Daka, Daka, Daka

 This is the view of Fremont Lake from the cabin balcony. The cabin was started in 1958 and completed in 1965, and is about 10 miles north of Pinedale, Wyoming at 7500 feet. 

 This is a picture of the Windy Range Mountains, and was taken on a little looking point on our way to Elkhart Park where we did a little hiking. Absolutely gorgeous view. 

 This is the little creek we found on our hike in Elkhart Park. It wasn't hidden or anything, but it was just a nice little babbling companion along the trail. The water is amazingly clear and it was quite cold. I love that streams like this still exist, and it makes me want to do everything possible to preserve them so we can take our children to experience them too. 

 Capitan Marshall at the helm! We took the boat out on Fremont Lake, which is pretty big. I even got to steer for a little bit! 

 We stayed at the Dawson family cabin, which was built by Marshall's great-grandfather Elias Dawson and his family. One of the coolest features of the living room is the giant map of the western United States above the fireplace. To the left is a giant buffalo head; to the right is an elk head. 

My little buddy Clark wanted a picture of him and Cabin Moose. :)

We flew to Salt Lake City from Austin, and spent the night with Marshall's cousin Jacob's family in Clearfield, which is about 30 minutes north of the airport. Jake's wife Shelley is a stay-at-home-mom with their three children: Ava, Jackson, and Ethan. Another baby girl is due in November. Jake is a nurse in the oncology department of a nearby hospital. Jacob was one of Marshall's groomsmen in our wedding too. They have a trampoline in the back yard, and Ava and I jumped on it together. :) 

Monday we drove to Newton, Utah, which was 75 minutes from Clearfield. We visited with Bermuda, Marshall's grandmother, and the Anderson clan--Doug, DeeDee, Heather, Annie, and Bonnie. Heather lives in a nearby town and came over for dinner that night. Annie is going to college less than 2 hours away starting this fall. Bonnie is going to be sophomore in high school (I think). Bermuda loves to quilt, and showed me a box of quilts that are reserved just for family. Between quilts and baby afghan blankets, I think we took home nearly a dozen! It was so generous of her to give us so many. :D 

Tuesday we left for the cabin in Wyoming, and it was a 5 hour drive. We got to go through Idaho!

After being up in this area, we both looked at each other and truly committed ourselves to doing everything possible for us to move up this way immediately after Marshall graduates. We loved the weather and the beautiful countryside. Yes, yes, we want to move to Idaho!

Wednesday was Independence Day, and we went for a hike in Elkhart Park, found the boat dock, and watched the fire works in town. Oh yeah, our little rental car Fido, a Fiat 500, got stuck in the dirt. It took 5 locals and a truck to pull us out. Oi! All during our trips back on the dirt roads going up to the cabin, we would see these little chipmunk/prairie gopher guys scamper across the road. I told Marshall they reminded me of the creatures we call Dak Rats back in North Dakota. So, every time we saw one scurry across our path, we would call out, "Daka, daka, daka" at it. It was quite fun. 

Thursday we went out on the boat and kept on relaxing. Friday morning we packed up and headed back to Newton. Saturday around lunch time we left to go to the airport. The flight from SLC to Denver went well, but we had a rain delay in Denver, so we didn't get home to Austin until midnight, then back to our house until 1pm. Our neighbor Beverly watched our cats for us, and they were happy to check out all our luggage. 

We had a fabulous trip and are so enthused about moving to Idaho in 2 years!

Holding Down the Fort

May has been a very fortunate month in our household. It started off with Marshall only having 2 final exams for his four classes and being finished on May 4th. Sarah watched the Kentucky Derby on May 5th, and Marshall began working on his car (Natasha), which has been out of commission since December. He also logged quite a few computer programming hours for his part-time job. His big task was creating a mobile app for the truck drivers to use instead of their current paperwork method.

The biggest news of all came around the middle of the month when Marshall was in contact with Denison Industries (Denison, Texas), and they negotiated terms of his summer internship. He will be employed May 29th through August 17th. The company is taking care of a fully furnished one bedroom apartment for him (that by the way it sounds is decorated nicer than our house), plus a generous weekly salary. Marshall is on the Engineering team, which consists of the Engineering Manager, one experienced engineer, a newbie, plus now Marshall. There were two other team members recently, but one retired and one was let go. Based off my own experience at the company that I work for, it sucks having a short-staffed engineering team. Marshall seems to be getting along fantastically well with everyone, even charmed the HR ladies his first day. He foresees a very possible job opportunity with Denison after he graduates in just under 2 years.

So with Marshall away, it's just me and the three cats. We're holding down the fort alright. I bought the cats new toy mice, which they seem to like better than their current collection (hurray). They miss Marshall though. Misti, who is very much a daddy's girl, actually seeks me out at times to let me pet her; that never happens.

I'm still working, and trying to have some fun during the week. This past Wednesday I went to Pluckers Wing Bar with some girlfriends and we played trivia. I had their lemon pepper wings and macaroni & cheese--absolutely delicious! We may go again next week too. This weekend I feel like browsing through stores, so I think I will go to the mall. I haven't been to a mall since Black Friday, plus I can get some exercise walking around in the air conditioning. I'm also going to meet up with my friend Candice this weekend to talk about her baby shower since she found out she's having a girl since the last time we hung out. Eek! I'm so excited. My other goal for the weekend is to retire all of our Christmas decorations including the tree and box them up. Yes, I've had Christmas in my house for six months. With Natasha's front end taken part and stuck in the garage, we couldn't pull down the ladder to the attic where all the storage boxes were. Before Marshall left he brought everything down for me. This weekend it will all get boxed up, then when he comes home next weekend, he can haul it up there. I'm not even sure if we're going to put it back up this year. Oi!

Marshall did such a great job putting Natasha back together again. The engine started on the first try; it was beautiful and horrible at the same time. Something sounded like metal popcorn (ut-oh), and he found out he needed a new water pump. Since he had to leave no later than May 28th, and Natasha wasn't fixed, we rented him a car and made plans for me to have her towed to a local specialty shop for German cars called Austin Veedub, which was Marshall's home-away-from-home in May since he was there every other day picking up replacement parts. I got Natasha over there on Wednesday, and haven't heard back from them about proceeding further and a cost estimate, so I'll call on Monday and see if there's going to be a snowball's chance in hell that they can have it ready for pick up next Saturday morning.

June promises to be an exciting month. Marshall will be home late on Friday the 8th, and we're going to lunch with his parents and some of the Lesnick family who will be in town on Saturday. Mars will drive back to Denison on Sunday the 10th. On Friday the 15th, my best friend Heather in NC flies out to spend the weekend with me. I'm so excited!!! The following weekend (23-24) is free yet, and then we get ready to leave for our Utah/Wyoming trip on July 1st!!

Knowing You're in the Right Spot

I know that Marshall and I are on the right path in our lives right now. Here's why.

On Monday night (4/30) we were invited to the Foundry Educational Foundation's (FEF) spring meeting banquet. During the day they took a tour of Texas State University where Marshall is a student in their industrial technology program and has experience with the foundry course offered there. He and some other students and faculty gave the FEF a tour earlier in the day, then there was the banquet in the evening at the Embassy Suites.

Marshall introduces me to his professors, then we are told that dinner is about to begin and to sit at the tables, which hold 8 people each. We're towards the back of the room, and we sit at the table in the back right corner. On my right is a man from NY who is on the FEF, and Marshall is on my left. On his left was a guy named Ed from Spokane Industries in Washington state. Mr. Clay, the man awarding Marshall the FEF internship scholarship was also at his table with his wife, who surprisingly has family in my hometown. Another colorful and amazing character was Bob Smillee (Smiley), who we chatted with for nearly 30 minutes after the conference ended (another story).

After the President of the FEF does his introductions and speech, we eat our dinner salads. During that time one of Marshall's professors comes to him and asks if he's met the representative from Denison Industries, the company that we're hoping Marshall will get to work for this summer. Apparently it was the gentleman sitting right behind Marshall, who at the time of the conversation was out of his seat. Moments later he returns, and according to Marshall, Marty tells him, "So, I hear you're coming to work with us this summer." Marshall: "We haven't heard a response back from Denison, but I definitely want to." "Here's my contact information, and we'll work it all out." !!!!!  Marshall has the contact information for someone at Denison and can ask questions about details for his internship!!!! Oh, this made me so happy!

Side note, things that Denison and Marshall will have to negotiate are:  terms of employment, salary, living accommodations, working hours, length of the internship, and also getting the first week of July off for us to go on vacation.

If meeting someone from Denison wasn't enough, Ed, the gentleman on Marshall's left, works at a foundry in Spokane, Washington, which is only 20 miles from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I want to move to CDA so much, and now we have a contact at a foundry that Marshall *could possibly work for!!! Needless to say I was one excited wife as we were driving home. Not only are the odds in Marshall's favor for having a spectacular internship at Denison for the entire summer, but we could move to CDA and Marshall be employed in his field. *dreamy sigh

April Agenda

The spring semester is almost over. Marshall has three weeks of classes then finals before he's free from the bus and homework until late August!

On the 20th we have an award ceremony to attend on campus. Marshall is being awarded the Engineering Department's Leadership & Service Award, and the event is open to friends and family. His parents are coming up from Houston, and I'm taking the (much needed) day off from work. We are all very proud of him, and realize just how far he's come from this time last year.

On the 24th we will celebrate our three year engagement anniversary and same milestone of me graduating from UNF.

The first half of the month has been very busy with our trip to Lufkin and in-laws coming to Austin for Easter weekend. I also had some social events this week, which made time go by very quickly.

All in all, life is good. :)

Could It Be?

Could it really be happening?! Our summer plans are S...L...O...W...L...Y becoming more clear.

Marshall interviewed for an internship scholarship through the American Foundry Society on the 13th, and found out later that day he will be one of the recipients--hurray! The three-person panel that interviewed him are responsible for matching potential interns, such as Marshall, to foundries that are asking for them. The AFS group has three foundries to work with--two iron facilities in Dallas and one aluminum in Denison, Texas. They are going to make a strong recommendation to Denison to pick up Marshall. All emotion aside, he will be a great fit for this company and they have a fantastic reputation--Marshall is thrilled. Nothing is set in stone, but we hope the negotiation of his summer internship will begin soon. Traditionally the interns are on-site for 3-5 weeks. Marshall is available for 8-10, so the panel is going to see if Denison can work with this extension. The drawback is that Denison is further away than the Dallas foundries. If he's gone for only 4-5 weeks, we may meet up once in Dallas for a weekend, then I will see him when he's all through and back in Austin. If he will be there all summer, I'm hoping he can negotiate the first week of July off so we can take our vacation to Utah/Wyoming. We've been through a six month deployment and my 5 weeks in Peru before, so we'll be fine; it just won't be pleasant.

DIY Inklings

My brother's child is due in mid-August. I was finally able to talk to my brother since the end of December because he had been deployed. He's doing great, and he and his girlfriend aren't going to start buying anything for their baby until the baby shower in June, which is in Phoenix. I won't be able to attend; however, I do intend on sending them some baby clothes and accessories. I have an inkling to make the following: 

I also have an easy pattern to make bibs too! 

If Marshall is away all summer doing an internship, and it is 100,000 degrees outside again for three months straight like last year, I'm going to stay inside in the A/C and pump out a whole mess of these cute baby items!

Early March

March has started off very well all around for both of us. We've received lots of rain, so our yard is once again green with weeds. I'm in the middle of adding new plants to the front yard right in front of the foundation. My boss gave me a $25 gift card for doing so well with one of our bigger customers at the end of February, so I decided to use it towards gardening supplies at Home Depot. I won another $25 gift card today for a contest at work. Hopefully I can finish it up this weekend now!

My youngest brother turns 17 tomorrow. Next year I'm want to do something really cool for his birthday. On my 18th birthday I got the Beatles CD I wanted and $60. Shouldn't be too hard to beat that!!

Marshall is officially on spring break. He's going to be doing his computer programmer work Friday and the weekend, then tackle his car (Natasha) during the week. I'm praying like a nun that Natasha is functional again by next week. I still have my Christmas decorations up because I can't get to the attic to bring down the containers everything goes in. Plus, it would be really nice after 3 months to no longer be a 1 car family.

This Sunday morning we have a tentative date to go play disk golf together. I've never done it, but I think it would be good exercise. May turn into our new favorite outdoors activity to do together.

My Girl Scouts event on February 25th was a huge success. We had 400 scouts and adults participate, and everything went so well. This upcoming year I've volunteered to help organize fundraising events for the Girl Scouts, and I already have a few in mind. :)

I started watching a new series (new to me at least) on Netflix from Showtime called The Tudors. I like historical based dramas, and although they don't have the history exactly correct, it's still interesting. The actors do a pretty good job as well. I'm also watching a 6 part documentary on the UK Monarchy from the Romans to present day.

Marshall's parents are planning on riding their motorcycles up to Austin Easter weekend, and we're looking forward to spending time with them. April looks to be a busy month for Marshall with lots of foundry conferences and another visit to Lufkin Industries. No official word yet on his summer internship, but it appears that the powers that be are unfortunately focusing more on the short term than the long term, and just haven't put much effort into making decisions about their summer internship program yet. We're still optimistic an opportunity will pull through for us.

Marshall's part-time job is going amazingly well. He can work up to 30 hours per week, which he's been reaching quite easily. This is a wonderful opportunity for him and our family. I'm really glad he has this positive purpose to focus on since he is half way through his college career, at a time when it is so easy to get distracted and lose sight of the finish line. We talked about this this morning, and both feel very blessed for this opportunity.

My niece/nephew Thiele will become gender specific on March 21st, so less than 2 weeks away now. My brother returned safely home yesterday from his 10 week deployment. Hurray!

Fondue Fever

Sunday the 12th was my February Fondue Fiesta that I was hosting at my house for my girlfriends from work and Meetup. Of the 9 ladies who RSVP'd, 2 showed up on time, and 1 had told me she was coming late because she had a previous commitment that was going to interfere. 2 other girls later told me about their unforeseen circumstances on their absence, and I understood, moreover, I really appreciated them letting me know that they just didn't blow me off.

I prepared enough fondue for 12 people although I only cooked up enough for us 4 who got to enjoy it. I'm able to use all the left overs, but now I have 4 milk chocolate bars in my baking cabinet that I need to make sure I do not tap in to out of boredom or cravings.

I was envisioning a vibrant party with lots of laughter, conversation, delicious food and wine. I was sad it didn't turn out that way even though my three guests all said they had a good time. I think I'm going to take a break from party planning for a while.

Foundation in Foundry

Marshall went to a conference in Houston last night, and the topic was about how the oil and gas industry's new method of fracking is affecting the foundry industry. As a refresher, Marshall is majoring in Industrial Technology--Manufacturing Technology at Texas State University, and will graduate in May 2014. Last semester he took a foundry course and fell in love with it. He's less interested in bring the guy who pours the molten metal into sand molds, and more ambitious in becoming an engineer in the foundry industry. Back on track now, the speaker basically spoke about how fracking works and that is requires a lot of sand. The oil companies are buying and using more than all the sand that the foundry industry around the entire world uses in a given year. With the demand for sand on the rise, so are the costs, which are also affecting foundries. Very interesting for business leaders, and informative for people like my husband who want to know more about the industry.

The real reason Marshall went was to rub elbows with the owners, managers and other representatives of foundry companies here in Texas. He met up with this Lufkin contact Ray, who gave him a tour of their foundry facility back in December. Ray was with two other Lufkin reps, one of whom Marshall said looked to be in upper management. Marshall asked him what would his chances be of gaining employment with Lufkin after college and going to an overseas location (such as Canada or Argentina). Apparently the guy's response was "pretty good," because most Americans don't want to move out of the country, and the people that they do want to go overseas would fill management positions. This is good news for us because we'd consider going to Canada or Argentina. They have a Romania facility...um, not so much.

Marshall so was told some anecdotes about how people in upper management in the foundry business are literally dying off. It's becoming more and more common for someone in their late 20s or 30s being a general manager or chief of operations of a foundry. Wow! I don't think Marshall could handle the stress of such a position, but he'd be an excellent engineer or engineering manager, which would be a huge asset to the GM. What does this all boil down to for us? First, it seems that the people Marshall has spoken with at these types of conferences are all very patient. They are completely fine with keeping in touch with him and getting together again when he graduates (2.5 years away). This is amazing in my eyes. In addition to this, we are both feeling more confident that Marshall could go into contract with a company probably the fall of 2013 and start working for them after graduating the following May.

I know my husband will be very successful at whatever he puts his heart into, and I believe the foundry industry is at a point where they would snatch him up in a heartbeat. Hopefully he'll enjoy it and become a leader, creating new processes, even inventing new tools (Marshall loves to invent things) that would be applicable to foundry work. I'm very content right now with this door we may choose to enter one day.

January Schedule of Events

Hi everyone! Here's what happening for us (so far) the rest of January.

Saturday 14th--WW meeting and helping with the Girl Scouts do some cookie prep. I'm going to see War Horse at 1pm with Dominque.

Sunday 15th--Jogging with Candice at 8:30-9:30. Bowling with Meetup.com girls 10:30-12:00pm.

Tuesday 17th--Marshall's first day of the new semester. He's taking 4 classes this semester: Chem I (lecture and lab), CAD II, Fundamentals of Management, and a power tech class with lab. He'll have Fridays off to do house projects for me, lol.

Tuesday 24th--Having a bbq lunch at work the following day, so I'll probably bake something for dessert to bring in.

Satruday 28th--Trivia party at my house, then we ladies are going to the Midnight Rodeo club to dance. Whoo-hoo!

Chocolate Fire

I used a paid sick day today because I had a routine doctor's appointment this morning at 9:15. I find that when I come into work after 10:30, the day seems more chaotic because I have to catch up 2.5 hours of missed emails, updates, etc and then get on track for the afternoon. It's better just to not come in really. Plus, I worked all through Christmas without a day off because my coworker was out of town for 2 weeks. I'm enjoying every minute of my three day weekend that is just for me!

I also used the gift certificate to Massage Harmony that Santa put in my stocking. I had a wonderful massage therapist. She was the best out of the 4 that I've had had massages from during my previous visits. My shoulders and back feel so much better--what a miracle!

After my deep tissue massage, I came home to wake up my husband, who was still in bed, surrounded by two of our three cats. I told him I was starving and wanted to take him to lunch. We drove to Pappasito's Cantina, and the food was excellent. Their fajita meat is amazing and Mars loves the seasonings in his beef taco and enchilada. Afterwards we went to satisfy my chocolate craving. We went to Amy's Ice Cream, and I saw 2 new flavors--Dreamcicle and Chocolate Fire. I tried a sample of both. Dreamcicle was excessively rich, and I wouldn't have been able to eat more than a few spoonfuls. Chocolate Fire was creamy and delicious. I didn't know where the "fire" part of it was though. I ordered a small (about 1 cup) of the Chocolate Fire with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups crushed in. I took a bite, and um, I tasted the fire alright. There must have been some sort of habenero in the mix because it made my taste buds dance! It was really delicious, and reminded me of some of the spicy chocolate flavors I had in the fall at a chocolate festival I went to. We sat on some large rocks and watch kiddos play on the nearby playground. Before long we discarded our empty cups and spoons, and drove home.

We planned our week's menu and went grocery shopping. Eating healthy is not cheap, let me tell you. It's worth it though. I think of it as buying time. Eating healthy today will extend my lifespan, and don't we all wish we could have just a little bit more time?

I managed to cross another task off of my To Do List; I cleaned out Mac so he can be picked up by the KUT vehicle donation program. Oh, I haven't written about our car situation. Time for a new post!

December Plans

Here's a little update about what is happening for us (so far!) for the rest of December:
*12/16--Marshall takes a tour of Lufkin Industries in Lufkin, Texas. He's stopping by Cypress to crash at his parents' house then coming home Saturday afternoon.

*12/17--Christmas part at Leslie & James' new apartment. Bringing a bottle of malbec wine.

*12/20--Sarah's work Christmas party at the Highball 1-4pm. Half a day of work plus bowling and fajitas. Good times, right?!

*12/24--WW meeting for Sarah, then we're on the road to Cypress to send Christmas with Marshall's parents.

*12/25--Merry Christmas! Marshall gets to find out everything I got for him!

*12/26--Drive home to Austin. Off of work.

*12/31--No plans for New Year's Eve, but hoping something will be brought up at the Christmas party on Saturday.