Thursday, July 31, 2008

Saying Good-bye

Tomorrow our friends Aaron and Sara & Luka leave for a three-plus month road trip all over the U.S. They have to be in Arkansas Sunday evening I think. Thats a long trip from the Bozone. I can't imagine a) being gone that long, b) being in the car 8+ hours a day for that long, c) being in the car that long with a 3-year old, or d) packing for that long. Wow. I get bored during a three hour car trip, so I can't imagine. I hope they have lots of books on tape. Its sad because we spend a lot of time with them. Sara and I have been having coffee together once a week for probably a year or more. Who will I get my Leaf & Bean fix from? And Luke and Aaron spend a lot of time together doing random things like working on cars and looking at guns and just being boys. And we both love the little man. Luckily they're not moving all the way across the world, but it feels like it. We will miss them horribly but wish them the best in their endeavor. And in the mean time, we're just going to have to find some more friends to tide us over.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

the Final Answer

I finally got an answer out of the gynecologist's office. I do have to have a LEEP procedure, where they basically electrically cut out the bad cells in my cervix. Yeah, that sounds like fun! Especially the part about injecting it with anesthesia stuff so that it's numb. Yuck! But I get some days off work, so thats a plus. Im going in on August 13th in the afternoon. My FNP said that it will probably help my lupus because then my body wont be fighting so hard to fix the bad cells and it can focus on other things. I wanted to do it ASAP, but she said we need time to heal from the biopsies a few weeks ago. White puts the LEEP a week before we go to Alaska. Meaning a total damper on our romantic weekend. My boss said I should get some valium before I go in so that its not as painful/traumatic. It sounds like a good idea to me! The less I remember, the better.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Weekend Pictures




The first one is at Ted's. The second one is at the Casting Crowns Concert.

great weekend!

Okay, so Im a big slacker. It was a busy weekend. Friday I wasn't feeling that great but got in a visit with my mom on her way back through town. Then I took a nap in the afternoon and felt much better. We went to the Casting Crowns concert that night with our friends Aaron and Sara, who took us out for sushi before the concert. It was a great night. Despite the girl in front of us who wouldn't sit down. We were in the 2nd row just off to the right. Great seats. Again, minus the girl in front of us who was REALLY into it. Saturday I helped with the AOII garage sale from 8-4 and luke ran errands and worked on computers. I got some great stuff. An office chair, a bunch of clothes, two printers, and Luke grabbed some odds and ends too. I was surprised, because I was picking out clothes at the end as we were boxing things up and got 4 skirts, a dress, a jacket, and 3 shirts. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Kerry, Sheree, Jen and Janna all day. On saturday night we went to Ted's montana grill with Okey, Aaron, Sara, and their son Luke. It was good. They make amazing onion rings. I had a hamburger and it was awesome. I could only eat half. Bring an appetite when you go! Yesterday we just kind of hung out. I took a nap. It was pretty chill. We went to church in the morning and it was our first time to actually attend in a month. We had been teaching 3 & 4 year olds for the past 4 weeks. Now THAT is a good dose of birth control.

My test results are in, but it must not be too bad. They're not sure if they want to do the procedure, or do more testing. Hopefully they call today with a decision.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

A Nice Surprise

Yesterday morning my mom called and she was coming through Bozeman so me, Luke, my brother Scott, and my cousin Michael all met her for lunch. It was soo nice. Its always good to see the parentals, and it was good to see Scott and Mike too. You'd think that since my brothers and I all live within a mile of eachother that we'd see eachother on a semi-regular basis. Not so much. I only see Scott when he mows the lawn at work, and I only see mark when he needs something from me. Or when we all get together with my parents. We ate at WeeBees, the new restaurant by the ridge. It was pretty good. Kind of healthy gourmet. A wee bit on the expensivo side, but it was good. And it was a nice atmosphere. We had a lot of fun laughing about Scott and Michael's river float with Michael's parents and their crew. Apparently there was a dress up day on the river. Michael & Scott and their friend Woody dressed up white trash. My aunt dressed like britney spears, my uncle like zz top, my cousin matt at elvis, and my cousin healy as something I can't remember at this moment. There were even float trip T-Shirts, and an award ceremony. Wow! Sounds like a lot of fun. But if you know my aunt, this is her to a T. I want to be like that someday. I'm always a fan of dressing up.

I still haven't heard on my test results. Hopefully today.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Hail Mary



We had TWO cRaZy intense hail storms yesterday. The first rain/hail storm happened at about 3 and caused major flooding in town. I could barely see the parking lot at work, as it was completely white, plus the rain was causing a serious river down towards Albertsons. Then we had a second crazy hail/rain storm at about 6:15/6:30, right after I got home. Was I worried about flooding? no. Was I worried about my car? no. I was worried about .... my tomatoes! I decided to try my thumb at gardening this year and planted two tomato plants in buckets. They have had a rough year with all the rain and snow and Friday's hail storm. Then yesterday's storm(s) were not good either. The hail pretty much stripped all the leaves and most the branches from the littler plant. Plus it cut off one of the two tomatoes that were actually growing on the stronger plant. Here is a picture of my two sad plants now, and of all the leaves that came off. I had to shovel hail out of the plants last night with a spatula. Sad! Hopefully they come through. I am really excited about my new gardening skills. And since summer is already half over, I dont know if replaning is really an option. But Im hoping that they are hearty. They've already survived snow and hail, so hopefully they can survive more hail.

PS- I am supposed to get my test results back today. Say a little prayer for me.

Monday, July 21, 2008

no fair!

Well, I was so excited about going to the fair and then after the flash flood storm/freak hail downpour we ended up forgoing it for MacRiver Pizza. Which is excellent, but a little disappointing because I was looking forward to fair food. Then we played Apples to Apples. And went to Perkins for dessert, where we had the most idiotic waiter on earth! we had to ask him for creamer for our coffee like three times and then he gave it to the table behind us. Then when Christel asked about the chipper dessert he told her, then goes "so did you want the malt, or the shake?"....."or the chipper?" He was definitely a piece of work. But I haven't laughed that hard is a loonnnggg time, so it was definitely worth it.

Friday afternoon I had my colposcopy, which is like a pap smear on steroids. Whenever I go in she's like oh, Im sure we'll just look at it and we probably won't have to do any biopsies. And everytime she has to do biopsies. This time she did 3 I think. And she said that she could definitely see some changes. I asked good changes or bad changes? She doesn't think its cancer, but it sounds like I'll have to have this procedure:http://www.webmd.com/cancer/cervical-cancer/loop-electrosurgical-excision-procedure-leep-for-abnormal-cervical-cell-changes#hw28187. Yay, that sounds like fun. My test results come back on Wednesday.

Friday, July 18, 2008

the FAIR

We are planning on going to the fair tonight (contingent on how I feel after my dr. appt) with our friends Christel & Kevin. In my roughly 7 years in Bozeman I have never been to the Gallatin County Fair. I haven't even been to the Sanders County Fair since 2000. I can't believe you have to pay to get in to the fair here. That seems ridiculous (I also can't believe how much you pay to get into the Sweet Pea Festival, but thats another story). Maybe Im just small town naive. The Sanders County Fair was always free. And you only had to pay like $1 or $2 to park. And most people parked outside the fairgrounds for free. Anyways...What do you do at the fair? Obviously there is lots of yummy, fattening, carolie laden foods to eat, and 4-H exhibits to look at, but what else do you do? Im not much of a ride person (mostly because of scary Carnies and dirty rides) and I dont know what else there is...
According to the website (http://www.gallatin.mt.gov/Public_Documents/gallatincomt_fairgrounds/CountyFair/Fair) there is a petting zoo, clown, a rodeo queen pageant (I wonder if its too late to enter? you probably need a horse to be a rodeo queen though. and a cowbow hat. and some fancy sparkly shirt. and probably cowboy books. I only have a belt, so that probably eliminates my entry. Although, I would make an excellent rodeo queen.), music, and a blood drive. So maybe we'll just walk around and stuff our faces. I'll have to bring the camera with me.

Also, I think we might try to go to the library book sale tomorrow. Were suckers for books.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Our Pseudo Kid



This is our friends' (Aaron & Sara) son Luke. He was the ring bearer in our wedding. Hes like the cutest kid ever. Luke has known him since he was a baby, but Ive only known him for just under 2 years. Its so fun to watch him grow. He wanted a t-ball set for his birthday last month so we got him one. He knew we were too, so he was telling everyone that we were getting him one. It was pretty funny. I made a really fun baseball bag to carry all the t-ball stuff in too. It had a drawstring and a shoulder strap kind of like a golf bag.

This picture was taken last week. He was kind of cranky because he had just woken up and Sara and I were driving out to a meeting (My luke and Aaron were in the truck). I was trying to distract luke from being cranky so I gave him my sunglasses to wear. He looked so stinkin cute that I had to take a picture.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

massage test

I told myself that I would start studying for my national massage exam in Mid July so that I can take it in September. Last night I was true to my word and studied for an hour or an hour and a half. I am not ready at all! Good thing I started early.

In other news...I lose my office space on August 15th. Hopefully we get a new tennant who will be open to sharing an office with me. :) Otherwise I might become a traveling therapist.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Feeling like...ME!

I finally am feeling better today. YAY! I was sick of feeling like crap. See, just a fluke virus, Im not pregnant (sorry Jules!). But my friend Tree IS! yay! Im so excited for her and Jon. They are going to make amazing parents.

My friends Zach & McCall just moved to Washington and met someone at a Dog Park that graduated high school with me. I was wondering who it was and it turns out its my friend April that I have completely lost touch with. April was one of my best friends in junior high and high school so I was really excited that they met her. Hopefully we can get in touch somehow. I dont think she has a facebook.

In other news: Step Up 2: The Streets comes out today. Alli and I are going to have a long distance movie date. Im not sure when, but we will.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Long weekend...

Well, we had a pretty quiet, uneventful weekend. I was sick for most of it - whatever I have is kicking my butt! Mostly just tired and nauseous though. Today Im back at work though and hopefully I can kick this soon. We watched a lot of movies this weekend, and heres a recap:
Stop-Loss - a war movie with ryan phillipe and the step up guy. Actually good. Im not one for war movies but I liked it.
PS - I love you, Good, but I cried the WHOLE movie. Normally I just cry at little parts, but this one I cried the whole time. Luckily, luke was asleep so he couldn't make fun of me.
The Walker - with Woody from cheers. Pretty dumb. Kind of weird and dark. I wouldn't recommend it.
The American President - one of our faves! Always a good flick. :)
Picture This - new Ashley Tisdale/abc family flick. Typical high school flick. Kind of cute.
It seems like maybe we watched another movie, but I can't think of which one.

Friday, July 11, 2008

sick...

Yesterday I was sooo sick. Yucky, icky, nasty sick. I thought I was going to die. But lukey was sooo good to me. He took really good care of me and brought me liquids and soup and crackers and last night he put me to bed after I fell asleep on the couch. What a nice husband. And luckily, has has a steel immune system, so he probably won't get sick. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I was in bed for almost 36 hours straight, minus a few trips upstairs to lay on the couch. And just walking up the stairs wore me out. This morning I was fried after taking a shower and putting on my makeup. I could barely dry my hair. And now Ive been at work for a little over 2 hours and Im ready for a nap. Im thinking about grabbing the massage blanket and laying on the couch. or on the floor, that way if someone comes in they wont see me laying on the couch.

I'm so glad its the weekend!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Not a fan of sun

I think the sun is abnormally strong this year. I have already been sunburt and have spent virtually no time in the sun besides walking from my car to my office/gym/wal-mart/whatever. Take today. I just did a little errand for my boss. I walked the 20 feet to my car, drove across town, walked across the street, up to a guys porch, back to my car, drove back, and walked the 20 feet to my office. And I am SUNBURT!!! Seriously my arms are all pink and red. I dont think I was outside for more than like 3 minutes. On the one day I forgot to put on sunblock. boo. Im going to have a farmer tan for the wedding this weekend. And my finger joints are already stiffening up. Today is just the longest day...

Wedding Season


It is the season/summer of weddings! Weve already been to three weddings this summer, plus a 50th anniversary party, and we have a wedding this weekend, three in august, one in september, and potentially one in december! We've been as far south as Dallas, TX and will be as far north as Anchorage, AK. We'll make it to Geraldine, MT and potentiallly Washington. This weekend is my boss' son's wedding. She has been so wired about this for a looonnnngggg time. Looking for the perfect dress, the perfect jewelry, the perfect shoes. Its cute. Last thursday I spent my day at her house wrapping gifts, wrapping napkins, and dusting. Earlier this week I made signs for Elizabeth's gopher to use when he picks people up at the airport and hotel. Thursday I will help her to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. It will be nice when the wedding is over and things get back to normal around here. The best part however, is that she finished her cookbook in order to give it to the bride at the shower. I have been typing recipes for this cookbook since November. Its been through three rounds of edits. You could say Im a bit sick of it. Yesterday I finished the final edit and then printed it, designed a cover, and today I brought them to be bound. ahhh, relief! Typing a recipe or two doesn't seem that daunting, but when you have over 150 pages, and some pages have more than one recipe per page, its a lot.

Heres the finished product. And you better believe I made myself a copy too!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Massage Office Dilemma

I found out today that my roomie for my massage office is getting rid of his office for financial reasons. Bummer. There is no way I'm going to find anywhere cheaper than $75 a month. Eek! I might have to move it back to the spare room at our house, which could be disastrous. We JUST cleaned it out. And we kind of need the space. Im enjoying our home office/storage/sewing room. hmmm. Maybe the new person to move in will cut me a similar deal. Right now I can't do massage because of my brilliant attempt at cutting a watermelon that left me with three stitches in my left thumb. Its healing nicely though, and in another week I'll be stitch free. Its mostly just sensitive. And at this point, massage is more of a hobby than a business. Summer is slow, but the economy is not helping. boo. Hopefully something will come up...I'll have to hit up all those sorority girls in the fall. :)

Hello out there...

Right now I am writing this to no one in particular, since it is only the first of many blog posts. Funny, too, since I used to work for a blogging company.

Weve been married now for just over 6 months and seem to be happier every day. Life is good. Last weekend Luke took me on a surprise romantic getaway to Billings where we had dinner with our friend Lizzie and then stayed in a fabulous hotel complete with fre and a jetted tub. The best part was that it was a gigantic surprise. I got home from work and he told me I had ten minutes to pack and he wouldn't tell me where we were going until we parked at the hotel. I did get an extra ten or fifteen minutes because I needed to shower, however. A long day of wedding prep and dusting at my bosses' house definitely called for a shower.

We spent the fourth at home, and then had a barbeque on the terrace at Luke's office building. They are on the third floor on the northeast corner of the building, so we had a spectacular view of the city fireworks display. It was a lot of fun. That will definitely be an annual event, unless we decide to be Pirates with my family/extended family in the Georgetown Lake 4th of July parade. This year they had a blast, but said next year will be even better and everyone needs to come up with their own pirate persona and costume.

More to come...