Beginning of Summer

**WARNING - VERY LONG POST**

Well, it's been pretty crappy weather up here lately...not quite summer yet. I'm getting pretty tired of it...I can't wait for the sun and heat!! Our pool at our apartment just opened yesterday so I am looking forward to the nice days when I can swim or lay out and get rid of my pasty white skin! To start off this post, I will show you a picture of a cute little craft that I made for my best friend's baby girl. I have never really sewn a blanket before by myself so I thought I would try it out. It was actually really easy, except that the fabric was kind of stretchy so it's definitely not perfect. My favorite is the little hand-held blanky with little taggies on it. I made it from the left over scraps of the blanket material and IT.IS.SO.CUTE! I love it. I almost wanted to keep it for myself because I liked it so much, but I decided I would have no use for it. I hope her little one likes it!

Then a few weeks ago, my other best friend, her husband, brother, and his wife all came to visit Andy and I! I honestly can't explain how happy I was to have a visitor. We've been waiting for so long...haha! And the fact that they stayed for less than 24 hours just cracks me up! They must have really wanted to see us. They drove from Utah through the night and got to our place around 4:30-ish. We slept for a few extra hours then we were up and about touring Seattle. It was really fun being a "tour-guide" showing off my city. We went to Pike Place Market, rode a ferry to Bainbridge, played at the Seattle Center (saw the Space Needle and played in the International Fountain), visited the Fremont Troll, got lost driving around because of all the construction and detours and then they all left to drive down to San Francisco. Here are some pictures of the gum wall (yes, G.U.M, chewed gum!). It's a wall that is covered with gum on one side and "art" on the other. Yes, of course we added our own gum to it! I had actually never been down there so it was really fun for me, too.

Here is a picture of Andy and I on the ferry, it was CRAZY windy! But I absolutely love the wind, so I didn't mind.

Thanks guys for making the trip to come visit us! Next, we had a fun little trip down to California. Andy and his boss had a conference in Huntington Beach and his boss's wife and I tagged along. Boy, am I glad we did. It was SO nice to get away from the rain and enjoy some sun. We stayed at the Hyatt - holy crap, it was nice. See our room and view here:

*Oops, sorry. Just realized I only have pictures of the room on my phone.. But you can tell how sweet our room would be just by our amazing view, right?* Anyway, so we flew into Long Beach Airport...smallest airport ever! We like to call it the IBA, Itty Bitty Airport. (Maybe that's really just an inside joke...haha!) So after we got there, we explored the ginormous resort/hotel. They had their own spa area where you could sit in a steam room or sauna and it was so relaxing just looking at it. Seriously, check out the hotel link here http://www.hyattregencyhuntingtonbeach.com/. Monique and I had to keep reminding ourselves that the boys were there for business, because we were getting a little upset when they kept working instead of wanting to go to the beach. But eventually we walked to the beach (right across the street from the hotel) and then walked to the pier where we ate at Ruby's (apparently really famous...and so delicious!!)

This is on the bridge we cross over from our hotel to the beach.

This is where we look so fat after eating Ruby's. Ruby's is at the end of the pier over the ocean. Pretty freakin' sweet!

And this is the huge pier. Andy kept saying how huge it was... I haven't really been on many piers so I thought this was normal...

So after all of the walking we were pretty tired (Monique is 7 months pregnant, I might add) so we just came back to the hotel and rested. We bought some firewood to go to the beach and make a fire, but we were all just too tired. So then the next day, Andy and Neil (his boss) went to the conference and all of their meeting, not before they let Monique and I mooch breakfast...and lunch...and dinner. Ha! We only paid for 2 meals while we were there - pretty awesome. One night for dinner the company that was doing the conference rented out the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. So we got to eat pretty yummy food and look at all of the weird sea animals. They said there was a place where you could pet sting rays, but we couldn't find it and then had to leave real quick. To prove we were there, here is a sea horse. Yay!

There was tons of sun, but it was also really windy, so it was a little bit cold to swim in the pool or go down to the beach. We attempted, but didn't last long. On the last day of the conference, Neil and Andy had free tickets to go to Disneyland. Neil and Monique stayed at the hotel because she wouldn't have been able to ride any of the rides anyway so I took Neil's ticket and Andy and I had a cute little half-day date to Disneyland. It was a lot of fun, but we knew it would busy so we picked out our favorite rides that we had to ride and ran to them to make sure we could hit them all in 4 hours (because the park closes at 8 during the off-season...I know, bummer). So we rode Space Mountain, It's a small world, Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain, the Toy Story one... I think that's about it. I definitely love Indiana Jones, but I wish it lasted longer. Oh, side note about the Indiana Jones ride... I lost my camera in the seat!! Oh, it was so scary. I had it in my butt pocket and as we were walking out of the ride I noticed it wasn't there. I was so worried because the ride is so bumpy that I thought if it fell out that I would never see it again and it was gone forever...as I walked back to the ride I was almost crying because Andy had JUST bought me that camera for my birthday! But luckily, they found it in the seat of the jeep! Aww, I was so relieved. So anyway, here a few pictures from Disney:

So after Disney was over, we headed back to the hotel and hung out with Monique and Neil for a little bit and then just fell asleep. The whole trip was seriously so relaxing. Most of the time, Monique and I just laid around talking (side note - she is seriously so sweet, I really like her. I'm glad that I get along with the boss's wife so hopefully we can go on more "business" trips together). We had planned on staying an extra day after the conference just to have one full day together with the boys doing tourist-y stuff. So the last day (Friday) we rented beach cruiser bikes and rode down the beach to downtown Huntington and ate at IHOP. We walked around the little stores and bought some t-shirts and what not. Then we rode down the beach some more. After that we swam at the pool for a little bit and then went down to the beach. It was such a nice day that I had to get in the ocean. So we played around a little bit, me holding on to Andy the whole time so that I didn't get swept away. The waves are huge down there! The water really wasn't that bad either. I love being in the ocean and having the waves crash over my head. The boys (do you like that I keep calling them boy? It's very fitting actually!) wanted to go out further and said I was too small, so they kicked me out of the ocean! I was a little sad, but I didn't like being out there without Andy to hold on to. So Monique and I just laid out some more and soaked up the sun. After all of that, we had to go home; we headed out the IBA and flew home to rainy Seattle. It was a very much needed vacation (our first real vacation since the honeymoon!) I love California. I still say that I could live there because I love the beach and the ocean and the sun...but Andy just likes to visit. Which is okay, because it keeps it special. Wow, sorry this is such a long post (and not very well written) but I was just so excited to actually have something to write about. For those of you who lasted... thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Random Acts of Kindness

So, I recently heard on the radio about this lady who dedicates service to her mom called "Mom's Six Days". She will do random things, one of them has been to pay for someone's groceries in the line behind her. I have always thought how sweet that is and how I would love to be "brave" enough to do that for someone. Well, I would never have believed it would happen to me! Mine wasn't as great as someone buying my groceries, but they bought my McDonald's! :) I got up to the window all ready to pay and the guy said that the lady in front of me took care of it. I couldn't believe it and he had to keep reassuring me that it was taken care of. I sat there and said "how do I say Thank You?" I felt like getting out of my car and running up to her window and saying thank you, or following her out of the drive through waiting to pull up along side her, or something...but I just sat there with a big smile on my face hoping she would look in her rear-view mirror and see how happy I was and as she pulled away I waved... I won't ever know if she saw me and that makes me feel ungrateful. So I want to say THANK YOU Silver Toyota Highlander lady. You made my day! Not only did I get my 1 million calorie meal, but I got it for free! Thank you! :) Now, what can I do to pass the kindness on...?

Finally!

Well, since I'm so good at making my goals...not! I've finally decided to just sit down and post something. All of my pictures are now on the computer, so really I have no excuse. I had to put up some pictures from Christmas because I was so proud of our cute little apartment (and by that, I really mean just our stockings!)

I thought that I would try to make our stockings, but when I saw these knit ones and they were on sale...couldn't pass it up! I love them! Here are a few pictures from our Utah Christmas...

Way cute picture of me and Linds at the lights... :) I forced all of the friends to get together and meet at Temple Square because I HAD to see the lights, but it was just a great time...really...haha! Anyway, here are some pictures of the dresses I made for my nieces. There are 2 of the pink ones for the twins (but I didn't find it necessary to take a picture of both) :) They were fun to make on my new sewing machine.So I think that about sums up Christmas time. Then came my birthday and Andy's (pictures are on facebook if you wanna see). Andy surprised me with a new camera and his family all pitched in and bought me my very own KitchenAid. I am in love with it! And my mom and sister gave me a bunch of fun fabric and stuff. It was a really really great day and I was too spoiled. Even though Andy didn't take me country swing dancing...but I'll get him there eventually. Andy turned 25 this year so I decided he needed to have a surprise party. So I worked out all the plans and had his family meet us at this indoor go-kart racing place. He had NO idea! It was so much fun! The go-karts were so fast (not when I was driving...cuz I'm a wuss...), but we all had a really good time. One of my best friends, Janny-bananny, got married last week and so we went back to Utah for that. The girls and I got together for her Bachelorette party and went bowling. Unfortunately, my camera was dead so I didn't get any pictures (you would all want to see them...trust me!). Then we went back to Whit's house and did the waxing, facials, painting toe nails thing and had a sleepover. It was so much fun to be with my girls again. It made it really hard to come back home. Andy and I made a trip up to Logan and visited Utah State. I do love it there, but could probably never live there again...it's so small. Haha! Jan's wedding was the next day and it was really really nice! I loved being in the sealing room with them and hearing all the blessings they will be receiving. It was such a good reminder of the day Andy and I were married, because I seriously don't remember much from our sealing. I teared up a little and for some that shocked Linds and Andy...I don't know why! I was just so touched and loved to see my Janny become a married woman. After a crazy long day of wedding stuff, we finally got home and got to relax and hang out with the fam the next day. It was amazing how the timing all worked out because my brother Dan, who is over in the middle East right now, was home at the same time as us for his R&R. I was so glad we got to see him, even just for a day. And now we're back home in rainy Bellevue (literally pouring right now!). I have had a hard time for some reason coming back home after this trip. Maybe it's because it was so short... But we're back to work and our church callings (speaking of...I've got some stuff to do for Girls Camp...) and we're looking forward to soccer season starting up on Tuesday; I'm especially excited for baseball season to start, can't wait to watch those Mariners play! Well, that about sums up the last 4 months or so. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that Andy and I are planning on going on a Mexican cruise later this year and I seriously can't wait! I'm so excited to just have a vacation to ourselves. Yay!

I suck...

Wow, I haven't been on here forever (well, technically I have been on here to look around and realize how lazy I am to not change anything or write a new post). I have a bunch of pictures from Christmas and birthdays that I want to put up here, but I think I'm going to have to spread it out so I don't have on ginormous post! :) So I promise, I will have new stuff up here soon (that's mostly a promise to myself because I don't even know who follows this regularly to notice that I never post...haha!) This week...expect good things to come... :)

The Joy of Painting :)

Well I know I've been promising pictures of my paintings for a while, and now I'm finally getting around to it. I really enjoyed painting, it was much easier than I expected it to be...but now I have to deal with the "self-criticism" (especially since I have the paintings hanging up in my home; what was I thinking??) So anyway...here are the pictures and I hope that you like them. I really expect more to come, because I really think it could become a new hobby (if I can get over the fact of how expensive it will be).

The pumpkins were actually really really fun, and I don't criticize them at all. :) Anyway, I thought I'd do a quick update since I'm here...

My job is going pretty good, it's been really slow and that is really hard because it makes me feel like I'm not working hard. I have been thinking lately of what I want to do for the rest of my life. Of course, when the time is right, I want to be a mom and stay home with the kids. But I keep thinking, will that be 100 % fulfilling?? I'm sure it will be, but since I'm not there yet, I just don't know. I'm trying to figure out if I want to go back to school (which is so unlikely that I might as well not even think about it), or just start focusing on things that I enjoy and progressing in that (like CrAfTs!). I love doing crafty things and looking at blogs all the time of new ideas, but then I hate to spend the money to actually do it. So anyway, thats where I am right now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :) But even if I do think of something, I feel like I won't have any time to do it until I am a stay at home mom...sigh... *Side note, I am enjoying my calling at YW secretary. I feel like I'm not quite yet part of the program, because I'm just kind of there. I did teach a few weeks ago and realized that I really like teaching. It's definitely hard when you don't get much participation (especially with your subject is MAINTAINING CHASTITY...Yikes!) But anyway, I know it will get better and really I just need to put myself out there and get involved 100%.

Andy is doing well. He is still enjoying his job, but I think secretly can't wait until another opportunity comes along where he can really use his PR skills. He is learning so much and it's so great for his career. He is still enjoying YM. He was especially happy today because his Deacons actually participated in class! Yay!

Well I think that's about it; time to go make some din-din!

New Callings

Well now that I feel I actually have something interesting going on in our lives, I figure I should share. Andy and I both accepted new callings in our ward. Andy got his a few weeks before me. He is the Deacons Quorum Advisor! I was so excited for him, because when we got called in he for sure thought we were going to get Primary again (which is an amazing calling, but you can get a little burnt-out). So he has enjoyed it so far and it sounds like they have a couple of fun activities coming up. One of them will be an overnight camp-out where they shoot old school guns. Why is it that Young Men always do the fun activities like that? We never did anything like that when I was in Young Womens...boo. Anyway, so I was so excited for him and totally thought that I would be put in the Primary by myself, but no such luck. :) I was called last week as the Young Womens Secretary, which I hear is super easy and fun! I am so excited! There are only about 10 girls in our ward, which will be something to get used to since I came from a ward with over 25 girls. It'll be nice because then I can get to know each of them more personally.
I definitely feel very humble with this new calling. I feel like I have a lot of experiences that will help me help these young women, but I also feel so inadequate to be the one teaching them (I'll only teach once a quarter, but still...). I've never taught anyone before, so I'm excited for the challenge. On Sunday we had a lesson about the consequences, good and bad, that come from the choices we make every day. I totally remember having a lesson like that when I was in YW and I just got to thinking that back then I would answer the questions how the teachers would want me to, but I didn't really follow the teachings. I just don't think that I can stress enough to the YW that those lessons are SO important! That they really need to listen to them and remember them. Don't just give the answers the teachers want to hear, but to really know and live it! Because every decision that you make as a teenager will affect the rest of your life, no matter how big or small. I wish that I would have listened to my teachers and really lived what was taught...because life would have been a lot easier had I done that. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share my experiences with the girls and help them so that they can make better decisions than I did and to be completely happy and not have to feel the long-lasting feeling of guilt. No one should have to feel that way; all you need to do is follow our Savior's example. He set the perfect example, and if we follow it 100%, we will be eternally HAPPY!
So anyway, I'm super grateful for my new calling and excited that Andy and I can still be somewhat together in our callings. Oh and p.s., we both have to speak in church on Sunday, so please pray for me!!! I have to speak for a whole 15 minutes. I really don't think I've ever done that before... Andy will be perfectly fine, but please pray for me that I won't get up there and bawl and fumble over my words and that I can say all that I want and need to say. Thank you! :)

New Home in Bellevue

Well as most of you know, Andy was hired on full time at Laplink. And as most of you know, once he got a full time job we were moving out! So we finally did it. I can't believe the time has finally come that we get to be out on our own again. It's such an amazing feeling to have our own place, pay our own bills, buy our own groceries (not that we didn't appreciate the free food for 9 months from the in-laws), vacuum our own carpet, and don't forget DECORATE (which I still have to find the time for).
We've appreciated so much Andy's parents for letting us stay with them so we could save up and be able to get our own place. Because of them we were able to buy a new TV, table and chairs, and some other random furniture we needed to fill the apartment. Thank you!!
So it took us about 5 hours to get everything loaded into the U-haul, unloaded, and in to the house. I can't believe we got it done so fast! Now it took just a little bit longer than that to get things organized...but let me tell you, it's amazing how much space we have here! I think we figured it out and our apartment back in Logan was about 375-400 square feet (ya, and we lived there a year!!!) and our apartment here is 670-ish. I still have a cupboard in the kitchen that doesn't have anything in it. It's crazy, and I love it!
For some reason, since we've moved out I assume that I'm going to have tons more time on my hands. So with all that "extra" time I've decided that I'm going to paint some pictures to decorate the walls with, kinda scary, but it can't be that hard right? I also have another fun collage, mod podge project I'm going to start. I'm so excited! I'll definitely put pictures up for all to enjoy. :)
Well I think that's about it for now. We are just so happy to finally be at the point in our lives that we've dreamt of ever since we got married. It's been hard, especially the decision to leave Utah and start a new life in a completely new place. But now, we finally see why we made that decision!

Trip to Utah!

Well I can't believe that I didn't take any pictures while in Utah, but I can still write about our trip! It was amazing!! Andy and I flew in late Thursday night. My family "didn't know" that Andy was coming, so we tried to surprise them even further and had Ben and Linds pick Andy up and show up to the house later. Apparently it didn't really work since everyone was already asleep and expected him to be there anyway; but hey at least we tried! That's half the fun I think. So Linds and Ben stayed to talk and then my Janny came over! Yay! It was so awesome to see her! She's amazing!! It was just so good to be with my friends again, I definitely miss that. So we stayed up until 3 am talking and laughing and having so much fun. I haven't stayed up that late for a long time, but it just felt like we had to in order to have plenty of time to catch up! We finally went to bed and I just have to say Thank You mom and dad for buying a mattress for when visitors come! That ruled! It was so hard to stay at mom and dad's before because we had to sleep on the air mattress or on the couch bed and didn't have a room to stay in. So thank you! It made the trip 100 times better. :)
So the next day was all about the girls; eating lunch at Chili's, Facials (my first one ever! It was amazing!), shopping at Victoria Secret, and finished it off with date night. It was such a fun day. I think my favorite part, no offense girls, was when Andy text me all day letting me know how much he missed me! I love when he says he misses me even though I just saw him like 2 hours before. :) It just makes me smile! So anyway, stayed up late again and had to wake up early...again, on Saturday. We had a baby shower for Judy and baby Gracie and then had a family swimming party (yep, in the wind and rain). Definitely helps when the pool is more like a hot tub! It was just so fun to be with the whole family and our nieces and nephews. They're so darn cute! So stayed up late again...and had to wake up early again on Sunday for Jan's Homecoming! Oh my, I can't even believe what an amazing job she did. She has become so spiritual and the Spirit is always with her. She knows how to follow the Spirit to teach what people need to hear, especially me! I want to become a better person so that I can feel worthy to be her friend because she is just so amazing! Sorry this is getting a little cheesy/sappy, whatever...but that's seriously how I feel! She makes me want to be a better person. It was just so good to see a ton of people that I haven't seen, probably since her farewell! I loved it!
Another one of my favorite parts of the trip was seeing Andy have so much fun with my friends! He loves them just as much as I do, especially his buddy Ben! :) And for some reason, we can't quite figure out why because we don't feel that anything special happened...but Andy and I just fell more in love while we were there! It was amazing to feel our love grow...I didn't think that it was possible to grow anymore, but it definitely can! Sorry, again, getting too sappy. :)
We just did so much while we were there and had so much fun! We were constantly busy and doing something, I think that's how vacations so be. Andy called it a "visitation" though, because "vacations" are supposed to be relaxing. Funny boy! Anyway, we just had such a fun time spending those few days with everybody! But you know, once we landed in Seattle it just felt like Home! Which is such a good thing, because this is where we live now. It's just nice that I don't hold any grudges or regret because we moved here. This is where we're supposed to be and life is wonderful! I will always enjoy our trips back to Utah and seeing family and friends, but for now Seattle is our home; and I love it! :)

Kind of a sad day...

Well one of my very best friends in the whole world is coming home from her mission today...and I don't get to be there. :( I am having a pretty hard time with it, but I guess I can always talk to her on the phone right...? Luckily, I will be coming home to visit in a week so I can spend 3 or 4 days with her!! I am very excited for that. A year and a half is way to long for best friends to be apart! But she was out doing such a wonderful thing, serving the Lord and gaining a stronger testimony of this wonderful gospel. She is going to have such amazing memories and lessons learned from her experience in Germany. I am so proud of my Janny! I love her so much and can't wait to see her in 1 week!!
Tribute to me and Janny:



Love you Janny-bananny! See you in one week!!

Another Month has gone by...

Or should I say 2 months...maybe 3...Goodness, I am no good at this blogging thing. Thanks to good friends who give me "friendly little hints" that it's time to update. :)

Well, it seems like there is not much going on with Andy and I these days, but the more I look back and think about it, I guess we do actually have a life. My job is going exceptionally better since we hired a new girl and we've become good friends. I feel like I know what I'm doing and don't have to ask as many questions. That's always a good feeling. Andy's internship is going really well. A few weeks ago Andy got a "raise" and is now the proud owner of $200/week. But, where this is only an internship, that is pretty dang good. Andy feels very appreciated at work and often gets compliments on what an amazing job he is doing, especially for only being there for 2 months. His internship is coming to an end in June and at that time his boss will know whether they will hire him part-time or full-time, or if at all. We are anxiously waiting for that time...

In the mean time, it is definitely baseball season...and soccer season...and hockey playoffs. It's amazing that I even know what's going on in this world besides sports! Andy and I have gone to a few Mariner's games and they have been AWESOME!! I am definitely a Seattle Mariner's fan, big time. Cliff Lee...mmmm... Even though they haven't been doing so hot lately, it's still fun to go to the games and support, oh and of course, get Ken Griffey Jr bobble-heads (we have two out of three, gonna get the third in a few weeks). Now soccer on the other hand, I am not very familiar with, but going to Seattle Sounders games have been...well...they've been okay. Apparently they're not playing as well as they were last year and fans are disappointed, but hopefully they'll continue to get better as the season goes on, especially since we have season tickets. I do have to say, that Seattle fans are very loyal and crazy, it's fun to be a part of that.

I was lucky enough to get to go home to Utah a few weeks ago. It was a short trip, just the weekend, but it was packed with fun. :) My brother, Dan, had just finished his army training down in Arizona and the family planned a trip up to my sister-in-laws trailer in Bear Lake. My dad really wanted me to be there (he says it was for me to see Dan before he goes to Iraq, but I know it was because of his own selfish reasons, haha), so he and my mom paid for my plane ticket. We couldn't afford another ticket for Andy to join me, which, let me tell you was one of the hardest things I've had to deal with. It was our first time being apart since we've been married and I cried...a lot. But, when I wasn't thinking about Andy, I was enjoying being with my family. We had so much fun, laughing so hard that my face and head hurt! I love when that happens! I just love my family so much and it's hard not to see them every month, but when I do see them, we make up for lost time. The weather was not swimming weather by any means, but I love Bear Lake, no matter what. So many good memories there...

I'm hoping that the month of May flies by! Because one of my best friends, Jan, is coming home from her mission in June. Just like it was hard for me to be away from Andy for 2 days, it has been crazy hard to be apart from Janny for 18 months! I can't wait to see her and my other girls! Luckily, this trip will be a little bit longer so I can spend more time with everyone.

I sometimes feel like I'm writing in a diary or something after I get done with a post. I feel like I need to start with a "Dear Diary" and end with a "well that's it for today, I'll write more tomorrow. Love, Kellie". But that just seems weird, so I guess I'll just leave it at that... :)

Time to Update!

Well, a certain someone was getting a little upset that I haven't updated our blog in a while, so here I go, this is for you Linds! :)

Things have been going pretty well here. I'm still working at my same job, amazingly enough. You'd think that with as bad of an attitude I've had about it, they would've fired me by now... I guess I'm able to keep my dislike towards it hidden. Ha ha! No, it's not that bad. It's just not what I expected at all! I already called my old boss and told him that I was an idiot for leaving the best job and boss ever! But, after a good talk with my husband and Heavenly Father I have been able to have a better attitude and feel more comfortable at work. Still a work in progress though. On a happy note, good things have come from the move, such as.... ANDY GOT A JOB!! Well, an internship, but a job still! It's been so awesome. We finally know why we moved here and why he got turned down so many other times before. He's working for a computer software company called LapLink and he does the Public Relations for them. He just started about 2 weeks ago and he is really starting to get into it and really enjoying it. He feels a little overwhelmed, as anyone would, especially since he feels he has to impress immediately in order to get full-time hire. But, I personally think that he already has the job, he just has to go through the motions of the internship. He comes home and tells me about all of his ideas and I don't even know where he gets the stuff from ! It's amazing! I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work through school and other jobs he's had that has given him the experience needed to land a sweet job like this one.

I have a few pictures I wanted to put up from Andy's 24th birthday! He's such a big boy now. His mom asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday and his reply "imagine I am 12, get me a cake that 12 year old would like". So of course, I took that to the next level, because we all know how much Andy loves birthdays, I decided to decorate the house like a 12 year old would like it. SPIDERMAN, duh?!? It was really fun to decorate and he said he was actually surprised, for once he didn't know what I was doing. Ha ha! So Happy Birthday honey (even though this was over a month ago...)

And here are some pictures of Andy after he shaved his gi-normous beard. Silly boy...ha ha!

So we are still doing really well here, just living life one day at a time; well trying to anyway. Sometimes I catch myself thinking "I can't wait until Andy gets full time hire and we can buy a new car" or "I can't wait until we have a baby and I can quit my job" etc. etc. etc. But I know that things will happen and fall into place when they're supposed to. We miss everybody back home and can't wait until we can come visit!!

Happy New Year!!

Well we just had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. For New Years Eve, I had to work (bummer), but when I got off, Andy, Steve, and Louise were there to pick me up and we headed off to Tory and Suni's for the night. We watched Oscar play around with his socks and watched Nana hold little Spencer. Aren't Grandma's always the biggest baby hogs? Ha ha! We were all hungry so we decided to order in some Chinese instead of trying to face the crowds of busy Seattle. After dinner, we played Monopoly. It ruled!! Ha ha! No one had played it in such a long time (because we all know how long it can take...) But this time for some reason it didn't take very long...probably because Andy and I kicked butt and wiped everybody out. Ha ha! It was awesome. A & K all the way!! We make such a great team. :) We got home at about 11:30 and stayed up to watch the fireworks shoot off of the Space Needle. That was pretty cool since I am not used to seeing many fireworks on New Years Eve. Maybe one year we can actually go down to the Seattle Center and watch them in person...I know Andy would love that...

And then of course, I had my birthday. For some reason it didn't feel like my birthday, and I thought it was just going to be a regular old day. But my sweet husband made is so special for me. Well, I should back up. Andy really wanted a Play Station 3 and wasn't sure how he could get it for his birthday, so I told the parents to just combine mine and Andy's birthday's. So on Thursday night, they gave that to us. Thank You!! Andy has enjoyed it a ton, and I, well, I enjoy watching Blu-ray. :) So then on Thursday morning, I had received a package from the family so I opened it before work and it was filled with wonderful things, the number one thing being a beautiful, hand-made scarf from my brother Rich. I love it!! Thank You, Rich, again!! He is so amazing! I have the best family, and I miss them so much! So I went to work, and the girls had decorated my desk with some of my favorite things. Cinderella birthday banner, Garden Salsa Sun Chips, White Cheddar Cheez-it's, and beautiful pink lily's. It was so cute! At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but I guess that they emailed Andy and he gave them a whole list of my favorite things! I was so impressed. He's the best. So after that, I got a phone call from reception before lunch saying that my husband is here! What a wonderful surprise. He brought me single rose in a beautiful vase, a funny card, and stayed and visited for a while. It just made my day!

I told Andy that I just wanted us to go out on my birthday, because it seems like that hasn't happened for a while (not complaining, but you all know what I mean, couples need their alone time). So we went to Old Spaghetti Factory and then he took me shopping for a new pair of jeans (that's all I wanted for my present, well and to spend time with him, of course), but we had a lot of fun together. And he was even happy while waiting for me to try on 50 pairs of jeans. :) So we got home and the parents were there waiting with a beautiful cake. They didn't sing Happy Birthday, they must've been too excited for the cake. So we just went straight to eating the cupcakes (the cake was too pretty to cut right away).





So overall, it was a wonderful birthday. Nothing I expected at all!! Everybody was so sweet and wonderful. Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes! I love you all and can't wait until I can see you again! Oh and I almost forgot... I was telling Mom how Andy has been growing out his beard since Thanksgiving, and she really wanted to see it, so here you go Mama. I hope you can tell how beastly it is. Love you!!