HBD Kelly

 Volleyball was not so fun this week. All of our experienced players coach or play city league, so that leaves me with adults and kids who aren't so experienced and it's a struggle to just get it over the net. When this happens, I tend to go a little harder and scrappier to make up for it. But alas, it did me in. I went up to hit a wonky set, landing badly on my ankle and in order to save it from breaking, a threw myself hard onto my wrist, breaking that instead. But don't worry, it's the spare. 

friday's news

It hurt like the dickens, but both better after a few days or bracing, ice, meds, and gentle movement. The ER put a huge splint on - so big I couldn't get a shirt on or off. So that came off after a day. And then worse after getting a cast on Friday. 

Rog had to cut my steak when we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Karen and Josh to catch up. And then I spilled my entire cup of take home blackberry lemonade when I tried to put it in the fridge. 

after a few days of recovery

Rog's fam was in town again this week, so we saw them for a bit. Stu the dad has the week off for wood cutting, but a series of snow storms really limited that. But he and Rog did get to harvest a bit of wood, a few rattle snakes, and look around for some elk. 

the chins

Meanwhile, I drove up to UT for a quick trip for the birthday lady, Kelloggius. We had the usual shenanigans including people getting blamed for nothing they did, arguments that an iceberg is a body of water, sealings with 6 big Hutchins and some inlaws with exclusive family pics, BBQ dinner (that Rog loved as leftovers), last minute decor, questionable trivia, games, decorating (that I have to makeup), and plenty of coconut bread. 

plus ones

I hustled back to town to finish some work and hang out with Becky who was here for a funeral. And take a nap. 

Halloweenies

VB is going strong, gym was pretty good. Just found out that I need to be able to do a pullup to get into the class I want to do starting in January, so we'll see if I make it. And Rog and Kaleb are committed to going to the gym starting next week, so we'll see if they make it. (And Becky misses me as a workout buddy, so one day if we move to WY and I force her to work out, she'll probably do it lol). 

You can almost see who we are. 

It was Halloween week and since Roger owes me at least one haunted excursion a year, he dressed up and went to some friends' houses with me - not for treats, just for a hang out in costume. We were the Princess Bride duo, although since I wasn't sure if Roger was actually going to come, I really only put effort into the cooler costume. And you can't even see the princess costume, which was just a red dress and gold belt. 

Yayy Joe Carter's son!

As he reminds me, he hates Halloween. But if I can go hunting with him, he can do one night of Halloween per year and pretend to like it. I'm still kind of mad about how this goes, but we're getting closer. And speaking of hunting, I set Roger up with my friend Joe and they decided to hunt together. Rog was a big help and everyone had fun. Joe's son shot his first deer in the wild (vs a farm in Texas) and had a blast and Joe has some close shots and decided to call it when the snow moved in. (Even though Roger swears it's the best hunting weather.)

I did some end of month budgeting and told Roger not to let me buy any more books for a minute. But to be fair, I've been reading them. My recent trilogy is And I Darken by White. The order of the series is misleading if you look at the backs of the books, so I started the third one second and it took me a while to figure out what was wrong. I've also been listening to Brandon Sanderson's BYU series on how to write and it's been motivating. Although I am not good at middles. I am trying to get better at them. 

Here's my contribution. 

My favorite coworker had her last day on Wednesday before she started work as the director of therapies at the new VA facility in town. She will be amazing at it and I am so excited for her, but sad for us. I am not impressed with our other options. But we do have a new PTA that will be starting in a few weeks to help with the load. Until then, I have double the patients, so I'm still trying to figure out how and if that will work. We had a big party for Jade and a pumpkin decorating contest - where I came in second. To be fair, Jade's was a really cool half-carved eye and I thought it was a painting contest. 

29

The sad news of the week is that my favorite coworker is leaving - but for a great opportunity that she will absolutely excel at. I am excited for her, less so for myself without her here. And the news that the PTA (who I'm still confused about why we hired her in the first place) is no longer coming. So now we're going to have 2 PTs - and one of us only works 4 days. A hot mess. 

Scoping. 

No VB this week and Roger got a sprained ankle at basketball. I kept up my gym workouts and Rog was slacking. We'll see if we can get him on a better track next week. Because I did ask him to help my friend Joe on his deer hunt - so he was busy doing that. I went with him on Friday night to go scout. 

Dang boiii

It was also Roger's 29th birthday this week. We had an impromptu cake and ice cream bash at Grandma's the day before. He got a pair of Truewerk overalls for summer jobs. We wanted to go to Stinkin' Crawfish for dinner, but found out that they are closed now, so it was Texas Roadhouse instead. (Yet another reason to leave Flagstaff and I'm getting antsy to do it.) 

Unit 10.

Saturday was our tri-ward Halloween party, so I went solo for some white bean chili (since red is banned in this household) and hung out with some of our YW, dressed as the masked man from Princess Bride. (It's not Kev/Court's murder mystery shindig, but it's somethin) Rog agreed to dress up with me on actual Halloween and go to our friends' house - but I have to be the princess because he wants to be the dude. Typical. Also saw my old friend Dan, who used to play VB with us until he was called as Bishop of the YSA. 

Other notable things include our landlord giving us the go-ahead to buy a freeze dryer and if it flips the breaker, he will call an electrician out here to adjust things for us. And also, my temple recommend expired back in September. Coincidentally, I was there one of the last weeks that month and nobody said a word. So now it's in the works so that I can hang out for the bday party sealings. 

Gondola (half-bday month of fun)

Volleyball is going strong, gym is going well for 1/2 of us, (although Rog is playing basketball 1-2x/week). 

Only a little bit nerve-wracking after a temporary
shutdown for 55mph winds. 

Work is going as well with continued craziness on my end and Rog picking up a little side work soldering copper to make the days run smoother and make some extra cash. His sister Hannah is working with them now to make a little money for grad school and this was her first week. We went shopping with her Saturday to get some things she needed. 

Sunrise gym days. 

It snowed this week. And stuck. Luckily, the roads weren't too bad for work, but it did make it freaking cold. And with our downstairs roommates moved out this week, their apartment isn't making any heat for us to mooch off of (which is usually plenty honestly). But good for them on building a house (and on Rog for setting up our new wifi!)

From the top

We've been trying to remember to do the Snowbowl gondola ride every year when the fall colors are going, but this year the colors have barely started turning and this was the last weekend to do it. So we did. And it was good enough that Roger told me twice that we should do it again. When it's warmer. 

Will's elk. 

In other news, Rog went hunting all Sunday and helped out people who shot elk that really needed help hiking it out of a canyon (who were woefully unprepared to do so). Meanwhile, I went to the best stake conference we've had yet. We had some bomb youth speakers, a WW2 POW story, and a cowboy poem.

Deer Camp Party

Volleyball is back! We've got a decent crew of regulars although we'll be missing some during city league season, but there's really no getting around that as there is a different league every day of the week, so we'd always be missing a few. Rog is back and fighting with the pickleball ladies who have refused to relinquish their Thursday slot at the stake center until the end of the year because going to the smaller gym means they'd have to sub out...Cry me a river, ladies.

On another, exercise-related note, my gym membership has been put to good use, but Roger is having trouble making the switch to waking up early so he can meet his workout partner at the gym. I keep trying to kick him out of bed, but have had very little luck so far. 

 I had my annual doctor's appointment to review labs and get papers signed so we can get a discount on my insurance for being so healthy. It's the most annoying thing and it takes forever to get them to sign, but it is done for this year finally. 

It was Archer's birthday (Roger's BFF Collin's oldest kid), so we went to his deer-themed party and Roger's main complaint was that there were elk antlers on display as well. Yeesh. My main complaint was that Archer's little sister thinks she's dating my husband. Otherwise, great burgers & cake and we got to hang out with the parents, some of whom are our friends. 

I've finished a few books this week and also our first episode of Fablehaven. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it so far. And it only recently occurred to me that we might run into legal issues, so while my co-creator is reviewing the draft, I may look into that a little more. I've also been helping get some Christmas presents ready via my POD account (like company stickers for Rog's boss) and had a few ideas for future projects. 

Saturday, I was finally able to check out the Flagstaff East side farmer's market. The normal market is on Sundays, which is a bummer, but this market started this year and is still pretty small from what I saw. But I was able to pick up some carrots for a yummy stew Roger made so I didn't have to go back to the grocery store. And we met up at our favorite breakfast place for some country fried steak and eggs and biscuits/gravy after Roger got back from hunting. (This was some random girl, friend of a friend of a friend.)

Work is work and there continues to be drama. (Like, why are we hiring a PTA - who is moving up here FOR the job - when we can't even fill schedules for the THREE PT's we have on staff???) But I was able to make some side cash helping out a buddy Mason, who recently had Achilles surgery. 

Burke & Pajama Church

 Volleyball is back in business! Hopefully we can keep it going but we had a great turnout this week. My gym workouts are going well and Rog is almost to the point where he is back at his gym (but it's spotty right now due to continued hunting...)

Our Ford is also fixed. We were a little concerned when the check engine light was on and the RPM dial wasn't working when we turned it on, but it turned it off pretty soon after and is driving great. Rog is gonna start driving it to work to save on gas and save his truck for hunting - which was the original plan. Just took us a few months to get things figured and eventually give up on our friend who was not prioritizing the project. 

It is Roger's boss (and cousin)'s birthday, so they went to the casino for an evening. We also had a fish fry with their family one day, which was fun and a long time in the works. 

Missing our concert buddies, who live in WY now.

I ran into my old boss Joe, and had to interrogate him about an upcoming hunt that Roger is planning to help him with. (One of the hunts I am supporting because I want them to be friends). 

For general conference, we had shrimp, steak, candy, blueberry cinnamon rolls, peach cinnamon rolls, watermelon, and mozzarella sticks. We basically have a conference snack run the day before and get conference snacks, but I've been wanting to try these cinnamon roll recipes for a while. They're alright. 

Unfortunately, I did not take traditional conference notes because of making the rolls and getting a hair cut and falling asleep, but here are my thoughts. Best talks - Christofferson, Holland, Wilcox, and Uchtdorf. And noticing a recurring theme of doctrine vs temporal/shortterm/culture, etc. Apparently that's an important concept to grasp right now. 

Austin Burke

We also got last minute tickets for a concert for Austin Burke, here in town at the Museum Club. Rog heard about it and insisted we go as this was the first country artist that I found for him to enjoy. And he's got a very punny song about fishing that went viral and all of his songs are pretty good. We had a blast - he put on a good show and we had free soda refills and got to practice our country dancing. It was a vibe, 10/10 would do again. 

Elk Season Ends (for us)

Big news of the week is that Roger got an elk. He did draw a lottery tag, so he purchased an OTC depredation hunt license for an area about an hour away where they don't want elk roaming. His buddy got one last week and Rog got one this week - which means we're about to enter meating processing time. Except that it's harder because we can't keep it outside until we finish because it's too warm. And now there's at least 2 more people that Rog will be helping hunt here. Not including helping all his friends on their deer hunt. 

Now taking orders. 

I was busy at work with a project Hannah and I are doing for YouTube - which I'm using AI to try to complete for me and it's faster than doing it myself, but still slow going. I also saw one of my cashpay patients that I do on the side who has a little frustrating case, but partially due to his own sedentary lifestyle. 

We weren't able to play VB this week, but we're getting people ready to get back into things after a few inconsistent weeks where everyone was taking advantage of final pre-school resumption vacations. And I started a new workout program, which is always fun for me. I even went and shot some hoops solo. I'm still working on rehabbing my knees, but the cutting just wrecks them. 

And finally, ran back into an old patient and unfortunately found out her 80 year old sister fell and broke her leg, so might be seeing her soon...

Elk Season Begins (the measurement of my days currently)

Deer season is over, but good news is that it is now elk season - for those who want an OTC hunt about an hour east of Flagstaff amidst the brambles near the lone river or the desert surrounding. Aka Roger. So far, his BFF got one, but he and his brother are still on the hunt. 

Volleyball had a good turnout this week and Rog had a good shooting day at basketball. I'm still at the gym on the regs, but he has postponed it again until he gets his elk. I also had a great swim session on Saturday, and I thought it was going to be the last one in the outdoor pool, but apparently it will be in the 90s for the next week or two. 

Roger's mom was in town to help with his sick Grandma for a bit and we managed to make it (between work schedules) to Culver's with her. It's been a while since I've been there and I was impressed with the pricing compared to some other places we've eaten recently so it might be a repeat. Especially with their concrete mixers on the menu...

That was mostly our week. Saturday for Rog was spent hunting and seeing family (while I was swimming) and I was swimming and working on some projects. Including nearly finishing Michael Stackpole's DragonCrown War trilogy which is comparable to a much shorter Wheel of Time. And Sunday was our Primary Program with snacks afterwards, so our favorite Sunday of the year. 

No Deers

 Volleyball is back underway now that the teachers (who comprise a good chunk of our regular players) are adjusting to school again. Rog and I are both going to the gym (although separate gyms since he needs other men present to motivate him and I don't make the cut). We're still paying the same as we would to go to one gym so it's evening out. 

We just got a notice that our Mazda is in trouble for not being insured currently, which means Rog and his brother Stu have to actually go forward with the transfer, so hopefully that will happen next week. And the man who's been fixing our Ford has been really busy so Roger is planning to just take it to our normal car guy now that the engine issue is resolved. And that's all on the journey to have only 3, fully functioning vehicles. 

Keeps missing as an excuse to go hunting again.

The other news is that as of now, OTC hunting is closed. Essentially, if you don't get drawn in the lottery for a tag at a specific time in a specific unit, you can buy an over the counter tag that you can fill at the beginning or end of the season - but there's a quota. So if the quota's filled before you get your deer, you're out of luck. I think the first part of this hunt ended with 3 tags left, which means that there's a chance to get a deer still when it reopens in December. But for now, no deer. (Despite my help, aka company because I did nothing to contribute.) But that's been taking up all of Roger's mornings/evenings for the last 10 days or so. 

Love the new vid, despite the missing hot Satan.

Rog's friends Joe and Tonja both have elk tags in the area and Tonja shot her bull later in the week. So while I made a solo trip to the temple, Rog was helping cut up and haul out her elk. Just in time before the winds picked up and Tonja got sick. They're taking a few days off before they come back to get their second elk. We met up later in the day for some Oreganos - who has the best fried cheese curds and a decent pazookie. 

Kelloggius Sighting

 This visit from Kelly worked out for a few reasons - the first of which is that it was a holiday and my work is having a rough time so I have to use some of my vacation days anyways. The second of which is that it's birthday week in the Hutchins household and we got to celebrate all three birthdays. 

Sunflower Szn

We celebrated Mint with a trip downtown to Art in the Park (where they had some yummy honeys and cool displays) and the oil store. Unfortunately our buddy Scotty wasn't there as he usually runs the store out in Williams now so their college employees can work at the one in town. We gave him some elk last Christmas and wanted to know his wife's opinion. 

We celebrated Hannah at the Art Walk (with free pizza and not-free gelato & fudge) and some cool displays that always get me thinking business. We listened to live music and walked through several galleries, including the community center which usually has smaller, cheaper booths for local artists but actually had some political displays this time with elections coming up. 

Not a day over 60

We celebrated Trevor at the Prescott Farmer's market (with tons of fresh produce, bakeries, jams, and food trucks). We stocked up on Habanero Jam (Rog's favorite) and ate samosas with mint chutney sauce. We made a quick Costco run while in town before heading home and canning some things. 

We canned some fruit and salsa (by hand and in smaller quantities since the orchards were robbed). Luckily, people give us lots of bags of apples and other fruits that they won't eat from the food bank that are still good, so we canned those. We froze some veggies too. We did a bunch of other little projects like making Roger & I stockings (since my old one is falling apart and Roger has only used cheap non-custom ones). It cost under $10, which I was proud of. We took a nature walk in the wildflowers, which is always gorgeous this time of year. We made it to Rog's little cousin's birthday party.

pretty flagstaff

Other honorable mention activities included freezing off a wart and experimenting with dying parts of my eyebrows so they are more visible. Jury's still out on that one. 

From the sounds of it, Kelly made it home safely (after a questionable wait for the bus). We teased her for being a "lush" since she felt like she never got out of bed (which was our couch and the ONLY place to sit). Grateful for time to hang out with her since AZ is a little farther from CO than UT and with 9 less reasons to visit. 

Apples (or not)

 Started a new gym workout and it's got me sweating. Rog forewent the gym in favor of hunting, but since he goes with his 2 buddies, they take turns actually going after the deer and it takes 3x as long. But he did say he feels like he's lost ten pounds already (which may be true with his metabolism). 

The new priority project of the week was finishing my mythology book and planning out my Roald Dahl - esque poetry book on the subject. I did finish reading the book and now I can get to part 2. Still working on Articles of Faith in my spiritual study and am kind of disappointed that it's just straight facts and not more like Jesus the Christ with some different insights. 

We had dinner with Stu and Eve when they were in town for another eye appointment and then en route to another family reunion. It was a delicious ham and potato salad. 

I planned for Kelly's arrival this weekend and also for Roger's trip to Lake Powell to catch some fish for a presentation at his fish job this month. (This time, he's only missing a 2 days of Kelly's visit rather than the whole thing lol). 

Our gain. 

We picked her up on Saturday and spent part of Sunday trekking up to Page's Lonely Dell orchards where the free fruit is plentiful (with a park's pass) and Rog's dad said the apples are ready. So we brought our buckets and met up with Roger's sisters Linn and Hannah to get some apples to sauce together and were SORELY disappointed at the lack of apples. It looked like there had been some blight to the apples because several trees were significantly pruned and all apples and buds had been eliminated entirely. 

Hunting Szn

I am increasingly aware of the limits on free time as an adult and especially with intermittent cycles of brain fog & fatigue, that makes me a little more anxious to complete projects when I'm feeling good. Like now :)

No volleyball again this week, as most of our players are teachers in town and it's prep week for back to school. The gym is still good and Rog had his first week of gym going and has a new workout program to try courtesy of yours truly (and said he was dying after the first exercise). 

However his workouts are temporarily at an end due to opening day of over the counter deer season - which he convinced his brother/boss to buy tags for and then due to FOMO, convinced himself as well. This year is high stress since it's first come, first serve until a set number of deer are killed - and the mountain road in our unit is now open instead of requiring a 2-mile hike into hunting region. So the Phoenicians are all scouring the mountain for deer. 

Roger's smug tomato face

I finished a couple books this week from my TBR pile (that I'm working on). One was Hinckley's biography. He's a funny guy and was called "The Slave" by the Twelve when he worked in their office building as a young scrub. Grampy's name is mentioned in relation to the Boston Temple site story. I also finished a couple quick reads - The Peacemaker and Clayton Christensen's Missionary book. I just have one church book left and it's Talmage's Articles of Faith, so it might take a minute. 

Despite hunting season, Roger agreed to accompany me back to the pick-your-own farm for some berries and tomatoes and corn (which he has been raving about. We also had some delicious cinnamon rolls and fudge and bought year-passes so we can go for the next 364 days. 

Serious Discussions

 Per the title, this week was spent on some serious discussions between Rog and myself. The first, and more easily resolved, is which gym Rog will attend. He is a social gym goer and has been wanting to start back up ever since last year's month long fishing trip (where he ate all the leftovers and didn't hike around as much as a typical hunting month). However, he and his boss have been putting off even getting memberships, so finally we sat down and weighed pros/cons of some different options in the area (including adding him to my plan). In the end, his boss surprised us by buying his membership to the gym closest to his home and Roger followed suit. 

Situation 2 that warranted some discussion is our housing. Rog is increasingly cramped in our 500sq ft shoebox apartment, although it does allow us to save some serious money. However, housing prices and interest rates being what they are, the best we could do (assuming my job doesn't cut my hours permanently) is a trailer with rented land. So instead, we've been chatting with Brandt about buying a plot in WY, sitting on it for 2 years while Roger finishes his apprenticeship and can get a plumbing license, and then either building or selling the land. 

The other notable of the week (other than work being frustrating as far as hours and payments and things I shouldn't have to worry about) is that I had another appointment to get my thyroid checked - which had been stable, and no longer is. Which explains why I've been freaking tired, but I got my new meds a couple weeks ago and they are kicking in now. 

Other than that, there's been a lot of family time. Roger's sister is on break from grad school and his Grandma had a game night at her house (that ended up being only Roger's siblings as even his parents were out of town). I found some weird spiders in our house and also my mosquito tormentor is back (to torment only me). And we've started watching the Deadpool series.

AZ Sunsets

 We have a lot of people who have recently moved away (suddenly and unexpectedly) that were part of the main corps of VB players for Mondays. So we didn't get to play this week, but we revamped our text chain to include some other interested parties, so hopefully we get back into it soon. 

Last drive up the Sedona switchbacks.

The devastation of the week was that Rog sprained his ankle pretty good. He was gimping around on it for a few days, did nothing I recommended, and will likely be back to play ball next week. 

Please note the plants that I have been
keeping alive, enjoying the showers. 

The thunder and lightning continue - followed by gorgeous Arizona sunsets. Rog and I took advantage and went on a walk together down our back road to admire the views and enjoy some time together. We also decided we needed to get back on the Come Follow Me train so that resumed this week as well. And we played Yahtzee. Sometimes we like hanging out together. 

The ol' classic. (With a rainbow). 

My fridge was still full of berries I collected, although we ate the strawberries straight up. They were delicious. Rog agreed that it was worth the trip just for that snack. But we wanted to jam or syrup the blackberries - which Kevin graciously tested from his own berry picking excursion and gave us the secret to pectinless, thick jam. I think it turned out ok, but I canned it all and sealed it, so we'll see down the road when our current jam selections are empty. 

Don't mind my squinty eye. 

The only other notable from the week was a trip to Mama Burger's (now Mama B's) - which was being renovated for over a year. The burgers are still TDF, the shakes are just good.

And a view :)

Thunderstruck

 'Tis the season for monsoons in Flagstaff. So far, and to the best of my knowledge, no crazy flash flooding. We have had exceptional thunder and lightning shows with the rain. So much so that our evenings are often spent watching and listening from the futon on our back deck until the rain moves into our neighborhood. We did see several fires that started from one particularly aggressive storm and our 'complex' had to run off the backup generator for a while due to a power outage. 

We had a great turnout for volleyball this week and renewed our reservation of the gym through the rest of the year. Roger has continued fighting for one evening a week for basketball in the good gym and finally won through, with the pickleball ladies agreeing to use the smaller gym for one of their reserved days. 

Lightning as a backdrop.

This is an expensive time of year with license renewals and our 6 month car insurance lump due, among other things. I'm taking the Mazda off our insurance so hopefully we get that sold pretty soon. Roger's brother committed to buying it, but also said he would trade an old truck Roger loves for the car, so we're kind of just waiting on Roger's decision. 

I mostly finished training our new PT in the Sedona/Cottonwood area, so this should be my last week helping out. Due to overstaffing and lack of foresight that may mean I have to take some time off (paid or not, my choice depending on PTO availability). Which sucks, but I am using some of that time to hand out with Mama Sama on her journey down here in September (that I may have guilted her into since she visits the Utah crew so often). 

Also this bucket holds 4lbs of blackberries. 

On Saturday, I made a last-minute decision to head to Prescott to take advantage of their pick your own crops (while Roger was busy working a few side jobs for extra spending $$). It was hot and I left too late. I went through 2 camelpacks worth of water for several pounds of blackberries and strawberries. Some of those blackberries were the length of my fingers and twice as wide! If you're wondering, the secret to finding blackberries is to look near the ground and/or be a mouse. And the secret to AZ strawberries is that if you can't see any flashes of red from a glance, there's likely no berries on that plant. 

Bureaucracy

 We had 10 people commit to volleyball and only 6 show up, which was both unusual and disappointing, but we played some good game this week. And I got to go to the pool again (which is tricky because you have to schedule a lane in advance but can only do it 3 days early and people are fiends for scheduling but then often don't show up, which I'm mad about - but also because it's Flagstaff season for unpredictable thunder and lightning). 

This is also the season of renewing all my licenses and insurance which is expensive and annoying because the process changes every year. But I'm officially still a PT, so that's good. We're selling our Mazda to some family and it comes off insurance next month so we have a deadline for that now. 

Pretty views on the drive. 

The drama at work is thus: Basically we've spent a lot of money/resources training new employees who immediately quick after training because their expectations don't match reality. So corporate is giving us a hard time for being over budget, which is why I'm driving to Cottonwood/Sedona 2x per week - so their office is paying part of my income. And even though we figured out the Flagstaff office was accidentally paying one and a half people's salaries that don't work at this site anymore on accident, apparently it doesn't matter. 

Most of our quick to quit employees are NOT on the PT side - because we make sure our fellow professionals are prepared and informed as best we can about the realities of the job. So usually they either quit faster or stick around long enough to actually make the company some money. Which is important because Cottonwood asked me to train their PT, which I only agreed to with very specific stipulations regarding my own productivity. 

So that's what I've been working on at work. 

Roger had a bad week since he couldn't play basketball on Monday due to construction and is currently fighting some pickleball ladies who are hogging the stake center gym for more than their fair share. But he got to go on an archery competition shoot with his buddy Daniel the whole day Saturday and has the entire month of October booked for hunting trips (and probably more, honestly). 

Meanwhile, I got another box of peaches to can. And I still have a few jars left if I want to do applesauce again. (Hard to beat if I can make it up to the free orchard during season.) We also made a delicious new potato recipe and started the LOTR trilogy (extended only) again. 

Cleaning

 A quick flash of the week - volleyball and gym and pool; work including some southern drives; taking photos with an old friend. Now on to the real stuff. 

I've been getting mysterious bug bites for about 6 months. I will get one bite every 2-4 weeks during the night that looks and feels like a mosquito bite. No signs of any other critters and Roger only got one bite that whole time. 

Back in March, I cleaned and dried (on hot) all of our bedding and set up a bug zapper next to the bed. And it was 4 weeks before I got bit again. But also at this point, it was starting to get warm and the next few times I noticed bites, it wasn't waking up with them. For example, after a day outside. So I'm thinking problem is relatively solved...

Roger's favorite past-time still

This particular week, Roger woke up with a bunch of bites on his belly. These were smaller and clustered and looked more like bed bugs, so we decided it was time to super clean the house (just in case). It also happened to be the week that our dryer stopped working. 

Luckily, Roger's aunt down the road was on vacation so we used her drier to clean all of our bedding and couch covers. And I steam cleaned the couches and mattress by hand while Rog cleaned the carpet in our apartment. We took a few breaks for lunch and groceries but were basically at it for a full day and a half. And now our carpet actually feels like a carpet and hopefully any potential problems are solved. (we'll see). 

During our grocery stop, we caught the peach man on the road and bought a box to try to imitate the delicious canned goods we got from Kevin last year. The peaches themselves are divine, so hopefully the canning job did them justice. I even made some peach pit syrup (with one casualty in the steamer). 

Happy Anniversary (among other celebrations)

 Monday was the first day I took off work for sickness in over 2 years. And I masked up the rest of the week, but it was a rough time with chills and fever and sounding like an adolescent boy. Also blowing my nose a lot and getting the hang of a modified nettipot. 

Side note as far as work - we've had a lot of new hires that we spend 2 months training up who then quit as soon as they start working in the field because the expectations given during their interviewing doesn't match the actual job. Which starts to add up (or subtract really, when it comes to our branch profits). With this history and some wishful thinking, we hired a new PT. The other PT and I made sure to take care of her and give her accurate expectations and good training, but now we don't have enough patients and corporate is coming down on us for it. We're all taking the hit in different ways, but mine is that I have to drive down to Sedona/Cottonwood 2x per week in order to stay at full-time. At least in the temporary. 

Aside from that though, our anniversary was Wednesday. Which I only realized halfway through the day because I kept having to write out the date. And Rog was kind of mad about because he was going to surprise me with treats and then make fun of me for forgetting dates like that. (We still got the treats, don't worry). 

the classic photo

We ended up going to TX Roadhouse - Roger's favorite place - and it was the busiest it's ever been. Plus they typed in Roger's number wrong so we were waiting way longer than we should've but he didn't want to ask them about it and I was letting him be in charge. The good news is that we got to go explore Sportsman's across the parking lot while we waited and met a version of Sean Connery's character in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at the gun counter. And since Rog wanted a whole porterhouse to himself on this special occasion, he got to eat my leftovers the next night. 

By this time, Rog was feeling a little sick too, but not nearly as bad as I had it, which I was grateful for. But then we had a whirlwind of a weekend. My friend Sam was up from Mesa, so we had an early Chick fil A dinner and catch up on Friday afternoon, when I got off work. Then I had a scheduled massage gifted to me with my girl Veronica, who does something magical to my traps. And Roger's sisters were in town, so I met them for second dinner at Carol's house where we chatted until it was my bedtime. 

Saturday, we had a special surprise party for Carol's 65th birthday - so a lot of family was in town and we helped out with that. At the same time, I had some friends passing through Flagstaff and so they crashed with me and helped us celebrate. Shoutout to Rachel & Kassie for hitting me up and everyone else for letting them crash the festivities. 

We stayed late hanging out with family like Becky - the world's best party planner - who bombed down from Wyoming for the trip, and Roger's sisters who were in town for the weekend only. So Sunday was only a recovery & church day. We napped for most of it, but made it to church & a missionary homecoming dinner party complete with outdoor volleyball that Roger even played. And we made it home with an entire sleeve of Oreos, which I ate in one sitting. 

Sandall Reunion

Volleyball & gym stuff are going well. Swimming a lot because it's hot. And even people coming up from Phoenix say that 90° here is worse than 115° down there - the sun is a lot closer and it just hits harder. And it's been mid-90's all week. 

The big news of the week was Roger's family reunion. This is the one we actually care about because it's more people our age and closer related. There was slingshot paintball and a new game I learned called Poison - which is like a mix of golf and pétanque but using bowling balls. Also great food and new family shirts and - of course - a family photoshoot that turned into a bigger thing than it needs to be. 

Homemade pesto from basil I grew + pasta.

Roger had fun staying out there for most of the week, but I was back and forth for work and the pool at my gym. I did get to enjoy some nature and sleep in our trailer tent (mad comfy) and write down Roger's list of more things we need for the ultimate camping experience (which grows every time we go). There was plenty of watermelon and Rog got me some cherry gingerale, which were the favorite carbonated drink of the weekend.

I finished two books I was reading and took a nice nap in Stu & Eve's trailer - which was kept at a cool 80° - which felt so good. And then I went home late Saturday night because I was starting to not feel great. Still not sure if it was heat-worsened allergies or something I picked up from a patient earlier, but Sunday was a suffer and a sleep for most of the day. Also, Grandma passed out and a couple of 4month olds swelled up from the heat - so I'm not joking about it being a rough time. And I like the sunshine.

bigger lake day

When we got back from our Page weekend, we were unpleasantly surprised to find out that our fridge stopped working again. This time long enough that we had to throw out most of our recently bought groceries. Our landlord reimbursed us a bit and I went shopping again and we only made 1 hole in the wall changing out refrigerators. This time, we have a freezer on top/fridge below, which actually gives us more room in the fridge side. 

VB was cancelled this week due to not enough people (which is likely to happen for a while now), but I had a few nice gym days including a chest workout that left me sore. I didn't go swimming because I knew we were planning to head up to Lake Powell again. 

A casualty of non-consenual cleaning.

I had one night where I could NOT sleep. I just had a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head and most of them not pleasant ones, which kept me wide awake most of the night. So I decided to test Roger's allegations that I only "clomp" around the house and made some blueberry muffins at 4am that he didn't even notice until long after they were out. Take that you ninny. 

Rog has been feeling like going to the movies lately. Probably because he wanted to watch Viggo Mortenson's The Dead Don't Hurt but didn't look it up until it was out of theaters at watchable times. (It is still in theaters, but only midday on weekdays.) So instead, we watched Horizon part 1, which he still really liked. It's a few strands of story regarding the westward movement and tells it in fairly accurate yet palatable on-screen detail.

Claren showing off his fly boarding skills. 

We drove up to Page on Friday (after some food truck burritos). We were basically waiting for Stu's friend with the boat to be ready to go for Saturday morning so I did some bills and we cleaned out some of Roger's boxes in storage. If anyone was hoping to get his old chemistry notes, I'm sorry. Otherwise, no remorse for consolidating down to a couple boxes. 

Stu, Rog, Carly, Eric, Claren, and I went out on the boat to Padre Bay through the cut (with sometimes only 3ft of water in it). We spent the day swimming and wake surfing and enjoying the views of Lake Powell in the day time. I was suffering a little from 2 weeks of consecutive sunscreen use causing itching hives even faceplanting in the water wouldn't fix. Good times, good company. 

Lake Powell views.

We got back late and starving and hit up El Tapatio for some almost midnight enchilada-style burritos. Then we went to bed. And we made it to Sacrament between all of our Sunday naps, which was good because we got to hear some good quotes from the boys reporting on camp last week:

"What's the point of fish in the ecosystem? To catch them!"

"Bishop taught us about this new kind of firestarter. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's called a tampon."

Wake surfing

"We apologize for the talk of feminine products up here, but that's something I learned at camp too. I guess that's the casualty of war when Bishop spends the day at girls camp before coming to teach wilderness survival with the boys."

Family dinner was delicious spaghetti and garlic bread and some Jarlsburg cheese that had been hiding in the fridge for a while. And after a little more napping and some family history preservation via photo albums, we headed home. (To a fridge that still worked.)

lake day

 I'm getting old. I had a tiny misshap with my knee during volleyball this week - but good news was that I was able to walk off 95% of it. And we've been getting a good crew so far, even though it's summer. (I would comment on all my outdoor workouts I can do now, but unfortunately, there's a nice hailstorm that happens just as I get off work regularly so it's not predictable enough.)

My trainee is doing well and started doing her own SOCs this week - which saves us both some effort, although still takes her quite a bit of time. We had a a little party this week that our office manager put on - which was a nice break and good to hang out with the coworkers in a less work-like setting. And I got to talk about needling people in the butt with my fellow PTs, which is always fun. 

Happiest guy. 

Rog spent a day collecting samples for his fish job 4 hours away - and still made it back for basketball. We've also been watching Bridgerton (skipping the sauce Kelly-style) which is interesting enough to keep him invested and short enough that I may not get bored of it before we finish.

Kaleb & Megan hosted a buffalo burger night (courtesy of Stu) while the boys were brainstorming how to build a better slingshot as well as a hard container for paintball protection and quick loading. All for potentially 3 shots they each take during a game of family slingshot paintball at the family reunion. We'll see what they end up bringing. 

We went to Page on Friday night (after profiting from national smoothie day) and arrived just as everyone else was getting ready to leave to grab a load of stuff from the girls in Utah to help them move out. Then Rog woke up real early to start changing out the water heater system - which took about 6 hours longer than anticipated because he had to adapt an old system to a different system AND because he was trying to save money on parts and make it up with labor. I took several trips to the store for him until one guy said I couldn't come back anymore. We ended up with a usable water heater 12 hours later and a small leak that we can fix when we're back up here next weekend for a boating day. 

Rog and I went for a little dip in the lake (although his brother accidentally took his bag of clothes with them - so Rog did all his plumbing in basketball shorts AND had to swim in them as well). He was only a little salty and preoccupied with the unfinished business at the house. But I dropped him off with his bestie to do some fishing, so hopefully he comes back happier. 

Fathah's Day

 I'm supplementing workouts with more swimming now that it's roasty toasty outside and the pool is open. So basically anytime I can reserve a lane. But still keeping up on the rest of it. 

As far as work goes, it was a super busy week training - going to Williams a bunch and doing a lot of starts of care (mucho paperwork). And our new PRN PTA is no longer working with us - mostly because the paperwork is a nightmare and a new update has the system crashing frequently. Which is is totally fair. 

I finished my mission photo & story book and ordered it. Which inspired Rog to start putting photos in his album - and sending me more to print out. He hasn't written anything in the journal yet, but I guess the strategy is to fill it with photos FIRST and write later. 

Roger's new mustache twirling habit

We spent a few nights watching the Celtics crush on their way to another league victory. And eating ice cream and tacos at Grandma's with Stu, Ryan, and Carol. 

Stu & Eve got an offer of somebody in Phoenix wanting to trade their boat for the truck Stu is trying to get rid of. It seemed like a good deal and they made a plan to meet up in Flag for it (and since Rog wanted to be there, put a hold on our lake plans). So I spent the morning swimming only to find out that they got ghosted. And instead, we enjoyed a nice buffalo burger & watermelon meal during which Ellie touched my arm and Roger was jealous. 

Also Rog got rootbeer for father's day at church and shared one single sip. A gentleman. 

NAU Lumberjacks

 After getting back from Woodruff and back to normal routine & work, we had a relatively busy week as well. I played VB - although the summer crew is scarce, so we may put this on pause until people are back in town and ready to go. (A lot of our current players are teachers and it takes them a few months in the school year to be able to breathe). 

sorry for the blurry pic, but that's an action shot

I hung out with my friend Rachel before she leaves to Utah - for her first real house and her husband's first real job. They are excited and ready to get out of a small apartment with 4 crazy kids. And then I went over to Grandma's house to join up with Rog & the crew for the end of a dinner party.

We had the missionaries over for breakfast dinner (our fave) and Rog let me eat 1 waffle early since I usually eat when I get home from work, but they couldn't meet until after 7. 

killing the game

Rog put me in charge of our date this week, so we went axe throwing and were actually pretty evenly matched. I crushed him at targets, he crushed me at battleship, and we tied at tic-tac-toe. We even messed around with knives and ninja stars. My claim to fame is still sticking the wrong end of a throwing knife into the wood. 

still got it

Cousin Greer was baptized on Saturday, so we went to that and the after-party. I ate 3 burgers and boogied out of there. Rog hung around for a while and got to eat some cherry cheesecake-type dessert that he has been raving over. 

Roger is gone (part 2)

While Rog was having a great time in the river - hiking, rafting, fishing, netting, saving dumb-dumb hikers who were woefully unprepared, I was home by myself. I was living large off wedding leftovers and generally having a good time. 

stealing my signature pose

The big project I decided to commit to is making a book of photos and stories from my mission that are worth telling that I don't often remember. I've already been going through my journals and listing stories, so this will be the final product but it will take quite a bit of work. 

rafting was just an extra treat

I also had a dentist appointment because my teeth felt "scuzzy" and also because I've been having my weird non-cavity nerve pain again. Nobody has ever told me what it is, only that it isn't a cavity. Still never actually had one of those, I guess. Turns out it's temporary gum inflammation that exposes a nerve root and I have to brush lower on my gums on a more regular basis. Easy enough fix. 

he had a fun fun time

Because "Roger left [me] a widow", I had a dinner appointment with the Fox family and the missionaries. It was delicious and I ate half a loaf of their homemade bread and freezer jam for dessert. We chatted for a while after because their daughter has DS and we were discussing services available for her here, which are excellent, apparently. 

gifts from Woodruff

Rog got home Friday by dinner and was too tired to commit to driving to Page to fix a water heater, back to Flag, and then to Woodruff for the tail of his family reunion that he felt he needed to be at. So instead, he relaxed and showered, and we drove up to Woodruff on Saturday. We made it in time for taco salad for dinner and a game of cards with Karen/Josh. Bed time was toasty on the floor without AC. And then French toast was a killer for breakfast. I took a nap in the sunshine and enjoyed some guy playing the harmonica and Rog talked to mostly the usuals. 

Toit Nups

I forgot to mention that we had Roger's truck in the shop again and it looks like the issues were totally fixed, but we'll see. Now we just have to get my other car officially figured out. I'm hoping the guy that redid our engine will just do some tune-ups for free since the problems are new since the "fix". 

We were shorthanded for VB this week, but Rog had a good time at basketball AND made it for a short congratulatory visit to his aunt's house since Becky got her buffalo! It's a big boy. But good on her - lots of hard work and sleepless nights and stress, and now their freezer is more than full. Anyways, THEN Rog was also able to put some laundry away and do dishes and get to bed at a reasonable time. 

All that so he could wake up at 4am to go on a work trip down on the Colorado. This time, it's only 10 days, which he's grateful for. After his month-long trip, he was a little disoriented upon return, but very happy to shower. 

Since he's gone, I've had a great time by myself - taking up the entire bed, eating girl dinner, and just having a lot of time to think and work on projects or read or whatever. Rog and I agree that we like hanging out, but we also like being away from each other, which is super nice. 

I did tell Sabrina that I would actually go to the RS activity this week, mostly to support her since she's in charge. We were making hygiene kits for a local charity for women. I don't mind doing the work, but the part I really don't like is where you have to small talk to people. (Which is the part everyone else likes). 

Classic wedding selfie.

We had a final girl's night with everyone who could make it - Al, Rachel, and Kailan at Oregano's. We got some snacks and pazookies and had a good time hearing some crazy stories before Rachel moves to Utah and Kailan goes to Ecuador and moves to Idaho. All good things, but I'm glad we had this group. 

 Saturday, I made a brief trip to the store on my way down to Phoenix to pick up some more allergy meds. Cenita & Colton had a short civil wedding ceremony and a good time hanging out with all their family. They looked great in the bright colors - which are totally her vibe. They had some delicious food and pies that we enjoyed. I hung out with her grade school friend Sophie and her brother Kaleb, and her parents Kris/Brian (who are absolutely delightful). I helped clean up after and came home with at least 3 weeks worth of food (for me), so some of that will add to our growing freezer supply. 

Rog is always worried when he leaves that I won't feed myself and he'll come back to a shriveled husk of a human. But that's mostly because he doesn't believe in girl dinner. Anyways, I'm set for a while - and also got several meal invites for this week from the ward since he left me "a widow". Take that, Rog.