Rants

So I've decided that one of the greatest inventions of this decade is the Podcast. I no longer have to drive 45 minutes to and from work in Holliday without boring myself to death or being frustrated with other drivers. Now I get my sports fill by listening to ESPN podcasts while on the road, and I've really come to enjoy it. One of my favorites is ESPN's "Baseball Today" show, where they discuss the comings and goings of the MLB.

Since last year's flop by the Seattle Mariners, I've had to endure a lot of criticism as a die-hard fan. It's hard listening to the podcasts and hearing things like: "The Mariner's beat the Padres yesterday, but nobody cares about that game." Well, that all changed when the Mariner's beat the LA Dodgers in LA (arguably the best team in baseball right now) and took the series 2-1 with the two wins coming in at 5-1 and 4-2. I was so excited to listen to my podcasts on Monday morning and hear some positive things about my boys in Seattle as they're really putting together a pretty good season. Then, nothing. They said nothing.

So I wrote in to the show and gave them my rant via email. The surprising part- they read it on the show and gave some good analysis! Here's the link

http://sports.espn.go.com/stations/player?id=4296734

So, check it out! My part starts at about the 18:50 mark and goes for about 2 minutes or so.

Girl Time!!

For my birthday this year (we're not going to discuss how old I now am!!) my cute friends cooked an amazing breakfast of blueberry waffles, strawberries, whipped cream, & orange juice. The made me wear this lovely tiara and we had a fun morning talking and laughing and eating (I ate three- only cuz the little one was hungry, not me- hehe). After breakfast we all collapsed on the couch for awhile to digest. Then Kjerst decided to liven up the day: Every time I go to Allison's, I say that someday I will sleep on the little ledge that is just below the ceiling. Kjerstin found a way to climb up on the ledge so I joined her of course!!

It was really dirty up there, but a lot of fun! And just a note- I promise there was no risk in this activity!! despite how it may look, it was completely safe- right Al?

Big news...

So, I realized that it is definitely time for us to reveal our big news to all of the many readers of our blog!!! (Ok, so we actually probably only have 2-3 people who ever read this...and they already know...oh well!!)

I'm pregnant and we're having a baby!!! The due date is December 3rd and I'm at 14 weeks now. We'll find out in July if it's a boy or girl and we are so excited for this new adventure in our lives!! I had a great picture of one of the 4 pregnancy tests (took me awhile to believe it could really be true!!), but I can't find it. The good news is that soon we'll actually have some interesting pics to post instead of our boring lives of just working everyday! And yes Al, I absolutely love Pongo and Perdita!! Can't think of anything more perfect!! :)

Dominican Republic Trip!!

Paul and I spent a week relaxing on the beautiful beach in the Dominican Republic a few weeks ago! I already miss the white sand and the palm trees! This was right outside our resort. The ocean was such a pretty color. There was a lot of seaweed by us so we didn't spend too much time out in the water, but that was fine because the resort had a great pool!There were lots of food options but not all of them were very good. One thing I did enjoy eating was cheeseburgers! I had three of them while we were there which many of you know is extremely unusual for me! They were so yummy...

In the evenings after dinner we went to a crepe shop on the resort. The taste wasn't great (Maestros is so much better!!) but it was fun to go.

We had unlimited free drinks so Jeanne & Kevin told us to try Miami Vice (no alcohol of course). It was so good!! We got that and strawberry daiquiri's multiple times a day.

The Mexican restaurant was good- we both got fajitas!! The best part was wearing these hats.

We took lots of random pictures around the pretty resort. Everything was so green!

We had a hammock on our balcony which was so relaxing!

Random alligator statue...

Hiding in a palm tree

Paul posed with our waiter at the Steakhouse. The food was pretty good but the cheesecake was rubbery and seemed to be missing the cream cheese...We played tennis a few times and Paul made friends with a huge, ugly crab right by the court. It would hide in a hole until Paul poked it with a stick, and then it would come charging out. Scary!
Paul's goal during the week was to climb a palm tree and to pick a coconut. He finally succeeded and definitely looked like a monkey as he hurried up the trunk- such talent!!
After 6 amazing days it was time to return to our normal responsibilities and to face real life again. We were sad to leave such a beautiful place!! The airport was hilarious though- it was basically a series of big grass huts!!

Ok go!

I couldn't help it...I just had to post the Ok Go dance we did. Hopefully this works...I've never posted a video before.

Past summers...

I've been thinking about how much I love summer and the great things that I've done through the years! Especially the last few summers have been filled with vacations with friends and family, BBQs, swimming, chillin at the 104 lobby, softball games, midnight Denny's runs, chickflicks while eating ice cream out of the carton, playing at the Wal Mart park, and so much more! I think my favorite was the trip a group of us took to CA two years ago to go to Wicked and the beach and just to be together!!

The happiest place on earth!

We were referred to as the 5 T-3 roommates

even though only 4 of us actually slept there!

T-3 after our amazing Ok-go performance!

Good times...I'm looking forward to another great summer this year!!

Happy Tax Day!!!!

Could this day really be here? The day I've dreamed of for months? The day my life is returned to me??? As with many looked-forward to events, it all seems rather anti-climatic. Shouldn't there be something incredible going on to mark this momentous occasion such as fireworks going off or our clients doing something to recognize our many sacrifices on their behalf? Instead I drove to work in a rain storm which made the commute long, I'm feeling physically drained despite the 8 hours of sleep I somehow managed to get, and my head feels like it's spinning out of control. I've realized that there comes a point where you have accumulated such a huge deficit of sleep that no attempts of catching up will ever leave you feeling rested. Despite these unpleasant feelings however, I'm so extremely ecstatic to have reached this day and to have a wonderful summer up ahead! Let me share the statistics from this busy season:

Latest night in the office: Left at 3:30, home at 4:15, left home at 7 to return to the office
Longest day worked: 20 hours
Most hours in one week: 85.4
Longest tax return prepared: the federal return alone was 1,657 pages and yes I had to look at every single page!! I could have read the Book of Mormon 3 times!! On top of that there were 27 state and city returns.

Overall I must say I've learned a lot and busy season has gone by quickly. I know I would have had a nervous breakdown along the way without an amazing, patient, and supportive husband who picked up the slack for me when I wasn't able to get to everything. Thanks Paul- love you!!