Farewell Herman

Sunday afternoon, Herman passed away from internal complications. He had been sick for a while and has seen multiple doctors. He led a good life and will be missed. (And no Tamron he didn't die because I named him Herman)

I adopted Herman two years ago when my brother Tamron left for China. He has been well worth the $100 I paid. I got a little emotional leaving him for the wreckers today. I guess that's what happens when you have a car you have to pep talk everytime you come to a stop light - you can't help bonding.

Anyway, we knew he was fading fast and would probably go soon. He has been 'resting' in the drive way for about a month hoping there was something that could save him. Meanwhile, I rode my bike uphill both ways in 3 feet of snow to get to school and work while my husband sits in his very large, very expensive, very warm truck. :)

Zane's dad has been so helpful and we were taking it to Rigby today to put in a new thermastat we hoped would hold him over for awhile. But . . . he overheated on the way there and the block cracked??? I think that's what they said.

Anyway, the point is, we're car hunting. If anyone hears of a good deal on a cheap car that will last us till we get real jobs, let us know. (I feel like I'm cheating on him, this has got to stop. That's it! The next car doesn't get a name)

He is soooo cute!!!!!!!

We decided that since we are both not romantic and have no money we would agree to not do anything for Valentines day. The little sneak decided that if it wasn't on Valentines Day it didn't count. . .

Friday night I worked until 11. My truck was parked at the back of the lot and there was ice everywhere so I was looking at the ground trying not to fall until I got right up next to it. My heart melted!! There were petals everywhere. You can't see it very well from the pictures but they were strategically placed all along the lip of the truck bed and the running bar (step). The water in the petals were frozen so they were like glass. I tried to save a couple but the minute I touched them they melted and withered. I drove home as slow as I could so they wouldn't all blow off not wanting it to be over.

When I pulled in I noticed that there was a path of petals leading to the front door, down the entry stairs, and to a candle lit table where dinner and my cute husband in his apron where waiting for me. He had the whole evening planned - coloring books and everything!

Is he not the cutest husband ever!! I am so lucky!! Thanks for everything Honey!

Happy Birthday Tammie!

Tammie's birthday was on (Friday the 13th) so I didn't dare post it yesterday . . . ok I just didn't get to it. But we wanted to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and let you know how much we love you! Hope it was amazing!!

Bonfire at Eight O'clock

Zane turned 24 on Monday- Happy Birthday Hun! On Sunday we had his family come over for dinner, cake, and games. We had a lot of fun and it gave us a good excuse to finally get a table. [We ended up buying the very first one I liked two months ago but Zane said I couldn't have. ]

Carter and McKoy helped me put the candles on; we had to use a whole box! I thought the house would burn down, haha. He felt really old so rub it in when ya can :)

He was a little excited, haha, I love how he starts the singing himself!! Oh, and I couldn't figure out how to slice the video so you get to hear all our random conversation afterwards. :)

On Monday I attempted to make our first real homemade meal (even the birthday cake was out of a box) which didn't turn out half bad. Zane is definately a country boy so I marinated ribeye steaks while we were at school/work and (ok I cheated with the George Foreman) grilled them and made garlic and sage mashed potatoes.

My sister Lacie supplied the marinade recipe:

3 T Ketchup

1 T oil

1 T ch. onion

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp Worsterschire sauce

1 clove minced garlic

Dash of pepper

And my wonderful co-worker Amy taught me to make mashed potatoes (haha, yes I am that bad) although I have to say - whoever's idea it was to use a beater . . . . well we'll just say I struggled.

But it turned out well and who knows, I just might attempt cooking again sometime!

Is it over yet!?!

I guess life thought our last little experience with keys was funny because since then we have been locked out of the house, the garage, my car 3 times, the truck twice, and both of our cars broke.

After our last post, I made Zane make a whole bunch of copies. Zane mentioned that night that his key wouldn't work so I told him to just use one of the others. Next day I came home from work and mine wouldn't work either. We had all the keys but something came loose in the door and none of the keys would work (thanks for your help Colby) and the locksmith ended up having to drill the knob in half to get us in. While he was working on the house lock, I locked my keys in the car. DOPE! I was glad he was still there.

The next day I had Zane bring me something to work right before I got off so we had both cars to drive home from Wally's. I drove off and didn't even notice he couldn't get in the truck. I waited in the drive way for a minute but he never came. I went inside to get my phone and call him to see where he was and locked my keys in MY car so I couldn't go back and get him. A very angry boy had to walk home in -35 and leave his truck at Wal-mart.

A couple days later Zane's truck broke down so I had to bumb rides off everyone. That was humbling, I mean fun :) The DAY we got it fixed, my car broke and . . . the story repeated.

Zane's dad helped fix it in our garage and they had to block the back door of the garage with stuff to get the car in. One of them locked the front door to the garage that night and nobody noticed as we left the next day. So we were locked out of the garage (which we don't have a key for). I had asked my amazing co-worker Amy to drop me off that night (still no car) and luckily she was able to give me a ride to Mike and Tammies where I hung out until Zane could come home and break in the window.

Zane and I have been laughing about the fact that those silly keys have caused more problems in our marriage to this point than anything else, haha. Whew! I hope we're just about done (Knock on wood!!!!!)

When a man thinks he's in charge . . .

Zane works in Idaho Falls so we switch vehicles to conserve gas. On Friday after he'd left I realized he had both sets of keys, I had no idea where the spare was, and I had only 15 min before class started. I called as soon as I realized but his phone was stilled turned off from classes.

I considered walking to campus but I'm far enough out that class would be close to over by the time I arrived.

I have a bike but it had been dismanteled for the move up here so . . . still in my slacks, I fiddled with the pieces until I figured out what went where and got it put together to ride to campus knowing I'd be late but it was better than nothing. Covered in grease, I hauled it up the stairs of our basement apartment (a chore in itself, haha) and then realized the front tire was flat and we had no tire pump.

He finally got my message and called back to let me know he'd accidently locked the spare key inside the truck. I've been after him to make me my own set but it's a hundred dollar key since it contains a computer chip so he keeps making excuses (maybe this will convince him). He gave me directions on how to break in and I spent the next 30 min sitting on the top of his truck in high heels trying to pry the door open to get a hanger down inside. The tool I was using as a lever broke in half and by then class was over anyway.

Luckily, my boss from the first job let me do some work from home and I had the oh so amazing Kayla come and take me to Wal-mart.

Isn't life fun! Honey, I need my own key!!

Once a man was in Charge!

Here we are, (I'm in charge now of the blogs since i'm the scrapbooker, ya my wife thiks she knows me, that i have talents that i really don't have). So this is a mans trial and error blog! So for any commentary from peanut gallery, don't waste it on me.

So here we are living in the frozen waste land of rexburg, yep i am climatized to St. George. Really who wants to scrape ice off thier windshield before going to work?! Not me! Don't tell my wife that!

We live in a basement of a house. It's pretty spacious, two bedrooms, one for me and one for Rachael, HA HA. A good sized living room and kitchen. Oh and pantry. Which i filled with food storage, i'm a good husband and wife. Though we have some ugly carpet oh well. It's a starter.

We are both going to school full time. Rachaels studying to be an elementary teacher oh and she thinks that everyday she has to teach me "something" new for the day. I'm studying to be a mans best friend, or an OSHA Officer. We both graduate in December, well Rachael has to do her student teaching in January to April then she's done. She wants to do it in Vegas, but we'll see what we can do.

We're both working too. I work full time at the Idaho Falls Wal-Mart stocking the produce area and feeding idaho while she is a cashier at the rexburg wal-mart in the evenings and she is a secretary for the dean of the business college in between classes. So we're pretty busy old married folks.

Most important we want to let you in on our NEW YEARS RESOLUTION***** GET OUT OF WAL-MART BY 2010***** Pray for us! No we are grateful to be working though...but really pray!!!!!

We like the ward we're in, still getting to know all the old people, they think we're new people every week. Just waiting on rachaels nursery calling! The sad part, we live directly across the street from the church and guess what???????? We're still late!!! I love being married, i'm so patient! Okay i won't lie, you all know me.

Our one month wedding anniversary is tomorrow! Yep lasted a month! She still loves me or at least ive trained her well to say that. Here's some pics of the wedding day to celebrate!