The wait is over

My first part of training for Saladmaster is done! YAY! I had to cook 4 dinners in 15 days and I had to do it all in Mesa over 3 different weekends. I finally got it all done and now I have to cook 6 dinners in 15 days and then my training is over. I can do the 6 dinners in Flagstaff though which is nice because my friends are here and i have people at work too. It will be so nice to just get started.

Nate is also starting school today. I am so glad. He is also still working at the Learning Assistance Center as the front desk person for the tutoring center. He is only working 10 hours a week but it will be good for him and his busy schedule and all the practicing that he has to get in. He had auditions yesterday where everyone auditioned and then they decided which group they wanted you to play in. There is Wind Symphony, Concert band, and Orchestra and Wind Symphony is the top one that everyone works to get into. Nathan placed 2nd chair in Wind Symphony!!! He did so amazing! I am so proud of him. He had such a stressful time making sure he got all of his practicing in and he even had to borrow someone else's music because he left his in Show Low on accident. He is very happy with the result of it and just being able to play again. I know he is going to do awesome here at NAU.

Other than those big events, we were able to buy a new camera this weekend too. Which means I will hopefully get some pictures of stuff up here soon. We were also able to see my mom and family last weekend too. We stayed at my grandparents house with them and it was alot of fun. My brother Dallin is now playing football and he had just gotten done playing a game when we saw them and I feel so bad for him, but he knew what he was getting into when he started.

I will probably update very soon again, but that's it for now.

Trip to the Valley

We took a trip down to Mesa this weekend and got many things accomplished. It was so fun.

(side note: Nate helped with this post by uploading the first picture)

For starters, WE GOT A NEW CAR!!!! Yes, it's true. Our little Dodge Neon was giving us many a problem and just didnt feel very safe to drive and so we started looking around at different thing up here in Flagstaff and there was never one car that we loved that was in our price range, so we decided that we would look down in the valley this weekend while we were there. We did a little shoping online on cars.com before we left and I was thinking of getting a crossover type car, so I looked at all the big brands and we found a Nissan Murano that was in our budget and it was the one I fell in love with. We went down and found the dealership, showed them the paper with the car on it, and we test drove it and fell in love with it. So we went inside and talked numbers. They couldn't get the monthly price right where we wanted it, but I think we will make it work in the next few months. It's an '05 Murano, black on the outside and inside, and has a CVT transmission which is Nate's favorite feature. It doesn't get as good of mileage as we wanted, but it was just too good to pass up. We love it and know that it will last us for such a long time.

Just after we bought our car, we were really hungry and we were right by Old Country Buffet. So we stopped there and ate. It was so much fun for me especially, because my grandparents use to take us there once in a while and we could eat whatever we want. I called my mom while we were there and shared the moment with her via phone.

The other thing we got accomplished this weekend was half of my training for Saladmaster. It was really nerve racking for me, but I cooked the dinners in front of my 2 best friends so that helped out a little bit and I felt a little more comfortable. I did about half of the dinner presentation on Saturday but I am going to double my workload on Friday and Saturday of this week. I'm very nervous for this weekend, even though I am cooking for my friends again. The big part of the presentation does not have a script, so Im sure I am going to mess up or forget to say something really important. It will be good though. There will be a trainer with me the whole time. So I hope it goes well. All I have to do is cook the last 2 dinners down in the valley and then I am free to be on my own in Flagstaff. I have a few dinners already set up that I know I can do. So I hope it all comes together soon. I am way excited for it and hope I can grow in it like I want to.

Now we are home, and very happy, but very exhausted. Hopefully I can catch up on some sleep, but I doubt it. Nate doesn't have to work at all for the next two weeks. There is a two week break between the summer classes and fall classes so, since he works at a tutoring center, he won't be needed because if there is not classes, then nobody needs tutoring. He is doing really good there though, but he is thinking of getting back to working with an autistic child again, which he loves. So we hope that works out.

Other than that, I need to get my camera fixed so I can get more pictures on here and I promise I will try to update soon.

Babysitting fun!

So, Nate's uncle Stacey and his wife Rebecca live here in Flagstaff pretty close to where I work. But, he works right on campus and Nate decided to go in and visit him the other day and he asked us if we wanted to babysit his two little girls for him so his wife and him could go on a date. We said yes, of course, and they dropped them off at our house and they played for like 4 hours. It was alot of fun. Nate kept looking over at me and saying "Are you sure you still want to have kids?" I always answered, "Yes. For sure."

We had to get them to eat their dinner and then we took them outside to play on the little playset that is really right out our front door. Lilly, the older girl, really liked doing the teeter totter stuff that bounced you up and down. Lucky me too, I decided I wanted to do it with her, so I was quite dizzy afterwards. But, I thought I was a trooper and stuck it out til the end. The baby is only like a year and a half, so Nate held her most of the time, because she seemed happier with him. So, after playing outside, we went in to see if they wanted to watch a movie, so we watched some of Sleeping Beauty. Eva stayed good through the movie, but Lilly wanted to be very active and not sit still, which is understandable for a 4 year old.

Near the end of the night though, Nate's friends invited him to play Halo and so I let him go and some of the other girls in our complex, one of them is pregnant, came over and played with us. Lilly decided to be a teacher and we learned about the ocean and got to go on a trip to see the ocean. It doesn't get more exciting than that. Then the parents came home and all came to an end but we had alot of fun with them and hope we can do it again soon. We love little girls!