This is what the computer says...

.... our baby will look like.

Hopefully the real thing turns out better.

We'll find out April 28, 2010.

(Yes, this is an announcement!)

WyOOOming

Yes, we are alive in Wyoming. And what different lives they are. You know you are somewhere special when the clink-clinks of spurs can be heard as cowboys and cowgirls walk down the aisles of Walmart, the heart and soul of the city.

The day we arrived here, several members of the Elder's Quorum met us to help unload our truck. As they drove away, the president got out of his pick-up (the unofficial vehicle of Wyoming) and said, "By the way, I forgot to tell ya'll. We've got an Elder's Quorum activity tomorrow mornin'. We're gonna be shootin' skeets. Don't worry about bringin' your guns (because naturally, everyone has their own guns), the guns will be provided." I thanked him kindly and walked behind the truck so he didn't see me burst into laughter. It was an all too perfect introduction to Wyoming.

Even though it is a very funny, small city, we are very happy here. We are thrilled with our new house (someday it will be all decorated and we will post pictures), and Ty loves his new job. I got a job soon after we moved here managing the Cheyenne branch of a nonprofit organization that provides support and education to families of children with disabilities. All in all, we feel pretty dang blessed. We laugh a lot here, and I still giggle when I say "Cheyenne, WY" when giving our address out, but things are good.

Despite our random location, we have had our fair share of visitors. The week after we moved into our house, some friends came with their kids, 9 in all. We went to Frontier Days, the big summer festival here where the population increases by 100,000 for 10 glorious days. We went to the parades, rodeo, and just enjoyed watching the very interesting crowd, including the elderly saloon ladies. At night, all of downtown is fenced off and turned into a massive outdoor bar. There are apparently multiple brawls and arrests each night as people get drunk on their horses. Needless to say, we did not participate. Although it might have been interesting to see, it seemed like a bad idea in a place where it's still legal to have a gun holstered in plain view.

Shawn and Lauren, our cousins and friends, have also been up to visit with their 3 girls. So fun to see them! My brother Michael also came up for a last hurrah before going into the MTC last week, headed to Everett, Washington. We were able to go to Utah for a couple of days to see him off with the rest of the fam.

We are gearing up for the winter and the wind. We came home earlier this week to see our neighbor's grill picked up and thrown about 10 feet off their porch, along with our heavy iron patio furniture. We are in for a special treat.

Here are some pics from good ol' Wyoming. We miss our friends and family in UT and are sorry for not keeping in touch so well--we will do better!

Home on the Range.

That is what we have. Really.

We found out last Wednesday that Ty would be starting work on the 22nd. Yes, June 22nd. Not a lot of notice. So we hopped in the car and headed off to our new home town. After several days of searching, we learned that home buying is not as fun as it looks on HGTV. Despite several setbacks, with some very obvious help from above, we finally went under contract on the home we wanted today. 2 1/2 stories, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and my favorite part--a 2-car garage. After living in our little one-bedroom apartment for 4 years, I'm not sure we'll know what to do with ourselves.

We are very excited to have a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and antelope play.

Bowling....

...the way the bowling gods intended it.

Bowling is much more fun if you have to do it on one leg, bowl with your left hand, bowl sitting down, bowl backwards, or, my personal favorite, bowl like cat. MEOW!

See for yourself.

Yodelayheehoo

After Ty's graduation, his parents took us to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving point.
Bee--ut--ee-ful.

Why does Ty look so dang funny??

Awwww...

HE DID IT.

HE REALLY, REALLY DID IT.


He couldn't have done it without his math tutor, Matne!


Who graduated? THIS GUY!!


A team effort!


Harris fam

Ferney fam

Big News

Ty got a job. In a couple of months, we will be moving to.....




The great state of......





WYOMING.


Some interesting things we have learned about this lovely place:

• It is DEAD last as far as state population goes--it beats out Alaska and both of the Dakotas for that honor
• It technically does not qualify for a U.S. Congressional seat
• Cheyenne, our new hometown and the biggest city, has a whopping 55,000 people
  
• Most people who living in Wyoming work for....Wyoming (is that economically efficient??)
• The average temperature starts out in the 20's and 30's in MAY and APRIL

On a good note, Wyoming:

• Is the LEAST TAXED STATE
• Has an average of 327 days of sunshine each year
• Pays people dang good money (how else are they going to get people to live there???)

While we have a good laugh about our new home, we couldn't be more excited. It is our FIRST CHOICE as far as companies go (GSA--Federal Gov.), the benefits and hours can't be beat, it's close to our friends and family in UT, and we'll only have to be there 3 years. In a time where many people are looking for work, we feel incredibly blessed.

It is quite a relief to be at this point. Ty has had a terrible semester as far as workload goes. His biggest accomplishment, rivaling graduation, is that he finished his independent study class to get his business minor, clocking over 80 hours on it in 2 weeks. He had some serious help from my brother Matne, which all the apple beer in the world cannot repay!

One last challenge remains....another (much larger) stone lurks in his kidney. We can't see you, but we know that your there. Ty will be going in for a day surgery to get it removed in a couple of weeks; hopefully before it tries to pass and puts him in man-labor again. That's just not pretty.

Easter

Ty's Easter Basket

Decorating Eggs with Matne (Michael) and his friend-that's-a girl Emily

Frankenstein and a Football. Wow. I mean, really, wow.

80's Party

My friend Stom (Christina) threw the kick-butt 80's party of my dreams a few weeks ago. It was one last big shin-dig before husbands start graduating and people start going their separate ways. We all came in costume (well, most of us)--you can see a couple of Madonna's, a Breakfast Club chick, a Magum PI, I came as Debbie Gibson (a little weak sauce for a costume, I know, but I didn't have much time to put anything better together), and of course, Alex Trebek on the front row. It was like, totally rad.

FM Formal

Ty's program had a formal dinner at the Alumni Building with all the money smart little Ty and his buddies won at their convention's student competition. We clean up pretty nice, wouldn't ya say?

Great men of BYU

Okay, fine...

...I will update our blog! Sheesh!

Here are all the delicious tidbits you've been missing:

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Ty's fabulous family in Oregon. Other than the good times with family and of course Claudia's delicious cooking (that lady...wow), one of the highlights was a hike around Silver Falls.

We also got to star in a commercial for Ty's mom's salon. Yes, I was on TV twice last year. It was, however, the first time (that I know of) that Ty has been naked on TV. Yep, that hot man you see in the spa tub and getting a massage is my hunka burning love. If you wanna see it, you can click here, but remember, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's strapping young husband:

http://www.portlands32.com/pages/video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3253345

Christmas

We spent Christmas in good ol' Tejas and had a fabulous time. My parents always try so hard to plan so many fun things for us, and they never disappoint. This year, they got us rooms in the Great Wolf Lodge--a hotel with a huge indoor water park and just about the most crazy fun water slides ever. Ty and I just kept looking at each other and saying, "This is so fun."

Christmas is always so great there--so many fun traditions that make the holiday really special. My family loves to have Ty there for the cookie decorating because he always comes up with some original, rather impressive theme. Last time was Scooby Doo; this year was Batman, complete with Batman, Joker, and Two-Face. It is no wonder why I married this man...his talents just go on and on.

You'll notice that Ty got to wear my mom's old pink robe for the nativity. Very flattering! In case you can't tell, I am a sheep. After all, there are no small parts, only small actors (if you can tell me what movie that quote is from, then you have something to feel seriously good about!).



Everything Else

Other than that, we are just plugging along in what we hope will be our last few months in Utah. In the meantime, we are just enjoying the beautiful winter here; especially all the snow. (If you believe that, then you don't know me at all!!) Ty's got a very busy semester, along with all the job hunting and interviewing. We've received one good offer and expect to get a few more over the next month or so. Even though he's busy, he managed to give me one heck of a Valentine's Day--beginning with roses, a "quest" for my gifts, brunch, dinner, a movie, dessert, and a "spa night." If you don't have a Ty, you should get one. Seriously.