It's Been a Few Months.. Early 2015 Update (Written in April- Finally Published in June)

Ah yes.. it's so much easier to keep up the blog than to take months off and try to figure out where to begin. But here goes:




It's been a really wonderful beginning of the year for our family. We had a great Christmas at home, just the three of us. I took the week off of work and we hung with friends, celebrated and went skiing for a few days at Copper. It was very low key, which we all enjoyed. Things had been (and continue to be) so busy between school, work and just life, we needed some down time. AJ's big gift from Santa was a new Samsung Tablet. He was in heaven! He had an iPad before which he loved, but it was time to replace it.

Ugly Sweater Contest Winner!

Oh! I know another thing that was keeping us so busy... we had our basement finished! What an exciting thing. When Jason and I moved into this house in 2006 (I cannot believe it'll be 9 years in August!) we dreamt of finishing the basement and how we would do it, but I wasn't really ever sure we would. Quite honestly, we have almost 3000 square feet above ground and we don't use all of it, so I wasn't sure why we would need it. But once in a while we talked about what we would do if/when we had the money to do it. Any funny enough, the basement is almost exactly like we had originally discussed way back when. Our wonderful contractor, Don, helped create an amazing media room, bar, workout area and bathroom down there. We considered putting in a bedroom for resale, but we've got 4 bedrooms and an office upstairs, so it wasn't necessary. I was a little worried about how messy this process was going to be and how long it would take- you hear a lot of horror stories when you start telling people what you're going to do- but it wasn't bad at all! Since it was in the basement, it didn't affect our daily life, or mess up the part of the house we were living in. And it only took 8 weeks!


Here are some pictures of the finished basement:

Our lives have been really busy on the job front too. I have been loving my job but it has been INCREDIBLY busy the last few months. Of course, that is a good thing, but there are days when it feels like it's too much. I feel like I've become the Jack of all Trades at work. Again, this is good. In January, we had our annual Kickoff which means executives fly in and the entire center shuts down for a big 5 hour rah-rah meeting to discuss the previous years results and pump people up for the coming year. I was asked to work on it for the first time and let me tell you.. the PRESSURE. I realized it wasn't curing cancer, but I felt so much pressure to make sure the music was right, loud enough, played at the exact correct moments, the slideshow was perfect, the awards were set up, tables and chairs and balloons set up, and so much more. Thankfully it went very well and my boss was pleased. And then less than a week later, we had 10 new hires start. Which meant, preparing training materials and HR documents, rearranging desks, cleaning the training room, ensuring computers work, ordering supplies, making name tags, ordering badges and so much more. ALL this little stuff that really added up. Often times I felt like housekeeping, IT, training and HR at the same time. I complain, but I actually love it. I love that my boss believes in me and knows I'll get it done.


Back in August Jason left Dell after 5 years and went to a company called VM Ware. It's a great company and could have eventually been a good thing, but it didn't work out. He was told he was going to get a bunch of good accounts and that turned out not to be true. And he had some less than qualified inside resources which made it more difficult to sell. He did enjoy the company and some of the people he worked with, but we could tell pretty quickly it wasn't going to last too long. Strangely enough, before he went to VM Ware, he got a call from a recruiter to interview for a job at Sales Force. He went to the interview and it went great, but he was told the job was put on hold. Well, once he was ready to leave VM Ware, he got a call from Sales Force again and was asked to interview with the hiring manager that week and within 5 days, he had the job! He's been there about a month and loves it! It's an amazing company that is doing really well. He has 7 large accounts and great resources. I'm so happy to see him loving his job again.


And then there's AJ :) Can you even believe he's going to be SEVEN in a few months. Ugh. It kills me. He is doing really really good. We have been skiing 5-6 times this year and it amazes me how much better he gets each year. And talk about fearless! The kid is faster than I am and totally in control. I find myself yelling at him as he passes me down the mountain "TURN!!" or "Slow down!" because he freaks me out! But he knows what he's doing. Uncle Matt came out last week and they skied thru the trees which was super fun for both of them. AJ always likes to find little jumps. I'm really trying to talk him into getting on a ski team next year- I think age 7 is when you can start. Stay tuned.


Here's a video of AJ skiing the trees:

AJ is doing pretty well in school too. He's an awesome reader, and really good at math, but we're finding he's rushing too much in his writing. I've had many talks with his teacher about how she can't read his writing, but she could read it last year. I t think he's become lazy and is trying to just get it done as quickly as he can. So, now I'm adding more homework each night and he has to work on writing better. He doesn't always love it, but I keep telling him that once he writes better, we don't have to do this! Kids!

Monterey Bay Aquarium!

The 3 of us went to California to visit Dad and Cory in October. I was surprised to think that this was my first time back to Cali all year! We always love going to Pop and Grammy's because it's relaxing and fun. AJ played in the garden, fed the turtles a HUGE zucchini that Cory had grown, ran around with chickens and played with the neighbor kids Hudson and Mackenzie. 

On Sunday we split up, left AJ with Pop and Grammy and all headed up north to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Pop and Grammy wanted to take AJ there and Jason and I wanted to go too! So all day Sunday, Jason and I got some adult time; we went wine tasting, went into the super cute shops and had a nice dinner on the pier. Pop, Grammy and AJ went to a really cool park and went to Bubba Gump's for dinner. 

The next morning we all met up for breakfast and then headed to the aquarium. This place so neat! We watched a shark feeding, checked out the jellyfish and walked around the whole place. It really was a great experience for everyone. 

Pop and AJ with HUGE zucchini for the turtles

Walking with the chickens- this picture always makes me laugh

Monterey!

We found out that AJ LOVES Clam Chowder- who knew?

Football!

Jason had been talking with AJ about playing flag football over the summer and when it became available, we signed him up. AJ is not the most physical kid. He isn't really into wrestling or rough housing so I wasn't sure how he would do. 

We signed him up with his friend, Andrew. They had practice and a game once a week. There were kids on his team who obviously had been playing before, but also those who were just starting out. His coach was really good, taught them how to stretch and they learned a few plays. AJ really seemed to enjoy himself. He would try to get the flags of the other players, but many times he did that after the play was over :) Twice he got the ball and took it the wrong direction :) It was so cute to watch him with the other boys. They played around, laughed and learned some football. 

Go Red Wolves!

He's a First Grader!

It's been a while since I've blogged. I was having problems getting pictures to load on here and then it became really overwhelming with months of things to catch up on. But here goes.

School started for AJ back in August. We weren't quite ready for the summer to end. We had a wet summer and would have loved a few more pool days. AJ was lucky enough to have his same teacher from last year, Mrs. Hayden, which made the first day so much easier. AJ walked in and was happy to be there. There was another boy in the class that was crying and did not want his dad to leave and AJ befriended him right away. It's so nice to see him be such a kind-hearted person. 

First grade certainly is a lot different than Kindergarten. The work is harder, the rules are more strict and homework is not optional anymore. AJ has math and spelling homework almost everyday. He doesn't love to do it, but it isn't usually a big challenge. 

First day of 1st Grade!

Buena Vista Camping Adventure

This weekend, we ventured out to Buena Vista (2.5 hours away) for a camping trip with some new friends of ours. AJ and Andrew went to Castle Academy together for pre-school and ended up both going to ACS for Kindergarten, though they weren't in the same class. We found out not too long ago that they also live around the corner from us. The boys have had a few play dates together and get along really well. Andrew is a super nice kid and his parents are great too! Valerie and Dan invited us on this adventure that was supposed to include a few other people but it ended up just being our two families. It was awesome!

 

The plan was to camp at the KOA campgrounds Friday and Saturday nights and on Saturday have a fun filled day of rafting and horseback riding. It sounded so fun to me! I was a bit worried though about how AJ would handle it all. He's been dealing with some fears lately and I worried he would he afraid. Well, he wasn't! He had a BLAST!

 

On Friday, Andrew came over for a few hours to play before we left. Then he rode up with us. Let me tell you- these boys are really good, but I am not used to 2 kids in the car together that long! Who knew that when playing the "silent game" they would say "pause game" 100 times and talk. It was funny..and not silent!

 

 

 

Headed out to go camping!

We arrived at the KOA campground. It was super fun!

The kids headed straight to this park. It was great because our site was close enough to watch them.

This was also at the campsite- they made breakfast on the weekends. YUM!

On Saturday, we were up early and headed out to go rafting. AJ was a little hesitant when the guide was giving us instructions. What to do if someone falls out, what if the boat flips over, etc.. I tried distract him, but also listen in case I needed the info. I will also admit, I was a little scared myself. I ha never done it before and in the back of my mind was remembering a few moms who asked me "You're really taking AJ rafting?" haha!

Listening to the guide give us instructions

Getting our gear on!

At the river- just about to get on the boat!

 

When we got on the boat, we had about 4 miles to go before we hit any rapids. I was nervous.. I guess I assumed it would be non stop rapids. But that wasn't the case at all. We took this time to learn to paddle and chat with our guide, Pat. He was super nice and made sure we were comfortable and safe. The boys paddled some too- but then once we hit the rapids, Pat took their paddles away so they could hold on. I had AJ hold onto the boat and to my life jacket. Since he was behind me, I couldn't see him, but I could feel him holding on.

 

After the first rapid, which Pat told us was the biggest, I relaxed. It wasn't nearly as big or scary as I'd thought. It was SO FUN! The boys were cracking up and loving it!

We got REALLY wet! But Jason and Dan were in front so they got pounded the entire time!

How cute are the boys? Laughing and having a blast!

The water was cold.. but we had on wetsuits and splash jackets. It wasn't bad at all.

 

We stopped at "Jump Rock" and we all got out of our boats. Those who wanted to jump, climbed up and did. I stood for a while wondering if I should do it or not. It's not something I've ever done. But I really wanted to. I was also really scared. It was only about 15 feet. I asked AJ if I should do it- he said yes. So, I did!

 

After our 3 hour rafting trip, we headed to the stables for horseback riding! Again, AJ was SO brave! He loved it! Though, later he told me it was boring compared to rafting! hah

 

AJ and Miss Cash

 

We rode for 2 hours and it was really fun. We did a tiny bit of trotting, but mainly walked. We went through a river a few times and up and down the mountain. It was gorgeous! AJ did great, though 2 times I think he almost fell off! Both times we were going down a steep hill and his horse was a bit stubborn and wanted to do it her way- not the way the wrangler wanted. Valerie and Dan were ahead of me and both ahead of them. She told me at one point, it was good I wasn't close enough to see how far his butt was off the seat! Thankfully, all was well and AJ steered his horse the right direction. Phew!

 

We had SUCH a wonderful time. We're definitely adding this place to our list of camp sites each year. The KOA was awesome, the town is super cute and I see a lot more rafting in our future! I did tell AJ that it was kinda funny that we all like very expensive sports!