6 Quirky Things About me
The rules are: List 6 quirks about yourself and then tag six people. Leave them a message on their blog letting them know they have been tagged( I may skip this little bit). (Since I however do not have 6 people I know that check my blog, I will choose not to tag anyone...)
1.) I am a music JUNKIE! I don't think I've really had any addictions in life (aside from when I used to bite my nails) but I am pretty certain I am addicted to music... it serves as my own personal therapist! Except I don't have the $100 price tag to go with it :).
2.) I am dying to learn how to play the cello! Next to the piano I find the cello to be one of the most amazing sounding instruments and my fingers ache with desire to learn how to play it!
3.)My eyes like to change colors. Depending upon my mood, my clothes, or simply my phycial state of health will cause them to change between Green, vibrant green, blue, and gray.
4.) My favorite thing to do is learn! I love picking a topic and then visiting the library to see what knowledge I can gain on the topic.
5.) I love elk meat better than any other meat out there, including beef! (Note I am not a huge eater of meats but I do love having a good elk steak every now and then! Delicious! Or anything traiditionally made with beef I prefer to make with elk).
6.) I enjoy hunting and target shooting with a gun or my bow. I am all about self-survival and like the idea of being capable to help provide for and/or protect my family (don't I sound like a true, deep in the woods redneck? LOL)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
When life gives you lemons...
make lemonade!!!!! (However sometimes I feel like taking the lemons and squirting them in the eye of the person who gave them to me. However since sometimes it is myself that has produce the lemons I choose to not follow the above feeling.)
I truly am and optimist however sometimes my optimistic spirit feels more like a cat who just had a thousand gallons of water dumped on it resulting in a wet, angry, miserable, frustrated, cold, and vengeful CAT. As of late things have been going alright. God has continued to bless us with the simple neccesities of life as well as the occasional not-so-simple-but-wonderful things of life.
I can't complain too much because God has blessed us so much financially at a time that it seems like so many others are struggling greatly, however I feel that sometimes blessings, as mentioned above come with a price that we feel we would gladly trade, i.e. the financial blessing for other blessings.
In the past couple of weeks I again have been given "learning experiences" (most the time I prefer to call them trials, but not trying to be too much like the wet cat, I am trying to let my optimistic side prevail). We are pretty certain that again I have had another miscarriage in the past couple weeks. The blessing atleast in this one was that I was not readily anticipating it as I was with the previous pregnancy, because I wasn't sure if I was pregnant. In a train of events that would be oh so difficult to try and put into words, I have learned something from these miscarriages. Now this may sound odd to many but through much praying and striving for personal revelation, as well as some amazingly sad happenings I feel strongly that there is a reason for my miscarriages. Adam and I will be unable to have children until we are sealed in the temple. Someone who was helping me try to sort through the fog mentioned this to me "With the way the world is going, do you think your promised little babies are waiting for the protection of being sealed to you before they try and make the venture to earth and survive the last days?" I had never thought of that before. My more selfish side says I want a baby right now and that it is unfair I have to wait. But my more spiritual side can understand my babies wanting to wait. I understand all things happen in the Lord's time, but sometimes it just doesn't seem fast enough.
In other events we learned that Adam's left lung is really not doing so well at all. I am almost certain it is cancer but my stuborn husband refuses to hear anything about it. We have started him on herbal remedies to try help stop and decrease any possible growths that may be occuring, but it doesn't make any easier dealing with the idea of him possibly not being in my life. I received a priesthood blessing from my bishop weeks ago that promised me we would live a long, happy and prosperous life together, IF we lived righteously. However his habit of smoking has been almost impossible for him to quit, and it makes me so nervous about what the outcome may be if he doesn't quit soon! I try to remain positive and look at it as God's way of helping him quit so we can begin the babysteps of getting to the temple, but sometimes (being the stubborn and sometimes demanding person I can be) I want to make my husband quit right now and see things my way... since this will not happen I will continue to pray and hope that my husband can have the ability to overcome this awful habit and that his body will be able to heal from the damage...
I truly am and optimist however sometimes my optimistic spirit feels more like a cat who just had a thousand gallons of water dumped on it resulting in a wet, angry, miserable, frustrated, cold, and vengeful CAT. As of late things have been going alright. God has continued to bless us with the simple neccesities of life as well as the occasional not-so-simple-but-wonderful things of life.
I can't complain too much because God has blessed us so much financially at a time that it seems like so many others are struggling greatly, however I feel that sometimes blessings, as mentioned above come with a price that we feel we would gladly trade, i.e. the financial blessing for other blessings.
In the past couple of weeks I again have been given "learning experiences" (most the time I prefer to call them trials, but not trying to be too much like the wet cat, I am trying to let my optimistic side prevail). We are pretty certain that again I have had another miscarriage in the past couple weeks. The blessing atleast in this one was that I was not readily anticipating it as I was with the previous pregnancy, because I wasn't sure if I was pregnant. In a train of events that would be oh so difficult to try and put into words, I have learned something from these miscarriages. Now this may sound odd to many but through much praying and striving for personal revelation, as well as some amazingly sad happenings I feel strongly that there is a reason for my miscarriages. Adam and I will be unable to have children until we are sealed in the temple. Someone who was helping me try to sort through the fog mentioned this to me "With the way the world is going, do you think your promised little babies are waiting for the protection of being sealed to you before they try and make the venture to earth and survive the last days?" I had never thought of that before. My more selfish side says I want a baby right now and that it is unfair I have to wait. But my more spiritual side can understand my babies wanting to wait. I understand all things happen in the Lord's time, but sometimes it just doesn't seem fast enough.
In other events we learned that Adam's left lung is really not doing so well at all. I am almost certain it is cancer but my stuborn husband refuses to hear anything about it. We have started him on herbal remedies to try help stop and decrease any possible growths that may be occuring, but it doesn't make any easier dealing with the idea of him possibly not being in my life. I received a priesthood blessing from my bishop weeks ago that promised me we would live a long, happy and prosperous life together, IF we lived righteously. However his habit of smoking has been almost impossible for him to quit, and it makes me so nervous about what the outcome may be if he doesn't quit soon! I try to remain positive and look at it as God's way of helping him quit so we can begin the babysteps of getting to the temple, but sometimes (being the stubborn and sometimes demanding person I can be) I want to make my husband quit right now and see things my way... since this will not happen I will continue to pray and hope that my husband can have the ability to overcome this awful habit and that his body will be able to heal from the damage...
Friday, July 25, 2008
O how I love camping!
So we went camping from Monday through Wednesday of this week and really was a ton of fun... We did it all in the tents and I must say aside from when it rains I like camping in a tent more than I like camping in a trailer... that is if I have a decent air mattress to sleep on... So following this are a ton of pictures from our adventure. We pulled in mid-afternoon on Monday and set up camp. Shortly after setting up it decided to rain (it had been threatening ALL day) so as dumb as it sounds we really had now where else to huddle under aside some HUGE pine trees that surrounded camp to keep dry. It was a lot of fun and it's also where we ended up cooking our tin foil dinners in the dutch ovens using bourquets... Any how with out further adou here are the pictures. The one above is a picture of the cut throat Adam caught on the second it day, he was delicious! (I love when he smiles :D)
This one is of me doing the FAKEST laugh in the entire world LOL... we were bored sitting around the camp fire and our friend Daniel had our camera... he's like "JoAnna pretend like you just heard the funniest, knee slapping joke you've heard ever!" So this picture was the result of my attempt... we all ended up laughing even harder after the fact.
This is our friend Daniel with his first catch on the first day... he was delicious too! Yumm I love eating fish that is seasoned and then cooked over the fire!
These two are our friends kids; Gwen and Gavin.... They are so much fun! They were having a fun time getting to brush their teeth and then spit in the bushes. Needless to say it was quite entertaining and humerous to watch.
This is Adam and Me on our four wheeler when we went for a ride! It was so much fun and the place we went to was super lucious and green and EVERYTHING was so alive!
This is Adam, me and Gavin on the wheeler, he ended up falling asleep in my arms towards the end of the drive. He's so cute!
This is Dan, Cass, and Gwen on their four wheeler. We had a lot of fun and had a sort of different version of a pine cone war through out the duration of the ride.
All in all it was a ton of fun! I love camping and being completly lost in the forest! It reminds me of the most simple and beautiful things in life! Plus its a such a great escape to just disappear and lose some of life's worries in the process!
Update 2
Again I think God sends us storms to teach us things, even though sometimes it feels like the storm might break us....
The first of June we realized that the foundation to our house was leaking and as a result we have had to tear out the entire living room in our basement and try to fix everything... It has been such a trial because everytime we seem to get a bunch of money together to pay off a debt something comes along and we have to put the money some where else. I am grateful we had the money (well most of it) that we needed and continue to need to redo everything in the basement. I guess it just helps emphasise or remind us of the importance of having money in savings... not that I think we really ever forgot, but to just reinforce the emphasis of having to have savings and the SUPER importance of it... here is a picture of the begining of the project and once it's done I will post some more....
Here is where the foundation was leaking into the basement... and thus the begining of the destruction of the basement... completion pictures to come late as we are still in the middle of re-doing it and also trying to figure out the wiring mess that is spread throughout the basement and house!Update 1
I haven't been on here forever and in short terms life has been... well the only word that comes to mind is "trying." I am an optimist but sometimes I think God sends us storms to remind us... remind us to pray... to remember to be grateful... to be optimisitc... to be well just better!
For all those who didn't know, (because for a while there I had a blog about being pregnant) I lost the baby about June 16, I was 10 weeks along... It has been the most (not to sound dramatic) heartbreaking experience of my life. But it has made me so grateful for my dear family and friends who reached out to me. It is still one of the biggest struggles of my life and I am slowly and sometimes not so patiently waiting until I am pregnant again and in then end have my baby to hold in my arms. I don't think losing the baby would have been so hard but the fact it took us so long to get pregnant, and then once we were pregnant my doctor was fairly confident we could be having twins, and then to have all that amazing excitement and then to have it all gone in about a week and half's time, made it hurt more than I ever knew possible.
For all those who didn't know, (because for a while there I had a blog about being pregnant) I lost the baby about June 16, I was 10 weeks along... It has been the most (not to sound dramatic) heartbreaking experience of my life. But it has made me so grateful for my dear family and friends who reached out to me. It is still one of the biggest struggles of my life and I am slowly and sometimes not so patiently waiting until I am pregnant again and in then end have my baby to hold in my arms. I don't think losing the baby would have been so hard but the fact it took us so long to get pregnant, and then once we were pregnant my doctor was fairly confident we could be having twins, and then to have all that amazing excitement and then to have it all gone in about a week and half's time, made it hurt more than I ever knew possible.
These were flowers that I received... All of them were complete surprises and in a really wierd way (I'm not materialist and don't expect gifts), but in a wierd way these flowers helped heal the first little bit of my loss... all the these beautiful flowers were from women dear to me in life who had once upon a time if not more than once lost one of their own babies, even one of them being a dear sister of mine. It still continues to be a trial but I know that God had a reason and that one day I'll get to see this beautiful baby that I haven't seen since before I came to this earth... I guess the beauty of the trial is it has made me have to find my beliefs about it all. My personal belief now is that a baby's heart beat is developed at 6 six weeks, and well if the baby has a heart beat then it is "the breath of life." I feel that at 10 weeks my baby had received the body (I can't bring myself to use the word "it" hear because I don't feel the baby is and it, and since I never knew the gender I'll settle with the term "they") they needed and that it was all they needed to do in this life...
All in all it has been a trial and sometimes I wish it would have never happened but I know that God has a beautiful plan, and one day I will get to hold in my arms a beautiful baby of mine and Adam's...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
My New Bow...
So I am excited to announce that Adam bought me my first bow and arrows. I intend on hunting with it this fall. I am currently taking the archery class that will allow me to hunt with the bow and I am so excited to learn to shoot it, and be good at it. I thought I would post some pictures of it. So here they are.
It's a Diamond which is a line from Bowtech. It shoots really nice :).
So yes there is my bow and I am hoping and praying that I will be able to get a cow elk with it this fall. I love elk meat TONS more than beef, and it is easier to get an elk permit for bow hunting than it is to get an elk permit for rifle. Only time will tell. I think I will pick up on it pretty quick.
In other good news Adam and I also both got new bikes (I'll post pictures of them another day). I am so excited! We intend on doing a lot of trail riding this summer and even doing a camping trip on them :). Now summer just needs to get here and the snow stop comming.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I need some un-biased opinions... PLEASE HELP!
So in the midts of my wonderful life I have been fighting an awful battle on Adam's side of the family. Last fall I turned my sister-in-law Lydia (Adam's brother's wife) into Child Protective Services (CPS). From the time I came into the family she has been extremly physically and mentally abusive to their only child (daughter) Tayla. Lydia grabs Tayla by fist-fulls of hair and jerks her around, she beats her butt with any available objects, i.e. sticks, arrows, foot, etc. amongst several other forms of what she considers "appropriate discipline." She also calls Tayla a lot of awful names, including but not limited to: Bitch, cow, etc. Now let me inform you that Tayla just barely turned 6, two weeks ago. This has been going on most of her life. From a person who I know is not judgemental to any degree told me recently about a situation where Lydia brought Tayla into their deli and ordered food for herself and proceeded to eat it in front of Tayla. When Tayla cried that she was hungry and wanted some food to, Lydia proceeded to back hand her and tell her to "shut the hell up." So even after turning her into CPS she continues to abuse Tayla.
Well the turning point for me turning Lydia in to CPS came when I was informed by a couple of different people that at the campground where everyone camps during hunting season, Lydia bare-bottomed (pull pants and underwear clear down to atleast her knees) Tayla, and proceeded to beat her butt with a carbon arrow, over and over. All the while Tayla is screaming "Mom stop, you hurting my hand" (she kept putting her hand in front of her butt to try and protect it). Her beating her bottom like she did was because Tayla played in the creek after her mom told her not to. On top of all of this everyone person in the ENTIRE side of Adam's family has and had so much to say about how Lydia treats Tayla, and how she mothers her, etc. Everytime Lydia would call her something nasty or beat her, everyone who have something to say amongst themselve but never actually say anything to Lydia or do something about it.
Well in the midst of turning Lydia in, I told one person who I thought I could really trust about me turning Lydia. This person in turn told another person about what I did. This person turned out to be Lydia's best friend and told her all about how it was me who turned her in. Trying to make a long story short... EVERYONE in the ENTIRE FREAKING FAMILY has nothing to say to Lydia. Lydia went around confronting everyone on whether or not they thought I was right, they all coward back pretended like I was crazy and there was nothing wrong in the way she treats Tayla. Also when it all came out everyone was like "JoAnna, I can't believe you turned her in!" or "Why did you turn her in." or "I don't agree with you, but I'm not taking sides." Now the kicker to the whole situation is that everyone of the people who had something to say about how wrong I was for turning her in, had talked about it time and time again about wrong she is and how she needs help. Now to top it all of I've become everyone's black sheep. But they don't just come out and act like I am. They pretend to be all sweet to my face and then when I turn my back it becomes a "Lets trash on JoAnna" party.
When it all came out that it was me who turned Lydia in I wrote her and e-mail trying to explain my reasoning behind it and that I hoped that we could mend bridges, etc. In return I got a nasty e-mail telling me pretty much that I am the scum of the earth and I have no idea what I am talking about and how I am a liar and all this big line of crap.
Now comes the part where I need your opinion. I've tried letting it die from the day it all happened (last november is when she found and it all started) and I wrote her the e-mail to try and fix it. However, time and time again people in the family take it upon themselves to tell me quote on quote "You need to get over your shit and move on in life." Well the funny thing to that is I don't talk to anyone in th family about it, aside from my husband once in a while when something about it comes up. Also in the midst of all this happening all of our friends and family members say they don't care, etc. However, everyone treats me differently and acts as if though I am a threat to their children. I have been contemplating writing a family and friend wide letter to all those involved because I don't know of any other way to try and fix things. On top of that I found out that my dear sweet sister-in-law Lydia is going around town (still to this present day) to everyone making sure they know her side of the story and showing them the e-mail she wrote me, but not the one I wrote her. I wouldn't be concerned with this too much but it could affect my job where I work with disabled children and adults. All in all I am at a loss with the situation and trying to figure out what to do. If you want a very, honest, and accurate description of Lydia's personality just look up narcissism on google and read the signs and symptom section. I am not joking in any regard. I just want someone who isn't involve in it all to tell me what they think my best options are. If it were up to me and how I feel today I would just as soon drive over to Lydia's house and beat the heck out of her. I know this would do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! but it sure seems like it would make me feel a lot better. I really would appreciate honest opinions on the matter. Thanks.
Well the turning point for me turning Lydia in to CPS came when I was informed by a couple of different people that at the campground where everyone camps during hunting season, Lydia bare-bottomed (pull pants and underwear clear down to atleast her knees) Tayla, and proceeded to beat her butt with a carbon arrow, over and over. All the while Tayla is screaming "Mom stop, you hurting my hand" (she kept putting her hand in front of her butt to try and protect it). Her beating her bottom like she did was because Tayla played in the creek after her mom told her not to. On top of all of this everyone person in the ENTIRE side of Adam's family has and had so much to say about how Lydia treats Tayla, and how she mothers her, etc. Everytime Lydia would call her something nasty or beat her, everyone who have something to say amongst themselve but never actually say anything to Lydia or do something about it.
Well in the midst of turning Lydia in, I told one person who I thought I could really trust about me turning Lydia. This person in turn told another person about what I did. This person turned out to be Lydia's best friend and told her all about how it was me who turned her in. Trying to make a long story short... EVERYONE in the ENTIRE FREAKING FAMILY has nothing to say to Lydia. Lydia went around confronting everyone on whether or not they thought I was right, they all coward back pretended like I was crazy and there was nothing wrong in the way she treats Tayla. Also when it all came out everyone was like "JoAnna, I can't believe you turned her in!" or "Why did you turn her in." or "I don't agree with you, but I'm not taking sides." Now the kicker to the whole situation is that everyone of the people who had something to say about how wrong I was for turning her in, had talked about it time and time again about wrong she is and how she needs help. Now to top it all of I've become everyone's black sheep. But they don't just come out and act like I am. They pretend to be all sweet to my face and then when I turn my back it becomes a "Lets trash on JoAnna" party.
When it all came out that it was me who turned Lydia in I wrote her and e-mail trying to explain my reasoning behind it and that I hoped that we could mend bridges, etc. In return I got a nasty e-mail telling me pretty much that I am the scum of the earth and I have no idea what I am talking about and how I am a liar and all this big line of crap.
Now comes the part where I need your opinion. I've tried letting it die from the day it all happened (last november is when she found and it all started) and I wrote her the e-mail to try and fix it. However, time and time again people in the family take it upon themselves to tell me quote on quote "You need to get over your shit and move on in life." Well the funny thing to that is I don't talk to anyone in th family about it, aside from my husband once in a while when something about it comes up. Also in the midst of all this happening all of our friends and family members say they don't care, etc. However, everyone treats me differently and acts as if though I am a threat to their children. I have been contemplating writing a family and friend wide letter to all those involved because I don't know of any other way to try and fix things. On top of that I found out that my dear sweet sister-in-law Lydia is going around town (still to this present day) to everyone making sure they know her side of the story and showing them the e-mail she wrote me, but not the one I wrote her. I wouldn't be concerned with this too much but it could affect my job where I work with disabled children and adults. All in all I am at a loss with the situation and trying to figure out what to do. If you want a very, honest, and accurate description of Lydia's personality just look up narcissism on google and read the signs and symptom section. I am not joking in any regard. I just want someone who isn't involve in it all to tell me what they think my best options are. If it were up to me and how I feel today I would just as soon drive over to Lydia's house and beat the heck out of her. I know this would do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! but it sure seems like it would make me feel a lot better. I really would appreciate honest opinions on the matter. Thanks.
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