A Snippet of Our Daily Life

There is a certain person in this house that has gone soft for Gunther. There was a hard-fast rule established when we got Gunther that he was not allowed on the furniture or on the bed. As you can see, that rule has gone by the wayside. This person's excuse? "But Gunther snuggles with me while I sleep during the day." Since someone else broke the rule first, I must confess that I now use Gunther to warm up my feet at night!

Queenstown, Tasmania

Coming down the west side of Cradle Mountain into Queenstown, there was an old Iron Blow.

This was an open cut copper ore mine, if I understand correctly.

Along the Roads of Tasmania...

...you may find...

an Echidna. He was burrowing into his hole, so we couldn't see his face.

Giving Thanks & Decking the Halls

Our Thanksgiving was a little bit unusual this year. Jason had to work until 6am Thursday morning, so we had decided to not go anywhere so that he could sleep. The plan was to then have our own meal around 6 or 7 that evening. As it turned out, Jason did sleep all day and I prepared our Thanksgiving meal with most of the trimmings. Thursday morning, however, I received a phone call from Tiffany (the sister of my good friend, Brittany, and whose family I usually spend Thanksgiving with) and she begged me to come for dinner. They were eating at noon, so she said that I would have plenty of time to go home after and roast my turkey. So I decided to go and leave Jason to sleep. It was good meal and good time seeing everyone, and I came home and proceeded to work on our Thanksgiving meal. I believe everything was all ready to eat at about 7pm.

Here is my lovely Thanksgiving meal hot and waiting for Jason to wake up. The turkey and mash are covered in foil to hopefully stay warm. I went on about

Happy Anniversary & Merry Christmas!

This December, Jason and I celebrated our 1st anniversary and a little bit of Christmas all at once.
After I came home from work the night of our anniversary, I found my gift from Jason wrapped with a blanket. It was a gift that keeps on giving, as it is for our anniversary, Christmas, my next birthday, next anniversary, next Christmas, etc.

He had gone and gotten me a piano! He let me know that this is a multiple occasion gift, as well. I was shocked! I knew he had been sneaking

Tassie's East Coast...

Picking up where I left off in my first post on Tasmania, please keep in mind that Linden was on this trip to see as much agriculture as possible. Thus this first photo.

Cows. A road trip is not complete without stopping to look at some Jersey cows.

Well, Hello Tasmania!

Quite a while back, I finished up Jul, Linden, and my tour of the South Coast of Australia in Touring Melbourne. The next part of our journey was to Tasmania. We got a flight out of Melbourne into Launceston, where we had a hire car waiting for us.

Leaving Melbourn, Victoria, and flying across the Bass Strait.

Appetizer's, Margarita's, and Tomatoes!

This past weekend, Jason and I hosted a party. It was our second time having company this year. (We lead very dull, friendless, lives.) The first party we had was in May, I think, and it was a Wine and Cheese party. It was a huge hit and everyone had fun. For this party, Jason requested an Appetizer and Margarita party. We had figured out Wednesday morning that Saturday evening would work best and I started sending out the invites. I think the guest list was originally about 15, but by Friday night, it had grown to 20+. One of our friends, Justin, kept asking me "How do you feel about that many people in your house at one time?" (If you've seen our house, you would understand. At the last party, the majority of the guests had to sit on the floor!) I just kept saying the more the merrier, as long as everyone brings an appetizer to share! I also knew that some people were probably not going to make it anyway, so I didn't worry to much.

Jason, Justin, Christian

Just A Day In The Life

I made bagels. Yummy yummy bagels. I took Sal's recipe, and instead of putting in raisins and cinnamon, I put in chopped onion and minced garlic. They were super delicious!!! I need to perfect the rolling of the bagels, but other then that, I was impressed. I tried putting sesame seeds on top of them, but only a few succeeded at that.

Along with the bagels, I made Mini's recipe for English Muffins. Again, they were extremely delicious! I wish I had made two batches instead of

Random Ramblings

   The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder, and I am getting older. Here are some random basic things about my life these days. There are no photos that really go along with any of this, so this may be a bit of a boring post.

    The other week, I tried making this recipe for Chewy Granola Bars, courtesy of Lynn via Sally. They tasted delicious, but there was one slight

Gunther's Almost Little Sister

   A few weeks ago, Gunther almost became a big brother. If you have read the previous posts, you will know that I went on a Hippie Road Trip to a Hippie Festival. It was on the trip home that Gunther almost got a little sister.
   As we were driving thru Arizona, we made a pit stop while on an Indian Reservation. Out running around the parking lot of this little podunk gas station were two little puppies. The one was super friendly and let us pick it up right away. She was very cuddle-ly. While I was holding and playing with the friendly puppy, a guy came out of the station and asked if we wanted to take her home. I said no, we had a long drive ahead of us. When I told Brittany that, she said "We'll take her! I know of someone that is looking for a puppy! She would have a much better life if we take her home with us!!" So I went and found the guy and made sure it was really ok for us to take her and to ask what kind of dog she was and how old. He didn't really know anything other then he thought she was 2 months old and told us to take her.

   And that is how we ended up with this cutie riding along.

...And The Hippie Festival

   After we finished climbing in Moab, we headed on down the road to Flagstaff. I think it was only a few hours drive and we got to the campground about dark. We set up the tent and then went to find Jake and Brittany's aunt and uncle, Roger and Julie, who were actually in charge of the entire Pickin' in the Pines festival. (Roger and Julie got us into the festival in exchange for our volunteering at the festival. They were very kind and generous!) Jake and Justin ended up jammin' with them around the campfire until about 2am.

This pickin' and jammin' around campfires until 2am was a regular occurrence all 3 nights.
The next day, we spent most of our time in downtown Flagstaff checking out all the outdoor recreational stores as well as other little shops. Coffee

The Hippie Road Trip...

   Earlier in September, I went on a road trip with Jake, Brittany, and Justin, to Flagstaff, Arizona. The main purpose of this trip was to attend the Pickin' in the Pines bluegrass festival. The other main purpose was to go climbing in Moab, Utah. (Just an FYI: if you're ever on a road trip with Jake, it is guaranteed that there will be climbing at some point.) Jason was unable to go with us due to work, and I was unemployed at the time which gave me lots of free time. No dogs were allowed on this trip because the car was already full, plus they weren't allowed at the festival. And now we begin the journey I called "The Hippie Road Trip!"
    It all started on Wednesday morning. I packed up myself, my camping gear, Gunther, and Gunther's overnight bag for his extended stay with Salem's grandparents. I mosied over the summit to help pack the travel car, and to go with Justin to take the dogs to his parents. Salem and Gunther were in heaven being able to spend 6 days on a farm! I felt really bad for the parents, though, having to put up with those two together for that long!!! After the 2.5 hour round trip to deliver dogs, we got everyone together, the car packed, and food to eat. It had been raining all day and the plan was to drive west out of the rain and end up in Moab at about midnight. Great plan, but it didn't work. We drove thru hard rain pretty much the entire way to Utah, took turns driving, and ended up in Moab about 3am. It was to late to find a campground (and kind of pointless at that time) so we parked in a supermarket parking lot and proceeded to try and sleep in the car. 

The little Honda Civic car.

30:37

   Early this spring, Jason and I said we were going to do a 5k this summer and that we were going to make each other train for it. Well, that didn't exactly happen. I think I may have run two or three times since April and only for 1 mile or less. But, in August I decided that I was going to run the Freedom 5k that was in 2 weeks. I had seen the run advertised at the park a few times and that Friday I just decided to do it. My reasoning was that if I never signed up for a 5k, I would never actually run. So I went and registered and thus began my two weeks of training to be able to run 3.2 miles all at once.
   Three times a week, I'd go out after taking Gunther for his run (which I rode a bicycle for) and walk about 1 1/2 miles to the park. The first time, I set my iPod to go 1 mile and then I ran, slowly as it may be, around the park for a little beyond my goal. Each time, I'd set the distance a little further, and each time, I'd make myself go beyond the goal. I had it figured out that I needed to gain a quarter of a mile with each run in order to be even close to running 3 miles in 2 weeks. Somehow, and I'm not sure how, I almost made it. My last run before the big day was 2.71 miles and for both weeks, I was averaging 12 minute miles. (That's really pathetic, by the way.) I have to say, after the first couple runs, I wondered why I was even doing it as my legs hurt a lot and my knees seemed to protest each night. But for the most part, it got somewhat better as the two weeks passed.
   The Saturday of the 5k arrived and I got up at 6am and rode my bike down to where the race was being held. I got my goodie bag of stuff and waited for the race to start. The race was to start at 8, but there was a pre-race ceremony and stuff going on. I felt kind of weird as a lot of

August: The Things You Will Find In Wyoming

    In my last post about August, Jason had left again and was supposed to be gone for 2 more weeks. Well, three days after he left, he called me and said that his trip had been cancelled and that I needed to go pick him up the next evening. Usually when I have to make the trip to Casper, I just hop on the interstate and ride it the entire way. This time, I took a different, non-interstate route and got to see some new scenery. 

 Did you know that there are pyramids in Wyoming? If you look closely, there is one on the right side of that plateau in the back.

August: A Little Bit of Everything!

   Actually, this post starts at the end of July before Jason came home. My friend, Shannon, and I attended a night of Frontier Days since she had never been before. We tried to dress somewhat appropriately for the event we were attending, Championship Bull Riding, and set out to try some specific carnival foods.

Shannon was going for the Australian look with Jason's kangaroo hide hat.

Touring Melbourne

Just a side note, I find it hard to believe that it has been over a year since I lived in Australia! These photos are from January of 2012.

   Driving back into Melbourne after being out in the open country for a week was a bit of a culture shock. I believe Linden was driving and I was giving the directions that we had gotten from some guy at a food shop. We were trying our hardest to avoid the toll roads which pretty much surround the city. It was an adventure, but we finally made it to our hostel in the CBD.

 Just a small glimpse into the lovely traffic we encountered along the way.

In-land and Eastward Bound

   After leaving Umpherston Sinkhole in Continuing the Australian Holiday, we journeyed eastward back to Melbourne, Victoria. Instead of following the route we had just come, we took the in-land route to hopefully fulfill someone's wish to see all the farmland possible.

That person with the farmland wish is in this photo...

An Extreme Summer

   This summer, I have found myself doing things that I normally don't think I would do. I'm not sure if it's because Jason is gone and I'm just doing pretty much anything to keep me busy, or if my circle of friends are just wild and crazy. The first adventure was an afternoon of climbing with 3 other girls.

Shannon, leading the way up a short crack in Vedauwoo, with Evelyn making sure she doesn't fall too far.

4th of July Weekend

For the 4th of July, I took off work and flew into Virginia to see Jason, who has been attending some army training for quite a while. (He wasn't to

A Day At The Lake: Part 2

   In case you missed it, the first part of the day is here.

While everyone else was skiing, Little Miss Sylvia was busy trying to decide what she thought of the lake.

A Day At The Lake: Part 1

 

Going to the Lake has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Most of my siblings and I all learned to water-ski there. Even though it is still a tradition for my family to go to the lake at least once each summer, I believe it has been about 5 years (or more) since I was able to go. This year, Jason and I were both able to go to the lake.

The day started out with a slow bang, it seemed. Our car-load of food and people, along with the pickup pulling the boat and hauling the paddle-

Growing Up Gunther

(Most of these photos are courtesy of my friend, Justin.)

   In looking back over these pictures of Gunther, it is hard to believe how much he has grown. When we got Gunther, he was 7 weeks old and weighed 13 pounds. (You can read more about him here.) A couple of weeks after we got him, Jason had to be gone and I didn't want to leave him at home alone on the days I wasn't able to take him to work. So Uncle Justin, Gunther's godfather, got to babysit him.

 Eating carrots at Uncle Justin's is always more fun then eating them at home.

Continuing the Australian Holiday

   This post is quite out-dated, but I will be picking up where we left off in Touring Mt. Gambier, in which we were driving around the countryside searching out farms to tour. The second farm we happened upon was a dairy farm. We spent quite a while here looking at their herds and talking about farming techniques. We didn't get any photos at this visit, but we were invited back for the 5:00am milking to see their 60-cow rotary milking parlor. As the evening got late, we finally headed back to our little bungalow for supper.

 We had a lovely supper of kangaroo steak, baked potatoes, frozen veggies, and chocolate cake.

15 Weeks

   This past Saturday Gunther turned 15 weeks old. I weighed him today and he is a whopping 36 pounds! I can't get get him to hold still long enough to measure him, so I don't know how tall or long he is. I did get his front leg measured and it was roughly 12" long. He has been eating a lot more lately, so I think he has gone thru a growth spurt. I don't have many new pictures of him, but when Jason was out climbing last week, they got this photo of him.

This is our almost 15 week old rock climbing son.

(3/13/18 Edit: I am fairly certain that there was a lot more to this post originally. It appears that most of it has disappeared, much to my dismay. I do not remember what all was on here, so I can't even begin to re-create it. Sad day! I must invest in an external hard drive so that I can back up my blog for safe keeping.)

Colorado Bound, Episode V: The Finale

   After the Great Sand Dunes National Park, we headed even further southwest to Durango. It was here that we had to part with Gunther, as our activities in Durango were not pet friendly. So we put him up in a kennel for a night. The first day, we went whitewater rafting on the Lower Animas River. It was a beginners 2-hour raft trip. And it was very mild in my book, even though I have never been rafting. It was very cold, though, and I told Jason that we needed to wait until July or August before we do another, more advanced rafting trip. It was still fun, but unfortunately our camera is not waterproof, so we did not get any photos of this adventure.
   The next days adventure was to take the old steam engine train ride from Durango to Silverton. It was a lovely ride thru the mountains.

Colorado Bound, Episode IV

  After Pike's Peak, we headed southwest to Alamosa. Along the way, we saw some pretty mountains. I believe these were called the Spanish Peaks.

I'm not certain, but this might be the San Luis mountain range.

Colorado Bound, Episode III

   Our second day in Colorado Springs took us to Pike's Peak. It is over 14,000 feet high and if the road is open, you can drive to the top. You can also hike it or take the cog train to the top. Thankfully the road was open and we drove our little Silver Bullet to the top. You should know that there are very little guard rails on the entire road. It was a little freaky at times.

Here we stopped at a little rest stop and reservoir which was almost the half-way point. Up to now, the road was pretty easy.

The mountains were so pretty!

Colorado Bound, Episode II

   After taking a break at the dog park (in Episode I) we went to see the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. They are some of the remains of the Anasazi peoples homes. If I remember correctly, there was a part of this display that was still being lived in up until the mid to late 1900's.

It was really neat to be able to walk inside of the different dwellings. They were crazy small and I believe that one family would typically live in a

Colorado Bound, Episode I

   Last week, Jason and I were able to take off of work for a week of vacation. We decided to take Gunther and explore Colorado! Thankfully, Gunther has had lots of experience with long car rides from the very first day we brought him home, so he traveled very well.

Our first stop took us to Colorado Springs where we walked thru the Garden of the Gods.

Meet Gunther

On April 6th, I had the privilege of bringing Gunther into our family. 

 

When I got Gunther, Jason had been gone for a week and was due to come home in 2 days. We had been talking about getting a puppy for quite a

Good Friends, Good Snow, Good Times

   The other weekend, 5 friends and I went down to Steamboat, Colorado, to spend 2 days snowboarding. This trip was headed up by Brittany, whose birthday was that Friday. So it was kind of a "Happy Birthday Brittany" party! The weather predictions for the weekend was snow and a high of 12 degrees. Perfect weather, right?
   We left Friday afternoon and for once the weather man was correct, as it started snowing on our way down. The first 4 of us that got there put all of our stuff into the motel and then went to see Fish Creek Falls which was just up the road. There was an easy, snow-packed trail to get to the falls.

After a short walk, we got to the bridge from which you can view the falls.

"WOW! What a ride!"

Earlier this week, my friend Brittany gave me this quote:
   "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'WOW! What a ride!'" -Hunter S. Thompson.

    After mulling it over for a few days, I have started thinking that maybe we should all look at life in that context. I'm not saying that you should throw all caution to the wind and do whatever hairbrained idea pops into your head, or eat your way into an early grave. However, it might bode us well to lose some of our super-cautious, strict, penny-pinching ways and actually enjoy life. Such as trying new things, eating different foods, or whatever things you have never done because it would be considered "frivolous," or a "waste of time," or "maybe I'll break a leg." In light of that, I think that over the last week Jason and I have been enjoying life. Here are a few examples of our (or my) lifestyle that might help us to "skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke" into our graves.

Grilled Lobster Tails. Yep, they are going to send us to the grave "thoroughly used up."

My Bountiful Basket

In the $15 basket, I got 1 head each of lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli, 3 large bunches of asparagus, 6 bananas, 2 grapefruit, 2 mangoes, 4 tangelos, 2 lemons, 6 apples, and 3 onions.

Jason's Jackalope Jump

  Every year Jason's Unit volunteers their time, supplies, and energy to a fundraiser for the Wyoming Special Olympics. The fundraiser is called the "Jackalope Jump." The short version of how this fundraiser works is  that people put together teams to raise money. And the incentive for people to donate money is that these teams then have to jump into a pool of freezing cold water during the winter. Most of the time, the event is held in January or February. This year, it was held in March for some reason. This year was also Jason's first time being involved with the fundraiser. The Jump that they helped with was held in Douglas. (There are multiple Jumps held all over the state.)

My Bountiful Basket

Here is this weeks crop from Bountiful Baskets:

In my regular basket for $15.00 I got 1 head of Butter Lettuce, 1 bunch of asparagus, 1  bag of Redmoro Oranges, 1 hand of bananas, 2 Acorn Squash, 4 gigantic carrots, 2 green peppers, 8 roma tomatoes, 5 Braeburn apples, 5 pears, and 1 bulb of garlic

Call Me Susie Homemaker...

...or whatever you want, but I am ecstatic over what I have done these last two weekends. Or more specifically, what I have done today. But, I'll start with last weekend.

   Jason is gone for about 14+ hours every single day of the weekend, so I have lots of alone time for me, myself, and I. Typically I do the laundry, clean, and make food each weekend, as well as work on projects and try new things. And most of the time, I have whatever project/new thing finished, cleaned up and put away before Jason gets home. This past weekend, besides the normal stuff, and picking up my Bountiful Basket, I decided to try and make pasta. Aunt Verna gave us this nifty pasta roller and cutter for our wedding and we have both been wanting to try it out.

I had put off making pasta in the past because I knew it would be an all-day project. But last weekend, even though it was later in the day, I

Our First House Guests

   About a week after we got back from traveling for our Christmas and reception functions in both Virginia and Missouri, my mom and youngest brother arrived for a week. I don't have a lot of pictures from that week, as I was working Monday - Friday and Jason had been gone for about 5-6 days and was then working over the weekend. On Saturday, when I had off of work, in between making cupcakes for our reception here, Glen and I went outside and worked in our backyard. The backyard has been  severely neglected and was full of leaves, no grass, and random junk. Glen started by cleaning out the dog-run beside the house which leads to the backyard.

He worked very hard to keep his face from being photographed.

A Missouri Christmas and Reception

   After the big party on New Year's Eve at my parent's house, Jason and I began the drive to Missouri to celebrate Christmas and have a small wedding reception with his family. We started out about noon on New Years Day and drove thru...

and

Ringing in the New Year

This years New Years Day Out-law Bash (as it has been fondly called in the past) began a day or two early. I think we can all agree that it officially started on Sunday, with the Paintball Party for the guys and food preparations for the girls.

 You can read more about the Paintball Party here.

Gleanings from My Bountiful Basket

    There is an organization called "Bountiful Baskets" in which you can get quality fruits and vegetables (and other things) for a very low cost. (You can read all the details on how it works here on their website.) You can participate in this program every other week. I started participating early last fall and found it to be quite good. When it got really cold, however, they stopped doing it because they didn't have an indoor facility. And I also got kind of busy and distracted with wedding and reception stuff. Once all of that calmed down after the first of the year, I looked into again and found that they had moved to an indoor place for the winter. So I started back up again.
    The other day, I was talking to my sister, Miriam, and she was asking what all I get in my basket and was it really cheaper then buying stuff at the store. As I was trying to explain it to her, I told her I would take a photo of my next basket and send it to her. Then this morning, I got the bright idea to just put it on my blog! That way you can all be jealous of me, especially if you don't have access to a Bountiful Basket distribution site. I have to admit, this is only my third basket this year. I have missed one in January, either due to forgetting and missing the deadline, or for the baskets being sold out by the time I got online. (They go really quick here!) I am going to try and stay on top of it, though.

     This is the Conventional Basket that I just picked up this morning.

Cost: $15.00

It contained 1 head of lettuce, 1 bunch of spinach, 2 heads of broccoli, 10 oz. cherry tomatoes, 1 avacado, 3 green peppers, 5 lbs. potatoes, 2 leeks

The Annual Family Photo

Every year at New Year's, we take a family photo. They are usually done at home with a camera timer and tripod. This year, since everyone was gathered at one spot for the reception, we asked Esther if she would take the photo. Here is the result:

How much more of a professional photo can you get? I think we should hire Esther's services every year!!

Our Wedding Reception - Dec. 29 Part II

(Click here for Part I)

 

Our Wedding Reception - Dec. 29 Part I

*Under Construction*

I apologize, but it appears that I have lost this original post. (Feel free to mourn with me!) Unfortunately I have not backed up my blog to an external hard drive, so I am hoping to re-create this post in the near future. And I hope to obtain and external hard drive for the purpose of backing up my blog posts in the future!

A Wedding Reception Thru the Eyes of A Child

All of the following photos are courtesy of photographer Esther U. She did an amazing job and I can't thank her enough! I would highly recommend her photography services to anyone!

Sam: "Is it time to eat yet?"

How Jason Survived the New Years with His New In-Laws

First, there was a paint-ball party on Sunday. (Prior to this, on Saturday, he attended his own wedding reception with the new in-laws. I'm sure the

After the Wedding - Part II

Some of the island on our way out to scuba dive.

 People are living in these half-built homes. They build as they have the money.

After the Wedding - Part I

This photo was actually taken on Day 2 of our trip, I believe, but I didn't have it when I wrote that post.

 We had 3 days left in Jamaica after our wedding  (you can catch up on that here - Our Wedding - Dec. 6). Here are the rest of the photos, not in any particular order.