Easter Weekend

No one really has to read this post, its going to be long and kind of rambling. Its mostly just so I get it down. I am finding that my blog is turning in to my journal. I am much more likely to do this than write it down on paper. And I really want to get some scrapbooking done, but I haven't for a while, so its my scrapbooking too.

This Easter was a little different for us. We were going to go to Kimberly, but I had things going on in this neck of the woods, so we're holding off on Kimberly for a while.

Friday night I drove to Idaho Falls. I hung out with Abby and mom a bit and then picked dad up from the Salt Lake Express stop at 12:30 A.M. My poor mom was trying to figure out how she was going to be able to stay up and get him so I offered to do it. The next day I went to my cousin, Christie Call's baby shower. It was at Uncle Gary's house. Christie is the cutest pregnant lady! She is going to be a great mom. They are naming the baby Lynnli Dene. She got so much stuff at the shower! I made a knitted bib for her. Anyway, it was fun to see family there and chat a bit.

After the shower I drove back to Salmon with grandma and grandpa Stucki following me. They came up because Lindsey's husband Tyson got ordained to be an elder at Stake Conference today. They got to see our house, which they liked, but Grandma wasn't too impressed with Ginger. Every time people come over Ginger turns in to a slight nuisance. She doesn't jump on people as much as she used to, but she gets so excited and can't contain herself - kind of how I was when I was little and visitors came to the house....

It was neat to have stake conference on Easter Sunday. I really enjoyed the talks - which were mostly about how we can find happiness and how we are meant to be happy. It was special to be there for Tyson's ordination and to sit with my grandparents. I love them so much and am grateful for everything they do for me. They really are wonderful people and I'm so glad I have been able to be a part of their lives.

Later, we opened the Easter bags that mom sent up with me. That was fun! I love it when she does cute things for us! Then we just hung out, not doing too much. It was nice to have a relaxing day. I am glad that we get to celebrate the huge sacrifices that our Savior made for us every year. I am so thankful for all that He did for us and have a testimony that He loves us. I hope everyone had a great day!

Fun in Stanley!

We were invited to go to Stanley with some friends last weekend. It was a good time and cool because we were going to the cabin that we stayed at on our honeymoon. We got to be pretty lazy which was nice. I got to shoot a b-b gun for the first time and wasn't too bad at it. I played a new game - 99 or bust. We made ice cream in a bag, watched some movies, had a camp fire in the snow, and spent time with some awesome people. After I got back I felt thankful to live in Salmon instead of Stanley since there was still 4 feet of snow on the ground!

On the drive back we saw a guy by his truck on the other side of the river trying to put a spreading fire out with a shovel. We tried to see if we could get over to him and couldn't so we stopped by some people walking in Clayton and asked if they could call someone about it. Anyway, as we were driving we saw about 5 forest service firetrucks go out and an ambulance. We will probably never know what happened, but we sure hope that guy was ok. It was strange to see a fire so out of hand at this time of year.

And pictures!

Here's the cabin

This is where we stayed - the Bully Barn on a couple of cots because Joe couldn't bear to let Ginger sleep by herself. He's such a softie! Anyway it was still nice and warm in there. Ginger had a great time playing with the boys and in the snow!

Ice cream in a bag

The camp fire area that Ken and Kristina dug out. A lot of work!

I'm so glad that they had us up there. It was good to get away for a bit even if it was still winter where we went. I had been feeling a little jealous because my parents and Katie and Adam went on a cruise to Mexico, and Abby and Nate went to Arizona that same week. We still had a great time!

A fun drive

Yesterday we went on a drive to Haynes Creek. It was about 5 miles from our house and very pretty. Ginger had a blast playing in the mud. We really live in a beautiful place!

A great day!

Wednesday was my 26th birthday. I feel kind of old, and yet not - because I know Joe will always be older! :-) Love you honey! Anyway, they spoiled me at work. I got there and they had balloons all over the walls and happy birthday signs. I celebrated with the boss' wife because her birthday was the week before. They also got us flowers which are beautiful. We had pizza for lunch and Bonnie made us a cake (angel food with an amazing chocolate pudding frosting). They gave me some presents which I will post a picture of.

My Room...

The front desk

The cake


My presents

After work Joe and I went out to dinner at what we thought was an Italian place called Ungaretti's . In fact it used to be all Italian, but they are getting away from that for some reason... Anyway, we got hamburgers which were really good, just not what we had expected. I also got an Italian soda. We then went on a drive. It really was a good day!


This is a gift that my Aunt Sue sent me. It contained a card, some P.E.Z. candy and dispenser, and this toy for Ginger. I think it is funny that Ginger got a toy for my birthday! She loves it!

What I've been up to this week...

I got a lot done in the craft arena this week. First, I finished a silly project that I decided to make for my mom. The washcloth says, My Mom My Friend. Pretty cheesy!

Then I made this owl bib for a lady in my ward who just had her third baby named Bridger. I know it's kind of hard to tell it is an owl from the picture.

Tonight I went to a jewelry making party at my boss' house (It was his wife's party). It was a girl's night out and I had a lot of fun! I'm so glad Stacie invited me! So here are the pics of the two necklaces I made. It was so nice to get out of the house!!

I already had the earrings and I saw the pendant thing that matched perfectly so I had to make a necklace!

Joe bought me some earrings for Valentine's day at World Market in Bozeman. He knew these earrings were huge, actually the smallest he could find at that store, but they looked really cool. Anyway, the earrings hung down to my shoulders and were kind of heavy so we both decided I needed to do something different with them. I think its perfect now! The original earrings were like the pendant in the middle but without the green pearly beads. Joe is glad that I can now wear them!

So things are going pretty well for me. I've been trying to get more involved in things. I have the day off on Monday and am going to check out a quilting club to see what its like. Next Saturday I am signed up to learn how to knit socks at a class at the local quilt shop. I'm really excited for the class.

I also just wanted to write this down for my own memory's sake. My dad's father, my Grandpa Bob, passed away about a year ago. Today my dad was able to do his baptism, confirmation, and inititory at the Idaho Falls temple. I think that it is pretty awesome he got to do that. I also read some of my grandpa's papers, that my dad complied and they just really touched me. My grandpa was an awesome man. He had a really great idea called positive potential which involves changing your negative emotions in to positive emotions. I don't think he had everything right with his theory, but I am glad that I can learn from what he learned. Depression was something that ran in his family and I think that he was able to overcome that with his positive potential. I want to be more like that - to see the positive and be happy instead of dwelling on the negative. I am thankful to him for passing his experiences on so that I can benefit from them in my life. I love you Grandpa! There is power in positive thinking!

No more hamsters

I feel kind of bad that I forgot this on my last post, but unfortunately it got kind of forgotten with everything else that happened this weekend. We found our other hamster Pearl dead yesterday. It looked like she died in her sleep which is good. We sent her off down the Lemhi river like her sister. She was over two years old which is old for a hamster and I'm sure she missed her sister after she died.

We will miss having hamsters, but I think we are done with them. They just don't live very long and you can't play with them very well. Also it is easy to forget to feed them. We are glad that we had them, especially when we lived in apartments. Anyway, I just wanted to put this tribute to her on here because she was a good hamster - I know this all sounds very corny and all, but we loved her.

visitors

This weekend my parents, sister Katie, and her husband Adam came to Salmon to visit. I was so glad to see them! We had a good time, or at least I did. We mostly just hung out. We went on a couple of drives. Mom and dad took us out to dinner at the 28 Club which I really like. Dad and I made breakfast scones this morning and "the girls" and I made Fettuccine Verde and cheesecake for lunch. The visit ended too fast, but it was good. We didn't have too many problems with Ginger while they were here. Unfortunately mom and dad were woken up by a mouse in the wall and dad came downstairs to sleep. At least it wasn't crawling on them I guess... Anyway I'm just glad that they came. I love you guys! I wish Abby and Nate could have come too!

I got my first bountiful basket today. It had pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, blackberries, apples, bananas, broccaflower, asparagus, green beans, roma tomatoes, and romaine lettuce. I feel like I'm forgetting something... but I really do think this will help with the grocery budget. I had know idea how many people do this either. My basket was #86 and I think there were at least that many more after me. I think I'll keep doing it!

Ginger keeps growing. She is fully recovered from her spay surgery last month. She is teething right now and has no more primary front teeth, which is nice because those things are so sharp and pointy! We have fun figuring out new ways to play with her. He new favorite toy is a piece of Joe's old jeans. We are also trying to step up the training. We have to get the jumping up on people to stop. She is really pretty obedient though. She can catch the toy we throw to her and she likes to play fetch even though she likes to play keep away when she gets over to us with it.

Playing with her new favorite toy

She has fun trying to get it off her neck - its quite hilarious to watch!

I know some of you, well actually probably most of you will think this is weird, but I just have to say that I have a fascination with teeth, which is why I clean people's teeth all week. I just had to take a picture of one of the teeth Ginger lost. They are so cool - way different than people teeth. Anyway, its just a picture - I threw the actual tooth away, so you can think what you want. If you didn't already know I was strange then you don't really know me.

Well, this must be all for now because I need to work on my sunday school lesson for tomorrow and maybe take a nap!