New Job

I have a new job!!! Last week I applied for a position as a Case Manager/SSW in the Adult Outpatient department of Wasatch Mental Health, where I currently work as a secretary. I went through two rounds of interviews and was almost 99% positive that I wouldn't get the job. I am way under qualified and there were several other applicants that already had their SSW license. Thursday morning I got a call from my boss who was on his way out of town offering me the job! I was shocked and super excited! He said I have a lot to learn, but he thinks I'll do great in the position and is excited to have me start! There are two classes that I have to take during this next year while I get in so many clinical supervision hours. After that, I can take a test and get my SSW license. I'm so excited and nervous to start my new job Monday. Wish me luck - I'll need it!

Welcome to the Hotel Garcia!

The past two months have been crazy busy and tons of fun!! We had the Grand Opening of the Hotel Garcia about the second week of July when Christopher's mom and Grandma came and stayed with us for a few days, while his brother, David, and dad were in Salt Lake getting things squared away for David to go to the University of Utah. It was fun spending some time with Mom and Grandma and kicking off the Hotel Garcia!

A few days later, my Mom, Dad and little bro, Brian, came to town a few weeks early for our family reunion. We had fun spending time with them and having them stay with us a few nights.

We went to a Rodeo, went swimming a few times, went to the 24th of July Parade in Spanish Fork, and went to an Owls game all together over that holiday weekend.

Then on the 28th, Laura, Donny and Katy, and Kevin, Toni and Caroline all came out for the start of our Brad Walker Family Reunion 2009! Laura, Donny, and Katy stayed with us that night and the next day we all met for a family picture to start off the reunion. We spent the weekend together at a cabin up in Heber City. We had so much fun just being together and playing for a few days. My favorite part about it was to hear Caroline say my name - "Aunt Enemy". I loved it!

It was great to watch the kids all play together and to spend some time getting to know Katy and Caroline.

Christopher brought his hammock and put it up for us to relax in. Brook had a blast climbing in it and swinging with me! Whenever anyone disappeared for awhile, it was pretty safe to say they were sneaking a nap in the hammock :)

Katy, Caroline, and Brook were so cute walking at the zoo! This was such a cute picture, I had to post it! They had so much fun playing together. It's fun to have kids the same ages!

Then it was back down to the valley for extended family gatherings on both sides of the family. The reunion ended on August 3rd and Kevin, Toni, and Caroline headed back to NC. It was hard to see them go!! Mom, Dad, and Brian left a few days later. Laura and her fam were here for another week and a half and continued their stay at the Hotel Garcia. It was fun to play with Katy and watch her run around and play at my house. When Chris and I got home from work one day she said, "Oh, hi Emily! Did you come to see your house?" She cracks me up! After they left we had a few days to get ready for the next round of visitors.

The Garcia's came out late on the 11th and stayed with us for David and Kristi's wedding. They were married on the 13th in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful wedding and fun to all be together for the day (except for Kathleen - we missed you!!) The fam stayed with us another night and then headed back to Colorado on the 15th.

Stephanie stayed with us to work and get ready for school to start again. It was fun to have her here and hang out at night together. I actually cooked dinner several nights in a row while she was here!! Today we took her up to Provo and helped her move in to her apartment. She is living at the BC (Bountiful Court), which is where Christopher and I met. It was fun to help her move in and reminisce about the good ole days....

It was so much fun to have so much family stay with us! I love that I finally have a house big enough to be able to have friends and family stay with us comfortably!

So, after a month of occupancy, we finally have a vacancy. Any takers?

Camping Trip

We were finally able to take our first camping trip, just the two of us July 10 - 11. We decided to go camping a few days before we went, so we left a little early from work on the 10th and headed up the canyon to find a campsite! We first tried Timpanogos Campgroup, but they were full. Three campgrounds and 4 hours later, we finally found a site in Maple campground up Hobble Creek Canyon somewhere. After talking to the campground host for a few minutes, we realized why there were still sites left in his campground - he had just shot a bear there about a week before we came camping! So, needless to say, I spent all night looking over my shoulder and jumping at anything that made noise! We were able to get our camp all set up about a half hour before the sun went down. We roasted some hot dogs over the fire for dinner and sat around our campfire for awhile, having s'mores and chatting. The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then had to hurry and break camp, because it started to rain! Even though we weren't able to camp for very long, we still had a great first camping trip together. It's too bad it took us 4 years to go!! Hopefully it won't be that long before we can go again!!

How to keep yourself occupied without your man for 10 days...

Christopher got to go to California for 10 days earlier this month to work on a documentary that he is making at work. He got to go to San Francisco and LA. He even made some time to go see his best friend and their brand new baby. While he was off playing in California, I was home alone, trying to come up with things to do to keep myself busy so I wouldn't miss him TOO bad. I still missed him, but I was able to keep myself busy enough that the time went by pretty quick. So, here's how to keep yourself occupied without your man for 10 days:

Day 1

The day I dropped him off at the airport in the morning, I was able to work late for a co-worker, so I didn't really have time when I got home to do anything other than eat dinner and go to bed. Day 1 was easy :)

Day 2

After work, I went down to Payson and had dinner with Amy and her fam and then went to Zac and Sariah's t-ball game to cheer them on. It was so fun to hang out with them and watch them play! They did great despite how cold and wet it was! My favorite part was their little teammate who would chase everyone down with the ball to get them out, rather than throw it. I love t-ball!

Zac and Sariah each taking their turn at bat. It was fun to watch them.

Day 3

On my lunch break I went to Pebbles in My Pocket and got lots of fun stuff to keep me busy that evening once I got home from work. I made Thank You and Birthday Cards for the card club that Amy and I are in. I had fun making them! That was definitely a good way to keep myself busy - Pebbles to the rescue! :)

Day 4

After work I raced over to the t-ball field for another t-ball game. It was much better weather for this game. It was fun watching Ally "bake" for the team. Brooke just had fun sitting in her chair with her sunglasses. After the game, I went home with them for a sleepover that night.

Day 5

We woke up, had breakfast and got ready to go over to the card exchange. After the card club was done, I went to Ream's and bought a whole bunch of cherries. They were on sale for $.89/lb. I took them home, and thanks to Amy's cherry pitter, I spent the afternoon making cherry jam for Christopher, to surprise him when he got home. Three batches, and 9 jars later, I had only gotten through half of the cherries that I bought! FYI - you don't need as much as the recipe says! It turned out pretty well, though, if I do say so myself :)

Day 6

After church in the morning I came home, had some lunch, and then took a nice nap before my meeting in the afternoon. It was a nice restful, relaxing day for me.

Days 7 & 8

I think I wore myself out with all the busyness of Saturday, that all I wanted to do was sit and vej on the coach! I watched some movies that my friend let me borrow. I told him that Chris was gone, so he brought in his movie collection and let me borrow 4 of his edited movies. So, I sat, ate, and watched movies those days... there's nothing wrong with vejing every once in awhile right?

Day 9

I figured that it was time to clean up the house so that Christopher could come home to a nice clean house. I spent most of the night cleaning up, which made the evening go by quick.

Day 10

The day finally came when he was coming home!! I spent most of the day at work, not being able to concentrate because I was so excited and ready for him to be home. I was able to leave work early to go pick him up. I went to the airport, picked him and his co-worker up, dropped the co-worker off, and then we drove straight to AT&T so that Christopher could get the new iPhone 3GS. He had been so excited about it all week, he could hardly wait to get there. He convinced me to get an iPhone too, so now I have the 3G. I didn't think it was worth the extra money for me to get the 3GS. We spent the rest of that night setting up our phones and playing with them. (PS - I've already dropped mine ON CONCRETE - yeah, not so happy about the huge scratch on my brand new phone!)

Well, there you have it... that's how I spent my 10 days without Christopher. There were some dark times, but I was able to pull through and make it! I'm so glad he's home!!

Wonder of Wonder...

Miracle of miracles, we made dinner every night this week!! I can't tell you how long it's been since we've done that! Of course, tomorrow doesn't count because we get free dinner at a company party, so I decided to go ahead a post this tonight. I'm pretty proud of myself! Monday night we had baked potatoes, green beans, and toast. Tuesday night Chris made his special Ra-Men stir fry with bread and jam. Wednesday night we had tomato soup with chopped up hard boiled egg and toast mixed in with it (it's the only way there is to eat tomato soup in my opinion - trust me, it's delicious!) and a fruit salad. I even made banana bread for dessert! Tonight we had sloppy joes with steamed broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. I just hope I can keep this momentum going!! Yay for cooking!

72 Hour Kits

Sunday night, our Spanish Branch had a Emergency Preparedness Night with different presentations on food storage, finances, first aid, etc. At the fireside they gave each family an empty bucket to help you start your food storage or use for a 72 hour kit. So, for Family Night on Monday we decided to make our 72 hour kits since we didn't have any yet. It was a lot of fun planning it out and then going to the store to get what we needed. We are still missing a few things, but I feel a lot better knowing that we have them. I'm excited to get my food storage going too. I know it will take a while to get it where it needs to be, but it feels good to know that we are somewhat prepared and working on getting where we need to be.

8 Things

Laura tagged me in this quite a while ago, but since I didn't have a blog at that point I didn't worry about it. Now that I do, and I have some time to kill during my lunch break, I thought I'd give it a shot! These are in no particular order.

8 Favorite TV Shows
Lost
Heroes
The Office
Fringe
30 Rock
Sweat Equity (on DIY)
Glee (new series on Fox - starts in September, but the pilot was good)
Hells Kitchen

8 Favorite Restaurants
Chilis
Cafe Rio
Chungas
Zupas
Jason's Deli
Cheesecake Factory (for the food - not the cheesecake, although I'm sure it's good)
Red Robin
Pizza Factory

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
went to work
cooked dinner for the first time in awhile (I probably shouldn't confess to that)
played with a baby
went to the grocery store (to get the stuff to make for dinner)
hung out with some friends
made Chris kill a spider
the car made the squeeling noise - again!
forgot to check the mail

8 Things I'm Looking Forward
the weekend
warm weather getting and staying here
end of July for a family reunion
my new calling
getting the rest of the decor that I need for my house
learning new things
going to Grad school in 3 years for free!
kids eventually

8 Things I Love About Fall
the leaves changing color
football
birthday :)
Halloween
a break from the heat, but I do prefer wammer weather
start of school - I'm a geek, what can I say
hiking and camping - it's perfect weather in the fall because it's not too hot, but not too cold
Daylight Savings Time ending :)

8Things On My Wishlist
chi
piano
coffee table
decorations for my house
puppy
garden
yard
more time to spend with family and friends

Jammin day!

Ok, so, that title probably makes you think of something else, but Saturday Amy and I made strawberry jam. It is soooooo yummy!! We were a little ambitious and bought 3 flats of strawberries. 2 flats and 6 batches later, we decided not to do the last flat and just eat those instead. I love strawberries!! The jam turned out so good and I'm excited to eat some more when I go home! Maybe I'll get ambitious again and make some homemade bread to go with it - maybe... :)

Chris and Joseph kept the kids entertained so that Amy and I could get our jammin on, and it was fun! The best part was hearing the 'pop' when the jar sealed. We got really excited each time and giggly - how old are we? I had Chris take a picture, but it didn't turn out the best, so I don't have any picutres of it...maybe next time. Thanks for sharing your jam skills with me Amy! I can't wait to do more!

Memorial Day Weekend

This past week has been a busy, but super fun week for us.  One of my old roommates and best friends, Rachel, came to town for the wedding of one of our other old roommates and best friends, Kim, and she stayed with us for the weekend.  It was so much fun spending time together again.  It's been a long time since we've seen each other, so it was fun to catch up and reminisce about old times. Chris was a good sport to hang out with us and put up with giggly girls all weekend! 

Kim looked so beautiful and extremely happy.  It was fun to be able to share her big day with her and to support her.  

Today, Memorial Day, I dropped Rach off at the airport, and the came home and packed a picnic.  We went to the park and enjoyed the beautiful warm sunny weather for a few hours. We had a picnic and then we played catch and frisbee for awhile.  Afterwards, we laid down on the blanket which was half in the shade for Christopher, and half in the sun for me, and just relaxed.  Christopher took a nap and I read a book.  I LOVE being outside and it was so nice to just relax in the sun on a beautiful day.  I can't wait for summer to get here and to stay!! 

Christopher's New Toy...

Christopher has been wanting a new TV for a very long time.  He would check online to see how much it was at least three or four times a week, if not every day.  Finally, one day he found a really good deal on the TV and couldn't stand it anymore, so he bought it!  Here's a few pictures of his new toy!  I have to admit, I was a little skeptical of it at first, but I really like it and am glad we have it now.  We put our 'old' TV in our bedroom and it's nice to have one up there that we can actually see from the bed!  

He tracked the status of the shipping and as soon as it was in Salt Lake, we had to drive up there to get ourselves.   He was so excited to have it that he couldn't wait for it to be delivered the next day, as you can tell from the picture above and below.  

It took him awhile to get it set up just right, how he wanted it.  

And this is how it looks!  It's been funny to listen to Christopher talk about how much better everything looks on this TV.  I love it when he gets excited about something, even it is expensive!  

The Sleepover!

Last Friday, Chris and I had Sariah, Zac, Ally, and Brook sleepover so that my sister, Amy, and her husband could have a date night and go to the temple Saturday morning.  We had a blast!! 

 

We started out with pigs in a blanket for dinner which was a big hit!  I tried to get a picture of dinner, but they were done by the time I got the camera out and ready to go.  Then we played games all together, fed the ducks in the pond behind our house and had the kids settle down in their sleeping bags to watch a movie while they fell asleep.  We had an air mattress in the living room that the three older kids slept on, and we set up Brook's pack and play right beside it.  Chris and I slept on another air mattress downstairs with them as well.  We finally got them to bed about 9:30 - not bad for a sleepover! 

Zac, of course wanted to play the Playstation, so Sariah, Ally, Brook, and me played with Brooks "cards", Sariah's memory game, and Ally's petshop.   Chris was the go-to for help on Lego Batman when Zac got stuck.  

Then, we had "circle pancakes" in the morning for breakfast, except for Sariah who wanted a "P" pancake.  They were yummy!  Then we all got dressed and went to the little playground by our house.  It wasn't quite as big as they expected, but we still had plenty of room to play Star Wars.  I got to be Darth Vader, Ally was Ben Kanobe, and Zac was Luke Skywalker.  

This is Darth Vader and Ben Kanobe fighting on the space ship.  

Brooke had fun just running around playing with Uncle Chris and going up and down the stairs.

Luke Skywalker on his way to rescue Ben Kanobe from "the prison".

 

Sariah had fun sitting with Uncle Chris watching Star Wars. 

It was pretty cold, as you can tell, so we didn't play outside for very long.  Once Luke destroyed the Death Star, we all went back to the house and got some bread to go feed the ducks one more time.  Sariah was brave enough to come with us this time and she got on my shoulders and even threw some bread to them.  I wanted to get pictures of that, but didn't have enough hands for bread and kids!  Maybe next time.  

Then we all came back inside and the boys played more Lego Batman, while the girls went upstairs and watched Chip and Dale in my bed until Amy and Joseph came to get them.  We had such a fun time with them!  It was Brook's first time spending the night somewhere without her mommy and she did great!  In fact, I think it was way harder on her mom that it was on her! Thanks for letting them play with us Amy!  

New House

The most exciting thing that is happening for us is that we just bought a house!  We found a nice town home in Spanish Fork, UT that we both fell in love it and we bought it in January.  We absolutely love owning our very own home!!  It has three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.  It is about three times bigger than where we were living (which isn't saying much) and we couldn't be happier with it!!  There's still plenty to do to make it feel like it's really ours, but I am excited to do it.  I look forward to all the fun and happy memories that we'll make in our new home!  I've put some of pictures of our new home below.  They're not the best pictures.  I'll get Chris to take some better pictures of it, but at least you get an idea.  You'll just have to come visit and see it for yourself!  

This is a view of the living/family room.  To the left is a big bay window that you can't see from this angle.  I love how much natural light we get! 

The next two pictures are of my dining area and my kitchen.  I love my new kitchen and the fact that I actually have room for a table!!  (Please excuse the mess....it's quite a bit cleaner now, I promise :).  We have some cabinets that are empty because we don't have anything to go in them yet.  I'm sure that will be short-lived, but at least we're enjoying the novelty of it for a few more months!  

It's official - I'm a blogger!

Well, I finally did it!!  I'm a blogger now!  It only took me years to finally sit down and take the time to start doing this!  I know it's not anything to look at yet, but just you wait!  I have high expectations for things to come! :)