Happy Birthday to US!!!

Last week, Stewart and I celebrated our birthdays! His was on April 2nd and mine was on April 4th. We had a great weekend full of birthday fun… until Stewart got a head cold. There really is not much to say about our birthdays, besides we had a lot of fun spending time together. Stewart’s birthday fell on “Good Friday” and his school cancelled class for the day (lucky him). We decided to go and explore a few areas near by during the afternoon, one place we went was the New River Gorge, and it was a neat view. We also found a few trails we would like to go back and hike sometime in the near future. Other than that we chilled at home, and took things easy because of Stewart’s on-coming cold.

One semi- tradition in my family growing up was the Bunny Cake. My older sister and I have birthdays 4 days apart from each other in April. Our mom would make us a bunny cake and we would celebrate our birthdays together. Well I decided to keep the tradition alive and make Stewart and myself a bunny cake. It turned out great… I frosted it with whip cream, and put caramel and toffee bitts in the center of the cake. It was yummy!

Our friends the Rodebacks invited us over for dinner on Easter (my birthday) but because Stewart was really under the weather that day we did not go. They made us a birthday cake as well, so they brought it over to us with candles and charged us to sing to ourselves before we cut into it. Well I was on the phone with my Grandma when they brought it by, so I did not get those instructions, I started eating it before I got that memo. So the picture below is of the cake they gave us with a few bites out of it… hey it was gooooood!

Any-who, thanks to everyone that sent us birthday wishes! We had a great week celebrating. Ciao!


Stewart sporting the brooch his mom made me, Looks good on him…?

I Gave Stewart the first 5 books in Tennis Shoes among the Nephites series. We have already started reading the first one… love it!

Stewart gave me a book of Fairy Tales; I love the book and even got teary eyed when opening it. I guess this was the year for giving books.

The Bunny Cake

The Rodeback Cake

SPRING BREAK 2010

Well it is about time that I update this blog; we have been on the go for a few weeks. It is nice to stop and take a breath once in a while. This past week was Stewart's Spring Break… YIPPY! To kick off our week of spring weather and relaxation a group of us first year med students (and wives) decided to go to a near-by lake and have a BBQ. We had a lot of fun watching the kids play in the water, which was freezing by the way, taking walks along the pathways, and of course socializing. It was a great way to kick of Spring Break, thanks to the Rodebacks for pulling us all together and suggesting it!

By the Lake

In the Lake: It was freezing!

Flipping Burgers

Beautiful Lake

The Guys (Stewart, Derik, and James)

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The first half of the week, I had to work, so Stewart played wife at home and did all the house chores like laundry, dinner and much more. I am married to the best guy ever; he is always willing to help me if he can. When I got off work on Wednesday Stewart and I packed our bags and prepared for our trip to Tennessee, the next day. That’s right, we decided to take a trip to Tennessee and see one of my cousins who is living there. We had a great time seeing Kent and Jackie along with there three handsome boys. Since Kent was working on Friday Jackie, and her boys came with Stewart and I to Nashville to go exploring. We stopped at the Zoo, a park with a replica of the Parthenon, and to the Grand Ole Opry. We had a great time exploring the sights of Nashville. I have a sister who is serving a mission in Nashville, TN right now. Stewart and I thought it would be fun to take her and her comp out to dinner while we were there, but her mission president denied us permission to see her. So instead of seeing her while in town, we prayed that we would accidentally run into each other. Well, I guess it was not meant to be, because we did not see her. I emailed her when we got back; she said that when we were visiting the zoo we were about 1.5 miles from her home, so close and yet so far away. I think next time we go, we are going to ask forgiveness and not permission ~Smile~.

Anyway, back to the Friday. When we got back to Kent and Jackie’s place that night, Kent took us on a tour of Fort Campbell, KY where he is stationed right now. We had a great time seeing the base, and learning a little about what life is like on a base. It really is just like a neighborhood, with walls all around to secure it. Saturday, Stewart and I woke up early and made our way back to Nashville to the LDS Temple to do a session, before driving 8 hours back to WV. We had a great time there; it was nice to be in the temple again, and to feel the peace that is there. After the temple we made the long drive home, getting back about 10pm. We owe a BIG THANK YOU, to the Kent & Jackie for allowing us to visit. We had a blast, and hope to see you all sometime again… sooner verses later. Below are a few pics of our TN adventures, enjoy!

Monkeying around

Tall Giraffes

Just Looking: Jackie, Stew and the boys

Look at the funny Animals!

Parthenon

Greek Statues

Grand Ole Opry House

Nashville, TN Temple

Stewart at Follies

Well I would like to tell you all about our evening last night, Stewart is in a club at WVSOM called the Undergraduate American Academy of Osteopathy or UAAO as it is better known. Once a year the club hosts a talent show performance called Follies, it has been going on for 14 years now. Stewart went around the community and gathered donations for a raffle and silent action that corresponded with the show. He did a great job getting lots of donations and they were able to raise a substantial amount of money, which will all be donated back to the community.

The show was great, it had it’s ups and downs… some of the performances were a little risky and just down right bad, but the majority were funny and entertaining. Stewart was in the first performance of the night, I caught it on video, but I did not get my camera working until right before Stewart’s solo part… I will post it anyway for you to enjoy. I also got a kick out of Stewart, between some of the performances he would come down to the stage to raffle off an item… by the end of the night he was known as the Vana White of Follies. A name he earned with all the Vana White moves, he incorporated into the raffling of items… he stole my heart. That whole evening he was in his element, hamming it up when he could. I Love you Stewart!!!

The last act of the night was a group that called themselves, More Degrees Than A Thermometer. They performed the “Chicken Dance Montage”. The group consits of 2 accordions, 1 banjo, 1 saxophone, 1 french horn, and a tuba. I am posting a video of their performance mainly for my father in-law… he is the band director for Madison HS in Rexburg, I want him to know I found his next year's band show, complete with costumes. Can’t wait to see your band re-create this, Danny… best wishes!!!

Stewarts Dance Moves

This ones for you Danny

It's Late But Here is Your Update

It is late here, and both Stewart and I have obligations tomorrow, so this wont be one of our extra long tell all boring posts… lucky for you! We don’t have a lot of new stuff to fill you in on. We are still getting lots of snow here… I am in hopes that the storm that is passing over us now will be the last storm of the season (hey I am entitled to hope). I can’t wait to see the green grass and trees again.

Tonight Stewart invited a friend over from school to hear the first discussion. So we had the Elders over for dinner along with Stewart’s friend and then a nice discussion. We both feel that it went well. I guess we will see what happens next. I am impressed with all the missionary experiences Stewart has been having lately. He is a good member missionary and is always talking about his beliefs with anyone who will listen. I was talking to my boss's husband one day two weeks ago, and he asked me what church I belong to, when I told him The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he looked at me and said… you can’t be Mormon, you don’t have any kids. I just laughed at him, while he decided he had stuck his foot in his mouth, and changed the subject quickly. So I guess I need to work on my missionary efforts and be like my stellar husband.

I was released from my Nursery calling this past week. The ward switched up their Relief Society presidency and I was asked to serve as the RS Secretary. To be honest I am truly going to miss my nursery calling. When I was first asked to serve as a nursery leader I was not excited. I felt like it was only a babysitting job, but I have since changed my mind. I will miss building block towers and knocking them down, coloring on the table and not my paper and then blaming it on the kids, telling Book of Mormon stories in little kid language, and of course all the cool snacks we got to eat. I also don’t know how I am going to convince Stewart that I need a nap as soon as we get home from church… my excuse of being warn out from wrangling kiddos for two hours is now extinct. Oh well, here is to the good times I have had and the lessons I have learned, as well as all the lessons I have yet to learn with this new calling. Cheers!

Our Weekly Highlights

This past week the dentist I am working for went on maternity leave, she had a baby boy Wednesday (Feb 3rd) morning. So while she has been out, I have been in the office answering phones and making preparing our daily deposit, we have not seen any patients. I have actually enjoyed the peacefulness of our office and believe it or not have gotten much done. My co-worker and I decided to cross-train each other, so I showed her how to create a new patient in our database, post insurance checks, and a few other small but important things I do. She showed me how to take x-rays, I asked Stewart to come in and be my patient so I could practice on someone while my co-worker walked me through the steps. Stewart got to sit on the cute frog chair (the dentist I work for is a pediatric dentist), and was a great patient overall. I will probably have to have him come back again so I can refresh myself about how to do x-rays; there was a lot to learn.

We got lots and lots of snow again; I am really tired of snow and can’t wait for spring to some. We are supposed to get another BIG storm tomorrow; I am crossing my fingers that this will be the last storm of the season. All of the West Virginias here have been telling us that this is an abnormal year for them. They have not had a winter like this for 10 plus years. I was taking my co-worker home from work in our car one day last week, it had been snowing for several hours, and I missed the turn off for her road, so I turned onto a different side street only to slide off into the snow bank. I got stuck and could not get our car to move frontward or backward. At the same time I got stuck a man from our ward turned the corner in his big ol’ truck… he pulled me out. That was a big relief to me. I could call Stewart and tell him I am stuck… but we don’t have a second car so it is not like he could come save me. I feel very blessed that Heavenly Father was watching out for me that day.

Other news, Stewart and I have a cute older couple living next to us, Stewart has gone over and shoveled their walks for them a lot this winter, and because of that we have become even better friends. The other day we needed some wire for the chains Stewart purchased for our car (that is another story) so I jaunted over there to get some wire they had, when I left their home I had a black strap, wire, a really cool compact flashlight, and a card with a gift card in it. They have become Stewarts and my adoptive grandparents over here. I count them as a blessing in my life, I know that if we ever needed any help they would be there for us, and I hope they know the same goes for us. It is neat to see the hand of the Lord in our lives; He has introduced us to so many wonderful people in this area and for that I am glad we moved to West Virginia.

Okay one last story and I will go; Stewart bought us come chains for our car (as stated above) so that we can actually get around this town in the snow. The town is all rolling hills so without 4-wheel drive or chains you slide everywhere and can’t leave the main roads. After Stewart got the chains and called my dad to clarify he knew how put the chains on, he went to work and put them on our car. Once that was done we went for a drive around town, our car climbed one of the hardest roads that goes from down town up a large hill back to our house with no problem. Stewart is now convinced that if our car can climb Foster Street, it can climb trees… I have yet to let him try. Ciao!!!

Sewing, Reading, Building, & Talking

Hmmmmm... so where do I begin… we have had a good week, but nothing out of the norm for us. I worked my three days Mon-Wed, and then I was off the rest of the week. I really like having those two days off a week for myself, it is nice to be able to have time to get things done here at home AND be creative/crafty. I have been doing lots of clever thing with my time, the other week I got the bright idea to make myself a dress, not big deal right… well I did not have a pattern, so I just busted out my sewing gear and went to work. I would say the finished project turned out pretty good considering the above facts, just not good enough to post any pictures. It still not finished, after 2 ½ days of working on it I decided I needed a break. So it is hanging in the closet until I pull it out with my ingenious idea of how to fix it. I did however insert my first zipper, I am quite proud! If anything, this dress project was a fun learning experience. I hope to do more sewing in the future.

Stewart got a book called “The Undaunted” written by Gerald N. Lund, for Christmas from my parents. We have started reading the book together, and so far have enjoyed ourselves. Stewart and I have tried reading books together before, but I have always lost interested in the books far before we finished them. This time the book has just enough history for Stewart and love story for me. If we can find more books like this, I think Stewart’s dream of having a wife who likes to read with him may come true.

The other day I got a phone call from a friend with two kiddos; she needed a time out from her kids so she asked if I would take them for a few hours, I was happy to help. We had a fun time, me and the kids; we decided since it was raining outside we needed to build the ultimate fort in our living room. Complete with a TV to watch Tarzan. Below is the fruit of our labor. I think this has been the best fort ever made… by me that is. After the kids went home I decided that a masterpiece this beautiful was worth leaving up until the next day (we needed to get our full use of it). Needless to say Stewart and I ate dinner and read our book in the fort that night. Oh the joys of simple pleasures. PS. this tent was made possible only because of the many quilts Stewart and I have inherited from our grandparents and parents... thanks!

Entrance

Side View

The inside

Today Stewart spoke in church, he was called late Friday night to fill in for someone who was unable to make it today. He spoke on service. Stewart seems to have a natural gift to be sincere, funny, and hold people's attention while speaking. He did a great job and received many complements. He informs me that the text of his talk will be published in next months Ensign… J/K. It was a great talk anyway.

Well, I believe that sums up our week. We are both doing fantastic and enjoying this season of life. Love Your Guts!