Resurrection

No, this isn't going to be spiritual, sorry y'all.

And by y'all, I mean "you all".

Anywho, I was going to wait to blog when we finally closed on our house, but WE HAVEN'T CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE.

We were supposed to close the end of June... but I don't think Wells Fargo owns any calendars because it's freakin September. I keep hearing "Oh, we'll close this week" and then the week goes by and no one is asking me to sign anything. I'm probably on the verge of committing murder, but luckily for Wells Fargo I'm too poor to fly out there to burn them alive on a stake. I hope to one day maybe just ruin their company, but I just don't have the energy. They're lucky I'm lazy.

The past couple of months have been a blur really. All we've been doing is waiting for our house to close, working, yard work, dog work, some sleeping (maybe), Michael probably got sick... oh wait no I did, more working, and we visited DC for a weekend for Ale's Sweet 15! I took tons of pictures, but on their camera, so I'll probably never see them since they never know where the cord is. The party was a lot of fun though, and Michael and I had a great time. I danced like an idiot with old friends, ate a TON of cheese, watched Mariachi's play, and got to visit with people I hadn't seen in years. It was so nice to drive around, even though we were only there for maybe 2 days total. Ale looked beautiful and elegant which is weird because I don't think I've ever seen her in anything other than soccer shorts. I also got caught up with everything soccer, thanks to her giving me play by plays of the past 35 matches. She didn't really, but the point I'm trying to make is she talks about soccer too much.

Apart from all of that boringness, the only thing exciting that's coming up is CHEWIE'S BIRTHDAY!!! Can you believe my little fatty fat is turning one!? I found this picture of him on my computer the other day of when we first got him:

How cute is my chunk-a-chunk!? He's so little and fluffy; his little tongue sticking out. I tried to get Chewie to sit the same way so that I could get a good "before and after" picture, but this is all he gave me:

Basically he's grown a lot and is really fat. And extremely cute. And smelly... but cute. I love my Chew-Chew and I can't wait to celebrate his first birthday on Sunday!

Hopefully soon I can finally blog about our new house... hopefully.

Haircut

We just paid over $100 to get Chewy shaved... and this is what we got:

                                        Before                                                                       After

You think the pictures suck? So do I. PHONES DON'T HAVE GREAT CAMERAS! If you agree with me, please contact 479-621-3818 (Michael's cell phone) and tell him how we need to buy a camera. Basically Chewy looks like a great dane/black lab mix. It's hilarious and I've been making fun of him for a day now.

Anywho, the Olympics started so I've been fabulously obsessed :). I have claimed our I-PAD for the next couple weeks so that I can catch up with it at work. My goal is to go to an Olympics. I know, most people say they want to be in the Olympics, but I've read what those freaks do to get there... and no thanks. I like doughnuts too much and I'd rather sit with all the other fat people in the crowd. Along with being beautifully overweight, I currently have two boyfriends: Ryan Lochte and Matt Anderson. Oh, Michael is still the love of my life... but a girls gotta have some eye candy on the side right? Anyways, the point is they're beautiful and fun to watch on TV while Michael is beautiful and fun to watch at home. Win Win for me. 

The Arkansas heat has been miserable, making me miss the Utah dry weather. BUT, some awesome things have happened:

#1. We went to Red Lobster one night with Michael's co-worker Kassie and her fiance Joel, and in the middle of our meal, the lights went out! They never came back on, so we got our meal for free and had some free cheesecake to top our meal off.

#2. We went to some pizza place (I'm not a fan of it... and we keep ending up there...), and when we were there with Michael's co-workers (Kassie and Joel were there and we decided to split a pizza), they dropped our pizza and had to start a new one, meaning that we got our food for free again! I love eating with Kassie and Joel.

#3. I went to get a snack today at work with my co-worker Jose and when we were downstairs waiting to order, the guy in front of me asked me what I was going to order. I told him I was just going to get a muffin, but he asked me to get something else... so I got a fruit smoothie AND a muffin. He paid for me, and didn't get anything for himself. Weird? Yes. Awesome? Double yes.

Did all my awesome things include food? Of course... I just talked about how much I love food above. Some not so awesome things:

#1. Our closing date has been pushed back 2 weeks so we wont be in our house for another couple weeks.

See how it doesn't involve food? That's what makes it suck. And I guess also the fact that I can't move into my awesome house. But mainly because no food is involved.

I'm on my period, so all I've been thinking about is food.

... just in case you can't tell.

I dedicate these to myself:

Funny story with this last pin... this is Luke to the core. He gets on our bed at 6:00 AM sharp, EVERYDAY. And not only does he get on the bed, but he paws my face and neck until I respond. Last Saturday I almost killed him, but as soon as I look into his cute little face, I melted and punched him with my lips. If Michael woke me up, I would probably just punch him.

Yay for husbands!

Nipple

So you're probably all wondering, "Why is this post called 'Nipple'?" Well, let me tell you.

Michael and I were enjoying a normal afternoon after work. The pups were chillin', and I was getting ready to make dinner (yes, you read that correctly. I, Paola Black, was going to make dinner). As I'm getting the stove and crap ready, I look over at Luke and his ear is flipped up. I notice that it's super red and I go over to check him out and his ear is nasty red and swollen with nasty thick, white pus coming out of it (your welcome if you were eating while reading that). I check his other ear, and it seems fine, but I panic anyways and run to Michael in tears about how my dog is dying.

Michael, being the reasonable and level-headed spouse, checked out his ear and confirmed that it was nasty and infected. Well, while he was rubbing him to make him feel better, he felt something on his stomach and told me to check it out while he held Luke down. I go in and it looks like something black is sticking out of his stomach, so my first reaction is to scream and cry about how something is inside of him, eating him alive. Michael, rolling his eyes, checks on it and then tells me to get tweezers because he thinks it's a tick or something. Well, I go grab the tweezers and then Michael and I attempt to take that mother freakin nasty bug out of my baby boy.

No luck. The stupid thing is stubborn, and when we keep trying, it kept digging itself in his poor little stomach. After about a minute, I'm really freaking out and we call to find out where the emergency animal hospital is. Luckily, it's only a mere 30 minutes away! Waahooo!!! (please note the sarcasm).

When we finally get to the emergency hospital, they take my baby boy and start looking at him, but we can't actually be there to watch so I'm sitting in the waiting room, watching some stupid MTV show. Finally, after horrible suspense, the vet calls us into a room and brings him back. The vet comes in and starts talking about his ear infection and how Luke needs meds and I'm just like, "SHUT UP! WHAT ABOUT THE PARASITE THAT'S DIGGING INTO HIS BRAIN!?!?!??!" I didn't actually say anything, but i felt all that.

When the vet finally gets to the point of the creepy crawly, he's tells us that he couldn't find it, but that it sounds like he has something really bad and that if we popped it or burst the mother freaker, Luke could go into shock. You can imagine how I reacted...

Anywho, so the vet goes back and tries to find the nasty thing again, and we sit there and wait. This time he doesn't take too long coming back, and he brings Luke with him. Here is what he said: "You were actually ripping out his nipple".

....

SERIOUSLY!?

I almost ripped my dogs nipple out.

The end.

Our First Home

We freakin BOUGHT A HOUSE.

As soon as we signed the papers, Michael said, "We're finally real people." I never realized how poor real people were... just kidding. Well, not really haha.

So we have been house hunting for the past couple weeks and it has been horrible. I would literally send our Realtor a list of houses I liked at night, and half my list would be gone (sold) by the morning. We were starting to think that we would never find anything, until we found a really REALLY nice house. The problem: wayyy too expensive. So we dropped that and kept looking. It got to the point where I was telling Michael that I didn't care anymore. I told him to just chose something before I exploded. 


Luckily I didn't have to explode. On Saturday we went house hunting and the last house we saw we fell in love with. I mean the price was perfect, the size was good, and it was updated. I don't mind doing a little work, but if everything is done to your standard then better for me. Our backyard is pretty large and the floors (most of them) are pretty dog proof. 


Anywho, so on Saturday we made an offer within an hour of being in that house. We called the Realtor associated with the house and she said that 4 or 5 other couples were interested. By Sunday, our offer was still the strongest, but then we got a call from our Realtor saying that some guy was offering CASH MONEY for the house. Who the hell has that much money!? I was ready to punch someone. Well, usually cash offers win, so we just kind of bowed our heads and started looking at other houses. On Monday we didn't hear anything and then this morning my husband texted me that we got it! I stood up and shrieked at work, jumping up and down at my desk. It was a pretty fun sight... and my co-workers were all giving me strange looks. 


We signed our contract right after I got done with work and now we are waiting to close :). I can't wait to move in!! We hope to be in by the end of July :). Here are some pictures for your enjoyment (I'm obviously not posting our address... I'm pretty sure too many people at work already know where I live...):

Our HUGE backyard for our pup-pups. We're going to plant some trees to give them some shade.

The fireplace in the backyard. 

The master bath. The left door is the toilet and the right is the walk-in closet.

Master bedroom. I can't remember what type of ceiling that is...

Breakfast nook, kitchen, and living room. 

Formal dining room.

The front of the house.

My AWESOME kitchen! Well... our kitchen I guess, since I don't cook.

The living room.

Kitchen, bar, and living room.

We are SOO happy with our new house and we can't wait to move in!! And obviously none of the furniture is ours... 

3 Year Anniversary

Michael and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary today :). It doesn't feel like it's been that long, but it also feels like I've known Michael forever. I'm so glad I married him. These past 3 years (I guess almost 4 if you count our dating...) have been getting better and better. Michael is my best friend and the only person on the planet who truly knows me. I have nothing to hide around him and I'm never ashamed of being my true self. He's hilarious and is always keeping things interesting. He also has a belief in me that I've never seen in anyone else. Remember my rant about him being my trainer? Well, I'm actually touched that he believed in me enough to know that I would get through some of the horrible work outs he put me through. He believes in me and I believe in him.

And he loves dogs. Which is convenient because we have 3 of them.

We celebrated by going to a fancy Italian place in the square. I got an expensive $26 fish meal that wasn't impressive. It was the most expensive meal I've ever had, and I regret it. I wanted to go to a sea food place that was on the other side of the square, but we had heard good things about the Italian restaurant so we figured it would be worth a try. I don't think I'll go there anytime soon again. Anywho, it was romantic and I love spending time with my hubhub.

Some overdue pictures:

One of our last hikes in Utah. I miss walking with them off the leash :(.

Leia playing with Daddy.

This is in our new place in the office. Luke likes to sit by the window and watch the happenings of the backyard. Silly boy.

These are our Hunger Game VIP tickets... I probably should have posted this a long time ago. W/e. I still have these tickets haha. 

Personal Trainer

If you do not value your life, or are suicidal, ask Michael to be your trainer. I unfortunately did.

Jk.

But seriously.

My boss is in really good shape so I asked her what her secret is, and she said that she's had a trainer for a really long time. I told Michael that I wanted to get one, assuming that the trainers at the gym we go to would probably be cheap. He volunteered to train me instead, so I stupidly accepted. On Saturday we had our first training session, and he had me "warm up" running half a mile at a 7-minute pace. If you think that's easy, then screw you, because it wasn't for me. I had been running the week before we started, but not that intensely. After the run (yes, I finished it... but barely), I was done for the day.

He barely scratched the surface.

He had me do exercises that hurt after the first rep. I was literally falling asleep by the end of the work out because my body just wanted to shut down and heal. After the torture, he made me do sprints. Freakin jerk. I tried for about 10 seconds and then collapsed. Then he made me run sprints again.

Point of the story is, I'm still sore, even today. My neck muscles hurt on Sunday. I had muscles on my feet that were hurting. My FINGERS were hurting. He killed me. And then he killed me again yesterday. I'm not sure who's more foolish... Michael for thinking that I'll survive another work out session, or me continuing to go. Michael did the work out I did on Saturday, and he barely got through it. I just wanted to add that so that people don't think I'm completely useless.

Hopefully, if I'm not lying dead in the Bentonville Gym, I'll be toned and sexy within a month. Or two. Probably never. I decided today that I enjoy eating burgers more than being really toned. But then my body remembers all the pain Michael made me go through and I never want to eat ever again. Ever.

P.S. I just read the Divergent series, and IT WAS AWESOME. Such an exciting book!!!!!!!! I recommend it.

Arkansas

OK, I said I would update everyone about our move and everything... but I forgot and the weeks have flown by.

Anywho, so I started work the Monday after we moved (I ended my HCO job at BYU on the Friday before we left), which means that I had no break from work (which is a good and bad thing). I got a position working as a merchandising assistant for Sam's Club Home Office. The job is something else, let me tell you. My first couple days were spent at a painful orientation, and then I was able to get my grand tour of the Sam's building which is freakin awesome. My co-workers around me are great and I'm really enjoying my team. I'm slowly learning all the responsibilities I need to do, but it's a bit overwhelming. I guess the thing that is most stressful is not knowing anything or not knowing what to do when something comes up. I'm being patient, and I have definitely improved in the past month, but it's still a thorn on my side. I want to know everything, and I want to know everything now :).

My category that I support (Paper) is right next to the Pet category so I get to talk dogs with people that actually want to listen! I know I can get a little carried away with talking about my furry children, but now I feel like I have a run for my money (or whatever the saying is). My co-worker (as I have already mentioned) has 4 large, beautiful dogs, so we trade secrets and give each other pointers and advice :).

So we are renting a house in Bella Vista, which is the hilly side of Benton County. The roads look exactly like the roads I got into my big accident with my jeep do. It scares me to death driving on these roads... but I'm getting use to that too. The backyard we have is great and big, with lots of trees so the dogos have shade and ticks. I love ticks. Especially dead ones.

Anywho, WE BOUGHT A CAR!

These pictures aren't actually our car... I wanted to take pictures, but it's dark out right now and I know that if I wait to post this, I'll forget and it'll never get posted. But it's the same color as the ones above. The car is pretty awesome and it's a 2013! I know... it's only 2012, but I'm not questioning the label :). I get to drive this to work everyday so I call it "my car" lol. Michael likes to correct me and say "our OTHER car". Toe-may-toe, toe-ma-toe. Point is, we love it and it loves us. Now we are one big, two car, happy family. 

Michael finished all his classes so now he is OFFICIALLY a BYU graduate. Congrats to my love!! I'm really proud of him for pushing through the last two classes he had to finish. Poor thing, the classes were draining his life source away. He officially gets to start work on Monday. He's been complaining about how he's had nothing to do for about 2 months. I think about his complaints when I wake up at 6:00 AM and watch him sleep peacefully as I drag myself out of bed. Then I think about punching his peaceful face. Then I backtrack and remember that he's really good looking, so then I punch him in the arm instead. 

Life here is going pretty well so far. We're very happy :).