Summer Days

Wow! Why is it when summer comes around I seem to lose track of the time since I last wrote a post?

This last month has been crazy busy, but in all the best kinds of ways. Let's see. Where to start...
I 'volunteered' Fielding and I to help out at one of my coworker's houses. She and her husband just bought their house a few months ago and they've been busy making improvements to their yard. We helped them move some rocks, finish a chain link fence, and clear a flowerbed. Mostly my goal was to get Fielding and I out to do something, but Fielding became ambitious.

The next thing I knew Fielding started working heavily on our yard and coming up with plans for what he wants to do in the future. We now have 1.75 weeded flower beds, a smattering of mint, and one raspberry cut we may voluntarily give up if we can steal some cuts from the neighbor. They have Bear Lake raspberries and Fielding even likes them. (That's saying something 'cause Fielding HATES raspberries.) Fielding also bought a hedge trimmer, but with how prickly the hedge is it's just terrible work. He also took the time to thatch (rake all the dead stuff out) the grass so he could seed it for new grass. And from what I can tell, the thatching and water is working because we have baby grass. I actually excited to see how it all works out. Hopefully this ambition will last through the rest of summer and we can move on to bigger projects for next year.

Outside of that, Fielding and I have been spending a lot of the weekends down in Herriman with his family. We have hit up the new reservoir pretty much every weekend. I love it. It's like going to the beach without having to drive 12 hours to get there. Last time we invited my youngest sister and her son, Colin, and my youngest brother. It was great times. Though all of the Roe's seemed to go home with sunburns. (I know it's bad, but we all hate sunscreen.) I also (unfortunately) promised Fielding's dad that I would go paddle boarding the next time we're out. I still don't know how I feel about this, but I hope it goes as well in real life as my mind thinks it can. Doubtful, but I guess I can dream.

But the reservoir isn't the only reason to go visit his family, outside of good conversation they always seem to have delicious food. There are the raspberry bushes for a quick treat and when you have the time Ray (Fielding's dad) always seems to be able to cook up delicious food. He's got grilling and dutch oven down to an art. And I'm always a fan of delicious food.

Beyond that mostly I've just been sitting around waiting for people to pop. Jeniece had her daughter in June and my sister just had her Buddha baby yesterday. Now all I have to do is sit around waiting to hear when the next sibling will pop. Oh well, I guess I'll just stay away from the water. =)

Hooray for fabulous friends!

It's amazing to me how much one person can influence your life and how much you can miss them while their gone. Back in January, Megan joined the National Guard and was shipped off to basic and the after basic training.

It was terrible. I'm not even going to try to sugar coat it. A) I was a horrible pen pal. Which was a necessity during the first three months while she was at basic. It also didn't help that there were special rules you had to follow in sending a letter. (I didn't want her to get pushups because of me.) and B) five and half months is a really freaking long time to go without having a friend you see or hear from at least 3 times a week, when they're out of town.

I did okay for the first 3 months. Granted to say I didn't write nearly as much as I had hoped I would, but getting out the occasional letter was okay. That and I remember thinking the time would fly by so quickly. Then she graduated from basic. Hooray!

Okay, not so hooray because then she started her second leg of training and that's when I really started to miss her. Even while she was at basic I missed her at least twice, enough that I wished she was already home. During her second leg of training, I don't think I went a few days let alone a week wishing she was already home.

I don't know why I missed her so much, but I did. I think it has to do with me not really being a nonface chatter. I'd much rather go out with a friend or group of friends and just talk. A movie is not even required, though delicious food is always a plus. I even enjoy the occasional email, but I LOVE seeing friends in person.

Megan's not the only person I've missed though. Since I first went to school at Weber (the armpit of Utah), that is where I've found a lot of my friends. Friends I still love hearing from and seeing when I can. I always try to email Maryland Mike (I know original. Names Mike. He's from Maryland.) and catch up with Friend Shaun (again original. Love friend Shaun.) That's not to say I also don't miss my friend Danny, but sometimes people get busy in their lives. All of them have had crazy amazing adventures in life.

Maryland Mike has gone to school graduated, had all sorts of jobs, lived in England and New York, and is just amazing. Funny to think that my first impression of him was so off from who he really is. I blame part of it on poor translation and the other part on him being from the East Coast. (I know not really an excuse, but it's true.) I've met a couple people from the East Coast and their personalities and how they interact is just different from people in Utah (though I don't know that I really fit into that crowd either). I love talking to him because he's great at giving me bits of advice when I need it and reassuring me that the world is still as crazy as it has always been.

Friend Shaun on the other hand is realistic zen. I kid you not. He's one of my favorite people because he's a lot of the things I wish I could be. He originally grew up in South Africa and moved here to the states when he was about 12. He's the friend I talked to about all the deep thoughts and ideas. (We'd fit in well at a really hip, cool coffee joint. Though I don't think either of us drink coffee. I may have to ask him.) He helps balance me out a lot because that is what he's all about. Both of us love Asia (though I'm starting to think mine's more of a idealistic love. *sigh*) and the culture that comes from there. This is helpful for Shaun because he's into martial arts and a lot of the Asian religions. He's been over to Korea, Japan, and is working on going to Taiwan next. So maybe I also live a bit vicariously through him. (Either that or I'm just helping support my tour guide.)

I can't forget Mandi though. She's pretty much been there through thick and thin for me. But she's not just a friend from Weber. She and I were friends in high school too. She is incredible. She has SO much energy it's sometimes frightening and she's incredibly smart. You can ask her to find information on almost anything and within a few minutes she's got all of the information you need and more. This does not even begin to describe her insane planning skills. I don't know why, but I just kind of gave up on planning things for the most part because it always went arie. So now Mandi helps with all the planning and we always have a fabulous time. Not to mention she's planning to complete her Masters as we speak. (Well, starting it which is still MUCH better than my incomplete Bachelors. Three semesters to go.)

Anyhow, I think I've gone on enough about my friends (as limited as they are). It's funny to me because I love getting to know people and I know a million fabulous people, but for some odd reason I'm more reserved about who I consider friends. It's almost as difficult as differentiating between animals and Animals in the book Wicked. (Really I wonder why the difference, but it doesn't seem to change the facts that there is one.)

p.s. I know I missed Danny, but he's amazing too. One day I'll track him down so he won't have to worry so much about all the variables of getting down here to visit. (That's how sneaky I am. lol.)

Party People

I love a party. Especially when I get to go and hang out with my family. This weekend Meg and I (and pretty much all my other sisters), threw my sister, Kelli, a baby shower. She's pregnant with her first baby and it's a little girl.
The party was a blast. We had good food, good games, and great company. I don't think it can get any better than that. (though next time I'll need to remember how rigorous prep can be.)
Meg was our investor, truly every party should have an investor as great as Meg. She was there when we needed her and was willing to back us up with whatever we needed.
My older sister, Kim, took care of the side dishes (veggies and fruit), drink, and thank you cards. I think I liked her drink the most though. She made it especially for Kelli, though Kelli wasn't aware of it before...well, you know. =) It was called 'Safe Sex on the Beach'. Personally, I would have thrown in some Sprite or something, but I like fizzy drinks.
My younger sister, Jamie, took care of the chicken salad sandwiches even though she wasn't able to attend the party. They were really good. I even stole a few of the leftovers because I love chicken salad sandwiches.
Kristy, another sister (I know some of you are wondering how many I have. 5, that's how many.), made sure we had cute balloons, flowers, and decorations. I thought they turned out really great. Maybe in a few days the white flowers will finish absorbing the food coloring. lol. Thank goodness they didn't absorb the pink. (I don't like pink.)
Kaylene and I though had the craziest, best job ever though, I think. Kaylene is the chef in the family. If there is something fancy and delicious looking, I'm pretty sure she either has the recipe or will find it so she can make it. We debated for weeks on what to make for dessert (mostly because we kept finding things that looked delicious. I have a weakness for delicious looking food.) But we kept coming back to the chocolate covered cheesecake. That's pretty much when the madness took over. I then brought up the idea of making a few different flavors. We finally narrowed it down to three flavors: original, raspberry, and blackberry. They took a while to make, but I thought they were delicious. A bit tedious to had dip the cheesecake though (especially since we tripled the recipe). We dipped cheesecake for almost 3 hours. Seriously, delicious, but next time we will make one pan and worry about flavors for one batch only. (They turned out really good though. I think raspberry was the best.)
All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good party. Even if we are a bit loud. (Okay, we're pretty much just loud.)

Fielding on the other hand got to try out a D&D party (dungeons and dragons). He said had a lot of fun. And though it is a weird game (or so I've heard), I'm sure it had more to do with the fact that the people he hung out with were a lot of fun. We'll see how it goes the next time around.

hmmm...surgery for you today

Fielding woke up on Cinco de Mayo with a stomach ache about 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. And me, being the sympathetic wife I am, asked what was wrong. He said his stomach was hurting really bad on the right hand side. I told him I thought that was the appendicitis side and asked him if there was anything I could do for him. I told him that if he was still hurting in the morning we would go in to the doctor's office. Until then, I had to get back to sleep because I had work that day. 6 o'clock rolls around and I wake up to the sound of dry heaving. (never a good sound. I'm always afraid I'll have something gross to clean up.) I holler out of the room and ask if Fielding is okay. He says he is, but that his stomach is still hurting and he wants to go see the doctor. So I get out of bed, get dressed, call the doctor's office (they don't open until 7.), and finish preparing the stuff I'm supposed to take to my work party. Call the doctor's office again and set up an appointment. Call my boss to let him know I'll be in late, and drop off the party stuff.
Once we're at the hospital, they run Fielding through all of the basic check-in. Our doctor comes in and the first words out of her mouth are 'oh, it's never a good sign when they're hunched over like that'. She checks his back from any pain. None there. She then picked up his foot and hit the heel of it with her hand. Well that certainly got a reaction. Who would have thought hitting the bottom of the foot would be a medical technique. Next thing I know they're calling an ambulance, putting an iv in him for fluids, and telling him he gets to go into emergency surgery.
Seriously!?! Not exactly what I had planned for the day and not really something I was too keen on dealing with. (I'm not a fan of hospitals or needles. They freak me out.) I can't tell you how ... I can't think of the word, but it's definitely not something I'll ever forget. Not to mention my doctor's advice, if you're going to follow the ambulance don't get freaked out if they flip the lights and sirens. (No problem. I didn't plan on following that closely anyhow. That wouldn't help my mentality.)
The next tasks were letting work know I wouldn't be in for a couple of days, finding out what I needed to do for insurance stuff, notifying his parent's, and not freaking out.
You'd think that when you go in for emergency surgery it would happen really quickly, but since Fielding wasn't too bad there was a lot of waiting and clearance that happened before he went in for surgery. Two hours to confirm the diagnosis with a doctor and a surgeon, another hour in pre op., and another hour or two in actual surgery and recovery.
Luckily, everything went really well and there were no additional problems. There were a few things I learned though. My husband doesn't like the initial feel of morphine. He isn't crazy weird like most people on drugs, but he does talk a lot. He also makes the funniest smiling face when told to smile post op. (He blames it on how dry his lips were.) The great part was how awesome University Hospital was. They did a great job and took care of a lot of the basic so I didn't have to. (I have to give Fielding's parents kudos for sitting there from about 11 in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon.) Oh, I also learned I don't like waiting around in a hospital. There are definitely a million other things I could fill the time with.
So far Fielding is recovery really well. He was up the night of the surgery and has been getting better since. He has now been cleared to mow the lawn so hopefully the city will leave us alone. Outside of that he still has to wait another 4-6 weeks before he's considered fully recovered.

Hooray for insurance and fast recoveries! I guess that will teach me to think my life is boring.

Life is life is life

I can't believe it has been so long since I had something to say. (okay, let's face it I don't think that will ever really happen.) My life has just been crazy with vacation, school, and work.
In March, Fielding and I went to Las Vegas with our friends, Mandi and Jason. It was great fun to get out and not have to worry about going to work for a few days. Though in the long run, Fielding and I learned that Vegas just isn't for us. Except for the delicious buffet at the Rio and the roller coaster at the New Yorker.
School was a mad dash. I completed two courses I had taken I's in last fall. Luckily, I got an A in my Ancient Russian History class and I'm still waiting to hear on the other one. Hopefully it will go well and I can work on finishing up the rest of my classes. If I do well and ever get around to passing that blasted Math class, I'll be graduating in 3 semesters. I just can't believe how close I'm getting. Hooray!
Fielding on the other hand looked at his transcript and realized that he is about a semester or two away from graduating with his Associates in a few different areas. He's then thinking about pharmacology up at the U. I'm excited for him and hope he gets to those classes. At least he has finished the dumb math class I'm stuck on.
Outside of that my life has been pretty full of work. Most of the time that means I'm in the office, but I got the chance to go out on a senior portrait photo shoot. It was a lot of fun and I was shocked at how different Chelsie looked from one shot to the next. Luckily, a lot of the pictures turned out really cool, even with the harsh sunlight.

Hopefully Kaylene and I will be lucky enough to get some good pictures with Kelli too.

New and Exciting

Over the weekend Fielding and I had two firsts and both of them were amazing.

We went to Chickfila and Alice and Wonderland. They were amazing.

Chickfila was great, but I wasn't quite sure what to order. The menu seemed so different from all of the other 'quick food' places. (It's not officially called 'fast food'.) It had all of these chicken meals, but all of the sides were different. They were fruits and healthy (or at least seemed it) stuff. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. But since Fielding and I were headed to a movie, I ordered chicken nuggets. Delicious. I definitely have a new place to get chicken nuggets from. Fielding ordered the chicken strips and thought they were pretty good. It was funny because I would almost go so far as to say we ordered the same thing, just different sizes.

After getting our food and eating it in less than 4 minutes, we headed over to the theater to see Alice in Wonderland. I think it is one of my new favorite movies. It was incredible and I think everyone should go see it. It tells the story of Alice, but seems more real. I don't think it destroys Disney's original Alice in Wonderland. I instead think it is another rendition that can stand on its own. The costumes, character development, and environment were so well coordinated that it drew me in. After the movie was over, I just wanted to be able to sit down and have a conversation with the Mad Hatter or the Queen of Hearts. (though she's probably just want me beheaded.)

In addition to being a visual masterpiece, it was also thought provoking. From the beginning of the film, you start to draw associations between some of the characters and by the end you feel like it's a puzzle that begs for understanding. Okay, so I think I wanted to be able to unravel it a bit more. (I'm sure Fielding is chuckling about that statement.)

Anyhow, I think if you had thought not to see it you should go see it. Even before the movie ended, I added it to the list of movies I want to own.

Outside of those two exciting things, there isn't a whole lot more to tell. Though Fielding was REALLY excited to get Final Fantasy XIII the other night. I don't know that he's come to bed before one for the past couple of nights.

Whirlwinds and such

What can I say life is a whirlwind and when it has you in it's grasp you just don't have time to catch your breath let alone worry about the last time you posted anything.

Hmm...let's see where to start.

Megan joined the National Guard and headed off to basic for about the next four to six months the last week of January. From the random bits of information I hear, it's not nearly as terrible as everyone thought it was going to be. She's holding tough though. After all she is a Bartlett and as stubborn as they come.

Tried to pull together a Girls Night to go see a chickflick, but it fell through. Sadly, I went to go see the movie anyway. Bad choice! It was horrid. I can appreciate a chickflick with the best of them and even terribly cliche circumstances, but it was terrible. I think the only thing that was good in the whole movie was the clothes and shoes. Oh well, I guess I can give it up and run blindly towards a new movie. Alice in Wonderland is coming out next week!

Oh I also found out that there are way too many people I know having kids. I'm thinking about joining a convent or at least hibernating until it's passed. And Fielding won't even let me joke about getting another pet. He has told me in no uncertain terms that if I bring another one home at least two will have to go. Oh well, I'm sure I can console myself be reading a bunch cheesy novels and watching ridiculous movies.

And so that Fielding and I can get in shape we're going to be following the P90X program. A few people I know have recommended it, but that in no way means I'm excited about it. Well rather, I'm not excited to feel the pain. I'm more than okay working out. I'm just afraid it's going to kick my trash.

That's pretty much all of the crazy madness that been going on. At least around work and school. Just give me another month and I'm sure I can come up with some more terribly connected random thoughts. I guess it must be a sign that I need to go to bed.