Life with Eric and Tory

House Update

2009-03-16T21:14:00.001-07:00

Well, Eric and I are one step closer to owning our own home. We officially put an offer on the house Sunday evening. We have an appointment with the title company on Thursday to open escrow and then the ball will really be rolling fast! We agreed on a closing date with the owner's of April 17, so as long as there aren't any major issues in the process we will hopefully be moving into our new house in a month!! We are really anxious to get the appraisal completed, this should give us the opportunity to talk the owner's down on the price a bit since we think the appraised price will be lower than what the owner is asking for. With the current market we shouldn't have any problems getting the price we ask for. I snapped a few photos of the prospective house on Sunday (sorry about the blurry pics).

We really think this house will be perfect for us and are really hoping we get it!

We're buying our first home!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

We have great news as of this morning...Eric and I were approved to buy a house! We are so grateful that this is happening to us at this time in our lives. We are really taking advantage of the current economy and going to benefit from it while we can. This situation actually fell into our laps. We were planning on waiting until after our wedding to start the home buying process, but a friend of ours is moving out of state and asked us if we would be interested in purchasing their home. The timing was actually just right for us and we decided to move forward and look into possible financing on this great opportunity. We were approved with no problems and were able to get a great interest rate. We haven't officially put an offer on the house, but since we are dealing directly with the seller (no Realtors involved...therefore no realtor fees!!) we have plenty of time to make a very careful and thought out decision. We are going to take a more thorough look at the house on Sunday and if all goes well we will make an official offer with the seller. From there we will hopefully go into escrow during the week!! The house is PERFECT for us, just the right size, just the right character, and more importantly just the right price. Oh, and by the way, the house has a pool!!! This is a huge advantage here in Las Vegas where we spend most of the spring and summer in the 100+ degree temperature range :) I am posting a couple of pictures that Eric's mom took last weekend when his parents had a chance to look at the house with us. There is only a picture of the front of the house and the pool, but we will take more pictures on Sunday and post right away. Eric and I really are blessed in our life and I truly believe the saying, "good things come to those who wait". We have been really patient in waiting for the right time to make this life changing decision and of all things this opportunity came to us when we weren't even looking. I really believe that everything happens for a reason. We are confident that we are making the right decision and getting a great deal at that! We will keep everyone posted as soon as we go into escrow all the way through closing! We hope everything goes smoothly until the end of this process. Oh, and this means that everyone has a great excuse to come visit us...we do live in Las Vegas after all, and now you can come lounge by our pool!

We really can't wait to take more pictures on Sunday. The inside of the house is great!!!!

Oops!

2009-03-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I'm in trouble with a LOT of people right now because I haven't blogged in such a long time. Eric and I have been keeping ourselves so busy lately that I don't have much time for anything else. Some things that have happened since the last post:

1. We've reserved the wedding photographer for the big day!
2. We've also booked the caterer
3. We've finally completed asking our wedding party to participate...and they've all agreed!
4. Tory had her first wedding shower in Pendleton with her family
5. Tory got LASIK
6. Our wedding website is almost complete
7. We've mailed out our Save the Date cards

I may have slacked on the blogging, but I seem to be right on top of the wedding planning. Next step, book the DJ. I am planning on posting an individual blog for each of these big events to elaborate on the details. Keep checking back!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." -PART 2

2008-12-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

Well, during my last post I made a few jokes about how it doesn't look much like Christmas in the middle of the desert, and as most of you have heard by now, several days later it actually DID look like Christmas in Vegas! Throughout the course of about 3 days we received several inches of snow! This snow, however, isn't the white, fluffy, quiet snow that those of us that lived (live) further north are accustomed to. The snow that fell in Vegas the week before Christmas was very wet, heavy, and slushy. Regardless of how the snow came down (wet vs. fluffy), it was still snow and it accumulated on the ground. Schools were cancelled for a day and the airport struggled with keeping the flights from being cancelled or delayed. As Eric put it..."since we live in 'sin city' and we got snow, does this mean that hell has literally frozen over"!! Good one! Anyway, we snapped a few photos to prove that we warm weather people can actually survive a snow fall from time to time!

Snow on Ace's back. Poor dog just wants to play in it, but there wasn't enough to make snow angels!

This is what Henderson looked like when Eric got to work. Henderson got about 5 more inches than Vegas did throughout the course of the day. There is about 2-3 inches here on the ground.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

2008-12-10T21:43:00.001-08:00

Okay, well maybe it doesn't really 'look' like Christmas here in the middle of the desert, but we do the best we can! Eric and I were really dragging our feet this year in getting the decorations put up. I'm usually pretty good at getting started the day after Turkey Day, but this year with me only being out of my cast for a couple of days before Thanksgiving it was difficult to get started. Finally, this past weekend we got the decorations up and I'm starting to feel the holiday spirit awakening in me. We sipped on hot apple cider and rum (mmmmm....) and played Christmas music while we beautified the inside of our house.

(Ace is looking a little "Pet Cemetary" in this picture!)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Seven Years and More to Come...

2008-12-08T00:37:00.000-08:00

This weekend Eric and I celebrated the 7 year anniversary of our first date! It's unbelievable that we have been together for 7 years already. We decided to go out to a restaurant that we had never been to before, The Melting Pot. They serve fondue style meals, complete with fondue appetizers and fondue dessert. It was delicious! We celebrated with a bottle of wine and we really enjoyed the atmosphere. Cheers to many more anniversaries to come!

Turkey Tragedy

2008-11-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! The Thanksgiving Celebration in our household isn't usually too exciting because Eric has to work the holiday every year. Our routine usually consists of Eric sleeping all day while I work on preparing Turkey Day dinner, then we eat later than most (about 5 or 6 pm), and then he is off to work for the night.

This year we decided to deep fry our turkey since I've been dealing with a fractured foot for the past 6 weeks and I wasn't feeling up to getting up and down all day checking on the turkey. However, I had worked on everything else throughout the day...had the stuffing, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole ready to throw in the oven when Eric woke up, the rolls were rising and ready to bake, and I baked dessert early in the day (I tried something new this year, Pumpkin Creme Brulee instead of pie, it was DELICIOUS!), everything was ahead of schedule and I was enjoying a glass of wine. As soon as Eric woke up we got the turkey out of the fridge and starting washing and prepping it; then he headed outside to hook up the turkey fryer. A few minutes later Eric came back into the house and said the fryer isn't working, he's getting a small flame to ignite but it's not burning the large flame that it's supposed to. He tried everything, checking the joints to make sure everything was screwed on tight, he checked for leaks with a wet sponge, and he even tried switching out propane tanks...nothing! Are you kidding me...Thanksgiving Day and we can't even cook our turkey! Now, keep in mind that it is really late in the day and Eric has to go to work in a couple of hours, it's much to late to bake the turkey now. We decided that maybe Walgreen's, which is open on all holidays, might be selling fryers, so Eric took a trip to the store. Nothing. Next, he tried Von's Grocery Store...nothing. AAggghhh! He called me up and we decided that maybe he could just pick up some turkey breasts that we could cook up and we would deal with the turkey on the weekend. Of course, they were all sold out of turkey breast! After Eric arrived home from his failed efforts at solving our turkey dilemma, we had to do some improvising. Thanksgiving isn't complete without turkey and since we had a big 14 pound turkey staring at us in the face, we had only one option. I started cutting into that bad boy and took off the breasts. We decided to cook the breasts over the stove top and use the same seasonings we had lined up for the fried turkey. It turned out really good! I cut off the rest of the meat from the turkey so that we can cook it up this weekend for turkey sandwiches, because Thanksgiving isn't complete without turkey leftovers. All in all, our dinner turned out tasty and, most importantly, complete!

We have a lot to be thankful for and even a little challenge didn't stop us from celebrating Thanksgiving with style!! All of the food turned out great and Eric and I had a good laugh about the events last night. One thing is for sure, Thanksgiving 2008 is one we will always remember!

Good food, good friends, and good times

2008-10-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I really love about living in Vegas is that so many people come here for many reasons...conventions, vacations, concerts, bachelor/bachelorette parties. You get the idea. So, because of this we get to see so many friends and family members more often than we might otherwise. Last weekend my really close friend Arnela and her husband, Paul, were in town for a convention that he was attending for his job. It was a great opportunity to get to see them. Although Paul was busy most of the weekend, the four of us were able to get together on Friday night for drinks, then dinner, and then a show.

We went to a really good restaurant called Daniel Boulud Brasserie. It sits open to the big water display at the Wynn which made for a nice dining atmosphere. The food was great, the wine was great, and the company of our friends was even better! After the very yummy dinner we went to the Cirque du Soleil show at the Wynn, Le Reve. This show completely takes place in the water. It is absolutely amazing to me that these acrobats can perform these amazing stunts. The cast was also made up of great swimmers and divers because they did some really amazing stunts into the water. After the show we chatted for a bit over drinks (well for some of us, Arnela is a little over 3 months pregnant. I'm so excited for the new addition!) and then called it a night.

On Saturday while Paul was working at the convention we were able to meet up with Arnela one more time. We picked her up at her hotel and headed for Town Square. Town Square is a fairly new addition to the Las Vegas strip, just south of Mandalay Bay, with lots of shopping and restaurants. We enjoyed a lot of shopping and lunch at The Yard House, which prides themselves on a very large number of beer drafts on tap.

The shopping was great, but our find of the day was at J. Crew. You see, (to give a little background before I talk about our find at J. Crew) the joke regarding Eric and I's wedding for months has been that he wants our colors to be blue and orange (go Broncos!). I, of course, just look at him with disgust and tell him never in a million years will blue and orange be the colors of our wedding. He banters with me, little jabs here and there about our blue and orange wedding, how awesome it will be, all the while knowing how much it drives me crazy. And don't think for one minute it is just Eric with this idea and getting joy out of teasing me, it is the entire family of my future in-laws. Even my maid of honor, Tracy, also my future sister-in-law, enjoys talking about the dream of a blue and orange wedding and how our reception should be tailgating at the BSU stadium and then on to the game. So me, trying to be the supportive future wife (ha, ha...a little sarcasm goes a long way!) has told Eric that he IS allowed to wear blue and orange on our wedding day, but only if it is on his underwear! Okay, fast forward to shopping at J. Crew on Saturday. As Eric is perusing the men's section he finds a blue and orange striped tie! Who would've thought. He gets really excited and shows me that this is what he wants to wear for the wedding. I gracefully walked over to him and took the tie out of his hand, putting it back on the table where it belongs. Arnela, who is a bridesmaid in the wedding, actually supports Eric's idea. I'm not sure how I picked a wedding party full of crazy BSU fans that are supporting Eric's concept. Anyway, as we walked away from the tie display laughing, we spotted blue and orange boxers!!! Can you believe it. We found the underwear that Eric will wear on our wedding day. Isn't is romantic?!? (more sarcasm, of course). All I know is that Eric will feel much better on our wedding day supporting his favorite team, which by the way has a game...in Boise...on the day of our wedding, which was an accident for all of those thinking I planned it on purpose!

What a fun weekend. It was nice to catch up with our friends and enjoy some laughs over blue and orange boxers!!

Successes

2008-10-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I realize I haven't been doing the best job of keeping our blog current and the posts as frequent, but with school in full swing and flu shot season hitting at work (a very busy time for us) I haven't had a lot of time these days.

I wanted to post some very exciting news...Eric just received a promotion at work last week. He is now officially an FTO or Field Training Officer. This means that when new recruits come out of the academy and are put to work on the streets they must work with an FTO for 15 weeks. During this time the recruits are trained, taught, and graded by their FTO. I am so excited that Eric got this position because he is an excellent teacher. (I know this because he has tried to teach me how to golf on a couple of occasions and while he is very patient, understanding, and knowledgeable...I am the worst student! Well, at least when he is my teacher :) Ha!) Anyway, Eric had taken all of the required classes to become an FTO over the last year and when the department finally listed the job posting for new FTOs he immediately applied for the position. He was required to take a written test and an oral board test, in which he said he felt like he was applying for the department for the first time all over again, and passed with flying colors! He was officially given the position last week. Any of his students will be very lucky to have him as a teacher. Congratulations, Eric!!

We'll miss you, C.J.

2008-09-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Today has been a very sad day for Eric and I. Our cat, C.J., passed away. C.J. was 18 years old. I got C.J. as a brand new kitten when I was only 10 years old. She has been with me for as long as I can remember. She had quite a stubborn and spunky personality! Her old age really caught up with her these past couple of years and it's been hard to watch her age. She was very loved by us both and she will be forever missed.

The wedding date has been set...

2008-08-17T16:03:00.001-07:00

Well, Eric and I have officially set a wedding date. September 26, 2009. We chose a beautiful winery in Nampa, Idaho, for the ceremony and reception. Here are a couple of pictures of Sawtooth Winery.

We are really looking forward to a beautiful autumn wedding!

One trip...28+ hours in the car!!

2008-08-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

Eric and I, along with our dog Ace, took a long road trip last week up to Boise and then over to my hometown of Pendleton, Oregon. The drive from Vegas to Boise is about 9.5 hours and the drive from Boise to Pendleton is another 3.5 hours. We originally had planned to leave Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, but Eric took the night off of work and we decided to leave late Tuesday night and drive through the middle of the night. We arrived in Boise at about 7am Wednesday morning. It's a good thing Eric is used to being up all night working graveyard. I, on the other hand, was completely exhausted.

We spent a couple of days looking around Boise and surrounding areas for possible wedding locations. One thing we knew for sure was that we really wanted an outdoor wedding. Complete with a list of locations in hand we set off with Eric's parents and his sister to scope out what Boise had to offer. At the top of our list were quite a few wineries in the Nampa/Caldwell area. We had a great time looking and even had time to squeeze in a wine tasting at Ste. Chapelle. Yummy!

In the evening we enjoyed the company of Eric's family and had a barbecue at Eric's sister's house.

(Eric's sister Tracy and her husband Jason)

(Eric and his mom)

Eric's nephew Jackson looks like a mini-Eric!! He looks more like Eric every time I see him!

Ace, was so excited to actually have grass to play on. Our backyard in Vegas is all rock and cactus, not much fun for a big dog that loves to roll in the grass. Eric's brother-in-law Jason discovered Ace's love for the water when he was trying to hose off the patio. This ended in one very wet and happy brown dog! I don't know who had more fun...Jason or Ace!!

After spending a couple of wonderful days in Boise, we headed down to Pendleton to visit my family. This was my first visit to Pendleton in over a year and a half! Since the last time I was there my dad has completely redone the outside of his house to log siding (it looks just like a log cabin) and my brother Jason and his family have moved into a new home way out in the country. I had a lot of stuff to see!! We also surprised my dad by bringing Ace with us, which he was unaware that we were doing. My dad's dog Holly is Ace's mom, so it was fun watching them reunite. They look almost identical, except Ace is quite a bit bigger than Holly these days.

At my brother's house, my two nieces had the chance to show off on their four wheelers! Here is a great picture of my dad riding a pink four wheeler...something I never thought I would see in a million years!

These are two of my nieces DeLaney (left) and Rylee (right). I just love them to pieces!

We had a blast in Pendleton, but we could only stay a couple of days. We headed back to Boise to spend one last night before we had to make the long trek back to Vegas. We had originally planned to drive up to Cascade (the town where Eric first worked as a police officer) for the day with my mom who also lives in the Boise area, but our dog was getting sick of being in the car. So we decided to take a lazy day and visit with my mom at her house. We ended the weekend with a barbecue at Eric's parents house on Sunday night. First thing Monday morning, we were on the road again. We logged at least 28 hours in the car on this trip...it was exhausting.

Yes, we have mountains in the desert!

2008-07-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Eric and I took Ace for a hike on Sunday. We decided to try a new trail that we learned about in a book I borrowed from a co-worker. The trail leads up to Mary Jane Falls. We originally wanted to hike this trail about a month ago, but tragically the day before our planned hike there was a small plane that crashed near the parking lot so the whole area was closed for a couple of weeks. There was supposed to be a pretty good sized waterfall in June when we originally planned to hike the trail, but now a month later, the waterfall was barely a trickle! Either way, Ace was happy to get his feet wet and stand in the trickling water to cool off from the hot hike.

Nice View of Mt Charleston

Ace enjoying the "trickle" of the waterfall!

One tired dog on the ride home!

It's always so nice to get out of town to the higher elevations. The temperature is usually about 20 to 30 degrees cooler at Mt. Charleston, which is very much appreciated this time of year. Even though you can see there are lots of pine trees and mountainous terrain, don't be deceived...you still see the occasional lizard and cactus mixed among the mountain scenery. A constant reminder that we live in the desert!

Love that new car smell!

2008-07-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Last week Eric and I bought a new car. We got a blue 2008 Honda Accord. Of course Eric loves the blue because now his Boise State license plate cover matches perfectly! Not to mention the first thing he wanted to do when we brought it home last week was put a Broncos decal in the rear window! Here are a few snapshots of the new car...

Accomplishments

2008-07-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Last week Eric completed a two week course he took to become a certified D.R.E. (Drug Recognition Expert) for the City of Henderson. This class was very stressful and very intense. Eric took the equivalent of 6 college credits in a two week period! He was required to take many written tests throughout the course and then he had to apply what he learned in the field by conducting evaluations on actual drug abusers at the Clark County Detention Center. The two week class ended with a written final knowledge exam that took him five hours to complete. This course was quite an accomplishment for Eric. I just wanted to say that I am so proud of him. Ever since he has been employed by the City of Henderson he has strived to improve his knowledge and performance as a police officer. He has taken multiple courses that were optional, but he signed up for them so that he could improve his skills and become a more valuable asset to his department. These courses include multiple classes to become a FTO (Field Training Officer), a certified FST (Field Sobriety Test) instructor, and now a Drug Recognition Expert. All of this accomplished in three short years...his three year anniversary with the department is at the beginning of September. I love and admire his commitment to his profession. He really loves being a police officer and serving our community. He is always striving to be a better person and he is always taking the extra initiative to dedicate himself to the job he loves. I love him with all my heart and he makes me so proud every day.

Independence Day

2008-07-06T12:28:00.001-07:00

Eric picked up an extra shift for the July 4th celebrations in Henderson (good overtime pay for him), so I was on my own for the holiday. My friend Erin's husband also had to work, so Erin and I decided to be each other's dates for the fireworks festivities. We decided to go to a park nearby both our houses in which the Las Vegas Philharmonic was putting on a show. It was great. Of course they played all patriotic music, but the fireworks were coordinated to the live music! It turned out to be a nice evening...no wind and I think that the temperature sitting on the grass was actually under 100 degrees! That's a nice break from the normal this time of year. The fireworks were literally right in front of us and you practically had to lay back on the grass in order to look straight up to see them. Erin's son Theo really loved the "fire in the sky", as he put it in his 3 year old words! There were lots of people that brought their own bottle of wine and sat on the grass sipping wine and listening to the orchestra. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. I'm hoping Eric will have next year off and we can go together! Happy 4th of July everyone!

Tourist for a night

2008-07-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

Last Friday evening Eric and I scored free tickets to one of the shows down town, Danny Gans. He is a variety show doing celebrity impersonations, singing, and comedy. It was a great show! And considering that tickets to his show run $100 a seat, getting to see it for free was a big bonus.

We showed up to the Mirage about an hour before the show because we had to pick up our tickets at will call. To kill time we grabbed a couple of beers and wandered the casino. We ended up seeing one of the MMA (mixed martial arts) fighters that we have seen fight before either on UFC or WEC, we still haven't figured out what his name is. But he was definitely a face we recognized and he was a big guy with cauliflower ear and all. Eric was pretty excited to see one of the fighters since he watches UFC on a weekly basis. As if one celebrity sighting wasn't enough, I got to meet Jay Leno later in the evening!!! I was so excited. During Danny Gans I had to use the restroom REALLY bad but I didn't want to leave during the show. After about 10 minutes of contemplating, I couldn't wait. I had to walk over about 15 people to get to the aisle and then had to make a run for it. My timing couldn't have been more perfect because just as I was walking out of the restroom I say Jay Leno directly in front of me. I walked right up to him, as he was stopped talking to a couple of fans, and he reached right over to me and offered his hand for a handshake! He was so nice. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my purse with me to the restroom, so I didn't have my camera. I was so bummed that I didn't get a picture, but it was still awesome to meet such a nice, down to earth celebrity.

After the show we decided to walk down to the Bellagio and check out the conservatory. They change the flower display monthly, so every time we are down town we can see something new. This time the theme was America the Beautiful. There was a lot of American flags hanging from the ceiling and little toy trains running through the gardens. It always smells so good in the conservatory!

We ventured down to the front of the Bellagio after that and watched the water show a couple of times. I don't think we will ever get tired of that, no matter how long we live here in Sin City.

That was enough tourism for us for one night. What a great time though. One of the benefits of living here in Las Vegas is that in a 10 minute drive from home, we can feel like we are on vacation.

TIM MCGRAW!!!!

2008-06-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the time had finally arrived for Tracy and I to see Tim McGraw in concert, again. This would be Tracy's 11th concert and my 8th (We've decided that at this stage we are pretty much putting his kids through college!). The concert was at Mandalay Bay. Here is a picture of Tracy and I having a drink before the concert.

Then it was on to the show. Tracy loves Tim McGraw so much that she starting flirting with his poster just inside the arena! Ha!

Our seats weren't bad, but definitely not the best we've had. The show opened with Halfway to Hazard and then Jason Aldean. Jason Aldean put on a pretty good show and we knew most of his songs. But, when Tim came on he brought the whole crowd to their feet and we remained standing for most of the concert.

He put on an awesome show. Definitely one of the better concerts we've seen. Here are some pictures of us enjoying the show. The last picture is with the couple that was sitting directly behind us. They are Las Vegas locals and we had fun chatting with them during the intermissions.We had such a great time. Tim McGraw really knows how to entertain the crowd and his voice sounds better live than it does on the radio. I'm sure Tracy will agree that we cannot wait until his next tour so we can see him again.

Eric's Birthday Weekend

2008-06-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Eric and I were so excited to get a visit from Jason and Tracy and their new son Jackson. They drove down from Boise on Wednesday (Eric's birthday) and arrived here late Wednesday night. We had a blast hanging out all weekend and spending time with Jackson. On Thursday, Tracy and I went and got haircuts from my favorite hair stylist Brandon. We both got some really cute cuts in preparation for our night out on Saturday. We all took it easy on Thursday night. We barbecued some steaks and kicked back a few beers/glasses of wine. After dinner, we played board games. Tracy and I vs. Jason and Eric. The girls smoked the boys!! We beat them at Mad Gab and then at Scene It. It was a fun mellow night.

On Friday, us girls went to get pedicures first thing in the morning. After that, we relieved the boys of baby duty so they could go play 9 holes at the nearest golf course. It was over 100 degrees outside and they were still crazy enough to play. After they finished their 9 holes we all met up at Gordon Biersch for lunch. This is where we snapped this photo of Jackson with an empty beer glass in his arm and a HUGE smile on his face! Jason and Tracy are starting him out young! Since Tracy and I were getting a night out on Saturday, the boys got to go out on Friday night. They hung out with some of Eric's friends from work and had a great time. Tracy and I got take out from Hash House A Go Go (one of our favorite Las Vegas restaurants) and watched a chick flick.

Saturday was the big day...Tim McGraw Concert day!!!!! Tracy and I got to hang out all day, just us girls. The boys stayed home with Jackson and recovered from their late night out. Later in the day, we went over to our friends Tim and Marian's house for a mid-day bbq. Tracy and Jason took Jackson for a swim in the pool. He did great. He didn't get spooked by the water at all.

Our weekend visit with Jason and Tracy was almost over, they had to leave for home first thing Sunday morning. But before the weekend was up we had the main event...Tim McGraw concert. This deserves it's own blog entry, so (to be continued...)

Happy Birthday, Eric!!

2008-06-18T15:22:00.001-07:00

Today is Eric's 29th birthday! Unfortunately, Eric has to work this evening at 4 pm. We had lunch together and I got him a cupcake from The Cupcakery, which makes awesome cupcakes!

(Don't worry Judy...I'm making him his "sparkle" cake this weekend!!!)

Eric's sister Tracy, her husband Jason, and their son Jackson are coming into town this evening are are staying until Sunday. I just wanted to post this blog to celebrate Eric's birthday with everyone. I love you Eric and I hope all of your birthday wishes come true! (We'll post later how the weekend goes. Tracy and I are going to a Tim McGraw concert on Saturday! The boys get to stay home with Jackson, but they'll have their fun another night)

Utah

2008-06-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

I had to travel to Southern Utah this past week for work. Since I was going to be only about 3 hours from where my brother and his family live, I decided to drive the extra distance and stay the weekend. My brother had already planned a rock climbing trip with his friends for that weekend, so I didn't get to see him as much as I would've liked. I did, however, get to spend the weekend with my sister-in-law Collene, my nephews Brock and Colby, and my niece Shelby.

On Friday night we took Shelby to see the movie Kung Fu Panda. It was a great movie! I had to laugh because it has been a long time since I have gone to the movie theaters to see an animated film! I really enjoyed it and I think Shelby really liked it too. On Saturday we woke up early to go watch Colby play baseball. He had two games back to back. He did really well and got the chance to play quite a few different positions.

After the ballgames the four of us headed up to American Fork canyon to hike a trail up to Timpanogos Caves. The hike was beautiful with awesome views of the entire canyon. It was a hot day though, which made the hike a little more challenging. We decided not to take the guided tour up to the caves because we would've had to wait 2 hours for the next hike to begin. So instead, we just took a nice leisurely hike up the trail. It was a nice day!

The following day was Father's Day, so we went out to breakfast with Collene's dad and the rest of her family. Keith was able to make it back home a couple of hours before I had to head back to Vegas, so fortunately I got to visit with him for a short time. Now that my work is requiring that I visit Southern Utah at least once every 3 months I'm hoping to make more trips up to see my brother and his family. Hopefully next time Eric will be able to get the time off of work to join me. It really was a nice weekend!

Ace's Birthday

2008-06-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, Eric and I are "those" people who celebrate our dog's birthday! It just so happens that Ace was born on Memorial Day Weekend, so it's an easy birthday to remember...May 27.

To celebrate Ace's birthday, Eric took him over to his favorite place...Three Dog Bakery. It is an all-natural, healthy bakery that makes food for dogs only. Needless to say, our spoiled rotten puppy dog is a regular at Three Dog Bakery and they know him by name. The crew at the bakery immediately welcome Ace (by name) and usually treat him to the baked good of the day. They say that Ace is one of their favorite customers, but I think they just see $$$ when we walk through the door because we spend a lot of money on spoiling our dog there! Eric picked up a piece of carrot cake for Ace's birthday cake. We brought it home and served it to him on a plate. Right as I snapped the photo, Ace licked his lips! It turned out to be such a cute picture...I couldn't have timed it better. In honor of Ace's 2nd birthday, I've posted some of my favorite pictures of our beloved brown dog. Here is our..."Ode to Ace"

Check out Three Dog Bakery at: https://www.threedog.com/

New Nephew

2008-06-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Eric and I returned home from Hawaii on a Friday and on that following Monday we were blessed with the arrival of a new nephew. Eric's sister Tracy Fuller gave birth to Jackson Drake Fuller on St. Patrick's day. What a cutie!Since we had just arrived home from our trip and Jackson arrived a little unexpectantly (4 weeks early), we weren't able to make it back to Boise right away to see our new nephew. So, we planned a trip for the end of April. The whole family wanted to celebrate both the birth of Jackson and our engagement, so Eric's parents planned a wonderful barbeque at the Aitken household. Rich has a new outdoor kitchen this year, so I don't think he minded having the opportunity to "break it in"!!

We had a pretty big turnout for the bbq. Both Eric and I had our entire immediate families present as well as my grandfather, one of my uncles and two of my cousins, Eric's aunt and uncle that live in Boise, and quite a few friends. This was the first time my brothers and their families had met any of Eric's family. It was a lot of fun! All the young kids played for hours in the back yard while the rest of us had many hours to catch up and get to know one another.

(Grandpa Carl Duchek playing with his great grandchildren!)

(DeLaney, Rylee, and Shelby loved the bubble maker machine)

It was such a wonderful family gathering! I hope we have many more to come in the future. Eric and I spent the rest of the weekend staying at Jason and Tracy's house and tried to spend as much time as we could with Jackson. He is such a good baby. It was hard to say good-bye to him and the rest of the family.

Hawaii Part Two - Maui

2008-05-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

We really enjoyed seeing all there is to see on Oahu, but we were definitely ready for the more relaxed atmosphere awaiting us Maui. We met up with our friends, Arnela and Paul, at the Honolulu airport and hopped the same flight over to Maui. We had all arranged to stay together in a condo in Kihei, Maui. The view from our condo was pretty amazing and was right across the street from the beach. We couldn't have asked for more.

Our attitude was very relaxed in Maui. We spent a lot of time walking to the beach and soaking up the rays. Our condo came equipped with beach toys, so Eric took advantage of the boogie board and caught some waves!! Surfer boy...well, not quite!

We flew into Maui on a Saturday, relaxed all day Sunday, took a day long road trip on Monday on the road to Hana, Eric golfed on Tuesday, we went shopping and beach hopping on Wednesday, watched the sunrise from the top of the island followed by ziplining on Thursday, and flew out on Friday. We packed our week full on fun sights and lots of relaxation.

Monday....we drove the road to Hana on the east side of Maui. It is a road notorious for it's narrow bridges and tight curves. It is 52 miles long, has 617 curves, 56 bridges, and takes about 3 hours one way!

The end of the road brought us to Haleakala National Forest. Here we swam in freshwater pools that are trickling from the mountain. It is called the Seven Sacred Pools, but we learned there are more than 20 pools.

The water was so refreshing!! After swimming in salty water for the past several days, it was nice to swim in the clean, crisp freshwater. After hiking up and down the pools and doing some swimming, we had to head back on the same road that brought us here. The last stop on the way home was a black sand beach just off the road. It was beautiful!

After we arrived back at the condo, Eric was ready for a few beers. It was one of the most stressful roads to drive on (not that I would know, I got to sit passenger the whole way!).

Tuesday...Golf at Kapalua. Eric had really been looking forward to this. We got him reservations a few weeks before our trip to golf the Bay Course at Kapalua. It was very pricey, but a once in a lifetime experience for Eric. Here he is at the first hole.The signature hole, the 5th hole, has to be shot right across a bay. It was so beautiful. Eric shot a ball out into the ocean and we got a great shot of his swing!He ended his 18 hole game with a score of 89. He was really excited that he played so well on a course that he has always dreamed of playing. We snapped one last photo on the 18th hole with his golf partner from New York that he was paired up with.

Wednesday....all day at the beach, then off to do some shopping. Eric got great use of the boogie board on this day!

Thursday...we woke up way before sunrise so that we could drive up to the top of the island. Haleakala Crater is the summit of the island at over 10,000 feet! There is a great view of the sunrise from here.

After watching the sunrise in 40 degree temperatures (really cold after laying on the beaches all week), we headed halfway down the mountain and stopped for a ziplining tour. We did 5 ziplines and it took about an hour and a half. This was the first time Eric and I had ever gone ziplining. It was a blast.The last zipline was pretty scary. The guides told us that the average person goes between 40 and 50 mph on this zipline! It was 750 feet long and 150 in the air. This is Eric coming to the end on the last zipline. I can't wait to do it again!We had so much fun on our vacation and we will always remember the great times we had there. It was great to have such a wonderful setting for one of the most memorable days we will ever have, our engagement.

Hawaii Part One - Honolulu

2008-05-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

The vacation Eric and I took to Hawaii in March turned out to be a life changing trip for us. We went to Hawaii very excited to get some sun and relaxation. The best part is that we came back engaged!!

Our first stay on our trip was the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. This picture shows the view from our hotel room. When we arrived in Hawaii we were only running on excitement and adrenaline because we had taken the red eye flight over. We had been up for more than 24 hours, but that didn't stop up from seeing Pearl Harbor, Aloha Stadium, flea markets, and checking out the beaches. After returning to our hotel for the night, ready to relax the rest of the evening, we decided to lay out on the beach. Eric suprised me with a marriage proposal right on the beach!! Of course I said "yes", but only after asking him how he was able to pull this off without me knowing. He had to prompt me to stop asking questions and just answer his question! He later told me that he had to get it over with on the first day of our vacation, otherwise he would've been too nervous to enjoy himself. It was a wonderful, romantic proposal and I wouldn't have had it any other way. The picture below is us right after the proposal.

We spent 3 more days on the island of Oahu. We went snorkeling, drove up the island to the north shore, went to the Polynesian Cultural center to enjoy a night show, went to a luau, and we walked up and down Waikiki beach hitting up the shops and restaurants.

After enjoying a little over 3 days in Oahu, we headed for Maui.

Starting our blog

2008-05-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

Eric and I really wanted a way to share our lives with everyone we care about. So we decided it would be time to start our own blog. Our lives will be changing a lot over the next couple of years. We are engaged and starting to plan our wedding. We hope that this blog will be a way to keep everyone connected with our future plans and with our everyday lives. Enjoy!