"Thanksgiving in Tucson"

Before any of you Tucson family get mad because we did not stop by just hear me out...

As much as we both love our families we did not necessarily want to spend Thanksgiving with them (again just hear me out). I am so grateful for my new job but as many of you know it is difficult to ask for time off. Thanksgiving weekend is the first and last four day weekend I can foresee having for quite some time. Maria and I have been so antsy to begin work on our basement that we could hardly justify passing up such an opportunity.

So here is what we did:

I told Maria's family that I had to work of the Friday after Thanksgiving (legitimate excuse not to make the trek to St. Johns) and told my family who came down here for the holiday that we were going to Tucson to spend the holiday with Maria's extended family. (Brilliant right?)

Well so far it has worked out wonderfully. We have managed to spend the entire day working on the basement (except for a quick trip to Panda Express for Thanksgiving lunch!)

We apologize to both families but are so grateful this Thanksgiving to have had the opportunity to work in peace.

Pictures to come shortly.

Basement Update

I am so excited to finally be getting our basement done!!!! Yesterday we had some guys over doing the drywall and today others are coming to repair the door jams and trim. We have picked out a couple of colors of paint that we are considering and have purchased the tile! We are hoping to be able to paint sometime tonight and/or tomorrow and want to begin tiling as soon as possible. We should have our basement all put back together by the "Davis & Dinner" night in two weeks (just another reason to come!).

If you have any questions or need directions call me at 602-402-9567 or email me at emailme@jaboyle.com or just comment below. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you all!!

Happy Anniversary Babe!

Monday was our 2nd anniversary, but we had the opportunity to celebrate it on Saturday. Katie was sweet to offer her babysitting services so Jake and I could have a couple hours to ourselves. I wanted Texas road house but didn't want to sit in the noisy restaurant so we ordered it to go and took it to freestone park. It was a beautiful day and was also the place where we took our engagement pictures. We ate overlooking the lake and then Jake had an idea before hand that we would share our favorite memories of each other. For example our happiest moment or craziest moment, ect. over the past two years. We both wrote the memories out and shared them after dinner. It was fun to talk about all we have accomplished and done over the past 2 years.

I can't express how much I love and appreciate my husband. These are just a few of the things that I love about Jake:

1. He is always thinking of ways to make me happy and to surprise me.
2. He loves to make our house beautiful and is always thinking of ways to make it better.
3. He is very tone deaf but it does not stop him from singing (loudly) every cheesy love song that comes on the radio to me in the car.
4. He has the most gorgeous eyes that change colors depending on the color he is wearing and longest eyelashes.
5. Jake puts 100% in everything he does and I am so proud of him when I hear of projects or events that he has successfully accomplished while at work.
6. He makes me laugh and teases me with his very dry humor. Sometimes I think he might be British.
7. I love that he still loves me even though I can out shoot him. :)
8. Jake plays a mean game of Egyptian rat slap, Rummy, and Skip-Bo. Whenever we are in S.J. my Mom makes him play for hours so she can try and beat him.
9. He makes me a better person. He does this by encouraging me to continue to pursue my education and supporting me in all decisions I make.
10. Jake is amazing listening and giving advice. He should be the next and less annoying Dr. Phil.
11. Did I mention that he is freakin' hot?
12. He is the best Dad in the world to Davis.

Jake...you make me the luckiest gal in the world! Thank you for asking me out that first time. I love you!

"Thank you for calling Vanguard this is Jacob Boyle..."

I don't think I ever updated everyone on my new job. I have now completed my first two of five weeks of training at Vanguard. Basically I'm a telephone banker for stock and mutual fund accounts. Normally this position would require licenses but I am actually employed by a temp agency called Randstad. Vanguard hires a bunch of talent for their busy tax season through this temp agency and then they offer full time salary positions to those they like. I am contracted through the end of April, at that point they may offer me a full time position if they like me (and if I like them).

Right now I work 8:30am - 5:00pm, after training I will work 11:30am - 8:00pm. I took only a small pay cut but nearly doubled my weekly hours and have greater stability.

Although I am really liking this new job I am open to other job opportunities. The drive for me right now is a bit painful (52 miles one way!).

Getting Davis ready to go anywhere is such a chore (I wouldn't know though... Maria does most of it!). This morning we decided to go and visit Maria's Grandfather & Grandmother Davis. This is Davis' first time meeting his great grandparents. We took the extra time to ensure he makes a great first impression.

DC goes to SJ.

Maria, Davis, and I made a quick trip to St. Johns this weekend. Karen, Maria's little sister needed a ride up and so we decided to go. We had a good time and there were a couple moments in particular that stood out and deserve mentioning.

1) Davis - This little guy is quite possible the best traveling baby ever. On the way up Maria needed to stop for some water outside of Showlow so we decided to wake-up the little man so he could eat. It was the same on the way home, we stopped to eat and decided again to feed and change him. I am sure this little guy can make the trip to SJ non stop any time.

2) Snickers - Maria and I made it through our first Halloween sugar free... no help to Maria's dad Spence. Kirsten and I were playing cards and Spence knowing that my favorite candy bar was Snickers decided to try and save himself $500. He opened the fun size bar and broke it in half and stretched the caramel out in front of my face. When I did not let in he became more determined. Later that evening I sat next to Maria who was holding Davis on the couch. Spence took another candy bar and threw it at me. I think the moment it left his finger tips, Spence's blood must have ran cold and his heart sink into his stomach. The bar flew as though in slow motion and hit Davis in the head!!! As Davis lifted his head ever so slightly from Maria's chest and began to cry Maria's heart began to break! She teared up and gave her dad a look that froze him in his place. The rest of the weekend the taunting with candy did not exist. Furthermore I had a blast reminding him all weekend of what he had done.

3) Splitting Wood - Friday night at about 10:30 or so Spence was trying to convince Josh to wake up early the next day to go split wood with the ward young men for the widows and elderly in the ward. Josh did not seem too enthusiastic about the idea but I was, only one problem... Spence had not invited me to go. About midnight as Maria and were settling down for bed I told her that I was going to set my alarm clock and go with her dad in the morning. I knew that I was going to only get about 6 hours of sleep (with a baby in the room) but I had been jonesing to swing an ax. I woke up, rolled out of bed and waited downstairs for Spence to come out of his bedroom. Spence and I got to work the log splitter for at least an hour and a half and had a blast. It was fun working with him and fun to see so many people from my old ward come out to take care of their elderly.

4) St. Johns City Park - Having grown up in St. Johns and Maria visiting frequently we both love the city park. Saturday afternoon we met my family there to celebrate Mia's first birthday. The park and big and open and TJei was able to run a muck. We enjoyed the BBQ and visiting with my parents. Davis managed to soak Grandma Boyle's blouse with that ever dangerous water pistol mentioned in the previous post.

All together we had a great time. It was fun to be out of the rat race if only for a bit more than a day. It is nice to be home though and ready to start a new week and a new job tomorrow.