Harder than I ever imagined

So if any of you view(ed) this blog on a regular basis, I am sure you have been discouraged from doing so at this point. Not because I don't post anything really interesting but because I simply do not post.

I have decided, again, that I am going to try and do a better job of updating our blog so that people know what is happening in our lives. Perhaps I have said this before, but my biggest problem is that I feel like posting without pictures is boring. At this point my problems are compounding because I also don't really like to take pictures. Given the previously stated circumstances the end result can only be failure.

When we first decided to set up a blog I thought I would be amazing at it. I just assumed that I would be as good at blogging as I am at most other things. Well I wasn't far off on that assumption because as with most other aspects of my life I am only mediocre. I must have been delusional the day I decided to make a family blog and thought I would be a diligent at posting.

The only thing I can do at this point is to do things that are interesting enough to post, carry the camera wherever we go and do my best to post at least once a week, perhaps on my days off.

Hell Froze Over

So I am sure that we have all heard the phrase "...when hell freezes over."

When we first moved to Iowa I remember unloading our moving truck, sweating my guts out and thinking that somehow Sterling and I had just arrived in hell. Sterling had to keep drinking water or Gatorade in order to keep himself hydrated and alive. As for me, I had to simply keep moving in order to keep myself from either sitting down in the apartment and refusing Sterling further help or from getting in that truck and driving back to a dry climate.

It took a good five months before Iowa froze over and I do mean this literally.

I kept hearing rumors of horrible ice storms that knocked down power lines leaving people without power for up to a week. I couldn't imagine what the Iowans were talking about but I had to trust their stories until I could witness it for myself. Well I didn't have to wait long before our first ice storm was announced and found out that the rumors were actually true.

On December 1, 2007 at 7:45 am Sterling and I headed out to do some shopping and other errands for the day. It didn't seem like the ice storm was going to be too bad since at that time there was no ice falling from the sky nor was it raining both of which I thought necessary for a proper ice storm. I soon came to understand that it doesn't take more than a few minutes in the grocery store for an ice storm to go from non-existent to full-on ice storm.

Once we got home from our morning errands we didn't leave the house for the rest of the day and though the ice was outside I could feel it chilling my bones even while I was inside.

So when someone says "...when hell freezes over[.]" you can actually tell the person that it has basically happened and I am living proof that Iowa, on occasion, freezes over.

So if you are wondering what the first picture on the page is of then let me explain. The picture is taken from the passenger seat of the car. I rolled down the window and the sheet of ice remained in place while the window willing rolled down. You can't just scrape off 1/4" sheet of ice that happens to form on the car during a "mild" ice storm.

Supposedly the storms will worsen right before spring and so we would ask each of you to enjoy the weather that you experience because it could be worse, you could live in Iowa.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STERLING

November 29th was Sterling's 24th birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. When your income is limited something really special is a little far fetched so I had to rack my brain to think of something. I figured that maybe something with his classmates would be fun since they are the people with whom Sterling spends the most time. So I hacked into his email account, sent an email to all of his classmates and some other friends and invited them over for a little surprise birthday party.

I did a pretty good job of keeping the party a secret until the night of the party when I was talking to Sterling about the house being clean and asked him if he thought everyone would mind a couple of dishes that were still drying on the counter. Luckily Sterling bought some story that I made up on the spot and let the comment go without further investigation.

Sterling went to donate plasma and I stayed home to finish the final preparations for the big night. I made a cake, brownies, bought the fixin's for banana splits and rootbeer for floats. Finally all of his friends started to arrive, about 15 minutes before he should have arrived at home, and he called to tell me that he got started late and wouldn't be home for at least another 1/2 hour. His classmates had a big project due the next day so I am sure most of them had to get back to the school and get to work so I started feeling badly. However they were nice enough to stick it out and wait for him to get home.

I talked everyone into singing Happy Birthday the way that Sterling's family does which includes an additional first where you sing the words, "many more birthdays" in the place of "Happy Birthday."

When Sterling walked in the door I think he was really surprised but he was really surprised when his classmates and friends broke out the second verse of Happy Birthday as performed by the Sheffield's on every birthday occasion.

We had a lot of fun and it turned out better than I could have imagined. I hope that Sterling knows how much I love him and that I want to be able to give him everything he ever needs. He is the best husband for me and I hope that I can spend the rest of eternity making him happy.

The First Sheffield Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I remembered all of the Thanksgiving Days that I had spent with my family as a child and it seems like it was an all day event that involved family, friends, food and fun. The problem we ran into was that we didn't have any family to celebrate with, we don't have any friends, cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for two is not really worth all of the work (according to me) and it was freezing here which limited the fun that we could have.

We talked about the fact that Thanksgiving day is a day to spend time with family and watch a lot of football and decided that someday we will have that. As for now we would have to make do with what we have. We considered eating a non-traditional dinner which included steak and crab, making a small turkey breast and some traditional side dishes or going to a restaurant. The restaurant idea sounded the best since I didn't have to do any cooking and Sterling didn't have to do any cleaning up afterwards.

So on Thanksgiving we woke up to our first day of snow in Iowa and though I was devastated about the snow I was still excited for the glutton-fest that would take place later in the day. The snow didn't stop Sterling from going out and playing football with some guys from the ward and though he extended the invitation for me to go and watch, I kindly declined and stayed home where I could stay warm.

Luckily the restaurant that would be serving Sterling and I our first Thanksgiving dinner was a block away so that we could walk there and roll back. The dinner was a buffet style dinner with lots of food and desserts to choose from. I don't think either of us ended up eating the turkey but we did enjoy some ham, mashed potatoes, yams, pasta, fruit, salad, rolls and riblets. The food was decent but it just can't compare to a mother's Thanksgiving feast.

Perhaps next year we will put a little more effort into it. Or maybe I could talk my mom into coming out here and celebrating Thanksgiving with us so that she can cook and maybe teach me a thing or two. If I don't learn anything than at least I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving the way that it should be!

A Test of Skill and Patience

After we got married I quickly informed Sterling that date nights are not necessary, saving money is. My wonderful accommodating husband let me have my way while we were in Utah but since our move to Iowa we have agreed to do one date-like activity each week. The dates increase the quality of time we spend together as well as our creativity.

Thinking of dates that fall within our allotted budget can be quite difficult. The following are some of the dates that we have done so far. We have found that watching a movie that we already own and buying or making a small treat is something we enjoy and can afford. Another date was spent walking, talking and discovering what parks, schools, walking paths, libraries, etc. are near our apartment complex. We went to watch the women's volleyball team which was free for Sterling and $1 for my ticket. A good and often chosen option is playing Settlers, Scrabble or a sport together and those keep us both humble, because everyone has to lose sometime.

Where am I going with this story...let me get to the point. One of our first dates in Iowa was a trip to the mall to see what stores were there and to do a bit of window shopping. We happened upon a sporting goods store called Scheely's or something like that and there we found these weird Frisbees for disc golfing. We decided that it might be fun to try that sometime and we left it at that.

Nearly two months later we (or should I say I) gave in and we purchased the discs for a date to the disc golf course. We had been to the course previously as a result of our neighborhood meanderings and from the looks of the first hole I didn't think it would be that difficult. In the middle of a wide open field there is a patch of cement where you tee off and then somewhere in the distance there is the cage type thing that you have to throw the Frisbee into. It couldn't be that hard could it?

Well first of all I have to say that throwing a disc is much different than throwing a Frisbee. Our first throws were a little crazy and both of the discs landed in the rough and when I say rough I mean it. We actually had to spend a couple of minutes looking for them because the grass was knee-deep.

So as you can see from the picture at the first hole Sterling's form is a little questionable but it can't matter too much when the course is nothing but wide open space. Well that is not his real form I just made him pose like that for the picture. But now you kind of get the idea of the cement platform from where you throw the disc and if you look closely you can also see how much smaller the disc is than a Frisbee.

Anyway we both did fairly well on the first hole. I made it with four throws and Sterling made it with five. The map of the course then lead us down a small hill, across a road and finally to the second hole which looked a little something like... A FOREST.

I'm not going to lie, I felt a little deceived by the ease of the first hole and thought that the creator of the course should have at least eased me into the forest scene. This picture is taken from the what I like to call launching pad and if you can't see the thing you are supposed to throw the disc into, neither could we.

So as you can imagine the trees add a little bit of a difficulty factor and test what skill you might have of throwing the disc. I don't know how many times we actually threw the discs straight into a tree. I would usually try to have some sort of strategy and every time I tried to miss a tree I would hit it causing my disc to return to my where I had just thrown it making me upset.

The forest continued to double as a disc golf course until the 11th hole where it was wide open spaces again. I was excited because finally I might be able to make it to the hole in less than six throws. It was my turn to throw first and I put all that I had into that throw. I carefully watched where it landed and then Sterling threw his disc. It of course went much further than mine and though I was a little distraught who was I kidding, it had been that way all day.

We quickly found Sterling's disc but locating mine was a little more difficult. In fact we walked around in the rough for about 45 minutes looking for that stupid disc. I think I would have given up after five minutes if I didn't care so much about leaving $11 lost in the bushes.

As I walked around looking for the disc I kept getting more and more angry. On top of getting angry I was blessed with the opportunity of walking into some poisonous bush which created large red welts all over my arms and hands and the best blessing of all, I pulled my groin. But in my stubborn determination I was going to find that disc if it took all day. I could barely walk through the deep brush but I wasn't leaving without it.

Sterling on the other hand nonchalantly wandered through the rough looking for the disc and without getting upset. In fact he managed to find two other discs that other disc golfers had lost. He stayed positive and even tried to move on to the next hole since we now had three discs but I couldn't, I wanted to find that disc so badly.

After complaining about my groin and not being able to find the disc for the final time, Sterling turned around and patiently starting looking again. He decided to start kicking the deep grass hoping that it would turn up somehow. I was watching him thinking "What is he doing? Does he actually think that is going to work?" when all of a sudden he said, "Here it is." Didn't I feel foolish.

Unfortunately because of my groin condition we were unable to finish the last seven holes so I can't tell you how the game turned out. What I can tell you though is that after nine holes Sterling had 50 throws and I had 51.

The disc golfing incident was a test of our skill but the test of patience was only for me.

DON'T BE JEALOUS OF OUR MAD SKILLS!