Wedding, HM, Christmas Trees, etc...

I think it's about time I write my bi-monthly blog so here we go with the quick version...



1) I'm married! It's great. I highly
reccommend it.My husband, while far from perfect, is the perfect man for me. We couldn't be happier. Unless of course we had new jobs, a house of our own, and better behaved dogs, but we don't like to dream too big ;).

2) Honeymoon=AMAZING!Costa Rica was a blast
and we loved every single second we were there. We rode upside down on a zip line, got stung by jellyfish, ate 6 desserts at every meal, got licked by monkeys, snorkeled 3 hours a day, almost caught a raccoon and generally enjoyed ourselves in every way possible.





3) We (and by we I mean Joe did most of the work and I sanded some things and drilled some holes) built a coffee table. It's radical. Joe's building us a bed. It's even better than our coffee table.


3 1/2) I can't figure out how to change the background on my blog.


4) We went to Washington/Oregon for Grampy's memorial service and to visit the parents. Washington is incredibly soggy and I missed the sun terribly. I can't wait to live somewhere new, but I sure will miss the good ol' AZ sun. We had some laughs while we were there and got to enjoy some of Pendleton's history. What fun!





5) Our dogs are still terrible.


6) I am subbing for Heber-Overgaard School District now. It's fun, but my first day at the high school everyone thought I was a new student. Maybe one day I'll look older than 17. Although the problem really is that kids these days don't look like kids. They look like mini-adults with all their make-up and hair products and tight clothes. It's nonsense.


7) Thanksgiving was fun, but we are now to my FAVORITE time of the year. CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! I love everything about Christmas. I love the lights, buying presents, decorating, baking, music, weather...all of it! One of my favorite things in the world is getting a Christmas tree. This leads me to point number 8 and the whole reason I was inspired to write a blog...


8) Our first Christmas tree...
I should have known we were in for it when we left the truck without the saw. But we realized that we didn't have it pretty quick so it wasn't that big of a deal. But it was the first warning sign. So Joe and I wandered and wandered looking for the perfect Christmas tree for celebrating our first Christmas together. We saw a few here and there but none of them were perfect so we just kept looking. Meanwhile, we lost the dogs so our search for a tree turned into a search for the dogs. Not surprising at all. Once we found the dogs we decided to drive to a different spot to look. Almost immediately upon arriving at our new spot, we come across a beautiful tree. Not too fat, perfect shape...it had a split and a slight curve but it wasn't too tall so we figured we could make it work. Joe starts to cut it down...45 min later it's on the ground. Turns out he didn't bring the right saw. Moving on...once the tree is on the ground we realize that it's a lot bigger than we thought. As a matter of fact, it barely fits in the back of Joe's truck. The dogs are happy about this because they get to ride up front. I'm afraid the tree is going to fly out of the back because we forgot tie-downs. So we get home and get ready to put the tree in the stand and set it up in the house. Joe measures the tree...it just so happens that we got a Griswold Family Christmas tree! It's about two feet too big without even being in the stand. We cut it down as much as we can without messing with the split and try to make it stand up. Long story short, the tree won't stay up in the stand. It keeps falling over. We tried a hundred different things, including putting chunks of wood in the stand to try and balance everything out. No dice. Now it's time to problem solve...this is what I'm good at. So we decide to cut the tree up into pieces so we can get rid of the split and curve in the tree. We then screw the pieces back together and secure them with p-cord. The tree is now THE most redneck creation on the face of the earth. Joe and I carry it into the house, praying it will stand straight in the tree stand. And what do you know?! It worked! We have to do a few more things with some p-cord and scrap wood, but finally we have our goofy looking tree thing standing proudly in our living room! I'm so excited. You can hardly tell it's a bunch of branches screwed together! We decorate it and go to bed, while dreams of sugarplums dance in our heads. Now the moment of truth comes in the morning...is it still standing?! Yes! We are brilliant! It worked! I take the dogs for a walk feeling rather proud of myself. When I come home though, what to my wondering eyes should appear? My gosh darn tree had fallen over, getting water, dirt, needles and ornaments all over the living room. Solid. I can't pick it up by myself so it's still lying there, looking extremely pathetic. We might just leave it there for the season. At least we have a tree right? It just doesn't have the best posture...oh goodness. And that's the first installation of our tree adventures! December is a long month so I'm sure there will be plenty more!

Updating...

So I was informed that blogs are for updating, thank you Ryan, so I suppose I will update this for the two of you who are dying to know what's been going on! :)



1) Bachelorette weekend was epic. If I could make Disneyland my home I would. I would be Belle and I would always be happy. I don't think I could talk Joe into it though. For the full low-down on our California adventures, my dear friend Katie captured everything perfectly in her blog. I could not have said any of it better myself. If you don't laugh the entire time you read it you don't have a sense of humor.


2) My last day of work as a timber marker was four days ago. I cannot describe how joyful my heart is to be done with that job. Although, I can't complain to much, because I got to spend the entire summer outside walking around in the woods. That's good livin'. But...the people I worked with. Ugh. Moving on...

3) I just applied for my first teaching position! Woohoo! Granted it's as a substitute in Heber, but it's still a teaching job! Living in Heber after Joe and I got married was on the top of my "I'll Never Ever Do This" list, but here we are and here we'll be for a little while so I may as well get some teaching experience out of it! I'm actually really excited about it and hope it will all work out. Sending in my application for my Teaching Certificate and then I should be good to go!

3.24) I suppose I should explain why we're going to live in Heber. Short version: rent in Payson is unreal and plus we're hoping to move in less than six months so we don't want to sign a lease. So therefore-we are going to live at my parents. Clarification- my parents DON'T live there anymore. They are in Oregon. So it's not like we're gonna be house mates with my folks or anything. That would be a little too weird.

4) My dear sweet friend Jessie threw a bridal shower for me in Mesa. It was so sweet of her and it was nice to see some long lost friends. Amber's baby spit up on me. That was definitely a high point.

5) Wedding plans are going good! Joe and I will be married 12 days from now...still have lots to do before then, but I think I'll be ready in time! I'm getting nervous, excited, anxious all at once. Hopefully everything goes well! I can't wait to get our life started! I think being a wifey is going to be fun :). Got painting supplies today so I can paint the room we'll be staying in. I just spent half my night putting that blue tape all over things so I could start painting. The blue tape pretty much did me in, so I ate some cereal instead of actually getting started.

6) Joe will be home from Colorado tomorrow! I can't wait!

7) And then of course there's the dogs. I can't NOT write about the dogs. Cause "we're the three best friends that anyone could have, yes we're the three best friends that anyone could have..." ha...oh the dogs. So I have developed a new enemy to focus all my energy on. Dog Hair. How I hate dog hair. And it covers anything my dogs go near. So that encompasses everything in my life-my car, my bed, my house, my food, my clothes and anything else you can imagine. Gone are the days in which I try to figure out how to booby trap my house to catch anyone trying to break in and I've said goodbye to the hours spent barricading myself in my house and then my room. I no longer walk around armed with a shotgun (well actually I still do sometimes ha) and now walk around with a lint roller and vacuum cleaner. I lint roll everything in sight and five seconds later it's covered in hair again. My free time is not spent relaxing...it is spent battling dog hair. And gosh darn those dogs because I still take one look at their goofy faces and let them right into the house. Dogs shouldn't be allowed to be all cute and goofy with big dumb faces and a floppy ear. Brody and Ramsey are little con artists. They totally play me for whatever they want. It's a good thing Joe's coming home to reestablish some order around here. The hierarchy at my house right now is Ramsey, Brody, then me. There's something wrong with that.

8) There's also something wrong with the fact that I wrote the most about my dogs.

My Pops

Sometimes it amazes me that I never run out of things to say...but what amazes me even more is that right now, I have so much to say but I can't find a way to say it. It is hard to see someone you love hurting and I find myself not even wanting to talk or think about his pain. Instead, I think I'd rather talk about the Pops I knew before his brain tumor.

I was filing Pops' nails for him the other day so I spent a lot of time studying his hands. I have a thing for hands in general because I believe a person's hands say a lot about him or her. Usually when I meet someone, I'll sneak a look or two at their hands to get an idea of what kind of life that person leads. My Pops' hands speak loudly of his life.

Popop has huge hands, a farm boy's hands. That is one thing that has not changed. His fingers are gnarled and his palms broad and well-worn: the perfect hand to hold. I remember when I was a little girl how small my hand felt when it disappeared into Popop's big, strong hand; I knew I was safe when my hand was wrapped in those hard-working hands. Strong hands that held onto me when the ocean would swirl around my ankles and with a swift tug, pull my legs out from under me. Gentle hands that would clean tar from the beach off my feet and wipe my tears when I played in the ant pile. Firm hands that reminded me of the proper way to behave. Capable hands that helped build the room I grew up in and made the best pancakes on the face of the earth. Rough hands that would slam open and shut every cabinet in the kitchen at 6 in the morning even though my sister and I were sleeping 10 feet away. Patient hands that played hours of Uncle Wiggly with my sister and taught me how to play rummy. Hands that worked on a farm, survived a Depression and a War, raised 5 children, were married for 64 years, and constantly folded in prayer. I love those hands!

I am lucky that I can sit with Pops for a few hours every day and get to hold those hands that I love so much and that did so much for me. My hand still gets lost in his. I look forward to the occasional sentence uttered and the even rarer smile. I love to see the way he looks at my Mimi. He may not remember who I am, but he could never forget his Mae. They are a wonderful example of true love for me as I'm getting ready to start my life with my honey. I've got great grandparents...I'm a lucky girl!

Only a few more days here and then it's back to real life. Wedding countdown is down to 56 days! I can't wait!

Leavin on a jet plane...

Today's the day! I'm leaving for Pennsylvania in a little over an hour. I am both excited and scared to go...I know it's going to be quite the learning experience for me!

What I really want to write about though...is airports.

I love airports. It doesn't matter which airport I'm in, I'm in love. And no, I don't like airports because I'm "emo". Only Darrick Dowdy and Michael Butterworth would understand that and I know neither of them will read this but I felt like that was necessary to establish haha. Anyway...

What is it about these places that I love? I love the smells. There is something about the way an airport smells. The swirling of 173 different colognes and perfumes mixed with floor cleaner, fast food (all outrageously priced I might add), and magazines. I love the people. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world pass through airports everyday going thousands of different places for a million different reasons. I love being surrounded by all these strangers, everyone with their own lives, worries, problems and bad outfits. I like to watch everyone as they walk by me and imagine what their lives are like. Where are they going? What do they do? Where in the world did he find that awful hat? What was that girl thinking when she decided to wear those 5 inch platforms at 5am this morning? I love it! I could sit here all day, drinking my Starbucks coffee as if I always drink coffee and spilling crumbs from my blueberry muffin all over my shirt, my computer and the floor, and just watch people. Speaking of blueberry muffins- muffins make such a mess! They are always crumbling all over the place. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought the dumb thing.

I love airports because nobody knows who I am. I like to think that people wonder about me...the weird girl in the purple pants sitting on the floor in front of the Men's room with muffin crumbs on her shirt and a stone age laptop. Maybe they think I'm important. Maybe they think I'm a nobody. Some of them probably think I'm homeless because it doesn't look like I brushed my hair this morning. I like to pretend that I am important. That I have some crucial destination and the whole world hinges on my arrival there. That somehow, my traveling today is making a difference in people's lives. Sometimes, I even pretend like I'm a princess in disguise...shh don't tell!

I love the feeling of leaving a place I love to go see somewhere new, all the while knowing that in 8 days, 11 days, 23 days I'll be coming back. I'll get to step off the plane into the dry heat, walk across the awful airplane carpet that seems to be a requirement in all airports, get in a car and be HOME.

And I sound like a total cheeseball haha...but I'm just sayin! :)

Sidenote- thing I don't love about airports..having to take off my shoes and walk where everyone else has walked in their bare dirty gross feet. Yuck.

It's a dog's life...

So I decided the other day that I might have a slightly over active imagination. This revelation came shortly after my sister came home from Alaska. For those of you who don't know, she was there visiting her boyfriend for 9 days. Perhaps I should back up though, because there is crucial information that needs to be included here. So while Joe and I were in Oregon visiting my parents, someone tried to break into our house while my sister was here! Super duper scary...anyway. When I came home I was maybe a little freaked out about it but I did ok because Shawna was home and I had Ramsey here to protect me. Or something of that nature...haha. Those of you who don't know my dog will not get that joke. Anyway...so now to the more present day...

Shawna left and I was fine. I could sleep at night. But then after a day or so, I started to get a little bit nervous. I started hearing things in the house...noises that of course could only be made by a person...these noises would lead me to get out of bed and walk around the house, carrying something hard- usually my boot, and turning on all the lights to scare away whatever intruder was in the house. Of course no one was really there, but one night I had myself completely 100% convinced there was someone walking down the hall that I decided I had to do something.

And so began Operation Barricade Self in Room. My first line of defense was to add another protection unit in the form of Joe's dog Brody. Now Brody may not be the brightest, but he can be very mean. People might not take my dog with her floppy ears, lopsided eyes and freakish coloring very seriously, but Brody is a dog to be cautious around! So I was off to a good start. Then I installed my second line of defense- a shotgun which I named Priscilla and placed right next to my bed. I also placed a trash can in front of my door as a sort of alarm system. It's a loud trash can. That wasn't enough though so I put my rather large vanity chair right in front of the door to block it from being opened and placed a night light in the hall so I could see the shadow of anyone trying to sneak in. I took this all very seriously and made certain everything was in place before I went to sleep at night. In retrospect, I think I'm a little bit crazy! haha

To further prove my point, I spent the whole day on Monday walking around the woods and planning how Joe and I would survive an attack by dinosaurs. I actually came up with a totally legit plan in case anyone is wondering. It's all about the triceratops!




Since earlier I was speaking of my dog...I decided something tonight, while I was standing on the porch yelling my dog's name at 10 o'clock at night. My dog does not listen to me. At all. Every morning around 6, I stand on my porch and yell for my dog, who does not stay in the yard longer than 46.8 seconds after I put her out. I scream her name over and over and my obnoxious voice bounces off all the houses full of sleeping people and I think to myself, "I'm that neighbor. The neighbor everybody hates based solely on the sound of my voice, because that's the only way they know me. I'm the crazy one who's always on the porch in her pjs yelling for her dog who clearly does not respect her." And I am that neighbor. And my dog is that dog. She goes around eating the other dogs' food, eating the neighbors' toys, gloves, tools, etc., and pooping in people's yards. She gets away with it because she's sweet...and her funky coat allows her to blend into the trees so she can just sneak around destroying people's lives. At least she came back tonight. That's a bonus. I'm going to pretend that she's becoming better behaved! Haha...I do love that dog though...

Enough of my rambling...
I'm leaving for PA in 6 days- pray for my g-parents please!

And in 70 days I get to marry the love of my life! woohoo!!

When life hands you lemons...

I'm doing it! I'm writing my first blog ever! Some of you...ok, the only one of you who will probably read this (Katie), will be proud of me! So here I go...

Now since I am getting married in exactly 82 days, you'd think that my first blog would, of course, be about my excitement, my planning, my stress levels, my cake, or something else of the wedding nature. And believe me, I am more excited than I could even put into words right now...but that is not what weighs the most heavily on my mind at this moment, so I will defer those thoughts until later.

I've been thinking about the saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." I have decided lately that I do not like this saying. I think it sucks. I don't like lemons. I don't want lemons. When life gives me lemons, I would like to have the option to say, politely of course, I don't want your stupid lemons, give me something better. Something that's not sour and hard to swallow, that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and makes my eyes water. Instead I would like...otter pops...or something of the sort.

Why all this talk about lemons? Well you see...I am starting to feel overwhelmed by all the lemons everyone seems to be getting handed right now. I feel like I am being surrounded by cancer, sickness, and death. My heart breaks every time I hear a new diagnosis for a dear friend or the latest updates on a precious family member. Granted, suffering is a part of life. We are refined through suffering and perseverance. I am well aware of that. But does that mean I have to be happy about it? I don't think so.

Anyway, so since my Mimi and my Pops have been handed a giant lemon, I am on my way to see them in three weeks and do what I can to help out. It feels strange to leave in the middle of my wedding planning and so close to my wedding day, but I know it's the right thing to do. So if some things at my wedding are a little bit funky or nonexistent...don't judge me!

Now on a brighter note, since I promise I am not all doom and gloom right now, my invitations are almost all completely printed! Only a few minor setbacks involving me smearing about fifteen of them while pulling them off the printer, but not a big deal! Have a dress fitting on Friday so I can get another box of invitations from Michael's. Which, p.s., has climbed steadily on my fave store list and is now pretty close to the top! I could spend the fortune I don't have in Michael's. I'd buy things that I would probably never use, like canvases. Every time I walk by the canvas aisle I think I should buy some. I don't know why because I have never really painted and I don't even own paint. Something about that store though...makes me think I could reach my full artistic potential...or something. Ha!

I feel like I need to say bye or something...is that weird? So...peace out!