Hour of Power

It's 11:00 p.m. and I just completed the best "Hour of Power" on the treadmill. I'm hoping to feel the burn tomorrow. Right now, I feel like I'm speed walking everywhere. During my run I read the owner's manual. There were two pages really stressing the use of the correct power source. Interesting. People must not know how to plug it in to a power adapter. I also counted food storage cans. This is not much of a surprise to my family. We count everything. Well, Jake's off tomorrow so we're going to some museum. I'll post those pictures. 

5 Years and it still fits!

Jake and I celebrated our 5th Year Anniversary yesterday. Time sure does fly when you are having fun! We have a two distinct traditions. One is to go to Applebee's and eat dinner (or lunch) because it's where our first date was. This year, we pulled up to Applebee's and there was quite the wait. So, we opted to go to Olive Garden instead. The second tradition is to climb back into our wedding gear and dance. We have grown a little in 5 years but we still fit!

Jake grew just a little around the center

I fit perfectly fine in my dress but it looks like I'm busting out the top!!

We celebrate with the finest!

Flashback: Instead of having a guest book that sits in a closet, we have a plate that sits on our shelf.

In the 5 years of being married we have had some great times and some crappy times. I'm pretty sure the fun thrills of life out weigh the downer moments! When we think we've been through it all, the excitement begins again . . . just how we like it!

Recipe Scrapbook

Last year, my sister and I spent multiple Fridays creating a "Time Machine" scrapbook for my mom's birthday. We ended up creating a pretty hefty book. It started when she was young. It included her childhood, wedding, kids, pets, and more kids. Her brother and sister wrote a short "memory" for her and they each had a page. It was a great idea and a great gift to give. Mainly because it was literally made from the sweat of our brow. Every time I went to my mom's I flipped through every page admiring our work. I think my sister is a million times better at scrapbooking then I am. She takes more time on each page. Either way, my mom loved it and it was a great hit! I've never put forth that much effort on a gift EVER. So after that huge project, I retired scrapbooking for a little while. Like 7 months. But it's that time of year again (Mother's Day and Birthdays are quickly coming). So I pulled out the tote, trays, crates, and bins of scrapbook supplies.

The project this year: Her mother's recipes that were just sitting in a box. I organized them and the work has begun.

This is just one page of Croissants. It's actually really hard to arrange recipes.

Some are hand written and some came from a newspaper. One dates back to the late 60's. It's pretty neat to see the old advertisements and coupons.

If the recipe continued on the back of another I just color copied it. That's why the second card is white.

The work has begun. This is what I will consume my life with for the next month or so. I've made a pretty good dent already!

Sorry mom, it's not a surprise anymore! You knew I had them anyway.

Columbia River

Jake and I decided to go to the Columbia River today. It was a quick trip because it's still freezing outside and being by the water didn't help. The river is 5 minutes away from the house. It's beautiful. And we can't wait until it warms up. Here are a couple of pictures from our adventure!

Self Photo

Jake loves pictures...can you tell?

Me by the river.

Anyone who has a Mac has seen the pebble picture. This is our pebble picture.

These are the dreaded geese. This should be the state bird.

The Columbia River is really wide but not too wide where you can't see the other side.

This is a tree that someone carved in. They have the same thing in Reno but of fish. This one tells some story. I was too cold to figure it out.

This is our view from our "love swing". There are spots around the park that you can stop and sit. We always sit on the swing. Jake calls it the "love swing". I thought it was pretty funny.

Squirrel # 1, 290, 876. They were everywhere. Jake thinks they are like rodents. They are good at taking pictures.

I was infatuated by the "rodents". I couldn't believe how many there were. It was pretty freaky.

Official.

1. When you register both of your vehicles and change your driver's license - it's official.

2. When you love the weather so much you can't wait until it snows again - it's official.

3. When you realize it's nice to live in a town where everything is 5 minutes away - it's official.

So here's the latest. Both vehicles are registered, YAHOO!, and we're official Washington residents. Driver's Licenses and all! The taxes up here will take a little adjustment but for the most part it's not too bad. Here's some pictures of our "changing the plates" (boy, we are lame)!

Jake has this thing with wanting to do things at night when it's FREEZING! He came in the house and asked me if I could come hold the flash light for him because he was changing the head light on the car. I didn't understand why he was choosing to do this at night when it's snowing. So, not too my surprise, he wanted to change the plates on the truck at night! It wasn't snowing but it was still freezing!

Yes, we support Washington's Wildlife. 

We had a great Christmas and a Happy and fun New Year. Jake's family gathered. We ate lots of food, we played some really fun games, and we opened gifts many different times!

We are loving the snow and hopes it stays a little longer. The other morning we woke up to a couple of inches - it was great! I love to shovel the snow too. The weather channel states that it will be warming up this week and possibly drop down again on Friday or Saturday. The other day it snowed and then melted a little. Then it turned to ice. Then it snowed and then melted. We're waiting for it to snow. Right now it's REALLY windy!

We're Here...

We did make it in two days. Day one we stopped in Salt Lake City, slept, and then picked up the next day. The worst was between Cedar City and Salt Lake but it wasn't to terribly bad. Saturday was a very long day of driving well under the speed limit. I was going crazy. But then again I wasn't pulling a trailer on icy roads like Jake. So we got here late Saturday. The dogs love the snow. They will burry themselves or tunnel a path in the back yard. Hence the pictures!

This is Sage covered in snow and Belle starting to tunnel. 

This is a cool icicle outside of our bedroom window. We can't reach it to break it off. 

This is Buster and I (with Buster's bear) relaxing and surfing the net! So for the most part, we are loving Washington and the cold. And I got a camera!! YaHOO! So we'll be able to post the amazing city!

The Time Has Come

Well...school is officially over. I will probably go through withdraws in about 3 weeks. When I realize I can pick up a normal book that doesn't speak about serial killers, sex offenders, fetishes, or prostitution, I might go into shock. So now what? Well, since Jake and I plan, re-plan, re-plan some more, we've finally made another plan. It goes likes this...

1. WE'RE LEAVING LAS VEGAS!

We'll be heading up to Washington state. 

We turned down Corvallis, Oregon and Eugene, Oregon after my dad passed away. We'll be in Kennewick, Washington which is very close to Jake's family and the Columbia River! Our big journey will happen this coming Friday, December 19th. This way we'll be able to spend Christmas with the Brashears!

2. I'll be applying to the FBI.

I already applied for the Portland, Oregon area but because I'm not living there I have to apply where I'm living. I'll start this process after the holidays.

3. In my new spare time I will be using my new Bernina!

I'm super excited to get this thing out of the box!! This isn't my model but it gives you an idea of what a Bernina is and what it can do! I can't wait to hook it up to my computer too! Oh how the fun will begin!

4. Get into shape! 

I will spare the pictures but wow...it's about time. 

5. Relax!

I'm totally hitting the spa and then the MOUNTAIN! I'm in much sadness that I'll be missing the great and many snowboard trips with my friends this year. And the snow is actually decent! And then we'll miss night tubing...oh how sad. But it's okay. We'll find more friends to introduce it to.

6. Finally buy a stinkin' camera!

I can't post or scrapbook anything if I don't have a camera.

So those are the plans... and they are easy to accomplish! And as my friends slowly migrate back to Henderson, I will be the one to arrange dinner dates around. We'll be back in the Spring!