Jackson Hole August 26-28, 2016

Derik, Devin and I decided that we wanted to go to Jackson Hole.  (Surprise, right?) I feel like Devin and I are there all the time.  Which is fine.  One day maybe we will retire there. Haha.  What a beautiful weekend!! Everyone has really seen all of my posts from each trip that we go on, so it really isn’t anything different.  This time though we slept at The Virginian Lodge.  It was…alright.  Since there were three of us, we needed two beds.  WELL…. They were two full beds.  Devin and I got awfully close that weekend.  But of course, I didn’t mind. :)

Friday night, when we pulled into Jackson, we went directly to Moose-Wilson road.  Boy am I glad we did! We got past Teton Village and into the park and what do we see?? THREE BEAR!! A mama and two cubs! Ohh they were soo cute! Derik was trying to find it and he looked out his window and there it was! He could have touched it.  We had to keep driving per the park ranger because it was moving.  Dev flipped the car and we went back.  Most of this trip I rode with my head sticking out the sunroof.  I could hear the bears in the tree’s but couldn’t see them.  I finally spotted them and D turned around again so we could hopefully get some pictures.  This time the ranger STOPPED us.  RIGHT THERE BY THE BEARS! She thought that they were going to cross the road again so she made us stop.  We had 10 glorious minutes to sit and watch/take pictures of these cute little creatures.  See picture below:

It got dark pretty quickly and of course when you go to Jackson with us, you know you won’t get much sleep because you’ll be awake at the butt-crack of dawn.  Which we were.  6 AM came quite early for me.  That’s earlier than what I get up for to go to work.  We have been following a blog – bestofthetetons.com -  This guy takes pictures every day during the summer/fall in Jackson Hole.  He puts where he finds the animals and what the animals are.  We’ve been following him, follow Custer.  Custer is a beautiful bull moose.  Saturday morning we got up bright and early and away to Gros Ventre we went! (it’s a road..and its French..so its pronounced “grow-vont” – we were told that we were saying it wrong…) We found 3 moose right off the bat.  It was early and we were still half asleep..so Derik see’s them and was like, ‘are those cows?’ haha it was funny.  You had to be there.  Devin could see more moose closer to the road..so we decided to head there very first.  (I didn’t get a picture of the first 3 that we saw..) There he was! Mr. Custer himself!  He was so beautiful! We saw him with 2 cow moose.  We stayed there for quite a while just watching him.  We moved on to Schwabacher’s Landing.  There were more moose along the Gros Ventre raod, couple calves with their moms. We got to Schwabacher’s and walking down there when a nice guy told us that there were 5 moose down about a ¾ of a mile.  We got there just in time to see their cute little bums.  Haha.  Derik saw all five, Dev saw 4 and I saw the bums of 2 calves.  We were told that there was a mom and a calf trying to come into the territory of another mom with 2 calves and she wasn’t having any of it.  So they chased off the mom and calf.  We really didn’t see a whole lot more during the day.. A lady told us that the 5 moose have been there for the last 5 days.  So we knew exactly where we would be the next morning!  We really didn’t see much more until that night.  We saw one more bear.  But like the first 3 moose, we only saw it for a second.  We drove back and forth on Moose-Wilson road just trying to find it.  Dev and I saw its cute little face but then it disappeared.  We did some shopping.  I got a cute little salt and pepper shaker that sits behind a moose and then of course I added to my cookie cutter collection.  I got a moose face! It’s adorable.  Moose cookies will be coming soon.  Sunday we found Mr. Custer again.  This time he was with three cows and we were able to get really close.  Oh my goodness I just love moose so much.  I can’t wait until we have our own house then I can add little moose accent’s here and there.  We went back and found the 5 moose at Schwabacher’s Landing.  We got there in time to see the mom with one calf go and get a drink.  Beautiful reflection of her in the water.  Ugh.  Finally, after mentally crying and throwing a tantrum, I agreed to go home.  I love Jackson.. and of course we are going back, in October! -09/06/2016 

For more pictures, check out my facebook album here

CUSTER-THE BULL MOOSE

Yellowstone - Moving - Hospital

Yellowstone - Moving - Hospital

By the title of this entry, I would have to agree that a lot has happened in the last 9 days.  We went to Yellowstone, moved back to Wellsvillle and Dev took a trip to the emergency room.

June 9th Jedd, LaDawn and Derik drove to Idaho Falls and picked us up to go to Yellowstone.  MY FIRST TIME! Oh my goodness, it was so much fun!! We stayed 3 nights in West Yellowstone.  When they picked us up, we went to Popeyes, Louisiana Kitchen for dinner.  D's family had never been and we thought that it would be a fun experience for them.  It was pretty good!  We drove out to West Yellowstone and when we got there, all we really did was a little bit of shopping.  We were pretty exhausted.  We also knew that if we wanted to see any wild life the next morning, we would have to be in the park pretty early.

June 10th we woke up bright and early!! 5:30 came really fast.   The first thing to see that morning was buffalo! They were crossing the river.  The little babies were soo cute! All I wanted to do was snuggle them.  The mama buffalo would jump in the river, and plop! Baby followed.  It was adorable.  We went on our way up to Mammoth.  On our way up we saw our first bull elk.  He had a funny looking antler.  Kind of like it was growing straight out instead of bending. Before reaching Mammoth, we finally saw what we were really there for.  BEAR! A grizzly mama and her 2 cubs.  They just stayed in their little spot, circling and playing.  We stayed for probably 30 minutes just watching this cute creature do her thing.  We stopped at the springs that are by Mammoth.  They were very, very pretty.  Orange, yellow, brown and white with the beautiful water running out.  I guess in Mammoth, elk just hang out on people's lawns.  There were multiple elk and baby elk just laying around up there!  The babies bums are spotted white.  Reminded me of Bambi.  We started to go to the direction of the Bear Tooth Mountains.  We were driving along, I was just looking out the window and I see this cute little black head turn to look at the car.  ANOTHER BEAR!! I FOUND A BEAR!! Derik quickly turned the car around and there she was.  A black bear with her 2 cubs.  Devin was getting ready to take a picture of them when a stupid RV just pulls right in front of us and stops.  Scaring the bears away.  I was super upset.  He got half a picture of them.  At least you can tell that they were bears.  6 bears in like a 2 hour period.  HOW COOL!  The Bear Tooth's are beautiful, high up, but beautiful.  Some parts I just had to put my head down and not look.  On the way back, Derik saw the butt end of another bear.  We were driving over to Tower Fall when we noticed that there were a lot of cars over by where we saw the black bears I had spotted.  We drove on by and there was ANOTHER ONE!  8 bears in one day.  I couldn't even contain myself.  Tower Falls was beautiful.  Lots of people so it was a little crowded. But what do you expect?  Haha..

June 11th we didn't quite get up as early.  We were all so satisfied with the bears we had seen that there really was no point to get up at the 'butt crack of dawn' (I say that all the time..) to go animal searching.  We were just driving along..minding our own business, when there is this huge herd of buffalo walking on the road.  They literally had no where to go but on the road.  People were getting so upset at the cars in front of them because they wouldn't go around the buffalo.  That seriously grinds my gears.  You are in THEIR HOME! Why should they have to attend to your needs and wants when you are there.  It is a national park.  Don't be in such a hurry.  Enjoy the scenery and the animals and don't be a total jerk.  One car was feeling pressured to go around the buffalo because of said dummies yelling at them, and a mama and baby got separated.  Well poor people got their car kicked by the buffalo! I felt so sorry for them. Finally we were able to pass them.  We went to the hot springs and I was terrified.  The week before the guy from Portland, Oregon had walked off the board walk and basically boiled himself.  If you missed that story, you can find it here.

Next we went to Old Faithful.  Beautiful! I really, really enjoyed it.  I was so happy that I was able to spend that time with my hubby.  No one else I would have wanted to be with.  -- Remember how I JUST BARELY said that people can be real idiots?? After Old Faithful was finished tooting its horn, we were all walking back and there was a buffalo and the grounds. 50 feet away from us and you have those stupid idiots trying to take a selfie with it!! UGH it DRIVES ME CRAZY!! I am not a racist person.  Everyone knows that.  I've lived in Mexico, foreigners don't bug me.  UNLESS you are being a complete idiot.  The park ranger came and was literally yelling at people to back away from the buffalo because it's tail was raised.  That means it's agitated.  One lady (sounded like a Swiss accent) was running around in a sarcastic voice saying "don't go near the buffalo its tail is raised that means it's agitated." It really bugged me.  Like I don't go to your country and play with your fish or monkeys or whatever.  Don't be an idiot.

Our animal seeing days were definitely not over.  Devin got some awesome pictures of another black bear climbing a tree.  And then we saw one more black bear with her 2 cubs.  12 bears total on this trip!! We went and saw the Yellowstone Movie in IMAX too.  It was so cool.  Learning about how Yellowstone was founded.

Another thing that we did was we tried to see how many license plates from the different states we could find.  We ended up finding all of the but 1! (well 2 if you count Hawaii...) the only license plate that we did not see was..Rhode Island.  So if you were in Yellowstone during these dates..and you have a Rhode Island license plate..let me know! I will totally count it.. :) 

June 12th we drove home.  Stopped at a spring in Island Park and went to Fuji Hibatchi.  It's nice having a restaurant that D really enjoys.  Fuji Hibatchi is that place that he enjoys.  They have the best rice ever.  They cook for you and it was just really fun. 


June 13th - June 16th we spent our nights packing.  Why are we packing? We moved.  Again.  Devin's dad's business is growing rapidly and he offered Devin a position as Vice President of Marketing.  This has been a very difficult decision for D and I.  We did a lot of praying.  I did a lot of crying.  We have wanted nothing more than to be home.  But don't get me wrong.  Melaleuca is a fabulous company.  But it's not in Wellsville.  It's been a scary decision.  Devin and I had a really nice life up in Idaho Falls.  He had a great job.  He LOVED the people that he worked with.. The income was secure.  That has been the thing that has been scary.  I know with all of my heart that Devin is destined for great things.  He excels in everything that he does.  Devin does not fail.  So I know that this job with his dad is going to good for us.  It's going to take some time getting used to things again.  We really grew to depend on each other up there.  We didn't have any of our immediate family there with us.  Yes, we did come home a lot.. But wouldn't you? If it's the one place that you love to be? D's new job is a little bit commission based.  So it will be hard at times, but if anyone can do it..it's Devin.

June 17th we said goodbye to our apartment.  Our first official apartment together.  I cried.  Devin's family left Wellsville at 530 AM to come and help us get home.  With the Uhaul and our 2 cars, we needed help coming home.  We were doing really fine until we got to McCammon.  We stopped to get something to eat.  Dev and I got a corn dog and all of a sudden Devin is choking.  He chokes all the time.  His throat has these rivets in it so certain foods get stuck and it irritates him.  But this time it was really stuck.  When he chokes, he has to make himself throw up. This one was the worst I have ever seen. He tried drinking some water to push it down and the water wouldn't go down.  It is the scariest thing ever to see your husband not be able to breath.  I wanted so bad for it to be me instead of him.  We stayed at McCammon for probably 30 minutes hoping and praying that whatever else was still stuck, would pass through his esophagus.  Devin made the decision to go to the hospital.  His dad took him in Deriks truck to the hospital in Malad.  Derik drove the Uhaul, LaDawn drove my car and I drove D's truck.  Another thing that grinds my gears... My husband is literally choking.  Not able to breath when they got him to the hospital and what's the first freaking thing that they ask him?! Where is your insurance card.  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!  Had my husband like..passed out or died because he couldn't breath because you were too worried about getting paid.. It would have been hell on earth for them.  Not even kidding. I walked in probably 15 minutes after they got there and they were still asking him questions.. Like take care of my husband you dimwit! Ugh..I am not trying to complain but I thought that was very, very rude.  Finally they put an IV in him and gave him some relaxer that was supposed to help his esophagus expand.  Well it almost made it worst.  We waited at the hospital for an hour and half.  We almost got to the point that they were going to call in an order to Logan to have someone stretch his throat and get whatever was stuck, out.  Finally it went down. I cried.  I was SO grateful that it finally went down.  To me that just shows how much faith my amazing husband has.  Before it finally dropped, his dad and brother had given him a special blessing.  I am so grateful for a husband that carries oil with him and for his dad and brother holding the priesthood to be able to give him a blessing.  It was such a special moment.

We finally made it home.  My family came over to help unload and I'll tell ya..all those people sure made for unloading that Uhaul easy! It's nice to be home.  It's going to be a little rough at first... But I know that this is where we are supposed to be.

Poncho takes on Jackson Hole (May 20-22 2016)

This is Poncho.  Poncho has been apart of my life since I was..6? I think? I got him for Christmas when my family was still living in Garland.  Him and I have seriously been through everything together.  We would go to Idaho together, and camping.  He followed me to Mexico and back home and guess what!! He now lives with Devin and I.  Devin thought it was kinda weird that his 19 year old bride had a stuffed dog.. (Don't tell Poncho that he's stuffed...like to his face..it's seriously offensive..) but he loves me for me.  Thank goodness.  Poncho is the puppy I don't get to have.  I talk to him.  Thankfully, he doesn't talk back!! haha -- cause that would be weird! Our latest adventure together was Jackson WY!  Man I love that place.  I love seeing moose, elk, deer and hope to see bears. I thought Devin was going to tell me "heck no" to Poncho tagging along.. But surprisingly, he didn't even argue!  In fact, he's coming with us to Yellowstone over the 10th of June! :)

I had this brilliant idea of doing "Poncho takes on Jackson Hole" and to document it with pictures. Just to be funny.  So I did..& Devin was totally on board!! IT. WAS. AWESOME.

SO!  To start out or trip, Poncho decided it would be best to eat at McDonalds.  That way we can just get up and go look for some wild life!! He chose nicely.  Devin and I split a 20 piece chicken nugget with fries.  Off we went to look for some moose!!

First stop was Moose-Wilson Road.  Usually that's a jackpot place to find moose! Poncho was enthralled with Moose-Wilson Road.  So we had to stop and take a picture of the Moose Habitat Sign.  After, we went back to the hotel so Poncho could take a look at the map.

Early--and I mean VERY early the next morning.. We got up and went moose looking!! We drove ALL around the Teton National Forest looking for bear and moose.  Sadly, we did not see a single thing.  Well, we saw elk & buffalo...and a bunch of geese.. But seriously that's it.

For lunch, Poncho wanted to go to Leeks Pizzaria.  It says that it was at Signal Mountain Summit.  Well we drive ALL THE WAY OUT THERE..only to find out that it was 10-15 miles north.  We stopped at a little place and they told us that it was another 5 miles north.  We finally found it!! And let me tell you...it was delicious.  We just spent the rest of the day driving around.

AND THEN!! The moment we had been waiting for!! DEVIN SAW A MOOSE!! One little dude just chillin on the side of the road...sat the bottoms of a hill, in the middle of sage brush.  THATS NOT EVEN MOOSE COUNTRY! But who am I to complain.  I finally saw my moose :)

Sunday morning we did the exact same thing.  Got up at the butt-crack of dawn and went animal searching.  We stopped at Liberty Burger where I got my favorite salad.  Grilled chicken with cranberries, walnuts, almonds, feta cheese, croutons and a delightful poppyseed dressing.  Mmmm I am salivating just thinking about it! Devin got his usual burger.  The Nooner.  Hamburger patty, cheese, hash browns, fried egg, bacon and ham.  Heart attack on a bun.  But boy is it yummy!

I really enjoy the time that I get with Devin when we go to Jackson.  It's an activity that we both thoroughly enjoy doing and I love that I get to spend that time with my two best friends ;)  -06/02/16

Stopped at McDonalds and then off to look for animals!

Poncho's new friends he made!

Breakfast Saturday morning

Stopped for the view then back to the map!

Oxbow Bend and Pizza

Tried a new drink.  Huckleberry Lemonade.  Couldn't miss that view!

Thankful for Devin..

So..as usual, I haven't wrote in my blog for awhile.  I realized that Devin and I really haven't done anything special since the last post.  We've come home a couple times to try and help on the farm, but it's always been raining.  Tinzlee was blessed a couple weeks ago and then last week was Mother's Day.  Devin and I decided that we were going to grill for both of our families.  We made BBQ chicken for my moms whole side of the family and then D grilled steaks for his family.  It was really enjoyable and peaceful.  A lot different then other times we've come home.  It was a nice change.

So I've had something on my mind the last couple of days.  I've really been thinking about how grateful I am to be married to Devin.  Maybe I'm writing about this because I'm here at my mom and dads house for the weekend, by myself.  My first time away from Devin since we got married.  That's basically 2 1/2 years that I have seen him everyday.

While thinking of how great of a guy Devin is, I realized that I do not thank him for all of the things that he does for me. When was the last time that I told him thank you? I need to take the time to look and I mean REALLY look at things that Devin does for me.  The things that he sacrifices for me.  Whether it be big or small.  So while I'm sitting here contemplating all the wonderful things that my husband does for me, I've come up with a list.

1- Every night when we eat dinner, we usually are watching some comedy show.  Such as the Big Bang Theory.  Every single night he puts dinner away, puts the dishes in the dishwasher and wipes off the counter.

2- He listens.  When I have a bad day at work, Devin is the first one to know about it.  He listens.  He gives me advice.  He hugs me.

3- I am constantly cutting him off when we are having a conversation.  He'll be telling me a story and my ADHD will kick in and all of a sudden it's like "SQUIRREL!" -- and I cut him off.  He never gets mad at me for cutting him off when he's trying to talk to me.

My list goes on and on and on, but I'd be here forever if I wrote down every single thing that he does for me.  I'm setting a goal for myself.  I need to acknowledge when he does things for me.  I need to be more grateful.  Devin-- Thank you.  I know that I don't say it enough, but I am grateful for everything that you do for me.

One of the things that I love most about Devin is his determination.  President Monson said it best in the 1991 April General Conference, Priesthood Sesson: "There is a look of determination about you. You know who you are and what God expects you to become." Devin knows what he is capable of doing.  He knows that God has great things planned for him and I love that about him.  Devin knows that he has great potential.  He knows that whatever he wants to accomplish in this life, he will get it accomplished.  Thank you Devin, for your determination.

I guess it really wasn't until this week, when Devin left to go to Salt Lake City, that I realized how much I need him.  Don't get me wrong, I am a big girl.  I can wake up by myself and make me breakfast and go to work..do all the things that I normally do without him.  But the biggest thing that I noticed was the feeling of safety through the priesthood.  I know it was one night in the apartment by myself, big deal..(I drove down the next day to stay with my parents) but there is a difference.  My mom had told me that it was weird for her when dad was still living in Mexico and there was no one in the house that held the Melchizedek Priesthood at home.  I understood.  WHAT IF something had gone wrong that night that I was home alone? I mean I know that I have my uncles who live fairly close by, but I was a little worried.  He did give me special blessing the night before he left, and I know that that helped me a lot with feeling safe by myself.  I am grateful for a husband that holds the priesthood and is worthy of doing so.

This isn't my most organized post and it's just thoughts that have come to me at 11:45 PM on a Friday night..But thank you Devin.  For everything that you do for me.  I love you.  - 05/13/16

Birthday Weekend!

February 25-28 -- Birthday weekend!

So for my birthday, we decided to come home.  Again.  Haha! We might as well live there, and then work in Idaho Falls..  Moms birthday was on Friday (25th) and mine was on Sunday (28th).  I had been telling mom that we wouldn't be able to come down because we thought Tinzlee would be getting blessed the following Sunday. (6th). I kept telling her that I was sad that I wouldn't get to see her for my birthday and that it would be my first birthday without her blah blah blah..  Devin and I left work at 2:30 on her birthday so that we could drive home and surprise her.  Dad kept her in Logan for most of the night.  He had told her that Lindsie was wanting to decorate for her so that's why they had to stay in Logan.  Devin and I met Allie and Grandma at Grandpa Jeppesens house, and she brought us home.  I had confetti and everything.  Mom walked in to a handful of confetti in her face.  It. Was. Awesome.

Saturday we went to to my brothers and sisters basketball games.  I was the best big sister ever and made them each posters...ones that I proudly displayed for their enjoyment.  In case anyone was wondering...us siblings are pretty tight.  They have the best support system out there. Just saying.  We hung out with Devins family the rest of the night. We watched The Marshan. So cool! What a neat show. To think that that could happen to anyone that travels to space, is a little frightening.

Sunday we woke up, went to my parents house and I opened my present from them.  Mom and dad got me a cute reversal bracelet.  I wear it almost everyday because it matches my gift from Devin.  MY APPLE WATCH!!! I love it.  I wear it every single day.  The Saturday before my birthday, Devin took me to Best Buy.  He wanted me to pick out my birthday gift.  I had every intention of getting the fit bit. Since the fit bit has different sized bands, I wanted to try it on to see what one I would need.  But then the guy talked to us about the iWatch and asked if we had ever thought about it.  I LOVED IT.  It is so cute & classy.  And does everything the fit bit would have and more.  The rose gold color (the one I wanted) was originally $350.  Today they were $250! What are the odds!! So Devin bought it for me! It's been really great. I can make phone calls (it's handy when I'm driving) I receive and can make texts on it.  It tells me when to stand up, (haha...) and how many steps I've taken as well as calories burned for the day.  I set a daily goal, every Monday and try and beat it! It's actually pretty motivating.   He got me a white watch band to go with it and then a green stripped shirt. (He let me wear it to the games on Saturday..) I was so spoiled and so blessed 😊 We drove home and that was the end of my birthday.

So the night of my birthday my grandma had a stroke.  My mom didn't find out until Monday at about 2PM.  Grandma had called her and said that she was sure she had a stroke.  Mom rushed down there and took her to the doctor.  They did an MRI and this has now started the process of grandma moving in with my mom.  We knew that it would happen eventually and that Uncle Shane couldn't take care of her forever.  I mean...she now needs help being bathed so it's just better that she's with my mom.  Monday night at 10 PM grandma's doctor called my mom (her doctor is also her stake president) and said that grandma did indeed have a stroke.  But because of how much warfarin and aspirin she had in her system, it saved her life. It's a scary thing to almost lose someone you love so much. We are happy to report that she is doing a lot better now. It's sinking in and she knows she's not going home. It's hard. This isn't how grandmas life was supposed to be. She's had it hard since grandpa died in '77. But she's strong. If anyone can do it, it's her.