I've been a whiner lately because my big pregnant belly has been making me constantly hot, sweaty, and tired, and now during the past few days my feet and ankles have swelled up to be absolutely HUGE. Sometimes it's hard to remember how awesome it is that I'm actually pregnant, and how grateful I should be for God allowing us to bring this healthy child into our lives.

It's made me think today about how our greatest trials in life often turn out to be the greatest blessings. I have a ton of examples of this in my life, and I thought I'd share the most awesome one on my blog today.

Before I met Jason, I had a boyfriend at BYU who I steady dated through my freshman year. For awhile we both lived in on-campus housing, and then he moved to be in an off-campus apartment complex called Campus Plaza to save some money on rent. I wanted to stay with the great friends I had developed in Heritage Halls, but love won out after a few months, and I ended up moving to Campus Plaza to live closer to my beloved boyfriend. At the time I believed the relationship was quite serious for the both of us and thought for sure that he would propose to me soon. So it was quite a great shock to me when, two weeks after the big move, he told me our relationship just "didn't feel like the right thing anymore" and he dumped me. Ouch!

During that two weeks I had already developed such a great bond with my new roommates and ward that I didn't want to leave Campus Plaza. (I think I also hoped that my ex would realize his mistake and get back together with me.) The next three months were extremely difficult and depressing for me living so close to the man I had thought I would marry. Finally my ex moved away and I was able to start moving on with my life (though I think it took six months more, and a summer in Delaware, before I finally was able to completely get over it). It was possibly the most difficult time of my life!

A year after I moved into Campus Plaza, Jason showed up. What an awesome guy! After 5 years of marriage I can't imagine my life with anyone else; my life since that time has just been filled with happiness! And to think that, had I not moved to Campus Plaza, I probably would have never met him. This is definitely a great blessing that came from a most difficult trial.

But that is not the only awesome thing that came from my move to Campus Plaza! Before meeting Jason, for a while Jordan and Chris and I were all attending BYU together, and so I thought it would be fun to arrange a date night where we all went out together. The deal was that I would set them up with girls, and they would find a guy for me (which they NEVER DID, those punks; I had to find my own date). I set them up with some very find gals, one of whom was destined to be my sister-in-law. Yes, apparently Dawn and Chris hit it off so well on that date that they ended up going on many more dates and eventually getting married. So, had I not moved to Campus Plaza, I doubt Dawn and Chris would have gotten together.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! When I moved out of Campus Plaza and married Jason, I left behind a homemade hammock which I had tied to the railings outside of our apartment (I think it was tied too tightly to get the knots out). Fast forward two years. My brother Jordan gets home from his mission, and I convinced my mom and brother the Campus Plaza was *the* place he should move to after his mission, specifically the third floor. About the same time, my future sister-in-law, Cali, also moves to the third floor of Campus Plaza. What does this have to do with my hammock, you ask? Well, when Cali decided to move to Campus Plaza, she didn't know which apartment to move into. She decided on the apartment with the hammock (thinking that meant that her future roommates must be pretty fun people to have something so awesome in front of their apartment). As a result, Jordan and Cali end up in the same ward, they start dating, and the rest is history! So, had I not moved to Campus Plaza, Jordan would probably not have moved to that complex after his mission, and Cali may not have picked the apartment with the hammock!

To think, the my marriage and the marriages of two of my brothers were ALL the result of a move to Campus Plaza to be with a guy who would break up with me two weeks later, making my life miserable for the next year! Crazy story, huh? And what a wonderfully happy ending.