Addendum:

I almost forgot to mention we got our first "real" Christmas tree this year! Merry Christmas everyone!


We also treated ourselves to a new TV for Christmas. The 26" LED LCD is a major upgrade from the basic Walmart TV I took along to college 10 years ago (and we were still using until last week). Merry Christmas to us! :)

Dear Blog...

November was a fun month. We took a trip to WI to surprise my family for Thanksgiving. I have not been home for Thanksgiving since I moved to Utah 5 years ago, so my family really didn’t expect us to be there, giving us the perfect opportunity to surprise them. We purchased our plane tickets mid-September and managed to keep our secret safe all the way to Thanksgiving! I talk to my mom every day, so there was more than once that I almost slipped up myself and gave it all away. The closest call we came to our secret being blown was when my friend Larissa’s dad (who happens to be a federal milk inspector) made a routine visit to my parents’ farm and told my parents he thought Larissa was having dinner with me over Thanksgiving. My parents, who were totally in the dark, were convinced he was just confused and thinking of some other friend of Larissa. Lucky us!

We flew to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport on the evening before Thanksgiving—luckily missing the blizzard on both ends of the trip. Thanksgiving day we picked up our rental car and drove the 4 hours to dinner at my Dad’s cousin’s house. This was the first actual holiday we have spent with my Dad’s side since getting married—so that was very fun—lots of food, chit-chat, and general relaxing to be had.

Friday night we went out with friends. Going out with friends has changed over the years. I spent most of dinner holding a 3-month-old, while a 3-year-old and 15-month-old did their best to squirm and flirt with all of those around us. Larissa’s children (20mos & 3mos) were with daddy for the night, or the children in the group would have nearly outnumbered the adults! Dinner was so much fun, but I wonder when we all grew up. After asking if I had any surprise news worth making a surprise trip for, my great friend Andy informed me he figured I was coming home to announce that we were expecting a baby. After informing him that this was not yet the case he said he was going to keep telling people I was pregnant anyway. :) Old friends are the best.

Saturday my mom’s side of the family got together for their 2nd Thanksgiving dinner! They had scheduled Thanksgiving dinner for the Sunday before the holiday, in order to make things easier on my aunt and cousins who work at a holiday store at the mall (as you can imagine it’s CRAZY there during Black Friday weekend). We couldn’t move the holiday without tipping off my parents that we were coming, so we decided to see if everyone would be willing to gather again the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Once we arrived and surprised my parents, it dawned on my mother that my grandmother had invited them to dinner Saturday not just because she was being nice, but because everyone was getting together again in honor of our visit! My family is the best!!

Jason said our visit was just the way a vacation should be: warmer weather (than Utah at least), lots of food, not too much running around, and plenty of friends and family to chat with.

In other exciting news, my parents will be spending Christmas in Utah this year!! I suggested they visit, partly as a diversion from our Thanksgiving trip, but never thought they would actually make it happen! Please pray for good travelling weather for them. They will be arriving on the 22nd and leaving on the 29th. My mom says in 34 years of marriage she can’t remember ever taking a trip like this for Christmas, where they won’t have to milk and feed cows. Luckily they have good help that’s willing to work for them even on Christmas, and my brother will be staying close to home in case anything unexpected should arise.

Thanks to my brother Jim who helped give my laptop a total life makeover (i.e. new hard drive and operating system) during our visit. Thanks to the Kahler’s, Spankowski’s, Larissa, KTP, and all the family who forced themselves to have a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner just to see us! Every time we visit I am reminded what amazing friends I have gathered through the years. If we missed you this time, perhaps we’ll see you next time…which looks like it will be late May. See you then!

S.~

Christmas Letter 2010 (written by Jason)

2010 was a fascinating and busy year, including everything from above average travelling to urban skunks and raccoons. We started the year with a visit to the frozen WI countryside in January—my first winter visit to the Midwest. The thermometer in our rental car had negative numbers and single digits showing on it most of the time. Although it was fun to visit and see the farm in a different season, I don’t think I would handle being that frozen all winter long.


In May I was able to visit Cambodia and Singapore as part of an international context trip to complete my MBA program. It was interesting to compare the history and trials of third world Cambodia with the very first world Singapore. While travelling through Cambodia I was amazed at the ingenuity that is inspired by great need, and realized how many things we take for granted here in the United States. The differences in culture and environment were incredible, not to mention the history that has occurred in that part of the world. I definitely have a goal of going back someday, if for no better reason than to show Steph around.

After returning from my world travelling adventure, my first summer of contract work for the Forest Service began in earnest. It was an ongoing learning experience throughout the summer for everyone helping get the project done. We rapidly discovered we were in charge of pattern searching some of the steepest and roughest parts of the forest still navigable on foot. Each of the three areas we covered had 3000 feet of elevation change end to end, and in the process of traversing these mountainsides I wore the rubber completely off the inside corners of a new pair of hiking boots. I also wore out a pair of leather gloves and multiple pairs of jeans simply walking around. We managed to cover over 4000 acres during the summer, with no major mishaps. Luckily my regular day job was willing to let me work reduced hours during their summer slow time, which gave me a very different schedule with 3 days in town and 2-3 days four hours away in the forest each week. Steph did not particularly enjoy this schedule with all of my time away; especially when busyness at her job and a temporary stint in a walking boot limited her from coming along.

Having this contract was an interesting educational experience, especially after spending several years in an MBA program learning about running and growing a business. I had the opportunity to bid on a new contract for 2011, and despite my best efforts to the contrary, I somehow won the dubious low bid honors again. Steph was highly disappointed with my successful bid, and I doubt I will be bidding as the primary person in charge again in the near future. The area I have for next year is slightly larger than this year, but considerably friendlier terrain to walk across. Having a lot of the learning curve from the first contract out of the way should help, and hopefully Steph will be able to enjoy some hiking with me this summer.

During July, Steph and I again visited Wisconsin. Steph’s brother flew out to accompany her in driving her previous car (which had been sold to her parents) back to Wisconsin, and I flew in a few days later. We joked that we had sent the car to spend the rest of its days “on a farm in the country”, and on our subsequent visit we noted it appeared be happily adjusted to its new home. The trip was planned to coincide with the DeBaets family reunion (Steph’s mom’s side), so we were able to visit with a lot of family during our otherwise short trip that we hadn’t seen since our wedding. We capped the weekend off by watching a really nice 4th of July fireworks show over a small pond in the neighboring town of LaValle. Having grown up watching fireworks and going to small-town festivals in Utah, I noted that this fireworks show was not the smallest I had attended, but perhaps the most intoxicated I had seen. 

Later that same month I learned Steph had led a deprived life, having never attended an actual rodeo. Since it had been many years since I had attended a rodeo myself, we took advantage of the Days of ‘47 Rodeo in Salt Lake. This is a large event that coincides with the anniversary of Utah obtaining statehood, and is on the professional rodeo circuit. We watched the cowboys and cowgirls compete in many entertaining and physically demanding events, and were reminded why sometimes it is better to have a desk job.

We spent the better part of summer trying to decide what was snatching goldfish from our front yard pond. After trying out several ways to deter the intruders, including solar lights and a surveillance camera, we settled on the fact that we most likely had a raccoon that enjoyed late-night swims. This was highly frustrating, and partially due to Steph not wanting to risk decreasing the neighborhood cat population, we still haven’t come up with a great solution. Perhaps even more exciting was a wayward skunk we discovered trapped in one of our window wells one evening after work. After gingerly lowering in a plank for him to climb out on, we were relieved to find no trace of him the next morning. We never thought that living in the heart of Salt Lake City we’d have so many animal adventures!

All of our yard work was a pleasantly surprising success. The lawn Steph tilled and seeded last fall has come in great, and there were abundant comments from the neighbors about Steph’s flowerbeds. The heirloom tomato project for the garden provided more tomatoes than we knew what to do with, even after giving over half of our original 40+ seedlings to friends and family in the spring. Now with the weather cold, we are just finishing off the last of some of the other successful crops like carrots and parsnips. Winter has brought an interesting change as we remember all the projects we want to complete inside the house again. (Steph is remembering this list far faster than I would like, but it guarantees we won’t be bored ever.)

Steph spent more time at the dentist this year than she would have liked. She had a baby tooth with no adult tooth to replace it and decided now was as good of a time as any to have it replaced with a dental implant/crown. She spent the later part of the year racing her father to see who could get back to a full set of teeth first. I believe he won the race, but only by a matter of days. Dental work is expensive, but it is still absolutely incredible to think about what can be done to improve quality of life. (Eating is an important part of life quality if you ask me.)

Our final visit to Wisconsin for the year was an event to remember. We surprised Steph’s parents by showing up for Thanksgiving. This is the first time I have managed to get to Wisconsin three times in one year, and my first visit over an actual Thanksgiving holiday on Steph’s dad’s side. Most of the family knew we were coming, but the secret was kept from Bruce and Laura, with the desired surprise being evident when they were confronted by Steph grinning ear to ear at a relative’s house just before dinner was served. Everyone was able to compare teeth, eat wonderful food for several days straight, and we considered it a successful surprise trip. We discovered that Wisconsin was actually warmer than Utah this year over the holiday weekend, and it made for one of the few times we could enjoy the warm WI weather during a winter holiday. It was great catching up with everyone, and provided a much needed break.

We returned to single digit temperatures and over a foot of snow in Salt Lake, which was a dramatic difference from the 30’s and 40’s we had enjoyed on the farm. After some intense shoveling efforts, things are back to normal and Christmas preparations are under way. We have a real Christmas tree for the first time this year, and Kiki is enjoying playing with the ornaments anytime she can get away with it. We’re looking forward to Steph’s parents spending Christmas in Utah this year and getting a much needed holiday break from the cows and the farm.

We hope this note finds all of you happy and healthy. Best wishes for good things in 2011!

Jason & Stephanie Baxter

Clarity

As many of you already know, work for me lately has been just that...work. The variation in my day to day job I loved when I started 5 years ago has slowly eroded until I've found myself sitting in front of my computer tracking data 8 hours a day--day in day out. It's not even so much the tracking data that's gotten to me, it's that all of my options for doing something "different" still involve staring at the same computer screen. All the computer time has taken a toll on my body. My neck and back have had somewhat ongoing issues and I've gotten grumpier, fatter, and more disillusioned with work over the course of the past year or two. I updated my resume recently, and realized the last time I felt this way (and thus updated my resume) was July of 2009. In my annual performance review this year my boss wrote that I am an "invaluable asset" to our lab. I didn't tell him at the time, but I couldn't feel more like a cog in a wheel.

Time to change something. Anything.

So I updated my resume, searched job postings, and even sat for an interview. I made lists, trying to weigh the positives and negatives of my current predicament, as well as my wishes for future employment. I analyzed what I could change about my current situation to make it better. I got permission from my husband (more than once) to quit my job, considered starting a family, and considered dropping out of school. If anything I was thorough.
So what did I decide? I decided that for a number of reasons I don't enjoy working in the lab anymore and made this clear to my boss. We've agreed that I need to reduce my hours this Spring to finish school...not just pretend to reduce my hours as I've previously tried. Once my thesis is finished, I'd really like to go back to training athletes and helping in the office...this made me the happiest before, and hopefully will once again--at least in the short term. I'm going to stop trying to guess what I'll be doing 5 years from now, and just work on 5 months from now. After all, if 5 years ago someone would have told me I'd end up in Utah married to a nice Mormon boy I would have laughed in their faces.
I don't know if this new direction will work in solving the frustration I've been dealing with lately, but I don't think it can hurt. Only time will tell. Thanks as always for all the support.
S.~

Ahead of the game

Some months you feel like you get ahead....others you don't. This month I feel like I got way WAY ahead! Fall decided to postpone winter slightly, and with Jason's help our yard is 98% ready for winter (as Jason knows 98% is an arbitrary number that only gets infinitely close to 100% as I discover more projects). After raking on 3 separate occasions most of the leaves are cleaned up, or at least cleaned up enough that I'm not motivated to rake again. The garden and flowerbeds are cleaned out, and the fish have been happily swimming in their winter home in the basement for at least a month. Yesterday we went over to Jason's aunt Katherine's house and dug out a patch of lily of the valley she wanted to rid herself of. They were grown in super-thick so there was plenty to dig out.  We transplanted/spread the rhizomes out behind our pond where nothing else will grow--due to shade and two pine trees--in the hopes that next spring we'll have beautiful, fragrant lily of the valley and not such a miserable eye-sore.

I've also gotten a head-start on my Christmas cards and gifts this month. You may be rolling your eyes, but when you are trying to make stuff by hand it's good to get a really REALLY early head start. This year I'm hoping to learn from last year's mistakes, namely being hunched over my craft table the entire week before Christmas. As you may have already seen on my facebook page, Kiki continues to be oh-so-helpful.

That being said, I'm really excited for the holiday season again this year. I caught myself humming along to the Christmas music in a store the other day and was slightly irritated when I realized it was barely Halloween. Today I stopped by one of my favorite craft stores and found that they are clearancing Thanksgiving decorations already! Gah! We're not even there yet. Which brings us to holiday pet peeve #384...why is some of the Christmas stuff already marked 50% off?!! Just tell me the price you want me to buy it for instead of tricking me into thinking I'm getting a good deal. Do you really expect me to believe this is a great deal when it's still a good 6 weeks til Christmas? (Don't even get me started on Kohls...)

Work is still work. I'm still looking for options and waiting for updates. Some things in life move slower than you hope.

I started running. I'm not a runner. When I say "I'm not a runner" I mean it will take me upwards of a month to be able to run a continuous mile. A girl at work told me the other day she is "not a runner", and followed it up with "I ran a mile the other night, and signed up for a half marathon in the spring". She had a baby 3 months ago. I wanted to smack her. Let's emphasize I'm not a runner. The first couple of times out my lungs burned so bad I thought I'd have to crawl back to the house. The next couple trips out were better, but they couldn't have gotten much worse. Finally I had an occasion where I felt like my lungs were actually participating. I think I've developed upwards of 2 aerobic muscle fibers. Then the weather went bad and I headed to the gym where I was reminded of the crazy gym people. That's been going well. I feel like I'm getting better. It's amazing what 10 years will do to your fitness level...not to mention grad school and spending your summer with a bum wheel in a walking boot. So running is going well. Once I can run my first 10-minute mile I may start working on a second one, and with any luck maybe I can run a 5k in the spring. (1/2 marathon...psshhhh). (To all my runner-friends: I love you guys. I am envious....always have been, probably always will be.)

Today I earned bonus wife-points by completing a cooking extravaganza. Jason said I will get an honorable mention in his blog this month and I think I may hold him to that. It was one of those days you either needed to nap or bake. Once my nap concluded (shortly after my breakfast cereal was finished) I got started on the cooking and baking. If I was a little more motivated there would still be pumpkin chocolate chip cookies this evening...but my body says I'm about worn out with laundry yet to fold. It reminds me again that our upright freezer was one of the best purchases we've made since the wedding, having it stocked with lunches makes my insides happy.

Happy early Turkey-day. I hope you all have many things to be very thankful for this year.

I think those are my thoughts for the month.
Congrats to Jason and Ashley who welcomed Emma into the world today.
Happy birthday to ex-roomie Leah...who accidentally received a birthday card from me a month early, but remains my friend. :)

I look forward to seeing all of you soon. Maybe wander out to Utah sometime. The weather is looking promising for skiers this year, and we're just a short jump from some pretty big mountains. :) If you see my folks, ask them if they've bought their plane tickets to come visit at Christmas...I'm trying to convince them to make a holiday visit this year, Jason has said he'd pull out the crying card if need be.

Take Care!
S.~

Some things you just can't post on the internet...

Happy Fall everyone!
As many of you who read my blog or talk to me frequently know, I haven't been too happy with my job lately. I have my annual review in a week or two, and I'm quite hopeful something will change very soon...however...there are just some things you can't post on the Internet. So inquire within, or stay tuned for next month's blog. :)
Last weekend I finally made the trip out to Vernal, UT with Jason to see where he's been going all these weekends to fulfill his hiking contract. It was borderline too cold to camp, so we got a hotel room and made a mini-date of the trip. It was fun to hang out and take a road trip with just the two of us again, which we did quite frequently while dating. Unfortunately this summer my work schedule and my booted foot didn't allow for too many outdoor adventures. Although the company was nice, the weather wasn't the greatest...overcast with occasional drizzle, breezy and 45 degrees...so I only managed a couple reasonably pretty pictures.

We also witnessed a massive western cattle round-up. There were at least 7 cowboys on horses, 3 herding dogs, and a guy or two on ATVs. They had trailers with fresh horses so they could rotate them and not wear any of the animals out too badly. One guy we talked to by the side of the road who was somehow involved in the operation thought they were pushing 1500 cattle in groups of 2-300. There were some VERY happy dogs out working, and lots of frustrated cattle. I recently figured out how to make videos on here...which for some things will be very handy. Note the frustrated mooing in the next clip. ;)

VERY happy working dog. (Mike would be jealous)

This month I also finished off my dental implant process. I now have a shiny new tooth to replace the baby tooth that was giving up. It's a little different to clean around, but so far so good. I'm sure over time I won't even think about it anymore. If anyone is considering getting a dental implant done and has questions don't hesitate to ask. I thought it was an interesting process and had a really good experience. This is coming with someone who would prefer to be sedated to have her teeth cleaned. :)

Jason celebrated his 30th birthday on the 12th. It was really good, and very low key evening spent together after work...just as the two of us would prefer. Jason is still adjusting to working four 10's, which basically means he leaves the house shortly after 7am and returns shortly before 7pm. I've been trying to work four 9's so I can have a half-day Friday and we can spend a little more time together. I've also been trying to be better about making actual dinners after work so Jason doesn't end up fending for himself and not eating until 9pm. So far so good. This weekend is probably one of Jason's last caving/hiking adventures for the fall/winter. I'm looking forward to him being gone one weekend a month instead of three weekends per month. There's a list of house projects that's been set aside all summer while he was gone, so I'm hoping we'll be able to tackle those soon. (I only hope Jason is half as excited about these projects as I am).

Kiki had her 6 month vet checkup yesterday and everything was good. She's crashed out sleeping next to me on the futon as I write. Spending an afternoon at the vet is stressful for the poor dear, and I don't plan on seeing much of her awake any time today.

Congrats this month to Ben and Jackie, who may be getting married as I write this entry! Congrats to Uncle Harvey who recently celebrated his 80th birthday and to Leah who accidentally received her birthday card from me a month early...and was still a good sport. :) Kudos to Jesse who I've heard had a phenomenal marathon performance (won the race!?!...who does that?) :). I'm also keeping my fingers crossed for all my friends with new babies are getting enough sleep to function...keep posting the cute pictures...I love them!

I feel as though I missed some highlights this month, but I guess that's what next month is for.

Take Care Everyone!

S.~

ps. for anyone who hasn't stumbled across this link, I have another blog full of complete randomness. http://squeehawed.wordpress.com/ I think some of the recent posts are especially fun...and I figured out how to do videos. (Finally.)

Why am I wearing a jacket if it's 90 degrees outside?

This month's blog title is courtesy of Laurie Evans, who is stuck with me here at work on a daily basis. We ask each other a lot of open ended questions, one of which is the title of this month's blog. Our workplace is a bit of a heating and cooling conundrum. While we've never figured out why the baseboard heaters and overhead air conditioning run simultaneously year-round, most days on average I am freezing cold in this building. Today for instance it will be almost 90 degrees outside and I'm wearing a North Face fleece jacket and scarf at my desk. A scarf is a necessary accessory for me at work from Labor Day through Memorial Day. On the subject of heating and cooling, this is also the time of year where my car heating and cooling system is a bit confused. Heater on in the morning...A/C on for the drive home. Between that and the days getting shorter, it's no wonder if any of us is feeling a bit out of sorts!
Updates from last month...
After a 3-week stint in 'das boot' my foot seems to be healed up. I'm still not certain what I did, or what the injury was...but at least it's currently not an issue. I followed up my time in the boot by coming down with a wonderful head-cold just in time for the 3 day Labor day weekend. Boo! After suffering for a few days I walked over to the pharmacy here at work and the pharmacist introduced me to some kind of miracle decongestant nasal spray. I also realized I had been taking Sudafed at a dosage fit for a 6-12 year old. Oops. A week later I'm on the mend. I would like to credit this cold to my wonderful mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law...although I'm suspicious of a certain small person from Boston bringing it here to UT in the first place. ;)
This month we have not seen a reappearance of the neighborhood raccoon. That being said, the goldfish have had a pretty relaxed pond life as of lately. On the downside the pond pump died and although under warranty, I have to communicate with some company in Virginia to get it fixed/replaced. Although I will take care of the process this fall,  I think I will also prepare a storage tote in order for the fish to be moved to their inside home for the winter.
It's been an eventful couple of weeks for my parents. After struggling with dental issues for the better part of this year, my dad finally got everything cleared to get dentures to replace his top teeth. Everyone in the house was a bit stressed out, and to make things better my mom accidentally tipped a chopper box over the evening before. Although the picture looks bad, once tipped upright, the only damage was some broken 2x4's and some bent sheet metal. Luckily unbeknownst to my parents, my brother had taken a couple days off from work to help out on the farm while my dad was a bit laid up, so he got to help shovel out a chopper box and get it tipped back upright again. Dad's dental procedure went without major complications. They sent him home with his 'starter dentures' that will be adjusted over the next week before he gets the final set made. After almost 7 months he found out today he is able to whistle again. Weee! The simple joys of life. :)

This month we got to spend time with our new favorite niece--Lia! We had her baby blessing at Lee and Marion's in Orem and it was great. It was nice to see everyone for an end-of-summer picnic. Misty and Lia will be travelling back to Boston this week (Curtis has already left)...we will surely miss them!



The garden is slowing down after producing a fair number of tomatoes. After seeing Lee and Marion's garden we realized our soil still needs some amending. We also learned that our tomatoes could use a bit more space to really produce at their best. We may need a larger garden, but someone (me) isn't quite willing to give up any of the lawn she's worked so hard to establish.

It's also been a month for Congratulations!

Congrats to Jesse and Carrie, who welcomed Jackson Paul Spankowski, Mark and Larissa who welcomed Aria Gray Anderson, Scott and Andria who welcomed August Grey Olson, Derek and Melissa who welcomed Sophia Lynn Lorbiecki, and Dan and Jessica who welcomed Reid Welling Seeley. Hopefully I didn't miss any new babies, but as you can see there have been a bunch! Pretty soon I'm going to have to borrow kids just to hang out with my own friends.

Happy 99th birthday to an amazing lady, my great grandma Hilda Myers! Happy birthday also to Carrie, Sarah, Melissa, Becca, Mark and Liam.

Good luck and Best Wishes to Ben and Jackie as they approach their upcoming wedding!



Have another great month everyone! Hopefully we can catch up soon!

S.~



Putting out small fires...

Summer always goes by too quickly! Let's start with the fun stuff. Today I planted some of our ever-expanding crop of hen and chicks into an old milk can that sits out by our front sidewalk. I think they will be a good plant for this spot, because they will get watered occasionally with the grass, but I won't have to worry too much if they get dried out. Cute too, no?

While yard-work has slowed down some, our tomato crop is in full swing. They are about 7 feet tall. We have ideas for slight modifications to the trellis system for next season, but overall we're very pleased!

(5.20.2010)                                               (8.14.2010)

After plentiful watering, the re-seeded grass is also doing quite well. I'm really excited to see how it looks next spring!

(October 2009)                                 (August 2010)

Jason has taken up some fall gardening projects, including seeing if he can start a fall crop of lettuce and peas. Out of the 4 lettuce starts, 2 died within their first 24 hours in the sun, however the peas are doing ok so far. Hopefully the pesky skunk doesn't dig them up like he did in the spring. In additional animal news, we now believe the problem with our pond is not neighborhood children but a raccoon that likes to occasionally go wading. (More like thrashing). We came to this conclusion about a week ago when it cooled down enough to sleep with our bedroom window open, and Jason woke up to splashing sounds. By the time he got outside all that was left were wet rocks surrounding the pond, and tangled and mangled water lilies. Luckily this isn't a nightly occurrence, but I sure would like to throw rocks at a certain neighborhood raccoon. Grr!

              (Skunk Damage Spring 2010)                                     (Fall Pea Crop 8.14.2010)

I am tired of Jason hiking every weekend. I'm too much of a homebody to want to go out, but being home alone gets lonely. Yeah...I'm glad it's almost over. Jason thinks with enough help he might be finished late this month or early September. His contract end date is at the end of September so one way or another he's almost finished. There are 2 contracts available for next year, and he's still trying to decide how much he might want either one of them. Those numbers are due at the end of the month.

Last weekend I managed to keep Jason home for Aubrey (Baxter) and Jason Jones's wedding. It was a fun day seeing all the family, and for a day in August the weather was very nice. Not being good at remembering to use my camera sometimes, we only took six pictures all day, however here are my favorite two.

                (Aubrey and Jason exiting the Timp Temple 8.7.10)   ('das boot' with wedding outfit)

As demonstrated by the second picture, my fight to avoid 'das boot' was futile. I have another week to wear it before we decide if I can handle a tennis shoe again. The good news is the swelling has almost disappeared and the soreness is gone. Now I'm just worried the first day I'm back in a tennis shoe it will come back. I sure hope not...I'm sort of sick of this thing (although admittedly it looked cute with my dress for Aubrey's wedding.) ;)

Now to the part about putting out fires...What started as covering our front office at work for a 2-day vacation of our office lady has turned into a month of coverage while she is out with a family emergency. The good news is overtime pay...the bad news is that we discovered the office is a total disaster. Outstanding payments, missing receipts, messed up scheduling, mis-charged programs, mathematical mistakes...you name it, she's done it. After almost 3 weeks of fixing I finally felt like I had it under control as of yesterday. The trainers are doing much better with me in the office, and admittedly no one wants her to come back. We're basically putting everything in order, and if she can't keep it together (which I honestly don't think she can), she'll be fired. You know it's pretty bad when clients are asking if she's been fired already. Sheesh. Her return date is August 30th, so wish us luck as it may be a bumpy transition. In other work-related news we tested another amputee sprinter in the lab this month. A kid by the name of Blake Leeper. He's a 20 year old double amputee sprinter and I think you should keep your eyes open for news about him in the next couple of years, the kid is going to be FAST. Amidst our larger than usual amount of drama at work this month, my favorite co-worker Chris just put in his two weeks' notice. I'm happy for him because he's been unhappy here for some time and is taking a great new job, but he will surely be missed.

I think that sums up my month (mostly in pictures). Congrats to Aubrey and Jason, happy belated birthday to Larissa, best wishes to Chris at his new job, and good luck to Melissa and Derek on the baby that will be coming any day now...or perhaps by the time you're reading this will have been born.

Til next month,

S.~

Hello 100!

So today it's supposed to be 100 degrees, goodbye to the rainy June weather we had, and hello to summer in Utah! We've recently realized we actually need to water our lawn again; the new seeding from the spring filled in great, but was getting a bit brown in places.
The past month brought a trip to WI to visit my family, and deliver my old Honda Accord to my parents who purchased it from me. My brother flew out to Utah on Friday, June 25th and we started driving back at 6am on Saturday June 26th. The first day we drove approximately 14 hours before arriving in Omaha, NE. (I made the observation that Nebraska looks much better when you've come from the Wyoming side of the drive eastward, instead of the WI side of the drive westward) While in Nebraska we had the pleasure of listening to the most interesting radio station I've ever found during a road trip. We may just have been weary, but I would describe their variety as "garage sale special"...basically any CD you could purchase for 10cents at a garage sale...that's what they played. I knew every song but couldn't name a single artist! Yay for one-hit-wonders all the way through NE. Getting out of the car in Omaha we were hit with some oppressive humidity--man I don't miss that! We stayed with our friends Sara (Holman) Nash and David Nash and their insanely large cat Zeeba. I've known Sara since high school, and it was really fun visiting with them and getting to know David and Zeeba better. :) David is super-fun, but let me tell you more about Zeeba. (hehehe) Zeeba is the BIGGEST cat I have ever met. Sort of a spoiled boy and oh so large! He lays down to eat which puts him at just the right height for his bowl. I have attached a picture but it really doesn't do him justice. Awesome! (Oh, and that's David in the background)...

After spending a night in Omaha, Jim and I continued driving through Iowa, to where he lives in Dubuque. We had lunch at CULVER'S (woo!) with his girlfriend Jen, and I got to tour Jen's new house. It's super-cute! I wish I had any sort of theme to my decor like Jen does. She really likes a certain genre of antique furniture. If Jim and Jen ever have a house together someday, it will be interesting to see how her sense of taste melds with his dirty clothes on the floor. I left Jim in Dubuque (to follow behind slightly later), and arrived at my parents' house at 6pm. I even stopped to wash the 1,351 miles of bugs off their new (to them) car.

Once in WI I spent the first couple days just kicking around the farm and hanging out. My aunt and uncle from New York were visiting, and luckily our vacations overlapped for a few days. It took me the first two days just to catch up on sleep and feel normal again being out of the car. Wednesday night my old college roommate Katie Bisley ('Biz') drove down from up by Shawano (a little town called Caroline if anyone is familiar), and we had a great visit. Biz actually came down as company for my drive to the airport in Chicago on Thursday to pick up Jason. On the way back we stopped by Larissa's new place that even at 7mos pregnant she is already diligently making cute. Unfortunately Mark was at work, and Dane was with the grandparents, but perhaps next time we'll get to see them all together again. Friday (July 2nd) Jason and I adventured to Noah's Ark (America's Largest Water Park), in Wisconsin Dells, WI. It was the day before 4th of July weekend, but thankfully it was pretty quiet most of the time we were there and neither one of us come home with any serious sunburn. Later that evening, our friends Sarah and Andy Kahler flew up from Dubuque for a quick evening visit to the farm with their two adorable kids. Olivia got to see our dog, a baby calf, cows being milked, and a pasture full of goats. They are still pretty big and intimidating when you're Olivia's size, but I'm guessing she talked all about it for weeks! Little guy Henry was my buddy for the night. Sarah was surprised that he let me carry him all over the farm and was even my little cuddle-bug for a bit. I guess he'd been stuck in a very 'Mom Only' phase, but he sure was my friend for their visit.

Saturday July 3rd was the DeBaets family reunion at my grandparents' house. As is typical of such gatherings there was TONS of great food and lots of catching up with the family. Everyone seemed really happy Jason and I could make it. After proving I'm still no good at horseshoes, we hit up the LaValle fireworks. LaValle is a little town of about 400 people but they put on a heck of a good fireworks show every year. Jason said it rivaled some shows we've seen here in Salt Lake. Although it wasn't the 'smallest town' or 'biggest' fireworks show he had ever attended, Jason thought it was quite possibly the drunkest town event he'd ever been to.

After fireworks we caught up with my old friend Rusty and his now fiance Chica at my uncle's cabin. Congrats again guys, I had to fly ALL the way to WI to see THE ring, but it is beautiful! :) As we were leaving around 1am, my uncle (foot still in walking boot) was preparing to take Chica and Rusty on a moonlit 4-wheeler ride through the woods...some kids just don't grow up. :)

Sunday just as WI got humid, we flew back to Utah, and Monday (July 5th) was a day off from work for unpacking and unwinding. Thank goodness we didn't have to drive all that way back. Whew! What a vacation!

In other news, our garden is HUGE! The peas and lettuce were yummy, but are done now. However the carrots are ready and thankfully (even with the freezing cold spring) the tomatoes look to be producing a bumper crop!

(Woah big garden! 7.16.10)

(bumper crop...at least this plant)

(What's that!?! Our first ripe tomato of the season! Yay!)

This month also brought a bridal shower for Aubrey which I co-hosted with Marion. It was a lot of fun! I did invites, and cute little love-bird shower favors. I also put together a recipe book from all the guests (thanks to everyone who contributed) and it turned out so cute I wished I could have kept it. (Misty--I really want to try those raspberry muffins!)

(Lovebird Favors...after 30 pairs, not as lovely as I originally thought...lol)

On the subject of Misty--she and husband Curtis welcomed Liahona LeFrandt into the family. In case anyone hasn't heard yet Marion is a GRANDMA! I mean this in good humor but I think she's been yelling it from the rooftops she's so excited :) Haven't heard a peep about being a grandpa for Lee, so perhaps that's still settling in. They get to visit Boston in the coming weeks to meet the new granddaughter. In less important news, Jason and I are now Aunt and Uncle for the first time. My experienced friends tell me this mostly means more expensive holidays, but I'm excited nonetheless! Congrats guys!
I was so almost going to end this without a picture of our skunk adventure! While walking along the north side of our house a week ago there was creepy rustling in the window well...and this little guy!! Eeee! Luckily he exited under the cover of darkness via the board ramp we carefully lowered in. I didn't dare get closer to take more pictures because he kept puffing his tail and stomping his feet, which I consider a BAD sign.

Wow that was a big month! No wonder I'm exhausted. Since this blog is so long already, I won't write in length about my ongoing struggles at work, or my trip to the dentist...instead leaving that to your imagination. If anyone is really curious they will just have to ask!

Take care all!

S.~

Rain Rain Go Away!

Apparently I've moved to the desert, where it rains...A LOT! Mind you it's mid-June...average temperatures 'should' be in the 80's and this weekend we had 55 and rainy all weekend (directly to blame for me sleeping all weekend). It's rained every other day for what feels like weeks. This spring the weather sure has been unusual. Cold and rainy. On the bright side this week it looks like it will warm up nicely. It will be a very short feeling summer with temps in the 100's before we know it.

Jason has fully started his weekend hiking and caving adventures. For those of you who don't remember, he has a year-long contract with the Ashley National Forest service to pattern search an area of forest, noting any caves, springs, or other formations as he goes. Since most of the hiking can only be done in summer due to snow-cover in the winter he's now reached the ideal hiking season. Since a lot of the area he'll be in doesn't have cellphone reception we purchased a fun new toy: the Spot 2 Satellite Messenger. Basically it's a GPS with the capability to send pre-programmed messages to let me know he's OK. It also has an SOS feature in case there's an emergency and a tracking feature so I can watch where they're hiking from the comfort of my cool living room. It should be handy, and take a weight off my-and the other wives-minds when he's out of cellphone reception for 3-4 days at a time. This week he's starting a part-time schedule at Fidelity working Mon-Weds, which will allow him to make the 3-4 hour drive out to the forest and be able to stay for more than a day at a time. I'm a bit jealous, as I am still committed to working full-time hours at my job...partly for the money, and partly to put him back on my health insurance. At least we still have that option.

In brighter news our garden is HUGE! If anyone in Utah would like lettuce we have extra to spare. We have a few baby tomatoes and I should be eating fresh peas later this week. I have realized there are a few things I planted a lot of, but don't really anticipate eating that much of. Later this year we will probably also have an abundance of parsnips, tomatoes, and kohlrabi to deal with/share. Jason did a massive weeding job the other day which I documented for all of you. There are TONS more pictures of lawn and garden pictures on Facebook for anyone who cares to look. They are in an album called 'Lawn and Garden 2010'.

'Weeder-Monkey'

The peonies exploded!

The roses are also doing quite nicely.

I started out thinking not much has happened this month and I am now realizing I had oral surgery since my last post! It went exceptionally well. My appointment was on a Friday at 8:30am and we were home by around 10am. The extraction was a cinch given that my baby tooth only had nubs for roots (see pictures below). Additionally the post implant went fine and for most of the weekend it just felt like I'd taken a punch in the jaw. Nothing 800mg of ibuprofen and a bag of frozen peas couldn't fix. After one bout of yakking from the anesthesia while Jason was attempting to nap, I slept it off and was good to go to dinner later than same evening! As Heather can attest I had a bit of a speech impediment at her birthday dinner, but managed the mashed potatoes and fried rice quite efficiently. A week later Jason helped me remove the stitches. Mind you there were only two stitches but I only got lightheaded once! Now the post/anchor heals in for a few months and sometime in September I will once again have a tooth. Yay! After dreading this procedure for about 15 years it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

Poor Rootless Baby Tooth!

The same weekend as my oral surgery I bought a new (to me) car! I am now the proud owner of a 2008 Honda CR-V and my parents are the proud owners of my 2001 Honda Accord. My parents' car is dying and I had offered to sell them my accord if they were interested. The way timing worked out we found a great deal on this CR-V and test drove it the evening before my oral surgery. It was delivered to my house the very next night (same day as my surgery). It sure took my mind off my sore mouth for the better part of the weekend.

My new ride. Please don't call it a 'kid-hauler'.

Delivery of the Accord to WI will happen in two weeks which brings me to my next announcement: I will be in WI from June 28th-July 4th. My brother is flying out to Utah and we will start driving back Saturday June 26th. Jason will be flying in on July 1st just in time for the DeBaets family reunion on July 3rd. July 4th we will both be flying back to Utah, and taking the 5th to recover before heading back to work. I've talked to quite of a few people about catching up while we are visiting, and although I won't be up for too much more driving this time around, we would take any extras for the family reunion picnic with an RSVP. :) If anyone will be in Reedsburg for the 4th of July weekend maybe we could do lunch/dinner the 2nd or 3rd.

I think that's all for this month once again.

Congrats to Aubrey and Jason on their engagement and upcoming wedding this August!

Take Care!

S.~

May Flowers...I hope...

This month Jason went on a school trip to Cambodia and Singapore. It took me a few days to adjust to having him gone, and then a few days to adjust to having him back. It seems like he had a good time. When he finishes his entry for the monthly cousin blog we submit I'll post it on here. :) Kiki was my cuddle-buddy during his trip. It's funny how animals seem to know when you need company.

The spring has been going by quickly. We ran out of room (and potting containers) in the basement and ended up planting out our heirloom tomatoes shortly before Jason left (April 27th). Then while he was gone we had the most miserable cold weather you could imagine (at least for garden plants). My mother had told me "marigolds are hearty, that's why kindergardeners plant them"...and I found out that when you freeze them really good they curl up and die like you took a flame-thrower to them. My heirloom tomatoes were covered, but still look very abused. I only killed one, but it was a traumatic event since they are Jason's babies and I was doing my best to protect them from the elements while he was gone. I think the remaining group (12 of them) will manage to survive and thankfully the weather will be improving this week. I am including a picture of the sheltered basement tomatoes which were given out to Lee and Marion, and Garth and Maydene, along with a few of my co-workers (Laurie, Kristi, and Theresa) and look much better than the partially stunted outside crop I tortured. (The shoe in the following picture is a size reference)

Tomatoes (5.6.2010)

I have also been working on a few flowerbeds outdoors to spruce them up a bit. This is one of the back flowerbeds with the replacement marigolds already in. I plan to plant out some more things this weekend so next month there will be more new pictures. :)

Next week (the 21st) I have oral surgery to have a dental implant started. Long story short I still have a baby tooth that never had an adult tooth to replace it. After more than 26 years of valuable service this little guy is getting sort of bite-sensitive so it's time to get him out. The first step is taking out the baby-tooth and putting a post in my jaw. For about 4 months I will be missing a tooth...mostly I want to be like my daddy :) (For anyone who doesn't know he's been having some dental issues and is a few marbles....errrr....teeth short of a full set right now). In the meantime I've been joking about how I'm "getting an implant...that's right...just one".

In other news, work has been crummy and Jason and I both want knew jobs. Spring/summer fever is not helping me finish school and getting that done is still on my mind. That's all I have to say about that.

This past weekend I attended the wedding of Katie (Hamblin) and Weston Baxter (Baxter-cousins). Congrats to both of them! It gave me time to think: It was a year ago this weekend Jason and I got married. How quickly time does pass!

I hope you are all doing well. Be in touch!

S.~

April Showers!

Despite the wet and crazy weather we've had these past few weeks, this month has been all about gardening. I will include lots of pictures at the end of all this. I cleaned out all of our flowerbeds which involved weeding out about a trash barrel full of grape hyacinth plants and bulbs (not exaggerating). Yuck! I also planted some begonias, a peony, some violas and pansies, some dahlias (including one named "Mr. Optimist"...which Jason found funny), bleeding hearts, columbine, hostas, and lily of the valley. My bleeding heart and columbine from last year are also survived the winter as well as two anemone plants I thought had died right after I planted them. If I'm lucky the snapdragons will also re-emerge like they did last year. My goal is to have lots of perennials that will continue to do well. (I will take suggestions!) Inside we've set up quite the grow operation. Our tomatoes look amazing, although we are met with the task of trying to "harden" them off so they survive outside. Interestingly enough all the 'how to' sites tell you it's pertinent to harden off seedlings that you start indoors, however no one gives you specific instructions on how to do this. I've also got marigolds that are looking pretty beefy (I noticed today one has a bloom started), some sunflowers I started way too early, three varieties of zinnia, snapdragons, coneflowers, and a couple of delphinium. Some of the seeds I started inside this year were a bit of an experiment just to see how they would start and transplant. So far the marigolds, zinnia, and tomatoes look promising...though some of the others are just too small to tell yet.

In other news, Jason is getting prepared to go to Cambodia/Singapore for 10 days, after which at least one of us will be done with grad school! Work for both of us has been busy--Jason is working mandatory overtime as part of tax season, and I have been working some Saturdays to help a fellow co-worker/student collect her thesis data.

Congrats to Weston and Katie on their wedding coming up very soon! Good luck to Misty and Curtis as they soon start their new adventure in Boston. Congrats also to Carrie and Jesse on the upcoming family addition later this year!

And now…the pictures…

Lawn Seeing Before (Last Fall)

Lawn Seeing After (This Spring)

Baby Tomatoes (3.26.10)

Bigger Tomatoes (4.14.10)

Our newest flowerbed (will get more interesting in upcoming months)

Sure Signs of Spring!!

Take Care Everyone!

S.~

The art of procrastination

I would like to open by saying I've had a wonderful month since my thesis research proposal, during which I have not so much as looked at my thesis project. Now that my confession is out of the way, here's what I have been up to.
Mid-February Jason and I welcomed a new dishwasher and oven into our home. My mom says you know you're getting old when things like new appliances are exciting...which they were....so I must be old. This is one of my favorite pictures of the removal of the old appliances...as you can see, Kiki was very helpful in making sure Jason did things correctly.

Also exciting this month is that we've been planting a garden and digging in the flowerbeds. Other than having a sore back, I find digging in the flowerbeds very therapeutic. This is the first year I have aggressively attended to the flowerbeds. The grape hyacinth has become the bane of my existence. They had become so prolific they were choking out other plants, and not allowing me to plant new ones. So over the course of the past week, my gardening gloves, spade, and 5-gallon bucket have sifted through the dirt and removed thousands of the little bulby buggers. It's been rewarding, although now I see grape hyacinth bulbs in my sleep. On the bright side, I have planted another peony, relocated some hen'n'chicks, planted some hostas, several begonias, columbine, lily of the valley, bleeding hearts, and violas. Most of them are still in seed or bulb form, but hopefully I'll have pretty little plants in the next month. Most of them will also be perennial, so less work next year (I hope). I will include pictures in my next entry. Its hard to appreciate without knowing how much garbage I've cleaned out. Little plants will be more impressive. Jason has also assembled quite the grow-light set-up in the basement and has been babying some heirloom tomatoes. When the time comes we will probably have some extra plants if anyone would like to adopt one. So far the garden will have peas, carrots, parsnips, kohlrabi, lettuce, and tomatoes. We'd also like to try some kind of melon. 

Jason has gotten out on his first caving trip of the year and is gearing up for his trip to Cambodia for school. He'll be done in early May no matter what! Yay! I will be done as soon as I get my act together and stop gardening. Hmmm...gardening is way more fun that school.

Work has been super-busy. I'm helping a co-worker collect data she will use for her thesis project and we've been working some 10-hour Saturdays in order to get kids in when they don't have school. Keeps me busy cleaning data during the week. I'm a bit behind right now, but it's good job security.

I'm back on the wagon and going to the gym. Other than soreness which seems almost constant, it's been great. I even have gained a workout buddy or two in my co-worker Rebecca, and my former training client Jane. Jane...if you're reading this...you're my new favorite person. Kidding aside, Jane is one of the most dedicated almost-50-year old workout clients I've ever had. She also has a wealth of information on gardening which has been very useful this time of year.

The birdfeeder from my brother has also caught on. I've had Juncos, house finches, goldfinches, a woodpecker or two, chickadees, and a pair of collared doves.  Since I can't tell which dove is the girl and which is a boy, I've decided they're probably a gay couple. I've named the doves Bert and Ernie. Bert is quite obviously the one in the front of this picture. :) I'm also feeding more sparrows and starlings than I'd like to admit.

                                                                                                

As always, here's my current favorite picture of Kiki. *smile*

I hope you are all doing very well. Thanks to Melissa for visiting me in Utah! Congrats to Russ and Chica on their engagement and Congrats to Scott and Andria on their second little one coming this fall!

Take Care,

S.~