>>CHRISTMAS BUFFALO

I don't know what it is about the animals in this town, but they sure love Christmas! 

As do I.


Perhaps you are needing a little Christmas music to get you excited?  Click here to download Hey, It's Christmas (Vol 2) for FREE!

Click here for Vol. 1 (also FREE!).  It's good stuff.  You won't regret it.

>>JUST FOR FUN

no worries...baby was just fine.

the good and the bad of a small town

I have a love-hate relationship with this town....Thermopolis...the place I have called home for one year and 3 months now.

∙ I love how small it is.

∙ I hate how small it is.

∙ I love that there is no traffic.

∙ I love that I can get to my work from home in 5 minutes or less.

∙ I hate that the closest place to do any kind of shopping is 1 hour away.  And that's if you want to shop at Walmart.  If you want to shop anywhere else, like say, Target or Home Depot, then you have to drive at least 2 hours to get there.

∙ I hate that there is no good places to eat...not even Wendys.

∙ I love how nice people are here.

∙ I love that there is no dress code in this town...I'm never ever embarrassed to go out in whatever I may be wearing...dirty t-shirt, no make-up, pj's, whatever, nobody cares and I seem to fit in just fine with everyone else.

∙ I love how beautiful it is here.

∙ I hate that we don't have more friends.

∙ I love that we now have a Red Box (finally).

∙ I hate that we live so far away from our family, like, really bad hate it.

Last thing . . . I don't hate this or love it, but find it rather amusing.  Last Saturday, one of Curtis' clients came to our house in a panic wanting advice from her trusty lawyer.  We are not listed in the phonebook, but in a town like this, everyone just sorta knows where everyone else lives.  Joys of a small town. 

You win some you lose some, I suppose. 


Happy Friday!


[ Report: I went and saw Easy A and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I thought is was both cute and funny.  And I loved the take on the Scarlet Letter. ]  

fun filled weekend

This past weekend my in-laws came up to Thermopolis for a visit. Lucky for me, they are great and I enjoy being around them.

We gave them the grand tour of our town. It's always fun to be reminded of what our town has to offer.

Sometimes, I get in these moods where I'm not sure that our town has anything to offer....it's small...really small. The only fast food places we have to eat at are Taco Johns, Subway and McDonalds. That's it. Not to mention we only have one stoplight. One.

So, as I said, it's a good reminder that this town actually does have stuff do to. Fun stuff too. Plus, it truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

One of my most favorite things to do here is drive around the State Park. It's oh so pretty. Especially now. It's so green from all the rain we've had...and now it has hundreds of purple wildflowers at every turn.

Isn't it just beautiful?

Plus, we get to see buffalo...just 5 minutes from our house...buffalo. Here we are driving past a small family with 3 teeny tiny babies (small for buffalo anyway). One of the babies was probably only a week old (if that). It was kinda scary being this close. Towards the end of the film, you'll hear me whisper, "oh my gosh, Curtis, go!" We were so close to the babies and the mommas didn't like it one bit.


Also at our State Park is a swinging bridge that hangs above the Big Horn River. S-C-A-R-E-Y. If you hate heights, you would NOT like this bridge. I hate heights, no, I loathe heights...I even have nightmares about heights. I usually opt out of crossing the bridge, but I decided to be brave and impress the inlaws. I took the camera along to give you a feel of what it's like crossing this thing. If you listen closely, you can hear the squeaking noise of the bridge as it bounces.


We also made a visit to the State Bath House. It's a facility at the State Park that has soaking pools were people can come and soak for free for 20 minutes in the hot mineral water. These waters are known to be "healing waters." The water used in the Bath House comes straight from the mineral hot springs. No chemicals or cleaners are added to it...so it has the awesome scent of sulfur. It was pretty fun. We had never been before...it was much nicer than I expected. There is an indoor and outdoor pool, which are both very clean and nice. Don't worry, I'll spare you of our pasty-white chubbiness and not post pictures of us soaking. :) (just FYI, nude soaking is not allowed...so yes, we were wearing our swimsuits...or rather, our bathing suits...he he).

After our soak at the Bath House, we crammed our smelly sulfur bodies in our car and drove 30 miles to Legend Rock to see Petroglyphs. We really did smell...it was kinda funny. Anyway, the Petroglyphs were pretty cool. Some are said to be 11,000 years old. (don't ask me what the figures are above the eagle???)

On our way home from Legend Rock, we came across these 3 horses at a creek near the side of the road. We stopped just to take a quick look at them and two of them walked right up to our car. One even tried to stick his head right in our car window. What social horses!! They were so cute...and they look like they have been rolling around in the mud. If I wasn't afraid they were going to try to eat us, I would have reached out to pet them.

And lastly, on Sunday afternoon we went to the Car Show that was in town. It's always fun to be outside on a nice day and walk around the park and see cool old cars.

Doesn't Thermopolis seem like a fun place to visit? Come on up and we'll give you the grand tour...and then we'll eat at Taco Johns together!!

the little engine that couldn't

This is old news, but nonetheless, it is definitely worth sharing.

A few miles south of Thermopolis is a beautiful canyon called the Wind River Canyon. Many times throughout the year, this canyon will have a falling rock advisory, especially during the wet season.

This spring has been particularly wet. A few weeks ago a huge rock fell on the railroad tracks that run through this canyon. The result was this:


The rock was the size of a pick-up truck and caused a train to derail into the Wind River.


The locomotive engineers (I know my train vocabulary) had to climb out and swim to safety. They were alright, however, they did suffer minor injuries and hypothermia.



Several thousands of gallons of diesel fuel (I've heard 8 to 15 thousand gallons) leaked into the river. Crews worked to contain and siphon what fuel they could from the river. Luckily the town's drinking water was secured.


Pretty crazy, eh.

Here's a video clip of the canyon. It's really quite spectacular.

the last day of April

What the heck is with this weather lately?

I want spring!!...sunshine and tulips and green grass...no more of this cold white stuff.


Tomorrow is May 1st and we are still using flannel sheets.

This time of year I should be breaking out the capris and flip flops...not my snow hat and boots.

another day in Thermop

just when I thought I've seen it all...

a deer situation

seeing this out my front window . . . awesome

seeing this in my front yard . . . NOT awesome

Thermopolis is full of deer. They are everywhere. Even though I see a deer (usually several) pretty much daily, I still get excited every time. They are beautiful creatures. I especially love all the baby deer...so cute and bambi-ish.

There are times however, when I think to myself, "ok, enough is enough."

Like the time when I was walking home from the store and was startled by a ginormous deer with a head full of antlers. I had to hide behind a house while I waited for him to pass. He had a baby deer with him, so I was worried he might come after me to protect the baby.

Or the times when they leap right out in front of our car as we drive by.

Or when they do their business in our front yard.


Other than these times, the deer are my friends. I enjoy them.

Lets hope we stay friends during gardening season. As long as they don't figure out how to get in our backyard and eat all of our tomatoes, I think we'll get a long just fine. Otherwise, there could be trouble.

>>A COLD MORNING IN THERMOPOLIS

The thermometer doesn't lie. It's a chilling -22 degrees outside this morning. Burr! Time to cuddle under a blanket and drink hot chocolate.

>>SNEAK PEEK

who doesn't love yellow?

>>GO BOBCATS!

The Thermopolis High School Bobcats have won the Wyoming State 2A football championship.

WOOHOO!!

This is BIG for our little town. In the previous 3 seasons, they have only won a total of 3 games, so this is HUGE.

Way to go Bobcats!!

Here they are being escorted into town after their big win. (It's more fun to watch if your volume is turned up ... for dramatic effect)

You may think there is some kind of big emergency in town, but no, its just every single emergency vehicle joining in the celebration of welcoming our champs back to Thermop. Oh the joys of a small town...I love it!





Its been fun living right on the main road into town. Living here, we are able to see all the action right from our front porch. Not only did we get to see all the hooplah involved in our team coming home, but also yesterday a beet truck tipped over on the main road covering the road and nearby parking lot with beets...tons of beets.

I'm going to miss living right on the main road where all the action is....more on this later.

>>THINGS ARE GOOD

I think a person can be happy wherever they live...I also think a person can hate where they live...the choice is up to them.

It would be quite easy for me to dislike where I live, and I'll be honest, I struggle with it sometimes.

However, if I am able to focus on the positives, I find that I really do like it here. Sometimes I think I even love it.

Let me tell you what happened here today.

I went into the new Eye Center in town to pick up some contacts I had ordered last week. The nice lady at the front desk went into the back to get them for me and came back with not only my contacts, but with the newspaper article featuring Curtis and his admission to the Wyoming Bar. They had clipped it out of the newspaper to give to me. How nice is that?

Seriously, there are some nice people in this town.

I want to always try to focus on the good. When we moved to Laramie, we didn't really know what to expect, but we just hoped for the best and knew that we would be happy as long as we were together...it didn't really matter the location. We stayed positive and we fell in love with the place...the town, the people, the life-style.

Now, we are in a new place, a place unlike any place we have ever lived. We didn't fully know what to expect here, but we knew we would be together and that is what mattered. We are getting use to this town now and are learning to love it...the town, the people, and our new life-style.

Of course I'm not always cheerful, happy and positive, but I want to try to be. I think it's important to see the good in all things. Life is just better that way.

>>THE SWEARING IN AND WHAT IT MEANS TO ME

Curtis was sworn in this week and is on his way to becoming a real attorney (as soon as all official paperwork is processed).


See for yourself. Here he is getting sworn in.

And here's the celebratory cake we ate at his office after the swearing in.

He was even in the local paper with a headline that read: NEW LAWYER JOINING FIRM. Even I was lucky enough to be mentioned in the news article as being the wife of the new hot lawyer in town. It really said that too.

It is such a good feeling knowing that Curtis is done and that he never has to study for that darn bar exam again (unless of course he decides to get licensed in another state).

For me, it means we can finally settle down.

When we moved from our first home in Kaysville to Wyoming, I knew our stay there was only temporary. I knew it would take Curtis 3 years in law school, and after that, we would most likely move. So, our lives there felt temporary (at least for me). Plus we were back to renting again, which was a bit of an adjustment from owning our own home. We weren't the boss of our home anymore. So, just the fact that we were back to renting made things feel a bit temporary. I always knew in the back of my mind that the day would come when Curtis would graduate and we would move on.

Then, that day did come, and we did move on. We moved to Thermopolis...to a tiny one bedroom apartment...that we rent...again. Our stay here in this new town was sort of contingent upon Curtis passing the bar. Heaven for bid we get too settled here only to have Curtis lose his job due to him failing the bar. So, to say the least, we haven't really had a chance to settle in here yet. We haven't even finished unpacking all of our belongings.

But now, things are changing. Curtis passed the bar, his job is stable (and he loves his job which makes things even better) and we have grown to like this little town of ours. So, in an attempt to have our lives feel less temporary and more secure here, I think it's time to move on and quit this renting nonsense.

I am looking forward to house shopping and eventually, loving the place I live. No more boring white, bare walls. No more not having a kitchen table because our apartment is too small. And no more living out of boxes and rubbermaid bins.

And for Pete's sake, it's time to finally move our piano here from Utah.

It's time to hunker down and settle in.

Welcome home Cheney family. Take off your boots and stay awhile!

>>METROPOLIS OF THERMOPOLIS

You know, I've learned that life in a small town isn't everyone's cup of tea. Life in Thermopolis is different than what I'm used to. It's small...very small. On the town website, it boasts about how the elevation of Thermopolis is greater than its population.

Luckily, the small-town life works for me. I think it just might be my cup of tea.

I will admit I was apprehensive about moving here. One thing I worried about was not having a Walmart in town.

But here's the trade . . .

When we lived in Utah, Curtis had to travel almost an hour each way to work EVERY DAY of the work week. It sucked. That was 2 hours a day spent in rush-hour in a stuffy, uncomfortable car. It is draining to have to commute like that.

Now-a-days, his work is literally 5 minutes from home. Walmart, on the other hand, is 50 minutes from home, but I'm okay with that. I'll take those extra 2 hours a day I get to spend with my hubby. It's a much better trade if I do say so myself. And when we do have to go to Walmart, a 50 minute drive is not that bad. Even in the city, it can take about that long just making one's way through traffic to get to the store that is only 10 miles away. And seriously, who needs to go to Walmart more than every other week or so? You may think you do, but you don't. Trust me.

Plus, if we didn't live in this small town, then I would have never gotten stuck right dab in the middle of the homecoming parade this weekend. Yep, I got stuck driving right between 2 floats. I was dropping off some lunch to Curtis at work and I had no idea a parade was going on. Of course, there wasn't much traffic control, so one wrong turn and I found myself right in the middle of the parade route. Awesome! All I could do was smile and wave. It seems like awkward stuff like this is just the story of my life.

Now, for your enjoyment (if the above story wasn't enough), here are some pictures we took while driving around the State Park today (Thermopolis is home to the Hot Springs State Park).

>>SMALL TOWN LIFE

I am finally able to find my way around town. Even though we only have 1 stop light in town (that's right, ONE), I was always getting lost. I think I've finally figured out all the turns and how to get to the grocery store. I'm still confused as to which way is north, south, etc, but we'll get there. Just one thing at a time.


In Laramie, we had a pet rabbit that hung out in our yard. He liked to sleep under Curtis' truck and he liked the taste of our grass. I think he liked us too. I miss our little outdoor friend.



We've made some outdoor friends here in Thermop too. These pictures were all taken from our front door.






You may be wondering what we do for entertainment in such a small town (besides get lost and take pictures of deer). Well . . . we go to the derby. D E M O L I T I O N - D E R B Y that is. And we have ourselves a grand ol' time. I so wish I would have had my camera, but this picture from the local paper will have to do. The derby lasted SIX HOURS. We got there at 6 PM and didn't get home until midnight. Can you imagine? Six hours of engines revving, cars colliding, metal bending, tires popping...it was awesome!


And you know what else we do? We go garage sale shopping! Last Saturday, we spent 2 hours, TWO HOURS, at a garage sale. This garage sale happened to be in a little town called Kirby (population of about 50 people) that is 12 miles away. We met these awesome hippies who were also artist (of course). They took us up to their gallery and showed us all of their artwork. The husband probably has every record ever made, some of which we bought. They gave us their business cards and told us we could come back and look at their art any time. We're thinking of having them over sometime for a game of scrabble. Not really, but wouldn't that be fun? You would just have to meet these people for yourselves to understand how truly awesome they are. By awesome, I mean so completely odd that you can't help but think they are the coolest people ever.

INTERNET...CHECK.

Finally! We have Internet . . . hip, hip, hooray. I don't realize how much I rely on it until I'm without it.

It feels good to be back blogging again. I've missed it. Really, really missed it.

Now it's catch up time . . .

We've moved to Thermopolis. Our new place has carpet in the kitchen, so that's pretty awesome . . . right? Please tell me it's awesome to have a carpeted kitchen. We went from a 2 bedroom house to a tiny 1 bedroom apartment, so it's been a little difficult finding space for everything. I guess it makes things that much more cozy, and I like cozy.

We have enjoyed Thermopolis so far. It is much, much warmer here, so we have been feeling pretty hot and sweaty. We left 60-70 degree weather and are now in 85-95 degree weather. The wind hasn’t blown though and that has been awesome!! The people are nice, the community is nice, and the town itself is quite charming.

Curtis started work and has been enjoying it. He likes the firm and is happy to be working with such good people.

I am working from home with the same program I was working for in Laramie. We help families in Wyoming who have infants and young children with hearing loss. What a blessing to be able to keep my job. I really enjoy helping these families and love working from the comfort of my own home.

I love living in a new place. No one knows me here, which means I can be anybody I want. Not that I want to be someone different, but you know what I mean. It's a fresh start, and I like that.

I have more posts coming soon, so stay tuned.

It's good to be back!

>>A SUPER DUPER GOOD LUCK TO MY HUNNY

Curtis takes the bar tomorrow! He has spent his summer surrounded by big blue barbri books and on the computer taking practice exams. I am sure looking forward to having my hubby back. However, I know Curtis is not looking forward to this dreaded test. He has one full day of multiple choice questions and another full day of essays. YUCK!

Wish Curtis luck and send all your good energy (and brain power) his way. :)



I can't believe this time has actually come for Curtis to take the bar. We moved to Laramie 3 years ago and while it seems like the last 3 years have flown by, it also seems like we have been here forever. We love this town and it is crazy to think that we are leaving in just a few short days. We found a place to live in Thermopolis and we are excited about this next phase of our lives.


Now, on a completely different note, I walked to the grocery store this afternoon to buy the essentials...milk, bread, bananas, etc. I even brought my own bag from home. I felt very g-r-e-e-n. I like that feeling . . . except that the gallon of milk was way too heavy. My goal is to be green more often.

changes:

Changes are in the making. Our house is full of boxes and we're busy making piles, lots of piles ... piles of:

things to pack
things to give away
not sure what to do with
Curtis stuff
Jen stuff
junk
etc

Yep, we're preparing to move.

Move where, you ask?

T H E R M O P O L I S, W Y O M I N G

Just the name of the town is fun. Ther-mop-o-lis. Curtis was fortunate enough to receive a great job offer with a firm there. We are excited and are looking forward to this new adventure.

Here are a few facts about the place we will soon call home:

It's home to the world's largest mineral hot spring
Has a population of about 3200
It's home to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center featuring a life-sized T-Rex skeleton
The Big Horn River flows right through town
It's home to the Old West Wax Museum
And my personal favorite, taken directly from the Town of Thermopolis website, "Thermopolis offers the romance, charm and ambiance of the old west." Any town that is described as being romantic and/or charming is the perfect town for me.

It's a beautiful town and we are excited to make it our new home!






We still have a couple of months before the big move, but we have a lot to get done and I know the time will go by fast. We will do our best to enjoy Laramie to the fullest before we have to say goodbye.