PICTURES!! From the past few months...

Jordan and I outside the Pantages Theater getting ready for WICKED!!

My super cute parents outside the Pantages Theater

Jordan and I inside the Pantages before the show

My parents inside the Pantages before the show

Jordan and I waiting for TINA TURNER!

Clearly, we are very excited!!

My parents were very excited too!

We all simply CAN'T wait!

Jordan and I went to opening night for the Lakers -

I know, I know, you're jealous of our seats...

We got free tshirts!

It was pretty sweet - our first Lakers game!

Jordan playing Photographer at a John Tesh concert -

isn't he so professional?

A UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl...they are really bad,

but we were going for Oregon anyway, so it was a fun game for us.

Jordan was having so much fun...

Blake and Carissa came to visit - this is us at a Minus the Bear concert!

Jordan and I went to a Kings game at the Staples Center a few nights ago...

he got cold and had to wear my scarf.

We had great seats - VIP!

Life as we know it...

So it's been a real long time since I've updated this thing and I'm sorry. It's hard for me. But here's a quick update on us. We have had quite the fall...my parents visited and we went to see Wicked and Tina Turner! That was amazing! Also, we went to Vegas for an Oktoberfest party at Carissa's house! And we got a new bike for me, which I ride to work everyday! Then, last weekend, Carissa and Blake came to visit and took us to a Minus the Bear concert! Oh, and our city is on fire. That's not so good. And it's like 90 degrees in the middle of November - what have we done to our Planet?!?!

Here are a few pics from the past few months...more to come, I promise:

My brothers and us....all in gray and black...not sure why.

Jordan and I holding up the wall "painting" at the Getty.

One of my favorites...us at Oktoberfest!

Us at Minus the Bear (or as Jordan calls it - Without the Bear).

Disneyland and the Happiest Place on Earth

Ok, ok...so I'm really bad at updating this thing. I'm working on it. The last few weekends have been very exciting for Jordan and I. We went to Disneyland and to the Happiest Place on Earth - HOME!! Here are some pics:

Us by the Teacups!

I actually get sick riding them...so I just sat in this one - it doesn't move...

Jordan and his giant pickle

Big Thunder Canyon Railroad

Getting ready for the Tower of Terror - I am very proud of myself for conquering it...again!!

The Castle at night - so pretty...

I just thought this was cute...Jordan at the beach: what a tough life, huh?

This is actually the only pic I have from home...Eric came home too, and I was combing all the tangles out of his super long hair! So silly...

UPDATE...finally.

Wow...it's been a while. I haven't been very good at keeping this thing up-to-date this summer, but I'm going to try to be better about that. Let's see...what has happened since the beginning of June? Well, I started my new job. I'm working for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Monica, and I'm the Volunteer and Community Resource Coordinator. Basically, I get to take care of everything dealing with volunteers - interviewing them, screening them, scheduling them, loving them, etc. And I also get to create and maintain all the club's partnerships with outside organizations and individuals. Basically, it's the greatest! And I get to hang out with kids - kids who are around ALL day during the summer! It's so fun!

I think I might have mentioned it, but if you didn't know...the Lakers and the NBA completely re-modeled our Reading and Learning Center. They came in and tore everything out and replaced it with all new stuff (and by they, I mean I...and some of my co-workers along with a few NBA PR people). Both the Celtics and the Lakers chose one organization to do this for, and we were it for the Lakers. Tey had a press conference and a ribbon-cutting ceremony with David Stern (President of the NBA) the day between Games 3 and 4. The kids absolutely loved it!!

Here are some pics:

All the kids got shirts for the big event

That is the brightest purple carpet ever!

Pretty fancy...

Laker Madness!

That's $10,000 worth of books baby!

Just hangin with some of the girls before the players arived

These kids were on National Television during Game 4

Coby Karl (a rookie player for the Lakers) played Laker Monopoly with the girls

Derek Fisher played too!

Ok, so you can tell I love my job when I post about a thousand pics of what's happening there...wow. I think that's enough...

What else? Oh...Jordan went to Idaho for Andrew and Megan Pelsma's wedding. I couldn't go, because it would have been too much time off work. But it just so happened that Nicole came down here that very same weekend for a wedding...so I got to see her, and she even stayed with me one night. We took one picture, but it's pretty bad of both of us, so I'm not sure I'm going to post it...

Then, I went to KT and Peter's wedding in Portland a few weeks after the Pelsma wedding in Idaho. Jordan didn't go with me for the same reason i didn't go with him - he had to work. Boo work. But their wedding was sooooo fun!! All the good pictures I took are on facebook, but I may post some here later...

After I got back from P-town, I worked for three days and then took six days off and went to Mexico with Jordan's mom's side of the family. There were 40 of us, and we went for his grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary and 70th birthdays which are all this year. I don't have any pics of that yet either, because Jordan took all our pics with his camera and he has to change them into jpegs before I can put them on here. Soon, though.

Since getting back from that crazy trip (around the 4th of July) we have pretty much just been working. Our weekends have actually been really busy, but we've just been having fun. We went to San Diego to see Patrick and Taylor when they were there for a few hours on their way back from a mission trip to Mexico. We also saw my brother (who lives there) and I FINALLY got to meet his Lauren....she used to be his girlfriend like two years ago for two years, and then they broke up, but now they're sort of seeing each other again - it's complicated. But I never met her the entire time they were dating (seriously, they dated for like two years and I never met her...what's the deal with that?)...Anyway, she's great and it was really fun hanging out with Eric and crashing at his place in San Diego.

The following weekend, we helped Janee and Gib move from their place in Hollywood to their new place in Venice. They now live about seven blocks from the beach - those jerks! Jk...their new place is really cute and in a really great neighborhood with a good mix of people. We know we'll love having them much closer: it's about 8-10 minutes between our houses, as opposed to 30-60 minutes between our old places. Also, this past week, Jordan's aunt Nancy came to visit and we had the best time! She stayed with us a few nights and it was so great to catch up and just chat with her! She's such a great person with a great perspective on life - very well traveled, with many stories...we had a blast!

Ok, finally...this weekend we went to Solvang, CA for our 1st anniversary! It is a tiny little Danish town about 35 miles north of Santa Barbara, and we stayed in the cutest little hotel. It's also right in the middle of Santa Barbara wine country, so we spent the weekend wine tasting (which we have never done before, but really enjoy). It's litereally a town that's 5 blocks by 5 blocks, so we walked everywhere and tasted wine in many tasting rooms. We also drove out to the actual wineries and tasted there too! It was fabulous. Tomorrow is our actual anniversary, and we're planning on a nice dinner somewhere...I dunno exactly...

At one of the tasting rooms

Thats all I got.

New Job is AMAZING.

That's all I got for now...it really is soooo great! I'll give some detail soon...

The Weekend Update

Can I just say I love 3-day weekends? Well, I do. We had the most amazing 3-day weekend this weekend! On Saturday we ran some errands, did some shopping, worked out, and went to Manhattan Beach - which was pretty sweet, I have to say. We'd definitely like to explore that area more in the future. Then on Sunday we did absolutely nothing (yep, we were heathens who didn't go to church). Instead, we slept in, went to blockbuster to rent a movie (and ended up purchasing three...), stopped by the store to get some snacks and then literally lounged around the house all day watching movies and napping. It was seriously the laziest day ever, but we LOVED it! And it wasn't all a waste...around 7pm we went for a walk around our neighborhood - so at least we got some exercise, right? Right.

Well, even if we were super lazy on Sunday, we made up for it yesterday. We got up at a decent hour, went to run more errands (and by that I mean did more shopping - I've been on the hunt for a pair of shoes all weekend, and finally yesterday - success!). They're super cute, though, right??

Then later in the afternoon we drove up to Calabasas Peak and went for a good hike. It was so great to get out into nature and away from the city. Jordan also got to take some pictures - nature pictures - not product shots!! So that was great for him! And we had a really great time just the two of us...

There she is - Calabasas Peak. And I'd just like to say, yep...I climbed that! I was a little girl about it at times (only the times when it was really steep uphill), but I did it nonetheless. And lucky for me, I have a husband who is a great encourager. He's amazing. And we did it together. And now I want to do more. We even made a deal that we would try to do one hike every weekend that we didn't have something going on. We actually have a book of about 80 hikes around Los Angeles, and our goal is to do them all. Calabasas Peak, check.

Jobs, etc.

Well, it's official. I start my new job on June 2nd! I'm going to work for the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica. I know this may come as a shock...since I never mentioned I was looking for a new job...but I wasn't, really. You see, I had an interview back in January when they had no open positions, but the lady I met with really liked me so she said she'd keep me posted if anything came up. Well, still nothing came up, but they decided to create a new position for me! How sweet is that? I don't have a job title yet, but I'll be the volunteer coordinator, I'll work with alumni, and I'll be working to create/maintain partnerships with other agencies and non-profit organizations in the community who serve kids. That sounds pretty amazing to me!
I've been trying to break into the field of social services since we moved to LA (I never thought it would be so hard or take this long...), and now it's finally happened! I'm FINALLY going to be able to use my degree and get some REAL experience in the field I want to work it. And if there's one thing I've learned from this 8-month long search for a job I really want, it's that it's all about experience! Really.
But don't get me wrong, I've loved working at Los Angeles Center Studios - the people there are amazing and I will definitely be sad to leave. I also will miss seeing movie stars at work - probably not too many of them wandering around the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica...but oh well. This is such a great move for me, and I'm really excited to start!
In other job news, Jordan got a raise on the exact same day I found out about my new job! How great is that? He wasn't expecting it at all, and he certainly didn't ask for it, so it was such a great and unexpected surprise. We were really excited and I think the fact that his bosses got together and decided to give him a raise when he's only been there 8 months really validated him and helped him to know that he is appreciated at work. I'm so proud of my man!! Wow, that sounds really stupid, but I am...
So that's our exciting news for now! Lots of changes in this past year, but they've all been exciting and fun! Also, my dad just bought Tina Turner tickets for the Staples Center in October, so I pretty much can't wait for that!! Tina Turner = AMAZING! It's going to be so great!

Too Long.

Ok, so it's been WAY too long since I've posted anything. Here goes:
Life has been CRAZY these past couple weeks...We had Jordan's little brother in town three weeks ago - that was super fun. We went to the beach, to Hollywood, and to a Ziggy Marley concert. Yep - we were surrounded (literally surrounded) by teenagers smoking bowls. It was interesting, to say the least! That next week was our birthdays - Jordan's on the 21st and mine on the 23rd. We spent them alone, together...since we both had to work during the days. On Jordan's birthday we made a delicious steak dinner, with sauteed mushrooms, mashed potatoes, blanched green beans and cheesecake for dessert! Yum! For my birthday, we went to a new restaurant/pub down on Main Street called the Library Ale House. It was delicious! It was a cool atmosphere - sitting out on their back patio and enjoying a date-night together.
The weekend after our birthdays, we went to San Diego and had SOOOO much fun! My parents flew down there and met up with my brother Eric on Thursday (the day after my birthday). Then we met them on Friday night after work. We stayed in this amazing little trendy hotel called The Pearl in Point Loma - I would definitely recommend the hotel to anyone looking for a fun, less-expensive place to stay! It was seriously, so cute and so fun! And the food was amazing too! We went to the zoo, to a street fair in Encinitas, and to the amazing little Italian restaurant where my brother works - I would also DEFINITELY RECOMMEND this place! It is SOOOO good! Seriously, it's right by Balboa Park and it's called Alexander's. Look it up if you're ever in town!
On Sunday, after a few nights and one full day in San Diego, the whole family (minus my brother Ben who lives in Post Falls and couldn't make it down for the birthday trip) came back up here to Santa Monica and went to the beach and to dinner at The Lobster, which overlooks the ocean and the pier, and allowed us a beautiful sunset! On Monday (I was allowed the day off), my parents, Eric, and I went to breakfast before he headed back down to San Diego and then my parents and I went to my work for a Studio tour. They LOVED it. They watch Numb3rs, which is one of the shows they film at the studio, and so going on their stages and seeing their sets was really cool for my parents. After that we had lunch with Jordan in the Valley and went to the 3rd Street Promenade. Then it was dinner at The Counter - our favorate local burger joint, and they left the next morning.

This is the SUPER CUTE Kaola at the zoo!

Two days later (last Thursday) Patrick arrived. Talk about non-stop company. It was really fun though! We went to the beach and the Promenade and to Hollywood on Saturday night. The Woods and Big Wangs - Patrick loved it! And we got to see Tiffany Seefeldt, whom we haven't seen since college, but who lives and works here now! It was super fun...but let me tell you, I was drained on Sunday night and pretty much all day Monday. I'm finally feeling back to normal, but it's been crazy around here.
In more exciting news - Jordan and I got BEACH CRUISERS for our birthdays from my brother! They are super sweet and we plan to ride them all the time! Summer is coming, and a new bike gang just might be forming...but I need KT to form a true bike gang...
What? Anyways...life has been good. We've had so much fun these past three weeks - we've just been crazy busy! Now we will go back to normal and settle down a bit. That will seem kinda nice...for a while.

Holy Hotness.

Yep...it was 92 degrees here this weekend. Yikes! That is seriously soooo hot when you're not used to it. We were a little overwhelmed, I'm not gonna lie...but it was nice to go to the beach and be out in the beautiful sunshine. We even played some frisbee in the hot hot sand! It hurt our feet a little, but was still fun - and the ocean definitely cooled them off. It's still very cold, so even on a hot hot day, you can cool yourself down in about 2 seconds.
So, Saturday we spent the morning/early afternoon at the beach, and then had some friends over for a BBQ in the later afternoon/evening. And our place got HOT! Living near the beach, most places don't have A/C...because you typically don't need it...but we could have used it this weekend! Oh well - we managed to survive, and we're working on our system of fans throughout the house, throughout the day to keep the place as cool as possible. Oh what fun.
In other news, my parents are coming so soon! I can't wait. And even before that - Luke is coming tomorrow!! Yay! We're gonna take him all over this town - and definitely to the beach, because there's no ocean in Idaho. Also, last night we watched The Breakup...not so sure yet what I thought of it. I like Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, but I didn't enjoy all the yelling - especially from Vince Vaughn. It's just not natural to see him being so serious and angry. The movie definitely did make me appreciate Jordan, though. I love my husband, and I'm glad I'll never have to go through a breakup like that. No fun...
You know what else is no fun - TRAFFIC! I hate it with a passion! Yep, I said it. I HATE it! Today I was 15 minutes late for work (and I left at the same time I do everyday, which usually puts me to work about 10-15 minutes early). It was soooo annoying. Imagine creeping along at an average of 5-10 miles an hour, just watching the clock tick by, knowing that if you don't speed up (even just a little bit) soon, you're going to be really late! Talk about stressful morning. I HATE TRAFFIC. Nuf said.

I Just Won $200!!

Yep. That's right. I just won my office pool for the NCAA tournament bracket. I picked Memphis going all the way, and it's funny, because living down here in LA, nearly everyone picked UCLA to either win it all or to at least make it to the championship. And, as we all know, neither of those things happened, so I won!! Well, it wasn't quite that easy, but you get the picture...
In other news, Jordan just found out that he will be able to have the time off for Andrew's wedding and for the HUGE family reunion trip to Mexico!!!!!! That is actually more exciting than winning $200! WE'RE GOING TO MEXICO FOR 9 DAYS THIS SUMMER!! I absolutely can't wait - and - we're going with Jordan's ENTIRE extended family on his mom's side! It's going to be SOOOOOO fun!! Just imagine all of us at one hotel eating and drinking all we can eat and drink and laying by the beach all day - AND SCUBA DIVING!! Oh man - it's going to be so great! Can you tell that I'm excited? Well, you would be too if you had a free all-inclusive vacation awaiting you in June after KT's wedding!! What a great summer this is going to be!
That's all...that's really all I got. What else is there? I won $200 bucks and I'm going to Mexico for 9 days in June. Oh, and my parent's are coming down in two weeks and I REALLY can't wait! They're flying into San Diego (where Eric, my brother, lives) on a Thursday night and then Jordan and I are going down there on Friday after work to stay for two nights. And then we're going to bring them back to our place for two nights and I get to have that Monday off - so it's going to be so great. I'm going to bring them to my work and take them to the stages for Numb3rs - they love that show. Maybe they'll get to see Rob Morrow or David Krumholtz - that would probably make their day!! My cutie little parents...I can't wait to see them!
And - guess what else? Luke, Jordan's little brother, is coming in a little over a week! That will be super fun too - he's 15 and Jordan's little clone. Well, I guess I shouldn't say little - if you know him or have ever met him you know what I'm talking about - he's definitely not little. I can't wait to see him! Ok, so that's probably enough excitement for now. I've got to calm down...

Super Fun Weekend

This weekend was packed full of fun! Carissa and Blake came to visit from Vegas and we had SO much fun...we hung out in Hollywood on Friday night, went to the beach and to the Santa Anita (horse) Race Track on Saturday, and BBQed on Saturday night before they left. Then Jordan and I went to our new church on Sunday morning - for Easter, and then to the beach and laid out in the 85 degree weather all afternoon. We even went in the ocean - I'm talking bathing suits and sun burns, people! It was the most amazing way to spend Easter. I've never had an Easter so nice - especially in March! My family back in Idaho had to endure an inside Easter egg hunt due to the 40 degree weather and rain. But not us! We were loving it here. It was amazing to just be out in the beautiful weather, admiring God's creation. So relaxing...
I've come to realize something about living down here...I may not love it all the time - especially when I sit in ridiculous traffic all the way to work, like this morning - but this place is amazing! We have everything we could ever need or want within about an hour of us. We can go to the beach, the horse race track, hollywood, and anything else all in one day. It's so different from Idaho, and sometimes I hate it, but there's still something to be said for its beauty. Even now, I've been looking into going camping somewhere around here and I'm finding out about all these great places to go - all within a few hours of here. And, as I was telling my mom a few weeks ago, no matter how long we live here, we will never be able to explore all this metropolis has to offer - there's just no way...but we're having fun trying.
I have to say this, now that we live so close to the beach, my whole outlook on living here has changed. I like it so much more! It makes all the difference in the world. And this amazing weather we're having right now definitely doesn't hurt - who knew you could get sunburned in March? That's all but impossible in Idaho at this time of year. Life is good...
I'll post pics soon - I promise.

What a Crazy Week...

This week has been so crazy. Last Wednesday night my mom told me that my dog Maddie (who has been in our family for almost 9 years) was probably going to have to be put down soon. Maddie (the dog on the right) has been going downhill for a few months now, and was definitely suffering from some sort of cancer in her bladder region. I wont go into details here (it's still really hard), but my parents decided this weekend that she had suffered enough and put her down on Saturday. I cried and cried - from Wednesday on, I would just cry at random times throughout the day. Maddie was a part of my family and it really feels like I lost someone very close to me. The good thing is, though, that she's not suffering anymore. She can run now and be herself once more - and for those of you that know her, you know that she had quite the personality (which she seemed to lose when she was so sick).

In other crazy sad news, one of Jordan's little brother, Zachary's best friends from middle school and early high school passed away on Sunday. We're not sure yet exactly what happened, but it was either suicide or an accidental overdose, and it happened while his family was at Church. I mentored him when he was a freshman in high school and I was a senior, so I can't help but have those thoughts that if I had been a better mentor that year maybe none of this would have happened. Honestly, though, it's been hard to even let this tragedy in, with the week I had crying over Maddie. It's almost too much for one person to handle.

On a positive note, I saw Lars Ulrich yesterday at work (he's the drummer for Metallica, for those of you who don't know). I think he's filming a TV show pilot, and his kids were with him and they're really cute! So that was fun. Also, Jordan has been amazing throughout this entire ordeal, and that's been what's kept me going. I really don't know what I would do without him. He's so good to me and I really don't deserve him. And we live by the beach now, so our plan for this weekend is, first of all, to not have anything bad happen (like we have control over that, but we're thinking positively here), and also to explore our new area more and maybe ride our bikes to the beach, walk on the pier or the promenade and hope that Carissa and Blake come next weekend. Anyone else want to come down?

We Moved Successfully...

Thanks to many friends. We now have a new place to call home, and we're having a great time setting up all our stuff and figuring out how to arrange our things in our new home. It's just so great to finally be out of the craziness that was our life in the city - we were literally surrounded by traffic lights and concrete and pavement and buildings for miles around - not exactly our style. Now, we are surrounded by grass and houses and yards and cool little restaurants and cafes and beaches!! So much better for us. And we're hoping Jordan's sister and her husband (Janee and Gib) will move out our way soon...they live in Hollywood right now, but we'd love for them to be closer to us! Then we could all go to the beach and ride our bikes together. Sounds like fun, huh?
In other news, Jordan's dad, Steve, came to visit this weekend...a little stressful since we were moving, but well worth that tiny bit of stress to have the extra help with moving. He was so great. He helped us pack and organize us all for the big move (we had four cars that took one load each and we borrowed my brother's tiny Mazda truck that took three loads over). It was pretty insane, and Steve was such a huge help! Also insane - moving in TRAFFIC! Bleck. I hate it. But oh well, it's done. And we have all our stuff inside our new home, so that's pretty amazing. Also, some of our stuff is even organized and our entire bookshelf is decorated with an artists touch thanks to our friend Kat, who is simply amazing. She went crazy and just started unpacking boxes the moment we got them all in the door. The rest of us were so tired and lazy by the time it was all done, but not her - she was like the energizer bunny...literally, she kept going and going until we physically took her out of the apartment to go to dinner. It was the greatest thing, though...really...amazing.
So all in all, I feel like I need a weekend to recover from the weekend, but life is good. We are so happy in Santa Monica and speding time with Steve was so fun. We went to the beach and walked on the pier, and had a great dinner the night before he left. It was really fun to hang out with him without the rest of the family - that never happens...Not that we don't love the rest of the family, it was just a unique time for us to spend with him. I wish it could have lasted for longer...

Welcome to Our Blog!!

If you're reading this you must be interested in what Jordan and I are up to...so, I'll give you a quick update on our lives since the wedding. We got married on July 29th, 2007 - over six months ago!! It was such a fun day, to say the least. Since then, we have moved to Los Angeles and are actually in the process of moving yet again - this time to Santa Monica. We moved down to SoCal for a couple of reasons: Jordan was offered a job working with the Tesh Media Group doing photography and media design-type stuff, I wanted to work with inner-city kids, and we figured it would be a good time for us to get away from the Northwest for a while and learn to live completely on our own - relying on each other and God for everything. Needless to say, it's been quite the adventure!

I haven't yet been able to find a job working with inner-city kids, but I do have a few leads on jobs in the field, so that could change in the near future. In the meantime, I've had a few different office jobs working through a temp agency. In September I started working for Farmer's Insurance, doing all kinds of administrative work. That job ended in December, which was perfect because I was able to take two weeks off between jobs to go to Idaho for Christmas and to Tucson for my cousin's wedding! It was so fun, and since getting back to LA, I've been working at Los Angeles Center Studios as their receptionist. It's a pretty great job, and now that the writer's strike is over, things are really picking up for me. Also, a bonus of the job is that I get to see movie stars...not too many have walked past my desk as of yet (due to the fact that the writers weren't writing and therefore the actors couldn't act), but I expect in the very near future I'll be seeing lots of them. Who woulda thought I'd ever be truly affected by the writer's strike? Who woulda thought I'd work in the movie business. It's craziness!!

So, other than work, we like to go to the beach on the weekends, hang out with Gib and Janee (Jordan's sister and brother-in-law) who live in Hollywood, and generally just relax. It's definitely weird working a standart Monday thru Friday job - we find ourselves being extremely boring/tired during the week, and because of that we dont do much of anything. It's not quite the college life, but we're adjusting to it.

Also, like I said, we're moving to Santa Monica next weekend, which is just about the most exciting thing ever! We will still be living in a tiny one bedroom apartment, but we'll be so close to the beach that it really doesn't matter. Plus, we really don't have that much stuff, so a small apartment is just right for us. I'll put pics up once we get settled...