Dog-Sitting

Yesterday, my boss took his girlfriend out to lunch. She owns a small dog who couldn't sit in the hot car while they went into the restaurant, so I was hired to watch the dog. Amazingly, I still got a lot done. It's easy when the dog can just sleep on the desk!

P90X

We've decided to get ourselves back in shape. This 90 day workout is like none other out there, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it allows us to go at our own pace, provides a nutrition plan, and seems more realistic than others. Bad because it's the hardest workout I've ever done. Nonetheless, we're sticking with it and so far feel pretty good. Well, Jesse can't straighten his arms and I can't sit without grunting, but hey...it's good pain, right!?

Bird Watch

With intentions of providing some new entertainment to Bentley and Kolby, Jesse picked out this "toy" that's supposed to entertain your birds for hours. I'll admit I doubted the log-like toy, and I've been 100% proven wrong. It took them about a day before they ventured onto the naturally wooden toy, but when Bentley figured out it was something to chew and peck, she hasn't left its side. They've hollowed it almost completely out. We definitely enjoy the entertainment these birds bring into our lives.

Happy Birthday, Jesse!!!

Today is Jesse's 29th birthday! While he has his moments of depression thinking this his last year being in his 20s, I did my best to keep him distracted. He was surprised when he returned home on Friday to see all the household chores done. And having them done gave us plenty of opportunity to relax...something we don't take for granted any more. Saturday, we went out for lunch and a movie. "Shrek" was much better than the last one, even with the several hundred children talking through the whole film. :) Saturday night we had dinner with Jesse's friend, John Story. He was in town for work, so we had a chance to catch up with him. Sunday was church, lunch, grocery shopping, and then birthday time!

Jesse's folks gave him a wireless keyboard and mouse set--something he wanted quite badly for his new desk set up. Good bye ugly white cords!

I think he was a little shocked when he saw the PS3...

And after dinner, this is what happened...

I treated Jesse to a surprise dinner at Morton's Steakhouse. This was a very nice treat, and I wanted him to feel spoiled and pampered this year...

Birthday Weekend, Here We Come!

Jesse's birthday is on the 24th, landing on a Monday this year. Soooo, I thought...how about we make this a birthweekend?? :) I'm going to surprise him by having all of the weekend chores completed by the time he gets home tonight. I arranged to take off early from work today to get a dinner ready, clean the house, do the laundry, and pay off bills so he doesn't have to think about a thing.
Saturday will be a baseball game or going to the movies for Shrek.
Sunday has a dinner surprise in store.
Monday will be presents and one of his favorite dinners.

He deserves some spoiling. :)

And I promise, there will be pictures posted on Monday.

Stretching

This week has been a bit crazy. Both Jesse and I have felt more tired than usual, and we've spent most evenings relaxing in front of the television. We're both being stretched at work which is a good thing, but something to get used to. Thankfully we have each other to turn to for encouragement, and to hear the reminder of where our strength comes from.

Casino Night

NES had a party on Saturday night called the Casino Night. It's a company tradition: we hire a company to set up a room similar to what you might find in Vegas--Black Jack tables, Roulette, Crapps (not sure how to spell that one), Texas Hold'em, and more. You're given "funny money" at the beginning of the night to start playing. With your winnings at the end of the night, you can bid on the auctioned items. This year, I helped my boss buy a lot of very fun gifts for the auction, and it was fun seeing the surprised looks on people's faces. There was a camera, Wii, Ipad, Ipod touch, Garmin, train set, camping chairs and cooler, robotic dinosaur, tickets to Busch Gardens, and soooo much more. Jesse won the I-pod touch! More pictures are soon to come...we were too busy playing with our funny money to take pictures....

For Grandma

Grandma, you said last night you wanted to "see" me very soon...well, this is what I can do to fulfill that for now. I didn't have a chance to take a pic of Jesse this morning--he thinks I'm crazy for taking so many photos in the first place! We'll try to get on Skype this weekend so we can "see" each other soon!

Busy, busy, busy

No photos and not many words.

We've been running from one thing to the next this week. Last night, Jesse was kind in letting me skip dinner and put my pajamas on instead. It's not fun fighting a headache and stomach ache at work...

Jesse is doing well. He's enjoying his job and seems to have found a good rhythm for the week. We haven't plugged into the church we've been attending to yet, but hopefully soon. We're still trying to "feel" the whole thing out.

Cheers to two more days of work and then a weekend of rest and a party.

Growing

The little mini sunflower garden isn't so mini any longer...time for a transplant.

More Birds...

We did a lot of resting this weekend. Along with resting came pestering the birds and trying to get Kolby to like us...no use...his only reaction to our efforts was to get mad that we'd taken his little friend away from him. Bentley put up with our shinanigans and hung out for a bit though.

Early Risers

Now that the sun rises earlier and shines even brighter into our home each morning, the birds have allowed their wild side to emerge. Well, it's not so wild...but they do wake up to the sun rather than waiting for us to wake them up. First, we hear the jingle bell balls moving about, then a scurry of pitter-pattering feet...and then...

A sign?

A friend at work remembered me mentioning that I love farms. While she was out shopping this past weekend, she saw a couple things that reminded her of me...
Perhaps it's a sign I'm meant to be living on a farm???

Just Like Old Times

With one too many desks sitting around, we decided to modify Jesse's old desk to convert it into a table top to use as the birds' table. It works perfectly--though it's not a beauty, it makes more sense than the two tray tables. As Jesse was covering the surface with contact paper to protect it from their extensive amount of bird droppings, Bentley found a good place to stay safe.

Down By the Crick...

On Saturday, I convinced Jesse it was a perfect day to walk down to a trail near our home and explore the area. Thankfully, he was up for it! Though we started out going the wrong direction (the prettier trail started on the other side of the road which I didn't know about), it was still a very fun little walk. We both enjoy water, so this was a fun little adventure.


While this little creek is most likely not natural (haha), it was awfully fun! We even considered catching some of the wild minnows and adding them to our collection at home!


The little creek and trail went under the freeway, so we got to walk in a tunnel.


This little butterfly came swooping down (delicately of course) and landed near our feet. It was so thirsty, it didn't mind my camera in its face.