Moose

this is how our little moose takes his afternoon naps in the office.

haha so funny. he is seriously cute.

The Dash

my mom is so cute, and everyday she sends me an email titled "moms daily tid bits". they are all different. sometimes they have 'this day in history' events, quotes, or just random interesting facts. today i got to the office and checked my email, and of course i found the daily tid bit for today. it was a poem, "the dash" by linda ellis. i had never heard it before, and i loved it. it really made me think, and i made a personal commitment to try and be more patient and appreciative toward the people in my life. we only have such a short time here, and what is it worth if we arnt constantly trying to better ourselves and make the best of everything we are given? so enjoy! the following link is the video of the poem with music in the background:

http://www.thedashmovie.com/

for those of you that dont have speakers here are the words too, if you can though watch the movie bc i think its better. have a good day yall!

The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the Beginning to the end

He noted that first came the date of her birth

And spoke the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth.

And now only those who loved her

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;

The cars, the house, the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.

Are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left,

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what's true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,

And more often wear a smile

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read

With your life's actions to rehash

would you be proud of the things they say

And how you spend your dash?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIRGINIA!!!!

Yesterday was virginias birthday!! she is officially 19! woot! enjoy 19, and here are 19 reasons why i love you virgy smirgy!!!!!


1. i laugh with her in a way that few come close to. that 'feel it in your heart and stomach' laugh that you cant stop once you get going.
2. she is one of the most genuine people i have ever met
3. she is a hard worker
4. she is unbelievably funny (see #1)
5. she has a badonkadonk that i am jealous of.
6. she is always honest, no matter what the circumstance. ex: the other day i told her of my butt envy i have toward her, and she suggested that maybe some lunges would help mine "perk up". well, okay. i wasnt aware that mine needed perking up, but its good to know.
7. she has the most tender heart, and will tear up hearing a sad story that involves a loved one.
8. she would never judge anyone.
9. she loves food as much as i do :)
10. we have always stuck together. jonathan jokes that when virginia was born she stole me away. we have been inseparable since i can remember.
11. she is always true to who she is.
12. shes SO fun!!! she is always down to do anything at anytime.
13. she rode the bus/bike everywhere her first year at UVSC, and didnt care at all.
14. she is a great sport about everything, and can laugh at herself.
15. she is tough. she can beat up half of the boys i know. haha. seriously.
16. when we were younger and played "house", i always wanted to "cook" something, so she willing ate croutons drenched in syrup, over and over again. but im pretty sure she enjoyed it at the time.
17. things that other people would find strange, she just doesnt. ex: she has been here about two weeks and is staying at our apt until her roommate gets here. for the first 5 days she slept on a pallet in our bedroom, right next to our bed...because she was scared. and thought nothing of it. i didnt mind too much, but bj has since put a stop to that. haha.
18. she is very level headed.
19. she knows no stranger.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIRG! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

busy week!

this past week and a half have been crazy. with moving, setting up the office, starting the selling season, along with it being the last two weeks of school, i have hardly had time to shower. i really cannot express how happy i am that i take my last finals tomorrow. i knew being the office manager for northstar would be time consuming, but trying to go to class, finish projects and study for finals while doing it has been ridiculous. so HALLELUJAH that tomorrow is my last double dose of school and northstar. im all for a busy summer, but this girl does require the occasional shower ;)

we are moved into the new apt, and for the most part the rain held out on us, thank goodness :) however, i did discover something about moving. NEVER TURN DOWN HELP. you would think that would be an obvious thing, but no, it was not. haha. we really did not have very much to move, so i figured bj and i could handle it easy enough. wrong. moving sucks, no matter how much stuff you do not own. So the first day when my mother in law offered to come help with two of bjs little brothers, i told her thank you but that i thought we would be fine. wrong again. it took us two days, a trailer, and three full car fulls to move. now, im not saying that it was a TON of stuff, or that two days to move is a long time. BUT, in comparison to how easy it could be been with help from my mother-in-laws who has fabulous organizing and cleaning skills, along with two sets of extra hands that belong to a 12 and 9 year old, it could be been a heck of a lot easier. Thus, my lesson is learned: i will never again turn down help when moving. ever.

i really like our new apartments! they have a little river in the back with a dock, an outdoor tennis court and basketball court, this little jogging trail in the back and then all of the regular stuff apts have. i really like the outdoor tennis court! its not in use that often, so bj and i have taken the dogs in there, and since it is fenced we can let them off the leases and just play while they run around. its pretty exciting. haha. speaking of dogs, does anyone have any good advice on training dogs??? i really dont want to have to send them both to dog school, but lately thats looking like the best option. moose is not as bad as dakota. dakota on the other hand...holy cow. i honestly HATE taking her on walks. how sad is that. she thinks she is dora the explorer and has to check out EVERYTHING outside, and will pull as hard as she can in the direction she wants to go, making it very difficult for my not-so-strong arm muscles to keep her on the trail. and trying to walk them both is just a joke. for example: the other morning i decided to take both of them on a walk. so we are just walking along and we go past the tennis court. there were some guys playing tennis and they asked about the dogs and what not. as im walking away i hear one of them say something along the lines of "how nice she is walking both dogs....well, actually both dogs are walking her". cool. haha. but you can kinda get the picture of what walkng them is like. so the other day i bought this book hoping it would help:



haha. seriously. haha. and yea it has helped a little, but not really. i mean, there was some interesting information that i would have never known about labs, but as far as training and what not, the advice in it is not working. all it talks about it positive this and that, never ever spank or hit your dog, just praise them for the good they do, and they will learn. well my doggies are not learning. granted, it has only been like a week and half, but they seem to get the general idea a lot quicker if i smack them (hhmm, do i sound abusive to anyone else? haha). so if you have dogs give me your advice!

the selling season is going good though! we are still waiting on about half of the guys that are moving in this next week, but the ones who are here are great. my little sister virginia is out here selling for the summer, and it is SO fun having her here!!!!!!! there is something really special about the bond sisters have, and im so excited that she will be here all summer with me. virginias roommate doesnt get here until next week, so she has been staying with us. this morning she even fed and took our dogs for a walk so we could slept in. it was awesome.

well thats it for right now, ill be better about updating this week and hopefully ill have some new pictures!

this adorable little girl is our new (ish) niece! her name is sage michelle, and we cannot wait to meet her! it seems like everyone is having babies, hopefully our turn doesnt come too soon ;)

we are moving today! selling season for northstar officially starts on monday, so we are relocating to grand prairie for the summer. we dont have very much stuff yet, so aside from some furniture, it should be pretty easy. the forecast said to expect thunderstorms for the next few days (including today), but hopefully they hold out on us until all of the furniture is moved this afternoon :)

i wish i had some pictures to post of our little moose! he is growing SO FAST!! he is only 13 weeks old and weighs 25 pounds already! he has gained 10 pounds since we bought him. haha. i wish all of you could really be around him because he is possibly the cutest thing i have ever seen in my life. except when he is peeing on my carpet. about that, he is not catching onto the whole 'dont go to the bathroom in the house thing'. its pretty stinkin annoying, especially to bj. i was at a study group last week, and during the middle of it i get a text from bj that says " i am putting moose on craigs list.".....haha. i guess he just kept going inside. gross, yes. but what can ya do, he is a puppy.

for all of you that dont watch american idol, its going great. i have been a die hard jason castro fan since the beginning (despite the fact that my mother-in-law and audrie both said he was too feminine, and i believe one of them may have even said that they couldnt tell if he was a boy or a girl. lol.)

but this week, i decided i also love david archuleta. he seriously has an amazing voice.

and im sorry, but brook white gets on my NERVES. she is always doing some strange thing with her lips and lipgloss, and is always crying. yea its sweet blha blah. im over her. and now that i have blogged a little too much about american idol, i will move on.

there are two movies coming out soon that i am so excited to see. the first is:

i think it looks so funny. hopefully i will be able to con bj into seeing it with me. the second one im excited about is:
haha. seriously it looks so funny to me. i cannot wait and will probably go see it on the opening night.

wish me luck moving today!

spring break, easter and MOOSE

its been a while since i have posted, but in my defense- i have tried to post, but my pictures wouldnt upload, so i just waited. but there is lots to post and there will be lots of pictures this post!

spring break- we went to angel fire, new mexico to snowboard/ ski with the youngs! almost everyone was there (we missed you marianne) and it was lots of fun. bj and i couldnt figure out why we never went snowboarding in utah when we were there together.

chase and zach on the car ride there....

the whole young clan outside the cabin...

father-in-law brad and zach....

all of the boys on the first day posing trying to look tough. very cute picture, in my opinion :)

craig and chance sledding....

cute kinsey!

bj and i on the way to the top of the slopes!

the car ride there...

chase and beej

Easter- right after the trip bj went up to arizona, so we werent able to spend easter together:(. i went up to my moms though and that was lots of fun. tristan, who is four, did not want to take his easter picture so he hid behind a tree for a while. haha. it was pretty funny., so i documented it.

tristan hiding...haha.

after hiding, we got him to pose. this was the first try. we tried again bc there is just a little too much personality in this picture. haha.

final shot, much better :)

group shot with my mom, liz and tristan.

MOOSE- okay so heres the story. saturday we went with chase to traders village to help chase pick out a dog for him and melissa. before we went i told bj "we are NOT getting another dog, no matter what", thinking HE would want another one, bc he is such an animal lover. well....we get there and see this face:

and thats when i knew i NEEDED this little guy. he is seriously the CUTEST thing i have ever seen. i had to talk bj into it a little (or a lot...whatever), but we ended up coming home with this 8 week old, 16 pound, adorable boy chocolate lab. i am so excited to have him. i did forget how much it sucks having to potty train them, but its so worth it because he is so stinkin cute.

i mean really, who could turn this guy down??? not i.

bj and littler moser at his parents house this weekend.

zach and dustin with cosmo, dakota and moose. bjs parents have a yellow lab named cosmo who dakota LOVES. this is such a cute picture.

the whole fam! Bj, kat, dakota, and moose.

so, we therefore we have a new dog :) he is supposed to grow to be 110 pounds- WOW. we are pretty excited about that part, we have always wanted a big dog. you may be wondering where the name moose came from...bj. i picked dakota, so he wanted to pick this name, so moose it is. i actually really like it and think its cute.

well that is all for now....the semester is winding down (woo hoo) and we are just preparing for another summer with northstar.

oh, and i hope you all watched american idol tonight. i watched and even voted. how lame. haha. but i am only a little ashamed, and will probably vote next week too. oops :)

today is just one of those days (they seem to happen quite frequently) that i am craving something sweet. until about 2 i was fighting the craving off pretty good. then i had a warm roll with homemade jelly and butter on it, which was good, but it still didn't hit the spot. i wish there was a place that delivered delish homemade Cinnamon rolls that look just like.....



this. but, as far as i know, no one does that. maybe i can talk bj into making them?? no, probably not. oh well.

in more exciting news, we have a washer and dryer now! hallelujah!!!! it has been so nice do all of my laundry and not make a production of it by sitting in the laundry mat all day. and now, when i have just one load, i can do it, instead of waiting until every last article of clothing we own is dirty. it is awesome awesome awesome. who knew i would ever be so excited about getting to laundry at my leisure?? not i.

also, i think i am vegetarian. strange. ive never been the type of girl to turn down a burger. or any food for that matter i guess. haha. but i have always loved meat. i recently read this book (which i am too embarrassed to tell you what it is called) that changed my view on it. i bought this book thinking it would be a stupid celebrity diet book (very guilty of loving celebrity related trash), but it turned out to be VERY informative. i read it a few weeks ago, and for the first week after i couldnt eat meat bc the info in the book was fresh on my mind. think- quotes from workers in meat factory's, stats on the lack of rules and restrictions the usda enforces on the handling and preparing of meat, the different steroids, hormones, pesticides and crap that is in meat...anyway, it just grossed me out. but i figured that i would be back to loving meat in no time. its been about three weeks now, and meat seems to gross me out more the more i dont eat it. i have eaten fish though. and dairy. the book suggests veganism, but ill be honest- i love ice cream/brownies/cookies WAY too much to give up dairy and eggs. thats just crazy talk. i would tell you the name of the book, but you would probably think i was a bad bad girl. its supposed to be a "no frills girls guide to healthy eating", so they cuss like sailors and are pretty crude. some of it is actually very funny, but due to my husbands reaction when i let him read a page, i will opt to not say (it is safe to say he did NOT appreciate their sense of humor at all). but i will say go to read up on meat and slaughter houses though. im in the process of finding another book that is equally informative and will let you know when i find it.

well, thats all folks. i should probably get some stuff done before good ol american idol comes on today. this is the first season i have kept up with it, and i must say- I LOVE IT. every piece of it.