Just another awesome week in Cali

The week started out a bit slow, but not to worry... it got awesome by the end...

At my summer camp we have spirit days on Thursday and Friday. Well last Thursday our spirit day was Cowboy day, and well it's just not as much fun for the kids if the teacher doesn't get dressed up too, so I had to sport my Western wear to work. It was actually fun, I love playing dress up. However it was a little embarrassing because right after summer camp I had to go to the tutoring club and help two students with Algebra II and Biology. Then I had to go straight to Zac's soccer game, and everybody was looking at me pretty funny. Also a few people just had to ask what was up and I had to go into the big long explanation of why I was dressed like Calamity Jane. I also have to mention that my dad would have been very proud of me that day. Not only does my dad like his western wear, but I also patched a kid's band-aid with duct tape. Thanks dad for all the great ideas!

I also have to mention that Zac had an awesome soccer game! He scored 5 of their 8 goals, and 2 of them were in the last 30 seconds! And all that so they could tie the game! He's so freaking awesome, huh?! Even though he may look a bit like a little white weenie (see the pictures above and below) he is still my hero, and a hunk in my eyes!

Now on to other things . . .

So we went to Santa Cruz again this weekend. What can I say? It's freaking California! We have to take advantage of the fact that we live so close to the beach! This time we went with Jesse, Cat, and Pupface. We hit some pretty bad traffic on the way there so we decided to stop in Los Gatos for some lunch, and we found a really cute little pizza place that was really good. Afterwards we decided that we didn't want to wait until the beach to get wet so we played in the fountain at a nearby park for a while before we took off again.

When we finally made it to the beach we just played around for a couple of hours. The boys played with the Frisbee and the football, and challenged each other to a series of competitions like who can jump the farthest, who can make the coolest one-handed catch with the football, and who can take on the biggest wave. At the end they graciously decided that overall it was a tie; the perfect solution to satisfy both of their egos. While this was going on us girls played with the puppy. This time she wanted to play in the water, apparently she only does when it's on her own terms. She also likes to chase a stick, she isn't real big on the whole fetching and bringing it back part, but that could be because the stick is about as big as she is so it would probably be pretty hard to carry. Pupface also tried to pick a fight with about seven other dogs that were 10 times bigger than her, so we had to periodically go save her from an almost certain death! Also Zac decided he wanted to bury me in the sand, but I would only let him bury half of me, and then Cat thought it would be fun to make me look like a mermaid, so thus I became a mermaid. I wanted Pupface to dig me out, but she didn't understand my directions, and just jumped all over me. So we pretty much love the beach, and we love living so close to it too!

Oh and I forgot...

Just a few more things that I forgot to mention.

We also took Pupface to the Santa Cruz beach with us on the 4th of July. It was so much fun! She loved digging in the sand. Zac tried to take her out into the water and when the waves came she ran away faster than a speeding bullett! So naturally, Zac picked her up and tried to put her in the water again. It was funny seeing her little legs running as fast as they could go! We went with some friends and had a totally awesome BBQ! Zac and I brought some steak kabobs with mushrooms and peppers that we marinated. They were so good, they were the hit of the party! It was definitely a 4th to remember! When it got dark everybody started firing off all of their illegal fireworks. It was so sweet! There were thousands of people there that had to have spent tens-of-thousands of dollars on fireworks. The cops tried to stop it for a little bit, but it was to no avail; there were too many. It was like a grand finale lasting for over 2 hours going on all around you; 360 degrees. Some of the fireworks were bursting right above our heads. As far as you could see down the beach was filled with fireworks, there were even a bunch of yachts that pulled up just off shore and were doing fireworks shows of their own. Little Pupface was so scared, she got in her little bag and curled up and tried to look away, but kept her eyes wide open. It was so cute! So anyway, it was an awesome 4th of July!


Secondly I have to mention Zac's brave act of heroism. Oh yes, he snatched a cute, injured, helpless little bird out of the teeth of a "vicious predator" (or a little kitty cat as I like to call it). After Zac managed to get the bird away from the cat we walked around for like a half an hour trying to find the perfect place to leave the birdie so he would stay out of the clutches of the little hunter. Zac says that this heroic act is a testament to how I have changed him because he said before me he would have just let the bird die and "chalked one up to the circle of life." You can't really see it, but that's Zac holding the bird; oh yes, he put on latex gloves so he wouldn't get any bird germs on him.

My very first entry!

Ok, well I have finally decided to give in and do this whole blogging thing. I sure hope I don't waste too much time doing this! Also please excuse any spelling errors! I swear I'm not dumb, I am just a bad speller!

Well... I'm not really sure how to start, or where to start. I guess I will give a brief synopsis of whats going on in our lives. I am currently 23, Zac is 26, and we have been married for 11 months. We are living in San Jose, CA and we have been here since January. We really like it here, although it has been rather hot lately. Zac works at Stryker (it is a medical device company) his technical title is a "purchasing analyst," although due to a rather weird situation into which he was put, he has kind of been doing 3 other jobs including buyer. He is working in the Sports Medicine division, which was actually a division that was supposed to be moved to a branch in New Jersey at the end of last year. So they disolved the divison last year, and then brought in Zac in January to take over the transfer, but they had some complications and now the branch won't be completely moved for another two years. So after 3 months of asking for more people to help him, they finally put another person on his team, and just a couple of weeks ago they decided to even hire a few more people on. It's actually a pretty cool situation because Zac gets to create new processes and figure out how to put new systems in place. He's kind of pioneering the way to run the Sports Med division, which is rapidly expanding to a whole new stryker branch that will be based out of Denver; so there's some opportunity there. Especailly since Zac ran it almost single-handedly for his first 3 months at Stryker. Recently he figured out a new process that will save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's pretty exciting!

When Zac found out that they were finally bringing more people in on the project he approached his manager about switching to a new position within Sports Med that he enjoyed more. At the end of the discussion his manager saw it Zac's way (imagine that) and agreed to switch him. Now Zac's title is "Business Planner." It's a lot better for him becuase he gets to have his hand in a lot more stuff and gets to take a leadership role. It is really exciting! It was kind of a big deal that Zac was able to convince his manager to let him change positions. Let's just say that Zac and his manager dont' see eye to eye sometimes. Maybe it's because she's the type of person that uses manager jargon, for example she won't ever say there is a problem, instead, everything is an "opportunity." It could be because she says things like "have the best day ever!" or that she always has a quote for everything. Or becuase she's the type that covers her entire office in huge framed posters that have words on them like "determination" with a picture of mountains, and "attainment" with a picture of a moose by the lake. Basically a lot of things that she "is" Zac "is not." I actually want to mention here that although all of the above stuff is true, it is more for humor than anything. She was instrumental in helping Zac get more people in Sports Med which has been fantastic! I actually met his manager for the first time this past weekend and she is a very nice, fun, and caring lady. She'll always give Zac little cards and stuff to let him know he's doing a good job! Zac actually likes her, and just finds the above stuff funny. I think she has been good for Zac. There, I ended on a positive note!

Anyway, as for me, at the begining of the year I was still taking online classes, so I was working part time at a tutoring club, but I finally graduated in April (yeah!) This is a picture of us celebrating my diploma. Zac wanted me to mention here that in the picture I am pointing at my diploma, and not something else :)

So after graduation I decided to look for a new job. I am currently working at summer day camp for kids age K-6 called Destination Science, where I actually just got promoted to Site Director! We teach lessons and do hands on projects with the kids. Zac gets to play with all of the cool science experiments and toys that I bring home, so he loves my job! It has been fun and a good experience, but definitely taxing both physically and emotionally for me. It has also definitely confirmed for me that I definitely definitely definitely want to teach high school, and could never teach elementary school! Anyone that could do that on a full time basis is a saint!

So as far as what's going on in our lives, we have gone to Great America (an amusement park) a few times which has been really exciting and fun for us! We actually got season passes. This picture was from the first time we went. We actually went again this last weekend for Styker's employee picnic. It was soooo much fun! Our closest friends out here, Ryan and Kaylee were there because Ryan works at Stryker too. We also met two other Mormon couples while we were there. It was so nice to have other Mormon couples there! Pretty much everyone who works at Stryker is under 30 and with Stykers free open bar, it's basically like being at frat party at a college (other than BYU). But we had a lot of fun drinking our soda, riding the roller coasters and playing at the water park.

Oh and I have also decided that in addition to wishing I could have my cat Morteki here with me, I also wish we could get a pomeranian! Some of our other close friends Jesse and Cat let us watch their dog Pupface (yes, that's her name - Pupface Killer actually; since their last name is Wilson I guess her full name is Pupface Killer Wilson) over the 4th of July weekend, and it was the funest (and yes I know funest is not a word- but saying "most fun" just takes the excitment out of it) experience ever! I am totally hooked, and I desperately want a little Pupface! She was the cutest little dog ever, and was totally like my little baby, and even though this was two weeks ago, I am still having withdrawls! Even Zac, who said he hated "poofy" little dogs really liked her too. He convinced himself that she looked like a little fox, rather than a Q-tip so he could legitimately like her. She would always snuggle up to him at night and try to give him kisses. If only our apartment complex allowed dogs!


She is just the cutest little dog. We discovered that she gets really excited when she knows it's time to go. One time we put her in her bag to leave, but then we had to go get a few things, so I put her down in her bag and left, and when I came back like 10 minutes later, she was still sitting patiently in her bad waiting to go! Well we thought it was so freaking adorable we took like a million pictures of her just sitting in her bag waiting to leave.



Well I guess thats about it for now!