Can I just fast forward the next 6 months?

So the reason I have been seriously slacking on my blog lately is due to my overwhelming busyness right now.  This is my schedule right now.  Every day after work, I come home and do homework until 10:00 or 11:00 at night.  (I am taking 8 credits this semester)  Luckily, I am only working 4 days a week now, so on my "day off," I clean the house for 3 hours, do homework all day, and then I go to my upholstery class at night on Thursdays.  This is in addition to my regular classes.  (I am currently re-upholstering all the furniture in my living room.  Time consuming, but it's going to be fantastic!)  So my day off isn't really a day off.  I also end up spending a few hours on Saturday doing homework.  Technically I have some time off on Saturday and Sunday but it's still crazy.  What this results in, is that I feel a little overworked every day due to not getting any "me time" or a break.  So basically, I wish I could fast forward to July when I'll finally be done with school and I can have my life back!!!

While I've been staying busy with everything, Aaron has been staying busy with tax season and working out at his friend Jared's new gym, Crossfit Envy.  It's an exersise program using weights, a personal trainer, and a severe beat down to get in shape.  Aaron and his friends love it and they've been getting great results. Basically, it focuses on toning and getting stronger. We just went to the opening BBQ for the gym on Saturday.  So I'm glad Aaron is finding things to do since he tends to get bored when I'm occupied.  I tease him that because he grew up with Phil and always had a buddy, he never learned to "play" by himself.

We're trying to plan a trip to Disneyland some time in May with Aaron's brothers and sisters for the annual kids retreat.  We're all very excited, so hopefully we'll all be able to go.

Aaron also turns 30 this year around the same time as our 7 year wedding anniversary, so we're going to be thinking about something special to do.  I'm excited!

My sister, Heidi, got engaged to her boyfriend, Aaron Gilming on Christmas Day.  We are all very excited!  The date is set to be August 20th.  So I'm sure we'll all be busy helping her to plan her wedding.

It's going to be a busy year, but I think it's going to be a good one!

Living Room Project

Over the Thanksgiving break my dad came and helped Aaron and me do wood paneling/wainscoting in our living room.  (I'm still not sure what it's called.  I've heard it done both ways.)  I helped with sanding and painting.  That was my contribution.  The room is still in progress, but people have been begging me to post pictures, so this is what we have so far.

BEFORE

So this is how the living room was before.  (This was the only picture I took in 2009 that wasn't blurry)  Basically, we had one red wall with our Paris pictures up and the other walls were white with some pictures hanging.

AFTER

We have all the wall hangings up but now we need to change our living room furniture.  When we put the cream couches back in next to the white paneling, they looked yellow.  So I'm currently on the hunt for some antique looking parlor furniture.  We're going for a more French old-world look.  A formal parlour, that kind of thing.

Ah, Paris....

A close-up of the beautiful porcelain hooks I bought.  Aaron gave me full decorating rights on the living room and I went to town!!!

I'm in love with that fancy frame.  And the grayish square thing that looks like a post-it note stuck to the wall is a reflection of light from the chandelier.

I am in love with this room!  It is so me!  Aaron is really happy with the way it turned out also!  Wait until the furniture gets figured out!

The bench that I re-did.  I forgot to take a before picture.  I'm really bad about that.

My parlour table.  It looks much cooler in person.

I'm thrilled with how this project is turning out!  We had to repaint our doors in the front room because they were done in white and we did the paneling in ultra-white, so they looked 80's yellow when everything was done.  But I love my room and I'm excited for the final result.  I'll post progress pictures as soon as they are ready.

Disneyland (Palm Springs Trip Part II)

Disneyland again!!!  I could go there every day.  (Well, maybe not every day.)  Anyways, after the Palm Springs family reunion, my immediate family all took a trip to Disneyland.  It was really fun to have everyone together.

I don't think Em will like this picture but I thought it was cute!

Walking into the park.  (Heidi, Mom, Jane, and Heather)

Jane and her Minnie Mouse ears.

Dumbo.  Jane's favorite ride until we went on Grizzly Bear River Run.

I love this one!!!

Yes, this is a ride photo and I did take a picture of the screen.

This one cracks me up!!

The rides kept breaking on this trip more than other times, it felt like.  In fact, we were all loaded up on Splash Mountain (including my terrified mom who we coerced to go on and Jane) and we hadn't even gotten to any of the drops when the ride stopped.  We didn't end up going back on it because we headed over to California Adventure.  I was so bummed!!!  I really wanted to know what Jane thought of it and I can't believe we got my mom on it!!  That's like trying to get Emmy on Tower of Terror.  (Em, bet you're excited to hear about that again.....)

Palm Springs Trip

In November, we went down to Palm Springs for the Roren Reunion (my grandma's side).  The last time I went to one of these reunions was about 15 years ago.  So people had changed just a bit.  It was fun to reconnect.  Unfortunately, my camera wasn't in the loop on the group pictures, so I don't have those.  (Why is my camera such a social outcast?  LOL.)

Don't ask.  Don't spell.

Desert Rose

There were some neat hikes we went on.

Mauro (our brother-in law) and Aaron.

Dad with his new "desert" hat

Happy Hikers

When I think of Palm Springs, this is what I picture.

Ah, the beauty of Palm Desert

I like this view.

The Christmas Letter

Sorry people.  I sent out my Christmas cards fully intending to update my blog before they arrived, and I just didn't get around to it.  The last couple of weeks have been so crazy with work, school, and the holidays.  I'm lucky I even got my Christmas cards out....it was getting later and later.  So I'm going to give you the "Christmas Update" since I don't include one in the cards.  I try not to force-feed information.  If you want to know what we've been doing, check out our blog.  If not.....you don't have to.

What we've been up to...

For those of you who may not know, Aaron started a new job within the last couple of weeks.  It's a different accounting firm called Brown, Boyce, Fink, and Astle.  He really likes it there so far and it's been a great opportunity for him.  He hope good things in the future.

I still work for the same company, Pacific Dental Services, where I've worked for the two years, but I've changed from working the front office.  I decided I like working on patients better so I went back to ortho assisting.  I'm loving it so far.  Braces are what I love.

Vacations and Fun Trips this Year
Our family vacation this year was going to Disneyworld.  We had a great time!  There were too many pictures to post here, so you can view them on our Photo Page.    We also took a trip to Palm Springs in November (pictures to follow) for a family reunion and went to Disneyland also.  We also manage to sprinkle a few Disneyland trips here and there.  We went in August and are going again this weekend.

Happenings of 2010
Aaron's grandmother passed away this year, so we took a trip up to Utah for the funeral.  Although it was a bittersweet occasion, we had a really fun time getting to know Aaron's extended family better.  I also liked Utah a whole lot better this trip.

Aaron and I got into hiking this year.  While Aaron and his friends have done some more extensive hikes, Aaron and I have done Black Butte and Mt. Tallic together.  It's a great way to stay in shape when the weather's nice.

We re-did our living room in November.  We put up some wood paneling/wainscoting and are still in the process of changing the decor.  (Pictures to follow)

I am still in school!!  I only have 2 semesters left until I get my Bachelor's Degree.  So I'm just plugging away....

That's It!

I haven't written on my blog in a while, but unfortunately today was not a happy day.  But in an effort to keep things "real", I'm going to write anyway.  Today was one of those days (we all have them) that started out okay, but then little by little got worse and worse.  It's when one thing after another goes wrong and nothing turns out right.  I had 3 bad things happen within an hour and I just felt like a ton of bricks fell onto my shoulders.  I hate feeling like this, but Aaron reminds me not to stress about things out of my control.  So I will take this bad day and shove it.  When everything goes wrong, it's best to just end the day and go to sleep.  Tomorrow's got to be better right??  After all, tomorrow....is another day!

Tinkerbell makes a showing in our Backyard

  So, tonight, as Aaron and I were sitting in our backyard looking at the stars with the dogs as we often do, we saw something flittering in the night sky.  Okay, it wasn't quite in the sky; it was low in the backyard.  Through the porch light, we couldn't quite make out what it was but it was flying all around in an odd flight pattern.  As it reflected the light, it sparkled.  The oddest thing about it was that it was flying vertically, not horizontally like bugs do.  Maybe it's the child in me or one too many trips to Disneyland which caused me to say, "It's Tinkerbell!"  We were so stumped at this little thing flying around Aaron had to go investigate.  It actually turned out to be a floating cobweb that was reflecting the light.  Or maybe that's what Tink wanted us to think, as she flew away...You didn't think she'd actually let us catch her, do you?