Home!

I survived! Dan is home now and I have to say that it is so much better. We have had some great adventures while being apart. For example, one night I talked to Dan over the phone and he was unfreezing his water pipes. About half an hour later, our water heater fell apart and I had hot water spraying all over the basement! Talk about a really stressful night for the two of us! I am so thankful that we made it through in a couple of pieces. Dan bought me some beautiful lilies for the feat!

We also had some great experiences. Dan got a lot of training and learned a lot while in Salt Lake and Oklahoma. And I had a very successful New Beginnings! This Young Women's President thing is getting easier as I learn!

As for the fun of late... one night last week Dan went down to stoke the wood furnace and there just happened to be a cat hanging out in our basement on a pile of logs. We didn't know how it got in, but it was a very well kept cat. So Dan brought it up to show me. Little did we know, a week later it would still be hanging out in our house. No matter how many times we tried to get it to go home, it just showed up at the other door. We can't seem to find and owner and the cat doesn't seem to want to go home. We have asked all our neighbors and found that one neighbor has had the same happen and now owns two cats that just showed up! Supposedly some people don't make it to the shelter which is about 3 miles away. We would like to keep the cat as an outside cat (that is if it doesn't have a home) but we cannot keep it inside because Dan is allergic.

We finally got carpet in our living room! So the room is all done except for the crown molding. So in the photos remember that it is missing those finishing touches. It has been so nice to get rid of the Grand Hallway and actually have a place to sit down.

This week has been a dreary one. We have flood warnings and freezing rain warnings at the same time. For those that know what we are talking about... we aren't going anywhere. And for those who don't know what freezing rain is (we didn't either) - it pours and once the drops hit something it freezes. So all the trees, roads, walks, building, and birds are frozen. They have canceled school and we can't work at the quarry. Guess I won't go grocery shopping for the third day in a row... thank heavens for food storage!

Feeling Blue --- From the Cold!

Aloha from the coldest state on earth! According to the thermometer... it is a blazing 45* in my kitchen right now and only 21* outside. The joys of a wood furnace. I have been gone to a stake activity all day and this is the joy of coming home. So... to catch some of you up! Dan has been out of town this week (sob) and won't be back until the 29th (Big sob). So I have been left to man the roost... or woman it.
It has been quite the week. Luckily I have been able to successfully start a fire when I need one. And for those who are in the know on starting a fire or combustibles... without lighter fluid. Yeah, I know. It has been a miracle and I give all the credit to the man who must also be freezing upstairs!
Since we are talking about colors... not only am I blue but I am green too. We have finally gotten to the paint part of our project! It has been a long 4 months, but we have made it to paint! I even went and picked out the carpet yesterday! Our big hallway will now be used as an actual living room. I was telling my mom this past week that I look back at the photos of what the room used to look like and it doesn't look too bad. However, the photos don't do enough justice. My photos aren't scratch and sniff. There isn't enough "sniff" in this world to share that smell with you all. Thankfully, it is all gone and you don't have to be educated! Much, much work! I will post photos when I do the finishing touches and the carpet is in.
I was able to go with my YW to the Stake Winter Splash today. What a great experience! We had to drive 2 hours to get to the building in our stake in which it took place. We were blessed by the Lord to have just enough snow to do snow sculptures! And for those that know the weather out here... it didn't look like we would be that lucky because the snow blows away or gets rained on constantly. The snow sculptures didn't start out too well! It was mainly a colorful snowball fight as my girls thought it would be cool to take the food coloring to their mischievous plans on the boys (may I remind you we have no YM). It took a great leader (oh I am sure prideful) to get them focused on the branch president... just kidding. Actually they decided they wanted a fort... but brought no shovels, pails, or buckets. So in my greatness, we gathered the garbage cans from all over the building to create blocks. Thanks to the Quinn's snow castles... my idea was sparked!
We enjoyed an afternoon of laughter, friendship, and human fussball. Thankfully the weather held out until our drive home!
I liked the drive though because of the nice heater! And we come full circle to the idea of the weather. With a forecasted high of 10* tomorrow, we are sure to feel that deep in the bones.
On the more spiritual side of life... which I am learning is the way to peace and happiness... I have really felt the power of personal prayer with the Lord this week. In a blessing that I was given a couple of weeks ago, I was advised to drop on my knees in all my pain and troubles. Not that I needed to complain to the Lord, but to tell him all. I have really tried to take that challenge upon me, and I have noticed a greater desire to want to speak with my Father in heaven and at any time of the day. Not just morning or night. Not just that but I have had God, in the most powerful and special way, turn into my Heavenly Father. I can now bear testimony of that too... take care. -C-

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jig

You know you have good friends that will last your lifetime when you haven't seen each other for an extended period of time and yet, you magically seem to pick up right where you left off. And in those reunions, the bond of friendship strengthens ten fold with the comfort and warmth that radiates in the room. That is how Dan and I have felt in the past 3 weeks. Our adventures out west were the best we could have asked for. Even with the lost luggage, long drives, missed flights, and illness passed between us.
Christmas at the Thomas' home was great this year! Relations were good and all seemed to be in somewhat of good cheer, as long as you don't discuss the things of not good cheer. Dan must have been a good boy this year, coming away with an iPod Nano, camping gear, a GPS unit for his car, and a bunch of Smart Wool socks to keep him warm. Not only that, but he enjoyed a day in the "Greatest Snow on Earth" at the Canyon's resort in Park City. To my surprise, I was a good girl this year. Dan had tricked me into believing that what I asked for, I wasn't getting. Ooo... sometimes I just have to give into the humor of it all. There is not much use in fighting a good prank. I did get the new digital camera I dreamed of! I also received a Bosch mixer (so excited!), a whole tote of jewelery tool and beads to give into my deep-set creativity, cute PJ's and a new battery for my lappy.
Colorado with my family was one we like to call, "The Bed and Breakfast experience." For us to go to Colorado is so nice because we don't have ten billion people to see and can just hang out with my family. We enjoyed Papa Murphy's pizza (of course) and some great 4-wheeling New Year's fun.
We ended our stay out west with some friends from Hawaii that we haven't seen in almost two years. We stayed in their cabin and have a wonderful time freezing, playing with rubber duckies and snowmobiling. In all the excitement, we missed our flight by 5 minutes. So I guess you could say that we ended our trip out west in the Salt Lake City Airport for 6 hours. We flew to Albany, NY and there we stayed for two days to celebrate our two year anniversary. It has sure flown by!

Holidays Here We COME!

We are headed out of our world and into yours! Hopefully the weather here will be good enough for us to reach you as planned on the 17th. We will be spending Christmas with Dan's family in Park City and then the day after Christmas, we will head to Colorado to visit my family. We are so excited to see all our family and friends!
Our adventures continue to be great here and know that, like normal, they will follow us to you! For example, our water pipes froze for the second time this morning. It was the coldest we have experienced so far at a low of 8 degrees! Thankfully we will be gone for about 3 weeks; however, we will have to come back someday... and like I told my mom, we will deal with it when it comes because "Worrying doesn't take away today of its troubles, it take the strength out of today." We love it here in Sidney now that we are busy, busy, busy!
I think that this Christmas will be one of true meaning this year. Due to a lot of circumstances lately, our hearts have been turned toward Heavenly Father and his Son to help us through. We have also had many great and wonderful experiences to share the gospel with others. This past week alone I handed out 4 Mr. Kreugar's Christmas movies to some people that I work with and an artist that I happened to meet in the Library (which his art is beautiful!!! Daniel Tennant at danielktennant.com for some of his artwork). I am really lucky because I have a great way to introduce the movie... Jerry (my incredible father) named me after the little girl in that movie. So now that the movie is widespread, I feel famous as well!
We hope that you will try and reach us in the next couple of weeks to see us! Our numbers are Dan's (801) 403-3937 and mine (801) 403-9463 Love much and wished of a happy holiday!

Thanksgiving Festivities!

Wow! What a great week! We have been so busy getting things ready for the Winter that it was hard to slow down and remember Thanksgiving. See all the wood outside our window? We have to cut all that up, plus about 8-10 times as much as you see to get prepared. Some people may understand the major process this all is to store up for the winter. I have really taken advantage of central heat in my lifetime. There is wood all over our front yard! Thankfully, it hasn't snowed to stay... yet.

It was very easy to be grateful this Thanksgiving though. We had some men from our branch come and help us Thanksgiving morning to cut, split, and stack wood. It was such a great service and we are so thankful for it! The church has blessed our lives yet again.

We spent Thanksgiving at the Harry's home. They are some friends from our branch and have three of the cutest and funnest kids around. We enjoyed a great dinner prepared by Jenn and myself, and then some games with the five adults (Ben had a mission companion there) that were there while the kids ran around... all hyped up on pie. The turkey didn't even phase them!Dan and I contributed to the consumer's weekend by taking a trip down to Binghamton yesterday. We are sad that Christmas comes a couple of weeks too late because when a person needs snow gear, it can't wait till Christmas. So Dan bought me a boarding coat and I bought him some Carhartt gear so he can have something new to get greasy. Luckily, that is what that brand is made for. After ou r wonderful shopping experience, we went out to eat at a Chinese Buffet. We were tired and very hungry. It was good food, but just to add to all the experiences we have had this week, my fortune cookie said, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may diet, " and we had a good laugh. What made us laugh quite a lot more is that Dan saved his for the car ride home and he opened his to find that he didn't even get a fortune. Good times!

Merlin!

Dan and I went out last weekend and realized that it was as expensive to go to a movie as it was to buy a long lasting fish! So my wonderful hubby bought me a fish! It is nice to have some other living thing in the house even though we have to leave the space heater on when we leave the house because it will freeze. Yep, it's that cold around here. I haven't quite gotten down the getting and keeping a fire going yet. Dan is good to start it up before he leaves for work, but I can never keep it going.


Last night we put in our front door and we also found the cutest toad! I guess that you can find little adventures in everyday life huh?

The Holidays Have Arrived!!!

Our week was exhausting and wonderful! We work ourselves to the bone! The Halloween carnival at the church that my Young Women were in charge of turned out great. All my girls liked having Tyler around (we don't have any young men in our branch). I loved having the Thomas' here because they were very dedicated to keeping the fire going in our furnace. Lon was the best about this... if you notice the photos, he took 10 min trying to shove the log in the fire... but he did it!
Besides working too much, Bev and I spent all day last Friday making Thanksgiving dinner. I learned how to make homemade stuffing, pies, and whipped cream. We had a full blown dinner in our little kitchen. I swear we dirtied and washed each dish at least twice. The meal was wonderful even though we ate it a 9pm because the boys came home 2 hours late from work. The Thomas' left on Saturday... a little too early and a little too late! :) We are excited to fly back to Utah on Dec. 17th. So those that want to see us, start setting your dates!!!

We had yet another surprise on Sunday when Dan was called as the Branch Clerk. So now with both our callings, we are fulling serving! It is really nice and overwhelming at the same time. I have Young Women's in Excellence this coming Sunday! Yikes! I am also FINALLY starting my Ballroom classes tonight. I am really excited and not nervous at all!
(After all my slaving, I am not in the photo with all my yummy work! Bummer)