Celebrating Brian's Birthday

So last Saturday we decided to go out and celebrate our friend Brian's 26th birthday! We weren't really planning on it because Ben was working and they said they were going out early (before he got off work) but then ended up going out around 8:30 to dinner so we went. For dinner we went to Texas Roadhouse. We had a good time and then we headed down to the Valley to Coopers. We hadn't been there in a long while so it was a really good time. The owner is super nice and remembered us! I got really really drunk. I don't think I've been that bad in about 6 months! It was a great time, me and Ben had a good time with our friends. :)

Melanie and Brian at dinner - he's a goof ball!

Me and Ben at dinner

Brian and Liz

Me and Tim at the bar

Me and Mel - we were pretty drunk at this point....LOL:)

We had matching chapstick, I guess it was funny at the time

Mandy (who's birthday we were also celebrating), Mel and Christina

I love kisses when I'm drunk :P

Mel's super long straw

It was a wonderful weekend! We didn't do much on Sunday because we slept in pretty late. I have been pretty tired this whole week because I was sick Mon/Tues/Weds and I'm still not feeling 100% today. And of course I got Ben sick and he's mad at me. Spent $35 on meds at the store though to try and make us better!

Work is going well - just pretty busy and just lots to do. I'm being part of more teams at work and trying to learn as much as I can! I love my new position and my new boss. So much better then where I was at :) I enjoy work so much now!

Only thing that sucks about work is that everyone is getting pregnant. There are so many people I know who are pregnant right now. Part of me wants a baby now but I soooo know we can't afford it. Hopefully by the end of the year we will be in a better position to start trying where I feel comfortable. Until then I can only hope :)

Valentine's 2009

Of course I'm a week behind again! Last weekend we went out to celebrate Valentine's Day. Normally we don't celebrate it because it's not really a holiday to us but our friends asked if we wanted to go so we went. It was quite a bit of a wait since we didn't have reservations and that sucked big time but it was really good so it was worth the wait! We went to Japanese Steakhouse in Montrose called Wasabi. It was delicious. Now Ben and our 2 friends Kyle and Liz have never been there before so they were pretty excited about it. I've been a few times but it's been at least 2 years. Afterwards we went to a bar called Brubaker's for a drink (and I will never go there again, the girls that were serving there were rude). Overall, a great night out! We will be going back - when we have reservations :)

Our cook - poor guy was so tired. I think we were his last table...

Me and Ben (I was pretty tired at this point)

Liz and Kyle

And of course Liz and me :)

This week and weekend have not been that exciting...worked a lot that's about it. I have started to go out to my stepdads house to help him clean up his shop a bit. I am trying to get out there a few nights a week and help him out. He's not a good one with organizing or keeping clean. And he has a really hard time throwing things out. So we are working on that :) He had a lot of invoices that needed filed. His computer also got wiped out last year so we are going to work on rebuilding his customers in the software. Fun fun! Ben has been working a lot also. He is off tomorrow so I don't know what we are going to do. Might go to church in the morning and then maybe go to Kyle and Liz's so Ben can get his haircut. I'm going to try to do better and keep this more up to date :)

Lydia's Bridal Shower

So this past weekend (Saturday) was Lydia's Bridal Shower. Lydia and I went to college together and were in an organization called NSCS together. She was also in my wedding. She is getting married July 11 and then moving to Michigan :(

Me before the shower

Lydia opening presents

Cute cake they made for here...can you see the color theme here :)

Opening more presents and pictures of the guests

Lydia and her friend Lara

All in all it was a good time. Lots of purple :) She got a lot of amazing gifts to help her start her life in Michigan.

Not too much else going on here! Ben is back to work (FINALLY :) and I am just working too. Loving my new position at work!

My other major project that I have decided to embark upon is creating a family tree. I'm super excited about it. I am working on both my side of the family and Ben's. I already have a pretty good start but I'm hoping to get a pretty extensive amount done on it by the end of the year. Right now it's only really our grandparents and down. Just another thing to keep me busy :)

Excitement

So what's new with me you might be asking yourself (if anyone reads this?!). Well, work is going well but very busy and stressed. I have a lot going on, a lot more then anticipated. Luckily the new girl has started in my old position and it's such a relief to be able to pass things off to her now. She's great! But there's still a lot to do in my new position and it's getting to be interesting trying to get everything accomplished! But I love my new boss :) We did have our stakeholder's meeting and it's kind of scary to hear about all the cuts (not jobs per se but other things) they are doing to make it work without having to lay off people. Like no new hires, no promotions/pay increases, etc. Luckily they are still giving out our bonuses this month. Sometimes I forget that I work in a manufacturing world even though I am in an office!

Ben started his new job yesterday. He seems to be enjoying it so far but we will see. He will be training the next 2-3 months and then will move to his own store. What is nice is he will only be working 4 days, 12-14 hrs a day. He is used to working 12 hr days so I think he will be fine but I know I won't be up when he gets home! I am glad that he's back to work though, it's scary how high unemployment is!

Last night, I made a wonderful new recipe supplied to me by my co-worker! White Chicken Chili. I need to just say how yummy it was! Ben had some suggestions for the future and I learned a few things too but it was really good. Nice for a cold winter day. Check out my recipe blog for the recipe! It's easy even though it is a lot of ingredients.

Now to get to the excitement blog title...I filed our tax returns tonight (can we say early!). I always get mine done ASAP so I can get it back before the mad rush. What I'm excited about is that we got enough back to be able to cover our trip to Arizona in September (right after my birthday). I am so excited about this. I was kind of stressing about how we were going to save although I knew the return would be enough to cover the flights I just didn't realize it would leave enough for our rental car and spending money too. So I am moving the money to another account as soon as we receive it so we don't spend it. But it's a relief to not have to worry about that now.

So yeah I'm excited to go to Arizona in June and visit again with Ben's aunts and uncles and revisit our honeymoon spot :) It's so nice there and there's pools for me to lay out by with a good book so I'm ready and it's only February!

Well that's about all the updates I have for now. This weekend is Lydia's bridal shower so I will be back with pictures probably Saturday evening from that.