Right now: I’m sitting in Panera Bread with a laptop, a bread bowl and my headphones. To catch up with me…

 4 weeks ago I had to let my employer know through a series of hectic, yet pretty expected events, I would no longer be able to continue nannying. The answer was the result of a lot of praying, discussing it with Graham and weighing all of the prons&cons. Inevitably, it felt like the right thing to do so, I’m working twice a month throughout October from here on out… then I’m going to focus on being a full- time student, wife, Young Women’s leader and anything else that pops up. It has been incredibly frustrating at times trying to juggle it all; my schooling and house work has certainly suffered, and I’m excited to realign my life, hopefully with more success. I’m sure I’ll pick up a little part- time gig but I am not going to begin to worry with that until I have all of my current classes have met the deadline of November 30^th.

    So anyway to motivate myself to pick up the pace I used my day off to wake up early , to take Graham to work and bring the laptop to a location with free Wifi. Plus it can be so awkward that I fell like “ugh better hurry to get out of here!” So with only 1 hour away from this dang place for an oil change, I’ve been reading, catching up on tasks and snacking on all their goodies. (Drawback, for sure, I’m going to try to bring a PB&Honey with a water bottle to cut down on costs, but I feel guilty taking up space without spending a dime.) But seriously though, you guys, I am really digging Panera Bread, it’s delicious, they don’t mind if I sit for hours on end in one chair, I can order a meal right from my cell phone, I’ve left my laptop for a few minutes and no one stole it, they gave me a free cookie, there isn’t a charge for their internet services (don’t act like you don’t want to slap the places that require you to pay) and they’re over-the-top friendly. I like ‘em a lot.

    I ended up putting on my Unchained Melody station, a favorite, and the nostalgia of home hit me simultaneously with a sense of appreciation. Yesterday when I had the chance to eat lunch with my Uncle Luke, Aunt Kelly and boys (who were all headed to Orlando) I was definitely impressed with my uncle, duh. To all who know me personally, he has been a role model for me since he left at 19 years old to the first missionary in an exorbitantly large family (“Mama, I think he’s good enough to be the Prophet one day!” “Well Lacey, I don’t know about Prophet, maybe a Bishop.” Then he checked that off at age 26ish, you never know what's next!) So anyways, my totally wonderful uncle was chatting and said, “you know Lacey I’m trying to teach these boys that our trip [a 4 night, 3 day stay at Disney World] isn’t because I’m so smart or because I’m so good- looking and it was just given to us …it’s because I’m blessed.” YES. Just yes, there it is. A blessing given to a family that has a great father who knows enough to remain humble. I hope to follow in suit of those good examples around me, and with that:

I’m grateful for the past 18 month of experiences as a nanny, it was such a growing time for me, I feel so much more confident in my ability to parent.

I’m grateful that my husband has a job that can support the two of us for a time, and that he is on board with the new changes.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to go to school, as slow as this process has been for me, I hope to be able to make my parents proud by fulfilling their dream to have a college graduate.

I’m grateful that though times have felt immensely hard lately, life has settled recently, and I pray that it continues to happen like that.

   So yep, there that is. I hope lots of awesome things will continue coming in the future. This weekend Graham and I are going on a Youth Temple Trip, I’m going to teach my first lesson in Young Women and I’m going home (but just for a day, long story). This post feels incredibly long, and nothing but ramblings compiled into one post, but

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   Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Choose your Love, Love your Choice

    3 years ago today Graham asked me to be his girlfriend. In 5 days we will celebrate 1 year and a half of marriage. 2 weeks after that will be 2 years from the day he proposed. In a whirlwind it happened, our own little love story fell into place.

    Graham, you're perfect for me. 

    Choose your love, love your choice. ~Pres. Thomas S Monson

When Life Gets You Down...

    The past two weeks have been one enormous vortex full of doom and gloom. My family, my own small one, has went through multiple things back to back that have been really strenuous! Seriously- uber demanding trials to try to trudge through... I'm not going to grocery list them, sometimes I feel that since I am blogging my life that I must too over-share. You know, lay out all the deets; but I definitely won't do that without feeling the consent of my loved ones, or my own for that matter.
    But it all seems to be laid on thick, all at once. And all locals know that when it rains in Jacksonville, it doesn't stop for days...
    It's been hard to try to feel, you know, happy while everything around us seems to feel moved from the careful crevices due to some unknown harsh storms (too much of this same analogy?) Writing it any differently can't change that though. I have thought and reworded and erased and retyped. But life seems to be somewhere deep in the pits, much farther than seems necessary.
    But my Sunday will come.To anyone with a difficult situation our Sunday will come.These rough days are hopefully setting sail with new, enjoyable adventures to embark on.
    If you're praying folk, I beseech you to think of those who are struggling with some formidable situations or tasks. Sometimes, faith is more necessary than breathing.

    Through all of the trials I must go through, at least I have you.

1 Day with Us

    We Alexander's pride ourselves on being productive. Ha ha, folks who truly know me understand I have to battle laziness daily. So any day we get many things accomplished brings joy to my soul. Today was a good day though, we made up for the date night we went on Monday (shopped around at Ross, ate at Maggiano's and watched The Maze Runner). Tonight we had a few things to do, so we took it easy and hung around the house to get things done, to relax in a different way. Want to know what we did all day?

*worked 9 hours (G+L)

*started cooking  (G)

*went visiting teaching  (L)

*washed dishes  (G)

*finished cooking  (L)

*ran to Publix  (G)

*cleaned the living room  (L)

*ate delicious chicken tacos (G+L)

*cleaned kitchen  (G+L)

*went to the gym  (G+L)

*filed a complain against Sonic  (G+L)

*worked on some homework (L)

    A wonderful night's sleep is all we need to wrap up this evening :)

    (This is a "grilled cheese" we picked up at Sonic. I can't fathom how anyone could feel it okay to serve such nonsense! It is so incredibly annoying. Understand the complaint part now?)

This Weekend I...

    At the last minute on Saturday at 10 am, I decided "what the heck- I should just go home." I downloaded an audiobook, packed a Sunday outfit and left my apartment. 

     Boy, am I glad I did! I managed to spend time with my parents, brothers, 6 Grandparents, all first cousins and nearly all aunts and uncles! I visited my cousin Henry Mizell, my neighbor all my life, in his home who has a pretty bad form of cancer. I made bouquets, bouteneers and played paparazzi for those destined for homecoming. I ate the most tasty fried pickles of all time. I delivered the outfit to Kellan I purchased for him. I snuggled all sorts of babies at church. I went and went and went. 30 hours in total, and they were so worth it. 

    Therapeutic. I love, love, love Douglas, Georgia and all that is there :)

That Time I Threw Up on the Coral Reef

    As we left our little bungalow in Key Largo. 

   Monday morning, Labor Day, was a day I was looking forwards to and dreaded simultaneously. The highlight of the day: snorkeling, a 4 hour trip of it! Considering Graham had only went once in 6th grade and I had never went, I was ready to go full blown Dora the Explorer mode. Unfortunately after snorkeling we had to make the 6 hour drive home, in order to be at work the next day, so it was like a give and take kind of thing.

    We had snacks prepared, a towel and oodles of energy. We stepped on the boat and things were good. It took an hour to get 5 miles from shore, all the while we stood at the front of the boat, eagerly letting the water splash all over our legs and, occasionally, faces. I sung songs from Celine Dion to Graham as we reenacted Titanic. It was glorious.  

    When time came to add on the gear, I was ready. We were given small life jackets, flippers, masks and snorkeling mouthpieces (whatever the heck those are called). When we were given access to leave the boat I was one of the first people off, Graham however was slow poking. As I watched everyone swim past me I couldn't believe there was a hold up, so I pleaded with him and then scolded him, ready to go. Finally we were off to the coral reef! As soon as we were there Graham kept hanging back, so I went off on my own as I scoured the reef for interesting fish and plant-life. Eventually Graham told me that water was seeping into his mask, so he couldn't enjoy a thing. I felt pretty guilty since I had been pretty selfish until then, so I tried to fix the mask, it broke! Woops. So we swam back to the all the way boat for a replacement. The distance wasn't exceptionally far, but enough to wear me out after making the trip. While he jumped aboard I just relaxed in the ocean, since the captain threw me a noodle to rest my feet on. After a minute or so Graham jumped in and we were off again. As we started to swim, I suddenly felt like the way back to the reef was so far away. Out of the blue (pun?), I began to feel incredibly nauseous. Graham, who had missed out of all previous adventures, was ready to make it up by searching now. I waved him on and couldn't fathom why I felt so miserable all of a sudden. He dove and inspected, having a great time. I slowly paddled over and took that stupid mouthpiece away from my face, it was making me more sick than anything. I explained how I felt to Graham, so he decided we should say a prayer. About 4 words into the prayer I couldn't hold back and retched all over. 

    Yup. You aren't legally allowed to touch the coral reef and I just threw up all over it. Yup, of course I did.

    After that I felt pretty horrible, my stomach wouldn't settle and I kept feeling the urge to gag, but we payed $40 bucks and I couldn't just swim back! So onward we looked, despite feeling super nauseated. When the horn blew signaling us to get back to the boat my heart rejoiced. While Graham wanted to slowly trudge back I was on "full steam ahead" mode, ready to get out of the lapping waves.

    Graham snorkeling near the statue of Jesus.

    Finally climbing on the boat was weird, the rocking, usually not an issue for me, must have paved the way for sea sickness because I spent the next bit traveling next to fellow ladies who didn't gain sea legs as we took turns leaning our heads over the boat to gag or whatever else. 

    And pretty much, that's what happened throughout the duration of the trip. I couldn't get the strength to jump off the boat so I stayed aboard for the remaining two expeditions. I really wanted to see the underwater statue of Jesus, but that was where the waves were the most rough and there was no way I was getting off. All in all, I was pretty disappointed (and even now wish I had of at least attempted to go) but I did manage to get sick at every stop, so who knows how miserable I would have been actually in the water. One time I figured maybe not having any food in my belly was the problem, so I bit into a cheezit and immediately threw it back up. It was a sad experience.

    Different people took turns staying on the boat during the excursions after everyone seemed to have little blips of headaches, blisters, sunburn, etc. At the same time, everyone also had a pretty enjoyable experience. The first two hours were awesome for me! Just the remaining ones were horrible. On the boat ride home Graham and I actually put our heads together and slept. The whole day was very exhausting. 

   I really hope I don't have perpetual sea sickness? Is that even a thing? My father said, "oh it's all in your mind!" Wrong, it was real, I definitely feel more compassionate towards people with motion sickness now. (By the way, I never have it and Graham constantly does, ironically he had a great time minus a little spurt of nausea.) So now I'm ready to try snorkeling again. After this hapless adventure... Let's just say I need to redeem myself!

     HA. This is what a long snorkeling excursion sans sunscreen and energy loos like. 

Pre- Labor Day Events

    Labor Day weekend was up for grabs. We discussed Atlanta for a but eventually picked the Florida Keys. It seems as if our street is bustling with active LDS members nowadays, most attend our ward and we see on a regular basis. We Alexander's joined forces l with another set of Alexander's and a set of Secrist's, all fellow neighbors for this voyage.

    Our game plan was fairly clear- Ft Lauderdale temple, Miami Beach, snorkeling in Key Largo. We Alexander's rode together and started the forsaken dang drive Friday afternoon, about 4.5 hours, to get to the first night to pit stop in Ft Lauderdale. Early enough we attended the newly built temple Saturday morning. Due to some strange scheduling we missed the endowment session but were able to fulfill other ordinances. 

    We were finished all were famished, so we decided to snag some food. Jared had a specific craving for a restaurant they tried before named Ally's; let me tell you: you ever get in that area get your bohonkus to that place! The omelettes! The grits! The bagels! All mouth wateringly delicious. Yum. Soon after, we made a beeline for South Beach in Miami. I'll be honest, I've visited it before (last April) and I knew I wasn't the biggest fan. Number one- too many folks, especially high number of speedo and thong wearers. But the water is always flawless, perfectly clear and spot- on temperatures for a blazing day. We met up with said Secrist's, who basically brought all you'll ever need on the beach (tent, water hug, a snack, inner tubes, chairs; a big ole braaavo you guys) and seemed to swim all day. Though, to be fair, I did shy away from being in the water exclusively due to a lack of sunscreen. Plus what if I get hit with a bad case of heat palpitations? No thank you. 

    Fairly late in the day we packed up to go towards hotel #2. It was here that Graham and I rinsed all of the gross sand from our hair, a must if I've been in the beach. We mosied on over to a restaurant called The Lime (I think) in one car, the two tallest fellas in the front, the remaining hombre and two preggo ladies in the back and I sat on the floor (pretty comfortably, surprisingly). This restaurant let me down biiig time- they carried the worse quesadilla ever :( It was served with cheddar cheese- come on now!, really? The queso was quite perfect, however. 

    Sunday Morning we dropped into an interesting Spanish and English combined branch (did anyone else know these existed? Apparently they do!) where they switch every other week to be able to be fair to everyone to attend. If you're not bilingual, 5 out of 6 of us traveling, they have headsets available with a translator to make it a spiritual experience. It turned out that we came on the English week, so only the prayers, every other song and 1 sacrament prayer was offered in Spanish. It was certainly a cool experience! I wish we had one locally so I could learn Spanish fluently. We ended up finding our way into a Sunday School class very reminiscent of one offered by a Travis Jewell, from my teenage years. 

    Then we were destined to make it to Key Largo! Back in about '97 I used to put the Trolls sing-along VHS into the box tv found in room 110 at Amelia By the Sea, where I would chortle "Aruba, Jamaica, Ooh I wanna take you, Bermuda, Bahama! Come on pretty Mama! Key Largo, Montego! Baby why don't we go..." And now, me, going! Woohoo! So, Key Largo was a lot different from what I thought it would be.  There were zero waves, for starters, which gave it more a lake feel as opposed to an ocean. The water was clear but most portions weren't crystal, as I thought they would be like Miami. I think it just had a very different feel from an actual beach, which I had heard but refused to believe. But it was fairly nice, it even upped the ante by housing large iguanas, two of which we witnessed from a distance. 

    After trailing down to Islamorada, (another island down the Keys, see above) for an hour or so, we stopped at a beachfront restaurant. It was more picturesque than the actual place! It was darling, but we totally left it in the dust for DQ/Papa John's. Afterwards we crashed in our cute little bungalow, all the while our neighbor's dog went ballistic! Animals, man, yuck. My story for Labor Day is pretty decent, I'll touch on it later :)