Friday, January 30, 2009

Earthquake

Apparently we had an earthquake in our area at 5:25 this morning. Thankfully, it was minor (a magnitude 4.5). I say 'apparently' because I was in our vanpool on the way to work this morning when it happened, so I was none the wiser until I got to the office and some folks were chatting about it. What is interesting to me is where this one was centered.


The earthquake was centered 14 miles NW of Seattle, or 7miles N of Kingston for those that know where that is. Basically it was just a handful of miles west of us (as the crow flies).

I am grateful that it was minor, but I must say that I'm am slightly disappointed that I missed it! Yes, I know, I'm weird. But did you really need further proof that I'm a little off? :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Costco is the new love of my life.

Sorry Jeremy, you're taking a back seat today.
I decided to finally get prints of our wedding, honeymoon, and other misc events this summer. I placed the order yesterday morning online and last night I picked up my pictures from Costco.

Here's what I ordered:
159 4x6's
23 5x7's
4 8x10's

Okay, so I went a little overboard, but I was able to get ALL of this for $38 after tax. SWEET! They all turned out fantastic. I do have a cool little picture printer at home, but bless its tiny little heart it isn't ever (not even on its best day) going to be able to print me 200 quality photos without breaking my piggy bank. I am SO happy to finally be able to get some of our pictures in frames! Now, I will just have to be careful to pick out our favorites so that our house does not turn in to a shrine of our wedding...

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration Day


Today is a day that will forever be remembered by those alive to witness it. It is a day for the record and history books. The past 8 years have been trying times for our nation. We've suffered attacks on our soil, a war, economic times worthy of the 'depression' label, and more than anything we've suffered from a huge lack of confidence in our own abilities - we've lacked hope. In the past week I have had two separate conversations in which both people said 'it's never been this bad before and we just can't recover' ‘we’ll never be the same again’. I was astounded to hear this. My response you ask? 'Well not with that attitude we won't!' We've gotten so down on ourselves during this administration...

I won't waste my time blaming Bush because I don't believe that one person could be wholly responsible for the downturn of our country. Sure he has lacked common sense, the vocabulary any leader should posses, and the ability to inspire our nation - but we need to take responsibility for our own actions. He didn't sign on a mortgage he couldn't afford. He didn't force you to use your credit card to buy things you didn’t need. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in, fix our mistakes, and put our faith back into this country.

During this never ending campaign I was truly awed by Barack Obama. Mostly because of his ability to inspire, especially the youth of this country, and call us all to action. Yes we are facing incredibly difficult times, but this is America after all, we've been down before, but don't ever count us out.

“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America,” Obama said.

Okay, I will proceed to step down off my high horse and leave you with a blog I wrote after Election Day...

It doesn't matter which side of the fence you landed on, yesterday was inspiring. It is taking some time for it to settle in for me, but as it does I am swelling with pride, pride in the fact that our process works. In that we have had our opportunity to weigh in and a decision has been made. That united we stand in this decision and that there is hope for our struggling nation. Both men gave beautiful speeches last night. Although I voted for Barack Obama, I felt that McCain's speech was thoughtful and his message was one of strength and togetherness. I truly respect the way he handled himself last night. Last night, more than ever before, I felt a part of something important in our country. It is a defined turning point in our core culture as Americans. Instead of continuing to butt heads and fight, perhaps we can go forward together in repairing the damage our country has suffered over the past eight years, and many more before that. This is a milestone. I have truly been moved by our leadership, and that I can tell you, is a first.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Snowboarding!

We finally went snowboarding on Friday night! It was our first trip of the season. The last week we've had an inversion in the northwest where it is cold down at sea level and warm up at the pass, so it was probably 10 degrees warmer up there.

It was unfortunate that it hadn't snowed in awhile because it was pretty icy. That makes getting back into the swing of things a little tricky. For the most part we came home in one piece. Jeremy had one good fall (along with a couple minor ones...) and hurt his butt, and I landed on my knees twice which gave me a honey of a bruise. On the positive side... it was gorgeous up there. The sun was shining, the sunset was beautiful, and we really enjoyed getting outside.

Think snowy thoughts for the mountains because we are ready to go again!

Friday, January 9, 2009

New Car!


In early December Jeremy and I bought a new car (SUV to be exact)! We got a Honda CRV and we just love it. It has so many great features (all wheel drive, satellite radio, leather heated seats, sunroof, rear adjustable seats, etc etc etc) and most importantly it gets great gas mileage!

There is one minor downside... we now have a car payment! We paid off both of our cars (and Jeremy's bike) last year and now we're back to making monthly payments. We did get a great deal, but it will be an adjustment!

We could not have had better timing considering the two weeks of snow that followed. I mean how is THAT for luck?? It did phenomenal in the snow too. The only time we slipped at all is when we made it slip in the middle of our street to see how it'd do. A+! Now, I've just got to convince Jeremy to put the racks on so that we're ready to hit the slopes!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Welcome!

We are new to blogging, so thank you for hanging in there while we get going. Yes, we are in fact conceited enough to believe that our lives are SO important that you all will want to tune in on a regular basis and check up on us! I (Sarah) will probably be providing the crazy band of loons that call themselves our friends and family with most of the updates, but Jeremy has said he will make a guest appearance here and there!

We have had an absolutely crazy year and included just a few of the highlights below. You know, nothing major... just our new house and our wedding... :)

Welcome and Enjoy!

Christmas

We had a pretty low key and relaxing Christmas this year. For the first time (that we can remember...) we had a WHITE Christmas! The snow ended up about knee deep at our house. It was beautiful. We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Honeymoon

July 21-30, 2008
Jeremy and I enjoyed 10 days in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. We stayed in Hotel Brisas Del Mar. We snorkeled, went sailing, swam with the dolphins, took a sunset cruise and spent a lot of time by the pool! We did get a bit sick (not sure if it was water or food) towards the end of our trip, but nothing that was incapacitating or kept us from exploring.

The view from our room...



Some friends we made during our exploring...

Sailing and Snorkeling...

sunset cruise - the little man made me do it...

(clockwise)
-a break from snorkeling on Isla Ixtapa
-enjoying lunch on municipal beach
-swimming with the dolphins!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Wedding

July 19, 2008
Our wedding day was a culmination of about 16 months of planning. It was a lot of work, but it turned out to be more than we could have ever hoped or planned for. We had a phenomenal time with our family and friends.

A few small photo highlights below.
(click the wedding picture on the right to see more favorites!)

A bit of prep...

Yes, Rachel and I are for hire. - Cami and Riley working hard.

Us girls doing what we do best.

Grandma Shirley helping Jeremy. - The Fella's.

Aidan (Ring Bearer) - Riley (Flower Girl)

Ceremony...

Dad and Sarah - Our Ceremony - THE Kiss

Reception...

Smile! - The Shoe Game

Cheers! - Pure Joy

Sunday, January 4, 2009

House

In April 2008 we moved into our new house. Our old house has become our first rental property! We really enjoy our new house and we are still working on getting settled. Yes, it has almost been a year and we're not done decorating or unpacking!

Here is a picture after the snow we got in December.
(little did we know we'd have another foot on top of this!)