We decided!

On December 18, we are picking up are new puppy! Paul and I are very excited to have a mini labradoodle puppy in our home. Of course it will be a lot of work since she will only be nine weeks old when we pick her up, but we both have two solid weeks of vacation-leave-break - whatever you want to call it. Paul starts his two week leave that day so we will have lots of time to break our little girl into our home.

We don't have a name picked out for her yet, so if you have any simple suggestions it would be appreciated!

Here she is at three weeks old.

Three week old cutie!

These were taken Monday, November 30 at six weeks.

She will continue to get curlier as she gets older and her hair grows.

I can't wait to bring her home!

Couldn't help it...

I know that being an officer wife I forfeited my right to belittle, disrespect, make offensive comments, etc about our Commander and Chief; however, I do not believe this video does any of that, so I couldn't help posting it.

Another satire video put out by Jib Jab. The video about the 2008 elections they did is just too funny as well.

Enjoy!!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Puppy?!

Paul and I have been seriously talking about getting a puppy when I move out to VA in December. We both feel like it would be good for me to have a little buddy when Paul is gone or when he is studying late. I am the type that if no one is there – this is really sad to admit – I will talk to myself. Not like a psycho that answers their self too, I just run through my day and what I need to get done.

Some of you that know me may be wondering why the change of heart. It seems like I don’t like dogs because I hardly ever pet them or like them, or their hair, all over me. I have come to realization that I am a clean freak and really despise when I go to pet a dog – or any animal for that matter – and have a smell and dander/hair on my hands until I can go wash them off. I consciously will not pet a stinky dog if I know I can’t go wash my hands within the next few minutes because I just feel like my hands are contaminated. The other thing I really don’t like about some dogs is the fact that they shed. I hate having little hairs stuck to me and everything else around me too. That is just my personality and how I am wired.

So in doing some research on dogs, we have found out a lot of new information about them. For instance long hair dogs usually shed less, some are hypoallergenic, some are genetically stinky and emit oils, and of course some are very smart and easier to train then others. In doing our research, we keep going back to a Labradoodle which is a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Poodle.

The Poodle is thought to be one of the smartest dogs and trains the easiest. They are hypoallergenic and of all the dogs they have hair that is most similar to humans (thus why people dye it colors). Their hair (I prefer calling it hair then fur since it technically is) only sheds when it is combed out, like a humans. I think Poodles get a bad rap because they do look really weird with their hair all trimmed off in some areas and not in others. However, I learned the reason behind it, and it is oh so fascinating. Poodles are French gun dogs and were trained to go into the water. Because it got really cold in the winter when they were used, they kept the necessary hair around their chest, hips, head and joints so that they wouldn’t lock up or get stiff in the freezing water. They shaved the rest because it was so thick and heavy many times it would weigh the dog down too much. Their name in French actually means “Splash”.

The Lab is very friendly and is known to be hyper for the first few years (compared to a two year old on a sugar high). Many Labs are mellow but it may be because of breeding another breed into their line somewhere. I guess a true breed will always have webbed feet and their legs will be as long as their body is deep. If that isn’t the case, their line is contaminated somewhere down the line. They are one of those genetically stinky oily dogs. This is because of their swimming habits (I mean come on, they have webbed feet) and it helps keep the water from soaking all the way down to their skin. This is probably why I developed the no touch policy with many dogs to not pet; we have owned labs all of my childhood and true to the breed, they were outside dogs. Living with farm animals compounds the smell on them, which is only natural considering they are outside. I feel bad that I really didn’t pet our dogs a whole lot, but that freaky ‘germaphobe’ thing and smell just prevented me. Poor Grizz and Remy! L

Being one who likes learning, I have set my hopes on obtaining a F1B or Multigenerational Labradoodle. They first cross a poodle and lab and from that offspring they take one (the F1) and breed it to a poodle. This results in a F1B offspring that has hypoallergenic non-shedding curlier hair, the boxy lab figure, and the stocky face of the lab. So in short, the body shape of the lab is mostly preserved but the hair is more of the poodle. Obviously the size of the Labradoodle can be configured based on the parental poodle. The standard Labradoodle weighs in anywhere from 35-55 pounds and can have the variations of coloring. If you straight cross a Lab and Poodle the results, in my opinion, is a Lab looking dog with wavy hair. They do not carry the hypoallergenic coat either. The multigenerational Labradoodle is just what the name says, it is crossed again and again with Labradoodles. I know, I like genetics way too much! ;) One thing we want to make sure we purchase a puppy is that their parents have been OFA certified in their hips. Poodles and Labs are prone to hip dysplaysia because of breeders focusing heavily on other characteristics (like color, size, demeanor, etc) instead of conformation. This needs to be done after the dog is two years old as the defect will normally be visible by x-ray then.

So this little guy is what we are looking at for our future dog. I can't help it if I like non stinky animals with smart brains! :)

Cross Country

On Thursday, October 8 Paul and I took off in our Saturn to begin the cross country adventure of moving to Virginia. Our belongings were packed up into a box the week before and had a head start moving via truck (we were praying it would arrive in a timely manner without being destroyed).

Thursday I attended my classes and then we headed off about 2 pm. We were fortunate to make it just across the border of Nebraska that evening and stayed in a rather dingy motel. Let's just say a fury cat greeted us at the counter/breakfast bar and it closely resembled the "Bates Motel".

Friday, my birthday, we drove through boring Nebraska (after stopping in Sydney at Cabela's) and made it half way across Missouri. By the time we checked into our hotel, almost everything to eat was closed except for the casino down the road. So being half starved, and since it was my birthday, we went to the casino's all you could eat seafood buffet. Missouri Casino+Middle of Nowhere+All you can eat seafood Buffet at 11 pm = make you wanna vomit. The people in there, the smell, and of course the atmosphere was let's just say less than ideal.

Saturday we made it all the way into West Virginia after hitting a Hawk in Illinois. Kentucky is so beautiful and we had fun gazing at all the sights through there and West Virginia. We got three different books on CD so we kept entertained for most of the drive!

Sunday we stopped in at the James Madison Museum in Virginia and oohed and awed over the beautiful country side. The museum was so very interesting and we learned some new information as well. Did you know that James Madison's cousin was also one of our Presidents? Also, did you know that Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were cornerstones of what is now Virginia Tech? And Lastly, that Dolly Madison is accredited with saving most of the White House Memrobilia when it was burnt. Pretty cool huh?

We finally made it to Fredericksburg, where Paul's Aunt and Uncle live, that evening and had dinner with them after checking into a hotel near their home. Thank you Aunt Lori and Uncle Hart for feeding us extensively during those couple days and being so hospitable!

That next morning I found myself in the high school that I will be student teaching in from January to April. It is a thirty minute drive from our apartment and I don't have a lot of traffic to go through - which is a blessing! It is very different than schools I am used to in Idaho/Utah and will be a challenge. It is a low socioeconomic school and is very culturally diverse (not to Virginia's standards but compared to what I am used to it is).

Our apartment is in Stafford, VA and is right off the highway which will make traveling easier. The complex is only a couple years old and is a step up from where we were at before; it has a pool and free breakfast in the lobby on Saturdays! I was struggling with getting the place set up in less than a week and only in the evenings as I was at school until about four thirty every day. We went to Ikea and up to Alexandria to get some furniture, which was such a steal and looks very nice.

I traveled that next Sunday to Indiana where I had the National FFA Convention for the next week. This year I had the opportunity to be the Assistant Talent Director and it was a blast! There are so many talented individuals and they blew me away! Most of these young people get scouted for the "big leagues" during convention by recording artists. Although the talent wasn't just vocals; we had a trick roper, pianists, violinists, and a dancer. It is kind of like America's got Talent but with WAY more talent. These people are screened before they even come to Nationals so they are on top of it. It was fun to be at Nationals again and see familiar faces. With over 52,000 students in attendance it was a wonder I ran into so many people I have known for awhile. Congrats to Meridian as they received 3rd place in Parliamentary Procedure and Kuna for their 3rd place Meats Team!

I am now back in Logan to finish out my semester...only seven more weeks until I move to Virginia to be with Paul for good! Paul started the Officer Course and is enjoying it immensely, although, he is waking up at 3:30 every morning and going to bed at about 11 pm. It is probably for the better that I am not there distracting him at this very crucial part of his training. His grade will determine how fast he will be promoted for the rest of his career and will also place him in his individual occupation. He definitely has a leg up as he is a prior enlisted and has been in for almost four years now.

Paul found a church, he thinks, in Virginia. It is Heritage Baptist Church and is doctrinally sound. It is a New Testament Church and has a heart for missions. They even have a military ministry for the guys around the area. He has made some "quick friends" and has the feeling that this is where we will be at for the next nine months. Please pray that if this is not the church for us that we would move to the one we need to be in. There are Baptist churches on every corner in Virginia so it makes it hard to weed them out as there are so many. We don't want to settle when we know there are good ones out there!

That's about it for now! I will update later...hopefully soon!

Our Founding Fathers would roll over in their graves...

Please check this video out below. Think while you are watching it that we cannot even allow religious plays, songs or prayers to be uttered in most public schools today. Funny how they just happened to use an old spiritual song...

Review Ordered of Video Showing Students Singing Praises of President Obama - Political News - FOXNews.com

These last few days I have been amused, horrified, and downright angry with what is occurring within our country. Our founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence in response to King George III oppression and tyranny. It wasn't to England, it wasn't to it's citizens, it was directed at the King.

If you haven't read the Declaration of Independence lately, you should sit down and read it. It doesn't take long, maybe ten to fifteen minutes of in depth ready, but it is worth your time to do so. It is scary how much our country is starting to line up with the accusations the founding fathers made to King George. Many men, like John Locke and Thomas Paine, believed that our government should be equal. All men would have a piece of the "crown" and that God's laws would rule.

James Madison, who penned our Constitution, did so that we the people would have checks and balances within our government and that we wouldn't have a "king". They made Congress, through the Great Compromise, a two part house consisting of representation and those two senators from every state. The main reason for this Legislative branch was to create voice for all Americans. Our voice is being suppressed by those currently in Congress who will not recognize our concerns (the most recent being the democrats in Congress voting to not allow the public to see the health reform bill until is is already passed and signed by our President).

Have we forgotten why we left England?

Has everything our founding fathers stood for been stomped on by corrupt politicians?

Would our founding fathers roll over in their graves knowing school children are being subjected to singing Presidential Praise songs?

What do you think?

White Pine Lake

I know, I know, I haven't been around much lately on this blog. I guess we have been pretty busy lately! :D

So back in August Paul and I backpacked in to White Pine Lake. It was almost five miles in by foot and was just gorgeous the entire way. I can't begin to describe so I will just post pictures (as they say, "A pictures worth a thousand words" right?). Paul got a brand new pack and sleeping bag, so it was nice breaking those in a little - and boy did that rather large purchase come in handy!

We really do love Cache Valley and are going to miss it here as we get ready to leave. This spot was only an hour from our townhouse and there are so many more opportunities for adventure close by as well.

Next up...Trip to Yellowstone!

Stanley, Idaho

In July, Paul and I had the opportunity to go up to Stanley Idaho with my parents for a camping trip. We had so much fun and really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with my parents.

We went hiking, rode the ATVs, glassed mountain goats at 10,000 feet, went to Red Fish Lake, Salmon Fished, toured a ghost town (Custer), and watched the Indians rape and pilage the land. Yes, I know it is 2009 and we have people (mostly which claim to be Indian) taking advantage of our wildlife. Those who know me understand that I am not a "granola" or a "tree hugger" but I get pretty upset when I see people taking advantage of what so many people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars - not to mention time - trying to conserve the future wildlife and game for tomorrow's generations.

Apart from the Indians, it was a great trip! :)

Here is a photo update!

On the hike in front of the waterfall.

My awesome parents at Red Fish Lake

Paul trying to act cool

Paul really getting cooled off instead

Our camping spot - got to mention that when we were kids we never had anything this nice. :)

Glassing the goats on the summit

Sunset on the Sawtooth Mountains

Another beautiful waterfall

Red Rish Lake

Eating camp food - steak and shrimp! :) Notice the grille in the back too! By the way, that is A-1 on the table in case you were thinking something different. :)

Next up....Hike into our camping spot in Cache Valley to White Pine Lake

I'm Back!!

Sorry for the delay in posting. This has been a crazy summer! For now I will update every once in awhile with some of the photo highlights thus far.

Let's start with H1N1...Swine Flu!

I really appreciate everyone's prayers as I recovered relatively quickly and had it as good as it could have went compared to other people. I guess all that Crossfit and Zone payed off too!

Sorry no photos of the actual "transformation" but here are some pictures of us secluding ourselves from the rest of the world during the week.

Paul sleeping on the beach.

Top of the summit overlooking Bear Lake. Half in Idaho, Half in Utah = Beautiful!

The Lake from the view on the sand.

The summit again...as you can see no snouts!

AHHH...Bear Lake! We shall miss your Raspberry Milkshakes and Bright Blue water.

Reading at the park.

Next up...Trip to Stanley!

Blog about China

So as not to repeat myself, or those who went with me on the trip to Asia, please find the general experience of our trip at http://www.thegrainboard.com/.  I will be posting pictures and personal highlights soon.  For those of you that wanted information now; there it is! Enjoy!

First Celebrity Swine Flu Fatality!

And we all know who the carrier is...

You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream!

One of our favorite things to do, and we don't do it that often, is go to Aggie Ice Cream.  Our campus creamery is so delicious, and well, CREAMY! :) 

Too bad we couldn't save any for the picture...it is just that good! :)

Yes, we are just being dumb - as usual! ;)

Graduation!

Saturday May 2, 2009 we celebrated Paul's graduation from Utah State Univeristy!  Paul's parents and my parents came up for the celebration and all the festivities.  Here is the proof in pictures...as they say, A Picture's worth a thousand words! :) 

 

 The walk in the rain from the Quad to the Spectrum... where thousands have walked before. 

I was being creative on this shot! ;) 

Paul was the "grille Master" and we provided shrimp and steak for our graduation celebration with our parents!  Yum Yum!! :) So much food... 

Dead Week

Maybe it is the end of the year banquets with free food (the steak last night was very yummy college of Ag). Maybe the green buds starting to appear on the tree outside my window. Maybe it is the flip flops that have come out of hiding to give way to give way to those ghostly looking toes. Or maybe it is the many final projects, papers, and exams that are starting to give way to that happy time of year...FINALS WEEK!! That is right my friends and fellow readers, next week is Utah State's infamous finals week, which means that we are currently in "dead week".

Dead Week is exactly opposite of what it means. I mean, when you think of the word, you think nice and easy. A relaxing break right? NOT! Dead Week is appropriately named after the way you feel come Friday - Dead Tired! Oh how I wish that dead week was nice and relaxing, that there were no presenations, no final papers due, and no assignments to worry about! Alas, that is a dream and here I am - Thursday of dead week, dead tired already, and still have one more day to go.

Did I mention that Saturday Morning I have to take the Praxis too? Lovely national test people have to set it up the weekend before finals...grrrr.

Eight more days....Eight more days....Eight more days....Eight more days...

In Honor...

In Honor of the 44th President of the United States, Baskin-Robbins Ice Creamhas issued a new flavor, " Barocky Road ."
Barocky Road is a blend of half Vanilla, half Chocolate, and surrounded byNuts and Flakes.
The Vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied asan ingredient.
The Nuts and Flakes are all very bitter and hard to swallow.
The Cost is $100. per scoop.
When purchased, it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, butthen the Ice Cream is taken away and given to the person in line behind you.
Thus you are left with an empty wallet, no change, holding an empty cone,with no hope of getting any Ice Cream.

Aren't you feeling stimulated?

It's almost here!

Paul is really getting down to the wire now as we have two more weeks of classes and then finals. He has his cap and gown, completed his grad packet six months ago, and four years of college will be wrapped up on one day!

His graduation is set to take place on Saturday, May 2. The graduates will assemble on the quad at 8:30 and walk to the Spectrum where they will be addressed as a whole. Then they will be dismissed as the various colleges will have their own individual ceremonies on campus throughout the day. Being in the Huntsman School of Business, Paul's graduation will be in the Spectrum at 2:00pm. If it tells you how short it will be, the next college starts theirs in the Spectrum at 4:00pm!

Missions Conference

This past week at Grace Baptist Church, we had our annual Missions Conference. We had pastor Dave Hardy and Mrs. Grace Hardy in for the conference and what a pleasure it was to have them! Pastor and Mrs. Hardy divided the men and ladies up twice so that they could speak to us openly. It was neat to come home and ask Paul what the general message was to the men while I relayed what Mrs. Hardy brought to us ladies.

Our missions conference ended Sunday night with faith promise cards being turned in and an international potluck (yum yum). Our church supports 46 missionaries and this year we pledged to give $38,000 to missions. For the size of our church, this is a large feat and we are proud to have a part in giving to reach lost souls in need of a Saviour.

I am reminded of the song So Send I You which goes like this:

So send I you to labor unrewarded,To serve unpaided, unloved, unsought, unknown,To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing-So send I you to toil for me alone.

So send I you to bind the bruised and broken,O'er wand'ring souls to work, to weep, to wake,To bear the burdens of a world aweary-So send I you to suffer for My sake.

So send I you to loneliness and longing, With heart ahung'ring for the loved and known,Forsaking home and kindred, friend and dear one-So send I you to know My love alone.

So send I you to leave your life's ambition,To die to dear desire, self-will resign,To labor long, and love where men revile you-So send I you to love your life in Mine.

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred,To eyes made blind because they will not see,To spend, tho' it be blood, to spend and spare not-So send I you to taste of Calvary.

Good Morning Vietnam!

I found out today I am going to CHINA and VIETNAM for an International Collegiate Agricultural Leadership program with eleven other college students from across America!! I am still in the schocked phase as I applied a month ago and have been waiting to hear back; today the call finally came!!!

Anyways...more to follow later. The dates are May 16-29 with a day of briefing in San Francisco before we leave. And yes, Paul is super jealous! ;)

Out...

Tomorrow is the official start of our spring break! We are driving home to Boise for the "break" where I will be doing my thirty hours of observation for my clinicals during the break and Paul will be acting lazy (I mean relaxing with family). :) I am actually really looking forward to this as it should be a great learning tool and also a great time with family.

So off to Boise tomorrow to be with high school students, family, and friends! For those of you in the Treasure Valley...we will see you soon! For those we are leaving in Logan...you only get a weeks break from us, enjoy it! ;)

Sickies

Paul and I had a great Saturday evening skiing with Matt and Annie at the Beav just a short distance from our home. It was a blast to just hang out and enjoy Christian fellowship with them, as they are close friends. However, that night and early morning was not so fun...

Paul was beginning to catch something like a cold on Saturday but we decided to go up anyways. He said he felt great on the mountain and even felt a little better with all of that fresh air. But in the wee hours of Sunday Morning the nasty sickness set in... Sunday morning saw me going to church and Paul laying in bed like a zombie.

That evening at church a missionary was in town. He is a missionary in Germany to our US troops. We both went, even though Paul was obviously not feeling well, because we wanted to hear him speak and be a blessing to Pastor. We are so happy that we went. He just bore all and ended up preaching/giving his testimony until 8:30 that night (service starts at 6:00)!! He had the neatest family and testimony. He was in the Army for five years and that is where he got saved was while stationed in Germany. He admonished us to witness to "every living creature" and not give up. After the service he told Paul and I that in his time in the Army he had led over 1004 people to the Lord, most of those were service men. WOW!! Talk about goosebumps!

Anyways...it is Monday evening and I have caught whatever Paul had (minus the coughing up blood). I learned last night that Dramamine works really well as a sleep aide....You should try it sometime!

Catch Up...again

This past weekend we started off the commercialized love holiday by going to the gym friday night. We absolutely LOVE our Sports Academy and Racquet Club (SARC) membership! It is right down the hill from us and it has the best facilities I have ever seen! The ladies changing room is all granite counter tops, rock floors, individual showers, has fresh flowers everywhere, and individual changing rooms. What I really like is that it has a cedar hot room, steam room, and hot tub right in there too!! They also offer free classes for members, racquet ball courts, indoor tennis courts, "no grunt" workout areas, indoor track, smoothie bar (yum), $5 monthly tanning (haven't done that), four swimming pools, and an outdoor hot tub open year round! Ok, now do you see why I love it?

Enough about that... so then we went out to the Olive Garden (thanks to the lovely Valentines gift card from Mom and Dad) and split a wonderful meal. Definitely like splitting as you also get all you can eat salad and breadsticks! ;) We then went home and watched "The Ringer" which I got him for Valentines. Paul has never seen that movie before! ;) Valentines day was very relaxing as we went out to "Taken" and made homemade roast beef Au Jus. It was great just to have a day to relax and unwind at home. Oh, and we also walked around the mall, and different stores, went to the bookstore, that fun kind of stuff!

The last couple of weeks have been intense for school work. Not anything hard for me, just labor and time intensive. Paul is getting senioritis, but is holding in there verily well! :) We are currently in the process of trying to figure out what to do this summer in regards to internships or jobs. Hopefully we will be led in the right direction! :)

Well, I am off again!!

PICS!!

I promised I would post some pics from the holidays. Here are just a few!

Jubalee our Niece

Christmas Eve at Paul's Grandparents

Rowan (our nephew) in the wrapping paper!

Dad on the rings in the shop

Christmas Lights above Boise with Laura, Grandma Young, and Mom