One More Wish

I just found out that my friend, Kim, is back in the hospital with Leukemia again.  She just helped me get through a semestar of school.  She has shown me how to live.  She is the strongest woman I know.  And I know that she doesn't deserve this, but if anyone can fight through another round against cancer and win, it's Kim.  I have one more Christmas wish.  Please pray for Kim and her family.  May God be with Kim and her family during this hardship, and may Kim whoop Leukemia's booty!

Christmas Wishes

As Christmas is just around the corner, I'm starting to think of all the things I am wishing for this holiday season.  While a few are material things I would like, most are things you can't hold or see.  Here are just a few.

1. Happiness, joy, and peace for my family.  They've been through so much.  How about a year of peace?
2. Improve myself for my husband.  He puts up with more than any man should.
3. Christmas for every child.  I know that now especially times are hard.  I pray that wherever they may live, each child may experience a happy holiday.
4. I wish that I could feel the true spirit of Christmas.
5. And yes, I wish for a puppy.  I'd like to give a homeless dog a home.  Is that so terrible?
6. Last but most definitely not least, I wish that I could spend all of Christmas surrounded by those I love, my family.  Every single one of them.  I love you all so much!

May I survive this holdiay season, and may we all feel the Christmas Spirit.

Merry Christmas!

Our First Christmas Tree

It was so much fun and super exciting getting our first tree up.  Taner got the lights on, struggling only slightly.  It turned out so beautiful.  I love Christmas!!

Here's Taner putting on the lights.  He was quite upset that i took pictures.  :-P

Isn't he sexy??



Here's our tree with lights and decorations.  It turned out so beautiful!!  I love it!



This is Taner's naked santa wearing a bowling ball ornament.  Although I find it inappropriate, it's quite comical.

Here's our finished living room.  Complete with stockings hanging over the fireplace. 



I love Christmas and the spirit that it brings.  I love the Christmas carols and the family parties.  I love remembering what Christmas is all about.  Although working in retail has shown another side to Christmas, the one that matters always shows itself in the end, and reminds me that Christmas is a holiday of love and kindness. 

Our Mooies

We keep Steven and Ribsy in Hyrum at the Atwood Farm.  :-D  We go and visit and feed them about once a day.  I still claim that Steven (my cow) is the cuter one.  I'll let you decide.  They're getting so big!  I can't believe that come April we're gonna have that much meat.  Just for Taner.  Cuz I refuse to eat it.  I mean look how cute they are!  :-P  It has been fun raising them. It's a great time for me and Taner to just be together. 

Here's Taner with our cut mooies!  This is where we feed them.

Steven is on the left, and Ribsy is on the right.  Steven is definitely the cuter one right?

Here they are eating their grain.  Their horns are growing in, even though Taner and his dad used some kind of Horn-Be-Gone. 

It's definitely a fun experience taking care of some 350+ pound animals.  It's even more fun to be doing it with an amazing husband.  I love him so much!

Attempt to Logan Peak

A couple weekends ago Taner and I attempted to make it to the top of Logan Peak.  The drive was beautiful! Even the snow we got to was absolutely breath-taking.  I love going on long drives with my husband.  It's a good chance to just talk and see the beauty God has placed on this earth.  Even though we didn't make it to the top, I'm so glad we went, and I look forward to when we can attempt the drive again. 

Here's Taner driving.  He's so dang handsome!!



Here's Taner ankle deep in the snow!  So cold!!

Here's lil' ol' me.  I was freezing and refused to get out of the truck. 

Here's the road we were on.  It was so muddy!

Here's just one of the views.  It was absolutely beautiful.

Here's another view.  I love quaking aspens.  And it was so beautiful with all the snow.

Here's the truck.  You can't see it too well in this picture, but the running boards and up under the truck above the tires were caked in mud!  It was so much fun.



Visit to Cub River

Yesterday Taner and I went to my Grandma Degn's place in Cub River.  It was so much fun.  I haven't been there in so long.  It was so much fun to go and relive old memories. We made soome hamburgers and built a fire.  We cooked us some marshmallows over the fire and just relaxed.  It was such a good day, and it was so beautiful with all the leaves changing.  I told Taner I wished we could live there.  I love it, and I was so happy we took a visit to Cub River.  :-D

The building on the left is the family room, and the one on the right is the kitchen area.

Here's me on the tire swing that swings across the road.  It's been there forever, and I was scared the rope was gonna snap.  Lucky for me it didn't. :-D

Here's my handsome hubby getting our fire going. 

Here's me and the love of my life.  I was so happy to be able to share some amazing memories with him. 

This is just one of many beautiful scenes from Cub River.

I can't wait til it warms up and Taner and I can go camping here, hopefully with the whole family.  I have some great memories of Cub River, and I hope to make many more.

Fuzzball Attack

In our backyard we have a cute little fuzzy squirrel.  I haven't named him yet, but I've grown attached to hearing his dog-sounding barking noises he makes when he sees the neighbor's cat or Taner.  I've grown quite fond of him, but Taner throws things at him and talks about taking the cute little thing out of this world.  So it's no wonder that the cute little fuzzball doesn't really like Taner.  Today while I'm at work, I get a text from Taner.  It says that "my" squirrel attacked Taner.  Taner had been out cleaning the grill, and out of no where little fuzzball jumps off of the above branch and lands on Taner's shoulder!  Taner freaks out  and chases little fuzzball and throughs things at it, probably cussing all this time.  When things start to calm down, Taner realizes our neighbor, the primary president, is outside and has most likely seen, and heard the whole thing!  I've never laughed so hard as I did as Taner tells me this story.  I sure hope Taner doesn't hurt our squirrel.  The fuzzball attack really made my day.

Wishful Thinking

Today was definitely a not-so-wonderful day.  Sure work was awful and I didn't get anything done that I wanted to at home.  Not to mention that my next day off isn't until Wednesday, I have a Psychology test Monday, and no time to study. Oh, and just before I was supposed to leave for work, I realized that I couldn't get into my car due to a driver's door that cannot be opened from the outside and a passenger door I couldn't get unlocked. But all of this isn't what made today so awful.  I saw my husband for about 10 minutes this morning as he was getting ready to leave for work, and for about an hour and a half before I left for work.  After I got off his parents took us out to eat at Angies, which was absolutely amazing.  I was really grateful.  By the time we got home and after a few family visitors left, Taner was ready for bed.  I want to see more of my husband.  I wish we had more time together, just me and him.  Maybe I'm being selfish, but I'd really like a few days with Taner all to my self without work or school or anything on our To Do lists.  But that's just wishful thinking.

In Need of a Puppy Fix

Two nights ago Taner and I had a guest spend the night.  We had gone over to my parents' house for my dad's birthday.  My family had blown up 92 balloons for him, whcih filled the living room.  It was amazing.  You have to realize they blew them up with their own lungs!  A few of them had popped before Taner and I got there.  My little shih tzu Nutmeg, whom I had to leave behind, doesn't like balloons much.  My dad thought it would be hilarious to show me how she reacts when a balloon pops.  She tore out of there with her tail tucked between her legs and refused to come out my parents' bedroom.  I felt so bad for her!  Taner gave me permission to bring her home with us for the evening.  As much as he claims to dislike her, Taner sure likes to cuddle with Nutmeg.  He even gave in and let her sleep in bed with us.  That's right!  Taner let a dog on our bed!  He even said whenever I was in need of a puppy fix I could bring her over again.  Taner and Nutmeg have finally made friends. 

Brotherly Love

Well Taner's birthday seemed to be a good day.  Although my gift to him was a failure, I finally gave in and said he could buy a shotgun.  Now he can feel like a real man.  That is, if he's even old enough to buy one.  I guess we'll see.  After work last night, we met his mom, dad, and brother Kip at Copper Mill for dinner.  I must say that I love my new family.  Taner, I have discovered, needs to learn to relax.  Either Kip really knows how to push his buttons, or Taner just decides to get angry for the heck of it.  Entertainment was definitely provided.  Maybe it's all in the name of brotherly love.  I wouldn't know, being one of 4 daughters.  It really was a lot of fun, and I'm lucky to have married into such a fun and wonderful family.  And despite what Taner may think, he's lucky too.  The two of us are truly loved.  :-D

All Growed Up

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday.  And I must say that I am terrible at shopping for men.  You'd think being married to the man I would know what to get, but i just couldn't think of the right thing.  I hope that as we celebrate many more of his birthdays I'll do better.  More than anything I hope he's happy.  Most of the time I feel like I'm doing a terrible job playing the role of wife.  I tend to be cranky and snappy.  My birthday wish (do I get one on his birthday??) is that I will be happy with him all day long and not rag on him or act upset.  I want to make his birthday as close to perfect as I can.  He deserves only the best.  So don't forget to wish Taner a happy 20th birthday!  My hubby's not a teenager anymore. He's all growed up.   :-)

Bite Me

I do not like it when people tell me what to do.  In fact, I get a bit angry.  Well, I learned the hard way to just keep my mouth shut.  The other day Taner informed me that my car needed to be cleaned out.  I told him to bite me, and guess what....my wonderful husband actually bit me!  :-P  He came in like he was going for a kiss, and instead he bit my chin.  It kinda hurt!  I will never say Bite Me again.  At least not to Taner. 

Date Night

Tonight I got off work a little early and my husband took me out to eat at Sizzler.  I sure hope that Taner takes my grandpa's advice and takes me on a date once a week.  I love not having to attempt to cook, clean, or feel any stress at all.  Taner must have known that I needed a night out after my last dinner attempt.  He really is so sweet and way too good to me.  Someone told me the other day that she couldn't believe I traded my dog for a man.  I jokingly told her I couldn't either, but I'm so glad I did.  Even though he leaves the seat up without fail and insists on being a neat freak, I wouldn't trade him for anything.  :-D 

Cooking: A lost cause

Well, I have come to the conclusion that Taner is a much better cook than I.  Tonight I attempted to make a taco soup, and I failed miserably.  It had hardly any flavor and it definately wasn't like mama fixed it.  Some days I wish I had spent more time in the kitchen growing up.  I ruin even the simplest of recipes.  Taner faked like he liked it, then suggested we dump the leftovers in the toilet.  The truth did come out in the end.  I do believe I will be letting Taner do the cooking for the next couple of days til I get the nerve to set foot in the kitchen again.