I don't really know why you'd be here. I mean, I know I'm the single most interesting person, but don't you people have lives? Really, it's quite sad.
Lame-o Links Section
My homepage
Greenville College
Iowa State Cyclones
Gilmore Girls
Bannerland
Jars of Clay
Waterdeep
Mancy A'lan Kane
Roxative
Prinsiana
Memorial Lutheran Church
Knox Knolls Free Methodist Church
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Country Music Television
Iowa Geological Survey
Monster House
I Really Should Read These Sometime
Paul
Beth-Annie
Helen
Matt
Patty
Steve
Alex
Mandy
Shannon
Melissa
Bill
Ryan
Christy
Eric
Jessica & Levi
Katie
Ben
Archives
<< current
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Why I love my husband....OR....Why I blame Clay Walker for my lack of sleep last night
I mentioned in my previous post that Paul was at a concert with pretty much the rest of his class. The concert was at a country dance bar/club and was to begin at 8 p.m., which I had mentioned to Paul earlier might be a tough night for some of them, himself included, because they're not used to staying up that late. He said if he started falling asleep, then he'd start falling asleep.
So I got home from my dinner outing, did my post, and went to bed around 9:30. I figured for a concert starting at 8, it should be done by 11 or 12, and I expected Paul to call me whenever it got done because he knows I don't care if he wakes me up. Well, right now I'm not sleeping exceptionally well anyway with being in this depressing trailer and sleeping on the floor, so I had dosed a little and gotten to a point around 11:30 where I wanted to make sure Paul didn't just think it was maybe too late to call or something. When he answered the phone, I could tell that they obviously were still there. I told him to call me when he got home, which he agreed to do. About half an hour later, my phone rang: he needed to call me because he was really missing me. Concerts like that are really more my thing and he said he tried getting out and dancing (which he loves to do) with a couple of the girls in their group and that it was just terrible and he missed his dancing partner. Even though I claim to not be a good dancer (and I'm not with anyone but Paul), I can follow his lead like no one else. That made me wish I was there even more, but also, honestly, made me feel a little better that he wasn't having some amazing time without me.
He ended that phone call with saying again that he would call me when they got back. I dozed a little more, then got really awake around 1:15 when I realized what time it was and that I still hadn't heard anything. That started making me really restless. My mind started going between worst case scenarios and irritation on behalf of my husband for being kept up and out so late when he normally turns into a pumpkin at 9 anymore. I just knew that if he'd had his own vehicle, he probably would have been home long before 1:00, but I didn't want to be the "needy wife" who calls her husband 20 times while he's out with friends. My mind kept running around in circles until I finally caved at 2 and called to find out that they were on their way back to post in a cab because they did the responsible DD thing. I was glad to hear they made that decision, and Paul asked me if I still wanted him to call me when he got back to his room. Without hesitation I told him yes, because I knew I wouldn't be able to get to sleep until I got to actually talk to him a little. Call me pathetic, I don't care. I like talking to my husband every night before I fall asleep if it is at all possible.
So a few minutes later, I got to talk to my husband without him being in a cab with two other guys who were, in his words, "drunk off their socks." And I got the story of just why they were all out so late and Paul being one of the latest. First of all, there was no opening act and Clay Walker and his band didn't start playing until 11!
This blows my mind anymore because I'm used to having been in bed for at least two hours by that time now! And I realize that I have gone to concerts in the past that started at 11 or 12, but that was at a music festival where you don't really sleep anyway.
I'm just not a night person anymore. Anyway, Paul didn't really have that much to drink and stopped entirely around 11 when he really started missing me and realized that at least one person should stay sober. Apparently one group from their party left around 1 a.m. and one of the girls offered to stay and make sure the two guys who were getting wasted made it home OK, but Paul, being the only other guy, decided it was probably most intelligent for him to stay with the drunkies. While it meant he didn't get to go to bed as soon as he'd have liked, he felt better knowing it was a guy taking care of these two drunk guys, not a girl. Which I think was a very wise decision. Even though it probably would have been fine, it never hurts to play it on the safe side.
I love my husband.
He's so amazing and wonderful.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Catfish at Wings To Go
Yes, that's right. Carol and I had the catfish dinner at a wings place. And oooooooohh.....was it ever tasty! And Matt (her grandson, who is my age) was a little upset to find that we had ordered something separate when they had figured us in on the count for wings, so had ordered 100 wings. Somehow, though, there weren't any wings or fries left by the end of the meal. hmm...I'm not sure he over-ordered afterall. We did try a few of the wings, but the fish was just so yummy. She and I joked about ditching everyone for Hy-Vee chinese, too, because she'd had a hankering for it. I'm planning on it as lunch tomorrow cuz I haven't had a good plate of chinese in a while and they're cheap.
So I haven't exactly been tagged, but Martha said it would be fun if some of us did this, too, so I will. I also was thinking of things to say last night as I was trying to fall asleep. I'm also bored because I can't make myself do anything more on the trailer and Paul's at a concert being social with the rest of his class, so I will pretend I've been tagged and then not tag anyone in return.
I got tagged!
Once you are tagged, you must post six things about yourself which are either weird, unusual, habitual, or are just plain fun to hear about (and true!). Once you post these things in your blog, you must gently tag six to ten others in the Xanga world, who then, in the spirit of not wussing out, must read words like these and follow the same rules you did.
1. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 21 years and 11 months old. (I just turned 24, so that's only a little over 2 years.)
2. I am terrible at making decisions. It takes me forever and often drives people (like my husband) crazy, but it's usually because the decision doesn't just affect me and so I try to put everyone else's preferences above my own.
3. I don't have a single piercing on my body. I have never had the desire to even get my ears pierced. I also have never wanted to dye or perm my hair or get a tattoo.
4. I've had the proofs for over 6 months and have not yet ordered wedding pictures. I have an appointment to on Monday and am DREADING it. There are just so many other things I care to do much more with both my time and money. Like, oh, going to see my husband.
5. A few things I want to do before I die are: hike the Appalachian Trail and possibly the Continental Divide, and drive U.S. Highway 30 (a.k.a. Lincoln Highway) coast-to-coast and Route 66 beginning to end.
6. I have a phobia of butterflies. They're pretty in pictures and all, but you get a real live one or a real dead one around me, and most people start laughing at my reactions, my husband included. San Antonio has been inundated by little butterflies and I was holding his hand, hiding behind him on the Riverwalk because of all the butterflies, and he was laughing at me!! It's not just butterflies. It's anything that's fluttery and you don't know where it's going to go and it might fly into your face or hair! So this also includes, but is not limited to: moths, dragonflies, june bugs, may flies, etc. And dead butterflies get me, too because their wings freak me out. And I'm not alone, I promise.
7. Can I have a seventh one? It's kind of related to #6 because people find it funny that these things don't freak me out: spiders, bats (when I'm not showering with them the day before my wedding, that is), mice, bees, snakes, etc. Butterflies, though...
Motivation lull
I have officially brushed all the cat hair and dust off all the walls, which has made me a little stuffy. I have also spackled the spots that needed it and washed as many marks off the walls as I could and felt the inclination to try hard enough to get off.
So now I'm kinda tired and finding myself lacking the motivation to break out the paint, which is even harder for me to want to do when I read that the spackle stuff should dry for 24 hours before painting it. But there's plenty of other stuff for me to do around here, like wiping out the cupboards, cleaning the few dishes still around, vacuuming the carpets so I can rent a rug doctor, and throwing out things that I just plain am not going to bother with hauling around in my car for 2 weeks. Yet I can't find the motivation. All I want to do is nap.
I did, however, stop by and see everyone from work (except Martie and Barb who I will try to see on Monday), and have thus far accomplished almost everything else on my previous list. I will even likely be having supper with the Nuetzmans who, ironically, are in town, which means no Friday fish, but at least I don't have to work driving up to Wall Lake into my already cram-packed schedule.
Anyway, I think I'm going to close my eyes for a bit, then get back at...something.
Today's To-Do List
- Acquire coffee.
- Make sure I have everything needed for touching up marks on the walls.
- Drop off the overdue CD at the library.
- Stop by my parents' house and stick the mail inside so it doesn't look so much like they've been gone so long.
- Drop all our random bottles of alcohol off at the storage unit for pick up in August.
- Make an appearance at the Rummage Sale as I promised a month ago when I quit working at that church.
- Go to Lowe's to get whatever I might need for making the walls look better and see if they have matching dresser knobs to replace the one the movers broke.
- Touch-up, clean, etc. the walls.
- Wash the curtains, blinds, and windows.
- Wipe out all the cupboards, drawers, etc.
- Call Carol Nuetzman and possibly head up that way for Friday fish tonight.
- Talk to Paul.
- Sleep.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Officially not a fan
OK, so I've decided that I am really not a fan of being here at the trailer with almost no stuff and no Paul. It's a very odd feeling. I have only ever known this place as being Paul's and now it's this empty shell where the majority of our memories as a couple have been made and yet it feels so different from those wonderful memories.
Moving on... I have driven over 2000 miles in the past 8 days.
17 hours of that being yesterday and today. I am pooped. Tomorrow I'm planning on another almost 200 miles (round trip) to go up to see my grandma in the hospital. By all reports, she is doing quite well and will hopefully be moved out of ICU tomorrow!
I have only to endure about 5 nights in this strangeness, then I'm off to see my sister and what they've done with their house since I last saw it with bare walls and in boxes a year and a half ago! And at some point I'm picking up the cats and pushing them through from Illinois to Kansas. It'll be a good 8-9 hour trip for them.
Anyway, I think it's time to head for bed, talk to my hubby a little, and pass out. Have a wonderful evening.
Monday, July 24, 2006
No 2-hour lunch for Paul :-(
But we still had lunch together, even as Paul felt a little out of place having his wife with him for lunch as the rest of his class went to the DFac and we went to Popeye's Chicken. Looking around, he was far from the only person in uniform to have family join him for lunch on post today, but I was the only one at the building where their class is held, but that's something I'm OK with. I like being on post and meeting the people that Paul is spending these weeks with. Pretty much the whole vet track class knows me now and I like that. I like knowing people and I like people knowing that I'm not afraid of the military. This is why, if I have time, I might go meet some of the people Paul will be working with at Riley before Paul ever gets there.
Anyway, before I deal with putting the laundry away before I forget to!, here's something strange that's been happening with our car lately: The radio/CD player doesn't turn off. Normally, it turns off as soon as you turn off the car. Not anymore. Doesn't even turn off when we open the doors. And the time stays on even after turning it "off" with the switch. I don't know why. It wasn't doing this before I got to Texas.
OK, time to hit the laundry, then head back to the building Paul's at to sit outside and enjoy the weather that is actually nice in the breezeway there. It's shaded and breezy, which is amazing when it's unbelievably hot even in the shade here. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.
I'm hoping this'll make things a little easier
I just caught up, for the most part, on blogs. That should reduce my amount of catch up by either 1/2 or 1/3.
Anyway, we are in an awesome room here at Ft. Sam now. The building was built in 1884 and has 10ft ceilings and a full-length second story balcony! It's gorgeous. Paul is starting the vet track this morning and I'm sitting here at the computer letting you all know that we are both still alive. :-)
We have had a ton of fun so far and I could put up some pictures, but I can't for the life of me motivate myself to download them from the camera, so I think you'll have to wait for Paul to do that. Of course, Paul wanted to do that this morning until his wife asked if he wanted to actually drive up to the "free continental breakfast" while he could. I was hoping at the front desk they might have a slightly better breakfast than out where Paul had lived. Nope. And there's nothing here. Closest breakfast is on the opposite side of the post. But did I mention that this is an awesome building? :-)
Let's see...we've done the Riverwalk again and even spent the night on the Walk night before last at an old-style inn with genuine 1800s furniture and everything. We found me a leather Mexican hat just like Paul's, which I have been in love with since he bought it, and it was even the same price as he paid for his in Mexico. I also got a new purse, which I've needed for a while. I haven't brought myself to move everything over yet, though, and it's going to take me a while to get used to this purse. It's bigger than my old one and I don't like big purses, but I also don't like really small purses that you can't find anything in or keep anything other than your wallet and phone in and I need something with a few more compartments for organization. I'll get there. ;-)
Hmm...what else have we done? We "borrowed" a mini-DV camcorder from Circuit City in order to videotape Paul's graduation for his parents. We are actually buying a mini-DV, but the one we decided to go with is apparently a very good product because everyone was out!! So the guy from Circuit City put in an order for it (Canon Elura 100) and told us we could buy an open box model (Sony, that I really didn't like using much) for our recording purposes on Friday and return for no restocking fee on Saturday. It was really funny, but we genuinely returned it with the reason of not liking it.
Paul introduced me to Korean food, which it'll take a bit for me to get more used to. He also taught me that I really like liver pate. It's something I've always been a little afraid of, but it's tasty, especially with cheese and a good bottle of chianti. I also had goat for the first time yesterday. mmmm.....yummy. :-) We also went really high up over San Antonio yesterday in the Tower of the Americas, which I thought was a fairly new attraction because I'd never heard about it until recently. Nope, it was built in the 1960s! I'm still having a hard time with that. ;-)
I don't want to leave tomorrow, but I know I have to and that these 5 weeks will go by even faster than these first 6. I suppose I should probably finish this since it's pretty much just babbling and the PX will be open now and the maids will probably be wanting to get in here to clean up. And Paul has a 2 hour lunch starting at 11.
Oh yeah, I'm supposedly officially getting my money back from AAFES and I bought his present unframed from the AMEDD museum and gave it to him on Thursday because I was sick of it and am not sure when we can get it framed. Anyway, it's a Veterinary Corps recruiting poster from WWI, which is a poster he's really liked since he saw it, which apparently was a lot longer ago than I thought since I guess ISU Vet Med has it up somewhere. I know it wasn't some big, huge moment of opening the framed poster, but I was just tired of dealing with it and he loves it just as much. :-)
Anyway, I need to go be productive in some way. Not sure how that'll be, but I'll figure something out.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Livin' it up in San Antonio
You will all be happy to know that I made it to Kansas. I've gotten a lot of cleaning done around the house because it needed it. Our stuff made it to Kansas and it's still all in boxes. And I even checked out a possible church home on Sunday--average attendance of 54, and they invited me to a potluck lunch after church....good Lutherans.
AND....
I've made it to San Antonio for Paul's graduation #1 (if he even has a graduation #2, which I assume he does, but you never know, it is a class of 12 he has next, not 300). I drove this all by myself through OK City, Ft. Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, and I told Paul I am no longer allowed to complain about driving in Des Moines.
Anyway, I just thought I'd let you all know that I am still alive and am not sure when I'll get back into regularness on this thing. Right now I have to work at packing up everything in this hotel room because Paul is being moved to a different building for this second course.
Hope everything is well with everyone!!!
Oh, and did I mention that I'm spending almost a week with my husband??
Oh yeah, and my grandmother is having heart surgery today. Please pray for her and the doctors.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Well, folks...
I'm tearin' her down. I might have it back up later today or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes them to do all this. So you might not hear from me in a while.
I now have about 2 hours to get pretty much everything stashed away in the tub or car.
I'll be back ASAP...catch ya then!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
I just exploded the living room.
So the movers are coming tomorrow around 9:30 a.m. to pack and load and hopefully finish the job in one day.
My job? Unhook everything electronic. If any of you have seen and paid attention to how our living room & entertainment center are set up, you know that this is quite a task. I have no idea how Paul is going to know how to put it all back together, but he put it together in the first place, so he must be able to, right?
So right now the living room is a mess of electronics, speakers, and cords. And I have to make sure that they don't pack any of the parts that go with the digital cable box so they don't yell at me when I turn it in.
I'm not looking forward to tackling this same task in here with the computer. I may not be online much longer if I can't figure out how to hook it all back up once everything else in this room is gone. (I'm planning to take the computer with me in a couple of weeks and hopefully still have internet access here to the end of July. Maybe.)
My next job? Sort through all the food and cleaning supplies in the kitchen and figure out how much of what they won't pack I can afford to take with me and how much will be given away or something.
And my last job? Do something with everything they're not packing so that they don't pack it! I'm thinking I'll load the car as best I can and stick the rest in the bathtub.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
OK, here's the skinny
The guy from the moving company was just here assessing the situation. The verdict? We have too much crap to move! Just kidding.
Truly, though, we do have too much stuff in small spaces for them to come and pack one day and load the truck the next, which I was kind of wondering about. There's nowhere to put the boxes once they've been packed other than the truck. So they're figuring out how to do it all in one day. Yikes!
Now, this doesn't mean that I have nothing to do for the next day or two. First off, I have to take everything down off the walls. And I have to sort out all the stuff that I know they won't take (food, cat litter, cleaning supplies, etc.) plus the stuff I prefer to haul myself and figure out how I'm fitting it all in our Lumina in only two trips.
So I'm now waiting to hear back from them on whether this is happening Thursday or Friday, and I made it clear that I will be down there just about as soon as they are gone and need it delivered early next week to be able to make it to Paul's graduation. Oi. Oh, and they're Nebraska fans.
In other news... Paul's on FTX this week again.
We've gotten almost 2 inches of rain since last night.
And I hit 128 lbs this morning!
[blah blah blah...."you don't need to lose weight"....blah blah blah....I'm still working on that beer belly from the World Beer Tour! And tonight ain't gonna help cuz Jon and I are starting the 30th Anniversary mini-tour.
]
Monday, July 10, 2006
A new 106-year-old house: Virtual Tour
(My apologies for some blurry pictures)
Seems someone's missing from that picture.
Kitchen, complete with a vintage dial microwave. The door on the left leads to the mud room/basement access/driveway access. The door on the right leads to the laundry room.
The doorway on the right in this picture leads to the bathroom.
Then you get the "den"--we're not sure what it is yet.
The bright light and Paul's dad are in the dining room. To the left of this picture is another doorway that leads you through a hallway under the stairs to the second floor and dumps you out in the "master bedroom." It's not staying the master bedroom, instead it will likely, eventually, be the library/study/office.
Pretend you walked through the hallway and turned around. That's your view--the den, bathroom, and laundry room. Now turn back around and look at the master bedroom in all its paneled darkness.
That little bit of non-teal curtain to the right is the living room.
There's the front door and the "master bedroom" on the left, taken from the doorway between the dining room and living room.
View from the den. To the left is the living room, to the right is the kitchen, and out the doors is the deck. (That's the former owner's sister...nice people--our neighbors for all practical purposes.)
This is a good picture to show a lot of the different downtairs rooms. Now let's look at a completely different house: upstairs.
The first room to visit is at the top of the stairs to the left.
They were going to carpet these rooms, but stopped when we put in our offer so that we could do what we wanted.
Just across the hall...
Then down the hall...
The door at the left (not the open one) is to the attic. Straight in front of you is what we want to make the master bedroom, along with the "other" room around the corner, right next to it. Also around the corner is the bathroom. I love that railing, isn't it pretty??
That's the door to the closet in what we want to be the master bedroom.
This is the closet.
We want to put french doors into the room on the other side of the main wall in this picture.
This is the other room. To the left out the door is the bathroom.
We'd like to make this a bit bigger and I want a mirror because there isn't one.
Shall we visit the attic?
The attic needs some work. Like a shopvac and good insulation.
Well, we've seen one really dirty area, now let's look at the basement.
This is only under part of the house. The rest is crawl space. Paul has visions of a clay tile winerack on the far wall there. I second that vote.
OK, now I'll give you some scenery.
Our driveway and our street. If you go down that street and to the left, you're downtown.
The deck that screams "hot tub."
AND a front porch with a porch swing!
More views of the yard...
And finally, the view out our kitchen window...
OK, now that I'm sure you're all bored to tears, I will let you get back to your regularly scheduled blogging, after asking if anyone has any brilliant ideas other than what I've mentioned.
We will soon be a little richer
I have a form to print off and sign requesting my money back from AAFES. And I intend to include with it a detailed letter (including emails) of my attempts to receive Paul's graduation present over the past 2 months. I'm mostly just bummed that he hasn't gotten to have it yet.
I know it's not AAFES's fault, so that letter (when I get to writing it here shortly) will not be blaming them, but it will be asking if they might want to reevaluate using this particular vendor. I'm sorry, UPS doesn't lose things twice.
I know I said there would be pictures yesterday
My parents came over to look at the pictures and didn't leave until it was time for me to get ready for bed, so I didn't get to it, but I will make time for it today. In other extremely exciting news, though....
Paul made weight this morning!!!!!!!!!!
[This is exciting because that was pretty much the one thing that could have kept him from passing OBC and by actually making weight instead of tape, his record looks even better for his career!!]
Lots to do today...I'll be back with pictures later.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
OK, I wasn't going to post again tonight
But the song that's on right now reminded of a pet peeve of mine that I would like to share with the world: parents that refer to their children as "sister" or "brother". And I don't remember exactly where it was--it might have been in San Antonio or here at the library or something--but I recently overheard a parent directly referring to their daughter as "sister". Do these children grow up actually knowing their own name or their siblings' names? I don't understand the reasoning behind it. Can the parents not remember their own children's names? Yeah, maybe that's it. They've spent too much time sending their kids to be raised by someone else that the name they chose at birth has disappeared from their memory, so they refer to them by their relation to their other siblings.
OK, I'm done for now because I really need sleep.
Oh my, this one was bad
And this time I don't care about putting up his name because it adds to the disgustingness of it.
hardbod2006: you are very pretty
His profile picture (click his name if you're curious) was shirtless, ripped, and oiled, not to mention the meanish-looking face--disgusting and scary, whether it was really a picture of this guy or not. This was just now and I told Paul about it, so Paul sent him a couple of messages in return.
I suggest you figure out how to use your eyes and read the status of the people you are typing messages to my wife is not appreciative of internet advances and nor are any of the women I know.
Please in the future be careful and considerate and perhaps you will eventually find someone to be with for a lasting relationship.
I love my husband.
And I added something to my profile, now we'll see if it helps...
[***NOTE: I realize I've made my profile searchable, but that does not mean I appreciate random guys I don't know sending me messages. The only guy I'm interested in and will EVER be interested in is my husband, so don't even try or you may get a nasty reply from either me or even my husband. Thank you.]
Though, I guess you could say it's flattering being told I'm pretty by total strangers. Or not. The only person I really like hearing it from is Paul and I'm certainly not lacking that.
So...
...we own a house. Weird.
More tomorrow, including pictures. I'm exhausted and I even got a pretty good night's sleep last night, though we didn't get back to Ames until almost midnight.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
"I like my house; I like my life."
So the electronic form of the appraisal on our house provided us with some pictures. I forgot just what a great place this is until I saw these pictures. I did manage to wrangle a digital camera for a while so I can share more pictures later (thanks Beth & Josh).
It's exciting. It's ours tomorrow.
Front. Duh.
Back.
View.
Kitchen.
Living room. You know, that paneling isn't quite as bad as I remembered, but it's still not staying.
Anyway, I got us set up with essential utilities and everything this morning, so now I need to get everything ready so Paul's dad and I can leave here as soon as he gets here. I'll try to be around as much as possible, but the next month or two are gonna be NUTS!!
Have a wonderful day!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Hard to believe...
...just this morning I was in San Antonio, Texas, waking up in the arms of my husband. It feels like so long ago.
But the amazing thing is how it feels when we see each other again after a separation like this: like we've never been apart. That's a wonderful feeling.
And I've got things to do...like buy a house and move. Wonder when we'll get internet...
An ode to 6 months...
(pretend I posted this early Saturday morning, like I did on Xanga. ;-) This computer does funky things to posts, so I wasn't messing with much.)
Some of these pictures will be new to some of you and some will be old, but here's our first 6 months as husband and wife, in pictures.
December 31, 2005 ♥ Wedding Day
I am so in love with this composite....or maybe it's just that I am so in love with the man in the pictures and still sometimes find it hard to believe that I'm lucky enough to be married to him. Yeah, that's gotta be it.
February-Beginning of March ♥ Paul's Active Duty Training, Ft. Bliss, TX
These were some of the pictures Paul sent me shortly after he got there, just so I could see him all in uniform...until I went down to visit!
The Organ Mountains National Recreation Area. It's right next to White Sands Missile Range. I highly recommend the Recreation Area and a visit to White Sands if you feel like going through all the security.
I think this was the only picture of the two of us from that weekend and it was taken at White Sands National Monument. No, it didn't snow in El Paso when I was there, but it did rain.
March 11-19 ♥ Honeymoon--Finally!
Less than 12 hours after Paul got back from Ft. Bliss, we hit the road for Colorado for some semblance of a real honeymoon. I haven't gotten the Trip-O-Logue up here because half the pictures are on the laptop, so I don't have the first half of the trip yet. I did get Paul to send me a few from that time so you actually get to see pictures of the two of us on the trip.
Paul sprawled out in four states at one time. I did the same, but I don't have the picture yet.
We went in search of the Canyons of the Ancients, and it was a little difficult to find these different canyons from the maps we had, but we did find some. I'll tell the full story when I have pictures. It's a doozy. That's the Cajon Group in the background over Paul's shoulder.
Part of the Canyons of the Ancients is Hovenweep National Monument, which is actually fairly well labeled on the road and easier to find. This particular picture was taken as we were crossing down through the Hovenweep Canyon and coming back up the other side. Paul apparently really likes this picture, that's why it's one of the ones from that portion of the trip that I have.
I think it looks like I'm telling the big rock to stay.
We decided the Lumina needed to learn how to go mudding. Paul's handiwork with Karly praying in the passenger seat that we wouldn't get stuck.
This is my drugged-looking picture. I like it except for that. It was taken on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad train.
I love this picture. As does Paul, obviously, since it's his profile picture! This was where the train stopped for a while before heading back to Durango. Yes, this time that is snow behind us.
This was our hotel. Quite a few people have given this place bad reviews, but we decided to try it out anyway. I still need to post my two cents about it on TripAdvisor. I think if you get a non-trackside room, you're maybe not getting the best they have to offer, but the trackside rooms (which are even some of the cheaper ones) are quite nice. Certainly not 5-star quality, but good enough for us, especially for $49/night (w/coupon). Our favorite feature was the wood-burning fireplace, which every room has.
The DSNGRR went right behind the hotel, so we waited for it and watched it go by right before we left Durango.
I love trains.
On the trip back to Iowa, we relived some of my Colorado trip from 6 years earlier. We stopped and did a little hiking at the Great Sand Dunes, which Paul had never seen and, as I suspected, he was amazed at how tall they are. It's kind of annoying to get out on them since the sand blows around so much and it's quite the workout, but I think it's worth it at least once in your life.
Then we hit up Pike's Peak. Six years earlier I had been with a group that hiked Pike's Peak on Barr Trail, except that there was too much snow on the trail to make it to the top, so we only made it half way. Paul and I drove to the top, which was quite an adventure! In this particular picture, I am standing at the end of Barr Trail pointing at the sign for the Trail with distances to Barr Camp and the trailhead. This portion of the Trail looks nothing like the part I'd been on! I never thought about the fact that you'd eventually get above the treeline. Someday I will hike to that spot instead of drive.
March-May ♥ Attempt to sell the trailerWhich we did accomplish!
May 6 ♥ First Lieutenant Paul Hester, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM)My little doctor.
The promotion from 2LT to 1LT, which was kind of silly and extra paperwork, and apparently this year was the first time they stuck a month at 1LT in there for DVMs.
Sgt. Tillman...a wonderful health professions recruiter who has dealt with a lot of questions from us and who still needs to get a nice "thank you" gift.
That's one good lookin' guy, even if all his rank insignia was wrong.
May 10-12 ♥ House-hunting in Kansas!
Seriously, who said Kansas was flat?
What a beautiful house we'll get to call home!
May 13 ♥ Helen Hester, Juris Doctor
Paul's sister received her Juris Doctor degree only one week after Paul got his DVM. Talk about celebrations in the Hester family!
May 19-21 ♥ Camping & Caving at Maquoketa
Yeah, you've seen pictures from this--though there weren't too many taken, really.
Have I mentioned that I love my husband?
May 27 ♥ Explore the Shawnee National Forest with Mandy
You've also seen these, but I thought I'd repeat some.
I really like this picture of me.
June 7 ♥ An afternoon at Ledges State Park, etc.
This is the only picture from that excursion right now because all we had was Paul's phone and he didn't know how much it cost him to email this one picture from it. I took the afternoon off and we went out to Ledges and did a little light hiking and some creek walking, which felt wonderful on such a hot day. We basically revisited some "firsts": first time we went hiking which included a visit to the Kate Shelley Bridge (which we also visited this day), engagement, and first date (we went to Hickory Park for supper).
June-present ♥ Officers' Basic Leadership Course, Ft. Sam Houston, TX, & Karly Finishes Work
Where did all his hair go???
He doesn't like that haircut, which is kinda too bad because that'd be the easiest one for me to give him myself.
It took me forever to figure out how to capture a picture from a Windows Media video--he was also on the phone with me, so that's why he's got a funny-looking thing coming out of his ear.
Birth Control Goggles. Need I say more?
As for the goings on in Ames, unbeknownst to me, Ed (the custodian) took pictures of me as I opened my "present" at lunch earlier this week. Let me explain a little how these staff presents work. Everything comes from the rummage sales (which this church has 3 of every year). People are given just the most darling things.
July 1 ♥ Six months
Before Paul left for Texas, he gave me a gift for our 6 month anniversary because he wanted to see me open it and couldn't take it with to give when I'm visiting him in Texas. I knew something was coming, and I figured from the clues that it was something along these lines, but that doesn't make it any less special.
It's been sitting right there on the couch, greeting me every day since he left. My very own life-size portrait of Paul.
This is the artist. He had a kiosk at the Ft. Bliss PX. Paul had asked me to send him my favorite picture of the two of us which, at the time, there weren't very many I liked because I was wearing glasses in most of them. So I sent him a few different ones, then got to wonder for several months just what exactly he'd done with it.
And I think the greatest 6 month anniversary gift is that today starts four days of just the two of us together after three and a half weeks of only phone calls. Now I've got a plane to catch!
