If You Think THAT'S Bad...

The good news is that this semester is almost done. I just have to turn in my design final on Monday and then I have a Speech final on Thursday, which is not a speech. I am expecting all A's from my classes. We also have a new niece named Kaidence! She is very cute, and she already has some red hair like Sarah. That's the good news.

Not so good news: Sarah's hours are going to be cut in half. Can we still survive financially you ask? Not really, no. So, if she can convince them to give her five extra hours a week, we will make it. If not, she is going to have to get a second/third job or leave the company that she loves to find full time employment.

Weeeeeeee! Happy Holidays!

New Blog Post!

Lots of stuff has happened! Nothing interesting though.

We are still at our same jobs, and I am still in school.

Sarah is now working a second job at Bath & Body Works part-time through January; she might stay longer if they ask her to AND if she feels like it. She already got some cool free samples as well as non-sample products. She hasn't been scheduled any hours yet, but they told her that they were "excited" about her.

Sarah's birthday was October 2nd, and I made her gift this year. I took pictures of her favorite flowers (Gerber daisies) and framed them. She loved it so much that she cried when she saw it and took it to work the next day to show all her co-workers. She's the best!

Halloween was fun. We dressed up as CSI Miami agents, which consisted of us dressing up in nice clothes and wearing latex gloves. Sarah wore safety glasses and I had my camera around my neck for accessories. We hung out with Becky and John, ate great junk food and watched The Thing! Freakin' sweet movie!

Steve is still Steve. No barfs lately.

Great Weekends continued...

Great Weekends

Way too much to write in detail about our last three weekends, so I will give you a brief over-view with a bunch of pictures.

Three weekends ago, we went back to the Empire State Mine because they were holding a "Miner's Picnic"; it wasn't really exciting, but we did get to go into the old houses for free that we didn't get to see last time.

Two weekends ago, we took a long drive to Tomales Bay. The directions we had ended up being wrong, so we got lost and eventually, with Sharon's help, we found our way to our destination.  However, we ended up driving almost two hours more than needed. Then, when we got there it was closed, which sucked; we ended up eating in a administrative parking lot for Point Reyes because they were so busy. So, we decided to go Point Reyes instead and got to walk around a re-creation of an indian village, which was fun.

 The day after that we went on a long drive with Sarah's parents through Cameron Park and all the way down to Angels Camp. We walked around Amador City, Sutter Creek, and Murphys; it was a good day for just relaxing and spending time with family.

 Last weekend we went to Monterey Bay on a whim. We only intended to spend the day at the beach and have lunch, but Sarah's mom offered to pay for a night in a hotel if we wanted. So, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency, which was very nice, and the next day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which we love. We need to live near the ocean some day--we never want to leave when we visit the coast.

So that has been our life in a nutshell.

School, Movies, and Me

Well, school starts today. I have an art, an English, and a speech class; no school on Fridays, though. I am happy that my art class teacher is the same as my summer class, so I know that class will be fun.

I turned 27 on the 10th! I got a lot of good stuff; I got a few movies, books, a gift card and money for school. Sarah got me a gift certificate to Shutterfly so that I could print out some of my pictures. I ate tons of food, including pounds of bean dip that Becky made. Sarah made Boston Cream Pie, which is my favorite cake, and it was delicious.

So, Sarah and I have been watching more older, "classic" movies--some have been pretty good, and others not so much. So these are the movies we have seen since the last blog post:

1) Vertigo- Worth seeing, but it is about 30 mins too long. You could literally cut out the last 30 mins.
2) Little Big Man- If its on TV, it's worth watching. Dustin Hoffman is pretty funny in this movie.
3) The Lady Vanishes- Another Hitchcock movie, fun to watch once.

4) Chinatown- Awesome movie! Jack Nicholson is great, and the story is too; I might buy his.

We also opened up a safe deposit box yesterday; I highly recommend that anyone who doesn't have a safe at home should get one. We put our marriage certificate, S.S. cards, birth certificates, insurance papers, and some misc. jewelry inside. Now we don't have to worry about someone stealing this stuff or losing it to a fire.

Not much else is going on with us. Sarah is still at Northwest Exteriors, because she loves what how good they treat her there and her co-workers. I am still at Cup-A-Joe and am very happy that it is flexible for my school schedule.

Birthdays, Movies and Ice Cream

So, Grandma Campbell turned 93 two weeks ago, and she still looks the same as when I was younger. She told us a joke, as she usually does, and we just had food and talked. Not much to say about it, other than we are lucky to have a Grandma like her and thankful that she is still around.

Last weekend, Becky, John, Sarah, and I went to the Sacramento Zoo Ice Cream Safari! If you don't know what it is, you walk around the zoo to different "stations" that have free ice-cream; tons of flavors and tons of stations. It isn't as cool as when I was a kid, because they don't do fun names with the ice cream, such as "funky chunky monkey." I am proud to say that I ate more than anyone else. It was a lot of fun, and the snow leopards were very cute.

Sarah and I have been renting "classic" movies that we have never seen. We are going to try and see all of the TOP movies; so far we rented Citizen Kane and North By Northwest. Citizen Kane sucked. The story is boring, music is lame, and you don't care about the characters. The only reason to watch it today is so you can say that you have. North By Northwest, however, was a good movie. For those who don't know, this is the movie that has Cary Grant running away from the biplane that's trying to kill him. This movie actually keeps you interested in what's going on, and the music sounds like John Williams'; this one is worth watching.

Only 23 days until I start school again. Weeeeeeeee!

It's 'bout time!

So, since our last post Sarah officially graduated from UC Davis! It was really cool seeing her walk, although we did have to wait about an two hours before they called it. Sarah's grandpa from LA came up--it was awesome that he and his wife took time out to do that. Sarah does not have any immediate plans to leave her current job, since they treat her so well and she really likes the people there.

I also started school again at ARC! This is actually my last week of this summer class; I am taking Beginning Composition, which is a pre-requisite for a bunch of art classes. Just as a reminder, I am going for my AA in Art New Media, which focuses on digital photography, video editing, graphic design, animation, and other art-related stuff that's digital.

We had a great 4th of July up at the Yuba River with Sarah's side of the family this year--they even had a parade! The video is on YouTube for all to see.

Most of the smoke is clear here now, for those of you that don't live in NorCal. It was so bad that we could only see about a quarter of a mile ahead of us on the road, and everywhere we went smelled like BBQ, but not the good kind; it was like that for weeks.

Sarah and I went to Bodega Bay on Sunday; we wanted to "get away" for a little bit, see the ocean, have a picnic, and smell fresh air.

Not much else is new, other than us missing family that is not close to us (and Jason, since we see him as much as we see family from SoCal).

Hey, Hey!

So, here's what has been going on lately.

Patrick and Mary came down to visit us last weekend, and we had a very good time with them. We are thinking of going up to see them in Oregon around August to see their beautiful, and cheap, state. We went to the county fair, which was pretty ghetto compared to the state fair; then again, all "fairs" are ghetto in the first place. As you can see, I got some GREAT pictures of Patrick! :)

Sarah is going to be "walking" for her graduation in two weeks (the 14th), and I am starting school in ONE WEEK! I am only taking one art class, and it starts at 8:30am and goes until 1:10pm.

Today, we went to a farm with Joe and Marla Watkins to pick fruit just for fun, and fruit.

This next Wednesday will be our last week with our small group as well. Since I get home from work around 6:40 pm AND will be starting school, Sarah and I decided that we needed more time for each other. We are sad to leave our group, but we will still see all our friends at church each week. I am still volunteering with high school on Thursdays, and Sarah has a womens bible study that she attends the same night.

Happy Birthday David!

Forty Years!

Our Weekend in Videos...

Some video of David's ordination and one from the Arboretum, where they were filming "Fired Up"

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Three Years!

 I am officially working at Cup-A-Joe's now, and it's been pretty cool. I like making coffee drinks again, and the people I work with are very friendly. I am also really enjoying only working part-time; I haven't worked these hours since high school.

 April 2nd was our three year anniversary; Sarah made us filet mignon and butternut squash ravioli, and we enjoyed a little wine with the meal as well. We went to Empire Mine State Park on Sunday, since we didn't go anywhere on our anniversary. It was very cool seeing the old buildings and the mines that they worked in.

 Sarah is no longer looking for a new job; she decided to stay at Northwest Exteriors, since she enjoys what she does and really likes the people, and it doesn't hurt that they give lots of verbal affirmation!

 We also bought ourselves a Oster Blender and started making smoothies for breakfast this week.

Good Times, Bad Times; You Know I've Had My Share!

 So, the last month has been full of traveling and moments of joy and sadness.

1) We went to  a family reunion for Sarah's Dad's side and had a great time. It was nice to see some people we hadn't ever seen before and others that we hadn't seen in a long time. We stayed with Sarah's Grandpa in Upland (L.A.) and the reunion was in Corona. It was great.

2) Sarah has officially finished college at UC Davis and she did great in all her classes! I could not be more proud of all the hard work she did and the many late nights of studying. She is now looking for a new job that she can do full time and get paid a little more. She loves the job she is at now, but they don't currently have enough work for her to do full-time.

3) Becky and John finally gave birth to little Roshni! She is a cutie and we are so happy for the two of them; we thank God for blessing them with a healthy, beautiful baby girl.

4) Sarah and I also hung out with Becky and John one last time before they had Roshni. We have had so many good times with them for years and we know that they are going to be great parents. We are sad that we won't be able to hang out with them the same way we used to, but we look forward to adding this new member to our regular group of four!

5) I am also looking for a new job. Mr Handyman is slow right now, and I need to find a part-time job for when I go back to school in June. I am going to be going for my AA in Art New Media; it focuses on graphic design, digital photography, film editing, and more; it's going to be a lot of fun for me.

That's what's going on with us; to all those who are far away, we love and miss you!

Too Much for One Blog

So much has happened in the past month that we have decided to list the events in chronological order, rather than in order of importance.

1. We cut up all of our credit cards and started Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Plan. We're staying to a strict budget, and any "extra" money coming in is going straight toward paying off our debt. We will not be taking on any debt again, excepting a mortgage payment when we have everything else paid off and a six-month emergency fund.

2. David and Joanna visited with Declan, and they stayed with us. We're pretty sure Steve was louder than Declan at night. It was very educational having such a young baby in the house. There were some unique techniques for quieting him (one having to do with the chilly night air), and there way more diapers than we expected. We see now that it's not all "fun and games" when you have a baby, but then again, the quiet moments seem pretty awesome.

3. Sarah organized and made the food and decorations for Becky and John's baby shower (with Joanna's help). It was a ton of work, and she doesn't regret doing it, but it made her realize that she's not cut out to be in charge of events. Support positions are much less stressful.

4. We went on a disappointing hike at Point Reyes National Seashore. We climbed a very steep 2-mile trail to Mount Wittenberg, the highest point in the park, and the view from the top was very anti-climactic. Definitely not worth the work.

5. Sharon had baby Reece! From David's pictures, it looks like she's going to have an adorable nose. We won't be seeing her in person until David's ordination in April.

6. We sold Sean's truck. We were tired of having a car payment on something he just drives to work and back, so we sold it for cash yesterday. We're going to buy Becky and John's Cavalier for a bargain price.

In other news, Sarah only has one month and one week left before she's done with school. Her graduation ceremony will be on June 14th at 9am.

The only other exciting things on the horizon are Sean's second teaching gig at the church, the arrival of niece (we think) #2 on or around March 17th, and our third anniversary on April 2nd. If anything interesting happens in the meantime, we'll be sure to let you know....

What to say, what to say...

Well, Christmas was great. Sarah and I got some cool stuff: clothes, books, DVDs, and a tripod. Sarah and I bought our own gifts for ourselves; we bought the Planet Earth DVDs, a box for Sarah's wedding dress, an All-Clad fry pan, and some new lenses for our camera. Sarah loves her new pan, and I love my new camera gear. The most unexpected gift I received was from my brother Patrick--he bought me a toy truck, and it wasn't just ANY truck: it was the exact kind of truck that he had destroyed when I was in elementary school. He found it online and bought it for me; I have to say that it was probably the coolest thing ever. I told Sarah later that, "If I had been more tired or possibly sick when Patrick gave me the truck, I probably would have teared up a bit."

For New Year's Eve, we went to our friends' house from church and stayed there until 3:15 am, then we went home and watched TV for about another hour. We had a great time there--I played "Guitar Hero" for the first time and did pretty well.

Sarah has officially started her LAST QUARTER at UC Davis, and she will be finished in March. She is taking four classes: "The Earth," "Non-Verbal Communication," "Individual Differences," and "Health Psychology." Her graduation ceremony will be June 14th.

We can't wait for David, Joanna, and Declan to come up in a couple of weeks; it will be the first time we get to see Declan in REAL LIFE!