September 2016

Earlier this month Allie and Sean got married – Derik, Devin, and I went to Jackson.  I already wrote about those events.  Not a lot has really happened.  I did mention that D and I got church callings.  Now that we’ve been sustained, I can write about it.  Devin got asked to teach in Elders Quorum.  He teaches every 2^nd Sunday of the month.  I was blessed with the opportunity of receiving two callings.  First, I am a nursery leader.  Second, I am the sports director for the Young Women’s.  I adore both callings.  Everyone knows that I can’t wait to be a mom, so I guess nursery is the next best thing.  I love watching these cute little kids grow closer to our Heavenly Father each and every Sunday.  Their personalities are so different, they grow up so differently, yet when you bring them to nursery all have one thing in common.  They love Jesus.  The example that each of those kids sets for me, just amazes me.  They are just darling!  Working with the young women however, is a little easier at times.  We are in volleyball season right now.  It has been fun to teach these girls about the sport that I loved to play in high school.  People will always have an opinion about me when it comes to volleyball.  When I was in high school we had a situation happen that made me decide to quit the team.  Some people would consider me a quitter.  But in reality, it depends on how you look at the situation that happened.  Anyways, that’s a whole different story.  It is fun to see these girls go out and have a good time.  They’re not there to necessarily win.  They are there to have fun.  They are doing a marvelous job at that!

Last Tuesday (September 27^th ) I went to a podiatrist.  Dr. Andrew Burgon in Providence is the best.  Just in case anyone was wondering.  Back in July, I got stepped on by a calf. My toenail hasn’t grown since.  As a girl I can tell that it hasn’t grown because all my other toes have a nail polish grow out line.  That toe did not.  After going to Dr. Burgon (he was the second doctor that I’ve been to for my toe) he gave me two suggestions.  He told me that since my matrix was damaged I could either: let my toe nail fall of naturally and let it continue to hurt – or – he could remove it for me right then.  WHAT?! I’ve never had a toe nail removed.  Dev was with me and he recommended that since it was already dead to have him just pull it.  I’d be out of pain in 1-2 weeks instead of 5-6 months.  Boy was I glad he was there! Haha he held my hand while the doc gave me two shots in my toe.  He had this cold thing that he would spray right before giving me the shot.  So really, I didn’t even feel the shots.  Devin held my hand too while they tore the nail off.  I get queasy even thinking about it.  I’m glad that he was there so that I wouldn’t throw up haha.  Dr. Burgon was a little bit surprised that I didn’t have a new toe nail growing underneath.  It’s possible that I won’t get a new nail. (great!)  It’s healing pretty quickly though.  Parts of it have calloused so hopefully here soon it will be just skin and it’ll be like it never happened.  I don’t have the pain that I used to have from when I got stepped on.  Just the pain from my nail being taken off.  So that’s a refreshing feeling. 

Fall 2016

I love fall.  It is by far my favorite season.  I especially love when the colors in the trees start to change.  It’s not even just the trees, I love when the foliage turns color.  September 09-10, we went to the Uinta Mountains.  We tagged along with Devs family. We stayed in Evanston WY.   When we got there, we decided that we were going to go and swim while Jedd and LaDawn went to Walmart to grab a couple of snacks.  Me, being the girl that I am, (with long hair) didn’t want to get my hair wet.. I would just have to wash it, and it takes way to freaking long.  So I decided I was going to get in the hot tub.  Dev and Derik got in the pool and by the way that they were acting and the sounds coming out of their mouths, it was not a warm pool.  Since I get so cold anyways, I am so glad I didn’t get it in!  When we went back up to the hotel room (we had 2 rooms that were conjoined), Derik put his swim trunks on top of the shelf in the bathroom and when he pulled them down, a condom wrapper fell down...**insert embarrassed emoji** Gratefully it was JUST the wrapper! I was laughing so hard, which made it even funnier because the situation really wasn’t that funny... -- The next morning we got up and went to go and look for..guess what? MOOSE! Haha what else would I be waking up so early for? We’re driving and driving looking for moose, we had to turn around to make a couple of pit stops.  When we were heading back into the park, a BULL moose was running through the field right by the ranger station.  We finished taking pictures of him, we kept on driving.  We decided to turn around cause we wanted to go get a pop when a cow moose ran right in front of us! She was HUGE!! After we finished driving through the mountains, we went to go check on the bull moose.  Since we knew he had bedded down for the day, we knew he’d be there again.  Well guess what.. haha we found 2 more moose with him! One was a little bull with cute little antlers.  It was so cute.  After we finished taking pictures of them we decided to head on home.  On our way home, we got right in the middle of the biggest sheep herd I have ever seen.  HOLY COW! –well I guess, HOLY SHEEP!

Back to fall.  I really love when the leaves are turning color.  September 21^st (first day of fall..) Derik, Devin and I took a trip up to Tony’s Grove.  It was gorgeous! Red is my favorite color of tree and the canyon did not disappoint! The biggest storm of the year decided to hit, right after we got home.  I was so afraid that it was going to knock down all the leaves!  September 24^th we took a ride back up there with Devins grandparents and his mom.  Surprisingly, it was just as beautiful.  Except we had a little extra surprise.  SNOW! Ugh. Do not get me started with snow.  D and I went to Walmart before the drive and THEY HAD CHRISTMAS STUFF UP!!!! How am I supposed to enjoy Thanksgiving, when I get so excited about Christmas?! I am not happy.  Oh well.  I’m going to make myself enjoy Thanksgiving, my family, and the beauty of fall.

**enjoy some pictures**

Allie & Sean wedding - Labor Day Weekend 09/01/2016-09/05/2016

I love Labor Day weekend.  Who doesn’t love a 3 day weekend?  This year the members of the Jackson family, got a FOUR day weekend.  Thursday night, Devin and I went to the first USU football game of the year.  We played Weber.  We won! Woohoo!  I thought that it was going to be blazing hot.  But it was quite the opposite.  When you looked out around the valley, it looked horrendous.  It was all black; you couldn’t even see the Wellsville’s.  Of course, it also rained.  It seems like you can’t go to one football game without it raining, or the wind blowing. The football game was a great way to start off our 4 day weekend.

Allie and Sean decided that they liked each other enough that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.  September 2, 2016 they got sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan Utah temple.  It was a really beautiful day.  We had to be to the temple by 9:30 AM.  That wasn’t too bad.  We saw a member from our bishopric there, watching their niece get sealed.  Pictures were fun.  Allie and Sean both have big families, so it was big group of people. They both looked beautiful. (is that an appropriate word for a dude?)  We went to the church house right next to South Cache in Hyrum and had the luncheon at the pavilion there.  It was really good food.  BBQ sandwiches, corn on the cob, chips, salads, desserts and homemade root beer.    The reception was held and my mom and dad’s house.  It was really, really beautiful outside.  Devin, Aunt Shelley, and I prepared most of the food for the ice-cream bar.  They cut the cake, had a dance and we sent them on their way! Poor Dev scooped ice-cream for about 2 ½ hours.  I kept offering to switch him and I would scoop for a little while, but he said he has ‘farm hands’ so he can handle it.  J Also, him and Tinzlee have become BFFs.  Tinzlee would just sit there on the kitchen floor by D and not make a peep! It was so cute to see him talk to her.  Bry was having so much fun too.  He played all day with Aunt Lindsie.  Running around, he had the whole upstairs to himself to just play!

Saturday morning Dev was up bright and early for college football!! He has seriously been counting down the days until football.  I think he has a slight problem because of how much he loves football… haha J Well at about 9 AM we were up talking to grandma and grandpa about the wedding when all of a sudden we hear the most horrific sound I have ever heard in my entire life.  Metal on metal, going really fast.  There was a wreck right outside, on the corner.  A truck with a horse trailer (2 horses inside) and a small SUV.  It was the most horrific sound I have ever heard. Ugh! Everyone from every direction went running.  They got the horse trailer open and the girl who was in the truck got one horse out.  I took the horse and her over to the pasture across the street from Jedd and LaDawns.  The second horse was pinned, and to be honest, from my angle it looked like it had been cut in half.. I took the girl away from there because I didn’t want her to see her own horse hurt, if it was.  Gratefully and miraculously, it was okay.  Both horses came out with just minor scratches on their legs.  All humans were okay, a little shaken, but okay. -- PLEASE watch your traffic signs.  They are there for a reason.  The yield sign is there for a reason.  Stop signs are there for a reason.  And yes, if you have the right away that’s fine, but you do not need to be going more then what the city speed limits indicate.  If you are speeding and are hit, even if the other party was in the wrong, so are you! Two days later on the EXACT same corner, a kid in our ward had to lay down his motorcycle to avoid being hit because someone ran the yield sign.  They didn’t stop or anything.  I’ve said this many times and I will continue to say it.  If you are being distracted by something that you know can wait..and then you hit me or someone that I love, you best be prepared to have your faced ripped off.  With love of course, but ripped off none the less. J That night we went to the rodeo with my family.  It was so much fun! Except, GUESS WHAT!? A HORSE DIED!!! Devin and I had to leave a little early because his allergies were sooo bad.  Kendal calls me like literally 10 minutes after I get home and says: “you totally just missed it.  A horse was pulling a sleigh, fell over, pinned a girl and just died.” WHAAAT?!  So much horse accidents in one day.  I think I would have had a panic attack if I had seen it! I hope that the poor girl isn’t traumatized. 

Sunday was beautiful.  It was nice and relaxing.  D and I got new callings.  – More info on that to come.  We took a nice 2 ½ hour nap.  It was delightful. 

Founder’s Day – I love Founder’s Day.  Founder’s Day is the celebration that Wellsville has every Labor Day.  The name speaks for itself.  It’s the day that Wellsville was founded. Haha and we celebrate! We have a parade every year, the Sham Battle, (Cowboys and Indians fight) booths, and food! Grandma LaRee and Grandpa Donald were the ‘Sweetheart Couple’ of Wellsville this year. Krystal and Justin Fabricius (Devin’s cousins) were in the parade also.  Jedd’s family came out to the parade to see it and then after we went out to lunch just the 7 of us. (Jedd, LaDawn, Derik, gpa Donald, gma Ree, Devin, and I) We went to Sizzler.  It was alright.  My steak tasted a little bit like propane, but whatever.  It was still good J I am literally so grateful that we live in the town that we live in.  Wellsville is such a great community.  The people are the sweetest.  I love Wellsville. 

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.