Holidays

So Charles and I spent time with his family in Lewiston Idaho. We stayed at his sister Val's inlaws house since there was enough room for all of us. Thanksgiving dinner was really good and we all had a good time. THere was a lot of food. Charles went with the rest of the men to shoot guns. Now as for myself I couldn't help with much because I had surgery just a week and 2 days before. I had 2 masses that needed to be removed so my reproductive system will work properly. I am healing well from the surgery.
Now we are in the middle of a Christmas show with his parents and many friends. We are in the choir and are having a great time doing it. It was the first weekend in December and the second weekend too. Charles plays the part of a wiseman named Caspar...the friendly ghost... I mean wiseman. He has had so much fun with it.
Other than that I want to wish each of you a very merry Christmas and hope that each of you feels the joy of the season.

Changing times

We had some sad news this week. On Thursday November 5- Charles' Grandmother Mulkey passed away. His father paid for a plane ticket for him to be down there in Texas for the funeral. He has been there since Friday night and has been so happy being back in his home state. He has told me that he even saw his house that he grew up in and the elementary school that he attended. He has seen so many of his family members that he has not seen for a long time. It has been good for him to be there, but I wish that I could have gone with him too. I have never been to Texas and keep hoping to go sometime but we don't have enough money.
It is a sad time for his family, but she is now out of pain. She is now able to be with her husband who died awhile ago.
So in light of this I have had the weekend off work and time to do scrapbooking. I miss him but he did need to go. He doesn't get to see his family very often since they live so far away-- his father's side of the family that is. We see his mom's family often since most of them live just an hour away.

Reflections

I have spent a lot of time lately reflecting on the last few years. Life doesn't always turn out the way that you thought that it would. When I met my husband, I never would have thought that we would have moved around so much. We have moved 6 times in 4 years. We have spent time in Rexburg twice, Idaho Falls (2 different apartments- same complex because of water problems), Priest River, ID (with his grandma until she moved in with his parents, and then a small place for 2 months on our own), and last but not least the move to Coeur d'Alene, ID.
Granted each time we have been blessed, at least I think so. When we lived in Rexburg the first time just after we were married we had a good time, but we didn't have much. Charles had a good job at Artco but he also really wanted to go to school and have a degree. I don't blame him for that at all- he didn't want our kids to come up to him one day and say "Dad, why does mom have a college degree and you don't?" He has been trying to fulfill that dream ever since.
School is not easy for anyone but for Charles and I it has been harder than I think we both thought it would be. Currently he is in School and North Idaho College.
Jobs have never been very easy to find the best ones to take care of the family. Now we are both looking close to home, but no luck yet.
Sometimes I wonder and ask myself quite often--"Is marriage really as hard as it is for us the same way for everyone else?" The answer I always find is yes. I don't know of a single marriage out there that has not ever had problems or trials to go through.
Marriage is worth everything to me and I would follow my husband to the end of the earth. Just like members of the church follow the Savior. The scripture that talks about marriage being likened unto Christ as the head and the church as the body. So is marriage the same way. Just thoughts on life and how I pray the Lord will bless us as we look to him to pass through the trials of this life.

Life in Coeur D'Alene, ID

So we have lived in our new place for 3 weeks, and it is still a mess of boxes. That is the reason why there are no picutres yet. I have been traveling to work still in Ponderay (Sandpoint) Idaho and it takes at least an hour to get there. Hopefully soon I will be able to find something new.
For now, I have a job at least but it takes me away from my family too long. Not much time to write so I will have to conclude with the gospel is true!!!! I am so happy to be in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so blessed to be sealed to my husband in the Temple! The Book of Mormon is true. Jesus Christ lives!!!!

Moving is not so much fun....

We just moved to Coeur d'Alene. Charles started school at North Idaho College and we moved so he is within 2 miles of the school. This elminates the amount of gas we will be using. However I will still be traveling to Ponderay- to work at Wal-Mart. Until I can transfer to Post Falls Wal-Mart which is about 15 minutes from our new apartment. I will add picures of the move later on when we actually have a home that is not covered in boxes. :)
For anyone who may like to have our new address here it is:
951 W Emma Ave Apt #48
Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814
Our phones are still the same since they are cell phones. It makes it nice for me while I am traveling just in case I need to get a hold of someone.
We just wanted to let everyone know what we are up to now. Like I said more will follow later.

August, .... almost over

Over the last few weeks a lot has happened. We received two tickets to Silverwood Amusement Park and used them on one of the only days that I had off before he starts school. It rained while we were there and made the day cooler than we had hoped for. We played in the waterpark and went on the rides. We had a really fun day and wished the rain would have stayed away.
Then the next day we spent with his family helping his Grandma Holley out around her house. I got to watch the little children and take care of the youngest girl who was 7 weeks old. She was so cute and fun to hold. She is the newest daughter for Charles' older sister, Val.
That night (Saturday 15th) we went to a Baseball game in Spokane and it was nice weather until the 5th inning. Then the rain came down and put a temporary game delay for about 20 minutes or so. We still enjoyed the game and the spokane Indians won the game anyway.
The last week has been filled with work and Charles getting things set for school shich starts on the 24th--Tomorrow!!!! For now he will have to commute until we can find a place down there.
I have been reading the blogs of my friends and have noticed that a lot of life changes have been taking place- babies, divorce, finishing school, and all kinds of other things. It is amazing where life takes us. No matter what we must trust in the Lord and follow His ways to find the true happiness that we were all born to find.
May the best friends stick beside all of us and keep us in prayers.
Crazy how another month of 2009 is almost over.

Life is always about change

Well we have had an eventful week. Charles has applied for college at North Idaho College and he is in. He starts at the end of this month and since it is in Coeur d'Alene we will be moving there so he does not need to drive over a hour everyday. We just found a cute home but we will need to find one there. Enough said for now. So we are excited for him but also kind of sad that we are moving yet again.

4 Years of Marriage

Reflecting on my time with my husband- On Wednesday August 5th is our 4 year anniversary. It has gone by fast at times and it has been hard at times. On the other hand we have had some really wonderful times and I would not trade our marriage for anything in this world...actually I would not trade it for anything at all!!!!!
Four years ago we were preparing to be sealed in the salt lake temple. I still remember the way he looked at me as we were in the celestial room prior to our sealing-- the happiness and love that I felt from him and for him will last an eternity!!!! I will let you know the fun things that we do to celebrate--Don't worry it will all be clean!!! :)
However after 4 years of marriage, the one thing that we have desired the whole time is to have childern!! We have run into medical problems and still keep praying. I guess that the Lord has His own time for us to have children, but I hope it is soon. I want to be a mom so badly!!! I hear of friends and family who are pregnant and I am excited for them, but I also hope to be pregnant too. Congrats to all who have had kids over the last few years and to all those who are pregnant now. It is a wonderful thing to have happen in marriage.

Living in our new place

There are a few things that I miss from other places we have lived. We do not have internet, at this time at least, since we can not afford to pay for it yet. It came included in our rent for every other place that we have lived. So now we have to make do by going to his parents house, or some place that has wifi. Also we do not have a dishwasher, but that is not a big deal since most of our marriage we have done the dishes in the sink.
Another thing that we miss is cable- we enjoyed watching the Disney channel, Hallmark Channel and some of our favorite tv shows such as: Touched by an Angel, Walker Texas Ranger, Hanana Montana, and disney movies that were on. But there again it is not a big deal but it is nice to have it when you can.
Other than that we love our new place and hope to be there for awhile.

Moving...Again!!!

So in July we found out that Charles' Grandma had a prompting to rent out her house. This meant that we needed to find a new place to live. There are not too many places around Priest River to rent but when you pray there is a way to find something to meet the needs that you have. So we heard about a little blue apartment to rent and went to look at it. Here is what we saw!!!

We thought that we would have a little more time before we moved out of his grandma's basement but we ended up all moving on July 24 and 25 to two different places. Grandma moved in with Charles' parents and we moved to the little blue house on Hwy 57 (9th St). It is just north of Priest River High school. In one week it is all set up. Here are the pictures of what it looked like while we were unpacking- which Charles did most of while I was working at wal-Mart.

June- Is it really summer??

During the month of June, it rained a lot!!!! It was just right temprature wise, but it seemed constantly to just rain day after day. I felt like we were in Seattle or Portland. :)

I kept working at Wal-Mart and finally at the end of the month feel like I am doing pretty good at my job. There is still a lot that I need to learn in order to be a really good technician. Charles began a new job that we hope will turn into a career for him--with Vector Marketing. He calls friends and family to set up a time to show them Cutco knvies. He has already sold to a few friends and family. It is not easy to call people to set up appointments but he hopes to do well at this job.

In the mean time we were with his family for 6 Northwoods shows. His dad is the director and co-founder for Northwoods Performing Arts and they put on a show to celebrate 25 years of performing shows for the community. I was there 5 out of the 6 shows to take pictures and Charles was there to video each show. The only reason why I missed one of the shows was that I worked until 7pm and it started at 7:30. It takes me 30 minutes just to drive home from Sandpoint so I decided to just come home and relax.

It was a really good show and very funny at times. I would like to share a few pictures with you. Enjoy!!!

Mother's Day, Memorial Day and May fun

During the month of May we continued to enjoy life here. At the very end of April I was hired on to work at Wal-Mart as a Pharmacy Technician. I was very excited and very overwhelmed at what I would now be doing as a job. During May I worked full time and continued to learn all that I need to know. I am happy to be back in the pharmacy again. Charles worked odd jobs around town and earned what money he could as he has been searching for a full time job.

For Mother's Day we went to church and my husband got me a card to remind me how nice I am. I look forward to do the day when I will be called mom!!!

I made my husband his favorite kind of cookies and even made a special one just for him. Here is a picture of what I made and he enjoyed it very much.
On the 16th of May we were able to drive to Couer'd Alene to see my sister Christine. She came with a choir group from the Boise Institute to sing for a tour. We were able to see her for a few minutes after the program--which was really good. We had not seen her since December and it was nice to see her again.


Memorial day was spent with my husband's family. It began in the cemetery to remember those who have died for our country. There was a 21 gun salute to honor them. We also put flowers by the headstones of his family members. There are quite a few in the Priest River cemetery. That night we had a Barbeque and enjoyed gametime together. It was a nice day!! IT did not even rain which was really nice.

My husband and the movie theater...

He loves to go see movies. So we always make sure we have a little extra to go out on a date once or twice a month to satisfy his desire to be in the theater. Here is what we have seen in the last 2 months.
Hannah Montana: The Movie
It was a really good movie. It really got me thinking about how our life is just climbing up a mountain. We have ups and downs but the view is always great when we reach the top. On the other hand even during the times when we are going down we can still find the beauty in life...we just have to know where to find it.

Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian
This was a really funny movie. The first Night at the Museum was really funny as the museum came to life. This time it took place in Washington DC at the Smithsonian Museum, which is huge.... I can not even imagine what it would be like to have everything come to life there since there is so much that people see there. Needless to say it was a really funny movie.

17 Again
This one was really good. (Ok so all of these are really good) It is about a man who was struggling with his life and wanted to go back and do things over again. He made the wish and became 17 for the second time and went back to high school.

Of course we could have seen lots more movies but we chose to go to a few since it is so expensive every time we go.
We are looking forward to seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2 weeks. I have read all the books and we have seen all the movies. I am excited to see what they put into the movie.

Catching up on our life

Life in Priest River has kept us busy!!! In April I was working for the U.S. Census Buerau as a Crew Leader Assistant. I was able to drive around our area and see where people live. The job was basically to help out the crew leader, while verifying addresses so that the census can be mailed out next year. That's right it is almost time to count how many people live in the Unisted States. It happens once every 10 years and I was able to help out with it this time. Here are a few pictures from what I saw.
This picture shows the snowy mountain tops that I saw since we live practically in the middle of the mountains. Well, close enough at least. I went to houses in the following cities: Priest River, LaClede, Sagle, Priest Lake, and Oldtown. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that I had the chance to do it.
This is Settlement School that is off of East Settlement Road here in Priest River. I thought it was cool to see the history that is here. It was used in the early 1900's.




This picture shows what one family had as you left their house. I just thought it was really funny that it is a buzzard who says goodbye to all who come to visit.
The final picture shows the badge that I wore to identify myself as I went from house to house. Unfortunately We had to give the badge back so I only have this picture of it.

Tammy's 29th birthday on March 25th

On March 25th I started my new job by filling out lots of paperwork. I am now working for the Government by checking addresses for the 2010 Census. I spent 6 hours of my birthday having my fingerprints done, filling out paperwork, being sworn in, and earning over $12 an hour. What a nice present.

Afterwards I let Charles choose where to take me for dinner, since he wanted to spoil me. I guess it was a celebration for my new job too. He took me to Rancho Allegre- a mexican resturant. The food was very good and filling. Here are pictures to show you all of our food.

Then we spent the night playing games with his family and I got to open presents. I received $20, scrapbook paper, photo corners, sheet protectors, 2 3" binders, game, 2 dvds, photo album, and several cards. It was a great day because of a wonderful husband who helped me to feel special.

Painting the set

Since Charles' family has been doing plays for years at the Circle Moon Theater. Before the play or musical several people from the group have the chance to go clean the building, and get the set ready for the next show. This time since we have moved up here we were able to help get the set ready for the show. Charles painted stars and clouds all over the background of the set. I got to create a rock arch on two of the entrances on the stage. We were both told to be creative and have fun. I think we did just what they wanted, what do you think? They told us it looks great!!!!

Fun weekend

March had many suprises in it and this is the first one. Charles sister Ginny and her family came during the middle of the month to spend some time up here. While they were here Ginny made a cake for me for my birthday since she would not be here on my actual birthday. We also had a family dinner while they were here. The cake shown here is the one Ginny made for me. The other picture was taken while we were watching a movie. Her son Boyd got down on the floor and copied Tommy's position on the floor. It was just so cute that we couldn't resist not taking the picture.

Spoiled...with love and roses

Charles bought me these roses just because he wanted to spoil me. And because I have been so wonderful to him as we have struggled up in Priest River. These roses had two different colors or red in them and they were absolutely beautiful!!
I am grateful to have such a wonderful husband, even during the times we struggle. All marriages seem to have struggles so at least we know we are not alone in having them. He sure does like to do nice things for me.

Lacey's Baptism- Feb 28, 2009

Before the baptism this picture was taken of Lacey's family. Valarie and LD are so pleased with her decision to be baptized.

Lacey will be baptized by her dad, LD. This is one of my favorite pictures taken before the baptism.

Lacey asked her grandparents and older sister, Faith to sing. They did a wonderful job. Faith sang the first verse by herself and then the grandparents joined in.

These two pictures were taken after the baptism. The first one is Valarie, Lacey and LD. The second one is all of the family that came to support Lacey as she was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After the baptism part of the family went to Shari's for dinner. Here are pictures of all of us waiting to order our food. We had a great time.

Our Trip to Lewiston, ID

We went for a drive to Lewiston for the weekend. Okay, so it was a planned trip due to a baptism for one of our neices, Lacey. She turned 8 in January and was baptized on February 28. Mom and Dad Caldwell were going there for the baptism and we asked if we could go with them.

The afternoon was filled with fun in the backyard with a lot of kids. We played tag with a ball, jumped on a tramp, and the kids even went down a zip line. Needless to say it was a lot of fun. The baptism was that night and Lacey was beautiful all dressed in white. On Sunday morning we drove back to Priest River so that we could attend church in our own ward. Here are some of the pictures from the great weekend we had.

Friendly deer? Maybe

In the last 6 weeks I have seen more deer than I would normally see during the winter months. Sometimes we will be driving down the road to come back home, and there will be 6 deer just going along on the road. We have to drive really slow so that we do not hit any of them. In fact I have been told that the deer hit the cars more often than a car actually hits a deer. Here are a few pictures to show you what I mean.

Happy Valentines Day

Today was a great day to be happy for what you have. I chose to do something special for my husband to let him know how mush I care.

I made breakfast for him and brought it to him in bed. It was his most favorite breakfast--French Toast, and I added scrambled eggs and bacon to go with it.

Then I decorated our home with lots of red and hearts. We spent the day together just enjoying each other's company. We didn't have much to give each other since money is tight and family has been helping us tremendously.

That night we went to a dance that was with the Priest River ward (our ward) and Newport ward. It was so much fun to be with lots of people just enjoying time together. There was a lot of food, dancing, and even a pinata.

Hidden blessing

I have been reading blogs of my friends to see what is going on in their lives and have learned so much about little kids- especially boys. Most of my friends have little boys, so I guess when we finally have a boy we will have lots of people to turn to for advice.
There are several friends of ours who happen to be pregnant and we are excited for each of you. On the up side of things, we have come to understand why it has been so hard for us to get pregnant. I learned last month that I have a small growth in my pituitary gland (aka a tumor) that has been messing with my hormones and making it harder for me to get pregnant. There is a medication which will help me to get rid of the tumor and help me have a normal cycle. So I have begun taking the medication and I am hoping that it will ease my headaches too. I know that the Lord will bless us with a child at the right time, regardless of how long we have been desiring to have one.

Here is our new home

Here are pictures of where we are living until we can get back on our own feet again. It snowed when we moved things in and that made it a lot of fun. NOT!!!

These 2 pictures show what the downstairs looks like. We have a nice bedroom, dining area/ computer area, and a TV room. We share the laundry area and the kitchen with Grandma but we are happy to do so.