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...