What a year we have had!!
This last week, Scott and I have been reminiscing about the year we’ve
had. Today it is cold (currently a high
of 1* with a low of about -10!!) and it reminded me of our first weekend we
were here in Wyoming! It was in May, the wind was blowing so hard that our
trailer was rocking and it really truly did scare me! The temperatures got down into the 20s at
night and inside our solid metal trailer it was in the mid thirties! I remember clearly just how cold it was! We were cuddled under mounds of heavy
blankets, sleeping in our long johns and multiple layers of clothing, all while
all 4 cats cuddled with us either under the covers or sitting on top of us to
try and stay warm!
Living in our house now, most people probably think we are
nuts (it’s ok because sometimes I think we are too!! I mean we have to be a
little nuts to try to take on this adventure right?!?). We still do not have running water; however
we fill 12-14 5-gallon buckets every week at our neighbors house that way we
have enough water to do the dishes, flush the toilet, and even take ‘showers’. We only have 1 extension cord of electricity
that extents 300’ from out house to the plug in!! But we are managing just fine
– no complaints here! We don’t have
television channels or cable/satellite (not in the budget) but we’ve been
utilizing the library and our friends have been so kind to send us movies to
occupy our time too. And we haven’t even
begun to finish out the inside of our house yet – still living on plywood
floors, no walls up (just a blanket hanging for the tiniest bit of privacy when
we use the toilet), but we feel right at home here!
Just imagining all the work that went into this place so far…
all the long hours forming up the concrete, building the walls and putting them
up, getting the trusses set, and the never ending foam insulation (for which we
are so thankful for now!).
The best part for me is knowing that we did it, we did it
together, we built it all ourselves, and we can now call this home.
To think that we started the year with nothing, just a cargo
trailer, some tools, 4 cats and a HUGE dream, and now, we are ending the year,
in our wonderfully perfect home, 4 cats and baby Adkins on the way! Wow! 2014
has been a monumental year for us and we are so very excited for everything to
come out way in 2015!!
I was hoping to add pictures of our Wyoming adventure
throughout the entire summer, but alas, but internet is way too slow to upload
them, so I will do that next time I get to town. But I did want to give a few updates from our
first Wyoming Christmas, baby progress, etc.
We had a wonderful Christmas!! The weekend before Christmas, our neighbors
Joe and Helen had a neighbor get-together.
It was just perfect! Helen really outdid herself as their log cabin was
decorated from top to bottom with the most beautiful Christmas decorations!
Even Joe’s mounted Caribou had his Christmas hat on!
On Christmas Day, Scott and I slept in and watched several
episodes from the first season of the A-Team.
In the afternoon, I was antsy to do something, so we headed into Cody to
have a late afternoon lunch at the Irma Hotel.
It was delicious! They had carved ham, stuffed pork loin,
mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn casserole, a full salad bar, and
all sorts of deserts. It was really nice
to get to have a wonderful meal together.
Because we are trying really hard to pay down our bills and try to
prepare ourselves for the August arrival of Baby Adkins, we didn’t actually buy
each other gifts. But spending all day
together was the perfect way to spend Christmas!
We did have one minor negative from these last few weeks – I
haven’t been feeling very well. Aside
from the baby stuff (slight nausea, tired all the time, etc), I have had this
horrible cough that has actually made me get sick. Today, after much insistence from Scott and
our neighbor, I went to the Express Care in Powell. Luckily I do not have Pneumonia!! I’ve had it before and I was afraid of
getting it again. But they didn’t tell
me for sure what I have or even suggest I get any further testing… However, I
do have an appointment with my family doctor/OB at the end of January where I’m
going to insist they do some sort of testing to see what I have exactly
(especially if it doesn’t get any better!).
Today they said I may have something that’s related to my heart burn,
but I refuse to take my heart burn medicine while I’m pregnant – Baby Daryl
comes first and I don’t want to take any risks in hurting the baby. So fingers crossed whatever I have doesn’t
get any worse!
Scott’s still working and loving his job! Today I had lunch with him and I told him I
still feel so weird seeing all the green where he works.
We have some really amazing friends to brag about
too!!! They have us spoiled with some
really amazing surprised this last week!
First, my friend Shannon surprised me with some little baby clothes and
a pacifier with a frog on the end of it.
I think it has a special name, but off the top of my head I can’t think
of what it’s called. Also, my friend
Jessica surprised us with a little Case IH outfit! How funny would it be if after we have the
baby, we go to surprise Scott at work wearing his Case IH outfit!! When I do
that I’ll let you know what happens!! Ladies, I can’t thank you enough for your generosity!! It means so much to Scott and I both!
And a funny story for you – a few nights ago at around 2am,
I get this text message from our friend Jack, “Get ready for some weirdness….” Well he got lucky I was up for my nightly
bathroom break, so I asked Why? Jack
works for the Post Office in Dayton and he works on the mail machines when they
get jammed up. He said, ‘Pulled a jam at
work, 0415… never seen one so bad so I took a pic.’ Then he told me it was all my Christmas post
cards that caused the jam!!! He took a
picture of the post cards that made the infamous mail jam and included cards
to: Jack and his wife, The Browns, Scott’s mom, Don and Charlotte, and my Aunt
Jone!! How crazy is that! He said the
see millions of pieces of mail each day and that it was crazy that not only did
my mail cause the jam, but there was a letter in there to Jack too!
Well, I need to go stoke the fire and start working on our
large mound of dirty dishes before Scott gets home, then get back to some of my
sewing projects too.
I hope you all had a very MERRY Christmas and a Happy New
Year!!
And I want to give one piece of advice for everyone entering
into the New Year – Stay Positive!! If
it wasn’t for our positive outlook on our situation here in Wyoming, there is
no way we would have made it through the year.
It’s easy to think that grass is greener on the other side, or to feel
sorry for yourself and have a bad attitude about it, but when you seriously try
to make the best out of every situation you are presented with, even the bad
ones, it really makes for a more pleasant year.
It would be easy to look at our situation now and our situation all
summer and complain about every little thing, but instead we enjoyed it and
really had a great summer all because of our positive outlook on life!
So here’s to a positive, and amazing 2015 for everyone!!
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