Camping

Well it has been quite awhile since I have last posted. Chris and I had a nice and quiet rest of the summer. The end of July we decided to go camping. This was the first time we ever went camping with just the 2 of us. We didn't really know the best area to go, so we just looked it up online and found a place in the Ashley National Forest. It was really hard to get to and had a very rocky road, so we probably won't go there again. But it was still fun. We had tinfoil dinners for dinner and then had s'mores later. I would just like to point out that I am pro at roasting marshmallows. It was delicious! The next morning we explored the area a little and then went home. It was short and sweet, but we enjoyed it. A couple weeks later we went to our Ward Campout. We liked this place much better, and it was fun to get to know our ward a little better. I got to play fast card games with some people, which was so fun. Chris won't play those games with me because I always beat him. :) 

A couple weeks later we decided to go one more time. I spent all day getting ready, making tin foil dinners, loading the car, etc. I really wanted to go somewhere where we could go swimming, so we were going to go to a reservoir. About halfway there it started raining. We decided to keep going and see if it would stop. It was still raining really hard when we got there but we waited it out and it stopped after a few minutes. We hurried and set up our tent and eventually after a few tries we were able to get a fire started. Luckily we brought our own wood that was dry or I don't think it would have happened. We cooked our dinner, and just as were done, it started raining again. We hurried and put everything away and got in the tent. Luckily we have a good tent with a good cover on it, so we were completely dry inside. We laid there for a couple hours listening to the rain pounding outside (it was SO loud), and we were both freezing and couldn't fall asleep. We finally decided to get up and go home. Right when we went outside, it stopped raining. Chris hurried and took the tent down and just threw it in the back of the car while I sat in the car and got warm. Right as we pulled away, it started pouring again, REALLY HARD. It was about midnight, and i slept most of the way home, but every now and then Chris would wake me up to show me how hard it was raining. It was crazy. You could hardly see a thing. We spent the whole next day putting everything away, setting up the tent and letting it dry out. It was kind of a bummer, it took so much time to clean everything and put it away. But it's kind of funny looking back on it now. We have more pictures somewhere but I couldn't find them. 

We are excited to do some more fun things around here, now that we are getting to know the area better!

Girl Fun

We planned ahead of time to have my niece Taylee (who just turned 8) to come home with us after the reunion. We are only about 4 1/2 hours from them now. On Thursday I met her mom halfway and her mom picked her up. We had so much fun! We both want to do it again next year.

On Monday Taylee taught me how to make rubber band bracelets and necklaces, and then I taught her how to make bead animals. I used to make a ton of them probably in about the 6th grade. She loved it and we ended up making more later. We went to lunch at McDonald's. We also did some puzzles. That girl loves puzzles as much as I do. That night we played a game of Quirkle with Chris, and Taylee beat us both!

Tuesday we drove to Vernal and got our nails done at the beauty school. We both got pedicures and manicures. I was kind of disappointed that our fingernail polish didn't even last the first day, but oh well. Our glitter toes still look cute! We both had lots of fun. I had never had a pedicure before and it felt sooo good! We also made "lava lamps." I found it on Pinterest. You put vegetable oil and water in a jar, and then add food coloring and an alka seltzer tablet, and then it bubbles like a lava lamp. You can keep putting in more alka seltzer to make it bubble more. We made like 5 of them, we just couldn't help ourselves. :)

Wednesday we made play dough. I haven't used play dough since I was little, it was  fun! After lunch we rode our bikes a few blocks and got snow cones. Then we did another puzzle. I have lots of Disney puzzles and Taylee liked all of them. :) We also made monster cookies that were really yummy right out of the oven! (Monster cookies are peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip, M&M cookies!) 

Thursday morning we played a game, and I made a bead Elsa and Taylee made a bead Anna-that girl LOVES Frozen! Then it was time to pack up and go. Poor girl got car sick and threw up on the way, but then she slept the last hour and half or so. 

It was so fun to get to spend one on one time with her and get to know her better. That girl loves pink just as much as me-we are a match made in heaven!

Family Reunion and the 4th of July

Last week we had our annual family reunion with my immediate family. We are getting so big, we are usually all together only twice a year, for our reunion, and at Christmas time. (15 grandkids with 2 on the way, plus my 5 siblings and their spouses!) I drove to Layton on Wednesday morning and Kyler and Stephanie (and cute baby Josh) met me there and I rode with them the rest of the way to Burley. Chris had to work Wednesday and Thursday, but I wanted to go earlier. I told my mom I wasn't coming until Thursday night with Chris, but then I surprised her and came Wednesday with Kyler. That evening we ate with Kelby and his boys at Al's Pizza, and then went to the park for awhile and took turns hitting the baseball. 

My mom reserved Steadman's for Thursday. It was a lot of fun. Chad, Brock, and Chris weren't there yet, so just the rest of us went. Steadman's is in Raft River and there are two big slides made out of some kind of plastic and you slide down them on tubes. We had lots of fun. There is also volleyball, a zip line, and some little playground toys for the kids. Although one of the kids, Luke, had no interest in that. He went down the slide head first over and over and over and over again by himself. He would laugh all the way down, and then get off and start walking up again, taking his tube with him. Sometime he couldn't even see where he was going. He was so cute! What a brave kid!

 Brock got to Burley Thursday evening. The next day we went to my sister Tysi's in Twin and hung out there. Chad got to Tysi's around the same time we did. Ron made a slide too out of a tarp that was pretty fun. The kids loved it. The little kids enjoyed a slip 'n slide and a kid pool. We also filled up water balloons but didn't get a chance to use them because it got a little chilly. My 2 year old nephew Cooper loves balls and playing catch, and he loved taking the water balloons after they were filled up and throwing them in the cooler. One time I threw him one and it landed on the ground and popped and he just looked around and said, "Where it go?" It was so cute. We played some baseball as well. That night Ron set off some fireworks for us all and there were plenty of sparklers for the kids (ok, I might have done one, too).

Saturday my nephew Ian got baptized at 1pm. We all went to that, and then had a lunch in the park with everyone who came to the baptism. It was very nice. In the park my brother Chad taught us all a new game called "Blocks," that was really fun. We played that for quite awhile. I also got to see my Uncle George and Aunt Charlotte at the baptism and the park. I hadn't seen him for so long. He is 96 years old. I was glad to get to see them. When I was about 5 years old, I learned my ABC's backwards and Uncle George gave me a dollar. Pretty much all of my cousins know the ABC's backwards. Well that's besides the point....After the park we all went to the Star Church baseball fields and had a real baseball game. My cousin Lindsay and her kids and my aunt Bev came to watch. My mom split us into two teams so we would be even. My team won, but no one's keeping track. :) I think my brothers were surprised that I can still hit a baseball. One time when I was running to first base I tripped and fell, so I didn't make it. Everyone got a good laugh out of that. After the game we finally had our water balloon fight. I enlisted the help of Lindsay's daughter Kate and my niece Taylee to help me get Chris. We were both pretty wet. It was really fun.

I love my family and love and cherish the times when we all get to be together. 

On Sunday my mom's church didn't start until noon, so we just went to the first hour and then left to go home. We stopped at my dad's on the way out and visited with him and Shana. We saw them at the baptism and the lunch, but wanted to be able to visit with them more. It took us quite awhile to get home because of construction but we finally made it home. But it was nice not to have to drive all day to get there. :)

Seattle

One of the things we had been wanting to do was take a trip to Seattle before we moved. We planned to go sometime this summer, but when Chris accepted the job in Utah, we didn't think we would get to. We ended up making a spur of the moment decision to go. Chris accepted the job on Thursday, and we left Saturday afternoon. I got done with work early so we packed our stuff in the car and went. We got there Saturday afternoon/evening and did some shopping, we rode the monorail from the mall to the Space Needle and back. We decided not to go up in the Space Needle because of the cost, so instead we went to the Skyview Observatory, which was way cheaper, and is much higher than the Space Needle. The only thing is that it's in an office building, so you ride the elevator up and don't get to see outside until you are at the top. We ate at a pizza place that night and then went to our hotel.

We found a church to go to the next day. It is so nice that we can be anywhere and there is an LDS church to go to and we can take the sacrament and have the same Sunday School lesson we would have had at home. While we were there we met a guy who gave us two free tickets to the Museum of Flight and a buy one get one free ticket to the zoo. We had been debating about what to go do on Monday and we didn't want to pay for everything, so it was really nice that we got to do both! We didn't have time to go to the Aquarium.

Sunday afternoon we walked around Pike's Place Market and saw some fun stuff. We walked down the pier by the ocean. It was raining all day but we survived. After that we went to the Ballard Locks.
The Locks are basically a "boat elevator" where boats come in to pass between salt water and fresh water. You can go for free and watch as the boats come in, and on one side the water is very low and they raise or lower the water level till it is level with the other side, and then they open the gates and let the boats go through. It was kind of cool. Because we were there in the evening the Visitor's Center was closed but it was still pretty cool. At the same place is the fish ladder, which was built to help the fish get from salt water to fresh water, and up to the higher water level. You can go down below the water and watch the fish as they pass through, but we didn't really see any because not a lot of fish come in May/June.

It was fun watching as they threw the fish at the fish market.

                                    

Monday we went to the zoo first. It was a pretty big zoo and we had fun. Our favorites were probably the penguins and the gorillas. I had never been to a zoo where I saw so many gorillas actually doing stuff. There were 4 and they were so cute. It is so funny how they can bite off the end of some broccoli or cucumber and chomp on it. They way they use their hands is so humanlike. The penguins were just too cute. Some little kids were putting their hands on the glass and running back and forth, and a penguin would follow them back and forth by swimming really fast. We also watched them waddle around while they got fed. We enjoyed the bears as well because two bears came up close and one leaned up against a tree to scratch his back, and the other jumped into the water and swam around and came right up to the glass. There were tons of people though so it was hard to see everything and get a good picture.

After the zoo we went to the Museum of Flight. It was actually much cooler than I thought it would be. There were SO MANY planes there, new and old, big and small. We even got to go inside the first Air Force One that President Reagan used. We also saw a lot of space things. It was really cool.

During this trip I also got 9 more pennies (I know, I am kind of addicted). Now I have 43 smashed pennies and 2 smashed quarters, from lots of different places. :)

After the museum we headed home. We were glad we got to go to Seattle before we moved!

We got a job!

The job search really got intense after graduation. Chris worked hard everyday and applied to several jobs. He looked in Spokane because it was really growing on us. But surprisingly he was offered a job in little 'ole Roosevelt, Ut, population 6,000-home to not one, but 2 Family Dollars, and no Walmart. :) We were excited to be offered a job, and so soon after graduation. Even though he was still waiting to hear about a job in Spokane, we decided we couldn't turn this one down. Most of all, we would be closer to home and family, yay! The position is the DME Manager at the hospital (Durable Medical Equipment), and he will be overseeing this department and supervising about 5-6 employees. They wanted him there by June 16th, which was 3 weeks from when we found out. We certainly didn't expect to have to leave Spokane so soon. We had plans to do a lot of things over the summer that we haven't been able to do since I worked every Saturday. I had just gotten my schedule changed so that we would all rotate Saturdays and I was really excited. But we got right to work and we started packing pretty much right away. Chris went down to Roosevelt to sign papers, do a drug test, background check, etc for his job and looked for places to live. Surprisingly, it was really hard to find a place. Housing is more expensive down there because of the oil fields. All the workers come, and there is not enough housing, so prices go up. We wanted to rent a house, but quickly found we could not afford that. We don't want to buy until we get a feel for the area, so we ended up renting another apartment, only this time, it is 3 bedrooms. When Chris came down to look, he could not find anything in Roosevelt, so he put a deposit down on a place in Vernal, 30 minutes away. Vernal is bigger and has a temple (yay), Walmart, Kmart, Lowe's, Cafe Rio (yum!), Jimmy John's, JoAnn's (so excited when I found that out), Downeast, Rue 21(my favorite), and a Maurices. They are also getting a Ross and a TJ Maxx. Not the 3 big malls, 2 Hobby Lobby's, Fred Meyers, Targets and Costcos and tons of places to eat that we came from, but it will do. :) The next day we got a call about a place in Roosevelt and decided to take it instead. It is closer to home and makes sense to live where Chris works. It is nice having a little more space, with an upstairs and a downstairs, and room for a baby! (When the time comes, which is hopefully soon!)

            
As always, change is really hard and I was sad to leave my job. I am excited to not have to work full time, but I made some very good friends who I will miss dearly. We also really loved our ward and said goodbye to lots of friends the last week we were in Spokane. Isn't it so pretty! The Utah desert is a big change from this.

 So here we are, in Roosevelt. We have been here a little over a week. Chris is really liking his job and learning a lot. I have more time to read, craft, practice the piano, cook and plan meals, etc. We just found out that the hospital might looking for a part time or prn dietitian, so once I get more details that might be a possibility.

And to give you more of an idea of what Roosevelt is like, someone drove their tractor to the Roosevelt Library. Yes, this is where we live.

Graduation!

Chris graduated!! That guy graduated with a Masters in Health Policy and Administration. He is awesome. I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard the last 2 years, and it has finally paid off.

We had a great weekend. Both Chris' parents and their spouses came up. His aunt and uncle and grandma who live in Coeur d' Alene also came. 

We took his mom and stepdad to Manito Park and Riverfront Park, two of our favorite places in Spokane. There is a lilac garden, Japanese garden, and Conservatory at Manito Park that they loved. We were sad all the roses weren't out yet. At Riverfront Park we walked down to see the Spokane Falls, which recently was redone and had a park built and looked a lot nicer than it used to.  After the graduation we went out to eat with his mom and stepdad. We spent the next day with his Dad's side of the family. We went out to eat with his dad and stepmom, grandma, aunt and uncle, and his cousin and his family.

Japanese Garden 

A Pineapple Plant. Did you know it takes like a year for one pineapple to grow?

One thing I miss about is all the lilac bushes. I remember my Grandma Hellewell had some at her house when I was little. I love how they smell. They weren't quite in full bloom yet, but we still got to show Chris' mom and stepdad some that had bloomed so far in the lilac garden.

Getting his hood.

Chris with his dad.

Chris with his mom.

             

Now no more projects, papers, presentations, studying, internships, or classes! Yay!

Smorgasbord

Well I don't really have a clear topic for this post, but I figured it was time for an update. Since my last post, Chris and I:

Celebrated Valentine's Day with a yummy dinner and a movie, and of course, Chris sent me flowers at work.

Celebrated both our birthdays. Chris took me ice skating on my birthday. I learned how to spin around and skate backwards. Not like the Olympic skaters but it was still fun.

On Chris' birthday we ate the biggest steak I think I've ever seen in my life. We got this yummy dessert that looks like a baked potato but tastes way better!

We saw the Harlem Globetrotters (which was one of Chris' Christmas presents). We had a lot of fun. They did lots of cool tricks and were really funny.

This was my favorite part of the whole thing. They were arguing over a call the ref made, so they did it in "rewind," and then wanted to see it again in slow motion. 

I have made several cards this year already.

Poor Chris rolled his ankle pretty bad. The same ankle that he has broken twice. He is doing better now, but it still bothers him a little.

 This guy defended his thesis and passed! He will graduate with his Masters in Health Policy Administration in 5 weeks! Yay! I was able to go and watch him and he did a good job. Please pray that he will be able to find a job soon!

And drumroll......I got my PICC line out!! No more TPN! Woo hoo! This time we tapered off of it slowly and I think my body handled that better than just stopping it cold turkey. We stopped it completely 3 weeks ago. It was supposed to be taken out after 2 weeks, but I lost 4 pounds in one week, and my GI doctor was out of town, so no one wanted to pull it till he got back. I maintained my weight after that, so it was pulled on Wednesday. It feels really good to not have to shower with a plastic glove on, and flush it with saline and heparin every night.

I also saw my GI doctor on Wednesday and we had a good visit. He was happy with my weight. He thinks it would be good if I got a bone density scan, since it has been a couple years. We want to make sure that I am absorbing the calcium I take. He does want me to get a Small Bowel Follow Thru done to check for a fistula and see how much intestine I have left. I am also going to see the urologist to check for the fistula. I'm hoping there really isn't anything there. He also says he doesn't think we should try to have a baby yet. He is afraid I would be sick, lose weight, and end up on TPN again. :( We are going to start the adoption process. I want a baby so bad!

Since we are talking about my 

health, I will also say that the Cimzia is helping my joints. When I saw the rheumatologist a couple weeks ago, only one of my fingers was swollen, and I was finally able to get my wedding ring off!

And just for fun, here is picture of my cute nails that I painted during conference today. I really enjoyed todays sessions and can't wait for tomorrow!

p.s. When I think of the word "smorgasbord," I think of Charlotte's Web when Templeton the rat sings, " A fair is a veritable smorgasbord, orgasbord, orgasbord, after the crowds have ceased...." Such a good song. :)