Settled In...

I know I can't blame almost 6 months of not posting on here completely on moving... but I'm going to try! Nick and I have been in the fabulous town of Fort Wayne for just over three months now, and have been loving every minute of it. I can't say I don't miss Traverse City, because I do, but we are making new friends and settling in just fine down here. The downfall to the summer here is that there is no water! One of our favorite things in Michigan was to spend our afternoons at the lake, and there is just no water here to enjoy!

When we moved here, I had three job offers all at once. I could manage a brand new Sprint store, work full time at another, or take a part time position at Radioshack selling cell phones there. I chose to take the part time position at Radioshack. Knowing that when school started back up I was going to have to be part time anyway, I didn't want to have to look for another part time position down the road. Nick was going to transfer his job at Best Buy, but when I turned down the management position at Sprint I recommended they interview him. They did and they loved him. He has been store manager since we moved here and is really loving what he does. I recently decided that I just don't love what I'm doing here at Radioshack and quite frankly I'm not a big fan of my manager. So, I talked to Nick's boss (who hired me once already) and asked if he would take me on part time back at Sprint. Nobody can turn down a beautiful red head, so I just put my two week notice in at Radioshack and will be back selling Sprint and doing what I loved to do back in Traverse City!! Nick and I will be working for the same company, but they are opening up two more stores next week, so we won't be working side by side. Which I'm sure is for the best!! :)

I know it sounds crazy, but I am actually really excited and ready for school to start back up. I think that because I have finally planned out my next two years of classes and know exactly what my degree will be, I'm just ready to get it over with! My degree by the way, will be a bachelors in Biology with a minor in Chemistry and will come from Purdue! Don't ask what comes after that, because I still have to figure that part out! Nick is in his last semester right now, just a couple of credits away from his bachelors in business administration.

Other than that, not a whole lot has been going on here. But, just in case anyone has forgotten... my birthday is coming up right around the corner!! :)

Until next time...
Nick and Sierra

Dogs!

Here is a little video I threw together so everyone can see our babies!

Eventful Evening!

So, it seems that with every puppy I get something must go wrong at an early age. With Nala, it was a broken leg at ten weeks old that resulted in three surgeries at Michigan State, and now with Miley we had to make an emergency trip to the vet last night. I have been trying to make Nala feel like she isn't being replaced, so I got her a special treat at the store last night. I gave Miley a little treat and gave Nala hers as well. Miley finished hers right away and Nala was still working away on hers since it was quite a big treat. Miley went up to Nala and tried to steal hers and Nala gave her a little growl as she normally does telling her to stay away. Miley then tried to do it again and Nala snapped at her.
Miley is a big baby and if the cat hisses at her she cries, so I thought she was overreacting. I yelled at Nala then went to pick up Miley and comfort her when I figured out that she was bleeding uncontrollably from her head. I immediately rushed her up to the bathtub hoping to figure out where the wound was, but the blood was just pouring out. I was panicking not knowing what to do since Nick was at work and it was almost 6pm and the vet was closed, so I called Nick. He told me to just drive to the vet which is only about three miles away and somebody would most likely be there.
I wrapped Miley in a towel and drove about 80 mph down the road with her in my lap. Luckily there were a few people there, so as I rushed into the office both of us covered in blood they took her into the back to examine her. I cleaned myself up in there bathroom and waited until they came out to tell me her condition. They had to sedate her so she would calm down and they could find the wound, injected her with some pain medicine, and shaved a little spot by her ear and finally found the puncture. They sent us home with a loopy puppy, and a weeks worth of pain medicine and antibiotics. She is going to be fine, she will jut have a sore head for a few days. She's back to biting and tearing up the house already today! I've always heard that head wounds bleed a lot, and after last night I can definitely vouch for that now!
All in all it was an expensive and eventful night for the whole family! We just have to watch Nala a little more with her treats until she get more aquatinted with the puppy, and everything will be fine. Yesterday Miley was trying all day to play with Nala and being ignored, now today Nala is trying to play with Miley and Miley just isn't ready to give her a second chance yet!
Until Next Time...

New Puppy!

We were going to wait until after the move to adopt another puppy for Nala. Up here she has friends that she plays with all the time, but when we move she isn't going to have anybody to play with. On Saturday we took a trip to the breeder where we got Nala from to put a deposit down on a litter to be born in late summer, and instead we came home with Miley.
She is such a sweet girl. The same breed as Nala (old english sheepdog) with one blue and one brown eye. Miley was born on Christmas day, so she is just shy of 8 weeks old right now. It didn't take her long to get settled in, she has been romping around our house for a couple of days terrorizing Nala and Jasmine! Nick and I don't know what to do with ourselves waking up so early with her though. She wakes up around 7am which is just crazy for the two of us!
Here are a few pictures of Nala and Miley from the last couple of weeks. Trying to get Miley to sit still for a picture isn't easy, but I did my best. (She mostly just wants to chew the camera when I get it out!) I will keep trying to get some good pictures of her to post!
Until next time...

Christmas 2008!

This is a video that Nick put together of his family Christmas in Fort Wayne. We are posting it for the out of town family to see until we get the hard copies sent in the mail. For those of you in my family, I don't expect you to have any clue what is going on!! However, if you scroll to the end of the video(around 9.5 minutes)there is a nice picture slide show!!! It's not the greatest quality on here, but we wanted everyone to see it!

Thanks Aunt Peg!!

Good News...

I just wanted to share with everyone something that made me very happy this past week. I'm still the new kid at work, struggling to prove that I'm just as good as those who have been there for a couple of years, and this past week I made that happen! The company just decided that they were going to start awarding employee of the month throughout all of the stores, and guess who got the first ever employee of the month award. Thats right, I did! It wasn't just for my particular store either, it was for all of the Michigan and Indiana region, 18 stores all together. It brightened my day a little bit, and now my boss really doesn't want me to move away this summer!

Until next time...

Sorry....

Alright, alright I hear you!! It's only been 4 months, not that long!! Anyway, Nick and I made a spur of the moment investment today and bought an iMac. It is super cool and we have been playing with it for the last couple of hours trying to figure out how to use the darn thing. It is a lot different than a pc. Since I have a computer that isn't going to freeze up on me every three seconds maybe I will keep up on this thing a little more!! (I will try my hardest)
I just returned last night from a week long training in Grand Rapids for my job. Even though I have been there for over four months now, they still sent me. I went in with a little attitude thinking I knew everything already, but I did enjoy it and I even learned a few things about the company I didn't know! Nick and Nala were home for the week holding down the fort, but I know they're glad I'm home!!
While I was at training I had to miss my first week of classes at the college. Most of them this semester are online so It wasn't too big of a deal. I have it figured out that I will only have to take one class over the summer to finish up my associates degree, so I am pretty excited about that, and Nick just has two full semesters to finish his Bachelors.
Because my college here in Traverse City doesn't offer any science related degrees, we have decided (after lots of thought) that we are going to be moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana in June. I know Katy isn't very happy about us not moving to West Virginia, but as far as college goes it seems to make the most sense there.
Nick has a lot of family in Fort Wayne that we are really close with, so we are not moving blind, and my Bachelors degree will be coming from Purdue. The school IPFW is a smaller college that offers degrees from Indiana University and Purdue University without the bug tuition costs. We are both really excited about the move, and even though it's not West Virginia, it is 5 hours closer to West Virginia then were we are now!!
Well that is all for now, Nick is finishing grilling us some ribs in sub zero temperatures!! We are pretty die hard up here!!
Until Next time...

Back To The Real World!!

Yesterday was the first day of my new job!! After much anticipation, and the most extensive background check you could possibly do on me, I finally got thrown back into the working world. Spending most of the summer unemployed was fun for about two weeks...then the paychecks stopped coming and I ran out of things to do around the house!! A little over a month ago I applied for a job at the local sprint store, and just now I finally got to start.

I'm really excited and although I have only worked there for one day, I haven't stopped talking Nick's ear off! They are spoiling me already as much as they can with all sorts of goodies. The part that I am most excited about is my desk. I have never had a desk before at any job, so I spent two hours on my first day cleaning and organizing, and making it my own! I can't wait to get back tomorrow and get my uniform and business cards and all the things that make me official. If any of you need a new cell phone just let me know!!!

Nick and I are going on a mini vacation at the end of the month right before my birthday(that hopefully everybody has written down) to go and visit my sister!! Katy and Bennett have invited us down and planned out a big birthday weekend for Nick and I in West Virginia. We are soooo excited to get there and just can't wait to see everybody. They are supposedly going to teach us how to be true Mountaineer fans!

Labor Day Extravaganza!

This past labor day weekend, Sierra and I spent the weekend at my Grandpa's log cabin in Cedar, MI. We went out there Friday and I went golfing with my grandpa and my stepdad Dave. I told Dave I was coming for him that day and I had a 2 shot lead after the second hole but then...he beat me by 20 strokes after 9 holes:(! While we were golfing, the girls went into town to buy decorations and accessories (you know for regular stuff like parties, parades, and award ceremonies, the usual).

After golfing, I started doing some landscaping on the fabled badminton court, and Sierra joined in to help. It was crazy hot but we managed to produce an amazing court, and then we got some practice in. Sierra claimed that she had never played before, but she looked like a pro to me.

Saturday, I got up at what I thought to be 9:30 or so, only to come in from my tent and find everyone asleep and find out that it was only 7:30!! I stayed up anyway and my aunt peg and I decided to try my grandma's recipe for coffee cake (which thankfully doesn't taste like coffee). Needless to say it came out amazing!! (cuz I made it) We all went on a picnic at the scenic pierce stocking park, and after that it was pretty much free time. We all went to North Bar Lake after that and went swimming. Me and Sierra built another amazing sand castle before we left (we should really become professionals). We were all pretty much exhausted after that and made it a pretty early night so we could be well rested for the serious business on sunday!!

Sunday was the real fun of the weekend. We start the day with a big breakfast for everybody, then a parade, then the Zimbabwe Open, then an award ceremony, then a bonfire. What, isn't that what every family does on labor day? The parade theme was Princess and Pirates, so all the boys wore pirate bandanas and the girls wore tiaras. The three dogs out on the farm got to enjoy the parade as well and wore princess skirts! We all paraded up and down the driveway with parade music blaring. After the parade was the Zimbabwe Open. Since 1988 my family has been hosting a badmitten tournament in the sand. For the last four years I have been the winner with a different partner every time, and this year was no different for me and Sierra. We ended the tournament undefeated and very dirty! When that was done awards were handed out for funny moments during badmitten and the two of us won the "best couples fall." Suprising huh?! Another award was also handed out for "the best grenade dive on a live birdie!"

We wrapped up the night with a great bonfire and singing bonfire songs all night while making pudgy pies. It was fun for all and I know Sierra really enjoyed the festivities with my crazy family! We went home late Sunday night with a pooped puppy and some very sore muscles. All in all we had a great end of summer weekend!!

I Figured Out How To Post Pictures!!!

Here are a few recenet pictures for everybody!