Cabin Again.....with a twist!

Last Thursday we (Dave, Joann, Stacie, Phill, Kim, Jeff, Isaac, Cameron) went to the Day's of '47 Rodeo. We went and ate at Chili's right before, then headed over. It was really fun, though there could have been a little more rodeo and less "fiesta night."


The Days of '47 Rodeo


Steve and I at the Rodeo

The next day, we went up to the cabin w/ Dave, Joann, Phill, Stacie, London, and Rob. Like all weekends, it was too short, but I think we all had a great time anyway. We picked up Rob Friday after I got off from work and headed up. We got up there and just hung out and then went to bed.

On Saturday, Steve, Rob and Dave went out fishing in the morning while the rest of us pretty much slept in. When I woke up I worked on homework until the guys came in for lunch. We hung out for a couple hours, then after dinner (Dave's yummy ribs), we decided to go to Currant Creek.


Dave made his famous ribs again. The guys just LOVE them, yummmm!!!

It's not that far away, but due to the dirt road, it takes a little bit longer. We drove our car, and everyone else was in the Tahoe. We were just about there when Dave stopped the Tahoe so Stacie could fill up some formula. As they were doing that, they heard a funny noise. Come to find out the back right tire was flat, really flat!



The Tahoe w/ a flat

We then went through great lengths to get it changed. Though Dave had some tools in his car to change the tire, it seemed like we didn't have the right tools. The rims on the Tahoe were different from the original ones, so the tools couldn't quite grasp the nuts. We went around the campsite trying to see if anyone had tools we could use, but no one had exactly what we needed. When we got back Rob had figured out how to use the tools to get it off.



Steve getting the jack in place


Working on the tire


The lake/reservoir we didn't quite get to


Analyzing the situation


Joann and Stacie taking a break from the flat tire situation


Done changing the tire and getting some snacks in the boat


Pretty moon

After we got done changing the tire it was dark enough that we decided we'd better just get back. Once we made it back we were all pretty tired. I made some popcorn (kettle corn and butter) and tried to watch a movie, but we all went to bed in time.

The next morning, Dave, Joann, and Stacie, Phill and London all went back down since Stacie and Dave had to teach lessons. Rob, Steve and I went to the Fruitland branch for church, which was good. We then had lunch, slept, and then went down to the Strawberry River just below the Dam. It was beautiful back there. Steve wants to fly fish next time we go to the cabin.


Strawberry River








So beautiful!




The Reservoir



Some other updates. Steve finished most of his finals this past week. He had both Radiology finals, gave his humanities presentation on WWII, and another math test. Tomorrow he'll turn in his final project for Math and the last couple assignments. These classes, especially Radiology, were pretty tough, so we're hoping he gets good grades. On Friday he an interview w/ First Med for an intern and they HIRED HIM!!!! He'll start this week!!! He has about 3 weeks til his Fall classes start, so we're hoping he'll be able to get a good chunk of his 200 hours done. Once he gets done w/ those, he can decided to either stay on w/ them or look elsewhere for work. We're soooo glad that he finally can get these hours done with.

I also had an interview a couple weeks ago for a new position and got it. I'll start training on the 23rd for 3 weeks. As of now there won't be a pay increase, but our bonuses will be better, so that's good. I'm ready for a change, and hopefully this will be just what I need.

Friday we went over to say happy birthday to Chandler (he's 9 now), then went on a date to the movies. We went and watched "Inception," which we both really liked. Apparently Dave and Joann weren't too fond of it, but I'd still recommend it to anyone. It was fun to get out and be w/ just Steve. We realized that the last time we went to a movie w/ just the 2 of us was back when we first started dating. Needless to say it was time! :)

Saturday we slept in, then went and did laps at our pool. It was fun to swim around and play in the pool, just the 2 of us. We then decided to go to Home Depot and pick up some flowers finally. We've been wanting to for a while, but hadn't gotten around to it. We decided to get perennials so hopefully we won't have to keep planting. We got a Lavender Bush (Steve LOVES its smell) and Black Eyed Susans for one pot and a Dianthus and Ice Plant for another. When we got home, I planted them while Steve got the screw put in to hang the one pot.


Dianthus and Ice Plant (both supposed to be good w/ hot temps and no water)


Lavender and Black Eyed Susans

Well, it's August now...finally! The Summer is going by rather quickly; we'll have to get up to the cabin a couple more times before it gets too cold. Hope all is well for you all. Keep us posted :)

Family Reunion!!!

This past weekend we went up to Idaho for our Family Reunion. We left Thursday the 15th around 11 (my nose/head was hurting so I slept in a little and was moving a little slow). There was a couple places of construction so that took a little longer as well, but we got there by 4 p.m. When we got up there, everyone was just getting back from the Lake, so it was pretty good timing. Pauline/Chris got up there the night before, and Barbara's family came down, along w/ Daron's. We then visited, had dinner (Rose came by then also), set up the volleyball net, and the guys went shooting and bunny blasting.


Just having fun! (Dakota, Summer, Mikey, Riley, Colby, Charlotte, and Ava)


Pauline and Charlotte riding the horse

In order to fit all of us and our "families" at the house, we were all over the place. Pauline's family slept out in the camper, Barb's family in a tent in the backyard, Steve and I were out in a tent by them, Rose and Anna's families were inside, and Dexter's family went over to stay at Daron's place. It worked out well though and we all had some "space" and a place to sleep.


The tents we slept in, and the camper in the background


Dexter, Steve, and Wade playing horseshoes


Haley leading Mikey and Riley on the horses (Dakota helping too)


On Friday we went to the Lake after breakfast. We swam at Black Sands while dad took people on the boat for rides and to go tubing. We all had a great time, though it was REALLY hot!!! It got up to 104 degrees! We had lunch there at Black Sands, then headed back (the heat drained us). We then had a scavenger hunt for the kids around the house. I helped Barbara and Pauline put it together and get it set up; it was a lot of fun! The guys went clay pigeon shooting, I went w/ them (and Michelle and Kristi). I shot Steve's 4-10 gun and got one actually, then just watched. We also played games (Scum, Apples to Apples, Phase 10, etc


Steve helping to put the boat in


Steve, Summer and Haley swimming


The boat running again


Pauline and Char enjoying the sun


Steve, Jared and Chris after a swim race


The kids working on the scavenger hunt


Clay Pigeon shooting, Steve and Daron


Saturday morning we went over to Grandma's. While the guys (cousins too) were helping to cut and stack firewood, I went and mowed the lawn for her. She has a cute little John Deer riding lawn mower that I got to use. It was really fun once I got the hang of it, and I surprisingly do love mowing lawns!


The cool lawn mower I got to use


After the "service" we cleaned up and went over to the church for lunch. It was Grandma's 80th Birthday so a lot of the cousins/aunts/uncles came to celebrate. We each made a scrapbook page or two to put into a book we were compiling of our memories of her; she seemed to really enjoy the book too. We had lunch, played games, some went swimming (Steve and I worked on homework), then we came back for dinner. We had a hot dog roast out at the pavilion by the church. It was a great idea and it was fun, just a little too HOT to be by the fire. After that we went home and played games, watched a movie, and the guys went fishing for about an hour. They had a great time and caught quite a lot of fish too!


All of us (just our side of the family not any cousins) and Grandma at her 80th Birthday Party


We were the only ones w/out kids, so Daron stepped in to help :)


S'mores!!!


Steve, Kristi and Chris roasting their hot dogs



Ya it was HOT!!!


The fish the guys caught


Besides the reunion update, we also got new tires for my Corolla. With the new tires we all got free oil changes for a year (4 times basically)! We also went to the Doctor to follow up on my surgery. He said things are looking good but to still take it easy in some aspects, including not taking Ibuprofen for another week or so. We'll go see him the first week of August too just to check up on it again. We also went and had dinner w/ Steve and Abby Bonney last week. They're expecting their first kid, due in January.

Work is going good. I'm applying for a new position; should find out w/in a week or so if I got it. My class is going pretty well, we'll start week 4 next week, so midterms. We also went and did initiatories on Tuesday, then hurried back and did homework the rest of the night. Steve is just about done w/ his Summer Semester. He has one final next week then the others the first week of August. He'll have a 2 week break, then will start the Fall Semester. I think he's getting pretty excited about getting done!

Good Times.....

Well I started my new class on Wednesday, Managerial Finance. It's going to be another hard class, but the teacher seems like he'll be really good. Steve is working hard at his classes as well. He should be finishing up his summer classes in August. Still no word on his intern.

Thursday after work, I was determined to get our 2nd bedroom back. For the last couple months its been full of Steve's boxes/stuff that we took out of his parents house to help them "declutter." Since we don't have much storage space, I wasn't sure what to do. I just received my gift-card from our last campaign, so we went and bought shelves at Home Depot. We got busy w/ homework, so we didn't put them up, so the next day I was thinking...... I'd rather have that $80 for something else. So I told Steve to wait til I got home before he put them up. For the next 2 hours, I then reorganized what we had in the closet, consolidated boxes, and rearranged our stuff and was able to fit all of his stuff plus what we had before!!! We even had more room than before surprisingly! Steve went to help take down all the sandbags, so when he got home, I had it all put away and cleaned up! The room was finally a room again! I was REALLY excited, if you couldn't tell ;)


Yeah more room in the closet now, and the bedroom is a bedroom again! Steve's stuff is mainly what are in the green boxes on the sides.

Friday we invited 2 couples over to make pizza and play games. When I got home from work, I made the pizza dough, and Steve helped me cook the bacon and sausage. A couple that lives on the 3rd floor above us is moving at the end of the month, so we wanted to do something before they left. I put the pizza stones in so they'd be ready, and started cooking the dough (10 minutes w/out toppings) before they all got there. Then when they showed up we added the toppings and cooked for another 15 minutes. We ended up making 2 pepperoni, sausage, bacon, red peppers and 1 BBQ one. Steve actually BBQ'd the chicken to cook it and give an extra BBQ flavor. This was our first time making a BBQ one; it actually tasted REALLY good. I forgot to take a pic though, since it got eaten pretty quickly :)

It looked something like this but better :)

Saturday, we went over and cleaned the church, then Steve went to help clean up at his Grandmas' and I stayed to clean our place and do laundry. I also went to Smith's to get some groceries. When Steve got back we went to the temple and did family names for initiatories. We then hurried back, changed, put our fruit bowl together, and went over to LuDean's for dinner. She had a get together for her birthday and instead of doing it in December when its cold, we had a Luau when its warm. There was a pretty good turnout and the weather was beautiful! We stayed after to help clean up.

On Sunday Steve had his early morning meeting at 7:30, then church started at 9 a.m. We were both pretty tired after church, so we had a nice LONG nap afterwards. We then went back over to LuDean's to help eat some of the leftovers. Stacie/Phill/London, and Dave/Joann came over to help too. It was nice to just visit. We then went home and went over to our neighbors to play games w/ some other couples from the branch. We played scum; it was a lot of fun!!!

Hope all is well. We're excited to go up to Idaho this weekend!!!!

4th of July Weekend Events.......

So Wednesday, June 30th I went in for surgery. Steve drove me to the Surgical Center downtown next to the LDS Hospital where we checked in a little before 9 am. After filling out some health background, they took us back where I dressed down and got ready. A nurse checked my vitals, and realizing after taking my blood that I didn't do too well, called the anesthesiologist to let him know that I was a "sensitive" one. The anesthesiologist was awesome! Though I was really nervous about the whole thing, especially the needles part, he was really patient w/ me and gave me an option. So....instead of getting the IV first, he let me inhale the gas to knock me out first, then once I was out, he did what was needed. He said they usually just do this for kids, but I was very thankful he made an exception for me.

When I came to, I could hear Steve's voice, which made me cry. My throat was really sore and the back of my head, not to mention my nose. It took me a while to actually open my eyes. In the mean time to try and wake me, the nurse had Steve feed me a Popsicle. Apparently the drugs worked really well on me. The anesthesiologist told Steve he didn't use all the drugs to knock me out, and it took me twice as long to wake up as everyone else (most were out in 45 minutes whereas it took me 1 1/2). Once I was awake, they put me in a wheel chair and took me out to the car, then once I was home, Steve put me straight to bed.


Just out from surgery; I didn't feel very good let me tell you... ;)


I was pretty sore and groggy the first couple days, again the meds seem to work really well on me. I enjoyed the visits and calls, thanks everyone. Dave and Joann stopped by and Stacie/London stayed w/ me while Steve went to school. It was really fun to visit w/ them and keep my mind off the pain. When others weren't around, I slept a lot, and just kinda vegged; I didn't really feel like doing much else, not even reading.


Flowers sent from my parents



Flowers from Steve's parents

Saturday, we went over to LuDean's (Steve's Grandma) for Dave's yummy BBQ ribs. After dinner we had some fireworks "for the kids" and the neighbors came over to watch too. It was really fun to watch; the boys loved it especially (it seems like all boys love anything w/ fire).


Steve showing off his firework skills



Me trying to stay warm during fireworks, still not feeling 100%



Steve trying to help his dad; He's doing a good job eh?

On Sunday we decided not to go to church so I could sleep more. I actually slept until 2 in the afternoon (I guess I was really tired). Then to get out of the house, we drove up to Silver Lake and walked around it. It was a cooler day to begin with (only 80's) so up there it was only in the 60's; luckily Steve brought me a jacket. :)


A squirrel at Silver Lake



Beautiful Silver Lake on a Sunday afternoon


Monday, Steve went fishing w/ his dad, Rob, Zack, and Rich Bennett(grew up w/ Dave but ironically we home teach him). While he was gone, I cleaned up and went to Ross and got a mirror and 2 sconces. I decided it was finally time to get them and put them up. We've been trying to decide what to put above the fireplace...a picture, mirror, or some design thing. I made a chicken rice casserole for Steve, then he helped me put the mirror and sconces up. We also got more shelves for our closet to store Steve's stuff on. That night I made spaghetti and we rented a Redbox.


Our new mirror and sconces above the cute fireplace Steve and Rob built



Tad ah!!!

Well, I start my new class on Wednesday, Managerial Finance. It's supposed to be even harder than my last ones in Accounting.... yikes. Steve is still working hard through his classes. We still haven't heard back from the last interview for his intern and are waiting for others to call for an interview.

Summer Time Finally!!!

It's been a while, so I'd better get an update. First of all.... I'm soooo glad it's finally Summer Time, and the weather is acting accordingly!

Steve has been busy w/ school. He still hasn't got an intern, but we he does have an interview tomorrow. The interview will be w/ a clinic downtown SLC, a homeless clinic. It's run by the state though, so they have descent hours actually (only til 7 pm latest, and no Sundays). We'll see how that goes. Hopefully they'll work w/ his school hours, hire him, and will be able to start in July. He needs to do his 200 hours (no pay) then we'll see from there where to go.

On Thursday, the 17th, I took my Managerial Accounting final. It was a timed test, which lasted 3 1/2 hours. It was, as you can see, REALLY long! I took the whole time, but wanted to pace myself, especially since most of the questions were essays/math problems. It took a couple days to get it graded, but I got an 88% on the comprehensive final and an A for the class. Yeah!!! ;) It feels really good to get that over with, and now I have a break until July 7th.

Last weekend up went up to the cabin. After work on Friday we packed up our stuff to go up. Before we went up though, we went over to IHOP (because I had a free meal coupon). We then picked up a couple things at the store that Dave and Stacie needed, then drove up to the cabin. Dave, Joann, Stacie, Phill, London, and 2 girls from Ireland were already up there (Alyssa and Robyn). We played the game we picked up, Phase 10 Twist. It's a fun game and a little more exciting than the regular game.

The next morning, Steve and Dave went out fishing while we made breakfast (probably an hour or so later). A couple hours later we met them to go for a boat ride. It was a beautiful day on the lake! Then after lunch they went for an ATV ride, so I went w/ Dave and Steve back out on the boat. I drove them around, trolling, while they fished. We were actually catching some too!!! It was really fun and again, the weather was amazing! We brought home 2 fish, not for us to eat of course. :) For dinner Dave made is amazing ribs, yummm!! That night we watched "Blind Side" and I made popcorn, both kettle corn and regular from the WhirleyPop.


Dave driving the boat and showing off his "comb over"


The 2 girls from Ireland, Alyssa and Robin and Stacie and Phill


Phill catching Dave's hat that flew off


Cute little London playing w/ her toys


Steve w/ a fish, finally!


Dave holding Steve by his pants while he gets the line out of the motor


Steve practicing shooting


On Sunday, we went to the Fruitland branch for church. It was a really good service on Fathers, for Father's Day. We then went back, had some lunch, played some games, then took a nap. I actually wasn't feeling too well, and slept for several hours. Steve and I left shortly after I woke up.

The next day I felt even worse. I went to work feeling dizzy and just yucky. I stuck it out until lunch, then went home. As soon as I got home, I got a little bit to eat, then went straight to bed. Needless to say I was tired; I didn't wake up until 5:30pm. Since I'm having my surgery next Wednesday, I'm not supposed to take Ibuprofen (since it's a blood thinner), but I could take Tylenol. This helped some, but most of the day I was just miserable.

I stayed home Tuesday all day as well. I took some other meds, Musinex D and Sudafed which helped a lot. Ironically, my mom called as was on her way home (had been visiting her parents in American Fork) and was able to stop by and see us, though Steve left a little while later to go to school. Since it was lunch time, I decided to make some Cajun Chicken for my mom. After lunch, my mom had to get on the road again.

Wednesday I went back to work, and did pretty good, other than I had a cough. After work we to Smiths for their great coupon sale. We got $90 worth of groceries for $48 bucks! I love coupons and sales! That night I didn't sleep much due to my cough so I was pretty tired the next day.

Thursday after work, we got w/ the other branch missionaries at Anzack Park (Otto and Emily Shill and Anna and Brad McMurtie). We decided to get together for everyone to meet, get to know each other, and come up w/ ideas on how to increase our effort in missionary work. We borrowed Jeff's little grill and grilled some hot dogs. We also had Doritos, grapes, Capri-sun and brownies. After going over some missionary ideas, we then went and played sand volleyball. It was a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful! I love summer nights!

On Friday, Steve went up to the cabin w/ his parents, Rob and Zack. So, I Eve and I decided to get together. She met me up at our place, then we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. We then went out to West Jordan and watched the play, "7 Brides for 7 Brothers." It was a really good! We then came back and talked for a while. We haven't hung out for a while (just the 2 of us), so it was really nice to just talk and catch up.

On Saturday, I cleaned the house, went grocery shopping a little, and then went and did initiatories. I did 6 family names that my mom sent me, that my Uncle Stephen submitted. We were going to go to our branch BBQ, but Steve didn't get home until 6 pm, so we went for a walk instead. We then went to Red Robin for dinner, and had a $5 cheeseburger---yumm! We then went shopping a little, rented a movie, then came home and watched it.

Today we went to church, then came home and had a good long nap together. Then we went over to Jeff/Kim's for Jeff's B-day party. Everyone had a good time, and the weather was beautiful, though hot for a while til the shade came.

On Wednesday I'll have my surgery. It should be fine and the recover should be quick. I'll take the rest of the week off though just in case. Steve will be around when he's not at class, so we should be good. Hope all is well for you all! Love ya ;)