Daren and Jessica

Shooting with the Shaw's

2010-09-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

This last year for Christmas I gave Daren a membership to the Issaac Walton Legue. They have a place here in Ames that has shooting ranges, a lake, and a camping area. Its kind of become our home away from home. We spend a lot of time out there shooting and hiking. A few weekends ago we took our friends the Shaw's out there camping and then woke up and spent the morning shooting. It was so much fun. Looking forward to deer and duck season this year.

Daren's Fishing Trip

2010-01-08T13:57:00.001-08:00

While we were home Daren went ice fishing with my brother Jacob and his brother Sean. They had a great trip. Daren caught a ~22 inch fish and Jacob caught ~20 inch one. Daren was really excited to spend part of our trip home ice fishing. He was really excited to find out that an out of state day fishing pass is only twelve dollars. So

He'll be able to go fishing whenever we go home. Not that he doesn't get enough of it here with the river just a half a mile down the road.

Visit to Cassidy and Chris's

2010-01-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

These are some of the pictures we took while we were visiting Chris and Cassidy's. We went down and spent the day in Pocatello. We went to Lava, ate at Butterburr's, visited with friends, and played DDR. We were also messing around with the smile setting on my camera. Nobody believed me that it would automatically take a picture when they smiled so they all had to give it a try.

It was a lot of fun to visit with them. We sure do miss them and are keeping our fingers crossed that Cassidy gets in here at Iowa.

Christmas Morning

2010-01-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

We've been together for 5 or 6 Christmas's but this is the first time we had Christmas morning just the two of us. We were a little homesick not being able to go home over the holidays, but spending the morning together made up for it. We enjoyed just laying around in our pj's and watching movies. Our friend Anne came over for dinner, but other than that we just hung out. I got Daren a membership to the local shooting range, so all the gifts I got him had something to do with that. I made him bean bags to help sight in his guns. This was the first gift I had him open and he had no idea why I gave him bean bags. After he opened a few of his other gifts he figured it out. He was really excited about his membership. His key wouldn't become activated until the first of the year so we still haven't went out there. We're hoping to spend part of the weekend out there. Daren got me a sheep skin to use in my office. Its so soft and fits over the top of the bookcase just perfectly. I love it. Our friends Chris and Cassidy sent us some gifts from Pocatello. They got Daren the hat he is wearing and the mouse Echo is playing with. The mouse makes noise when you hit it. At first she was scared of it, but then all the sudden it was her favorite toy. It was a great Christmas! And we got to go home shortly afterwards to see friends and family.

Putting up Christmas Decorations

2010-01-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the pictures we took while we were putting up our Christmas decorations.

Daren's First Iowa Deer

2010-01-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

Here are the famous pictures of Daren's deer. Its the first one he's ever got with a bow and arrow. The other pictures is one of Daren trying on his new insulated camo pants my mom got him for his birthday this last June. He was so excited to use them this winter. But it stayed so warm here through November that he only ended up needing them for his late shotgun hunt in December. The picture of the two of us was during the shotgun season. The weekend after finals I got up with him and sat in the snow with him all morning. It was really cold and he owes me a movie for going with him. We did decide that it would be fun to get snow shoes and go snow shoeing through some of the parks around here.

Covered Bridges of Madison County

2010-01-08T12:46:00.001-08:00

On our way home from Winterset we stopped by a couple of the covered bridges from the movie Covered Bridges of Madison County. They were really popular and a ton of people were there taking pictures of them. We decided next summer we're going to have to go find all seven of them. Daren really likes this picture of his Mustang. His car is one of his pride and joys and he was really bummed that we didn't have time to take it up in the mountains near Pocatello and take pictures of it. But this kind of made up for it. I also put in the pictures of his pick-up we took in Pocatello so you'd know what I'm talking about. The day that we went and did all this was one of the best days ever. The weather was perfect for a November day. It was about sixty degrees and was a great way to end Thanksgiving Break.

Winterset

2010-01-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

So even with school going we have managed to have some fun this semester. I just wanted to catch up our blog with some of the stuff we've done. These pictures are from Winterset, Iowa. Its the birth place of John Wayne. He only lived there for 3-4 years so I don't know how much claim they have to him, but lots of people were there to go through the house. Its mostly this little white house with some furniture, walls covered with pictures, and some of the clothes that he wore. It wasn't what we were expecting but it was still pretty cool and interesting. They have a little gift shop there and a giant fenced in yard. They also have this cute black and white cat there who was just about ready to have kittens. I tried really hard to get Daren to let me take her home, but he wouldn't give. She was so fun following us around the yard and sidewalk while we took pictures. I even tried to tell him we could sell the kittens on ebay as decendants of John Wayne's first pet, but he wouldn't go for it either. Maybe if we go back and she's still there....

White Coat Ceremony

2009-08-23T19:07:00.001-07:00

Mom, Dad, and Grandma came over for the White Coat Ceremony Friday night. They've been here since Friday and should be home early in the week. These are the pictures Daren took of the ceremony. Afterwards we went to a dinner reception and took a few pictures in front of the replica of the Gentle Doctor. Then today we went over to the school to take more pictures in front of the Gentle Doctor Sculpture in the school's courtyard. It was nice to show them where the school was and where I'll be for the next four years. We've been taking them around town to the farmer's markets and fruit stands in the area. We also took them to the famous Hickory Park restaurant in town. We took Grandma to the Iowa State store so she could pick up some Iowa State clothes to take home. We've spent the weekend eating peaches, pickled onions, okra, and asparagus from the farmers market. Daren made a deal with Mom, if she'd cook one of her famous breakfasts then he'd barbecue for her. So we got Mom's great pancakes and sausage, and Daren's elk steaks and barbecued corn. It was lots of fun to have them, we're sad to see them go.

Orientation

2009-08-20T15:38:00.001-07:00

So first year orientation has been going since Wednesday and I just wanted to tell everyone some of the things I've been doing. On the first morning for the introduction speech the Dean of the college stood up and talked about how we were "good enough." Basically just saying if we made it in it means we can make it through. This may sound really silly, but its been something that I've really been freaking out about, so it was nice to hear again and again that I'm "good enough." Most of orientation has just been getting to know you games and get in touch with the inner you exercises. Its been a little cheesy, but also great ice breakers. We've been broke into teams of 10-14 people to really try to get to know. Some of the girls in my group are really nice and I could see myself sitting with them in class. Everyone has been super nice. Today we had to get everyone in our group to stand on a little square of wood that was like 2 ft x 2 ft. It was a little awkward, but I was really surprised at how "okay" it was. It took us a long time to figure it out, but everyone was so willing to hold hands, sit on each other's shoulders, group hug. Just whatever anyone proposed to get it accomplished. We're assigned lockers and I can't wait to decorate the inside of it. Really high school of me I know, but I've been really homesick the last few days leading up to the start of orientation. I have some great pictures of friends and family that I can't wait to hang up to help with that. So if you're reading this (Aunts/Uncles/siblings) you should email pictures of the kids or their baby pictures are going up. Hope everyone's doing good. We really miss everyone. Yesterday was a little scary for me though. Not only did I have orientation, but I had to make a trip into the doctor's office. All day at orientation my throat felt really funny and it was awkward swollowing. It felt like my thyroid (go anatomy!!!) was swollen. At first I wasn't worried about it, but it just kept getting worse. By the time I got home my tongue was a little swollen too. Daren said I was just freaked about orientation and I was kind of thinking that too, other than I was not that nervous compared to my normal nerves. Well, surprise surprise, the doctor decided this is my new response for allergies. Usually in August in poky I have to take Claratin and use my inhaler alot cause my asthma kicks in, in response to something blooming. My doctor said I probably wouldn't have to worry about things over here for a year or so until my body build up an allergy, so I haven't been taking anything and really haven't had a problem until yesterday. Go figure though the first day of orientation would be when it presented. Just like in poky, the first time my asthma was really bad was also the first week of school. There was a little justice in being able to come home and tell Daren I had not freaked myself into it though.

Our New Pet

2009-08-18T17:38:00.001-07:00

This little guy has decided that our tree has great shade. He's been sitting in the same spot every morning. He usually stays for part of the afternoon and then he leaves for the night. I've seen him the last three days. All I can say is I'm glad he's on the outside of the fence, away from my blueberry bush.

Iowa State Fair

2009-08-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

These are the pictures from the Iowa State Fair. Its a really big fair and everyone we ran into just raved about it. So we packed a bunch of water and sunscreen last Friday and went to the fair. We printed off a map and directions. When we made it to Des Moines however we discovered the directions had a wrong turn listed. Where it said turn left we really wanted to go right. Luckily the fair grounds are huge and there was a lot of traffic headed that way so we were able to find it. Daren decided that he didn't want to pay for parking so we ended up walking about 15 blocks to get to the gate, only to find that parking inside the grounds was still open for only 7 dollars. By the end of the day he was wishing he would have parked closer and paid a little money. All in all the fair was a lot like Idaho's just lots!!! bigger. We were really impressed with the world's biggest bull. Although I felt sorry for him tied so tight not able to reach his water, not to mention the effort it took him to stand up and lay down. The biggest pig at the fair wasn't quite so impressive after seeing the bull. The pumkin/squash thing almost wieghted as much as the pig. In another building we found the worlds smallest cow and her calf. If you can't tell by the picture our old dog Bear was lots bigger than this cow. The sheep next to it were bigger than it. When we were walking through the buildings there was this huge crowd of people by one pen, and since we'd already seen the biggest pig and cow and the smallest cow we were excited to find out what this crowd was about. Only when we got up there it was just an elk!!! Domestic or ranch raised elk is really popular out here and you can find elk meat in the grocery stores in Des Moines. We also caught a grizzly bear show. It was an okay show. Daren was picking on me during it. I was a little annoyed the way the handlers kept saying the bears were just like pets at home, they enjoy getting love, attention, and treats. All I could think of are all the stupid people in Yellowstone who get out of their cars to get closer. I was glad at the end when they did a spill about wild bears and how not to feed them in the wild because then they become problem bears and are destroyed. After that I had a little more respect for the bear show. It was a pretty fun day. Everyone at work told Daren he had to try a deep fried snickers but by the time we found the booth we were to tired and to full to care. So next year we'll have to get that booth earlier. Oh, and the random old rotatillor was for Daren. There were lots of buildings with antiquets and pioneer stuff. When we came across the rotatillor Daren wanted to take a picture to send to my mom showing her how crapy gardening could have been. The only other really exciting thing that happened was that I found some old Louis LaMour books. I got 11 of them for 30 dollars. I was really excited about that and Daren was even more excited when I didn't make him carry them all day. The other picture is off the butter cow. In one of the buildings they had a case displaying ice sculptures and another one displaying butter sculptures. All of them were very cool...strange...I'm not sure, but they had the first moon walk, a tv, and this cow all made of butter. I thought it was weird and Daren wanted proof we'd seen it, so there you go.

Reiman Gardens

2009-08-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

We went to Reiman Gardens on Daren's day off last week. Its a garden here on campus that grows all sorts of native and cultivated plants. They have a butterfly room with over 800 butterflies in it. The butterflies are all exotic and mostly come from South America. Daren wouldn't let me stay to take pictures of all 800, but here are some of the ones that held still for me, including a huge moth that was the size of both my hands. It was a lot of fun and we hope to go back this spring to see the different flowers in bloom then.

Peterson Park

2009-07-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

We went to Peterson Park yesterday. Daren spent the day fishing. I went hiking, swimming, and read part of a great book. There are a ton of trails there with a lake for swimming and lots of river for Daren to fish. After hours of fishing Daren only caught a bull frog, so we'll have to try again on his next day off with some different bait. Out of all the days we've been here, yesterday only got up to 77 degrees so it was great for hiking, but not so much for swimming. At least on the next 106 degree day we'll have a shady place to go swimming.

Evening Walks

2009-07-01T12:34:00.001-07:00

There is a river just a quarter of a mile down the road from our house. Daren and I have been trying to walk down there a few nights a week. We've had a lot of fun catching frogs and watching a beaver swim around. After it gets dark the fire flies come out. I tried to take a few pictures of them flying in the corn field, because it was really pretty. As you can see from the picture though they just come out as little white/yellow blurs.

Our New House!!!

2009-06-19T19:10:00.001-07:00

This is our new place!!! Its a two bedroom and two bath place with a huge living/dining area. As you can see Daren has wasted no time digging out his tools and getting started on projects. We're going to do some yard work this weekend and put a little garden in around the back of the house. It even comes complete with a good sized shed that Daren has dubbed his project area or his man cave. The deck is really nice, we can't wait to do some BBQing on it this summer. We're almost settled in. Daren has a three day weekend so we plan on finishing up the odds and ends we have left this weekend. We're really excited for our starter place here. After talking to the other students in the area, this is the way to go. We actually bought the place from a 4th year vet student. These houses tend to just pass from senior to freshman and so on, so the chance of selling it when the time comes is pretty good. The previous owner has done a ton of work to the inside, so we have new carpet and dry wall in all the rooms except the bathroom. And my favorite part about the whole house (other then its mine) is a toss up between the yellow living room or the huge garden tub in the master bathroom. So bring on the bubble baths!!!!

Our Iowa Wildlife Encounters (So Far)

2009-06-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well, things are progressing and seem to be falling into place on our house. We're hoping to move in by the end of the week!!! Here are some pictures of the animals we've seen on our little walks around the river. There is also a lake out on the edge of town that we found while looking for the church house. A few days ago we took a trip there and walked around the smaller half of the lake. There were geese everywhere and lots of people fishing so Daren thinks he's found a spot that he can go to almost every evening for fishing. I told him that was okay, but I'd probably take some bread and feed the geese instead. Also here are some pictures of the cotton tails I was talking about earlier. They are everywhere, these ones were just in an empty lot by a parking lot. The place we're moving into has them all over so the first thing on my list to do is bunny proof the flower beds so I can start a garden. So stay tuned for more exciting wild life, with my husband I'm sure there will be deer and turkey on the agenda as soon as he can get an Iowa hunting license. I want to go walk around the river again so I can get pictures of the big bridge we crossed (and will be re-crossing to get pictures) and there were raccoon tracks in the mud so hopefully I'll get to see one. Also the school has a themed garden that changes the theme yearly, and this year is dinosaurs so when we finally get settled Daren said we could go walk through it too. Hope everyone is doing well, we miss you guys!!!

Our First Week in Iowa

2009-06-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Daren had a few days off here and we have reached a point in house hunting where we're waiting on other people now. So we went and did a little bit of playing. We went on a walk through one of the many gigantic parks in town. This one was kind of like the green belt, but had so many trees and wild plants growing that you couldn't see very far. We walked half of the trail before we found our way back to the pick-up and didn't feel like walking the other half since we weren't sure how long it was. On our little adventure we had to cross this huge railroad tie bridge. The ties were spaced about four inches apart and in the middle of the bridge you are about fifty feet above the river and trees. It was really pretty and I was enjoying myself quit a bit until Daren had to point out that the gaps were big enough you could slip your foot through. Then the rest of the way across we had to go much slower!!! We also found a sports/outdoor store that we had to stop at. We also had our first shushy of the season and Daren was glad to find they are the same in Iowa as in Idaho. They even had his favorite flavor. They were huge though. It was like 2 dollars for a small and we couldn't figure out why, but then when she made them, we knew. There was 4x the amount of ice stacked on top as what fit in the cup. That was also why they sell drip cups for an extra 50 cents. We went to the laundry mat today and stopped at a pet store for some furry mice toys. Echo's been kind of bored in the hotel and has taken to radomly attacking you even if you're just laying/sitting there. Hopefully the mice will help with some of that. Well, I'll keep everyone posted. We're having an inspector come tomorrow to look at the trailer we're hoping to buy. If all goes well we'll be signing papers tomorrow also. If not we still have our second choice, so we'll still probably sign papers tomorrow anyway. Just keeping our fingers crossed that our 1st choice doesn't have any broken pipes and the furnace and water heater work after sitting vacant all winter. Oh, and I almost forgot, there are these crazy rabbits all over the place. They look like cotton tails but with really short ears. They are every where though. They run through the town, parking lots, and yards like squirrels do back home.

Graduation/Going Away Party

2009-05-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from the family party. There are some of the boys (big boys and small boys) playing football and climbing the chimney. As promised the pictures of the famous pink/purple cast. Oh and Pailey with rice crispy stuck on her lip. She really liked those. There is also one of Katelynn. She's a hard girl to take pictures of, she was all over the place. Lets see what else. I tried to get pictures of everyone, but some people escaped with out one. And I always forget to get pictures of Daren and I together, oh well. There is the picture of Hayden's head, that might be kind of strange, and needs some explaining. I promised him I'd show LaRaine. So you can barely see it now, but I guess he wanted his hair dyed like a checker board so Shelly gave it a try. Well the red ran into the bleached areas and just turned his head orange. He really hated it, so they shaved his head to get rid of it. But the bleach had dyed his scalp too. So he still had a checkered pattern, just not what he was expecting. He was not very excited about showing it. All in all it was lots of fun and I got to see all my neices and nephews except Wylliam was one that escaped with out a good picture so I don't have proof that he was there. It was really great to see everyone and we'll have to do it again, if any thing so Madison can go down the slide. She was really bummed she couldn't climb the stairs and all the big boys were to scared about hurting her to piggy back her up there and send her down. There you go, thats the update of our lives. I guess I should get back to packing before Daren comes home and finds out how little I've done today.

Graduation Luau

2009-05-21T14:06:00.001-07:00

These are just some pictures from my graduation luau. My friend Cassidy put the whole thing together for me, inviting friends, professors, and Daren's family. These girls are my best friends here in Pocatello and I can't imagine taking classes without them. The cute little girl is Daren's niece. And the whole gang playing Rock Band. We think we're a pretty cool band. Well the only one where everyone takes a turn playing and singing. Then there is Daren blowing up my five foot graduation monkey. Don't tell him I posted this or I'll be in big trouble! Okay maybe not, but no calendar appearances *cough* LaRaine *cough*. And then one of me with my cool graduation dog that everyone signed.

Hiking at Cherry Springs

2009-05-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

We went hiking with Bear a couple weeks ago. Bear really enjoyed swimming in the spring, but I think it was still a little cold. Daren said I was just being a worried mom, but there was still snow on the top of the hill. Daren also thinks he found a good fishing spot, but I'm not sure he's going to have time for much fishing before we go.

Our Zoo Trip

2009-04-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

We went to Tautphaus Zoo this weekend with Daren's brother Sean and his family. These are some of the pictures we took with his nephews Skyler and Andrew and Sean's wife Crystal. Ignore the funny faces, we were making animal sounds in some of the pics.

Rodeo and Charley Jenkins

2009-04-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

We went to the Dodge National Rodeo on Wednesday night. Afterwards they had a concert by Charley Jenkins. It was lots of fun. The picture is of the top scoring bull rider (on Wednesday night anyway). He scored a 91. The rest are of the concert and the video is of Daren's favorite Charley Jenkins song. We also had a blast swing dancing to some of his songs. We're a little rusty, but I think we did pretty good for dancing in the sand of the arena. We really enjoy his music. This is the second concert of his we've made it to. That's just another one of the many things we're going to miss about moving (No more Charley Jenkins, unless he goes on tour in the mid west instead of just around here). One day we'd like to go to all of the nights of the rodeo, but at least we made it once. They had some really good riders there and I've never seen that many roping teams actually catch. The rodeo clown was also one of the best we've ever seen. He was quite the dancer and had some seriously funny jokes.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

2009-04-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's said happy birthday and to all those who sent texts this morning. And also to everyone who's sent a card. I really appreciate it, I still think its fun to get mail.

Spring Break in Closing

2009-03-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well, Spring Break is over. I have few remaining free hours left. We ended break kind of the way we started it. We had a BQ at Chris and Cassidy's house Friday night. It was lots of fun with lots of good food. Saturday the five of us went out clay pigeon shooting. That was also a lot of fun. However, future warning to anyone who meets Melissa, beware when she has a shot gun. For a girl who's never shot anything before she hit every still target we gave her and came pretty dang close to the moving ones. Daren did great as always. Its sad was a good shot he is. I'll never catch up. I didn't do to bad, but as my arm gets tired my aiming goes down the hill. My arm is sore from all the shooting. Today Daren had a store meeting and then came back home and slept the rest of the day. I've spent the day just catching up some unfinished homework. This next week offers a challenge. I have two tests Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and a huge project to turn in on Thursday. The semester is coming to a close and I'm under a lot of pressure to finish up with my classes and my senior thesis project. I'm still hoping to defend and have it published before the end of the semester. So with lots to do, we hope everyone is doing well.

Utah on Saturday

2009-03-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday we drove down to Utah to see Daren's sister Bri. I'd been wanting to do some spring shopping and Bri is one of the best shopping buddies I know. We went down Saturday morning and spent the afternoon in Park City and then we drove over to Cabela's for Daren. These are some of the random pictures we took while we were down there. One is of Bri's dog Sage. She's pretty cool and absolutly in love with Daren. She likes to attack his face with her tongue and enjoys potty breaks when he takes her out. One is of Daren and Brailynn watching tv while we got ready to go shopping. Daren said it was Baby's First NASCAR. The other picture is Daren, Bri, and Brailynn at Cabela's. And the fourth one is Bri and I. We went to the Dress Barn because I'd been wanting a new dress. They had a sale going, if you bought two dresses you got 10 dollars off). We walked around the whole store and found about three dresses we both liked. So we both decided to pick one to get the discount, but we both really like the same one. Well as you can see, we decided on the same one. We thought it was pretty funny, but I don't know how Daren and Dan-O felt about going to church with us dressed the same.

Car Show

2009-03-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Before we went to Lava I took Daren to the car show that was going on at the Holt. These were Daren's two favorite cars. They're both Boss Mustangs.

Lava Trip

2009-03-25T15:04:00.001-07:00

We went down to Lava on Friday evening. It was a ton of fun. We all piled in the Mustang and drove down with the top down. It was really funny. At school Cassidy and I decided that we had to take the Mustang. So I texted Melissa and told her to wear her hair up cause we were taking the Mustang. I figured that she'd know it was a convertible and thats why she should wear her hair up. Yeah, not until we pulled in the drive way did she know why I cared how she wore her hair. She was pretty sure I was crazy. So the three of us girls piled in the back seat and let the boys look cool up front. It was so much fun, Melissa kept giggling the whole way there. Needless to say there are more trips in the Mustang planned in the near future. We ate at the Thai place down there in Lava. Daren was so adventurous, he ordered sweet and sour chicken. It was not the kind he was expecting, but he did enjoy it (all but the carrots and tomatoes) It was a great way to kick off spring break. And thanks to Chris, Cassidy, and Melissa for going with us.

Bengal Cake

2009-03-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

Check out my Bengal Cake. One of the grad students in the lab I'm doing my senior thesis in ran for ASISU President, so we (we, as in the other girls that work in the lab) decided to make a cake for him. He lost, but we still wanted to give him our cake. So I made it any way and I think it turned out pretty darn cool. It was a lot of fun too.

Crazy Custumes

2009-03-18T19:48:00.001-07:00

So I was just removing my senior thesis pictures from my digital camera and found these pics. The middle one is our little buddy Todd taken last Halloween. We sure do miss hanging out with him and his parents. The bottom one is my brother Justin. I thought LaRaine might like to see this. He dressed up as the Joker and Angie's little brother dressed up as Batman (I think) and they went around trick or treating and just generally scaring kids that came to their door. He always does come up with crazy costumes. I remember as kids he went as Two-face and mom sewed this amazing suit that was half normal and half had red strips. I don't have a Two-face picture, but there is this one from the pictures he gave me for his wedding slide show.

Went for a walk

2009-03-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

So we finally went on a little walk around campus. They call it the Rock Walk and there is a rock for each county somewhere on campus. Well the whole time I've been there I've never found Fremont County. So we finally broke down and looked it up on the map and went and found it. It was clear up behind the old lower campus dorms. I don't think I ever would have found it with out the map. It was in a place I never would have walked for any class on campus. So there you go, that was our afternoon.

Just another Saturday

2009-03-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

So we haven't done anything really exciting lately, but we did go for a walk around old town for a couple of hours today. We walked through the shops there and ate a lot of really good food. It was nice to get out and be able to do something outside. The wind was blowing just a little, but we toughed it out and ran around in just sweatershirts hoping that would scare winter away. Spring break is coming and I hope we get some time to enjoy ourselves. This semester has been one of my hardest and I've had a test or paper or lots of tests every week so I haven't really had a chance just to relax. We do have one weekend planned to go and see Bri in Utah, so that should be fun. Then the other weekend of spring break will be for homework in the hopes that the weekend of my birthday we can go play. So that's what we've been up to so far this weekend. We're hoping to steal an hour or so tomorrow for a hike. I'll post some pictures if we see anything interesting.

New Family Member

2009-03-09T16:23:00.001-07:00

So Daren's sister just had a baby in February. Her name is Brailynn. Daren and I ran down to Utah to see her the first week end after she was born. And then this last weekend they brought her up to Chester for her baby blessing. This is her in her blessing dress and then the pictures from when Daren and I went and saw her. If you ask me Daren looks scared to death. So I guess we'll have to do some more babysitting before we have our own. We're both really excited to have a new niece. I think I'm already her favorite aunt, well at least I can get her to stop crying, so that's what I'm saying.

Other than the new niece, not much has happened. I think I successfully failed another Biochem test today. I have no idea what to do about that class, its kicking my butt, and no matter how much I study its never enough. Oh, on one exciting note I mailed my acceptance letter to Iowa State Veterinary School saying I'd take my spot. So unless Biochem wins out its IOWA HERE WE COME.

Snowmachining

2009-03-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

So we haven't went snowmachining as much as we would have liked, but we did have one fun trip with Daren's cousin Cayde and their friend Chase. So we set Cayde up on a date with my friend Melissa and this was their second date. Here she is driving his sled. The top picture is of Cayde coming down the hill, and the rest are of Daren.

Just getting started

2009-03-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Daren and I have been following everyone else's blog and decide it was a great way to keep in contact with everyone. So here we go, hope you guys enjoy it.