A new addition to the family coming soon...

No it's not a baby, it's a puppy! Knowing me, a dog is the last thing anyone would ever expect me to have, but I couldn't help falling in love with this sweet little thing when we were visiting my in-laws at Christmas time. Brandon's mom has a black lab and she had a litter of 6 puppies on Dec. 18. When I was down there I couldn't put this puppy down- I was always holding him and it was no different when we were there last weekend. So we decided that we were really going to do it. The puppies are already being weaned by their mom and so by this time next week, we'll have a new member of the family! The other exciting news is that Emily has decided she wants one too, and so she'll come down with us to pick one out for her!

I am very excited, but mostly nervous. I am a freak about cleanliness, so this will be really hard for me. I have no experience in owning or training a dog, and I am pretty much allergic to dogs! So why are we doing this? Well, Brandon has always wanted another dog and I have started to warm up to the idea over the past little while. We think it will be fun whenever we are hiking, climbing, camping or even just out running around. So here we go!

Happy New Year!

I had a very long, exhausting week at work, my last night being New Year's Eve. Let me tell you, that is hopefully the last time I ever work that holiday in the ER! I took care of more drunks and crazy people in one solid night than I have in several months all together. It was not fun. So the rest of the weekend we just kind of took it easy. New Year's Day was fun- (for me anyway, Brandon was sick and confined to the bedroom) we had some friends over for dinner and games that lasted until 2:30 am! We did go to the climbing gym on Saturday, and realized how out of shape we are! This membership was our major Christmas present, which also ties into our New Year's resolutions.

1. More exercise! Whenever my schedule allows, we will go to the climbing gym together. When I am working at night, Brandon says he will go there on his way home. In addition to climbing walls and bouldering areas, Momentum also has a weights/ cardio area and offers Yoga classes! We want to be in good climbing shape (for ice climbing this winter and rock climbing when it's warm outside again).

2. Less TV time. This can sometimes take over a lot of our time. Because I work nights, I stay up very late when I am off work too. And since Brandon is naturally sort of a night-owl, he stays up late too, and a LOT of that time is spent watching TV. I would probably be sick if I calculated the hours spent watching TV this past long weekend. We need to pledge to more time reading, organizing, getting projects done around the house, etc.

3. Getting out of debt. This is not really a new goal, we have been working on it for a long time, but this is the year that we will eliminate pretty much ALL of our debt(except for house pmt)! We will get both our cars paid off, the last of our credit card debt and some other miscellaneous payments out of the way. Brandon is the one who is VERY conscious of this goal, and has to remind me a lot of the time why we have to sacrifice a lot of things that I WANT to do, in order to be in a better financial situation. This is definitely hard for me because before I got married, my money was mine to do what I wanted with, and I had very little to pay for in order to live, the rest was used for PLAY stuff! But when all is said and done, we don't lack anything we need, we are very blessed, and we both say to each other all the time- all we need is each other!

4. Church. I haven't exactly been very regular in my church attendance, especially with the 9:00 am start time, and me working nights. Well this year our ward meets at 11:oo. That's much better! I am getting to know some people in the ward, and everyone there is very welcoming and nice. It just feels good to be there.

Well this is just a start. This morning I woke up to a gorgeous sunrise over Mt. Timpanoogas and I felt it was symbolic of the new beginning I hope to have this day and this new year. Happy New Year everyone!

Home for the Holidays

Even if it meant not getting any sleep for work that night, I had so much fun getting together with my friends who are in town for the holidays. Both of these girls are my good friends from college and we have shared so many good times together! And now they both have adorable kids and I was happy to get to see those little ones too. 

Andrew is Aubrei and Blake's 2 year old and his big beautiful eyes and long eyelashes are to die for. And speaking of beautiful eyes, Sammie's new little guy Ryker has those too! He is a perfect hybrid of Sammie and Joe, and he is the happiest little chunk ever! Even if we only see each other a few times a year, I always feel like we pick up where we left off. I'm lucky to have such good friends.