It's Finally Over!

Well I did it! I survived the month of March. I am sure by now everyone knows that I sell and service fire extinguishers. This month it all comes to a head when several big "jobs" come together. The biggest of the clients is the City of Henderson. Now this includes every city building including City Hall, the Police Station, all the Firehouses(9), all of the city vehicles,etc.
When it is all said and done it ends up being about 1100 extinguishers. The few other big clients are Cottonwood Cove Marina and all of the LDS church buildings in Henderson and Boulder City.

I do need to say that it is somewhat bittersweet. I really do enjoy being busy and getting things done. On the other hand a little moderation would be nice.

Just think, I get to do it all over again 11 months from now!

Tons of Adventures

So our house is now empty with everyone back home and it is sorta sad. We had such a good time with the family here and it was sad to see them go. We had the chance to have Dan's mom and dad here to visit, as well as his older brother Mike and his wife Maile and there little one Ellie here. We had such a great time hanging out, seeing the sites and as Ellie liked to say going on "adventures". It really was just a nice chance to spend time together and enjoy one another.

It was great that we were all able to be at our house for Easter and enjoy that. We were missing a few members of the family but with so many of us it is hard to get us ALL together at the same time. We hope that everyone had as much fun as we did and we hope that we are able to make it up to the bay area soon to visit with Mike and Maile again sometime soon. Maybe this summer when it starts to get too hot here and we can use some cooler weather!

I feel so OLD

I got this in the mail and I feel SO OLD!!!!!

It is the announcement about my upcoming 10 YEAR CLASS REUNION! WHAT? I am not that old. I think it is a misprint. I think it is suppose to be like my 5 year reunion or something.

Seriously though, were does the time go? It feels like high school was a long time ago when I sit back and think about it and think about all of the great things that have happen to me since I have graduated but I can't believe it has been 10 years already. When I was little I used to think that I would be old and gray when I went to my high school reunion and that is definitely not the case!

I am glad that I am not in high school and I am glad that I am in exactly the place in my life that I am in right now. I love my family and love my husband. I love the fact that I am able to work from home and that my husband is able to have his own business and work his own hours and be his own boss. I love that we have our own home. I love that we have been able to take some trips together and see a little bit of the world (want to take many, many more). I love that we share laugh after laugh together. I love that we get to be a part of 3 amazing little girl's lives as Auntie Aranne and Uncle Dan ( and soon one little boy!)

I don't think that I could have pictured this when I was in high school. I am not sure what I even thought of, but whatever it was it didn't compare to the life that I am living now. This life is much, much better because it is real and it is mine. I am glad for the past 10 years and all that they have taught me and all that I have been able to do during them. I hope that during the next 10 years I will be able to look back and say the same thing.

The Easter Bunny Made His Entrance

The Easter Bunny came to our house on Sunday and brought a bunch of Dan's family. It was nice to be able to enjoy the holiday with them. Dan's mom and dad were here, and then we were also able to enjoy the day with his older brother Mike and his wife Maile and their little one Ellie. My parents also came to our house and shared Easter lunch with us as a big extended family as well. I had the "opportunity" to do the cooking and so far we have all survived so it must not have been that bad! I don't cook that often so it was a big deal, especially cooking for 9 people and an important meal like Easter, but it was fun and exciting to try new things and new recipes.


We are still enjoying the company of Dan's family and spending time with them. It is nice to be able to see them and do things with them as we don't get a chance to see them that often.

Showing Appreciation

Last night we went to our monthly meeting with FSA and we prepared "goodie baskets" for the social workers at all of the local hospitals. This week is Social Worker Appreciation Week and we decided that we wanted to say Thank-You for all of the hard work that they do and often goes unnoticed. So, we got goodies together and cute Easter baskets and are going to deliver them today or tomorrow to all of the hospitals.

We added a special touch to the basket by placing a picture of some of the children that had been placed from their hospital with LDS Family Services just to remind them of the work that they do and how important it is. It is just an update on the babies and to let them know that they are doing great and that these families are so grateful for them.

Dan and I are going to the hospital right by our house so it is not too bad. It was fun to get together last night and assemble the baskets. My dad also helped out by "donating" some popcorn from the movie theater where he is the manager and we put some of that into the baskets as well. I think (and hope) that the Social Workers will love the baskets and be pleasantly surprised!

Picture Tag

I was tagged by Kristen to do a picture tag! We have to answer the following questions by finding pictures online (not out of our own personal pictures!). It sounded fun so this is what I came up with....

My Favorite Color: Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite color is YELLOW. It has been yellow forever. I love it. It is just a fun, cheerful color and it always makes me happy. Our wedding was yellow and our living room is yellow.



Favorite Animal: I don't know if I really have a favorite animal but I have always kind of been fascinated by frogs. I had a few when I was in high school (tree frogs) and they were pretty cool.

Bad Habit: I think a bad habit that I have developed lately is sleeping in too late! Dan will wake up in the morning and ask me when I want him to re-set the alarm for and I will tell him not to set it at all and then I will go back to sleep and sleep in forever... It is getting really bad because then I am behind all day and it makes me more tired than if I would have just gotten up when I was suppose to!!!!!

My Favorite Food: Coconut Shrimp (and this picture for sure because it is from Joe's Crab Shack because I can tell by the plate - isn't that horrible?) I go there and order this and can eat the whole thing. Good thing we don't go there that often or I would weigh 500 pounds because these are definitely not very good for you, but they taste so dang good!

My Favorite Hobby: Scrapbooking! After 6 years of marriage, boxes of pictures and hours later, I still love to scrapbook. I think Dan was hoping that it was a phase and that I would start to grow tired of this hobby, but no such luck. I love to spend time putting pages together and really seeing the finished project. He makes fun of me but deep down I know he appreciates the hard work and likes that I do it!

My Favorite Song: Right now (actually for the past FEW months) I have had the entire Colbie Caillat CD on repeat in the car. I think that I like the song "Realize" the most, but all of them are so good. I am just waiting for another CD to come out but I know that is going to be a while.

My Job: I sit at the computer all day long. I do medical transcription, but the best part is that I am able to do it from HOME! Hopefully this will work out great when we have a little one. That is the plan, that I am able to still work and be the stay at home mom that I want to be.

My Favorite Author: I like a lot of authors, but I don't think I have read a single book by Nicholas Sparks that I didn't absolutely LOVE! There is just something about his stories that gets me every time. I can picture every detail of what he writes and I can't always do that with other books.

My Favorite Dessert: Cheesecake by far. If it has cherries on it that just makes it that much better. As long as there is no whip cream than I am set. I HATE whip cream.

A Picture of ME: Well this picture is the best that I could find to describe me. I think of myself as fun-loving. definitely LOUD, and I like to have a good time. I enjoy being around other people and like to make people laugh and enjoy themselves too. I am pretty GOOFY!

I tag: Amy, Lina, Lori and Kirsten!

Aren't I LUCKY?!

I really am a LUCKY girl. I have great parents who support me in all that I do and always have. We live close and are able to do things together which is really nice. It is fun to be able to do things together even if it is just having dinner or going to the store.

I am LUCKY to have a wonderful mother-in-law (and entire extended family too!) You hear so many stories about in-laws and how you can't stand them and it is so not true with me. I love them all so much and we have such a great time together and just wish we were able to see each other more often.

Most importantly I am LUCKY because I have an amazing husband. He is wonderful. He would do anything for me and does what he can to make sure that I am happy every day. He works hard and plays harder! He makes me smile and laugh all of the time and together we have a pretty amazing life. I don't know where I would be without him and I am blessed to have him as my companion and LUCKY to call him my friend.

I have lots of other reasons to be happy on this day, I have great friends and good health. I think it is nice to sit back and actually realize that life isn't always as bad as we sometimes like to think it is. We have so much and take it for granted too often. On this day I am counting my blessings for sure and can see for sure how LUCKY I am!

Are you feeling BLUE?

After living in Vegas for 6 years last night we were finally able to get some tickets and go and see BLUE MAN GROUP and all I can saw is that it was UNBELIEVABLE!

The show is so amazing. There is nothing that can prepare you for what you see and hear. It is such a great show and so much fun.

We actually got the lucky two seats and were picked to be a part of the show (actually I am not sure that we were lucky or not!) We had our faces plastered on a huge screen in front of the entire audience and had everyone believing that we had arrived LATE, when in reality it was part of the act. It was all really fun though.

It was a great night and we hope to be able to take our families to go and see it with us soon. We don't know why we waited so long to go and see the show, but plan on trying to get out to see it again for sure.

Our first purchases!

Thanks to a call from my dad saying that there was a garage sale down his street with some baby items we are now the proud owners of a bouncer and a high chair.

It is a little scary and a little awkward to have them in our house but it was too good of a deal to pass up. We have seen things before and just didn't want to get too excited and didn't want to have a house full of baby stuff and no baby but for some reason it just felt right and felt like the time to start buying some things. Not that we know anything or that we are going to run out and put together a whole nursery but.....

Here is our cute little bouncer that will come in handy for sure. It will work for a boy or a girl which is nice since we have no idea which will come into our home!

This is a nice high chair that we were able to purchase as well. It tilts and raises and the tray is removable with a smaller tray underneath (fancy!). It is blue again, but works for both boy or girl and no one will see it anyways, it will be inside our house and just get all stained up anyways!

It is fun to start collecting these things and start feeling like one day these items will be put to use by a baby of our own. Hopefully they won't sit empty in our house for too long!

Filled with GREEN

Well, in honor of St. Patrick's Day I got together a few GREEN items and sent them on their way to my three fabulous nieces. I just thought it would be a fun way to celebrate and a cute surprise for them to get in the mail. Everyone loves getting mail and to get a box is even better. So these were sent off and I know that at least 2 of them arrived safely today so that is good news. I hope they all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day and I want them all to know how lucky Dan and I are to be their Aunt and Uncle and that we love them very much. Yeah, for Ellie, Morgan and McKenna!

Giving me hope for my Martian Child

We watched this sweet movie "Martian Child" and couldn't help but feel that someone is trying to tell us something.

You know when things are happening in your life you become acutely aware of things around you and that is happening to us for sure right now. I don't know if it is coincidence or what but there seems to be a lot in our lives right now that involving ADOPTION. Besides us working with the activities committee with FSA (families supporting adoption - with the LDS adoption agency), we have a family of four kids who moved into our ward who are all adopted, and there are also lot of things out in the media as well. The fabulous movie "Juno" came out and I loved it, and it got great reviews too. Then we go to rent a movie and the only things I really had heard about this movie was that it was about a kid who thinks he is from Mars, and that it has one of my favorite actresses in it, Amanda Peet, so that is why we got it. I had really no idea that he was trying to adopt this little boy. Although he is trying to adopt an older son while we are adopting an infant. He has much more patience and understanding than I could ever have. The story ends happily ever after and that gave me hope once again that we too will have our own happily ever after one day too. (sorry if I ruined it for anyone!) And I am also reading this book right now, "The Wednesday Letters", and it one of the family members is trying to adopt as well.

I just think that the more aware of our surroundings and our situations we are the more that these things tend to be present in our lives. I think it is great right now because it helps me to not feel like such an OUTSIDER and not to feel so alone in my situation. I just find it odd because before we were in this place I don't think I would have picked up on these subtle things and noticed them nearly the way I do now. Adoption is a much more common thing in our society and becoming more and more "accepted" and I am a full supporter of that, as long as it is done with love and compassion.

Tag.......I'm It!!!

5 Years Ago I Was ..... Knee deep in the politics of high end retail at Tiffany & Co. I was just starting to call Nevada home and trying to change my house to my home.

5 Months Ago I Was ..... Knee deep in the fire protection industry. Working hard and trying to learn as much as I could. I was waiting for the first snow fall of the season to crack out the snowboards.

5 Things That Worry Me ..... If I am making the right choices daily. If I am good enough for my wife. If I will be able to be a good dad to my child(ren). If I will be able to support my family financially. If I can enjoy everyday.

5 Bad Habits That I have ..... Too optimistic. Too easy going. Too Sarcastic. Too loud. Incessantly shaking my feet and/or legs.

5 Places That I Have Lived ..... Arizona, all over the great CLAM(California Los Angeles Mission), and Nevada. (that's it)

5 Of My Greatest Blessings ..... First and foremost my wife and my eternal marriage to her. My good health. The physical blessings in my life.(house, food, clothes, etc.) The gospel.

5 Things In My Virtual Shopping Bag ..... ipod(phone would be amazing but I will take the regular.) That beautiful home theater system.(LCD Full HDTV with Blu-Ray) A new(er) work truck. (one I am not scared to drive to far with) A electric griddle. (I just want pancakes sometimes) If I got those 4 things that would be enough.

5 Things I Blog About ..... Well this is my second blog ever. The first was regarding the horrific ending to The Bachelor. So I blog about Reality TV.

5 People I Am Going To Tag ..... Well I am the last person on the Internet to do this so it would only be a repeat for everybody. Seriously, I don't know anybody.

Now I know my ABCs

So at church today I turned in 3 sets of these "ABC" books that I had colored during the week. It was a humanitarian project that we were doing in our ward. It was something that I could actually do (since I can't sew, or cook, or quilt, or any of the other things they usually want us to do) so I volunteered and said I would help out. I took 3 sets home with me to color and by the middle of the first set I was wondering "what was I thinking"?

It really was a fun project and also nice to know that these books are going to go and help kids everywhere learn to speak English. It feels good to help out in a small way and this was a way that I could do my part!

Tagged

I was tagged by Kirsten so I thought I would play along because it seemed kinda fun so here we go....

5 years ago I was....22 and only been married for a little over a year. Working at a nursing home and loving it. Getting great presents from Tiffany and Co. from my husband.

5 months ago I was.... just approved from LDS adoption services in Salt Lake City (YEAH!). Eating too much Halloween candy. Freezing from the cold of winter in the desert. Not blogging yet (what was I doing with all my spare time?!)

5 things that worry me..... Whether or not I am going to be a good mom (a huge worry to me). TAXES! Worry if Dan's truck is going to make it as long as we need it to. If we will ever be able to sell our timeshare. If I am a good example to my family or not?!

5 bad habits....I watch too many reality TV shows (too much TV in general). I am not very good at saying "NO". I surf the web too much. I talk way TOO loud. I am very impatient.

5 favorite places I have lived before....My own apartment. Sunny Southern California. Brand new apartment in Arizona (Sort of?!). Nevada. That's it, I don't move much!

5 greatest blessings... A wonderful husband. Supportive family (mine and Dan's). A wonderful decision I made to join the church (age 17). The opportunity to be adopting and the blessings it brings into our lives. Great friends, old and new(er).

5 things in my virtual shopping bag... Guitar Hero (played it once and I am hooked!). DownEast Basic Confetti Dress. "Our Gift" figurine by Willow Tree. Gilmore Girls boxed DVD set. Trip to London to visit Lina and Gary.

5 of my favorite things to blog about.... Scrapbooking/cards. New finds. Going green. Fun stuff Dan and I do. Adoption updates (that means something is happening!)

5 people I tag.... Lina, Amy, Maile, Lindsay and Dan (he will love this for sure!)

Thanks Kirsten, fun and very thought provoking that is for sure. Hope everyone I tag partakes and enjoys.

8 More Years

That's right I will have a fascination with Steeler's football for at least another 8 years. Ben signed an extension of his contract with the team for 8 more years. Read all about it here. I for one am not complaining and look forward to football season and the games with BIG BEN playing and hopefully winning (those are the best of course).

Oh, and I forgot to mention that he is now 26 years old and celebrated his birthday on Sunday... Happy Birthday to Ben!



By the way did anyone notice this is my third post today? Boy it is a busy Monday. I better get to work now!

DVT Awareness

I stumbled upon this blog a few weeks ago and knew that once March came along I would have to share it. Make sure you read the story they wrote about Natalie. It is the very first post they did, that is where you will understand what happened and get the background.

March is a lot of things but it also happens to be DVT Awareness Month which stands for Deep Vein Thrombosis. This sounds non-important to most of us and a lot of people don't even know what it is. It is basically blood clots in the deep veins of your legs. (Go to the site and they explain it a lot better though).

After I read the story I was so touched and had such a deep compassion for this family. I also have a friend who is only a year older than me who has been hospitalized twice for this very thing. It is eye-opening and brings you to reality that really anything can happen to anyone and we need to be thankful for everyday that we have. Now I am not saying that we are all going to suddenly get a DVT but I am saying that it could happen to anyone and you never know. Just visit this site and read and you will be touched I am sure.

Made With Glue

I have been working on a new project and it is finally up and running so I am announcing it to the WORLD and telling you to go and check it out here. I spend so much time doing "crafty" stuff that I decided I wanted a place to display what I do so I created a blog to do just that. It will be updated at least weekly since I make cards on a weekly basis but a lot of times it will be updated more regularly than that.

I will have on there my cards, scrapbook pages and then whatever fun little projects that I make for myself or other people. I love doing these kinds of things and now I have a special place to show them to the world.

Please stop by over there and take a look and let me know what you think, leave a comment (or two) and then keep checking back every once in a while to see what else is new. The link is also over on the right under "Look What I Did" so you can always click there too.

The BIG Surprise

So this weekend we went to Tuscon to see Dan's sister Amy and her husband Steve for a big surprise visit. Steve just finished up his MBA from University of Phoenix and Amy threw him a surprise party for his graduation. We got the invite a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun to not only go and surprise Steve but show up and surprise Amy as well. So, we called mom and dad and got them in on the idea and they thought it was great. It was fun to see the expression on Amy's face when we arrived at her house, her thinking it was just mom and dad, PRICELESS! It was almost as good and the expression on Steve's face when he got home and saw all of his friends and then saw mom and dad, and Dan and I all sitting in his living room.

The party was great and Amy did a great job of keeping it a secret and pulling it all together. WAY TO GO! The rest of the day was also tons of fun hanging out with the family and being able to see their new house (which was also part of the reason that we wanted to make the trip since we hadn't had a chance to go down and see it yet). We look forward to being able to see them again soon and spend a little more time together since this weekend was a little rushed but it was fun.

Congrats Steve and share the wealth now that it will be rolling in, Mr. MBA!