Love Is....

Love Is....

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Month End


February being a short month, we already are doing inventory!  Here is a picture from atop our bins in Gering.  It was a bit chilly but I am glad that I got to observe the process.  I suited up in coveralls and my Carhartt complete with my new hard hat.  It was really good for me to get outside and see what is going on in the mill and chat with our guys.

Crazy Love Bible study with Connie and Ernie tonight.  Yay!


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Duck Dynasty!

Beautiful moon this morning as I was leaving my house after I fed Penney and broke her ice on the tank.  I slept in today and took a "rest" day from working out.  It was a bit chilly in my house last night.  That's kind of a funny story.  Lately, I leave my house at 55* during the day while I am away at work.  So, when I got home last night, I thought I would try to tough it out and not turn it up.  My plan was to just fire up my ceramic electric heater on a preset timer for 2 hours as I was falling asleep.  I was pulling on all my warm gear including knee high socks, sweat pants, and a hoody.  Well, my hoody was extremely cold, so I decided to briefly stick it on the heater to warm it up just a tad before putting it on.  Well, turns out my heater is smarter than I thought.  It did an auto-shut down to keep the house from burning down, I guess.  I unplugged it and got into bed and waited and waited and waited.  Third time was the charm.  I kept getting out of bed and trying to make it work again by plugging it in, but it needed to take 'time' to make sure things were under control, which obviously they were.  By this point I was pretty much an ice cube, my hands and feet were like blocks of ice.  It took quite a bit longer to get that heat kicked up enough to thaw me out, but I was finally ready to sleep by like 11 pm!!!!  Way too late!

Anyway, tonight is the kickoff to the next season of Duck Dynasty.  I have been hooked since Nickolas Henning introduced me to it during the crazy and hectic days called Vet School.  Thank you Nick!  Heath and I went over to his parents to watch the new episodes.  Yep, I lasted through the first one and then I was out like a light.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Stateline Safety Initiative

Cleaning out!  We are really getting serious about getting things organized and up-to-speed.  Our Stateline Safety Initiative is going to be a complete success because everyone is getting on board.  So exciting.  Big changes coming!

I went over to Heath's house tonight to cook supper for the boys.  They had a pre-season track meeting for parents, so I cooked while Heath went to the meetings.  I think we had a winner...Chicken Fajitas!  Andrew was a big fan!  I forgot and put mushrooms in it which Justin isn't a big fan of, but he was able to pick around them.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Swimming

Well, I did it.  I was told on Friday in my physical therapy appointment to go ahead and try running, so I did that on Sunday.  So I decided swimming would be ok today.  My physical therapist has not put any restrictions on my motion at this point.  I set out to swim a mile (36 laps or 72 lengths) and to be leaving Gering at 6:45 am so we could get to Bridgeport to load a container.  I did it!  I was a bit late, which I told my chauffeur would not happen again.  I am working on it!  I have my 'getting ready' down to a mere 15 minutes which allows me more time to work out...but sometimes I am 30 seconds or a 2 minutes late.  Today, I was about 5 minutes late.



Briggs was pretty tired today.  He didn't even want to chew on the bone Auntie Liz so graciously gave to him.  Holding down the carpet at the office.  Great security!  :)

Speaking of Auntie Liz, she really wanted to see my potential new home.  We met Delton out there and he showed us around.  He is so SUPER sweet.

I had a great evening at my house.  I got home by 6:30 pm and had the whole night to myself with Briggsy and Miss Penney!  Ahh life!  :)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sunday!

Run!  Snow!  Waffles!  Church!  Heath made Sunday dinner!  Financial Peace homework!  Liz and Girls!  Grocery Shopping!  Financial Peace University session!  Check on Miss Penney Girl!




Saturday, February 23, 2013

Miss Penney

I got to work on my house all day.  Heath and his dad came over and got  my deep freezer and washer and dryer all moved into my house!  Yay!  I'm about back into business...so close, yet so much left to do.  I don't want to get too much of my stuff unpacked, but I do want to be comfortable.  I'm not quite sure exactly when I will be moving again, but it will probably be sometime in the Spring.

For lunch, we went to Senkel's and then I rode Miss Penney back through the hay fields to her new home at my house!  This is a total dream for me.  Having Penney with me at my house under my supervision is a first and an awesome first at that!  I have asked for a horse since I was a child and now, I get to take full responsibility for her.

Later on, I went over to Tim and Tricia's for supper and game night with the kids.  We had so much fun catching up and playing a game called "Quelf."  I am so loving my new life!  :)

Friday, February 22, 2013

Week In Review

Wow, time slipped by me this week very quickly!  Here is a quick snapshot of the week:

Monday-First safety meetings of the year at work.  Heath presented and I demonstrated safety harness assembly and use as well as confined spaces and bin entry permission forms.  We worked on my house after work.

Tuesday-Lots of progress being made at work.  Everyday goes by quickly because there are so many projects!  It's awesome!  (On the way to work, the boys were bonding....)


Wednesday-Tons of snow geese landing in the field outside of the office...just teasing us!  They were mixed in with the Canadians.  This is a picture mainly of the Canadian (phone pic....not very clear, but you get the point!).


Thursday-Difficult times at work as we work through some encouragement for motivation and acceptance.

Friday-Visits from John, Liz, and Tyler.  Hang out with Liz after work, brainstorming.  I took this beautiful shot right outside the office doors in Bridgeport as I was headed home, reminding me that God is Great!  :)


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Sunday!

No waffles today (that's for you Johnny boy).  I got up and worked through some paperwork with my Daddy over breakfast and then we got to work on my house a little bit more before he had to go home.  He is babysitting a friends dog this week and had to get back.



I headed in for church and then ran some errands.  Tonight, I am starting the Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace University.  It is a 9 week course, offered by my church, designed to help you with your finances.  This class will only enhance what I have learned from my parents growing up as I feel like I have a very good idea about my finances.  http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu

Saturday, February 16, 2013

~*Dogs*~

I love these guys, they make me so happy!  They just love playing together.  This is what started out our day at the house.  They played all day while we worked.  Crazy dogs.  We got alot done minus all the fetch we played.


I also looked at a farm/ranch with my Daddy and Heath today.  It is where I used to keep Miss Penney.  I have been thinking about it quite a bit.  Dad was here to help me fill out the bank paperwork to see what I can afford and take a look at the place with me.  It is in a great location between both of my offices:  Bridgeport and Gering.  We will see.... :)

Friday, February 15, 2013

Stateline


New Safety Manager hard at work.  Heath and I have to demonstrating a "confined entry" at our safety meeting coming up on Monday.  We just got new full body harnesses for this procedure and we were trying to figure out how to work them.  We finally got it figured out.  Safety here we come!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentine's Day

Beautiful flowers!  Y.M.C.A.  Work.  Daddy here to help me with the house!!!!


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Life

I went to the Y this morning and used the elliptical to try to alleviate some of my hip pain.  You see, I swam a mile on Monday morning and had to take Tuesday off because I was up all night with the soreness.  Today, I thought I would  try something with a little less motion in that area.  Turns out it was ok, but  not great.  I am glad that I have a physical therapy appointment on Friday again.  I am really thinking that there is something wrong.


On a lighter note, my Mama  has been in Arizona with Grandma for the past two weeks.  They have gotten to spend some quality time together.  When I talked to her the other night, she said that they were having an ice storm!  CRAZY!!  The previous day she sent me pictures of her in the outdoor swimming pool!  She leaves for home tomorrow!  My Uncle Jim is going to stay with Grandma for the next period of time!  :)
 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Good Day!!


Great day in Bridgeport.  I was able to carpool with Heath to work and we got alot done today.  We are working on a ten minute presentation on food safety and OSHA for our board meeting tomorrow evening.    Also today, we rearranged some things to get my new office all ready to go for tomorrow.  My new desk will be delivered!  Thank you Danny for moving to the basement!  You are awesome!

I went to the far after work today to work on it again.  I am almost done with the kitchen!  Dad is coming this weekend to help me work on it!

Productivity is happening!!  :)

The picture above was taken by my good buddy Mr. Nickolas Henning.  This is in honor of him becoming "Mr. Vet School" today!  Congrats Nick!  :)

Monday, February 11, 2013

1st Day of Work


Today, I returned to Stateline Bean in Western Nebraska.  I have been looking forward to this for a long time.  Did I ever think this would be happening?  No sir.  I had planned on being in Manhattan, Kansas for the next 4 years of my life pursuing my DVM.  God works in mysterious ways.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge HIM, and HE will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6


Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sunday

Waffles.  Sunday School.  Church.  Coop Salad Bar.  Groceries.  Worked on House.  Deer Steak Dinner.  Daily Devotions.


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Restful Saturday

Pretty nice laid back day today.  I was able to sleep in and then go work on my house.  I am trying to get it all cleaned and ready to go before Monday when I start work.  Oh, I have a new phone now for work which is going to be my only phone now.  My new Nebraska number is:  (308) 765.2471.  Give me a call anytime!  :)

FOR SALE:


I am working on selling my wedding rings if anyone knows of anyone looking.  They are in great shape and ready to go.  I have all the paperwork ready as well.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Colorful Colorado

Yesterday, when I left Dad's place, it was snowing up in the mountains!  It was amazing that we could be hiking all day that morning as well as the previous day and then be all covered in snow.  It was so pretty looking out over the mountains covered in a blanket of white.



On my way to Nebraska, I stopped by to see Katie in Fort Collins.  It was wonderful!  She had about an hour, so I met her at her work and we walked to a coffee shop.  We both got chai tea and sat outside in the sun with Briggsy.  I am SO very happy to be close to her again!  We are only about 2.5 hours apart now!  Sounds like I will be running the Horsetooth Half marathon with her and Corey this April. Heath is considering it also!  :)  Yay for running!



Today, Friday, I started off my day by getting the boys breakfast and off to school.  Then ,I went for an awesome run on the ditch road.  I ended up doing a loop, which are hard to do without going way further or way shorter than you want to go.  It was the perfect temperature and sunny!  Briggs had alot of fun too!

After my run, I showered and quickly headed to town to go to the bank and to pick up my vacuum cleaner from the shop.  I returned home just in time to meet Barb, Heath's mom, to head back to town with the truck and horse trailer to get Penney.  Before we went to get her, we stopped by the physical therapist.  Someone recommended PT for my hip flexor which has been hurting for 15 months now.  I was in there over an hour. I'm really hoping this helps because it is starting to keep me up at night.

When we went to pick up Miss Penney, we ran into Delton at the house.  He is working really hard, getting ready to sell the place.  I am very interested in it as it has a barn and 32 acres with 20 acres of water rights.  We will see if I can afford it though.  I am working on getting the paperwork done to get pre-qualified so that I know what my budget is going to be.  Anyway, Delton showed us around and we daydreamed some ideas about what could be done with the place.  Tons of options!

He was getting rid of alot of old windows and I asked if I could have them.  He was very happy because it saved him a trip to the dump.  I saw a really cool idea when I was with my Daddy.  His friends had made a greenhouse out of all old windows and they extended their growing season almost 3 months!  Another project for me!  :)

We got Miss Penney moved to Senkel's until we can get the corrals by my house all fixed up.  I hung out with Penney to make sure she was comfortable when I got a call from Danny.  He wondered why I was not there yet.  Today is the last day of goose season with only 3 shooting hours left and I wasn't there.  

LIFE:  To hang out with horse or to go hunting?!  What an awesome day!  Both great things!

After getting Penney all set up I headed north to get in on some of the goose action as the season was quickly coming to a close.  We ended up with 8 total!  Not a bad way to end the season.  I didn't even have coveralls on because it was so nice out!


When we had put the decoys away for the last time this season, Heath and I had to go back to Stegall to get the flatbed.  We were on a mission to go get hay for Penney.  A guy, Joe, from church grows alfalfa still had some available.  Hay is really tight this year because everyone has been so dry.  So, we had an adventure of an hour and half round trip to get hay.  Joe had the big square bale (1,700 pounds) all ready to go on his tractor so all we had to do was drop it on the back of the truck.

What a day!  :)

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Great Day!!


Yesterday, Daddy made homemade bread, eggs, and bacon this morning for breakfast for us.  It was so delicious!  I haven't been able to make that good of bread ever, I was very impressed.  After breakfast, I made a bunch of phone calls and did some work and then we took Briggsy for a 2 hour hike.  It was a beautiful hike with occasional snow on the ground for Briggs to play in and get a drink.  We came back to the house to work a little bit on a few things and the we ate lunch a little restaurant downtown.  I had an excellent hamburger and sweet potato fries.  I was too full for a homemade milkshake.  We went back and relaxed a bit and I took a shower and shaved for my massage at 5 pm.  















Dad told me that a massage really helped him when his leg was hurting so I decided to try it.  My hip flexor has been hurting me now for 15 months and after a 14 race racing season for 2012, it is time to get it fixed.  I was very pleased with this massage by Karla.  It was an injury massage, not a feel good massage.  She really worked on that area and it actually hurt on a scale of 1-10 a 10 for parts of it, but by the end, she had worked blood flow back into my hip and I could lift it without it hurting.  She told me no stretching, to take a hot bath tonight, and lots of water to wash out the toxins and lactic acid that she released.  I could get back to exercising and stretching after 24 hours.

As we were driving home from the massage it started snowing.  We went inside and Dad and I cooked supper together.  Then, I helped him rearrange his kitchen.  We had alot of fun and a great meal together!  After supper, we took a nice walk to the post office in the gently falling snow.  Briggs loved it!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Consider It Pure Joy


Lots of random photos.  Dad and I did alot of hiking today as it was a beautiful day!  Briggsy had a blast, especially in the snow!

Old Mining Country
Functioning Gold Mine
Remainder of Mining
Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the horizon
Neat ole' tree
Old Mining Cabin
Found this in the Cabin
My Buddy
Too much to see and do to sit for a photo shoot!
Ag Mining Museum
Ag Mining Museum

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Mountains


I made it late last night to the mountains and I have been spending quality time with my Daddy and doggie.  We are all really having fun.  Getting back to the basics and starting to live life more simply.  We are going out hiking today and I will be taking my new camera out with me to try to capture what I am so very blessed to be seeing.  Be watching for photos tomorrow!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

Monday, February 4, 2013

Laura's Story

*Blessings*

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not,
This is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

Headed up to the mountains to visit my Daddy today!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

All Nighter

I snapped this right as we were pulling onto Stegall Road at sunrise.
Saturday morning.  Welcome to Nebraska!

Being young and crazy, we decided to take off after supper last night.  We were all packed and ready to go and getting antsy.  We wanted to make it back to Justin's last wrestling match.  He wrestled varsity today!  Congratulations JUSTIN!  :)





Friday, February 1, 2013

Last Day

Today Heath and I did all the good things in Manhattan.  We went to Orange Leaf, our favorite frozen yogurt place for one.  Now let me give you a quick description for those of you who have not had the wonderful opportunity to experience this.  When you walk in they greet you and you pick up a cup.  Now, you are faced with tons of choices of soft serve frozen yogurt of all flavors.  The flavors change monthly and seasonally, so get your favorites while they last!  Each machine has two individual flavors and the one in the middle is a twist of the two individual flavors.  I, personally, like to mix and match and try all the good ones in one cup.  Then comes the Subway bar of toppings!  At the end they have the all dreaded scale!  You pay $0.41/once.  TOTALLY worth it, don't get me wrong.  In honor of your patronage, they give you an "ounce back" on a credit card looking thing.  What an amazing entrepreneur idea.  We went there to use all the money off of my "ounce back" card and then gave us another dollar off.  :)

Next, we went to McAllisters, a rare find towards the end of the semester.  I finally treated myself to their infamous sweet tea with lemon!

Our last stop was Baan Thai, my favorite thai food place just down the hill from my house.  I especially wanted to take Heath here because of this story.  One time during a rough patch in vet school, Heath really wanted to order me supper to make it easier for me.  So he asked me what I wanted and I suggested Baan Thai because my roomies seem to like it alot.  He, being the wonderful man that he is, called and ordered it for me.  The people at the restaurant were very sweet to him, but they could not take credit card over the phone.  So, when I went to pick up my phone, they apologized to me and told me that I had a good man.  I agreed.  I was very glad that he got to go here with me.

Another phone snapshot at Baan Thai!  :)
After lunch, we went to pick up the UHaul and went home to start loading.  Heath packed that thing to perfection.  I couldn't have come close if I tried.  Then it was time to start cooking for my going away Wild Game Feed supper.  Heath so kindly brought duck, goose, and pheasant from Nebraska to cook for my friends.  We had a potluck and everyone brought my favorite dishes, including Melissa's Snicker Apple Salad and Shannon's jalapeno corn bread.


We had a really nice turn out!  Heath marinaded the goose two ways:  Italian dressing and the other batch with lemon juice and garlic.  He wrapped Nebraska raised bacon around the duck and the pheasant we did it in a little soy sauce, garlic, and butter.  What a treat and a cool thing to share with my friends.  Some had never had it before.  This was my first time to have pheasant and it was definitely a winner!