talking about. Just in case you were wondering—Rebecca is my middle name.

I was invited to present with Dr. Hodgson on “Parenting a child with ADHD.” Yes, I realize that I don’t actually have children, much less ones with ADHD. However, she asked me to speak so I could lend “personal experience” to the lecture. You see, I was diagnosed with ADHD just over a year ago. It isn’t something I have told many people, and I struggled about whether I should tell that audience. I realized however, that the reason I didn’t want to tell people is because I was afraid people would perceive me differently because I have a so-called “mental health diagnosis.”

Stereotypically, I don’t fit into the ADHD category. I’m not “hyper” and never have been. I just tend to lose focus easily, struggle with organization and time management, and other less “obvious” symptoms. I sometimes get distracted in conversations, not because I don’t want to pay attention, but because my mind gets excited about thinking about other things!!! Since being diagnosed, I have realized the full impact this has had on relationships, and have been working on being more “present” and more organized. I want to focus my career on research on ADHD, and how this can affect relationships and families (because it absolutely can!!!).

I didn’t want people to look at me differently because I have ADHD, but I realized that by telling my story, I can give people hope. It was wonderful to have people come up to me after the presentation and ask me questions about ADHD, and seek my advice (!?!). Although I didn’t get into the PhD program this year, it gave me the opportunity and motivation to spend a lot of time researching ADHD. I know I was supposed to apply to the PhD program this year—but maybe that was the reason! I know that I have been, and will continue to be lead and guided to what I am supposed to do, and where I am needed. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating, because I am not on the “mommy track” right now, and it’s hard to see all of my friends have babies and know that I have been prompted to get a PhD! Feel free to check out my blog—where I will be sharing my story in much more depth (which is why I have chosen to use a pseudonym, it is after all, still the internet).

Thanks for being my friend!

Guess What!?!?!

*Photograph courtesy of Annelise White

I'm NOT pregnant.

I didn't get into the MedFT program.

Regardless, it was a good month!

Steve and I are now a quarter of a century old!

I chopped my hair off and color it dark!

I got published in a magazine

I created a new blog

I got called to be a Sunday School teacher for the 12-13 year olds (my first teaching calling!)

We went to a Valentine's Dance, that I helped plan as part of my calling on the Activities Committee and learned to Samba, Tango, and Waltz

Steve and I had a great Valentine's weekend, celebrating our friends the Wetherington's birthdays, and Steve made me a wonderful Valentines dinner, including plate-sized-steaks!

I was asked to present in Mark White's DSM class

On Tuesday, I will be presenting with Jennifer Hodgson for a parenting class

We went to a fun Superbowl party with many of the Young-Married couples in our ward

It SNOWED! Twice!

We got our tax refund! Yey for being students!

I hope you had a great month! I am counting down the days until May 7th, when I can rejoin the land of the living!