Curtains I built

This is the house that Scott lives

This is the orange counter top from the kitchen in the house that Scott lives

This is same counter tops (w/o flash) from 1972, in the kitchen, in the house that Scott lives.

These are little flower, not from 1972, in the kitchen in the house that Scott lives.

These are the curtains I built, with the little flowers, not from 1972, in a kitchen from 1972, in the house that Scott lives.

As you know the house Scott and I live in has some home improvement projects. We decided not to change the counter top and cabinets in the kitchen just yet. In fact I picked out a paint color 'Sweet Potato Pie' to paint the walls to match the counter tops. Scott saw this orange flowered fabric in Walmart (the only fabric place in Vernal). He bought me some and I made curtains yesterday. I am pleased to say I like the curtains! I like rockin the retro 70's kitchen! 

I might keep the yellow stove now! Go 1970!!!

Sweet Suzie

I never wanted to be the kind of woman who posted about her puppy like she was a baby or something. It is with much chagrin and hesitation I make this post.

We have had this little pup in our home for over a week. It has been quite a week! Potty training, leash training, name choosing, whine ignoring, bite teaching, job hunting and more!

We decided to name her Suzie. She is sweet like my mom Susan. After 1 day of calling Suzie consistently she now comes to when her name is called. Good thing we finally decided on a name. She covered her nose in the above shot by chance it is so sweet. Now the picture below is of her sleeping. No lie-mouth open, legs in the air. It was funny.

We got Suzie when she was 4 weeks old. We did not know she was so young when we got her. We thought she was older. Regardless we now have her. I wish she had 4 more weeks with her mom and litter mates to learn more about biting, peeing, etc. We have been trying to be consistent with our training but it gets hard at times. Luckily we dont have carpet right now so all mistakes are easily taken care of. 

She can go up and down the steps outside to the lawn. Sometimes she sits at the top and whines to have us lift her down. 

Scott and I have been really busy out in the yard this week. We took down parts of the damaged chain link fence and replaced it with good. We are in the middle of moving the wood pile (we have a wood fireplace for main source of heat) which is a lot of wood-about 6 cords. Suzie has been so put out to not have our undivided attention. She is spoiled after only 1 week. 

Scott has been working as a water hauler in the oil fields. He drives semi truck full of heavy water from the pumps pulling oil and water out of the ground and the separator heats the product up and separates the oil and water. Scott works hard and takes pride in his work. He has been frustrated with his boss Gordon Howell. Gordon is in my opinion an honest simple idiot. He has fought Scott from day 1 about paying Scott for work he has done. At first Gordon refused to pay for drive time-drive from the shop to the job location with the company truck. This time is about an hour to and hour back. Scott talked to Gordon and he agreed to pay for drive time. I am thinking how does Gordon expect his truck to get to location? The truck is how Gordon earns money. The truck hauls water and the truck bills the oil company for the load. So the truck is essential to earning money for the company. How is travel time to location not work? Regardless to what I think Scott got it taken care of and he and only he got paid for drive time. All of the other employees are not paid for 2 hour daily drive time. 

Gordon then would not pay for Scott to wash his truck after his week of work. The trucks go on dirt roads and are packed with mud and dirt and oil field grime. It is not a quick wash. Scott decided not to wash his truck ever again. About 3 months later Gordon had a required monthly meeting (unpaid-ugh dont get me started on this) where he told everyone that they were now required to wash their trucks weekly and since he couldnt bill out for the wash he could not pay them for washing the truck. Scott went ballistic. 

I wished Scott could have quit right then and there, but he didnt. He went to work one more day and there was a paper waiting for Scott to sign stating that Gordon Howell Trucking required employees to wash their trucks without pay. Scott refused to sign the paper and called in sick 2 days then quit. 

I am still amazed that Gordon is worried about 2 hours of pay when the truck bills out thousands of dollars a day. I am so irritated at this man. I cannot believe he is still allowed to do business and that some government agency has not fined his company out the wazoo.

The point of this rant is to make note of the fact the Scott was such a good worker it took him 3 days to find another job. He was also reported by the pumper (guy who runs a large group of pumps) as the best guy to go to in all the 4 water hauling/crude hauling companies he deals with.  I am so lucky to be with such a great hard working man!  He is so patient and tries hard to give jerk bosses a chance to make things right.

This robin was sitting on the fence post yesterday. When I was a child my grandmother used to always get so excited when she saw robins flying around. She said it was the sign spring was really truly here. She said flowers grew and temp rose but they were not true signs of spring's arrival. I loved the robin so much. I wrote a report for 1st grade. It was my first oral report and I chose the robin. I still have the report. My sweet mother laminated it and everything! I did not see many robins in Portland and have missed their signal of spring. I am so thrilled spring is here and yet I am dreading the hot temps of summer. I will miss Portland's mild spring and summer. 

Beloved PI day

Yesterday was 3.14 which is pi day in my world. Scott has chuckled at my celebration of such a great day but has played along well. One night I was doing my usual pre-sleep ramble and I said On Wed do you want pie all day long? Scott said umm no we cannot eat pie all day long. I laughed and then explained my brilliant plan-

Breakfast Quiche

Lunch pocket type sandwiches

Dinner Chicken Pot Pie and real pie

Scott laughed and said whatever I wanted we would have.

Well what actually happened was a trip to Salt Lake City to finally get our car remote programmed to our car. While waiting for the car we went to lunch and enjoyed a Chicago Style Pizza Pie.

Scott and I enjoyed the movie John Carter after filling our bellies. After the movie we still had time to burn and we saw a nail salon. We went up to the store and saw it was empty. The worker came out and worked her persuasive skills and got us both to get pedicures!

I was so proud of manly Scott getting a pedicure. It was his first one and the massage chair was his favorite part!  I cannot tell you how much it meant for me that he braved the ingrained gender roles and indulged with me. He is more of a man in my eyes just because he did this girly thing. After our pampering we got our car with working keyless entry and went to have dinner with my friend Andrea and her mother who is visiting from Indiana. It was a wonderful meal!

On our way home to Vernal we stopped by The Hubs cafe in Heber to have some traditional pie.

My coconut cream

Scott and his banana cream. The pie here was home made and wonderful! The bananas were fresh and not brown. It was such a great ending to a wonderful day! Our trip to Salt Lake turned out wonderful. We listened to Hunger Games audio book. Scott is almost ready to watch the movie. He kept affectionately chuckling every time I cried. The book has quite a bit of power. The words, story, and connection of the main character really speak to my soul on many personal levels. 

Scott and I made another stop on our way home last night. While in Salt Lake City we got a text saying our puppy was ready. Scott knows a woman from work who has a schnauzer and a cocker spaniel. Nature took it's course and she was blessed with 3 puppies. She calls them schnockers. Scott has wanted a puppy as long as I have known him. He loves dogs. I am not a dog hater nor am I a dog lover. Scott wanted to get this puppy. I agreed thinking logically this would be ideal time to train a puppy since I am not working and we dont have carpet yet. So here she is cuddled up next to my leg looking so cute.

She is tuckered out after eating a huge breakfast. She and I were watching Looney Tune cartoons and she passed right out. 

She is a sweet dog. I am totally inexperienced with potty training and such so I have been reading online and trying hard to not have an accident inside. She is a cuddler and misses her brothers. I hope she works out and I hope I can open my heart to let her in. She loves Scott so much already, and has been ok with me today. I think she will be a great dog and be a good companion for us. 

I cannot wait to take her camping for Memorial Day!

Order and Sunshine

Have you ever merged two pantries? It is difficult for a woman like me who likes order and rotating food. Scott and I are both food storage believers. While we are not extremest. We do pick up extra cans of tomatoes or stock up during a good case lot sale. I have this cupboard/closet full of odds and end food stuffs. Imagine the chaos of 3 open spilling bags of long grain white rice, 2 open bags of powdered sugar, 3 jars of creamy peanut butter open as well as tubes of crackers. I also had 5 containers of Crystal Light open yet that did not bother me as the 5 containers were different flavors. 

I worked all day organizing and placing the food stuff back in order. The pantry looks like a mess yet I know where everything is now. Until I can work through the open containers and get everything down to just ONE open package I wont be happy. The open peanut butter jars are just begging to be baked into something sinful, while the crackers filled the trash bin I predict that the powdered sugar will be down to one bag soon enough. I cannot wait to have Ziploc bags reduced down to one box per size! As you can tell I dont need to have every box, can and package faced and lined up but I do need to only have one open at a time. I do not like to see food spoiled or wasted due to lack of planning on my part. It is hard merging two pantries.

When I visited Scott during Christmas 2011, he bought a car. The car was for me. He joked that the car was a bribe to get me to move to Vernal and marry him. Not that is not the reason I decided to move and marry Scott; but I do like the car. It is a 2010 Mazda 6. I still remember the night I landed in Utah. I was so excited to see Scott. I was anxiously waiting curbside for Scott to pull up in his Explorer. The traffic was heavy and I was standing trying to hold this spot open for Scott when a Mazda pulled up. I was glaring at the car and chanting in my head, "This spot is not for you Mazda keep drivn" when I looked at the driver it was Scott! I was so thrilled to see him and to see him in a new car! I was so impressed that he picked out the car himself! He is such a wonderful man and I am thankful for his bribes and for the perks he gives me!

I took some silly pics of myself the other day. I got dressed up with contacts, curled hair and make up and cute outfit. I took pics of myself. Later in the afternoon I went outside to stack wood. I took out my contacts, put hair in a pony, got old t-shirt on and took pics of myself. I hate to say I like the scroungy ones better. Maybe I am a small town, low maintenance girl, or maybe I look better plain whatever the reason I am glad for sunny eye squinting days-and a car!

Never Ending

In January I decided to marry Scott on Feb 29. Leap Day! What a great day to be married. Well as you know that plan was vetoed. What was not vetoed was the honeymoon! 

Original plan was to relax on Feb 29, but due to weather Scott offered to leave a day early so I could go see my family in Delta in safety. I was so touched that he volunteered to give up his day of relaxation to drive to beat the snow. 

I was glad we did. Just as we got checked into our hotel in Springville it started snowing. We window shopped for bathroom cabinets and wedding bands. We did not find any bathroom cabinets but I did find a wedding band I really liked. We walked away from it since we did not have the cash to pay for it outright. It was very hard to walk away-harder for Scott to walk away from something I wanted.

We woke early the next day and ventured to Delta. The roads were not very good but we made it thanks to Scott's wonderful driving skills!

I was so thrilled to spend the day with my parents. I have missed them so much. We enjoyed the day and played cards and games and ate wonderful food. We had so much fun with Mom and Dad and Jo Ann. Just as we were leaving my brother Daniel said he would be there in a couple hours with his new fiance, Hilaree. We waited around for them. Three hours later I decide to leave. Scott was willing to stay as long as I wanted. It was getting late and I could hear that hotel room calling HONEYMOON. As we were giving farewell hugs Daniel and Hilaree arrive. I was able to meet her for 5 minutes. She is so cute and I am thrilled my brother is getting married! I felt bad leaving but after getting to Springville and the storm came in I was really glad to be safe and off the road. 

The rest of the weekend we did whatever we wanted. We went sofa window shopping and ended up finding exactly what I wanted. Again I forced us to walk away with out a purchase. it was so hard. We need a sofa and it was such a good price. Scott even said the other day that we should have charged the sofa and love seat and rented a Uhaul and drove it home to Vernal. I dont agree. I would rather not be pressured or in debt for a purchase. It took a lot of restraint but we did it. 

I was able to spend Parade Day (the best day to have a parade is March 4th because we march forth-ha ha) with my dear friend Andrea. It was her birthday and a perfect way to spend a day! 

Scott and I took some time Sunday to drive by the Oquirrh Mountain temple.

We got a shot of the sun behind the temple. It was such a beautiful day

We also drove to the Draper temple and timed it correctly also. The sun was very cooperative! 

I loved driving to the temples. It was a perfect way to end a Sunday and end a honeymoon.

Monday we drove to Vernal and enjoyed the day together. After 6 solid days of spending time with Scott without a break I wanted more. This surprised me. I am and have been alone much of my life. I like my alone time. I dont feel the need for alone time when I am with Scott. This new feeling is shocking and wonderful. I pray the feeling and the honeymoon never end! 

Too Pre-Occupied to take Pictures

I am sitting in a living room with no carpet, boxes with odds and ends, paint chips taped to the wall, my hair is curled, make-up on and I am still in my pajamas. I have been experiencing a sore throat for the last 3 days. I keep looking down my throat with a flashlight and not seeing anything bacterial I have just been drinking more water and going about life. Last night I lost my voice. I hate that. I feel fine but sound horrible. My mom called me prior to my horrid 1 pm church time and was upset by how sick I sounded. I am laughing because I feel better than before and I am almost old enough to have a grandchild and my mom is still worried about me; and I am laughing because it was almost noon and I had not spoken all day and did not know how bad my voice was.  Scott left at 4:40 am for work and I have not spoken since.

Well I opted to stay home from church. I am sure I have some viral thing that is normal to Vernal-ites and since I am new my immunity is not up to par for these small town bugs. I predict I will be fine and survive this with no problems or complications!

I was reflecting on the 3 weeks I have been here and I realized how easy it is to be with Scott. Time has gone by so fast. I went to a dental conference for the necessary continuing education (ce) credits I need for my license. I have also taken 10 hours worth of ce online for pharmacy technician license. Between my two licenses and two states I have had to keep a lot of ce credits. I have to get 10 more pharmacy ce hours done before March 31 and 3.5 more dental ce hours by May. This has taken me a lot of time.

I also enjoyed a day at the Manti temple because my sister Jo Ann took out her endowments. It was wonderful to be with my siblings, and other family! I am so grateful for my chance to attend the LDS temples! They give me such perspective, blessings, and peace.

Today is Scott's birthday. He had to work-hence my vow of silence, so we celebrated yesterday. Scott wanted a new pair of cowboy boots. I looked at his old pair which have a hole worn in the ball of the foot and the size was worn off. I am not new to living around cowboy boots but have never ever bought them, worn them or looked at them. I was overwhelmed by the variety, sole traction, length, square toe, pointed toe, two-toned, stitching, brands, and more and more and more. I guessed and was 1/2 size off. Scott returned them for a pair he liked better. I also got him some FR (fire resistant) jeans. I have never spent over $60 for a pair of pants and here I am buying multiple pairs of $70+ jeans. Good for OSHA requiring FR clothing. Scott and I spend the day cooking a wonderful lasagna and a boston cream pie from scratch. It was so extremely fun cooking with Scott. He was stirring the custard for the pie/cake and it went from liquid to solid in 1 second. It freaked us out. He kept whisking and it smoothed out like a crazy miracle! We ate the lasagna for dinner and taking the cake over to Scott's mom's house tonight for dinner. The lasagna was a vegan recipe. Scott does not like cheese but loves cheese-less lasagna. the sauce was rich and flavorful. We substituted beef and sausage for tofu and made the vegan dish a wonderful carnivorous meal! I cannot wait to dig into the boston cream pie! I predict it will rock because we licked the bowls!

Later last night we busted out the sipping chocolate I got from the chocolatefest. We made it and quickly realized we made too much. It is so thick and rich that a sacrament cup is enough!

I am very lucky to be able to enjoy sipping chocolate, cooking wonderful food, utah drivers license gettin, window shopping, boot buying, sun shine enjoying, sore throat fighting, church sluffing, blog writing week!

The Next 7 Days

Just before Scott left Utah to come help me pack and move his mom suggested and my father strongly suggested we just elope. Our wedding plans were becoming difficult and I was getting sick of it. I did not want a big wedding or a reception. I didnt want dinner, a cake, or flowers. It was becoming very irritating to me. So when Scott asked if I would be ok if we drove through Nevada and got married in some chapel of love I was ok with it. But then Scott was not ok with it. He was worried about honeymoon situation and location. He had one planned for later. We discussed and each of us took a couple days to think about it and we decided to get married in Utah. The office where you get your marriage license charged $30 for in office marriages. I was thrilled! Ubber inexpensive and perfect. 

What happened was that the U-Haul rental was $200+ cheaper to have it returned to Salt Lake City. We arranged to return it to SLC knowing Scott's car was waiting for him in a parking lot near the airport. We got to Vernal on Tuesday Feb 7 at about 6 am. We slept for about 2 hours and then I got up to find Scott had already been up for about 30 min and half unloaded the U-Haul by himself. I jumped in to help him. He was going to let Jo Ann and I sleep while he did it! 

Jo woke about 5 minutes later. The 3 of us unloaded the truck. We were still tired and I was grumpy. After it was unloaded we took showers and ate breakfast and got back into the truck. Ugh the pain of getting back into that blasted U-Haul truck for 3 more hours. 

Finally we made it to SLC and got the car from the airport shuttle parking lot. We dropped off the U-Haul. We were very blessed with dropping it off because we were over on miles (about 50 miles) and we were prepared to pay the $0.40/mile fee but the girl said nope that we were good and let us go. 

This is when my snippiness was at its worst. I was nervous. My stomach was going crazy. We had eaten out for days and days and the resulting nervousness was making me miserable and I took it out on Scott and Jo Ann. We made it to the courthouse/government building. Scott and I changed our clothes and I left my shoes in the car. Jo Ann had some that would work and she traded me. That helped because the shoes were borrowed and old ha ha ha. I had a bag of clothes and I made Jo Ann hold it. Scott thought I was being rude and i was. I am so used to bossing my little sister around. I was tired, exhausted, and emotional. It was a little difficult to be happy and nice. 

Scott took the time to calm me down and make me feel better. My fuse was very short and I was irritated at the littlest thing. After Scott talked to me I felt so much better and calm and excited to get married to him. He offered to do this another day. He was very worried I was regretting my decision. I wasnt. I was honestly very tired with normal nerves. I am thankful to Scott for helping me relax and enjoy this great experience. We filled out the license and my brother showed up. Jo Ann and Daniel were our witnesses. 

Our judge was perfect. She preformed a simple ceremony. It was tender and touching to Scott and me.

After the legalities were finished we parted ways with my siblings. Scott had reservations for dinner at Melting Pot. I did not think my stomach could handle the richness and grease. Scott kindly cancelled the reservations and started driving me toward home. I was so excited to get home and make a salad. 

Scott had other plans. 

Scott had made reservations at a cabin at Daniel's Summit Lodge. I loved this place instantly due to the bears on top of the sign! It was a wonderful cabin. Wonderful fireplace, horrible toilet paper, great view, superb food, cute general store, and quiet!!!! There was a large group staying in the lodge and while they were loud at dinner they were out riding snow mobiles and we didnt see them much. Scott wanted to go for a ride but I didnt bring a coat. I had a jacket and one pair of jeans. I didnt know I needed to pack clothes for overnight. It was a total surprise. Luckily we had plenty to do!

I saw these bears in the country store and had to have them! Scott didnt even blink and instantly purchased them for me. He spoils me completely! 

Now it has been 1 week-7 days-of marital bliss. I am still unpacking boxes. Luckily my husband purchased and assembled 2 dressers from Ikea preparing for me arriving. Between the 2 of us we did not have one set of drawers! I love having bedroom furniture!

I woke yesterday (Valentine's day) and whipped up a blueberry breakfast cake, some eggs, bacon, and chocolate milk. I served Scott in bed. We ate together and enjoyed the slow morning. 

We had a lot to do, taking advantage of Scott's day off work. We had to get names put on bank accounts, look at home remodeling supplies, get me added to health insurance etc. It was a busy day. 

I had organized 7 gifts for Scott. He was pretty spoiled! It was very fun.

I knew Scott would spoil me! Here I am eating chocolate covered strawberries! They were so wonderfully sweet!

And here are my roses! Note the hot chocolate cups on the table (and moving boxes I am still working on).

To remind you, Vernal has a wonderful coffee stand with wonderful hot chocolate. Scott stopped and got me one! It was a great day! We spent our afternoon relaxing on the couch looking at stuff online and watching tv. It was a perfect valentines/week anniversary day! 

I am so happy to be married to this great man. I have my demons, he has his. Together we try to be better people.