Family updates

At the beginning of December Matt and I flew to Vegas to meet up with my Dad, Step-Mom, my Aunt Jane, Aunt Kay and Uncle Robert. I had yet to meet my Step-Mom Lynn, Kay or Robert and Matt had yet to meet any of them. I had also never been to Vegas before and Matt had never been there since he turned 21. Due to the conference in Arizona the following Monday we had to cut our trip short and were only able to stay Wednesday - Sunday. The first night in town Matt and I stayed at Planet Hollywood, it was amazing! During the day we had a view of some mountains and the hotel room itself was amazing and decked out in Muhammad Ali stuff.

The rest of the time we stayed with family in a condo. Vegas was great...a little stressful with so many people wanting to do so many different things, but it was great to be able to meet everyone and just hang out. Although I had met Jane when I first met my Dad 8 years ago, we had kind of lost touch so it was great to be able to hang out and really get to know each other. She handled my bitchy sarcastic side very well ;).

 I want to do my best to be able to stay in touch with my family and start chatting with my family members that I haven't met yet, like Kay and Rob's kids (my cousins). I have yet to meet them or really talk to them and it would be nice to extend my family some more. I have re-connected with my cousins Josh and Jared, which are Jane's boys, on facebook but I still have a lot of catching up to do. It's been hard trying to stay in touch and adjust to having family members that you didn't have before. But I love it, I love all of them! Of course it was great to see my Dad again as well, we haven't seen each other in 3 years. And I finally got to meet his wife Lynn who was so sweet...even if she did say that the picture of us looks like coffee and milk because I am SO white! :)

So Vegas was great and I am so grateful I was given that time to spend with them and I hope to do it again in the near future!

There is one other piece of news that I am very excited about. During Christmas Jen (Matt's Sister) asked Matt and I to be Emilio's Godparents! Of course we said yes! It is an amazing honor to be asked that and I can't believe she asked us. We are not sure when it will all happen but we know it will be sometime next year. So many things are going to be happening next year, I can't wait!

The last few months...

So again I have failed to keep up with this blog. I enjoy being able to write and share the things that are going on in my life...whether people choose to read them or not. However, with my job and life in general things have gotten a little crazy.

Work Update...
I have been working about 40+ hours a week and have been doing double duty over the last couple months. My position has expanded a lot since I began almost 3 years ago, but in the last 4 months I would say things have really started to speed up. It's good because it keeps me busy but it can also be stressful sometimes. However, I am really excited to see what will happen in the next 3-6 months. We are working on doing some amazing things in our lab and I am really excited to be a part of it all.
This month I was given an amazing opportunity to attend a conference held by Mayo Clinic in Arizona. I went to 2 different sessions and I learned a lot. There was a lot I didn't know, but I came back with some really good ideas, a better understanding and A LOT of questions. I think it was really good for me to attend the conference and understand what outreach laboratories are really doing. I am so thankful that I was given that amazing opportunity to go there and meet people and learn all that I did.

Life Update...
Although work keeps me busy there isn't too much happening in my personal world ;). Matt right now is doing a new job for Dish Network so he was able to get off the phones, which is great! However, I only get to see him Friday - Sunday morning. His new shift is Sunday - Thursday 3p - 11:30p; which sucks but I think this is a really great opportunity for him. Plus, with the way Dish Network is, this shift should only last another month before they decide to do a shift bid and hopefully he'll get a better shift so I can see him more.

When I went to Arizona I went alone, Matt had to say in Denver which marked the longest time that we had been away from each other since we started dating. I know it sounds corny but we do everything together and I love that about us. He really is my best friend.
I have actually heard people say that they can't wait to get away from their husbands, or that they take extra vacation days somewhere when finding out their husbands can't go. I hope I never turn in to one of those women. In 3 years of being together we are learning more and more about each other all the time; I am so lucky to have him in my life.

                                                                      (this is an old picture from when we first started dating)

Dog update...

Dogs are doing well...Rocky is now a free-roam dog in the house. Matt came home a couple weeks ago to Apollo waiting anxiously at the door (which is normal, we don't kennel him) and then all of a sudden there appeared Rocky behind him (who we did kennel). Yep, Apollo busted him out of the kennel...literally. Matt found the gate door to the kennel laying on the ground with the lock busted from the outside...darn dogs. But, besides a pair of shoes, Rocky has done amazingly well keeping himself under control.
Our dogs have come a long way...both of them. We had some pretty bumpy starts to the beginning of our lives with both of them, but for the most part we have worked it all out. It took some drugs (for them) and a lot of patience (for us) but they are good boys. They may not be kids but they sure are a lot of work sometimes, and they have taught Matt and I so much.

That's really about it...I am going to add another one about family because there is a lot of updates for our family. There isn't much else going on here right now, but I think that 2011 is going to be a great year!