Owen loves his auntie!

In the midst of all the excitement last week from getting engaged, we also got to meet our darling little nephew, Owen! Since Owen and Gus’ sister and brother-in-law all live in Albuquerque, this was the first opportunity we had to come visit. And, I think we picked the perfect time! At just over two months old, the little guy was figuring out how to smile and showing some distinct personalities traits. Of course, he just adored his auntie and uncle, and we reciprocated the feeling. It was almost surreal holding the little guy, and realizing that he is going to be a huge part of our lives from now on.

Gus and I hadn’t really spent much time around babies in our lives, so this was a pretty big learning experience. But, evenutally we got comfortable holding the little guy, were able to troubleshoot the different cries (hungry? wet? gassy?), and Gus even changed his first diaper! We were there for some key milestones including his first restaurant experience, and his first time being left without mommy and daddy in the care of his uncle!

We also presented Owen with a quilt that Gus and I custom designed and made for him. It even has his name and birthday sewn in the corner. This symbol is called a “zia” and is the official symbol of New Mexico. It means a lot to Gus, and we wanted to share that special feeling with Owen.

Now that we’re back home in Seattle, we’re anxiously plotting the next time we’ll get to see Owen, and contemplating how much he will have grown since the last time! Can’t wait to see you soon little guy!

Gus took me to this beautiful little outlook from which you can view a large portion of the valley below. I’ve coveted a picture of Gus that hangs on our bathroom wall of himself looking out at the valley, and this is the same spot he took me too! There was a huge ponderosa pine tree with a tree swing dangling from its branches. Gus lifted me up there and we chatted for quite a few minutes while he pushed me gently. He then stopped the swing, stood in front of me, told me I was his best friend and that he wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. He then kneeled down and pulled out a ring!

According to Gus, he heard crickets after asking me “do you want to spend your life with me?” and decided to try “Will you marry me?” However, from my perspective – i.e. total shock – I said “yes, of course” in a timely manner.

I couldn’t be more happy at the prospect of spending my life with my best friend and the best partner a girl could ask for. We’ve known each other for four and a half years, and have had some amazing adventures together in that time (Morocco, Olympics, Hawaii, camping on Vancouver Island, buying a house… I could go on and on).

Gus has been there for me through many ups and downs, both personally and professionally, and I know we have the skills to continue to build on this life we’ve made.

We are tentatively aiming for a February 2012 wedding in Seattle, and I’ll be creating a sweet little website with all the details for you out-of-town folks once the date/venue are finalized. We’re really looking forward to throwing the party of the year, and celebrating with everyone we love!

Click to view slideshow.

So, today, I officially paid off my credit card! This is a huge accomplishment for me. While I haven’t purchased anything with it for years, I’ve been slowly paying back the dollars I borrowed for both stupid and not-so-stupid purposes. Most of the money is from my year studying in Italy. While it was the experience of a lifetime, I got caught up trying to “keep up” with some of the kids in my program who were a little more well off than me. I traveled every weekend, ate and drank whatever I wanted, and did some shopping damage. Oops!

But, hard lessons learned, a interest free opportunity from a different bank and several years of hard work have paid off! As of today, I am free free free. And, it gets better because I only have one payment left on my car. Whoo! So this is what it feels like to be nearly debt free (still have some school loans…).

Tomorrow, Gus and I are off to meet our new nephew, Owen Michael! Stay tuned for what is sure to be a plethora of favorite-auntie-in-the-whole-world photos to be posted next week!

Btw – Congrats to finishing another great tax season to my parents, Bob and Sue, and to Gus’ parents, Bill and Gwen!

Since I was a little heart-broken by our saving money tactic, we decided to get Opening Day tickets! This was a perfect trade-off. We got to take part in all of the opening day festivities, which included “King” Felix Hernandez receiving his Cy Young Award, Ichiro receiving his Golden Glove award, and a touching tribute to our late, beloved announcer Dave Niehaus.

The tribute to Dave was the best part. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Dave was the first and only announcer for the Mariner’s since their inception, and his sudden passing last November hit the city pretty hard. We do have some very high quality announcers who are filling in, but it’s hard to imagine they’ll come up with as brilliant slogans as “My OH My!” and “The Grand Salami!” Sigh. We miss you Dave.

If you’d like to see video of the tribute song that was performed for Dave, pop on over to Belles of the Sound to check it out.

Happy Wednesday!

http://bellesofthesound.com/2011/04/06/wine-blending-with-classic-winemakers/

The game was extremely fun. For those of you that know Gus and I well, you know that we have a slight basketball obsession (well, for Gus that obsession covers all sports in general). Just because the ‘Zag men were out of the tournament doesn’t mean I’m done supporting the teams.

We also got to enjoy taking in all the changes that have happened on Gonzaga’s campus since I left more than five years ago (ouch! Just writing that made me feel old…). There are several new dorms, new painted buildings, new stores, and the list goes on. After the game we enjoyed beers at Jack & Dan’s bar by campus and the next morning we joined a dear friend from Spokane for breakfast.

While it was an extremely quick trip (less than 20 hours in Spokane), we had a great time! I mean, how often does your team make it to the Sweet 16, which happens to be within a drivable distance, and you are able to get tickets to said game? Not often!

Photos:

The view from our box suite!

Last Friday, Gus and I were mega-spoiled and were invited to join his soccer team at a Sounders FC game at Qwest Stadium. One of Gus’ teammates got ahold of his companies’ box suite tickets, and we proceeded to eat, drink and stay dry… all for free!

I think I need to stop seeing events like this, however, because I could really get used to it! All I could think of while it rained on the other less fortunate spectators below me was, “Oh gee, it’s raining. That must really suck for them. Oh well!” HAHA.

Now I’m sure you can imagine that getting 14 people to and from any location is quite an undertaking. So, to get everyone to the rodeo and avoid paying for three separate cabs, we opted to rent a stretch Escalade limo. What a blast! It was so funny to see Grandma sitting in the front of the limo like she’d been doing it her whole life. The rodeo was tons of fun, and very fast-paced! No one got hurt, so I was happy. Since I’ve lived in Seattle for so long, I hadn’t see that many cowboys in one location for years!

My Aunt Mickey was the big winner of the trip, having mistakenly bet the max ($6) on one spin at the penny slot machine, Lil’ Lucy, and hit the big time! It set the tone for a final night of laughs and fun. I really hope we get the opportunity to do it again.

Here are some photo highlights for you all:

We took the trip the week before Thanksgiving. Despite the fact that it rained 4.5 inches the first two days, we had a wonderful time. We sunbathed, ate good food at Roy’s and PukaDog, went ziplining (9 lines and 1 suspension bridge), visited Hanalei and just relaxed. Best of all, our flights and all but one night at the hotel were pre-paid.

Below are a few pictures from the trip, including a video for you to enjoy.