Stress...

Wow..I've really been slacking on my updates lately..it's been a stressful month..lets see..well my mom has been staying with us while she is having some problems, so that has been ok...at least we get some rent and cleaning and cooking!! haha...this past week my brother's been staying here off and on too...so needless to say our house has been way too full! More stress was added when I found out that a bunch more people are pregnant...I'm excited for them and their happiness..but it just sucks since we're coming up on 1 year of trying this week..ugh...

But on a plus note I started prometrium this month after being on an Estrogen patch to raise my levels and I FINALLY started my period...after 11 1/2 months without one!!! So that was a huge relief..I then took Femara to hopefully make me ovulate, we go back to the doctor on Wednesday to see if that worked! So...we're hoping now that we finally got something started iand that it will continue and not take too much longer before I get pregnant, but I know it's all in God's hands and we will see what happens.

Another good thing is I've had weekends off all month as I've been in Fire dispatch training, which is going really well. My trainer thinks it will probably only be a few more weeks until I'm ready to be released on my own! But I'm in now hurry since once that happens I will be stuck on my new shift (2am-12 with tues/weds/thurs off..ugh...) I've been really trying to enjoy all my weekends off though!

Last weekend we drove over to Pullman and spent Saturday at the Cougar game (they FINALLY won...even though it was against Portland State) After the game we drank and played Rock Band with Katie, Kyle, Jon, Joe and his girlfriend. It was a lot of fun, I think we will be getting that game soon! :) Sunday morning we woke up and drove up to Spokane. We spent the afternoon visiting Andy's grandparents up at the lake, then drove back down to his parents and had dinner with his parents, Katie, Kyle and Uncle Don and Aunt Diana. It was really good to finally get to see everyone, as usual it had been way too long! It really sucks that we live so far away from everyone.

This weekend we stuck around home, I got a lot of cleaning done and last night we went to Tokyo for Steve's birthday dinner..it was delicious, as always!! Then today we had church in the morning, ran some errands then went over to Keren and Steves where she made us some yummy baked mac and cheese and we played with the babies and then played some Phase 10, we had a blast with them like we always do and are hoping it's much shorter until the next time we have game night!!

Started the next step in my Valley Com Career!

Monday/labor day, Andy and I both had the day off, so we took to opportunity to finally get back up to Mount Rainier for some hiking!! We drove up to sunrise then hiked around near the glaciers and a lake, the scenery was beautiful and I can't wait to do it again!! We are supposed to head up there again to camp with Katie and Phil next weekend, so that should be fun!

Another week gone by..and a busy one it was!! I started fire dispatch training last Tuesday (9/2/08) and it's going really well so far. We are doing a different format for training in the past where we mix in on the floor training and classroom training. So far I like it, it's just a lot of new info and different procedures, but it will definitely be a good change from police dispatch when I need it! So Tues-Friday was busy with work/training, then I got my first real 'weekend' off since police dispatch training!!

Saturday was a busy day, I got up and went to the gym and ran some errands while Andy was at work, then he got home and we got ready for my dad and sisters to come over for dinner. We had a good night eating some tasty dinner with them and playing the Wii/visiting. Sunday we slept in, then walked over to the Puyallup fair!! We walked around the booths, then went to the Rodeo where we saw the semi-finals, which was pretty fun...although I didn't realize how cruel to the animals they are...I didn't like seeing them hurting them by tying them up, etc. After the rodeo we met up with my friends Brad and Katie and their 3 daughters. We walked around and looked at some of the animals with them, then we went on a few rides. After we were done with rides they came over to our house where we had pizza for dinner and hung out for a bit. Overall it was a very fun day and fun to spend it with good friends! :)

Monday I just wanted to relax from my busy weekend...but I had a full day planned of running errands..it started with a dr. appointment at 9:45, I went straight from there to the gym, then home to shower before my massage. After my massage I headed up to Brad and Katie's in Federal Way where I went with Brad to learn how to pick up the girls from school and their afternoon routine because i will start that next week! I left Brad and Katie's and ran to the store, then came home and had tacos with my mom and Steve who came by to visit for a bit. It was good to see him since he hasn't been around much lately! That's my week in a nutshell...I'm tired from another long day of training and I have 3 more days ahead of me, so I'm off to get some rest!!

New York!!!

Our trip to New York started bright and early Sunday morning (August 24th). We got to the airport around 5 for our 6:30 flight. After getting through security we had breakfast at a little cafe in the aiport and we were off on the plane for the 4 hour flight. We arrived in New York at about 3pm (Eastern time). We caught a cab to the hotel and dropped off our stuff so we could begin seeing the sights! We spent the first night walking from our hotel down to Times Square where we stopped off at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It was the biggest Hard Rock I've ever seen!! It had an awesome guitar wall and a ton of other cool memorabilia. After dinner we walked through Times Square, then over to Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, St Patrick's Cathedral, then made the trek back to our hotel for a somewhat early night.

Waiting in line for Letterman

Monday morning we woke up bright and early for a jam-packed day of sight-seeing. Started the day off with a quick breakfast at a nearby coffee shop, then we spent an hour or so at the Museum of Modern Art and walking around that area. We walked back towards Times Square and checked out some of the stores, then got in line at the Letterman Show to pick up our tickets for the taping. We had an hour to kill after that, so we caught a quick bite to eat before heading back to the show. We spent the next few hours in the audience of the Letterman Show, which was a blast!! The guests were Shawn Johnson (the olympic Gold medal gymnast), Tracy Morgan and Solange Knowles who sang "Sandcastle Disco." After the show we were pretty tired from clapping so much, but wanted to continue our sightseeing, so we headed over to the TKTS booth were they sell day of broadway and off-broadway tickets. We ended up buying tickets to see "Avenue Q." We had about an hour to kill so we went over to a BBQ restaurant where we had a tasty dinner. Then we headed to the show which was HILARIOUS!! If you don't mind crude humor and aren't offended by some tasteless jokes I would definitely recommend seeing this show if you ever have a chance! After the show we walked over to the Empire State Building and took the elevator up 80 floors to the top. We got up there around 11 pm and decided to stay until midnight so Andy could celebrate his 26th birthday at the top of the Empire State building!! We had an amazing view from up there too! We could see the Chrysler building, Times Square, The Brooklyn Bridge and a very distant view of the Statue of Liberty :)

View from the top of the Empire State Bldg

Tuesday was another pretty early morning. We started off by getting another quick breakfast and coffee then we headed to the subway station for our first attempt at the public transportation system! We took the walk to the subway station and got to see The Plaza Hotel on the way, so Andy was pretty excited about that, since Home Alone is his favorite movie!! We first rode the subway up to the Metropolitan Museum and spent a while looking through the four floors of modern art. There was some pretty interesting art..to say the least! Our plan was to head up to the Guggenheim next but when we went to the subway we accidentally went the wrong direction, so we changed our plan and headed South. We got off the subway near Ground Zero and walked down to that area. We didn't stay to take the tour, but we walked around the gated off construction site and saw the memorial they have set up, it was very heart wrenching and difficult to be in this area, just knowing the horror of 9/11. After that we walked down and saw the Wall Street bull, then headed to the Staten Island Ferry for a free ride past the Statue of Liberty. After the hour long ferry ride we were pretty hungry since we didn't eat much for breakfast, so we walked through Battery Park and found a hot dog stand where we both enjoyed some delicious New York sausage dogs! After that we headed to the subway station and went up to Canal Street for some shopping on the Black Market. This was Andy's favorite part of the trip I think. He loved going into the little shops and having them take him to the back rooms to show him the knock off purses, wallets and watches. I got a Gucci and Coach purse that are both super cute :) After our shopping expedition we took the subway back up to our hotel to drop off our purchases and rest before dinner. Since it was Andy's birthday, I wanted to take him to a fun dinner. We went to "Hawaiian Tropic" which was pretty much like a Hooters, except the food and drinks were more expensive..the girls were all in bikinis...but Andy wasn't too impressed! After dinner we walked through the giant Toys R Us then to a restaurant where we picked up a piece of cheesecake for dessert! We went back to the room and shared the cheesecake and watched the movie Chicago before bed.

Ground Zero behind the Fire truck

Wednesday was our last full day in New York. We woke up at 5:15 (the middle of the night our time!!) and got ready to head over to watch The Today Show. When we got there we realized we probably didn't have to get there that early since there wasn't much of a crowd. Oh well..we had a lot of fun watching Meredith and Al and got to shake hands with both of them..and we were on t.v. for about 2 seconds! lol..After the show we got a quick breakfast then walked down through Times Square and the Garment district where Andy got an awesome deal on some suits for work. We continued the walk until we got to our destination--The Museum of Sex--we spent about an hour looking through the museum...it was very interesting, lol...hard to believe they would put some of that stuff in a museum...I'll just leave it at that!! haha..After the museum we headed back to pick up Andy's suits and drop them off at the hotel before we went to the Guggenheim. The building was impressive, but the museum wasn't anything too special...I liked the art at the MET much better..oh well..it's one of those things you just have to do when you're in New York!! After the Guggenheim we went into Central Park for the first time...it is so beautiful!! I think it was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. We walked through the park for a while, then headed back to our hotel where we took a nap before having a late dinner. We went to dinner at Angelo's Italian restaurant where Andy had a delicious New York pizza and I had some pasta :) We were still pretty tired after dinner so we just walked around Times Square about an hour before heading back to the hotel to rest up for our last day!

The Today Show!

Thursday morning we got up around 8 again and got all checked out of the hotel. We bought another subway pass and took the subway up to the Museum of Natural History which was pretty cool. We got to see a space show in an imax type theater, then walked through the entire museum where we saw dinosaur skeletons, african animals, primates, birds and much more!! After the museum we took another walk through the opposite side of Central Park which was equally beautiful!! After a little bit of relaxing in the park we went over to FAO Schwartz and the Apple Store (2 stories!) We did one last swoop through Times Square and all the shops to make sure we got all the souveneirs we wanted before heading back to the hotel to catch a ride to the airport.

Laying down in Central Park

That concludes our trip to New York...sorry this turned out soo long!! I wanted to write this to remind me of all that we did too!! Here's a few pictures to enjoy from the trip as well! :)