It just flies by...

The summer went by so fast this year that I think I already forgot most of it. Jason had one summer class that he took that was over in about 3 weeks, he passed the class and now he is done with his generals and ready to start on the fun stuff. He started classes again on August 25 and so far he has been enjoying at least one of them. One of his teachers goes off on tangents which doesn’t allow him to really learn the materials he needs. Unfortunately he has this teacher for three of his classes and then the other class that this teacher isn’t involved in Jason is enjoying that one much more. He’s home a lot more right now because of his school schedule/work schedule. I get to see him in the evenings on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then he’s gone at work in the evenings on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It’s not fantastic but it’s not horrible either, he at least had yesterday (Sunday) off so it was nice being able to sit with him in church and hang out with him all day.

Every summer there are certain things that you would like to do like go on a picnic, visit historical sites, visit with family, go camping, play some wiffle ball, and go camping. I’d like to tell you that amazingly we did do some of these things. We went on a picnic for Labor Day, we packed up our stuff and headed to a local park and spread out the blanket and ate our delicious meal. However, it quickly turned too cold to be outside for too long so our picnic lasted about half an hour. We visited with family, my parents came out in July and then we went and visited Jason’s parents in September. Kevin and Nicole and Noah came out in August so it’s been fun to be able to see almost everyone (Jordan & Christina we’ll have to visit with you soon). The camping part didn’t happen this summer; we do have a tent but only one sleeping bag which we will have to remedy sometime in the future. We did go to the drive in theater which was a lot of fun; we’ve also gone to a Bee’s Baseball game. However, our most exciting thing we’ve been doing this summer is….preparing for our baby.

This summer we found out that we are expecting a baby. I had to take a couple of pregnancy tests in order to make sure that it was positive, however; a line is a line. During the first trimester I had nausea and everything but there was only one night where it got the best of me. I don’t know if I can look at French Dip Sandwiches the same way. There were foods I couldn’t bring myself to eat, anything with BBQ sauce, and foods that were just tempting like cookie dough. However, I’m proud to say that I have not succumbed to my cookie dough addiction. We are hoping that our baby boy will be healthy and strong and according to the ultrasounds he will be.

With a baby on the way we are trying to figure out how to accommodate all of our stuff and all of the baby’s stuff into a one bedroom apartment. We’ve tried to consolidate, Jason cleaned out all of the boxes I was saving for when we are going to move and took those down to the trash can in order to make more room for whatever we might need. We bought a new bookcase to try and get rid of the clutter behind the loveseat that I hope no one ever noticed. I can now fit all of my books into one place…until they start expanding again. Our latest adventure is trying to rearrange the bedroom to make room for a crib and changing table. We haven’t rearranged the room yet but I’m sure it will be coming soon, I’m getting too impatient. We went to Kid to Kid on Saturday to try and find something that we liked and we walked away with a changing table pad, our first purchase for the baby. Jason likes to wait for the sales or for January but I think I’ve talked him into finally buying a few things soon. We’ve been looking at crib/changing table combos to see if that would free up some more space in the bedroom. We have a dresser that isn’t in use that we could stick the changing pad on and then we can just get a crib. We’ll see what happens in the next few months. We’ve thought of moving several times but we can’t find anything within our budget that would allow me to feel safe while I am home alone. We'll see what happens.

My ever growing belly....

And my ever growing book collection.

Our new desk...

I think I've been telling Mom that I would post pictures of our new desk for about 2 weeks now and I kept forgetting about it. So, without further ado...here is our desk.

It's a little on the big side so we'll have to dismantle the top when we move but it has lots of storage and the white you see behind the monitor is actually white board so you can write on it with dry erase marker. Then the two white drawers on the left pull out to store paper and stuff and then storage shelves on the right. We also purchased these cool little magnetic holders that stick to the white board where we can put pens and pencils and headphones and stuff...One of the them is holding up the poster Jason stuck on there...I didn't take it down before taking the pictures because...well...I was lazy that morning.

I'll post another update this week...

Good Sirs and Ladies!

This weekend has been a lot of fun! Jason has had Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and today off so we've been able to enjoy each other's company. Thursday we went to the temple and out for ice cream afterwards. Friday we went to see Robin Hood in the theater. And the crowning glory was our day Saturday, we decided we wanted to go to a Renaissance Fair. We got a late start because we were up late playing a computer game that Jason found on the internet. So we headed out around 11:00..ish and planned on stopping off to get something for lunch, well Jason ended up wearing a little bit of it on his shorts so we had to stop off at Target to pick up some Tide-to-go and new shorts and a belt. And then we realized we were almost out of gas so we had to stop off and get that too. It's amazing what happens when you don't follow your wife's directions, I like to think I have a pretty good internal compass but I've come to find out it doesn't really work if you tell someone to turn after it's too late. We got lost, we lost sight of the freeway and instead of turning around to get on the freeway Jason wanted to keep going straight to follow the freeway on side streets, but we we eventually realized it wasn't the freeway. We ended up on Legacy Parkway but we didn't know that at the time, we thought we had passes our exit but alas we came across a sign that told us which way to I-15. We finally made it to our destination at Millcreek Hollow and I was glad that I wore my tennis shoes and that it was warm enough you didn't need a jacket. We got into the Renaissance Fair and started walking around, I was amazed how many people that weren't a part of it dressed up in full garb none the less. We saw Robin Hood, Three Musketeers, the Royal Family, Friars, Pirates, Italian Renaissance ladies, Gypsies, Peasants, Knights, Fairies (the pointy eared ones) and Elves...yes, I thought that one was odd too. They had a lot of shops for you to browse through with clever names, puppet shows, bands that played music from the time, magicians, pirate ships and shows, fire dancers, a food court (Yes, they did have turkey legs, $8 a leg) gypsy dancing, and best of all...jousting. And as usual Jason and I thought that there would be more shade than they offered and we hadn't even gotten our sunscreen out of the closet yet, so now we are suffering from our first burn of the year, I think Jason got it worst than I did. The one souvenir we decided to pick up were...foam swords, I won't let Jason have any real ones. After we saw the jousting tournament we decided it was time to leave and eat Mexican food. Today will just be a day to relax and hope the redness on these burns go away before tomorrow.

Jason in a fetching new hat, he wanted the silver shirt behind him too.

I realize now that this is the King and Queen coming towards us.

I ran into Captain Jack Sparrow.

My hoodlum...he looks too happy to be in there.

A pirate juggling swords

And jousting...

We're Very Much Alive

To all those who are wondering, we are still alive. The past couple of months haven't been too exciting with Jason in school and both of us working full times jobs. It's amazing that we are able to see each other during my lunch break almost every day and after he gets home from work. His classes are done for now but he has a summer class that will start May 17th, but it is only for a month. We paid off my car with our tax return, since mine had the least amount left. Now all of our leftover money will go towards Jason's car and then we will be debt free.

We've been debating with moving to a different apartment, one that has washer and dryer hook ups and a little bit more space. We looked at one called The Springs of Country Woods. It looks like it would fit our needs, especially if Jason might be transferred to the Midvale Famous Footwear store, it's right across the street. We'll see how the next couple of months go, we renewed our lease for three months which will keep us in this apartment at least until the end of July, it will be easier to move when Jason isn't in school. We'll keep you all posted!

In other news, tomorrow is Mother's Day so I just wanted to say Thank You to our Mom's, Grandma's, Aunts, Sisters, and Sisters-in-law and Friends (who are mothers) and we hope that you have a great day!

Super Bowl and the Sundance Kids

The past couple of weeks have been pretty exciting to say the least. We had the opportunity to attend the Sundance Film Festival, stand in lines at the DMV, make goodies for THE Super Bowl party, and spend lots of time together.

My boss at Express decided that she would give everyone a ticket to see a movie at Sundance and she’d also give us the day off as long as we didn’t take the same day off. We got tickets to see a movie called “The Dry Land” and so I got Thursday off, trying to match it up with Jason’s school schedule. We decided that we would try that morning to go to the DMV to finally get my name changed on my drivers license. It has taken so long because I work the same hours as the DMV and it’s impossible to get everything done before I start work at 8am. So we got down to the DMV on my day off at about 8am, license. So we had to turn around and head back to the apartment, after waiting in traffic for 15 minutes we made it back and luckily I knew where my passport was.. And we promptly turned back around and headed back to the DMV. This time they let me through and I figured that was a good sign. Since we were there to change my name I didn’t think that I would need to wait that long but no, we were sitting down waiting for our number to be called and finally after about an hour we got to talk to someone. During this time I was worried because our address had changed from the time before and I didn’t think I had anything valid in my wallet to say what our new address was. Luckily, the girl behind the counter took pity on me and accepted a letter I had from the Social Security office and the envelope mom sent our marriage certificate in as proof of address. We finally got out of there by about 10:20.

We decided we would go to IHOP that morning and that made up for all the standing around (Thanks Mom and Dad Poetschlag). Since we had all of our marriage certificate stuff we decided to go to our banks and get that situation straightened out. I think the only thing left I need to switch over is my passport but who knows how often we’ll be going out of the country in the next 7 years, so until then I’ll keep it as is.

That afternoon we headed out to Park City for the Film Festival, it was cold but a lot of fun. We walked up and down Main Street hoping to see a celebrity or two but I think everyone was so bundled up you couldn’t tell who they were. The movie we were scheduled to watch was called “The Dry Land” and I heard from others at work that saw it that they liked it, the only bad part we were told about was they show a slaughtering of a cow, they actually show it and it’s quite gruesome. The movie was…umm…interesting. It’s about an Afghanistan Vet who comes home and it’s about the post traumatic stress he experiences. The movie also contains lots of “F” words, rape, sex, and female and male nudity. As you can tell according to Hollywood those make a great movie and apparently the audience we were with didn’t have any issues with it. Jason and I pretty much kept our focus on the people in front of us rather then on the movie at some parts. Oh well, the best part was the Q&A session at the end of the movie where the director and some of the actors get up on the stage and answer some of your questions. Overall, the experience was good the movie not so much.

We decided that we would hang out with Daniel and Kali and their family for the Super Bowl this year and with that we wanted to bring some treats. After debating for a bit we came up with Sugar Cookies (Football shaped) and potato skins. I’ve got to tell you that they turned out really well. Here are pictures of our creations…I was quite impressed with our capabilities.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve in my family was always a big deal; we’d have an amazing dinner by candlelight and have Mannheim Steamroller playing softly in the background. Once dinner was over we’d clean up and grab our scriptures and head out to the living room where we would read the story of Christ’s birth. And then when we were younger each of the kids opened one present most likely pajamas to sleep in that night or when we were older we would open a family game to play that night. Then we would top off the night with a Christmas movie. This has always been a cherished memory of mine.
This past Christmas when we visited with my family in Oregon, things were a little more exciting than usual simply because of the three nieces and one nephew, and having the whole family together after three long years. Our Christmas Eve sort of followed the same structure but this year we went to the Stephenson’s to play the chimes and then home for the amazing meal Mom had prepared. Once we were done with dinner we gathered in the living room for the Christmas story but this time there were some twists, the girls wanted to act it out. Here is a cast of characters

Mary...................Tia
Joseph & Donkey........Jordan
Baby Jesus.............Maeli
The Angel..............Hayley
Innkeeper..............Jason
King Herrod............Clay
Narrator...............Dad

And since these videos are too massive to post on blogger, here are some links.





There is one more but I'll have to add that when I get home from work tonight.

DI Drive

This past weekend our ward had a DI Drive, and we found it to be a perfect opportunity to make our apartment look like it was well taken care of. We went through our closets and drawers and found clothes that we haven’t worn in over a year, we also found some appliances that we had ruined but still kept in a drawer in the kitchen. I even have a dresser that we should have taken to the DI but I forgot about it until we had already dropped our stuff off. This one DI Drive caused us to go through almost the entire house and get rid of things we no longer use or need, we had hampers full of stuff from when we first moved in that we finally went through. Now our apartment looks clean…at least until tomorrow. Another reason why we wanted to clean up the apartment was to make room for our new piece of furniture. We decided that we had too many dvd's and they didn't all fit in the DVD case that we had so we purchased one of these stands and thought we calculated enough but no, we couldn't fit all of them in there so we had to go back for a second one. Now, after organizing here is the finished product.




And I think he's cute while doing his homework so here's a quick picture of Jason doing Math.