Things are going well here. We had supper with mike and Marla last night, it was good to see them again and I'm glad Ryan has a buddy here. I don't quite click with marla - she just seems stand-offish to me. This morning, we all met at the conference early. marla signed up for the spouses program because she wants the free breakfasts and would also like to do the cooking thing and the shopping trip. I'm not interested in that, I get free breakfast here, don't care to cook fancy foods and can't see paying to go shopping. So, we chatted for about an hour and went our seperate ways. I'm wasn't sure what to expect as far as spending time with her or not. But it sounds like it will be minimal at most. Likely in the evenings when the guys haven't had enough hanging out yet.

Its raining here so I don't think I'll be out playing basketball today but I'm looking forward to catching up on some reading and another morning of lounging. We're all meeting at noon for lunch. Tonight is the Iowa State alumni dinner thing so that will be interesting.

Highlight of the day (so far): came back in the hotel a few minutes ago and went into the breakfast area to grab some apple juice. walked back around the corner to see a bunch of EMT's attending to some guy. Earlier this AM, a guy fell on the slick wet rock outside. I figured the same thing happened. So, I sat down to read the paper and drink my juice - of course I positioned myself to hear the EMT's. The guy started pulling off his socks and shoes and I could see a huge blister on his foot. I thought that was wierd for a fall but it is Vegas. Anyway, as I perused the visitor's guide section, I heard the man say that he'd been walking and when questioned about it, he said he'd been walking since 3pm yesterday. Non-stop, he walked for 17.5 hours. That's a lot of walking! They put him on a stretcher and hauled him off to the hospital. Kinda random but this is Las Vegas and I could just see a CSI story looming in the background.

On other news...
we got the whole baby sex thing figured out and life has continued for us B's. Like I said, we're in Vegas and it was quite the trip. I forgot to buy a water before we left which I desperately need. Our flight was delayed about an hour leaving Iowa. Things were delayed in Vegas because of the rain. The rain here means only one runway to receive planes and each plane had to have a 5 mile radius in the air which really clogs up the system. But, we finally got off the ground in our very cramped Allegiant Air seats. It was a 3 hour direct flight (nice) BUT they didn't have complimentary beverages. Wow, never experienced that before and I was quite dissapointed since I had forgot my water! I was so uncomfy on the plane - not sure if it was because I'm prego, it was way past my bed time or just the cramped seats. Anyway, we got to Vegas and after circling the outskirts of the city for a while, finally landed and taxied in. It was so packed and clogged up there, even for Vegas, it was wild! We stood in line for about an hour for a taxi; it felt like I was in line for a ride at Disneyland. But, we eventually got a kind taxi dude who brought us to our hotel.
Then, we come in and they have us checking in Saturday (it was still Friday night). Ryan had tried to change the reservations after we bought airline tickets but they didn't have anything. So instead, he changed our arrival time to 12:00 am. Yeah, I had prewarned him that I would be ticked beyond belief if we had to wait in the lobby till we could check in on Saturday. The guy at the desk was kind and something had since opened up so we got a room. We got to our room at about 2:00am or after. Of course I was exhausted but Ryan had got his second wind. We were up at a decent time this morning and went to breakfast. Came back to our room and I laid down on the couch and went to sleep for a few hours. We have yet to venture down to the strip area yet. Thought we'd just hang out today and take it lightly. We played a little basketball in the rain and have ordered in some italian for supper. I just talked to Tebbe on the phone. She left me a message that her and Andy were coming down to stay with us for the weekend but I'm a slacker and just now checked my messages. I'm kicking myself for not checking it earlier! I wanted to see them but its not going to work out since its already Saturday evening. Okay, back to my lounging around. Tomorrow will be a big day, my 25th birthday! Woo hoo!

Ah, that reminds me (the woo hoo part), I talked to my nephew and sister yesterday. Kaleb said he wants me to have a girl and not a boy so that he can play with her. I asked him what he thought about names and he said "ashley". that won't work for our little B. My father-in-law suggested Mark II. That won't work either. Any other suggestions???

So, we're in Vegas and finally are getting settled in here. First things first though... IT'S A BOY!!!! I'm so excited (I just can't hide it...). Our ultrasound dude wasn't all that exciting - kinda like working with a pineapple. He didn't say or show us a whole lot but it was fun watching the screen as his worked. It took a half hour total and it was so uncomfy laying on that table. Not so much fun but we're having a boy, woo hoo!

Yay, its the end of my workday and work week. Its been a long and hectic day at the office. We received training on some new programs. I learned one little short cut and eventually decided that I didn't need the training. But, at least I made it through the work day. Yesterday I went home sick before lunch. Stomach cramps and feeling yucky; it was so nice to go to mom's and lay on the couch. She fixed oakie stew for lunch and then I had fried fish for supper with them before going home. Also watched the movie Notebook. Its really cute. On my way home, I picked up my JV kids. After JV was over, I went to bed way early. So, the week has gone fast, I haven't been home at all. And I have a wonderful friend, Renessa, who came and cleaned my downstairs since I had been sick with strep throat for 4 days and still feel like a weenie. Tonight, I have a long TO DO LIST. We'll see how much gets done - I'm hoping to make it to a new bible study that starts tonight and goes for 6 weeks. Tomorrow will be a full day with packing, laundry and hopefully finding out if we're having a boy or a girl. I'm so excited.

That said, I'm also excited in general about parenting and really want to pursue adoption right now even though we'll have our own little one in July. I even had a dream about it last night. We adopted brothers (twins if I remember right). They were young and oh so cute. I so want to adopt and love some little ones who would otherwise not receive that love. The dream was so real and I layed in bed awake for 2 hours this morning thinking about it before the alarm went off. Ah, the joys of dreams and daydreams.

Tomorrow by noon, I hope to have a reason to update my blog on the sex of our baby. Best wishes for us that we don't have a shy baby tomorrow during the ultrasound.

Wow, its Monday and I'm still exhausted and have a headache. It's been one wild weekend but not my normal wild. I went home an hour early Wednesday with a cold. Dealt with my conference call at my mom's, ate supper and went home to bed. Yup, I was in bed and asleep shortly after 6pm. I slept all day Thursday too. Its amazing how much sleep our bodies need when we're sick. My doctor suggested that I visit him Friday if I wasn't feeling better so mom took me there first thing Friday morning. My cold had turned ugly. Any time I get a cold, I end up with a sore throat and ear-ache. That happened by Friday morning and Dr. Miller put me on antibiotics for strep throat. Isn't that fun! The cold was eventually going to happen since EVERYONE here has it but the strep throat was an added bonus. Saturday too was a day full of sleeping (while my husband worked from 715am to 830pm) when my usual house cleaning occurs. The house is a pit and theCulligan guy is coming today and will see it that way. I hope he doesn't think someone broke in and ran sacked the place :)
Anyway, Sunday I made it to church. My honey was baptized. He'd been baptized before at a young age but this time wanted to re-affirm his faith with his own decision. That was cool. Baptists believe that you have to be immersed (that's the translation of baptism). Ryan joked that God wasn't a Baptist becuase He'd been sprinkling him all morning with rain. It was too cute and Pastor shared that with the church right before he was baptized which really embarrassed Ryan. Oh well. So, I made it through church although I didn't have the energy to stand and/or sing.
I'm excited for today. It's Valentine's Day and I have nothing special planned for the one I love. I've been sick plus we're headed to Vegas for a week this Friday so I figure we'll do plenty then. Friday morning my ultrasound is scheduled and Friday night we leave for Vegas. So, I'm hoping for a week full of healing and feeling better before we leave. Last year I was sick for V-day and my birthday so I'm hoping to feel better this year.
Gotta run. My boss is taking my appointments this morning to help my conserve my voice. I better get at it though :)

No near death experiences lately - woo hoo! We've had WARM weather, the snow for the most part gone. It's been in the 40's and even made it into the 50's. Yesterday we had rain all day. Not too bad though - sure beats ice. THis morning we woke up to about an inch of snow on the ground. It had cooled off to 22. That also means that the rain and melted snow had since frozen on the roads. Ryan warned me before I left this AM that the roads weren't cleared. I stayed home a few extra hours and read some and took a nap. Oh, so nice and needed!
The super bowl party was fun and exhausting yesterday. Who cares about the teams, we wanted a good game and that was reason enough for the party. There were 17 people at our house, lots of noise, lots of food and a little drama. Just before the game, Ryan and Renessa's little boy (Caleb 1 year old) pulled a slow cooker of chicken wings off the table. He stayed safe though and just got a little sauce on his new shoes and pants. Good thing he was safe. It was a fun mess to clean up just before we ate and left a charming "Swiffer" smell in the dining room. Yay for wood floors! I'm just glad my little buddy pulled that over instead of the little smokies and the chili beans that were on either side of it!
I wasn't overly impressed with the commercials this year. A few good ones. My favorites were the one where the daughter catches his daughter who snuck out and didn't care so long as she gave his car back. The other favorite of course was the commercial where the military folks were walking through the airport and everyone was clapping. Good stuff.
It's Monday and at this time next week I should have an appointment for an ultrasound. Will it be a boy or a girl???

Got our tickets to Vegas today. Sin City, here we come. Ryan and I will be in Vegas late on the 18th (friday), through the 20th (my 25th birthday) and then come back home the 25th. Woo hoo! Our plans so far: Ryan will be busy in a veterinary conference along with Mike (best man in the wedding). Marla (Mike's wife) and I will be hanging out enjoying some sun and sipping on drinks (alcohol free for me of course). We'll also see the play Chicago while there. I'm excited for the trip now that I finally feel half decent. I'm bummed though that the AZ B's won't be up after all. Yay for us. Cali friends, come on over to Vegas and visit.

Winter Wonderland
We got our first measurable snow as we were driving home from Volga on January 4th. It ended up being about 12” the next morning. Everything was gorgeous; the trees were flocked with snow, it was picture perfect. Snow also means roads that need cleared. With a little bit of experience, I know that the county road I take to work isn’t cleared when I leave. In fact, I meet the snow plow half way between my house and home. I played it smart that morning and left an hour later for work. Unfortunately the state highway wasn’t even cleared that morning. And just 3 miles from the house, I hit a patch of ice/slush and was turned sideways, crossed all three lanes and was heading downhill into oncoming traffic. I hoped that I could correct it in time to stay on the road. Sure enough, by the grace of God, my car hit the edge of the road and turned the other way. Still sideways and heading downhill, I was now facing the other way and went back across all three lanes. Only this time, I wasn’t so fortunate when I got to the edge. I just kept going right into the ditch. It was like I was trying to jump the ditch in my car, only I didn’t make it. So the Deputy sheriff eventually came, I checked out the inside of a cop car while I kept warm, he filled out the accident report and we waited for the tow truck. After my car was pulled out (and still drivable), the deputy followed me home to make sure I got there safely. Of course, I was still sliding around a bit in the ice and slush as I slowly made it back to the house. Played hookie the rest of the day and that Friday too because the roads were still bad.

There's still more to come. I have a some more interesting tidbits to share: a mouse story, another driving drama and more. Keep posted. I'll try to get updates out in a more timely manner.

Holy cow! I so posted last Friday. Took the time to write out a little of the most recent drama and pressed the key to publish the post and got an error. I detest that! Here’s my 2nd effort at typing about this – if I can remember where I left off…

New Year’s Day - Ice Adventure
I shared earlier about hitting the deer just before we left for Arizona. Got a quote for that and have it scheduled to be worked on. Things have been great. New Years Day we had plans with the folks to watch the football games. I told mom that we’d be there about noon – enough time to sleep in, eat breakfast and get cleaned up without hurrying. Ryan had other plans. At 8am, Ryan had to go to the clinic to walk dogs so he just planned on staying in town instead of running back in forth. I told him to go ahead, I was comfortable in bed. A minute or two after he left, the rain hitting the window got my attention. So, I opened my eyes to see that it was ice/sleet and not rain. Knowing that my car won’t make it up the driveway when its iced over, I decide that maybe I should get up and take my stuff with me to clean up at moms. Just then the phone rings and it was Ryan with the same suggestion. I asked him to come back to the house and get me so I didn’t have to deal with the slick driveway. We went to Mom and Ralph’s house and had a fun time watching way too many football games, eating food and visiting. By nightfall we had lots of freezing rain and the roads were solid ice. We opted to sleep in the spare bedroom instead of venturing home. The next morning Sunday services were cancelled and I was in no hurry to get up. About mid morning, Ryan wanted to go home (enough of the in-laws I guess) and we packed up our clothes (and dog) and headed home. It was icy but the roads had been salted and sanded. Then we got to the driveway. At the crest of the hill on the driveway, Ryan was hardly going as he crossed the cattle guard. Soon enough we were headed downhill on the ice with zero control. The only thing that kept us on the driveway was the grace of God and the grass along the edge. We’d be sliding one way and catch the grass which gave us traction and would shoot us the other way. Here we are headed down the hill that takes a curve with a pond on the left and a steep embankment on the right. I was hoping for the pond it meant smoother sailing (or should I say ice skating) then rolling the truck the other way. But we made it and continued on down the driveway. As we got to where it breaks off and heads to the garage, Ryan could make the turn. He went completely sideways on the ice so we decided to go through our lawn and stop there. It was quite the experience. And it didn’t stop there, the walkway and steps were solid ice, you couldn’t walk up them. We made it in the house and stayed there through the next day. That Monday, after putting 6 tons of sand on the hill, our neighbor (who we share a driveway with) hired someone to come in and salt it. Fortunately we got out that night and safely ran an emergency vet call. Slippery and sliding but safe!

THINGS TO KNOW
1. Budweiser beer conditions the hair
2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish
3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes
4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair
5. Elmer's Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads if any
6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea
7. Sunburn - empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water
8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste
9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it!
10. Arthritis? WD-40 S! pray and rub in, kill insect stings too
11. Bee stings - meat tenderizer
12. Chigger bite - Preparation H
13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H
14. Paper cut - crazy glue or chap stick (glue is used instead of sutures at most hospitals)
15. Stinky feet - Jell-O!
16. Athletes feet - cornstarch
17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub
18. Kool aid t o clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff)
19. Kool Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if they eat it!
20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD's! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper
21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray
22. Pam will also remove paint, and grease from! your hands! Keep a can in your garage for your hubby
23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls
24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on
25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar!
26. Body paint - Crisco mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave, pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice!
27. Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around a section of the T-shirt and soak
28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and cup of milk of magnesia, soak for 20 min. and let dry, will last for many years!
29. A Slinky will hold toast and CD's!
30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste.
31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt and watch it absor! b into the salt.
32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel.
33. Remove labels off glassware etc. rub with Peanut butter!
34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get a Bounce paper softener and the static from the Bounce towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also; you can use 2 Efferdent tablets, soak overnight!
35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it!
36. Dirty grout - Listerine
37. Stains on clothes - Colgate
38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup
39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola, it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries!
40. Fleas in your carpet? 20 Mule Team Borax- sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours. Maybe this will work if you get them back again.
41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS l! onger Add a little Clorox, or 2 Bayer aspiri n, or just use 7-up instead of water.
42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you "squeeze" for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie. They are: Monday = Blue, Tuesday = Green, Thursday = Red, Friday = White and Saturday = Yellow. The colors go alphabetically by color Blue - Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday.

Cori (and other curious onlookers), here's the picture of William Edward Goat.

Arizona with the B’s
We were gone to AZ for 8 days and what a relaxing trip it was. Eunice and I started another quilt project. We picked out a pattern and then went to the fabric store to find 27 different fabrics. After washing, drying and pressing them, Eunice cut the fabrics and even sewed a few strips together. I liked it so much that I bought enough fabric to make two. The first one I’m making for Ryan and Renessa Zurbriggen, our friends that are raising support to go into ministry with Athletes in Action. So, I’m excited to have time and take the time to sit down and work on that.
Ryan and I also got some dental work done while we were there. Ryan’s dad put a bridge in Ryan’s mouth where he was missing a tooth. Ryan spent some quality time in the dental chair and Mark spent lots of time prepping and creating the bridge (I don’t understand how it all worked but it takes lots of detailed attention and time). Ryan also had two little pits to be filled. They weren’t quite cavities but still needing to be filled so they don’t become cavities. Anyway, while working on it, Mark saw that it was a little more than a pit and Ryan felt it. My poor husband is afraid of the dentist (his own dad). And all the nervousness plus being able to feel the drilling caused him to pass out. It was quite the experience for Ryan, Mark and his mom. Needless to say when it was my turn to sit in the chair, I was a bit nervous too. I have no fear of the dentist at all but I also had a pit to be filled and was afraid of feeling it like Ryan. I was also concerned that I would get nauseaus having hands and a saliva sucker in my mouth. But, all went well. Mark’s assistant (Eunice) was not there and so he didn’t even use the sucker. He filled the pit and cleaned my teeth with no problem. Yea for Mark and me working so well together.
What else did we do… play with the puppy a lot, eat a ton and watch movies. It was fun times. I got some girly movies (Serendipity, Miss Congeniality and Princess Diaries 2) for Christmas so we made the boys sit through a few of them. We flew back home on Tuesday the 28th. We were late getting into Cedar Rapids from all the delays, fortunately we had our luggage and weren’t stranded in any airports. My folks dropped us off and picked us up so that we wouldn’t have to pay for parking. We had to stop at Applebee’s for supper AND mostly so that Ryan could watch his Cyclones in their bowl game. By the way, GO BULLDOGS! Anyway, on the way home, Mom and I gabbed while the guys listened to the football game on the radio. And finally, we were home. There truly is no place like home!

William Edward Goat - again
Ryan went back to work the next day while I stayed home the remainder of the week on vacation. Thursday morning though, I did venture off to Elkader to retrieve my lovely William Edward Goat. I was enjoying the high-class-white trash experience all over again. After picking him up, I met my folks on a nearby farm where an old barn had blown over in our lovely weather. The owners happened to be good friends of our goat sitters and they gave my parents permission to take as much of the barn wood as they wanted. So, we gathered there to pick up barn wood, pull nails out and stack it on the trailer. Meanwhile my goat was hanging out in the back of the truck. I was scolded on more than one occasion for lifting the boards. Apparently pregnant women aren’t supposed to lift weighty objects and they kept reminding me. It couldn’t be that big of a deal, I lift and move things a lot so a board was no big deal. It didn’t take too many hours of work before we were tired, the saw battery was dying and we were cold. So, I suggested a quick run into town for Subway. My parents were pulling a trailer and woldn’t exactly be able to park the thing on Main Street. So, we all squeezed in the old Ford. I offered for Ralph to drive so he could at least have leg room but he didn’t want to so I drove and had to move the seat up which moves the whole bench seat up together. So, the three of us cram into the truck with our bulky coats and I was in coveralls and head to Subway. Now, I’m parked on Main Street in Elkader (about four times the size of Elgin) with the goat tied in the back. As we were cramming back into the truck (remember we’re all dressed like snow bunnies) a little girl walking by with her mom says “mommy, look at the puppy”. It was quite the entertainment for me; here’s this goat with horns coming out of his head and the girl thinks it’s a puppy. I was just glad the Ford started without any problems and I didn’t have to have the hood up like a few weeks earlier.

Jimmy the Marine
We went to church with Ryan's folks that Sunday following Christmas. A few college "kids" were leading worship. At the end, the leader prayed and in his prayer said something about Jimmy. I thought it kinda odd that Jimmy was mentioned with no details and it was right before the start of the sermon. Then he proceeded to sing the song "letters from war" to his friend Jimmy. Have you heard that song? I pasted them below in case you haven't heard it played before. I could see Jimmy sitting near the front in his dress Marine uniform. Let’s just say that I'm thankful I had not put on mascara that morning. Then after the song, the pastor had Jimmy (who would soon be leaving for Iraq) and his family come up and they prayed for him and asked that it be a reminder to us to be praying for our servicemen. I was so choked up but it was so neat. I could just picture my buddy Ben Farmer standing up there and our church doing the same thing. Ben was scheduled to leave January 9th for his third trip to Iraq. So, be praying for him and others and take a peek at the lyrics below:

Artist: Mark Schultz
Song Title: Letters from war

She runs to the mailbox
On that bright summers day
Found a letter from her son
In a war far away

He spoke of the weather
And good friends that he'd made
Said I'd been thinking 'bout dad
And the life that he had
Thats why I'm here today
And that the end he said
You are what I'm fighting for
It was the first of the letters from war

She started writing
(Chorus)
Your good and your brave
What a father that you'll be someday
Bring him home
Bring him safe

She wrote everynight as she prayed

Late in December
A day she'll not forget
Oh her tears stained the paper
With every word that she read

It said I was up on a hill
I was out there alone
When the shots all rang out
And bombs were exploding
And thats when I saw him
He came back to me
And though he was captured
A man set me free
And that man was your son

He asked me to write to you
I told him I would oh I swore
It was the last of the letters from war

And she prayed he was living
Kept on believing
and wrote every night just to say

(Chorus)

Then two years later
Autumn leaves all around
A car pulled in the driveway
And she fell to the ground
And out stepped a captain
Where her boy used to stand

Said mom I'm following orders
From all of your letters
And I've come home again
He ran into hold her
And dropped all his bags on the floor
Holding all of her letters from war

Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home

December 22nd, 23rd and Christmas Eve
So nice to be on vacation! These two days we lounged around for the most part. I took very seriously the need to rest and get extra sleep in the first trimester. Ryan and I also had some dental work done while we were there. We shopped for a few hours one day. I spent my time in the mall and Target wisely (or so I thought). We also visited a pet store to pick up a few items which brings up a sad story with a happy ending:

Sadie, the black lab
Mark and Eunice (Ryan’s folks) have had this golden retriever dog for a long time. Trapper was Mark’s buddy. Mark would sit in his chair partially leaning to one side so he could reach down and pet his dog. He even traveled with them when they’d drive back and forth to AZ. Trapper was up in age and had been having occasional seizures. He had one when they were at our house for Thanksgiving. When asked, Ryan informed them (as a veterinarian) that eventually they would have to put Trapper down. They asked when and Ryan said when his quality of life goes South. Well, the day before we left, they had Trapper put down. That Saturday night he had 2 seizures. And the same thing Sunday night. It was more than the occasional seizure and by now Trapper wasn’t getting around well and things like that. So, we got there Tuesday night and Mark seemed depressed but who wouldn’t be after having to do that with their pal?
Ryan and I went to bed that night and the wheels were spinning in my head. Just two weeks before in one of our weekly conversations, Kristine shared with me that she had a lab puppy that she hadn’t sold and I could have since I’ve been wanting a puppy. I ran the idea passed Ryan to see what he thought about giving his dad a puppy for Christmas. Lots of things to consider of course – is it too soon, does she still have the puppy, getting it to AZ, their upcoming vacation, dealing with a puppy and of course, what if he doesn’t want it. The next morning, we ran it passed Eunice. She thought it was too soon and of course wasn’t eager to deal with a puppy. I started making some phone calls and it all worked out perfectly. The puppy was the runt, she’d been a little sick, was pretty thin but was being spoiled. Kristine called her mom who was caring for the puppy. That day was the first day she didn’t have the sniffles. So the adventures of the puppy, now named Sadie, began.
Kristine’s mom, Theresa, made the hour drive down the mountain on Thursday to drop the puppy off with Kristine. Kristine purchased all kinds of stuff for the puppy – a blanket, toys, food, etc. My dad was driving passed Kristine’s on his way to AZ to celebrate Christmas with us in Prescott. Friday morning (Christmas Eve), on his way out of town, Dad picked up the puppy and she traveled with him on the 10 hour drive to Prescott. Once at Mark and Eunice’s, Ryan hid the puppy in the water heater closet until we opened Christmas gifts. Sadie made her grand appearance as the first gift. She stumbled her way through the living room, curious about everything and made her way to Mark where he picked her up and held her. Ryan then shared with his dad that we weren’t trying to replace Trapper, we just thought he would enjoy having a dog around. I think he fell in love with another woman that night (it’s okay Eunice, it’s a different kind of love). Everybody gave and received nice gifts but we were all focused on Markee and his new puppy the rest of the night.

Other tidbits from those few days: I think we brought with us to AZ, the cold weather from home. It froze two nights in a row and got down to about 16 degrees. Christmas Eve while we were running around the house getting the last minute gifts wrapped and Eunice and Ryan were baking, a pipe broke. A pipe for an outside faucet had froze and busted and as it thawed after noon the next day, we saw evidence of the water in the house. There was water sitting on the wood floors in front of the wood stove and had gone down the wall into the new room in the basement. They added on to the basement (it was all open underneath already) for Mark’s dental chair and wine stuff. The water was also puddled in there. So, we all rushed to get the water of the floors and dried up. It made for a busy afternoon that was already quite busy.
One of the other fun things was giving my dad his quilt for Christmas. Jen, my sister, had sent me some squares that she assembled with the directions to finish the quilt. Last February, while in AZ, Eunice helped me pick out the fabric to put the quilt top together. I was quite impressed with it. This summer I had it quilted by a friend here in Elkader and sent it back to AZ. Just before Christmas, Eunice taught me how to put the binding on. She actually did all the binding since she’s a quilting pro and I’m very limited in my quilting/sewing abilities. Dad, the quiet humble one, didn’t say much but you could see that he was grateful. Here’s this quilt that his kids made for him that he can put on his bed. I thought it was pretty special and he did too because a few days later he shared with my mom that he would be putting it away so that someone didn’t walk off with it. I sure hope that he uses it on his bed since that’s what we made it for. It was fun to give him a thoughtful and creative gift – something besides the normal clothes that he gets for Christmas.

More to come, keep checking back. Lots has happened since returning from AZ.

It was the 14^th of December when I shared with everyone that I went deer hunting. Man, those things are thick out here. So, we dealt with what little damage it caused by turning it in to insurance and getting a bid to get the dumb door fixed. That was the start of a real whirlwind few weeks.

Monday, December 20th

Mom and Ralph agreed to take my car to get an estimate on the damage. When I talked to the guy at the body shop, he insisted (not in a bad way) that I bring it right then. Small town business ya know – he’ll take the time right then and there to deal with it. Kinda nice usually but I had a laundry list of things to do before leaving for Arizona. That was the beginning of my crazy day. I was trying to get things packed for our trip, clean the house and do all the last minute odds and ends like watering plants and taking our sweet William to be “goat”sat. Of course when I was on my way home from the body shop, I realized that I had agreed to stop by the health clinic first thing in the morning for blood work. It was almost noon. So, I went home and ate (again), then showered and got ready to head to town. I also had a 5pm Christmas party with the ladies at work and needed to spend about 2 hours in the office tying up loose ends before leaving.

So, I head out of the house on time, all dressed up in khakis and sweater with eyeliner and mascara on (not an everyday occurance in my line of work). But before stepping outside I put on my coveralls knowing that my sweet little goat isn’t so little and would be difficult to get into the large kennel for the truck ride to Elkader. After about 20 minutes of fighting him in the windy and freezing temperatures, I gave up and tied him to either side in the bed of the truck (like you would a dog) and told him to freeze. I could care less at that point, I was cold and my hair was messed up and … (on and on).

I hop in Ryan’s lovely 85 Ford truck to head down the road. But let me preface this truck a little. First of all, its wonderful because it was free from Ryan’s folks. But, we don’t drive it much and have had several less than convenient experiences in the last year. Needless to say, the last time it was brought back from a friend who borrowed it, the brake light now stays on and the driver door doesn’t hang on the hinge right. That means that I have to roll down the window (remember its freezing outside), grab the outside handle and lift up on the door as I pull it closed from the outside. Did I mention that the smell of diesel exhaust has always made me sick but especially so now that I’m pregnant.

Okay, so on the road, finally. But, wait I have to make a quick stop to drop off some stuff at mom’s and can’t forget the blood tests at the health clinic. I get to the clinic, totally in high-class-white-trash mode and go inside to have them suck my blood. Everything goes peachy, my OB nurse is wonderful. I go back out to the truck to head to Elkader (now just a few minutes behind) and the truck won’t start. So, here I am, totally white trash, in this old beat up truck with construction supplies scattered in the bed and my goat tied in there and the hood up in the parking lot on the main road in Elgin. Plus, now its snowing pretty good and I’m ticked because I’m cold and feeling stupid and helpless. I try to call Ryan for help but he doesn’t answer his cell phone so I walk to the vet clinic (its actually next door by way of a grass lot). There I begin calling for help. Some short time later (felt like forever), my parents got back to town from Elkader to help me. So now, there’s 3 of us in front of the health clinic working on the Ford with the goat in the back. Thank goodness I live in rural Iowa where this isn’t all that big of an attraction to those driving by. Ralph tried to “jump” the truck but that wouldn’t work. So, then he went home, got some tools, cleaned the battery posts and banged on the alternator and it finally started working. Problem solved: the alternator wasn’t charging the battery and Ralph said the bristles inside might not have been connecting right until he banged on it. Ah, I remember this happening once before when DJ was out visiting. Silly me, it was the same thing and it results from us not driving the Ford often enough. So, here I am in Elgin, way late to work and still needing to drop off my tethered friend. Problem is that I need to take the truck to drop him off but I also have to stay in town and am afraid of this same problem occurring as I get down the road and shut off the truck. So, wonderful parents that I have, mom and Ralph take the Ford to Elkader and let me take the Tahoe. Nice exchange for me but poor Ralph had to sit with all kinds of crap piled in the floorboard where his feet should go. So, I meet them at the Marmann’s to take care of the goat so they don’t have to worry about it (all the while they could’ve driven their own vehicle and then only experienced the truck on the way back home). I got to work at 445pm, mind you I had 2 hours of work to do and 15 minutes to get it done. So, I pulled off my coveralls again (I had put them back on when I was standing outside in the snowy weather) and hurried into the office. Had just enough time to rush through my timesheet and leave a few notes before heading to the party.

By now, I’m exhausted and ready to go to bed! But, I went to the party, had a fun time, ate some good food and shared with the ladies that I was pregnant. Prior to that, only my boss knew that I was pregnant. So that was fun. While I was inside enjoying some food and fun, it was snowing pretty good outside. I go to leave and see the snowfall and become a bit nervous that I’m driving someone elses new Tahoe in not so nice of weather conditions. Got to mom’s safely, traded vehicles (they turned the truck off at my house, left it there and took my car to their place for me) and went home. Got to bed about 11pm, which is several hours passed my bedtime and went to sleep.

Tuesday, December 21^st

Flying always makes me nervous even though I love flying. I think it’s the fear of traveling and missing flights, forgetting identification or something random like that. Mom and Ralph offered to take us to the airport so we wouldn’t have to leave our car there. While waiting for them to come, I had the nervous-upset-stomach feeling. But, it was early and I hadn’t had my first thing in the morning meal yet. We head down the road (remember we had our first good snow the night before). Not quite 45 minutes down the road, and after a lot of questions about feeling okay, we made a quick stop along side the road for me to puke into the wind. Yup, first time I puked since I’ve been pregnant. I think it was nerves more than my all day morning sickness though. The rest of the day went fine with flights and all that stuff. I didn’t each much though so by time we got to Prescott 14 hours later, I was beyond hungry and not feeling well. Instead of taking us to dinner as planned, Ryan’s parents took us home and I ate some crackers and buttered spaghetti noodles.

Okay, that’s all I can update today. Expect more from me early next week. I’ve got lots more excitement to share. I think it gets more exciting as the days pass!

I changed my setup now so that anyone can make comments!

Life Focus
Another excerpt from the Life Focus Newsletter:
The vector principle describes the direction in which an object is moving, momentum describes the velocity in which it is moving. Interestingly, vector cannot be measured until there is momentum. Momentum cannot happen until there is an initial step of action. If you are sitting on a bicycle facing west, but you want to go north, turning the handle bars is not enough to move you North. You must take that first step on the pedals in order to create motion. It is only after motion has begun that you see the impact of turning those handle bars in the right direction.
So it is with your life. If you know what you must do, but you don't take that first step, you will remain frozen in your current state looking at what could be. My encouragement for you this month is begin taking action. Set your eyes on those goals you have for yourself. Decide what must be done to get there and then establish small, attainable and measurable goals that will set you on the right path of achieving your dreams.

Small Change Challenge
1. Write a narrative of the life you want to live. (This can be one paragraph or several pages) Be very specific as you describe various aspects of the life you want.
2. What are the three most important changes that you need to make in your life to reach your goals? (write them out and be very specific)
3. What action step can you take in the next 48 hrs. that will create momentum in the right direction? (this can be anything from making a phone call or setting up an appointment with a key individual who can help you accomplish a task) I am confident that if you will follow through with this first Small Change Challenge you will be on your way to living the life you want to live

I went deer hunting!
Its deer hunting season out here so there's lots of people running around with guns and scaring deer through fields. Deer are in abundance out here and they're such pretty animals except when they're in the road. Had one run out in front of me last night. That was nothing new. But a second later, here comes another one and it ran into my car. Yeah, it T-boned my car. You can see where her nose hit right under the handle of the front door. Then the back door is all dented up. Was quite the experience. Just before that I was thinking how long it had been taking for it to get too warm in my car since it was about 8 degrees outside. After she hit my car and my blood started pumping more rapidly, I got warm real quick. Never even saw her hit the car but I heard it and then watched in the rear view mirror and she fell on the road and started flopping around. That didn't happen for too long when I pulled over and looked back, I saw her get up and run into the field. I'm sure someone will smell the rotting flesh eventually, I don't see how she could survive that. Praise God that I didn't hit her with the front of my car. It would have scooped her right up and she would've come through my windshield. That wouldn't be a pretty sight on me or on the car! As it is, I'm sure it will cost plenty to fix since the whole door is dented in. Okay, enough fun news from me. HOpe your weather and outside stuff is not so dramatic.

Just a few more days left...
Yeah for a good and relaxing weekend we had! Saturday I slept in till 8am. Snacked for breakfast and piddled around the house. Ryan made pancakes and sausage for lunch, it was yummy. Saturday afternoon we ran to a few stores in town for stocking stuffers and groceries. I decorated with some more Christmas stuff and picked up a few rooms. Sunday then we had church and my little Henderson buddies came over. They're pre-K, 2nd and 4th grade. We had hot chocolate and watched the Cinderella story (if that's the real name) with Hillary Duff and also watched Shrek 2. Ryan and I make pizza on french bread for supper when Mike and Eva came to get their kids. The house wasn't spic and span and I was only minorly (is that a word?) worried about it.
Our upcoming week will be busy. Our favorite Culligan Man, Doug, who we also attend church with, is bringing us one of those big bottled water things where you can get cold or tap water out of it. During the rest of the week I have a few things to pick up for gifts yet. We were all done except some gifts Ryan was making. Well, his honey-do list has taken priority and his gift making has ceased. So, now I need to get my butt out with all of you other procrastinators and do some shopping for a few people. We have quite the weekend scheduled too. Some friends of ours are moving and we'll be helping with that. Plus, we're have some friends over for supper Saturday night and my house MUST be clean for that. Then Sunday is the Christmas program for the children of the church. Monday is work and a girls party afterwards and Tuesday we fly out to Arizona for Christmas and relaxation. Since its 17 degrees here with 40-50 mph winds, I'm looking forward to 70 degrees in AZ. Yeah, for vacations!

It feels like Christmas
Last night we finished up a veterinary call it was just starting to spit a light sprinkle and we joined the Bishop family inside the house for supper and fellowship. What a great time hanging out with friends (who also happen to be a deacon of the church as well as one of Ryan's clients). We heard all 4 kids share Christmas songs on the piano, shared a meal and lots of good laughs. We left their house several hours later and walked out to see half an inch of snow on the ground. It was gorgeous driving home as the snow was falling fast and in abundance. Then we got home and walked down through the pasture together to move our goat out of the snow and into the barn. We were covered in snow. What a fun time for us. Christmas is coming but now it feels like Christmas around here. This week should be warm but I expect the snow to be back soon :)

Here's to a good laugh:

The FBI had an opening for an assassin. After all the background checks, interviews and testing were done there were 3 finalists. Two men and a woman. For the final test, the FBI agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.

"We must know that you will follow your instructions no matter what the circumstances. Inside the room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill Her!!!" The man said, "You can't be serious! I could never shoot my wife." The agent said, "Then you're not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home."

The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about 5 minutes. The man came out with tears in his eyes, "I tried, but I can't kill my wife." The agent said, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home."

Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same instructions, to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman, She wiped the sweat from her brow. "This gun is loaded with blanks" she said. "I had to beat him to death with the chair."

Chinese Food
Last night Ryan treated me to Chinese Food. We get the buffet, its awesome. By time we got there, I was so hungry my stomach hurt (its a 45 minute drive). About 90 people from the Luther College cross country team was there for some big party. They were all dressed up and looking cute. I felt like such a dud in the middle of their line at the buffet. I was in jeans, a t-shirt, a zip up sweatshirt and jacket. The food was good as always. They even had sushi on the buffet but I didn't have the stomach to try it. Plus, I know that next time I see Cori, she'll take me out for a sushi experience. I chatted with the owner there (because I know no strangers) and found out that they're actually Korean. But, it will always be "Chinese" Food to me since that's what I'm used to calling it. Thanks to my wonderful and lovely husband who took me out for a great meal. He's so awesome!

Where have I been?
Not quite a month since I last wrote; yup its been a while. Seems like I just turned my calendar over to November and already I’ll be changing it again. In a 3 week period of time, I was in the office two and a half days. My boss probably wonders if I’ll ever come back. Today I was scheduled to be in Des Moines for 2 days and in Independence on Thursday for various meetings. Friday I decided that my untouched work here in my office would take priority. It also happened that on Friday I was the only one in the office working. After numerous phone calls and clients at the counter, I realized how long I’d been gone. I felt like a new employee all over again. Many things change and progress and take shape and I didn’t have a clue how that was all happening.
One week I spent 3 days at a Prescribed Burning Training. I picked up on a few things but nothing that really increased my job skills in the area. I’ve had some good training before but it wasn’t official so this was just jumping through the right hoops to satisfy those above. The second week I spent in Kansas City. Not all that exciting either. I was there for a Managing for Success Training. It too was crap. I had high expectations of this professional meeting, etc. One of our speakers was a comedian before working for us and you could tell. The other speaker had us reading out loud to each other. We did a lot of team building skills but nothing brilliant came out of it. I learned about a good partnership with other agencies and how to get that established but it was a side note to the whole thing. It sucked!
Come home not feeling so well. The stress of being away from home, not eating well and having lots on my desk to think about just sucked my energy. I whined through the weekend, worked a half day on Monday and went home to a week of company. Denise (ryan’s vet school buddy) came and stayed for a few days. She recently came home on furlough from doing missions work on Africa and it was good to see her. Plus Ryan’s parents came up from AZ and stayed a week. We enjoyed our company. Ryan’s mom helped me on a blanket I’m making before Ryan put her to work stripping paint off of our window/door trim. His dad helped him with re-building the north porch. They are hardworkers and I so appreciate their help. His mom has such a servants attitude and made some wonderful meals, washed dishes, etc. Thanks to them, I got some well needed rest on the couch.
Thanksgiving was of course a feast of food, family and fun. Everybody pitched in for the meal and clean up and it was awesome. Today was back to the office. I tried to muttle through the piles on my desk and happened to lose an application and all the design work for a federal cost share deal. Yup, bad me. I’ve got about a week to get things straightened out that I left undone. And about 3 weeks until Ryan and I head off to AZ for Christmas. Yikes, I have lots to do.

FUN QUESTIONS
(I took the liberty to remove some questions so you wouldn't get bored)
1 - What color pants are you wearing? Blue jeans that have the brown background where they’ve faded.

2 - What are you listening to right now? Troy, my coworker, talking

3 - Soup or salad? Both, I like to eat.

4 - What was the last thing you ate? I had a granola bar first thing this morning and will be having a snack here shortly.

5 - If you were a crayon; what color would you be? I like yellow. It’s a brilliant color that highlights many things but tends to be behind the scenes and in the background quite often.

6 - Weather right now? Oh my gosh, its cold! 20 degrees when I left this morning. Yesterdays high was 38 and it was windy which is way freezing after a gorgeous 60 degree day on Wednesday

7 - Last person you talked to on the phone? Jen Royer, she’s also married to a young vet named Ryan. We chatted about her pregnancy. She’s due at the end of February so I’m hoping for the 20th which is my b-day.

8 - Do you like the person who sent you this? Yup, I’m the last person she had talked to on the phone when she did this. I love Kristin, she’s wonderful!

9 - How are you today? I feel wonderful. Another blessed day from God - I woke up hoping it was Saturday. I was on travel M, T & W. Thursday was a holiday and it so feels like I should be home cleaning today instead of sitting at my desk.

10 - Favorite drink? I’d have to say my all time favorite is water, chilled with no ice and a squeeze or two of lemon juice.

11 - Favorite alcohol drink? Bluck! I’ve tasted a few wines and they’re nasty. Tasted my brothers Corona one time and it too was awful. Robitussin is good :)

12- Hair color? Brown with some natural blond and red highlights.

13 - Eye color? Depends on what I’m wearing. Generally a greenish blue with a ring of yellow around my pupil.

15 - Siblings and their age? Jen (26), DJ (22), Jeff and Aimee whose ages I don’t know.

16 - Favorite food? More recently, I’ve really liked salmon and shrimp.

17 - Last movie you watched? Shrek 2 for the second time and again I fell asleep during it.

18 - Favorite day of the year? Government holidays and family get togethers

26 - What is your favorite show? CSI wins the gold on that one

27 - What books are you reading? I married Adventure by Luci Swindoll is one of the books I’m currently reading. I also just finished I Grew Up Little by Patsy Clairmont. I don’t read too often but I’ve been on a reading kick lately.

29 - Favorite Board Game? Battle of the Sexes – I’ve only played it once but it was fun. Otherwise I like Mexican Train (not a board game but a dominoe game), it rocks!

30 - What did you do last night? Ran a veterinary call with Ryan in the late afternoon and then went to Sabor Latino for supper. On the way home, we stopped at Andy & Erica’s and I played with my girls (4 cuties from 2 to 9ish) We colored, looked at crafts projects of theirs, played with a carebear and checked out some videos. Yeah, fun stuff!

31 - What inspires you? Grace, mercy and love

32 - Buttered; Plain; or salted popcorn? Oh, I’ve so been wanting popcorn. I like it with butter, Lawry’s seasoning instead of salt and then add some almonds and fruit gummy things. Its rockstar popcorn!

33 - Favorite car? Car, its all about trucks. Yup, I like the 79 Chevy pickup. Its my all time favorite.

34 - Favorite flower? Yellow roses, it’s a family thing. I also like tulips and lilies of all sorts.

35 - How many keys on your key ring? One I think. The key to my car and it rarely leaves my ignition – even when I’m on travel for work and have locked my doors. Yup, the locksmith and I are buddies now. He used to dairy farm not too far from here. Its quite an experience when you lock yourself out of your car in some other town! Makes for a great time to catch up on phone calls while you wait.

36 - Can you juggle? I like Kristin’s answer. I can’t juggle fruits or baseballs, but I can juggle, so far, all my commitments.

37 - Who would you hate to be trapped in a room with? Anyone but Ryan, if were were trapped in a room… it would be more entertaining

38 - 7-up or sprite? Sprite over 7up but I really don’t care for POP.

41 - Favorite perfume? There’s two: Endless Love from Victoria’s Secret for everyday wear and Obsession for going out.

42 - Favorite band(s) of all time? I don’t know that I like bands per say, but I do like worship teams and music in general

IOWA

A man decided to write a book about famous churches around the world. So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to Orlando, thinking that he would start by working his way across the USA from South to North. On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read "$10,000 per call". The man, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for. The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God. The man thanked the priest and went along his way. Next stop was in Atlanta. There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same golden telephone with the same sign under it. He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Orlando and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was. She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God. "O.K., thank you," said the man.
He then traveled to Indianapolis, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same "$10,000 per call" sign under it. The man, upon leaving New York decided to travel out mid west to see if western states had the same phone.
He arrived in Iowa, and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read "40 cents per call." The man was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. "Father, I've traveled all over America and I've seen
this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to Heaven, but in the east and south the price was $10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here? The priest smiled and answered, "You're in Iowa now, son it's a local call".

COMPUTERS, HOW I LOVE THEM
Two major things in the office lately. The first is reconciling every single contract in EQIP (one of our federal cost share programs). This means going through every contract line item by line item to make sure that it migrated over correctly into our program. Our contracts have an average of 17 line items plus we have to check their direct deposit information, etc. Its time consuming. Add to that, the system is web based so with everyone in the nation working on this, it can slow down the system considerably. We have over 100 contracts total and I have 15 left. One keeps giving me an error and the other 14 I can’t touch until they create a program to fix them because they doubled up.
The other bit of frustration on computers is printing maps. I’m trying to print a whole watershed which is about 3’x5’ in a much smaller capacity. Eric asked me to help on this since I’m pretty comfortable with computers. A simple process became quite difficult. After printing off six 8”x11” pages and Eric pasting them together, I realized that it was way too much work. So, I decided to run to our area office on my way home (only 6 miles out of the way) and print it out on their plotter. My login wouldn’t access the plotter and Neil’s login wouldn’t access the photos from the server. Jerry’s also wouldn’t access the plotter, it has to be on the engineering computers. Of course all this is after hours and there’s noone around. Jerry (the boss in the field office which shares a building with the area office) had no clue where the disk was that has the photos saved. Go figure, he’s counted on his soil con to do all that stuff – same for my office. So, I was going to burn a cd with the info on it and take it back to the right computer. But, Jerry’s computer that can burn cd’s was down and our computer guy, Brian wasn’t around. Without sharing all the crazy details of my little adventure, I left the area office 1.5 hours later with a plotted document that didn’t have the aerial photos in the background as needed but did have the field boundaries. This morning started the craziness all over. Brian, our computer guy, came back and eventually set me up to print on the plotter in the area office from my desk. That was great but I couldn’t print preview it so I really didn’t know what the end result was. Rhonda, one of the office managers was trying to help but she’s not at all familiar with reading maps; bless her heart. Dave Brommel (the head guy for our area) came to her rescue. He jumped on the phone and said “looks like Bloody Run Watershed…” He was familiar with it because he worked in our county about 20 years ago. We got the scale right to fit but the darn thing wouldn’t change from portrait to landscape even when I told it too. Way too much drama for the day. Now that I waisted some big paper and lots of time, I told Eric to call the guy who originally created and sent him the document to have him print it out in Des Moines and mail it up to him. Ah, done with that one.



WORK is BUSY
My county is never slow but things sure have picked up. We’re gearing up for Conservation Security Program (CSP) expecting to hear soon if we have it. It’s a new program in Iowa and requires lots of bodies and mucho mucho hours to sign people up. When that officially happens, we’ll likely have a Jan-Feb signup. We also just got our EQIP money for this year – about 5-6 months earlier than usual. That will be a mid December signup so we’re gearing up for that now. Setting appointments to meet with interested landowners. Plus, its fall work time here and that means that we should all be out in the field laying out practices before the ground freezes. Unfortunately there’s too much on our plate right now to focus on one thing. Then, Troy, my coworker who does a ton and has been the one focusing on the EQIP appointments, got called for jury duty today. So I filled in with an appointment this morning but now he’ll be out at least a couple of days. As if we can afford to get any farther behind. Two days after we got our EQIP money, we also heard that our CRP offers got accepted. That means that we have 62 landowners to sit down with and plan out their next 10-15 years of grasses and each step of that program from getting it established and what kinds of grasses to seed through maintenance, etc. Its quite the project when we get these. The same day, they informed us that our ECP money came through finally. This money goes to repair all the damage the May floods created around here. That adds gobs of work for the technicians to do. So, to put it simply, we are BUSY around here. Some say job security and I kinda hope so – I’d prefer to stick around here as long as I can; I know they’ll keep me busy!

MALL OF AMERICA
Five of us ladies from church had quite the adventure recently. We left on a Friday morning from my house and headed for Minneapolis. Jason Taylor, the JHi Youth Retreat Speaker and Ryan’s childhood friend, was staying the weekend with us. He was quite surprised when lots of people were all of a sudden at the house and he was still in his pajamas. We finally got on the road about 9am. With only one pit stop on the way, we arrived at the Mall of America about 1pm. It took a while to find parking and then we were inside this massive mall. Of course we needed to have lunch so I suggested Bubba Gumps. I felt horrible because it was expensive and not so great food. After lunch the ladies went on to shop. My buddy Renessa is still nursing and needed to take care of duties so I went back to the van with her and we chatted. About the time she was done and we went back into the mall, we had 20 minutes to shop. I made sure to find Victoria’s Secret and make a quick purchase before leaving. We walked through one other store before meeting up with our pals to head for the hotel. Our meeting spot happened to be near a Hooters. That’s so NOT a family restaurant. Who do they think they’re lying to? I couldn’t believe that there were young teenage boys in there and that the girls really do wear skimpy clothing. Outrageous!

WOMEN OF FAITH
We took the long way to the hotel, checked in, freshened up quickly and headed back South towards downtown. For as much time as we spent driving there, it would have been better to hang out at the mall a bit longer and go straight to the conference. After venturing through downtown with HORRIBLE directions trying to find the arena, we made our way into the parking ramp. Eventually we arrived at our seats – the nose bleeds. I’m not kidding you, we were in the second row from the top! It was great, you could see everything, it was just really small in size :) It was so good to sit in an arena with 18,000 other women to hear some great stories, see some great drama and worship.
I went last year and it was right after I got bucked off my horse and was still having massive headaches, back issues and couldn’t stay balanced when standing. This time I was refreshed, feeling good and teachable. What a difference that makes. I loved every bit of it, every speaker, every music artist – the whole weekend was wonderful. Saturday afternoon, Tammy Trent shared her story. Tammy is the singer who lost her husband while on the last day of their vacation in Jamaica – September 10, 2001. What a heart wrenching story. I had heard it before but there was newness this time and it was so much more personal. Plus she shared details that I had not heard her share before. I cried. Each time I’ve heard her talk, it has helped me to appreciate Ryan that much more. I have such a wonderful and loving husband. Tomorrow he might be gone forever so I need to make sure he knows how very special he is. At the close of the conference one of the speakers got up to tell us about the head stage guy. Friday night after the conference, he said he didn’t feel good and was going outside to get some fresh air. As he walked down the isle, he collapsed. They rushed to the hospital to find that he had a brain anurism and wasn’t looking hopeful. The guy is from Philedelphia and has a wife and 5 year old son. Life truly can be gone in an instant.
I left there Saturday night emotionally drained but encouraged. We had a great bonding time together and I look forward to going again next year. Next time we won’t count on internet directions to get us around and through the city :)

I'm not much for Halloween or that kinda stuff but I do like to see the kids and their cute costumes. Since we live 3 miles out, we went to a buddies house in Ellkader and passed out candy. It was fun since I knew some of the kids from working here in town and coaching/reff-ing soccer. I was mean and told the kids who didn't have costumes that they needed them and just gave them cheap candy instead of the good stuff. That makes me mad - totally beggars! It was interesting because we were at Ryan and Jen Royer's house. Dr. Royer was a vet school buddy of my Ryan's and so we're good friends. But because Dr. Royer works here at the Elkader clinic and I work here in Elkader, while each of our spouses work in other towns, I'm often asked if I'm Ryan Royers wife. We got married a month apart and so its totally confusing to people who really don't know us. Last night, I answered the door once by myself and then Ryan Royer walked up behind me to check out the costumes. I could just imagine the thoughts of the parents outside: "so that’s what Dr. Royers wife looks like". I told Ryan I couldn't answer the door without his wife anymore! Creates too good of rumors in town here.

TERRACE LAYOUT
Ah, the joys of laying out the practices in the field. I’m such a whiner. When I sit at my desk all day, I complain I never get out to the field. And days when I’m stumbling through corn stalks helping Dave lay out terrace projects, I just wish my lazy butt could be back in the office. The last terrace that I assisted with was 0.9 miles long. Yeah, just one terrace on the farm with lots more to be done there. Walking through cornstalks sucks. Some of the stalks are so tough that I could stand and put all my weight on them and they don’t budge, they’re like little trees. My shins usually get pretty roughed up while the guys are tall enough they can step right over them. PTL, we just got a “new” guy here at the office. He’ll be working Monday and Friday which means he’ll take my place in the field. And for terrace layout, I’d gladly give that up

I kinda changed my links on the side so check them out.
ps. Ryan, when I try Eric's website it works.

THE PRAIRIE CITY BUITENWERF’S (aka the P.C. B’s)
About the middle of the month, Ryan’s Grandma and Grandpa Buitenwerf came up to visit for the weekend. We had such a fun time with them. Friday evening we viewed some old pictures with them. We also had a nice supper together. The highlight of the evening was sitting around listening to Gram B play old hymns on our piano. Oh, it was such fun! I wish that I was blessed with musical and vocal talents. Saturday we cruised around the country side in cold and windy weather. We stopped at this apple farm in WI which was no comparison to Gays Mills, a place that Ryan’s grandparents visit annually. By request, we ventured up along the Mississippi River to Gays Mills. It’s a big apple orchard that brings lots of visitors each year. Apple orchards aren’t as common here as back in Kingsburg which explains why people flock to them. We taste tested apples, drank some cider and had a good time looking around. We purchased some lovely honeycrisp apples, caramel, cider and apple butter. On the way back, we stopped at Pike’s Peak. This place is absolutely gorgeous – what a great overlook of the mighty Mississippi. The Autumn leaves are just full of color and the air was cool and crisp – a little too cool for me. That night we had supper at the all famous Sabor Latino, the only “real” Mexican restaurant for miles. This place is so good! My folks joined us for supper and afterwards we went back to our house and taught them to play Mexican Train, a dominoes game. Sunday after church, Mom and Ralph had coffee and chatted with G&G B while we were in a meeting. We all had lunch at moms and the grandparents left from there to go home. I think we all had a good time.

Alpha Delta Chi - The Christian Sorority
I just wanted to send this to everyone so you can see what is going on with my old ADX chapter (theta) and what has been happening. They were recently contacted and interviewed for the Faith and Values section of the Fresno Bee. Well this comes out every saturday and in it today was this article. Check it out:

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/religion/story/9324144p-10230489c.html

CARDINAL BASEBALL AND A BOOK
What fun stories to I have to share today? Oh, there’s been lots of things lately, let me begin with Cardinal baseball.
Last week we invited Sarah (one of our JV kids) and her dad, Marty, over for to watch the Cardinals baseball game. Both are die hard fans. Well, that happened to be the night that the Yankees went 14 or so innings and interrupted the Cardinals game. Fortunately they moved our game to the FX channel but unfortunately, we don’t have that channel. Marty had that channel at home but was a good sport and hung out with Ryan waiting for the Yankees game to end. It was about 10pm when the Yankees game ended, about the time that Marty was walking out the door to take his daughter home so she could get to bed. The poor guys, they ended up watching some game they didn’t really care about but they had fun. And it was fun to have them over. I had brought Heather (our friends daughter who is also Sarah’s age) home with me to hang out with Sarah. It was good for the two girls to meet since the JV Youth retreat was coming up and Heather wouldn’t know anyone else.
Last night, Marty calls and invites us over to watch the game at his house. Probably didn’t want to chance not seeing it at our place :) So, we at supper with them and watched the game. Sarah left for her church youth group activity (she’s in our youth group but doesn’t attend our church). Marty showed us around the house and talked a little about life as he knows it. His wife and he are divorcing and it was a very touchy subject but I’m sure he needed to chat with someone. The “chatting” was mostly about Cardinals baseball cards – they were both like little kids sharing their ancient cards. We headed back downstairs for the start of the game.
The guys watched as I read a book (and finished in one sitting I might add). It was called Learning to Breathe Again by Tammy Trent. Great book about how she’s walked through the last 3+ years after suddenly losing the love of her life in diving accident in Jamaica. Yeah, a must read but have some Kleenex ready. You can also listen on line at FamilyLife and click HERE. It was so good that I read while we drove home from Marty’s, while waiting for Ryan to finish brushing his teeth and put it down briefly for our bible reading. I picked it right back up when we were done and read till almost 1am this morning when I was finished. Oh, so good!

The following is an excerpt from LifeFocus' Challenge Newsletter. It was written by Jerry Foster, Financial Planner, CEO and founder of Foster Group. He's also one of the speakers for Family Life Marriage Conferences - where we ran across him. Take a look at what he had to share this month:

The underlying question that most of us ask ourselves is; "How do I get from here to there?" We have all created an ideal by which we live, strive for improvement and measure our success. The first thing we need to determine is where we are getting the information that determines the criteria we use to create that ideal. What we are talking about is "success". How do you define success? The input we get for creating our own definition of success comes from television, movies, billboards, commercials, books, magazines, friends and even church. We are impacted by the way our culture sees success and that means virtually everything around us influences the way we think. The key to resisting the alluring temptation of "cultural success" is to create a personal success filter. This filter is built by internalizing several strategic questions that will help us determine what is most important to us as we evaluate opportunities and make strategic choices. The way this happens is to take part in what I call "The Life Reflection Exercise". Imagine this scenario:
See yourself in your nineties, moving a little more slowly, but still mentally sharp. You step out onto the deck of your cabin by the lake, a favorite vacation spot of yours for decades. You ease into a comfortable chair to enjoy another glorious sunset. Caught up in the wonder of the moment, you begin to reflect on your long and pleasant life. The memories flood back, and even the stunning radiance of the setting sun is no match for the glow of satisfaction and fulfillment that warms your heart.
Putting yourself in this ideal setting, what do you hope you could say about the life you have experienced? In other words, what would you like to see as your life draws to a close?
You see, you have defined the life you want to live. This is your personal definition of success. In order to have a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with the life you have lived requires intentionality. Here are some strategic questions that need to be answered:
1. What accomplishments have been the most rewarding for you? Why?
2. What brought you the most excitement and joy? Why?
3. What relationships meant the most to you?
4. What did those relationships look like?
5. Where did you have the most influence?6. What words do others use to describe you?
These questions help you create a filter for creating your preferred future and give you a basis for making decisions and forging new paths in your life. Whatever choice you are making, or whatever goals you are putting before you, ask yourself this question;
How will this choice or new opportunity change my answers to the above questions?
If the outcome will enhance the picture of your preferred future, then go for it. If it alters it in a compromising way, then it requires some rethinking.There is one last question we must ask ourselves when painting a picture of our preferred future.
What needs to happen today in order for that preferred future to become a reality?
You are now on the way to pursuing the life you want under your terms. Don't let others tell you what your life should look like. The outcome of your life is a personal journey that is forged out in the context of what is important to you.
Until next month, enjoy your personal journey of "influence".

For more information on lifeWealth, check it out at www.lifewealthstrategies.com

Praise the almighty for paid holidays! Yeah, I had a nice 3-day weekend in honor of Columbus. And as usual, another busy weekend is gone. Our company ended up not coming till Saturday which gave me some time to pick up the house. That was very nice to have done and not worry about. Saturday I coached some 4th-6th graders in soccer which is always a blast. I had the typical go-getters and lazy kids. What fun! The Tafoyas showed up around 1pm for the quick visit. We ate a few meals, played with William (the goat), fought off Asian Beetles and chatted. The two kids (10 and 8 years old) did a good job of entertaining themselves by finding things to play with. Sunday morning we all had a wonderful breakfast that Ryan made. We headed off for church and they headed home. It was a short visit but good to see them.

Yesterday I just got to hang out and not be too rushed about a whole lot. I cleaned the JV room in the basement, had a nice chat with the Culligan Man, had lunch with my honey, designed the JV retreat t-shirt on the computer and hung out with friends. Things were so nice and relaxing until I started cooking. I made a cheeseburger casserole, wild rice soup, breaded shrimp and raspberry dessert. That was a little difficult in itself. For those of you who know me well - I really can cook :) The problem came when I was in the middle of making wild rice soup and didn't have chicken broth. I sub'd it for cream of chicken and decreased the amount of half and half to put in. Well, it didn't have the flavor I expected and I should have used more cream but it was still good. Then while making the casserole, I found that I didn't have any eggs. A quick drive to the neighbors fixed that. Renessa and I were in the kitchen cooking and playing with Caleb (her 8 month old son) while the guys were out tearing off our old porch. It got a little crazy in the kitchen but things turned out okay.

Renessa and I are growing much closer and she's a wonderful friend. I'll be sad to see them go when the go into full time ministry and leave our area. Just as I'm getting used to having a girl friend that is my age. I've threatened to follow her and Ryan (her husband) when they meet with people for support raising. I thought I'd meet with them and ask them not to support them so they'll stay local. Its been a fun joke and I wouldn't do that at all but I will miss them as God leads them away.

Last night, after our company was gone, Ryan and I were chatting. He told me that Denise (our friend who's been in Ethiopia for over a year doing veterinary missions) is home. She emailed him about getting together for a super bowl party like old times. Well, I was okay with that. Then Ryan told me that he invited her to Thanksgiving at our house. I was quite surprised that he invited her without asking since he hates when I spring something on him like that. He proceeded to say "since mom and dad are going to be here and she's always been dad's favorite". About that time, my mouth dropped wide open. That kinda hurt. He might as well have said "Tammy, since Denise is dad's favorite, I want her here for Thanksgiving". I didn't know to be hurt or pissed at him. I just put my head down, bit my tongue and sat for a minute. Ryan didn't say anything else and since just before these comments I mentioned taking a shower and going to bed, I got up and did just that. I knew that if I said anything to him, he would be so defensive with me and nothing would get across for communication. Denise is great and wonderful but there was a time when I questioned if Ryan liked her instead of me, if I was 2nd best to her. This, of course, didn't make things any better. I know, I know, I'm the one he married and goes home to every night, etc. I just shared all these things with Cori but I hate having to eat my own words! Denise is great and I'm excited to see her but Ryan's words were quite a surprise to me. I almost want to blurt out "Well then, you marry her and let her fix you supper, launder your clothes, pay your bills and feed your animals!". Yeah, obviously I have a little work to do with my attitude. Don't get me wrong, I love Ryan and wouldn't wish for anything else but I was so ticked. So, pray for me and my stinky attitude!

Not much else noteworthy. Just another cram packed week ahead. I'm looking forward to the Women of Faith conference in 10 days or so. I'm also looking forward to hearing about Cori's new adventure. I'll never forget when she tried to hook me up with Will by "marketing" me while she was introducing me in front of our whole class one day. Now, she's got another perfect boy that she refers to as a "non-sinner". That status means that he's not someone who would date her typical friends. She wants me to hook him up with someone I know - maybe an ADXer. He works in our Visalia office. So, I'll find out more about him for you girls I :o)-->-----<

TIRED!

Oz was great last night. Dorothy did an amazing job - especially for a 14 year old girl. The cast was great, the scenery was very appropriate and there was even some pyrotechnics. Yeah, a big show for little Elkader. Its almost like being on Broadway! After the play, went went back to Jen and Ryan's. And as always, we had a great time with the Royers. The two Ryans share and re-live fun veterinary stories . Of course, Jen and I appreciate a little variety in our conversations. Last night was a bit interesting when we got into politics since Jen was the only democrat in the house. But we had a great time. When the clock started chiming midnight, it was well past time for us to leave. So, this morning I'm exhausted. With 5 and 1/2 hours of sleep, I'm dragging. And we have compnay coming and I need to clean. Fortunately God knows I need some time to clean and sleep. Rick called this morning and shared that his son won't be back till late from his field trip. That means that they wouldn't arrive here till midnight so they've decided to leave in the morning. HOORAY! I can clean and sleep. AND, this is a 3-day weekend for me. WOO HOO!

Oz

Did you know that the word Oz comes from the word Australian? I find this a very interesting thought to ponder as I will be sitting at the theatre watching the Wizard of Oz with Ryan and a few friends. Last time we saw a play with the Royers, it was Run For Your Wife. It is a British comedy and although hilarious, I was quite embarrassed that I invited some friends to see it. I’m not sure which was worse, that every other sentence was a sexual innuendo (I didn’t know what a british comedy was) or that much of the audience fell into the over 50 crowd. Here were all these “old” people watching a “dirty” play. And I was there too. Tonight’s entertainment should be much more family friendly although I’m disappointed that I won’t be seeing Jay (the pharmacist in town) wearing make-up and I won’t be seeing one of the local chiropractors playing a gay character.

It seems like everytime I post something, I comment on how BUSY we are. That continues to be the case, of course. Last Friday, Ryan and I worked half days and then left for Minneapolis. We’ve learned that the only way to travel is with a book on CD. It makes 3-4 hour drives much easier to travel. That evening we splurged and went to Taco Bell for supper. Its been years since I’ve had Taco Bell (with the exception of when I was home in June). The location and price range really got our attention quickly. Plus it was a Friday night in a “big city” and I didn’t want to wait to be seated. After scarfing down several tacos and a nacho bell grande, we headed across to the mini mall for a walk. While there, we got some good Christmas shopping done. Saturday we headed downtown for a conference at a beautiful church. Sat all day for that and when it was over, got back on the road. Stopped at the Old Chicago for supper and headed towards home. We had planned to stay one more night to join some friends at church for the dedication of the twins but Ryan had a cold and didn’t need to give it to the twin babies and staying another night in the hotel won’t help us save money for the garage we’d like to build. So, we got home around 10pm. Sunday morning, we were “bedside Baptists” and didn’t go to church. Ryan still wasn’t feeling well so we had breakfast together (which is rare) and watched a service on TV.
I thought Monday morning would never end. I sat at my desk on the phone with different people ALL morning. One of those days that nothing gets accomplished for the benefit of my office but everyone else got some assistance. Monday afternoon I left for Des Moines for work. I serve on the state Civil Rights Advisory Committee (CRAC) which takes me to DM for meetings. Monday night I made arrangements to meet with Mike and Naphtali Crouse for supper. Mike was called active and went to the middle East a few months after I got here. He was gone for 8 months and I’ve been eager to see him again. Naphtali, last I heard (2 years ago), was mad at me for hanging out with Mike (LONG story). Needless to say, I had very mixed feelings about seeing them. I was so nervous that I was almost shaking, I felt like it was my first job interview or something. We had supper together, visited for a bit and I jumped back in my car and headed for the hotel. Monday I sat in a meeting till 2pm and then got in my car and started down the road AGAIN. Picked up groceries on the way home and pulled in the driveway @ 7pm. In just four days, I put over 1,000 miles on my car. Yeah, a lot of time sitting on my fat butt. Tuesday night we had plans to have some friends over for supper. (Do any of you remember Hugo, the 90 year old, who talked at my wedding?) Yup, Hugo and Gladys were supposed to come over but in the mix of travel, I forgot to call and confirm details (since we missed them at church on Sunday) and I also forgot to call and reschedule. I felt horrible. So, I got groceries put away and immediately had numerous phone calls to return. One of which was to Rick Tafoya. Rick used to be the USDA laiason at Fresno State when I was a USDA scholar. He’s now working in Iowa for NRCS (like me). Yeah, so I called him and he confirmed that he would be bringing the family (his wife, 2 kids plus a 6 month old) up for the weekend. We had an open invite to him and Monday he called to see what our weekend looked like. So, here it was 730 Tuesday night, I’m exhausted from traveling and I now have company coming on Friday. Need I remind you that I had been gone that weekend so clothes were laundered and the house didn’t receive its routine weekend cleaning? No big deal, I have 2 nights right.. Wrong! Wednesday night is JV youth group and tonight is Wizard of Oz. So, I warned Rick that the house won’t be spic and span clean like I’d prefer. He didn’t seem to care since I went down and helped them move into their house and unpack boxes when he moved to Iowa. So, its Thursday, my house is not as dirty as it was, but its not clean either. Yikes. I’m waiting for the magic fairy to show while we’re at the play tonight. We’ll see what happens.

On other fronts… has there been anything else??? Things at work are good but continue to be wildly busy – especially with my collateral duties that I have. I guess the big thing as usual is that I miss my friends. PTL though, I got to chat with Weenie for a whole hour the other day without interruption of her daycare kids. Today, right now, I especially miss my ghetto Fresno girls – Cori and Katie. Katie seems to have fallen off the face of the earth so I miss her. I do get to chat with Cori which really makes me miss her too. I eagerly await the visit of Ryan’s folks. For one, they’re great, even though they’re “in-laws”. I’m excited to see them and for our parents to get together again and hang out. Plus, we (or should I say “I”) loving having guests in our home. I love entertaining even though I really don’t know how to. I’m also looking at a very busy calendar in the near future. This weekend the Tafoya’s are coming. Next weekend is Ryan’s Grandparents. The weekend following that I’m headed to the Women of Faith conference in Minneapolis (while Ryan deals with the Junior High Retreat for NAB conference). That’s the basics I guess. I’m so thankful that Fall is here, the leaves are gorgeous, I have a great view from my office desk! Crisp autumn air, football and hot chocolate are so good to imagine if I ever slow down enough to enjoy them. God is SO, SO good. I’m enjoying having a quiet time and reading through the Psalms. I wish I had/took more time to do that.

Oh, that reminds me… I was cleaning in the spare bedrooms for our company and came across an old journal from around the time I graduated college and moved out here. What fun that was but that’s another post and another day! I gotta go see the Yellow Brick road.