Soooooo Cold!!!!

Man it's been cold this week!!! I think it finally got above freezing today! The holidays are officially over and it's back to our routines I guess. The holidays were fun to relax and enjoy time w/ family, but I we have to get back to the swing of things sooner or later. It's been a little rough, but we're hanging in there.

I started school again last Thursday. I'm taking a Stats class, which is my last core class then I just have 4 electives and my capstone class. The last time I took stats was in 2003, so it's been a while, but I enjoy it. The teacher is good and our class is fun so it should be a good class. 2 weeks down 6 more to go!

Steve also started classes this week. He's taking College Biology, College Biology Lab, College Biology Workshop, Chemistry, Chemistry Lab and Spanish. He's really been feeling like he needs to learn Spanish for sometime, so we finally worked it into his schedule. We both feel it can really help him in the medical field, and it never hurts to learn another language. He's still working on Monday and Friday nights (which kinda sucks its true), but he's getting the experience he needs. We're still trying to find something else, hopefully that will pay for his RN degree. He had an interview w/ IHC last week and he was in the top 3 candidates, but I guess it came down to the amount of experience and he was ruled out. We'll keep applying and hope someone will hire him....and pay for his school, :)

I've been pretty busy at work. They're "strongly encouraging" us put in 6 hours of overtime a week. I've been getting it so far, though it hasn't been easy. We usually have weekly visits to sisters in the branch, plus school, so it really narrows down the time I can put in over time. The Lord has truly blessed me at work though and the time I do have I've been able to do well.

I feel like things are finally starting to get organized, in terms of Relief Society. We're getting our visiting teaching figured out and making sure all sisters have callings and know what they're supposed to be doing. We're planning a RS Training in 2 weeks so hopefully that'll help too. Last week we had 3 new sisters move in so we visited them this week. They seem like they'll be a great blessing to our branch. It's always exciting having new members move in. In a way it seems like our little branch is growing! My first counselor was sick this week, but luckily I had Steve to go w/ me on the visits. Steve also went with me and my 2nd counselor on Sunday to visit a couple people who were in the hospital. One sister actually got hit by a truck while crossing the road so she's in rehab now. The other is an older gentleman who had his hip replaced and is recovering from that. We visited each of them for a while then said a prayer for them and left. I had our compassionate service leader check on them during the week and sounds like they might be released soon.

Another older gentleman (Larry Jones) who moved into our branch for just a couple weeks passed away. He came down here w/ his wife (from Idaho) to get a liver transplant. He got the transplant about a week after moving down (just temporarily of course), then was having kidney failure while recovering. Apparently they couldn't get things under control and he passed away. When I saw him that Sunday at church, right before the transplant, I couldn't help but think of my Grandpa Hegerhorst. He had that look (an orange color) to his skin and silvery hair, tall, and thin. That afternoon after church, I took a nap and had a dream that my Grandpa came to me. It was so real; it's hard to describe. I woke up crying from my nap it was so real. After hearing Brother Jones passed away from complications my eyes filled up with tears again thinking about the loss of this man. I know he is not my Grandpa and it'll be 5 yrs since he passed this summer, but I can't help but think of my Grandpa frequently. I loved my Grandpa so0oo much and miss him more than I can explain. I know my Grandpa and Brother Jones are happy though and we must be too. This is but a short time here on earth. I'm so thankful for the Plan of Salvation which will enable us to be with our loved ones once more. I don't know what I'd do without this knowledge and peace.

Somewhere in between our other obligations we've also made time to be with friends also. Last week we doubled w/ Steve's friend Zack and his girlfriend Ali. We went to Red Robin (yumm) for dinner, then came back and watched "Did you hear about the Morgans?" It was fun to hang out w/ Zack and get to know Ali. This week we went over to our neighbors and had dinner w/ them. They made BBQ sandwiches and then I made a coconut cake for dessert. We then played "Ticket to Ride" which was REALLY fun! It's kinda like "Settlers of Catan" which we both like. It was a little easier than Settlers in that you don't trade w/ other players so in a way there is less strategy. It was way fun though; we might have to get it someday.

Well I hope all is well for everyone. This year is already zooming by so don't let any day pass you bye without making it count.

Love ya lots,
Steve and Penny ;)

Happy New Year, 2011!!!!!

This week just flew by, but I was excited for the weekend so no complaints from me. On Tuesday Steve and I went out to try and find some people in the branch that we didn't know if they lived there or not. We found one young lady and her five year old son and talked to them for a while. She said she lived there over a year now. It makes me wonder how many people live in these apartment complexes and don't come to church for one reason or another. I hope we can continue to find more.

On Thursday, Steve picked me up from work and we went up to Centerville to watch London while Stacie and Phil ran some errands. They put her down right after we got there, so it was pretty easy. She went right to sleep, so Steve played on the xbox while I cup some coupons. We talked to Stacie and Phil for a little bit, then headed out. On the way home, we stopped at Smiths to use the coupons I just cut. I saved 71 percent, yeah!!

Friday after work we went over to some friends in the branch for a New Year's Eve Party. I hurried and made pizza dough when I got home, then headed over. I baked the pizza dough on the pizza stones for 10 minutes, then put the toppings, then baked for another 10-15 minutes. We made 5 total, 2 meat (pepperoni, sausage, bacon), 1 canadian bacon/pineapple, 1 BBQ chicken, and 1 pesto chicken. They pretty much all got eaten too, must have been good! We then played games, watched a couple episodes of the Office, then watched the countdown and toasted w/ sparkling cider! It was fun!

On Saturday we slept in, then Steve had to work from noon to ten pm (but ended up not getting home until midnight). While he was gone I cleaned, did laundry, and got ready for our anniversary dinner the next day. I also met w/ Laura our VT Coordinator and went over our visiting teaching and made some changes. It's kind of a mess, so hopefully now it'll be a bit more organized.

On Sunday, it was our 2nd Anniversary! Our church didn't start until 11 a.m. so we got to sleep in, which was great!. I met Laura again at 10 a.m. to put our new assignments in the computer then printed them out to pass out to everyone. After church I met my counselors/secretary, then went home to finish our dinner. I put the ribs in the crockpot the night before and made the cake too.

I made Steve one of his favorites, meat and potatoes! (Baby back ribs, potatoes and gravy, peas and rolls)

Then for dessert, chocolate cake w/ coconut shavings!
Our 2nd anniversary!!! We watched Ice Age and played Sudoku, so fun!




Monday I took the day off so we got to sleep in again, yeah! Since it was a day we both had off, we went to the dentist then ran some errands. We went to Home Depot and picked up 2 items we felt we should have, a fire extinguisher and a carbon monoxide/smoke detector. We also rented Shrek 3; it was cute!

Installed fire extinguisher

And a duel smoke detector and CO detector (Steve w/ his new shirt from Christmas too)


Here's to another great year! Happy New Year!!!! :)