Team Robinson

Happy Groundhog Day!

2012-02-02T21:35:00.002-07:00

I'm sorry, I know I don't post often. I am SO busy with working full time an hour away. Between work and my commute, I'm not much of a blogger. This post will not contain any promises for more posts anytime soon. Oh and this post has nothing to do with Groundhog Day. :)

What are we up to lately? Well we had an AMAZING Christmas vacation in Germany with my parents and siblings. Aaron went skiing for the FIRST TIME EVER in Austria and we had a great time. Now we can say that Aaron and I both learned to ski in the Alps! I learned eleven years ago... but it's still a fun thing to share! :) We also went to Prague (loved it!!) and we went to Poland as well. We toured Auschwitz which was really interested (not as traumatizing as I thought it would be, but very informative and a good experience). We got Polish pottery in Poland, which was awesome. Spending time with family was the BEST! It was the first Christmas I've spent with my whole family in four years and I LOVED it!

January was crazy - Aaron went to Wisconsin to attend Tanner's farewell. My super awesome brother-in-law was called to serve a Spanish speaking mission in Oakland California! We're SO excited for him! Aaron served in Sacramento Spanish speaking, so apparently California needs those Robinson boys! Good luck Tanner!

I also went to Washington to be there for my best friend, Caylene, for a major event. It was a seriously wonderful weekend for me and I really loved spending time with Caylene, it had been too long! I have way too much to say about how amazing it was to spend time with Caylene, so I'll just say I love her and it was FANTASTIC spending time with her!
Another highlight of the weekend was how amazing my cousin's wife was! She picked me up from the airport in the middle of the night and drove me all over with her kids and everything. She was so nice and she even cancelled a visiting teaching appointment to have me be there! She's awesome. And I had such a fun time talking with her for hours! Thanks JoAnne!

Anyway, those were the big things. Other than that, we're just working, playing with the dogs, watching television and ... yah! Aaron's new addiction is Friday Night Lights and mine is How I Met Your Mother, so we've been glued to those shows this last month, lol. And the Bachelor and Once Upon A Time are big ones for me as well :)

Not much else to tell! Aaron has been spending time helping my aunt and her husband set up a new business and I've been getting into freezer cooking (love it!). We also love to lay in bed at night and read political news on our phones and discuss the presidential primaries - definitely one of my favorite things!

Oh and tip of the day for anyone trying to find a new way to keep a New Year's Resolution to budget better, mint.com is a free budgeting website that we discovered a few years ago and we LOVE it! You can get an app on your phone for it too (Android) and track all of your expenses by categorizing them and tracking your spending and where you're at on your budget. We're super pro budgeters, lol.
Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying 2012 so far! Bye for now! (...and probably for a while...sorry blogging world!!)

There's an app for that!

2011-11-21T23:01:00.001-07:00

I just downloaded a mobile app for blogger! Maybe I'll have shorter, more frequent posts now? We shall see. :)
Just for fun, here's a couple awesome purchases I've made recently ...
We got a chest freezer! I'm way excited! I want to start making freezer meals since I have so much less time now and it's tough to cook. My aunt sent me some freezer recipes, can't wait to try them!

Also, check out my purple shoes! I love purple and these are so fun! (Not to mention a great price!)

Not sure how the pictures work on this app...hope you can see them okay.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

New Plans

2011-10-30T17:33:00.000-06:00

Well, I thought I had life all planned out, and, once again, that tanked. Forget about Plan A, I think I'm on Plan O or something by now. You'd think I'd learn to stop with the plans... oh well, I haven't. A couple of months ago I thought that right now I'd be planning for the baby, continuing to spice up the MCSA department at Best Buy alongside my amazing coworkers and maybe even starting to fit in at church with my cute pregnant belly to lure in the curious, chatty women, lol.

Turns out, I'm doing something quite different. I've actually made friends at church all by myself, no baby lure necessary, lol. I was called to be the YW Secretary and I'm thrilled about it! My other big news is that I got another job! I'm finally using my degree (got a Political Science degree back in May), and I got a job with Arapahoe County as a Program Specialist! I start November 7th. Basically I'll be managing case files of welfare recipients and all that entails. I won't bore you with all the details. But I do have to say that I'm looking forward to having regular hours with weekends/holidays off!! Also I'll be in snazzy business dress (except on Fridays because its jean day - woot!) and I'll have my own cubicle, and be making twice what I used to make - can't complain!

Okay now I swear I'm counting my blessings, but I have to add a little more to this post that will have a few less exclamation marks. Even though I'm really excited about my new job, I'm really really really going to miss my coworkers at Best Buy. They are so great and I really have loved working with all of them. It will be really hard to leave my Best Buy family. I've never worked with such kind, thoughtful, respectful, supportive, hilarious people! We have a good time and I will miss it. Customers....not so much :) There are a few regulars I'll miss seeing, but generally, it will be a relief to be done dealing with a constant stream of issues from rude, inconsiderate people. Soapbox moment... When you're shopping, please always remember that the person behind the counter and on the other end of the phone is a PERSON. Thanks. :)

I am trying so hard to be nothing short of excited about the new direction my life is taking, but I admit my grief is holding me back in terms of enthusiasm. I really am very happy about everything that's happening right now with my job and calling and all, but the pain is still there underneath it all. So please don't think I'm ungrateful for my blessings, because I am happy and grateful about what's happening, but I'm also still sad about what's not happening. Hope that makes sense.

So here we go with the next plan whether I like it or not ....
new career, new calling, expanding social life.

Bring it on.

Coping

2011-10-30T17:27:00.001-06:00

It has stunned me to discover how many women have been through what I'm going through now. It breaks my heart to think that something so traumatizing could be so common and my heart goes out to all those women who feel or have felt what I'm feeling.

One of the most helpful things has been the people who have told me their stories and shared their grief with me during my own dark time. It's helpful to know I'm not crazy and it's okay to feel this way for however long it takes. I've thought about sharing the details of what I'm feeling and going through here since it was so helpful to hear the stories of others, but I'm not comfortable posting everything about my experience in this setting. However, if you or someone you know ever needs to talk, please feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to talk about it. I've found that I actually prefer being open about my experience with others who ask and are understanding, and it can be a very healing experience to share even the deepest pain when it's with someone experiencing the same pain you are. Especially since it's so painful to talk to people about it who make it obvious that they don't understand. So if anyone needs an understanding ear, my offer stands indefinitely. Just wanted to put that out there.

Also, THANK YOU to all those who have reached out to me either through comments, emails, conversations, flowers, or anonymous prayers. I love you and thank you so much. No amount of advice counts for much in a situation like this and no one can fix it, but love helps. So thank you for your love.

I'm still never too far from tears, and this still hurts more than I can express. I can't believe it's been over a month. People have said the pain will never go away but that it will get easier to deal with, and so far that has held true. But life is marching on and I'm dealing with my grief in the quiet moments that I have alone as the rest of my life speeds along as usual. So I'm functioning just fine, and even moving forward, but I know I'll never be the same.

2010 Photo Books

2011-09-27T21:44:00.000-06:00

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The one great thing about trying to escape your problems is that you accomplish projects that have been on the back burner for a long time. I'm actually really excited about finally finishing these and I think it's cool that I can post them here for my family to see, and anyone else. Enjoy.

September 23

2011-09-26T18:44:00.001-06:00

Looks like my new job didn't work out.
Our little one has gone back to heaven.

My doctors seemed to be wrong at every turn. "You have next to no chance of getting pregnant." Got pregnant. "Clearly everything is good and healthy and we're not really concerned about anything going wrong at this point." Something went wrong.

On Sept 23 they couldn't see a heartbeat, but said it could be a number of things and sent me home. A few hours later, and for the next few days, there was a lot of blood and a lot of pain.
And a lot of tears.

Aaron said that this paragraph from my book, The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy, really helped him understand my situation better, so maybe it's worth including here: "The mourning that a mother does when she loses that baby is of the most profound and inconsolable kind. It's primitive and indescribable. And to those who are not the mother, it's baffling and bigger than what they would have expected. "

I won't attempt to even begin to convey my emotions about this traumatic experience here in this blog. But those of you who have shared in this brief journey with us should know how it ended, and so now you know.

As an unimportant side note, in case you're curious,... I don't regret telling people early on, in fact I'm very glad that I did. I'm grateful that I had that time to be excited and share in that excitement with others while I had the chance.

Thank you all for reading about my very brief but beautiful experience with the miracle of pregnancy. Maybe it will work out better for us someday. For now we're handling the grief as best we can and feeling very grateful that we still have each other.

I'm so thankful that I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm so glad I have the gospel in my life to help me better understand Heavenly Father's eternal plan for me and my family. The gospel of Jesus Christ helps me keep my priorities in order, and helps me remember why I wake up every day.
For those of you who don't know, twice a year the women of the church gather together to receive counsel from our church leaders. By the grace of God, one of those gatherings was the day after I lost my baby. I could not get myself to leave the house, but I watched the conference streaming online. There was a quote that I very much needed to hear as I sat grief-stricken in my home feeling completely forgotten and unloved by the Lord. Nothing else said could have been more important for me to hear right then. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to hear this at just the right time in my life. Despite all the pain and heartache, I know my Heavenly Father has a better plan for me and I know now that I'm not forgotten.

"As an Apostle of our Master, Jesus Christ, I proclaim with all the certainty and conviction of my heart and soul—You are not forgotten. Sisters, wherever you are, whatever the circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you, with an infinite love."

—President Dieter F. Uchtdorf"

http://lds.org/pages/general-rs-meeting-2011?lang=eng

Six weeks!

2011-09-22T00:00:00.002-06:00

As of Tuesday I’m six weeks along! Apparently I know nothing about beingpregnant. All of my preconceptions havebeen wrong! I thought at only six weeksI wouldn’t even notice I was pregnant and my body would be just the same. Yaaaaah…. Not even close. For the last two weeks I’ve only had 1-2hours a day when I haven’t felt completely miserable. I’m so light-headed, I have to use to restroomALL the time, I can smell EVERYTHING, and I feel like I’m just dragging all thetime. I think the worst part is feelingso darn fragile. I can’t help Aaron liftthings, or push myself physically and that is so not me. That said, I have random moments throughoutevery day when I can’t stop smiling and feeling SO excited about this blessing!

To be honest, I feel a little guilty that I don’t love everysecond of being pregnant, but it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. I still feel extremely blessed every secondof the day, but physically I feel awful.

Something else that I was absolutely wrong about is I didnot think I’d have any semblance of a belly this early! Aaron and I had planned to take “bellypictures” at the six week mark so we could have kind of a ‘before’ picture inthe series of belly pictures. Yah…Iguess we should have taken a five week picture because ever since I woke uplast Sunday, I’ve got a little belly going on. Never thought that would happen soearly!! And in case you’re wondering, noI’m not just getting fat, lol. I know mybody and this is not how I look when I gain weight. Plus I can’t suck it in! I tried…which made Aaron freak out and say Iwas squishing the baby, haha!

Oh and I had my first moment of those mood swings everyonetalks about today. I was driving towork, rocking out to a great country song, when I just burst into tears! Nothing was wrong, I didn’t feel upset oranything, but there I was, bawling like a baby in my car for a couple ofminutes. It was so weird! I just laughed at myself, dabbed my eyes andmoved on. It was kind of fun to tell thestory when I got to work.

Let’s see what else is going on at the six week mark… justlearning more and more about this pregnancy thing. It’s interesting to shop for vitamins ratherthan calories. It’s a whole differentperspective on food! Aaron has been awesome about keeping me on the ball with what I can and can't eat. It was fun going to grocery shopping with him for all the "pregnancy super-foods!" It's funny what I can't eat. No hot dogs?? C'mon... dumb. Oh well, lol. It’s also supershocking to me that I have to use the restroom so often. I didn’t think that happened until the babywas big enough to push on your bladder, but my doctor explained to me that yourkidneys go into overdrive when you’re pregnant. Plus you have to drink more water. So between those two factors, I get to see alot more of my bathroom! I can’t imaginewhat it will be like when the baby IS big enough to push on my bladder in additionto everything else!

Work is going pretty well. It’s tough because I have to take frequent bathroom breaks, and beconstantly munching on pretzels or something, so I feel like I look like aslacker half the time, when I really feel like I’m working a lot harder sinceeverything seems to require more energy now. Luckily I’m in a position where I can sit a lot, because those few timeswhen I do have to stand at a register or run around the store are very taxingand I could never do it regularly. Especiallywith feeling as light-headed as I do…I’ve already nearly fallen four times inthe last week. I’ve caught myself everytime, thankfully. I also used tointervene anytime a coworker had a difficult, rude customer, but now I avoidthem like the plague. I just can’thandle the stress, plus I have a much harder time empathizing with people whenI’m feeling like I’m about to pass out. Just sayin’.

I know I already said this a few times, but it really is soshocking to me how many changes my body is experiencing already. I had no idea how much of a total change I’dexperience physically, mentally and emotionally, and definitely didn’t thinkthe change would be right away. I guessI just always thought anything difficult about being pregnant was all relatedto being huge and uncomfortable once you had a big belly - I was extremely naïve! I joined a discussion group online called Duein May (self-explanatory...) and it’s really fun to be able to see what otherwomen are going through and realize that I’m not the only one, and also thateveryone is different. I think thatcollectively pregnancy is a unique experience for everyone, but there arealways lots of other women you can relate to in various elements of yourexperience. It’s really fun to findthose similarities and not feel crazy or alone! For example, there are a few other women on the board who are reportinglittle bellies showing up. Yay! I’m not the only one showing superearly! My coworkers noticed it alreadyand were starting to wonder if I was wrong about how far along I was! But no, I’m definitely six weeks, just showingearly and feeling a lot sicker than I thought I would. And feeling a lot more blessed that I everthought I’d be.

I can’t believe I got so lucky.

The First Five Weeks

2011-09-21T12:45:00.003-06:00

Thought I’d give a little background before getting intoupdates…

My doctor called me mid-August with some test results andtold me that our chances of getting pregnant were extremely small and it mostlikely wasn’t going to happen. We’d justfinished a round of taking fertility medication (again) so we figured we’d seeit through, but all the hope was gone from it. There was a small shred of hope that came backwhen I got my first positive ovulation test ever! But it didn’t keep me hopeful very long. By the time the date that I could reasonablytake an accurate pregnancy test came around, Aaron and I had already acceptedwhat the doctor had said. Instead ofrushing off to a fertility clinic, we decided to shelve the whole thing for atleast a year and just save money for when we had to face the expensive optionslike IVF or adoption. So on September 6^thwhen I knew I could take a pregnancy test, it felt more like I was just gettingthe bad news over with so we could move on with our new plan. Needless to say, I was STUNNED when I read thetest results!!

I told Aaron that evening when he came home, but it wasn’t abig surprise for him because he said he could already read it all over my face. That man knows me too well. :) The way I told him was fun though because Igave him this:

Within 24 hours of telling Aaron, my entire immediatefamily knew. They were all SOexcited! My dad just said “I TOLD younot to believe doctors!!!” (Did Imention my dad is a doctor? lol) I didn’thave a cute way for telling my brothers other than just calling them and sayingI was pregnant, but they were THRILLED! It was so much fun. I told my mom, Jacob and Macy and my dadthrough skype. I showed my dad this overthe webcam:

The day I found out was a Tuesday and on Friday I startedhaving some really bad cramps at work. Icalled my doctor and described the pain and she told me to go to the ERimmediately. I decided not to go becauseI thought it was an over-reaction. Ididn’t feel like anything was truly wrong. I talked to my general manager, Rachael, and she told me firmly toalways over-react when it’s pregnancy-related. She said to leave and get to the hospital immediately. I guess my GM has more authority in mymind than my doctor, because I went. Icouldn’t get a hold of Aaron which was a little nerve-racking. Once I was in the ER, he finally called and Itold him to come right away. He showedup sooner than I expected (I suspect speeding was involved…). I surprisingly stayed very calm throughoutthe whole thing. A doctor came in andsaid that based on the pain they suspected it might be an ectopic pregnancy. I started get nervous at that point because mymom had been through that and they’d suspected me of having one before (when itwas actually an ovarian cyst rupturing), so the emotions were familiar.

They did an ultrasound and saw some fluid in my uterus thatthey said could either be normal, or it could indicate that it was an ectopicpregnancy about to rupture. She said hewanted to keep me overnight because if it did rupture I could bleed to deathwithin minutes. I thought the doctorlooked really nervous, which freaked me out, so I had my two minute emotionalmeltdown at that point. Then I got overit and went back to the “stay calm until knowing anything for sure” attitude. They admitted me and I had to sit there for 24hours waiting for intense pain that could indicate the end of everything I wasso excited for. So much fun…

Oh and Aaron’s mom and brother were coming back through townthat evening to pick up their puppies and spend the night. So we had to call them and re-route them tothe hospital instead of our house. Sothat was a really unusual way for them to find out the good news! It went something like, “Well the good news isthat Janae is pregnant, and the bad news is we’re not sure if this is going tostay good news…”.

The next morning they ran more tests and said everythinglooked completely normal and they no longer suspected an ectopicpregnancy. False alarm - whew!!! They also said that all my levels were reallyhigh which made them very comfortable and everything was most likely fine. Yay! Iwent back for follow-up testing the next week and they said my levels werefantastic and they weren’t worried about any risks at all at that point. My progesterone was over TWICE what's considered a good/safe level and my HCG levels are doubling normally and then some. It's nice to know my intuition was correct and the baby is safe and healthy. I guess mother's instinct starts earlier than I thought?

So with that overwhelming reassurance from the doctors, we determined it was safe to tell everyoneour good news, since now we know it will remain good news :) Plus, I'm way too excited to keep it a secret!!

New Job!!

2011-09-19T21:47:00.004-06:00

I am thrilled to announce that I have a new job!! This is a job that I’ve been trying to get onand off for about two years, but I’ve really had my heart set on it for thelast six months. At one point I was toldthat I would never be able to have the job, which was devastating. But I’m happy to report that I got the jobanyway, despite all of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. I start in May of 2012 and I can’t wait!

My new job is… being a momma!!

Yes, you read that right, I’m pregnant!!! I'm going to have the best and most important job in the world! :)

I can’t even express how thrilled we are thatthis finally worked out for us, especially after doctors telling us that it mostlikely wouldn’t. It has been a verydifficult journey but the timing is perfect and we feel so blessed. Heavenly Father is so mindful of us and soloving. Thank you to everyone who hasprayed for us. It’s hard to explain, butwe really felt those prayers and are so grateful for them.

Due date is May 15, 2012! I will be updating our blog with all the pregnancy-related news, so feelfree to check in from time to time to see how things are going. I probably won’t be posting much on Facebook,so this is where the info is at! :) We’re finding ourselves more grateful thanever for friends and family and we’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave comments and advice.

We are SO EXCITED for this new adventure!!!

Update, Family Visit, and Puppies

2011-09-19T21:28:00.000-06:00

The last couple of months have kept us busy with trying tounpack in-between our busy work schedules. We’re almost there! Just a few boxes left in the basement. We’re really loving our new home. It’s funny because our décor actually fitsinto our new house better than it fit our old house! It was meant to be, lol. It was also really fun buying new furniturefor our house because we’ve never bought furniture together. Aaron had a lot of nice furniture when we gotmarried so we just used his bachelor pad stuff up until now. We got a nice dining set, a couch for thefamily room, and a guest bedroom set! Ilove having a guest bedroom! It’s greatto have a place for people when they visit.

The guest bedroom was recently broken in by Aaron’s familywhen they came to visit in August! His sisterneeded to get out to BYUI, so his family made it into a fun road trip, andstopped to see us for a couple of days! It was a wonderful visit, I loved havingeveryone here! We went hiking in theRocky Mountains (took some great pictures there!), walked around Pearl Streetin Boulder, and spent time playing games and talking. I posted a lot of pictures of their visit onFacebook if you’re curious. It was agreat time.

We also got to dog-sit for Aaron’s parents’ puppies whilethey finished their road trip for a couple of weeks. They have two super adorable Maltese puppies,Winnie and Dottie, and they were SO much fun! Granted, they were also yippy and not reallypotty-trained… but I think that’s why puppies come so cute, so you can lookpast all of that when you see their little faces! We had tons of fun with them and Sugar andSampson enjoyed having a larger pack for a while too. Winnie and Sugar both have very dominantpersonalities and wanted nothing to do with each other, but Sugar and Dottieloved to play together! And Winniecouldn’t get enough of Sampson. Also, Winniewas Aaron’s favorite and Dottie was mine, so we had two teams in our house! Aaron, Winnie and Sampson vs Janae, Dottie andSugar! :) We had lots of fun with it and it was sad tosee them go when Aaron’s mom and Tanner came back through to pick them up lastweek.

House Hunting, House Selling and House Buying

2011-07-11T00:27:00.002-06:00

Whew! Our lives have been in a real estate whirlwind lately! After seven months of house hunting and having our house on the market, we have finally sold our house in O’Fallon, IL and have purchased a new home here in Colorado! We close this Friday and we’re SO excited! I will be so relived to be out of this tiny apartment and back in a home!

I think the three best things will be:

1. Having counter space again in the kitchen

2. Sleeping on a real bed! (We left our furniture in our house in O’Fallon so we’ve been on an air mattress for seven months!!)

3. Having a yard for our dogs. We’ve actually never had a fenced yard for the dogs before and we are both so thrilled to have that! Especially after having to walk them out on the leash every time they need to go out in the apartment.

We really found a wonderful home to move into and feel that in many ways it was meant to be! The short version of the story is... Aaron is the one who found the home when it had only been on the market for four days and he and I were very on the ball about seeing it right away. We were only the 2^nd people to see it and the people who saw it just before us were putting an offer in as we were looking at it. We had a great realtor who kept us well informed and we were able to offer just a little higher than the other people and get our offer in right at the end of the business day with a midnight deadline, so we barely got the offer in and it was accepted! Our realtor actually brought the offer to my work for me to sign in order to get it in on time! It was very well priced and we feel very blessed to have found this home after looking for so long. This is the second home we made an offer on, but the fifth home we wanted. After so much disappointment in our house hunting experience, we felt quite beaten and frustrated, so it was interesting how it all worked out so well. Our home in IL also sold only a couple of weeks before we officially purchase this new one, so the timing was perfect too. Heavenly Father must laugh at us so often for getting frustrated and discouraged at things not going according to our plans when He knows He has a better plan in mind for us the whole time.

The woman we’re buying the home from is extremely nice and has had us over to show us how everything works and introduced us to the neighbors and everything. We’re very excited for our new adventure to start next weekend in our new home and in a new ward!

Here is a picture of our new home! (Don't worry, I'll post more pictures once we're settled)

Family Reunions

2011-07-11T00:26:00.001-06:00

This summer both my Mom and Dad’s families decided to have family reunions – a week apart from each other! We haven’t had a reunion on either side in 5+ years so it was funny how the timing worked out! So two weeks ago we had the DeLaMare family reunion. Thankfully it was here in Colorado so we didn’t have to go far! We had a luau at my Aunt Tanya’s house where we roasted a pig, rode ATVs, sat in the hot tubs, played Volleyball, horseshoes, bean bag toss and Rock Band and just had a great time together! The day before, most of the grandkids went to Elitchs together and it was a ton of fun to spend time together and ride the rides. I particularly enjoyed catching up with Stacia (my closest cousin who recently returned from her mission), talking with Phil and Jacob, and running around with Macy.

Last weekend we flew to the Portland Airport to attend the Andrus family reunion in Battle Ground, WA. We enjoyed time sitting by the river one day and by the lake the next talking and enjoying each other’s company. I got to hold my cousin, Jamie’s, baby, Sadie, (who has the same birthday as me!) for hours by the lake and that was a real treat for me. The only downside was that it presented lots of opportunity for comments about my lack of children…lol, but it was actually all pretty funny. My top three favorites parts of the river and lake activities were talking with my Uncle Mark and also my Uncle Danny about politics and public education, holding Sadie, and playing Frisbee with my cousins. We actually got a game of Ultimate Frisbee going and it was a BLAST! It was really fun to spend more time with Jamie’s husband, Patrick. He and Aaron have some fun business ideas going now after chatting for while. It was also fun to see Jamie being a mom and to see Camille as a beautiful teenager! It’s weird how time changes people’s roles from what you’re used to. The last night we had 50^th Anniversary party for my grandparents and it was a fiesta! It was actually a very special night and my grandparents shared some great insights as they spoke to us. The best part was that my grandma gave each granddaughter a piece of handpainted china from her mother’s collection, and my grandpa gave us each a copy of his published life history! I’ve been wanting to read it, but Aaron read over my shoulder as I read the first two chapters on the plane, and he got hooked and hasn’t given it back since! Haha, I’ll get my turn soon.

Both reunions were wonderful experiences, it’s always very special to me to have time with family. I’m extremely frustrated with myself for forgetting to bring my camera to the Andrus family reunion! We didn’t hear our alarms and nearly missed our plane, so it got forgotten in the hustle. Oh well, I’ll get pictures from everyone else soon. Also, I got to see one of my best friends, Caylene, while we were in Washington! It was a short visit but so awesome! I always love spending time with her. It was as if we’d never been apart! She’s like a sister to me and so it was fitting that I saw her on the weekend of a family reunion J

Sorry there are no pictures in this post, if you want to see my family reunion pictures, feel free to check out facebook.

College Graduation!

2011-07-11T00:16:00.004-06:00

Well I am officially a college graduate! I guess I was already when I graduated with my associates degree from BYUI…but I guess I didn’t count that since I was still working on my bachelors. So anyway, now I officially have my Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Administration and a minor in Social Science. It feels SO GOOD to be done! I was attending Troy University for the last two years of my degree since it was affordable and I could complete it online to work around my work schedule. I never got to walk in my high school graduation because I graduated early and by the time my class was walking across the stage, I was in the middle of a semester as a sophomore in college, so I didn’t go back to be part of the ceremony. Not wanting to completely miss the chance to have that experience in my lifetime, I flew out to Florida to attend the graduation ceremony there! My parents, youngest brother, baby sister, and of course, Aaron, were all there with me for the special event (and not without sacrifice!). It was so worth it to be there and have that moment. The best part for me was moving over the tassel. That moment made the entire trip worth it for some reason. It felt good to celebrate my accomplishment with the people I love most! And of course, we enjoyed time at Florida’s beautiful beaches!

Celeste and Nathan's Visit!

2011-07-11T00:12:00.002-06:00

In May we were super excited to get a call from Aaron’s sister, Celeste, saying that she and her new husband would be driving through Colorado and wanted to stay the night on their way. We were SO excited to have them over and to spend time with them! Especially because we hadn’t gotten a chance to spend time with Nathan yet and we were very excited to get to know him better. When they arrived we enjoyed time to talk and catch up, and then sat in the hot tub at our apartment complex pool for an hour or so. We had pancakes, eggs and muffins in the morning and helped them get back on the road. We were sad to see them go so soon but we absolutely loved getting that unexpected special time to spend with them. And we really enjoyed Nathan and think he’s a fantastic addition to the family. I like not being the only in-law anymore! J

(Pretty sure everyone in this picture would like for you to know that this was taken early in the morning before we were ready for the day and we normally look much better) :)

Promotion!

2011-07-11T00:11:00.000-06:00

In April we had an employee move away and when her position became open, my manager encouraged me to apply for it, so I did and I got it! So instead of being a part time Sales Associate in Portable Electronics, I’m now a full time Front End Lead in Operations! Basically what that means is I coach and train the cashiers and customer service associates and deal with all the customer issues that arise in those areas of the store (which are not lacking unfortunately!). It’s great to have more responsibilities but it’s not without its share of negative features. I’m enjoying the position overall though and think it’s a great experience.

One other work update that happened right around the same time is that I was accepted into the Harvest program! It’s basically a management training program run by the current managers for those who want to move forward in the company and show potential. About 30+ people applied and they only accepted about a third so I feel very privileged to have this opportunity and hope to learn a lot of valuable things from it.

Janae's Birthday

2011-07-10T23:33:00.004-06:00

I really didn’t want my birthday to come this year because for some reason I did not want to turn 23 (Aaron and I felt the same way about our birthdays this year). But, as always, time didn’t conform to my wishes and April 17^th came and went without my permission, lol. My birthday was on a Sunday this year so we celebrated on Saturday and Sunday! J

On Saturday Aaron put together a great day for me! We went bowling, shopping at a fabric store, then out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Bowling was SO MUCH FUN!!! Aaron made the mistake of walking away and letting me create the bowling names, haha! So we were "Birthday Girl" and "Handsome Guy". J We had two of the closest games we’ve had, it was some intense competition! There was an old man in the lane next to us who was watching our game and he got pretty caught up in the intensity of our close scores, it was fun! And of course we had awesome bowling shoes, lol.

Oh and I got to listen to whatever I wanted on the radio which I abused terribly and poor Aaron was stuck listening to all kinds of 90s “girl power” music, haha. He was also a great sport at the fabric store while he waited patiently for almost an hour while I picked out a dress pattern. Then that night we had the adult session of stake conference. I’ve had at least some part of stake conference fall on my birthday for the last three years somehow… what’s up with that?? Oh well J Oh and Aaron got me Sims 2 Open for Business for my birthday, haha! It’s a fun game, and Aaron actually got a little addicted to it too once I showed him how to open a robot-making shop, lol.

On Sunday morning I had a delicious fruit tart for breakfast and skyped with my family for a while. Then I got to go to my Grammy and Papa’s house after church and have tacos and birthday cake with my extended family! I picked out a delicious Boston Creme Cake for my birthday cake. So yummy! The best part of Sunday was getting Grammy and Papa’s rendition of “Happy Birthday” in person! J

Aaron's 29th Birthday

2011-07-10T23:21:00.004-06:00

This year we celebrated Aaron’s 29^th birthday! My man is getting old! Leading up to his birthday he kept saying that it didn’t feel like his birthday so I went overboard with decorating the apartment for his special day so that he would feel like it was his birthday! Lol, it was fun to see his reaction! My favorite gift that I got him was a Superbowl Packers Champions Tshirt. It seems that every time I’ve gotten Aaron a Tshirt, it’s always too small, so I was thrilled that this one fit! And he wears it a lot J

For his birthday dinner, we had chicken enchiladas and Mexican rice. As a special surprise, I also got him Sangria to drink with his meal. He fell in love with the drink on his mission and every time we have Mexican food he comments that it needs Sangria, so I found some to go with his Mexican birthday dinner!

I also made Aaron a birthday cake and I was really excited to surprise him with a circle layer cake that he prefers (but it’s a little more work so we usually just do sheet cake). Unfortunately, the cake making did not go well! It completely fell apart! I couldn’t stand letting that ugly cake be Aaron’s birthday cake, and I had about 45 minutes before Aaron was supposed to get home, so I ran out the door to the grocery store to get a bakery cake. The grocery store cake saved the day! And actually my ugly cake still tasted pretty good, so we had two yummy cakes to eat!

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-07-10T19:15:00.007-06:00

2011 was by far the best Valentine’s Day Aaron and I have spent together yet! Since it was on a Monday it kind of turned into a Valentine’s Day weekend. On Saturday we had a fabulous night of dinner and dancing! We went out to TGI Fridays for dinner and had a really delicious meal. I think their new cheesecake is AMAZING and Aaron really loved his first wedge salad.

Then we went to the Stake Valentine’s Day Dance. The dance was SO much fun! I was very impressed by how beautiful they were able to make the cultural hall. It definitely rivaled most wedding receptions done in church buildings. The theme was "A Love Story" and they had couples submit their love stories beforehand with a picture. Then they displayed the pictures as a slideshow throughout the night and they had each love story on posters around the room. At the end of the night we got to take our poster home. They had some of the pictures in frames as the table centerpieces and our pictures was one of them so we got to take that home too.

It was really creative and fun! Also, the strawberries were huge and delicious! Aaron and I danced a lot and just had tons of fun talking, laughing and goofing off. There were only two other couples from our ward there so we got to socialize a little, but for the most part we were able to just focus on each other since we didn't know anyone else, which was perfect. I got some pictures of the evening off the event website. They took a picture to show the slideshow when it was our picture on there! And there was even had a picture of me and Aaron dancing! :) Also as part of the event they took everyone's couple picture. I didn't really like ours, but I posted it here anyway. It's the black and white one at the top of the post.

On Monday night we exchanged gifts with each other and played games. Aaron’s gift to me was an amazing meal of stuffed chicken breasts – yum! He also got me roses and a stuffed lion that is SO cute! Sugar thinks Mufee (the lion) is her cub or something and she carries him around the apartment and cuddles with him under the couch. But...she also chews on his tail so I constantly have to take him away from her, lol.

And I spoiled Aaron with tons of gifts! (everything in the picture is from me to him, lol) I also put together a very poorly done photoshopped picture for him. It didn't quite go as planned... I wanted to do a collage of words that would look like his silhouette, and that project got stuck half way through (I'll post a picture of that partial project) so I tried putting words over his face and that just looked odd. As a back up (since I knew this was failing), I also threw together a picture of both of us with lyrics from our songs in the background. By the way, the words I used on Aaron's picture were adjectives that I got his friends and family to send me that they thought described Aaron. Also the last picture is the gift from the dogs to Aaron, lol.

Gingerbread House Contest Result

2011-07-10T16:02:00.004-06:00

How's this for overdue?? I posted the result on Facebook right after the contest, but it has come to my attention that not everyone saw it! So this is for Brielle :) The contest winner was House A, made by Janae! That's me!! lol, so yes, I got to open the first present on Christmas morning :) Oh and Aaron's gingerbread house fell apart almost immediately after he took the picture! So it's a good thing he got the picture in time! He might have added more but didn't get the chance. It was a close contest! Thanks for voting you guys, it was really fun and will probably be an annual tradition :)

I plan to get back to blogging, so prepare for an onslaught of entries as I catch up on events of 2011...

Gingerbread House Contest!

2010-12-23T22:32:00.008-07:00

Each contestant had access to 13.5 graham crackers, one bag of Brach's Holiday Mix candy, half a bag of Brach's Crimp Ribbon candy, 8.1 ounces of whipped chocolate frosting, 8.1 ounces of whipped vanilla frosting, a working surface of their choice (cookie tray and cutting board were chosen), a spoon, a knife, paper towels, and of course, their own ingenuity (unfortunately that last resource seriously tipped the scales, but what can you do??). There was no limit on time or smack talk.

The contestants were responsible for taking their own pictures at the end and choosing only two to post for judging. Gingerbread houses will be referred to as House A and House B, assigned by the flip of a coin.

YOU will be the judge of the contest! The poll is posted on the right side of this blog...review the pictures and choose carefully! The winner gets to open the first gift on Christmas morning! Woohoo! Looking forward to the final result! The poll will close at 10pm on Christmas Eve (because that's when we're going to bed! lol). Thanks for participating!! Happy judging!

HOUSE A:

HOUSE B:

Don't forget to vote in the poll! It's in the top right corner of the page :)

Merry Christmas!

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree Video!

2010-12-20T00:23:00.005-07:00

Yay for time lapse videos!! Okay...disclaimers: It's not the final perfect product, but I don't have the software to make it as good as I want it right now. Maybe if I save my pennies... :) The end is sketchy music-wise, but I think you the get idea of what I was going for at least. Anyway, here's what it is for now. Enjoy! (PS - we have the flu, so don't judge our appearance too much if you can help it! lol)

Christmas in Colorado!

2010-12-19T22:36:00.009-07:00

So because of my work schedule I have to stay here for Christmas. After much deliberation, Aaron finally decided to stay here with me, so we'll be spending Christmas together in Colorado. The downside is we'll miss out on visiting our family in Wisconsin, which is a huge bum

Saving...

mer and I've already had my cry about that. The upside is that Aaron and I will get to spend our first Christmas together at home with just the two of us and our dogs!! I've become a lot more excited about that over the last couple of weeks. We'll be able to spend Christmas Eve with my extended family down in Parker (just an hour away), and then we'll wake up on Christmas morning in our apartment. I'm excited to be able to form some of our own traditions and just enjoy each other and our dogs on Christmas morning. A couple of things we're doing this year (that we hope are the start of lasting traditions) are... giving each other pajamas as gifts to open on Christmas Eve, having a gingerbread house making contest and making lots of kiss cookies (our favorite!).

Sugar and Sampson are getting excited about the tree and the stockings and it will be fun for them to have their first Christmas morning! They usually have to stay in their crates so they don't get in the way, and I'm excited to let them be part of the gift-opening part of Christmas! We have a couple of gifts under the tree for them as well as stockings filled with rawhides! :)

Speaking of which, this is my first year filling a stocking for someone! It's actually really fun! I probably went a little overboard with my items, but hopefully Aaron enjoys his stocking! I've been practicing filling it when he's not home to make sure everything fits, lol. I'm pretty excited! We finally have all of our presents under the tree and I'm getting excited for Christmas to come! Nothing brings out the 6 year old in me quite like seeing my name on a gift!! :)

I also have to add that I recently purchased two nativity sets! We found one at Big Lots and it was marked down to only 14.95 and I loved it, so we decided to go ahead and get it. I think the scriptures carved into each piece makes it really special. I really love it and hope it will be a treasure for many years.

So then I'm walking around King Soopers a couple of days ago...and I see another nativity set! It was beautiful and came with the animals and the stable and everything! It was the very last one that they had and it was on clearance for...14.95!! I knew I couldn't justify getting yet another nativity set to Aaron, even at that price, so I bought it with my own spending money and I think that just makes me love it even more! I still can't believe it was so inexpensive! It looks like a hand crafted set worth a couple hundred dollars to me. I love it!

I can hardly believe my luck, two nativity sets that I LOVE! :) And I've always wanted a Poinsettia but I never get one, so I finally did this year. This is a counter full of things I love! (and our fridge in the background filled with Christmas cards from friends and family!) :)

By the way, I will be posting a really cool video on here soon. It's of us decorating the Christmas tree, but I think it turned out pretty neat. We did a time lapse record! :) You'll see. Here's a preview of the tree decorating...Well, work has been crazy with the holidays, but I'm really glad to have a job (even if it does change our holiday plans) and it's great to feel useful and bring home the rent money! My nine hour shift yesterday was tough. Nine hours is not usually a bad shift, but I had spent all of Friday in the ER with a ruptured ovarian cyst (fun...) so I wasn't really in great condition. I couldn't walk because I was so dizzy with pain meds, not to mention the pain itself, but I knew it was a busy day and my managers needed me there, so I had Aaron drive me to work and I told them I could work, but I couldn't walk. My managers were awesome!! They set me up with a chair at a register and let me sit there and ring people out for my whole shift. One of my coworkers walked me to and from the bathroom and break room whenever I needed her. I had a few customers who I've developed a first name basis with come through the line and chat with me and wish me well. It was an incredibly hard day, but the Best Buy coworkers, managers and customers made it as good as it could have possibly been given the circumstances. I love my job! Everyone is so great. :)

Last thing - Aaron and I will be having our gingerbread house making contest this week and I'll be posting the pictures here for judging by YOU! So be on the look out for that and prepare to vote!! :)

Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

2010-12-19T21:47:00.005-07:00

We moved into our apartment last Monday in the morning... and got our Christmas tree that night! Here's the story of getting the Christmas tree...

We really put a lot of mental energy into where we wanted to go and get our Christmas tree. I wanted to cut one down this year, but as beautiful as Colorado is, their trees (at least at the tree lots we saw) just aren't up to par with imported Christmas trees (thank you South Carolina!). So we asked around and got a great tip on a Christmas tree lot nearby that was supposed to be really good. I scouted it out during the day a few days before we were going to get our tree so that we knew where we were going. The evening we had planned to get the tree, Aaron and I both came down with the flu.. :( But it was the ONLY evening that week that I had off of work so we had to do it! So off we went to our carefully selected Christmas tree lot ... and it was closed! Bummer!! So, after all of that, we dragged our sick selves to the local grocery store and found a tree there (thank you King Soopers!). So it worked out. I'm pretty sure we got the BEST one they had!! I LOVE our tree!! :)

(we only had our phones with us to take pictures, sorry for the bad quality)

Driving home was interesting because it wasn't put on the car very well (a guy at the store helped us) and it was slowly inching backwards on the car the whole way home! I had to reach out the windows and hang onto the ropes to keep it on the car! Good thing we were only a couple of miles away. It was a little nerve-racking, but funny!

We took it home to our new apartment and got it all set up. Trying to get it straight was an adventure. But it looks great now! So we have no furniture or other decor yet...but we have a Christmas tree!! :) I think our priorities are definitely in order, haha.

Elf Yourself Video

2010-12-19T20:43:00.005-07:00

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/e7mVuRKpz8xMApJT

Thanksgiving

2010-12-05T23:54:00.003-07:00

For Thanksgiving this year we had dinner at my Aunt Lisa's house with my aunts, uncles and cousins (Aunt Lisa, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Tanya, Wayne, Lauren, Ryan, Eric, Tara, Emma) AND the best part was that my brother Phil came up from Albuquerque and he was there too!!! It was so great to see him. I can't believe I hadn't seen him since last Thanksgiving. He was one of my best friends growing up and I always love being able to see him and talk with him. He wasn't alone this year, he brought a girlfriend, Marianna. Normally, that would bother me and I'd just be intimidating and cold and scare her off, but I actually really liked this one! I kept my distance at first to get a read on her and she seemed very composed and mature for her age, as well as emotionally balanced so I gave her a shot and I'm glad I did! I got a good vibe from her and we were able to have a really great talk later in the evening. So - never thought I'd say this about a girl Phil brought around, but... - I approve! (In college my buddy Ron gave me a stamp that said "Janae approved", should I stamp her with it?? lol)

Anyway, Thanksgiving was great, Aunt Lisa did an amazing job putting everything together and the table conversation was lots of fun. I loved being able to spend time with everyone talking, eating, playing games and laughing. And we were sent home with entire pumpkin pie and some leftover turkey! It was a great day :)

The next day I worked 12 hours for Black Friday, but Phil, Marianna, Aunt Tanya, Tara and Emma all came in and hung out with me at work for about an hour! It was fun to help them shop, lol. It really helped my day move along. I'm glad I got new shoes for work before Black Friday ($12 on clearance! lol) because my feet didn't hurt at all even after the long day! We had pretty good stock of everything so not very many people went away disappointed. Our store was actually number one in the district for camera sales! And since I'm in the camera department that made me pretty happy :)

Still Transitioning...

2010-12-05T23:25:00.003-07:00

We've been here about 3 weeks now and it's going pretty well. I've learned how to drive almost everywhere in Longmont without a GPS so I guess that means I'm officially acclimated right??

I've been getting about 30+ hours a week at Best Buy and it's been nice to stay so busy. It's a smaller store than my last one, which I didn't like at first, but the holiday traffic has made it better. Plus it's nice to be able to be recognized for what I bring to the table rather than being lost in the crowd. Aaron is on a different schedule here where he puts in extra hours during the week and has every other Friday off and he likes that. He's a little overwhelmed by all the extra security clearance things at his work as well as the new programming language he's having to learn, but he's handling it pretty well.

Next Monday we're moving into our apartment. We're enjoying the free breakfast, cable and jacuzzi, but it will be nice to have our own place. We've never had cable before and I have to admit I became a bit of an HGTV addict for the first two weeks we were here! House hunters was very addicting. Speaking of which, we have been doing a little house hunting ourselves to get an idea of the market out here. But we still need to sell our house in O'Fallon! It's not looking too promising right now, so we could use some extra prayers!

Longmont, Colorado

2010-11-23T00:31:00.004-07:00

Well we made it to Colorado! We arrived about 9 days ago after two days of driving. We had to drive separately so we could get both of our cars here on time, but it worked out really well. I ended up being really glad for the extra space to bring more things, as well as the freedom to listen to whatever I wanted the whole way! But I did miss the opportunity to chat with Aaron for two straight days, lol. Sugar and Sampson were really fantastic travelers! I was very proud of them. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the backseat of my car, they had the whole backseat to themselves and I made them quite the hangout area! They were pretty happy campers.

We arrived at our hotel in Longmont, Colorado around 6pm and were greeted by Grammy, Papa, Aunt Tanya, Wayne, Tara and Emma!! They took us out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and we had a great time hanging out and chatting with them! It was so fun! Talk about a welcome committee! :)

The next morning we went to a nearby ward and then spent the afternoon at my Aunt Tanya's house having lunch and hanging out. Monday morning Aaron and I both started work! We celebrated our first day by going to Applebee's! We both think our jobs are kind of boring...but we're just happy to have jobs! (I transferred stores with Best Buy, in case anyone is wondering how I got a job so fast. The Fairview Heights Best Buy is WAAAAAY better than the Longmont Best Buy btw...I miss my amazing coworkers and I really wish there was more customer traffic, but I love that I'm finally getting a lot of hours $$!)

Aaron's company is putting us up in a hotel for 30 days so we've been living at a hotel! We have a little kitchenette which is really nice, so it's not so bad. I like being able to walk down the hall and use the treadmill or jacuzzi in the evenings! The dogs don't like not having a lot of room to run around, but I've been trying to take them on walks when I can. Just short walks though...it's too cold to be outside too long! I like that it's a dry cold here though. St Louis was so humid that the chill cut right through you! This weather is pretty easy to handle with a warm jacket and scarf. Although the dryness in general is taking some getting used to. We've had to go buy more chapstick and drink a lot more water! The first week we were here I was having a really hard time with dehydration... one night I woke up feeling like my insides were in flames and I felt unbearable nauseous - it was miserable! But nothing a few bottles of water couldn't fix :)

Anyway, we like Colorado. I'm really enjoying living near family! Last Wednesday I drove an hour south to Parker where my Grammy and Papa live. I went to lunch with Grammy and my cousin Emma, then Emma and I did a little shopping for some work clothes I needed (khaki pants - Best Buy style!), and Grammy and I went back to her house and watched Oprah and talked with Papa. Then I went and spent the evening with my Aunt Lisa, Lauren, Ryan and Eric. It was so fun to talk with them! It was weird to leave and know I'd see them again in only a week, rather than another year or so! I'm loving this!

Well....that's pretty much the update! Oh we also lined up an apartment this past Saturday, so we have a place to go when our 30 days is up in the hotel! We're really happy with what we found, so hopefully it turns out to be a good temporary situation for us until we can sell our house in Illinois.

Good-bye Illinois!

2010-10-26T16:58:00.003-06:00

Okay I haven't blogged in a long time... mostly because I don't think anyone reads my blog, lol. So I guess this will be a fun little test to see if posting this results in anyone actually finding out that....

WE'RE MOVING!!

Aaron is transferring within his company to a new project at the Lockheed Martin site in Boulder, CO! The crazy part is that we have to be there on November 15... yah... Thank goodness Lockheed has amazing relocation benefits so I don't even have to pack this time around! My apologies for not detailing everything about the upcoming move right now, but everything became official today so there are still a lot of details to be ironed out in the next week or so. We first got word that we might be moving about a month ago, but between waiting for the official job offer and then waiting to accept it while we balanced another job offer...it took awhile to set things in stone. We almost ended up with a company in Appleton, Wisconsin, which would have been awesome for a number of reasons, but we decided that this job would be a better fit for our family's needs right now. We feel really good about our decision and we're excited (and admittedly nervous!) for this next chapter in our lives.

Well, that's latest news on Team Robinson. Colorado, here we come!

(Feel free to share moving tips... or Colorado tips if you're familiar with the area!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T21:55:00.005-07:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Aaron and I had a wonderful day today! It was really nice to exchange simple gifts and spend some quality time together. Aaron got me my favorite flowers as one of my gifts!! I'm not sure why, but I just love receiving flowers so much! Especially, of course, when they're Oriental Stargazer Lilies!! They're just starting to bloom and they smell so amazing!

I found some time this evening to get on our old wedding website and read the stories Aaron and I posted a year and a half ago about how we met and how we felt about starting a life together. (http://www.mywedding.com/aaronjanae/stories.html)
It was really nice to reflect on our journey and think about how much we were guided by the Lord to be together. It gives me motivation to make sure we continue to be guided by the Lord throughout our marriage - it makes such a difference! I have a wonderful Valentine and I'm so blessed to spend the rest of my Valentine's Days with him.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day too!

Oh one other thing I have to share... Sugar and Sampson got a Valentine's Day gift for Aaron this year! :) It was a heart shaped box of chocolates that said "We Wuff You!" on it! How cute is that?!?! :)

2009 Christmas Letter

2010-02-14T21:49:00.010-07:00

Okay... we never actually sent this out, and I keep meaning to post it... so I finally am! :) Here's our *late* 2009 Christmas letter!

2009 was an exciting year for Team Robinson! The biggest highlight was that we became homeowners!!! We started off the year in our apartment, but in May we closed on a great little home in a lovely neighborhood. We’re really enjoying it!

In January we got a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Quincy! He was a sweet little puppy and was soon joined by a sister in May when we got a Pomeranian named Sugar! Those two have been great friends and it’s been a blast to watch them enjoy one another and to play with them ourselves when they let us in on the fun :)

Janae began the year working for an inventory company called RGIS. She liked the job, but the odd hours were really tough. She also began attending school online through Troy University and is continuing to work toward her bachelor’s degree in Political Science. She thoroughly enjoyed the new world of being both a dog owner and home owner and spent most of her free time playing with Quincy and Sugar and organizing the house. One of Janae’s favorite things is teaching her CTR 5 Primary class on Sundays. Janae now continues to attend school and also works two part time jobs at Best Buy as a Digital Imaging Specialist and at David’s Bridal as a Wedding Consultant.

Aaron continues to do well in his job as a Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin. He was promoted to a Level 2 Engineer in March and has since transferred from research and development to a government contract. Aaron’s new world of being a dog owner and home owner would be better phrased as feeling like the owner of messes and a mortgage, but he loves it all just the same. Aaron is currently working toward his MBA through St Louis University and attends night classes once a week to accomplish that goal.

In June we got to travel out to Seattle for Janae’s dad’s promotion ceremony for his promotion to colonel! It was a special event and we’re very proud of his accomplishment. We were also able to be there for Kyle’s endowment at the Seattle Temple. It was wonderful to be there for that and support Kyle into the next stage of his life! We’re so excited for him! For the Fourth of July we kept up with tradition and went to Birchwood, WI with Aaron’s family to stay at their cottage on the lake for a few days! We enjoyed being out on the boat and spending time with family. In August we got a chance to see Janae’s family one last time before they moved to Germany and Kyle left to serve in the Argentina Rosario mission. See you in two years Elder Andrus! We love you!

Another highlight of 2009 was celebrating our first year anniversary! Aaron had a business trip in Chicago and Janae was able to accompany him on the trip and use the time to celebrate the special occasion. While we were there, we found ourselves right in the middle of Oprah’s 24^th Season Kick Off Party! If you’ve seen that video of the Black-Eyed Peas performance and the coordinated dance they did in the streets, we were standing right behind those people! So that’s our little claim to fame for the year :)

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with Janae’s Grammy and Papa in Colorado. Janae’s brother, Phil, was able to come as well and it meant a lot to Janae to be able to see him and spend time with him again. It was really nice to see family for the holiday and visit a few friends in the area as well. For Christmas we get to head up to Wisconsin and spend some time with Aaron’s family! We’re excited for the nativity puppet show, waffle breakfasts, Upwords competitions and lots of down time to talk and catch up!

This year we got our first real Christmas tree and we’re very excited about it! Fusing our old traditions together and starting new ones has been a wonderful experience to share. We hope you all enjoy your special traditions this holiday season and we send our best wishes to you all! Merry Christmas!

Primary Lessons

2010-01-13T14:46:00.005-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago I was released as a Primary teacher. I was so distraught! I cried for two days :( I'll miss my kids so much!! I had the 4 and 5 year olds. They taught me so many things. The most important thing they taught me was how to love. When I started in that calling, it drove me crazy! The kids would never sit still, they drooled and their noses ran and they were always touching me.... I was so fed up with it! Especially because I had been hoping to teach Sunday School or something that would help me study the scriptures deeper, and here I was saying "Jesus loves you, here's a lollipop, go color something" every week. Yah, here I'm thinking that I was dumbing myself down for this calling, but in reality I was about to learn one of the most important lessons I'd ever learn.

^Joseph, Jocelyn, Jaiden and me on the day I was released. Unfortunately you can totally tell I had been crying all morning!^

A few months into my calling, Jaiden, said to me, "Sister Robinson? Remember how last week you were talking about the Spirit and what it feels like? Remember when you told us about when you were sad and you thought Jesus was hugging you? Well I was thinking about it, and I think I felt the Spirit this week. I felt really happy and warm inside and I kind of felt like Jesus was with me. Did I feel the Spirit?" With tears in my eyes I told her that, yes, she had felt the Spirit. This girl was 4 yrs old and I suddenly realized she was actually absorbing the things I was teaching! That was a pivotal point for me. It was from that point on I started caring a lot more about preparing my lessons and teaching those kids well, and I learned a lot as a result.

A couple of months ago we had a lesson about not using the Lord's name in vain and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had. The point of the lesson was to teach the kids that names should be used properly, and it makes people sad when you call them by the wrong name or use their name wrong because names are important and they each mean something special (then you tie it into the Lord's name).

Funny story... While trying to make the point that each child's name meant something and that their mothers spent a lot of time choosing their name, I told a little "story" about a mom who got a really big belly (comment from Jocelyn, "Hey my dad has a really big belly too!" hmm... not quite the same! lol. Her dad is the bishop btw) and then out of the belly came a baby! And the mommy looked at the baby for a long time and finally said, "This will be... Carissa!" And I went through and did the story for each child in the class... "This will be Jocelyn!" "This will be Joseph!" "This will be Dominque!" "This will be Jaiden!" And when I finished, Joseph jumped in and finished it off with, "And when you were born, your mommy looked at you and said, 'This will be Sister Robinson!!'" hahaha, I about died laughing!!!!

Then I asked each child what they wanted people to think of when they thought of their name, and I got the most beautiful answers! Most of the kids said things like "Happy" or "Nice to people" or "Smiling" and that was sweet. Jocelyn said, "I want people to think that I love Jesus!" And I asked her what she could do so that people would think of that when they thought of her name. She looked really thoughtful for a minute, then she jumped up on her chair and shouted, "Everybody! I love Jesus!!!" It was so cute!!! Then I asked Joseph. He just looked at the floor and said, "I want them to think of my heart." That touched me. Later when the kids were coloring pictures to represent the answers they had given me, Joseph said, "Sister Robinson? How do you spell heart? Is it L-O-V-E?" I told him that actually spelled love, but I could tell him how to spell heart if he wanted me to. He said, "No I'll just put love, because when people think of my heart they will think of love." He was being so genuine and affecting me so much with every word that I hardly knew how to react. I just hugged him and told him I loved him and let him finish his picture.

These kids taught me that people aren't about their exteriors at all. We have to look past the snotty noses and temper tantrums and look at people's souls. What I learned to see in these kids was their capacity to love. What if I could learn to see everyone in that light? I think then I could truly know what it means to love as Christ loves. When the Lord thinks of us, he thinks of our hearts. When we think of others, what do we think of? It should be their hearts. And hopefully others see us the same way. Hopefully when they think of our hearts, they'll think of love. I'll miss teaching my kids, but even more, I'll miss being taught by them. Thankfully I still get to see them with my new calling as Primary Secretary. It's hard to see them every week and not go with them to class after sharing time, but, as Patty Gotsch said, now I have even more kids to learn to love! I know the Lord wants me in this new calling, and hopefully I learn something about coming closer to my Savior in this calling as well. But I'll always have a special place in my heart for Jocelyn, Jospeh, Jaiden, Carissa and Dominique. I really loved those children and they've changed my heart forever.

Joseph, Dominique, Jocelyn, Jaiden, Carissa and Sister Robinson :)

Chicago, IL (Anniversary!)

2009-09-20T16:58:00.007-06:00

For some reason all the pictures uploaded as html so I can't tell where to put the captions... so the format of this entry will be all text, and then all pictures. Sorry if it's less interesting!

***

Aaron had a business trip out to Chicago, so he took me with him and we celebrated our anniversary there!! It was so much fun!! Aaron was LOVING it because they filmed a lot of the Dark Knight there, so he kept recognizing all the parts of the city where they made the movie. And while we were there, we ran into Oprah's 24th Season Kick Off Party, so we went! It was pretty much a big concert on Michigan Avenue. There was Black-eyed Peas, James Taylor, Jennifer Hudson, and Rascal Flats! It was my first concert!!! We had so much fun!!

We also went to Navy Pier and went on the Swings, rode the Ferris Wheel, and played Mini Golf. Aaron beat me at mini golf by ONE POINT! So lame... :) It was a lot of fun!! We got ice cream cones and walked around, it was really cute. We also saw a funny sign that said that McDonald's was the future. Aaron was cracking up over it, lol.

For our anniversary Aaron took me out to a nice Italian restaurant and we went to the Hancock Observatory. It was REALLY nice!! Then we went back to the hotel to eat our wedding cake... that's a sad/funny story... we transported the cake topper all the way from where we were married in Seattle to O'Fallon, IL. I carried the cake on my lap on for the entire two flights back home. Then when we moved from our apartment to our new house, I made a separate trip in my car just to get the cake topper from freezer to freezer as quickly as possible. So after all of that... we had to transport the cake topper once again to Chicago. So we went and bought a cooler and some ice and put the ice and the cake in the cooler and drove to Chicago! The ice was in a bag and the cake was in a bag. Stupid me.. both bags were porous! Anyway... the ice melted and the cake ended up soaking in water for three days. So when we went to get the cake from the cooler... it was a soaking wet mess! I tried to dry it out...but it was beyond repair. We still each had a bite of it, just to keep up tradition! But it tasted like dirty water :( It was pretty funny though!

So Chicago was fantastic! We also went to Madison on our way home to meet up with Aaron's parents for a football game! I don't have those pictures right now though, so I'll post on that later. Of course when we got home, we rented the Dark Knight and we had a lot of fun recognizing all the places we had just been!

Enjoy the pictures. :) There's a video at the end of me trying to show how gross and wet our cake was... it didn't turn out too well, but oh well!

Parker, CO

2009-09-20T16:21:00.006-06:00

In August Aaron and I went to Parker, CO to see my family before they moved to Germany. It was kind of a mini-reunion because almost everyone came! We were missing Courtney and her kids, Amber, Stacia, Kaisha, Austin and Aunt Debbie. I did get to see Stacia later though! It was really fun to see everyone and be reminded that I still have family around even though my parents went to Germany. It was supposed to be a weekend thing, but my mom ended up in the hospital while we were there! Some complications with her previous surgery. She was having a really hard time. Things have finally all straightened out and she's doing very well now, but we were all concerned for her! And the vacation definitely got an unexpected extension!!
Here are a couple pictures...

The DeLaMare family! Greg, Lisa, Tanya, Kym, Grammy, Mom, Papa

Me and my Dad :)

Me and my baby sister, Macy! (she's in her PJs)

Also, when my parents drove out to Colorado, they brought a few of my things with them!! So I got some childhood items back :) I took some pictures, just for fun...

My dollhouse!! The furniture is pictured below. When I was about six, I was at a garage sale with my mom and we were looking for fanny packs, but I saw the dollhouse! I asked for it, but she said I had to choose between the furniture or the house because of the price. So I picked the furniture and we bought it and left. The next day, the family who had the garage sale showed up at our house with the dollhouse and just gave it to me! I remember opening the door to see two little girls holding the dollhouse with huge smiles on their faces. It was amazing! I spent HOURS with that dollhouse over the years. I love it! So it's really fun to have it back. Maybe my daughters will play with it some day :)My mom found this book and some old baby blankets of mine. So she gave them to me for my kids! (Do I sense some hints?? haha jk) Isn't the signature adorable?? lol :)

When we lived in Germany when I was about 12, I went on a dish run with my mom and a bunch of women and my mom bought me some dishes for my hope chest! I wasn't allowed to have them until I got married, so I hadn't seen them since we bought them and it was so much fun to finally get them!! I love the little fruit and flower border. They're so "country kitchen" :) This is a picture of the first meal I served on my dishes!! (Ignore the fork...)

And finally.... the surgery that my mom had that gave her complications was her hysterectomy and in some kind of celebration of freedom, she handed over ALL her old feminine products to me. And the best part is the bag that she put them all in for me... haha!! My dad got it at some kind of conference, and never thought to read it, so he brought it home and suggested my mom use it as a church bag. Good thing my mom read it first!!

Sugar update with cute pictures

2009-08-06T12:59:00.005-06:00

Sugar has been in heat this last week and hasn't been feeling well... ^^This picture from Sunday is so sad for me to look at because you can just tell from how her face looks that she's feeling awful. Also, that brown thing by her chest is a treat that I tried to give her, and she didn't even have the energy to eat it. She didn't move from Quincy's bed all day either. :(
I feel bad for her, but she's been really timid which has been a nice change of pace. She's also been really photogenic and so I have to post some new pictures!

We had her in a diaper for the first few days, and she looked really cute in it!

^This was on her toughest day. ^ She was getting herself into some really adorable positions trying to get comfortable!

Here are my two little babies relaxing... I finally got the hint that I was taking too many pictures when Sugar started to just look away every time I pulled out the camera! (see below)

I caught them both taking a nap together... I thought it was cute! (Even though they kinda look dead...lol)

Anyway, Sugar is feeling better now, but it was a rough few days for her.

Look at how adorable our baby girl is... :)

Some Team Robinson Adventures! :)

2009-07-25T15:42:00.005-06:00

On July 23 we celebrated 11 months of marriage! Okay we didn't really celebrate...but it was technically the day that marked our 11th month-- haha! Anyway, something else noteworthy happened that day... Lightening struck our tree! The tree in our front yard was hit by lightening during a very random storm that whipped through the area in only about 20 minutes. It was a really intense storm with buckets of water coming down and tons of thunder and lightening. After it passed I went outside to check on our flag, and this is what I saw:
How crazy is that?! Here are some more pictures of our tree...
^^This is the hole from where the tree had been.^^ See the burn marks from the lightening??

So sad...

There was some additional damage as well. Our flag pole was bent to a right angle! Also, our neighbor's fence was blown down. We were admittedly happy about that one because their fence is actually built two feet onto our property and we've been trying to figure out how to approach them on that...so we figured the storm created the perfect opportunity! Except that they went outside and nailed it back up within the hour... LAME! The day after the storm we also noticed that some fascia had blown off the sides of the house... so we have some things to work on! Here are the pictures of those damages...(FYI, the white flags in our yard are for training our dogs with our electric fence.)

Crazy stuff! One more little adventure to share...

A couple of weeks ago we came home from church to find Sugar in the kitchen looking very proud of herself! We figured she was just excited because she had escaped from the pen and that she had probably escaped by realizing she can jump over it. We were wrong on both counts. She actually chewed off the zip ties that attach the rest of the pen to Quincy's crate to get out! Quincy was in his crate, so he didn't get to escape with her. (She's actually been messing with the latch on his crate lately...one of these days she'll figure that out too!). Here's a picture of the replacement zip tie so you can see what I'm talking about...
Anyway, now for the reasons why she was so proud of herself...

1. she dug in my fern and left dirt and leaves all over my freshly vacuumed carpet,

2. she completely tore up the corner of my runner,

3. --this one is our favorite-- she took a chunk out of our desk!

Check out these pictures...

We really couldn't figure out if we should be angry or laugh!! I was getting progressively more and more mad as I kept finding things, and then Aaron took a look at the desk and just laughed!! We put Sugar back in the pen, fixed the zip ties, and now we keep a close eye on her chewing progress! (I have to replace zip ties about once a week! Bitter Barrier doesn't work...at least now we know to check!)

Well, I have a 15 page paper due today and I only have one page written... So now that I've exhausted all of my procrastination techniques (Facebook, Solitaire, Craigslist, blogging, ...), I'm going to get back to that paper! :)

Today went to the dogs...

2009-06-27T22:05:00.004-06:00

...literally!

Today Aaron and I braved the sweltering St. Louis heat and set up the electric dog fence for Quincy and Sugar! We didn't want to go through the hassle of burying the wire, so Aaron got lawn staples at Home Depot and we just used those. Anyway, we got it all set up and the dogs did really well with it! Sugar broke through once by hopping over it, but we realized her collar wasn't tight enough to get the shock, so hopefully that problem is solved.
After we got that all squared away, it was bath time! Sugar is hilarious in the tub because she looks like a drowned ferret.
Quincy was really funny when I was drying him off! I rubbed him down with a towel, and then when I finished, I just dropped the towel on top of him to see what he would do. Of course he just tossed the towel off of him, but then he started rubbing all over the towel to get more dry! It was sooo cute!! I took some pictures of him doing it...

I also tried to get a video, but he was done by then. I included the video anyway, just so you can Quincy shakin' his thang :)

When that was all done, we trimmed Quincy's nails. (FINALLY! He's drawn blood on me with those long nails almost every day for the past week and a half!) Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite the ordeal! Usually he's really good about me cutting his nails, but he jerked around once at just the wrong time and made me cut into his quick... so of course that hurt him really badly and he was just freaking out the rest of the time. Aaron had to come in and help me. It actually turned out to be a really cute and sweet experience. I held Quincy on his back in my lap and talked to him while Aaron did his back paws. He was really scared and whiny, but he was a brave little guy and we were so proud of him for being so good even after getting his quick cut :) I told Aaron that we were all trained now to have a kid get blood drawn or something!
Oh and I just have to also say... when we were brushing them one at a time they were so cute because they hated being left alone in the dog pen and all they wanted to do was go back in their pen so they could play with each other!! It's ridiculously adorable to watch how much they love each other!

Alright, well enough of that... now you all know about our doggie-parent life! We try to play it down, but let's face it -- Quincy and Sugar are our babies right now and we can't help but talk about them! :)

Pictures, House Warming and Roses

2009-06-26T01:40:00.009-06:00

Here are a few pictures of our house! I have more posted on facebook. (www.facebook.com/janaerobinson)

Enjoy!

^ Living Room ^

^ Living Room and Dining Room ^

^ Living Room/Entry ^

^ Dining Room ^

^ Pantry/Laundry Room ^

^ Kitchen ^

^Kitchen^

^Kitchen and Pet Area ^

^ Pet Area ^

^ Work out Room in Basement (not unpacked yet)^

^ Aaron's Trash Can! ^
(The story about this trash can is in my blog from Aaron's Birthday in March)

^ Our "Library"! (not unpacked yet) ^

^ Office (also not unpacked yet) ^

^ Guest Bathroom ^

^ Master Bedroom ^

We had a house warming party last weekend and it was really fun! We had a lot of friends and some neighbors come by to see our new home. It was great to chat with everyone and show off our place! We got some really nice gifts too that were all so useful and perfect for our place!
Funny story about house warming gifts... I was chatting with my friends one day about how we only have three towels, and since Aaron always forgets which one is mine, it's fairly rare that I ever get a clean towel. I was also telling them about how I'm making our master bathroom into a royal purple theme, which Aaron is naturally resisting :). So my friends, Lindsay and Megan, coordinated their gifts based on these two stories... Lindsay and her husband got us purple hand towels and some royal purple decor for the bathroom! And Megan and her husband got us two purple towels WITH OUR NAMES EMBROIDERED ON THEM! I think they're sooo funny!! And really classy looking too! I took pictures :) Oh, and I've had a clean towel ever since!

Also... I got these roses out of our yard a few weeks ago! There's a rose bush on the side of our house, plus we planted three rose bushes in the front yard the day we closed on the house and one bush in the back. I was just so excited to see them bloom and pick them and have them in our kitchen! It was nice to have something pretty in the kitchen since everything else was a mess from unpacking (as you can see!).

Angel Lullaby

2009-06-15T00:35:00.003-06:00

I found this song on the internet... my Mom sang this song to me almost every night when I was little, and I sang it to my sister. Just wanted to share it.
(You have to click on it to hear the whole version)

Angel Lullaby - Carol Lynn Pearson - Lex De Azevedo

Congratulations Brittany!

2009-06-14T14:58:00.004-06:00

Josh and Lindsay, Will and Megan, Brittany, Janae and Aaron

Our very good friend, Brittany Lucas, finally got her mission papers in a couple of months ago and was called to serve in Las Vegas! Yesterday we were able to be at the temple with her for her endowment. It was a wonderful experience and we're SO PROUD of her!
(The picture is courtesy of Megan's Facebook page) :)

Trip Home to Washington!

2009-06-12T16:09:00.005-06:00

Aaron and I at the Seattle Temple for the first time since our wedding!

Sorry for not updating the blog for so long! We've been BUSY! We closed on our house on May 8 and moved in (with the help of lots of awesome friends!) on May 13. The next weekend was Memorial weekend and we went down to Marion, IL (near Carbondale) to spend time with some of my extended family. We really enjoyed spending time with Aunt Kym, Uncle Rick, Courtney and her kids, Amber, and Devin. They have a great place right on Egypt Shores Lake. We got to go out on the boat, barbecue, get ice cream at the marina, and have some great conversation. It was a nice weekend! We really enjoyed the break from all the stress of unpacking!

The weekend after that, we flew out to Yelm, WA (courtesy of Mom's wallet, lol) to be there for my dad's promotion ceremony to full bird Colonel! Another huge event was Kyle's endowment that we were able to be there for! We flew out on Friday and got up early Saturday morning to go to the temple with Kyle. It was a really wonderful experience. I was so proud of my little brother! Kyle and my parents right after the session. This picture cracks us up because I couldn't get a picture of Kyle looking straight at me because he kept looking at Aaron!

Everyone who came to Kyle's endowment session: Aaron, Janae, Grammy, Papa, Kyle, Mom, Dad, Gramma, Grandpa.

Gramma took pictures of me and Aaron in front of the temple (with no scaffolding!!) :)

On Sunday I got to go to my old ward and it was really fun to see everyone. And I got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society!!! I'm in Primary back home, so it was fun to actually be able to go to those meetings. I really love Yelm 2nd Ward.
Monday was the day that my dad had his promotion ceremony. My dad has less than 5 life goals, and one of them was to pin on Colonel, so this ceremony really meant a lot to our family. It was very classy and extremely well done. General Hepburn flew out to officiate the ceremony and he was fantastic. He highlighted everyone in the family, including Aaron, and outlined my dad's military career and personal attributes with perfection. I especially appreciated my dad's involvement with the USS Cole bombing being highlighted the way it was. That was one of the things that brought tears to my eyes. The second was when my older brother, Phil, (an ROTC student) came to the front in uniform to salute my dad.

Phil's first salute to my dad

The family got to be involved in the ceremony by pinning on his new ranks. Mom and Gramma pinned on his new eagles and Macy and I changed the ranks on his shirt. Aaron got a great picture of Mom and Gramma pinning on the new ranks!

Gramma and Mom pinning on the new ranks

The ceremony concluded with an amazing and emotional address from my dad. He's always been an amazing speaker, but he was really exceptional with this speech.

"I am an American Airman."

After the ceremony ended, there was a gathering at the Officer's Club, and all of the Andrus kids presented my dad with a shadow box that we'd put together for him. Phil bought sterling silver ranks and I designed a plaque to be displayed underneath them in the shadow box. It read,

"To the man who set us on the path to our dreams,
Congratulations on reaching one of your own."

Anyway, we really had a good time in Washington. Aaron returned to Illinois on Tuesday morning. I was surprised by how emotional I was about him leaving! I thought I'd be fine because I was staying with my family, but I felt like my family was leaving me! He got home safely and returned to work, taking care of the dogs and unpacking. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the time I had in Washington with my family. It was nice to see my grandparents, even though they also had to leave soon after the ceremony was over.

Grammy, me and Papa

I enjoyed spending time with my siblings, especially Kyle who will be leaving on a mission very soon! It was really great to be able to have that time with him before he leaves. He is so dang awesome. All my siblings are. Me and Macy enjoyed a girl day of shopping and had a matching PJ slumber party :) I also spent a day catching up with my best friend, Caylene. It was really nice to have that time to chat with her!!

Caylene and Janae: Best Friends!

For my last night there, my dad gave up flying so he could be home, and we went to Macy's play, got ice cream at Dairy Queen, and then played Settlers of Catan. It was SO much fun!! Overall, I had a great time in Washington! It's nice to be home with Aaron and my dogs again, but I definitely enjoyed my time at the Andrus house :)

Me and Aaron in my parents' family room

Now it's back to everyday life! We're still unpacking and I'm still job hunting. I actually just had a 2nd interview for one job... so we'll see how that goes! Meanwhile it's fun to see our house come together. We're having a house warming party on the 20th and we're looking forward to that. Aaron goes on a business trip next week, so I have to say good-bye to him again... but he's going to have fun at his conference in San Jose! I'm really proud of him for being one of only two people selected to go! Anyway, that's all for now!

SUGAR! Our Newest Addition :)

2009-05-04T13:45:00.007-06:00

We got a new baby on Tuesday! We LOVE her! Her name is Sugar and she's a one year old Pomeranian. She and Quincy get along so well! They wrestle for hours until they exhaust themselves and have to take a nap. They're actually both napping right now :)

Quincy is loving having a sister! We took them to the dog park last week and there were only big dogs there, so Sugar was really scared! I wouldn't pick her up unless more than one dog came up to her, because I wanted her to figure out that the big dogs were just saying hi and wouldn't hurt her. So she just hid behind me for the majority of the time. So Quincy went and sat on the grass about 15 ft away from us and every time a big dog would try to come say hi to Sugar, he would chase them away! It was so cute! And it got Sugar feeling like she could run around and enjoy the dog park as long as Quincy was nearby to keep her safe :)

We're LOVING having two dogs! It's so much easier than one because they entertain each other!

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

Quincy and Sugar

^^Kisses!^^

Quincy!

2009-04-26T19:58:00.004-06:00

I was thinking about my baby this evening and I wanted to post a couple of things :)

Some Pictures of the House!

2009-04-26T15:31:00.009-06:00

When we first signed on our new house, I was going to get on the listing website to post the pictures from it for everyone to see, but the listing had already been removed since it was off the market. However, I just did a google search of our address and found a listing that still has pictures!! So here are some pictures of our new house!!

^Front of House^

^Master Bedroom^

^Master Bathroom^

^Living Room^

^Kitchen^

^Family Room in Basement^

^Bonus Room in Basement^

^Unfinished Part of Basement^

^Back of House^

You can also view a birds eye view of our house at http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qf2wkn7h60p7&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=26722106&encType=1
Our house is in the center, right underneath the word "Chamberlains" :)
Wish I had my own pictures to share... I'll definitely post them when I have them though!

Janae's Birthday and New Smile!

2009-04-20T20:58:00.010-06:00

April 17 was a good day, as it tends to be every year :) I started off a little bummed about turning 21, but Aaron was very sweet and I got out of that funk really quick! We went to Ihop for breakfast where I ate WAY too much! Aaron went to work and I sat in my car in the parking lot getting phone calls from family and trying to digest my huge breakfast! Once I felt I could actually move again, I went out shopping! Mostly window shopping at thrift stores, but I had a good time! I spent some birthday money I'd gotten from my grandparents on a couple of shirts and a pair of black stretch pants from TJ Maxx (Shirts were 7.50 and pants were $6! Good deals always put me in a good mood!). I also got a thigh master ;) and picked up a birthday gift for my little brother Kyle. I'm almost all stocked up for all my siblings' birthdays this year! The sad part about my TJ Maxx experience was in regards to my jeans search. I've been looking for the perfect pair of jeans for MONTHS now and I finally found them! The fit was perfect, the coloring was perfect, they were comfortable, they made me look good in the caboose section ;) and all the things a great pair of pants should do. But TJ Maxx has a very strict fitting room policy of only taking in 8 things. So when I brought my perfect jeans out and still had more to try on... the fitting room lady decided to hang on to them for me rather than let me take them back with me. I told her to guard them! Yah... when I came out they were gone! Apparently the "take backs" person had grabbed them to put back on the rack. I looked for them for almost an hour with no luck!! :( Anyway, enough of my sad jeans story... Around 1pm I went and had lunch with Megan! We picked at our Chinese food and chatted away until 3:30! Then we browsed a new local store called "dots" and Megan gave me my Aldis orientation! Then I browsed Gordmans where I picked up a cute sign to hang on the wall by Quincy's crate in our new house that says, "Never underestimate the warmth of a wet nose" :) I thought it was cute because Aaron always complains about Quincy sticking his wet nose on him and I always tell him that he's just giving kisses :) That night I had a vegetable pizza for dinner! I always have to pick off the sausage or pepperoni from the pizza that we get for pizza night (every Friday!) and this time I didn't have to!!! It was awesome :)
Trevor and Carolyn came over to celebrate with us!
We played Life and ate the cake that Aaron made! He did a great job!!

I got some really nice things for my birthday too! My family called and sang to me as always! Both sets of my grandparents sent me a card and little cash (that I'm not going to spend on groceries!) and my Grammy and Papa called and sang as always! Megan got me some gardening supplies so I can have a garden in our new yard!! I'm so excited!!! Carolyn got me an awesome scented diffuser - which I actually almost bought at Gordman's that day too! Poor thing got a headache trying to find the best scent! Aaron was great with gifts! He got me a really nice mouse for my laptop, a book I've been really wanting called Plato and a platypus walk into a bar (it's a humor approach to Philosophy), Age of Empires!! and a Furminator so we can brush Quincy better! :) It was a nice birthday :)

Some other big news... for those of you who don't know yet... my dentist was working on some continuing education and contacted Aaron about being his patient for his class! My amazing husband passed the opportunity over to me and I got to get the smile I've always wanted!!!! My teeth have always hindered my confidence and I am SO thrilled with this new change!!!
I got temporaries put in a month ago and I got my permanent new smile on April 18 - a day after my birthday! (Talk about a birthday present!!)

Here's a picture to show you the differences from original, to temps, to final!

Quick update on the house... we have a moving day! MAY 16! So if you're in the area and available to help us out, we're thinking 8am-12pm. We'll meet at our apartment...927 Bradley St Apt 2C.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-16T16:31:00.003-06:00

We signed papers last Friday and made it official!!! Our closing date is MAY 8th! We'll probably have a house-warming party sometime in May for all you guys in the area! :) We are SO EXCITED!!!! We purchased it way under market value and it's in a really great neighborhood! It's a ranch style home with a partially finished basement! It's 2200 sq ft (!!!) with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms! Actually there is a fourth bedroom in the basement, but we can't legally call it a bedroom because of the fire code (no egress windows). But there's plenty of space to expand so I think we'll be in this home for a really long time! I love the kitchen layout and the pantry is HUGE!! The yard isn't fenced, but it's fairly small, which we like because we just want a place for Quincy to run around, for me to garden, and for Aaron to not have to mow too much. :) We're VERY excited and happy and can't wait to move in in just a few weeks!! Oh and fair warning to our friends... if we seem stressed out, blame it on the mortgage payment! :)

My Grammy and Papa came up to see us yesterday (it was SO SO great to spend time with them! They seemed like they were doing really well!) and we were able to take them to see the house! It was the first time being in it since we signed the contract and felt so good! Sorry I don't have any new pictures to post... but in case anyone is curious... our new address is 213 Chamberlains Crossing! Oh and don't worry all of you O'Fallon 1st Ward people... we're still in the same ward!

House update and FHE fun!

2009-04-06T20:04:00.006-06:00

Okay so here's a quick update... I talked to our realtor today and apparently the guy who owns the home IS out of the country on a special assignment and he'll be back in town on the 10th -- so hopefully we'll hear back this weekend!! Actually this weekend should be really fun! Aaron's family is coming down to visit for their spring break!! We're so excited!

Tonight for FHE Aaron and I played a new game we got at WalMart - it's the new version of LIFE! (LIFE: Twists and Turns) It was so much fun! I highly reccommend it! The only downside is that you can only play with four players, so that kinda keeps it from being a fun family game, but it's still a good time. I actually got the $30 game on clearance at WalMart on Friday for $8!!! So anyone near the O'Fallon WalMart... they might still have some!! :)

I also cleaned the carpets today with Megan's new carpet cleaner -- thanks Megan!! -- and the apartment smells so much nicer!!! I love it! Quincy has been banished to the kitchen for the rest of the week to protect my clean carpets until the in-laws come! Not sure he's liking the new arrangment too much... but he'll be alright.
Hopefully I'll have more news on the house in a few days!

....Home Owners....??!?!?

2009-04-05T22:12:00.003-06:00

Well it looks like Obama may be dishing out $8000 to us next tax season... we've been house hunting since the end of October last year and I think we finally found something we love! On Thursday we went out with our real estate agent (and our friend Megan!) for THREE HOURS and looked at about 10 houses. The very first house we walked into just blew us away! We just kept thinking, "Wow, this is IT!" But we still had a big list of houses to look at, so we pressed on. All the houses we looked at that day were really great houses; some of the best we've seen since we started looking! I kept comparing them to the first house and in my mind they just didn't compare! Then we got to the last house and it was really awesome... it was actually very very similar to a house we almost put an offer on a couple of months ago but ultimately decided against it because of the price and other factors. Having Megan with us made house hunting SO much better! It was so great to have someone to chat with about potential updates and uses for the houses - as well as someone to get excited about the kitchens with me!! :) Anyway, we walked out of the last house thinking it was between that one and the first one. I asked if we could go look at the first one again and we all jumped in our cars and headed back over there. When we first walked back in I wasn't sure... but after we went down in the basement and I started picturing the house furnished and mentally moved myself in to both houses... I knew which one I wanted! Aaron and I talked about it in the car and we both loved the first house!

So.... we gave our agent a call the very next day and set up a time to meet with her and on Friday night we spent another three hours writing up an offer!!! We were supposed to hear back by 5pm on Saturday, but the other agent hasn't been able to get a hold of the homeowner. He lives in VA and works for the Pentagon so his agent thinks he's out of the country for a little while. We should hear back soon though - so stay tuned! I'll post more details soon :)

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

2009-03-09T22:04:00.004-06:00

Well today has been weird. I haven't been feeling 100% and so Aaron and I decided to take a nap right after dinner (around 6:30) and I fell asleep until 10:30!! I think Aaron slept until about 8:30. So we're both awake now (11pm) even though we usually try to get to bed by now. So I decided to update our blog, since I haven't touched it in so long!

Aaron's birthday was on Tuesday and it was a WONDERFUL day! We got up early and went to IHop for breakfast and then Aaron went to work and I went home and CLEANED. I was exhausted from working until 2am the night before and then getting up early, but love is all about sacrifices, right? So the apartment was spotless and his presents were wrapped really cute when he got home. He wanted a sausage pizza all to himself for his birthday dinner so that was waiting for him when he got home too. He got a card and some money from his parents and my family called him sang Happy Birthday to him. And I got him a few things too of course! He's been trying to get me to watch the Simpson's Movie since we've known each other, but I was raised thinking the Simpsons were the devil, so I refused. But I caved and got him the movie for his birthday. I also got him Orange Box, some computer game he asked for. Also, the other day he needed to take Quincy out really quickly, so I told him to just wear my slippers since he didn't have time to put his shoes on. The catch was that my slippers were pink! I took a picture of him wearing them and he wasn't too fond of that...so his other birthday present was some manly blue house slippers! :)

His last (and biggest) present was.... *drumroll* .... a trash can!!! Haha, let me explain. Since before we were even engaged, Aaron has been wanting a (hold on, I have this memorized...) SimpleHuman, semi-round, step-on, fingerprint proof (don't ask me why!), stainless steel trash can. We actually registered for one too, haha. But they are $100-130....we had one of those 20% off coupons for Bed Bath and Beyond so we could've gotten one for $80, but that was still too much to spend on a trash can. So I've been keeping my eye on ebay.com and craigslist.com for the last few months in hopes of getting it for him for Christmas, with no luck, but a few weeks ago craigslist.com came through for me! So after driving out to the middle of nowhere in Missouri, I got him his trash can for $45! It came with liners and so I wrapped the liners and had a ribbon leading from the present to the closet. So when he opened the liners, he was confused, but then I grabbed the ribbon and did the whole, "Wow! Where does this go?!?" And he went to the closet and found his trash can! haha, I'll bet you've never heard such a big deal made about a trash can. I should post a picture of it...

(6/26/09 - Here's the picture of the trash can, finally!)

We ended the day with his requested birthday brownies with a mini-bonfire of 27 candles on top! Oh and we learned that if brownies are hot and you put candles in them, the bottom of the candles melt into the brownie... So we had waxy birthday brownies with vanilla ice cream! Yum! Anyway, it was just a really good day.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Well maybe we'll try to go to sleep now so our schedule isn't too thrown off... Hope everything is going well for everyone! Especially Megan and Joel and Alice!!!

Locked Out!

2009-01-29T12:42:00.002-07:00

So a couple of days ago Aaron and I had a really funny experience. I got home from work around noon (another 5am shift!) and Aaron was home! That was a nice surprise! :) He had come home to let the dog out on his lunch break because I wasn't supposed to get home until about 2pm, but we finished inventorying Kohl's a little early. So anyway, Quincy had already eaten and everything so I went ahead and took him out one more time and Aaron followed me out the door to go back to work. Then I headed back into the apartment...only find the door LOCKED! Out of habit, Aaron had locked it behind him. I had been on my feet since 5am and I was tired. I was still wearing my work clothes, badge and belt included, but of course I had set down my keys and my gloves inside. I turned around just in time to see Aaron drive off. So... I was totally locked out in the snow with the dog. I wanted to be frustrated, but I could only laugh. It was a pretty funny situation! So I walked a couple blocks over to my friend and visiting teacher's house. I called Aaron and told him what happened. He not only came back immediately, but picked me up at my friend's house so that I wouldn't have to walk back and wait for him in the cold. I have such a good husband! :) So that was our entertainment for the day, haha.
Ok I have to take a second to brag a little... last night I made my homemade Portuguese soup and I made homemade bread for the first time!!! The apartment smelled so good and dinner was so tasty :)

Five Months Today!

2009-01-23T11:27:00.001-07:00

Well as of today Aaron and I have been married for five months. Sometimes it seems longer than that, and other times it seems like we got married yesterday! We're still figuring each other out and figuring our future out as well. We're trying to decide if we should buy a house and that and taking care of Quincy have been the dominant topics of our conversation lately. It will be nice when we have a better idea of what the next few years will look like! I feel like we're kind of in limbo right now. So just FYI, Angels Brought Me Here is a really great song and definitely the perfect song from me to Aaron. I really love it. :)
There's a really good chance that my family will move here this summer and I'm REALLY hoping that happens!! I miss them so badly. I think this is the longest I've ever gone without going home to visit. Modern communication is my favorite blessing lately since I can keep in touch with all my brothers and my parents and sister all the time. Those Andrus people are my best friends :)

Janae is sick and Aaron gets stuck with needles

2009-01-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

Well I woke up this morning a little before 5am and got all ready for work. I had my belt and badge and everything, but before I could get my shoes on, I got really nauseous and had to run to the bathroom. This repeated itself twice before I could get out the door, so I called my team leader and asked how badly they needed people. He said they were fine and I should just come back in next week. So I did some homework for an hour and then crashed back into bed until noon. Aaron is working from home today because he got cavities filled this morning and needed to get immunizations this afternoon (he's getting stuck with all kinds of needles today!). He came in to tell me he was leaving and that the dog needed to be fed. So I got up and took the dog outside and fed him and took him outside again. Of course, the resident manager walked by and played with the puppy and asked me what apartment I was in. I heard myself telling her our apartment number before I could think of a way to avoid saying it. (We haven't paid our pet deposit...) So that stunk. I've spent the last hour or so thinking of different things I could've said or done to avoid the question.... Too late. :(
So then Quincy decided it was playtime instead of potty time and I tried taking him out four different times, but he didn't seem to the need the trip even though he just ate, so I've stopped the treks down the stairs and now he's napping in his crate and I'm blogging before I start more homework.
Being sick is pretty miserable. My stomach is really hurting and this nausea won't leave me alone. So I should probably be on the BRAT diet that my mom taught me: Bread, Rice, Applesauce and Toast...well I did have one piece of dry toast this morning, but I'm about to have a sweet potato with butter and pepper for lunch (best meal EVER). Sorry mom! It's so yummy...I can't help myself... :)
Oh I feel that I should clarify...I'm not pregnant! Sorry to raise any hopes with my sickness story :) Ok, time to prep for my midterms.

It's official!

2009-01-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we have officially joined the blogging world! I house sat for an older woman a few years ago and I remember her showing me her granddaughter's blog. There were pictures of her husband, dogs and new baby with video clips and fun stories about their daily activities. It really made this grandmother feel connected to her granddaughter and her life. That made me think that I should do a blog when I have a family...and the other day it occurred to me that now I do! So I decided to do a blog...and then forgot about it as I went about my daily life. Then I came across fellow newlyweds' and new dog owners' blog and thought it was so cute I just couldn't procrastinate any longer! (Thanks Megan and Will!) So here it goes! Hopefully this helps keep everyone in the loop. Of course...if you're in my immediate family you get almost daily phone calls from me anyway :) but now you get pictures to go with the stories!
Anyway, Team Robinson is doing well. We're trying to figure out how to take care of Quincy (our four month old puppy) and keep the house clean and accomplish everything else while maintaining our sanity...but I think it's good practice. :)
Ok so here's a story for everyone...let's see who's on my side...So the other day I had an early day at work (5am!) so I had to leave Aaron to take care of Quincy as far as feeding him and letting him outside. I got home from work around noon, figuring everything had gone fine and it appeared that it had. Then I went into the kitchen where I found Aaron's wet shoe sitting on the kitchen counter. Having had a similar experience only a few days before, I immediately recognized that he had probably had to clean up some dog business from off of his shoe that morning. But did he have to leave it on the counter?? Sick. Oh well. I shrugged my shoulders and walked toward the shoe, intending to put it out on the balcony to dry and then sanitize the counter like nobody's business. Then I saw the rag that he used to clean the shoe, still soiled, sitting in the sink. I groaned inwardly. I knew I would be using a lot of bleach before I felt comfortable making anything eatable anywhere near that sink! I don't know how he misses these basic principles of cleanliness... but again, oh well. Every mess can be cleaned up, and I love Aaron for all his little quirks. I'll get to tease him about it later at least. THEN I saw my vegetable scrubber sitting there in the sink. It was not where I had left it. No way. No. There's no way that my Aaron could've possibly used my vegetable scrubber to scrub doggie defamation from his shoe... I simply walked away from the sink and decided that he probably just knocked the vegetable scrubber down while cleaning his shoe, and also been pressed for time and had to leave for work before cleaning up, so I would leave everything alone so he could finish his shoe cleaning project when he got home. When Aaron arrived home that night, after I greeted him with my usual sprint to the door and a big hug and kiss, I casually brought up the wet shoe in the kitchen. He laughed and told me about taking the dog out that morning and getting more than he bargained for. I laughed at the story, and then I remembered my vegetable scrubber. With the most innocent tone I could muster, I asked him, "So...what did you use to clean off your shoe?" He answered with a very guilty expression on his face, "...Prrrrooobably something I shouldn't have..."
In short, we have a new tool in our cleaning bucket and Aaron owes me a new vegetable scrubber. :) Oh and I'm glad I asked him about it...because we had baked potatoes that night!