~Cookies and Updates~

~
First, it is very important to note I changed a setting on my blog to allow anyone to make comments, not just bloggers. So, I expect to see some more comments, I'm just not feeling the love right now :(
~
So we went to Nate and Amy's last night to make cookies. We didn't make it to the Christmas lights since Brian had to work late, but we're planning on doing that Christmas day.
Brian and I cheated and brought store bought cookies that you just plop in the oven, but they were delicious. Nate and Amy's cookies were.....interesting ;) When we opened the oven to take their cookies out, there was just 1 big flat cookie! We all had a good laugh, and I am kicking myself for not taking a picture! We are still not sure what went wrong, it seemed like all the ingredients were added, it's a mystery.

We spent a portion of the night trying to get a cute picture of Porter and MJ, I think we have a cute one...

This one you can tell they are looking at 2 different treats...
Porter gave MJ a cookie for Christmas, they both enjoyed it!
Nate and Brian
We had a good time drinking wine, eating cookies and doing our gift exchange. Nate and Amy got us this gorgeous candle decoration. I will have to take a picture once we get it all set up,it is in the shape of an S so I think it will look perfect on our little island counter!

We got Amy a Shopaholic martini glass that I think she liked. We got Nate a new wallet and a little sign that said "It takes a lot of balls to golf the way this guy does" It is of course a joke as Nate is a pro at golfing.

We had a good time socializing and laughing at our dogs :)

We are planning on having them over for dinner next week which should be fun. They are bringing the dinner and we are providing the wine!

Brian is working today as they are getting all the last minute online shoppers packages out today. Tonight is Mom R's (Brian's mom) Christmas party and I am very excited. You can expect pictures and an update to come!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

~Pictures!!~

~~~

I am finally getting around to posting pictures, yay :)

~

Car Problems

So we took Brian's car in (yes, again) to check out a leak and it is going to be $600. Normally I would probably cry and think, "why me!!" but we have had so many car problems that it hasn't really set in. Plus, I am grateful for the health of my loved ones and I. We had a pretty big scare 2 weeks ago when my 19 year old cousin had a heart attack brought on my Long QT. I am thankful he is still alive and with us today, so it's hard to get too upset about a car expense.

~

Christmas Shopping

So we are done with Christmas shopping except for a gift card we need to finish off someones present. We decided we are going to get all our Christmas shopping done earlier next year to beat the crowds (good luck right?!). I have a few to wrap and then we are ready for Christmas!! This week has flown by since work has been busy for both Brian and I.

Well, I will leave you with the pictures from the Christmas party. I am pretty disappointed in myself as I did not take very many, I guess I was busy refilling the food and socializing :)

The host and hostess :)

The whole gang!

My coworker, Sarah, and I.Nate and Amy joined us after their work Christmas party

People socializing Caren (Craig's girlfriend) and I, she is so sweet!
Jaime, me, Anna, and my mom
From left, Miranda, Julie, Tiffany, Tina, and Eric
Greg and Nicole being festive!

Have a wonderful day!

~Tagged~

I was tagged by my wonderful sister, Jaime, so here are my answers:

1. 3 Things that scare me: heights, losing a loved one, drowning

2. 3 People who make me laugh: Brian, Porter (my nephew), my Dad

3. 3 Things I love: Spending time with my hubby & MJ, vacations, spending time with family

4. 3 Things I hate: Work, genuienly mean people, car expenses

5. 3 Things I don't understand: People who abuse children, why we work more than we spend time with our family, why I can’t lose weight right now.

6. 3 Things on my desk: My Bachelor’s degree, an orange candle (Go Beavs), and a stapler.

7. 3 Things I'm doing right now: Listening to Christmas music, avoiding work, moving my leg to stay warm.

8. 3 Things I want to do before I die: Have a family, travel all over the world with Brian, ensure my family knows how much they mean to me.

9. 3 Things I can do: Back flips, do double back flips when thrown into the air by 5 guys, disjoint my right shoulder (it’s gross!)

10. 3 Things I can't do: Play the piano, draw, confront people

11. 3 Things I think you should listen to: A babies laugh, “Where are you Christmas” by Faith Hill, someone tell you they love you

12. 3 Things you should never listen to: Someone telling you to go against your morals, bad commercials, racist people

13. 3 Things I'd like to learn: How to be a good mom, how to play the piano, sign language

14. 3 Favorite foods: Chips, bread, no bake cookies

15. 3 Beverages I drink regularly: milk, water, milk

16. 3 Shows I watched as a kid: Full House, Funniest Home Videos, Smurfs

~Merry Christmas!~

I just love the Holidays! I cannot believe Christmas is less than a week away, where has the time gone?!
It has been a wonderful Holiday season so far.

Brian and I hosted the annual Christmas party this last Saturday and we had a great time. I think everyone enjoyed themselves (hopefully) and we definitely had a full house. There were over 30 people in our little place! You would not believe the amount of food people brought, and I am talking GOOD food! We did the Chinese gift exchange which was a blast, people brought some good stuff this year. The most popular of the items were the Beaver blanket (Brian and I already have one otherwise we would have stolen it!) and a blanket made by Angie. I was so happy that most my family could make it to the party, it meant a lot. My mom and stepdad, my stepmom Anna, Brian's mom and stepdad, Sara, and Jaime and the kids came! I know the kids had a blast playing with Greg and Jessica's 2 little ones, they jumped on the bed, Porter threw toys, they enjoyed doing all the things they can't do at home! I don't think Jaime was too happy I was letting them get away with so much though, but I'm the aunt ;)
Brian wanted to make sure I thanked everyone for coming as we had a wonderful time with our family and friends and were so happy to share the Holidays with you guys. It was fun to look around the room and see people talking and laughing and having a good time. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful Christmas party!

Sunday was fun as we headed up to Amy and Nate's house in Keizer. We went to Mongolian Grill for dinner and then to a movie, The Holiday. The guys did not realize what a chick flick they got themselves into, but Amy and I enjoyed it and let's face it, you have to make your woman happy:) We also made plans to go up to their house on Friday to make cookies and then go through the Keizer Christmas Light show. I am so excited to do more Christmas stuff, I just can't get enough!

This Saturday we are going to Mom Renshaw's house (Brian's mom) for her Christmas party. We are bringing Craig and his new girlfriend, Caren. Caren, by the way is awesome! We love her and are so excited Craig found her! Then Sunday is Christmas Eve and thus starts our tour of 4 different houses, oh my. But I am thankful we have so many families to see, it makes the Holidays busy, but full of love, laughter, and happiness.

That is all for now, I will post pictures of the party a little later! ♥

~All 7 seasons of Macgyver, oh dear~
~~~

Macgyver
So my manly husband decided he wanted all 7 seasons of Macgyver, that's right, good old Macgyver. For his 30th birthday I gave him the choice of skydiving tickets or the perfect chair he has always wanted, thankfully he chose the chair. So we have been hunting for the perfect chair and have not found it. He decided since it might be a couple months before we found it he wanted Macgyver as it is on sale at Costco right now. So the understanding wife I am said, gulp, ok. I have all 10 seasons of Friends and he watches them with me so I have to grin and bear Macgyver. Although I must say that he actually likes Friends (who wouldn't!) so I am not sure is 100% fair, what is though!
~
Play
Well I am looking forward to Friday because we are going to a play at the First Assembly of God. One of Brian's co-workers told him about it so we thought we would go check it out. Brian also said it might be a church we would be interested going to. Since we come from 2 different religions we are trying to find a church that we both like and could see raising our kids in. It is really important to me that our kids have a strong belief in God and strong moral beliefs.
~
Work Party
Saturday night we have my work Christmas party to go to. It is true landfill fashion too, we rented the bowling alley for 3 hours (eyes rolling in disgust). I have never been to this kind of Christmas party so we'll see! But seriously, I think it'll be fun. Brian and I have become friends with my co-worker, Sarah, and her husband Travis so we will get to hang out with them. Plus it is at the new bowling alley in Albany called Lakeshore Lanes (right by you Jaime!) so it should be a little nicer. Who am I kidding, bowling is bowling!
~
That is all for now. Have no fear, the weekend is almost here!♥

~I love the Beavers!~
~~~

Another Beaver Victory!
The Beavers beat Hawai'i!! Man, the game this weekend was so good, very action packed. Brian and I headed up to Bauers for the late game (it started at 9 PM our time, 7 PM Hawai'i time) and were on the edge of our seats the whole game and yelling and cheering every touch down we made. So much fun!
~
Christmas Shopping
We also got some shopping done this weekend, which meant we spent a lot of money. But it is fun to get your loved ones gifts that you know they will enjoy and hopefully need :)
~
Hiking
Sunday was my favorite part of the weekend though. We woke up and relaxed a bit before we headed off to McDowell Creek Falls about 20 minutes away. We packed some snacks and water and headed off with our little MJ. It was a nice sunny day out but still very cold, 37 degrees. MJ had a blast and did good staying on the trail when we took her off the leash. We brought a blanket and sat down for a little to enjoy the scenery and eat our snack. We decided we definitely have to go back in the summer when its warm. And can you believe I forgot to bring my camera?!?!? I thought it was in my purse and when I went to take it out was very sad to find it missing (it was back at the house as opposed to being lost). So we for sure have to go back so we can take pictures of the beautiful falls.
~
Dinner
Our wonderful Sunday didn't end there. We headed to Winco to do our weekly grocery shopping and stopped by Brian's mom house to pick up our wreathe she ordered for us through her church, it's so pretty and smells so good! We went home and made a delicious chicken tortellini and corn casserole for dinner. For a perfect ending we watched The Grinch (the new one with Jim Carey) as Brian had never seen it. It was such a nice day and a good way to end the weekend.
~
Monday
Now it's Monday and another week is starting. Being in accounting this is also month end which means long days. I also have to travel up to Portland for a training (required for all supervisors and managers) this week and am not looking forward to the drive and being away from Brian and MJ for 2 days :( Although, I don't see Brian very much during the week anyway as peak season has started at UPS so he is out until 8 or 9 everynight, bummer.
~
That is all for now, have a good Monday :)

~Random Thoughts, very random~
~~~

Baby Hungry
So I can't get babies off my mind, I am baby hungry! I am so excited to start our family that I can hardly stand it. Brian and I have a plan though, and we said we would wait 2 years before starting a family, here is why:

1.) We need to be financially ready as I will be staying at home
2.) We want to pay off all of our debt (except for student loans and house payment)
3.) To spend time together and travel
4.) Utilize my degree and gain experience since I just graduated

These are all very logical and sensible reasons, in fact I should probably hang that list up in the house to remind me! I know after we start a family I will be reminiscing about all the free time we use to have and why I didn't enjoy it more, so I am trying to do just that, enjoy it.
~
Digital Scrapbooking
I have wanted to start scrapbooking for sometime but I put it off during college as it would have been another distraction from doing my homework. Now that I have graduated I should start, but I am hesitant. I always envisioned paper scrapbooking, going to the store and picking out all sorts of stickers and stencils, but now this new digital scrapbooking is becoming huge!! And I want to do that, only I am not sure how to even begin. So instead of doing one type of scrapbooking I am doing none. I really need to just jump right in, my sister recently started digital scrapbooking so I am thinking about recruiting her as my teacher so I can at least get an idea of what the heck to do.
~
Thankful
I never made a list of all the things I am thankful for so I want to do that now:
1.) My best friend in the whole world who I could not live without, Brian
2.) God
3.) My amazing family and friends who are so supportive
4.) The best dog in the whole world, MJ, who I hope lives forever
5.) My health, Brian's health, and our family and friends health
6.) Brian's job
7.) My job
8.) Brian's ambition

Have a great Thursday! I am going to leave you with some pictures:

Brian and I after we won Civil War, GO BEAVS!!

We got our tree!!
(Out of order) Us watching the Beaver game.
Right after we finished decorating the tree

~Wonderful Thanksgiving~
~~~

What a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday it was! The weekend was very relaxing and we spent time with family and friends.
~
Wednesday night we had our friends Travis and Sarah come over and we played the Newlywed game, I have never played the actual game and man does it have some tough questions! We ended up not keeping score, just asking questions and having fun with the answers :-)
~
Thursday we slept in nice and late which felt so good! Since we had only one destination that day, my mom's house, we were able to take it easy and enjoy the day. We ate delicious food at my mom's and Brian made his dad's corn casserole that was a hit. Dessert was to die for! There were 2 kinds:
1. Brownie and chocolate pudding topped with whip cream and raspberries, yum!
2. My mom's famous crisp. She has mixes berries with a delcious crisp that has oatmeal in it, it is definitely my favorite and I am going to have to learn how to make it!
After dinner we played a card game and my brother helped me put a bunch of songs on my iPod (thanks Lance!). We had such a good time!
~
Friday was the infamous Civil War: OSU vs. Oregon. Well I am sorry to any Oregon Ducks out there but GO BEAVS! Now, it was not a blow out game by any means, we won by 2 points, but it is still a victory and I could not be happier! The last minute was intense, we were ahead by 2 points with 1 minute to go and Oregon had the ball, they went for a field goal kick, just a 40 yard one. If that were us and our kicker, Alexis Serna, it would be no problem, but Oregon's kicker had already missed 3 field goals! I almost couldn't watch as the kicker went forward, but I saw through my squinted eyes the ball hit the goal post and bounce out, whew! BEAVERS WIN!!!!! Man, did we scream, we watched the game at a local sports park and the whole place was screaming. Very exhilarating!
After the game we met Brian's mom and older sister at Cirello's for some pizza. We had a good time catching up and talking about our amazing win.
~
Saturday we went back to my mom's house to spend time with my sister Jenny and her boyfriend Kyle (they spent Thanksgiving with Kyle's parents so this was our family Thanksgiving), and Lance and Ali (Lance's girlfriend). We had left over's and played cards. My mom also let me take some Christmas decorations since all of our's got stolen last year in our campus apartment storage unit. We want to wait to buy decorations until after Christmas, but I still want some since we are hosting the annual Christmas gift exchange (more on that later).
~
After my mom's house we went and got our very first Christmas tree as a married couple! Sounds corny but man were we excited! We got a 7 foot Noble Fir and it is gorgeous :) We took it home and began decorating. We bought some pretty red and gold ornaments from Target that we put on it along with some gold bows. The rest of the tree was filled with ornaments from my childhood. My grandparents on my dad's side give all the grandchildren an ornament for Christmas until they are 18, so I have 18 ornaments and they all have such a good memory. We reminisced about our family traditions and what we envision for our kids. After we were all done we took a step back and enjoyed our beautiful tree. It really is goregous and we are very proud. I will post pictures a little later. After a review of the weekend we both decided that was our favorite part, we love smelling the tree and I can't help but feel grown up for having my very own nicely decorated tree.
~
Christmas Gift Exchange Party:
This is a tradition that Brian's friends started many years ago and I have enjoyed going to the past 2 years. This is also known as the Chinese Gift Exchange: Everyone brings a wrapped present and puts it in the middle of the room. We all draw a number and open presents in the order you draw, the catch is that you can steal someone else's present instead of opening a present. But a present can only be stolen 3 times and then it is locked. We always have a good time and people bring some good stuff! So Brian and I are hosting it this year and I am so thrilled, a little nervous because I want everyone to have a good time, but excited nonetheless.
~
Well, I better go before this post gets any longer! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving and Pictures

Blogger is letting me add pictures this morning, so here are a few random ones. Have a wonderful and relaxing day!

Brian's 30th Surprise Party Us with Tiff and Eric
Our cute little family :)
Brian and Sara on their birthday.

~Thanksgiving Weekend is here!!~

~~

Well I could not be happier to have 4 straight days off of work, man I am excited! But I know Monday will come all to quickly.

~~

Things have been going well for us Holcombs, nothing too exciting to report.We spend our weekends enjoying time with our friends and family. Brian played poker last weekend and got 1st place! That was pretty exciting, $250 in our pocket, nice job babe :) We went up to Salem to watch the Beaver game again, this time was more fun because we won, GO BEAVS!

~~

After our victory we went out to dinner at Los Dos Amigos, yummy mexican food, mmmm. Then we headed to my old stomping grounds, Wests Albany High School (Go Bulldogs), to watch my brother and the other senior guys perform their powderpuff routine. Man was it hilarious, they choreographed it themselves and it was awesome. The girls were going nuts! Good times.

~~

Sunday we spent cleaning our little place and it looked good when we were done. Ah, the joys of married life, lol :)

This week went by fast since there was only 3 days to it. Monday night we went to "wing night" and had so much fun. When Brian and I lived in Corvallis we would walk down to a place called Fox n Firken every Monday night to enjoy their 15 cent wings, $1.50 beers, and our friends company. Well, we have not been in months so we decided to head over with Craig and invite my coworker and her husband (Sarah and Travis). I am really glad we went, I missed that place! After filling up on wings and beer we walked over to a delicious ice cream place, Gelato ice cream, it is to die for! I refrained and just a had a couple bites of Brian's ;)

~~

Tonight we are having Sara and Travis over for a game of Newlyweds! I can't wait, it should be fun, we always laugh a lot with Sara and Travis.

~~

Tomorrow we are headed to my moms for Thanksgiving dinner. We are bringing a corn casserole, since Brian really likes that dish, I found a recipe on Gina Miller's blog and am excited to try it. Friday we will spend time with Brian's mom and sister, Heather, Sunday will be a brunch at my dad's house. Although we have so many families to see, I wouldn't have it any other way, I feel blessed that we have so many loved ones to visit.

~~

Well, I think that is about it for now, I will leave you with some pictures. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, eat a lot of good food, and give thanks to your loved ones.

~~

(I thought I would leave you with pictures but blogger is being stupid and won't let me. I will post some tomorrow, if it lets me)

Finally, Pictures!!

~~~~

This last weekend was very nice. We went to The Prestige with Tiff and Eric on Friday night and really liked it, I would recommend it to everyone.

On Saturday we went shopping in Salem with Brian's friend Craig who was in town from his busy pilot job. Then we all headed over to Bauer and Amy's house to watch the sad Beaver game. But our loss to UCLA wasn't so bad when the Ducks followed our lead and lost to USC.

We came home after the game and went to American Dream in Corvallis to see my sister Jenny who was in town from Redmond. We enjoyed some pizza with the family and then headed home as we were exhausted!

Sunday was pretty relaxing, we of course did the weekly shopping trip to Winco then went to check out some chairs and couches at At Home Furniture. We were just looking to get some ideas, we will be paying off all our debt (except for student loans) soon so it doesn't hurt to get an idea :)

Well, I will leave you with some pictures that are long past due! Have a good Monday :)

~~~~

Jaime and Schuyler brought the kids over the day before Halloween so we could see their adorable costumes, and they were adorable............................

Here is Porter man in his Winnie the Pooh costume, too cute! Jaidyn as Dorothy and Kailey as a fairy, precious!

Here are some pictures from the Halloween party at Linus's, we had a really good time with everyone......

Bauer as a nerd and Brian is a jester, without his mask :)

I was an evil little red riding hood.

Me, Amy, and Mindy

Here are some pictures from when we had all the kids over to make Halloween masks.....

Kailey, Abby, Jaidyn, and Cassidy at our house.

Porter and my brother Lance.

Abby, me, Lance, and Cassidy.

Cassidy, Brian, and Abby.

Happy Birthday Holcomb Twins!

♥ ♥ ♥

So much has happened since my last post, I feel like I shouldn't post unless I can post pictures, hence the delay. Well, I can't post pictures right now, but I will shortly as there are an abundance of them!

~~~

First, Happy Birthday to my amazing husband who turns 30 today! I love you babe. Happy birthday to Sara (his twin sister), you don't look a day over 21. Love you guys♥

~~~

We had all the kids over (Jaidyn, Kailey--my nieces, Porter--nephew, Abby and Cassidy--my little half sisters) a few days before halloween to decorate these little halloween masks. My brother Lance came over and my sister Jaime stayed to help us, it was a packed house and we could not have had more fun! We also sent them on a little treasure hunt. I made them each a bag of candy and put them in a wooden chest I have. They were so excited when they found it and opened it right up, right into Porter's head who then fell over. It was pretty funny though because he was too interested to see what was in it to care that he hit his head! He's a tough little 1 ½ year old!

~~~

The halloween party at Linus and Beth's was a lot of fun and I had a good time seeing everyone. We were so tired when we left as we had a good hour drive back to Bauer's house in Keizer. We ended up staying the night there as I didn't think I could stay awake on the drive home.

~~~

Halloween night was exciting, Brian and I both rushed home to get into our costumes so we could hand out candy. This was our first halloween to have trick-or-treaters so we wanted to be the cool house on the block! In the upstairs bedroom we put a strobe light that flashed behind the scary ghosts, everyone commented how cool it was, yeah we're pretty cool ;) Anyway, we got a ton of kids and Brian so generously offered to go to the store and get more candy since we were running out! Crisis was averted though. My dad and stepmom, Anna, even stopped by with the girls who were adorable in their witch costumes! My sister Jaime and brother-in-law Schuyler, stopped by the night before with the kids who also looked adorable: Jaidyn was a sweet little Dorothy, Kaily was a pretty fairy, and Porter was the cutest Winnie the Pooh ever!

~~~

This last Saturday was the big surprise party for Brian!! Soooo many of our friends came and it was so nice of everyone, I know Brian was so happy to see everyone there. We had good food, drinks, music, and company. We stayed up way too late (4 in the morning!!!) because now that he is 30 he won't be able to handle that :) I have some good pictures from that night and even better video of everyone wishing him a happy birthday. It was a success and I'm glad we did it. I couldn't have done it without Tiff and Eric who snuck into our house when Brian and I left to decorate and let everyone in, what would I do without them!

~~~
Well, now that this post is a mile long I better get back to work. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

~Wednesday Writings~

~~~~

It's Wednesday, marking the middle of the week, and I am so excited for the weekend! Mainly for the break from work but also because Brian and I are going up to Portland for a Halloween/Birthday Party. It is at our friends house, Linus, who is the coach of the Blazer Stunt team, and his wife Beth, so we will get to hang out with all our Blazer friends that we haven't seen in awhile. We are really excited to see everyone again!

~

Brian talked to Horton's, the people who are working on our car, and said they received the welded head from the shop and will put the engine back together. We should get the BMW back on Thursday or Friday. Now, I know I should be really excited, but I think I won't be happy until I see the car in our drive way, ya know? It will be weird to have both our cars in the drive way, since we moved into our new place almost 3 months ago we've had either his car or mine in the shop. I pray we will finally have both cars for a long time!

~

Brian is studying hard for his MBA class and I am really proud of him. He stays up late posting entries and writing papers and it reminds me how grateful I am to be done with school. He has such a drive to go far though, and he knows his Masters will help him in his career. Very admirable hun, ♥ you :)

~

So Brian and I have been working REALLY hard towards paying off all our debt, that's right, ALL of it. We (mainly Brian) read a book, "Total Money Makeover" and we have been living by it ever since. The book's key phrase is, "Live like no one else now, so later, you can live like no one else." And that my friends is our plan, we are getting rid of debt and contributing to our Roth IRA's. About 2 weeks ago we paid off a credit card and last Friday we paid off the bug! Can you believe it?! We are so excited and have been working so hard to avoid unneccessary spending. We limit eating out, buy only neccesary groceries, no shopping sprees, no cable, and most importantly we live by a budget.

~

Brian is enjoying his job and things are going well for him at UPS. He talks about moving into management in the next year or so, but says he really does like driving. My job is going pretty good, some days I feel very productive and good at what I do. Other days I feel like I should be doing more and be overwhelmed like everyone else around the office.

~

Well, that is all that is on my mind right now so I will get back to work (can you tell which kind of day at work I am having if I have time to write this entire blog at work?). Have a wonderful Wednesday ♥

~Pumpkin Carving & Beavers~

~~~~~~~
Friday night was the 9th annual Pumpkin Carving Contest at Tiff and Eric's house! Brian's sister, Sara, came down and we all went together. Brian and I had this great idea to replicate our wedding cake out of pumpkins, unfortunately we weren't able to follow through. Brian worked really hard the night before, being a good student and finishing his paper for his MBA class. So, we weren't able to get the pumpkins and do the necessary preparations. But that's okay, we were still able to enjoy our friends company and holy cow did people do some amazing work!

The pumpkin(s) on the right was 2nd place.

Chewbaca on the right was 1st place! The back of the pumpkin was carved so when the candle was lit it said Star Wars, you can kind of see it in this picture. Sara and I chatting it up.

~~~~~~~

Saturday morning we got up and I cooked breakfast for us, french toast and bacon, on the griddle we got from our wedding, man do I love that griddle! We then got ready and did a little shopping in Salem. Brian needed essentials (underwear) and I had a gift card for Nordstroms so I bought a Columbia vest for the winter :)

~~~~~~~

After shopping we went to Bauer's house and had a great time with friends. The Beaver game was on the radio so we listened to them win, Go Beavs! We also brought MJ to play with their miniature pincher, Porter, I think they both had a lot of fun and tired each other out! We decided for Halloween that Porter is going to be a groom and MJ is going to be the bride, they are going to be adorable!

~~~~~~~

Still no BMW, after over a month of it being in the shop they are still working on it. I think this is a new world record and we should get a prize or something. We are hoping soon, they told us we would get it the middle of last week so it better be coming soon.

~~~~~~~

I guess that is all the news for now, have a wonderful Monday! ♥

~Cough, Sneeze, Kleenex, repeat~

Well, I got sick late last week and man it is hanging on. Saturday and Sunday I could barely talk and I haven't had a good night's rest the past 4 nights. I didn't want to be selfish so I got most the people in my office sick, just so they weren't feeling left out ;)

Brian and I have been decorating the house inside and out with halloween stuff, it looks pretty good too. I will take some pictures and post them a little later. We have some bat lights in the yard, ghost silhouettes in the window, and a pumpkin around our porch light.

We went to a wedding on Saturday, it was for our college friends we cheered with, Chris and Brittany. They were also our old roommates, Brian and Chris lived in the apartment right below Brittany and I, how convenient! It was a very pretty wedding, the reception was held at the Hilton and was decorated gorgeously. We saw so many familiar faces from cheering at OSU and Blazers, it was really fun to see everyone again.

Brian and I are planning a cruise next year, Septemberish, with all our friends. We want to make sure we do some traveling before we start a family and a cruise with all our friends seems like the perfect idea! We are still unsure of details but we wanted to get the idea out so people start saving :)

We are hoping to get Brian's car back this week, yay! Yes, it has been in the shop this whole time, I think 1 month. The head was cracked and a place in Salem is welding it, it has taken so long because they had to pinpoint the problem and take the engine apart. It's going to be weird having both our cars, it seems like ages since we've had both of them! Oh, and they aren't charging us as this should have been fixed the first time around, what a relief!

Well, now that I've bored you with a long, tedious post and included no pictures, I will sign off and post some pictures tonight.

Have a wonderful Monday ♥

~Pictures~

I wanted to post the most recent wedding pictures we received. These are the formal ones, I was so happy with all our pictures and so glad we got so many, I LOVE pictures. Hope you enjoy :)

The wedding party, beautiful :)My new family, so exciting!
My parents, can you believe they are 50?! I mean 39 ;)
Outside Green Villa

This is one of our favorite pictures...

Some attitude, classic :)
The place we got married at was gorgeous inside and out!

~Go Beavs?~
This past weekend Brian and I went to the Beaver game, courtesy of my work :) It was the first PAC-10 game of the season, Beavers vs. Cal. It was fun to get to go and the tickets were pretty good, but the Beavers were not so fun to watch. We will always be Beaver fans, through the good times and the bad, but holy cow our defense was unreal to watch. They were falling all over the field and it would take 3 of our guys to take down 1 of their guys. But again, the weather was fabulous and it was a fun day.
Saturday night we watched movies with Shane and Cheurysia, we had to watch a Zombie movie because Brian loves Zombie movies. I think it was called Sever, it wasn't too scary, but it wasn't too good either. That's okay though, we watched Scary Movie 4 afterwards and laughed quite a bit! Brian went up to Portland on Sunday to help our friends Gretchen and Marcus move into their new house, he said it was a really nice house! While him and his huge biceps helped them move, I decorated the house in Halloween stuff! I was waiting until October because I didn't want to jump the gun:) It looks good, but now that we have a bigger place I think we need more decorations, oh dear, another trip to Target, darn ;)
Yesterday we went and watched my 2 nieces and nephew for my sister and brother-in-law. We had a really good time and it makes it so much easier when they are the cutest kids and the most well behaved in the world ;) I'm not bias at all. I played barbies with Jaidyn and Kailey and our dog MJ kept my 1 year old nephew, Porter, very entertained. Brian read them a bedtime story and rocked Porter, what a wonderful sight it is to see babies in his arms.....don't worry though, we're gonna wait.
Well, I am going to try to post some pictures later, to juice up the blog! But goodbye for now! ♥

What a couple of weeks Brian and I have had, I believe we are being tested on our ability to handle financial problems together. The BMW was having problems so we took it to our mechanic, a local guy in Corvallis, Horton's. $400 later, they said it was fixed. A week later it wouldn't start and was smoking quite a bit out the exhaust. $1500 and almost 2 weeks later we get it back, quite a lot of money to us newlyweds, but at least it's fixed! The bug decided it needed some attention so the passenger window stuck in the down position, right before rainy season, and rainy season in Oregon is not forgiving. So, $260 later and a couple days, the bug is fixed. Meanwhile my Mom and Randy were so generous and let us use their van, one car is just not doable for us, we work in 2 different towns! So last Friday, I sighed and was so grateful we were done being tested, we did it!!

NOT SO FAST. The BMW had the same problems it did in the first place, smoking and not starting. We took it in and got diagnosed on Monday.....let's just say I broke down in tears the whole ride home from work, another $1000. I vented to my sister Jaime who was more than understanding and incredibly sympathetic. After an hour conversation with her consulling me, I felt so much better. We are still waiting to find out a final figure, but Brian is going to lay the smack down on Horton's, we are not paying another $1000 for something they should have found the first time around.

Anyway, work for me is going better, still slow, but good. This last weekend Brian and I bbq'd at his mom's house with the family which was fun. Then we headed to the Bauer's (our friends) tailgator before the Beaver game started! Man, do the Bauer's know how to tailgate, drinks food and fun :) Since we didn't have tickets to the game, we went to a local sports park and watched it with our friends, Shane and Cheurysia. Sunday was pretty relaxing, we watched my 2 little sisters Abby and Cassidy for a little bit. I took them to the park right down the street from our house and they had a blast!

Well, I need to go for my run, but keep us in your prayers that we are done with car problems for awhile!

I am going to leave you with some pictures I promised on my last blog. The first 3 are from the wedding we went to in Klamath Falls and the last one is Brian jumping off a cliff at Billy Chinook.

Brian and Shane at the Runnying Y.

Brian and I at the Running Y.
The beautiful bride, Tracie
Brian at Lake Billy Chinook!

It has been far too long since I last posted, but I have good reason. Life is moving faster than I expected, aside from moving, I have been working on thank you cards for the wedding, camping with the family, attended a wedding in Klamath Falls (Brian performed the ceremony and did an amazing job!), and trying to adjust to my new job. The most difficult change has been the job, I have been here for 3 weeks now and I still feel out of place and have yet to start performing my job due to lack of training. Sunday nights are the worst, I don't want to go to bed because I know when I wake up it will be the beginning of a long and dreadful week. I just have to keep thinking it will get better, Brian helps me everyday to stay positive and I really am trying.

On a more positive note Brian and I finally went camping this summer! We went to Billy Chinook with the family and had a blast! We stayed with Jenny and Kyle who live 15 minutes from the lake on the first night, and camped near my mom and Randy the second night. I tried wake boarding again this summer and finally was able to get up! It was a great accomplishment and worth the sore back for the next week. I will post pictures of our successful camping trip ASAP!

So, this last weekend Brian and I travled to the Running Y in Klamath Falls, Oregon for our friends wedding, Tracie and Cassidy. Brian performed the ceremony and did an excellent job, so well that people asked if he would do their wedding! Tracie looked stunning as a bride and was so pleasant. I was honored that she let me help her on her big day, she even asked Brian and I to be in a picture with her and the groom:-) The funniest part of the weekend was running into an old high school friend who I cheered with, Michelle. We had the best time together and found out we live in the same city, so we exchanged phone numbers and are going to hang out, I am so excited! All and all it was a successful weekend and I will also post pictures from this weekend, ASAP.

Well that's all for now, have a wonderfully enjoyable Wednesday!♥

These are pictures from my bridal shower, I have a hard time posting a blog without posting pictures :-)

Well, today is my last day at the Credit Union and only 5 days until I start my new job at Allied. Right now I am pretty excited about it because I know this means the beginning of a new journey is almost here. But, come Sunday night I think I will be pretty nervous to start the new journey, I'm sure there are many tears and tantrums to come......good luck Brian! I am someone who doesn't bottle any feelings up, you can tell when I'm happy and you can tell when I'm mad, this can be both good and bad. One of the reasons Brian is so good for me is because he can ignore my moments of irrationality and anger, yet laugh with me in my moments of happiness, he's simply the best :-)

Brian and I went to Maui for our honeymoon and had the best time! We stayed in Wailea at a really nice condo and went to the beach everyday. We also went snorkeling and snuba diving (cross between snorkeling and scuba where you go 25 feet under water!), on a sunset dinner cruise, and to a luau. We had such a good time and wish we could've stayed there forever!

This is at the luau we went to, they had DELICIOUS food and very entertaining dancers, so much fun!