Words of Comfort?

2 months ago Jake and I got to attend the wedding of our friend, and coworker, Claudia. It was seriously the most extravagant event Jake and I have ever been to! There were 2 huge ice sculptures, billowing clouds of dry ice "smoke" during the couple's first dance, the waiters did a choreographed routine with their huge trays, the DJ was a CT celebrity, (and in true Italian family style) the food was AMAZING - five courses!!!

Well earlier this year, Claudia tragically found out that her father passed away. (she got the phone call while we were covering an engine test, her scream still rings in my head) Her dad was living in Italy, trying to sell their property so he could come to CT to live with his wife and Claudia.

So during her wedding, Claudia's mom walked her down the aisle. Well, her mom had to have a splenectomy last month, and while they were there they found she has lymphoma. They did one Chemo treatment, but sadly she passed away last Friday.

The reason I'm telling you all this, is Claudia needs your prayers. She is an only child and has lost both parents unexpectedly in the same year. I'm so glad she has Mike (her husband) but this is a difficult time for their family.

I am going to write her a letter to hopefully give her some words of comfort. I was wondering if any of you had some ideas... What has given you strength when enduring difficult trials?

Just call me "hydrogen"...

... cause I react with everything! (that joke is for you Snort!)

But seriously - I'm am allergic to EVERYthing!

Example: we go to our apartment gym before work everyday - I haven't had any problems. I can run 3 miles without getting wheezy at all (which is a big feat if you remember asthmatic Jen). But today was different.

I don't know what changed - but when I was sprinting at the end of my run I started to get a bad asthma attack - and my eyes were a little itchy. By the time we left the gym, walked through the parking lot and into our apartment things had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. I could barely breathe and my eyes were swollen. I took a Benedrayl and did my neb. While I was sitting on the couch recuperating, I noticed that I had hives all over my body - I went to look in the mirror and saw my eyes were almost swollen shut! At this point my mouth started to tingle - so I swallowed another Benedrayl and jumped in a cold shower (cool down the blood and get whatever was bugging me off my skin).

Needless to say - I'm alive still! But today was rough. I couldn't put on makeup and I looked like an alien for the first few hours of work. Plus, with 2 Benedrayls in the system I was SOOOO sleepy (not the best time to make engineering decisions)! I downed a DP and a Coke then held on til the end of the day. My eyes are still puffy - but I'm hoping a good night's sleep will take care of the rest!

Normal Jenni Allergic Reaction Jenni (the red face and crazy hair could be from my run, but it adds dramatic effect!) Yikes!
I called our gym office and they said nothing had changed (chemically, etc) that they knew of, but that they would have the maintenance staff sterilize it tonight. Maybe some smoker, who owns 1 million cats and only cooks with peanut oil decided to rub themselves all over the treadmill?)

Peeping & Halloween!!!

(pictures at the end of post)

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday and Autumn is my FAVORITE season. So this past month has been pretty exciting for me! We kicked off October by visiting 4 different Halloween costume/party stores - we spent $3 on decorations and our apartment has felt a lot more festive.

During General Conference we carved our pumpkins (and listened attentively)! They sat on our porch and we kinda forgot about them - by the time we threw them away they were quite disgusting!

A big thing in New England is "Leaf Peeping" - it's not dangerous nor is it illegal - it simply means you drive through the state during the optimal fall foliage viewing time to see the pretty colors. Google it - I promise it's a real term! So for our Leafing adventure, we drove up to Vermont. We spent a Saturday going over the rolling hills - it was so gorgeous! I've never seen so many fall colors, so vivid and bright! And so much variety! We stopped at the Yankee Candle Village and had lunch, then drove up to Sharon, Vermont to the Birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith. They have a visitor's center and several older missionaries to tell us about the Prophet. On the way home we stopped at Simon Pearce and watched some glass blowing.

We went to a ward Halloween party - Jake had found these huge rubber hands at the store and wanted to wear them, so he decided to be Gollum and I went as Frodo (both characters from The Lord of the Rings - which I just finished reading all 3 of the books). Jake scared all the little kids with his floppy ears and huge hands!

Then we spent about 2 weeks with a terrible cold - we were both home from work for a week! But we're better now! :) We did manage to get out and go apple picking in an orchard with some friends - much better tasting then apples from the store!

When Oct 31st finally rolled around, we didn't do a dang thing. We had ZERO trick-or-treaters! So sad! (I can't wait to have a house!)

Oh ya - I also got called to be the Primary Chorister!