Happy 2012!

The year of NO resolutions! Ok, maybe just one...

Over the last year, this blog has quickly become a meal plan blog. Oops. It's supposed to be about us and our no-so-newlywed adventures. SO my one resolution is to blog more about personal stuff instead of just having it be a place to document and follow through with my meal plans.

Yes, there will be meal plans but I'll try to update more about what's going on with us. :) Deal? Deal.

So a little update on us... we are nicely settled in over on the west side again... kind of. Back to our roots. We hoped that we could find a place of our own within a few months but are unfortunately not there yet. It's been 7 months. Fortunately, we have very generous parents who charge cheap rent :) So it's only a little sacrifice for us and hopefully not to cumbersome for my empty nester parents to now have a full nest again. Once we got over here we decided that we were going to save a little longer so that we can invest in a piece of property. We'll start by building a detached garage with a mother in law apartment in the back. I really like this floor plan...

Then we can slowly build our forever home. I haven't even looked at floorplans for that... it's just so far off. :(

Landon is now 21 month old {plus a few days!} I need to schedule his 24 month check up - I can't wait to see how big he's gotten. I swear he's getting taller and heavier every single day. I'm really excited for his second birthday party we are planning! Curious George theme... or "Dooooorge" as Landon refers to him as, complete with Adam agreeing to dress up as The Man with the yellow hat. I can't wait to see his face! Landon, not Adam. Haha.
Landon was SO much fun at Christmas this year - he was actually interested in his presents and had such a blast with all our family around! We really did get spoiled this year too and it was so great not to have to rush everywhere and be back in Spokane on the 27th.
Landon's vocabulary is finally picking up and he's learning new words every day. I was a little afraid he was behind on his speech but he's getting there. I just can't wait to fully understand what he's trying to say.
Next, we on to potty training... I'm not sure when I want to tackle that. He loves his potty... he tells me when he poops {after of course} so I think he's getting there but he has no interest in sitting on his potty with a bare butt. So I guess we'll see.

A little update on our furry family is pretty sad but we lost our poor Fosters on the 29th. He disappeared around noon and hasn't been seen since :( I feel horrible cause I let him out last so naturally I feel like it's my fault but he's a roamer and I let him out just like I would have any other day. I've got my eye on the Humane Society's website but I can't imagine someone would bring him all the way in from out here. And I also have signs that Adam will put up on this way to work tomorrow. We are bummed but he had a really good life and hopefully he's somewhere better. We think he was about 12... so maybe it was just his time?! Or maybe he found a new home in a nice new family?! I guess we'll never know unless he turns up but I'm not expecting it. I think poor Joey is depressed about it cause she's acting all funny - he was her buddy.
Before we realized Fosters was missing we tried to find a new home for our little Baby because we found a really nice family with a little girl who really wanted him but as it turns out I think he's our forever dog too. We got him back after two days because he nipped at the kids so I think they are going to find a puppy who can grow up with them instead of trying to introduce an older dog.
And then there were four :( The cat's still kickin...

Happy New Year everyone!

Break Time!

Hey all!

Moving day is almost upon us and I'm going to be taking a break from blogging and meal planning so I probably won't be updating much. Hopefully once we get settled I'll be able to pick back up with this because I really enjoy creating my meal plans - especially when I follow through and things turn out yummy!

One little announcement before I'm off for a while - I think I've finally decided what I want to do with myself {at least as a slightly profitable hobby?!} And if it works out to be more than that, well then that's wonderful. So far, I'm enjoying myself :)
Introducing... Katrina Schultz Photography!!! What do you think?? Obviously it's still in the working stages but I'm having so much fun! Anyway, along the way {mostly just so I can say I picked up my camera every day} I started a 365 Blog - a picture a day basically.

A little Landon update: We officially got tooth number 3 yesterday! I've been wondering when it would make an appearance because he's been quite the grumpster for a solid week now. We've also learned tempur tantrums, hitting and throwing. All fun things... did we skip one and go straight to the terrible two's??? Hrm...

Anyway, I'll leave you with a little Landon love :) Till next time!

During one of our happier moments of the week :)

13 Days...

Wow - it's been a little over two months since we made the decision and announced to our family and friends that we'd be moving back to western Wa and I feel like time has flown! It really has even though in retrospect I felt like time was dragging.
Now that it's here I still don't think it's hit me that we're really going. I've never in my life made a move like this. When I moved to Cheney from "home" I was fresh out of high school; I had one little room to pack up and I barely filled the shelves of my dorm room {that was split with a complete stranger! Hi Erin!}. I think I made 3 more moves throughout college but still - furniture and most of the household items were shared with roommates so I really never had more than my clothes and a few belongings?! I've made two more moves since then, one into Spokane {on Thanksgiving?!} into a house that Adam and I shared. At that time, a lot of our stuff was still "his" and "mine". And then we moved 5 blocks away, into our first home.

Since then, we've accumulated stuff. LOTS of stuff. It's annoying, who needs all this???  Now we have appliances and couches, chairs and beds. Clothes and blankets. TOYS... oh the toys. Dishes {a full set even!}. TVs... entertainment centers. Nick Knacks... ugh! Seriously... who NEEDS all this???? I'm definitely a little bit of both my mother and father. My mother in that I've collected all this stuff and I have a space for it - it was organized! {Sorry mom}. But my father in that, I have absolutely no problem getting rid of it :) I've made 4 trips to the Goodwill - hopefully our 2011 taxes will thank us for that. Also, I've thrown lots of stuff away - why was I keeping that??? Who knows.

I've packed almost everything I can at this point. All that's left is our clothes, our dishes, and our food. As well as all the "big" things. I'm ready for the last few days when I can pack all that stuff and start cleaning cause this living around boxes thing is for the birds. Here's a little peek into how our house looks:

Kitchen... and that's just half, the counters behind me are full too =/

Landon's room :(

Toys... Carseats... Baby stuffs!

My hall... well, half my hall...

**Sigh** Needless to say, I'm ready for that big white trailer to pull up. It'll be full in no time.

13 days...

Busy May!

Happy May Day everyone!

I thought maybe I'd give a little update on how our last month in Spokane is progressing :) We're definitely keeping ourselves busy!!!

This last weekend we spent the fishing opener at Fish Lake in Tonasket, WA with our good friends Justin & Marah. Let me preface this by saying I am the WORST.CAMPER.EVER. no joke. EVER. 
This trip actually set in stone that our first big purchase after getting settled again is going to be a trailer. I'm never tent camping again. EVER. 

We had a good time though. It was much needed that we get the heck out of town for a few days and relax. The first night we stayed in town at Marah's parents place and got to see all the plans for their wedding in July - cannot wait! :) Then we headed up to Fish Lake for the day to spend what was supposed to be the rest of the weekend camping... yeah, that was all hunky dory until about 9pm when all the belligerents came out to play :) Landon and I ended up sleeping in the car and vowed to leave in the morning. Oiy. All turned out ok though - only a few more minor hiccups and we make it home safe and sound today - overall, a good weekend :)

Ok... the rest of the month seems equally as busy and I'm so excited for it! Between packing I've scheduled every doctor's appointment known to man so that once we get across the state I won't have to look for new doctors right away. I'm really dreading that because I think I might be a little bit in love with Dr. C. At Landon's 12 month check up I asked her for any recommendations she might have over there but she didn't really have any so I guess I'm on my own.

So... annual exam, eye exam, and dentist appt (complete with cavity fill that I didn't take care of 6 months ago). Also, Landon had his 12 month check up so he's good until 18 months. Adam is also going the rounds because his ankle has been bothering him. X-rays to ensue tomorrow to make sure his screws are staying put and to see if they can't help him with the pain. He also got his eye exam and new glasses.

On Wednesday I start a four week photography course that I WILL make it to each week. I'm really excited. While I think this course is going to be very basic, it's going to be good for me. Essentially starting at the very bottom to make sure I'm grasping the concepts. It'll be a good refresher if anything and hopefully I'll come out of it with something learned. 

Next weekend (weather permitting) I will be snapping some pictures of Justin & Marah for their engagement pictures - we've been trying to do this for weeks now but it's really coming down to the wire as they are getting married on July 30th! 

On May 15th - also weather permitting I'm going to be snapping shots of another good friend Jessica and her fiance Jamie for their engagement pics! 

I'm so excited for all this experience and hopefully I'll capture something that makes both couples very pleased! 

Other things on my to-do list:

• Pay off bankruptcy
• Buy bridesmade dress for Marah's wedding
• Finalize loan modification with the devil Bank of America
• Continue the search for somewhere to live

What else? Oh yeah... PACKING. Cheers all!

Moooovin' on up!

Or just moving! 
Yup, you heard me right - we've made the decision to finally - finally - get the heck out of Spokane! We'll be moving back over to somewhere in western Washington. I say somewhere because really we might be homeless for a little bit while we get settled back in the mix over there. Good thing my parents have a little studio apartment type guest house... riiiiight mom & dad??? :)

It wasn't an easy decision, it's still not. Pretty much everything came to a head these last few months and I mean everything - what else could have went wrong? **knock's on wood** 

Adam and I have had lots (and I mean LOTS) of talks about it, the last few weeks especially. We barely talk about anything else anymore =/ After college, Spokane became home for us. Our stable, good jobs were here. Our friends were here. Our house was here. We liked it here. We were happy here. 

And then, the market crashed - our house is worth next to nothing what it was when we bought it. We lost our good, stable jobs. We racked up debt. We had a baby - which racked up further debt (about triple what we anticipated having a baby would cost). While we have support from some of our friends here and we most definitely have as much family support as they can give from 300 miles away - it's hard having well, no one. No one to fall back on if we need a night out. Or if we have an appointment. Or if we need a free hour just to ourselves. We are it. And it's harder than I ever thought it would be.
In all those talks Adam and I have been having it always - always - comes back to one thought and reason...

It's best for Landon's future. 

Being a parent sure does change your perspective of things eh? 
  
I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it but no one talks about these things, so I'm going to.

• We're bankrupt - filed March 17th, 2011. 
• We're working with the bank to (hopefully) receive a loan modification and plan to rent our house out.
• We're moving - late-May 2011. 

I'm not ashamed - I'm relieved, and a huge weight feels like it's slowly lifting. Since I said I'm not going to lie - I do however have this overwhelming feeling like I'm being pushed overboard or something... I just need to find my life raft. Sink or swim right? 

What an exciting, scary, exhilarating and sad thing though - all in one!