Corn, Cows and Country Lanes

The bed and breakfast that we stayed at was in fact on a farm. Though this may not sound appealing to many of you Sterling and I found our stay quite pleasurable. It was extremely relaxing and it provided a nice break from the monotony of our daily lives. The farm was out in the middle of nowhere, as most farms are, and we could see rolling hills in every direction, corn fields as far as we could see and an occasional home if we were lucky. On the farm there were ducks, sheep, a "real" sheep dog that watches over the flock, cows, peacocks, a llama, goats and of course cats.

There was a small fire ring out in front of our bunkhouse where we roasted hot dogs and made s'mores on Friday night. We weren't sure that we were going to be able to have a fire because the weather had been so poor throughout the week and the forecast predicted rain showers all day. But with a little bit of luck the weather allowed us to have a campfire and enjoy the heat for a little while before turning in for the night.



Rise and Shine, that is what you do on a farm right? Saturday was the day dedicated mostly to the festival and though we were looking forward to it, we may have more excited about a nice big breakfast. Dwight and Arlene delivered!

At 8:00 Saturday morning we went to the main house for breakfast with the three other couples staying there. We had pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, fruit salad, grapes, juice and a small dessert cake. Though I wanted to continue feasting forever my stomach couldn't take it.

The bed was good, the breakfast was great and thus we have concluded that a bed and breakfast is the way to go, even if it is a bunkhouse.

Who Wants to Attend a Tulip Festival...

evidently a lot of people.

You might ask yourself what is there to do in Iowa? We have asked ourselves and others that same question since we moved to Iowa. Finally this past week I got a response from one of my colleagues and she said..."You could always attend the Tulip Festival." I think she was being extremely sarcastic when she recommended the festival but we started doing some investigating and decided that we would attend.

Our decision was based on two things. One, tulips are my favorite flower. Two, we have been couped up in our house for the past 7 months and needed to get out.

So we started doing some research on the Internet and thought that it might be a good idea to try and get a hotel room for the weekend. Unfortunately my colleague didn't tell me that all hotels within 50 miles of the festival are booked at least one year in advance. We searched the Internet for a motel, bed and breakfast and camping ground for availability but our searches returned the same results, "No Availability." However I was determined to find a place to stay so at about 7:00 am on April 25th I started calling a few bed and breakfasts in the area in complete desperation. Nobody answered the phone at the first three I called, which I found quite ironic considering that fact that they should have been awake making breakfast for any visitors staying there.

Anyway don't worry I had success on the fourth call. I almost couldn't believe that someone answered. Initially Dwight, that is the name of the owner, told me that they had no availability. I then asked if he had any recommendations as to where we might be able to find a place to stay for the weekend of the festival and I broke him with my persistence. Under pressure he admitted that they did have a small bunkhouse on the property that we could stay at for the weekend. Wait, wait, the kicker...it doesn't have a bathroom because it is used for people that are hunting or fishing in the area but there is a game room about 20 yards away that has a full bathroom that we could use for all of our bathroom needs.

How do you refuse an offer like that? So we said we would take it. I then asked if he wanted our last name and his response was, "Well right now I am out haying the cows and so I won't be able to get it from you. Can you call back at 8:00? I should be back at the house then and you can give me your name and number for the reservation." I kindly agreed (mostly because he was our only option) and said that I would talk to him soon.

Out "haying" the cows...what is this some sort of farm? I didn't actually say that but I was thinking it as he spoke. But we were desperate and we needed a place to stay if we were going to attend the festival. I should have known though that it was a farm because what is there in Iowa? Corn, cows and well that equals farms.

So without making this too lengthy I will just say that we ended up getting the bunkhouse for the weekend and it turned out to be a good time.

Check back in the near future for pictures of the festival and the farm.

Time Marches On

Well today is two years since Sterling and I met. I remember it so vividly. We were sitting directly across from each other at the breakfast table at the Ross' wedding breakfast. Steve Hatch was to my right, Bukran was to the left of Sterling and Lauren was in between Bukran and I.

After short introductions and mild excitement about working in Albuquerque together for the summer Steve made a comment that provided for one of the most awkward moments of my life. However that same comment would turn out to be completely true. He said, "I bet Sterling and Cylynn hook up this summer."

Now just imagine Sterling and I looking in a million different directions without making eye contact with each other and now imagine everyone else at the table looking at us for some sort of reaction. The best reaction Sterling or I could offer was to sit there with our teeth in our mouths and hope that someone else said something to break the awkward tension. Unfortunately nobody said anything for a while and so we were left to our own means of coping with the awkward setting that Steve had so kindly created.

Throughout the day Lauren and I would laugh about the comment but even then whenever I saw Sterling things were just plain strange. In fact I can remember one time when he sat down to talk to me about the summer (I think he talked to me mostly out of duty because he was going to be my boss) and small chit-chat things that it seems like we, as people, always tend to talk about when we are trying to either make conversation or get to know someone. Luckily, in my mind, he was quickly called away for wedding pictures and so our conversation didn't last long.

At another point in the day one of my mission companions tried to get me to flirt with Sterling but I was having none of that. I figured that he would be my boss for the summer and then we would never see each other again.

Oh how wrong I was. Two years later I am so happy to have been put in such an awkward situation at the breakfast table. That breakfast conversation has lead to many laughs as we look back on our two "awkward" years of happiness. I love you Sterling!

sNOw fun

For any of you that know me will also know that I hate cold weather. In fact I have even given up one of my favorite hobbies, snowboarding, because cold weather makes me want to die. Perhaps I can attribute this to the fact that while living in Arizona I chose to basque in the sun for hours on end. I didn't necessarily sun bathe if that is what you want to call it. I would sit in my car, with the windows rolled up, in the middle of summer and enjoy every minute of it. I loved being out in the hot air loving every minute of it.

After adjusting to the wonderful heat for many years trying to go back to a colder climate has been miserable. People will often ask me how I managed to grow up in Wyoming if I hate the cold weather so much. I have no reasons or explanations as to how I did it but thankfully I am not there any longer. The sad reality however is that I managed to move to a state where the humidity only adds to the fun. The summer is unbearable because the minute you walk outside you are sweating your face off and in the winter it is just plain cold, and bitter at that.

Anyway, enough of my complaining. I just thought I would post some of the rare pictures of me in the snow. These pictures are from our Christmas vacation where we spent time with both of our families. Sterling managed to talk me into playing in the snow two different times.

The first time was when Kaili decided that making an entire snow family was the best idea her little mind had ever conceived. We didn't make an entire family because the snow was not cooperating but we did manage to make one snowman and one snow dog.

Sterling and I were in charge of making the snow dog and though it looks more like a snow turtle, you will be pleased to know that Kaili absolutely loved it. And from the pictures you will also note that Joseph loved it as well.

The second time that Sterling convinced me to play in the snow was so that we could go sledding with his family. I have some pretty sweet videos of Sterling, Rachel and Mary Jane going off of two jumps but unfortunately I recorded with my camera turned 180 degrees and unfortunately you cannot rotate a video to post it properly. So the pictures of us on the tubes will have to suffice.

Perhaps next year I will not be such a big baby and do a little more. After all when it was all said and done we did have a rather enjoyable time. Maybe Sterling will buy me some hand and feet warmers so that I don't have to complain so much. Or even better I could just commit to not complaining....no thanks, I'll take the warmers.

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.