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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Going au' natural

I’ve come to the conclusion that Wyoming has some of the best sliding boards EVER! I’m not talking about them crazy man-made plastic sliding boards that shock you every time you go down. Neither am I talking about them factory-made metal ones that get so hot in the summer you can take a little butter and fry an egg on them…I’m talking about NATURAL sliding boards! It is the ‘in’ thing to do…go all natural/green isn’t it? Heehee

God has given us many many ways we can have fun. I can’t even imagine all the different styles of slides that he invented for our imaginations :p

My favorite of them all is the snow-filled mini canyons in the mountains. They vary is size, and during the summer half of them turn into little water runways that run into the brooks, which runs into the creek. Its crazy fun to sit down in one of them in the middle of summer…spread your skirt out like a sled and wee wee wee all the way down the mountain! It can be very adventurous, as there are lots of little nooks and turns and quite often you will run into rocks, as I did when a group of us all went hiking with some young people after Kims wedding. We climbed the backside of Sheep mountain and coming down we came upon a nice looking ‘slide’ A guy who’s name will remain anonymous went first to ‘scout’ the slide followed by me. Now maybe I should mention that it had been pretty warm, and the snow in this particular place had melted halfway then frozen over, creating a super rough icy-type of snow. So anyway, heading down it got to be a little bit more icy than I had though. Here I am sliding down at a super crazy speed trying to turn my body with all the nooks and crannies that this particular place had. I couldn’t put my hands down to slow myself down because the snow was so rough, and had I put my hand down it would be sanded down to nothing in no time flat. I try to use my feet to slow myself down which then enables my skirt to become a natural parachute (Which did absolutely nothing to slow me down!) When Mr. Scout stops because there is a huge rock with a foot and half drop on the other side. Here I am speeding down the mountian with my feet trying to dig into icy snow, my skirt flying, and my fingers frantically clawing at the sand-papery snow. I got slowed down a little…but not enough. Lucky for me our scout decided to stop me before hitting the rock…Whoosh! Before I know it, there I was sitting practically on his lap squishing his poor hand under a rock. I have no idea how I looked but I imagine my face was quite red. How is that for a little excitement?!?!

Another well-known-to-me slide is the neck of a horse. What? You’ve never slidden down the neck of a horse? Its really quite easy. All you need is a horse who loves to eat! Start running him/her bareback through the grass (alpha-alpha is the best recommendation) you can bet pretty soon he’ll see a piece of grass that he just HAS to have! He knows that if he starts to slow down he just get told to speed up again, so he waits till he’s about 6 inches away, slams on his breaks with his head down (He’s getting ready to eat, remember?) Of course those on his back will one of two things. They will either do a flip through the air and land on their backside in something nasty like a cactus, cowpie or something else of that nature. OR the more experienced ones will not-so-gracefully slide right on down the neck of your trusty steed without a scratch but looking extremely more sunburnt on the face than they did 10 seconds before…

Our most popular slide (One that we take all our company on heehee) is rockslides. Yeehaw! Of course, it requires a terribly exhausting hike firsthand because you have to climb a really loose shale type rock covered mountain. You know, the kind that you climb three feet up and slide two feet back (In my case its two and a half feet back :p) When you get to the top after resting and declaring loudly how ‘so not worth it’ it was you can slide down the whole thing! It really is quite awesome and fun. Of course, you want to be a little careful because it can imitate a really large type of sandpaper which can be quite painful at full speed, which you never notice till you get to the bottom anyway, and by then its to late.

There are many more great slides out here. But I think I’ll leave them for the imagination of those who are tough enough to find them themselves, either by accident or on purpose.

Come to think of it, maybe I should become a designer for six flags and make the worlds biggest slide-- imitating natures best--think it will make people stop and think about how awesome our God really is?!?!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Through The Eyes Of My Boss

So...I started a new job recently, and thought for the dumb of itId put myself into my bosses shoes. Or maybe more accurately, put my bosses brain into my skull for awhile ;)

Please note: Quotation marks in regular print is THINKING, and quotation marks in bold is actual quotations ;)

*ZzzzZzzzZzzz* *Snork!* "Oh my! I must have slept pretty well, the TV is being re programed so it HAS to be past 3:00am!" *Drinks a sip of water and stretches her arm* "I can't seem to get comfortable, maybe I'll have the new girl stick some cream on my knees and feed me. Come to think of it, I don't think I've had my night pills yet." "Julie! Put some of that cream on my knees." "Julie?!?!" "She must be sleeping on the floor."

 (Maybe I should mention here that my boss is bed-fst, and can only lay down on one side, facing the opposite of the chair I normally sit in, so she couldn't turn around and see if I was there or not)

"Julie! Help! Julie!" "Ah, she is sleeping good! Wonder what makes her think she is allo
wed to sleep when I'm paying her to work for me!" "JULIE!!" *sigh* "I wish she'd get up! My throat is getting horse" "Julieeeee! Wake up!!!" "Maybe if I throw this box of dirty Kleenex's over the bed it'll land on her and wake her up. Its light enough it shouldn't hurt her." *Tosses the Kleenex's over the bed, hears it bounce around and hit the trash can. No movement from Julie* "Stupid new girl. Can't get ANY decent help around here now days! I can't believe this! "Juuuuulllliiieeeee" "Its hopeless! First thing I do in the morning is fire her! I can't have someone who falls asleep on the job, let alone someone who can't wake up!" "Julie?!?!" "No, I got that wrong, first thing I do when she wakes up is fire her NOW!" "Julie, wake up!" "Well, if SHE won't answer I guess I'll have to call my husband. Hope he hears me! I'm horse now." "Honey!?!?! Honey, can you come in here! Please?" "He probably is in bed" "Honey?!?! ANYBODY!! please come in here!" "Grrr, I can't stand that new girl. I'm so mad I could kill her right now! *Sigh* (This continues on for around 20inutes)
"Well, I guess its hopeless to try calling anybody. I might as well lay here and hope to fall back asleep"
"Hello! Mrs____ how are you doing?" "There's Julie! Wonder what she was doing outside my room, looks like she just came in the door" "So you FINALLY woke up! Its about time!" "Me?" says the new girl "I wasn't asleep, I just got here" "What?!?! She JUST got here? Surely she was supposed to come in at midnight" "What time is it?" "11:54" The new girl replied."Oh! I thought it was 4:30 or something. The TV is doing its 'circles'" "Oh, says Julie That's just on rest mode because you didn't change channels or anything for awhile, it thinks you're asleep" "Well, Where is my husband?!?! I've been calling for somebody for a half an hour!" "Your husband fell asleep in his chair, I passed him in the living room coming in here and he was sleeping with Roo (The cat) on his lap." "Oh, well my pillows don't feel good, and I'm hungry, I need my blood sugar checked, and I"m freezing! Turn off that fan first thing! I've been yelling to my throat hurts trying to get someones attention, that stupid TV tricked me into thinking it was later. Will you put the blanket on me? I got so cold"....*And thus continued the night/day*

Just a simple misunderstanding, and the accidental falling asleep of her husband. She was pretty upset when I arrived, but she realized that all the noise and Kleenex's didn't work because I wasn't even there...

It was nobodys fault, just something that happened. No harm done.

I still have a feeling that she was put out with me for the rest of the night though!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

My Style Of Huckleberry Picking

All of my siblings know that I have a very big 'Huckleberry Tooth' anything with huckleberrys has GOT to be good! (Have you ever tried huckleberry ice cream?!?! Good stuff!)

Sunday afternoon my brother and I decided to go riding in the hills somewhere. We couldn't go too far because it was 2:20 till we got to the trail head, but I was sure excited! This is the only time I was able to go in the mountains this year :D Other than going on the BLM up behind our house.

Heading up was absolutaly BEAUTIFUL! Down at the bottom it was very woodsy and brushy. You can imagine my surprise when I seen huckleberry plants, with lots of ripe huckleberries!! Other than seeing them once in Jackson I haven't seen any since we were in Idaho! Whew! I was excited :D :D

Getting to the top was also beautiful. There were hillsides of flowers of all kinds of colors. Even pink! Is it just my imagination, or does it seem like pink flowers in the rocky mountains are extremely rare?

Oh, but here I am getting off the subject. Oops. Time to get back on track.

Growing up I always thought it would be 'so cool' to live in a place where you could go berry picking. Other than being tons of wild raspberries around (Which I don't need cause I grow my own) I never seen other berries. So, I decided I was going to go berry picking the next chance I got! Yeehawww!

Monday evening I got of work early. Great! It would be a nice time to meet my siblings in town and head up for a few hours. Turns out they didn't get the house clean and supper ready in time, so they weren't going to be able to go. What a disapointment! But, what if the berries dry up before we get to go out again?!?! I decided to cowgirl up and do it alone.

But, a well known fact is that where there is berries, there IS going to be bears. I decided to be smart and err on the smart side, so I stopped on the way out to buy a flashlight in case I stayed out too long, and bear spray. "Isn't my parents going to be so proud that I'm a cautious person, and wasting my time buying bear spray? They are going to be pleased with me tonight!" I thought.

Yeah right....

JUST when I was going to head out mom called. Apparently when dad heard I was going up there he said HE sure wouldn't do it! The more he thought about it, the more he didn't want me to go...anyway, he thought it would be better to err on the smart side and just not go at all. Especially since you really don't get that many berries anyway.

So, after cancelling a horse date, and getting off work early, and buying two flashlights and a $50.00 can of bear spray I decided to err on the smart side and just not go at all. :-)

So then I was able to go home and have a wonderful time messing around outside with the little ones, picking raspberries--and not having to keep a look-out for bears.

 And the next time I think about going huckleberry picking I'll just stop by walmart and buy a pack of blueberries :D

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Perfect Day For A Sarcastic Optimist

So far today it has been such a wonderful day! :D

I woke up later than normal, so I was able to get out of doing my chores for this morning; that way everybody can get mad at me for having to do my work. I just LOVE making them all do my work! Then I remembered that I forgot to get my kennel down from the top shelf for a friend to pick up tomorrow. Yup! I get to make them do that too :D

Getting to work my computer wouldn’t get internet. Yippie!! I have other things I needed to get done anyway.

Later mom texted me and wanted to know if I wanted her to stop by at work. My boss was sleeping, so I got to tell her that she couldn’t come see me. Yeehaw…I just love it when I’m lonely and bored at work and I get the chance to tell my loving family that they can’t come see me…

Today is Tuesday--aka shower day--so I had the privilege of getting to try to force him to take a shower. Its just so fun being the hated one because shower days always end up being on my day, so I get to be the one to play the ‘mind’ game and see if I can’t make others ‘think’ that they ‘want’ to do something. I always enjoy a challenge now and then!

Just now the best part of the day happened. I went in the back room with a large cup of juice and pills to administer to my boss. After taking the pills there was still a nice 3/4th glass of grape juice left. Walking out the door I decided it would be fun to drop the glass of juice and see how far I could get it to splash on his white carpet. Whoopie!! Did it ever splash! It splattered in a full ten foot circle. I always enjoyed cleaning a ton of teeny tiny drops all over the walls and white carpet.

Luckily it took me a full hour and half to get it all cleaned up. I was hoping I would be able to find plenty of things to do today J I got to use up a full spray bottle of carpet spot cleaner--who else gets to use a whole bottle in one day? Its only going to cost me around 15 bucks to replace it.

Not only that…but in a few minutes I get to email his daughter and tell her that if the spots still show after the carpet dries then I’ll be happy to pay to get his carpets professionally cleaned. Its always so much fun to spend money on something that I wouldn’t get to spend it on if I wasn’t so smart as to find ways to spend it! After all, I’m making way more money than I want to, so its been extremely hard to find ways to spend it on. Who wants to buy a stupid set of horse training DVDs anyway?!?!

Its been GREAT! Now if I can just get the day to stay the same way its been going then I’ll be happy and content all day. Its good to be happy and content. Your nerves has a way to rest that way……believe me I should know!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Little Pleasures In The Midst Of Chaos!!

The last couple weeks my life has been-in my mind anyway- a complete chaos! Not because anything traumatic, or even drastic happened. Its just life in general has been so busy! When I think of the times I work and the time I have home you wouldn't think I would feel so overwhelmed. But with irrigation season in now, and starting up a second (Or third) job I feel so pressed all the time. And (Be prepared for the the truth!) It makes me grouchy! At least when I allow it to.

But, there are still some little pleasures that I've been enjoying! The other day it was a beautiful full moon out. And it just happened to be right at the time I had my Saturday of the month off. So, I packed my sleeping bag on the back of my trusty stead and headed to the hills. It was GORGEOUS out! After riding a couples hours I picketed my horse beside the road, climbed in my sleeping bag and tried to sleep. (Saying tried because my horse felt ultra lonely that night and felt it necessary to keep calling out to his friends in hopes of and answer) The next morning I rode till like noon...just enjoying the time I was able to do this. I know its crazy but other than when my cousins came out, and going to a week-end horse clinic, this was the first time I was able to ride longer than like 30 minutes this year. It was great! I was starved by the time I got back, as I wasn't planning on riding in the morning. But it sure was nice! (Later I found out where I camped was within a mile of where a grizzly sow with three cubs has been hanging around )

The rest of my pleasures wasn't nearly as fun, but still a little refreshment :) A day of softball or volley ball here and there. A few moments of holding one of my siblings on my lap, (One of my favorite highlights!) Ice cream sandwiches, seeing two little bitty baby deer playing on the road, picking and eating tons of my fresh garden strawberries, and the last two days--sneaking off and drivings dads truck twice...trying to learn how to drive stick shift :p Okay, I didn't sneak off...I just did it without permission! LOL Call it my adventurous side...

Anyway, even though I pretty much dread doing irrigation for an hour of my precious time a day; life has been good this year! Next year I hope to get to do more (I said that last year!) Until then I'm going to enjoy every little pleasure I can get! (You'd never think a person could get so giddy at being able to pet a kitten for 5 whole minutes!)

Hopefully I'll be careful not to speed to much to enjoy the view as I continue to go on my journey through life on this earth :)

Note: My intentions for this post was not to complain about being busy. I realize there are some things I can cut out to make more time. I think busyness has been and is good for me. Otherwise I find myself getting lazy-sleeping in and not getting a whole lot done during the day. This post is meant to be a 'thankful' post because I AM thankful for all the little sweet things that happen so that I can have a busy life without wanting to kill myself over it! (The temptation is always there though! lol j/k)

Monday, July 11, 2011

I'm Thankful For A Higher Power!

Have you ever been really REALLY mad at somebody? So mad that you actually shook?

I hate to admit it, but a couple years ago that was me. :-( There were a couple ladies that truly wronged my sister and I. These were ladies that I really liked and thought a lot of, and what made me so mad was that I went way out of my way trying to make sure that I treated these ladies as best as I could, and they knew that they were deliberately planning to do this to me.
Now I think I can honestly say that I've never really had a problem loving everybody. I like normal people, and I like weird people, I admire those that keep silent, and I admire those that can think of things to say. There are some people that I feel that I can't connect to as well, but I still like them :)
But, after these ladies did what they did to us, I was MAD! I didn't 'hate' these ladies, but I was super mad at them (So mad in fact, that I shook!) And the sad thing is that I WANTED to be mad. I had a REASON to be mad! THEY were the ones that wronged us for no reason, and everybody knew it!
One day as I was driving to work (I love driving to work, that's when I get most of my thinking done!) I got to thinking about my anger. I knew I had a decision to make...whether to let my thoughts lay in anger, or to forgive. I KNEW what the right choice was (duh!) but in my mind I didn't think it would ever be possible to love these ladies again! Even if I forgave them (Which I kind of thought I already did at that point) I didn't think I could ever talk to them again without being super angry at them. And oh boy! Did I ever feel like being angry!! I just wanted to hang on to that anger with all that I had! However, I knew that this was NOT of God, and if I didn't listen to the Lord I would be listening to Satan.
I already knew that there was no way I could forgive these ladies on my own, but in my car that day I just BEGGED for the power to not only forgive, but to want to forgive (Because I knew it was not right) and to be able think about these ladies without feeling like my heart was being cut out from inside me. In MY mind it was impossible, and it would have been without the Holy Spirit living inside me! He answered my prayer :-) With His help it really wasn't that hard... I still felt that pang of hurt for a long time (And still do at times) It had to be Him because there was no way I could!
I am SO THANKFUL for the POWER that we can have in the LORD! He is so awesome and powerful!
And looking back, I think this whole ordeal was good for me, because I was able to see and feel Him working in my own life, and feel His power. As well as know that when I put my trust in Him He will not fail to keep His promises and give me the ability to overcome sin when I oh, so long to hold on to it!
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Lost Camera!!

I LOST MY CAMERA!!! *sniff* *sniff*

Right before Kim and Kevin came out I lost my camera, so I have absolutely NO pictures to remember their trip by! And Kandis was soo stinking cute!

That was also right before July 4th, which is my favorite time of year.

It was also right before my beloved cousins came out!

Argh! I could pull all my hair out! (But then if I DO find my camera I'll look stupid)

So yeah, I haven't posted anything on here for awhile because of that. My posts just seem so blah if I don't have pictures to add to them. And its been missing for awhile. I even offered a reward for it, but to no avail :(

That being said. It was GREAT to get to see Kevin, Kim, and Kandis again. We went rafting, and got to babysit Kandis a whole morning while they went 4-wheeling :) She is such a sweet and good baby. I love baby smiles and she smiled a LOT!

We had a good 4th too. Some of our cousins came out that day, so we went to the rodeo, then watched fireworks.

We also went horseback riding (Which is always a highlight for me!!) It was so awesome. Our horses were really energetic and we ran full speed a lot! It was super fun! I SO WISH I had a couple pictures of it!

Guess I'll have to look a little...uh I mean a lot...more for my camera!

Just thought I'd pop in and complain a little about my missing camera :p