If You Give Wyoming A Sunny Day...

If you give Wyoming a sunny day, people will want to go outside for a walk.

When they go outside for a walk, they see their horse, and want to ride.

If they ride, they will go for miles.



And when they go for miles, they see lots of animal manure and bones, and think that water must be close by.


When you get to the water, the horses will want to jump over the puddles but walk through the creeks.

After crossing streams, it is time to go back and naturally the wind starts to blow.

When the wind starts to blow, you think about going inside for a nap.

And when you wake up, you see a sunny day in Wyoming and want to go outside.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANNIE!!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful, loving, cheerful, and godly woman. I love you Grannie!



....oh....and Happy Birthday to Shakespeare too...

Youth Group

I have learned so much this week! It is really exciting to have something to learn and study again. I took my bookbag to church tonight and IT WAS AWESOME!! I know, I know....kind of nerdy....but it's exciting to have something to study. I love learning, and this week's lesson on Mormonism at church gave me the first of many chances to study.

It is really strange to be on the adult side of things. Most of my experience with Youth groups/Sunday School is being IN them. It's totally different on the other side. Not only do I have to study the material, I have to figure out how to share it in a way that the kids will listen to, understand, and comprehend. There is certainly a difference between teaching and studying. (Which is also really different from being a substitute teacher, because I basically read the directions off of a sheet of paper...) Anyway, tonight was our first week of studying other faiths, and our topic was Mormonism.

 A couple of weeks ago, two of the youth girls were asking Quincy and I about Mormonism and we were quickly in over our heads, so we decided to embark on a study of lots of faiths. Verrrrryyyyyyyy interesting. And wild. If you haven't ever learned much about Mormons and their beliefs, please go check them out. I have decided that I'm really going to like reading about all these other faiths because a) I'm having to compare it to my own beliefs, b) I have to verbalize to these kids what my own beliefs are, c) I have to understand scripture so that I can back up my beliefs, and d) I have to compare these other faiths with scripture.

I guess I'm learning how to be an adult. You know, these high school kids are just having information thrown at them (in a good way!) and hopefully later in life, when they have to make really important decisions about their own beliefs, they will remember what we've taught them. I think I've reached the first of many "later in life's" and i'm having to remember what I've been taught and make my own decisions that I have to back up with scripture. I am excited to see what kind of growth this study will bring about for me as well as these kids. Please send up a prayer for us!!



In other news, Hazel and I had a sleepover the other night. Bo and Coy went to Jackson for a concert which ended up getting snowed out, and I stayed with Hazel. We had SUCH a blast! Well....I did anyway...she seemed to enjoy it too but it's kind of hard to know when all she says is "CAT" all the time...(sometimes the cat happens to be there).

I had invited them over for Sunday dinner last week to eat with me and Carol. It ended up being just us girls, and we laughed so hard at Hazel's antics. I made chicken and rice, asparagus, and strawberries, but the main event was really and truly the trifle. If you haven't ever had one, i'm so sorry...please get one ASAP. I always request them as my birthday cake for the family celebration, but wasn't able to have one this year since i'm 2,000 miles away. (It also has to be refrigerated so it wouldn't go through the mail too well either.) I heard through the grapevine that Grannie had fixed one for Mom and Dad a couple weeks ago and just couldn't get over my deprivation. Mom even emailed a picture (i'm sure that is some form of abuse...trifle abuse or something!). Basically, I wanted a trifle, and I knew I shouldn't eat it all by myself even though I could and would. So I had this luncheon. Anyway, Hazel thought the trifle was the best thing she'd ever tasted in her short life. She and Coy were eating from the same bowl, and every time Coy got a spoonful, she would watch to see where it was going. If the spoon headed towards Coy, Hazel would let out a yelp. She WANTED that trifle. (I can't lie, I kind of felt the same way). Later Sunday night Coy texted me that Hazel had eaten half of the trifle I sent home with them for Bo since he couldn't make it to lunch. I think I know what i'll make Hazel for her birthday next year! (Hazel just turned 1 by the way). She also sent a crazy picture of Hazel in what we call "custard coma" that is inappropriate for this blog. She was riding her toy motorcycle and looked like she would run somebody over that might get in the way of her and her trifle. Absolutely hilarious. I would call it a success.

I do have a picture from our sleepover when I taught Hazel some motorcycle tricks. She might be the next big thing!!

My Office

My desk/office area at the museum. I finally remembered to take a picture!!

That scanner is my new best friend...along with the photo albums.

Mid-week Update

Well, I don't have any new pictures to post this time, but I CAN tell you about my job at the museum. I've finally gotten started scanning pictures and have figured out what I'm supposed to do. Today I made it to picture #43!! Slow and steady wins the race, right?

We've had another snowstorm over the past couple of days. We had a really nice week last week with pleasant temps, but then everything just plummeted and we got about 3 inches of snow. It was down to 15 the past 2 mornings. Brrr!!! I'm very jealous of the 75 degree weather back in NC!

I've been helping with the Youth Group here in Cody, and we're getting ready to start a series studying different cults/denominations/other beliefs. It should be pretty interesting since there is a pretty large Mormon population around here. If anyone has any suggestions on books or resources, please send them my way! It will be great for me and Quincy (the other Youth leader) to study all these other faiths and learn about them personally before we then teach them to the youth. I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't really had to "study" anything in a long time, and I miss it! Never thought I'd say that during my years at UNC, but I do miss learning. I guess that's part of why i'm enjoying my new job so much too, because I have to learn more about the subject and then all the computer stuff to go with it.

The best news I got today was that my roommate Anne is coming to visit at the end of May!! It will be so great to see a familiar NC face and be able to share all my new hangouts and go see some pretty parts of the country with her. I'm REALLY excited!! :)

My Cup Runneth Over...with Sundrop!!

I couldn't help but laugh today. Total gut-busting laugh, in the dark, all by myself. I have 48 cans of Sundrop. AHHH!!!!!!

So Jonene (the choir director) has a friend who "winters" in Arizona and then spend the summers here in Cody. On our trip to Billings a couple weeks ago she was talking to her friend to see if they have Sundrop in Arizona....they do! She asked her friend if she could bring a couple cases of Sundrop back with her when she came back up to Cody.....lo and behold, I opened the car door to get them out, and there were 4. I just laughed. (I wonder if this is the same sort of laugh Sarah had when she heard she was going to have a baby? Not quite the same situation...but.....) I was expecting 2....and she brought 4. The lady said she bought the last 4 on the shelf or she would have gotten more. I am so blessed!!!




In other news, my new job is starting out so great! Another blessing! I think that I will finally get to start scanning photos tomorrow.....this is a huge project that is probably going to take me all year to finish...there's nearly 600 photos to scan and log a LOT of information about. I'm excited to get started. I'll try to take a picture of my desk tomorrow. I need to take a picture or two with me tomorrow to personalize it.

God truly IS good.....ALL the time!