Summer Adventures

We are having a pretty good summer so far.  We love having a backyard to relax in!  It's been nice to have dinners or early morning chats out on our lawn furniture.  Lately it's been really hot so we've been using our previous tenant's kiddie pool to soak our feet in while tanning (well, tanning for me, sitting in the shade mostly for Zak).  It may be a bit "white trashy" but it feels amazing.  Our friend Chad comes over often and we sit outside and tan for a few hours.

This past Fourth of July was the first one we've both had off together.  We got up and had homemade breakfast burritos (our latest obsession) and had a nice discussion for a few hours.  Around noon Chad came over and then Kandace and eventually Gabe.  We all just hung out, listened to music and tanned with our feet in the pool.  It was pretty perfect.  We had burgers, watermelon, homemade cookies & cream ice cream and lots of fun!  Bryan came over for a little bit and then  we all ended up in Pullman for the fireworks show.  It was a really fun day!

me & Kandace soaking up the sun

Chad, Gabe & Zak moving the pool

me & Bryan

Kandace & her fluffy dog we love, Simon

Gabe, Kandace & Bryan waiting for fireworks

a goofy picture of Zak, Chad & me

One day Chad came over with Hampton, who had 'stress-pooped' in his kennel on the way over, and was covered in poop.  Chad ended up power-spraying him with the hose while Hampton squealed and ran around the yard.  It was pretty funny.  The rest of the afternoon Hampton took to the bushes and reverted to 'wild pig' and only came out when he was offered food.  We tried to put him in the pool but he hated it and in the process of desperately escaping, stepped his little high-heeled hoof on my foot.  Ouch.  Zak tried misting him, but he was unhappy.  That pig just makes me laugh, he is always fun to play with.

the exact second he was in the pool

the only way we got him out of the bushes

look how cute!

We have been enjoying hanging out with our friends often; we have a great group of friends and it's made our lives really fun this past year.  This past weekend we went down to Lewiston and went tubing on a small part of the Snake River with Kandace and her parents.  It was so much fun.  The weather was in the upper 90s and the water felt amazing.  We floated down the river, had sandwiches, cookies, chips, drinks and enjoyed soaking up the sun and yelling at passing boats.  Everyone except me got a pretty red sunburn, despite the huge amount of sunscreen put on.  Oh well.  It was really fun, we want to do it every weekend!

Later that evening we hung out with Kandace and her boyfriend Gabe and played video games.  We got a hankering for KFC and drove over to the KFC/Taco Bell only to discover that chicken stopped at 9 PM.  It was 9:10.  We waited impatiently for 10 minutes behind a suburban from South Carolina that ordered, I kid you not, 6 full bag of Taco Bell.  That needed 10 minutes to put together.  We parked at Safeway, determined to find another option to dinner.  I headed to the bathroom, on the way I saw some kid (kid A) walking out of it.  Whatever.  I was washing my hands and noticed a backpack in the garbage.  We have been watching a lot of Weeds lately, so I immediately thought it was a drug deal.  I quickly felt around and check the pockets, but it was unzipped and felt empty.  I walked out of the bathroom and saw this kid with a goofy hat (kid B) sitting a bench, waiting for the bathroom while kid A was nonchalantly walking around the area; he even asked a clerk where the chips were, although they were obviously on the next aisle.  I practically ran to find Zak and pulled him back towards the bathroom, explaining what I had seen.  We waited and Zak took his blood pressure, and a few minutes later, kid B came out of the bathroom wearing the backpack!  We are convinced we saw a drug deal happen!  Amazing.

Tonight Chad came over & we ended up cutting the boys' hair!  Well, Zak buzzed Chad's hair and Chad gave Zak a mohawk because, why not?  They are pretty cute together.

buzzing Chad's hair

buzzing Zak

pre-product Zak (note his sunburn from this weekend!)

these boys are pretty fun

Zak profile 1

Zak profile 2

Other than that, Zak has been having some long, hot days at work.  He comes home, takes a shower and sits under the fan and relaxes for a bit.  I left my job at the attorney's office because it was seriously the most stressful I've ever been in my life.  It was too much work for just me, and she never had the time (or priority) to train me.  I was expected to be up to date on over 100 clients, had no one else to check things with and a few times a week I came home and just cried to Zak.  It was pretty bad.  I've been job hunting, with some mild success.  I have a few job interviews lined up and expect to find something soon.  It's been a bit of a trying time for us, but are hanging in there, trying to enjoy ourselves and make ends meet.  One day we'll look back on this time fondly, right?

Anyways, our plans in the future involve meeting up with Zak's family, who will be in Coeur d'Alene at the end of the month with the rest of the extended family for Zak's grandparents' anniversary.  It should be a really nice weekend.  Zak is looking forward to impressing everyone with his facial hair, slight tan and muscles.  Our 3rd wedding anniversary is during the week in August, but we don't have any plans just yet.  So that's our life for now!

Winter

Last week winter hit us, and it hit us hard.  In the period of like, twelve hours, we got at least a foot of snow.  Last Wednesday Zak ended up walking to and from school because we could not get the car out of our parking spot, let alone the parking lot.  The roads had not been touched since it has been snowing constantly, and it was still snowing hard.  Zak had quite the walk to school, as he had to forge the way most of the time.  I thought by the time it came for me to pick him up, the roads would be better or it would stop snowing, but I was wrong!  So Zak walked home and enjoyed the rest of his afternoon with me, snowed in.  U of I cancelled classes on Thursday, so Zak and I had a lazy, snuggly Thursday.  The snow had slowed down, but it was still snowing most of the time.  Zak ended up going into work for a few hours, by came home early.  I drank lots of cocoa and was grateful that our power only flickered a few times, and not go out, like some of our friends' had.

Friday it continued snowing hard, and it took us about 20 minutes to get the car out of its spot.  It had only moved once, when Zak went to work, and it was a difficult situation.  The guy plowing the snow had created a pretty big hill for me to back up over.  So we had to shovel and salt and shovel some more, and eventually, Zak helped push the car out!  It was scary getting out of the parking lot (why is it that parking lots are always, no matter what, awful? I don't understand why it's so difficult to keep them decent), but the rest of the roads were ok.

 A week later and almost everything has melted!  It feels almost too good to be true, as I'm sure it is.  But it's nice to drive places normally again.  Now we have rain, so whatever!

Other than that, our lives have been about the same.  We're getting adjusted to Zak's new school and work schedule.  At least his earliest class is at 8:30 and not at 8, like last semester!  His labs are in the morning or early afternoon, which is a nice improvement from his 7-10pm lab from last semester.  This weekend we are pig-sitting again for our friends, yay!  Chad will often bring him over when he comes to hang out.  We love having Hampton around!!

In other news, I am going to California in June for about a week!  Zak most likely won't be able to make it, especially if he gets this fire crew job--we have no idea what his schedule would be like.  If he can make it work, he'll come with me.  But we're both ok with me going by myself.  Plus, I get to fly out of Pullman, which will make it easier on Zak, not having to drive to and from Spokane twice.  I get to be in L.A. with my family, and my dad on Father's Day!  I'm excited--we couldn't make it to CA last year and I'm still having a bit of a hard time transitioning from that vacation.  And it'll be Kenny's first trip since he's been home from Sweden.  It's going to be a good trip.

Here are some pictures of the snow.  Blah.

from our bedroom

same location

our car on the right, after we failed to get it anywhere

the parking lot during a brief lull in the storm

while Zak was at work

Thanksgiving Break

the poster that Zak finished the day after they got here

We had a very fun, food-filled, family-oriented Thanksgiving break.  My brother Kenny & Zak's sister Delaney drove up from Rexburg to stay with us for the week.  We were expecting them by midnight on Tuesday, but they showed up at 9.  The posters we had for them weren't done, Zak wasn't even home yet!  But it was ok, the roads were clear and fine and we were happy they were finally in Moscow.  We stayed up and talked for awhile, and Kenny fixed our wifi that he had broke, haha. 

yes, there are 3 laptops there..he was trying to fix mine

yummy cinnamon rolls!

I had cinnamon rolls in the fridge, so the next morning we got up and had them with some cocoa.  Zak had the day off on Wednesday, so we took them to the mall and the bagel shop.  Then we just relaxed and watched some t.v., and had lasagna for dinner.  Delaney and I made the pies for Thanksgiving: pumpkin & lemon meringue.  We also introduced the game Guillotine to Delaney and started our tournament.  We had helped Chad & Bryan move into their new place on Tuesday, so Chad came over after work on Wednesday to pick up Hampton.  It was so sad to say good-bye to him, after a month of him living with us!  But we will visit them often and get to play with our favorite pig.

We got up early on Thursday and drove a few hours to Moses Lake for Thanksgiving at Aunt Ronda's.  We arrived a few hours early so we could hang out and socialize with the family.  Kenny and I got our hands on a puzzle and, like the pros we are, finished it quickly.  Everyone was so impressed, haha.  We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner/lunch.  Everything was so tasty and it was nice to be able to spend some time with Zak's side of the family.  But we had to leave so Zak could get home and get to sleep for Black Friday. 

siblings

spouses

siblings, sigh

nicer one

family!

Black Friday was a decent one.  Zak was very tired after his shift ended at 1 (he got to work at 4 AM), but stayed away long enough to watch a movie and eat lunch with us.  While he napped, I got dinner prepped: teriyaki chicken with vegetable and shrimp tempura.  After dinner, we played some more Guillotine and watched some t.v.  Zak opened on Saturday, so once Kenny and Delaney were up and showered, we went to get him for lunch and walked around downtown.  There's not a whole lot to do in town, but we had a good time.  We took them to Winco and they were so excited about the bulk candy, so they got a fair amount of it for $3 apiece.  We had leftovers for dinner and played some more Guillotine.  Zak ended up winning the tournament, I came in second, with Delaney placing third and Kenny ended up in last place (a rarity in our family).

Delaney VERY excited about getting all of the leftover jello salad

Since they had to leave Sunday, we decided to treat them to the Old European breakfast house before they took off.  It was worth it and everything was delicious.  Kenny & Delaney both got the Scandinavian breakfast plate [German potato pancakes, buttermilk pancakes, Swedish strawberry cream pancakes, stuffed sausage & harvati Danish aebleskivers].  Zak got the goulash with potato pancakes (his favorite) and I had sausage eggs Benedict.  Everything was fantastic and we left very, very full.  Then it was time to say good-bye.  I sent them back to Rexburg each with a loaf of bread from our bread machine, some freezer jam, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. 

scarily excited about breakfast

pleasantly excited

appropriately excited

It was so nice to have them around all week.  They are fun to have around and it's easy to cook for four.  Thanks for visiting, guys!

Pig-Sitting

We are currently baby-sitting our friends' Chad & Bryan's pig, Hampton.  They had some issues with their neighbors and landlord, and decided it was for the better to move into a different place.  While they are looking for a new place and for someone to take over their current lease, they needed someone to watch Hampton.  We agreed in a heartbeat!  We are entering into our third week with the little pig and it has been super fun.  He is a funny little animal, and very smart.  Since I'm home most of the time, he's connected with me a lot (Zak gets a bit jealous, but Hampton loves him too), and is pretty demanding of me cuddling with him a lot.  Sometimes it does get a bit tiring, but then he makes the cutest little sounds and looks up at me and I melt.  He loves to root around on our inner or outer legs, arms, basically wherever he can.  It's funny but after 5 minutes and your arm goes numb, it's a bit much.  He also loves our soft purple blanket, he knows that's the cuddling blanket, because we usually have it on our laps when he's on the couch with us.  If I leave it on the ground while I run Zak to and from school, he'll just curl up with it and sleep.

Hampton also loves the baseboard heaters, oh my goodness.  He will sleep next to them, rub his butt or face on them, he is so funny about them.  I think he just loves to be warm.  Chad told us that about a week before he came to stay with us, Hampton had just figured out that when he or Bryan were eating, it was also potential, possible food for him as well, so he tries to get at our human food when we eat.  We have to use some creative maneuvers, like Zak will wrap him up in the blanket and put that next to him, with his elbow near the entrance.  My tactic is to sit on Zak's chair (he rarely jumps up onto the chair, he is almost an expert at jumping onto the couch) or have Zak hold him while I eat.  Or stand and eat.  As of today, he has conquered going up and down the stairs, if he wants or needs to.  It's pretty funny to watch him pull himself up the stairs and tentatively go down them (pigs don't like their feet off the ground

He is a sweet little animal and it will be sad to let him go in a few weeks.  He makes the funniest sounds, from deep grunts to high-pitched squeaks and squeals.  He's very communicative.  We also love to play chase with him; he loves it as well.  He will even wait for me and look up as if to say, 'Well, are we playing or not??'.  But then he'll hide under the table so we'll stop, and then he'll wait for us to get him again.  When he's on the kitchen floor it's like a scene from any cartoon, his feet will be going a million miles a second, but he can't get traction, it's so funny.  It's been so much fun having him around.  We love our little piggy!  And here are lots of pictures because we don't have kids yet, so I feel justified in sharing twenty pictures of Hampton! 

we tried putting a little baby booty on him (secured with a rubber band), he was not having it; once we got it on, he didn't care but it was a struggle

his favorite activity after breakfast

both hamster and Hampton could care less about the other

doing homework with Zak

Professor Pig

I covered him up in the scarf I was working on so he'd be warm

his little snout is so funny

loves this blanket

this picture just makes me giggle!

coyly smiling

Chad told us that we could put some peanut butter on our finger to give him a treat; he went nuts for it! Such a happy pig!