Josh's 1st Raccoon

Josh has stayed busy this winter trapping. This weekend, he caught his first muskrat AND his first raccoon. He forgot to take a picture of the muskrat, but he did get a picture of the raccoon. He was pretty excited.

 

 

We have some crazy cold weather this winter and that has made trapping a little harder. The ice is either to thick to bust through, or too thin to walk on. He's caught a few beaver now and hopes to catch a few more before meeting up with his fur buyer.

Love Boat Night

Every year, the local USU branch does a Love Boat Casino night the weekend of Valentine's. This year was our first year going. It was fun. A lot of people dressed up in formal wear, but at the last minute I chickened out. Next year, I want to dress up fancy like everyone else.

 

Dinner was catered by the Golden Corral. I am not a fan of their buffet restaurant, but I LOVE their catering. Dinner was chicken cordon blue that was out of this world delish. Then they also had someone catering dessert, which was a wide assortment of cookies, cakes, brownies, cheesecake bites, etc. Then another company came in and had free smoothies. It was all so delicious.

 

After dinner, they hand everyone some fake money and open the gaming tables. Josh and Andrew tried their luck at Blackjack. They both did pretty good. At one point, Josh even made me come get most of his winnings so he wouldn't loose them.

 

 

At the end of the night, they had a ton of prizes they auctioned off with the money you won. Most of them didn't look that interesting, but Josh did bid on a fishing pole until the bid went outside of his winnings. After that, nothing looked good, so we gave our money to Andrew & Jessica. Then a few other people gave us money as they walked out. In the end, Andrew had just enough to win the 3 pot crock pot Jessica really wanted.

 

My favorite part of the night was when Josh asked me to dance. Twelve years of bliss and he is still a romantic guy. ;)

Preston's 6th Birthday

Preston's 6th Birthday was actually the end of January. But because of conflicting schedules, we didn't get to celebrate with him until tonight. His mom and I looked at a few cake ideas. In the end, we decided to do a Bowser Castle Cake that I found on THIS website. I made the cake and then Melanie collected some Mario toys to put on it.

I must point out that I asked Melanie what I should get for Preston. I love buying clothes, but I don't want to become the uncool aunt that only buys clothes. But she told me he would love a Mario t-shirt. It took some searching, but I was finally able to find a few.

 

When we got there, we gave them their Valentine's gifts a few days early. They were a HIT. At this point, I could say I'm the coolest aunt ever.

 

We played a few rounds of Uno, then headed down to grandpa Paul's for cake and ice cream because today is his birthday too. While waiting for everyone else, I had Preston but the toys on the cake.

 

Everyone wasn't there yet, so he rearranged them again. And again. And again. I LOVE that he loved his cake so much. I repeat, coolest aunt ever. 

 

Then we gave him his present. He was excited to open it. 

 

Then he took it to his mom and whispered "why do they always give me clothes?" Coolest aunt, NOT.

 

But he must have got over it quickly because he put all three of them on at once. But to be on the safe side, this aunt is going to have to find different gifts in the future. ;)

Nephew's Valentine's Gifts

This year, I found a few things on Pinterest and couldn't wait to make them for the nephew's for Valentine's.

 

Seriously, aren't these robots the cutest thing EVER?!



 

Then I also decided to give each boy a baggie of the small Cutie oranges. Tyler loves them because he can peel them himself. But he is a perfectionist (like his aunt) and if the peel doesn't come off in one peice, he throw the ENITRE thing away. Then he grabs another from the bag and starts all over again. 

12th Anniversary

I could just title this "The week of our 12th anniversary." It seems like we did something small to celebrate almost every day. On Tuesday, the first half the of Josh's gift came. I had a friend of his help me get him a few new beaver traps. I knew he would be setting traps on Wednesday, so I gave them to him Tuesday night.

 

Then on Wednesday, I took the day off. One of the things I really wanted for our anniversary was a deep, cleaned house. Josh does his best, but sometimes it just needs a woman's touch. So while he went to set traps, I clean. I finished around noon. Then we spent the rest of the day watching movies together.

 

On Friday, I came home to a dozen red roses. They smell divine!

 

 

After that, we got caught up in the excitement and exchanged gifts then. I have just started getting into the doTerra Essential Oils. So Josh told me to get a preferred membership and place a large order. I also got a book about the oils and one of the newest books by my favorite author.

 

For Josh, I got him some more stuff to use for his trapping and the 2nd book to a series he has been reading. 

 

On Saturday, the actual day of our anniversary, we had planned to go horse riding. But the night before, there had been a snow storm and we couldn't get to the horse trailer. So instead we made a delish Valentine's Chex Mix and watched movies all day.



 

That night, we got all dressed up and went to the Steakout in Altamont. (Notice my dress! I wore it to a high school dance in January 2000 and haven't been able to fit into it since. So proud of myself!)

 

The Steakout has been open for a few months, but we hadn't been yet. Luckily, a friend had mentioned we get reservations ahead of time (which Josh did all on his own). When we got there, they were packed. But when we mentioned our name, we were led to an empty table. Their food was so good and I can't wait to go again.

Super Bowl 2013

 This year. we went to Josh's parent to watch the Super Bowl with  his parents and Dallon & Natalie. It was a great time.

 

While we were there, Barbara made us Skooies. We've never had them before, so it was fun. She made chocolate chip, and double chocolate chip. (Can't go wrong with all that chocolate!)

 

 

We cut them into 4ths and then topped them off with ice cream. cool whip, caramel and chocolate sauce.

 

I never really cared which team won, but that way I can say my team won. :) My favorite part was the power outage. I think its because I work for a power company. I spent that 30 minutes telling every one to be quite and not change the channel because I wanted to know what happened.

Riding Horses

Josh and I have taken up riding horses on the weekends.

 

Even in this frigid cold weather?

 

Yep.

 

The people who are letting us keep Jazzy in a stall, have also been kind enough to let us ride their horses, in their indoor arena. We still have to dress in two (or three) layers, but its been fun.

 

I don't have any pictures, but I'll remember to take a camera one of these weekends.

 

Its been fun to ride with JoLynn and Robin. I'm not a very experienced horse rider and they have been so much help. I feel like I'm gaining confidence (and hopefully some skills).

 

I swore I would never ride a horse past a walk, but on the very first weekend, they had me trotting. And then even a little bit of loping. I have loved riding in the arena where I don't have to worry about anything spooking me.

 

The last two weekends, we've gone riding on Sunday, but this weekend, we ended up riding on Saturday. We were there checking on Jazzy and just as we were leaving, they showed up to ride. We told them we would join them tomorrow, but they insisted we stay, so we did. They had some other friends coming so they could work on their cutting for their competition next weekend.

 

I rode one of their horses, but Josh rode Jazzy. I think she really enjoyed being a horse and hanging with other horses today. When it was time to put her back up, her and another horse went to the other end of the arena. Glad to see she made a friend.

 

It was fun to watch them and it seems we were both helpful in helping with the cows. Hopefully we'll get to do it again someday. We also hope to ride our own horses next weekend for our anniversary.

 

 

Josh Learns to Trap Beaver

 

This winter, Josh decided he wanted to spend as much time as he could trapping. In that past, he's only trapped for coyotes and fox, but this year, he decided to try something new. He got some beaver traps and books for Christmas. Last week, he finally got the chance to set a few traps.

 

The first time, when he checked his traps, he had nothing. One trap had been set off, but there was nothing in it. So he reset them. The next day, they were set off again, but still empty. He was a little stumped. While looking for a new spot, he saw a muskrat in a hole he was thinking about using. Then as he was walking back to his truck, he walked past his 1st trap, right as something made a big splash! Another muskrat.

 

That evening, he came home and researched trapping muskrat so he could thin them out so they would quit setting off his beaver traps.

 

He was pretty excited when he went to check yesterday and found a beaver.

 He can't wait to catch more. He plans to sell the furs in the spring. Maybe one year, we will save some and make a coat for me.

Savannah's 30th Birthday

The day of my Birthday was a blast. My mom, John and Vanessa all gave me money to spend on clothes. Josh made me Country Fried Steak with his home made gravy and a cranberry cake for dessert.  Then we planned a date for a few nights later when I would pick out my present.

 

I did get one present a few weeks early. While we were sick, I decided I wanted the DoTerra Essential Oils Diffuser. Then I saw the price. I debated over it for a few minutes and decided the only way I could justify the purchase (at this time) was if it became my birthday present. I have loved it and am glad I decided to buy it. I'm still discovering DoTerra Essential Oils, but the ones I have tried, I have loved. I bought the diffuser so we could use the Breathe Oil, but I've also used Lavender in it too.

 

Then the night of our date came. All I wanted this year was some new boots for this cold, snowy weather we have. I can't order boots online, because the few times I have, I've had to return them because they don't fit right. Since we now have a Famous Footwear in Vernal, I knew I'd be able to find a pair just fine.

 

When I went into the store, it was rough 8 below zero. They don't have boots anymore. Right now, their store is filled with ....sandals. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE sandals. But not when it is 8 below outside. They had just a few pairs of boots in their clearance section; none of which were my size. We tried a few more stores, but had the same results. I was totally bummed. I couldn't think of anything else I wanted, so he went to dinner and then came home.

 

After that, I assumed my birthday was over. Until my brother Alden showed up at work today with these beautiful flowers!

 

Then this afternoon, I saw a person on facebook selling some boots. I arranged to meet with her after work and try them on. The pair I liked the most didn't fit, but the 2nd paid did, and she only wanted $10. SCORE! They aren't really what I had in mind, but they will work for now.

New Year's Eve

We had big plans for New Year's Eve. We had planned a Wii party (with lots of food) with Josh's brother and his wife. Then just a few days before, we both got sick. The morning of New Year's Eve, we decided to cancel. Just a lazy night were we planned to be in bed by 8:00.

 

Then around 5:00, Josh called me. His horse was hurt. I got home just in time to hop in the truck and drive back to Roosevelt to the vet. One back foot just had a few shallow cuts, but her other back foot was bleeding pretty good. The vet got it cleaned up. She was cut clear down to the bone and had just barely missed the tendons.



 

We got her bandaged and then headed home. Not the quite evening we had planned, but at least everything turned out ok. We have a friend with an indoor arena and they are letting us keep her there for now.