Woah, it's almost March?

Well, I'm posting more frequently than I have in the past, anyway.  A lot has happened in the past few weeks!  To start, the last time I posted was January 29th.  On the 30th, Finn had his Wednesday night obedience class.  It starts at 5, so I usually don't get to go.  I left work a bit early that day because I figured it would be my last chance to go before the craziness of tax season started.  I met Bryan at the training center and found a surprise.  Finn had thrown up in the car on the way to the center, which is only about five miles from our house.  We figured he just must have gotten carsick, so we went inside.  He threw up again not long after we got inside, so we got sent home!  We don't want to get any other dogs sick.  Well, I rode home with Bryan because we figured if I held Finn in the front seat it would be better.  He threw up while we were driving, too.  All over Bryan and me and the car.  When we got home, we cleaned up and went back to get my car.  Came home to another pile of puke!  So that was all quite the experience!  He was totally fine after that, so he just must have had a little bug or eaten something that didn't agree with him.  The joys of (dog) parenthood!

I thought I'd give you an idea of what I sweep up EVERY NIGHT before bed.  Finn sheds so much every day, and apparently so does our rug (thanks to Finn).

Me and Charlie hangin' out on the couch

On Saturday, February 2nd, Bryan and I went to a Blazer game.  We hadn't been to one yet this season and we had a great time!  We sat in the 100 section, which is way closer than we usually sit.  It was fun to be closer to the action!  We met up with our friends Rich and Katie at PF Chang's before the game for dinner.  They live up in Oregon City and we don't get to see them too often, so it was great to catch up with them.

Not a very cute picture, but you get the idea.

Blazers win!!!

Right around this time, we also joined a gym.  We have been slowly getting more and more out of shape since our wedding, and we decided we wanted to make a change.  I have always felt that a gym is kind of a waste of money, so it was hard to pull the trigger.  We have actually been going about five times a week since we joined, so it has been good so far!  We hope we can stick to it, because we are already feeling much better.

Finn decided to destroy one of my (favorite) shoes this week.  Ugh!!!

 I've recently started using an iPhone app called Food on the Table.  I have never been very organized about meal planning or grocery shopping, and this app has seriously changed my life.  There is a huge database of recipes that can be searched by main ingredient, diet requirements, etc.  Once you pick your week (or as long as you want) of recipes, it creates a shopping list for you of all the ingredients you need.  We have saved money at the grocery store and actually had meals ready to cook every day the past few weeks.  I know it's silly but I am loving it!!!  

Finn!

 Valentine's Day was a Thursday, so we didn't do much.  Bryan found a neat recipe for making pizza dough out of cauliflower, so we made homemade cauliflower pizzas.  They were actually SO good!  And didn't have any bread whatsoever.  We aren't completely changing our diets, but we are trying to be a little more conscious about eating healthy, so it was a really cool dinner.

It actually looked quite a bit like pizza, but fell apart a bit when I took it off the pan.

This past Saturday, we went up to Beaverton to my aunt and uncle's house for a birthday party.  I hadn't seen my grandma in a while since she moved to Redmond, and we haven't really been to a family get-together (besides Christmas) in a while because we usually have something else going on.  It was really fun to hang out with family, especially my baby cousin Ian.  He is so cute!

My boys snuggled up on me

 On Sunday, Bryan and I met up with the realtor we have been working with to look at a couple houses.  I don't know if I've mentioned before, but we have been looking at houses off-and-on for a little while.  We have officially outgrown our 956 square feet and are itching for more space.  Bryan's parents generously offered to loan us a down payment since we plan to keep our house as a rental property rather than sell it, and we are SO grateful.  It makes it possible for us to get something now rather than having to wait another year to save up the money ourselves.  Ever since I finished school, we have been using most of our extra money every month to pay off debt, so we don't have a huge savings account balance.  Anyway, we actually made an offer on a house yesterday, and after a few counter offers, it was accepted today.  So we are under contract!  We are SO SO SO excited!!!  The house is in West Albany (actually in the same neighborhood I lived in from second grade to freshman year of HS).  It has 1708 square feet, so just a mere 752 more than our current house.  It was built in 2003, so we are excited to do away with some of the "old house" problems of our 1973 house.  Our estimated closing date is April 18th.  We requested a longer closing so that it would be after tax season is over.  I will have to take a week off of work to move and get our house ready for renters, and there's no way I could do that during tax season.  
Here is the link if you want to check it out:
http://www.trulia.com/property/3099315722-5000-Caribou-Ct-SW-Albany-OR-97321

I have started working Saturdays and longer hours during the week, so I have no idea how my blog posts will go from here on out, but I will try to stay somewhat updated.  I am supposed to find out my CPA exam score this coming Monday, so I may have a happy blog post or a depressed one (more likely the latter).  Cross your fingers for me!!!

My desk the other day while I was working on a tax return.  I just thought it was funny!