Christmas and the New Year Craziness!

Since I last posted, we have made it through the holidays! Christmas was amazing! Malone and I celebrated Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd) at my parents house. We played games, opened some white elephant gifts, and just had a blast! Malone got a plastic fly swatter from my parents. We gave Ashley our goldfish. I wish I could say it was sad to see them go...but it was starting to become a pain having to find someone to watch our fish whenever we were away. Not sure if Ashley appreciated them either since they are still at my parents house. We handed out real Christmas gifts. We bought Ash and AJ a Yahtzee game! We got a Wii game and a Wii remote charger from Marshall and Tiffany. I think the big hit of the night were the marshmallow guns Marshall and Tiff got from Natalie and Chris. Genius! Everybody loved it, and there were marhmallows flying EVERYWHERE! We also played our traditional chimes (which gives us a headache by the end, but still fun), and games. The next day Malone got off work around 3, and we made it to his sister's house by about 5 for Christmas Eve. We always enjoy spending time with his family, and Christmas Eve is especially fun because Holly and her family always put on a Christmas Program. Her kids are so talented! Malone and I brought the chimes from my family  (since we used them the night before) and everyone got to play. I think Malone's Dad actually enjoyed it the most, haha. It was a hit!

Malone and I spent Christmas Eve night at our own house this year and had our own Christmas morning. It was really nice getting to sleep in a while and just taking it slow. Malone completely spoiled me, and I messed up on his gifts. Got him the wrong game, the wrong socks, and he spent more money than I did so I had more gifts than he did. I felt dumb, but he seemed happy anyway.I did get him a videogame he did like as well as a nice jacket.  He got me some jeans, a couple pairs of shoes, and a really nice winter coat that I LOVE. It's green and soo warm! Later that day we stopped by my parents for dinner and gifts. We gave them a big clock to go on the wall downstairs, and they got us a food storage rack, and some money. We had so much fun!  Later we went to Malone's parents where we had MORE food and played some games. It was a blast!!

Tuesday after Christmas Malone and I went with my parents, Parker, Tiff and Marsh and their kids to go snowmobile in Moody. We just messed around and pulled the kids on sleds behind the snowmobiles. It was so windy and cold, so we didn't stay too long. Malone took me for a ride and it was so SCARY!! He drove really fast and I thought we'd wreck. Luckly we didn't. But next time I decided I'd for sure wear a helmet.

Wednesday (28th) was Malone's birthday! We both had to work that day, but were able to celebrate and go to dinner at Texas Roadhouse that night. Afterwards we went to my parents for homemade banana cake and presents. Malone got a couple shirts, a hoodie, and a couple movies from me. My parents gave him a vacuum to clean the car out with. It looks pretty handy!

To also celebrate Malone's birthday and New Years, we went snomobiling in West Yellowstone with our friends Larin and Brian Christensen. We left late Friday afternoon just in time to hit the snowstorm on the way up. We checked into a hotel there and went over to visit Malone's parents. They have been working on remodeling a building for their new business there for the past few months. We had dinner and took a little tour around the place. Later we all went out for a walk around town to look around and get some hot chocolate. That night all four of us went for a swim in the hotel pool and hot tub and relaxed in the sauna. Sooo cozy! The next morning the four or us got up around 8 and were ready to snowmobile by about 10:30. I know, it took a while because when we were unloading the snowmobiles they had been completely frozen from the wet snow the night before. It took a while for them to warm up, and for Malone and I to get the tiedowns untied since they were frozen too. Larin and Brian had borrowed snowmobiles from their parents so we each had our own snowmobile to ride. We jumped on and went for breakfast at McDonalds... unfortunately we had missed breakfast by about 5 minutes, so we had lunch for breakfast. Once again, we bundled up and went to find the Madison Trail. Malone was in the lead, followed by me, Lerin, and Brian. The weather was perfect! A beautiful day for a snowmobile ride! The trail we picked was just north of town and was about 16 miles long. I haven't snowmobiled trails before so this was completely new to me. There was one point during our drive about 20 minutes in where I noticed my machine made a funny sound in the engine, like it was struggling a little. I waited a minute to see if it'd stop and it did. So I didn't make a big deal about it. I mentioned it to Malone when we stopped for a little break. He said not to worry about it, unless it happens again. We got going again, and about 10 minutes later, my machine completely stalled! Malone continued on without me not knowing I had stopped, and Lerin and Brian stopped with me. I told them my machine just stopped, and Brian sped ahead to catch up with Malone. Lerin and I just laughed about the situation and enjoyed the beautiful view where we were at. About 10 minutes later, Malone and Brian came back. Malone stopped by me and I could tell something was wrong. He told me he thought he just broke his leg. What?! How could that have happened? He was only gone a few minutes! Malone later explained that when Brian caught up with him, Brian called out to him that something happened to my machine. But over the sound of the engines and with helmets on, Malone heard "something happened to Danielle". I think he must have thought I was hurt and it was an emergency, so he tried to stop quickly but his sled hit an edge and started to tip. Malone stuck his leg out to stop it from flipping and was able to stabilize it just before he had to bail off. He wasn't sure if it was when he bailed off or when he stuck his leg out, but he injured his leg badly. After examining his leg, I could tell it wasn't broken and that it was probably a tendon. But we all decided the trip was over and we needed to get Malone to the ER. We all started up our machines to go. Lerin was standing next to her machine and had started it, turned to us, and suddenly her machine just took off without her!! It sped away over the bank and into some trees. It all happened so fast, we weren't sure how it happened?! The snowmobile suffered a crack in the plastic hood.. but was able to work fine. We all got on our snowmobiles and took off. About 5 minutes later my machine stopped again. Brian started it up for me and we left again. But my machine kept stopping, which prolonged us from getting back and Malone was in pain. Finally Brain switched machines with me and was able to keep starting it to get it back to Malone's parent's place. We got Malone inside and I put some ice on his knee, which was completely swollen by this point.  His Dad took a look at his knee and said he thought Malone tore his ACL. Meanwhile Lerin and Brian had loaded all the snowmobiles, which was so nice of them! We loaded Malone in our Trailblazer with Brian driving, and I got in the truck with Lerin. The boys led the way home. The roads were extremely slick from the wet snow the night before. Lerin and I were driving along and suddenly the truck began to fishtale out of control! After trying to correct it, the truck finally slid into oncoming traffic and off the road. Lucky for us there were no cars, and we had 4 wheel drive. Lerin pulled right out and was able to straighten out and get back onto the road. Luckily no damage, except for a little nick in the bumper from the handle on the trialer. The boys didn't even notice we had slid off, but called a few minutes later when they noticed we weren't behind them anymore. The slide off made me and Lerin so scared to continue driving, but we had to get home! After a really LONG drive, we made it home safe. I got Malone in our other car and I drove him to the ER.

Once we arrived at the ER, it took some time to get X-rays and have the doc look at him. The doctor concluded that it wasn't broken (just as I thought), but he may have torn his ACL (which is what we had already speculated ). He referred us to a specialist in Rexburg and gave Malone a prescription for some mild pain meds. The first night was really rough on Malone. The next couple days weren't that great either. I had to help him with alot of things, which he's not use to people doing everything for him. That was the hardest part for him I think. I borrowed some crutches from work so Malone could move around on his own easier. But we were finally able to get in to see the Orthopedist, Dr. Lee, later in the week. Dr. Lee said he was about 90% sure Malone has torn his ACL, but wanted to wait to look at it again when the swelling went down. We scheduled to go back 2 weeks later (the 19th). Today is the 19th and since we've been to Dr. Lee, the swelling has gone down alot, and it's not as painful. Malone is able to walk without crutches and rarely needs a brace. There is still a little bit of pain, but nothing much. And Malone is able to straighten his knee and bend it pretty well. He's been into the PT office I work at and has had the therapists stretch his knee a few times. Bending it more than 90 degrees has been challenging, but he has pretty good motion. We are hoping that when we go in today the dr. will find out for sure what is going on. I pray everyday that the tendons are intact and that Malone will get through this.

Two days after Malone hurt his knee, he got a call from BYU-I saying he was accepted for an internship on campus for the winter semester. He'll be managing a project there expanding the data center. We were both so excited for him! But the knee complicates things a little. And as I said before, he's been doing pretty well with it. Since starting his internship he's been able to walk around on campus okay and has been able to do the internship as well as go to work.

Even though everything that has happened this year has been completely crazy and has not turned out the way we had expected, on the bright side, everything has worked out considerably well. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for watching over us that day. Me and Lerin were able to get back on the road without any problems. Malone did get hurt, but he is okay and it could have been alot worse.  And even though his knee has hindered him somewhat, he has still been able to do his intership and go to work. And when we were afraid his internship would interfere with his work schedule, that worked out too. Malone has been going to work early at 5AM till about 8AM, heads to his internship from 8-5, and then goes back to work from 6-9PM. He is working enough hours for us to keep our insurance (which we're gonna need if Malone ends up needing surgery on his knee!). I cannot believe how much we have been blessed. I knew the day that everything happened, that if Malone and I have faith, Heavenly Father would take care of us, and he really has. He is so aware of us and I know that He loves us. This experience has taught me a few things and has brought Malone and I closer together, as well as closer to our Heavenly Father. I am grateful to have Malone in my life, and for the wonderful person that he is. I truly appreciate him and admire the man that he has become. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the peace and comfort it brings me to know that someone is looking out for us at all times.

It's almost Christmas!!

Guess it's been a few months since I've updated. Things are going well! Malone has been super busy with school, especially now since this semester is winding down to the final week. He is definately looking forward to having next semester off. We're hoping he finds an internship soon! It's tough having an internship and working almost full time. I'm not sure how it's going to work...but I know it will.

As for me, I'm still just working at Mobley Physical Therapy and at Broulim's in the accounting office. With all hours combined, I work about 50 hrs a week, give or take. It certainly keeps me busy! I honestly don't really have much of a life outside work. Recently I had the opportunity to ride down with my brother Chris to our cousin's farewell. It was such a blast to hang out with all our cousins! They're really more like siblings than cousins. Even if it's been a while since we've gotten together, we can always just pick up where we left off and always have fun!

A few weeks ago, Malone and I got to be with both our families on Thanksgiving! We had dinner at his parents house and spent time with them which is always amazing. The food was sooo delicious and the company, of course, is wonderful. We also got to hang out and look at black friday ads, which is pretty much a tradition on thanksgiving. After dessert, we went to my parents house. My brother was in town with his family, which is always great! We had a good time playing games and just chatting with everyone. That Saturday I got to go to Breaking Dawn part 1 with my mom and sisters-in-law Tiffany and Natalie. We had so much fun! I wish we could all be together more often.

OH- crazy story! The other day we were sitting in the living room and suddenly some guy walked in our door!! He looked around and looked at us and was like, Oops! Wrong house! and walked out... I was like, what the?! Who does that?! Rude. But on the other hand, I guess these townhouses all look alike. I think I need to decorate my door so people don't mistake it for their own door. And I'm now keeping my door locked AT all times.

Anyway, that's all for now! I'll be updating again soon.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day Weekend, Malone and I caught up with is parents at Island Park and camped out a few days. We got there about dinner time on Friday night. His parents had decided to go to bed early so we did too. Saturday morning we went out and Malone's stepdad Eric taught me how to shoot a Baretta pistol 9mm. I've only shot guns once before, but I didn't do too bad! I was surprised how much kick a little gun like that has and it was really loud too. I got super close to the target, but never did nail it. After that we went to West Yellowstone and had a look around before we headed back and had lunch. Malone's sister Holly and her family joined us for the day, which was super fun! We all hung out and talked for most of the afternoon. Malone and I snuck away for a while and had a four-wheeler ride. I had one and he had one, and he rode behind me most of the time on these dirt trails... after the ride he was completely covered in dirt from my 4wheeler.

That night we had dinner and sat around the campfire. Tivo was with us, and there was one point when I looked over and he had what looked like a grin. Next thing I knew he puked all over!! My neice Hannah was holding him, and luckily it only got on his blanket. He puked a couple more times that night and you could tell he wasn't feeling good. I was a little worried about him, but I think he just had too much junk to eat that day. That night, while Malone and I were in bed, we heard a creature sniffing around our tent!! I'm not sure what it was, but it sounded smallish and made a snorting sound when it sniffed. I think it was probably a skunk or a racoon or something. Creepy though! The next day (Sunday) Tivwas feeling much better. We stayed and played a few rounds of settlers with Malone's parents, had lunch and split. It was a really fun weekend and I had so many Kodak moments! But I forgot my camera... dang! Starting to think I need a new camera cuz I dont like the one I have that much.

Monday (Labor day) I didn't have to work, so I stayed home with Tivo. I took Tivo out that morning, and I noticed he was limping! I couldn't figure out why though. I sat him down and looked at his foot and moved it around, bent his leg, felt around. Nothing. He limped like all day. Malone came home at lunch and he looked at him too, found nothing wrong. Later that day Tivo seemed to be feeling better ( or he had just been faking it all day) because he stopped limping suddenly. Weird.

Funny story: So that same afternoon, I was baking some banana bread. I had about 30 minutes left to bake and Malone and I decided to take Tivo for a short walk to the neighbor's to pick up some stuff. We all got to talking and I completely forgot about my bread in the oven! Right after we walked out the door of our friend's house, I suddenly remembered the bread in the oven! I had no idea how long it had been done, but we jetted home and pulled it out. Luckily it wasn't burned, but it was a little overdone on top. However, the bread turned out just fine for eating! I was relieved! That was pretty lucky, and kind of stupid too. lol

Stitches

Malone didn't want me to post this, but I had to! He cut his finger at work the other day and had to get 10 stitches! Luckily it wasn't too deep, but it looks so gross haha. Kind of a bad picture...

Super Duper Best Ever Fabulous Wonderful Weekend!

I managed to get through an amazing weekend without ONE picture... again. I forgot my camera.

This past weekend Malone and I had the opportunity to go to my family reunion camping with my family in Spencer, Idaho. We took work off Thursday through Saturday to go for the weekend. Thursday, we ran a few errands, picked up my parent's trailor and 4wheeler, and my Dad. We made it up to the campground around 4 or so. We all mostly just hung out that afternoon. At dinner, Malone cooked a bratwurst wrapped in bacon over the fire. It was a big hit, since all the guys had to compete for the best looking treat lol. That night Marshall had created a really fun activity involving us putting on some improv skits. It was hilarious and so much fun! I think I can speak for us all when I say that we were all impressed with how funny Dad was and his imrov skills. Go Dad! We actually caught it all on tape... that should be interesting later. The little kids and Parker were involved too, and they had so much fun.

The next day, Friday, was my Birthday! Chris and Dad put on a grand slam breakfast (yum!) And later Dad, Marshall, and Chris took the kids and went 4wheeling, Malone and AJ biked the trails, and us girls played cards. At one point after lunch, I took a fantastic birthday nap! We played Settlers of Cataan and some other games that afternoon. I forgot to mention that we took Tivo, and my parents took Teddy. They were both pretty good. The kids had fun walking Tivo around on the leash. Tivo was good even off the leash too, which was surprising. He just sat with us and walked with me around the camp. Tivo slept in our sleeping bag, which I actually didn't mind because he kept me warm! That night we had dutch oven potatoes and fried chicken, and dutch oven peach cobbler and cherry chocolate cake. Everyone sung happy birthday and I blew out the quickly melting candles in the peach cobbler lol. That night we played more games/skits. We had brought some starbursts with us to cook over the fire with our hot dog sticks. I was making one for my nephew when I had accidentally cooked it too long over the fire making it super melty and a piece dripped onto my finger. It burned a couple layers of skin right off! I had a hole in my finger! It hurt when it happened, but later it didn't hurt at all like a normal burn would, which is weird. Guess I'll have something to remember that camping trip by! The next morning we had a cold breakfast and packed up camp.

Malone and I left around 11:30. When we got home we cleaned up, unpacked, and gave Tivo a bath. That afternoon we went boating with our ward at blacktail in Ririe. We rode up with our friend Dan and his cousin who brought his really nice boat. Dan taught us how to surf behind the boat. My first attempts were a horrible failure, I couldn't get up. But my second attempt was better and I got up 3 times! I didn't stay up long, but I got up! I'm convinced if I had more time I could have gotten it though. Malone of course got up his first time and stayed up way longer than I did. He got up several times and did a wonderful job. I was proud! Later around 7 or so, the weather closed in and it just downpoured on us for about half an hour. All of us were huddled under a shelter waiting for it to pass. Luckily it did and we were able to pack up the boat and head home. It was an exhausting weekend, but we had a blast!

Today is Malone and my 3rd year anniversary! Not sure what our plans are yet. But I'll write about it tomorrow.

Lame Car, Lagoon, Lava Hot Springs, and Large Dogs

A few weeks ago, Malone got in his little red car to go to work and about a quarter mile from our house it suddenly just died. Unable to get it started again, he made a mad dash home and got the other car to make it to work (good thing it was a Saturday!). We took it in and it turns out the timing belt broke and most likely bent the valves. The repairs are most likely going to cost more than the car is worth, so we've been trying to sell it and just get rid of it. We've been car shopping and haven't had any luck yet. My parents happened to have a car they weren't using so I've been driving it to work until we buy a car. The car is a rusty buick I use to drive before we were married. Malone calls it the Leprosy car, because all the paint is chipping off and rusting underneath. Thanks, poor ugly car, for getting me to work and back everyday.

Recently, Malone and I had a little getaway trip to Utah for a weekend. Our anniversary is this month, and because of our crazy schedules we didn't think we'd be able to really celebrate it. So we celebrated early! Malone and I made arrangements to stay in a hotel in Ogden and go to Lagoon the first weekend in August. We got down there Friday evening and spent some time shopping for some much needed clothes. I got a couple pairs of shoes and some work tops, and Malone got a nice pair of jeans and a few shirts for school. We ate out at Red Lobster, which was delicious! I am finally making friends with crab!
We had a delicious buffet breakfast at our hotel the next morning and headed out to Lagoon first thing! It was a really hot day and it got pretty crowded, but we enjoyed being with just each other with no other worries. We got to cut in line a few times to fill seats on rides, which was nice! My ultimate favorite ride was the roller coaster Wicked. It scared me before I got on, but it was a blast! We rode it several times while we were there though. While everyone else took breaks to get lunch, we jumped back in the short lines and skipped lunch! By 5:00 we were both exhausted and starving, so we decided to just relax the rest of the day and grab some early dinner at Golden Corral. We swam at the hotel and just stayed in the rest of the night. Sunday we grabbed some breakfast and headed home! We had a great time spending quality time with each other, not to mention getting some well needed time off.

This past weekend Malone and I drove down to spend some time with my best friend Deidra and her husband Kacy. We drove out to Lava Hot Springs and swam for a couple hours. I don't think I had ever been there before, so it was a new experience! After swimming, we went to dinner at Golden Corral and ate probably way too much! Then we went back to Deidra's apartment and we hung out for a couple hours just talking. We had a blast hanging out with our friends. I consider Deidra and Kacy family, so it was seriously about time that we made it down there to be with them. We had a blast with them like we always do! I just wish we all lived closer so we could hang out more often.

Sunday Malone and I went to church as usual and after church we were invited over to a neighbor's house for birthday cake (it was his wife's birthday recently and they had leftovers lol). So we went over and hung out for a couple hours. They have two big great danes that are simply adorable! Huge dogs, but so loveable. Our friends invited us to go to this dog park down the street later that night. So after dinner, we got Tivo and walked down to this dog park. I guess the Village apartment complex put together a dog park there, which is so nice! It's all fenced in and even has doggie bags to pick up after your dog with. There were tons of dogs, all sorts of shapes and sizes. The great danes were there, as well as a few labs, and a bunch of smaller dogs Tivo's size. One little dog was a chihuahua and he was just Tivo's size! His name was Teego (sounds like Tivo, no?). We got to socialize with a bunch of new people as well as a few friends that were there.I guess this group gets together twice a week and do a kind of potluck too. It was so fun! And Tivo was so good with all the other dogs. So we will totally go again, maybe go tomorrow night and maybe even Sunday too. Thanks friends for inviting us!

4th of July Weekend!

Well, 4th of July has come and gone already. Bummer that it's all over, since it's the one holiday I always look forward to every year... but Malone and I had a good time!! Since Malone had to work Saturday, we waited until after he got off that evening to join his parents and sister's family in Island Park. They were camped out near the river, which was great except there were alot of mosquitos! Pretty thick too, but we didn't let that stop us from having fun! We had a delicious dinner, spent time together chatting, and Malone and I attempted to teach everyone how to play Mow with face cards. We're use to playing with Rook cards, so it was a little hard to adjust! But we all had fun and laughed alot. That night a few of us caught the Island Park Fireworks from our campsite. It was so peaceful, and the best part was the sound of the fireworks echoing against the mountains. We had the show all to ourselves since no one else was around. I think Malone really enjoyed that part! Parker and Malone throwing hatchets and knives

Tivo

A few of my neices and my sister-in-law's neice and nephew

(left to right) Ethan, Macey, Emily, Hannah, and Katie

My father-in-law Eric cookin us up some breakfast! The mosquitos attacked him the most... poor guy.



My neice Sarah, she's so cute!






Hannah

Macey and Katie

It was Tivo's first time ever camping. The mosquitos

bothered him ALOT. He kept barking at them, as if it'd scare them away. It didn't. He must have been really tuckered out because after we got home Sunday afternoon, he slept for hours and hours.

Despite our best efforts and spraying with bug spray, Malone and I were just covered in bug bites. It was pretty miserable for few days. Monday was the 4th, and of course Malone had to work that morning as usual, so I got together with my family and went to the Rexburg Parade. We had a great time! Marshall and Tiffany and the boys came up from SLC to spend time with family here in town, so it was great having them with us at the parade. Chan and Rowan were so fun to watch.

(Left to Right) Chandler, Mom, Parker, Ashley, Tiffany, Marshall and Rowan

Chandler squeezed in to sit next to his buddy Parker

Rowan taking pictures with his Mom's amazing camera

I didn't manage to take any pictures the rest of the day, but after the parade, we all got up to go home and suddenly Rowan puked all over the ground. Poor kid! Luckily we were right next to a building with a bathroom so Tiff could clean him up and I happened to have a plastic sack in my bag to put his yucky shirt it. Couldn't have been better timing really. He was fine later that day it seemed though. Later that afternoon after Malone got off work, we joined my family at my parents house and had a BBQ. We played games and just hung out talking and watching the dogs chase each other around. That night we caught the Menan fireworks, which were pretty decent! I like IF better, but that's okay. Next year maybe.