We make sense

I love that Scott.  His last post speaks volumes of him; he is so good to me.

Humor me while I share two other pet stories?

When my rabbit died a few years ago (the one that was 11 years old), he painted me this picture of her. It looks just like her, I cherish it.

 For Christmas 2008, he made me a shadow box of all my bunny ribbons and his belt buckle from showing pigs.  I tell you, he never fails to amaze me with his creativity!

He is also very humble.  In his post he omitted any details about what has happened to him in the last six weeks.  He dealt with 4 pricey car repairs, he broke his foot, and had a painful tooth abscess that made his cheek swell to the size of a golf ball (which resulted in a 3-hour root canal that we were very thankful for).

We have definitely had opportunities to serve each other lately, and have had a lot of support and advice from our family too.  I sure love having a nurse for a mother :)

On Sunday we heard someone talk about the meanings of names.  We were curious exactly what ours meant.  We were tickled by what we found:

Scott means: From or pertaining to Scotland
Heather means: A flowering evergreen plant that thrives on peaty barren lands as in Scotland 

So there you have it: we make sense.  Scott and Heather are meant to be together.

Tender Moments

I had a special experience tonight with Heather.

First, a little background:

SCOTT:

When Heather and I met my view on animals was that they are a drain on your wallet as pets and useful for sport.  Heather often wondered if I would ever allow a pet into our family.  

Christmas of 2009 I surprised her with a Hamster.  We named her Belle.  I wanted Heather to know that I could love and own animals if it really was important to her.  

HEATHER:

Heather has always had a love for animals.  

She helped raise a goat, Tugs. The bell that hung around Tug's neck now hangs on a lattice archway in their yard.  Each time Heather passes underneath it she reaches up and rings the bell in remembrance of Tugs.

She helped raise Chewy the alpaca.  Chewy has special significance to our relationship.  In the infancy of our relationship I was at Heather’s on a weekend when her Father decided that the alpaca needed to be sheered.  I was there so I helped with the dangerous process.  We held, tackled, accidentally choked, and eventually sheered Chewy.  I like to think, and hope it’s true, that Kevin (her dad) decided that I was the real deal that day.  It was through Chewy that he realized that I had some work ethic and was maybe worthy of his daughter.  

Once Kevin approved enough I joined the family – one of the members of the family was Zeus, their dog.  He was a cute pup – that looked a lot like a border collie.  He had an immune deficiency for most of his life, but lived long.  One day he ran away and never returned.  It was a sad day for everyone.

Her claim to fame is her rabbits.  She used to enter them into the Davis County Fair and she won Best of Breed with her rabbit Scamper.  Her favorite Miss Dotty lived for 11 years.  Other notable rabbits included: Bopsy (first), Velvet, Hershey, Willow, and Lightning.   The average life expectancy of a rabbit is 6-8 years.  Heather is a great owner.

One of the harsh realities of owning pets it knowing that someday they will move on and not be with us.  Out of a family of  6, a general curse for Heather has been - she is the one to discover the deceased animal.  NOT something she enjoyed.

After that her dad would take the pet and bury it without her knowing the details and the plot. 

Present Day:

This weekend – while we were out of town our first pet, Belle, passed away.

When we arrived home at 1 am from Paragonah - Heather announced her arrival with the typical "Hey Belly! " she promptly went and changed out Belle's water and changed her food.  That night Heather didn't hear the squeak of the hamster wheel or the rustling of Belle in her food bowl.  

In the morning before leaving, Heather (suspecting the worst) made a trail of sunflower seeds to lure Belle out of her covered house.

That afternoon Heather sent me a text telling me of her suspicion and asked me to check on Belle.

I checked right away, so Heather wouldn't have to be the one to again discover the loss, and her suspicions were right.  So I ignored Heather for as long as I could (she thought I was sleeping all afternoon because I had plowed snow through the night).  Finally on her way home she asked me if I had checked.  I had to tell her the news.  

This brought a new duty to my role as a husband.  I was in charge of burying Belle.

We found a small box and placed her pink bowl in it (she loved to curl up in her bowl).  Inside the bowl we placed sunflower seeds (her favorite- taking after me).  And placed her deep in the flower bed in the front of our first home.

Last Photo of Belle, taken two weeks ago

Heathers love of animals has softened my heart.  It felt monumental for me to be the one that was able to take care of the pet that she cared so much for.  

In life Heather has had a way of softening my heart.  She has changed me - and made me better.  This is a small example of how she does that.

*Sorry for the length. It should make up for our month of bloglessness. And this is our Journal in a way.

Personalized

Like we've said before, we love personalizing our debit cards.  We have had the same pictures for several years now, so when Scott's card broke in half last week we took that as a sign to change things up a bit.

This time, we didn't put pictures of us on them. 

Him:

This pic fits him so well.  Not only does he love the color gray, he loves technology- music, apps, and especially his phone.  Scott LOVES his phone.  I mean that literally.  It's all right by me, because now that he has an EVO he is a lot easier to get a hold of!  A quick story about it...

Last Thursday, he went to sleep a few hours before me (since he had to work eeaaarrrllyyy in the morning).  When I went into our room later that night I found his phone in my spot, on my pillow, all tucked in next to him. I laughed out loud!  I think the funniest part is that he didn't do it to be funny. It was just him being him. 


Her:

I am all about surrounding myself with simple things that will make me smile throughout the day.  I see my debit card quite frequently, maybe more than I should. I wanted something vibrant and happy to look at each time I swipe...hence, my cute peacock.

Like I said the last time I posted these...they're just the proofs we were sent...not the real McCoy.  Sorry, no hundred dollar dinners on us! Although if we could, we so would.

It was a long month.

We're still alive and well! It has been very very very busy here. We're getting ready for some upcoming changes!

Both Scott and I are back in school.  Hallelujah it is my LAST semester! The downside?  In order to finish up this spring I'm taking seven classes.  That's not even really allowed, I had to get permission.  I am crazy, but very motivated and excited.   

Along with me graduating, I have also decided to leave my job at the arts council in the spring.  It's extremely bittersweet; I have been there over five years!  Scott and I still plan on volunteering, we LOVE the people we have become connected with there.

Some board members and our staff at a recent event

If you know Scott and I, you know we don't let ourselves get so busy that we don't spend some time doing fun things!  Probably too much fun.  Actually, is there even such a thing?

Just this past weekend, we got to 'cash in' on the Christmas present my siblings and I gave my mom.

We all went to see 'Anything Goes'.  It was long overdue!  Growing up, we heard the story of how mom was in that play in high school.  After all these years, none of us had ever seen the show!  When we (the kids) heard it was being put on by WSU in January, we jumped on it and bought 9 tickets for Christmas. Mom was so surprised!  Yesterday was the day, so all the kids, mom and dad, and Nana went.

All bias aside, my mom had the BEST role in the show!  She played Bonnie/Erma who is a hysterical flapper (the play takes place in the 20's).  Tonight after Sunday dinner, dad pulled out his old 8mm projector and we watched some actual footage of my mom in the play!  He and mom were high school sweethearts so he had taped her in the show. What a treasure!    

Bear with me in the coming months...with so much school on the brain I might end up blogging a thesis.  At least that way you could all proof read it for me.  Ha ha, don't worry.  I'll keep things straight. I hope.

Resolved

We went to the gym last night, we're always great at going the first week of the year, ha ha! We weren't the only ones there, holy cow!  It was PACKED with people like us that are attempting their new year's resolutions.

We have some pretty good motivation to keep our fitness goal this year...if all goes as planned we're going to HAWAII for the first time this summer! Finally! We've wanted to go so badly, we can't wait!

So, we are working on our swim bods since we plan on living in swimsuits for two weeks. QUESTION: what are some of your favorite songs or artists to work out to? Rihanna & Britney (why am I admitting this?) are my favorites.  I'd love to hear some suggestions so I can add to my playlist!