I thought I'd post a few pictures of our house. The reason I haven't posted any sooner is because the house isn't where I want it to be yet. We're hoping to paint the outside this summer. As you can see it is an aqua blue and I don't really like the color and we are missing a piece of trim. Sorry for the mess in the house, I have shoes lying around on the floor. It's a slow process. We still are not completely unpacked and we need to set up the guest room so people have a place to sleep.

This weekend was Jesse's grandpa's memorial service. It was sad for me because it was like he was my grandpa too. I loved his grandpa, his mind was so sharp even though his body was going. People had a lot of stories to tell and it was a nice service. I must admit it was an interesting service too, his grandparents are seventh-day adventists so the pastor did things from his grandpa's perspective. It's kind of hard to explain. I think that it still hasn't totally sunk in for Jess that his grandpa is gone. It was nice spending the weekend with the in-laws though.

memories

I was looking back at some of my pictures and I just thought I'd post this. It reminds me so much of seeing old black and white Panther photos.

Okay, so every year for the past 4 years or so, it has been a tradition to go the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale with my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law and a friend of ours. We did go this year and Jesse even came with us and he bought some stuff too. He never shops and he doesn't like it. So, needless to say I am so happy when he does buy clothes! This trip is usually a big deal for us, we start early in the morning and go all day. The past few years Nordstrom's does the Pre-Sale, where by invitation you get early dibs on the clothes that they will be selling during the Sale. You have a personal shopper, you try on your clothes, get what you want and then the day of the actual sale, you can pick-up your items. It's way fun. The whole point of the anniversary sale is for them to put out their Fall line. I usually buy suits and work clothes. This year I didn't really buy any Fall stuff except for a skirt. I mainly bought summer clothes because I need them badly. It was still mega fun. It's kind of my one event during the year that I really look forward to. Anyway, I just thought I'd share my fun with everyone!

This summer has also been spent working outside on summer projects like weeding and mowing the lawn weekly. To start off, our lawn is terrible. The previous owner did not take good care of the grass so we have a bunch of weeds in it. I'm really hoping that some weed-n-feed will take care of it and get it looking good. The back yard is the worst and we will probably have to start from scratch on that by tilling it and putting in new grass. I also have some rose bushes, which I love, but I've never had any before. Right now they have new buds on them. I have two flower beds on each side of the windows that I put some flowers in, but it still looks ghastly. And it seems that not matter how much I weed, more weeds just keep popping up. It's all been a learning experience and it keeps me busy.

As an additional note: Jesse's grandpa passed away today at noon. It was a long time coming...he fell and broke his leg/hip a few weeks ago and has been in the hospital ever since. His grandfather has never taken medicine in his life, so when the hospital put him on pain medication, it kind of went downhill from there. He was 97 years old and has lived a long life.
In memory of Hal Robison.

Okay, so I saw that some of my friends and family started blogs and so I got the bug to start one too. So, you can call me a copycat. : ) My blogs are going to be pretty boring compared to everyone else's because we don't have children to talk about. Since it's just Jesse and I and the cats, our lives are pretty boring. And mom and dad, if you don't really understand what a blog is, it's basically a journal of your life and sharing it with others and keeping others updated on what's happening.

So, this is my first blog. The most recent update in our lives is that I started a new job on July 9th for the City of Vancouver working as a Legal Secretary. If you forgot what I did do before, I worked for the County as a court clerk, going to trials, hearings, dockets and taking minutes. The Legal Secretary position is much more detail-oriented and there's a lot more to learn. For me, it is new ground because it is processing subpoenas, discovery requests, preparing dockets, creating new files, all of which these things were already done by the time it reached me when I was a court clerk. I never knew how all of those pleadings etc. got to me before, in my new job that is exactly what I do. It has been scary starting this new position but I felt on Friday after only training for 3 days that things were finally starting to make sense. Please pray that I would continue to learn quickly and that my mind can wrap around all the wealth of information.

As for Jesse, he is still painting...not the artwork but painting residential homes and sometimes businesses. He works very hard and always does more than he needs to. He has lost so much weight over the past year, his pants don't fit him and he has had to put several new notches in his belts! I guess he'll be getting some new clothes at the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale.

I guess that's it for now.