November 20th

Well its been a while so here's another post. It's Sunday before Thanksgiving, so I'm excited to work 3 days and then head to Monte to spend a few days with Tyler's family. Then up to Seattle to watch the Cougars beat the Huskies at Apple Cup!

I'm looking forward to lots of fun things in the near future, here's a countdown:

* Christmas in Republic / Wenatchee (I REALLY missed being home on Christmas last year when we were in Mexico)
* New Years in Yosemite with the Fischback cousins. So happy to have fun plans for New Years' Eve!
* Baby Sophia Grace due 1/16/2012! I'm excited to have a niece and hold her for the first time. And... learn how to change my first diaper? ha ha
* Mid-February - THAILAND with Holly & Justin!

But back to the present. I recently was "promoted" at my job. I've been on overload lately so we're hiring someone else to be a receptionist so I can focus on marketing and public relations. It will be so nice to be doing something more related to my degree! I've decided my new title will be Administrative Coordinator.

Tyler's still enjoying his job at the hospital. He's been covering the evening shift for Misty who's on maternity leave, so the 7 on, 7 off schedule from 12-10:30pm has been interesting. I know Kirk's enjoying having dad home in the mornings, and for whole weeks at a time. Once Misty comes back in January (and when the hospital and clinic merge) we'll find out more about the changes that could happen in his department.

I took a photography class with Mary Collier recently and am excited to a part of her "Momtography" Facebook group where we get weekly challenges and can show off our photos to get some constructive criticism. With only Kirky and Tyler as subjects (well Jen's belly too I guess!) I have to force myself to practice.

Here's a shot I took today for the depth of field or "blurry goodness" challenge:

Photography

Happy birthday to me! Tyler got me a new polarizing filter for my prime lens that I'm excited to try out. Sounds like I know what I'm talking about, huh? Not really. I just bought Photoshop Elements so I'm really excited to start taking more pictures and fixing them up, once I get it figured out. Here's a few shots I've taken recently. 

Updates

Looks like I haven't posted since we bought our house! We closed on April 7th and have really enjoyed living here so far. It's got a beautiful deck and backyard. The previous owner was a master gardener so it's great to have all these perennials pop up unexpectedly. Kirkland loves it because he's got a doggy door now. Though there's not much to see from the backyard and no good windows to look to the front, so he's stuck with barking at the neighbors cats.

The house was turn-key ready so we didn't have to do much to improve it. We replaced the carpet in the upstairs bedrooms & hall, and Tyler & my dad built a small portion of fence so it'd be completely fenced in for Kirky. Other than that, the only other change was Tyler's raised boxes for our veggie garden in the "greenhouse." We got a late start and with our weird spring, we'll have to see how they do. We're definitely no master gardeners!

 The little circle window is in the shower of the main bathroom, and it rotates around to open!

 He got a hang of it pretty fast after using the Pickens' doggy door.

 Using our breakfast nook on the side of the deck for the first time.

 Still a little chilly in April.

 Kirky's only vantage point of the kitties next door.

 "Greenhouse" before...

... and after!

African Animals Getting Drunk From Ripe Marula Fruit

Next big step...?

We put in our counter-counter offer for a house today. We'll hear back Monday (Valentine's Day!) from the seller. Exciting!

And, we (I) decided to sponsor another child through World Vision. She shares Tyler's birthday, like Jhonxary shares mine. She's also from the Dominican Republic. Her name is Raisa, and she's 4 years old, and super cute. :-)

Only a few more weeks before Erica & I fly down to Cali to visit Neub & meet up with Han & Aim! Should be pretty amazing.

Also, I just realized a HUGE addition to my 30 before 30 list. See a Jay Buchanan show. Seriously, very very important.

Listen to Jay's music here

Valentines Day

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