Just Wanted To Share These

How funny is this picture?! It cracks me up.

And here is an oldie from my wedding. I've never seen this picture until tonight. So I stole it from Karen :0)

So.Tired.

I didn't go to work today because I think I might have caught a touch of the bug that David had. Nothing bad, I just didn't want to get out on some country road in the middle of nowhere and get worse.

The day before yesterday I got lost coming back from flagging traffic on my way to the shop. I had to call David to get me back. It was horrible! I was freaking out because I had no idea where I was and I was in a county truck!! But David was able to figure out where I was and get me back. He said we need to go out driving to get my bearing straight. All these country roads look the same to me and so do the mountains.

I can't hardly keep my eyes open today and I can't find my contacts anywhere. This is day 2 without them and I'm not a fan of wearing my glasses.

Here is a picture of the kitchen at the house in town. The tile is done and the cabinets are in. The tile looks really good with the glaze that's on the walls.

Well, I'm waiting on my David to get here. He is working today with the road and bridge dept. I wonder if he's doing my job today...

One More Day

I have one more day of working with the county flagging traffic. It's been nice to get out of the house. I do know that I really love air conditioning after being out in the heat these last few days! I'm glad it's not Oklahoma heat too, the humidity would kill me.

David got a set of wheels to customize for some guy that drives a volkswagon. This will be David's second set to do for a Volkswagon person.

I am so tired and hot. Now I must go take a shower so I'll smell like a girl again :0)

Flagging Traffic

That's what I did today--flagged traffic. I basically sat in a truck until someone drove by then I stopped them, told them what to do and let them through. Then I got on a CB radio and let the guys know that a car was coming. It was HOT but it felt good to earn some money.

David's still feeling crappy so that sucks.

Darn

I'm going to work by myself today :0(

David's got the stomach bug so he's staying home. Darn.

Directing Traffic

I will be going to work with David for the next 3 days. I guess they're re-surfacing some roads and the road guys are short on traffic directors. So for the next 3 days I will be directing traffic for Franklin County! It's only 3 days but it's extra money! I even get to wear a flourescent vest!

Bear Lake

Today we went to St Charles Canyon where Vicki and her family were staying the last few days. When we got there we found out that just about the entire family had got a stomach bug while there and that Austin bought a little sail boat.

We went to Bear Lake to take out the new sail boat. Later in the afternoon a wind storm came through so David and Austin jumped on the boat and went to see how it sailed in strong winds. Everyone packed up and left while the guys were out on the boat but I stayed. I was sitting in the truck and realized I couldn't see the guys. I kept looking and looking and I finally noticed these 2 boats that stayed the same distance from each other like one was towing the other. Well, I got out my video camera to zoom in and see if it was the guys and it was. A cable that holds the mast up broke so they were stranded. The boat has no motor either...or paddles. Thankfully a boat towed them in.

I have some video from today but I'll post it tomorrow. Here's the pictures though. This first picture is from a spring in the canyon.

The pic above is a picture of the sand on the beach. See the ripples in it from the waves?

Beauty

Orange Julius

My grandma and mom used to make orange julius. I loved it when I was younger and I love it now. I made some today. I poured a glass for David and a glass for me. David though, was asleep when I made it so he didn't drink his. So I drank mine, then drank his. He got up, went upstairs and said "where's my orange julius?" I replied, "I have it, I'm drinking it!" So he came down and took one drink and gave it back to me and I drank the rest. Now, hours later, I'm drinking the rest of the batch. This might explain the expanding waistline. But it's oh. so. good.

Pioneer Day

Today, July 24, is Pioneer Day. It's a state recognized holiday in Utah, not in Idaho though it is still celebrated. Here's what wikipedia says about it:

Pioneer Day (also archaically called the Day of Deliverance[1]) is an official Utah state holiday celebrated on July 24 in the U.S. state of Utah, with some celebrations in regions of surrounding states originally settled by Mormon pioneers. It commemorates the entry of Brigham Young and the first group of Mormon Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, where the Latter-day Saints settled after being forced from Nauvoo, Illinois and other locations in the eastern United States. Parades, fireworks, rodeos, and other festivities help commemorate the event.

In addition to being an official holiday in Utah, Pioneer Day is considered a special occasion by many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On Pioneer Day, some Latter-day Saints walk portions of the Mormon Trail or reenact entering the Salt Lake Valley by handcart. Even Latter-day Saints outside of the U.S. occasionally sing Mormon folk music around July 24 in remembrance of the pioneer era.

Utahns also celebrate the day by remembering other pioneers, such as Bishop Daniel Tuttle, who was responsible for Utah's first non-Mormon schools (Rowland Hall-St. Mark's) and first public hospital (St. Mark's) in the 1800s.[2] The Intertribal Powwow at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City honors the rich cultural heritage and contributions of the area's American Indians, helping Utahns to gain a deeper understanding of the region's history. [3]

Salt Lake City also celebrates with fireworks and the "Days of '47 Parade". Spanish Fork celebrates with "Fiesta Days".

Farmer's Market

How is it that I move to a rural, farming community and there is no farmer's market? It's maddening I tell you!

All To Myself

Hmm...what to do this weekend? I've got David all to myself...except when he's working at the Pizza Stop...and on JR's bike...and tinkering around with a Trail 90. So what should we do for his 2 free hours? Just kidding. He did mention working on JR's bike but not working on any Trail 90's. Anybody want one? I've got 3 for sale!!!!

Next weekend is the Famous Preston Rodeo. Vicki and Austin's little boy is going to do some mutton bustin'! He's going to ride a sheep until he falls off. I bet it's going to be cute.

David and I have got some other plans but I won't mention them yet as the universe might align soon and someone besides my dad and sweet Karen might read my blog and learn our secret! It will be uncovered in the next few weeks. If you would really like to know, just ask me somewhere else (like email, myspace or facebook).

The basement has become home to earwigs which has caused me alot of distress at night. So today I went and got some insecticide to sprinkle around so I hope they GO AWAY! I told David pretty soon he's going to find me huddled in the corner picking chunks out of my skin going crazy. I feel like these things are crawling all over me! I HATE BUGS!!! I can't go to sleep because I feel like they're on me and then I freak out that if I fall asleep they will crawl on me. Isn't that lovely?

That's all but I leave you with this:

The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. - Leo Rosten, American teacher and humorist

Pocatello Pool

Today I went to Pocatello to go swimming with Vicki and some of her friends. It was the perfect day to swim. The weather wasn't too hot and the water wasn't too cold. I got burned pretty good on the right side of me.

Wednesday Vicki and Austin are going on a family camping trip with Vicki's family for 5 days so David and I will be on our own. I've been trying to think of cheap things we can do. I would really like to go for a little road trip into northern Idaho but I'm not sure we can do that. We'll see.

David applied for a job with a company here that makes plastic bags...like ziploc. Vicki has 2 brothers that work there and she asked one if he'd be a reference for David. The place has crazy hours so if he has to work weird hours that would suck. I think it's like 4 days, a couple off and then a couple nights. If that makes sense. That's all I know so I'm out.

A Few Of The Things I Miss

It's 11:45 pm and I'm bored. I was thinking of the things I miss. Oh how I miss Target! So sad.

I'm also hungry so I was thinking about food. MMM Taco Bueno. This one looks like the one on 2nd and Boulevard! I could go for some mucho nachos right now or the mexi dip and chips...
And Panera....sweet, sweet Panera. I have wanted a turkey bravo sandwich so bad! I've already sent them an email requesting they build one in Logan :0)
And when it's cold outside I'm definitely going to miss Chai Tea Latte's. Panera's are so flavorful and delicious!I have entirely too much time on my hands. I need to be more constructive. Oh! I could really go for an asiago bagel with cream cheese right now. Oh man I'm hungry!

I really enjoy artisan bread. Chewy, yummy bread. I should hit up the Einstein Bro's bagel shop and start buying delish bread at the Old Grist Mill--their pumpkin bread with chocolate chips is soo good. I should buy some. Now I've gotta find something to eat. See ya!

Experiences

It's hard to tell in these pictures but the dandelions in Idaho are huge. They're probably almost as big as the palm of my hand. I was going to take a close up of one but I made it fall apart.

I had a couple of "firsts" the last 2 days. Last night we went to a dairy. It was dark outside so you couldn't really get the scope of how big it was...or how dirty it was I hear. This particular dairy has 8,000 cows. I saw more cows and hay than I've ever seen before. Also, I never knew/thought about what they do with all of the poop. They have excrement ponds. Those were pretty gross and the smell was horrendous. David went back today and treated the poop pond for mosquitos...hehehe. By his own choice I might add.

Cows are so cute but I've learned they're not the brightest animal. I still want one and one lamb. Anyways, I saw them milking some cows through the windows. And then we left.

I also enjoyed a new beverage yesterday. It was quite enjoyable. It was red creme soda from Barq's. It was really good. I didn't know Barq's made anything but Root Beer. So that was pretty exciting. Vicki introduced me to it. After I tried hers I got one out of the vending machine at the grocery store. They have a shasta vending machine. I'm amused by that. And speaking of vending machines, I think it's strange how almost every business has a vending machine outside their building. I mean every where I turn there is a vending machine.

Along the same lines as vending machines- the grocery stores have an entire wall of 20 ounce drinks. Like a gas station. I've never seen that before. David also said that there's some farmer or someone that has a fridge on the side of the road that you can get drinks out of. It has a change bucket.

So today I saw a horse that has a really messed up back. It's back is seriously dipped in. I don't even know how to describe it. It looks really painful. I think it has a name but I'm not sure. I guess when a horse is born with a back like this, they normally put it down. The horse doesn't seem to be in pain but I don't know what a horse in pain looks like. I would hope that if the people thought it was in pain they would have put it down by now. I hope it's not.

As you can see, there's not much of anything new for me to share. I'm still looking for a job. I. Need. Something. To. Do. Ugh! I'm going crazy!

I Don't Get It

Why must there be neck fat? I've seen fat people that have fewer rolls on their necks than I do. *sigh*Now I must go sit in the woods on a tree stump and be depressed and cry out to God "Why? Why? Why must I have neck fat?!?!"

--isn't that an amazing carving? Beautiful!

**update** I am now more depressed. I am watching the second episode of the Roseanne show and she and I have the same neck. Some serious changes need to happen here! *groan*

Forgotten Pictures

David and I went for a drive yesterday. We drove up through Cache National Forest and ended up in Utah. We climbed up in altitude quite a bit it seemed and then it kind of flattened out and this is what we saw. It was prettier than the camera shows. There were wildflowers everywhere.

While I was uploading these pictures I saw some pictures from when we went tubing that I had forgotten about.

I know, my outfit isn't the cutest.

Look at how one side of the tube is huge and the other isn't. They're funny looking and hard to sit on!

Nothing new today. I've been talking to a local technology college to see about getting David enrolled. I hate how you can get denied financial aid NOW because they go off what you made LAST YEAR! It's so stupid. Hopefully we can take advantage of some other options. Keep your fingers crossed!

Nothing New

Ok, so this picture is kinda old but we didn't do anything this weekend so I have nothing new to share. This is us on Glendale Reservoir.

I watched Gran Torino twice this weekend so that was exciting...

Well, tomorrow is the start of a new week. I hope it brings good things for everyone.

Mail Time

There isn't much going on around here. Still no job. I applied at a publishing company here in Preston, wish me luck on that one.

The only upside to my day today is David and I run some errands today so we spent some time together. But the most exciting part (sorry David) is that I got 2 things in the mail today. I love getting things in the mail. Alot. I ordered some whipped body frosting and soaps from an etsy shop called Verbena Custom Blends. I'm in love.

The other thing I got was a quart of paint. Glidden was giving away quarts of paint and I for some reason thought I could use some free paint and picked out my color and ordered it. For free. Woo hoo.

Other than that I have no news. I have no thoughts. I am rather useless at the moment. I am tired, maybe I'll take a nap.

Love

Today I was reminded about love. I mean real, unselfish love. I was reading the blog of a woman who was in a near fatal plane crash. Her husband was with her and went back for her all the while the plane was on fire. They were both in the hospital for a while and he recovered faster than her. She has burns on 85% of her body and was in a coma for a long time. When her husband woke from his coma, he would sit by her bedside everyday and talk to her.

Now she is home with her love who saved her life and their 4 children. When she looks in the mirror she doesn't see herself. Of course she has hard days remembering the beauty she had and struggles accepting her new body but when you read her blog, you see that she has such strength and she gets it from the love of her God and the love of her husband.

He holds her tight when she's having a hard time. He takes care of her and you can tell he loves her truly. Which in turn reminds me of the husband I have. I didn't survive a near fatal plane crash. But there was a time that I questioned if I was ever going to be the same again. Would I walk again? Would I brush my hair, my teeth or put on my clothes by myself?

The entire time I was in the hospital I had a loving husband who never left my side. He was with me hour after hour not knowing what the future held all the while reassuring me that I would never be alone in the future. I even told him he didn't have to. I didn't want him caring for me like a small child. He told me no, he would never leave. Even if I was on a ventilator and strapped to a wheel chair. I know he was scared at the possibilities but he never showed it. I love him. That man willingly and without complaint did things for me that no person should have had to do. I knew he loved me. I mean, the guy considers it a blessing that his finger was cut off so he could be off work and stay with me in the hospital! Who says that? My David, that's who.

It'll be 4 years this September since I found out about my AVM. Looking at me no one would ever know what happened. And no one knows the feelings I still feel in my body. They feel normal now. It's getting better slowly but surely and I can't even remember what it was like to not feel the tightness and tingling.

Sometimes we forget why we love someone or forget all that they have done for us. I'm glad that today I was able to remember how much David loves me. I forget all that he did for me. Life gets so busy that we forget to nurture the people and relationships closest to us. I am loved. I was reading this girls blog thinking "this is the sweetest love story I've ever heard" then I realized I have lived that love story and still am. Circumstances may not have been the same but it's the same type of love.

I really hope that we all cherish the time with our spouses. And I hope that we take every opportunity to experience things we never have and to have fun. Sometimes when I don't feel like doing something, I remind myself that at one time I thought I might not ever get to do anything again. So I strive to grab the opportunities to enjoy my life.

So, I've really unloaded today huh? That blog just got me thinking and that's always good. I love my David and I know he loves me.

Sailing and floating

Last night we went sailing and it was a lot of fun. Usually when we go out it's windy right before we get to the lake and then it calms down when we get the boat in the water. But last night we had some good wind the whole time we were out. The boat was tipping alot which is the fun part. Vicki and Austin's little boy screamed the whole time and said it was the worst day of his life. Poor kid was terrified.

Tonight we floated down some river. It was a lot of fun too. The water was freezing when we first got in but it wasn't so bad eventually. We got these tubes that are really lopsided after we blew them up so Vicki and I rode together on one giant tube. Enzo the dog went with us too. He loves the water so he swam around for a while and then rode on Austin's tube with him but eventually Austin put the dog back on shore so he ran along and followed us. He's a corgie so it was kind of funny to see him swimming with his short legs.

I like how there are bodies of water every where and so close to the house. After work it's no big deal to take a boat out or go floating. It doesn't have to be something you can only do on the weekends.

I'm getting tan :0) David said he doesn't think he's seen me this dark since before we were married. Some color is always a plus!

Today is Austin's birthday so we're going to eat some ribeyes. Yum! I'm out.

Ok, I'm going to show you the before and after of these pictures. I'm only going to show these because it's taken me forever to figure out how to get these edited, converted and from one computer to the other. So basically, I'm tired of messing with them! I'll post more later.

The above shot is the straight out of the camera shot. The one below is a photoshop action called "old west", I really like what it does to pictures.

And again, the one above is straight out of the camera and the one below is after I changed it to sepia.
This one below is a black and white photoshop action. It's pretty run of the mill. There is another black and white photoshop action that I will show you later. It's much more dramatic.

This shot below is after I added some action to it...I think it's called soft and faded. I like it.

I love these photoshop actions. There is one called "seventies" and it makes all you pictures look like they're from the '70s. It's neat. I love them all and will play around some more but my brain needs a rest!

4th of July

We went camping for the 4th and it started out as a very hectic event but the weekend ended up being really great. We went camping in St. Charles canyon and got there Friday evening and shortly after it started down pouring. The next morning we waited a while for the sun to come out. We ended up spending the day at Bear Lake. That evening we went to watch the worst firework show I've ever seen! We wanted to get back early today so we packed up early and drove over to Bloomington Lake and hiked to it. It was really pretty.

The trail 90's were handy for hauling wood.

The storm clouds came in, thank goodness for the canopy!

They had a sand castle competition at bear lake and this one was pretty cool.

This is a crab. We took a picture of it after everyone left and it had been walked on.

Success

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him."

-David Brinkley

Oh My Goodness

I now own 5 Trail 90's, 1 Yamaha and 1 chopasaki. David picked up yet another trail 90 today at the junk yard for $10. I can't get away from these! This is getting out of hand! All I know is these better get sold real quick and I better get my money back :0)

And now Austin has the bug and has 3 trail 90's. I'm sorry Vicki--look at what we've caused.

There are 10 bikes in the garage!

I had a job interview for a place in Logan that sells products to cosmetic companies and hand crafted soap companies. It's right up my ally. I love smelly stuff and bath stuff! The interview went really well but they're going to be interviewing the rest of the week and hopefully they'll choose someone (me) and call them on Tuesday.

I'm super psyched that I finally figured out how to download these things called actions on my photoshop program. Now I can edit pictures and put really cool effects on my pictures. I am soooo excited!

Well that's all for now. I'm out.