New Year, New Memories!

So, it is officially 2015. Where the heck did 2014 go? In fact, where did the first part of January go?

As most of you know, I had my first foot surgery. Though the healing process was dis-heartening, I am walking almost normal again! For anyone that knows me knows that I don't rest well. That was the hardest part of the surgery. Due to swelling and my foot turning purple, I had to park my butt down and rest. I was so frustrated with not being able to cook, do dishes, do laundry, and even clean my own house. The worst part was not even being allowed to shower until the stitches came out 2 weeks later. I survived, though, on sponge baths and leaning over the tub to wash my hair. I hate feeling not clean! I went to Colorado for Thanksgiving which forced me to rest. I didn't have to cook dinner and my mother waited on me hand and foot! The best part, though, was the free seat upgrades where I had more than enough leg room to rest me leg. The painkillers did get to me though and I ended up getting sick on the flight from Denver to Colorado Springs. I did get to meet me new adorable nephew though and hang out with the oldest little minion. It was rough going back to work after 2 weeks, I started my knew job the day that I got my stitches out... which sucked! Man was I in a world of hurt! But, I prevailed! Now I am walking pretty darn good, not perfect yet, but considering that I am not even 2 months out of surgery, I think I am doing pretty darn good!

Alex was able to take his buddy out hunting with him and after several miles of walking, a beast was taken down and butchered! Maybe next year he will stop being generous and take down a monster himself. Such a good guy! He is doing the same ole, same ole though and still working up in Judith Gap. So far, he has only had to miss one day of work for weather. No bad (knock on wood).

We spent our first Christmas in our new home this year! Wow, still crazy to think that we are homeowners! Christmas was fun though. We did a lot of cooking, he went out to a movie with a friend, and then my parents finally flew up here after their flight was delayed and then broke the exit of the airplane... Yes, long story. My dad got to meet his "grand children" for the first time, and my mom got to remember how awesome her "grand children" are. Our dogs were very spoiled! They both got to experience what we deal with 9 months of the year.... snow! We did some Christmas light looking which was a blast! I love my Christmas lights (and yes, they are still up at my house). For the New Year, we slept. Yes, you read that correctly. We were in bed by 9:00 New Years Eve. Such a fun couple we are!

This year has a lot planned for us! We have plenty of weddings to go to (thankfully, one is actually in Montana), and a huge concert to go to. The day after my foot surgery I found out that I won the Clint Black Fan Contest which included an autographed records prize, free concert tickets to a 3-day concert with free camping (a $600 value if you add up the ticket costs), and a meet-and-greet. We are both super excited and will be tent camping it there! Looking forward to some fun!

2015 brings lot's for us! Here's to another year of marital bliss!

Autumn is among us!

Well, it has been a long time since this was updated! We have been two very busy people! Alex has finally received his diploma from the college that he finished in MAY... yes, that school is not the best at time. We are so happy because that is one hard-earned piece of paper! We bought a house, as many people know, and with the house came two dogs... I wonder how that happened!?! Raja and Buck have been such great additions to our household! Though Raja was suppose to be my dog, she quickly became infatuated with Alex and Buck became my protector. We had an incident a while ago with them, but the vet says that she thinks Buck was trying to fight for dominance, which is normal for male puppies in households with an older female dog, but Raja won. After a nice emergency vet appointment, our dogs are just fine and as lovable as ever. Raja used to have manors, but know she has her daddy wrapped around her paw. Buck has come a long way in training since we got him. I taught him how to shake (yes, I was pretty excited that I actually taught a dog something!), and he is fetching much better! He absolutely loves it when ducks fly over our house. The shock collar has done him wonders... seriously. He is a total mamma's boy and does not rest when dad is away because he has to protect me! I love it! When I am sick, it is so great to have two wonderful dogs cuddle with me and help me get better. Our house is just about how we want it though, finally. We still need to install some shelves for my million pairs of shoes in the closet, we need a garage door opener, and we need to fix the hail damage still. We are finally out of the clear though for painting and hanging stuff. We are so excited to spend our first Christmas there, with our dogs, of course.

I had my bowel obstruction a year and a half ago now. It seems like forever, but I still feel it everyday. My body has definitely not been the same since and it has been incredibly hard for me to adjust to the "new" life. I recently had a pretty big flare-up of my crohn's which landed me into the ER twice in less than a week. After about a month of the flare-up, I made the very hard decision to drop out of school in order to heal my body. Stress influences the Crohn's in vast ways. Removing the stress of school has helped a lot, however, I hate it! I always wanted to finish school and prove to myself that I could do it, but I just can't. I have come to terms with my fate which would not have been possible without a very loving and supportive husband! I think what I will miss the most is working at the prison. I have really enjoyed the learning experience there and the inmates were so awesome... yes, I said the inmates! They all know me as Raja's mom which makes my heart happy because Raja was so loved there and they all know that Raja is very well loved now. Those girls would defend me to the ends of the earth! I recently applied for an administrative assistant job at the men's pre-release which would mean great hours, paid holidays, and full benefits. Now we are just praying and hoping that I get the job!

Hunting season is among us now which means that, once again, I'm a widow because hunting took my husband for a few weeks. We haven't had any luck yet, but with my luck, I will be able to catch a deer with my car! This happened, for the first time, to me as I was driving to work last night. I came around a corner and was blinded by some semi-lights. Next thing I knew, there were two deer running out in front of me and I had absolutely no time to stop. It occurred in slow motion because I knew I was going to hit it. I may have even screamed, but I don't know. The poor deer was pushed by my car about 30 feet and when I finally was able to get stopped, the deer kept sliding for about another 30 yards, got up and ran away. If you see a deer with a bum, back, left leg and some serious road rash, that was from me! Luckily, I was very close to a town and it happened literally in front of the Sheriff's house. I drove to the closest bar and called for assistance. The deer was unable to be located to be shot, but thankfully my trusty jeep suffered very minimal damage... so much so that people were mad at me and didn't believe me! I was able to get a hold of my work whom called Alex for me just in case I did screw something up in my car! Sitting here now almost 9 hours later, it just feels like a dream. I am still in shock that I hit a deer. Buck saved the day though and barked until those deer ran away! Nothing messes with his mom ma! I will forever own a jeep now, one of the only cars still made out of metal. The good, good Lord was watching out for me yesterday! Thank-you God! Now if only Alex had my kind of luck with a rifle.

I am finally having my foot surgery in a week and a half and I couldn't be more nervous! "We will cut into the bone and place a metal rod in there to align the bone." Yep, I'm freaking out! I have to have both feet done, but I'm not brave enough to do them two at a time. I think I will save the right foot for the summer. Be praying for me and Alex because he does NOT sit well when I am in surgery. I think I am more nervous for him than I am for me!

Time

Well, with school in full session for both of us, time is something that we seem to be lacking. Alex really enjoys his school that he is teaching at and is starting to look for jobs for next fall. He is still working two days a week at the shop with our roommate who thankfully wants to work. I am in the midst of 4 jobs now. I work at the Montana Women's Prison and tutor math for work study jobs, and then I still dispatch and work at the ticket place on the weekends. With 15 credits this semester and all my jobs, I am thankful to come home to a hot meal that I don't have to make! I am incredibly stressed out with all my school work and getting it all done, but somehow I manage to do it! Looking back, I really don't know how I have done it this far!
Billings has been killed with snow once again... we are well over 65 inches of snowfall and the worst has yet to come! I have been very thankful for 4-wheel drive! Our highway has shut down once already do to a blizzard. Spring time is going to be really rough! I keep trying to keep the bug I planted in Alex's ear that we need to go to Mexico with our tax return to get away from the weather for a little while. Somehow, I don't think he will get the message! Our taxes are done and I am so thankful! On Monday, my day off from school and work, I did taxes and Alex could have cared less that I had yet to start cleaning the house... he was just thankful that he didn't have to do the taxes or take any part in getting them done. Our return will be such a blessing though because we will finally be able to pay the rest of my medical bills and get the credit cards paid off. Unfortunately we had to put some medical bills on the credit cards so with our tax return we will be able to breathe again!
We are starting to save for California and we are so excited! We are going to rough it and tent camp at a KOA on our way down there which will be so much fun! I convinced Alex that I get to go to the San Diego Zoo if he goes to a Dodger's game... yes, I love the zoo. We are so excited to be back in warm weather again since it won't be warm here until probably July at this rate :/ I think California will be a nice break for us! I am so not looking forward to the drive though. I guess I will be dosing on Benadryl to try and make the trip more tolerable! I hate driving!
Other than that, we are boring and nothing new is happening!

Routine

This summer has really thrown me for a loop. In the past, I have always gotten into a routine during the summer which consisted of working, then going to Billings, then coming home and doing it all over again. This past summer was nothing like that and I am exhausted as a result! I started a new job that wasn't consistant until after I was fully trained. Then we had wedding planning which was way over my head. Then our wedding. Then we had our honeymoon which was unbelievable. Then we came home and finally routine started again. I am a creature of habit and to not have that routine killed me! Finally, we are back on track with routine as school has started up again... and soon it too will be over!

First things first: Our wedding. Our wedding was amazing! It was relaxing and enjoyable. Some people couldn't come that we really wanted there, but that's okay because we didn't even have time to notice. We went casual for our wedding. For rehersal dinner, we had everyone meet us at the park were we ate picnic food and fed the ducks. Almost all of our wedding guests came to rehersal dinner and it was way fun! Then the wedding day came and I think I was the most relaxed bride ever! I met all the boys, including the groom, for breakfast. Then Susan and I labeled all the flowers. My hair got done and I raced off to my parents hotel because, suprise, suprise, I was running late. Nothing new with me. I quickly did my nails, put my make-up on, then my dress, and then the jewelry. Then I figured out that stairs and a wedding dress is not as easy as it looks... I made it there alive though! Once we got to Conrad Mansion, I felt like I was in a nightmare. As I got out of the car and started walking to the gazebo, everyone was staring at me. That freaked me out because I hate it when people look at me! Then the camera's started shooting pictures of me.... uggg! I felt gorgeous on that day, but I hated all of the attention. The lawn we got married in was a little wet and I learned very quickly that heels and wet lawns are not a good idea... at all. When Alex and I turned to go do communion I was stuck in the ground... The pastor asked if I was okay, and I decided to make the best out of it and turned to the crowd and simply stated that I was stuck.... and then the Pastor helped me out. Minus well have fun with it! We ate our delicious BBQ lunch and then dug into our cake made of cookies. We had flavored milk in wine glasses for our offical toast as a couple as "C-is for cookie" blared over the speaker. Yes, I am a 3 year old, but what other song do you play when eating cookies? Pictures were the last thing on the agenda which we used photo booth props in some. Why not have some fun? Later the day we enjoyed dinner with everyone and sat out by the fire pit at the hotel and enjoyed the company of some of our guests. It really was a perfect day!

A couple days after our wedding, we were off to Mexico. We went to Cozumel for 6 days and it is 6 days that I will never forget! The temperature of the water was perfect! The temperature of the air was not bad at all, the mojito's were fabulous and the resort was amazing! I got heat stroke the first full day we were in Mexico, but I recovered quickly thankfully. We went downtown one day and spent some of our wedding money. We snorkeled in the ocean and found out quickly that beautiful fish loved my very bright pink swimsuit. We saw so much in the cristal clear ocean that I will never forget. I got to scuba dive in the ocean which made Alex laugh because I didn't have any weights attached... in otherwords, I kept floating to the top and the guide had to keep pushing me down... embarrassing! Anyways, I strongly recommend Cozumel because had a blast!

Now school has started and summer is over. I am very busy with my classes and Alex was fortunate enough to only have to take 2 classes and 1 lab. He has one class on campus and then one class and a lab online. I am so jealous of him! I have physics, biology, first responders, and education and democracy to contend with and 2 labs on top of that. It is really funny though because in Biology lab I am the one helping out our table which is a place that I never thought I would be. I feel smart! haha. Alex is able to work full time becuase of his schedule which means that I can stick with my part time job and not have to pick up another one. I did discover that my body is not at 100% yet though. I tried taking 18 credits, but I was sick after the first week of school which meant that I had to drop something... so I dropped calculus which was very disheartening. Oh well, someday I will get through school!

Finals are finally among us now. I have one more final on Monday and Alex finishes his last final tonight, online. After Monday, life is back to chaos and routine will no longer exist! I am so ready for Christmas though! My jeep had to go to the shop today because all of a sudden the power steering gave out. I got it to the shop immediately and noticed that a caramel color liquid was oozing out of my grill area.... yep, the power steering cooler has a hole in it. To be optimistic though, I am so thankful that it happened while I was in Judith Gap, and not while I was driving home from Billings. Thankfully, the repair is going to be right around $200 and not something ridiculous, like if I had continued to drive my vehicle and killed the power steering pump. I have an appointment Tuesday though that I could use some massive prayer for. I have had these weird bumps on both of my feet that have been really painful. I went to the doctor, who was in orthopedics for close to 20 years, and he said that he has only seen a few cases like mine and with that being said, I was referred to an orthopedic foot specialist who will probably want to shave down the bones as I can't wear shoes for more than 30 minutes without being in pain.

My mother got to join us for Thanksgiving this year. We showed her Lewistown and Billings. She probably thinks that we are all nuts here though! Thanksgiving was fun though. Some of us (Alex) slept in while others can't sleep in (me and my mother). Football was watched, food was eaten, and games were played. It was a great time off! My mother got to finally see Billings and all of Billings. I took her up to 4 Dances where she got to see my favorite view: The entire Billings landscape. Yes, I did make her nervous by attempting to go to the edge since she is deathly afraid of heights... and I am not. We played a lot of card games and laughed until our abs hurt.

Alex FINALLY got placed to student teach. He gets to go the Huntley which is only a few miles away. At first things were looking grim and he almost had to student teach in Moore which would have meant that we would have only seen each other a couple of hours a week. One step closer to getting out of the education department that has screwed him over so much.

Underway

Well, the wedding is just around the corner! I feel that everything is done and ready to go, but I guess we will see how true that is! I am ready for this day to be over! I never knew how much work these things are! I am super bummed that a lot of friends can't make it, but I am really excited to see the ones that can make it!
My current Health update is positive! I have had some minor issues such as extreme fatigue and swelling still, but considering how I felt back in April I am doing great! Unfortunately though, my wedding dress has to be taken out a little bit because of the swelling. I am really discouraged by that because it fit prior to the bowel obstruction. Some day though I will have my body back to a comfortable place!
Work has been going good for both Alex and I. Alex loves his co-worker finally and they like to tease me a lot... but I dish it right back! My job is really teaching me what stress is... When a manhunt begins and suddenly you are responsible for calling back up and keeping track of the welfare of the officers on duty all at the same time can get a little frustrating! I had no idea what stress was until I started this job. I  am learning a lot about legal stuff working here... including how to do patdowns! Woohoo!
Other than that though not much is new with us! Our Landlord is selling our rental in Billings so we are both praying that we don't have to move and that rent doesn't increase. I am really nervous about it, but our current Landlord is optimistic about it and highly doubts that the new Landlord is going to do anything that causes us to leave. Our garden is as beautiful as ever this year and is full of lilies and tomatoes.

Back to Normal

Well a lot has happened over the past months. School started out strong for myself and ended abruptly. Alex's school year was busy, but great. For starters, Alex was able to meet up with his old swim coach from many years ago through his student teaching. His grades were excellent and he is really looking forward to next semester which is 1 serious class, and the rest are classes that he actually wants to take. Now myself is a different story. The semester was rough for me and consisted of many crohn's flare ups. I had a crohn's flare up in my back, bronchitis, and then a bowel obstruction which may have been from the medication from the bronchitis. My biology teacher was not willing to work with me and getting me caught up after my 4 day hospital stay, and so I had to withdraw from the semester with recommendation from the Dean. In that four day stay I was very uncomfortable as I was puking consistently and getting the obstruction cleared. They tried an NG tube which is a tube that goes up your nose and down your throat. It was suppose to help with the puking, but they couldn't get it in because it hurt so bad. It was a rough stay! Thankfully, no surgery though!
Alex went down to California for a week after school got out. He went to his beloved Dodger's game and had not 1, but 2 Dodger Dogs and he was a happy camper! He then flew into Denver where I braved Denver traffic, got lost at the airport, and got yelled at from airport security.... yeah that's my life in a nutshell! Anyways, we ventured back to Colorado Springs and stopped for a Chic-fil-a fill up  so we could get our fill in of their delicious food!
Now we are back in Montana at last! He did all the driving and we stopped at "our spot" aka my grand parents which is what I missed! I love being that close to family (2 hours from Billings). Alex is back working for his parents and I got a dispatching job for Wheatland County and Golden Valley County.
In the mean time, I got a job through Professional Tutors of America. They called me and asked if I would join their program and if I accepted they had a job lined up for me already. I tutored a 10th grader in Chemistry as part of the Children of Fallen Soldiers Program which provides free tutoring for children of fallen soldiers in the ongoing war. The best part about it though is that I can continue it in Montana as it does pay very well.
On to wedding plans.... Well those are going well I guess! We got our honeymoon booked and we will be going to Cozumel, Mexico! Everything else is coming together! Tux's are rented, I had my firt wedding dress fitting (and I am in LOVE with my dress still), and the Pastor is booked! A few more things to do, but we are looking forward to eating Megan the pig!

Settled in

It sure has been a busy few months! Alex got me moved down here in August a few days before my classes started. I started school and was instantly busy... too busy! Alex started school later... and now he doesn't know what sleep is... The joys of being in College! So far adjusting to Colorado has been a difficult one for me. I am so overwhelmed with how many people there are! Crazy! The traffic puts me on edge... big time. I have broke out of my shell though... good or bad thing, I am not sure yet... haha. Alex is overloaded in his classes and I can tell is super overwhelmed. The semester is half way over though! I miss that boy :( On a positive note, the wedding invitations are almost done... thanks to my Mom! Yeah I suck... But we went to a craft fair a while ago and got the best decorations for the wedding. Also, thanks to IKEA, we got most of our wedding shopping done! As far as wedding planning goes.... that's it! This is so not my thing!
Anyways, Colorado is going okay as I said before. I hardly see my friends which makes me sad, but I am meeting new people for once and breaking out of my shell. It has yet to snow here which to me is very weird... Work is chaotic... I was very overwhelmed with that amount of people but I am adapting very well! I am getting re-trained in the Pharmacy shortly so I am very excited about that! I work crazy hours! For the most part I really enjoy the people I work with and my job in general. One thing I learned is that in Colorado, it is okay to hit on girls with engagement rings... hmmm.
My jeep died on me shortly after school started.  I had to have the sending unit of my oil replaced because it was leaking and causing the sensor to short.... but on a positive note, it was towed by Pinky's Towing! I then had my jeep die on me and it turned out to be nothing... bad gasoline maybe???? No problems since then though... thanks GOD!!!!!!
All in all, I can't WAIT to get back to Montana! I get weird looks driving around with my Montana plates.. Which reminds me! I met someone from Billings and graduated from MSUB!!!!!! Way excited about that! Anywho, I also am not use to paying for my gas before I gas up... again I get weird looks.... oh well, life will go one!