Spring Refreshing

Ahhh now have come the days of spring! I've been through tougher winters, but for some reason this winter just seemed to DRAG. Maybe it's because I haven't been skiing as much.
I'm so happy/relieved/excited/filled with warm fuzzies that winter is OVER.
And poor Mark, has had an extension of winter working up in Alaska. While I was planting flowers, he was trudging through snow and mud. We found out yesterday that there was a buried bomb they were working over all week on the range that was undetonated. Oh gosh.

Garden supplies

I said goodbye to these dried dozen roses. these are the roses Mark had for me when he proposed. The story goes he went into Campus Floral and told the lady, "I need the best dozen roses you've ever made!"

Ahhh the memories....

For Posterity's Sake: The night we were engaged.

It was a Sunday night, we had just eaten dinner with the Robinsons. Mark was especially quiet that night, not that I thought anything of it though. We had talked a lot about marriage for the past few weeks (of the 4 weeks we dated). I was going to leave in a month to go on the USNS Mercy Navy ship. I honestly didn't know if we'd be engaged before or after my summer trip. But we had gone ring shopping and I had picked out a ring I really liked. 

That Sunday after dinner, we were at my condo and Mark was on his phone, texting constantly. He kept looking outside too, the sun had just started setting. 

Then all of a sudden he said, Whit! Let's go for a walk! I thought that'd be awesome, still not remotely thinking that he was going to propose. We walked up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail to a spot that was sentimental for both of us, the only tree that stands on the trail for miles. We'd named it The Tree of Life. As we rounded the turn to the tree, I saw those dozen roses in a glass vase on a table covered with a black cloth. And on the table, a ring box. 

It's such a bizarre moment, to realize life is about to really make a change, for the better! We were both nervous but excited....well and really nervous, but mostly excited. 

He proposed. I said yes! 

And then we sat on a blanket overlooking the valley and called Mark's parents (mine were in Lake Powell!) 

It was the start of the journey of a lifetime. 

The entourage that planned and executed the operation, Andrew Church, Gary Whitaker, and Joe Ostebo. 

Meanwhile during spring cleaning, back to Alaska, Mark was still freezing.

For Posterity's Sake: The Red Barn is Finished!

I have been wanting to finish my red barn painting for a whole year now! I finally did it.
The red barn has some family significance. The only way I can put the story of the red barn into words is to share my Munner's words (my Grandma Fox).

" My Grandpa Bush was the greatest man on the planet -- an industrious farmer, community worker, good neighbor, etc.  How I loved him and the honor and respect my Mom had for him.    The painting in our living room is of his farmhouse and  cow barn, horse barn, pony barn and my pony!   His grandparents came from Conn. and homesteaded 500 acres, and Gpa thru the ages ended up with about 100 acres which he successfully farmed.   He had two children, my mom, Irene Gma Corwin and her brother, Harry. 

    Late in his life, Harry had cancer and had surgery at the Montrose Hospital on Grow Ave. in Montrose -- just across the street from where we lived while I went to high school.   Uncle Harry was in the hospital about two weeks and very ill.  At that time local painters would paint and frame their works and hang their paintings in the hospital rooms for the patients to enjoy.    Hanging in Uncle Harry's room was a red barn painting.  As he began to feel better, he and my Mom realized that it was his father's cow barn that the painter had painted.  He felt that looking at his father's barn gave him strength to recover.  After Uncle Harry got out of the hospital, my Mom contacted the painter and bought a copy of the red barn painting and gave it to her brother.   After he died, Mom got the painting, and then I inherited the red barn painting when she passed.   I am putting a little note on the back of the painting today that at the appropriate time, it should go to our favorite painter, YOU!!"

In honor of my Grandpa Bush, in whom Bush Determination originated, whose picture hangs in our family room.....

The red barn

The Last Frontier

 A few pics from Mark's current location in the arctic tundra. 

He's hard at work finishing a range for Fort Richardson outside of Anchorage, AK. 

A picture of the range

That plug isn't a battery, it's a car warmer. 

As Mark and his dad love to say about the frigid cold, "It puts hair on your chest."

Sunday Morning

It is a quiet Sunday in the ER.

I'll usually look up a conference talk or two to feel like I'm getting some sort of spiritual upliftment when I work Sundays.

I came across this talk by Elder Uchtdorf today. I forgot how much I LOVE this. So needed this reminder.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy?lang=eng

Off to Alaska

Tonight I'm missing him.

Mark left for work up in Alaska for a week. It's really just not fun when he's not around. 

I just really really love him. 

Africa!

Elder Johnson has been out on his mission for one whole MONTH in Accra, Ghana. He is doing so well! Maybe a little homesick, and a little overwhelmed by the amount of work, but he is taking it all in his stride. We are so blessed as a family as well, as his emails remind us of what is really important. 

Here are some pics from his farewell

Brad's buddies

 Cathryn J and I

Sibling Love

This is our personalities to a T!

Almost got it!

 Ahh we did it! Last picture of all of us together before Brad left

Brad is such a great brother. He is a calming force in our family. 

My favorite recent memory with Brad was skiing with him right before he left on his mission. We were skiing the back side of Beaver Mountain, which both he and I have done before. However on this run, we took a wrong turn and didn't realize it until we were in a forest of trees, brush, and massive boulders. It became impossible to ski so we took off our skis and started hiking down the mountain. By this point it was getting dark, and I was worried our family, who was picking us up, would be waiting for us. I'd figure if they waited too long they'd start worrying. I was becoming more and more frustrated. And I may or may not have let a few swear words fly! Brad finally said, "Whit, it's ok. It's gonna be fine. It's just not the most ideal situation." And sure enough, we found our path again and quickly skied out. And our family hadn't even arrived yet to pick us up. 

This is so Brad's attitude. He goes with the flow and carries peace with him. He just believes that everything works out. 

Good humor = good problem solving

We're discovering as I'm sure every couple discovers, that sometimes the meshing and sharing of two lives can cause, well, a little pressure and a little friction. But it is the friction that smooths the rough edges of the pebble, and the pressure that creates the diamond. And when the ultimate goal is to become one, a little melding and molding is a pretty darn good thing. And it's usually in the details.

Our latest discovery - how to solve driving differences! 

I love to drive like 

Grandma Gertrude, 

and Mark likes to drive like

  Speedy McSteve. 

So naturally driving together causes the passenger of that ride to feel disconcerted. 

Solution? 

I agreed to drive like Speedy as long as Speedy acknowledged that his driving is reckless.

And Speedy would slow it down for Gertrude as long as I call him "O great one".

And so far so good.

A little humor goes a long way!