Week Two- Stewart Family Goals

Well, here we are on week two. I am doing well so far!

I wanted to go over a few off the Stewart family goals- long term mostly.

First of all, our biggest and most important goal is to get to the temple. We are on the downhill slide to get there and we are going to keep working from here on out. I am so excited to one day be Seth's eternal companion! Like he doesn't get enough of me as it is! haha

Our next goal, which we are also working on right now, is to be able to live out on the ranch full time. Right now we are in town most of the time, either because I am working or doing school work or because of other reasons we have to be in town. We come into town on Saturday nights so that we can go to church in the morning. I have been driving an hour to church for many years before I lived here and I know how miserable it is. My parents still do that and I am so glad that we have a house in town we can stay at to make it easier. One day, we won't be doing that. It will be worth the drive in to be able to live out there all the time. When we go to Rapid or Gillette, anywhere but the Ranch, we have to go to Newcastle first to get there. So, if we are planning a day trip anywhere, we usually come into town the night before. We don't have internet or phone service out at the ranch so I have to be in town occasionally to get homework done and turned in. I also have an English class at the high school every Monday night that I need to be in town for. All of these things add up and they really make it hard to stay out there. When we are in town we stay at Seth's parents house. His mom lives and works as an x-ray tech in Gillette and his dad is driving trucks in Casper.

Which leads me to how we are working on this goal now. To be able to afford building our house next year, we have to move. Seth and Cody are now starting a hot shot business- trucking not a cattle prod- so that we can make some extra cash for now. Seth will only be doing this for about a year but because of the ranch schedule, Seth and I will be at the ranch for two weeks and Cody will be driving, and then we will switch for two weeks. That means that I will be working in Casper as well. I am applying to jobs right now so wish me luck! It is all a bit hectic right now in our house trying to file all the government papers so that they can be able to drive commercially but right now Cody is on the road and Seth is getting his paperwork all filled out. It is a big pain in the butt, but it will be worth it when we get things going.

Another of my personal goals, that Seth is helping immensely with, is going back to school. I started a semester of pre-nursing at South Dakota State university right after high school and hated it. Whether it was because I wasn't with Seth, maybe SDSU, or the timing, things have changed now. I worked for a few years as a NA at the hospital here in Newcastle and was given the opportunity to work in long term care, acute care, and a little ER. I was also able to learn out patient clinic and emergency room registration clerk positions and many other positions. In total, I learned 6 different positions in four different departments. I ended with working collections position in the business office when things that were already going bad, went even worse. I was being treated very badly, so I quit. It was maybe not the best timing as Seth was not getting a paycheck either, but eh, we are making and I am happy. Now that I have had the chance to work in a hospital and see the many things that I could do, I have decided to go back for nursing. Depending on the future, I would like to go back and get my masters, either as a PA, nurse practitioner, or a midwife. I am not really sure yet but I guess we will see what the future holds.

As far as the ranch goes, we also have a few goals that will help make up more self-sufficient when we do live out there. We have a milk cow that we will start milking soon. We are going to make butter and we have already starting learning to make cheese. It is quite interesting but we are going to give it a shot. Every year we buy pigs for meat. They are actually pretty handy and fun to have around. We are planning on getting chickens this summer so we will have eggs and of course every year we have a large garden. Last year we planted many things and now we are learning what grows well and what doesn't. We both love working in the yard, Seth more than I, and it makes time for us to spend together amidst the crazy work days. Seth wants to put up hay out at the ranch so we can have feed for our animals. He would like to do that more than actually running cows. He is more of a farmer at heart than a rancher. He is also pretty handy with his leather work and blacksmithing so he makes many tools and things that have helped out at the ranch a lot.

We will see in a few years where this world takes us. Hopefully within that time frame we will meet all these goals and be able to set a few more for our future! We will keep you updated!