Giving Thanks and Many Blessings

Where to start? There are so many things I am grateful for this year, so many things I have been blessed with, and a couple of things that make me sad. I am grateful for my husband, who manages to put up with my crazy and can manage to love me around my steamer trunk, portmanteau, and the plethora of hatboxes that is my baggage. I am grateful for my mom and dad who love me and support me in my life choices. I am grateful for my sisters, who give me advice, break into song, and are my best friends. I am grateful that I was so blessed to have my grandpa at my wedding, but sad that he wasn't there at the dinner table today. I definitely missed him.

I had the opportunity to have some of my close friends over for dinner last night, and I am so thankful to have friends that I can rely on, who are good examples to me, and who are so much fun. I managed to pull together a spectacular pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner. Complete with homemade pies, stuffing, greenbean casserole, quiche, salad, and this wonderful slushy drink that zach makes. Oh, and of course the main course of any thanksgiving...THE TURKEY! It was Zach and I's first year doing our own turkey. It definitely turned out successfully. (Meaning I made zach deal with the dead animal. ;)


Again, I am so grateful for everything that I have, the family that I have been blessed with, and hope that all of you have had a marvelous Thanksgiving of your own!


Alex

Baby Boom...Not just a movie

So, Zach and I are newly married, happy, and busy living, and loving, together. I have to admit that I have had a lot of interesting questions posed to me since I got married. Not the least of which "Have you gotten sick of him yet?" "How well trained is he?" "How is the married life (insert eyebrow waggle here?", my answers are simple "Absolutely not, I'm surprised he hasn't gotten sick of me." "My husband is not a dog, so he doesn't usually respond to the command 'sit'" and "Its great. Thanks so much for asking."

But my FAVORITE question is this "When are you going to have a baby?". Usually at this question what I want to say, because I am a total smart alec, is "Never. We don't want kids." Now this is untrue, which is why I don't say it. Usually I smile and say "When we're ready. Right now we're just enjoying eachother." I am not saying in any way that those who choose to have kids right away are wrong, or that I think it is not a good idea for those people. It is just not right for me and zach right now.



Quite a few of the women my age, some I went to school with, some I grew up with, are having babies. It makes one have a feeling of being behind the times, but hey, I felt that when they were all married and I wasn't. So, to all those women, CONGRATULATIONS I am very happy for you, and maybe your kids can babysit mine, I pay well. :) As for me, Right now I am going to sit back and enjoy life with my hubby, sans a baby, and play with my two adorable little nephews who seriously rock my world.

Gleeful...

I am a musical JUNKIE. Which at times drives Zach not only up the wall, but around the corner and down the street. He takes this same trip when I get to the remote first. Just as an example this post is running commentary from a few evenings ago at our house.

I was sitting on the couch, happily chomping on my lettuce with spaghetti sauce (Hey, its awesome, don't judge it until you've tried it.) with the remote on my knee watching Glee. Zach was sitting over at the dining room table cleaning his Dads gun, the smell of the gun cleaner permeates the air so he is banished to the other side of the room because it makes me ill.

Zach: Honey, is that Journey?

Me: um...No. Its Glee, whats Journey?

Zach: (Gutteral sound of displeasure) I KNEW it wasn't journey...WHAT DID THEY DO TO IT?

Me: They made it all kinds of awesome. (Me humming along and more chomping on cruncy lettuce, which is the best kind. soggy lettuce is kind of gross and...well, soggy. BUT, I digress)

Zach: Right...(More gun cleaning)

Then a commercial came on, giving him the ILLUSION that it was all over. He put down the gun and came over to sit next to me. Which is one of my favorite evening pasttimes.

Zach: What are we watching?

Me: Glee still.

Zach: I need to clean my gun more....

I do feel bad that we have so few shows in common, but I am glad that he lets me watch my girly shows like Glee, and So you think you can dance, dance dance. He even will sit through them with me. In return I watch Warehouse 13 (syfy channel), Dr. Who (BBCA), and at times Eureka (syfy channel). Another show we can sit and happily watch together is Extreme Home Makeover. It has Manly house things for him, and I get the happy stories that make me cry. Plus, I like to look at pretty things. Anyways, Look for an update on our lives in the next couple of days.

That Crazy Old Lady

The 4th of July was this last weekend, and I am continually touched by all that it means. My grandfather, both on my dads side and on my moms side, were war veterans. Zachs grandfather was as well. Having lost my grandpa last month this July 4th had a special meaning for me, it let me remember him and all the stories he told us in a totally different way than at the funeral.
It was also Zach and I's first 4th of july together, the man does love his fireworks. :) We had a small barbeque with some friends on the saturday before the 4th where we had good food, good laughs (we watched Get Smart), and Fireworks. Boy did we have fireworks, they exploded in a shower of sparks and pretty colors, they rolled down the hill with the same effect, and they acted as rocket booster for Zach and his friend Shay.

Now for the "Crazy Old Lady" part. :) As I said above, I love the 4th and I love fireworks. HOWEVER, I do NOT like fireworks at midnight on a weekday right outside my house when I have work early the next morning. Just ask the teenage boys in my neighborhood. They, being young, silly, and irresponsible decided to create what Zach explained to me were M80's. apparently you tape a fountain shut with duct tape and light it off, causing it to explode and sound like everyone in the neighborhood is being fired upon. The first night I asked them to stop, probably not very nicely either, the Second night our upstairs neighbor did the same. The second night they didn't think they needed to stop. So I got on my computer and called the Non-Emergency Police Dispatch for Orem City. Mean, I know. But effective. The fireworks stopped, the children went inside and I got a good nights sleep.

The next day, upon recounting this to a friend (who called me Grandma) I realized I had turned into that Cranky Old Lady that lives in every neighborhood. But you know what? Somebody's gotta do it so it might as well be me. :) I hope everyone has a fantastic month of July!

Life...a precious commodity

Life is precious. I know a lot of people say it, but it is totally one hundred percent TRUE. This past week Grandpa Baxter passed away. When We found out, I spent aLOT of time crying. My grandpa is my hero, he has been at every important moment in my life. From my baptism, to when we got married. That is the best part, he was there when I got married. He had been getting progressively more ill as the past few years went by, more and more he wasn't able to come to family picnics and events. All I have wanted since I got out of highschool was for my Grandpa to see me get engaged and get married, he was here for both and because of this I consider myself greatly blessed.

To Lowell J Baxter and A. Reed Blomquist, My grandfathers

Love of country, love of freedom
Fighting for your family, fighting for your love
A group of people brought together as strangers
and leave forever brothers.
You trust them, and they trust you
Your thoughts are never far from why you’re there
Fighting not for yourself, but for others
Others you don’t know, and who don’t know you
But they know that you will be there
Fighting, loving, trusting, keeping them safe

Viewing from another ship the victory that means home
Celebrating with your comrades the freedom you have earned
Not for yourself but for others. Selfless acts of kindness bring
You closer to faith, closer to your god, closer to your goal, closer to your love.
With one stroke of a pen you have won, how does it feel?
Does it ease your mind, heal your heart? Do your heart and mind
Rejoice?

In the dark you hear the news, coming toward you, danger.
A torch that brings it closer shines bright
Golden gates, thousands of people and you can save them
If they help you, you can save them flying towards you, peril,
Brought in as the tide
That torch, that beacon, doused in the night, they are safe
You feel the relief and the ease as fear and danger, terror and peril abate.

Safety, it is what you bring us.
Courage, it is what you have shown us.

Honor, it is what you have that we want

Heart, What you have when all others fail you
Hope, is what you have kept alive with your service
Faith in a country and a cause that shines in your eyes
Bravery in the face of danger and in spite of your fear

Love for your family, love for your country
All these things are what you are, you are the people that we look up to, You are the ones who sacrifice all, you are the ones that we need, because of you, we believe. You ask what you are?
You are veterans, Fathers, Grandfathers, Brothers, heroes of a nation, champions of our cause, remembered always in our hearts.

To my grandfather, I love you forever

Life is Crazy...

So, I woke up this morning after a lovely morning of sleeping in to The Husband giving me a kiss goodbye as he heads off to work. I have decided I am extremely lucky. I have a job, an apartment, and an absolutely AMAZING husband. Work right now is busy for both of us. I work for JetBlue Airways, which is totally awesome! and The Husband, who shall be known as Zach from here on out, works as a Tester in the QA department of Imagine Learning Inc. We both, for the most part, Enjoy our work. Mine keeps me busy when Zach is not at home, and it lets me talk to a whole BUNCH of different people. Sometimes its funny, sometimes its sad, but most of the time my coworkers crack me up. Plus, you would not BELIEVE some of the crazy things we hear in the airline industry, things that are absolutely BONKERS. lol In the past year I have been Invited to go with customers to CanCun, Las Vegas, and California. Sometimes you get the crazies who won't hang up until they think that you have written down their number so that you can call them later, or their email so they can talk to you. Like I said, CRAZY. I will have more stories by the end of the year, I'm sure. Til then!

Alex

Newly Married...

A little late i know, BUT we're married. FINALLY! I thought that the "Engaged Period" (kind of like picaso's 'blue period') would never end. Life, while no less fun and crazy, has definitely slowed down. Things are settling into a more steady flow and routine for both The Husband and I, He works and I work, and when we're off we both chill and do whatever comes to mind. (including housework...shudder)

The Wedding was AMAZING!!! Absolutely spectacular! The cake was awesome (see picture to the side.), the Decor was beautiful (again, see picture to the side) and the food was DE-licious! Or so I heard. We spent so much time talking and greeting our friends and family that food was a fond dream that night, we could smell it but never quite catch enough time to taste it.

The day was beautifully sunny, the only weekend in may that wasn't wet and dreary, and I was so greatful. I woke up that morning, dawn had not even touched the mountains, and it finally dawned on me that we were getting married. We had made it to the most important day of our lives. The ceremony was in one word, Incredible, touching, tearjerking, spectacular, and wonderful. Pictures were a dream, our photographer was Adam Moore. Who is quite possibly one out of 3 people that I trust to take pictures of us. Not to mention he is a FANTASTIC photographer. (See attached photos.

Everything was perfect. But then, I married the perfect person for me. And that really is what its all about. Him, Me, We, Us, One life, One love. Oh gosh, I sound like a Hallmark Card. But who doesn't think like one, even if we don't say it out Loud.


More to Come on the adventures of our crazy, loony lives.


The Lewnyweds

Life...a bumpy road...

I walk through the glass doors into a building that smells like antiseptic and cleaning materials, my shoes squeak on the white linoleum tile floor. The elevator dings when i push the UP button and the doors slide open. I press the button for floor 2 and the elevator starts to rise, as it does my spirits plummet to the basement. No one likes going to a hospital, much less anyone in my family after what happened to dad (ie. death scares, icu visits, and a long long recovery) and now, another family member is there. My grandpa, the person who told me war stories and wrote my birthday cards, who used to tell me he was 'Fine as Frogs Hair.". He is a man who always has a joke on hand to lighten up any situation, and i adore him and always have. He is my hero, he went through World War 2, saw the signing of the peace treaty between Japan and The United states, he has had a full life.

I heard today from my parents that he is dying, and won't be leaving the hospital. You can imagine how i feel, devastated, sad, a little angry, and even a little relieved for him. As I enter the room to visit him, the monitor beeping in the corner as a reminder that we don't have much time left, and when I see a full face oxygen mask over his face I finally start to cry. I see 2 of my closest cousins, lance and meggan, standing next to him holding his hand making him feel loved and not alone in spite of what he faces. I hug them both and the tears fall harder. I don't know what to do, and feel a little lost.


As i stood there and carefully held his hand, he looked at me through the clear plastic mask and smiled at me and told me he was glad I came. Honestly I don't know how I kept it together enough to smile and talk to him. The Respiratory specialist came in long enough to take the mask off and readjust his oxygen, giving us cousins there a chance to kiss his leathery cheek and tell him we love him. I hugged him and heard his heartbeat against my ear, which made me cry again. Soon enough my sisters got there and The Husband (yes i'm married now. :) ) and I left the room to make room for more visitors.


I still don't know quite how to handle myself in the face of all this. Since then Grandpa has gotten a little better, the situation is not quite so dire and he his definitely looking better. It seems like we were gifted with a little more time with the man we all love.


Quirky

Workaholism...Its a 6 step process...

I am a workaholic, but not by choice. And like i said, it is a 6 step process. Step One: You get your first job as a Part Time Employee. YEAH!!! So exciting. You go to work, you have fun, you take time off if its offered and everything is great. Step Two: Bills. You get your first set of Grown Up bills in the mail. ugh. So you pick up a few more hours to be able to pay them. Step Three: You get yourself into a relationship. Suddenly you are spending a little bit more than you normally would. Step 4: you get your second Part Time job to help out with your new expenses. Step 5: Both of your jobs get super busy and need you to work more than the scheduled 24 hours a week. Step 6: You suddenly realize that you have 65 hour work weeks and have not had a true day off in over 3 months. You are now a workaholic. Or at least I am! I am grateful for my jobs, they make my wedding (YES I AM GETTING MARRIED WOOT WOOT!!!!) possible. The Guy tells me that I have turned into the "person in the den" because I work a ton. At the end of april I will just have ONE job, thank heavens. Hopefully things will calm down After that...ha ha, i know, yeah right.