I just wanted to take a moment to list a few of the things that I'm thankful for.  That's what Thanksgiving is for -- giving thanks.

• My wonderful, wonderful husband.  I'm so thankful that we found eachother.  I couldn't see my life without him.
• My job.  I hate it sometimes, but I'm still really glad I have it.  I'm glad I can still bring in a pay check twice a month.
• My house.  No matter how awful paying the mortgage is, I'm happy I have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in.
• My animals.  They always show me unconditional love no matter what -- and for that I am extremely thankful.
• My parents and parents-in-law.  They're there for us and they'll always love us.  I feel extremely lucky to have them.

What are you thankful for?  I'm going to spend time with my family now.  I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been wanting to send Christmas cards for the past two years.  This year, since Hubs and I are finally married I really want to.  Since we don't have a recent picture or plan on going up North like I had originally wanted to with the dogs, then I'm going to use one of our wedding pictures.  I checked out Shutter Fly and Snap Fish today.  Shutter Fly was a bust.  These great designs are from Snap Fish, though.

I love how colorful this one is.  I was thinking if the dogs and cats would cooperate we could add pictures of them to the card.

I don't know why but I think these two are adorable!

There are far too many choices and I am awful at making decisions.  I'm hoping I'll get a little bit of input from Hubs.  Are you doing Christmas cards this year?  I can't wait until we have babies!  Those Christmas cards will be so much cuter!  Feel free to show me what your Christmas cards look like!

How many of you hate it when you go to a baby shower and everyone there tells you "you're next!"?  I know I do!  I had to go through that (again) last Thursday.  So far, I'm the only younger girl in my office who hasn't had a baby yet.  In the past year (or less) there have three baby showers.  And that's just at work.  I've had to endure people telling me that at every single baby shower, but it doesn't just stop then.  It always goes on for about another week.  People asking/telling me "When are you going to have a baby?"  We aren't positive yet.  "You should have a baby NOW."  Alright, let me just pop one out right now.  "When are you going to start trying?"  I don't know.  "Do you have a goal of when you want to start trying?"  Sometime between now and ten years from now.

People!  Give me a damn break!  If I want you to be a part of my personal life, I'll let you.  But until then, please leave me alone! :)

Apparently people in my office think having a baby for everyone is as easy at pitching the birth control and condoms, but that's not true!  They don't understand for a couple the average time it takes to get pregnant is a year!  Another thing they don't get is; if I want to you know, then I would have told you by now.

I'm sure everybody has this issue.  People pressing them for answers, but not wanting to share.  I don't mind sharing with you guys though, my blog friends!

Really? "Cant' wait for your shower." UGH!

More to come about this topic.

I officially won my first giveaway from Little Venice Designs!  There are so many gorgeous pairs of earrings I couldn't choose.  I went to Twitter for help with my original selections, but then decided I probably wouldn't wear either of those as much as I would want to.  So then I found the Onyx ones.  I think they're gorgeous and simple and would match anything and everything.  I just can't wait to get them and start wearing them! :)

UPDATE:  I also received a phone call today from Helzberg (where we purchased my wedding ring).  They informed me that since I'm a valued customer they are giving me a free bracelet.  I verified that there were no string attached.  So it looks like I'll be picking that up sometime tomorrow.  Today was my lucky day with jewelry!  And I the only jewelry I wear is my wedding ring.

Date night with Hubs. <3

Thanks to my work for the free tickets. ;)

Tonight I finally went to pick up the baby shower gift that I should have bought this weekend.  I didn't get anything fancy, just a few simple items I know she would eventually need. 

I haven't wrapped them yet, but I'll take a picture when I do.  I got some cute gender neutral wrapping paper for the diapers and a matching bag and tissue paper for the bibs and sleepers.  I got gender neutral because I know I'm going to be wrapping more gifts soon.  I actually have a friend who just had a baby, and a couple others about ready to pop.

A large part of me wishes that I bought these for myself.  That happens everytime I buy baby shower gifts -- which I've been doing a lot of lately.  When I go to the store and see an adorable onesie, or an adorable anything baby related, I want to buy it for myself.  But I don't want to jinx anything.  The other day I did slide.  I bought myself this really cute hanging picture frame thing.  It was only $7, and I had to buy it.  It's the only thing I've bought for myself, so I think I'm doing pretty good.

A few years ago I decided to get a lock tattoo on my arm. To me it represented my heart that I kept locked up. I decided one day the person I was ready to give my heart to could have the key. When I gave my heart to my my husband (boyfriend at the time) he was more then willing to get that key tattooed on his arm. The arm where it matches up with mine when we are holding hands. I love it! I've never regretted it and neither has he. <3

I've never introduced my fur babies before. So here we go...

The Kitties!

We've had Oliver since January of 2008. He was around a year and a half when we got him. The first thing that I noticed about him when I saw him was the coloring of his tail! I absolutely loved it! It reminded me of a raccoon. He is very much a cuddler and will crawl on your lap at every opportunity. He doesn't like the outdoors as much as the other cats. He prefers to sit on the back of the couch while Hubs and I watch television. He's one of the sweetest most loveable cats I've ever met.

We've also had Trauma since January of 2008. He was around a year old when we got him. The first time we saw him at the humane society he hit his head on the glass window, that's how he got his name. He's been an anti-social cat the entire time we've had him. Since moving into our house he likes to go outside through the doggy door and explore. So far, so good with him coming home. He doesn't know how to meow, so he just makes weird sounds. And when we first got him he was sick, so ever since then he's breathed really loud.

We got Nugget in February of 2009, Superbowl Sunday, actually. She's what you could call our "accident". We decided to go to the humane society to look at dogs and came home with a kitten. She was estimated at about 2-3 months old when we got her. Once we took her into the visiting room we knew we needed to take her home with us. She's also an explorer of the outdoors. She's not as anti-social but she will only come to you when she wants to. Sometimes when she meows no sound comes out, it's the weirdest thing.

The Puppies!

We got Kenai (right in picture) and Root Beer (left in picture) at the same him in September of 2008 -- they're actually sisters. They are Husky Labrador mixes. They were only a few months old when we finally got to bring them home. Kenai -- she's the smarter one of the bunch, but also the biggest trouble maker. She likes to go swimming, but not nearly as much as her sister. Root Beer -- she's a goofy dog, always getting caught doing something she's not supposed to be doing. She adores swimming and will get in the pool any chance she gets. She also enjoys sneaking on the couch in the middle of the night. They both get along with the cats great, but they do enjoy chasing them around the house whenever possible.

The time is just flying by. It honestly seems that just last week we were in La Jolla getting married on the beach. I know it hasn't been a long time. Not nearly as long as a lot of other people, but we've got to start somewhere!

We didn't have anything special planned for the day. We just decided to run a few errands. We went to Walmart. Hubs wanted to find some ammunition to give his father for his birthday, but no luck. We will have to try a different location tomorrow. Then we went to Barnes & Noble so Hubs could look at the books on their amazing bargain racks. I already got to take a look at them yesterday since my mom wanted to. I picked up Dear John by Nicholas Sparks for only $7 and it's the hardback edition. I also got Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks at Bookmans for $7 too. I like Nicholas Sparks, can you tell? I still need to get The Choice and Last Song. Anyways, I got sidetracked. Last but not least went to Fry's. Our cashier was an awesome guy! Gave us $15 off our bill for no reason! So we only went over our "budget" by $3.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. We came home and made a pizza for lunch and watched Alaska State Troopers and Ugly Betty. Then we decided to take a nap. I thought it was going to be a quick nap, but it lasted for three hours. We woke up, made some dinner then watched Adventureland. It was a pretty cute movie, even though it has Kristen Stewart in it (not the biggest fan of hers). And now we are watching Management. It's been a lazy day, but it's been nice. Tomorrow is going to have to be more productive. I have a bunch of laundry and cleaning to do.

Unitl next time! :)

Hubs has an interview on Wednesday at 4:30 with Vangent! Vangent is working on the 2010 Census. This is great news! He's already had the phone interview, this is now his face to face interview. The woman he did the phone interview with seemed to really like him.


There are a few bad things about this job. 1) we wouldn't have insurance through his company anymore. But I can always join the insurance and my work. Since there isn't insurance they would be giving him extra money an hour to make up for that. 2) He isn't allowed to take his phone into the building where he would work because they are dealing with Census. So most communication will more than likely have to be through email, which isn't bad, just a pain in the butt. 3) This is a temporary position until July, but Vangent will help him find another position within the company when his job is completed.

But there are many more great points about him getting this job. 1) He would be working A LOT closer to home and he wouldn't have to carpool two people to work anymore. Which would then save us a lot of money on gas! 2) The pay increase is amazing. It would allow us to pay off debt and save up money faster then we were hoping. 3) He would get out of his company that he is at now. They treat him like dirt, which I don't appreciate.

I'm not positive what the hours would be like. I'm assuming not much different then he is working now. He said he would try to get as much overtime in as they allowed him. I'm really excited for him. This is something great that he'll be able to put on his resume, even though it's just temporary. It's great that they will help him find a new job. If we're serious about moving to Texas, then maybe around that time they can help him find something in Texas, who knows.

All I want for Christmas is a blog makeover by:

Someone want to buy it for me?! :D
I've been a good girl this year!

I'm also really interested in buying my domain name (http://www.ahthemarriedlife.com/). Something I'm going to have to talk over with Hubs, I'm sure. I already mentioned it to him today. I really wanted to change my blog address to http://ahthemarriedlife.blogspot.com/, but I found out that it's already taken. That was a sad day. But my domain name is available and it's only $10 for a year! I wonder if you can buy it for longer though... I'll have to do some research. I think I might be able to convince Hubs to let me get the blog makeover for Christmas since there really isn't anything else that I want.

Yesterday I received a text message from Hubs saying, "We're moving to Texas in March." I was some what put off by that statement. When he said "we're moving" I had assumed he meant his work, for some reason. So I asked for clarification, but he did not mean his work. He mean "we're" as in him and me.

Him wanting to move comes as no surprise to me. He's been talking about it for at least the past year, maybe longer. Hubs is originally from Alaska, so this hot Phoenix sun is making him melt. We've talked about moving cooler places in state. Such as; Prescott, Prescott Valley, Flagstaff, Chino Valley, etc. Those are all great ideas, but it's not a good time to move. Considering we "own" our house. The market isn't in a good place to sell.

I'm a Phoenix native. This place is all I know, so the idea of moving freaks me out! Moving in state wouldn't be as bad, at least then we would be close enough to both of our families in case anything happened or if we had kids they would still be close enough to see their grandparents often. But moving to another state means losing that closeness with our families. In a way, that's a good thing. It let's us get out on our own.

The crazy thing about it is, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. Going somewhere new. [Hopefully] meeting new people, making new friends. [Possibly] finding a job that I actually like! The possibilities are endless. Also, we wouldn't be that far away, it's not like we are wanting to move to New York.

Hubs and I have never actually been to Texas before, but one of his close friends is originally from there and would love to go back one day. We've already talked about the fact that we would need to visit Texas first to even see what part of it we would want to live in. He's suggested Tyler, Mesquite and Terrell. Oh how I wish the fictional town of Dillon from Friday Night Lights was real!

Don't even get me started on how awesome it would be to live with all the people from Friday Night Lights. I would be in my own personal version of Heaven.

Have you ever moved out of state? If so, how did it change your life? Was is scary? Do you ever regret it? Do you still talk to/see your families often?

I forgot to post a picture of Shamu the pumpkin after he got fins!

Well, it's the start of a new month. It's the start of the holidays. I'm excited, sorta. I don't get Thanksgiving. I don't enjoy gorging myself with food. But I am quite excited for Christmas. My love for Christmas has been coming back slowly, but surely. Last year was when it really started. I had decorations that my parents had given me that we've had for years and my own house to decorate how I chose.

Last week I asked Hubs if I could put up the Christmas decorations this weekend. He told me no. :( My reasoning is I don't have any Thanksgiving decorations and I would love to celebrate Christmas for two months, but apparently Hubs isn't feeling that way. Maybe this week I'll be able to change his mind. First, I must take down the Halloween decorations.
So far we don't even have plans for Thanksgiving. Last year it was at our house, since it was brand new. But this year there hasn't been any mention about Thanksgiving. My brother invited my parents over to his house, but I haven't heard a word from him. Almost makes me a little sad. Maybe Hubs and I will do something with just the two of us, since this is our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife. That sounds good, but I know I wouldn't make a turkey! And I'm not too sure how he would feel about that.

Ah! Don't even get me started on Christmas. I have no idea what I'm going to get anyone for Christmas! I know Whitney is going to get my a leopard print Snuggie! You have no idea how excited I am for that. I'll have to start asking everyone what they want now so I can start saving!

YAY FOR THE HOLIDAYS! :)