Basement Buddy

You all know that we have had some interesting experiences with what we find in our basement. It is like the creepy side of Mary Poppin's Bag! However, it all started with our little toad Dude and I was so excited when I caught him in action on video today.
Something else you might want to know about our little farm house and all its surprises... we have what are called cluster flies. For generations they have reproduced outside our house. But, when it gets warmer inside and colder outside, they come into the house through all the little cracks and crevices (and old houses have many!!!). So we have billions and billions of flies in the bedroom that we haven't redone yet. It is really gross! We have to vacuum like 5 times a day to keep up with all of them. They don't fly, they crawl and like to hang out in window ledges. Because it has been warmer in our house than outside (on most days :) ), we have had an ample supply of food for our Dude.

It is snowing like crazy here! We haven't had this much snow yet... and sadly, it should be getting close to spring! :( The flakes are huge and really pretty, but it sure dampens the heart that has cabin fever!

The Flu

The past week has been awful! We started out attending Winter Weekend... (not awful at all). This was an activity for young women and young men ages 14-18 of the LDS church. It consisted of three upstate NY stakes and one from PA. That covered almost all of upstate NY! There were 245 youth and over 65 leaders to attend. We had two dances, workshops, and a service project slammed into about 30 hours. I had the greatest privilege to teach dance in the workshops. I taught a triple swing and then the popular-as-it-gets Soulja Boy (click to watch the dance I taught) dance which is some hip hop and the latest rave! The youth LOVED it! I was lucky to have Dan come; however, we got unlucky too.
Dan woke up Saturday morning with the flu. He was such a great sport as we pushed through the Saturday activities at Winter Weekend. I have to say how thankful I am for the church because before dinner we were able to find two priesthood holders to give Dan a blessing. I felt so thankful that in the midst of all the ruckus of the youth, we could go into a quiet room and partake of the wonderful spirit of the Lord. We ended up going home early that night.
I woke up Sunday with the tight chest and by Sunday night we had both thrown up and were in bed. So this week we enjoyed our new bed to the fullest! It is now Friday and Dan is feeling better (even though his coughing still keeps him awake at night) and today is the first day that I have had energy to actually type these posts. I am still down hard, but getting up again.
We are thankful for the prayers that have been held in our behalf. We have felt them and can really feel your love and care.

Caught Red Handed!

My favorite Valentine's Day idea comes from my cousin Tiffany. She requires something red or pink and completely frivolous for her and her girls. So we have tried to adopt that in our little family and it is so much fun. This year, Dan surprised me by spray painting all of the snow around our house with hearts and "I Love You"s. As I drove in from the grocery store, I saw the red paint and thought something had died in our front yard, but was so surprised to see that it was just the opposite! I wished we were going to have people over so they could see how special my husband treats me! (For Dan's sake, I won't expound on the photo of why he had red paint all over his hands :) However, it was all over his hands and his only nice pair of jeans) Sadly, due to the weather in New York, it was snowed and rained upon that night and didn't last for more than two days. Dan received such a great gift from me... (talk about frivolous!). An Extra Special Tickle Me Elmo!
Dan also pampered me the rest of the night as we stayed in with a homemade dinner and a board game. I love Dan... I am so blessed to have such a great husband who takes care of me. He is always so positive and helps me to be a better person. He supports me in my schooling and dancing and is always ready to lend a hand anytime he can. He is so handy on the house and we are so blessed because we wouldn't be able to survive here without him. He is dedicated to whatever he puts his mind to and most of all, he is dedicated to the Lord. I love him and am so thankful that I get to have Valentine's Day to celebrate that again.

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!