Excited to see my family tomorrow!!!

Things are a lot better so far. Getting my wisdom teeth out was the worst thing ever! It was not that bad the 1st and 2nd days. The 3rd and 4th were the worst. I was so sick to my stomach, lightheaded and naseous. I was getting serious heartburn too. It was really tough to get through those days. It's been a lot better. I have been able to work, and forget about my pain. We have been busily preparing for my family to come down and see us. We are excited to take them to the sites and sounds of Farmington, NM. We are really liking it down here. We feel like we are planting some roots, and able to be involved in the activities here. There is such a different beauty of the desert here. We are lacking some things, but make up for it in things such as the never-ending skies, natural landscaping, beautiful nightly sunsets, thunderstorms constantly, etc...... yeah. We like it here........

Surgery is fun!

After my surgery. I managed to have a smile. my cheeks are huge! The towel around my head had ice in it. It was a beard of ice!

Shawn swinging at the ball on our league
picture of our team doing awesome
my boss (Dr. Tornow)
I really didn't want this picture, but I didn't know how to erase it. Shawn took this picture when I was totally out of it and still under the effects of the anethesia and meds.

This week was certainly a joy! The doctor I work with kept reminding me why I should get my wisdom teeth taken out (every day pretty much) I kept putting it off and putting it off. I vowed never to get them out. Until they started hurting me periodically, until I could not deny it anymore. I made a slight mention that they were bothering me to Dr. Tornow, and he scheduled me right then and there to get them taken out. They were taken out yesterday. Wow, I was scared! I work in surgery, but when it is being done to you, it is not the most favorite thought in the world. It actually went pretty smoothly. The IV didn't hurt, and I drifted off to sleep so quick. I don't remember anything after that, except for waking up in bed. Shawn took a few pictures of me. I guess I was trying to hug everyone, and was making sure to wave to everyone. I am in a lot of pain still, but oh well. At least they are out and never to have to worry about that ever again. I just need a root canal possibly. I am pretty upset about that. I didn't even have a cavity until 2 years ago!

On another note: Shawn and I are on a softball league here. Softball and soccer here, is like football to Texas. It is ridiculous. Everyone plays here! My work is on a league, so we signed up thinking it was going to be just for fun. It is serious stuff. Our team is not that great, but we have fun anyways.

Our lives from the last month!

Sun spiders or camel spiders look like this, and one was in our house. look camel spiders up on google images. you would be shocked how big they can be in Africa. They can get up to the size of a man
This is the sandy mountain we climed to the top of
Trudging up the sandy hill. There was very steep canyone in the ridges
made it to the top
These trees are my favorite (aspens) and they are everwhere in Durango
Hidden lake we found. It was fairly large, lots of fish jumping, and very clear, you could see to the bottom on the shore

Pierce loving the fact that Caden was getting so mad that he was on my dad's lap too.
Shawn's yearly fruit creation extravaganza. He makes a different one every year. It is starting to be a tradition
On our hike, we smelled rotting fruit, and our noses lead us to this tree. It was a wild apricot tree. There were a ton of them
This centipede was in our house. I put a tupperware over it and waited until Shawn came home to take it out. They sting you like a scorpion, but they are not poisonous
Huge caterpillar we found on the trail. I took a picture of my hand next to it to show you how massive it was

We have been so busy this month! I am still going strong trying so hard to learn assisting. I know pretty much most everything about actual assisting. When it comes to the computer, I am pretty confused. Anyone that has ever learned Dentrix knows. I am on a softball league with my work, and we pretty much stink half and half. We have lost 2 games and won 1 so far. Shawn and I went to Utah for his brother's wedding 2 weeks ago, for a week. I hope none of our friends feel neglected. We did not have any time to hang with any of them. Between the wedding, and family functions, it was crazy. We had a mini reunion at my parents house, and my mother's side of the family came. It was cool. We played with a giant human rubber band at the park and it was good. On Labor Day, Shawn and I were tired of sitting around the house. We had plans to go camping, but realized that we do not have the gear (like a tent for starters) and were pretty bummed. We decided to spend the day in our favorite town Durango, CO. It is only like 35 minutes away, and we love it alot! We didn't really know what we would do when we got there, but we would just find whatever we could. We drove behind all the hotels, behind the river, into a new subdivision they are building. Behind that, was a dirt road we decided to follow and have it take us somewhere. We found a bike/hiking trail, so we followed it. well, it led us all the way up a dirt mountain. It was sooooooooooo hard, I cannot even begin to tell you. I am so out of shape, and it was literally like crawling up it, it was so steep. I thought my heart would beat right out of my chest. It was so cool at the top though.

When we got back down, we drove around and just found cool things. We drove up to Purgatory Ski Resort. It is so beautiful. I don't know why, I didn't take any pictures of it. It looks exactly like Park City or Snowbird, just a little more compact. Pretty nonetheless. We found a few hidden lakes, and just took roads for fun. We found some springs called Pinkerton Springs coming right out of the mountain. We stopped at Honeyville as usual to get honey treats, and went and saw our future house (we wish) that is worth $1,500,000. We stopped and ate at a place (second time now) called Serious Texas BBQ right on the river. It is a truly authentic BBQ place, and it is very inexpensive. We are taking you guys (mom and dad) there when we go to Durango. There are these really cool condos across the river we went and saw. They are fairly inexpensive for the area. They overlook the river. We also saw a BMX/Dirtbike track right off the trail next to the river we went and checked out. The picture of the people in the river is funny, because after I took that picture, they went on shore to eat lunch and rest for a little bit, and one of them forgot about his kayak, and it started going down the river. They didn't know what to do, and we just laughed and told them we saw it in the bushes. They were panicking. Well, duh! Don't forget about your kayak! We also saw the biggest caterpillar and fattest one I have ever seen! Shawn says it is a monarch butterfly caterpillar. It got mad at us rolling it around to try to get it off the path, and orange antlers popped out of his head, and he stood up and starting rocking around. It was pretty hilarious. He was the size of Shawn's finger!

Well, this morning, I discovered a new pet in the house. It scared me to death, and it was humongous!!!! Centipedes are really common around here. They have stingers like scorpions, and they are about 3x the size of the ones in my parents basement. It was chillin at the bottom of the stairs. We also saw a sun spider in our house not long ago. I don't like all these creepy things.

To see a ton of pictures recently, go to www.picasaweb.google.com/karleebucher