September 2010, here we come!

Well nothing exciting has happened lately--everything has been going in slow motion I think.

ME: I have been getting pretty good hours with work the past few weeks, and things are looking good for an upgrade to serving. Then again, I have been feeling that way for the past year so I guess we'll just see. School starts on the 20th of this month. I have been pretty ready for that until the past couple weeks when my mind has just been so enveloped in decorating ideas for the new house (which should be ours officially in a few days!) Annnd I've been a little baby hungry but don't get your hopes up (or freak out if you're my mom), because we are still waiting until I'm done with school :) Plus, we have some friends that just had a baby/are pregnant, and Brady & Leah Harker are moving up here this week and they have an adorable baby that I can fill my hunger with. We're super excited to have another pair of friends to hang out with!

I decided to challenge myself a few weeks ago and play a solo piece in sacrament meeting. I basically stopped playing piano the year I graduated high school and didn't really even touch a piano until I moved here to Wenatchee. I have the calling of Primary Pianist right now, which is a lot harder than people think! Especially for someone who hasn't played the piano in about 4 years! I'm nervous for the primary program in a few weeks, even though everyone is focused on the cute little kids and don't care about the piano, haha. It's getting better for me though, and I've been playing a little more at home lately, so maybe I can start teaching my niece finally (I told her last year that I would start)!

A couple weeks ago one of my best friends/old roommates, Mandi, and her husband visited her family in Spokane. I hadn't seen her in over a year so I decided to take a little drive to go see them! It was so great to catch up and to visit her sweet family as well. AND she is officially preggo! So happy for them! :) And it just so happens that our other best friend/old roomie, Michelle, is also preggo again! She already has one stinkin' cute kid, can't wait to see the little babies!

LANE: He's been doing really well with his job. He's basically at the top of his game and impressing his boss we'd like to think. Things are going great for him. If this summer has been any kind of foreshadow of what this winter will be like then he will be one busy man and will for sure need to hire some backup for his area. Other than work, he has been busy keeping the ball rolling with the house and also has his mind enveloped in ideas (and more of the money aspects like usual).

Football Season is starting--joy! Fantasy Football has started him off! I actually prefer football over basketball, however there are just way too many college teams to follow. But there will be more room and a lot of projects in the new house that will help me avoid watching it all.

TREVOR: Oh yeah, he's here too! He's finally getting a little busy with work. The orchards have been a little backed up this year so he didn't get to start working right away like we had thought. He attends institute on Tuesday nights and the rest of his time he is bored, texting, and eating Taco Bell. Hopefully he can make some more friends (the ones he did make left for college). Either that or he'll just be too busy with work and reading his scriptures ;) that he will have no time for anything but sleep. haha

Backstreet's Back..Alright!

Remember these boys?

Well of course you do! It's only been a decade or so...

Well they came here of all places!

I remember doing extra chores so that I could get this...

...and plug it into my little karaoke cassette player and jump on my bed singing and dancing to my little crushes (minus Kevin--who is no longer in the band). So of course we had to get tickets! So I went with the only 3 boys that went (jk), half expecting the show to be a ridiculous attempt by 4 fat/bald old guys to try to once again win the hearts of thousands of screaming girls--25 year olds who know every single word to every single song, and 13 year olds who try pretending they know all the words and later go make up some story to their friends that they touched Nick Carter's hand.

It was actually a really great show! They did awesome, still look pretty good, and even though they have quite a few moves worth making fun of, they moved the whole time and sounded great!

House

Speaking of trying to buy a house, if you haven't seen it yet I have created a blog all about it! So hopefully we officially get it because I'll have to just delete the blog if not. haha.

http://ourhomeevolution.blogspot.com/

Updates on the house will be posted there--if we close then the blog will go on with pictures of renovations which we are SO excited about! And then we will have plenty of room for anyone to come visit! :)

Homeward Bound

While Trevor was busy working and saying bye to his friends, I had a couple dates with Devin and my parents. Devin and I rode go-karts at Sunsplash, had some ice cream, drove around and went to the mall. Trevor joined us for a lunch at Panda (yummy double-orange chicken), went bowling with my parents, saw Eclipse and Toy Story3, went to Sunsplash waterslides with both the boys, and I did a bunch of laying out in the pool to get my tan on. It was a very relaxing and sunnytime in Cali! To end my trip we went to the California State Fair.

At the fair we had our delicious corndogs that we always crave, the boys got hypnotized (well I guess just Trevor--Dad and Devin faked it), we walked around, ate some more, and then watched the Fab Four (a Beatles cover band). It was so fun to hang out with the family at the fair like old times (minus Britt). We ended our night by going on some crazy ride that stirred up all the junk in my stomach that I ate, resulting in puking from the carnival rides. I was therefore not looking forward to the 14 hour drive ahead of me and Trevor!

We made it though! And now Trevor is our new roommate!

He has adapted pretty well already too...He has painted a shed for Popo, gone to institute and made himself a few friends, met all Lane's family, looked at the house we're trying to buy, joined our softball team, ran out of money, and we have played out on the river a few times! Good to have family near by! :)

He'll be starting work on Tuesday so then he'll be busy and making money.

San Francisco with my mama

              

While my dad and brothers went on their campout, my mom and I retreated to San Francisco. We tried this Thai place (my second time ever) and tried things that we thought sounded normal, but had a few laughs when the food was placed in front of us--and eating it. She treated me to WICKED!! So now I have officially, and finally seen it....and it was as incredible as everyone has been saying! I could see it over and over! Thanks mom!

We stayed in a nice hotel (compliments of Alona's discount) and enjoyed a day at the SF Zoo as well. My mom asked what I wanted to do, and I hadn't been to the zoo in years so that was my vote! We were entertained by an adorable gorilla that kept sticking it's tongue out at us, and a giraffe that was trying so so hard to reach a leaf and just couldn't do it. It was a little bit nippy that day also, so we enjoyed nice, hot clam chowder in breadbowls since we didn't get them at Peir39.

July 4th 2010

4th of July wasn't too exciting this year. We basically just went to church--great testimonies were shared about our freedoms and the gospel--came home and had brunch to break our fast with Blake& Kim, their kids, and a couple other families from church. Then later on we went up to Lane's uncle Phil's house for a bbq and fireworks with the fam. He has a beautiful view of Wenatchee so we lit our own little fireworks and then watched the big firework display in town from his deck. It was a relaxing and fattening day!

The toil and aggrivation paid off...

I have been getting my hopes up and being denied over and over with my college education. To sum up, I was put on academic probation at BYU-Idaho, pushing my two-year degree to about 3yrs. Then when I received my AA from there, CWU didn't recognize it as a degree because it was from a "private school" in another state. So with lack of motivation and a few thousand bucks I took 30 random credits to receive a second AA from Wenatchee Valley College so that I could get into the program at CWU. Keep in mind, this program starts only every 2 years, accepting only 25 people from Wenatchee..which brings me to this past week. I needed to retain a 3.0gpa from my last 45 credits. They posted the grades this week, and I had a 3.05 from Wenatchee! I did it! (or so I thought). I strategically planned my 30 credits so that I would be done, meeting all the class requirements for the program. I had taken a math class at BYUI that is labeled the same as the one at Wenatchee, but the curriculum was slightly off. Central's required math class from Wenatchee didn't match up with BYUI, so I received an email saying that I did not take the math class and I wouldn't be able to get into the program. I made sure before I signed up for classes that I would not need to take this math class, otherwise why wouldn't I have taken it? sheesh! I quickly deleted my status on Facebook that said that I was in. Well my sweet husband who saw how frustrated and stressed I was told me everything would be fine, and that we would sue if they didn't clear it. We went in the next day to figure it out and "Oh, this kind of thing happens all the time...we will be able to clear it." (This was basically the outcome of meeting with a few counselors). SO...I guess I'm in finally!

I would like to thank my husband for basically doing everything to help me continue my education. I have wanted to give up so many times. I am now ready for the next 6 quarters to receive my teaching degree! I could not have done it with out Lane, and I am grateful to have him as my support. It will hopefully only have taken me 6 years to get my Bachelor's (I guess 5, not counting the one I was out of school for). But I can say now that I have two Associate's degrees, and I am an Elementary Education major. :)

PS. I have also qualified for a couple grants that will pay for my school basically in full, which definitely makes up for the random 30 credits I had to take. Talk about being blessed!