Christmas Present

This year I got Rion a home beer brewing kit for Christmas. Marcus (Rion's brother) is minoring in fermentation sciences at OSU, which I might add is an extremely difficult minor, tons of science in brewing beer=). So this weekend we decided to test it out and start up a batch of pale ale. It takes about two weeks before we can drink what we've made, but so far it looks like it's going to be a good one. Rion's already started to think about what he should name it, any suggestions? Next week we're making blueberry beer, so any suggestions on a name for that one would be much appreciate=). Here's some pictures of the process.

SNOW

Today we got a late Christmas present of lots and lots of white flakes!!! They started falling at around 2PM and didn't stop until I got home around 5PM. The weather man says that it's probably all going to be gone tomorrow morning, but at least it was pretty while it was here.

Also I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We stayed home for Christmas this year, it was actually really peaceful.

Grandma turns 90!!!

On the 15th my Grandma turned 90 years old, which in my mind is quite an accomplishment. She has done more then I could ever imagine in her 90 years of life. She's a mother of 4, grandmother to 13 and great-grandmother to 15 with one more great-grandchild to arrive any day now. We had a great time celebrating with grandma's friends and family.

On another exciting note I get to come home for Thanksgiving! The reason this is so exciting is because for the last week I really didn't think it was going to happen. Coming home from FW last time I lost control of the Forerunner and ran into a cement barrier. Thank goodness I didn't hit anyone else and I was ok, but it was the weirdest thing. The whole way home I was having a hard time controling the car, it just kept wanting to go to the right or left, it's like it had a mind of it's own. So the whole way back I was just hoping I would not get in an accident, then less then 10 miles from our house it pulled really hard to the right and I just couldn't get it to straighten out, with the roads being wet it just ended up sliding straight into the barrier. So since that was our only vehicle it seemed like I was out of luck for the holiday, but my dad offered to drive down to Portland Wednesday morning and bring me up to Federal Way!!!! Then i'll take the train back on Saturday. How lucky is that =). Even though i'm excited to come up, Rion has to work Thanksgiving and the whole weekend, which is disappointing, but at least he has a job in times like these or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

One of those weeks

Have you ever had one of those weeks at work where nothing seems to go right? This week has been that way for me. The only good day was my birthday and I think that's because I kind of peaced out for the day and didn't get a whole lot done. Seems like every other day since then something has come up that i've made a mistake on, soooo irritating. I mean at least break up the errors into different weeks so I can feel semi good about myself and work in general. The weekend just cannot come fast enough! This weekend we're heading down to Goldbeach to see Rion's parents and relax. We haven't had a full weekend together in two months so i'm really excited to get to spend time with family and Rion. Then the following weekend it's up to Federal Way for my Grandma's 90th birthday! So for those of you in town let me know if you're available because I would love to see you!!!

On another note we went and had some engagement photos taken on Tuesday, a couple of them have already been edited and they are absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to see the rest, we went all over Portland so I know we got some really great shots.

Wedding Dresses

This last weekend I went wedding dress shopping for the first time since we got engaged. Since my mom's been traveling down to the OSU games so frequently I decided to give her a break from coming down here and go up to Federal Way to try on dresses. We went to three places David's Bridal, Alisa Bridal and Pearls and Lace. Out of the three the last one, Pearls and Lace, was definitely my favorite! They had the best selection and I really liked how they just let you go off and do your own thing, but were there to help if you needed it. Stevie, my mom and my sister were with me during the process and it was really fun to get their opinions and help! There were definitely a few that I really liked, but of course they were just a bit out of my price range so i'm going to go try on dresses in Portland to see if I can find something that's in my price range and that I really like. I'm crossing my fingers that I find something sooner then later, since I really just want to cross something off my list =)

Our House

We've been in our house almost two weeks and the place is still a mess. We've done a ton of work, but there still seems like more to do. Here are some pictures of the work we've done so far and our worker bees (my mom, dad, sister, brother, brother in law, nephews, nieces, Rion's Dad, Rion's Mom, both of Rion's grandmas and grandpa all came to help us which was so amazing). We've gone through 23 gallons of paint and ripped up 500lbs of carpet and padding. We just bought 1,000 sq feet of pre finished hardwood flooring so the next couple weeks will be interesting trying to get that all installed. We also just got our new washer and dryer today and are hoping to get our new dishwasher in the next couple of weeks.

Closing

Well we've finally scheduling the closing for 9AM tomorrow!! I cannot wait to close this thing since it feels like we've been waiting to move in forever! So since it's almost final I figured I'd post some pictures of the inside since i'm hoping the inside will never ever look like this again after moving in. We've already bought 13 gallons of paint and I don't know if it's going to be enough.......

Rion at inspection, he was so excited to go under the house=)

The only white room in the house.....

Update

Well I know you all have been patiently awaiting to hear if we officially got the house=). Well thank goodness we did get formal acceptance and are scheduled to close on 9/10. We just had our appraisal on Monday and hopefully will hear back tomorrow on what they want us to fix if anything in order to close. We did the inspection about a month and a half ago so we know that there are only a couple minor things to be fixed, but not sure if the FHA appraiser will require them to be fixed prior to closing. I'm crossing my fingers that they don't so then we can move in sooner then later since Jake and Mary's wedding is the 12th, makes things a little tight as far as timing goes.

On another note I finally got my engagement ring back!!! When Rion proposed he was not able to get them to size it down because they said it would take 7-9 weeks and he decided that he did not want to wait that long=). So we turned it in to them a week after he proposed and I just got it back on Sunday. Now i'm ready to really start some planning since now I officially feel engaged again=).

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Happy Happy Birthday!!!

Today is one special day.....IT'S JESSIE'S BIRTHDAY!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JESSIE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

I hope your birthday is one special day, love you!!!

Not a good week

So at the beginning of this week I thought this week would be a good, I was just trying to be positive and so I even wrote it on Facebook as my status......well boy did I jinx myself. So on Tuesday we found out that the bank that's selling the white and blue house will not get the signed acceptance offer to us until next week...they've already verbally accepted and had us do the inspection because they kept telling us they wanted to get this house out of their hands quickly...well now all of a sudden they are being slow and dragging their feet about this whole process. But the one good thing is that they do have the house listed as pending sale on the realestate agent sites so we know people aren't looking at it, but still someone could still make a better offer and take the house from us since we still don't have signed paperwork...sooooo frustrating.

So that was sucky thing number 1, number 2 and 3 happened yesterday. So I'm taking a four week accelerated advanced tax class that's four nights a week in Portland. Well last night was our midterm so I left work at around 4 to get downtown in plenty of time. I usually car pool with a girl from work, but she couldn't make it to class that night so I was traveling solo. Also I decided that instead of driving all the way down there and trying to find a parking spot that I would just park at one of the max stations and take the max in. So I was taking backroads that I usually never take, that are usually pretty busy at the 4/5 oclock hour. Well I was on this road traveling about 35 or 40 MPH, the posted speed limit, and I was coming up to a drive way on my right side where a little red car was trying to make a left turn out of the drive way and onto the street I was traveling. well I noticed he was looking to the right, but I hadn't seen him look to his left, which is where I was coming up on him. And in my head I remember saying, "you better look my way, please look my way" and nope he didn't. I slammed on the breaks, but there was no way I could slow down, since I was only a few feet away from him when he pulled out. I slammed into him going at least 30 MPH.....We were both ok, but man was I shaken up, I couldn't get my door open because one of the panels scrunched in a bit so he had to come around and open it for me. I was in such a state of shock that I didn't realize my foot was bleeding. A few years back Rion had put these metal covers on my pedals because they looked cool, well when I slammed on the break my foot must have slipped and the pedals cut into my foot. It's fine now, but since I don't like the sight of blood it made me sick to my stomach. So I of course didn't know what to do once we both got out of the car, he didn't know either because he's a few years younger then I am so here we both are just standing there with our cell phones up to our ears trying to call anyone and everyone. Well of course Rion's cell phone was dead so I couldn't get a hold of him so finally I dialed 911 since the damage is way more then $1500 to both cars. Well when I was on the phone with the operator I noticed that there were cop cars racing towards me from the distance, but I didn't think they would send that many for an accident. There were literally 4 cop cars and a fire truck that pulled over to investigate the scene. I got checked out by the firefighters and the police officers and then they took our statements and the statements of the witnesses. The other driver was sited for failing to yield and failer to have insurance...yep no insurance! So both cars were towed away and then I had to have the tow truck driver take me home since I still couldn't get ahold of anyone that could give me a ride. Once I was home I realized "crap my midterm!" well at that time it was too late to drive down to Portland state so I'm really really hoping the professor lets me take it at another time. I've already emailed him, but haven't heard anything back yet....But I guess the good news is that my insurance rocks and they are taking care of everything, they are even setting up a rental car today so that I won't be carless forever, just not sure if they will declare the car a total loss or try and fix it.

So that's my good luck so far this week, hopefully the weekend will be better=).

House Update

Well I can't believe it but the bank accepted our offer!!! Now we're in the process of getting the inspection and appraisal done ASAP! I guess the bank wants to close on this quickly so we might be in the little white and blue house sooner then expected=). I'm soooo excited, but also a little nervous since this is a very foreign process to us. We're crossing our fingers that everything turns out ok!

And the hunt is on

So instead of spending my time wedding planning, the last couple weeks Rion and I have been on the hunt for a house. This is way more time consuming then I expected it to be......First we went through the whole pre-approval process, which i'm sure many of you are familiar with, but geeze they need a lot of information. I mean I know it's a big thing to hand over that much money to someone, but wow talk about a stack of paper. So after we found out how much we were approved for we contacted a realtor and the search was on. So far I think we've seen over 10 different places with several different hopefulls and several different homes you couldn't pay Rion and I to live in. Well last night we wrote up an offer (which again was a rather large stack of papers) and are now waiting to see what happens. Unfortunately the house we're looking at is a short sale which means we have to wait around for the bank to let us know if they accepted or are going to counter, which could take anywhere to three months!!!! So we're going to keep looking and hoping that we hear back about this house sooner then later! Below is a picture since I think it has a really cute outside....the inside on the other hand is bright orange....do you think it's meant to be since we are rather large oregon state fans? Maybe they knew we would appreciate the color=)!

We have a Date!!!!

That's right we have a wedding date!!!! I know many of you wanted a quick and speedy engagement, but that's just not in the cards with me working full time and school part time until June. We just didn't think we could pull anything off and I, shockingly enough, do not feel any rush to the alter=)! I want to take my time to figure everything out and figure out each item one by one. So I know the anticipation must be killing you as to what the date is, but first i'll tell you where. So for the last two weeks I have been googling and searching for places around the area that would be in our price range and would do a lot of the set up and take down for us since I really don't want to have to set up or take anything down or have my parents do anything. SO finding a place that fits these requirements was a task, but one of the first places I wrote down actually ended up being the place. It was the only place we went to look at in person since it was really the only one that fit price wise and did all the set up and take down. So we went there Saturday and lucky for us they had everything set up for some weddings that were happening later that night. Well having everything set up for a wedding definitely made it easy to picture the event and of course I immediately fell in love with two of spaces that they had, the wedding grove and imbrie meadow. So we'll have the ceremony in the wedding grove and then everyone will walk over to imbrie meadow where there is a large white tent with a dance floor and bar underneath (two key items needed for any great wedding, dancing and beer). They actually have some pictures up on their website if anyone is curious. Another funny thing about the place is that it just happens to be one of Rion and I's favorite Oregon restaurant chains.........McMenamins!!! So after touring the place and loving it we took a look at available dates and there was only one Saturday next summer where they had both the wedding grove and imbrie meadow available, which I thought was kind of shocking since it's over a year away!!! Well that date just happens to be my parents 28 wedding anniversary, which of course I didn't even think about until I called my mom and told her, but she of course said she would be happy to share their anniversary with us. So today I finally called and booked Rion and I's wedding, August 21st, 2010......417 days and counting=)!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my mom and Kayleen!

The Proposal

Hey Everyone,

As many of you already know Rion and I are finally engaged to be married after 5 years of dating.....we didn't want to rush anything=). Not sure of a date yet, but I think we're leaning towards next summer. Below is the video of the actual proposal at Rion and Karla's graduation party.

I guess you could say I was a little shocked.....you think I would expect it after 5 years, but I really didn't think he would propose on his special day=)!

Longest Update Ever

So it's been awhile and decided to sum up the last month or however long it's been in one long and exciting post!

Event#1: Went to Vegas. It was an overall good trip, but Rion and I are definitely in agreement that we would rather go some where else on our next vacation. We've both been there a couple times now and I'd rather travel to apart of the country i've never been to.

I do love Eiffle tower drinks!

Rion's really excited to be in Vegas......

Who doesn't enjoy a bucket of beer?!

Event#2: Aubri's Bridal Shower!!! I would have to say the event went over quite well=). Aubri received bunches of gifts and we got to play those amazing/popular bridal shower games!!!

Mom's and Daughters!

Event #3: Rion and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary.....yep that's right 5 very long years=), just kidding, they've actually flown by. It's funny to look back at pictures and letters we sent each other 5 years ago when we first started dating. We talk as though we know so much about each other, but in reality we really had no idea what the other person was truly like. It takes a long time to really understand someone, to finish their sentences, to know what their thinking just by a smirk or a glance. Not to say that there aren't things I still don't know about him or things that he doesn't know about me, but definitely fun to look back on these last five years and to see how we've grown together and become a team, makes me excited to see what the next 5 years will bring.

Event #4: I had a root canal. At this point in my life I can definitely say this was probably the worst or one of the worst pains I've ever experienced (I'm sure that will change with child birth, but you get the point). Now it probably would not have been that bad if I was given a little prescription to help with the pain, but NO I was just told to take some Advil every few hours for the next several day......ya right I was taking handfuls to ward off the throbbing and severe pain shooting up my cheek at all hours of the day. I don' t know what dentists are thinking sometimes, I saw the equipment being shoved up the side of my cheek and mouth, there's no way Advil is going to take away the pain. Well lucky me I have another one in the next couple months and this next time i'm going to be smart enough to demand something stronger then Advil. I mean I don't want to be a zombie all day long I just want to be able to sleep thru the night!

Events coming up that you should stay tunned for:

Aubri's bachelorette party-crazy fun!!!

Aubri's wedding-yay for seeing everyone and Aubri all dressed in white!!!

Rion's Graduation (Still crossing my fingers on this one, but I'm thinking this could actually happen=))

SPRING BREAK!!!

Yes that's right I am now officially on spring break! Who would ever have thought I would be soooooo excited to just have to worry about work and nothing else for a whole week! This last term was by far the hardest, most time consuming, stressful term of my entire academic career. I barely could keep my head above water. Poor Rion has had to deal with his fair share of breakdowns, including the one I had this morning. 

Unfortunately I woke up in a stressful mood and then it continually got worse once I figured out that I had misplaced my debit card somewhere in our distroyed apartment (haven't had a bunch of time to clean.....) Well I woke Rion up with my thrashing around and then I started to yeld at him for our messy apartment, not my best moment, but I was stressed about having a presentation in the morning for work, dentist appointment in the afternoon and then my last final in the evening, so I felt at the time that those were legitimate excuses to be a butt =). Well once I decided I was not going to find the debit card I went out to start the forerunner to head into work, only to find that I could not get it to go in reverse. Well this was just super frustrating and I ended up taking the car. Well good news is the presentation went better then expected, but I was still freaked out that some how I broke the forerunner......not sure why I thought this, but was not thinking rationally. Then headed off to my dentist appointment in the afternoon and that also went better then expected, not as scary as I was anticipating. Well before I had to go off to my final Rion called to tell me that he fixed the forerunner, I just hit the four wheel drive stick so no big deal...YA!!! Then went off to my final and finally started my much needed spring break!!! 

Random Things (just for Kayleen)

Well i've decided I will make a list of random things about myself just for Kayleen, since she sounds a bit bored waiting for that baby to finally decide to make her appearance to the world. So here goes....I'm sure many of you already know many of these since i've known you all for a lifetime, at least it feels like that=)

1. I LOVE the color purple.
2. I LOVE designer jeans.
3. I hate to smile with my teeth for pictures. I think there are a handfull of pictures out there with a toothy smile. However, that might be changing soon with all my extra dentist appointments=)
4. I am addicted to coffee, I have at least 2 cups a day to make it through.
5. I've only had one pedicure in my whole life and it was with Aubri for Kayleen's wedding=). Kayleen you should feel special that I did that for you=)
6. My alarm goes off at least 5 times in the morning before I get up, I am soooo not a morning person!
7. My new favorite show on TV is Fringe
8. I pride myself on taking super short showers.
9. My favorite chinese dish is Won Ton soup with rice
10. I'm always cold, I live in sweatshirts and i'm kinda thinking of getting the snuggy=)
11. I tend to get obsessed with a song and then play it over and over and over until I reach the point where I can't stand the sound of it anymore.....
12. I am a huge fan of red wine, there's nothing better then curling up infront of a fire with a nice glass of merlot or cabernet.
13. My boyfriend and I will celebrate our 5 year anniversary this April. It's crazy to be with someone for so long and still look at them everyday loving them more then the day before.
14. I am so blind it's not even funny.
15. I LOVE rock band! Specifically playing the drums, I totally feel like a rockstar everytime I play.
16. I've never been to another continent.
17. I get bored super easy.
18. I love to go running.
19. I'm a blanket stealer, poor Rion has to freeze to death every night.
20. I'm moody....I get this from my dad.
21. If I could stay in school forever, I might be tempted to.
22. I starting writting this list last week...
23. I'm a sucker for chick flicks, but I also LOVE Die Hard
24. I hate to fold clothes, i'm fine with washing them but when it comes to folding I pass them off to Rion
25. I miss Seattle, but I really enjoy my life in Portland
26. I have a tattoo and am tempted to get another
27. My Grandmother was an identical twin
28. I'm still singing Christmas songs in my head
29. Tolstad is Norwegian and we have a family crest
30. I think about "the gang" frequently and just can't believe how time has flown by

Save save save

So this week I went into total save mode! I visted my friend Alison's new townhouse last weekend and was so jealous that she didn't have to hear footsteps overhead or people flushing toilets late at night that I decided I need to get serious about saving my money to eventually buy a place of my own. Now this is only the first week of my savings plan, but I feel good about this one. I pulled up my spending report in wells fargo (which if you have wellsfargo it's super duper handy to see what areas you spend the most money in) and started calculating what areas I need to decrease and eliminate spending. Now being the awesome accountant that I am I've found this extremely exciting and fun to keep track of exactly what I'm spending and in what catagory. Every night this week I log into my bank account and make sure I haven't overspent my limit for the week in that particular category then I update my color coded spreadsheet so I can keep track of exactly what's going on=). I know i'm a nerd, but if it works then that would be awesome because a house would just be the ultimate accomplishment to me right now (eventually i'm sure having a baby will be a bit more satisfying, but just not on that road yet=)). So we'll see how long I can stay on this plan, since I am kind of a shopper.

Snowboarding

So I have found my new favorite outdoor activity, SNOWBOARDING!!! This year for Christmas Rion bought me my own board, bindings and boots and they of course all match one another and are super cute (below is a picture)!!! I've only been once before I got my board and remembered hating it because I was cold and couldn't stop falling. So I kinda had mixed feelings when I opened the gift, but I had told Rion that I would definitely give it another try since he's really into it. So Jake, Rion, Mary and I all piled in the car on New Years Eve night and drove up to Mt. Hood to snowboard the night away since the lifts were open until 2AM! Well it was a little slow going when I first got up there and i was terrified of falling, but it ended up being soooo much fun (might have been a couple of the drinks I had to loosen me up, hey it was New Year's Eve time to celebrate=)) By the end of the night I could go the entire run without falling and I was able to still keep up with Rion. I was so proud of myself and had so much fun that we all ended up going back up the following Sunday. This time was not as enjoyable.....I think I might have been a little too confident and we decided to try a steeper slope on our first run....well of course it was maybe 5 minutes down that I caught the inside of my board and flew forward and of course I put my arms out to catch myself. I luckily didn't break anything, but just tweaked my right shoulder so bad that I wasn't able to move it for a few days without this horrible pain shooting through my arm and back...a week later and it still hurts to rotate it. So I might have to break down and go see a doctor to make sure i'm not making it worse. But long story short even though I hurt myself I am ready to go up there again and i'm hoping sooner then later because it's a ton of fun and such a great work out=)!!