The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

As promised, here are a ton of pictures for our vacation to Yellowstone!  Just so you know, I took over 200 pictures, so this is just a small sample, haha.  Enjoy! A beautiful vista just up the road from our cabin. My handsome husband on the porch of our cabin. The view from our cabin, don't be jealous. My new friend...he really likes to finger paint. Me and the husband near one of the hot springs. A mud pot.  I hear it is the fountain of youth, just melts wrinkles away. (Kidding) My shadow waving to you all the way from Geyser Basin. The colors at the different geyser basins were so brilliant, I loved it! Doesn't that look like lava!?  It wasn't, but still looks cool. What we did while waiting for Old Faithful...ate pudding cups, mmmm. Embracing Nature Old Faithful Danny and Me by Yellowstone Lake. By Gibbons Falls Danny by another waterfall.  I can't r...

As I mentioned in my last post, Danny and I took a few days off and went up to Yellowstone.  Before I overwhelm you with too many pictures, I must share a little story first.  About a month ago I said to Danny in a whiny voice that I needed a vacation, a break, if you will.  (You see, it has been kind of a busy, stressful summer.  Work, including working many evenings, moving, new church callings, the decision to have Danny go back to school full time = Busy. And that = a burned out Jannifer.)  Danny is always nice when I use my whiny voice and encouraged me to look into a vacation.  I wasn't sure where I wanted to go, but I knew I needed to return to nature to recharge.  Nature, in all its beauty, seems so balanced and I needed to learn this lesson from God's creations. We first thought about going camping, but I needed a longer break than that. (I only like camping for a couple nights.)  I looked into different options.  I looked at South...

*(This post might come across of me boasting a bit about the husband.  I don't mean to, I'm just really proud of Danny.)   Hi Friends!  It has been awhile since I've posted.  That's because Danny and I enjoyed a week in Yellowstone and we just got back yesterday.  Many more pictures to come from that adventure, but first Danny has had a few gigs recently.  His friend JaNae Kotter, a local musician, invited Danny to play the guitar with her group at a few performances.  My favorite gig of his was up at the Homestead Resort in Midway.  It was such a pretty evening in the mountains.  Before Danny went on stage, we had a little picnic of fried chicken, watermelon, bread and cheese (a mix of Southern love and a French soiree). Yum Danny, JaNae and Auburn did a fabulous job!  Danny's solo blew everyone away, seriously.  Gotta love that loop station. I also really liked this song they played called "Wyoming Skies".  It is b...

I've mentioned before that I'm a little addicted to the website pinterest  .  I find all kinds of random ideas that I think would be fun to do.  I put one of these ideas into action. Exhibit A: This was my bookshelf, it was boring. So, I got the fabulous idea from a picture posted on pinterest to paint the back board to add a pop of color.  We have a lot of green in our room, so Danny and I got some green spray paint, took the back off, spray painted it and nailed it back on and ta da... Exhibit B: The new and improved bookshelf!  The color is brighter in reality, but it gives you the general idea.

Life has been so busy lately that I've only had time to do a few updates every once in awhile.  So here are a few occurrences of my life over the past week. Danny and I got new Church callings!   Remember how I said the calling that makes me most nervous is teaching in Primary.  Well guess what, we are now Primary teachers, haha.  We are teaching the 9 to 11 year olds, so the oldest class.  I actually feel like I do better with younger kids, like sunbeam age (3-4), so we will see how this goes.  I'm glad Danny and I were called to teach together. Speaking of kids, we have this darling little neighbor boy around the age of 2 that just cracks me up. I was going out to my car when I caught a glimpse of him giggling in his driveway.  I looked closer and saw his hands were full sprinkler keys.  It looks like he went around our little complex collecting them from all the neighbors.  When he saw me he proudly announced, "I got two!" ...

Today the Disney radio station was having some type of hoopla downtown for kids.  My sister-in-law JanaRae came with her 4 little boys.  Since my work was only a few blocks away, I came down to visit them during my lunch break.  It is a sad, but expected day, when nieces and nephews figure out hanging out with their aunt isn't that cool.  However, B. Anu hasn't reached that age yet, so he was my little buddy.  There was a water fountain he wanted to go to, so I took him over there, risking getting wet in my work apparel.  B. Anu was a little cautious about running through the fountain like the other kids, but he was happy to stick his hands and feet in the water. B. Anu playing in the fountain Redhead picture! I had such a blast hanging out with JanaRae and the kiddos.  Definitely the best lunch break I've had in a long time!

*In my effort to multitask at work, I was instant messaging with a friend and sending an email when my phone rang.  Thinking I could handle throwing another task in the mix, I picked up the phone.  I usually answer, “Hi this is Jannifer.”  But some how in my distracted state I eliminated a few words and said, “Hi Jannifer”.  There was confused silence from the other end when I realized what I said and started laughing really hard.  Luckily the caller was a cool co-worker who could laugh along at my mistake.  I promised him at the end of our conversation that I would learn better phone skills in preparation for the next time he calls. *The unpacking continues.  Yesterday I moved the pots and pans three times until I was somewhat satisfied with their placement, at least for today anyway.  This might take awhile.  Also, yesterday Danny and I were going to heat up some leftovers when we realized we didn't have a microwave.  We didn't notice...

And this... We're a little bit packed in here right now.  (Haha, get it!?)  Did I also mention I'm losing my sanity not knowing where anything is at the moment?