December was busy

We went to Tempe and Scottsdale to visit Joel's family and it was so great! It was not sunny or warm though. I was greatly disappointed. It was so fun to spend time with his grandparents, sister, nieces, aunt and cousin. :) We saw movies, had really good food, saw the nieces perform in their Christmas concert, and got to look at lots of pictures. I found out Joel is the spitting image of his Grandpa Dean.

After 5 fun filled days in Arizona we flew home and drove to Yakima to see my family for Christmas. All the cousins were there for the first time in at least 6 years. It was great to see everyone. :)

I started a long term sub job at GRCDC in the 3 year old preschool room the first week of this month. I'm not sure how long it will last but I love the hours (which are the same as JOel's)- 7:30am-4:00pm. I have fun coworkers so it's been such a blessing.

We lead such exciting lives ;)

The night before my birthday we picked up my in-laws and brought them to our house for dinner. My mother-in-law brought pictures she'd painted for us and Bethany. I'm so excited to frame them and have Joel hang them on the wall. I think that will be a January project that I'm already looking forward to. :)
My birthday was so fun! I had a marvelous time having lunch with my in-laws, seeing Harry Potter, having dinner and a game night with friends! I was just telling Joel I wish we could do it again. :)

Joel and I couldn't make it over the pass and back in one day for Thanksgiving (stupid snow!) so we opted out and instead joined Barbara & Jordan and his family on the west side. Jordan's parents and sister are so awesome and it was great to see them! It was different to not be with the fam doing the things the way they're always done, but we still got to spend the day with fam and nice people. There was delicious pecan pie and we played Cranium. Thanks again Barbie & Jordan for including us in your Thanksgiving! :)

We went Christmas present shopping today for our nieces, my sister-in-law and the family members we drew for my side of the Christmas fun. I love getting presents the people I love will love. :) We're not anywhere near done, but we shall continue tomorrow.

Joel's 26th birthday is Thursday! We both are taking the day off to hang out and do something fun together. We might go bowling. We'll see what Joel decides to do. Next Sunday we're celebrating his birthday with friends nerd style with a LAN Party. Then dinner out and a game night. :)

Current Happenings

Today Joel & I went to a wedding. We forgot the present at home... *sigh* It was so nice to see them so happy. I love being on the married side of weddings. No bouquet or garter toss for the Wells. And weddings just remind me of what a great man I married and how happy I am now. :)

Joel's parents Brad and Linda are coming to Seattle the 17th-21st of this month; next week! We are really looking forward to seeing them! They're coming for some business thing for Brad's work with the Alaska Coast Guard. He came last year without Linda. We haven't seen her since our wedding. We've made plans to have them at our house for dinner one night for sure. :)

Next Saturday is my birthday. The big 25. I'm so excited to see Harry Potter, have dinner and a game night with friends! It's going to be really fun! Now all I have to do is not forget it's Valerie's birthday too. ;)

Joel & I are headed to Yak for both Thanksgiving and Christmas! I'm so excited! We're headed to AZ from December 17th-23rd to see Joel's family! That is going to be so fun! So many people I haven't met. :) Then we'll head to Yak on the 24th-26th and all the cousins will be there! That hasn't happened since I was about 12? Maybe. Anyways. :p

I'm still a sub for FWPS and CHSW. This substituting has really been harder than I thought it would be. I so want a job. Just one full time job. It's been hard trusting that God has something for me. I'm so impatient. It's been more than a year. I never thought I'd sub for so long. It's been really frustrating. Maybe next year will be my time.What do you say God?

Can't Believe It's Fall Already

Little Graham will be a year old next week. Crazy. Time sure flies. We're all converging on Yak to celebrate this coming weekend.

In other news my twin sister is getting married to Tanner May 21 2011! I'm so excited for her! My mom, sisters (minus Laura) and I got to watch her try on wedding dresses at the Fashion Corner in Sunnyside this past weekend. Every dress looked gorgeous on her of course. :)

I'm still a substitute for FWPS and CHSW. I did have an interview for a part time position at an elementary school last week... so we'll see what comes from that. I know God has one great full time job for me in his time. Patience... I must practice it. :p

Next month is Val and mine's 25th birthday. Joel's taking my to see Harry Potter (which comes out the day before my birthday) and I'm going to get a pedicure. And then 12 days later is Joel's 26th birthday. He hasn't told me what he wants to do or get yet. :p

Summer is flying by

The biggest highlight of my summer (besides my one year anniversary) was Kim's wedding last Saturday. I am SO happy for another friend to be married! He!r husband is a great guy and makes her so happy! I got to host Annie, Cherize, Jen, Karie and the bride herself for the days before the wedding and it was SO fun! My little apartment felt a little empty when they were all gone; but it was nice to have my space back. :)

Annie arrived on Wednesday, the 4th with her new boyfriend Steve. (He lives in Redmond and was picking her up at the airport.) It was so fabulous to see her! (She's been in Korea for the last year.) And she'll be back for realzies on September 1st. :)
Cherize and Kim arrived Thursday, the 5th along with Adam (the groom). We threw a surprise birthday party for Annie and it was a fun time of hanging out together.
Friday Karie and Jen arrived. We all went to the church, decorated and got food ready for the next day. :) Then there was the dress rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and the bachelorette party at my apartment. :)
Friday was the wedding, of course. :) I was a bridesmaid for the first time ever. It was fun but my shoes hurt my feet. A lot. After the wedding my group of friends went out to eat and bowling which is our tradition. What a great way to end a fun filled few days!

In other news, my one on one sub job ended on the 3rd of August. My little guy has a new one on one so I'm back to being a regular substitute. And I applied for two positions in the Federal Way Public Schools. Hopefully they call me for an interview! Here's to praying! :) Joel also applied for two new positions at Nintendo. He'd be really excited if they called him for an interview. So here's to praying!

A year ago

It was the day before my wedding day. :) Crazy how time flies by so quickly! Joel and I both took Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate our One Year Anniversary which is officially tomorrow. Today we're going to see the play Cinderella at Green River Community College and then to Ginos for dinner. Yummy Italian food! Tomorrow we're headed to Seattle to go to the Space Needle, but first we'll make a stop at the Ballard Mars Hill for church. :) Joel wants to have lunch at The Laboratory LunchBox in Seattle so we'll probably head there. And the weather is finally beautiful so the beach (a mere 15 minutes away) is a must!

The library across the street from our apartment finally opened after almost a years worth of remodeling got done! I'm am SO excited about it! The one thing I for sure for sure LOVE about where we live is that we have things so close! It's so amazing for a grocery store and library to be within walking distance! And everything else we want/need are within a 15 minute drive. :)

I've been working at GRCDC full time for a month now as a one on one with a 2 year old. I'm a long term substitute until they get funding for the position and hire someone permanently. The regular paycheck has been fabulous as well as the simple knowledge that I know I have the same schedule with the same kid(s) everyday. You never know how much you'll appreciate it until you go without it for almost a year. :)

It can't be May already!

This first year of being married has absolutely flown by! In six weeks it'll be a year! Best decision I ever made was to marry Joel! It's been a great almost year! :)

Today Joel and I are going to the Museum of Flight. The last time we tried to go Penny need to see the vet instead so we spent quality time there instead. They have an Amelia Earhart exhibit that should be interesting. :) If nothing else Joel will really enjoy himself cause he knows more about planes than anyone else I know. For Easter Joel's work sold plastic Easter eggs to raise money for something that I've since forgotten. Inside of them wasn't necessarily candy though. Joel ended up getting movie tickets so we're going to go see a movie too. I need to figure out what I want to persuade him to see... hm.

Mom and Dad are coming to visit us Seattle area kids in two weeks so that'll be fun. Joel and I haven't been to Yak to visit in far too long. We need to remedy that... maybe Mother's Day. We have to get our car looked at though... grr! The car decided last Tuesday to not start when I wanted to leave work. So I got a ride home from a coworker and Joel and his friend JD went and jump started it. I must have left something on all day while working... because we haven't had any issues since. I still want to take it in and we had a mechanic recommended to us.

Easter

This is the first Easter I'll celebrate with Joel and the first I'll not celebrate with my nuclear family. Joel and I are going to the Kwan's house. (They're in our community group and also attend Mars Hill.) Other people from our community group will be there as well so it should be fun. If nothing else it'll be tasty cause ham will be present... love me some ham! Yummy. :) We're bringing brownies which I mutilated cause I cut them when they were still too warm. Lesson learned.

This month I have a decent amount of work at Head Start and one day at the FWPS so far. It hit me today how fast summer is approaching. Crazy. Two weddings to attend, one bridal shower and hopefully some quality Yak time. :) My nephew isn't getting any younger. ;) AND Joel and I will be married a year in June! How crazy is that!? It feels like time has flown by! Joel's taking an extended weekend and we're going to take day trips around the Seattle area. We're going to see the play Cinderella for sure at GRCC. Maybe go to a museum and take a ferry ride. Definitely go to the beach.

Para Educator

Subbing as a Para Educator for the first time last month 6 different times was SO fun! I look forward to the day when I have a full time job as a Para Educator. It will be so cool to work with kids one on one (or in small groups) as my job. I have confidence if that's where God wants me He'll open up a door and make it happen. God has been so faithful in helping keep Joel employed through out the numerous lay offs at his work. It's so good to see Him work in or lives.

It's been really fun hanging out with friends and family recently. Last weekend Joel and I were in Yakima to visit the fam... and got to spend quality time holding our nephew Graham. :) In weekends previous we've spent time with friends... the weekend of sunshine we played outside. It was a happy time. :)
I also feel more at home here in Federal Way. I know my way around better, I have work, we've made some new friends and reconnected with others. Now if only the rain would cease and desist. A girl can dream, right?

And kitty makes three!

Joel and I got a kitty two weeks ago! Her name is Penny and she's a sweetheart. A two year old calico with loads of energy. She follows us around the apartment... especially Joel. :) We have two big windows that she LOVES to 'watch tv' through. The birds and squirrels offer her much enjoyment. One time she tried to jump through the window to get a bird! It was hilarious! Joel and I laughed SO hard while Penny pretended nothing happened. :D

I've been working a lot at Green River Child Development a lot lately which has been fabulous for our bank account and my stay at home wife gig... cause that was gettin' old real fast. I'm trying to get work at my other job FWPSD but it's hard to come by. :(
We started having a weekly game night with some friends and that's been really fun so far! We're going to teach them how to play Five Crowns tomorrow. We're babysitting for their son this coming Friday... I haven't babysat since high school. It'll be fun. :)

And the holidays are upon us

This past Friday... my 24th birthday I had an interview in which they offered me 10 cents more than minimum wage. My Bachelor's Degree and I were inclined to not work there. :p Oh and my sweet husband got up really early to get ready for work AND make me breakfast. I'm so lucky to be married to such a thoughtful man. :)

Then I spent the weekend in Yak with the fam. We went on a walk, a Costco run and to see New Moon... and we watched slides. And of course there was the time to hold little Graham. <3 Joel stayed in Federal Way because his dad was in Seattle for a few days. They got to hang out which was so nice because that doesn't happen much with Brad living in Alaska and all.
I have an interview tomorrow at Toddler Town in Kent... let's hope it's better'n the one at Kid's Country in Auburn last Friday.

For Thanksgiving Joel has to work the day after so I'm staying in Yak without him again. :'( I love the extra time with my family though. And possibly I'll be hanging with Cherize. That would be awesome! :)

Life Marches On

Graham Weston Carnagey has arrived! He was born one day before his due date! He is the cutest little boy ever... but I might be a biased Auntie. :) He'll be a month old the day after Val and I turn 24 years old. How crazy to be almost that old. So Joel and I might be headed to Yak for that weekend to celebrate my birthday and Graham being a month old. :)

Joel and I officially joined a community group through Mars Hill! We were nervous, but the people were welcoming and very nice. It was surprising how none of them were our age without kids. Most were in there 30s (at least) with a couple of kids. There was one couple who looked our age... but they too had a baby. It's not bad, just surprising. I guess we expected a group with young marrieds like us. Oh well, in this case we have loads of good people to look to for guidance in our walks with God. :)

AND we finally got a big screen tv. Joel was SO super excited! He literally jumped up and down when I told him to go buy one. It was cute and very funny. :) If only we could get a kitty. I'm going to ask if it's allowed now cause they said in a month it would be and it's been about a month, maybe longer.

I am employed!

So I was officially hired yesterday by the Children's Home Society of Washington as a substitute for the Kent Child Development Center otherwise known as Early Head Start. :) I am somewhat saddened that it is only as a substitute but my hope is that I get a lot of hours and that they discover I'm awesome and when a full time opening arrives they'll hire me. God has this all under control so it'll work out. Plus I work 11 minutes away from Joel. Weird. That'll be good for carpooling. :) And now we get to look at getting a cat for Sally and a TV for Joel! That was our deal; once I get a job we get those two things. SO excited for a kitty!

In other news we went to Yakima this past weekend for Laura's baby shower. It was so nice to be back in Yak. I missed that town. And the people. Now we wait for Graham Carnagey to arrive. We (the Graham clan) are all SO excited for him to come! October 22nd is coming fast. :)

Still job hunting

I'm still a housewife. So sad. So boring. No job yet. It's not for lack of trying though. I've applied in Federal Way, Auburn, Kent and Renton.... and nada. Only two interviews. And they came to nothing. Lame.

On the upside I have gotten slightly addicted to Hulu.com. It's awesome. You can watch a multitude of shows for free and it's legal. :) Oh and netflix is pretty amazing too. :) Another upside is one of my best friends, Kim has moved to Federal Way to student teach until sometime in December so we hang out. It makes my day. Last week Mom, Grandma & Barbara came to visit too. This past weekend Joel and I hung out with friends in Redmond on Saturday night and Sunday we went to Jordan & Barb's for dinner. :)

Joel made it through another round of lay offs at his work (hooray)! God is looking out for us.

Other'n that it's same ol' same ol'.... sadly. I long for the day when I can announce that I have a job. Until then it's back to the grindstone tomorrow. :p

Jobless Sally

So I have an interview at Kindercare on Thursday. This is my first interview to come from the job hunting. I turned in an application for Federal Way School District today. I'd really like to be a Para-Educator (para pro). We'll see if anything happens there. I really want it to...

In other news, this past weekend Joel and I bought me a new laptop and Joel a bike... that made me wish my bike wasn't in Yakima and that there was a good place to store it here. Nearby is a nice trail that I usually walk on, but biking on it would also be most fun... :)

Oh and I've started writing wedding thank you cards. How I want to be done... and I just started yesterday. Bleck. At least Julie helped me pick out fun cards on the cheap at Ross in my early months of being engaged...thanks sister, they break up the monotony. :) No Joel hasn't helped yet but he won't escape the thank you card writing fun, no worries! :p

Married Life Has Begun!

I LOVE it! It makes my day that we no longer are in a long distance relationship! It seems so normal to be married. :)

Anaheim was VERY fun AND relaxing. A nice combination for sure. We went to Disneyland, California Adventure, SeaWorld and Universal Studios. Our favorite ride was the California Screamer (an awesome roller coaster!) We had a great time but were happy to return home when it was over. :)

We live in Federal Way in a cute little one bedroom apartment. Now that it's unpacked and organized I feel a lot better! Winco is right down the road (quite literally a 4-6 minute walk away) and a library is right across the road (although it's closed right now.) As for church, we attend Mars Hill in Bellevue for now... the worship is amazing and the sermons are quite awesome so we are content for the time being. :)

Joel returned to work (at Food Services of America as an accountant in case you were wondering) and I reconnected with a friend from junior high who lives up the road. (I think I got the better end of the deal. ;)) Except I do want a job... I'm in the process of updating my resume and filling out job applications-- what fun. ;p

A new adventure is at hand!

So in FIVE DAYS (from tomorrow) I'm getting married to Joel! I couldn't possibly be more excited! (Or nervous!) I don't like standing up in front of lots of people... at least I'm not doing it alone... Joel gets to suffer with me. ;D I am SO lucky that I get to spend my life with Joel- God blessed me. :) And then we're off to Anaheim for a week! Yay for Disneyland! It's going to be fun! AND THEN I will no longer live in Yakima. That is weird and hard to comprehend. We will live in a little apartment in Federal Way across the street from the library and I will job hunt AGAIN. (It'll only be the second time in 9 months.) :p But I will finally get to see Joel as often as I please and that will be amazing!

And Grown up Life Begins

So I finished my internship at ccr&r-- thank the Lord! on August 7th and by August 21st I was hired by the YMCA as a Site Supervisor at Gilbert Elementary's BASE (before & after school care.) I started when school started-- the 27th of August... I think. Meh. I have an assistant; Ben. He's a good guy... 19 years old. The kids love him... he was there last year. I also volunteer in mom's kinder class except not at present 'cause I'm sick. My boss did tell me that this would probably be a very sick year for me. *sigh*

Joel's employed in Kent as an Accountant for Food Services of America... he's too far away. Hopefully the long distance relationship will change within the next 9 months or so. We'll see what God has planned. I get to see him semi regularly, but definitely not often enough. Oh and I got him sick when I was in Seattle this past weekend; poor guy. :(

It's so weird not to go to school. I LOVE the no homework parts, but I miss people and the AMAZING schedule you get as a college student. I miss living at the Rock with 11 crazy girls and Joel a ten minute walk away (instead of a 2.5 hour drive). I miss seeing God work on campus through Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. I miss the "relaxed" lifestyle with not as many worries and complexities. But you got to grow up sometime... so I guess this is it. Now on to life's next great adventure... as for what that is; I think we'll all find out together. :)

Blessings from Heaven

God has blessed me beyond belief. Everything in my life isn't going smoothly, but that's okay because I know God is good all the time and all the time God is good. I have an internship at Catholic Family and Child Services this summer. I have NO IDEA what happens next, but that's okay.... for now. ;D What I'm really blessed by are my amazing support networks.... family, friends and my boyfriend. Intervarsity is another amazing support network as is my house full of crazy women of God. They are all there for me in my times of need... even when I'm about to cry from stress....but in my happy times... like when they tell me I should do homework and I ask them what homework is.... =D I am content... peaceful....my future is in God's hands.... thankfully. =) I couldn't ask for more.

About my home church....

I just found out the youth pastor's leaving on the heels of the associate pastor, children's director, and pastor all in a little over a year. Oh and the music director left two years ago... I think. It's hard to keep track. Are you freaking kidding me? Seriously. And the not so funny part is the same thing happened when I was 15. The associate pastor left followed by the pastor and youth pastor as well as the children's director. So we now, at present have a pastor, secretary, children's intern and music director. Period. All in less than 10 years. And to top it off there isn't any money because people are leaving the church (wonder why) and no one wants to give. How 'bout that? It pretty much pisses me off. The reason for all the upheaval is centered around scandal of one type or another, if you boil it down, that is. At least this time around. Last time around it was around relationships between the leaders of the church.