its a good feeling...

to have a debt all taken care of. I paid off my car yesterday! It was a 5 year loan and I paid it off in less than 3 years. Not that exciting of a blog, but something that I am very proud of!!

I will blog soon about my 'weekend' at work this past weekend.

unexpected blessings

Its funny how things turn out sometimes.  Our life has done so many 180's lately, I am still dizzy!!  Its just crazy all the changes that can happen in such a short period of time.  I quit my job in mid february, started my new job in the beginning of April, nathan put in his 2 week notice the same week and started a new job a week later.  We decided to become apartment managers in a weeks time, and moved 3 weeks later.  And now to top it all off, we have decided nathan is going to quit his job AGAIN, but this time go to school full time.

We really view all the things that have happened over the last 4 months to really be a preparation for us knowing that this is the time for him to go to school.  We are both excited and scared, but we both feel like its just the right thing to do for our family.

So, if you need your car worked on, I know of someone that will have some more free time come this september...

Guess what I bought?!?!?!?!

That's right!!!  2nd year of So you think you can dance!!!!  But this year I bought them myself so I won't be paying 3 times the amount for them.  I can hardly wait for November!  

They are coming to the Everett Event Center if you want go see if you can still get tickets. 

The new blog!

My friend whitney totally overhauled my blog!!!  I think it looks amazing, she was so patient with me not knowing what i wanted.  She made my blog exactly what I wanted it to be!  The little characters of nathan and I are just adorable, she made those for us too!!  

Her prices are very reasonable for having a blog look fantastic!!!

Let me know what you think of the new look!!

And check out her site, you can click on the button under the designed by at the bottom of my left column.  

Thanks Whitney!!!!

The down low

SO, I have been a HUGE slacker with my blog, but I like to think I have pretty good reason too.  We have been CRAZY busy lately and things are only just barely starting to slow down.

Here is a list of things that are going on:

 -biggest on the list, my family is moving to San Diego!  My dad is down there already, he started working on the 12 of July at the San Diego airport.  So, we have been helping my parents get their house ready to sell

- We also moved a month ago.  An opportunity came up that we couldn't pass up!  A block, and I do really mean a block, away from where we are living there is another town house complex that needed an onsite manager.  And to make a long story short, we moved in to be the managers!!  That has taken up most of our time lately, with people moving in, moving out, and there was a huge back log of work to be done before we even moved in!!!  But things are starting to slow down a little bit.  Some day we can have time to hang out with people.

-4th of July we went to a family reunion in Utah, or as nathan likes to call it, the mother land.  It was for the family on my dad's side.  It was so wonderful to see family, some of which I haven't seen in years.  And some that nathan hasn't even met.  

-Work has been crazy!  I feel soooooo lucky to have such an amazing job.  I have been bless a thousand times over!  I have a ton more responsibility and what I do makes such an impact on everything that is done here, but the best part of it all...... they appreciate the hard work that I do and recognize when I have done things.  I know, you would think that is a duh thing, but when you work at a place for 3 years and you don't get those things, its so wonderful when you feel needed.

Sorry another long post with a run down on things.  I will hopefully have something more exciting with some pictures soon.  When we finally get unpacked I will take pics of our new place!!!

chocolate cake

I found this recipe and thought I would share it with you all.  It's actually pretty tasty for only taking about 7 minutes!

4T flour

4T sugar

2 T cocoa

1 egg

3 T milk

3T oil

vanilla

chocolate chips (optional)

mix first 3 together

mix in egg

mix in milk and oil

mix in vanilla and chips

(mixing can be done in mug or in separate bowl) 

microwave for 3 minutes

allow to cool for ~2 minutes

ENJOY your chocolate cake!

I know, I know

you are all jealous, but not everyone can be as cool as me.  Not everyone gets a lab coat with their name on it!!

I didn't listen

This is what happens when I don't listen to my husband.  At least that's what one of my coworkers said.  

This nice and beautiful bruise comes compliments of our 3rd baseman on my softball team.  I play first base and he had a pretty wild throw that bounced just perfectly and rammed right into my calf.  This happened on monday, and it's only wednesday, and the picture doesn't do it justice.  Its a lot darker.  Something even more special, if you look at the inside of the bruise, the non bruised skin kinda looks like a heart.  I know, too much time staring at my bruise, but it keeps growing!  Tuesday it seriously doubled in size!!

In other exciting news I got a 'suspicious spot' take off my shoulder on monday.  They think it could be skin cancer.  I'm not really that worried if it is, because come on, I'm a red head with fair skin.  I basically counted on some day getting some skin cancer.  I wasn't however ready for the amount of skin they would remove!  They took out about 1/2 inch deep!!  Gross. 

2 wounds in 1 day, I think I should win an award or something...

Twilight fun

So, I have read (and own) all 4 books, I own the movie, but I thought this was pretty funny.

I have a lot to blog about, I've been a slacker, so be on the look out for some updating blogs.

Seattle Foodies

Looking for a good place to eat, but don't want to pay for it?  Well, then I have some information for you!  For the whole month of may you can participate in what's called Urban Eats 30 for $30.

There are 30 Seattle restaurants (49 places total in the Seattle area)  That offer 3 course meals for $30/person.  For the places you can go eat, that's about half the price.  Check them out, there are some really nice places to eat listed.

A milestone in our marriage

there are certain events that I would qualify as a milestone in marriages.  The first year anniversary, first fight, first house, first child, etc.  

Well 2 nights ago we hit our a big one.  Nathan slept on the couch for the first time.  One would ask why in the heck I would tell the world that my husband slept on the couch.  That usually mean we had a big fight and I wouldn't let him sleep in our bed.  Well that's not the case.  

We had been watching TV and nathan started to fall asleep on the couch.  It was getting late so I suggested we go to bed and this is how our conversation went

N: I'm going to sleep on the couch.

I thought he was being funny

A: that's fine with me.

started to gather my things to go upstairs.

N: will you charge my phone for me please?

A: wait, are you serious about sleeping down here

N: Yeah, I said I was going to sleep down here

A: Oh, I thought you were joking, sure I'll charge your phone, don't you need an alarm.

N: Sure, you can set it for 7, and I'll wake up when you are getting ready.

We are so weird, so he really slept on the couch all night while I enjoyed the middle of our queen bed all night long, with a heating pad so I didn't freeze to death.  Ahhh, the joys of being married.

Joining the 17.5 million

People who drive to Seattle for work. That's right! After about a month and a half of being able to stay at home, I will be starting work on monday! I will be working for a company called EnerG2 to see their website go here. I couldn't be more happy or more exited about this opportunity. This just proves to me that heavenly father really knows what's best for us and by putting our faith in him he blesses us more than we could ever know!



I will be working in Fremont (just west of UW, north of downtown Seattle) and from what I have learned and seen, they are a great company!



Look for more posts to come soon as I start this new chapter. I appreciate all of the support and prayers. Nathan and I know they have made a difference. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family!

Cute Puppy!

My sister and husband are in Vegas and we are very jealous. Nathan talks all the time about wanting to go back. So while they are gone my family and me are taking care of their cute little (not really little) Great Dane puppy. He's name is Zeus and I am in love with him. He has been my little pal for the past 2 days. So let me tell you a few fun things we have done.

Look at those ribs! You would think he was starving, but he eats a lot! ( And he is the size of a small boxer at about 2 months old, crazy!!)

-Zeus has been sleeping in our bed with us and for some reason likes to be closer to Nathan which bugs the heck out of me, and him.

Playing with a water bottle with rice in it, like a toy he had at home.

-Around 5:30 when he thinks it a good time to start playing, I move down with him to the couch so nathan can sleep a little more before going to work. This morning we stayed on the couch til about 9. He was sleeping in the crook of my legs with his head on my hip. I about died it was so cute. I had started to fall asleep again, but was woken up from a really weird sound. Zeus was barking a weird little bark in his sleep and him whole little body was twitching. He was going to catch whatever he was chasing!

How could you not love this face and HUGE ears?!

-Yesterday I took him for a walk down a semi-busy street to get to a fun little park. It took us twice as long to get there because did you know how scary trucks and buses are?!! He had to stop, run away from the street, sit and watch them go by. So funny!

first try to have him sit for a picture

- Right by our town house is a little forest area. I took him on a little walk without the leash. He was in heaven! He would run down the little path, then wait for me to catch up to him, wait for me to pet him, the run off again.

Him attacking me while trying to take a picture.

Thanks for coming and playing with me Zeus! Hope you can come back soon and play!

Big Update!

So I know that I have been a big slacker on this blog, so I am going to do a big update!

About 3 weeks ago I had my last day at Sienna, it was time to leave and to go some place new. The job search is going alright. I had an interview last wednesday with a company in seattle and am waiting to hear from them. I have been apply to a bunch of place, so we will see.

I have been enjoying my time off though. Here is a list of some of the things I have done while staying at home:
-sleeping in!
-walking around green lake
-putting a baby shower on for my good friend Keilah
-walking my parents dogs
-reading
-hanging out with Fern and her 2 adorable boys!
-went to the Zoo
-saw my sister, brother in law and their cute dog Zeus
-cooking! I have been trying to make different types of food, nathan has been very patient with me!

That about sums up what I have been doing in my spare time. Its been nice, but I am trying to find a new place to work, so if you know of places that are hiring, let me know!

what is that?

Its sunny outside and I can't even express how happy that makes me! Its strange how something as simple as the weather can have such an impact on one's mood. Only 64 more days til spring! (Not that I'm counting or anything...)