Thanksgiving 2012

This year we stayed in Moscow for Thanksgiving. My cousins, Jordan & Allie came up from Rexburg to stay with us. It was SO much fun having them here! They are a blast and were very good putting up with all our crazy antics.

They drove all day last Tuesday and got here before midnight. We are thankfully having a very dry winter season so far, they only had some rain during the drive. On Wednesday I got up & worked half of the day and came home to hang out with them. We had fajitas and played the new GoldenEye Play Station 3 game. Then we played 11 straight rounds of Scattergories and naturally, Zak kicked everyone's butts. He's way too good at that game.

stuffing the turkey

Thursday went a lot better than I expected. Zak and I got up and got the turkey in the oven by 9 AM. Then we just worked on cleaning, other food and around noon Chad came over with his table and drinks and food. We put the parade and later dog show on in the background while everything was put together. Allie and I made her mom's roll recipe. She definitely has a knack for it-she knew what to do and helped make some fantastic rolls! I was pleased that the turkey came out beautifully and so did everything else. It was quite surprising.

the yeast REALLY got crazy

Allie really excited about making rolls (understandably so)

ready to put in the oven!

The feast was fantastic, and we had tons of leftovers! So much so that I dubbed our house 'Leftover City'. We all stuffed ourselves, had little food comas and then enjoyed pumpkin and lemon meringue pie for dessert. We also were able to Skype with everyone back in California for awhile--that was so much fun! It was nice to see everyone and talk with them for a little bit. It felt almost like we were home! I was blessed to have some great helpers, who washed dishes and put things away from me. I think I went to bed around 9, I was incredibly pooped!

basting the turkey

beautiful!

mouth-watering delicious food

Zak cut off our heads, but this is a cute picture!

family!

a nice one of me & Zak

food comas

We decided to go Black Friday shopping...around 11 AM. None of us were willing to get up super early for shopping. Allie and I braved the mall, which wasn't that bad. I found some good deals at Old Navy, but couldn't find any shoes for the wedding next month, which was my main goal. Oh well. After an hour or so, Zak & Jordan picked us up and we went over to Chad & Bryan's place in Albion (5 minutes from Pullman) to meet their pets and go shooting. They have recently adopted a new dog, who was so sweet. We then went shooting a few minutes away. It was pretty cold and windy, so everyone ended up shooting each gun only once.

teaching about the guns

go Jordan!

Allie's turn!

Saturday we had a nice, lazy day with leftovers and video games. In the evening we made pizza and then went to hang out with Kandace & Gabe. We played Mario Party 8 and had a really good time. On Sunday they packed up and headed out before noon. It was sad to see them leave, but it was so great to have them around for the holidays. I am much more confident that I can pull this off again next year, so hopefully we'll be able to do it again!

Updates!

Sorry I've been bad at updating the blog, life has been crazy lately! Here are some updates:

-Zak now owns three guns. He bought a rifle that was on sale (so he claims) the other day; he came home and said, 'Good new/bad news: good news: I don't have any more guns I want to buy, bad news: I bought a gun.' At least it was significantly less expensive than the first gun (the second was a gift from his grandpa). And it's actually super fun to shoot. We've gone shooting a bunch in the last few months. We even took my old Twilight books and shot them with Kandace & Gabe. It was immensely fun and satisfying. I did make Zak pinkie-swear to not buy any more guns for five years. I will hold them to that.

all the guns

shooting the rifle, it's pretty fun

we really destroyed these books

proper reaction to shooting our friend Gabe's AK-47. it was POWERFUL and fun

-I have been with Digilent for three months already! I just had my three month review and it went really well! Everyone really likes me and is impressed with how awesome I am. I now get health care benefits, retirement plan, paid time off and a 20% raise! Oh and stock options or cash at the end of each quarter if we make a profit (which we have been doing...pretty much since the founding of the company). Anyways, I'm loving it and everyone loves me and things are going so well. It's such a relief to have a job I love!

-Zak has been doing well in school. He is doing some ride-alongs with the forest ranger a few times a month (he got the school to count it as an internship) and loving it. His classes are going well and will officially be a Senior next year. Three more semesters after this one and he'll be done!

-Fall is finally here and we are enjoying learning all the quirks of our new places during this season.  Because we live in a kind of basement, that means we will be more prone to spiders, basically my arch enemies of the bug-world. The other day while we were moving stuff around our living, we killed not one, but TWO big spiders. We think they were probably the notorious brown recluse spider. *Shudder*. Zak smashed one & I vacuumed the other. We are planning on buying spider traps or something. The joys.

-Holiday plans have finally been finalized! Compromises have been made and it will be a busy few weeks for us, and me especially! Zak & I will be spending Christmas with his family in Connecticut. We're flying in a few days early and spending a day with his best friend & girlfriend, who live in Boston. I'm getting really excited to experience some of the traditions Zak's family does; last time we were back there for Christmas was the same time as our open house, so it was a bit crazy. I will fly to California on the 26th and spend a few days there. My cousin Sasha is getting married on the 29th and I am one of her bridesmaids. I just bought my dress and now can properly get psyched for the wedding! I'm turning 25 on the 28th and while I'm bummed Zak won't be there to celebrate, at least I'll have my family with me; and we'll be sure to celebrate together with our friends when we are back in Moscow. We both fly back to Spokane on the 31st with enough time to celebrate New Year's Eve! It will be a whirlwind, but I know we'll all have lots of fun. We can't wait!

-That's about all I can think of for the moment. Zak and I are working on a running program, but I'm going to wait until we've finished to post about it. So that's all for now!

The Gun

So Zak has been ruminating the idea to purchase a gun in his head for months.  This is just how he operates: he thinks about it, does some research, thinks about it some more, weighs the pros and cons, thinks, budgets it out, convinces himself, and then--tells me, which surprises me.  When he told me he had seriously thought about buying a gun and figured out the costs and logistics, I was definitely caught off guard and immediately wrote him off.  I was, and am, still kind of anti-gun.  I didn't grow up in a family where there were guns, never really liked the idea of having a gun, or the need.  And having lived in Idaho for the past few years, seems to have only solidified my position of not owning a gun, since everyone here has at least A gun, if not more.  And they are realllllly into their guns.

the gun. it has yet to be named.

Well, with that being said, Zak bought one anyways.  He used his Christmas money and bonus from work to buy the pistol, a "Ruger Security-Six".  Initially, I wasn't too pleased, because it happened too quick for me.  But once it happened, I did come to the realization that Zak would actually be a very responsible gun owner.  He's smart, and will teach me and our future kids about the dangers and safety precautions.  He won't be one of those redneck white trash people that live nearby, drunk and waving a gun in the air on July 4th.  So that helps me feel a bit better about having a gun in the house.  It's still a weird thought and difficult to adjust to, for me, at least.  He is thrilled about it.  And once he brought it home, I knew it was the gun for him.  It's totally his style, very sleek and simple.  I like that it doesn't have a clip, and that it's easy to check if it's loaded or not, there is a roll-out barrel with six slots for the bullets.  So that helps calm my nerves.  It's a nice looking gun and he's pleased with it.

look how happy he is to go shooting with the boys! and in his new vest!

He went shooting with his guy friends a few weeks ago.  Our friend Chad also bought a gun; I have no idea what type it is.  Their co-worker, Kandace's boyfriend Gabe has recently returned from his third tour in Iraq and has several types of guns and knows the area well.  So they took off and had a morning shoot out past town in the woods somewhere.  I was a little upset I didn't get to go the first time, but he told me they wanted to take me the next day.  I've never been shooting before, so I was a bit anxious.  And I was happy to have Kandace there with me, who hadn't shot a gun before, either.  

gun + bullets

We went to the same place the guys went the day before, about 20 minutes north of town, off some backwoods road, in a nice open area.  It was actually a very nice day, especially for January, temperatures about 45 degrees, clear blue skies with wisps of clouds, no snow or ice on the ground.  The boys bought some orange targets and set them up on an old tree stump for us to shoot at.  My reaction to shooting Zak's gun was interesting.  It didn't kick as much as I expected, but still enough to freak me out.  I was glad to have ear plugs in because it was way louder than I thought it'd be.  But it handled nice enough.  It wasn't bad.  Gabe brought (and I'm quoting), a "spring-field arms 1911 and .45 cal" and a "Smith and Wesson .40 cal".  We all took turns shooting the different guns.  The two Gabe brought kicked really hard and were a bit more frightening to shoot.  I wasn't a fan.  

shooting round 1

my first time, very concentrated

unsure of how I feel after my turn was up

posing only

the target on the right is all Zak

shooting some more

where we went shooting, on a very nice day!

Zak had a fun time.  He shot several near and in the bulls-eye on one target, so that was neat.  Kandace and I both shot all the guns, and decided Zak's was the nicest to shoot.  And after our afternoon of shooting, it didn't solidify or change my opinion about guns.  It was an experience, but it wasn't my favorite or least favorite thing in the world.  Zak's so cute, he bought a gun cleaning kit with a gift card and is meticulous about cleaning it, storing safely and now is looking online for a nice holster.  He tries to tell me that if he's working in the forest this summer, it will be helpful to have, in case of bears or large predators.  I still am not convinced, but whatever, right?  Zak has joined the circle of gun-owners and there's no going back.  I guess my only hope is to not let him get another one anytime soon, so we'll see how well that goes...