Crazy Car Week!

The start of the 4th of July week was not so good. We found out that our trusty Honda Accord was going to be put to rest. The poor girl...she was 9 years old, had 160,000 miles on her, and was dependable until the day she died. Jon and I can't seem to part with her just yet, so we are still trying to decide if we want to put the $3,000 into it to get fixed. We'll see.

We did find out though that she is definately not dependable anymore, and knew that we would need a new car. It was inevitable really. We knew that the Honda wouldn't last forever. We were planning to get a new car just as soon as Jon graduated in a year, but it turned out to be sooner. We had some money saved and I got a raise in July, so financially it wasn't a big deal to go ahead with the purchase now. So rather than going up to Gillette for a nice long, relaxing weekend with the in-laws, we went south torwards Denver.

We had a few cars in mind, since Jon and I are planners. We had been talking for quite some time about what we might like to get in the future, although we had not decided on anything in particular. We headed to Denver Thursday evening, after I had been looking all day in town. We found several that we liked, but still weren't set on anything. The ones we had been looking for seemed kind of small for us. We were looking in the small SUV category. One dealer that we were talking to must have been listening to what we were actually saying, because he recommended something totally different than what we were originally looking for.

I have really enjoyed Jon's parents Ford Explorer. Their's was a limited edition, with leather interior, so I knew that we would not be to afford that. The dealer took us over to a gold, 2007 explorer that we immediately fell in love with. It had all of the "special" things that we wanted (like leather seats) and had very low mileage. We drove it around, then Jon and I decided that we would take it if we could get a good deal on it. So we started the negotiation process (not one that I enjoy whatsoever)...after talking with the people for what seemed like hours (ok, maybe just one hour) we settled on a deal. I was actually quite proud of myself because I stuck to my "cheap" guns and we got what we wanted.

Then the paperwork began. I was still uneasy about it all because it was our first large purchase. Once I found out that we really did get a good deal on the vehicle (the guy doing our paperwork couldn't believe that we got such a good price on it, we checked Kelly Blue book, etc) I became much more comfortable with it. We even got an extended warranty included for the amount that we wanted to pay each month. Finally I started to get excited about it! We were driving it around Denver (we had a hotel for the whole weekend) and kept telling each other that it felt like a rental car, but it was still fun. We stayed in Denver until Sunday, did a little shopping, had some dinner with Jon's mom and a family friend, and really just enjoyed what turned out to be a mini-vacation.

This is what our car looks like. I will have to add a few pictures later of us in the car. We are so excited!

Old Friends

Over the weekend Jon and I were able to spend some time with some "old" friends. They are people that we became very close to when we moved here. They were also the only believers that we knew in town, so we kind of bonded over the Lord. Natalie and I got very close through it all too, and she quickly became one of my favorite people here. They got married a few weeks ago, and then came to Wyoming to celebrate with their close family and friends. It was a great time, as we got to spend all day Saturday with them. Joey had moved to Austin, while Natalie actually went back to Sri Lanka (where she's from) about ten months ago. They grew closer while they were gone, and then Joey proposed when he went to Sri Lanka for a visit. They will be living in Austin since Joey has a job there, and I already miss Natalie terribly. We had such a good time together with a couple of other girls that are still in town. We had a great time getting to know their families as we celebrated at one of their favorite spots, Veedauwoo. I am so happy for them and look forward to seeing their marriage develop into the relationship that God intended for it to be.

My Plants are Growing

This summer I decided to plant some flowers and a few other things in large pots to put on my porch. I planted several things that I have heard grow well here. I planted some daisies and sunflowers in one pot, zinnias in another, sweet peppers in another, and strawberries in the final one. I am so excited because the flowers are starting to sprout up out of the soil and my strawberries are blooming. I'm thinking that I will actually have some strawberries ripen up in the next month or so. Apparently they do really well here, so there shouldn't be much of a problem. One thing I have missed so much about our old house in Edmond is all of the flowers. We had roses, tulips, daffodils, tiger lilies, irises, and that's just to name a few. The best thing about it was that I had fresh flowers in our house all summer long. So when picking out flowers to plant, I picked some that would cut nicely. I am so anxious to have my flowers, although it could be a couple of months before they are in full bloom. I hope that our little deck will turn into an Eden of plants and flowers by the end of the summer. Until then, I can just enjoy the idea of what they will be like. Hopefully my strawberries will be as large and delicious as I would expect these to be!

Birthday Week Comes to an End

I love celebrating my birthday. A lot of people have told me that it's because I'm still young enough to enjoy it. I'm not sure that's the reason, but either way I do love it. So I anticipate it's coming and try to celebrate all week. Jon actually likes to "celebrate" all month, but that is usually only when he is trying to get his way and he throws out the classic, "but it's my birthday month."

Anyway, this year my birthday week kind of started out rough (see previous post), but it turned out pretty good in the end. We had a little celebration at work on Tuesday, followed by a preliminary dinner out with my hubby on Wednesday, along with packages and cards coming in the mail. Thursday, my actual birthday ended up being great. My good friend Michell took me out to lunch and got me a really cool winter vest (see picture above--I'm wearing it while opening my gift from Jon). I am excited to wear it, although it has finally warmed up, so I'm not going to get too excited just yet(that would mean summer is over). The thing that really stinks about growing up is that often you have to actually go to work on your birthday, so that was a bit of a bummer, although I wasn't actually required to do a whole lot. I had tons of phone calls and emails so that kept be busier than my actual work. Anyway, so after work I ran some errands while waiting for Jon to get off work (since we go to work together). When he got off, he drove in the opposite direction of home, and I found out that Jon had called some friends and they were meeting us at the Thai restaurant in town. So we had a great dinner (pic below with Kyong & Emi) and then went home.

We got in and Jon said he would be right back. I love surprises so I didn't mind waiting for whatever he was doing. I noticed that I had a bouquet of flowers on the table as I was opening all of the mail. It had been a good amount of time since Jon had left, so I looked out the window to see if our car was there. It was, so I was really confused about where he might be. So I did what an impatient, birthday girl would do. I called him. He said he was in the garage (which isn't attached to our house, so I can't see it) and that he would be inside in a few minutes. He finally came in and had a huge box that had been wrapped with packing tape and paper. On one side of the paper, was a poem that he had written. After I read his sweet words, I asked if there was something else inside. So I opened it up and there were tennis rackets and tennis balls. Now you would have to know that I have been hounding Jon about learning to play tennis this summer. I've played a few times and really enjoyed it, so I thought why not learn to play a new sport. He's been hesitant about it, but I guess he decided that it would be okay. So we are going to learn tennis. We even went out to the courts to play on Friday.

So it turned out to be a good week, and it ended with a little shopping trip to Fort Collins, which is always fun for us. More to come about that, but overall I would have to say that my birthday week was a success and went out with a bang. Thanks for all your birthday wishes and for your wonderful friendships!

Say No to Wendy's

I was going to try to put the Wendy's logo with a red circle with a line through it, but that didn't work. So, I will just have to say what I mean. This is not to all Wendy's as Wendy's is almost always my fast food restaurant of choice. I will not, however, choose Wendy's in Gillette, WY again. I am most certain that my ailments for the last two days are a result of this most disgusting restaurant. Jon and I were heading back home after spending the weekend with his parents. Rather than stay for lunch with Mike and Cindy, Jon decided that we were in much too big of a hurry to get back, so we would just grab something on our way home.

Much to my own demise, I chose Wendy's, despite the fact that Jon had gotten the Wyoming equivalent to Taco Bell. Taco John's (yes that's the name) is just far too disgusting for me to eat at, even though this particular restaurant was new. So, I went down the street to Wendy's. As we are approximately 5 minutes outside of town, I realized that they didn't give me my drink. I was so looking forward to washing those nuggets down with a diet coke...but it was partly my fault for not realizing this until we were 5 minutes outside of town. So, I decided to live with the disappointment, since Jon said we could stop for a diet coke at the next gas station.

Already a little frustrated with our friends down at Wendy's because of my diet coke, I began eating my meal which was warm at best and tried to ignore it. We are in Wyoming after all and the service just isn't good...I have come to expect bad service having lived here for almost two years. So I ate about half of my meal, because by the time I got halfway through, I just couldn't eat it anymore. I wasn't all that hungry anymore and decided I could wait until we got home and that I wouldn't starve. So we drove on. We made it to Cheyenne and had to make a couple of pit stops. It had gotten a little late, so we thought we might like to have some dinner in Cheyenne. We do this whenever we can because they have real restaurants like Chilli's and Olive Garden. My stomach was kind of hurting so I wasn't really very hungry. Jon couldn't decide what he wanted so we just went home.

We got home around 8:30 pm and still I wasn't feeling too great, so I just unpacked a few things, had a little popcorn, and waited until 9:00 to go to bed. I went to bed and woke up to a vicious stomach ache around 3:00am. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but I knew I was sick. I slid out of bed and went to the restroom where unmentionable things started to occur, followed by intense sweating. Once I finally got calmed back down and cooled off (I was sitting on the cold floor) I went back to bed. I laid there for what seemed like hours...reality it was probably 20-30 minutes, when suddenly I was so cold I couldn't stand it anymore. I got up to find an extra blanket, any blanket, which was tough because we just recently moved all of our extra blankets to the camper for the summer. Finally I found one...all the while Jon is still sleeping.

I returned to bed while trying to wrap myself up. He finally responds, "what's the matter with you?" I didn't know where to begin, so I just said, I'm cold and he snuggled up to share his warmth. I feel back asleep. It is well after 4:00am at this point. The alarm goes off at a quarter to six...are you kidding me? I feel like crap...snooze. Nine minutes later....no way...snooze. Nine more minutes later...Jon, I'm not going to work today...snooze. Why? Because I'm sick...really? 8 1/2 minutes later...alarm...check my temperature...100.0 I'm sick...really? 100 degrees? You should go back to sleep! Thanks...snooze. Eight minutes later...Jon, can you get my phone for me, I need to call work. I'm turning this thing off...alarm off. Thirty minutes later, Jon gets up and brings me my phone and asks what happened? I explain my night, and he says, "Wendy's...I'll be it was the Wendy's." Crap! He's right...food poisoning...I've never had food poisoning before. This sucks. I tried to sit up to call work, and couldn't even do that. I was flat on my back. Jon had to call me in sick because I couldn't do it myself. After that Jon had to go to class and so he got me some Tylenol and left. I went back to sleep. I slept and slept and slept.

I woke up and was starving...so I ate...big mistake. It got worse...by the end of the day I feeling pretty disgusting. Not only because I didn't feel well, but all because I hadn't showered and remembered that I hadn't even brushed my teeth. So I took a bath...felt so good. I kept letting the cold water out and filling it up with good hot water. Why had I waited so long to do that? So, I felt much better and that was about the time that Jon got home. He must make me feel better because I perked up and had some dinner. Still not feeling great, I watched Everybody Loves Raymond and then Jeopardy. Turned out to be a nice relaxing evening, and then went back to bed around 8:00pm. The last twenty-four hours had been rough, but I was actually feeling better.

The moral of the story? Don't eat Wendy's in Gillette, WY and be sure to marry someone that brightens your day.

Lovely Lilacs

The lilacs are blooming. The tree outside of my office window looks a lot like the one in this picture. It is truly beautiful when they bloom. They are everywhere. Also every yard in town has them, and if you don't have them in your yard, you can definitely see them from your yard. We are some of the unlucky who don't have any in our yard, but two neighbors do, so we get to enjoy them anyway. Also they are wonderfully fragrant, which is an important characteristic for flowers in my book. I was sitting in my office yesterday when it got a little stuffy. Since we don't have air conditioning, I just opened my window. A breeze drifted in, and it carried the sweet smell of lilacs. I was so excited, as my co-worker and I have been anticipating this for months now. We often give each other updates on the process of the bush outside, since our windows share it. First it was budding leaves, then the leaves were out, and finally the flower buds started to appear. When I opened my window yesterday and the smell came through, I immediately jumped out of my chair and ran next door to update Michell. The day we had been looking forward to had finally come! We have some vases in our office, so Michell and I went outside and snipped a few off to bring inside. Now my office has the wonderful smell inside!! When I walked in this morning, after the door had been shut all night, the smell just hit me and put an instant smile on my face. It just brightens my day, especially when it's rainy out like today. It's just what the doctor orders!

Jon rocks my socks off!!

My husband has impressed me once again. It has been an exciting few months with that guy! We got a piece of mail on Friday. I like to check and open the mail. Jon likes to do it solely for the purpose of getting my goat. So when a piece of mail comes in addressed to Jon Haddenham from the College of Business, I couldn't wait to open it...even though it was addressed to him and he was not off of work yet. So I quickly open it hoping that it's another scholarship or something, when to my surprise, it is even better. It is a Graduate Assistantship! This means that they will pay for his tuition and fees and give him a monthly stipend! Praise the Lord for that! Now while most GAs would complain about how little they get paid (I know because I work with GAs everyday--it's my job), we are ecstatic because it's the same amount of money that he makes at his job now, for half the hours. He is excited because it is a research position, and he really does love doing all that stuff and won't have to drive around in circles anymore (he drives the campus shuttle). Also, it will look great on his resume come September when he starts job hunting. I am so excited for him and proud of him! We just have to say Praise the Lord for this because he knows what we will need next year and in the years to come. He knows what it will take for Jon to get the job that he wants us in, and he is preparing Jon now for that. So I just wanted to share our good news with you!