Yellowstone X3

I know I'm behind and have a few more interesting topics to blog about, but I figured I would start with the easiest.
Michael and I have started this tradition of going to Yellowstone the first week it's open. Now only some of the park is open and there is still a lot of snow. So why do we go in the middle of April when it's gross and cold out? Well for one there are so many people in the summer months that you can't really enjoy the park. In April, not a problem. Second, it's free to get into the park the first week it is open. Yea, FREE and that's what we like about it. And lastly there's this whole thing about seeing wild animals and stuff. We figure that with less people to scare all the wildlife away, more snow on the ground to keep them from going up to the mountains, and less people to obstruct our view of a wild animal that we have a much better shot of seeing anything right at the beginning than any other time. Did I mention there's less people there? Yea, we like that. Last year on April 19 I went to the park for the first time. It was awesome. We woke up at 5 and were planning on being inside the park by 7. Then Brenda decided she was going to get a flat tire on her way to scoop dirt. This scooping dirt day was important to her more than any other day. She was going to Burley for an overnight work trip to scoop dirt there. She was going to get paid a lot and stay in a hotel for free and have food paid for. So yea, kind of a big deal. Michael was generous enough to take her to work all the way in Idaho Falls (not super far, but because it's Brenda...), come back and get me so we could change the tire on her car and drive it back to our place in Rigby. I have never seen so much change in the spare tire before in my life, just for the record. After all that fun, we got to the park at about 8 or so. We saw a ton of buffalo, elk and big horn sheep. We also saw a few pronghorns, bald eagles, coyotes, wolves, 6 bears, osprey, and deer. So here's some of the things we saw.

In the field behind us are tons of buffalo, 3 wolves, a coyote, and trees. 

Old Faithful, we just happened to pull in the parking lot right as it's going off!

Officially known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Icebox canyon

The second time we went to Yellowstone was in October I think.... There were some parts of the park that had been closed off during our April visit due to snow, so we took the liberty of visiting again with our main focus being on those few parts. So here's what we saw.

Bugle Bugle!

A Wolf!

Round 2 of our annual tradition was quite the trip. We went on April 16 and invited Christopher and Laura. Michael had taken a feel trip with his Natural Disasters class to West Yellowstone a week before so he was able to serve as a tour guide for us. On our drive we went through Island Park, and saw a moose. We took a scenic route (which added about and hour) to see Quake Lake. There was an earthquake that caused the side of a mountain to slide and cover a river. This blocked the river and made a lake. Unfortunately there were a bunch of campsites nearby and about 30 fatalities. :( In other news.... We saw 5 more moose taking that route than just going straight. After we got to West Yellowstone (the town just outside the park), we stopped at McDonnald's and had a marvelous feast for a breakfast. 

On a side note, we were really afraid we weren't going to be able to go to Yellowstone this time. First of all, the government is stupid and apparently super good at procrastinating. So if the budget didn't get passed, the park didn't open. Thank goodness they did something with their quarter of a million dollar paychecks and figured it out. To add to that, it snowed almost every day for a week before we went. Stupid Idaho/Wyoming/Montana weather. But it opened and we got in!

Once we were in the park we saw lots of wildlife and not lots of people!

How does he have antlers that big already?

Many much moosen!

Osprey

BEAR!!!!

Teddy

Teddy was my favorite dog. He loves to go running, take long walks on the beach and chase cars. He was always really good at making me feel better and being my little shadow. He never listened to anyone the way he would me. He could do tricks like sit, lay down, speak, and dance. He was fantastic at jumping, I used to call him my little Mexican jumping bean. He was the weirdest dog ever sometimes. He could squeal like a stuck pig if you came close to stepping on him and never quite liked being picked up or he'd do the same thing. Teddy loved chewing on bones, eating table scraps and absolutely loved anything called a treat. Teddy has been my best friend for the past 5 years and always stuck by my side. I can remember when Teddy was born, his mom was Gizmo the Pomeranian and Kaiser the German Shepherd was his dad. He had one sister who died 2 days after birth. Gizmo only lived for a few months after having him. Teddy was originally Marisa's dog, but I obviously liked him more and we bonded immediately. He was born around January of 2006. Teddy and I would hang out next to the pool all day in the summer. Sometimes he'd even swim with me. When we weren't outside he was always by my side or at my feet. When Michael and I got married, Teddy was part of the deal. So we moved him from Clarksville, TN to Rigby, ID. During the weekend we moved Teddy spent about 36 hours in the back of a moving truck, squealing his head off the whole time, poor thing. When we let him out he acted like he hadn't seen me in years. He hated car rides, which made taking him on hikes difficult. But we took him anyway. Last summer we started training him to walk with us without us holding the leash. This way he had a little more roaming room and we weren't tied down to a leash all the time. It took some time for him to understand he couldn't go home unless he was with us. Once we went hiking in September at Cress Creek and Teddy decided it would be a better idea to run away. So for 2 hours... 2 hours! we searched for him. We were in the mountains and it started snowing and we searched and searched. Finally he came back, soaked and shivering and cold. Oh I was so upset! Then there was this other time when we were hiking around the Menan Butte and Teddy ran off, dang rabbits they're just so distracting! So for 45 minutes we searched and searched. Somehow he always finds us but only on his time. Silly dog. There was this other time that he ran off and then this other time. Oh how he loved to run and especially after cars. Every time he ran off he would always come back hurt. Always limping in some way as if that would make us less mad that he ran away. Well, it always worked on me. Poor thing, I'd always feel so bad for him that I would carry him back to the car. I'm sure sometimes he would legitimately pull a muscle, but every time? He was such a good dog to me. This morning, my wonderful husband took Teddy on a walk. Teddy loves walks and I don't always take him on one, so it was nice for Michael to do that. Well, Teddy did what Teddy's good at and he ran. He ran so fast into the road that the car got him. So here's to Teddy, my favorite dog.

I love you Teddy.

What keeps me busy

This is most everyone in my graduating class of the Vet Tech program.

So it's been a while. In my defense, I've been super busy. Classes are going great! I absolutely love my vet tech classes. I've already learned and practiced how to draw blood from a rabbit and a dog. How to give a rabies shot. How to give intramuscular and subcutaneous shots in rabbits. And have seen like 4 or 5 surgeries and helped relieve the pressure from an abcess, which smells real bad. I'm gonna go ahead and leave a disclaimer here after reading through this myself: If you get your feelings hurt easily, if you can't stand strong opinions, or if you really don't want to hear the truth of it, don't read any further. I owe you that much :]
I'm the class president of our vet tech class this semester, so I helped get the SCNAVTA started. SCNAVTA is short, well sorta, for Student Chapter of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America. Doesn't that sound like fun?! That club has been actually pretty frustrating. Especially since it's a private school with a bunch of sheltered Mormon kids (no offense). But it's true. Since I've been to a different school in a different part of the country I feel like I understand a little better the strictness it takes to start a competitive club that looks great on a resume. I felt that mandatory service hours and attendance at club meetings would be a good way to make sure those in the club would truly get the most out of it. Others do not agree. I know that getting 30 different people with families and classes and jobs to have schedules that match up for meetings would be difficult. However, expecting someone to do extra for a club, which is considered an extracurricular activity, isn't that much to ask for. (Did you see the extra in there? Crazy!) I guess I'm wrong. But to those of you who think that college should be easy and that being part of a club that's supposed to look good on your resume is easy... YOU'RE WRONG! And I DON'T feel bad one bit for saying that. When you're in an interview with your potential employer and he/she asks the big question "So, how difficult would you say your major was?" And you answer, "Oh it was so easy, I just breezed right through it." Do you really think you're going to get the job???? Nope, not happening. So why would the question about the club be any different? How many people are out there right this moment with a vet tech degree? How many more will have graduated and be searching for jobs by the time I graduate? These are the things I take into consideration when I want something to set me above someone else. Now grades can be a big part of it, but hands on experience doesn't get any better. So why not enforce mandatory service hours, if it's only going to be for your benefit? And it will be fun because you'll be with friends.  Really what I should do is make the club super fun, no service hours, no informational speakers, nothing like that. Just have refreshments and games every meeting. Then I can get all the service hours I want by myself and have a resume that looks ten times better than any of my classmates..... Too late for that. Plus then I wouldn't have to hear how hard it is to go to meetings or to get your service hours. If you can't meet the requirements to be in a club, then don't join. It's really not that complicated. And I know people at a church school want to involve everyone, but that is not realistic. Make it available to everyone and let them choose. Did we not come to this earth for that very reason? Were we not given agency to be able to choose for ourselves? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I want to be a part of something amazing and if it means that I sacrifice a little now and receive more blessings later, then heck yes I'm gonna do it! Dang, I should start a debate team with this! I just want to make sure that the club we start, which will be around until the program ends, will actually be to the student's benefit. It's not just my graduating class that will have this club, it's every single person that enrolls in the program from here on out. If we, meaning mainly I, don't get this started on the right foot, how will I know it will ever get better. And if it's going to get better, why not make it now when it will benefit me the most. Being a close minded, stubborn, stiff necked person doesn't seem to go well for the people in the scriptures, just be aware of that... I really don't feel like I'm asking a lot. In high school, I played soccer in the fall and did cross country then as well. I was a boy's soccer manager and at some point broke a hip, an arm and got my wisdom teeth out. I was also taking 3 AP classes my junior year and 1 AP class my senior year. And I was in 7 different clubs, one of them being the National Honor Society. To maintain membership in this high school club I had to do a mandatory 30 hours of service a semester. Plus as a senior you had to do a 10 hour service project on top of the 60 hour yearly service required. Now service could be done over the summer, but it's much easier to teach 1st graders how to read when they're in school. This is a high school club! So when I suggested 10 hours of service a semester and got immediately shot down, you could see why I would be upset. And to make another point, this isn't the first semester the program has been around and yet I'm the one making things happen and getting the club actually organized? Explain this to me please. Kids these days, can't live with 'em, can't, well you know the rest. I understand there are different personalities and some people are real go-getters and others like to tag along. But something needs to be done. I'm not meaning to hurt anyone's feelings and I certainly don't want to feed the fire that divides the first group from the second. See there's not enough diversity at this school for people to be more understanding of strong opinions, but there's enough married people with children who think they're always right and that being married automatically makes you more mature, smarter and wiser than a single person. And this, I believe, is school-wide. So the first group is made up of 15 or 16 mostly married people and the second group has 2 out of 15 people in it that are married. And it's not that the second group isn't all sorts of willing to work with the other group. Not saying that it's all their fault.... but than again. Not quite sure how everything worked out, but I know now why I started this semester and not last fall. Now obviously I was, am, in good humor while writing this, if you didn't pick up my awesome humor then read it again! But this makes me so upset! GRRR!!! I don't know how many times I can say that I don't feel I'm asking for too much. What an unbiased rule system in which to rely on for making a brand new club? Really, is that too much. Come on. All I know is this is going to be my campaign for running for SCNAVTA president next semester. Yea, see who tops that! On that note, let's look at some more awesome pictures from school! YAY!

AW! Bunnies, so cute, and hairy, and the got big fangs!

Took Teddy and Chewy in to practice nail trimming and physical exams. He was ok with it at first....

But this is how he ended up. And he's a squealer too!

We learned a bit about the anatomy of a horse... 

Surgery's just so interesting! 

So that's what a uterus looks like!

Back to the classes are fun part, we've encountered some pretty hilarious sayings. Last week we did a spay on a dog and a few of us got to practice intubating. We'd never done it before and hadn't really seen too far inside a dog's throat. One of my friends looked inside the dog's mouth and saw the epiglottis (which separates the trachea and the esophagus). Her response to the alien looking thing was, "Oh gosh! What is that?" Hilarious! Especially because the whole class had been pretty loud til then and got real quiet just to hear her say that! So funny. Then another girl in class had taken the tape off the sterile surgery pack. This tape just so happened to say "STERILE" on it. And she stuck it to her shirt. So naturally she walked passed me and I said "Hey, you're sterile!" Then realized oh crap, that's pretty rude! So I tried to explain myself and another girl turns around and says "Don't judge my uterus!" Before all this hilarity had begun, a few classmates and I were discussing the creepiness of certain people. There is this guy that I knew from Tennessee that thinks he knows Michael and has a class in the same building that I do. I've only got 2 classes on campus, but go figure he's got to be there! Well, he's found this awesomely bad habit of asking me how my pregnancy is going by rubbing his own stomach. It's really creepy. Like really bad. Just try it the next time you're talking to someone. Yep, just talk to them the whole time and rub your stomach like your hungry, oh and you have to tilt your head to the side and nod a little as well. SEE! It's creepy, well I have a class on the second floor and there are several staircases and quite a few doors that take you outside. So every time I'm in that building I take a different way and yet he always finds me! So someone suggested to me that I should walk up to him and say "I have diarrhea" and walk away and all my problems will be solved! We'll just have to try that out. 

Other than the funny things people say, class is all together very interesting. We had muffins and chocolate milk on Thursday! And for homework assignments we get to read weird articles about animals. One talked about Lumpy Skin Disease. And yes, it really is as gross as it sounds. Cows get these lumps and swell up so bad they can't walk. So they stop eating, walking and drinking and start to rot while they're still alive. Yep, that's what I learn about. 

That's all for now. Expect another post this weekend about other recent news in my life.  

School, school, and more school

After our trip to Utah, we were ready for some rest. Well, that didn't happen. BYU-I's winter semester starts January 5, which is over a week earlier than Austin Peay State University's spring semester which starts January 14. So of course I ordered my books online (saving over 200 bucks by the way!) and didn't have any of them when school started. Good thing my classes are easy! Michael was smarter than that and was able to buy some books from friends and the rest from the bookstore for a pretty good price. This is my first semester at this school and let me tell you, things are SO different! There's a dress code, no shorts/ capris, no holey jeans, no facial hair, and lots of other things. Pretty much you're supposed to look well groomed and well dressed. There's also an honor code. Since it is a private school and it is a church school, that's to be expected. No lying, cheating, philandering (if you know what I mean). What I got out of it is uphold the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints standards or go to a different school. I had a hard time with this at first. Especially after coming from a public school that was very.... lacking in any kind of rules. But it makes sense. We all have a choice and if you can't do what is asked of you, then pick a different school. It's that easy. But if you can uphold the standards, then your tuition is super cheap. It's 1700 a semester for tuition here, that's about half what I was paying to go to a smaller school in Tennessee. Michael is so smart he gets a full ride tuition scholarship from his grades when he previously attended. He also gets the Idaho grant that if you live in Idaho and stay in Idaho to go to college they give you like 200 bucks a semester. Which is nice. I don't qualify for any of the scholarships yet. As a transfer student, you have to wait 1 semester for them to review your grades from this school and decide whether the grades you received were high enough to get a tuition scholarship. As a sophomore you have to get something like a 3.89 or higher to get a full tuition scholarship.

Enough about that. My schedule is awesome! Here's what it looks like.
Animal Anatomy and Physiology MWF 9-10 Lab M 3-5
Math for the real world MWF 11:30-12:30
Book of Mormon MW 12:45-1:45
Veterinary Medical Terminology TR 9-10
Intro to Lab Animal Science TR 10:15-11:15 Lab T 3-4
Animal Care and Management 1 TR 12:45-1:45 Lab R 3-5

Yea, my classes are awesome, except for my math one. Because it's dumb. Here's Michael's schedule.
Natural Disasters MWF 9-10
Developing World MW 10:15-11:15
Homer to Tolkein: Quest in Arts MWF 11:30-12:30
Energy Issues and Alternatives MWF 12:45-1:45
Intro to Business Management F 7:45-8:45
Intro to Family History TR 10:15-11:15

So far my classes are so much fun. I've learned a lot about animals. I've been able to perform physical examinations, how to do subcutaneous injections, trim nails on dogs and rabbits, and tons about the ethics and  the laws regarding what veterinary technicians can and can't do. I'm also the President of the Student Chapter of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America at BYU-I. This is the first semester we've had the club so organizing it is kind of interesting. The vet tech program has only been at BYU-I for 2 semesters. We're not yet accredited and we don't have a technician on staff, so technically we can't join the actual NAVTA yet. We're working on it. All the classes I have on Tuesdays and Thursdays are taught by the same teacher and I've got all the same classmates for those classes. It's a small group about 17 of us. It's nice.  So the good side to the program being so new is the classes aren't as intense as they could be, I get the same teacher for my important classes, and the group is really small. On the other hand, they're in the process of building a veterinary teaching hospital that won't be done til I graduate. We have classes in an old house that's super ghetto. And we don't have as much equipment or animals to work on. Paving the way for the future students is pretty neat though.


Michael likes his classes, for the most part. He always has tons of homework and all his classes want him to work in groups. He had to create his own website for his business class. wmplr.weebly.com It's been pretty crazy. I work Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Michael is on a rotation for weekends and Tuesdays at work. So we don't see each other very often. And when we do, we're doing homework. So the fun of school has already gotten us super stressed out and thinned our wallets more than we thought. That's probably the only down side to having a name at the end of the alphabet, the government FAFSA stuff goes alphabetically so we haven't received our financial aid yet. FUN!

Hope this has been educational. :]

Christmas with the Wamplers

Christmas this year was a totally new experience for me. This being Michael and I's first year as married folk, we spent the holiday with his family. We both were able to get 4 days off in a row for the weekend so we could see as much of his family for as long as we could.  Friday we drove down to Salt Lake City, Utah with Teddy and Chewy. Teddy's not really a fan of the car and whined pretty much the whole time.

 Chewy is a good little dog and slept most of the way... except when he was throwing up. Poor thing.


 That evening we went to the Pyper Party and saw Bruce and Carolee & company, Shelly and Sean & company, Brian and Kate, Pyper Grands and a few others. We had about 10 people working on one puzzle at a time! And we finished that thing in record time of 30 minutes... ish. At this get-together we had awesome pizza and frozen yogurt, which is actually better than people make it out to be. That night we went back to Chris and Laura's and played games and set up for Christmas.


We also went to Temple Square and got to see the lights and the Nativity scene with narration. 

I've decided I really like negative pictures.

Saturday was Christmas!! Chris and Laura have this rule that no one can go into the living room (where all the presents are) until everyone is awake. That's a little different than what I'm used to, but pretty neat. So once everyone was up, we opened presents, ate lots of candy and each got our own box of cereal! After clean up, all the ladies helped get the Christmas feast together and we ate and ate and ate. It was legendary.








So, all full of food, Michael, Brenda and I decided we wanted to see some snow on Christmas. By the way, this is the first winter I've spent in the west, not a single snow flake on Christmas day, but Clarksville, Tennessee got plenty of snow, for the first time in 17 years!!!! Figures. So we took a trip to the mountains, borrowed snow pants for me and a sled for Brenda and were on our way. We found this place that was actually pretty popular and was loads of fun to sled on. We had pretty good timing too, we got there when it was pretty late in the afternoon, so most of the big crowd had left. All in all, it was awesome!!!

On Sunday, we went to church, hung out, played tons of games, and had another gathering on the Pyper side. Bruce and Carolee invited everyone over for grilled cheese sandwiches and chips and salsa. Grilled cheese with salsa on it is sooo good! There I got to meet Ben for the first time. He's living in Seattle, so he and I connected pretty well. I was born in Tacoma after all.

The Biggs and me, they're just so tall!

Monday was our day to leave. So we went to Ikea, got a new living room and had to eat some Carl's Jr. We also got our teeth cleaned, thanks for the last minute appointment Bruce!
The End

Thanksmas

Since Michael is taking so long on his get to know you part, I'm skipping him. Yea, I'm a line jumper - be scared. 


This is my first time ever being away from my family during any kind of holiday or celebration... So Michael and I took a trip to Tennessee for Thanksgiving and celebrated Christmas there as well. It's just easier not to mail presents. 


Our trip began on Monday November 22 at midnight. We had been following the weather and apparently the earliest, biggest blizzard ever was coming the day we planned on leaving originally (the 23). So I got a replacement for work and we were on our way. The drive to Salt Lake City, that normally takes us 3.5 hours, took us 5 hours that night. Stupid snow. So we stayed at Chris and Laura's (thank you!) and got a couple hours of sleep. Then we picked up Jennie Farley and Rebecca Flake and left for Clarksville. 30 hours, 5 states (Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Misery & Kentucky) and no sleep later, we were finally home! 

After that crazy drive, we were able to get some good rest before having Thanksgiving with my family. We played a lot of rock band, something my dad is totally addicted to.

 We played games, everyone was excited for bananagrams,  flux,  nertz, hand & foot, and especially poker. 

And of course we ate lots and lots of food! I thought it'd be cute to bring some potatoes from Idaho for my mom to cook with, but instead I got red potatoes from Nebraska that I bought in Idaho that we ate in Tennessee, quite a journey!

After dinner we got PRESENTS!!!!! My parents are really good at going overboard, thanks mom and dad! Our new GPS definitely helped us avoid some bad weather on the way back.


My brother took us to an auction, which was awesome! We got a dozen 6 packs of donuts for like 3 dollars! And some other cheap junk that we probably don't need. And we did a whole lot of just hanging out.

On Friday, we did some Black Friday shopping, which is a first for me. We started at midnight with Old Navy $5 comfy pants that are super warm and awesome!! Michael got a PS3 controller, we got a bunch of movies and wandered around aimlessly for a while. Oh, I got to drive Michael's car, which is a manual and killed it 3 or 4 times getting out of the Walmart parking lot. Thank goodness we were late to that sale! You know, that way people didn't run me over :]


Last but not least (well maybe least, they are pretty small), you can't visit the Roney Ranch without mentioning some of the beautiful dogs they have. 

This is Paulie, but I called her Odie cuz she looks like a coyote!

Sasha, Erich's puppy

Chewy, the puppy who snuck home with us!

This is Blondie, the mommy of our little puppy and the oldest.

Our drive back to Idaho was rather exciting. Thanks to my parents, we had a wonderful GPS to tell us the fastest way home... Only we didn't go that way, nor did we go the second fastest. We didn't even do a combination of the two and go the third fastest way. There was a storm in Wyoming, and a storm in Denver, blocking all ways home but the southern one. We went through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and southern Utah just to get back to Idaho. So much fun! Needless to say, it took us 36 hours to get to Rigby from Clarksville, TN. Next time I think we'll just fly.