The Stuff I Forget to Mention

Sorry I couldn't resist putting some squirrels in. They are all over the place here. Sophie chases them up a tree when she goes outside. They are really cute and its so cool how golden they are. It gives me a flashback to watching sword in the stone. So funny when he's turned into a squirrel.

Ok so my blog is getting really finnicky. It only lets me load pictures every other week and then only on weekends and holidays and basically its really annoying, but I hate to leave a post without a picture cause a picture is really helpful in keeping the mind alert. I get bored when people only write its like reading someone's journal which I've heard is wrong.

So I realize that I keep posting a lot of pictures ad commenting on them but not really telling what is going on in our life and I'm sorry. I just like pictures. So here is my post that'll hopefully update everyone on our lives. I am still searching for a job and not very enthusiastically, I have to say. Its hard here. There are no jobs and a lot of people looking. I've been on 3 interviews and I didn't think any but one went well. The one that did go well gave me the job. It was to babysit their son 3 days a week, but I was supposed to replace their current babysitter and the next day she called and fired me cause she just couldn't bear to fire the other girl. And there my friend is a record in how fast you can be fired. I was all excited and then instantly went to depressed. Now i'm just trying to stay busy with the few things I have to do.

At least I have friends here who want to hang out cause they are in the same position. I might start teaching my friends kids to play piano if I find some good starter books. That would be just for fun. My friend Genoveva is still doing her photography here and I was a guinea pig the other day so our other friend Larissa could work on her portfolio. She is a makeup artist adn I have to say she is pretty dang good. I've never been into makeup so this different but it was so fun and the pictures were really good. If I can get more to load then I'll get them on here too. Or you can check out her website at, http://gwaymentphoto.com/blog/.

I've been trying to take Sophie out more since otherwise she digs in our yard and so the yard is gross and I have to clean her whenever she comes in. Steve and I rode our bikes around the old part of town this week. Its been beautiful weather here. The old town is pretty cool but its so small. Its only a few blocks. Larissa and I went exploring for fun and found this store with vintage costumes. It had the most amazing flapper dresses and awesome hats. There were turbans and viking outfits. Now we want to live in this store and just play dress up all the time.

So Steve and I tried to ride bikes with Sophie on the leash and it was a bit rough. At least when we got to the park it wasn't so bad cause we can let her off and she kept up with us on the bikes pretty well. And thats about all the excitement that has been going on here for me.

Steve is getting to the end of this semester and thank goodness. Its a bit challenging at the end cause there are papers to write and everything seems to be happening at once. Then in April or the beginning of May he will take the Step 1. Its the first of I think 3 tests he has to take that all med students take. So he has to do well, but I'm not terribly worried since he's such a good student. He is very good at planning his time and studying. (I would have already failed at med school since I never aquired those skills) As soon as he takes the test he can start applying for rotations.

We are hoping to stay in Saginaw so we won't have to move but the rotations here start in september so he would most likely have to do at least one rotation before that somewhere else. Don't ask where since we don't know. If we get into Saginaw then we can most likely stay here almost until graduation. So were excited to maybe put down roots and not be so all over the place. Also a person in the ward that is moving might give us their piano which is so exciting cause then I could play and maybe give some lessons to beginners that I could charge for.

Stephen has started riding his bike to the hospital he studies at which saves on gas and leaves me with the car to roam the town in. We also have some friends that bought a house a ways out of town and we happened to been enroute to either school place on 2 days a week so they give Steve a ride, which is nice. We really are lucky to have so many of our friends that go to Ross all here in Michigan. Its not as hard to move around when you take your friends with you. So I'm pretty sure thats all the interesting bits of what is going on in our lives. Anyone who feels the need to get out of town and visit would be welcome. Au revoir.

Bronner's Christmas 361 Days a Year

So another wonderful thing about Frankenmuth is that they have Bronners, shich is a store that is open 361 days a year. It is huge and has every type of ornament or nativity scene you could think of.

I really love this bridge right behind us its so cute. and cars really use it.

I really should have entered this shop as it really sparks my curiosity on what exactly in leather they sell. Maybe that'll be on my next trip.

This big foot that is made of nasty moldy looking hay is just so hideous that you can't take your eyes off it. There is no story behind it. Makes you wonder what person got really bored one year with some left over hay and two rotting lemons.

Here are 2 pictures of the displays inside Bronners.

Snow Fest a la Frankenmuth

Welcome to Frankenmuth

Home to many specimens of interest but best of all are the snow creatures. (since this is the only thing we've seen there.) These carvings were giant rectangle of snow the day before and it was so amazing to watch people work on carving out amazing figures. Also We would like it to be known that other known names (To Ross students) of frankenmuth include fargenugen frankenugen and fargashlash. But only the truly eloquent would dare to use these names.

Steve has to got to frankenmuth every tuesday to check up on the patient he was assigned to at the old folks home. Its actually kind of annoying since he's supposed to do all these physicals and papers on his patient. The first patient died so he started over on a new patient that said she might leave cause she was getting better and then did. So he had to get all his info from a third patient that was too coherent in less the half the time everyone else had.

Interesting story about the first patient and this home is that they have a death cat. It singles out the people who are visiting someone who is dying and escorts them to the patient. So when Steve came to visit his dying patient the cat ran up to him and ignored everyone else even when our friend Justin tried to pet it it just skirted around him and then took Steve to his patient's room. So weird, but then animals do have different senses.

This is my Steve look alike since I didn't get any pictures of him this day this guy is a good sub. I just thought his hat was so fun and in the future I'm sure everyone will be wearing them even those anti fur people. Its just so stylish.

This was my favorite from the high school carvings. That would have been the funnest thing to do in High school. If I could turn back time I'd live there and do this but instead I'd do a giant guitar or a steinway or something else that would just be so awesome.

Go Olympics! America rocked!

Here are a few ice sculpters. These were pretty cool since they look so much like glass.

Dog Sillyness

K so our dog is really great and we love her but she is really crazy. She can spend hours in the yard playing with dirt clods. So we keep coming home to her having chewed up something that we didn't appreciate. Shoes were a really big problem clothes wasn't so nice either. So we now have to lock her in our blue room. I don't think she loves it well yesterday after we got home. I went to bed and noticed a bit later that Sophie wasn't there. And we couldn't find her. Steve looks in the blue room (We had let her out and played with her before I went to bed) and she was there just hanging out not barking or whining, so weird. The best we can figure is that she went in and her tail or her pushed the door shut behind her. Silly dog. She did it again this morning and I don't know maybe she like being trapped in that room. She's just weird like that. Anywho, thats our Sophie. We enjoy her alot.

Our new home

Here are some pictures of our new house. We are renting the bottom floor of this cute little house. I've still yet to take pictures of the outside since its so freezing here. I only go outside to walk the dog or get in the car. We love our cute little house and are really hoping to stay. I am currently job searching and hanging out with the dog. Its not too bad, but I really miss making money, so I'm gonna keep crossing my fingers. Steve has a lighter schedule when it comes to classes, but he has already started studying for the Step test in April. He stays busy and I feel a bit more busy than the islands so I am definitely not missing the Island life. I love the snow and wish it would snow more often cause it is so so cold here. Our opinion is that if its gonna be cold it might as well snow.

Just so you know. I had the green blanket before and It was quite interesting to see it match the wall so closely. A bit much for the eyes, but I love green so it works in the end. The greatest part about this room is that we got the bed on sale. So it was a good price and they were doing a deal that day. We are paying off the mattress for 4 years with no interest. Its so awesome to feel like at least one thing we had to buy isn't going to break the bank.

This is our beautiful spare room, the blue room. All our boxes and snowboard and extra shoes and an ironing board get to take over. Its great having extra space.

Sophie

We have now added to our family circus a dog. This is Sophie and no we didn't name her, but I love the name so it works out great. Plus if we name our worst child Sophie we can always tell her we named her after the dog. And there starts the life long complex which every child should have. (In case you don't understand any of this, I'm joking and would never name a kid after the dog... maybe) So we adopted her from the shelter and we have decided that she looks like a black lab most but must have a little great dane in her. I am inclined to think she has a bit of hound too. Every time we take her out she sticks her nose to the ground and is sniffing out every animal, pile of leaves, and pile of random snow in the area. Pretty great dog.

Also I forgot to mention what a chicken she is. She is now officially scared of the broom, the shovel, the vacuum, the camera, the guitar, and possibly many other things. So when I take the camera out to take a picture of her she gets all cowardly and hides behind Steve. That's pretty much all the important stuff about Sophie. She takes a while to warm up to new people, but we found that anyone carrying food is instantly in the Sophie's friend club.

Happy Holidays

Tomorrow I head to Utah for a beautiful snowy christmas. Steve and I spoke in church for the last sunday. He also taught priesthood and I taught the primary kids, so we ended up covering the majority of church. I'm all packed and have all the souvenirs. I sent my barrel off so it will be in Michigan when we get there. And there is barely enough food for a gerbil in the house. So excited to go back to the states. There are so many things that are so convenient there that you never think about until you leave. Like businesses to fix things. (cars scooters electronics) There are normal prices on food. Toilet paper doesn't cost a dollar a roll, usually. I miss the seasons also. The changing colors of the leaves and the first snow. Those are so magical. I will miss the beach though. I went to the beach for the last time yesterday and I realized how relaxing it is. I also snorkeled a bit and saw a barracuda and sea urchins and some other cool fish. I was hoping to find a conch shell, but you can't have everything. The people here are so nice too. Anyway since I'll be busy on vacation and road-tripping it from Utah to Colorado to Chicago, to Saginaw Michigan. this is my christmas post. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and can also take time to remember the true meaning of christmas and all that christ has done for us. And I hope we keep keep the christmas spirit a bit longer so we can treat others as kindred spirits.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!