Spring Break

Dustin's second quarter ended March 23rd so we ditched the city and headed out to the coast for some fun and relaxation in Lincoln City. Our hotel room was amazing. Seriously worth the $10 to get a nicer room with a fireplace and two person jacuzzi tub! Just look at how relaxing this looks!
So many bubbles!! On Friday night we went out for a couple sushi rolls and then saw The Hunger Games! We weren't necessarily planning on going opening night since we were on vacation, but we drove by Lincoln City's little theater and there was practically NO one there so we just HAD to go. Oh. my. goodness. I love The Hunger Games. I loved Katniss and Peeta and everyone. I thought it was such a good fit from the book!Saturday we had the best time shopping at the Tanger Outlet Mall. So many good stores and so many good deals! After shopping til we were ready to drop, we went to Mo's for some coastal clam chowder, fish and chips, and shrimp.
The great thing about Oregon coastal towns is that they are so quaint and calm. Not much to do, nothing that HAS to be done, so you can just relax and enjoy the coast! The weather was cloudy and a bit rainy, but we were at the coast so we duh, we went to the beach! It was beautiful! Rocks, kites, sunset, bliss.


We had dinner at a yummy restaurant that was on stilts over the water, which means the view was awesome, and then spent the night just relaxing in our jacuzzi and cuddling by the fireplace.

Sunday we were sad to go, but we stopped at another part of the beach for some beach combing (where we found nothing), and frisbee.

There were some stairs of death to get down from the parking. Stairs of death looking down....And the view looking back up.Happy at the beach!

We decided to drive home along the coast and it was so pretty! We found some great lookouts and a gorgeous beach with a monolith in the ocean and where a bunch of people were surfing.We ended our drive home stopping at Tillamook Cheese Factory for a little cheesy tour where Dustin was so excited to see a cheese jam in production. We had to get some goodies so we grabbed some ice cream, cheese, and fudge.

Now Dustin has had the past two weeks to play nintendo, watch baseball, and clean the house while I've been at work! 3rd quarter starts again on Monday and in 3 months we will be able to say that we are done with the first year of grad school! Wahoo! The countdown begins!

Celebrating 3 years of love

Before heading out for our anniversary weekend outing!

March 14th was a our 3rd anniversary! I tried to pack a punch of surprises for my wonderful husband.

I started the morning by surprising Dustin with a mixed cd titled "Love you like a long song baby" featuring songs representing the past 3 years our life, a PS I Love You shower gel, and a box of 36 KitKats, one for each month we have been married! Though I'm sure those KitKats will be gone in about a month.

We celebrated by going out to dinner at a place called Osaka House in Vancouver. It's a Tepanyaki type Japanese restaurant that we had a groupon for and it was... meh. Hahahaha. A little disappointing and just made us CRAVE the real Tepanyaki restaurant in Utah. We also got cupcakes because Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes are a tradition for our anniversary, but there is no Sweet Tooth Fairy here. And we miss her. :( The cupcakes were actually disappointing, much like the dinner.

Because the dinner and cupcakes were disappointing, we went to Sonic for giant Dr. Peppers with Vanilla and to Sheridans for some amazing frozen custard. Definitely made up for the disappointments.

For the weekend I surprised Dustin by coming home from work early and told him to pack an overnight bag for a stay at the Portland White House bed and breakfast! So here is a flooding of pictures of our room, bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and double headed shower, chocolates, and homemade cookies!

For dinner we went to Stanford's by the Lloyd Center. It was SOOOO good. Delicious prime rib and baby back ribs. I got a pic of the ribs but the prime rib was gone before I could snap a picture. It was just that good.

We went and saw Wicked at the Keller Auditorium and it was SO Awesome! I love that show. Love it. I wanted to cry when it started cuz I was so excited. I snuck a picture before it started... shh, don't tell.... it's a horrible picture, but... it's a picture!

We ventured into downtown Portland on St. Patrick's Day for a relaxing couples massage. It was way nice! The spa was underground, nice and quiet. We were greeted with strawberries and chocolate, rose petals on the massage tables, and felt so relaxed! Then we went to Tigard for some Godiva chocolate and Cheesecake Factory!

Mango Key Lime Cheesecake.... heaven in my mouth!

My last surprise for Dustin was that I woke up early the day ticket sales started and bought us tickets to a Mariners vs. Red Sox game this summer up in Seattle. His two favorite teams! Now the only tricky part will be figuring out what to wear! Mariners gear or Red Sox?! Not that they're the best seats ever (hey, we're still poor grad students!), but they are pretty good seats... First base view, row 1 (in our upper section), seats 1 & 2. I'm the best wife ever. Just sayin'.

My man's still smiling after 3 years of awesome. I love you baby and I'm excited for the next 3 + forever years to come!

What we've been up to (the past 2 1/2 months)

I didn't want to write out a novel long post about the past 2 1/2 months and I have no time (am too lazy) to write out individual posts, so I quickly put together a photo collage. Unfortunately, it's kinda small....

So... sorry. I'll put up some bigger pictures with brief captions....

I made chocolate peanut butter cupcakes are for my birthday and we went to the Trail Blazers vs. Kings game to see Jimmer! Dustin got me a pink chi for my birthday present.We fed the missionaries a lot and loved having them here, so there's a pic of them in here too.

I decorated a cake from my aunt's birthday....

I made a bunch of bundt pan goodies....

I've been cutting Dustin's hair! Before and after picture included....It's snowed a couple times here in Portland. Gross. I hate snow. Good thing it never sticks around long.

And then Valentine's day pics! Dustin took me on a Valentine's date to Comedy Sportz and to the Melting Pot for dinner.I made red velvet cupcake pops for everyone at work for Valentine's day...
And now you're mostly caught up on our lives over the past 3 months!

Opportunity Cost

Oh man. How did life all of a sudden get so BUSY? Oh wait, I can tell you how...

I became a working girl again.

And while having income from a job is fantastic, there are also opportunity costs. What's that? I remember something from freshman year's American Heritage class?! You bet I do! (Granted, this is about the only thing I remember from that class.... that and the trip to Vegas to work campaigning....)

Here are the opportunity costs of my job (in no particular order):

• Blogging
• Clean house
  
• Healthy home cooked dinner
  
• Free time
• Organization
• Scripture reading
• RS Lesson planning
• Lunch with Dustin
• Fridays with Dustin
  

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that weigh the heaviest on my mind right now. My blog hasn't been posted in for over a month, and there are lots of fun things we've been doing that I'd love to record in this journal of mine/share with family and friends. My home has become somewhat of a disaster with piles of clothes that need sorted in my bedroom and crafting supplies scattered all over the floor in the spare bedroom. And when Saturdays roll around, I'd rather spend time relaxing than cleaning. Though I attempt meal planning, even work on getting chicken out to thaw, by the time it's time to cook dinner, I just don't want to or nothing sounds good. So Subway has become a frequent eatery for us. I am teaching Relief Society tomorrow and have I even STARTED my lesson yet? Um, not really. Read through it, got the online version so I can rearrange it and print it out, but haven't started actually forming it yet. I used to do that a WEEK in advance. Dustin has 2 hour breaks on Tuesdays so he would come home and have lunch with me; also is done with classes at 10:30 AM on Fridays. Now I see him for a few hours each night before we try to get to bed early to wake up on time (which doesn't always work).

These are all things I give up to have a job, the opportunity costs.

Of course, there are many perks to having a job:

• Money - no need to take out grad plus loans next year!
• Fun date nights
• DVR service
• Paying off the car in April!!! Only student loans left to pay off :(
• Savings account more realistic
• Something to do all day (hahahaha)
  
• Trips to plan (Chicago next spring break? Alaskan cruise at graduation? Utah for a weekend here and there? the coast?)
• 2 year gym memberships to 24 Hour Fitness bought (via Costco!)
  

Again, more things could be put on this list, but those are probably the biggest. Do the pros weigh out the cons? Some days yes and some days no. I do miss having more time to myself and enjoying time at home, having no excuse to not read scriptures or clean the house and make healthy dinners. But the pros are pretty fun too. We have some fun little weekend trips planned in the next few weeks with Dustin's 2 week break and I love that we can actually DO something for date night instead of McDonalds and Netflix every week. I am SUPER pumped to pay off my car 2 and a half years early! And the thought that we can potentially graduate with more in our savings account than when we started is a nice thought, and that's without taking out grad plus loans for the rest of school! (if I work til he graduates). We got 2 year gym memberships to 24 Hour Fitness so we can get back in shape (Ha, like I've ever been in shape...) and are excited to workout together!

I just have to keep looking at the pros to remind me that I'm doing what's best for our family right now when I look around at the messy house and another Subway dinner because I'm too tired/have no desire to do anything once I get home. It's all about balance and I'm still working out that work/home balance to see that everything is taken care of. It will come with effort and practice, but until then, if the blogging is feast and famine.... you've been warned.