The Last 8 Months in a Nutshell

It has been so long since I have logged anything here. But there's not much to report. Since the last post in May: we went on a trip to Seattle and Olympic National Park, went camping with our folks, and Blake started his job in nursing.

In ONP

Sunset from Space Needle

Blake has been keeping himself pretty busy with work lately. And we are also looking into buying a house. Buying a house is a big deal for me, it makes me pretty nervous. I am hoping for the best, and Heavenly Father to lead the way. I hope we will have lots of good news soon!

Busy, busy, busy

It has been a busy month!
Blake graduated nursing school. (Yay!) We are so glad to have all that behind us. So. Glad. Now we are working on finding a good nursing job.
I have just been working a lot (and neglecting to clean my house). I obtained my CT certification in February and have kept busy since then with CT and MRI.
We would love to plan some trips for this summer, but are waiting to settle into a work schedule. I am so ready to take advantage of this nice weather and a husband that is not currently in school. 

Now we are looking to and hoping for some more great things in our future.

Blake crossing the stage. Degree-holder in hand.

With one of his instructors. 

We got ice cream one day and took a stroll through the park, right by the zoo. And were happy to find one of the giraffes comically straining to reach the leaves above him and just beyond the fence. 

Normally spring out here is REALLY short. As in a couple weeks. Then its hot and miserable. This year, however, has been great! Nice temps, cloudy skies, rain here and there. We've been out taking lots if pictures, especially since I just got an awesome new filter for my camera. :)  I haven't uploaded any of those yet, but here's some from my phone-camera.

And to wrap it all up....

... Blake a little too cozy in my new zero-gravity chair.

February Already...

It's hard to believe how fast time flies! We are already done with January, and I have so many things to work on this year!
I haven't yet taken the CT registry exam, I'm still studying. I'm pretty nervous about it. I don't remember being quite this anxious about the others, but I probably was. I took the others two weeks after finishing school, and this one is going to be closer to two months. I just don't feel ready yet. Or maybe I just get more anxiety with age :).  (I certainly hope not!)
I have a list of things I want to do -- after I compete (and pass) this exam. The rest of my life seems to be on hold while I fret over getting this done. I've been praying for a lot of help getting past this. 
Blake started school again a couple weeks ago. This is his last semester in the program! I'm so happy! We will be that much closer to being totally done with school!
We also sold Blake's old car recently. It was actually a little bittersweet. That was a good car, and Blake had a lot of history with it. But we figured we didn't need three cars.
I got a new calling in church last week. Activity days leader for 8-11 year old girls in the ward. I really don't know what to do here, I hope I figure it out soon.

That's about all the recent goings-on. 
Until next time...

A New Year

It's 2013 already! Time goes by SO fast.
Thankfully Blake and I did great this last semester in school, he has one more before he gets his RN. I am done. Again.  (Hallelujah!) Now I'm trying to cram for my registry, and Blake's taking it easy for a couple more weeks.
I have, although, been letting some sewing projects take up some of my free time.

Blake and I were able to go to the Governors Ball with his folks last weekend, that was a nice opportunity. I like to have a reason to dress up.

Here is us. I apologize for the blurriness. 

I hope to pass my registry soon and be done with this studying stuff for a good long while. :)
I got a new job that is really great so far, and looks like it can be exactly what I want long term. We are really blessed. 

That's all for now....

Great Weekend

We were able to do some fun (to us) things this weekend...

Blake got off work early on Friday so we decided to go out for a dinner date. We went downtown, walked around, shared a dinner and stopped in at Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. They have the best ice cream! On our way home we got a phone call inviting us to tour the temple a day early! (The day before it opens to the public). We were pretty stoked about that. It was a good opportunity, and it was beautiful inside!

View of a stained glass window from outside.

Saturday we went to Cirque du Soleil! They were in town for a few days, and this saved us from having to make a trip to Vegas to see them. It was a lot of fun! We were pretty impressed by some of the acrobatics, and death-defying maneuvers. We had a great time, except for the ridiculously long bathroom lines.

Here we are waiting for it to start!

Now I need to study and get ready for another week of school...

Back to school

Yikes. It has been two months since I've done anything here! Believe it or not, we have actually been doing stuff! :)
Last fall I decided to go back to school for little while. Very little, mind you. I was happy in my done-with-school-ness. But I went back this fall. So far it has been really good, even the getting up early and studying. I left my job of nearly 5 years in order to go back to school. I had offered to stay and just cut back on hours, but was told that company "didn't work with school schedules". That decision was a little tough. I didn't want us to struggle financially because of me not working. But we felt it was the best thing for us. We looked at our expenses, and set up a budget, now the hard part will just be to stick with it. :)  I'm sure we'll be okay. I also have applied for a couple prn (which is "as needed") positions, and am really hopeful. Ultimately that is the kind of thing I want to be doing.
Blake is still doing well in school also. He does a good job of balancing school and work.
We found out I was pregnant last month, and were so excited to have a baby. However, Heavenly Father must have other things in mind right now, because I miscarried recently. The excitement turned into sadness. Things could have gone way worse though, I am thankful they didn't, but I was sad it happened.
Currently I am looking forward to the autumn holidays, and trying to enjoy the season change. I'm sure gaining a few pounds is in order with all the wonderful seasonal treats on the horizon. 

Pesto!

I've been loving pesto lately!

I made a batch last year, and I pretty much only used it on salmon (which is delicious) and tomato soup (also good). This year I wanted to make some more, especially since I had access to fresh basil this year (as in go and pick it yourself then make pesto that night) and it's free. I also have a food processor this year which makes everything so, so much easier. (Last year I used a blender. Lemme tell you, it was a pain!)

I've been mixing regular basil with lemon basil. Oh my. Lemon basil smells so good!

I've made three batches so far.

It's so easy! Pick it, de-stem it, assemble it, mix it. I freeze it in ice cube trays after in blobs with my cookie scooper so I have easy portions to store in my freezer. (The blobs aren't quite as neat-looking but way easier to work with.)

Now I can try it on all sorts of things - like pasta and chicken, I hear it's great with those.