Life With a Trip Over the Mountains

So Olga's birthday was on Wednesday and she said all she wanted to do was drive over to Wenatchee for a Sonic Cheeseburger! (This is partly where I got my obsession with Sonic, the other part was the first time I had it with Julie P) It has been a pretty rough week for her so it was a much needed break. So Olga & Jordan came and picked me up around 11 today and we took the drive over to Wenatchee!

We got to Sonic a little after 1:00pm and oh boy were we ready for the food! The first order we placed was all food and Jordan's M&M Sonic Blast. I had the Bacon Cheeseburger Toaster with fries. Olga had the #2 with fries and we also shared Onion Rings. Jordan had a cheeseburger, popcorn chicken and his ice cream. The first order was $28!!! Oh my goodness that is crazy talk! Then Jordan wanted a Cherry Coke so we ordered him the Route 44 size. This is the bag that our food came in! There were three regular to go bags inside this large shopping bag! Then after that Olga and I wanted a dessert so we both got a Cream Slush...I had Watermelon and she had Blue Coconut.

So we were very satisfied...maybe stuffed is more like it. On the drive back there were a lot of pretty trees but not really space to pull over so I stuck my hands with the camera out of the sun roof and got some pretty cool photos that way. I think they look pretty good. :)




We decided on the way back to go to Leavenworth since it was only 5 miles out of the way. Jordan was tired so he napped in the car while Olga and I walked around the shops. We saw lots of cute stuff but didn't buy anything until we got to Kris Kringl. We found a great wine shop that has the red headed wine but they didn't have one that I could buy...whatever. Then we enjoyed the hat store a lot! We didn't take a ton of photos but it was definately fun to look around! When we finally found the Christmas store we were super excited. I found a present for Randy for his bday and a Christmas present for Shawna. Then I found a sparkly hippo ornament with diamonds (not real) along his back and it was so cute and Olga got it for me for Christmas. :)

It was a long drive back since it started raining right as we were coming over Snoqualmie pass and it now gets dark at 4:30 which is when we were leaving Leavenworth. It was a very fun day and I truly enjoyed myself and the time to catch up with Olga!

Life at Dell.com Update

So Ray called Dell on Monday and talked to someone in India. He said this person basically read from a script and didn't answer a single question of his. All they told him was that they sent him a letter and to call back after he received that letter. They wouldn't tell him anything else over the phone. How retarded is that?? Well then we get the letter on Monday night and all it says was that they tried to contact us and didn't get through so they needed us to call them. That was it, that was all it said. And Ray remembers getting a message on his cell phone but it didn't say who it was from it just said to call them. So anyway, Ray called them back on Tuesday and finally got to talk with someone in the US! So the guy said they had the account on hold because they wanted to make sure it was us ordering the stuff since we had just placed an order. Which ok, that is nice that they are making sure it isn't fraud but it was still such a hassel! So then once Ray confirmed his identity the guy said they would resubmit the order for the computer today. Well it still wasn't showing up so I called myself and got transferred until I got to speak with Joel who helped me resubmit my order. He even talked me into an extra battery for traveling. :) So finally, we have everything taken care of. Our account is still there and we got the order placed but it really was horrible that it took 5 phone calls to get this resolved!

Life With Fertility Drugs

So after taking Provera for a few days to get my period started I went to get my blood drawn on the 3rd, 14th & 21st days of my cycle. My blood showed that I wasn't ovulating. So I went back to the doctor today and I am now on Provera again to get my period, Clomid to make me ovulate and Metformin which is a diabetic med but helps Clomid work better. I am also taking Prenatal vitamins since my doctor told me to start taking them. So many medications! So I read up on Clomid and it is the most popular fertility drug with doctors. It has been around for years. It said that 60%-80% of women who take Clomin get pregant in the first 3 cycles. That definately made me feel better on what I'm taking. The one thing that won't be fun in the mean time I'm going to be pretty nauseous. So once I start my period I take Clomid for 5 days and get my blood drawn on day 14 & 21 to see if I'm ovulating. If I don't ovulate they up the dose. If after 6 months I don't get pregnant the doctor will send me to a fertility doctor to see why it isn't working. So that is what is going on with me at the moment. Please pray that the drugs will work and we can get pregnant!

Life at Dell.com

So recently Ray and I purchased a new TV with a stereo system from Dell.com, they were having a great sale! We had $3,000 available on our account since we had paid off the laptop so we decided that it will be our Christmas present to each other. We got the TV and stereo and we love it! (I'm watching it right now.) So then last week we still had $1,900 available and I need a new computer. Taking this laptop with me to work everyday is very hard. This is a 17" screen and is extremely heavy and hard to lug around. Also, we could not even use it on the plane because it was too large. So since Dell was having a big sale on laptops I built a new one. It was a 15" and is about 3 pounds! When I purchased the computer our account said that we now have $1,100 available. Well last week I went online to check the status of the order and it said our account had $0 credit limit, $0 available & $0 balance. Well I would love to keep that $0 balance but I don't understand why it suddenly says we have no money available! So I went online last night again to check the status and it said the order had been cancelled due to our financing not being approved. This really doesn't make any sense to me at all! How did we buy the TV if we didn't have an account? But we do have an account! We have had this account for over 2 years! Well since the website wasn't working I tried calling and the financial department couldn't find our account. I tried by the account number and by the social and they said they couldn't find it. So then this morning I called Dell.com customer service, and of course talked to someone in India I'm sure. Well she couldn't tell me anything other than the fact that yes my order had been cancelled. So tomorrow Ray will have to call the financial dept to find out why we have no account anymore. And how was our financing denied when we've had this account for so long? So needless to say if they don't fix this tomorrow when Ray calls them Dell will be losing us as customers and hopefully anyone else that is reading this. I'll keep you updated. :)

Life With New & Fresh Bedding

So Linens 'N Things has had a 'going out of business' sale since the beginning of October. We found a new bedding set that we loved but didn't want to pay full price for it. We also were wondering if we should buy a Queen or a King size since we are planning on a getting a new bed with our tax refund. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a Queen size set when we will be getting a new bed in a few months. Well we finally decided it was smarter to buy the King. So just about once a week I would go over to LNT to see what the new discount was. I almost bought it when it was 30% but I decided to wait a little longer. Well I went in last week and it was 50%! So I called Ray and he told me to buy it! :) I was so excited! I spent today washing all the sheets and pillowcases. Then we went to Costco and got new King size pillows! Does anyone know where to buy some pillows for a 'Euro Sham'? LNT had no pillows left and Costco only had regular ones. I love it so much! We had been looking for the perfect brown & blue set and now we can get the rest of the room together to match! We need paint, curtains and a bed and a dresser! :)

Life With an Important Election and No Idea Who to Vote For!

So I know the election is only 10 days away but I still don't know who I am voting for. I was raised and had always voted republican.

I still and always will respect our President since he has the most important job in our country but there are a lot of things that have happened in the last 4/8 years that have made not just me but most of the country upset. I know I want change for this country but who will be better in their position? Who is more trustworthy in their statements of what they will do in certain issues? Should I bend the other way or stay where I was planted? (these photos are not purposefully different sizes, they just came out that way so don't think I'm being biased and just saying I don't know who to vote for)

I am so not a political person...I don't understand a lot of political stuff either. I feel like this election is stressing me out way more than it should. It is such an amazing thing though that we will be making history whichever way this goes.

Again, I got excited over gas prices today. When I came to work this morning the 76 across the street was $2.99. When I left for lunch at 1:00 it was $2.89! I like this trend and I wish it would continue!

Also, I just bought some adorable baby onesies and maternity shirts at cafepress.com for Jess and I recommend that site to anyone and everyone! They have some of the greatest t-shirts on there and you can make your own! :)

Life With Updates & Gas Prices

So I was out getting my car washed today and when I pulled into the gas station I just had to take a photo of the gas prices! Thank goodness the prices are now below $3!! So exciting! This gas station is on one corner with an Arco across the street that is still over $3 and Sam's across the other street at $2.87!! YIPPPIEEEE!!!!! No more $70 fill ups!

I have been super sick the last few days. I dragged myself into work on Saturday in hopes to make it to Jayme's going away party that night but I couldn't do it. I went home and went right to bed that night. Got up to take some more medicine and then went back to bed. Sunday & Monday are my normal days off so I didn't miss work. I slept most of the day and had a fever on Sunday. I stayed home again on Tuesday because it was still hard to breathe and my sinuses hurt so bad! I'm back to work today and doing better but still stuffed up.

My dad went back to the doctor last Friday and he checked out ok. He also went to the nuerologist (sp?) on Monday and he gave him the ok to drive! That makes it much easier on my parents that he won't need to get a ride or take the bus. I'm just glad he is ok. I also pray that he learns he needs to eat!

My grandma had a stroke in her sleep about a week ago. She came over here to get some tests done and stayed the night at my parent's on Friday night. She has been kinda spacey after the fact but my mom said she seemed to be doing better yesterday. My mom is driving over there on Thursday to spend the night with her since my aunt that lives over there is out of town. Kinda scary that my Grandma isn't doing well.

I'm looking forward to our weekend trip to Long Beach with Jason & Marlis coming up in Mid-November! I'm hoping that we can go horse back riding on the beach! :)

I started last week controlling my portions and not drinking soda or coffee anymore and I have aldready lost 4 pounds! Little steps lead to big steps! I'm still doing water aerobics on Monday & Wednesday and even planning on joining Curves when they have the Food Drive event. :) It may be a slow process but one that I think I am ready for!

Life With Baby Christian & A Trip to Montana

So I just got back from a short trip to Billings to meet baby Christian! Sarah & Pete & big sis Kloey welcomed Christian into the world on September 24th. He was 2 1/2 weeks while I was in Montana and I so enjoyed having that time with a little babe! He is a pretty good boy, he definately slept a lot. He really loves being held and loves being rocked. Even that new baby cry was adorable and something I loved to hear!

It snowed a few days before I came and snowed all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday! It was beautiful! I didn't get very many photos of the snow because they plowed before I got out on Sunday morning and it wasn't as pretty. It was great fun with the snow falling outside though! I loved it!

I got there on Saturday afternoon and Vickie & Kevin picked me up at the teeny tiny airport! We went straight over to Sarah's house. I got to hold baby Christian right away and I loved it! He is a total cuddler! We got lunch at a little burger place in town and got two pounds of fries...we didn't even come close to eating all of them! :) Kloey & Alicia were playing in the snow most of the day. For dinner that night we had pork chops, potatoes, corn & salad at Sarah's and just hung out and all took turns holding the babe! :)

On Sunday Jess, Steve and I made a bunch of yummy snacks and watched football. We made a Target run as well and I got some really cute clothes for Christian & Isaac. That night we went over to Sarah's again and brought chicken lasanga with us for dinner.

On Monday we all went to breakfast at Stella's and I had the Monster Cake, I should've taken a photo of it! It was a pancake as big as the plate...I couldn't eat it all. After breakfast we hung out at home for a bit then made a run to DQ for blizzards and a quick Target run where I bought more clothes for Christian & Isaac. We then took Vickie & Kevin to the airport. After that Jess & I went to see Nights in Rodanthe together and it was a good movie. It wasn't as good as The Notebook but I enjoyed it. Steve had dinner waiting for us when he picked us up from the theater and he had made fried rice and beef & broccoli. It was delish!

On Tuesday Jess & I took our time getting ready and then headed to Kohl's (where of course I bought more clothes for the babes and hippos for both the boys!) and then to an old fashioned candy store where I bought some amazing raspberry swirled fudge! We got Subway for lunch and enjoyed a lazy day at Sarah's before I had to go to the airport. I wasn't ready to go home at all, I wanted to take Christian with me! I look forward to having Jess & Steve move back here in about 6 months with a new babe, my godson! :)

Jess' belly is getting bigger! She is 6 months along and Isaac is getting big! :) I'm super excited to be going back in February when she gives birth, and bringing Ray along this time! He didn't get to come this time because it was too expensive for us to both fly now and again in February. The amazing news we got while there was that Steve & Jess want Ray & I to be Isaac's godparents! I am so excited about that! What an honor! I've been spoiling him so much already and he isn't even born yet! I bought a bunch of Seahawk stuff that I took with me and we went shopping a couple of times while I was there! :)

On Saturday night I did get a phone call from my dad that made me start crying. I guess he hasn't been feeling well and has had a cold for a while. Well if you know my dad you know he isn't the best at remembering to eat during the day or drink any fluids. I used to take him glasses of water when we worked together but now I may have to make Ray start doing that since I'm not there anymore. Well he also refs jr. football every Saturday for about 8 hours. On this last Saturday he got up and took a bunch of cold medicine after not getting enough sleep all week and of course not eating with the medicine. He fainted after the first game and had a seizure. By the time he woke up the paramedics were over him ready to take him to the hospital which he tried to refuse. Thank God that some members from the church were at the game and called my mom. He did end up going to the hospital and the dr gave him a cat scan and took his blood. It looks like everything is ok, that it was just a combination of the medicine, being worn down and not eating and drinking enough. So I was very happy to hear that he is ok, I just got really scared when he left me that message. With having a seizure you are not supposed to drive for 6 months in case you have one while driving. It has been a little inconvenient for my mom and my brother to get my dad to work. He has also started riding the bus. He has a dr. appointment today and he was praying that the doc would give him the ok to drive again. I went over with Max yesterday to see him and see how he is doing. He enjoyed seeing the bug and he seems to be doing ok which is great. Just pray that he stays ok and that he remembers to eat and drink.

Life With a New Look!

Thanks to Karen who posted a blog about how Elaine helped her pretty up her blog, I also now have an adorable new background for my blog!

In other news I am excited to be in the air in 12 hours on my way to meet baby Christian and see my bestest and her baby bump! :) I can't wait to share photos with you all!

Life With Womanly Issues

Now to preface this blog I will warn you that I am talking about doctor's appointments and my body issues...just in case you don't care. :)

I was on birth control for years and I stopped taking it in January in hopes that we would get pregnant this year since it usually takes awhile for your body to get rid of all those hormones. Well everything was fine up until July. Now, I have NEVER, and I mean NEVER missed a period since the day I started at age 11. Well in July I was really late but it did finally come. Well then August came and went, and September came and went and no period. So I took two pregnancy tests a couple of weeks apart and nothing! I didn't have any pregnancy symptoms other than a missed period so that was frustrating. So of course both of the home tests came up negative.

I finally made a dr. appointment at Overlake OB/GYN in Bellevue. I had my appointment on Sept 22nd. They had me take another pregnancy test which of course was negative. Then they gave me Provera which is a pill that makes you have your period. It is a pill you take for 10 days (that makes you extremely nauseous and pumps you with hormones). The doc told me that if I don't get my period by day 13 to give them a call. Well I was going to call on day 14 to tell them I hadn't gotten my period but I woke up with a surprise...thank God! So now my body is making up for the fact that I didn't have a period for 2 months cuz I feel absolutely horrible! Every symptom you could have from your period I am now experiencing.

So to try and find out why I wasn't ovulating I am going to get my blood drawn on Day 3, Day 14 & Day 21 of my cycle. So tomorrow is my first day of getting my blood drawn and as soon as they receive the 3rd time they will call me and tell me what is going on with my body. I am praying that everything is ok and that we will still be able to have kids.

So speaking of kids, we just found out that Jessica will be having a baby boy and they are naming him Issac. :) I already bought him some adorable Seahawks stuff! :)

Also, I do have to say that after completing every troubleshooting tip for Internet Explorer not letting Blogger work, Ben was smart enough to download Mozilla Firefox onto my computer and I can now blog and comment from my laptop again! Thank you Ben!

Life With New Glasses!

So I finally made it to the eye doctor thanks to Holly! She was great in getting me in there to get my eyes checked since it had been about 4 years! I went last week and got my new prescription and some contacts! My left eye changed and just that little difference was amazing! I also ordered glasses that just came in and I picked up today. :) Holly even gave me 25% off! The glasses also come with magnetic shades so I no longer look like a nerd with sunglasses over my glasses! Now I just need to figure out how to load the photo from my phone! :)

Life With a Commute

So now that I get to drive to work every day I've been loving listening to Jackie & Bender on the radio! Oh how I've missed them. Although I haven't missed them enough to want to deal with traffic. It has been so long since I actually drove to work everday that I forgot how stupid some drivers are! I don't think I will ever understand traffic either. Especially when it gets backed up on I-90. This for sure doesn't make any sense...the point it starts to back up is from people getting on the freeway from Issaquah-Renton Road (900). This is the point on the freeway that the drivers getting onto I-90 get their own lane so there is no reason to merge at 5 mph! Well, there is no reason to merge at 5 mph ever but really? They have their own lane they could use. And really, why is it so hard to use an on-ramp? It is used to get on the freeway which means you need to speed up to match the speed of the drivers on the freeway. That doesn't mean you get on the freeway at 40 mph and make someone else slam on their brakes so you can cut them off. Grrrr!! So I have included one photo of my drive home the other night. So of course it was raining so that made traffic that much worse! And really...we live in Seattle, why do people forget how to drive when it rains??? Can anyone answer that question for me?

Life at Home

The entry/kitchen area
Our 'new' dining room table that matches everything perfectly!

Standing in the living room looking into the dining and kitchen.
Standing in kitchen looking into dining and living.
The bathroom, I love this blue!
I LOVE our new washer and dryer!
Our kitchen! Don't you feel like you have been there now? :)

Life With an Insane Dog & Pictures to Prove It

This first picture is of Max's kennel. He did this on Monday afternoon. Ray came home for lunch and left again at 12:40. So when Ray got home at 5:30 this is what he came home to. The black plastic was completed destroyed! This is pretty thick plastic that he tore through! Then once he got through the plastic, he tore a hole in the carpet. That is the next picture. This hole is in our living room right in front of the TV so it is very noticeable! GRRRRRRR








Now this other hole is right in front of our bedroom door. For some reason he felt the need to get into our bedroom on Thursday. There was nothing in there for him so I don't know why he did this one! Then a photo of him after I asked who was a bad boy...and I get that look.


So in addition to Max's terror I thought I would also share with you my new view. I had mentioned before we moved that I would miss the view we had of the valley. Well our view currently isn't the best. It will get better but until then...we listen to construction all day long. I had Friday off and I was woken up at 7:00am by the workers. So here is a photo of our great new view!

Life with a pyscho dog!

Sorry it has been so long again everyone. My laptop is having some issues with blogger. I've been trying for a couple of weeks to get on and the webpage comes up as saying I'm not connected to the internet. I've tried all of their troubleshooting and changing stuff on my internet options but it just won't work. I can't even leave a comment on anyone's page! So I have some time to kill before water aerobics tonight so I am writing at the office.

So first off, moving went great! I am so thankful my dad was able to come and help us because there is no way I would've been able to help Ray the way my dad did! I was already half dead just from what I was doing! We never realized how much stuff we did have! We filled an entire dumpster with junk and garbage that we just didn't want! It is definately hard to downsize but we're managing. We are pretty much splitting the room that we share with all of our stuff. Ray has all of his Seahawks stuff on one wall and I have all of my stuff on another wall. Ray painted the bathroom a bright blue to match the shower curtain, I LOVE it! He also painted a wall in the living room a dark tan color which looks great with all the black furniture we have! We just picked up our dining room table and chairs from the office yesterday and it looks perfect! It matches the kitchen cabinets and appliances perfectly! We have a few more boxes to go through and a lot more photos to hang but we're getting there! :)

Jess was here for almost two weeks at the end of August which was wonderful! I got my hair cut and we went to Happy Hour with the fam. We also got together for Seahawks/Raiders game and had a great drunken night, the night before moving! Then they came over on Saturday to see the new place with all the boxes in it. Then on Sunday we all went to the Spaghetti Factory! :) Yummy! I'm flying over there in October to see baby Christian and do some baby shopping with Jess. They find out on October 6th what they are having! :) I can't wait! Ray said he is only going to give me cash to go shopping, no debit or credit cards! (he knows me too well!)

Funny, my dad called me on Sunday, the day after moving in to wish Ray and I a happy 3 month anniversary! Funny because I didn't even think about it that morning until my dad said something. How sweet is that? I love him! So yeah, 3 months have gone by and we already bought a home! Now it is baby time! I have a doctor appointment on the 22nd so hopefully they will tell me that everything is good to go - hopefully nothing will be wrong! :)

I can't talk much about work right now since I'm not sure who all reads this but I'm hoping for some good news soon!

The entire (well most of) family got together to celebrate all of the August birthdays. I got to see Melissa and some of her photos from her trip to Uganda. She had a great time and some of the photos were amazing! I can't believe she did surgery and delivered babies! She knows she doesn't want to be an OB/GYN! We were hoping to have Kent & Breea there as well to see the baby but they had to leave that day so I missed seeing them. I of course have not seen Nancy at all or spoken with her at all. I texted Erica during the game on Sunday and never heard anything back. They weren't at the party since they were still at Moses Lake at the time.

So...Ray called me when he got home from work tonight to tell me that Max was a bad boy. We have been in our condo for one week and he already put a hole in the carpet - in the living room no less. You have no idea how mad I am at that dog! I swear he becomes possessed when we leave the house! He tore through the plastic that sits in the bottom of the kennel and then procedded to tear a hole in the carpet, thinking that would get him out of his kennel! I'm glad that I didn't come home to this otherwise Max would've been sent back to the shelter! Luckily, they gave us some extra carpet to match our unit so I'm going to have our carpet vendor here come out and do a patch job. I have no idea what to do with Max now though. He was fine when Ray came home at lunch but after that he went psycho! I'm scared of leaving him out and having him trying to get in a bedroom or getting locked in a bedroom like before. Or leaving him in the bathroom or kitchen and him tearing up the vinyl floor or the door frame. I seriously don't know what to do with him! I don't want him wandering around and deciding to pee on the carpet - so not ok!

So I think that is about it for now. I will try and get some photos soon. Everything isn't quite put away yet but I'm trying! :)

Life With Space Bags

So this blog is just for Ray. He thinks this will be a great subject for the blog! :)

So as we have been packing we decided to try out those space bags - the ones you vacuum all the air out of. And we have fell in love with them! These bags are incredible! We put 2 wool coats, 2 down vests, 2 regular jackets, 1 large down jacket, 5 winter sweaters, and one set of sheets in the following bag. Now normally we have those jackets taking up all the room in our hall closet, the sweaters were on the shelf in my closet and the sheets taking up room in the bedroom. So you can see how big this bag was before we sucked all the air out of it.

Now look at how small the bag is after we sucked all the air out with the vacuum! This is such an easy process and just amazing at the space it saves!

We have a total of 5 of them now, two of them are filled with just pillows since we have sooo many of them! We also put a large stack of blankets and sheets in one and jsut amazed that the space difference! I really truly recommend anyone buying these bags! They are incredible! They even have travel size bags so that you can have more room in your suitcase! Just borrow a vacuum from the hotel staff before you leave to repack for the way home! :) We will be keeping all the extra bedding in the bag under our bed until we get a bed in the 2nd bedroom!

Life As a Homeowner

So it is official! We signed all the closing papers today with the title company! How exciting is this?!?! We pick up keys on Monday and then it is all OURS!!! We have our own place! We can do whatever we want! We gain equity! So happy! So we are planning on big furniture move on Saturday the 30th. We are hopefully going to be able to bring some boxes over that whole week so we don't have much to do on Saturday. We are hopefully going to paint that week as well.

So the...wait OUR...condo is on the Issaquah Highlands. It is brand new, they are still finishing up the third building of units! There is a little strip mall across the street that has a wine bar, a mexican restaurant, coffee place, eye care clinic, Curves, salon...etc. They are also starting construction soon on a new school, a grocery store, a movie theater and they are working on a new hospital up there as well! I can't wait to start moving everything in and making it our own space!

The outside of the building

The living and dining room

The 2nd Bedroom

Life With A View!

Sorry I haven't been writing much this month. It has been pretty busy getting all the paperwork to get approved, packing, cleaning, working, etc...I did want to post something though about what I am going to miss about living here...and of course what I will not miss.

I will miss walking and/or driving the golf cart to work everyday.

I will miss the size of our apartment, the 3rd bedroom and the 2nd bathroom!

I will miss the fireplace.

I will miss the two car garage!

I will miss living near Holly & Leslie! They have both become my friends and I plan on keeping them as friends!

I will miss this amazing view we have! These are some shots I took of the sunset last night and tonight!

I will NOT miss having a crappy apartment that falls apart!

I will NOT miss feeling like I am at work 24 hours a day!

I will NOT miss throwing money away for rent...money that just goes straight back to the company I work for.

I will NOT miss residents knocking on my door for a work order.

I will NOT miss the freaking heat we have to live through in the summer!

I will NOT miss the view we have below...if you can't see through the tree, that is the playground. (yes I hear children playing there until after 11:00 at night!)

I look forward to posting about the new house soon! We are super excited to move into our OWN place! :)

Life With A Forever Best Friend!

So as I was starting to pack up all my pictures the other day I of course got distracted and starting look through old photo albums and notes and what not. So I wanted to share with everyone a little something from my friend Julie! I have known Julie since we were 5 years old...that is 20 years people! I know that we may not be as close now as we used to be when we were younger but I know that I will always have her as one of my best friends! She has a wonderful heart and is always there if I need cheering up! She offers wonderful advice and she never judges!

Here are some photos of us, not too many but some of my favorites that were up around the house! :)
One of us wearing the outfits that Julie made (!) at like 11 years old!

One of us when I was visiting Julie at school.

And then one of us at her parent's house right after she and Bobby got married! :)

Here is a picture that Julie drew on the back of a poem she wrote to me. She used to write me notes all the time and when I lived in Carnation I had a whole section of my wall devoted just to Julie's notes and pictures! So here is the poem that Julie wrote on the other side of the beautiful picture! :)


My Vow To You

I've known you for a long while,
And I would not change a thing.
Our friendship makes me smile,
Oh the happiness it does bring.

And now in our lives,
We're seeing toil and sorrow.
Not being there gives me hives,
I wish I could be there tomorrow.

I hope you know I'm there for you,
As I will be throughout the years.
Whatever it is you're going through,
I'll be there to dry your tears.

I may not always be standing there
But with you I will always be.
My tender heart will always care,
And you will always have me.


-Julie Solomon

Thank you Julie for always being such a wonderful friend to me! I no longer remember why I was seeing toil & sorrow but it still makes me smile to think of what a great person you are! I love you forever!

Life As Pre-Qualified!

Soooo...I wanted to post a little update about what is going on with us right now! It is pretty exciting! :)

Ray and I have been looking for a new place to live, we were looking at apartments, and we found one not too far from here that we applied for and got approved for! So that is awesome that we got approved! Well, the day after we applied for the apartment I got a direct mailer flyer in the mail for some brand new condos in Issaquah. So I told Ray about them and I called to ask about them. So they are doing an amazing special where you pay $500 earnest money and the mortgage company will pay the 3% down and all the closing costs. So Ray and I decided to go and take a look at these. We went out last Wednesday and got there right before they were closing for the night. So we took at a look at the two bedroom one bath model. AND WE LOVE IT!!!

We went home that night and filled out the form to get pre-qualified. We heard back on Thursday and we are pre-approved! We are going to the office tomorrow morning to talk with the sales manager and sign the sales contract and put our $500 down! We chose the biggest unit in the building! We are hopefully going to be able to see that unit tomorrow and we can take some photos then! All the appliances are black on black and extremely nice Maytag! There is front loader washer and dryer! We had a chose between a unit with a washer, dryer and fridge and no balcony or a unit with a balcony and no washer, dryer and fridge. We chose the one with no balcony. So no BBQ...but at least we have friends near by that we can BBQ with if we are in the mood!

So I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on with us and share in our excitement! :) Yippieee!!! Hopefully my next post will include some photos!

Life with a Tag from Holly!

Outside My Window...
the first window is Ben surfing on the web and the other window is looking into the empty lobby
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I am thinking...
about the condo we are going to look at tonight! about the new portion of the mall opening on Friday since everyone is talking about it. About how we need to rent one more apartment so that I get get free gas and larger comissions! About how I'm annoyed that I haven't been feeling well at all lately, I need to stop eating M&Ms!
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I am thankful for ...
my husband, my dog, my parents and my friends. For the new babies on the way for my bestests friends!
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From the kitchen ...
Memo from the floor: I feel gross.
Memo from the fridge: I'm so full!
Memo from the garbage disposal: I'm lonely!
Memo from the dishwasher: Thanks for buying paper plates!
Memo from the outlets: Let me breathe!
Memo from the cupboards: Where are you going to put all my insides when you move?
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I am wearing ...
my work uniform. White button up and black pants
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I am creating ...
hmmm...I don't think I'm creating anything at the moment
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I am going ...
to kill someone if this stupid stomach ache doesn't go away!
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I am reading ...
Nothing at the moment. I have to start going to the library cuz Ray says I spend too much money buying books that I read in a week.
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I am hoping ....
that we can get approved for a new home! That I find a new career that I enjoy. That we can get pregnant.
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I am hearing ...
Music, the fan and Courtney typing
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Around the house ...
I need to be cleaning and packing!
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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week ...
Looking at a condo tonight. Seeing Step Brothers on Sunday and dinner at Maggiano's on Sunday! :)
Tag, you're it!

Life in Billings Mt

We just had a wonderful road trip over to Billings Montana to visit my best friend Jessica and her husband Steve. I love Billings! I really hope to be moving there soon! We had a good drive, it was a 12 hours, and we got to have Sonic in Post Falls Idaho on our way there! YUMMY!! We leaft on July 3rd and got there around 5pm, just in time to help Jessica celebrate her birthday with a nice BBQ dinner. We also got to see Sarah and Kloey (Jess' sister and niece) and Sarah is pregnant and her belly is looking so cute!

On the 4th we hung out at the pool to cool off since it was over 100 degrees! We first had breakfast at the Cracker Barrell, it was delicious! I had some great country fried steak and eggs! Later that evening we went to Laurel, a town about 15 miles away, to watch "The Biggest Fireworks Show in the Northwest" or so it was called by the announcer. We took a lot of great photos during the day of everyone relaxing. Steve and Ray got a styrofoam cooler with Coor's Light...how ghetto! It was funny! I ate WAY too much that day as well! The firework show was pretty amazing! We got VIP tickets since they knew Dave, the morning show guy on the radio station. We were as close as you could get to the fireworks, which was amazing! I took so many photos that I had to delete a ton. The scary/funny thing though was that when we were watching the fireworks we all started to realize that the fireworks seemed to be getting closer and closer. Oh, they were. The tube had fallen over and some of them landed right in front of us! We all tried to scoot back as fast as we could with lots of screaming! There were two small fires as well. It was a good thing the show was put on by the local fireman, and that they were there to respond quickly! They had a great tribute to all the troops with candles in a part of the show which was great. Of course I cried during that. It was really special too to have Steve there for that part!

On the 5th Jess took us up to Red Lodge, a little town South of Billings. We stopped at a Drive-In that has 'Elvis Shakes' and over 24 flavors of soft serve ice cream. The food was great! Jess got the shake which was chocolate, peanut butter and banana...so good! I had Black Cherry soft serve...I LOVE soft serve! And Ray had a huckleberry shake. We walked around town and went in all the cute little shops! For dinner that night I made lasagna with salad and french bread. It was good but it wasn't my best...:( We then played Scene It Squabble, a game we got for a wedding present. It was a blast! I really recommend it! Come on over and play with us!

On the 6th we took the dogs to the park and let them run around and be crazy! :) We had Pepper (Sarah's dog) since she was going to be driving Kloey to camp all day. So we each had a dog and they had so much fun just being pups! Jess and Ray got eaten alive by mosquitos! When we got home I made a chocolate chip cheesecake. :) YUM! Then after Steve got off of work we drove around Billings, went to dinner and to see Hancock. Steve & Jess showed us all over Billings. It is a lot bigger than we had thought! There was a lot of nice neighborhoods we looked at and saw some great houses for sale! We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was so much food for not much money! Awesome! They have these great rolls with some cinnomon butter.....oh my! I had the ribs and they just fell right off the bone! I just picked up the end of a bone and it came up clean! AMAZING! It was a great movie! I don't usually like super hero movies but I love Will Smith and this one was hilarious!

On the 7th we drove and looked at a couple of houses that we were interested in. One of them as we were driving by the owner waved us on in and gave us a tour of the home! I really loved the house! It was a 4 bedroom 3 bath home with new carpet, roof and kitchen. It had a big fully fenced backyard, perfect for Max! A corner lot with a park directly across the street! All of this for only $239,900!! Can you imagine what that would cost in Washington?? We then went to the mall right near Jess & Steve's apartment. We had lunch at The Pickle Barrell, a small sandwich shop. We also had smoothies at a little place kinda like Emerald City Smoothie. That night for dinner we just ordered pizza and watched Vantage Point.

It was time to go home on the 8th and I sure didn't want to leave. It was so relaxing the whole trip and it felt like everyone in Billings was more friendly and relaxed then here in Renton. I felt bad for Jess since she had morning sickness while we were there. After watching her I don't look forward to that part of pregnancy! I can't wait to go back, I've already started applying for jobs over there!