Wesley and Alyssa

2010-02-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

So as many of you know, my mom went in for her 100 day check up, to get results on some post treatment scans and tests. We were disappointed to learn that there are some swollen lymph nodes near her heart. since she has already had cancer there is a chance that they are malignant. She was making such a good recovery that we were shocked to hear the news. We have all been fasting and praying that things will resolve. I can't help but think this is somehow my fault. I feel like her suffering was meant to teach me a lesson. Through her first round of chemo and up to her transplant I did a little bit of death bed repentance. By that I mean that I was going to church and things only because I wanted her to get better and I knew it would make her happy. And if something terrible were to happen I did not want her last memory of me to be disappointment. After the transplant I fell back into old habits. It was so easy to say I can't go to church because Wes has to load trucks during that time or I have a sniffle or I woke up late so I can't say prayers. It's like heavenly father blessed our family and as soon as I got what I wanted I went back to my old ways. And now I feel like I am praying and fasting in vein. You can't just fast or pray just when you want something. So I do feel like this finding more swollen lymph nodes is my fault. And now I am lost and don't know how to fix it. I believe enough to know that fasting and praying and going to church can make a difference. I just don't want to do it just because I want her to get better anymore. I want to do it because I want to do it. But, I can't seem to make myself want to do it. I have so many doubts and questions. I don't know how people go through their whole life with unwavering faith. I wish I could be obedient and compliant but it is just not my nature. There are so many people in the church that condemn me for the things that I have done in the past. I just feel that if you want to call yourself Christ like you can't act like that. If I have to hear that someone else just has a way better relationship with their husband, or they love their husband more because they were married in temple I am going to go crazy. I just don't know where to go from here.

2010-01-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

So I haven't updated this iin quite a while but all I can say is that I pretty much have the best husband ever. For our anniversary he rented a suite that had a hot tub and a loft in the room. He went and got me the most thoughtful gift ever too. Guys don't think like this very often so when they do it is so sweet. I got a great piece of arthur court silver for my wedding and he went out and found another piece to add to my collection. He had to search high and low cause we live in Idaho and they don't sell like anything at our Macy's. He went out of his way to find it for me and I love it. Then we went to Avitar in 3D it was great.

The Biggest Loser

2010-01-06T11:46:00.001-08:00

Yay!!! The biggest loser has started again and I am so excited. This show is truly my inspiration. I love watching Jillian kick everyone's butt! When I watch this show I can not sit still. I watch and feel like I have to be moving or riding the bike or something. I can't help but watch it and feel scared that one day I could look like that if I don't do a bunch of sit ups and ride the bike. I want to be like Jillian so bad. She is totally my goal. We are the same height so I feel like I can look like her if I train hard enough. I am a long ways away but I think that this goal in obtainable. I went back to the gym yesterday after a week long absence and it was brutal. At Thanksgiving I could run 6 miles without stopping. I ran a mile and a half last night and felt like I was going to die. The stair master kicked my butt too. I have a feeling that I am going to have to do two-a-days to get back to where I was a month ago. I have 30 more pounds and I am at my goal. I want to be there by my birthday. I don't know if it is realistic to think that I could loose 30 pounds in 3 months but I am going to try like hell. I am also really trying to get organized and stay on a budget. I think I was a little too ambitious with my resolutions this year. I hope I can stick to at least one of them.

Boise State Won

2010-01-04T23:05:00.000-08:00

Yay!!! Boise State won the Fiesta Bowl for the second time. We went over to Wes's brother's house to watch it. Wes didn't get done with work untill an hour into the game. We had Brooke record it for us and we all turned off our phones and watched the game late. I was so excited when they won. It was a good close game. Anyone who says that they are not good enough to play with the bigger schools, is crazy. Go Broncos Go!!!!

The Holidays are over!

2010-01-04T13:41:00.001-08:00

I am so glad that the Holidays are over. I gained 8 pounds that I now have to loose. I am so glad to have my house back to normal. It is so fun to decorate and everything but I like that my house no longer feels cluttered. We had a great time though. Christmas was fun and New years was a blast. Although we did Christmas by ourselves this year, I will never do it again. It didn't even feel like Christmas. And I am king of sad that I didn't get to see my siblings open Christmas presents. We did start some of our own traditions this year though. Wes buried a ham and it turned out delicious and I even scored the bone to make ham and bean soup. We went out Christmas eve and dug a hole and burnt a fire in it and then threw in the ham and buried it. When we woke up on Christmas it was done. I cooked french toast and we opened presents. Wes went and got me the work out shoes that I really wanted but had decided were too expensive. He wrapped them in a Victoria Secret bag so I was so surprised. I totally screamed when I opened them.
I got Wes a coyote decoy but I went and exchanged them for a pair of shoes for him though. He was really nice about it but, I could tell that isn't what he wanted so I took it back and got him what he really wanted the next day. Then we fixed the rest of our dinner and layed around.

Later we made gingerbread houses and for the first time ever mine was totally better than his. I got pretty home sick though. The best part of it all was New Years eve.

I bought Wes tickets to the Bob & Tom all stars tour. We went up to Boise and went to the show and ate. The roads were so bad that we couldn't drive home. Wes scored us a suite for like nothing. It was so nice, I have never stayed in a Hotel room that nice before. Even though we had to turn around and come right back the next day it was nice to feel like we got away from Wendell.

Christmas is Almost Here

2009-12-21T10:03:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited for Christmas. I have everything planned out so that Wes and I can have a great first Christmas to ourselves. I wish that we would have done our first Christmas like this. People tend to think we are weird because we like to do things just the two of us but, it's just because we are each other's best friends. This last weekend we didn't really do anything but lay around but I had a blast. Things are never boring in our house. We are always playing tricks on each other and making each other laugh. I am way excited that Wes is going to cook a ham for Christmas. He is going to cook it by burying it. So on Christmas eve we are going to go get some rocks to use to cook the ham and maybe try our hand at ice fishing the pond. I love fishing for one reason and one reason only. When we fish is when I can tell that my husband truly loves me. I am a mess at fishing and to tell you the truth I have never even caught anything. I get everything all tangled and in the past I have even unreeled an entire reel of fishing line into a tangled mess. Not once has he ever even gotten frustrated. He patiently untangles everything and kisses me on the cheek. Sometimes he just giggles and says "Hey have you met my wife?". But if someone can be patient with me when I am fishing then that's when I know they really love me. Then I think that I am going to get us matching pajamas. When we go to see my parents the next weekend we will do the matching pajamas again. He always pretends like he is so bugged by the whole thing. I think he just likes to tease my mom but, when we get home he wears them. We really don't have anything to wrap this year cause we kind of just went shopping together and got the things that we wanted. So, I was thinking of just going to the dollar store and getting some funny little things and wrapping them just so that we can go through the motions. Then I was wanting to go sledding but, I don't think we are going to have any snow. I hope that everything turns out good. I just want to have a really good Christmas. It seems like the last couple of Christmas we have just been running the whole time and we don't really get to enjoy it. I hope this one we can just sit back and enjoy it.

Why can't I have friends?

2009-12-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel so lonely here. People are just not the same here in Wendell. Everyone here are trashy crack heads. It is so hard to not have people with your same belief system around you. I tried to go to lunch with the girls from work and it was like pulling teeth. People who don't share the same beliefs seem to just be meaner. All they do is poke fun at me. There aren't really people my age here either. I just don't feel like I have anything in common with these people. People look at me weird because of the way I dress. By the way styles and trends are about two years behind here. They just barely got a hold of the stretchy pants and apparently they are the coolest thing ever now. And all the Ugg boot make me sick. Oh my gosh and the sequins and glitter make me want to throw up. I don't get why people here think that by adding glitter it makes everything better. How tacky can you be? And this brings me back to why I probably don't have any friends. Because I am a mean shallow person who cares about what I look like. People here just don't care. I think that the reason that the obesity rate is so high in this country is because of Jerome alone. Poverty and obesity seem to go hand in hand, and it drives me crazy. I see all of these obese people on food stamps. I can't help but think to myself "I couldn't afford to feed that either." And everyone thinks you are a horrible person for saying these things but if we are already buying their food and allowing them to get like this, you know we are also paying for their medical bills. Think of all the people that have obesity related medical conditions that are on disability. It is not a disability it is a choice, and it's pathetic. Again, I think this is why I don't have friends, cause I think like this. I am going to try to start not be so judgemental and it is going to be very hard for me. Well, I got really off topic but, I wish that I could just make some friends here. Maybe if I didn't live out in the middle of no where with a cow pasture in my backyard I could make some. You know in movies how people move to small towns and they all of the sudden become friends with everyone. Well, that is so not true. People in small towns want nothing to do with new comers. This makes it really really hard.

Stuffed Pork with Apple Cider Gravy

2009-12-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

OK so I finally tried my recipe. It was delicious. Here is the my very own recipe. It is a healthy recipe cause I love to take things and make them healthy.

2 Pork Tenderloins
1 cup chopped and peeled apples
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped yellow onions
4 cups chicken stalk
Sugar Free Apple Cider Mix
1 Tbs. EVOO
1 Tbs Wheat Flour
I can't believe it's not butter spread
Pam

Spray a large skillet with Pam and brown celery and onions on medium heat, add apples and stir for two minutes. Place mixture into a food processor mix and set aside. Add 1 cup chicken stalk and deglaze that pan. Reserve liquid. Butterfly the pork and place in a plastic bag. Beat meat with a meat mallet until flat and even. Place a layer of onion and celery mixture on top of the pork. Roll the meat up and secure with tooth picks. Pour Evoo into the skillet and coat the bottom of the pan. Brown pork for two minutes on each side for a total of 8 minutes. Pour in the rest of the chicken stalk and place lid on pan. Reduce heat and cook for 15-20 minutes until pork is done. Remove pork and pour liquid into container with other reserved liquid and reserve. Place I can't believe it's not butter spread in pan (about 1 tbs.) sprinkle in Wheat flour. Stir over medium heat until creamy, add the liquid from before and stir. Add apple cider mixture and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and stir. Slice pork and pour sauce over meat.

Christmas Traditions

2009-12-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

So dinner didn't go as I planned. Wes didn't get home until way late so I had a bowl of cereal instead. I did get to work out though. Wes bought me an exercise bike for Christmas. I was way excited that I didn't have to brave the icy roads to go to the gym. So tonight I will try to get to cook my new recipe I wrote. I have been doing some research on recipes that I can do over Christmas. This will be the first Christmas that we spend just us two. I am worried that it isn't going to feel like Christmas because we are not doing any of my family's traditions. But I think I am ready to start our own traditions. I found a great recipe for French Toast Casserole if it goes well I think it will become a Christmas tradition for us. I have done allot of thinking about traditions and which ones I want to carry on from my family and which ones to carry on from Wes's family. I want to combine the different traditions to make them our own. This year we went on his family's Christmas Tree hunt and it was a blast. We sledded with the kids and hiked up the side of a mountain to cut down a tree. We ended up using our fake tree cause I didn't want the mess but it was still a way fun trip. I think that we will have to do that every year from now on.

I have noticed that most of his family traditions are pretty mellow. My family Is anything but mellow or normal for that matter. Instead of having a nice quiet dinner for Thanksgiving we had an obstacle coarse. It was pretty intense. We laughed our butts off. I loved the part where we had to eat two saltines and try to whistle. Patti was the judge and when Sheena and I got to that part we spit the crackers all over Patti. She told us just to go because we were special. I was laughing the whole time. Patti and Peggy battled it out and cheated the whole time but, they got the best time of the day. Wes and my dad Jerry went at it. I have never seen someone get so competitive.

I'm kind of glad that we have the two ends of the spectrum though. I am glad that we can have fun being crazy and have fun relaxing.

For the as two years that we have been married we haven't really developed any traditions. We have carved pumpkins each Halloween and that is the only thing that has been really consistent. This year for Halloween we went to a Halloween party at Wes's brother's house. It was fun cause I got to make a ton of cup cakes. I love to decorate cookies and things. I am so excited about the christmas baskets we made I love feeling like Rachel Ray.

Dinner

2009-12-16T18:34:00.001-08:00

So tonight I think I am going to try to make a pork ballentine with celery and onion stuffing. I think I am going to try to serve it with apple cider gravy. If it goes well I think I will post the recipe. I think I will serve it with mashed cauliflower. I really like trying new recipes, it makes me feel like Martha Stewart. I really don't think that Martha Stewart's house is ever as messy as mine. It seems like no madder how much I clean my house is still messy at the end of the day. I would be lying if I said that I hated it. I actually like house work. I love doing those kinds of things for my husband. I always try to do as much as I can for him. I have this theory that the better I treat him the better he treats me in return and it is true. It is not always easy some days I get so mad that I don't want to do anything for him. But, if I can just humble myself and do something nice for him the problem usually resolves itself. When I am nice even when I am angry about something he has done he always realizes it and makes it up to me. I think as humans we are extremely selfish creatures. But if we can humble ourselves and be of service our lives can be so much better. My only wish is that I could see Wes more. It is 8:00 and he is still not done with work. Sometimes it is 11:00 or 12:00 before he is done. It makes it really hard to cook and make it to the gym and spend time with him. Someday I hope he won't have to work so much and we can just spend time together.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2009-12-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

5 chicken breasts boiled and shredded
1 package cream cheese
1 12 oz bottle of Franks Red Hot Sauce
1 16 oz Ranch Dressing
4 cups sharp cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients and place in oven until cheese bubbles

I love this recipe it is really fun. Serve it with Frito's Scoops.

Poundage!!!!

2009-12-16T15:02:00.000-08:00

So after Wes and I got married we kind of gained some weight. Like 50 pounds a piece to be exact. We have been recently been trying to get rid of it. Wes has lost about 50 pounds. I have lost about 40 pounds. We started going to the gym everyday and eating right. Well, I am currently in the fight of my life because of the holidays. I swear that the fitness industry fuels the fatty food industry so that come January when you have gained 10 pounds, you feel guilty and hit the gym. I have never felt fatter even at my heaviest. I keep buying magazines and telling my self that I am going to work out harder the next day. I am really losing this battle. I have gained four ponds since Thanksgiving and I don't see any end in sight. Every time you turn around someone wants you to come to a party involving eating or making food. I refuse to let myself return to that place. Wes is allot more lucky than I am he has been eating the same things and hasn't gained back a single pound. Not fair! Women have to work out twice as hard for the same results. On a somewhat related but completely different topic. We had a work Christmas party today. I made My cousin Corey's Buffalo chicken dip. It was a crowd favorite. I feel like I am kind of getting the hang of this whole cooking thing finally, after two years of struggling. There was that one time that my casserole exploded on Wes. He hit the floor and started screaming that he had been shot. After I whipped off the Barbecue sauce he felt a little silly for over reacting. He thought that the Barbecue sauce was blood. But, I am allot better now. I haven't had anything explode in a couple months and I vowed to never try to make Mexican Lasagna ever again. He wouldn't eat it because it was green. Sometimes I feel like I live with a very large child. But, at the same time his easy going, carefree attitude is one of the things that I love the most about him. Even when I am so mad I can't even look at him, I will hear singing in the other room and have to forgive him instantly. I feel so lucky that I married someone that I can always laugh with no matter what.

How we became Mr. & Mrs. Mauger

2009-12-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

We met in January of 2007. We actually officially met in high school. I had gone up to see my cousins in Blackfoot. We decided that we were going to toilet paper some guys house. It was a big group of us and we all piled in to Wes's pickup. We must have been too loud cause before we knew it the lights flew on and someone came running out the front door. Wes and another kid jumped in the truck and left us all there. I was thinking that he was the biggest jerk ever. Sheena, my cousin, and her boyfriend jumped over a fence and ran down to the church where they met up with the truck. Darci, my cousin, and I ran into a corn field and proceeded to hide for three hours while they marched up and down the rows looking for us. Although, we had also met on a couple of other occasions neither of us really made the connection the night we officially met. Wes had gone to school with Sheena so, she introduced us. We exchanged numbers and emails, and to tell you the truth we never really thought twice about each other. He accidentally called me one night and so we started to talk on the phone. We would talk to each other every night for at least three hours. He came down to Salt Lake to watch a Jazz game with his friends and stopped in to see us. He made me promise that the next time I was in Blackfoot that I would let him take me on a date. It was about a month later that I was going to Blackfoot for a family reunion. I got there so late that everything was closed. He took me to check pivots with him. And I was thinking, oh great he is taking me out on the desert just so that he can get a little somethin somthin. But, to my surprise he was a perfect gentleman and didn't even try to hold my hand. We laid there and looked at the stars and talked for hours. He drove me back to my uncle's farm. I grabbed the handle to jump out and right at that moment decided to kiss him and turned and bumped right into him. It actually kind of gave me a swollen lip. From then on we did the long distance thing. I would drive to Blackfoot or he would drive to Highland. It was horrible. I begged him to move down to Provo but, his mom was getting pretty bad. His mom had Alzheimer's and he stayed at home and took care of her. I decided to move to Blackfoot with my Aunt and Uncle. I looked for a job and there was nothing. So, I got a job working harvest. Picking rocks off of a conveyer belt to be exact. This might shock people cause I have always been kind of a Pris. I just had to be by him. He was working on a ranch so I would ride in the tractor with him and check pivots with him. He then got a great opportunity for a job over in Wendell working for his brother. He moved to Wendell and I moved home. I kind of that that things would be over after that because we were living five hours apart. But the weekend after he moved over here I went to see him and he asked me to marry him. We were married three months later. We moved to Jerome and started our life. We have since moved to Wendell and love it. I work in the probation office and he works as a cattle buyer for his brother Danny. I feel like we are always running but when I do get a minute to relax and look around I am so grateful that my life is exactly the way it is.