Thank goodness for Goodman!

Its' official, I finally got a job offer for Goodman Manufacturing.  The company had a company-wide hiring freeze, but luckily I was able to jump through enough hoops to get hired as a financial/business analyst. We will be heading down to Houston this Friday right after graduation.  We also found a place to live not too far from work in the Katy area.  

For those of you who have never heard of Goodman, they are the number 2 manufacturer of residential and light commercial heating and air conditioning products worldwide. They are now the number 1 brand in the residential sector. 

Graduating is definitely a sweet feeling.  I am happy that this morning would be one of the last times I would scrape ice of my windshield in April. Although I will  most likely continue my education in a few years, its nice to be done with my undergrad.   

Quick update on Peyton.... he has officialy got in touch with his southern roots.  The other day I was on campus in the library watching him while Catherine was doing some work on my laptop.  Peyton went to reach for his toy that was sitting on the table and became frustrated that he couldn't reach it. So out of frustration, he banged his head against the table and chipped his front tooth.  He now has quite a humurous smile.  Catherine was of course sick over it, and was hoping there could be away to repair it.  My uncle makes teeth for a living, and he said its not likely.  I really don't think its that bad.  He'll just be the funny, toothless kid with red hair and glasses....what wrong with that?

What we've been up too lately....

hey there everybody! sorry we haven't posted in a while! there really isn't a whole lot of excitement going on around here lately. Daniel is busy busy with school and work and is typically gone from 7 am to 7 pm on a daily basis.  He is exhausted and frustrated and cannot wait to graduate next month on the 10th of April.  The only problem is he can't seem to get a job secured (like many graduates in this economy).  The top choice job that he thought was a sure thing from his internship just won't return his calls to let him know if its a go.  There was a job fair on campus and all the companies he was interested in told him they had "hiring freezes" going on and weren't looking to hire this time around. Daniel asked them why the heck they were at the job fair then and they all said that they pretty much just want to maintain a good relationship with the college.  So here we are, graduating in less than a month with no job and no plan.  UUUrrrggghhh.  It is definitely frustrating and discouraging.  We're trying to stay positive though and pray that a good opportunity presents itself soon.  If not, I think the plan is to head to Houston anyway and just job hunt when we get there since that seems like the best place to find a job thats near one of our families.  We would be more flexible about living near family if it weren't for the fact that we would like to have more children sometime in the somewhat near future and are going to need a lot of help while I'm inevitably on beadrest for who knows how long. So, that fact limits our location to either Houston area or Boise area.

Other than Daniel's school and work and job hunting and pending graduation, Peyton and I have been keeping busy locked in our tiny apartment while the weather freezes everything outside doing "Baby Phonics" exercises and pulling every dish and utensil out of the cupboards at least three times daily.  While Peyton is sleeping I've been working on stuff for the flea markets I'm doing and for my etsy site.  Daniel comes home to dishes on the floor, feathers on the counter, and little clay roses baking in the oven.  Good thing hes a patient guy.  I will also start finishing up some decorating jobs I started last year in Idaho Falls in exchange for reupholstery lessons and sewing lessons which I'm very excited about.  

If anyone wants to check it out, I have a blog for my WINGS shop: www.giveyouwings.blogspot.com

Thats all for now! We love you all!

I’m in …looooove with a giirrrrrrrll (I’m … in … love…with…)

Here’s a few reason why I’m in love with my gorgeous Catherine on this Valentine’s Day: (Disclaimer:  The following content may be perceived as mooshy, non-masculine, and may cause high levels of nausea or vomiting)

·         Her Dimples:  When she smiles at me, the left dimple is deeper than her right. I could probably measure how much she loves me on a given day by the depth of that dimple.

·         I love her singing voice:  During my first semester of college before we started dating, Catherine sang a song she wrote on the guitar during Christmas break.  It was a love song and I deep down wished it was about me. (It was probably about one of the other 4 guys she was juggling during that time). It was the first time I had heard her sing. I fell in love with her soft, angelic voice immediately and it played in my head over and over again.  I had to be with her.  

·         When I was about 8 years old, Catherine ran up and kissed me on the cheek. Although it was a childish joke, I had a crush ever since.  She doesn’t remember this actually….but I definitely still do.

·         Her hands:  I don’t know if it’s because of all the years playing impressive music on the piano, or painting amazing pieces of art, her hands are perfect.  Sometimes I just watch her hands as she writes or plays piano.  It’s kind of a weird fetish …I know…but her hands are truly a God given gift and it shows.

·          No one has as good of a heart as Catherine.  She genuinely loves others.  She also has the ability to perfectly empathize with others.  When people she knows experience sadness in their lives, she also physically experiences their pain. I’m way too lucky to be at the center of it.

·         Her fun personality:  When I went to her prom my junior year, she took me to a Rec center and we spent most of the day before the dance playing one-on-one basketball.  How cool is that! (I won’t be including anything about who won or lost...it’s not important) Quick fact:  I might have…kind of broke her nose while playing basketball later when we were engaged……

I am proud of my wife—She has been through so much these past few years and she done an incredible job handling it. I admire her heart and strength.  I hope that today you’ll know that I love you, I’m proud of you, you’re smoking hot… and I can’t help but love you always….

Happy V-Day Sweetheart!

What I've been up to...

So being a stay at home mom can be...difficult...to say the least, but it definately has its perks too!  For example, I had no idea that I loved making things out of feathers and fabric so much!  If I was working all the time outside the home I would've never discovered this talent and obsession!  Anyway, so I've been creating feathery "doodads" (as my dad calls them) and cute toddler/baby clothes! So check it out and tell all your friends!  You can go to www.CatsCranny.etsy.com to see everything and place an order!

Finally....a blog update.

Happy New Years to ALL!

I think we win the 2008 Worst Blog Updaters Award. I say, "Hey Cath, you should update our blog."  She says, "what we have a blog???"  I sadly reply, " I dont even know you anymore!"

I think the real reason was that Catherine was too immersed in chasing Peyton around the house.  During his naps, she was either redecorating my parents house in order to pay for our food and shelter or fully immersed in her crafty projects consisting of feathery hair pins, bracelts, and necklaces that are coming to stores near you.

 

We'll be sure to put "update blog regularly" on our list of resolutions for this year...

So here's the update.  I finished my internship with Goodman Manufacturing and we're back up to Rexburg for my LAST SEMESTER!  It so nice to know that the end is near. The plan is to surivive the bone chilling winter in Rexburg, graduate in April with a degree in Business Finance, and then head back down to warm Texas. I have two unofficial job.....offers....opportunities...not sure what to call them at this point ....with Goodman. I interviewed and I have some promising prospects after I gradute. I am excited about it; although, I will be more excited when somethingis  in writing. Law school is still in the picture but I am waiting to apply until I see how much Goodman would pay for something like a JD/MBA. We have spending the holidays here in Middleton, ID before we head out to Rexburg.  It has been great to eat lots of good food, sleep, and relax. 

Peyton is walking...a lot.  He has made a lot of progress these past few months. Yes, his hair is still red. He's a cute little guy and looks nothing like me. We still have occupational therapists and speech pathologists who work with him regularly.  He makes little "woof woof" sounds when we ask him what a doggie says but he still doesn't understand other easy words and phrases like "No"or "Shhh".  I guess he's just ....mischieviously cute.  I must say though, he goes to bed early, sleeps through the night, and wakes up around 8ish.  Could we ask for more?  

Here's some pics. 

PuMpKiN PaTcH fUn

Hey everyone! So Jared and Courtney and there kids were here this weekend and I really wanted to take them all to a pumpkin patch. So Courtney found a few and we picked one out and went. It was so much fun! I think I probably had more fun than anyone though because I loved taking pics of the kiddos with the pumpkins. I am getting addicted to photography lately and I love getting good pics and editing them in cute ways. It started with scrapbooking which I got into when Peyton was in the NICU. Now its progressed. I love it and I really wish I could get a nice camera and take some classes. Anyway, I did my best. It was a really cute family run place out in the country part of Houston. Normally the place is an exotic pet farm but during the holidays they add on the pumpkin patch and stuff. It was adorable! They had normal farm animals, goats, horses, etc. and then some not so normal animals like llamas, a pot belly pig, a little tiny deer (i'm not kidding it was tiny like 10 inches and SO CUTE), and some lemur type thing, and (my favorite) a little JOEY (thats a baby kangaroo). The joey just hopped around the patch and would come right up to you and let you feed it and pet it. The kids LOVED it! So did I! I REALLY want one for myself (too bad they grow up...too bad anything grows up!). They also had face painting and pumpkin decorating as well as a scarecrow dress up area. It was really fun. I told Daniel that when we have our little house in the country out there someday I'm definately going to do a pumpkin patch. I got a million pics so I picked a few of my favorites to post on here! Hope you like them!

Park Play

Hey everyone! I know its been a while but what can I say...not much has happened. Daniel continues to enjoy his job (somewhat) and I am just hanging out enjoying the spring-ish weather here in Houston.
Daniel and I have recently taken up tennis which we are both decidedly terrible at. But its fun and we go after Peyton's in bed so its nice to get out.
We also finally took Peyton to the park to "play" for the first time ever! He really didn't know what to do on the equipment but he loved the swing and had a great time playing in the rocks. Anyway, it was probably most fun for me. I took a bunch of cute pictures!
Thats really all for now. I know. Pretty boring. I will try to do something exciting this week to tell y'all about.