About that change...

A lot has happened in the past 8 months.  We haven't updated much; a point so eloquently pointed out by Holly in her last comment to us about how much she loves that we're already getting into the Christmas feeling by putting up a festive title & picture.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that, although we love Christmas, the "Merry Christmas" title of our blog was, sadly, from 2009 (I've taken it down, probably in time to put up a new one at the rate I'm going).  But here we are, almost to Christmas 2010, and a lot has happened and we haven't had the ability to update for a while.  Sorry.  Somehow I know your heart has gone on.  Ours have. :)

So we moved.  Get over it.  We moved from Ogden to Logan after I was offered a job at my Alma Mater, Utah State University.  I'm still a recruiter but having a much better time at it and I feel I'm not lying to students when they ask me if I like it where I work. :)  We moved into my brothers empty house in Smithfield, just north of Logan.  The house has been on the market for a while but hasn't sold, so we get to live there and help stage the house for potential buyers.  So we grudgingly decided to move in.  It's a 3-story, 5 bedroom, 4 bath, on 1 acre house next to a golf course with nothing but mountain by us.  Feel bad for us.  But seriously, we have been very spoiled to live there but may have to move if the house sells, which is very plausible after a family began to make preparations to buy it.  So now we get to pack up (YEAH!!!) and move again.  After this place, we're going to have a hard time finding a place to top it.

My office, whilst on road trip to our Distance Education Sites. 

Oh, and Katie's pregnant.  Sorry we didn't tell you, but if you keep up with us on Facebook this isn't a big surprise. (P.S. Is blogging dead?  Discuss.)  After being told we probably weren't going to be able to have kids, we were surprised to find this:

After three tests to be sure, we took a picture for future proof. :)

And this is how Katie told me she was pregnant. 

I hadn't seen her in two weeks and she found out while going to Disneyland.  So she had to sit on that little secret for two weeks until I went down to Vegas to recruit.  We are SO excited for the little one to join us AND we found out three weeks ago that we're having a little boy.

1st Ultrasound

2nd Ultrasound.  Katie was POSITIVE it was a girl.  Nope!

However, after being told by the doctor that we wouldn't have any kids, Katie and I got into a major funk and tried to figure out what we should do about our family.  This was our immediate answer:

Yep, a little pug named Lilly!  We picked her up on Katie's birthday in January and now she thinks she owns the place. Such a cute little doggie who, at first, was very mindful and quiet.  Now, she's a very.... um.... sassy (?) dog who talks back and doesn't understand why she can't eat whatever you're eating.  WHATEVER you're eating.  Hot dogs, chicken, slurpee, root beer, gummi worms, chips, fruit; you name it, she wants it.  Including the wrapper in the trash: it's fair game.  And now, apparently, lollipop sticks.

Like I said, she'll eat anything that we do and don't.

When I tell her to sit she usually talks back before doing it too, which is FANTASTIC!  It's like having a 16 year old already.  She also likes to run away from me gleefully when I take her to go outside, especially when I don't have any socks or shoes on or just wearing a garment top on as a shirt.  SO FUN!  Lilly adores Katie, but Lilly and I have a love/hate relationship.  I tend to win.

She's starting to hate the car.

 So now our little, cute pug is sort of a terror.  She does mind when she wants to or if you give her a treat.  When Katie's out of town I usually go through a jar of peanut butter (her favorite) to bribe her to leave me alone so I can get some quality time in with the Xbox.  Of course, about a month after we got Lilly we also found out that we'll have a little guy in the house too, so we hope dog and kid get along.  If not, anyone want a trash-talking pug?


We also found out that our new Suzuki didn't have a ton of room.  By "ton of room", I mean "room for a car seat".  So we sadly had to trade her in.  Good little car, but I always felt like I was driving a Geo Metro because (I don't know if you've noticed) I'm sort-of a bigger guy.  So I wasn't sad for long because now we're driving in style in this:

LOVE IT!!!!   So fun!  Its a 2003 Nissan Murano (fully loaded, mind you) and it cost the same as our Suzuki so our payments only went up a little.  We've nick-named it Murry (think Flight of the Conchords...it even has ginger colored leather). But tons more space and way more fun to drive, not to mention the leather seats and the Bose system makes the drive to Vegas a ton better.

So that's about it!  We love Logan and love where we're at in life right now.  Katie's doing well with the pregnancy, the kid is about 7 inches now and we're about halfway through the 2nd trimester, which reminds me, I don't know how to be a dad yet, so I better start reading up on that.  I have just 15 credits left in my masters program and then I'm thinking of a PhD, but have NO idea what I want to get it in.  Any ideas?

Change is coming

January 7th, 2010

"A" is for Archibald!!!

I Love My Beautiful Wife

My wife is so amazing.  I won't go into too much detail, but she is one of the most loving, compassionate, and strongest woman I have ever known.  She makes waking up everyday worth it.  How lucky can a guy get!

 

We went on "Vacation"

Katie & I have been busy. Brief recap about our life:
School
Work
Car shopping
School
Work
Sleep

Pretty much sums it up right there. We spent the better part of a month trying out new cars to retire my truck under the "Cash for Clunkers" program. But before y'all get fiesty that we spent tax payer money, two things: (1) I'm pretty sure I've been taxed the $3500 I would have received for the truck from the government, so I am "reinvesting" it and (B) we didn't end up using the program anyways. They just gave us $3500 as a trade. DONE & DONE!

We got a Suzuki SX4 crossover. It's a small car, but it gets good gas mileage and has optional all-wheel drive, GPS system, and bluetooth capabilities. Got it for a steal too. We affectionatly call her Suki, and have deemed she's a Decepticon to the Element's (Ellie) Autobot.

However we did get to go on a "Vacation". The reason "vacation" is put in parentheses (I meant in Quotes... love finding a typo a month later) is because (A) it was for work and (2) we're so friggin tired. But we still had a good time and that's all that mattered.

Katie's mom, Denise, really wanted to go to Disneyland with all of her kids because the last time she was able to go was about 5 years ago before most of the grandkids started arriving. We were excited to go and it coordinated with a recruiting trip to Vegas so all the better. So while I stayed in Vegas, Katie went to Disneyland with her mom and family and then I joined up later that week with them. We had a great time and really enjoyed being with everyone. The next week I had a conference in Newport Beach (I know right?) so we stayed down there and went to Disneyland just by our selves for a few days, which was a first. So here are some pictures from our "vacation" (I really did have to work during 80% of it... honest).

BEST. SITE. EVER.

Alright, it's been a while blah, blah, blah and we have a lot of updates for you, which we'll have to get to later. But I just found this and I think it's my new favorite site. Click on the logo and you'll see why!


It's so great! I love it! Oh, and about the post below. Yes, I'm a nerd. But in my defense, I just heard about this new game and I wanted to check it out. It's not like I'm a hard core Trekkie...I just own all 10 movies and at least half of the last 15 years worth of Star Trek Hallmark Keepsake ornaments. It's not that bad, but I blame my dad and Jake Packer. Hey, if I'm coming out of the Trekkie closet I'm taking you guys too.

P.S. I really do own a vast majority of Star Trek Hallmark Keepsake ornaments... don't judge.