Meet Trooper!

Meet Trooper, the newest addition to the family! He joined us several weeks ago. He is a mini australian shepherd and is around 14 weeks old. He likes to play with his many toys, hide his rawhide chews, can sit and down and is a fuzzy, furry ball of fun! He gets to go to work with Nick everyday and probably has the best life a dog could ask for. (And yes, Nick needs to clean out his truck).

Growing up and being rational

Growing up is nothing like I imagined it to be when I was a kid. When you are young, you look at adults and think they are so old, so put together, have everything figured out. Then you yourself grow up and you continually wonder when you are going to be a "grown up." You start to make steps toward it- you get a job, you buy a house, you become self sufficient, get married, get a dog. Is the sum of all these things the meaning of being a grown up? Responsibility? Or maybe you experience things, you travel, go through break-ups, friends move away, you lose your job-and all these things make you wiser-experience? Both responsibility and experience?

Whatever it is that creates a "grown" up, I still don't feel "older." My dad tells me that you never do feel older, you just keep adding another digit to your age each year. I have just been thinking about this a lot lately as I begin to ponder more permanent and more life altering decisions.

While we are on the topic of pondering-why is it that ideas always seem really great at night, but in the morning you wake up and you are either panicked at the idea or you decide it was a bad idea? Are people inherently more rational in the morning than they are at night? Or is it that a new day brings caution and by the end of the day, caution goes away? Also, are morning people more rational and night people more reckless or creative? So many questions.

Fall Leaves

The east side of Portland seems to get more wind than the west side. The upside? We have 3 absolutely stunning maple trees with lots of leaves-when the wind blows during the fall, the leaves tend to fall off the trees all at the same time which means less time spent cleaning up leaves. That is, of course, assuming I was going to clean them up...currently, they are all over the lawn and since Nick and I plan to take out the lawn, do a whole bunch of landscaping including the installation of sprinklers, etc and then re-planting the lawn, I am not all that motivated to save the current grass from suffocation under the blanket of leaves. Other than the sheet of leaves looking spectacularly bad, I am really not that worried about it. Besides, when you landscape, things always look really bad before they look good. Take, for example, the hole we have created where Nick's shop will be. Currently, it is, well, a little boy's paradise (a mini construction site for tonka trucks) and maybe a man's paradise, too-mud wrestling, anyone? By next year, it will be a beautiful shop where Nick will be able to do projects and as an added bonus, my garage will be...that's right-Mine.


I completely forgot to wish Nick a happy birthday on here. 27 years ago, Nick entered the world in a blaze of glory-taaadaaaa! His mom and dad were stoked...and then he started doing things...Joni (Nick's mom) eloquently says he was a "busy" kid. Among my favorite Nick stories as told by Joni:

• Running into the house "mom, i'm thirsty, can I have a cup of water?" Joni grabs a cup, Nick leaves, comes back..."mom, I'm still really thirsty..." she refills said cup of water, Nick leaves, comes back...."mom, we started a fire and can't put it out!"
• Pulling a glass coffee table onto himself (as a toddler) and going to the ER :-(
  
• Having his pediatrician tell Joni that if she could keep him alive through 18, she was an amazing mother
• Learning to pick the lock on his older brothers bedroom door and taking apart all his technique lego sets
• Pushing the baby gate from the top of the stairs, riding it down and giggling at the bottom "I ok!" also as a toddler
• Competing in a backhoe competition at age (10? 13?) for skill (including picking up an egg with a spoon attatched to the bucket) and almost winning first!
• Running naked through the same hotel he and I got married at when he was a toddler
• His dedication to everything he does including coming back from 2 knee injuries to play football (the first freshman year and the second junior year).

I have to say-I am married to one amazing, hillarious, fun loving and talented individual. I don't know how I lucked out...but I sure did!

Happy Halloween everyone!

September already?

Yep, thats Nick, with his weldor inside the pipe, welding away- and who ever said management can't actually do the work...

Crazy view of the Lake in McCall

It feels like this year has blown by at some sort of incredibly fast rate! September 16th, already!

Things have been busy so here is just a quick, how-do-you-do, yes I still know my blog exists, entry:

• Poor Nick has been back out of town for, well, since May of this year. He was in Toledo working on a pipe project which was with his Dad. They even got to room together at the sweet Comfort Inn in Newport, lucky them! After leaving the Toledo project in August, Nick got to go back to Ontario (Oregon). There are, of course, goods and bads to Nick being in Ontario. The bad? Well, Nick is gone. The good? It makes it easier for me to fly out to Boise and drive up to McCall!
• Which brings me to BUSY! After hosting Amanda's bachelorette with Jessica, I had one weekend off (however, Nick didn't come home until Saturday and left Sunday) and then the following weekend was Amanda's wedding (as mentioned in the prior post). The following weekend (Labor Day), I flew out to Boise and we headed up to McCall for a weekend of Tennis, walks, studying (for the CPA exam) and general R&R.
• This past weekend, Nick headed back to McCall (alone) and I headed to Eugene to see my parents, meet up with a classmate from School Year Abroad Spain (Junior year in high school) and my Grandpas somethingith birthday party. I also met up with Kate, a classmate from Sheldon that I haven't seen since Junior year in high school! It was great to catch up with her, with Ben from SYA and great to see my family.
• That brings us to Nick. Poor Nick has not been home in 3 weeks. Sad. And when he does get to come home, he has to drive back from Ontario (400 miles) on Friday and then turn around and drive back on Sunday (the same 400 miles). And a BORING 400 miles at that. I'm not sure about you guys, but have you ever driven I-84 across the state of Oregon? You dont get flatter or more boring than that drive. The guy must really love me to want to drive that all the way back just to see me for a day and a half!

So-other than a ton of additional stuff happening these days that I just cant remember at the moment, that is what we have been up to.

This is hail in McCall-they have some of the coolest weather up there-snow like you wouldn't believe, hail, thunderstorms, rain...I truly love it up there!

My Best Friends Wedding

I always thought it would be entertaining to do a post called my best friends wedding (haha). Well, over the weekend, specifically, August 28, 2009 - my best friend (since I was 2) got married to an amazing guy (Josh). I would like to add that it was my wonderful husband's idea over  years ago to introduce them (what a matchmaker). 

The wedding was held at Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington. Ali (also a bridesmaid), Russell (the pseudo babysitter) and Tanner (the ring bearer) drove 6 hours up on Wednesday night after a disastrous run in with the spray tan machine (orange fingers and toes anyone) and a near complete meltdown of Russell as he recounted a friends episode where Ross spray tanned his front 3 times and his back 0.  Off we drove and finally made it to Whidby Island, WA where Amanda graciously lent us her garage room attachment thingy. Tanner experienced his first night in a sleeping-bag (Ali, seriously, this kid has got to get out more!) I almost forgot the best part-none of us eat fast food, like ever. We were STARVING and the cooler with the sandwiches was burried in the trunk-"lets go to Carls JR" some bright individual said in the car. Russell got sick (sorta) and the rest of us felt like garbage. 

We awoke the next morning and headed to the ferry landing where we met up with Jess and Neil, Scott and Heidi and, unbeknownst to us, pretty much everyone else in the wedding party. We took the ferry over (1 hour of pure beauty) and then settled in at Roche Harbor Resort (beautiful, historic, amazing). Rehearsal dinner, rehearsal, drinks, bed. 

We spent Friday morning primping, makeup, hair, mimosas, food, repeat. The wedding was AMAZING and fun was had by all! 

Memorable moments:

• Carls JR disaster
• Spray tanning (were our fingers supposed to be orange?)
• Tanner in a sleeping bag
• Tanner waking in the middle of the night ("mom, i'm really scared!" "Tanner! Grab your pillow and get in bed!"
• Tanner not being able to fall asleep "mom, I feel weird" "weird sick, or just weird" "I dunno, just weird, whats that on the ceiling, mom, turn on the lights"
• Russell breaking the blow up bed he was sleeping on "kenzie, does this thing have a built in pillow?"
• Russell talking about Sarah, nonstop
• Amanda and Josh looking amazing! And so sweet with eachother
• Quality time with the girls
• Kenzie stumbles into the room late at night and Russ, Ali and Tanner are in the room "Ali, Russ doesnt have any blankets and is still dressed" "He's drunk, just stop talking to him and he will go back to sleep"
• Jessica waking up the whole old hotel because she left her room key in the room for her middle of the night bathroom trip and then pounding on the door for hours while Neil was passed out. 
• The first dance song stopping and the whole group clapping a beat for Amanda and Josh
• Losing our voices singing Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal (how many times does he say Annie are you okay?)
• Discovering Ceu, a brazilian singer. 

OK, pictures!

Vern, Patty, Scott, Heidi - Such cool parents!!

The harbor, so beautiful

The sweet couple

The girls, rehearsal, Ali, Mckenzie, Jessica, Kindra

We got aviators (Josh is a Navy pilot) and I wanted to be cool

At the bridal table, Ali, Me, Kindra

Cocktail hour, Ali, Russ, Kenzie 

The whole gang. Sharp looking group if I must say so myself!

The girls again!

Hia! How's it going up there?!

On the ferry, Ali, Tanner, Me, Russ

Heat Wave

We are in the middle of a heat wave. It was 106 yesterday (although my car registered 107) and it is supposed to be even warmer today. Not that I want to get a rise out of anyone or make political statements-but...isnt it kind of strange that we have had the hottest summer on record and the coldest winter with piles of snow in the NW? Im just saying. Maybe there is something to this whole climate change thing. Maybe I will look back at this post 20 years from now (when climate change is a total reality) and remember when it was a debate about whether it existed.

That aside, it is HOT and we dont even live in the desert! The car gets to 145 degrees while sitting in the sun. Now I know why I dont live in hot climates and love the snow so much. You can not only play in the snow, you can bundle up and avoid the chill. With this, there is no avoidance beyond staying inside...and how fun is that?!? Not very.

Aaah, now this is more like it! Which picture is more welcoming...hahaha

Makeup and weekend

I wish that I would have know about Make up forever ("HD makeup") when I got married. This stuff is amazing. I hate liquid foundations or makeup in general for that matter-but this stuff makes you look so flawless, especially in photographs-it is incredible. It was designed for actors when HD came out since HD was so unforgiving. I have to say, I love this stuff and I dont ever have good things to say about makeup.

Over the past weekend, Monique turned 30 and rented a party bus, which was actually a school bus that takes you around to different bars in the Portland area (it is called bar fly). It was a fun night out with some of my favorite girls. There are quite a few pictures up on facebook. Here is one of a few of the girls:

Jen, Monique and I

I promise...

I promise that a post is coming soon. Items that must be included in said post:

1. Our trip to Maui
2. The garden that Nick built for me and I planted
3. Misc. items

Sorry I have been so bad about keeping this-the weather has just been so beautiful!

Birthday

Random, I know-but the blog lacks pictures...so here are some old ones....

My parents on our big day.

Nick, snowboarding. 

Well, I have turned a year older. I had another birthday on May 2nd and it was quite good. Nick and I will be celebrating a little late-in MAUI! We take off in 2 days and I am so excited!!! So let me see, big accomplishments in 26 years:

26 years and

• 1 Wedding to a wonderful husband
• 1 year married to aforementioned wonderful husband
• 1 best friend from back when I was 2
• 1 house purchased (on 2 acres)
  
• 1 hood to coast run completed
  
• 1 career job (as an accountant)
  
• 2 fantastic parents still married
• 2 rounds of bootcamp at adapt survived
  
• 2 years in a row completion of the Shamrock Run
• 3 degrees from institutions of higher learning (history, spanish and accounting from University of Oregon and Portland State, respectively)
• 3 continents visited (of the 7 I need to see)
• 3 languages learned
• 17 states visited
• Thousands of tears
• Millions of laughs
• Many more years to live

I know, that wasnt really in order and really didnt have a numerical purpose, but oh well! Oh, and ps. In case I didnt mention earlier. I love my mac!!

Arguments and Surprises

Arguments:
I know, kind of a funny title for a blog-but a very interesting question was asked over the weekend "Do you and Nick ever argue?" It seems as though arguments are a part of life-but I suppose I had a bit of trouble wrapping my mind around whether or not Nick and I actually argue. The word argue brings with it such negative connotations and I am not entirely sure why. By definition, argue means to present reasons for or against a thing. I found that my answer was no, Nick and I don't argue much, if at all. This is actually true. However, I did say that we disagree from time to time. Disagree by definition means to differ in opinion; dissent. I'm not entirely sure why disagree sounds so much better than ague, in fact-the definition of argue almost sounds more calm than the definition of disagree. I find it interesting how words change over time and how, in general, certain words have certain connotations associated with them.

I am not sure how normal or not normal it is to disagree or argue with your spouse-It is very rare that Nick and I do not agree on something but would this show that we have good communication and strong similarities? Does it show that neither of us have particularly strong opinions? I suppose I don't really know what happens in "normal" marriages but I do know that I do not like arguing at all and would rather not get my way than argue about something.

Surprises
It is really amazing how opinionated people are with life decisions. Everyone has an opinion on what is a good age to get married (well, it seems to be less about the age and more about "you are way too young" or "you are really getting older, when are you going to settle down?" With all this "too young" and "too old," it seems that the "perfect age" somehow gets lost. Anyway-this leads me to the surprises part of this post. **Disclaimer- No, we are not having a baby. ** Ok, so when Nick and I have kids, I really don't want to find out what we are having. My thought is this-It is only a 9 month wait and there are so few "real" surprises in life. I think that when we have kids, I will care less about what we are having and more about having a healthy baby so really, I would be thrilled with either sex, besides, there is nothing you can do to change the results-even if you find out when the baby is in-utero. So this brings me to the second part of this-plannning. Everyone thinks that you cannot adequately plan for a baby unless you know the sex. Yea. Maybe if you want to drown in pink or blue-but what about all the neutral colors. What if I want to do a zoo theme, or dogs, or yellow and green stripes? (No I dont really like those themes, but it was just an example). My thought is, I am not buying stuff for the baby that will last its entire life during the 5 months it is still baking before birth and there are so many things that people can buy for showers that can be used by either sex. Anyway, people are really opinionated about this topic. I heard the most interesting argument from a guy friend this past weekend. "I would want to find out because while I really would be happy with a health baby, no matter the sex, I would be disapointed deep down if it was a girl and would need those 5 months to get over that dissapointment. And deep down, Kenzie, every man wants a son and even if they don't admit it, every man is disapointed with a girl." Interesting. I sure hope this isn't true with all guys.

Beautiful April Weekend

We had a positively beautiful weekend (in the high 70's I think). Nick and I hosted a friend of mine from SYA Spain back in high school, Josh, who made his first trek from Boston (his home town) to Portland. I was happy to show him around our beautiful state (Portland and Hood River were on the list) and was thrilled that Oregon cooperated with me and showed some sun! Josh even left Portland with a heart in Oregon sticker! Among other things, he got to see Portland, eat at some great restaurants, see Multnomah Falls, sip a smoothie in Hood River, take in the Gorge and sleep soundly in the Oregon fresh air. He brought with him a friend, Rob, who is an extremely talented cartoonist. There was a festival/convention called Stumptown that was a showcase of cartoonists (Portland has the second highest number of them, New York is first). It was really neat to see everyones work. I knew little about this side of Portland before.

Josh and Rob left early this morning and Nick and I are back to our usual routine. Today, I will be more than halfway done with my boot camp. Hopefully it doesnt go too fast, I really enjoy it a lot!!

Celebrate April 15!

I know that there are not many people who celebrate April 15 because this is generally a day that, if you procrastinate, means you will be rushing to the post office to send off your taxes...or maybe it is the day that you cut a big check to uncle sam which is also a bummer.

For me, April 15th means the official end to busy season! No more Saturdays, long late nights, difficult deadlines (for the most part) and backlog of jobs!

I will be celebrating April 15th by going to boot camp at ADAPT which I have been doing for the past week and a half and it is AWESOME!

Easter:
I didn't do an update on Easter. Nick and I went down to Eugene and spent the night at my parents house. Nick and I hung out there for part of the day Saturday and then on Sunday, we picked up a cake at Sweet Life (yummy) and then headed to Nick's mom Joni's house to meet up with Nick's brother Todd, his wife Amber and their 5.5 year old daughter Maylee. Rounding out the guests were Joni and her boyfriend Steve. We had prime rib, mashed potatos and then cake!

I have several countdowns going at the moment. 16 days until I turn the big 2.6. and then 22 days until Nick and I go to Maui. In the mean time, I have bootcamp to look forward to each night and having Nick in town still is a definite plus. :-)

Power 90

Just curious-does anyone know anyone who has ever done the P90X thing? Its that info-mercial with all the DVD's and they use weights and resistance bands etc. During the summer I travel with work which means that I miss out on gym time. I am looking for something that I can bring with me that I can do anywhere and still stay in great shape (even without a gym). If you know anything about it, let me know what your review is.

Thanks!

Quick March Update

Lobby

Nick and I will be going to Maui in May and will stay at the Westin Kaanapali, here are some photos of the resort

Room

Outside

Shamrock Run:

Shamrock Run (5k) After the race (Lindsay, Jill, Ashley and me)

Before the Shamrock Run (Me, Liz, Melissa, Lindsay, Jill and Ashley)

Portland hosted the Shamrock run again this year. It was wet, windy and miserable weather but I ran again with my work this year. I downgraded to the 5k (did the 8k last year) since I have not been running. Nick was so sweet and came out to support us in the rain-husband of the year.

I have been going to the gym every day with Nick and lifting-I have also been eating well and will do the ADAPT bootcamp like I did before I got married. I loved it and it really got me into good shape.

Nick and I have been really busy with work and with working Saturday, it really makes the weekend short. Busy season is almost over and I will just have to push through to the end!

Top news-Economy, Economy, Economy

I just wanted to post this to show the kinds of things we see on the news and internet on a daily basis. I almost dont like to watch the news or read it anymore because it is just depressing.

Wall Hangings

It is probably time to do a post. I admit, I have been avoiding the computer lately-I work on a computer all day long and I just don't really have the eyes for it when I get home. I promise, I do want to read up on my favorite blogs, look up things on the internet, etc. but with all the time I spend looking at the computer, I just have no desire to get back on it when I get home. A typical weekday goes like this...

• Get up at 6 (ok, maybe hit snooze like 50 times and get up at 6:30), fly out the door
• Go to either the office or a clients office (usually the second)
• Sit in front of a computer, move numbers around, look at some papers, type, type, move more numbers around
• Leave the client, go to the gym (that is, hopefully go to the gym)
• Come home, cook dinner
• Go to bed.
  
• Wake up, repeat

Nick and I took a trip to IKEA and got some things for our house. We picked up a front entryway shelf thing with hooks on the bottom for coats and we got a rack for the kitchen where you hang pots. It is amazing how little things like these really make a room feel more homey, lived in.

For Valentines day (Nick and I really aren't into it, but got each other stuff anyway), I got Nick a backpack that can carry his snowboard vertically and he got me one that will carry either vertically or horizontally. He also got a few dry sacks and he got me some perfume, yum.

Jessica had a non-valentines day get together and it was Nick and I, Jessica and Neal, Jen and Ian. We ate tacos, played apples to apples and battle of the sexes and watched the NBA slam-dunk contest. Overall, it was a really fun night.

Today, Nick and I went to a movie (Confessions of a shopaholic, it was ok-cute but not awesome) and met up with our friend Derrick and Ingrid and had brunch.

Nothing really special to report, just a little update.

25 things about me

I have been seeing a lot of these 25 things about me things lately. I figure I will give it a go and see if I can think of 25 interesting things-and tag...Amanda, Ali (even though she doesn't blog anymore), and anyone else that wants to do this.

1) I have lived in 3 different countries in my life and speak 3 languages (Italian and lived in Siena, Italy-Spanish and lived in Spain-and English)

2) My favorite season is winter and I LOVE the snow! I love to do any sport/activity in the snow and could watch snow fall for hours!

3) I am probably the most indecisive person you will ever meet and change my mind about big life decisions on a daily basis. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up and don't seem to have a career in mind that is, and has always been my "true passion"

4) I have to ask myself every day how I managed to find a guy as amazing as my husband. He is so supportive, understanding and loving. There are few women I know that are as comfortable with their person as I am with Nick and never, even for a second have to worry about their other half. Nick never wears his wedding ring and I have never been upset or frustrated by this.

5) A glass of wine with your friends is priceless!

6) I have had the same best friend since I was 2!

7) I have known I would marry the man that I married since freshman year in high school (1997), he just didn't know it until later (as in 2003).

8) When we were young, all 4 of my siblings and I shared a room- and for a short time, my 3 cousins came and lived with us and all 7 of us shared one room with three of us sleeping on one king sized bed.

9) I used to grind my teeth in my sleep so bad that if I slept in a room with other people, they would usually send me packing.

10) While I have trouble remembering many things (such as things that I studied in college) I can remember things from when I was very little (like ages 1-4) with uncanny accuracy.

11) When I was young, 20 years old seemed ancient-now that I am almost 26, I have to say-20 is pretty darn young!

12) I may be one of the slowest re-modelers in the world (we have been working on it for almost a year now and we still have to put up trim and do other small things like electrical) but at least progress has been made!

13) I don't have a favorite food or a favorite color and I hate it when people ask these questions. You will learn no more about me from asking this question than you knew before you asked.

14) McCall, ID is quite possibly the most amazing place on earth and will someday be known as home.

15) My goal is to make it to all 7 continents before I die.

16) My little sister is one of my heroes, she has always marched to her own beat, works extremely hard for everything, never judges, is really funny and makes me laugh til I cry frequently, and succeeds in all she does.

17) I have only broken one bone and only gotten one stitch in my life. The bone was my cuboid bone in my foot and the stitch was from the removal of a mole.

18) On a medical note, I have never been to the ER (for myself).

19) Family is so important to me, I would go to the ends of the earth for them and quit my dream job in a heartbeat if they needed me.

20) My dad is one of the most incredible individuals I know. He is the only person I know that was sent to war, went to Vietnam, had unthinkable experiences and decided to join the peace corps once he finished college to do something to help the world. Once he came back from the peace corps, he proceeded to have 4 kids, who he always put before himself, and still does.

21) My husband adores technology-I don't. There are several, very simple technology things that I don't know how to do. I have no idea how to set my phone to use T9 word when I text so I have to press each button a certain number of times to get my text to work (i.e. 3 taps on the 2 key to get a letter c), for this reason, I had text messaging and will probably call you rather than text you.

22) I am more comfortable in a loud and noisy house than one that is quiet-growing up with 4 siblings, there was always something going on and I have a hard time adjusting to quite life.

23) The natuzzi leather couches in our living room cost $450 on craigslist and would have cost about $4,000 new. I love craigslist but it has also turned me into somewhat of a cheap-o.

24) I dream in Spanish.

25) I am not a born accountant, nor do I have the personality for it or the business world in general-that said, I give my all to everything I try and strive to be great and everything I do.

26) For good measure-I am not, by nature, an organized or neat/tidy person-I envy Ali for her skills in the department. She has always been organized and tidy (when she potty trained, she never once wet the bed-I was not this perfect).

Wow, 25 was kinda hard!

Work on Saturday, AGAIN?!

Here we go, busy season-again! It seems that I was just writing this post not too long ago-but yes, as an accountant, I live busy season each year starting in January and ending around April.

Sometimes I wonder about this blog-its purpose and all. I sit and wonder, if I read this in the future, what would I want to know/remember? I was going through all Nick and my yearbooks tonight and in our 8th grade (yes, we knew each other in 8th grade) yearbook, there is an insert that says what was going on-big world events and current crazes. The biggest dance was the Macarena, caller id was getting popular (CALLER ID?!? are you serious?!? Am I THAT old?) and President Clinton was going into his second term in office. Reading these things made me wonder if I should maybe add in some current events things into my blogs-something to know and remember what was going on and what was big news during the time of the post. I will try to add these elements from now on-they can definitely be interesting down the road.

Big things of the moment-the economy is on everyone's minds. December 2008 marked a time when unemployment went up in all states. Many of the hospitals in Oregon cut pay for management positions and OHSU is cutting 1,000 jobs in the next few months. Even I have been affected by this economy-while I have not lost my job, pay freezes are fairly prevalent. Any government officials who are out there trying to say that things are looking rosey, economically speaking-are living a dream. For the regular, everyday person, life is becoming more and more expensive with a trip to the grocery store costing increasingly more-yet, wages stay frozen or are not rising with inflation-yes, this is gloomy-but a part of life in the US right now.

Nick has been working hard up in Hood River. He comes home and tells me about pump stations, setting vaults, altering a pipe truck and valves. I know that he does amazing things-I just don't always understand them.

I have been working A LOT! I have been out at clients for the past few weeks, doing audits, coming home and working for a bit from home. We will be starting saturdays as of tomorrow and I will definitely miss my full weekends. I have a hard time getting enough recoup time when we are working tons of hours during the week and then proceed to work one of our weekend days.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about teaching. I left the idea of teachng back in 2005 because of several reasons. I was affraid of getting in front of people and presenting lessons, I had a demanding job that at the time, I felt was worth leaving teaching for, and I had the dream of being something "more" something where I could make lots of money. I find that lately, I have been thinking about being a teacher more and more. I love helping people, I love teaching, I love the idea of having time off, I lots of time off! I, for one, love my time off. I love to travel, love to have time to myself, with my husband-of course! To do the things that we love to do!

Photos!

Nick and Neal (Jessica's boyfriend) playing apples to apples

Kenzie and Jessica laughing at something Amanda is acting out

Our chalkboard paint in the kitchen. Heidi did the New Year's art.

Kenzie and Amanda, setting the mood for New Years.

My wittle sister and I, aw my Mooshker!

She makes me feel short =(

The first snow at our house (Kenzie and Nick)

Nick being a meanie, throwing snow at me.

Hello Blog, it's me, Mckenzie

Blogging just doesn't seem to be working well for me right now. I love to read peoples blogs and I check on them pretty religiously, however, I don't seem to be keeping up with mine very well. And here's the thing about blogging. One: you forget all the cool things that you have been up to. Two: no one likes to read a gigantic summary-well at least I don't. I like the day to day. And three: you will lose your audience if you stop blogging with some regularity.

With that said. I have to get something off my chest. I am sure that Nick will keel over when he reads that I wrote about this on our blog, but for some reason, right now, it is a significant part of my (scratch that) our lives. I have the bug. I have the bug bad. Which bug do I have you might ask? The baby bug. I never thought I would be typing this. Yep, that's right folks, I have been bitten and bitten hard. Everywhere I turn, there are babies in the air. Babies being conceived, babies being born, babies being talked about being conceived. Is it just me or is everyone either pregnant or just had a baby? Even the blogs I read are packed full of babies. My work is packed full of babies. In the past 3 months, there have been 4 babies born and there are only like 40 people working in my office. And, of course, there is another one on the way. Poor Nick, I feel bad for the guy. All he wants to do is wait 3 to 5 years-but I can't seem to drop the subject. I even tell myself, "self, cut it out, stop bringing it up!" I mean, somehow the topic manages to creep its little way into practically every single conversation. And even poor Nick has noticed. The craziest thing is that I cannot explain my obsession. Is there a moment where the inner you clicks and it is like, now! There must be! Because I have to admit, when we got married and agreed to the whole, no babies for 3-5 years, it sounded great! I was all about it, waiting. I wanted to do so many things! And while my desire to do things has not completely vanished, this little maternal instinct has just invaded, yes invaded my life.

So here is the really strange part. My mother had her first at 26. Her mother had her first at 26. And her mother had her first at 26. Maybe it is a birthright or something. I don't know. But I have to tell you, I a) can't seem to let it go and b) can't seem to get Nick on my side about it. Ok, now I have gotten that off my chest. I am half tempted to erase this since if there are people at work that read this blog, I don't really want them reading this. Or for that matter, anyone. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the baby thing. "You have to wait...once you have kids, it's forever" or "Have them now, the older you get, the harder it gets" and on and on.

Nick and I have been back to work for a few weeks now. We went to Idaho for most of December and it was great. We pretty much snowboarded almost every single day. Our good friends Matt and Missie came out and spent christmas with us. They are awesome skiers and were kind enough to witness Nick and I fall down the mountain over and over. It takes a good friend to sacrifice a day of pure blissful powder to scoot down the bunny hill for half the day! Anyway, it is official, Nick and I have our sights on getting to McCall permanently one of these days. Living 8 miles from the lift and in the true beauty that is McCall is just too perfect to pass up.

We hosted our first "party" at our house. New Years in style, batman style! It was awesome!

Anyway, that's all my fingers have in them for the night. I just wanted to put something in the blog about what has been going on. Maybe I will start updating more frequently. And maybe, just maybe, I will get some pictures up.