Emileigh is 4!

So there is this sweet little girl and her name is Emileigh. Em is 4 and AWESOME. She loves Buzz Lightyear and sticking her tongue out and has the best, most gorgeous, curly hair in the world. She and I had a ton 'o' fun playing on the play ground and running through the park (and by running, I mean she ran and I walked). So without further ado, please enjoy this wonderful little girl and her wonderful family!

 

 Happy Birthday Miss Emileigh!

This could go a few directions...

My prediction is this post will have no direction and no flow, I am just in a thinky mood because I am by myself at work right now and people keep remarking on my departure from the Hotel....

In thinking about the end of this job and our time in Bay City, I get all weird. I get sad because I really do love my job I am at now (minus the pay situation) and I love the people I work with. I get anxious because I am suuuper ready to start this whole new adventure. I get nervous about being away from Stephen for a month or rather, parts of a month. I am humored by the thought of living in the Grandparents house with all its shag carpet glory. I'm pumped to get to wear NOT A SUIT everyday. I do love hotels and the hospitality  world, but I just don't love the uncomfortable poly-blend suits. Bring on the ill-fitting polos! I also get a little nostalgic (gimme a break, it happens) about the idea that Stephen and I are leaving our first little home. It's like the end of the first leg of our marriage or something. Like we are maybe even more honeymooners than we were right away so that won't change but our first home is already dissasembled and we are moving away from the system of life we have figured out thus-far.

Granted, I am super pumped about this change, which was re-affirmed yesterday in the Meijer parking lot. Ps. I am 140% sure that if the folks of Bay City were forced to take a drivers test, 80% of them would fail on parking lot etiquette alone. Okay, back to being pumped. Things that are potentially awesome are as follows: 1. We get to live in a real house and not 800 sq ft. anymore. 2. We might get a dog and fully have the option to. 3. I get to play with little kids every day. 4. I get to play with college kids every day. 5. Get ready for the return of the chaco tan. 6. No more Bay City.

Needless to say, I have poor patience. I am the kind of person that prefers to make a decision, execute said decision, and start living with the decision. This one is testing my patience as the decision was made a while ago and there isn't anything I can really start doing to get ready except pack, pray, and enjoy every minute of time spent with Stephen (cuz there won't be much time this summer). So if you would like to pray for me about something, pray for patience for Stephen and I both. Hubbster is gonna need a great deal more than me once summer begins....

I love my husband because...

 He loves me BIG.
 He is a goofy, crazy, monkey boy.
 He is slowly but surely learning how to cook.
 He is mega hot. Let's be honest.
 He is very very very sweet.
 He is willing to move to Florida for me.
 He takes care of me.
 He makes me laugh on average of 9.7 times an hour.
 He is a firefighter.
 He works hard.
 He plays hard.
 He knows how to feel.
 He gets me and my weirdness.
 He is my husband.
 and He is still my boyfriend sometimes:-)
 He likes to cuddle AND hold my hand.
 He loves his family.
 He is a super great cleaner upper.
 He is pretty much awesome at all video games (which I apparently think is cool).
 He is a ninja.
 He doesn't freak out and get weird if I cry.
 He thinks the same as me.
 He loves dogs.
 He thinks other girls are not as pretty as me. (Most of the time:-)
 He is super lovey.
 He can tell when I don't want to cook dinner. And then he won't ask me.
 He got us ducks.
 He supports my dreams.
 He chases his own.
 He buys me flowers. ( I know this is dumb, but I REALLY love getting flowers....)
 He is a secret superhero.
 He is my best friend.

I think it is important to remind yourselves and your loved ones of the specific reasons why you love them. I am very much a person who likes to know the reasons behind things including reasons for feelings and actions. Plus I think it is just nice to hear. Stephen tends to NOT read this unless I make him, but now, if he needs a little reminder, he can know WHY I love him so stinking much.

So Stephen, I love you, and these are just a fraction of the reasons why.

Changes.

Alright folks. This could be a larger one. I am finally able to update you on the "big decision" I referenced a while ago. The decision I was referring to was the decision of whether to leave my current wonderful job at the front desk of the H hotel to head to a potentially uncertain (but worth it) job of being the Assistant Director for Spring Hill Day Camps: Detroit. And the decision has been made. Stephen and I are taking a leap of faith (literally) and moving to Detroit this summer so I can give this job a shot. There is no garuntee that I will have a job come August and we don't know where we will live come August and we don't know what Stephen will do at any point after we move... so there are a few uncertainties to say the least.

But here is the good stuff: pay increase, working for the Hill (need I say more?), living closer to my family, we should have the option to get a dog this way, Stephen will have more opportunities to get into a fire department full time, and best of all, we will simply get away from the potentially dead end jobs we are at currently (particuarly the stinkin Home Depot).

So here is our plan. Sometime in the middle of May I will be heading to Spring Hill to train for about a month. Stephen will have quit his job by then and will just be finishing up school and hopefully coming to see me ALL THE TIME. Week one of camp is going to Traverse  City and I believe Stephen will join just to have a little vaca. The next week, we are in Indiana and Stephen (with the help of the in-laws) will use this week to move us down to the Detroit area (Thank you baby and fam). I will happily do all of the packing in exchange for Stephen doing the moving. The rest of the summer should be spent together down in the Detroit area living in the Grandparents house. Here come the contingancies....

Situation number 1: I get offered a job at the end of the summer working full time for Spring Hill and we get to stay in the area and Stephen gets an EMT or firefighter job and we live happily ever after.
Situation number 2: I do not get offered a job and we may or may not just move right to Florida.

There are a few things within those situations that could alter them in some way or another (and Linds, don't worry. If we move, we will wait til after September 16:-) but I guess we are just kind of waiting til God shows us where the next turn in the path is. Stephen has been so wonderful in giving up his fire job and being willing to take the risk and support me the whole way. He knows that my hours during the summer are going to be crazy but we both believe it is going to pay off in the end, even if it pays only in experience.

So that is the big one that is looming in the distance, but our other recent change is the fact that we have aquired some babies. And by babies, I mean ducklings! Dory and Cody-maverick are the newest additions to our little lives here in Bay City. THEY ARE AMAZING. Dory is just a cute little blond-y that is not the best at walking and she is super skinny (which I am a little concerned about). Cody-maverick is totally a little 10 year old boy. He likes to jump off of high places and tumble around. Him and Dory (as of today) like to race each other for a few feet which is maybe the cutest thing I have ever seen. They literally will follow us everywhere. If I am standing at the kitchen sink, Dory will sit right on my toes until I move. If we head in the other room really quick, they will do their best to follow us, though we are usually already back by the time they are half-way there. They swim, but it is a little rough and they don't like to do it for too long. There favorite place to sit and fall asleep is right up on on our shoulders or right on my chest. When they fall asleep, it is amazing how fast it happens. They will just sit down and as soon as they stop chirping their little heads will just fall to the side. SO PRECIOUS!

So anyway, we are loving are little children and having a lot of fun! Packing will probably start soon if I know myself. We will let you know if/when things are happening! Lots of love to anyone reading this!

March?! Really?!

Sot I know we talk about it all the time but time really and truly flies. Or rather, it IS currently flying. I just cannot believe for one second that it is already March. I have been married for 8 months. I have been out of school for almost a year. I have been out of highschool for 5 years! I am feeling old I guess; or grown up at least.... I gues it could be because I have been being "super wifey" lately as Stephen has been calling me or because we have finally made it to a point in our marriage where we are not as nervous about totally failing anymore. We know we can do this. We can hold jobs. We can make large decisions. We can hold each other up. We don't really fight. We keep our apartment clean. We get our laundry done (most of the time) in a timely manner. I guess I am just feeling like a grown up.

A week ago or so I was getting down(thanks a lot PMS) because I was thinking about how easy college was and how much easier high school was in comparison. It is not as if life is this great challange currently, but it is all on our shoulders. In college, I still leaned on my parents for a ton of stuff, even if I didn't realize it at the time. They paid for school. They paid for phone. They would help fix my car. Now those things are on us. We are doing fine! I just am getting used to the idea that this is ALWAYS how it is going to be and that blows my mind just a little bit.

I was talking to my wonderfully beautiful and intelligent friend Lindsey and we were talking about how wierd it is when the BIG milestones come, we are somehow always ready for them. For example, when we were in high school, college seemed like this far off land that was crazy. We would have to get ourselves to class ontime and buy our own food. And eventually move off campus and pay bills. And it all just seems to come at exactly the right time. Right when you are ready for it. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?! We graduated and it seemed like, literally, no big deal. Honestly, I was passe about graduating. It was the most chill thing in the world. Marriage was a pretty big one that I was pretty excited/nervous about but still, it just worked. I couldn't imagine living with a boy and I didn't know how that would work but it has and it is AWESOME.

I guess this blog post has no point but to say. Hi, my name is Laura and I am a grown up.

Babies.

Here's my babes.... Miles and Ramona are my favorite tiny humans in the whole world. Please enjoy.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"

Some would say Stephen and I are living simply. And that may be true but we are appreciating every simple pleasure that comes our way. Our apartment, our friends, our jobs (well, me more than Stephen there), seeing family, pretty snow, etc. So this post is a jumble of a few simple joyous things from the last month...

 I wanted to make sure I had some real photos of our apartment (It's our first place! Give me a break!) So here is our beautifully simple apartment AND as an added bonus... you can see some of the Christmas decorations (cough cough mom...). Enjoy!

Then this one time, I got to have a skype date with this love.... who I get to see again this coming Wed!

It was maaarvelous. Oh and then one day I came home and Stephen had bought me roses... and made dinner... it was magical. Have I ever mentioned that I love my husband very much?

Then came the blizzard, which was not so simple, but you get the idea! It would have been pretty terrible if either of us had needed to go to work.. and technically I probably did... but I don't think I could have gotten there... SO WE STAYED HOME! And with the exception of going outside for about 5 minutes, we did nothing. It was freaking amazing.

Yeah, we have no shovel... and the broom didn't do much... but it sure was pretty! And last but not least was our precious little superbowl date. We don't get Fox and therefore couldn't actually watch, but I wanted Stephen to have a little boy fun so we enjoyed some pigs-in-a-banket, beer, gummies, nachos, etc. It was amazing and we had fun with it!

So there is a little life update! Loving our life. Oh ps. we did make those decisions I talked about in my last post! Hooray! So off to Grand Rapids next and then who knows?!