Valentine's Day Ski Trip-Sat. Feb. 13th

For Valentine's Day, we went night skiing on the 13th!!  Since we are at my parent's for several internships/SIPEs, we went to Kelley's Canyon.  My dad works at the INL and they had an employee discount night so skiing was only $15.00. Now Chad and I haven't ever been skiing together.  The last time I was skiing was in 2003, and the last time I had snowboarded was in 2005 when I was still learning how.  So it had been a while, we were both a little nervous
My brother Derek, his wife Brittney, and their 3 oldest kids(all girls), my dad, Chad's nephew Derik, Chad and I all went.  We had such a good time overall.
The first half of the night we all skied and we were going all over the hill.  Kaia, Halle, and Ellisi all did really well and I sure had fun watching them go down the hill.  They are all pretty new to the skiing, but they did great.  Chad and I each got to take turns going up the ski lift with them.  It was way fun, just to be with each of them and see what they'd choose to talk about on they way up the hill.
Once we were trying to pick which run to go down and Halle decided that she wanted to go down the one we had chosen not to go down, so I ended up going down the run with her to keep an eye on her and we met the others half way down the hill.  She did really well for how steep it was and did end up going a little fast and then ran into the unused snow on the sides and she wiped out.  But up she went, on her way!  There was no stopping them.
We then went in and had dinner and Dad had already bought us a meal ticket through work. THANKS DAD!!  So we enjoyed an hamburger and fries.  After dinner Derek and I decided to trade in our skis for snowboards, Derek using Brek's board, and I strapped on my board that hadn't been used in years.  So Derek and I decided to stay on skiers lane and didn't go anywhere above that.  Ellisi got hit in the head by another snowboarder the first run after dinner and was done, so Halle and Kaia paired up with Chad and Derik and skied all over the hill.  While Derek and I stayed where we didn't have any cat tracks.
I was amazed at how much harder I had to work at the snowboarding.  Man I was sweating like crazy.  Then on the second time up the ski lift, Derek got caught by the lift chair and we went crashing.  Wow did I bang up my knee.  So then every time I biffed it on the way down the slope, I would always hit that spot.  So then I would try to land differently and then I would hit my butt so hard!!  I couldn't believe the beating I was taking.  It was crazy that as I was working on my carving, that the turn from my heel side to my toe side came easier to me, when it used to be the most difficult side for me to do years before.  But I did get much better.  Once when we were heading down to the lodge, I was situated with my goofy foot first and on the bunny hill (which is flat, I hate flat on a board!) I ended up catching an edge and ate it hard.  I actually even hit my  helmet on the snow just a little.
I also got to see Anna and Lisa Meyer, my good old buddies that were helping me learn how to board before I met Chad and moved away.  I talked with them for a while waiting for Derek, Chad, and the girls to come down the hill.  I finally found them on my way into the Lodge.  But they wanted to stay right by me and I made them ski ahead because I didn't want to wipe them out, or let them see me eat it again and I knew I would.  But wouldn't you know as soon as they went ahead then I was able to get to the lodge without any problems.
Now after we got home and the next day was another story.  I was so sore all over, but really my neck was stiff.  I ended up visiting my uncle Larry for a few chiropractor adjustments for my WHIPLASH!!
Can you believe it.  I got whiplash on the bunny hill!!  I was stiff and sore through my neck for about 1.5 weeks.  It was crazy, but well worth it.  I realize I'm way out of shape and need to do that type of thing more often, Skiing and boarding, not the whiplash.

Sale Pending!!

So as of Monday Feb 23, 2010, our house is in pending status!!  Yes after being on the market for 20 days, we have a buyer that is really wanting our house.  We didn't get as much as we were hoping, but figure by not having it on the market forever that we might be able to live with less, even though we know it's worth more than she's paying for it.
It's really hard to see all the hard work/sweat equity that you put into your house and to not get anything monetarily for it in the end is disappointing.  But we figure we broke even with what we spent.
So we close on May 14th, just enough time for Chad to graduate on the 9th, and then pack the rest up and out we go!!

I have to say it's a relief, and we feel like the buyer has been provided for us so now we can focus on finding Chad a job, so we know where to look for a house!!  Anyone that knows a good Veterinarian, please see if they are thinking about hiring and put a great word in for Chad!!  We're trying to be open minded about where we go and not limit ourselves/Lord, by not looking a little wider than what our first choices are.

So please help us out by asking around and keep us posted on any prospects, then we can send a resume and/or set up an interview!! Thanks for your help!

Pullman House for Sale

So it's official! Our house in on the market.  And all I can say is I'm relieved...I know it hasn't sold, but I'm relieved to have our house totally cleaned spotless. Also to have most everything back home in Idaho.

It only took us about 2 weeks of packing and then 1 major overhaul of a week to complete it.  Chad and I are exhausted!!  It's hard to think about leaving this cute house with all the work that we put into it, but will be excited to get on to the next step in life. Finding a job for Chad and a new place to live... So if you know anyone moving into the area.  I know of a really cute house for sale.  Here's a link to it.  Or here it is if the link doesn't work. http://www.mypullmanhome.com/1045-Lost-Trail-Drive-a142285.html

So our realtor wanted me to stage our Laundry room, so I came up with an idea real quick, since I still had tons to clean and tons to pack. But Chad and I are so glad that it turned out so well.  Now you have to go look at the picture that Lori Cofer took of the Laundry room for the house.  She told me that she normally doesn't post pictures of laundry rooms, but thought ours turned out so cute that she had to!  


So is what this means is.....I have my vinyl cutter up and running.  I'm still learning how to use it, but have the word things figured out.  I still need to experiment with graphics that aren't in fonts.


Let me know if any of you are interested in vinyl!!

The wreck...the car or me?

Oh man it's been a long time ago that this all happened, but it is what brings us to the present so I thought I better share my bittersweet story.

So in 2001 when I graduated with my RN from Rick's College's last nursing class, I got my first real job and started to work.  In August of that year, I decided that it was time to buy my own vehicle.  The first I had ever bought.   I never dreamed that I'd buy a brand new car, but I found a great deal on a nice car and couldn't resist.  So I splurged and bought it, thinking I'll never get this lucky.  I might as well spoil myself now cause I won't get to later with a family.  So I bought my dream car.  A brand new Honda Accord.  It was a peppy 4 cylinder auto with leather and a sunroof, and can I say, got great gas mileage.  I'll have to look for the picture that I have the morning that I took it home.  I really looked awful, cause I worked the previous 12 hour night shift at EIRMC, but never the less, I was pretty excited.  So over the years I have come to be quite attached to my car and Chad teases me about my "Supreme vehicle".  Okay I really did call it that...I know cheesy, but I really loved it.

Well my mom and dad came over Conference weekend and stayed to help watch Kherrington while I worked.  My dad has really gotten into fishing the last several years.  So on the first trip to Pullman, he took us down to the locks and the dam near Boyer park.  It was a nice little drive, but I can't remember why we couldn't really see it.  The timing wasn't right is all that I remember.  But since then he'd gone down there and got the meet the fish counters.  There is a big observation window that people sit and count fish to get numbers.  I guess it's a fish and game thing, anyway, my dad wanted to take my mom to see it.  And on their way back to our house on Friday, October 2nd, my dad got in a collision in my car at highway 195 and Wawawaii Rd.  Not even 5 miles away from our house.   We were lucky though.  No one was hurt and the person just took off my back bumper as my dad was trying to cross the highway.

Yeah so my bumper is in the scrap yard above.  I took it to Myer's Autobody and rebuild.  (Which I strongly suggest if someone needs work done on a car in Pullman.  We've used them for a few things, all things that have happened to Chad's car and none of those were our fault).  And when Steve was doing the evaluation he told be that I shouldn't be driving the car, which I hadn't been, just to the repair place from my house. Well turns out that the entire rear end of my car had been shifted to the left and it even bent the frame.  Several days later I found out that my car was totaled. :(  You can imagine that I was devastated.  I even cried when Chad took me to gather all my personal things out of the car.  I know stupid!  It's just a car.  I  had to keep telling myself that.  But as Chad put it, "It was more than just a car to you."

Here you can see the gap when the trunk was closed.

  So we really ended up finding out that it was totaled while we were in SE Idaho for Chad's rotation in Blackfoot.  Some of you know that I always said that my next vehicle would be a Honda Pilot. I had been debating buying one before we even had Kherrington.  I had done lots of researching on them and other mid sized SUV's and I decided that it would be the perfect family car, so that I wouldn't have to be a mini van mom.  To all those mini van moms out there, I have an aunt that swears by them, and I can see some advantages to them, but overall, I wanted something 4 wheel drive.  So then Chad and I were stressing about finding another vehicle, cause we've been lucky enough to each have come to our marriage with a vehicle all paid off.  I know we're lucky.  And we decided that the running around was pretty annoying.  I admire all you that do it.

Well we did test drive a 2007 Pilot, but it had 75,000 miles.  We loved how it drove, but didn't like the color so much.   It's called Aberdeen Green.  It was starting to grow on me, but Chad was not budging.  Which was a good thing it had too many miles.  So we continued our search.....only to find very few used Pilots for sale that were anywhere close to SE Idaho or Spokane.

We were really starting to worry, but it all worked out.  My parent's had been looking for another Accord and found a really nice one.  And the nicest thing was.....They let us take it with us to use as our vehicle until we could find a Pilot with what we needed. The other thing is that they paid for our deductible, which we had full coverage on our vehicle do to my laziness of changing it.  Thank Heavens So this is what we brought back to Pullman with us.

Now this isn't the actual one, but it looked just like it.  Charcoal Gray, almost black with nice dark tinted windows (Nice thing to have when one is pumping breast milk on a trip to and from Idaho) .  It is an EX, so it had the sunroof, and it had gray interior, which is my favorite, but my Mom isn't a huge leather fan and this one had cloth interior.  It even had a place to plug your ipod into it. I also loved all the cup holders. 4 just for the front seats.  It came in handy for traveling.  We really enjoyed this car.  But when we came back down to SE Idaho I got a call from Al Vaalemoen from Smith's asking if we'd bought a Pilot yet, cause he had one to show us.  So we went and test drove another 2007 Pilot with only 28,000 miles, tow package, heated front seats, defrosters for the side mirrors, seats for 8, and a DVD player!!  Oh yes my friends, everything that I would put on my dream Pilot!!  And that day we drove home in our new/used Pilot.

Okay so this sounds all wonderful, but while we were negotiating, I ended up in tears, cause I was so afraid I'd just signed something that would push us out of our budget.  Yeah I was totally bawling, tears coming down the cheeks and everything.  I really have enjoyed my time staying home with Kherrington and I didn't want to have to put in more hours at work because we bought another vehicle.  This was the entire reason I had thought about buying the vehicle before we had her.  So I could get it paid off sooner without leaving a little one at a babysitters.  But I do appreciate Al for keeping us in mind and getting us everything that we wanted.  I do have to give it to him for that.

Not actually a picture of ours, but looks just like it!!

So even though it doesn't get the gas mileage it states 23-25 mpg, it does get 20 and that's not bad for the SUV's of this size.  And we're loving it!!

Johnny Jumper

Since we came back from being in Idaho, we borrowed Grandma Joos' Johnny jumper.  Oh man does this little girl love thing.  Below is a video of her showing off for Grandpa Joos, when he and Grandma Joos were up for a visit last week..  Sorry for the sound effects, but every time I see it I have to make that sound.  I swear she's going to be a dancer just from this video.

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We sure enjoyed having my parent's here with us, and big thanks to Grandma Joos that saves our bacon (and money) and comes to watch Kherrington while I worked several day over a week stretch!!!

Kherrington 6 month check-up

So on Jan 7th, Kherrington had her 6 month check-up and is still doing great.
I just can't believe that she's 6 months old.  She did great with her immunizations again. YEAH!!

So here's her stats:

Ht: 26 inches    (57%)

Wt: 15 lbs 9.5oz (40%)

    Head Circumference: 43 cm        (64%)

She's accomplishing so many stepping stones in her development.  It's really exciting to sit and watch her grow.  It really amazes me.
 So some things that I've noticed just recently, is her attention to detail. She's starting to focus on small things that I'm surprised she even sees.  Like a blonde piece of my bangs that is hanging down in front of my eyes, so she starts to try to hold it using her thumb and forefinger, but ends up using her fist.  Then you watcher her try to pick up other small things with the same 2 fingers.  Not that she's overly capable with them yet.  I just love to see her try.  She is noticing strings, so when I have a sweatshirt on...the hoody tie is what catches her attention.
Just this last week she has started rolling from her back to her right side...Something that she hasn't done much up until this time. So now I see her do it all the time.  I used to like to put her in her crib to sleep so her left side was right against the crib pad.  Just so she couldn't turn over and just play on her stomach.  I know, I'm a mean mother, but it was helpful for a little while.  Now I find her and she's rolled to her right side over and over again until she's against the other side of the crib.
So now she can roll from her back and stomach both directions.  She's also starting to  propel herself forward a little, trying to reach for things that she's moved away from.  Every once in a while I'll catch her and she'll have one knee under herself.  It's only a matter of time before she'll be crawling.  She already move backwards by pushing herself and then she'll turn a 360 on her stomach to change directions or things she's playing with.
Chad and I are so in love with this girl, and can't believe we're so lucky to have her in our family!

UHHH Finances!!

So I've been reading some blogs this morning and it has inspired me to write about a few things this morning. First of all the last several weeks, I have been obsessing or preoccupied over finances. There are a few reasons for this:
1) I didn't quite calculate the payments all that great when we did lump bills in the Fall with Chad's school loans. (I know horrible, but I figure it's the best use of the left over loans than we ever used. I get to stay home with Kherrington more because of it.)So over the past month, in December of all months, I had bills coming in that I hadn't had to pay the last several months. Thank heaven they were greatly smaller than a normal monthly bill though.
2)We made a crazy(but we felt inspired) choice to buy the vehicle of our(Well... MY)dreams. You'll have to see the post before this to appreciate all that entailed, with the car wreck etc.
3)It's a start to a new semester, so therefore new student loans and bills to pay...
4)Having talked to my brother Derek over Christmas about an awesome series of classes that they are offering over the next several months to a year to help their ward become financially healthy!! And having him suggest a program. Which I will boast about in a bit.
5)We have also made the decision for me to go PRN (as needed) at Pullman Regional, so that Kherrington and I can go with Chad down to SE Idaho for the months of February and March. This has scared me a great deal, but I think that the Clinical Integration has enough work for me to do from Idaho that we'll be okay financially.
6)Last but not least, we have a cute house to sell(that we decided we'll really miss) but don't want to try the 2 house owner thing again....It makes me into someone I don't like to be..

So with the use of MINT.com, I've finally been able to see how our own financial health is.  I have a place that will pull over the money from my investment funds from Pullman and EIRMC, my house loan, bank accounts, our expenditures and income, and I have to unfortunately manually add in Chad's student loans at present.:(  the one bad side, but at least you can manually add things that they don't have access to.  I would suggest everyone at least give it a look and play just a little bit and you'd be suprised.  It also gives you ways that you can save more money with different investors, banks, CD, Loans, Credit cards, etc.  Not that you have to do any of that.    All I can say is that I love it.  And for once, I can sort of see if our decisions to take out the student loans to pay for school and buy a house instead of paying rent was worth while.  And I think it has been a great decision in the long run!  YEAH!!  I love when that all works out




So that makes me feel better about buying the house.  We have been totally spoiled to have our own place/space to be able to start our family, even though putting in all those retaining walls and landscaping was a back breaker.  We'll be sad to leave the wonderful memories that we've made here, along with our AMAZING neighbors.  I wish I could pack them up with us and take them where ever we end up....Which is a whole other post in its self.  But the end of this school year is sneaking up on me, and I have so much I need to get done in that time!!

October 25th- The big 29!

So also while were in SE Idaho, we got to celebrate Chad's 29th birthday, and yes we put all 29 candles. Thanks to Chris that offered her house for the party and all the family that came to make it the fun night that it was!!

So it was great to celebrate surrounded by family and it made us so excited about the possibilities that we could come back to SE Idaho to settle down!!

October- District Volleyball

So I again have major catching up to do... So While we home in October Chad had 2 weeks SIPE (Student Initiated Professional Experience) or something like that. He was with the Animal Health Clinic in Blackfoot. He seemed to have so much fun being able to start getting more hands on experience like what he'll be doing next year! I enjoyed the fun stories that he had to share when he got home in the evenings.
But along with the two weeks at the Clinic we were able to go see several volleyball games of Erica and Shayla's. We got be there for Senior night and then their District games again Bear Lake where they took the District Championship. So I didn't get the greatest pictures and my camera has been on the fritz so I had to try different modes, so on the slide show that's why some of them are blurry and others are brighter.

So the girls had a rough go at State and didn't end up with the State championship that they were hoping for, but they got a horrible seed even with being their District champs. So Sorry to Erica, but Congrats to Shayla the new libero!!

I hope they call me on a mission

This is my youngest brother Ryan and he left to the MTC (missionary Training Center) for my church, (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)!  I'm so proud of him.  He was so excited to get out there and felt like being at home his life was on hold.  So on September 16th he went to the  MTC and then October 7th he went to the Atlanta, Georgia.  He's serving in Smyrna, Georgia and is really loving the people and making an impact on the lives that he is coming in contact.  He's always been a real people person and he loves to make friends where ever he is.  Sounds like he's just trying to gain the trust of the members there, so that they will refer their friends for him to help teach the gospel.  I love getting his email to the family each week.  Way to go Ry!