We're On Our Way!

Adios, Gillette! As you read this we are probably on our way across to U.S. all the way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is a journey of faith and determination (we are traveling with a 13 month old, after all!). We are grateful for the time that we had in Gillette and the wonderful people that we met there, but we are looking forward to a different life on the East Coast.

Here is a fact that I found interesting: Andrew's grandparents also had a brief stint in Gillette over 50 years ago. They, too, were there for less than a year and were not sad to say goodbye. Perhaps not settling in Gillette is in the genes?

Gotta love the Elders!

Our church calling here in Gillette has been as Ward Missionaries and consequently we get to have the Elders over pretty often. Sunday evening Elders Finn and Morrell decided to have a little fun with my sword and bow. Oh, and they threw in my birthday gag-gift sun glasses for good measure. Pretty awesome, eh?

Things that make me HAPPY!

Who doesn't love baby toes?

I have been feeling really icky lately; like mind/body/soul icky and I just could not shake it, so Sunday evening I visited with an amazing woman that I will simply call a "healer" because I have no idea if what she does even has a name. In Eastern medicine healing is very much focused on the channeling of the energy that is within our bodies. This woman has the ability to sense that energy and help people heal by balancing it.

You may very well be thinking "Carrie has gone off the crunchy deep-end" but I do believe that there is truth in this. During my energy massage/reading (it was really quite relaxing) the healer noticed that my energy was dominantly angry and deeply sad. Ahhh poo! She found me out. The fact that she found the anger really surprised me, but the sadness did not. Despite her best efforts, for some reason I would not let go of this negative energy. The healer said that in order to get rid of the negatives, I have to crowd it out with positives and in my experience there is no better way to do that than by sharing some things that make me happy:

• BBC Costume dramas: Today I watched my favorite, North and South, which, is NOT about the US Civil War.
• Growing things: Inspired by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I picked up a ton of books on organic gardening, even with winter still going strong here in Gillette. I won't be able to use any of the information for a while, but I devour the pictures and daydream.
  
• Ravenna's giggles: She is such a happy baby! I love playing with her and making her laugh.
• Andrew's sometimes blundering thoughtfulness: He tries; he really does. Today he succeeded; I mentioned how much I liked the music in North and South so secretly he downloaded it for me.
• Other people's happy news: I got a double dose of happy news today with a fellow crunchy mama who is expecting twin boys after having three girls, and Andrew's cousin Lisa got engaged!

Please share some of your happy thoughts with me! Funny stories, good news, things that make you smile...anything you want. Help me get rid of the negative energy!

The REAL Wyoming culture

I often get down on living in Wyoming but there are some cool things about living here, like the many Native American tribes that live in the state. This picture is from a cultural festival held at the high school where Andrew teaches German. The cultural festival was actually a fun event and on an unusually beautiful day earlier in the month. We are looking forward to warm weather when there will be more fun things like this to do here... but according to the other natives, Gillette townies, we shouldn't hold our breath: "Spring" in Gillette doesn't start until the end of May/early June.

A little joke

Q: What is a seven-course meal in Gillette, Wyoming?
A: A hamburger and a six-pack.

He, he he

-11.9 F and Christmas Goodies

As I write this blog post it is -11.9 degrees Fahrenheit outside and bitterly windy. The above picture is of my breakfast dregs after I left my bowl of oatmeal in the car while we were in church this morning. We returned 3 hours later to find that the spoon and the oatmeal had frozen to the bowl. Pretty cool, I mean, cold.

For our Christmas goodies this year I decided to make Seven Layer cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough truffles and Gingerbread cookies. I didn't really feel like making the Gingerbread yet, but I will probably do so this week.

Seven Layer cookies are absolutely my favorite cookies during the holidays. My mom made these when I was growing up and my grandma made them as well. I will even bet that my great grandmother made them. I noticed that they now sell kits, calling them "Magic Cookie Bars," to make these which is so silly because they are super easy.

Seven Layer Cookies
1 package of graham crackers, smashed into crumbs
1/2 c. butter or margarine, melted
12 oz. (2 cups) butterscotch morsels
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
7 oz. (1 1/3 c.) Shredded coconut
1 cup. chopped walnuts
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 13X9 pan. Mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and press evenly into the bottom of the pan. Layer the remaining ingredients, topping with the can of condensed milk. Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature. Makes 2-3 dozen bars.

*The Eagle Brand Recipe says to pour the condensed milk over the crumbs and then layer the remaining ingredients over the top, pressing down firmly with a fork, but I haven't ever tried it.

One day I was watching the Food Network and I saw this truffle recipe and I wanted to make it instantly, but didn't think it would be a good idea to eat 60 some truffles on my own. They really do taste like cookie dough, but without the worry of salmonella.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate morsels
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 lbs. chocolate bark candy coating, melted

In a large bowl cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and add milk. Add chocolate morsels and pecans, mixing well. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place on waxed paper; chill 2 hours.

Melt chocolate bark candy coating in a double boiler. Using 2 forks, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Place on waxed paper and chill to set. Store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. *Since the dough is sticky, roll your fingers into flour.

A Beef Brisket? Seriously?

Just to illustrate what is considered "news" in our new home, this is a blurg from Gillette's local newspaper. I am sad to say that it really doesn't surprise me.

"A 48-year-old man made a disastrous attempt at stealing a meal from Wal-Mart at 4:41 p.m. Saturday. He first caught a Wal-Mart employee’s attention by sticking a beef brisket, valued at $27.04, into his pants. Caught red-handed, the man ran out of the store, with the employee giving chase. Some customers helped the employee take down the criminal behind the store, where the smell of alcohol on his breath became apparent. Deaton said that the man was charged with larceny and public intoxication."

The loneliness of a new place

Now that the newness of Gillette has worn off (it really didn't take that long, unfortunately), I am beginning to feel very lonely. Andrew works a lot, which surprises me because I can't remember many of my teachers ever putting as much time and effort into their lesson plans, but I am glad that he cares so much about being a good teacher; Joshua has moved in with us but he is at school during the day which leaves me alone with Ravenna during the day. I love being at home but I still crave adult female interaction. My new ward is nice, but I haven't been able to make any friends yet, due in large part to my lack of a vehicle to drive me to activities during the day. To top it all off, I live in an unfinished apartment complex with no landscaping and the closest neighborhood is two+ miles away with no sidewalks to speak of.

All of these factors have combined to make me feel pretty sorry for myself to be here in Gillette. Despite the fact that I am grateful that Andrew has a job and I know that we are so blessed to be here, I miss my friends and I miss the familiarity and convenience of living in Provo. It is difficult to be in a place where, despite the vast amounts of money made because of the mines, the majority of people refuse to better their situations and instead squander their money on liquor, cigarettes and cheap thrills. You might be thinking, "welcome to the real world, Carrie," but I have honestly never lived in such a "trashy" place even compared to Southern California and po-dunk Virginia.

With all of that said, I am done venting. I was blog-hopping this morning and read a friend's blog all about her moving experience this past year. She moved from a small town to a big city and her attitude is very inspiring. She chooses to "bloom" instead of wither and I guess that is a decision we all have to make. The other night as we were on our balcony enjoying a sunset our upstairs neighbor came out on her balcony and lit-up and started cursing about how much she hated Gillette (I guess she was on her cell phone). At the time I thought, "oh great, another potentially great moment of my life ruined by Gillette, WY," but now I have a different thought about it: I can choose to be like her (sans the smoking and cussing, of course) or, I can try to bloom in the prairie desert that I now live. It isn't going to be easy, but I will try to do better.

Adventures in Wyoming

So, I haven't gotten around to getting pictures of the "palace." I am waiting until I get all the rooms done, and since Josh isn't here yet, his room is really empty. However, I have taken some pictures from some of our outings. Here are some of the oh so exciting things that we have done lately:

-We drove to Sheridan to visit the local farmers market. This was a great outing in theory but not so much in execution. Sheridan is a cute little town about 100 miles from Gillette (yeah, everything in WY is far away), so we packed a picnic dinner and headed out to Sheridan. We got to Sheridan without a problem, however finding the market was an issue, but thanks to Lenzy H. we found it. Unfortunately, we arrived 20 minutes after it opened and there was nothing left! The market was pretty small to begin with but I never expected that there would be no fresh produce left, but alas, there were slim pickings. There was a vendor selling cookies, so we bought two of those and then camped out on the grass for our picnic. It was a nice picnic but I was pretty disappointed we didn't get any super fresh organic produce. Alas. I hear the farmers markets around Rapid City are supposed to be better, so maybe when we have more disposable income we can try those out.

-For some reason people in Wyoming really like fireworks. All this week there has been a huge fireworks show at the CAM-PLEX (the local arena). We went on Sunday evening and though we were eaten alive by mosquito's, except for Ravenna, it was pretty awesome. It felt weird considering it wasn't the 4th of July, but still cool. Ravenna definitely seemed to enjoy it.

-Some of our dining experiences here in Gillette have been pretty interesting. Mostly I cook at home, but a few times, including our anniversary on Tuesday, we sampled the fine dining of Gillette. I use the term "fine" loosely, but it was food. We tried out the China King Buffet, which was recommended by Ken and Mishelle. It was no P.F. Changs and some of their items were a bit weird (stuffed mushrooms and french fries?) but we didn't have to wait to eat, which was a plus. On our anniversary we went to a local pizza place...definitely NOT fresh ingredients and very expensive for what you get, plus although we were the only people in the place when we ordered we didn't get our pizza for over an hour. Maybe they were waiting for the dough to rise? Oh yeah, it was frozen dough. Huh...?

So those are some of our experiences of Wyoming so far. I hope that my next entry about activities in Wyoming will be more exciting. One positive thing that I can say is that I am glad there aren't any really good places to eat-out here in Gillette because otherwise I think the temptation would prove irresistible. Watching the Food Network is definitely getting me more psyched about cooking, though.

And the winner is...Wyoming???

Driving Through Wyoming

Our prayers have been answered, and this answer definitely shows that our Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor. After months of despairing that Andrew wouldn't find a job he was finally offered one in Gillette, Wyoming! How is that for putting a kink in our well-intended plans?

We had always intended on moving to the East after we finished school and had dreams of all the lovely trees and landscapes (not to mention all the cool places to visit), but it seems that we are needed in Wyoming for some reason or another. We really hope that it isn't too permanent, though! We will keep dreaming of trees in the meantime.

A little info about Wyoming and Gillette. Did you know that Wyoming is the LEAST populated state in the Union? I wonder why...I guess we will find out as soon as we move there. Gillette is situated in the north eastern part of Wyoming and calls itself "The Energy Capital of the Nation." Gillette is a small town of about 30,000 people and it has great schools, which is the main reason why we are moving there. Andrew will have no worries about losing his job because of budget cuts (unlike most of the nation). It is also near such sites as Mount Rushmore and Devils Tower, so if anyone is looking to do some site seeing, stop on by!