Hunting with my Dad

I’ve had the opportunity to spend the last two weekends with my dad. Since the hunting season has approached the weekends have been full of hiking, four wheeling and looking for the right “one”. I can remember back when I was young how excited I would get to go out hunting with my dad. We would stop off at my Grandma’s for a nice warm breakfast and then we would head out and wait for the sun to rise. He would always have a pocket full of pine nuts, an apple and a snickers bar to take along with us when we hiked around looking for deer. And the lunch he would bring would be amazing (thanks mom). He always made it a point to make me feel welcome, loved, and most of all he enjoyed sharing the beauty of the outdoors with me. He would always tell me to respect the wildlife and its surroundings. I have learned a lot from him just from these excursions. When I finally turned 14 it was my turn to be the hunter. We would go out to the Lee Kay center for some target practice and he would always quiz me on hunter safety scenarios that might arise. When I got into high school other things kept me from going but when I could, I would go. My brother filled in my shoes for a while and after my brother passed away it took about two years for him to get out again. But since then I have made it out with him for every opening day. Be it Antelope, deer, turkey, duck, or sage hen there’s always a story to tell.
This last opening day was no different. We sat in the truck perched in the saddle of two mountains as we watched the sun rise. The sun rise was particularly spectacular that morning. We took off on foot as soon as we could see. You see some pretty neat things that early in the morning. We made our way around two mountains before we headed back to the truck so we could pull out the four wheeler. As we were hiking back I realized my dad was having a hard time walking. It was his knees. It hit me at this moment how precious life really is. My dad, even though he’s still fairly young, won’t be here forever to take me hunting. It just made me sit back and think about how thankful I was for making the effort to spend these precious moments with him. Not only was it good for me, but I know he was thankful I was there with him too. My dad has lot of hunting years ahead of him and I can’t wait when he’s a grandpa teaching his grandchildren what he’s taught me. I’m just thankful I’ve been blessed with the gift of time. I know time is limited and that's why I need to make it count now! Thanks dad, I love you!

Appreciated

The other night, before bed, we were sitting down to some homemade bread and some hot chocolate. I pulled out a tub of butter for Scott to use on his toast. When he opened it up, it was empty. He looked up at me and said, “Babe, when you go to the store again will you make sure to get some more ….” Before he was able to finish his sentence I whipped out a new tub of butter and handed it to him. “Wow”, he said, “You just keep this house running don’t you!” That little comment was like giving me a huge high five. Then, last night we were folding some bedding together. As Scott went for the fitted sheet he immediately realized that he really didn’t want to fold it. (No one wants to fold a fitted sheet) In about 30 seconds I had the fitted sheet folded. I looked up from what I was doing when I heard Scott say, “That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.”
Again, another Thank you slapped me across the face. Scott has always been good at complimenting my homemaking skills but there are times when they still come as a shock to him. While sometimes his compliments still come as a shock to me, it’s nice. It’s nice to be appreciated and to know my efforts don’t go unnoticed in our home!

I've been tagged

Ok Em, my west side sista. I’m doing this for you! It’s actually been a long time since I’ve done one of these.

3 names you go by:
- Shawna - nawna (Edith, you come to mind)
- Smelly
- Babe

3 things I’m wearing right now:
- A necklace that I made
- My favorite brown shirt
- A Bra

3 Restaurants that I love:
- Thai Chili Garden
- Normandy Cafe
- Bistro 201 (Newport beach, CA)


3 things I have to do today:
- Get all my Medicare denials in, here at work
- Call a friend
- E-mail someone special

3 trips to plan this year:
- Planned a trip to Vegas over the 4th of July
- Planned a trip to the yurt
- Planning a trip up the canyon to see the leaves (Can you tell this year has been rather exciting for us when it comes to trips.)

3 things I want badly:
- Enough money to sustain me and my family for our life time
- To loose weight, to look great (yes, that is one not two things because in order for me to look great I need to loose weight… it just feakn’ won’t come off!)
- To be a mom

3 Pets I have/had:
- Sam, our Jack Russell
- Hermie, my Ginny pig (she froze to death after I had given her too many baths….I loved the way she looked when she was wet. I was 12)
- Josey and Henry (The two hound dogs we had growing up. I know that makes four pets but I consider these two to be one. They were great dogs)


3 things I did yesterday:
- Went to work (as always)
- Flushed someone else’s bowel movement since they didn’t have the courtesy to do it when they were in the bathroom to begin with. (This has happened twice since. I swear someone here at work is out to get me.It’s disgusting.)
- Watched the season premiere of the Office. (Have you seen the commercials they have out lately? I haven’t watched TV in months and it seems like the commercials are getting funnier and more risqué, ha ha and yikes!)

3 things I ate today:
- A granola bar
- A black forest sandwich from the Dutch store
- String cheese (gotta love the string cheese)

3 goals I have:
- To have all my Christmas gift buying done by the end of October. (I’m almost there.)
- Build my home Salon.
- Get my crown molding up before next weekend (It’s been sitting in my garage forever.)

3 Fears that I have:
- Spiders (They always seem to creep around when I’m in the shower. Once I stepped out of the shower and one was dangling from a web and landed on my breast. My breast hurt for a while after that. )
- Obama as President
- Dying an ignominious death (In the scriptures they sat it wasn’t pretty)

3 things I plan on doing today:
- Getting my PPR report to my supervisor before I leave for work today.
- Calling my sister’s
- Going to dinner and a movie

3 things I’m doing tomorrow:
- Going to a Volleyball game
- Painting my crown molding
- Going with my mom to the Women’s Conference

3 of my favorite holidays:
- Christmas (Especially this year)
- Thanksgiving
- July 4th….IF I’m in Oregon

Collide

As I was going through some pictures today I came across this music video Scott made for me for our 5th wedding anniversary. In this video you will see scenes from our trip to San Fran, our Cruise to the Bahamas, Scott trying to water ski, our trip to Orlando, our trip to Nauvoo, the 2002 Olympics, the Alaskan Inn, and some old footage of our wedding. It was fun to watch the footage of our wedding. Scott is a little hard to recognize...oh, wait, so am I. Anyway, enjoy. When I was rendering the video over to the blog the music was a little off . The original is perfect.

The Mexican lawn edge cutter man!

So I’m sitting at me desk here at work and the most hysterical thing just happened. (At least I thought it was.) I sit next to a big window that’s at ground level. It's a little after three in the afternoon as I watch the maintenance crew roll in with all their lawn equipment, weed wakers, and leaf/grass blowers, you name it.(As you can tell, I was really into my work at this moment.) Most of these guys are Mexican, I assume, and they are talking a million miles away in spanish while flicking their cigarettes and smelling their armpits as they work. (It’s true, all of this happened.). Anyway, there was this one guy who was checking out one of the employees here who was walking by. (Her name is Lisa, she’s pretty hot) He was trimming up the edge of the lawn here near my window when I watched him, while he was checking Lisa out; literally walk right into my window -“THUD!”….. It was the funniest thing EVER! I laughed right out loud and I laughed hard. Tears were streaming down my face within a matter of seconds. There’s still a cheek mark left on the window as evidence from where this guy hit. It’s been quite a while since I’ve laughed this hard. I think I may have lost a little weight. My co-workers had to wait out my hysterical moment until I was able to finally compose myself. Thanks random Mexican lawn edge cutter man for making my day!

NKOTB!!!

If you know what the acronym NKOTB stands for and if you loved these guys in the 90's then you need to get in contact with me immediately!!! I really want to make my dream come true. Who wants to go with me to this concert coming to the E-Center on Nov.15th? Any takers? Don't be making fun....I'm totally serious! Let me know!!!!

Summer 2008

I know that summer isn't officially over until September 22nd but I'm so excited for Fall that I thought I would post my summer pics now. There's a few pictures I can't find, but all and all I got the "jist" of our summer packaged together in this one post.

Our 8 mile hike to Dry Lake w/the family

Kelly and Andrew moved out of our basement and to Alabama for school. Andrew didn't want to throw his back again. ( he he)

Memorial weekend was spent doing Sydney's and Chads wedding. Scott took the pictures and I did hair.

Mom and Dad went to Hawaii and we took care of their yard and their dog for a week.

Holly and Mike's wedding. I did the hair and Scott took the pics

Girls Camp for a whole week. I had a blast. Being in YW's is so awesome!

Fourth of July in Las Vegas visiting the Ty & Kim clan

Ally & Jacob's wedding. Again, I did hair and Scott took pics (we love the whole duo thing we've got going on)

The next weekend, Kristy and Wes's Wedding. I got up at 4 am to do hair. As you can see below it was quite the wedding party! Scott took the pics

The Polynesian wedding cake... I mean cakes.

Kris and Ryan moved to Cleveland for Dental school we helped them pack on up

Our Neighborhood Pioneer Day breakfast. This year it was held in our circle.

The Harmon family reunion.

Grandpa Sanderson's funeral

Shooting clay pigeons. No one could beat me. Can any of you?

Wayne Longhurst came into town. Had to have a BBQ. Everyone all squeezed well into our home. Our basement and backyard was the playground. It was good to see you Wayne and Charie'!

Youth Conference

Labor Day weekend at the Lily Lake Yurt

We also baby sat nieces and nephews, went swimming with the youth, went to Lagoon, rode our bikes, took Sam for evening walks, landscaped the yard, did hair, and more hair, and went and visited grandma. It was a great summer, now bring on the crisp fall weather. Yahoo!

The last three weekends

We started out our first weekend celebrating our 9th anniversary. Scott knows me well and he knows exactly what I need and when I need it. So this year, like last, we spent it outdoors 4 wheeln'. This time we stayed in a Yurt. (Next year we're planning a trip to Hawaii - I told you, he knows exactly what I need when I need it!)

Here I am following the directions on the GPS. We're looking for

our first Geocache.

Scott found a coupon to a local car wash in one of the geocache's we found.Scott was bummed when he found out the car wash had expired in Dec. 2006Playing cards in the Yurt.

The second weekend was spent attending Youth Conference. This year we went and did some service at the Humanitarian Center all Friday. We took a really cool tour of the facility (The church really has it togther when it comes to humanitarian stuff, what am I saying, they ALWAYS have it together!) We had a really yummy lunch, and then we made newborn beanies. We made over 300 beanies. From there we rewarded the kids with an overnighter up in the Uintas at Washington Lake. We stayed up till 2:30 am playing night games. It really was a ton of fun!
My beautiful Young Women

And our handsome Young MenPutting together the newborn beaniesPlay time!

Getting crazy with the smores.

This is Jon, our resident fireman and Young Men's President.

I love these ladies. As you can see there really wasn't a lot of fishing.

The whole group
Our third weekend in a row to be in the Uintas. If you have never been you need to try out the beauty that exsists in the Unitas. Most of my childhood was camping in these mountains. Anyway, we loved our stay in the Yurt so much that for Labor Day weekend we decided to take my parents up there. We did some more 4 wheeln', some fly fishn', and some major relaxing. We really did have a great time. I really missed having my sister's and their husbands with us though.

Me and Ma in front of the Yurt at Lily Lake. Cant' go without the chapstick!
Letting the frog go that we caught Scott enjoying some fly fishingThe inside of the Yurt. (The bunks are where the camera is)We loved the stove. It kept us toasty warm when it started to snow....
....that's right, it snowed. We loved it. We had a great time.

And that's been my last three weekends. Next weekend we're hiking Timp! That's right baby, all the way to the top!

We're Adopting!

Scott and I have been married for 9 years on Monday. (For all of those wanting to say congratulations on 9 years –“Thanks, yes, it’s been wonderful, thank you”) Anyway, we have been trying to have our own children for 7 years. As most of you already know we are trying to “get” a baby! Since this particular situation is a part of my life you will be getting quite the earful from me on this subject from time to time. (Yes, I know you have already been reading about my frustrations on not being a mother yet, I’m just giving you further warning.) Today I thought it would be appropriate to do some advertising and since I have this blogging phenomenon at my finger tips maybe something phenomenal might happen.

Why have I not done this before now you ask? That’s a freakn’ good question! I have no idea. I was just sitting here today thinking about what other ways I can get my name and face out there and “Hello” the blog popped into my mind. I have links on this blog that take you to other related adoption sights and it STILL did not dawn on me to post my own advertisement. So, in the next couple of days you’ll be seeing some additions to my blog in relation to us trying to adopt. I also have a link, which I will also post long term that takes you to one of our profiles available to the public through www.itsaboutlove.org (Our second profile, yes, we’ll have two, will be available for browsing in the next couple of weeks) If for any reason you would like to share any of this information with someone you know who might be interested we would totally LOVE THAT!! So help us spread the word! “WE WANT TO BE PARENTS” (that’s right, scream it from the roof tops for us….or along with us. You can actually scream “SCOTT AND SHAWNA WANT TO BE PARENTS” so no one is confused that it’s you who want more children……You understand what I’m saying) Thanks so much for your help and kind words. Without you we know it would take a lot longer.

The sprint we hope will happen

Since we’ve been in our house we’ve had our home to ourselves for a total of 8 months. We’ve lived in our home for over 2 years. The other 16 some odd months we have had someone or some bodies living with us. Yes, I know, we are the nicest people ever! It’s true. For the most part being able to share my home with family and friends has been a blessing. Since we don’t have any children it has been easy to accept others into our home. It’s our way of helping them get their feet on the ground. All...., except one, has left our home running full sprint.

Scott’s brother is back and has been with us for only one week. Pulling my hair out comes to mind; or maybe stabbing my eye with a pencil. In a year can you imagine what I will look like if I continue this selfish spiral? Yes, that’s how long the agreement is for. (Or until we receive the miraculous call that we are getting a baby…I believe in Miracles!)

I’m praying for a better attitude, an open mind, and more patience! I just hope that his stay with us will eventually end with him sprinting toward his dreams!

What Disney Princess are you?

I got this link from my sister in law. It was kinda fun so I thought the rest of you would like to try it out to see what Disney princess you are. Let me know. What's very interesting about this princess is that she is really one of my ansectors. It's true. I could show ya. Anyway, have fun with this.

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Grandpa Pug

On Sunday I got a call from my mom letting me know that my grandpa was in the hospital and that he was dying. We jumped in the car and headed down to the Payson hospital. I was pretty quiet on the way down, reflecting on what was happening and the changes that were to come. I remember it was raining and it was beautiful. We were about 5 minutes from the hospital when the hymn, “Each life that touches ours for good” came on. I thought of my grandpa and all the great memories we’ve had. He was my hunting buddy, my fourwheeln’ buddy, and he loved to come out and camp with us. Whenever you would go and visit grandma and grandpa Sanderson you always knew grandpa would offer you ice cream or cake. And if you didn’t want any you’d get a bowl full of it anyway. As I was listening to the song I also had a feeling of peace, grandpa had passed and I knew my brother, along with other loved ones, were there to greet him on the other side. The phone rang bringing me back to reality. “Shawna, grandpa just passed away.” We walked into the hospital and said our goodbyes. I Love you Grandpa! We are really going to miss you.

The Sunflower

This year I finally got to the landscaping of my front yard. I was so excited to finally have a chance to work on it. I took a whole Saturday and finalized everything. My grass doesn’t look the greatest but I’m doing my best to maintain it. Now, if you were to look in my backyard it’s a different story. The lawn is kept mowed but the perimeter of the lawn is covered in 6 foot weeds. Even the elevation where the big trees grow has become entangled in weeds and is quite an eyesore.

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A couple of weeks ago I was struggling with the woes of life. It was one of those moments when you look at where you are and you either get really excited or you get really depressed. I was focusing, at this time, on where I thought I should be at the age of thirty. I was sad because both my sister’s have now moved out of state and not just a few states away, but clear across the country. I am struggling with getting into the whole adoption waiting process (I never in my wildest dreams imagined having a family would be this hard.) I’m mad that all the fertility pills I took over the years made me a fat lardo and now losing the weight is just as hard for me as trying to have children. And I hate that I have to go to work everyday instead of taking my children, which I don’t have, swimming or doing whatever fun activity you can enjoy with your children over the summer, or at any time.
As you can see this was a destructive thought process. I even consider myself a happy person. This last time was pretty bad though. Keeping busy helped me a lot. I remember when my brother passed away. I thought nothing would be as hard or depressing as that. And as we all know, the trials just keep a comin. One thing I’ve learned…you can never compare your trials!
I’ve been reading a book called “The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls. It’s a true story about Jeanette’s life. Reading this has brought clarity to my mind in regards to trials we encounter. I have always been thankful for the things that I have been blessed with, even my trials. But reading about other people and their life struggles can help put your own life into perspective.


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The other day I came home from a very tiring day at work. Sam, our dog, greeted me at the door but was hesitant to greet me in her usual exciting way. She was a little forlorn. I knew right away that something was wrong. I made my way into the kitchen... nope, no pooh on the floor. I made my way down the hall and as I came to our bedroom I noticed that the door was open and a very foul smell came a wafting up my nostrils. As I made my way into the room I saw before me a horrendous nightmare! Sam had literally exploded all over our room. There was pooh and dog puke everywhere. It was in our bathroom, all over the floor and to my utter horror it was all over in our BED!!!!(the gag reflex started taking over at this point) Sam didn't realize she had came very close to living out her last day. She had done all this early enough in the day that it had time to really soak into the floor and bed. I started to cry. This was NOT a mess I wanted to deal with. Scott couldn’t handle it; he’d be puking and making the same mess she had if he would have tried to tackle it, so it was up to me to set to cleaning it up. It came down to us having to buy a new mattress. Funny thing, I didn’t mind that we needed a new mattress. Interesting..., something great came out of this horrible mess. I slept great on my new mattress that night. (thanks also goes out to George W. Bush and that great stimulus package of his)

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A couple of days ago I got up to get ready for work. It was a little darker in the bathroom then normal so I opened up the bathroom window, it was over cast and trying to rain. I took in a deep breathe to smell the cool summer morning air. Instantly I noticed it. It struck me so strong. It was vivid and beautiful. Among the 6 foot weeds in my unkempt backyard stood a strong and beautiful sunflower. I had never noticed it before. It seemed as if it was placed there specifically for me on that morning. It had grown right up through the thick roots of the weeds that were surrounding it. It grew where it was placed and it was beautiful. Everything became so clear and I realized that I could truly handle anything. Dog throw up, adopting my family, missing my sister’s, losing a brother, or trying to loose weight. Life is good, we have been given so much, and it’s up to us on how to grow amongst the weeds of life!

Independence Day 2008

Since we weren't able to make it out to Oregon (the best place to be in the world over July 4th) We decided to take a trip down to hell (Las Vegas) to visit The woman and the Man. Hell was a whopping 112 degrees while we were there so we spent most of our time inside. We had a great time, as always. And we were greeted with open arms and the tugging of the blankets as our nieces woke us up for the yummy fourth of July breakfast. We started out the morning with a few haircuts....hence the picture of the little man below. He did well despite all the tears!

Now just because we spent most of our time inside it didn't go to waste. We snuck in a hour or so of some guitar hero. We both rocked!

Later in the afternoon the "Woman's" sister and her family came over for a BBQ but not before we went on our awesome Fourth of July picture scavenger hunt compliments of the "Woman." We has a ton of fun and the kids loved it. Below are a few of the things we had to find.

Picture in front of a firework stand. 10pts. Check

A car decorated for the fourth. 15 pts. Check

Dessert in red, white, and blue. 10 pts. Check

Sing the National Anthem with a stranger. 15 pts. Check

A darn cute picture of the the "Little Man". Priceless. Check

A lit sparkler (for sake of time we got crazy and lit it while driving). 10 pts. Check

Puzzle of the US. 10 pts. Check

A great weekend spent with family. Again, Priceless. Check

Thanks T & K for a great Fourth of July weekend. We really had a great time, as always. Hope everyone else enjoyed celebrating the freedom we enjoy by living in this great country.