Megan and Ben

Friday, October 31, 2008

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Ben, Brewster, and I went to Montana for the first 2 weeks of July, so we were able to spend 4th of July up there. 4th of July in Montana is soo much fun, mainly because we get to buy fireworks and set them off , which we can't do in Arizona. So every year we kinda go crazy spending money on fireworks, but most everyone will chip in, making it easier to afford. Even though we do get alot, so far we haven't gotten as many as PW "Constructive Pyromania?" has gotten :-) (clink on link for picture).

We just have so much fun being kids for a night and lighting the fireworks and hanging out with our family that we see all the time and some we don't get to see all the time. I don't get to see my cousin, Shannon (top right of picture below), much anymore so it was fun to catch up with her a little bit (I will have to do a post later of childhood pictures with her).

Another traditional event we get to do in Montana is going to Virginia City. There old buildings that we get to look through, they even have some old clothing and just products that they had way back when.

Here we got to go the Candy store, where we enjoy being kids again and picking out all the different type of candy, love it!

Here is my nephew, Foster, I thought the pictures below were soo cute of him, he gets so shy sometimes, haha! See the lollipop in his hand? Needless to say, his face was COVERED in red sticky stuff after finishing it :-).

Virginia City also has a place where they dress you up however you want in old cloths and take old-time (sepia) pictures. Its really cool and fun to dress up! Don't we look cowboy tough?!

This year, we also (or should I say the boys) worked the cabin some more, putting finishing touches. It will soon be completely done, after several years of working on it.

The women (moms and grandma) liked to start worrying about the men working on the scaffolding. So I had my dad pose for me, pretending to be ready to catch my uncle who lying on the edge in the picture below! :-)

Ben and I had so much fun having the kiddos (Ryan & Kimberly's kids) and also my little cousins there. They really loved all the hikes and the 4-wheeler drives!

Here's some random pictures. I got to play the piano and Ben read his book in our down-time. Also we liked to watch the dogs go nuts trying to find a squirrel in the rocks, pile of wood, and even in a pipe. Those squirrels sure knew how to tease our dogs, haha!

Last, but not least, we really enjoy taking hikes in Montana, so beautiful, perfect weather....

Last year in Montana, I really wanted to take our engagement pictures. I thought it would be perfect, because I love the beautiful mountains and trees, and I knew Ben would just love it! Unfortunately Ben got kidney stones and was in pain for at least half the trip, I felt so bad for him that he couldn't fully enjoy the trip. The bottom right picture would have been my top picks if we did take pictures last year.

One of the hikes we took, we drove the 4-wheelers part of the way, then hiked the rest of the way to the top of one of the mountains.

The dogs had fun playing in the snow and swimming in the water... Well... Brewster loves the snow, but HATED the water of course, haha!
The top 2 pictures were taken of each other from where the arrows are pointing, and same for the bottom two, I thought it pretty cool to show.
Here's Ben and Brewster with a fish that he caught on one of our hikes.

Montana is such a beautiful place, isn't it?

And, guess what? Ben and I going there for year anniversary! We're so excited to see the snow then and get out of the heat!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Last day at NAU

Yesterday was my last day of my job at NAU Distance Learning - Scottsdale! Which is both exciting and sad at the same time...

Exciting because it means I'm starting a new job, a full-time one for more money. Exciting because its a place where I'll have opportunities to move up (and from the interview the people seem like great people to work with!!). And exciting because it will be where I'll be going to school, which also means I can get the tuition reduction (not only for myself but for Ben as well) :-D! I will be working at one of the Colleges at ASU starting July 14th (right after my family vacation). Yea!!

Sad because I'll be leaving a great place. I loved the girls that I worked with, they were awesome! We all got along great, which is the main reason why I'm so sad to leave. They were also very supportive of me finding another job (I asked them at one point if there would be a full-time job available anytime soon, but there wasn't); I was very lucky for such great girls to work with! The job itself was also a nice job to have. When I lived in Chandler, it was a perfect distance to travel for a part-time job. I was able to do some homework, misc errands that I able to get done while I was there, and some internet surfing when I had down time. They were very relaxed with that. I also enjoyed accomplishing the various projects they had for me. My favorite project I got to do was delivering brochures in the state car for NAU at various Scottsdale/Paradise Valley locations (such as parks, library, etc) because I got to explore Scottsdale and Paradise Valley in places that I otherwise would have never gone. One challenging project they gave me that I was very grateful for was having to call students and some instructors. As you may remember from a previous post, I am NOT a phone person, especially with strangers. But because I was basically required to make these phone calls, I became more comfortable and bold when calling in that situation. Which is great since I'm able to gain more experience in different areas and therefore not only make myself a better person but it prepares me for my next job and every job after that.

My last day was great, there wasn't much to do and since it was my last day they let me go home early. They even got me a good bye gift (a VISA gift-card, they're awesome!). It doesn't feel completely like a good bye since I'll be coming back occasionally because I tutor one of my co-workers from there for a Math class (which was an good experience I'll have to share another time). All in all though I'm so glad that I was able to leave this job on good terms.

Monday, June 9, 2008

A little bit about Brewster

I loved this dog from the first time I met her when I started hanging out with Ben. I'm so glad that she loves me almost as much as she loves Ben (most dog loves no one as much as their original owner). She is a sweetheart and cuddly! She is actually really sensitive (gets butt hurt) and its very easy to read her emotions. I know that most of ya really don't want to know this, but right now she's in heat. So she's even more sensitive and really wants to cuddle all the time. She's been butt hurt that I've trying to keep her off the carpet and stay on the tile (easier to cleanup). I feel bad that there's really nothing I can do for her.

(They both fell asleep like this)

She loves people and whenever she meets new people, she goes sniffs them and then leans on them :-) (her way of showing affection). Dogs on the other hand, she doesn't get along with. Whenever she sees a dog that she doesn't know, she'll start growling viciously, which Ben and I find funny because she really is just a sweet dog once she knows them. However, if the other dog is not submissive and she's doesn't have a leash on or she takes the leash out of our hands, she can be pretty fierce. But if we know we're going to meet a dog, we make sure they're both submissive before having them meet. Which is hard on walks, because you can't really just take the time to meet e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e dog.

(My dad and Brewster, its kinda hard to tell but she's leaning on him)

So far, we got Brewster to get along with my parents dog and my brother's dog (kind of, they don't see each other very often so we have to re-introduce them). We have some friends, Tom and Laura, that have a doberman, Delilah, that has a very similar behavior to Brewster (loves people, doesn't like dogs) and we hang out with them quite a bit, but we always leave Brewster home. But this last time that we brought Brewster and they met, but we didn't let them hang out just yet.

(My parents dog, Sampson, and Brewster)

Recently, I've realized that she might get separation anxiety. I've noticed that if we don't really pay attention to her when we leave (telling her bye or petting her) or if we leave in a hurry (mostly when its both), she'll find something to get revenge (not even kidding!). The most recent thing that she has done was taking the butter dish off the counter and licking it clean (she LOVES butter), which is funny because it had been sitting there all week and she chose the time we left in a hurry! Other times, she has gone through our garbage that we have in the bedroom/bathroom and make a mess of that. The biggest thing she has done is ripping apart the kitchen trash bag (which is the majority of where trash goes) and spreading it out as much as she could. Most of it was right by the bag, but we found pieces in the other rooms. Ben and I were pretty mad at first, but looking back at it, I just laugh :-)!

(Brewster's Revenge: The Kitchen Trash Bag)

She can do some tricks... She can hold a dog biscuit on her nose and wait for the "OK!" (my parents dog is way too hyper to that!). This other trick is really cute that Ben taught her, Ben will ask her "Would you rather be married or dead?" and she'll lay on her back! Haha! Although she'll usually only do this if there are new people around, which I don't really get. I really want to get her to "army crawl"... she'll do it for a foot or two but then she gives up. Another couple random things about her: she loves sliding on our tile, she'll run back and forth on it and sometimes almost runs into the wall and such, loves giving smooches, loves playing in the snow, loves rolling in the dirt; she hates going into the water, Ben thinks he traumatized her when she little when Ben threw her in the lake and she sunk to the bottom before popping up out the water. I'll have to see if she can get over that when we go to the lake this summer. Any suggestions on how to get her to like it or at least go into it?

("OK!")

(Her ending of the "married or dead" trick)

("Smooches!")

(Playin' in the snow)

(Covered in dirt after rolling in it :-0)

One of my favorite things about her is that she'll smile when she's really excited. Not the open mouth, tongue hanging out, it looks like the dog is smiling... But she'll actually clench her teeth together and widen her lips and show her teeth, just like people. It is soo cute! I finally got a picture a couple of days ago, but she's usually too excited to keep still long enough to snap a picture.