Playing Catch Up...Again

I find myself yet again creating another long post to sum up the last month. I’m not real good at being a “blogger”. I guess when you stare at a computer for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week; it’s hard to get on the computer once you get home from work. But then I guess that’s just another excuse. Either way, I finally made time and here is what has happened with us since Spring Break. Oh…and I finally got the rest of the spring break pictures loaded up online. I ran into some problems with the site. Apparently the size of my pictures are huge because it said I used up all my free space. So I had to delete some old ones and reload the new ones…and it just took forever! But they are finally all loaded and should be viewable in the slide show at the top on the side.

Things were exciting that first week Ross went back to class. For one class, they had to put on or participate in a mock trial…from start to finish. Everything was as authenticate as could be from an actual court room layout, a real judge, witnesses, and even jury selection. And what made this more exciting was that I got to participate! The case was about an armed bank robbery. There were four attorneys total (two for each side). Ross was one of the prosecutors and I got to the play bank teller who was robbed. Even though the students had to do most of the work, I felt like I was more nervous than they were. And to add to the nerves, I was the first witness called! Thankfully Ross practiced with me (since he is the one who questioned me) which made me feel a little better. However, during the cross examination I started to get nervous again afraid I was going to say something wrong. But on the re-direct examination, Ross was able to fix anything I messed up. Once my part was done I got to watch the rest of the trial (which was more fun). Once the closing arguments were done (which Ross did awesome at), the lawyers and judge waited in the hall while the jury deliberated. I stayed in the room to listen to the jury. The final verdict was a hung jury (8 guilty, 4 not guilty). But a couple said they were swayed by Ross’ closing argument and that he presented a good case that the guy was guilty. While the lawyers/students waited in the hall, one of the student’s father was there watching (who is an attorney also) and told Ross that he did an amazing job and that he could walk into a court room that day and have no trouble winning a case. At the end of March, Ross attended a National Law Review Conference down in San Diego for school that lasted 4 days. So while he was down south learning ways to improve the Law Review program, I got to spend time socializing with my girl friends…which meant happy hour and coffee time.

A week and a half ago we got all dressed up, nice and fancy to attend the annual Barrister’s Ball. This year it was held at a hotel in Costa Mesa which was about 5-10 minutes from us. Last year it was about 20 minutes away. The week before the event Ross took me out shopping to quite a few stores to find a new dress. I eventually found one for a reasonable price…a cute little red dress which worked well with the theme; Sin City, black white and a little bit of red.

Last Friday was the last intramural sports event which happened to be themed volleyball. Ross' team dressed in 70s attire and had an awesome time! This past Saturday we went to a Law Review Awards Brunch. It was mainly to honor and recognize the graduating students. But it was still fun being. Ross had a great time dressing up and taking pictures.

For Easter, it was just the two of us again. But this year we actually cooked an Easter dinner which included a 10 pound ham. That’s right….10 pounds. Tonight will be the third meal I make with left over ham. After our big meal and kitchen clean up, we relaxed for a few hours to let the food digest and then we continued with the Easter tradition of coloring Easter eggs. Yes even at 28, I still like coloring Easter eggs. Brings back great childhood memories and sparks good conversation.

This week we have one last big event to look forward to…FINALS! Ross has three finals this semester. Two are on the same day and just happen to be scheduled for the first day of finals (Monday, May 2). His last final isn’t really something he needs to study for which is good so he can focus all his time on the two big ones coming up. After finals are done, he will start his externship at the District Attorney’s office this summer. So until more excitement happens, that’s all that has been going on with us. Enjoy the new pictures.

Spring Break

I can't believe it's been another three weeks since I last posted. Time is going so fast. Well the majority of our excitement took place last week during Spring Break! Not only did Ross get a break but I took the whole week off from work to enjoy it with him. And to add to the fun, my parents came out for 4 days to visit. So we not only got to relax but we got to play tourist, which was a lot of fun!

We wasted no time starting our vacation. After work on Friday the 11th, Ross and I headed up north to Long Beach and went to the Night Dive at the Aquarium of the Pacific. First time ever going to an aquarium (besides Sea World). The Night Dive is a special night time event for adults only with live music as well as a variety of art on display. We also got to walk around the aquarium and see a lot of the exhibits all lite up at night. And to top things off, we even got to dissect a squid!! The only thing I dissected in high school was a chicken wing (like the kind you eat) and an earthworm. So that was a lot of fun.

Sunday morning we picked up my parents from the airport and to start the trip off we walked around the classic car show that was near our place. After walking down memory lane, we headed to the beach to relax in the sun where we got to see a handful of dolphins swimming along the coast. To end the night we enjoyed an AMAZING dinner cooked by yours truly...(which would be Ross) followed by a trip to Yogurtland (frozen yogurt) and a game of cards.

Monday we found ourselves down in San Diego walking around the world famous San Diego Zoo....all in search of the panda bears. Thankfully they were out and we got to see them do what they do best...eat. The weather was perfect...warm and sunny with an occasional light breeze. And thanks to my awkward sunburns, I was proof of the nice weather. After a lot of walking, we had dinner at the Old Mission Mexican Cafe (which was referred from numerous people) and it was fantastic. I think everyone left feeling a little overstuffed.

Since we spent Monday south of where we live what better way to spend Tuesday than north. We started the day off at the Getty and walked around the amazing museum! Hadn't been to an art museum in a long time and it was just breathtaking. Unfortunately we were all hungry and so we didn't have time to see the entire place, which means we have a good excuse to go back. After lunch at the cafe, we headed to Mulholland drive to try and scope where the stars live.

Unfortunately, they do a pretty good job of tucking their mansions away from the public eye but it was still fun to do the drive and see an overview of the city and a view small glimpses of the gorgeous houses. After our Mulholland drive, to avoid heavy traffic on the way home, we made a stop at the Santa Monica Pier to enjoy a drink, some people watching as well as watch the sun set.

After two days of walking around and site seeing, Wednesday was a nice lazy relaxing day. We didn't leave the house until about 1 or 2 and guess what we went to do?? You guessed it....more walking. This time it was for a purpose. While Ross and my dad enjoyed the pier in Huntington Beach, my mom and I went shopping!! And boy did I do good. I got new sunglasses, jewelry, clothes, and new pair of shoes. I do have to admit I miss my shopping buddy.

With everything that we did in the last four days, Thursday came fast and we found ourselves saying goodbye to my parents at the airport. After we got home later that morning, we found ourselves wanting to do nothing but relax. We thought about going out to celebrate St Patty's Day but decided it would be more fun to just stay home and enjoy each others' company. And somehow that same feeling carried over into Friday and Saturday. But it was well worth it as we both felt relaxed and refreshed. Which is a good thing because these next two weeks for Ross are going to be CRAZY! But all that fun is for a later post (otherwise I wouldn't have anything to write about). I posted some pictures from our Spring Break for you to enjoy and I am working on updating the slideshow with new pictures. Check back soon to see all the pictures from Spring Break.

Catch Up

I know it's been over a month since I last posted something but there hasn't been much going on to post as often as I'd like. However, a lot of excitement took place last weekend....and Ross was the one with all the excitement. So since it has been awhile let me recap what Ross has been busy doing with school this past semester. In addition to his regular classes, he is a member of Trial Advocacy (like moot court) and Law Review (kind of like a school newspaper but is public).

And now for a quick summary of what Trial Advocacy is. It's a group of students that argue a case in a competition against other schools. To be part of this group the students had to try out. Unfortunately not all the students that are on Trial Ad get to compete but they still get school credit for being apart of it. Ross did not make the competing team but was considered a "shadow" so he still had to be apart of the "training" sessions/meetings to get school credit. These meetings were held on the weekends for about 6-8 hours each day. Last weekend was the competition and even though Ross wasn't competing, he still wanted to attend to support the school and see what it's all about. One of the big surprises that happened at this competition was that Ross and two other "shadows" got to actually compete because there wasn't enough teams due to some schools dropping out. So Ross got to experience what it was like to prepare and argue an entire case! Just confirmed for him how much he really enjoys this and can't wait to be done with school.

Another exciting thing that happened (again for Ross) was his new position on Law Review. There are a variety of positions that make up Law Review and this past semester Ross was one of the Site Checkers. He would review articles to make sure the sites that are used as support in the article are correct. A few weeks ago they held try outs for the other positions that are currently held by 3rd year students. So Ross tried out and got the position of Executive Editor. It's the second highest position on the board and he will oversee and mange 3 articles. Basically the site checkers come to him whenever they have problems or questions and he reviews all the articles after the site checkers do their part. Just one more thing to add to his resume of achievements.

And to sum up the excitement of everything that took place these past few weeks, Ross found out that his class ranking changed from 8th to 5th. He is in the top 3% of his class! Oh, and he also had 5 interviews for an externship position this summer. We are still waiting to hear back as to where he will be "working" this summer but he feels like all his interview went really well.

Not much excitement going on with me except that I get Ross back on the weekends now that he is done with Trial Advocacy. Work is still work and I get to take a week vacation in two weeks to spend Spring Break with Ross!

Crazy Schedule

Getting back into the habit of everything didn't take too long. School started for Ross on Mon the 10th and this semester is proving to be the craziest schedule to date. Out of the 5 classes he is taking, 4 of them are in the evening. So once I get home from work, I see him for about an hour or so before he goes to class. And to top that all off, being part of Trial Advocacy (similar to mock trial but for law school) he has to attend the meetings/practices...and these happen to be all day Saturday and Sunday. Since I will be spending a lot of time by myself this semester I plan on starting my scrap booking again. The first step is getting all the stuff organized.

Other than school starting and getting used to the new schedule, not much else is going on. Work for me has been really busy but at least it helps make the day go by fast...at least most of the time. I'm just thankful I have a job. Well, not too much to write about...keeping it short and sweet!

2011

2011 sure did come fast. December was so busy for us that I didn't have time to post anything. We survived finals and both of us were happy when the semester was officially over. Ross had a few days to relax before we packed our bags and headed home to Colorado for Christmas to surprise the family. We spent 10 days at home visiting family and friends and making tons of holiday memories.

We surprised Ross' family Christmas Eve and spent the evening at his aunt and uncle's place. It was so much fun walking in and being able to wish everyone a Merry Christmas in person this year! We spent Christmas Day at Mom and Dad's where Shaun got a pretty exciting gift from our Uncle Tim from North Dakota. I posted the video of him opening his gift. Later that evening we went to Shaun's place where we played the new Kinect. It's a video game where your entire body is the controller. The entire family got into it and we had a blast watching each other move about trying to play this video game.




While at home we went to our first Broncos game, which they just so happened to win. Watching the game live in person is completely different than watching it on TV. The atmosphere and experience was great and now that we got a taste of it, we want to go back for more! After the Broncos game, we enjoyed some amazing homemade Mexican food at my Uncle Randy's in Parker. And nothing goes better with Mexican food than margaritas!

One of the more relaxing things we did was head to the mountains and do a little 4-wheeling. We rode with Shaun in his new jeep and my parents followed behind in one of the jeeps from Dad's lot.
Our goal was to find some snow since the last time we saw snow was before we moved. I was so happy when we found snow that we had to stop so I could make a snow angel. I kind of forgot how cold snow really is. Either way, I still wanted to make my snow angel. We found a small stream or river of water that we had to drive through. I posted a video of both jeeps going through. Ross and Shaun are in the first one and Mom and Dad are in the second one. What a great time with awesome scenery!



The rest of the week was spent driving all over the place to see family; Colorado Springs, Denver, Fountain. Even though we weren't able to see everyone, we still had a great time. In addition to seeing family and friends, we got to see our two dogs we had to leave behind when we left. They didn't look the same considering they are about 15-20 pounds heavier. At least we know they are in good hands and living the easy life. To top it all off, it even snowed the last two days we were there!

We got back home to California late January 1 which meant nothing but laundry and relaxing from travel the next day. Ross had one more week off from school before classes start on the 10th. I however, had to go back to work on the 3rd. After being gone for 10 days it sure is hard to get back into the swing of things.

I've posted a few pictures from our trip, the rest of them can be seen in the slide show on the right. Enjoy!

One Down, Three to Go

I think Ross and I have officially discovered the most stressful 2 weeks of our lives so far. We thought planning our wedding, buying our first house, or evening moving to a different state was stressful. Those events don't even compare to last week and this week. We both knew that finals this year was going to be more intense than last year, but not this intense. And then throw in two audits for me at work and you have the perfect storm.

Last week Ross had his first of four finals. Usually his finals were split up pretty evenly between the two weeks. But this year had to be different. One final was one week and the other three are the next. And to make things even better, two are back-to-back. Which makes studying for them even more difficult. Last week for me was filled with my first audit. To keep the details at a minimum, the audit was to review our Technical Files of all the products that are manufactured. Each product is put into a Family and each Family has a Technical File. So, one of 30 files was selected to be audited. Well, what made this audit more stressful was that these files hadn't been reviewed and updated for quite a few years. Which meant I was the lucky one who got to spend a lot more time at the office making sure they were as current as possible and ready to be torn apart by an auditor. So you can imagine the extra stress I brought to the table. But after seven and a half hours of overtime in just three days, we passed the audit with no issues! Too bad I didn't have much time to relax and enjoy the feeling of passing because we had one day to get ready for another audit. Thankfully I wasn't too involved in the second audit but I still had plenty of work to get done that would be reviewed. And good news is that we passed that one as well!

So now the focus goes back to Ross and finals. The last few days have been filled with reading, outlining, going through flash cards, and just flat out talking through the outline to make sure all points are covered and memorized. There have been some late nights but he feels pretty good about the one today. Which means tonight is going to be another long night of flash cards and talking through the outline to get ready for the final tomorrow. The last final of the year is on Friday. And after that we are planning on movie marathon weekend and nothing but relaxing. We are also planning an evening in Disneyland since the last time we were there was when Mom, Dad, Shaun, and Amanda were here back in October. I think it's time we visited the Magic Kingdom again.

Once finals are done I think it will be easier to get into the holiday spirit. Although the weather out here has not been very helpful. This past weekend the temperatures were in the mid to upper 80s! That's right 80s. Thankfully they are are slowing starting to get back into the low 70s and upper 60s (which is cold for people out here). I guess you take what you can get.

December Already

It's hard to believe that December is already here. It feels like last week we were figuring out Halloween costumes and looking forward to Thanksgiving. December not only brings Christmas and holiday events but finals and the end of another semester of school. But before we get into December, we need to talk about how we spent our Thanksgiving weekend since it was filled with a lot of firsts for us.

As this was our second year as orphans, we found other orphans just like us and had our own Thanksgiving. Last year we celebrated Thanksgiving early when my parents came out but we didn't do anything on the actual day. So this year we actually helped cook. If you were to look at just the food alone that was spread out on the table, you would have thought there was going to be about 12-15 people getting together for dinner. Really there was only 7 of us, so needless to say there were tons of left overs.

Friday night we went out bowling to celebrate a friend's birthday. This was the first time we have been bowling since moving out here. And all I can say is that the bowling alleys out here are nothing compared to what they are back home. You are basically going to a fancy restaurant/bar that just happens to have pools tables and a bowling alley. Oh yea, and a live DJ playing music. So the atmosphere is nothing like the old bowling alley feel but more of a bar/dance club where they serve you food and drinks at your lane. Something you don't see at home.

Saturday night we went out yet again to celebrate another friend's birthday. This birthday celebration, however, was held at an Indian restaurant. So another first for Ross and I. Thankfully there was a large group and most of them have eaten there before so they were able to give us tips on what was good and what to stay away from. Can't remember what my dish was called but it reminded me of chicken wings. Ross' was more of a sauce/gravy you have over rice. The taste was pretty good but the portion was small.

And finally, the last first for us that took place Thanksgiving weekend was the we put up our Christmas tree and some holiday decorations! We have a fake tree that is 7 and a half feet tall and worked perfectly in our house with the vaulted ceilings. But out here in the small apartment, the ceilings are only 8 feet. So we improvised and removed one of the center poles so the tree is about 5 feet tall. I think this is the first time I was able to put the angel on top without having to stand on a step stool or ladder. I posted some pictures below of how our modified tree came out.

After our Thanksgiving weekend filled with a lot of firsts, we move into December which brings with it something that is very familiar.....FINALS!!! The first of four finals takes place this Wednesday. The last three are all next week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). All Ross can say about finals this year is that they just plain suck. Things are so stressful that it's even harder to get motivated to study. And what makes things worse is when we have technical issues and Ross loses 2 and a half hours worth of work on his outlines he uses for studying. Sometimes it feels like when it rains it pours and nothing seems to go right. All I know is that we are both counting the days til finals are over with and we can both relax and enjoy three weeks of no school!