Tuesday, August 25, 2009

We have arrived...


I don't know if I can put an exclamation point to that sentence yet as I am still a little wary to be here, completely out of the familiar, but maybe within the next few weeks as things start to not be so new and strange anymore. We made our move this last week to Spokane, WA. Ben is going to Gonzaga University here to get his MBA. I finished my masters in social work last month and am currently UNEMPLOYED. I am frantically looking for a job so that I can now be the breadwinner for our family. Thankfully things came together last minute and we were able to find renters for our house back in Utah. We got here late last wed and slept on the floor in our duplex as we were too tired to even open up the uhaul until the next day. It was rough trying to move in everything by ourselves. We are sure grateful for all the packing help we had in Utah! Thankfully one of our neighbors noticed that I was struggling to move the big furniture into the duplex and came over to help Ben out. We are a lil scared about the area we live in. We found it on craigslist and had someone from the ward over here check it out for us before we came. The duplex is nice, nearly new, but the surrounding area is referred to as the ghetto. I hear sirens outside every night, many times. But our neighbors are nice and have been very welcoming. We have been given tomatoes and cucumbers, and offers for more cucumbers. So we will stick it out for now, but if things get too crazy around here, we are on a month to month lease and we can find greener pastures :O I think Ben is more excited about being here than I am. We were looking forward to moving out to the northwest, but I wanted rain and the cool breeze. It is musty and warm here, a lot like utah but its muggy. They say its going to snow a ton on us as well. Yipee. I dont like the snow much. But I will admit I am excited for a change of pace. Our ward is nice and I am enjoying my runs through Gonzaga's beautiful campus(with Ben riding behind me on his longboard to protect me from any crazies). Ben is looking forward to starting school next week. We were at the store and I asked him if he needed any school supplies...he laughed at me like a child embarrassed by his mother. What? Don't graduate students need school supplies too? I even told him he could use my backpack. Anyhow, just wanted to update everyone. Sorry no pics this time. We have most things unpacked but we still haven't gotten the cameras out. I should be documenting this all I know, but I've just been too busy and too tired. Pics to come soon, until then, so long from Spokane :)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Ready or not...here we come...


The plans are in the works. House is up for sale, job interviews are being set up, our new residence is being decided upon as well. We are out of here soon; where did the time go? We are pretty excited for a change of pace but its going to be super hard to say goodbye to family and friends. I don't think we will miss Utah and her stinkin heat so much though. Ready to get out to the good ol northwest!



And very excited at the prospect of seeing these guys a lil more...


Sunday, May 31, 2009

TRIP AROUND THE northwest :)

We took a fun trip out to the northwest this last week to see my sister and visit my old stomping grounds. I couldn't do a whole lot as I was pretty immobile still due to my surgery, but it was nice to get away nonetheless, and GREAT to see my sisters family again!








I've never seen Ben more excited about cheese and ice cream!




Ferry Ride







Definitely my favorite older sister :)







Hope to visit again soon!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Hiking with Dodge







Ben was excited to have a dog. Two of the main things he looked forward to in regards to owning a dog were driving in the jeep with the dog in the back and head out the window, and camping with a dog. Typical boy for you i guess. Well since it's not quite warm enough for camping yet we thought we'd go on a little adventure up the canyon with Dodge. It was funny at first to see him surveying this new territory, but he quickly got into it and began bounding up and down the rocks, stream or no stream. And of course he'll do anything for treats. Wish we could have gotten everything on film, but lets just say we have one adventurous, and now very dirty, dog.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Happy Easter

Although we don't have any kids of our own I'm still not ready to grow up, so we celebrate every holiday as if we were kids still. I love it.



Ben was a good sport and dyed eggs with me.



This one was my favorite :)

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Going on Two Years...


Happy Anniversary to us!! It's already been two years. I think about our special day from time to time and am so grateful for wonderful family and friends . I couldn't have asked for more. I love my man with all my heart and not a day goes by that he doesn't make me laugh, either at him, or with him. You're one in a million baby!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Jam Snobs


We have become accustomed to homemade jam. Its painful if we have to ever buy jam from the store because it's expensive and its just not as good. I have been wishing we lived in Oregon because berries are so much cheaper there. Then we learned about a store called Sunflower Market. If you haven't been there you are totally missing out. They have the cheapest produce I have ever seen and its good quality too! This last week we got a whole flat of strawberries for about 8 bucks. Thats right, for one pound of strawberries it was just 99 cents. Not only that but we buy artichokes here often for about a dollar as well and they are usually pretty big. So this is my plug for Sunflower Market, go there, you will fall in love with produce :) So we went to work this weekend making strawberry jam. Actually Ben mostly took over and he
did such a great job!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

This was a fun Elementary School we stopped at. Coolest playgrounds I have ever seen!




We've only had Dodge for about a month now but he has already doubled in size! The first few weeks were rough but he's starting to obey now. He will sit on command and sometimes even stay. He's also pretty good at fetch, does great on walks, and loves to ride in the back of the jeep, but his favorite trick is going down slides. When we take him out to play he will pretty much follow wherever you go. So Ben started going down the slides at parks and sure enough Dodge followed.