A Full Year!!

Well, it will have been a full year of marriage when this up-coming Saturday rolls around. It has been a bumpy ride full of craziness. They say money is couple's hardest thing to overcome...I have to agree. You go from being single and being able to spend on whatever you want with no real responsibilities, to asking your spouse if it's okay. I've had several friends say that very same thing and it's true. We have moved 4 times, only once was truly by choice. We have spent many weekends in Mt. Pleasant where my parents are building their dream home (it's amazing!). We have gained 2 nephews and 1 niece, adding our total to 14 nephews and nieces! We love them all! The oldest just turned 10 (Brenden) and it's just amazing.

For an early Christmas present Matt had a bound book made of our wedding pictures. It is absolutely beautiful and I love it!

I have decided that I am married to the most wonderful man that is perfect for me. We, as every one does, have our moments, but love prevails and we end up laughing at ourselves.

He gets home usually around midnight and I love him crawling into bed and us just talking about our days until one or the other falls to sleep. I love that he enjoys cooking. Even at this moment he is making us breakfast. I sit here and think of the past year and what I absolutely love about the man I married and in no way can list them all.

Gosh, one whole year...it has flown by!

The Past Few Months

Matt is all dressed and ready to go duck hunting! He and my cousins have gone several times and love it! There are a few places that they go that are under 10 minutes away. I love that he has found people up here that love to hunt just as much as he does. We now love to shoot clay pigeons from my parents driveway in Mt. Pleasant. Matt and I have yet to figure out how to get the dumb things to fly from the thrower. My brothers laugh at our attempts. :)

"Witches Night Out" At Gardner Village (a shopping center) they had a way fun weekend where everyone dressed as witches and they had drawings and a witches cackle contest...it was so much fun. This pic is of one of the sets that they set up with a little fence around. The figures moved and everything. FUN!! We also went trick-or-treating with my nephews. They were so cute. I made us costumes as mustard and ketchup.

Matt loves orange rolls on Thanksgiving and we couldn't go to his parents so I made them. That recipe takes a LONG time to complete, but they are WAY yummy! His family loves them right from the oven, and mine needs frosting. So funny how different families are.

THE PIE!! Between my dad and his brother (Ed) they love pie. The night before Thanksgiving we eat pie and play games. This happened to be the first to be cut and they can't hardly wait. Look at those faces! They are ready!

My mom makes the best pies, and tons of them. This year she probably made fewer than ever at 13. Some others brought more and we had a total of around 18 ish. YUMMMM! In the background is my moms beautiful new kitchen in Mt Pleasant! It is amazingly done. Beautiful cabinets, 2 ovens, dark granite, tile flooring...wonderful!

And...Patches! She is the cutest kitty. If there is a box or even a slightly open bag she is not only exploring around it, but in it. I tried to pick the bag up with her in it and she didn't like it so well.

Besides school and work that is about ll that has gone on.

Sad...

The woes of the stock market are seemingly getting closer. I work for a CPA and it's hard to overhear people talking with him about losing their homes and him saying that there is nothing at this point they can do. He does his best to help them lessen the blow, but it makes me sad. It's becoming more and more frequent. I watch the market go up slightly one day and being happy, and the next it plummets and we get bombarded with phone calls wanting comfort in their investments...which for some are now non-existent.

I can't help it to be sad for those who are struggling even more than myself...loosing everything...

SO AWESOME!

Kathy Visher sent this to us and we just laughed and laughed! It is a ward's talent night and the brothers are awesome! Their ending is the best ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f86qKQJg3Z8

Voted? Check!

As I was reading every one's blogs and commenting that today is the first time I had done so, I decided to write a little of my anticipations and disappointment. I married a man that if fully into the government scene and feels a civic duty to be a part of electing it's leaders. I on the other hand had learned of the electoral college and decided it was a waste of time when I knew my state would vote the way I would have in the first place. As it is also a big deal in the CPA office I work in, I became intrigued and did my own research on the presidential nominees. I asked Matt his opinion (short and to the point), and then my co-workers opinion (drawn out addressing both sides). Both people voted for a different candidate, yet I wanted to make sure I was choosing the one that best fit my life-style and standards. I have also followed the proposition 8 in CA because I know that it will one day take its course through the nation (plus Matt would love to move back to CA).

I made a decision...I was going to vote. I sent in my application thinking they would send me something back, big fat nope! I then decided which candidate I wanted, went to an early voting place and they weren't even open. Shesh! Why is this difficult? So I waited in anticipation for my turn at the polls and went before work this morning hoping that there would only be a short line. I assume it was because of the snow, but I went in, signed a paper, showed my I.D, stuck my little plastic card into the machine, touched the screen a few times, took out my card, got a sticker that says that I voted, and left. A whole 8 minutes! Disappointed? YUP!

I was expecting to wait in a line and be annoyed that it was taking so long. I expected a small rally of people for and against nominees. Never having done it before I expected what you see on T.V. Apparently it is not the same.

Well, I hope that whomever wins the election is willing and able to lead our country into the future.

First and foremost, I have gone back to school! Kind of a last minute decision and I am fully engulfed in the curriculum. It is a program from SLCC for a certificate in medical coding and billing. So far, tons of memorization, but way interesting. Matt is still loving his history class and has been doing loads of x-tra credit so he doesn't have to write the 25-page paper due at the end of the semester :) He still hates math but is doing amazingly well. He has found a math instructor that is willing to sit down with him and chat about the stuff. This is good because I am a horrid teacher! I know the stuff, but am very impatient. We would end up yelling at each other about the problem at hand and once we came to a conclusion it would start all over on the next one. LOL! It's a good thing we have a great relationship.

This is where we spent our Conference Weekend, in the mountains. My uncle has built 3 cabins on his property in Sanpete County and it is gorgeous up there! Early Saturday Matt and my bro-in-law Steve went hunting (first day of hunt = VERY excited Matt!!) They came back drenched, cold, muddy, and Matt with a broad grin. He could even wring out lots of water from his coat! We left early unfortunately, due to snow.

Cute niece Ashley and her cup of hot chocolate, a staple on Staker family camping trips. It was only the Ed Staker clan, my parents and my sister Kelly's family that went up. It's just so peaceful.

My new toy!! I have been telling Matt that I want a Cannon camera since day one of our relationship. Well, he got me one!! I absolutely LOVE IT!! We need to do more stuff so I have more opportunities to use this beauty.

If I get a toy, so does Matt. These are our early Anniversary gifts. It is his AR - Left handed. Boys and their toys. Wait, I like the 'toys' just as much as he does...what happens then?

Every time we go to my parents house in Sanpete we go to a shooting range that the locals have set up. It is quite fun really! I get to see Matt so serious and running funny scenarios in his head and practicing how fast he can pull the gun from his holster. He loves this stuff and I love watching, I mostly get a chuckle out of it.

I don't look nearly as good. But it's fun!

As a 3-year old self found out, never, never stick your finger in the crack!

He (my Pop) is actually trying to get Patches out from under there so he can play with her.

What a funny kitty!! Need I say more?

LOL!

I was reading Annie's blog and these were just too good!

• I wish I were a glow worm, a glow worm is never glum, because how could you be unhappy when the sun shines out your bum?
• Boycott shampoo, demand real poo instead
• Stupidity is not a crime so you're free to go
• I love to give homemade gifts, which one of my kids do you want
• Don't drink and park - accidents cause people
• Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines

The first one is by far my favorite!!