Congratulate Me!

For those of you who don't know, or don't remember, I have worked at a local bank as a teller for almost a year and a half.  The branch I started at was in Cecil County, so I had a fairly good commute, but I enjoyed my job and the people I worked with.  Two months ago I was offered a promotion to head teller/back-up customer service rep, at a branch that was about 15 minutes closer to home.  I had a lot of reservations about taking the job, but I felt like if I turned it down I wouldn't get another offer for a long time, if ever.  So I took it and I've been there about a month now.  It's been a lot of learning and getting used to a new environment - almost like starting a whole new job!  I miss my old branch and the customers there, but I think I'll like this new branch too.  It's so nice to be closer to home and not have to drive to Cecil County and I'm not working as many Saturdays, so that's really nice!  It's kinda scary to be in charge of the other tellers and have so much more responsibility, but all in all it's been a good change! 

Utah trip

We had a great time visiting family and friends in Utah, it had been two years since I'd been out there!  We had a relaxing time with Chris' parents, got to do some Christmas shopping, and got to visit with Chris' grandmother.

Playing in the snow trying to get a cute Christmas card picture

Our niece and nephew's puppy Noel looking so cute for a treat!

Having lunch with one of my college roommates, Heidi

Look at me, posting two days in a row!  And this one just happened yesterday, even more impressive!  Someone told Thomas, my youngest brother, that star fruit was sweet and he should try some.  He's spending the weekend at our house, so Chris bought some star fruit for us to try.  By the looks on our faces I'm sure you can tell it was NOT sweet.

Highlights from Jamaica

I know, I know, I should have posted these pictuers a long time ago!  What can I say, I'm a slacker when it comes to blogging!

Anyway, we had a great time in Jamiaca.  We were there for five days and felt like we got to do pretty much everything we wanted to.  We stayed at a Sandals resort, which was really the way to go.  The only time we left the resort was to go to Dolphin Cove, which was way overpriced and not quite as fun as I'd expected.    I'd been a little worried about the food because I'm such a picky eater, but they cater to Americans, so I had plenty to eat, I even tried Jamaican jerk chicken, which was pretty good.  I will say they don't know how to make hot dogs! 

Most people there were on their honeymoons, so we felt a little old!  There was one couple we met who had gotten married at the resort and came back for their ten year anniversary.

We were both pretty diligent about putting on sunscreen so we wouldn't get burned, unfortunately that meant we came home as white as we left.

They had all kinds of water sports to try, and we tried most of them, my favorite by far was the windsurfing.  It's pretty hard, but I got going a couple times, we had a lot of fun laughing at each other as we fell.

This is the view from our hotel room, not too bad!  There were a couple mornings I woke up before Chris and I would sit out on the balcony in hopes of seeing dolphins swimming, but no such luck. 

The resort had like eight restaurants, most of which were casual, there were two fancy ones and this is one of them.  We enjoyed getting dressed up and trying their version of Asian food.  Our waiter was really nice and asked if we could take him back to America in our siutcase.

This is us snorkeling at Dolphin Cove, this was by far my favorite activity while we were there, we went twice - once at Dolphin Cove and once at the resort.  At Dolphin Cove it was an enclosed lagoon with a couple stingrays, at the resort they took us out in the ocean, which was much cooler.

Here I am holding one of the stingrays at Dolphin Cove, it was pretty weird, and very heavy.

This is also at Dolphin Cove, there was a little jungle you had to walk through before getting to the beach and all along the way there were animals and birds you could take pictures with.  We also had to walk under a canopy of spider webs, yuck!

There were lots of random things around the resort, like this giant chess board.  We also played shuffleboard and talked to a parrot.

Right outside our section of the hotel was a little pond with this enormour fish who liked to have his head pet! Every time we walked by we'd have to stop and pet the fish, it was so funny!

So, that, in a nutshell, was our trip.  We had a lot of fun and I survived my first flight over the ocean! I'm already planning our next Caribbean vacation!

4th of July

I know this is way overdue, but I figured I would still post because the pictures are so cute! We're lucky enough to live within walking distance of the parade route so we don't have to deal with parking. My dad and brothers stayed at my house while my mom, grandmother, Chris and I went to watch the parade. Of course we found the Washburns and sat near them.

My mom and grandmother enjoying the parade.

Bekah loves to have her picture taken so we ended up with what looks like a very cute family picture!

Briella sat me with me for awhile during the parade, which is always amazing and I love that she's getting to like me! I couldn't quite get her to smile for the picture, though.

This is Bekah posing, what a ham.

I had just gotten new Pampered Chef decorating tips so I was so excited to decorate a cake with them, I think it turned out really cute!

Cat-size Steak

When we got married and Chris started cooking, I started gaining weight, which, needless to say, I didn't like. After six years, we found a solution - a Cat-sized steak! It looked pretty funny, so we had to take a picture!

Howard The Duck

For those of you who don't know, I grew up with an amazing variety of animals, mostly injured animals that we took in for a few days until they were well enough to be released or sent to a wldlife refuge. The most recent may be staying for awhile. A domestic duck came running up to my parents at the park one day, obviously starving, and within reach of a fox, so he came home. They named him Howard and they say he's going to a sanctuary, but we'll see how that goes. He's very friendly and likes cuddling on laps and following us around the yard. They did some research and found out he's an Indian running duck, which is why he stands almost completely erect, unlike most ducks. So, of course, I had to take a trip down there to play with him!