Art Festival

Chris and I went over to the art festival with Nathan. We had only done one row when he got a phone call. He was supposed to be at work. Evidently he looked at the wrong week. We ran him home and then went back.

Here are a few things that I liked. This is a wood inlaid mirror. They had several different ones and they were beautiful.

This was one of the metal sculptures sprinkled around.

These were beautiful too. They were bonsai trees made if metal and rocks.

Metal shoes! Chris asked why someone would make these. I thought they were really cute. They would be a great gift for a shoe lover.

Chris and I spent some time in a photography booth. The photos were done by a couple. Lot of flowers and landscapes. Chris said that when he retires he would like to take up photography like me. Then we could spend weekends doing photo shoots together. That was a surprise. I didn't know he was interested in photography. It would be so fun to do together.

 

Ron and Katie

I was a few minutes late for Sacrament. I looked around for Ron and Katie, but didn't see them. I assumed that they didn't make it. Chris and I had just sat down in Sunday School when they waked in. They attended all our meetings. They had been there earlier. I just didn't see them. We exchanged email and phone numbers. I would really like to do something with them as couples.

New Friends

I met the most interesting couple tonight at work. They were my last table. We started talking as you do often to guests. I couldn't believe all we had in common. They were on their way up to Brianhead to ski. They are from Vegas. He told me his conversion story. He was in the Air Force when he joined the church just like Chris. She was from Brazil. This is his second marriage. His youngest son was with them.

Right before they left they asked if I lived close. I told them that I lived over by the college. They asked what time we had church. I told them 1:00. They said they would stop on the way home and go to church with us. I think that would be great. We will see if it happens.

 

"Oz the Great and Powerful"

Mom and I went thought the boxes of genealogy that I had. She picked out the things that she wanted. She packed a small box for the trunk.

She offered to treat us to a movie. We went and saw "Oz the Great and Powerful". This was kind of the back story on Oz and the Witches. I really liked it. It was good seeing a different perspective.

 

 

Mom Arrives

Mom came in tonight. She came so that she could pick up some of my dads stuff that she had given me. She wants to start working on some histories and genealogy. I knew that we would want to do most of that on Saturday, which is my shopping day.

I took the day off today. I spent the morning working on the house and then went shopping. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. I didn't get home until about 6:00. Mom had been at the house for about half an hour. At least this visit I'm a bit more mobile.

CB Pre-Orientaion

Nathan had to be at a pre- orientation at 5:00 today. He had to bring his I.D. I was just going to drop him off, but decided to ask how long he was going to be. All Quinn did was write down his numbers and he was done. I would have been really upset if I had left him there. Waste of time and gas. I guess he is ready for training now.

Nathan Has a Job

Nathan got hired at Cracker Barrell tonight as a host. That is after they lost his application twice! I'm not sure he is as thrilled I am. I've been telling him for a couple of months he needs to start earning money for his mission. It is just part time, but it is better than nothing. Good life experience too.

Sandia Nusery

Chris and I went to the nursery this morning. I love going and picking out plants. This trip we got broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce and red and yellow onion sets. It is a start!

 

Garden Boxes Ready

Came home from work tonight and Cris had completely redone the garden area. I mentioned a couple of sprays ago that I thought we needed to completely revamp the soil in the boxes and we couldn't afford to do it. Chris said he would take care of it. He isn't using the square foot gardening formula. He just mixed in a lot of manure to our regular soil. Guess it is time for a trip to the nursery.

 

Chris Eating Thai

Chris decided to surprise me tonight. He decided to be brave and try Thai food. I love it and he wanted to surprise me.

The food was great. He really liked his. He thought it was better than Chinese. He said he would eat it again. I had to take a picture for proof. I told him that no one would believe it. I tell him he is a food wimp all the time.

 

Battleship

We had movie night tonight. Watched the movie"Battleship". Not bad. It's a challenge to find a movie none of us have seen, and that we can all agree on. I love curling up with all my guys. I love spending time with them.

Nathan's Prom

After they were all dressed they headed over to the studio. Landon's dad is a professional photographer. He offered to take their pictures. Thanks to Nick Adams photography these are amazing.

They had dinner at the studio. They had it decorated in a Halloween theme.

They had a relish tray, pizza and cake for dessert. Landon's mom and sister served them.

JR and Deboney

Nathan and Markie

Landon and Brianna

I thought this one of the three guys was really fun.

This is my favorite one of the whole group that day. Love it. He's getting so grown up!

 

Nathan's Pre Prom

I'm not sure how it is everywhere else, but in Utah, the dates for the big dances are all day affairs. They begin with the pre date and then comes the dance. This year Nathan went to prom with two of his best friends, J.R., and Landon. They began at Sunset West Bowl.

Nathan and Landon

Watching the girls pick out their bowling balls

 

Nathan and J.R.

Getting ready...

Grandpa would love that form!

J.R. Won by 5 points. Nath came in second.

After bowling they went over to one of the local parks for lunch. Everyone contributed to the meal.

When boys get together...

J.R. And girlfriend Deboney

Landon and girlfriend Brianna

After hanging out in the park for a while they all went over to Brianna's. the guys played video games while the girls got ready for the dance.

Markie and Brianna

Nathan as the driver, styling in his tux.

 

Valentines

Decided that I was going to make the guys in my house a Valentines breakfast. I got up and made French toast which they all love. I took out one of the last bags of frozen sliced sugared strawberries out of the freezer. I thickened them which a little cornstarch and made syrup. Covered that with whip cream. They were works of art and I forgot to take a picture. Oh well!

Chris posted this picture that. He made for me on Facebook. So cute.

Chris and I are both on diets and I had been craving cinnamon bears. I bought a small package to share with the boys for Valentines. I discovered after all of this time that none of the guys like them. I did go to the store and bought three sugar cookies. I only wanted one with no left overs.

 

Prom Preparations

Nathan came into our bedroom Wednesday night and said that he wanted to ask a girl to Prom. He has been on several dates, but they have either been set ups from his friends or the girl has asked him. This is the first one that has been his initiative. He wanted to know if we would help him pay for it since he hasn't found a job yet.

Yesterday morning I asked him if he had a date or not. He said he didn't know. He hadn't asked her yet. I told him he had to give her some notice. A week isn't much time. You can't ask a girl to a formal on short notice. Especially if she doesn't have a dress. A lot is based on the dress. The guys tux and her corsage are based on it. You can't do that at. He last minute. He texted me later in the morning and told me she said yes, and no she didn't have a dress!

We were talking this morning and he is going to double with is friend Landon. Landon's dad is a photographer and so he is going to take their pictures for them. That will save a bit of money. I can't believe how much they charge.

This morning I got him up and we went to get him fitted for his tux. He chose this really nice striped one. We will have to call them with the color for his shirt, tie and vest when we find out.

The coat looked really good on him. It is a bit slimmer cut. I wish I was going to be home. It stinks that I have to work that night. Thank goodness for pictures.

 

Pulmonologist

Due to the strain of flu rampantly going around this year, and my predelictinon for bronchitis and pneumonia I found myself in Instacare about two weeks ago. Sure enough I had bronchitis again. I mentioned that I was very probe to it. The doctor asked me if I had ever seen a pulmonologist about it. I said no. He said since I have a chronic cough and can't seem to get rid of it that I should consider it. He referred me to one here in town.

I thought about it all day and decided it is something that I really need to do. I can't seem to go more than a couple of weeks without coughing issues for one reason or another. I think most of it is allergy based and then my asthma kicks in. It is driving everyone at work crazy. I need to figure out how to get to the base of the problem and get it fixed.

Today was my appointment with Dr. Saifee. I really liked him. It was rather amusing that I hadn't coughed all morning. Tina, my boss said she didn't wish me ill, but hoped that I would have a coughing spell while I was there. Sure enough I started to check in at the desk and I started coughing. He did hear it!

We talked for a while and he asked me lots of questions. He told me when they have someone that has a chronic cough they usually have three causes. Heartburn, asthma and allergies. Thanks to Murphy's Law, I have all three. Now it is just a matter of deciding which it is, or the combination of them.

He told me to change the time that I take my GERD medication from night to morning, he gave me a nasal steroid that I need to use twice a day, and I am to go get something called a medi pot and clean out my sinuses twice daily.

He questioned me on being exposed to TB. I haven't been out of the country in the last couple of years, not from lack of wanting too! He also sent me for a couple of blood tests. One was an allergy panel and the other was for whooping cough. He is just covering his bases, but that struck me as funny. Whooping cough is highly contagious. I would think if that was the problem I would have infected half of the town by now.

He has scheduled me for a lung function test next week. After that I am to use my inhaler twice daily religiously. In three weeks I will go back for an evaluation to see where I am.

I was really impressed with him. I really felt like he wanted to take the time to get to the root of the problem. I didn't feel like a number which i do sometimes at my GP. He was recognized the fiscal issues and said that if I would find out which brand that my insurance would cover he would change the prescriptions to that brand.

I'm grateful that Heavenly Father inspired that dr at Instacare to recommend this. I'm so grateful that he often meets my needs without me asking!

Hit and Run Ann

Ann came home briefly tonight. She came to pick up her new roommate. Alayna has been living in Mesquite and is getting a divorce after 9 months. She is going to move down with Ann and they will share expenses. Hopefully this will help Ann get back on her feet. Living on your own is hard.

I left work early and came home and made dinner. I made Ann's recipe for baked ziti. It was really good. We had dinner and then Alayna went to say goodbye to some friends. Ann's friend Erica brought over her new baby. He is 2 1/2 months old and had tons of dark hair. He was really cute. It is hard to believe that these girls that she hung out with are now young moms.

Erica was commenting that during Spring break they were taking the baby to meet grandparents. His great grandparents. I said yep, that's what you have to do. Ann asked if that was a hint. I said no, I had flight benefits. I'll come see mine a lot when I get them! She just laughed.

Test Scores

With Nathan being a Junior this year he is starting all of the testing that they do for jobs and college. He showed Chris and I a couple of them this morning.

The first one was the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). He it an 82 on that one. He was told that was a really good score. Over half of the class didn't even make a 70.

The other was the per ACT. He got a 21 on that one. There were several sections that he didn't complete all of it, so that can only go up.

Update on Chris' Job

This week has been physically challenging for Chris at work. He is loving the job, but he is coming home exhausted. He says he doesn't quit moving all day. Mon and Tue he was in bed by 6:30. Wed 7:00 and last night about 8:00. He says this requires being in a different kind of shape.

I texted him this morning about 11:00 and asked him how it was going. He said it stunk...literally. He and Zack were at the pig farm in Minersville. He sent me this picture saying this was a portion of the extinguishers they were doing.

A couple of hours later they were finally finished. They ended up with 405 as the grand total. Here is even more of them.

He told me a little more about the job tonight. Evidently Zack is training him on all the stuff that he, Chris, will be doing. He will be in charge of all of the businesses. They have the contract for the city and the hospital, etc. he says after he goes home Zack stays and works several more hours. Zack's part of the business is the fire suppression systems in the restaurants here in town. There is plenty of work to be done.

 

Celebrating at Bucca

Chris really wanted to celebrate his new job tonight. He chose to go to Bucca di Beppo. Chris will always celebrate with Italian food. We ordered our dinner. I had chicken, Chris and CJ were sharing Steak Parmesan and Nathan ordered a pizza. Nathan's pizza came out and then we waited and waited for the other two entrees. Finally we said something to the server. There had been a mix up in the kitchen. They offered us a free dessert.

The guys decided they wanted the brownie sundae. It was colossal. As per typical guys they decided to have a puke contest. Or who would give in first. Nathan has the most common sense!

 

Fudge Cake

Fudge Cake

Cream together 1 T butter and 3/4 cup of sugar.

Sift together:

1 c flour

1/4 t salt

1 t baking powder

1 1/2 T cocoa

Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture alternating with 1/2 cup milk. Pour into buttered pan (oblong baking dish). Sprinkle top with 1/2 c chopped nuts.

Mix well: 1/2 c white sugar, 1/2 c brown sugar, 1/4 c cocoa. Sprinkle this on top of cake batter.

Pour: 1 1/4 cups boiling water over all the cake. Bake in 350 oven.

This recipe of my grandmother's intrigued me. It has no eggs, very little fat, and you pour boiling water on the batter. I didn't understand how it could work. I had to try it. I have to say it was amazing. It is like a fudge lava cake. I could have eaten the whole thing.

The more I thought about it the more I wondered if this wasn't a Depression cake. No eggs and very little butter would fit the criteria. I highly recommend it.

 

New Job

Had a bad night with a stomach bug. Called in to work. When I got up this morning Chris was really excited. He got a job. I guess he interviewed for it Monday. He didn't tell me because he wasn't sure if anything would come of it.

 

He will be working for Alliance Fire and Safety. He will be inspecting and recharging fire extinguishers for the businesses here in town. This job is just what he wanted. He is not in banking. He will not be sitting at a desk all day and he won't be selling. His office will be his van. He will be on the go all day and it will be different every day. We are really excited. He is starting this afternoon. Zack, the boss, is just going to have him follow him to give him an idea what he will be doing.

Recipes

Mom sent me a whole package of recipes for the family cookbook. They are from her, grandma, great grandma and Aunt Louise. Can't wait to start typing them in.

Chris' Birthday

Today was Chris's birthday. I blew it big time. We were slammed last night. I'm not used to it anymore and I was really tired. My boss came up to me last night right before he left and asked if I would work tonight. I wasn't thinking about Chris' birthday and said yes. It didn't dawn on me until I walked in the door last night what I had done. I had the wrong day. By then it was too late to back out.

I told Chris this morning and understandably he was hurt. When we came home from church I made a quick skillet lasagna dinner. We ate and then did presents. I didn't even have a cake. I was thinking Monday for some reason. Sorry Chris, next year I promise to do better.

Blog Book

When I came home from work tonight our blog book had come. It isn't large, but it is printed. 2008-2009. Now I just have to work on 2010 and 2011.

 

New Year's Day

Chris took the initiative this morning and took all of the Christmas stuff down. As much as I love it, by New Years I'm ready to see it go. It's nice to have more room.

I had to go into to work today for a couple if hours. We are running payroll tomorrow and I wasn't ready. Too much to do when one of us is gone. I came home and the boys and I checked movie times for "Les Mis". It came out Christmas Day and I really wanted to see it.

There were two 30 second scenes. One not so bad that I was expecting. The other I wasn't. There was no reason for it at all. Overall I thought it was excellent. Nathan really liked it. CJ said it was okay, but he wasn't that into it.

We went across the parking lot and got Costa Vida for dinner.