FYI

Steven finally looked at the blog last night for the first time since "we" started it. He got a little annoyed with me about the whole Xbox post, and said "Thanks for making it look like all I do is play stupid video games". Sooooo let me just clarify for everyone, he does not sit on the couch and play Xbox all night long. (Although I do think he plays more than he realizes) He really is very busy with work and school. He doesn't neglect me, we do spend a lot of time doing fun things together. So now everyone knows, I was simply making fun of how into it he was that particular night! Love you babe :)

Wyoming Barbies

One of my hygiene girls sent me this email today, and it made me giggle so I thought I'd share it. Those of you from Wyoming might find it pretty funny :)

Jackson Barbie:This modern day homemaker Barbie is available with a Mercedes 4WD SUV, a Prada handbag and matching Nike Yoga ensemble. She has a masters degree and double-majored, but has the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom with Ken's generous salary. Comes with Percocet prescription and Botox. Starbucks mug and traffic-jamming Blackberry internet/cell phone device sold separately. Husband Ken is into fishing, golfing, baseball and is often "working late." Available at all Seattle-area Starbucks retailers.

Teton Village Barbie: This princess Barbie is only sold at Nordstrom. She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade handbags, your choice of a BMW convertible or Hummer H2 and a long-haired foreign lapdog named "Honey." Also available is her Cookie cutter development dream house. Available with or without tummy tuck, facelift, and breast augmentation. Workaholic, cheating husband, Ken, comes with a Porsche.

Rock Springs Barbie: This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, switchblade, '78 El Camino with dark tinted windows, and a meth lab kit. This model is available only after dark and can only be purchased with cash--preferably small bills, unless you're a cop, then we don't know what you're talking about. Boyfriend Ken is in rehab. Available at many pawn shops.

Rawlins Barbie: This tobacco chewing, brassy-haired Barbie comes with a pair of high heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased Beer Gut Ken out of Cheyenne Barbie's trailer. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, strawberry lip gloss and a see-through halter top. Purchase her Mustang convertible separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free. Boyfriend Ken is in the State Prison. Available at Army/Navy Surplus.

Cheyenne Barbie: This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans 2 sizes too small, steel-toes cowboy boots , a Willie Nelson T-shirt and a Tweety Bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has fake fingernails, a six pack of Budweiser, and a Hank Williams, Jr. CD set. She can spit over a distance of 6 feet and kick PRCA cowboy Ken's ass when she is drunk. Also available is the gold-toned cubic zirconium ring Ken gave her after another one of his "episodes" with his boss's daughter. Comes with Barbie's Dream Double Wide Trailer. Available at Wal-Mart.

Gillette Barbie: Pregnant at purchase, this Barbie cones with a stroller and bus pass. Also included is a G.E.D. and a completely filled out food stamps form. Construction worker Ken and his '82 Caddy are optional. Available at Value Villa.

Laramie Barbie: This Barbie is made out of recycled plastic and tofu. She has long straight brown hair, archless feet, hairy armpits, no make-up, and Birkenstocks with white socks. She does not want or need a Ken doll. If you purchase the optional Subaru Wagon, you will receive a free rainbow flag sticker. Available at REI.

Lander Barbie: This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding or removing snap on parts. Walks to work. Likes to "experiment," but will never commit. This model is being phased out and is only available from the manufacture.

Cody Barbie: This Barbie is a transplant from California and moved into the area to "get away from the big city." She comes with a 10 acre "ranch" on the South Fork and a 1-ton crew cab diesel truck that she drives the kids to school in. She moved here to live in the beautiful and low populated west, but now doesn't want anyone else to move here because they will ruin the area. Retired lawyer Ken comes with his own cowboy outfit so he can act like he is a local and "fit in." This model is sold at any main street art gallery in Cody, and there are several to choose from.

Green River Barbie: Comes in 2 choices, 1) See Rock Springs Barbie, 2)Comes with Ken and 10 children, minivan and Sunday best clothing. Optional LDS church and missionaries are sold separately. Available at any Deseret Bookstore. A free copy of the Book Of Mormon is also included with Choice 2.

Pinedale Barbie: Comes with oily coveralls, muddy work truck, can of Cope,and Tool-pusher Ken. Optional drilling rig also available. Sold at any roadside gas station.

Evanston Barbie: Comes with years of mental instability, and a straight jacket. Accessories also include a bottle of morphine, a bed pan, and an imaginary friend. Psychologist Ken is sold separately with Ken's happy-time psycho couch. Available at any hospital

Bridger Valley Barbie: Comes with 5 sheep, a llama, and her blue '82 Chevy pickup with a brown door. Boyfriend/cousin Ken sold separately. Available at any feed store.

My Husband is a N.E.R.D

He's sitting on the couch...controller in hand...headset on...totally consumed by Xbox. If he were playing football, baseball, or anything sports related I could tolerate it; but he's playing Halo 3. Walking around shooting people. Talking strategy with his friends on the headset. ANNOYING. And it's been going on for a good hour and a half. I think I'm a pretty good wife, I usually don't let the little things bug me. But seriously. It's a little (OK, a lot) much. On the other hand, it gives me time to surf the internet, and if I happen to, by some sort of accident of course, do some online shopping...I'll blame it on his neglecting me :) It's a good thing I love the guy!

Stupid? Or Accident Prone?

You know those T-shirts that say "I'm with Stupid" with an arrow? Yeah, Steven totally needs one. I admit to being somewhat ditzy once in awhile, but after last Friday, maybe I'm just stupid. Steven's school schedule this semester is great. He has classes Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday with Tuesday and Friday off. He usually works on those days off. Friday he was scheduled to work from 3-9, so we decided to run some errands before he went to work. Somehow, this turned into a ridiculous argument about who knows what, and when he left for work I was still a little ticked. So a few hours later, he sends me a text message saying something along the lines of "You're not even worried if I'm alive or not". By this time I was over whatever it was we were arguing about and trying to be funny sent him a text message back that said "Unless a terrorist suddenly decides to bomb Walmart, I'm sure you're safe". Yeah...DUMB! Turns out, there were not one, but TWO bomb threats at Walmart on Friday! They had to evacuate the whole store twice and send the bomb squad in. Yep....that's what I get for trying to be funny. Luckily, he really was fine :) So that was stupid thing number one, now on the stupid thing number two. After a fun night of watching season 4 of The Office, we got ready for bed, brushed teeth, said prayers, etc. Steven laid down on his pillow, I went to follow and WHACKED the side of my face on his elbow. Not really sure how it happened, but it hurt so bad and there was instantly a huge goose egg by my left eye! I couldn't decide if I wanted to cry or laugh...the laughing won. And to make it worse, we have NO ICE so I have to use a popsicle!

Pretty, huh? It actually looks worse now!

And this is what I did a few months ago to the same eye, by simply opening my car door :) Steven and I decided that I'm not so much stupid, just very much accident prone! I clearly need to be more aware of myself and my surroundings! I think the fact that I never broke a bone, had trips to the ER, etc when I was younger is catching up with me. Hopefully, our kids won't inherit this trait from me. That could get expensive!

Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend was great! Steven's mom Becky and little brother Dylan came to town for the weekend. They got here late Friday night, so Friday was spent cleaning house. Not that our apartment is just horribly messy, it just needed a little pick me up. Saturday morning Steven and I met up with his old roommate Eric and his wife Julie who were in town on their way moving from New York to California. I've met Eric, but not his wife so it was good to see them and catch up. Then we met up with the family at the Cowboys football game. It was extremely hot here on Saturday, very uncharacteristic of Laramie. Steven and I went to most of the home games last year, so it was fun to go with his family. I don't claim to be a football expert, but neither one of us were very impressed with the team this year. Hopefully, they are just working out the kinks and will get better as the season goes on. During halftime of the game, one of Steven's mission companions Johny called and said him and his wife Ashley were coming through town on their way moving from California to Chicago. So after the game, we met up with them. I've heard so much about "Elder Johnson" so it was nice to finally meet him. And his wife is a dental hygienist too, so we chatted about that. It was really fun for Steven to see his friends, even if it was just for a few minutes. We went home and relaxed for a bit and then all went to Chili's for dinner. We hadn't been since it opened here, and honestly weren't that impressed. The food was ok, but the service was horrible, and it really wasn't that busy. After dinner, we went and played miniature golf, at quite possibly the sketchiest place I've ever been, but it was fun. Sunday was church and it was nice to be in our own ward two Sundays in a row, which rarely happened all summer! I made Sunday dinner for everyone, including Steven's sister Tiffany and her roommate Brie. We had stuffed chicken breasts, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. It was yummy. We had a fun rest of the night visiting and laughing with everyone. Becky and Dylan left yesterday morning and Steven and I headed to Denver for the Rockies/Giants game. We decided to go at the last minute and were lucky to get great seats again for cheap. It was an afternoon game and once again, so hot. The game itself was pretty uneventful, only a few hits and some good defensive plays, but we love being at the ballpark and it was nice to spend the day there. We stopped in Cheyenne on the way home and used a gift certificate to The Outback that we got for our wedding and then were on our way home. Now that Labor Day is over, it really feels like summer is gone. Boo. I will admit though, I am ready for more of a routine with Steven being in school and me about to start working. Anyway, it was a great weekend and I'm glad we got to spend it with friends and family who we love.

Our Crazy Month

Ok, it's been a while, so be prepared for a long post! August has been crazy for us. I can't think of a single day this month that there hasn't been something going on. The first weekend in August we went to Lovell so Steven could play in a golf tournament with his dad. It was kind of an unplanned trip, but it was worth it. It was also my dad's 60th (yes, 60) birthday on July 31st, so while Steven was golfing I got to spend the day at our cabin on the Big Horns with my family. Here's a few cute pictures from that weekend:

Kennedy and Treyson

Uncle Jordan taught Ross how to fish

Who looks that good camping? Not me!

The next weekend we took a little mini vacation to Denver. We did a lot of fun things while we were there. The first night we saw The Dark Knight on IMAX. Let me just say it was worth waiting a few extra weeks because IMAX rocks! The next day we went to the Museum of Natural Science. We saw a lot of fun things like mummy's, gemstones, dinosaur fossils, and we went to an awesome planetarium show.

I cut 5 inches off my hair the day before we left

He couldn't take a serious picture all day

Woolly Mammoth tooth, now that would be hard to clean!

Umm...he's the body to the TRex head...we got some REALLY
weird looks but we thought it was hilarious!

After the museum we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and ate WAY too much food, but it was SO yummy! We walked around on 16th Street for a couple hours and did one of our favorite things to do together. ROCKIES GAME! They played the Padres that night. We've been to a lot of games and sat all over, but this was our first time sitting in the outfield. We were 2nd row left field. We felt like we were on the field with our buddies Matt Holliday and Willy Taveras :) Even though there was a rain delay, it was a fun game.

Before the 55 min rain delay
After the rain...Rockies WIN!

The next day we went to Water World. There were so many people there, but we had a lot of fun going on the slides. I didn't really think carrying the camera around was a great idea there, so no pictures. After Water World we headed to Fort Collins for dinner at The Melting Pot. If you haven't been there, GO! The whole experience is a little pricey, but definitely worth it. The food was excellent, especially the chocolate fondue :) We came home that night, went to church and nursery the next day, and left that afternoon for a week in Lovell. For those of you who don't know, Steven was offered a great job at the Powell Hospital after he graduates. He did an internship there last summer and loved it and turns out they loved him too. Along with a guaranteed job after graduation, they told him he could come and work there anytime he wanted during summers, breaks, etc. They pay WAY better than the old Walmart pharmacy, so we figured it was definitely worth it to do whenever we get the chance. We were so spoiled at home with good food and loved being able to be with family. Last Friday we decided to head up the Big Horns and fish at Sibley Lake. Steven's brother, Dylan, came with us. Too bad we got up the mountain and IT WAS SNOWING! And not just a little bit, like they needed to plow the roads snowing. We were pretty bummed, but we ended up going up to North Fork past Cody and fishing there. Apparently luck wasn't on our side, we fished all day and caught nothing. That's right, 3 people, zero fish. Oh well!

Steven doing what he did all day, fixing all of our poles

I got to spend lots of time at home with my family while Steven worked. Monday (the 18th) was my nephew Treyson's 3rd birthday. We left that evening, but I was glad I got to spend some time with him during the day.

Me and the birthday boy

We hit a deer on the way home. This is AFTER Steven banged some of the dents out :(

We had such a good time being home, but honestly we were ready to be back at OUR home by the time the week was over! Thanks to our parents for letting us stay and spoiling us! On a side note, I had a job interview this morning. I think it went well, but I haven't heard great things about this particular dentist, so we'll see if anything comes of it, or if I even want to work there. It was good to get an interview at least. Steven has been working everyday since we've been back and works all weekend. And then school starts Monday. Goodbye sweet summertime! :(

The Results

I just got my clinical board results and......I passed!!! Anything above a 75% is passing and I got an 89%, and that's including a 5 point penalty because during the process of the cleaning, my patient removed her protective eyewear for a few minutes. So technically I would have gotten a 94%. Oops. But I'm proud of myself and really happy with the results. I'm super excited and can't wait to get back to Laramie and start my licensure process. (We're in Lovell for a week) This whole process has strengthened my testimony fasting and prayer. I feel so blessed to know that if we put our faith and trust in the Lord and do the best we can, things will work out for the best. I can't wait to get my career started!