December Happenings

Well we hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I am a little behind on posting updates with our family but what else is new! We had another great Christmas season. Santa found us and spoiled both us very much. I got Shem a new watch (trying to break his habit of always checking his cell phone for the time before he graduates and has to get a "real" job) which is a little too big for him since he has small wrists. So we are now trying to find a jeweler who can re-size it for us so he can actually wear it. I also got him a pair of jeans and the dvd Kicking and Screaming. Santa brought Shem some Marie Sharps hot sauce all the way from Belize. It is his favorite hot sauce from his mission. He brought 2 levels of hot, No Wimps Allowed and Beware. I tried the No Wimps Allowed (the lesser of 2 evils) and I about died! Shem was very surprised by his gift from Santa and so it was fun to watch him open those.

Both Santa and Shem were very good to me this year. Santa brought me a foam Bronco head. Last October we went to the Anniversary Inn and stayed in the Bronco Nights room. It was so much fun! They used the foam head as the cover for the shower head/rod and cut the nose out of the head and had the shower head coming out of there. Well anyways, it was just so funny that Santa brought me that to remind me our night there and Shem is really excited to use it as our shower head cover. Unfortunately we can't use it right now because our shower head is removable and it won't work. But Shem is excited about being able to use it at our next house! I was very spoiled by my dear husband this year. For those who do not know, I had a miscarriage at 7 weeks on November 15th. When we found out we were pregnant one of the first things I absolutely knew that I wanted was a rocker/glider. And I didn't want a cheap one. So I went to Craigslist and thought I would start looking since we had a few months to prepare. Well I think it only took a day for me to find one and so I sent the link to Shem and told him this is what I want for Christmas. It was within our budget we set for ourselves for Christmas and it was exactly what I wanted. Well I didn't know if he had actually gotten it for me until Christmas morning. With the miscarriage I wasn't sure if he felt he should or not but he did. And I am so happy he did! I love my chair! I have some pictures below of it. You'll have to excuse my red puffy eyes. I started crying when I opened it. It was difficult as Christmas was when we were going to tell our families we were expecting and all those emotions came flooding back. We know that we will get plenty of use out of it whenever we are blessed to have children.

My parents spoiled us yet again this year. We asked for Wii and we got one! We also got a canner as our Christmas Eve present. I am so excited! I canned apple pie filling and homemade spaghetti sauce with my mom this fall and it was really fun and really easy. So now I am already to do more canning this fall! We are having lots of fun playing the Wii together and watching movies on our tv with our Netflicks. A lot easier then watching on our lap top!

Shem and I were able to celebrate our first New Years Eve together without me being sick! That was a miracle. 2 years ago when we were dating we had just gotten back from Canada and I have a very very very bad cold and sore throat and so we stayed at my house and had a very low key ringing in of 2009. Last year I got strep throat on the 30th and so yet again we stayed home and I slept and had Shem wake me up right before midnight so he could give me a kiss on the check and I could attempt to try to toast in 2010 with some sparkling cider. I told myself that I was going to do whatever it took to be healthy to ring in 2011! We took a chance and booked a suite at the Anniversary Inn because they had this amazing offer going on and crossed our fingers. And luckily I did not get sick. I was even able to stay up until midnight, with a little help from the fizziness of a Root Beer! But sure enough I went right to sleep right after. My night owl of a husband was up until 4:44 and that is only because I woke up and saw that he was still awake and told him to go to bed. We are total opposites when it comes to that! I can hardly stay awake and night and he loves to stay up way late.

We still do not have a definite answer on whether or not Joe (our horse) is pregnant. We could spend the money to have someone come and and preg check her but what is the point? They don't breed in the winter and so even if she isn't, it's not like we can take her back to her "boyfriends" and try again! Shem and I both think that she is getting bigger but Shem assures me that in a few months we will definitely be able to tell. We are both trying to be patient but are just excited to know if we will have a colt at the end of the summer! I took a picture of them today. Now that Shem is on break from school he has some extra time to spend with her and went for a ride around the pasture today.

Enjoy the pictures!
 

1st wedding picture on the wall!

Well we have only been married for 17 months and we finally got our 1st wedding picture framed and up on our wall! I am very excited. My mom came over this afternoon and helped me put it up and it looks great! We did a 16x20 canvas print (40% off canvas prints right now at www.winkflash.com) and I got an amazing deal on a nice sturdy frame at Michaels ($50 frame for $15!). I am so excited! And we got our photo book that I made (also from winkflash, those are 60% off right now...) in the mail today and it looks awesome! When my mom left my house this afternoon I made the comment that it was just like Shem and I were newly weds again since we are just getting our wedding pictures ordered! My goal is to have them all ordered, framed and up on the walls before the end of the year.

I cannot believe that it is already October. Time is just flying by so fast. It seems like it was just the other day when we were planning for our big trip to California and now it has been 4 months since we were there. I decorated for Halloween the other day and before you know it, we'll be decorating for Christmas! I do love Christmas but I hate winter. I am not looking forward to the cold and the snow and the bad roads. Luckily Shem and I drive in together so I won't have to drive too much on them.

Shem is extremely busy with school and work these days. The closer we get to his graduation the harder his classes get. Luckily he will be done and graduating in May 2012! So just a few more semesters. He is really excited about the possibility of his horse having a colt here in about 11 months. We took her to a "friend" about a month ago to try to bred her and Shem went and picked her up last week. We figure we won't be able to tell if she is pregnant until Christmas, hopefully. If by spring time we can tell that she is not pregnant we will take her back out to the stallion and try again. I guess it is hard for horses to get pregnant in the winter months. Don't ask me, I am not an animal person! I am just trying to survive work. Every day I have the battle of not wanting to go but at the end of every week they give me a paycheck and so I have a hard time justifying not going but I still try to! But the good news is that I have not gotten sick yet this fall! Last fall/winter I was getting a sinus infection every other month and was miserable. I deal with a lot of dust and paper particles and with my sensitive sinuses it isn't a very good combination. I started wearing a mask (like what doctors/nurses wear) and that has helped a lot! But this past August I noticed something strange going on with my throat. It felt like there was something stuck in there, like a pill or something. So it never went away and last month we went to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor and it appears that I do have something in my throat. I apparently produce a lot of snot and it is constantly dripping down my throat and has not made a nice "scab" kind of thing down there. So he put me on 2 different types of nasal sprays plus I have to do a sinus rinse every day. The doctor told me it would take about a month before I would feel better and I am starting to not feel my "scab" so much whenever I swallow. Hopefully it will all be gone soon and I can cut back to only 1 nasal spray and the sinus rinse! Crazy huh?! I had never even hear of such a thing. But we got the nice doctor bill for that outpatient surgery. He had to stick a scope down through my nose and into my throat so he could check things out. Now that was a weird experience!

Summer Happenings

So we got back from our trip to California a couple weeks ago and it was so much fun! We had a blast. It went by way too fast though. Shem and I left Tuesday after work and drove down to Winnemucca and stayed the night and his aunt and uncles house. We got up really early Wednesday morning and drove all the way to San Francisco and met my family at the Giants baseball game. Before going the game Shem and I got to drive over the Golden Gate bridge! It was so much fun. Every hill that we went up I kept expecting to see the bridge and then when we finally did I got really excited. Shem just laughed at me.


Once we got to the game we stayed for a while and then headed back down to the Ghiradelli square area. We walked around the wharf and found an In n Out burger to eat at! Yum Yum! While we were eating there was a bum out on the street that had a cardboard sign that said: "Tips or donations 4 marijuana research". Atleast he was being honest about what he wanted the money for! We thought it was pretty funny. Shem even got a picture of him and the guy gave him a peace sign. So after we filled ourselves up with yummy hamburgers we walked over to the Ghiradelli ice cream shop and had sundaes! Shem and I shared (only because we were so full from dinner) the Warm Brownie Sundae. It was delicious! Worth every single calorie. After we got done eating we started our 2 hour drive down to La Selva beach where the house my parents rented was at. We drove along Hwy 1 so that we could see the ocean pretty much the whole way down. It was so pretty! The sun was setting and the waves were coming in and it made the 2 hour drive go by a lot faster!


Thursday morning we got up and headed out for Pebble Beach to watch the 1st day of the US Open. I am one that cannot get that excited about watching golf on the television. It gets to be a little boring after about 2 minutes. But I really enjoyed being able to go out and watch the Open. This was my 2nd Open, I went 2 years ago with mom and dad to the one at Torrey Pines in San Diego. Pebble Beach is right on the ocean and it is beautiful. We also forgot to wear sun screen so we all came with very red arms, heads and legs! When we got home Shem, me and my niece Kathryn went down the beach and were able to play around a little. It was almost sunset so we didn't get to get in the water but we did have fun getting our feet in. Shem has never had his feet in any ocean so we made sure we got it done on this trip!


Friday Shem and my dad went back to the tournament for the morning and then we all met up in the afternoon in Monterey for the day. We ate at the wharf and have some really yummy clam chowder and then we headed over to the Aquarium for the remainder of the afternoon. That was a lot of fun. We got to touch some really cool sea creatures and see some really amazing animals. After that we headed back to the house to celebrate my nephews 2nd birthday!


Saturday Shem, my dad and my brother headed back to the tournament again while my mom and me headed to an outlet mall close by! After a day of shopping and golfing Shem and I were able to met back up together and go on a date together. We had a lot of fun. We went out to eat at the Fish Hopper (right on the ocean!) and Shem got Prime Rib with Shrimp Scampi and I got Crab and Shrimp stuffed Lobster tail. It was all so yummy! After dinner we headed back to the wharf and got our souvenir. When we were down the Friday we saw a lady who was doing those caricature drawings so we decided to get one done of us. It was fun but they are expensive!


Sunday was a long boring day. We got up early and left for home. We drove straight through, stopping only for gas and lunch and 12 hours later we got home. It was a very long drive but it was worth it! We had such a blast. Thanks mom and dad for a great time!

So that is a re-cap of our trip. Sorry, it was a little long. Now it is back to real life and work. It was a nice break but I guess we had to come back to work eventually...unfortunately!

Happy Anniversary!

Shem and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary on Sunday, May 16th. I cannot believe that it has already been a year. It is amazing at how fast it has gone. It has been a wonderful 1st year and we both are looking forward to many more! This anniversary wasn't exactly what we had planned but as we know, things happen and we just do our best to handle each situation. We started our anniversary weekend by attend the sealing ceremony of one of Shem's old roommates. We got a phone call from my parents right before we were heading into the temple to tell us that my Grandpa Wagoner had passed away that morning. This came as very hard news for me. I love my grandpa very much and was very close to him. He was such a wonderful man and example to me. I miss him very much but am very thankful for the knowledge of eternal families. I know that some day we will be together again. As we went into the temple it was very hard for me because the last time I saw my grandpa was at our wedding, which was almost exactly a year ago. It was a great comfort being there and remember seeing him in there at my wedding.

After the wedding we headed up to Sun Valley for the weekend. It was so nice to be able to get away and not have to worry about anything! Finals were done and we were just able to relax! We went out and explored the city of Ketchum and Sun Valley. We even went bowling at the Sun Valley Lodge. It was a lot of fun! It did rain a little on Saturday but it wasn't too bad. Shem bought a walking stick as a souvenir. He loves it! As you will see in some of the pictures.

After we got back from our anniversary weekend and grandpa's funeral, Shem had been checking online for his final grades constantly. This past semester was a tough one. Shem took on a very full load and also his part time job. He was worried all semester that his overall GPA was going to drop. He has set a goal for himself to have it go up each semester and was getting nervous as the semester progressed. Grades finally got posted and he did amazing ! He did raise his GPA again and did awesome in all of his classes! I am so proud of him. He put in a lot of time and effort into his classes and it paid off! Good job Shem! But now school is over for the summer and it is nice having my husband around more. We are both just working full time and are able to work the same schedule so we are still driving into Boise every day together. We have a lot of fun adventures coming this summer and are looking forward to attending Aunt LaRue's wedding next week and our big adventure to Monterey Bay!

Sorry there are a lot of pictures! Enjoy!

Standing out side the amphitheater at Sun Valley

Shem "falling" on the hockey rink



Shem showing off his bowling moves



We found this awesome chair so we had to get a picture

Shem in the cowboy chair with his walking stick


Happy Anniversary!


At our wedding last year with my Grandma and Grandpa Wagoner.

Finally updated!

It's been a while since we posted anything, sorry! Life just seems to be as busy as ever. Between work and school our lives are very busy. Shem is still working hard at school and work. We only have 4 more weeks until the semester is officially over and I know that both Shem and I will be very happy when it is. It has been a tough semester and I am looking forward to having my husband around more often this summer.

I cannot believe that we will celebrate our one year anniversary next month. It is amazing how fast time flies. It seems like just the other day we were counting down to our wedding day and now it is almost our anniversary.

We just got time off approved from work for the middle of June so that we can head down to Monterey Bay, CA for the golf US Open at Pebble Beach with my family. We were going to fly but airline tickets are ridiculous right now! Plus we would have to rent a car so we decided that we are just going to drive down. We are very excited and cannot wait! My mom and dad rented a house down by the beach and it looks amazing!

My family's Biggest Loser competition ended a couple of weeks ago and my brother Jarom won. He really kicked it into gear and swiped everyone out of the running. Good job Jarom! Shem and I did not do so well. I was having some health issues and quit working out for a few days and then that turned into weeks and then I just got out of the habit completely. But after watching Biggest Loser this past week I am ready to get back in the habit again.

Nothing really new and excited has been happening in our lives. Just work and school. We did purchase a freezer about a month ago off of craigslist. That was a very exciting day, at least for me! I have already started stocking up and Shem just laughs at me. I love stocking up on stuff when it's on sale. You just never know what is going to happen!

We did do family pictures with my family while my sister and her family were here from Denver a few weeks ago. We had my brother in law take a few pictures of us since our only family pictures are from our wedding! I'll post some, I don't know if that is ok, so if it's not Lynds, just let me know and I'll take them off. :)

Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend! It was my dads 60th birthday and my mom decided to surprise my dad and fly my sister home from Denver to help us celebrate. I have not seen Sadie since my wedding 8 months ago. My other sister and I went and picked Sadie up at the airport Saturday morning and then we headed over to Cheesecake Factory for some sister time. I LOVE that place! We had a lot of fun and we had the most amazing dessert, Red Velvet Cake Chessecake. Oh my goodness was it amazing. We said we didn't care if we gained weight this week because it was worth every bite!

For my dads birthday all of his children and their spouses and children wrote a letter to dad and told of their favorite memory and what they have learned from him. My brother put it all together and made a book with our letters and pictures. It turned out perfect. We were all excited to give it to dad and he was very touched by it. We hope that you had a great birthday dad. We love you!

Nothing else is really going on in our lives. We are just busy with work and school. Shem has a very tough semester ahead of him and so we are just trying to stay on top of homework. It makes me glad to know that I am already done and can just support and help my husband while we get him through!

Biggest Loser

So Christmas eve my dad announced that our family was going to have a Biggest Loser competition with our family. We started January 5th and are going for 12 weeks. At the end of each 6 weeks who ever has the biggest percentage of weight loss will win $100 and the overall winner gets $100. So there is the potential to win $300! There is a little motivation! So Shem and I are trying to become our families "biggest loser" but after this last weeks weigh in I am getting a little nervous! I got 1.4% and Shem didn't gain or lose anything. But my oldest brother lost 5.9%!! My sister created a blog for our weight loss. If you are interested in everyone's percentage you can check it out (it's listed on our blogs we follow). Wish us luck!

Our family has been very blessed lately. Shem recently received a job opportunity for a research group at BSU. He can work 10-20 hours during school and full time during the summer and during other school breaks. He is doing research for his field of study, electrical engineering. This is such a great blessing in our life. Not only will we not have to worry about finding Shem full time work this summer but the knowledge and experience that he will gain will be invaluable. He also found out that he made the Dean's list with honors for this past semester! I am so proud of him. He has put a lot of time and effort into his studies and it is definately paying off. I am so blessed to be married to man who values his education and wants to do the best that he can.

Shem is also putting his new golf clubs to use. We just got back from our date for the week and we went to the driving range. It was a lot of fun to be out there with each other trying to pretend like we knew what we were doing! We both had some really good shots and some really bad ones! But we had fun and we both look forward to the weather getting warmer so that we can stay out longer and maybe attempt to actually play some holes.