Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Life With Rock Band 2




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Monday, December 29, 2008

Life With a Very Merry Christmas

Despite all of the snow we had for Christmas this year we got to do almost everything and everything was fun!

On Christmas Eve I had to work until 2 and most of the morning we all were out shoveling the parking lot of all the snow! After work Ray picked me up and we went over to my parent's house for dinner with the family! My dad got the wii fit for their wedding anniversary so everyone was enjoying playing that! My mom mad ham and scalloped potatoes AND a roast with mashed potatoes! She was a busy lady! Grandpa definitely gave Max lots of scraps of meat!! We had planned on going to the Christmas Eve service after dinner but it was cancelled due to the snow. So we just went back home and tried to watch 'A Wonderful Life' but we were so tired we couldn't stay awake for the whole movie!

On Christmas morning I woke up at 6:00am with HORRIBLE heartburn! So I ate some tums and tried to feel a little better. After feeding Max, Ray and I sat down and did our stockings and presents. I video taped Max getting his stocking since he sticks his head inside to get stuff out. This year he was having issues with getting stuff out so Daddy had to help. Ray had the super big 3 ft tall stocking this year since he wanted T-shirts & socks and I didn't want to wrap anymore! :) I got Ray a new Seahawks sweatshirt which he LOVES! He really needed one, the old one was getting so worn out. I also got him a new black Tatupu jersey and a Wii Fit! He had a pretty great Christmas! We actually had not planned on getting each other anything for Christmas since I got my new laptop and we got the new TV with sound system a few months ago but if I see something I know he will like I can't help it! :) Ray got me 2 necklaces and 2 sets of earrings! One is a pearl necklace with diamonds and matching earrings. He also got me a new set of diamond studs and a purple stone with diamonds necklace! He did a great job! :) I also got a lot of books! Yeah! I've already read 'Multiple Ble8sings' by Jon & Kate Gosselin and gave it to my mom to read. I am now reading Gordon Ramsay's biography! Love it so far! :)

After our Christmas morning we got ready and started making sure everything was clean since my parents, brother and grandparents were supposed to come over before going to Nancy's but since it was snowing so hard Nancy had us come over early. So we went over to Nancy's for the afternoon. There was soooo much more snow up at their house than at ours! The snow came up to the bottom of the door on Ray's truck! Good thing he has 4 wheel drive! Since my parents didn't come over we had our own little Christmas in the other room. My parents gave both Ray and I money to buy our Montana plane tickets in February. Ryan got us some more wii games and Grandma Byram gave us money and Grandma & Grandpa gave us a Red Lobster gift card. I picked out a great purse for my mom that she loved! We got my dad a rock, chocolate covered raisins and new shoes. My brother got a Seahawks t-shirt and Huskies basketball shorts and a large container of Jelly Beans. The Leuenberger kids got Rock Band 2 for Christmas so we all had fun with that! I got some great videos! :) We then all helped out getting ready for lunch...and there was a LOT to eat like always! :)











One of the clocks at my aunt's house was wrong and so we were late getting over to Ray's moms but they were ok with that. They had even more snow out in Duvall than Nancy had at her house up on the hill. They made a little trail up to their house through the yard so we could walk. We did stockings first from Mom and she got us some really great goodies! She got me a new Hippo ornament! It is a skiing hippo with fake eyelashes and all! :) She also got us these adorable homemade ornaments and the one of Ray and I made me cry! We got a lullaby bear for the baby that is super adorable! Shawna & Randy got us an Outback gift card, Ray a Best Buy gift card and me an itunes gift card. Shawna also got me a hippo ornament, a hippo in a teeny red bikini! Also has fake eyelashes! So cute! We got Ray's mom a 12 man jersey and she LOVED it! She even put it on later that night! We got Shawna a Christmas mermaid ornament and a canvas tote bag with a photo of her kissing Max and Zack, it made her cry! :) We got Randy some CD's, The Dark Knight and the old style Cougars calendar. It was a great Christmas for everyone! :) We had ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner! Yum yum!! We ended up staying the night since we were tired and didn't want to drive home in the snow. Ray, Max and I all shared a double bed but I slept pretty well. :)
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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Life With More Snow Photos!

Our 'us' picture in the snow!
Ray's truck had a snow drift in the back









Me and Max on a walk

Mine and Courtney's name in the snow

My snow angel










Making my snow angel

Courtney's snow angel














Courtney making her angel

Our snow angels!

Bird tracks
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Life With a Dying Christmas Tree


So I thought I should post a blog now about our Christmas tree since it is already dying. The edges of the branches are curling under and it's super dry. Ray did some googling on care for your Christmas tree and apparently we weren't supposed to put it next to our TV. Oops! Well at least it is still pretty! Hopefully we can find a good pre-lit tree on sale after Christmas this year and won't have to worry about a dying tree next year! We have lots and lots of presents under the tree! I can't wait for everyone to open their gifts! Our tree has always had a Seahawks theme, that hasn't changed this year! We get more Seahawks ornaments every year plus others so we may have to start having two trees for all the ornaments we have! We still have some in the Christmas box that we didn't put up! And we only have one string of green lights but every year we seem to forget to get another string! I also took some photos of my three favorite ornaments! My hippos! If you don't know me at all you wouldn't know that I love hippos! I love that Ray's family has found some of these beautiful ornaments! The newest hippo with the sparkles on his back is from Olga from when we went to our Wenatchee trip and stop-over in Leavenworth! Also the ornament we got while on our honeymoon for our 'Just Married' ornament! So that is our tree...I'm excited to see what it will look like next year with all of the Baby's First Christmas ornaments! :)
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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Life With Snow!






So the weather people here in Seattle have been calling for snow for about a week and it finally made it! And oh boy did it snow! The news has been on non-stop since 4am this morning! It is now 2:30pm! My car doesn't have 4 wheel drive and I don't have chains so I didn't even bother going into work. They closed all the major freeways at one point today. Ray went into work this morning but came home at lunch. He could barely make it out of the parking lot at work with 4 wheel drive on low so I don't know how my dad and brother will make it out of there! Holly's husband got stuck on the side of I-5 and had to get towed, he had to wait about 4 hours! Poor guy! When Ray got home we ate lunch and then took Max out for a walk. Didn't get too many pretty pictures since most everything around us is construction so not everything looks too great, but here a few of the ones we took! :)
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Life With A Possible Promotion!

So I found out today from Ben himself that he is definately moving. He is going to be leaving Mid-January to move back to D.C. Him and Nicole have already found an apartment over there so they are definatley moving. He is still looking for a job but she already has a new job. So now, I am hoping to finally get bumped up to manager. Ben gave me a few pointers on what to say when I was approached about the position. He knows they will be asking about what I'm planning on doing for maternity leave and what not so I really need to figure all of that out.

I do want the job because it will definately help out with bills and with having a new baby! I also want it because I have been here for over 2 years and I know this property better than anyone, I know the residents extremely well and I know the staff pretty well. There are definately some staff issues that will come up but I know I can work through those.

I also don't want to get my hopes up again since I have already been passed over twice for promotions. I have been told though by 2 people that I am definately being considered this time, other than the last time I was passed over. Apparently Tiffany was talking a lot and not just about everyone else, me included so now that I have proven to them that those things aren't true I'm hoping they will give me the chance that I deserve. :)

Please keep me in your prayers during this time of possible transition and stress!
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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Life With My 1st Thanksgiving! (well at my house)

Ray and I hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner in our new home this year! I was super excited and nervous to make a turkey for the first time! I made the turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake. Shawna made the candied yams and Rhonda made the green bean casserole and brought rolls. It was a wonderful dinner and it was great having it at our own home! I was still nervous the whole time the turkey was in the oven that it would be too dry or not seasoned enough but it turned out AMAZING!! The meat was soooooo moist! You could just see the juiceyness while Randy was carving and oh it just melted in your mouth!! My stuffing was also perfect! The mashed potatoes were perfect like always! :) Shawna's yams were absolutely delish! I didn't have green bean casserole, it makes me gag so I can't report on that one for you! ;-) I had some sparkling cider with my dinner while everyone else had wine or beer. Don't I look super homey stuffing my turkey? I hope you all had a wonderful Turkey day as well!

This year we were very thankful for the baby! What a miracle!



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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Life With Amazing Nachos


November 22nd was the 101st Annual Apple Cup! We had a wonderful day cheering on the victorious Cougars! We all made a little something to share and I made these nachos! Oh my goodness they were A-MAZ-ING! I did a layer of chips, nacho cheese dip, beans & taco beef then another layer of the same and then topped them off with tomatoes, avacado, sour cream & green onions! They were even good as left overs later that night when we got home! Below is the table of all the food we had for just the 5 of us...and of course we had a ton of leftovers like usual!

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Life With 2 Positive Tests!

Yes friends...it is official! Ray and I are going to be parents!!!! As you know I had been going to the doctor and was on some pills. Well I took the provera which is for 10 days and by day 20 I still hadn't gotten my period so I called my doctor on Friday the 21st. I made an appointment for Tuesday and when I was talking with the nurse she asked if I had taken a pregnancy test I said no. I was kinda caught off guard since I hadn't been ovulating when I had gotten my blood done, I just never thought I wasn't ovulating due to being pregnant! So I took the first test Friday night and was shocked when it was positive and so I went out on Sat morning and bought another one! God is amazing! I went to the dr. on Tuesday and I got my first ultrasound! It was amazing to see the little tiny thing growing inside of me! I am 6 weeks and I am due July 22nd! If it is a boy his name will be Brandon Ray and a girl Elizabeth Anne! We are so blessed and it was truly a Thanksgiving to be thankful! We bought the first baby outfit last week that came with a matching blanket. Then the photo is of Ray and I on Saturday for Apple Cup! The Cougars winning was an extra special bonus to the day as well! I can't wait to share photos of my growing belly with everyone! (I can only fit into one pair of my jeans!!!)


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Life With Gas Under $2!!!

So I am so extremeley happy about gas prices! It has been wonderful watching the gas station across the street from the property fall daily! I came to work this morning and it was $2.03 and when I left for lunch it was $1.99!!! It also makes me super excited because it is also making plane tickets cheaper as well! So far the price to fly to Montana is $50 less each way per person! I really hope it gets down to $100 each eay, that would be great for our trip!
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Life in Long Beach

Ok so this blog is kinda a mess because of all the pictures so sorry about it not looking so great. I always have issues with the photos so if someone has a trick that makes it easier to move photos around I would appreciate it! :) So the first few photos are of our room. It is a WorldMark Resort and it was brand new as of August this year. Kim and Jason gave us this trip as a wedding present and we got to spend the weekend with Jason and Marlis. It was a one bedroom unit with a full kitchen and a patio with a BBQ. Extremely nice! The lamps were pretty cool and I loved that extra detail in the room for the beach theme!












This was a view from our balcony of the beach!











On Friday we went Horseback Riding first thing in the morning for a 2 hour beach ride. Jason was pretty mad at me since I made the reservation and he had a bad experience and wasn't too excited about having to go. Ray also had never been on a horse before so it was a new experience for him. Marlis was raised with horses so she was a natural on her horse! I had ridden a few times but it had been a long time. I was quite proud of the boys and myself for how well we did on the ride! I let mine run a little ways which the worst part was having my boobs fly all over the place. They were already super sore from all the hormones I'm on so that didn't feel good! Ray did a really good job for it being his first time. The funny part was at one point I was way ahead of them and I head the other girl in our group scream and all the horses started galloping. I found out from Ray later that his horse was the one that started everything because he started bucking and going crazy. Our guide told him that his horse was kind of retarded too...how sad! Jason did really well even though he had a horse that HATED having another horse near him. As soon as a horse would come up to pass him his would put his ears back immediately or start running away. We were soooo sore after the horse ride that we could barely walk! It was a very beautiful ride all the way down the beach!

After that Ray and I walked around town for a bit and bought our licenses for the clamming that night, along with a clam gun and buckets. We had lunch at Castaway's and it was pretty good. I had a clam chowder bread bowl and Ray had fish and chips. The clam chowder was no Morris' in Cannon Beach but it was definately satisfying. So there is a store there in Long Beach called Marsh's Free Museum. They have this Alligator Man on all of their marketing stuff and all over the store. It's pretty funny. The store was kinda strange because there were stuffed animal heads everywhere and that freaks me out! We didn't really find anything that day but continued to walk around town a bit.

That night we had dinner in the room again to save some money and then we went clamming on Saturday night. The only problem is that we didn't find any clams so we were frustrated! We went home and watched some Youtube clips on clamming and so we knew exactly what to look for the next night. We then played Scene It Squabble and the girls won the 1st game and Jason couldn't let that happen so we played a short 2nd game and they won cuz we got stuck in the Honey Do section forever!

We had to check out of our room on Sunday since we only had 2 nights but stayed with Jason & Marlis on Sunday night since they had 3. There was a murphy bed in all the rooms so we slept on that. On Sunday we walked around town and did some shopping. We also found a hat store and another store that had a bunch of hats & glasses and had a ton of fun 'dressing up'! We bought a few presents while at Marsh's for my dad and Joan. I think they will love them! :) After walking around most of the day Marlis and I went to find a seafood market to find something for dinner. We drove to Ilwaco which was about 5 minutes South and found a good place to stop. We bought crab cakes, salmon and prawns. We made pasta with the salmon and prawns, had the crab cakes and salad and bread. It was a delish dinner! :) We mostly hung out after that and watched TV and the Sunday Night Football game until time to go clamming again.

We left around 8:00 and we went farther South down the beach in hopes we would find some clams this time. Well first we got stuck in the sand and they all had to go out and push the car while I gunned it and drove to the hard sand. We searched and searched and searched for some holes but found nothing again! I was extremely frustrated! We had even bought a lamp at the store earlier to see better and that didn't work well! Just annoying that we couldn't find anything! Then when we got back to the hotel we were getting in the elevator and these 2 women came up with tons and tons of clams and we were talkign to them about how they found so many and we hadn't found any! Well, maybe next year! :)

When we got back Marlis and I went down to the hot tub while the guys played pool. It was so relaxing and it felt great on our sore muscles from the horse back riding. We were all pretty tired when we got home so we lounged until we all went to bed.

We headed out on Monday after we had cleaned up and did all the dishes. It was another long ride home and some winding roads so it was nice once we got back to I-5! I can't wait to go back again! It was a great weekend and I enjoyed spending the time with Jason & Marlis!

*again sorry about the post not being organized, the pictures are driving me crazy!*
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