Wish List

With Christmastime approaching, who isn't guilty of making a mental wish list? Okay, now mine is about to break into virtual and not just mental :) These are some of the things that I've been wishing for and swooning over online!



1. Kuerig Coffee Maker I've wanted one of these for awhile... because Jesse makes coffee too dang strong! We cannot each enjoy a cup of coffee from the same cup. When I drink his coffee, I just about have to chew it! I would love one of these to make coffee time so much more enjoyable for me.

2. Pottery Barn Bedford Desk I am seriously in love with this desk and would love to have it to make a "me" space in our home. Jesse has the garage full of his hobbies, Hunter has his room and pretty much everywhere else, I have no where. This desk and chair look like a dream come true in my mind.

3. Lululemon Remix Hoodie I know I already have enough hoodies and jackets from Lululemon, but I really don't. The remix hoodie is much heavier weight... so I need another one for colder weather, right???

4. Timbuk2 Snoop Bag This is a SLR camera bag that Timbuk2 just came out with. I would love to have this bag for my camera! My camera bag is just so big and bulky and this one would fit so much better under my arm and I could throw a couple diapers in it and call it good!

5. Countdown Blocks I love these military countdown blocks to countdown the days until daddy comes home. I think this would be a wonderful thing to have in our home since Jesse is away so often.

What is on your wish list this year?

Working Mom Wednesday

I'm linking up with Working Mom Wednesday this week.




This weeks question:

#1. Eat out or brown bag with co-workers? Lunch room or desk? What your typical work lunch like?

I actually go to my parents house (only a few blocks from my work) to spend my lunch with Hunter. I typically spend the first 5 minutes eating something for lunch quickly and then spend the rest of the time with Hunter. We play, he points at all sorts of things, he "woofs" out the dining room windows like the dogs do. I am very thankful that I get to spend almost my whole lunch break with such an incredible little boy. :)

Flashback Friday: New Zealand

Thanksgiving is approaching and I am constantly thinking back to last November when we had a wonderful trip to New Zealand. Jesse was scheduled to go to New Zealand/Antarctica for a month for Operation Deep Freeze. He had wanted me to take Hunter, but I chickened out... until the very last minute.

Jesse was leaving on a Thursday evening and on Thursday afternoon, I changed my mind. I suddenly wanted to take advantage of my maternity leave and take 6 week old Hunter on an adventure. So, in the few hours before Jesse left, we got his consent to take Hunter out of the country notarized, got Hunter's passport pictures taken, and made phone calls into the Passport Agency. When Jesse left that evening, we were not sure that we would be able to get Hunter's passport in time to make the trip.

I made an appointment at the downtown Seattle Passport Agency to make a claim to get Hunter a passport immediately. In order to be seen, I had to have proof of travel in Hunter's name... which means I had to book the ticket for both of us to New Zealand before they would even see us. We were just in luck, we were seen Friday morning and they said to come back at 4pm and pick up Hunter's passport! So... we were on our way to New Zealand on Sunday afternoon for a 2 week trip.

It was a long 24 hours! Our trip was: Seattle to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Auckland, and then Auckland to Christchurch. I was so happy to see Jesse once we landed in Christchurch! We had a wonderful 2 weeks, which included: trip to Akaroa, Christchurch Zoo, Gondola trip, overnight trip to Hanmer Springs, and much much more.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Trip to Minnesota

Here are some pictures from our trip to Minnesota, November 3-7. We had a great time visiting Jesse's family. Jesse's mom was frantically preparing for her move to Washington D.C. to take a new job. She has taken a job working under Michelle Bachmann at the capitol. Michelle's views are not really my cup of tea, but I am so happy for Renee for following her beliefs and calling!

The first night we were there, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. It's tradition for us to go their because we don't have any of them in Seattle. So good!

Hunter with his cousin, Gavin, at Buffalo Wild Wings. Gavin turned two in September. He is such a lovable little boy!




Friday morning, Jesse, Hunter, and me, got up early and headed up the the Twin Cities for the Day.

These are some pictures from this huge barn that had thousands of types of candy for sale! We stocked up and ate most of it that day! Our candy picks included: gummy coke bottles, war heads, cadbury chocolate bars, bon bons, pink and white coconut bar, and some red vines. Mmmmmm.

Here is Hunter wondering the aisles of candy and Jesse being excited about all the candy!





After the big candy barn, we headed straight to the Mall of America! I love that place! We were still pretty hungry, even after the candy binging on the way there, so we headed to the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch.

Hunter loved all the fish and stared at the "lightening storms" as if he was very concerned.





Then we headed to the amusement park in the middle of the mall. Jesse and I each took Hunter on a ride. He was pretty serious while on them, but we like to think he had a wonderful time! He fell asleep before we used all of our ride tickets, so I ended up going on the roll coaster and log ride by myself. Jesse refused to ride any rides by himself, I guess it's just pretty uncool.







On Saturday, we spent the day visiting family. First stop was to the Doyle's, Jesse's paternal grandparents. A couple of Jesse's aunts were there, too! Here is Hunter with his Great Grandma and Grandpa.





Hunter fell asleep on the way to visit the other side of Jesse's family, so he slept on the coach for a little while after we got there. We were so excited to see that so many showed up to his aunt's house to say hi! There were probably 20+ people there.

Longest Day Ever!

Jesse flew out to Minnesota the week before Halloween to help his parents move and do some hunting. So, at the last minute, I agreed to bring Hunter out for the last four days of Jesse’s stay out there. We had a really good trip, but Wednesday turned out to be a horribly hard and stressful day for me. So let’s talk about Wednesday and the early hours of Thursday.

I woke up at 4am to get everything packed and ready to go for our trip. I was folding laundry, packing clothes, doing dishes, getting ready for work, etc. I know you are probably thinking, “Why didn’t you just do this all the night before?” Well, unfortunately I don’t really work that way. I did get a lot of stuff done the night before, but I am WORTHLESS after 8pm for the most part. I am not a night person, I would much rather wake up early than to stay up late. So, that’s what I did.
I got out the door with Hunter ready to go and all our bags packed by 6:15am. Got to work and had somewhat of a stressful day. I left work a little early because I had an appointment with a lady to alter about a dozen pair of my dress pants because they are now too big.

I then left Hunter with my parents so I could head over to tryouts for the club volleyball team that I co-direct. We didn’t end up having as good of a turnout as we had hoped for, which got me bummed out. I was at the gym from about 6-9pm. I got back to my parents house, rearranged some things in my bag and then my mom took us to the airport. We got all checked in and got to the terminal at around 11pm. Hunter proceeded to run around, touch everyone’s luggage, steal another little boy’s blanket and eat his goldfish, etc. He was non-stop! We finally boarded the plane around 12:30am and he didn’t like that he couldn’t walk around. He cried and screamed until 2am and then finally passed out on my lap.

I was so thankful that Jesse was at the baggage claim waiting for us, after a 24+ hour day I was completely exhausted. But… we made it and had a great trip. So in the end, it was all worth it.

I'll be posting some pictures from our trip soon!

Wordless Wednesday

Getting to Know Me

Let’s dig a little deeper. Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A-B-C, When you sing you begin with… Finish the song for me :)
My parents were college sweethearts at University of Washington. They got married between their junior and senior years and then had me 13 months later. They divorced not too long after and went their separate ways.

My mom remarried when I was four, to a wonderful man who already had three children from two previous marriages. He had full custody of his youngest daughter, Julia, and he and my mom soon after had my little brother, Brandon. His two oldest children, Eddy and Kerri, lived with their mother in the area. That’s the way we all became the Sales Bunch. The Sales Bunch. Wow, I’m breaking out in song today.

My dad remarried a few years later and they had two children. I have a sister (16) and brother (11). They live in the general area as well.

More to come...