Catching up...

I know, I know its been a long time since I have posted. I am not very good at writing about the day to day monotony of our lives; to be honest not much has happened but I will try to summarize the last couple months' highlights starting back in February/early January:

The end of January, probably right around the last time I posted anything, I was just about to start my new job. I am now working at Bellevue Healthcare. It is a medical supply company that works mainly with Hospice patients. We supply them with equipment for their homes and my job is to keep track of all the equipment going out and coming back in. There is a lot to learn and I am starting to understand, but it is a slow process; or maybe I am just the slow one. either way I really enjoy it and I really like the people I work with.

Also around that same time I got a call from my recently married sister and she informed me I am going to be an aunt! I could not be more excited, for them, and selfishly for myself. Now I am already an aunt to 4 wonderful kids (Riley, Erin, Lucy and Gabe) on Jim's side of the family but this will be the first time one of my siblings is having a baby and I will actually be blood related. Sheila is due in September and already has a little bump. If she says its ok I will post a picture for you. I really cant wait till she has him or her; partially so I can practice some parenting on them without having to actually do any of the hard work (or labor!). My hope is to become the favorite aunt who spoils them rotten and then sends them home to their parents (I'm of course kidding Sheila-relax). I will keep you updated on the little ones arrival as it gets a closer to her due date.

Until then here is another picture from their wedding day taken by Ryan Lindberg.

So that was the two big things for January...In February Jim and I celebrated Valentines Day like any romantic couple does...we went to Pullman for a basketball game :) Terry made fun of Jim saying he is the luckiest guy in the world because all his wife wanted was to go to their college town drink and watch a game. I would say we are both pretty lucky to have someone to share our cougar passion with. We did squeeze some romance in by going down to Lewiston to the restaurant we went to when we were first dating and we stayed in a hotel while we were there. We also toured the new CUB (which is amazing) and did some shopping at the new bookie (also amazing). All in all it was a great way to celebrate. Below are a few pics from the weekend (can you believe I actually remembered a camera?)

starting the morning off right with beer and trivia at my office :)

The new bar in the CUB! Over 40 beers on tap...I think you know where you can find me on Cougar football Saturdays :)

A pic from outside the Bookie

Let's go COOOOUUUUGGGGSSS!!!

I know what you are thinking the cougs were not that great this year but I'm ok with that. They definitely showed they can hang with the big boys towards the end of the season, and I predict big things next year...perhaps even a big dance.

The end of the month was probably more my real valentines present...Jim took me to go see Brad Paisley at the arena. Its a funny story because back around October I told Jim I really wanted to see Brad live and how bummed I was I missed it a couple years ago. Jim promised if he came we would go. Literally about 5 days later we were driving past the arena and on the marketing board outside it said Brad was coming in February. Of course Jim thought the whole thing was a set up but I swear I had no idea. Needless to say Jim held up his end of the bargain and we went and had a fabulous time, even Jim, who is not the world's biggest country fan, thought Brad put on an awesome show.

Our seats were not as close as these look but apparently my camera has awesome zoom capabilities (I would probably know this if I used it a bit more, huh?)

That brings us to March. Not a whole lot has been going on so far this month. Jim has been extremely busy as he is now the head coach for the JV baseball team at Shadle which kinda leaves me to my own devices. So I have caught up on all my DVR'd shows and I'm trying to keep the house clean and the dogs entertained. Beasley and Bledsoe are doing great and I am happy to say I think our plan has worked. Beasley is much calmer now that she has Bledsoe to wrestle around and release some energy with. I am not saying she is a perfect angel by any means, lets be honest this is Beasley we are talking about, but she is doing much better and loves her little sister, very much :)

Notice there are not two pics of them together. It's absolutely impossible to get them to sit still long enough to take a picture so these will have to do. This one of Bledsoe is from early on when we first got her. She is bigger than this now but not a whole lot.

Beasley with her bone...this is about take 254 because she is a hard one to make sit in one spot for too long...unless she is of course laying on top of you.

This past weekend I got to go visit Shanna, one of the best people I met from college. She lives in the tri-cities and we do not see each other nearly enough. I love her to death and it was so great to catch up. Of course I did not have my camera with me (I am such a slacker) but hopefully this old school pic from college graduation weekend will sum up our friendship for you :)

That pretty much gets us to where we are today, except I left out St. Patrick's Day. I did not have my camera with me (yet again!) but I do have video on my phone that I am going to try and figure out how to upload. Once I do I promise to write about that night as well. If anyone knows how to get video from a phone to here let me know! I am headed off to Cannon Beach for a much needed girls weekend getaway and I promise to bring my camera and actually take pictures with it this time and do a post fairly soon after so I am not writing a novel next time on here. SoI think that's it from me, time for me to wrap it up...just one last thing before I do...

...if you have made it this far you should know i wrote this whole thing while sitting in my freezing basement, but i was not cold...you know why??? Because I had my SNUGGIE on to keep me warm the whole time! ha ha, thanks again Bob :)

SERIOUSLY...I LOVE THIS THING!!! :)

What a month...

Wow, I cant believe it is almost February. This month just flew by, hence why I have not updated since December. Well lets start from the beginning~ We rang in the new year with a bunco party at the Snyder household. I think there was almost 20 people squeezed into that house, but it was a lot of fun, with a lot of friends and a lot of tasty food. I have pictures but they are still on my camera so one of these days I will upload them to the computer and onto here.

Since new years a lot else has happened. First and foremost, we swore in a new president. I don't want to get too political here, but let me just say how excited I am about the possibilities on the horizon. I have never felt so proud to be and American then I did on January 20th. It was an amazing day, and I cant wait to see what the future holds!

Secondly, I got a new job! I have not started yet but I will be working with Bobby at Bellevue Health Care. I am not sure of my "official duties" as of yet but I am looking forward to the change and think it will be a great opportunity. I am finishing up my last week at my old job and I start me new one Monday. I'm secretly kinda nervous but excited too.

In other news...My oldest brother, Sean, got engaged. I am so excited! I really never thought I would see the day. He and his girlfriend have been together and happy for years and we all just figured that was the way they would stay. Little did we know Sean had something up his sleeve. They went to Washington DC for the inauguration and the night before the ceremony they went out to eat in Georgetown. Sean had it all set up at the restaurant where JFK proposed to Jackie, They even sat in the same booth and there Sean asked Teresa to marry him. It was a surprise to Teresa as well as the rest of us...none of us thought he had it in him :) I cant wait for them to get married, they truly are meant to be and I am happy to add another sister to the family, as well as pass on my name to her. My parents are thrilled to have another Teresa Donovan, especially since the first one turned out so well :)

There have been some other not so great things happen so far this year and I am hoping that by having them happen early we wont have to deal with anything else for the rest of the year. I have had a couple friends and family in the hospital for various reasons. Without naming any names could you please keep them in your thoughts and prayers this year.

That's enough of that, I don't want to end on a not so happy note so let me tell you about planning my 10 year high school reunion. That's right, I am helping put the Mead Class of '99 reunion together. If anyone reading this has any thoughts or ideas about what they want lets me know. We are in the early planning stages and right now there are 4 of us trying to pull this whole thing together so if you would like to help out in any way, feel free to let me know! I have a feeling this is going to be a little more than I initially bargained for, but it will be fun I guess :)


I hope your 2009 is starting off with as much excitement and enjoyment as mine, and I promise next time to include pictures and more updates throughout the month!

and the winner is...

ME!

I beat Chris by 9 points to win our league. Now lets see how long it takes to get my money. Haha, just kidding! I am sure they will all pay up on new years, when we have our Bunco party at the Snyders house :)

Who works on Christmas Eve...

...this girl! So since I am sitting here at work with no phone calls and no emails and virtually nothing to do I thought why not update my blog with a few random things, so here you go:

Here is a picture of our new little bundle of joy, Bledsoe.

She is an amazing puppy and such a cuddle bug! All she wants to do is lay on your lap and sleep. I know its not the best habit to let them do especially when she gets bigger, but i just cant help it; Her little puppy dog eyes get me every time! Beasley was a little jealous and unsure of what was happening at first but I think they are really starting to get along and enjoy eachother and it will be good for both of them. (I have some video of them interacting but I cant upload it from my phone so when I take one on my camera I will post it).

We had our 2nd annual McCollum, Snyder, Labelle (or McLaSnyd's as we cleverly came up with) Christmas party on Saturday night up at Bobby and Diane's and it was a great time as usual!

We all draw names and get eachother a regular gift and one gag gift. This year Bobby had me and he got me a movie gift card and scarf, which I love, made by Diane.

As for my gag gift he got me a snuggie! If you have not seen the commercial for the snuggie please watch it here: https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next?videoID=ai195&bufferTime=5 I dont think you understand how excited I am about this present!!! I literally was telling Jim, Megs and Chris how cheesy they are but how I secretly wanted one the night before our party :)

Chris had Jim again this year so again he got whiskey and antacids. Chris wanted to step it up a notch from last year so instead of Jameson he got him a 5th of Bushmills with two glasses and instead of Tums he got Prilosec. Nicely done Snyder.

This is Megan absolutely freaking out about the Barnstar towel hooks she got from Diane! I dont have pics of the other presents but Jim got Diane stuff for her new knitting hobby and I got Chris a subscription to ESPN the magazine. We had a great time filled with great friends, great food (and drinks)and great fun. I am already plotting my gag gifts for next year.

That's it for this post, so until we post again...We wish you a very Merry Christmas spent with the ones you love and safe travels wherever you may be headed (watch out for all that snow)!

just a quick one...

For the few of you who read this you may be interested in the standings of our Fantasy Football league. It was a long tough season with some come from behind wins and some blowouts and even a couple ties but the final two left standing are myself and snyder. I held my ground from the beginning but snyder snuck his way back up the ladder after starting off the season 0-5. It just goes to show that perserverance is key and you should never give up. Our final playoff matchup starts this Thursday but will not conclude until two weeks from today I will make sure to post who the champion is. As for the couple that did the best (after all the math was done) we all came out in a tie! So our christmas party will be this weekend up at Bobby and Diane's house. I am sure many stories and a good post will result from that. Have a good week and stay warm :)

Please meet the newest member of the McCollum household...

I am honored to introduce to you

Ms. Bledsoe McCollum

(Bledsoe 7 weeks and 3 days old)

Bledsoe joins her sister Beasley as the newest addition to our growing family. We were not looking to expand in the K-9 department but when something as cute as this comes along neither of us could say no. We are suckers for wrinkly faces and big brown eyes. (I mean really what kind of person can resist that face and those eyes?) We will be able to pick her up and bring her home forever on the 21st of December, just in time for Christmas! It will be interesting to see how our first born Beasley reacts to her but we are hopefull they will get along famously and be the best of friends for a long, long time. I am sure with a new pup in the house we will have a few more things to update you on and a few more late night posts, but both of us our looking forward to this new addition, and all the adventures it brings.

For those curious about our choice of name, you clearly do not know us well. After tossing around a few options (griffey, buhner, bennett) we decided to keep the WAZZU tradition alive by naming her after one of the all time greats to graduate from Washington State, Drew Bledsoe. We realize it does not fit her gender specifically but we are confident she will wear the name well and live up to all the great things her predecessor did before her (i.e the 1993 snowbowl)...as well as hating the huskies as much as her parents do :)

(this is our little Beasley the day we brought her home around 4 or 5 weeks)

PS: Please feel free to bring your dogs over for a playdate anytime, Beasley and Bledsoe would love to run around in our big backyard with you! See you soon, woof woof!

So much to be thankful for...

It has been a very busy and exciting month, sorry I have not posted much lately. With Thanksgiving last week I thought I would write about all that has been going on and all that we are thankful for. Sorry I dont have a lot of pictures, like I have said in previous posts I am very bad at taking picture and have to borrow (ok steal) from my friends :)

First of all, for those of you who dont know my sister got married the week before thanksgiving, on apple cup saturday. She married Louis Claussen at St. Al's on the 22nd. It was a very fun day and I am very thankful she has found someone so perfect for her. They are a great couple and I know they will have a very happy life together, and I am thankful to finally have a brother-in-law! Here are a few pics that their photographer took. (PS if you are in the need of a photographer Ryan Lindberg is amazing and I highly recommend him!)


Secondly, on the same day my sister got married was the 100th game of the Cougs vs. Huskies. Yes this year it was not the best of the best and some thought of it more as the crapple cup but once a coug always a coug. Needless to say it was still a big deal for us and the rest of our friends and family and we are so thankful that the cougs were able to pull it out with a win. Watching the game and having them win like that definately made the wedding reception a little bit better for all of us. I am also thankful my sister scheduled her wedding in the morning and the reception later in the evening so we could all watch the game live :)



Third, I am very thankful most of my mom's side of the family was able to come up and spend time with us for the wedding. It was great having everyone together for the first time in about 5 years, hopefully it will not be that long again until we see one another. We got to have a little brunch on Sunday with the leftover wedding food and we all sat around and caught up and listened to Gramma tell stories of when she was growing up and about her and Grandpa.

And Finally but most importantly I am thankful for all my wonderful friends and family. Jim and I got to spend time with both our families over thanksgiving and had wonderful food and drinks at both places. They are the true blessing in my life and I do not know what I would do without them. On Thursday morning we went to Jim's parents house and hung out with them for awhile until we had to go up to my Aunts house for an early dinner. There we got to spend time with my parents, my borther, My mom's two sisters, my grandma and my two cousins. On Friday we headed back to the McCollums for another thanksgiving dinner with just Jim's immediate family. We played a rousing game of Trivial pursuit where the girls beat the guys (yet another thing to be thankful for) and we had a great time. Saturday a bunch of my girlfriends came over for a party at my house and then a some of us met up with the guys and headed to the swinging doors to watch the Cougs take on Pitt in Basketball. We lost but it was a good showing against the number 4 team in the nation and I am eager to see WSU suprise quite a few teams in the Pac-10 this year.

It was so great to spend time with everyone over the past couple weeks. Hopefully this holiday season will bring just as much love, joy and family to all of you as well!