I thought that since Lindsay is always the one that updates the blog and posts things that I might take a stab at it and see what I come up with. She made mention of posting pictures of our apartment and although I've only got one picture, at least it gives you an idea of what our apartment looks like. This shows the main living room window which was taken over a month ago, so now the trees have lost their leaves and we can see further into the woods and the marsh. You can also see the edge of the cat tree to the left which is directly in front of a door out to our small balcony. Perhaps more will come as we continue to decorate.
For all of you cat lovers out there, I thought I would give an update on Bella and Abby. For the first few days we kept them separated at the recommendation of the Humane Society to allow Abby to get comfortable in her new home and then slowly started to introduce them. We let them play under the door first and then we let them play with each other which resulted in a lot of wrestling and occasional meowing.
Wrestling seemed to be their only activity when together but soon we found they had found another benefit of having each other around...
They also enjoy other activities as shown in the next few pictures:
Bella is a wiz on the computer
Both are good "watch-cats"
They also are good at tackling
After all that hard work, it's nice to curl up and take a good nap...
Especially next to your best friend!
These pictures are a bit dated so Bella no longer has the bare spot on her side and both are getting bigger. That's all for now!
This is Abby and she is the newest member of our family. She's 8 weeks old and full of energy. She and Bella get along well and play nonstop. We hope that they will become best friends and be able to keep each other company while Matt and I are at work. Here's a short video of Abby, enjoy!
Pictures of our apartment will be coming soon, we just need to finish up a few things...
WARNING: Extremely long post with lots of pictures!
Well, I don't know if anyone actually looks at my blog anymore since it's been about 6 months since my last post... but here's an update anyways.
Since the last time I posted quite a lot has happened. We went on several trips, I had a surgery, we packed up our entire house, I chipped my tooth, we drove from Virginia to Minnesota, unloaded all of our belongings, unpacked, Matt started work, I went on an interview and got a job, and we got a kitten.
Here are a few more details about the above information.
Matt and I drove up to New Hampshire for Memorial Day and had lots of fun with his parents. we hiked around Exeter, went to Portsmouth to get some delicious ice cream, watched the Memorial Day parade and had fun visiting. I went to California twice before moving, once in April and once in May. Ashley, Byron, Lila, my mom, dad, and I (Kelsey was starting her internship and Matt had to work) went to Yosemite for a week and had lots of fun. It was absolutely beautiful and I would love to go back with Matt and hike half dome. Matt went to California for a family reunion (I had to work this time). They had lots of fun visiting and even went wake boarding. I wish I could have gone!
I had an outpatient surgery and everything went really well. The only thing was that the anesthesia made me extremely tired and it took me a very long time to become fully alert... as you will be able to see in the video.
We found out that Matt was going to be transferred to Minnesota, where the company is headquartered, for training. His company flew us out about a month before moving here and we were able to find a place. It's always a little stressful trying to find an apartment that you feel will best fit your needs. We ended up liking two places a lot and had a hard time deciding between them. However, we are very happy with our decision and love our new place.
After getting home from looking we knew we had to pack everything up. We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday packing. Monday we were finishing up and then some friends were going to come by and help load everything into the pod. Well, I had spent the entire day packing while Matt was at work and we only had a few more things to do, one of which was to take the bed frame apart. Well, it was really stuck and we were trying all sorts of things to get it apart. So we stood it up and Matt hit it, neither of us thought it would come flying out, it hardly budged all the other times we hit it. But it did come flying out and right into my face, more specifically my lip and tooth. I immediately knew it wasn't good because I felt little pieces of my tooth in my mouth. I quickly covered my mouth and ran to the bathroom. I took one little peek in the mirror and told Matt to call the dentist. Luckily our dentist office was less than 10 minutes away and the dentist was doing her last patient when we called and she agreed to stay late and take a look at my tooth. I was completely freaking out at this point and began crying... it had already been a very stressful day. I didn't really feel much pain at all, but the vain part of me was very concerned for my smile... it was second to front tooth. I had gone through years of braces... this was the last thing I needed. We rushed over to the dentist's office, while I said a prayer and within about an hour I was good as new. They took x-rays and everything looked fine and then she went about fixing my tooth. I didn't need a crown or root canal, just a filling. When I came out of the office Matt couldn't remember or tell which tooth had been chipped. We were very grateful for the missionaries and a friend for coming over later and still helping us load up the pod. It was an extremely stressful day, but somehow it all worked out. At the time that I chipped my tooth all I could think of was why my Heavenly Father allowed that to happen at that time, there couldn't have been a worse time. I just kept thinking why. But later that night I was able to see the many blessings in the incident. Our dentist's office is very close, the dentist was still there and was willing to stay late for me, she did an excellent job of fixing my tooth, we were still able to get the pod packed up and people still came to help pack it up. I know that Heavenly Father lets things happen to us, but that he will help us through them if we ask.
Minnesota is really pretty and has lots to do outdoors. Behind our apartment is a lake with tons of walking/biking trails. We're excited to take some walks and enjoy the outdoors. I'm nervous about winter, but excited for a new adventure. One thing that gives me comfort is that we have underground heated parking; however, we only get one spot and guess who's car is in there right now and will be all winter long... MINE! Luckily I have a very sweet husband who is willing to get frostbite so that I can be in the warm garage and not have to scrape my car. We moved just last week and the drive wasn't too bad.
Our drive out here went extremely well. We pulled my car on a dolly behind Matt's truck and although we couldn't go very fast up the mountains, his truck functioned perfectly. We drove through West Virginia (the mountains were the Appalachian mountains), Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and then finally to Minnesota. Right when we drove into Minnesota we heard tornado warnings on the radio. The radio kept saying that you should find a sturdy shelter and if you couldn't get to one, last resort would be to find a ditch and cover your head with your hands. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of finding a ditch, plus as I looked out the window I definitely didn't see many ditches to run to. We decided to follow the semis. If they were on the road, we would stay on the road. We were lucky and never saw any tornados and made it to our apartment safely.
I had an interview set up with a Montessori school before we got out here thanks to Matt's co-worker. I went to one interview and then they called back saying they wanted to see me again the following Monday. I went on Monday and was offered the job! I'll be a teacher's assistant working with the toddlers. I'm excited to begin!
Last, but not least, our kitten. The day after getting here we decided to reward ourselves for all the unpacking by going to the Humane Society to look at kittens. We had already talked about getting a kitten, so we thought we would just take a look. We looked at several kittens, but none seemed to be "the one" for us. Then while walking around, I heard a little meow and looked down at one of the bottom cages I hadn't noticed before. Sitting in the cage was a very cute kitten. We took her out and played with her, Matt and I fell in love. She is part Siamese and part domestic shorthair. Matt wanted a cat that was part Siamese because they are known to be very talkative and the cat he had growing up was part Siamese. We decided that we would be sad if someone else took her, so we adopted her without having anything we needed at home. We had to quickly run to the store and get all the supplies we needed for a new kitten after dropping her off at home and leaving her in the bathroom. She's been here almost a week now and we absolutely love her, she is the perfect kitten. She loves to play, but can also just curl up on your lap and fall asleep. She purrs the instant you touch her and she loves to come up and snuggle up to your face. She's very loving, sweet, and fun. The only thing that is hard with her is giving her medicine. She had to have a surgery (you might notice the scar in pictures or videos on her side) while at the Humane Society, so we have to give her antibiotics twice a day. It's no easy task trying to squeeze liquid medicine in a kitten's mouth who doesn't want it. But all in all we love her and will probably get another kitten soon to keep her company while we are at work.
Well, if you made it to the end of this post, I am extremely impressed! Hopefully I will be better about updating more often and then the posts don't have to be marathon posts.
Matt's company has a meeting each year for the Federal Contracting Group. This year the meeting was going to be held in Seattle and we lucked out because they decided to pay for the spouses to go as well this year! Matt and I flew out to Seattle with some of his co-workers on the 12th of February. We got in around 12PM and so had time to look around the hotel, relax, etc. before dinner with the whole group. The hotel was really fancy (I think a four star hotel) and our room was amazing! Each year the meeting is held at a building that Mortenson had part in building.
The next day Matt had meetings and a lunch to attend that was only for employees. All the wives from Matt's job got together and we decided to visit the outlets stores nearby. Luckily there was another wife there that was my age and also LDS which was very nice! I found some amazing deals at the outlets store. I got a pair of pants at the GAP for $7.00 and a pair of pants at Banana Republic for $20.00 and two pairs of shoes from Aldo for about $40.00 for the both. These were all items I needed! After shopping I met back up with Matt and we attended several seminars together. They were about benefits, 401K, and financial managment. For the most part the seminars were interesting and had good information. After the seminars we went and relaxed and then had a delicious dinner with the group again.
Saturday (Valentine's Day) was a day that we had to do whatever we wanted. We went to downtown Seattle and had tons of fun. We went up the Space Needle (not so great in my opinion, I would have rather spent the $15.00 on food). After the Space Needle we went to the fish market and walked around. The fish market was super crowded, but still fun. All the fruit and vegetables look so pretty and colorful. Also, it was fun to watch the fish be thrown around and the funny workers. I ate a free sample of smoked salmon and it was delicious! After walking around the fish market Matt and I went on an underground tour. It was really funny and interesting. Basically the short story is that they built the roads up higher and then built sidewalks over the old sidewalks (like a bridge) so when you're at street level, you are actually looking at the second story of the buildings. The tour was a lot of fun and we were glad that we did it. After our tour we were starving and so we headed back to pike street (the fish market) for some food. I decided to have these mini doughnuts for lunch (they were absolutely delicous) and Matt got a sandwich. We walked around a little more and then headed back to the hotel. We were worn out when we got back to the hotel so we ordered room service and had a nice relaxing night.
Matt and I at the top of the Space Needle
Pike Street
Our Underground Tour Skylights underground the sidewalks
We left the next morning and getting home was nothing short of a nightmare, but we made it home safely. To sum it up, our flight was cancelled due to preventative maitenance and trying to find another flight home that left before 11PM was not easy. Luckily we did get a flight and made it home around 12AM.
Overall our trip was tons of fun and we lucked out with no rain the entire time we were there!
Subbing jobs were becoming scarce and I was tired of waiting for a phone call or trying to check the computer constantly to find jobs; so I decided to just start applying for different jobs. I applied at banks and wasn't having much luck. I then decided to look at preschools.
In my search online for different preschools in the area I came across some Montessori schools. I decided to add them to my list because Matt had previously mentioned to me that I should look at Montessori schools. I started calling many preschools to see if they were hiring and called one Montessori school. The Montessori school I called wasn't hiring, but they knew of another school that was. She gave me their phone number and told me to tell them that she recommended me. I called the Montessori school (Montessori Children's House) and they were hiring and asked me to send them my resume.
I sent my resume over right away and she called me back to set up an interview. I was excited to at least have an interview and be able to talk with someone face to face. I went in for my interview and felt that the interview went really well, but it didn't seem that the director was too excited that I couldn't tell her for sure how long we will be in the area. She told me that she had one other interview that day and would get back to me in a week. I was really nervous and wasn't feeling very confident. But I ended up getting the job.
So far I absolutely love my job. All of the other teachers are very nice and the kids are so much fun. The school only has about 45 students enrolled and has preschool and kindergarten. For now I am with the preschool, but if we are here in September then I will be moved to the kindergarten and will be their teacher. I love going into work every day and spending time with the kids. I get to teach them one-on-one and also I get to teach Spanish to the kindergarten students for half an hour three times a week. It's fun to be able to actually use some of my Spanish and also to be in a teaching environment again. It was truly a blessing to have found this job!
We spent two weeks in California for Christmas. We had so much fun being with family and seeing Lila. Ashley and Byron got a new camera for Christmas, so we have TONS of pictures. I picked just a few of the hundreds we have. We did lots of fun things, but here a few highlights:
1. My parents bought Matt, Ashley, Byron, and me tickets to see Wicked. We absolutely loved it and I wouldn't mind seeing it again!
2. Wii - Rock Band: Matt is a pro at the drums and well... I never got very good at any of the instruments... I am pretty good at bowling though!
3. Hiking to the tidepools in PV - it was a gorgeous, clear day. We saw lots of big star fish and other little creatures, it was really fun.
4. Enjoying time with family - we miss everyone!
**I'm having problems with the pictures, so hopefully I'll be able to add to them this post later.
My sister had this posted on her blog and I won, so now I am posting it. I'm excited to see what I get from Ashley, I'll try to make something good for you!
The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may create you a blog header or paint something for you with my food. (That would be scary). I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right?
We were married in May of 2007. So far we've lived in three different states in our 2 1/2 years of marriage - Utah, Virginia, and currently Minnesota. Matt's doing training for work here and I'm working at a Montessori school. We also have two new additions to our family - our kittens, Bella & Abby.
I thought that since Lindsay is always the one that updates the blog and posts things that I might take a stab at it and see what I come up with. She made mention of posting pictures of our apartment and although I've only got one picture, at least it gives you an idea of what our apartment looks like. This shows the main living room window which was taken over a month ago, so now the trees have lost their leaves and we can see further into the woods and the marsh. You can also see the edge of the cat tree to the left which is directly in front of a door out to our small balcony. Perhaps more will come as we continue to decorate.
Bella is a wiz on the computer
Both are good "watch-cats"
They also are good at tackling
After all that hard work, it's nice to curl up and take a good nap...
Especially next to your best friend!
