Ashley's Birthday Week

We were able to make some good progress last week with saving money!! Yay!! We got pre-qualified for a mortgage loan last week too which is the first step. The second step is to get a pre-approval. Last weekend we gathered all of our financial and other documents to send in to get pre-approved. It all got turned in on Monday so we are crossing our fingers!!!

I had that interview last week for the part time job as an event aide. I really liked it because it is an active and social job. They e-mail all the shifts 3 weeks before the next month and you tell them when you are available. Then they e-mail the schedule out to everyone. That is very cool because we have a few plans this summer already and I worried how I could ask for the time off. We go to Vegas Memorial Day weekend and then we may go to Hollywood in August for Jesse's brother's wedding. Anyways, I wanted it because I would really like to earn more money since we are saving for a house. Everything counts! The following day after my interview I was offered the job!! :) I turned in all of my paperwork on Tuesday. Next Wednesday she is e-mailing everyone the shift schedule for April. I won't be working until then. That's okay - this month is already so busy!! I also am now babysitting for a family. The little girl is adorable and the parents are from Germany. I babysat last Saturday - too easy! She was asleep the whole time!!

Guess who is the luckiest girl in the world?! My husband and grandmother went in together and bought me an iPad! I love it so much! It was my birthday present! :) Happy Ashley! 

For my birthday we are going out to fish and chips tonight. On Saturday we are meeting friends/family at Mongolian Grill and then who ever wants to join us or meet us at Trampoline Nation for fun and afterwards we are going for frozen yogurt! Super excited!

Halfway to First Anniversary

Jesse and I had another busy weekend! Friday after work I met up with a lady who lives in Issaquah. She has a 16 month old girl and was looking for a date night sitter. I'm excited about this because I want to earn a little extra money. I will babysit for her 1-2 nights a month. This coming Thursday I also have another interview for a part time job that's on the weekends and evenings working as an event aide for the city of Issaquah. That would be a fun job. Friday night Jeanne used the leftovers for fondue dinner tonight with just the three of us. 

On Saturday Jesse had a family come over for a photoshoot. He has made the garage into a studio so he can easily take portraits right there! At 4pm we went to Jesse's niece's birthday party. She turned 7 and it was at a pizza place. After that we went to the VanderVort's and had game night with some of our friends.

On Sunday we went to another church. We talked and will just attend the one next to our house because we are planning to buy a house in a different area in a few months. So it doesn't matter much since we will change churches. 

Yesterday Monday the 24th we celebrated our 6 month anniversary!! We went out for frozen yogurt which is always delicious! The time has gone by fast, but we have also done so much! I can't for until our one year! Yay!

Valentine's Weekend

So we had a pretty good weekend - or I feel that way anyways. Jesse was hasn't been getting good sleep so he was feeling the weight of that this weekend. Luckily he has today off to relax and do whatever he wants to really do. He can take it easy. However, I work today. This is not considered a holiday in an office setting. 

We started our weekend out with Valentine's Day on Friday. I got Jesse a WHOLE bunch of candy and a nice card. Jesse got me a beautiful Paris box, a bottle of wine, a heart box of chocolates and 5 roses. The box and wine goes together. For the wedding I wanted to do a wine/letter box, but we ran out of time and money. So that was really sweet of him to do this. The purpose of the wine/letter box is to open it if you are going through a rough time in your marriage. We have vowed to open it when one of these two happen first: 1. A rough time in our marriage or 2. We hit our 7 year anniversary. I think we are also going to make a tradition to do a letter every Valentine's. In my letter, I wrote some memories of us in the beginning, why I fell in love, what our goals are, and then quite a bit on if we are having a hard time in our marriage. I sealed it up and put it with the wine/box. We also went out to the Keg for a very nice dinner.

Saturday we had two people come to our house. I got my medical exam for term life insurance. Jesse also got his windshield replaced for free thanks to our insurance. We then went out to breakfast and did some errands. Oh the joys of being an adult. 

On Sunday Jesse went with me to church. I want to start attending church and Jesse has agreed to go with me if we find a church that we both like. So next week we will try a new one, and hopefully we will eventually find one that we both like. I really did enjoy the message that was given to us though. It was about marriage and it was just a good message. I attended the bible study at this church last week and they are going through the book of Job. I plan to go to this bible study until we find a permanent church.

Sunday night Jeanne hosted a fondue birthday party at the house for Jesse's brothers. They turned 27 years old.

Snoqualmie Falls - Winter

We went to Snoqualmie Falls yesterday because Jesse wanted to shoot more time lapse photography. Unfortunately it did not turn out well because it was super windy!! The camera would not sit still for Jesse on the tripod! Oh well, it was fun and SO COLD!

As for other news with the Sellands... Jesse started his elevator mechanic apprentice class on Wednesday. He will go each week except for summer and winter break. I believe he only has 3 years to complete his apprenticeship program. 

We were also very happy with the SuperBowl last Sunday! The Seahawks got their FIRST EVER win at the SuperBowl! :D All smiles here!

Next weekend we have Valentine's day, which we are going to the Keg! Already made reservations like 2 weeks ago! And then on Sunday we have a fondue party for Jesse's twin brother's and their birthday. 

We also get our tax refund on Tuesday. We are using it for getting a really nice wedding photo and then stashing the rest in our savings. So I will need to work on making our wedding photo book this week for sure!! They take a lot of time, but they are always worth it! We have one from our first year of dating and another one for our engagement guest sign in. We want to make one each year, so that means I need one for 2013! Oh boy haha, I better get a move on it!!

House Hunting

Jesse and I have been saving up for a house basically since our wedding. We are looking at houses all over South King County and Tacoma. We are really trying to follow some of Dave Ramsey's financial advice and he suggests doing a 15 year mortgage to save money. 

We look for houses basically everyday. Our plan is to wait a year, unless we find something we really like and then we will try to go for it. In about 7-10 years our plan is to buy a bigger place and rent out of our first house. We would love to have a rental property to bring in extra income. 

So the only thing we can really do right now is to keep looking and saving money. 

October/November 2013

The months of October November were busy months for us. Jesse went to China. We also had Jesse's birthday as well as Thanksgiving.

Jesse went to China for 2 weeks with his grandmother. 4 years ago she told Jesse she would take him, and they finally went in October! They did a tour group - Gate 1. This picture is the two of them at the Great Wall of China. They both had a blast!

We made this little savings chart that we can fill with stickers. It's been really motivating. We won't finish this chart before we buy a house though... We are trying to buy something in a year. We are trying to save as much as possible right now.

We also bought a new (used) fridge because our old fridge was super small. See the difference for yourself!!

We celebrated Jesse's 33rd birthday!! :D I made him vanilla peanut butter fudge ice cream pie! So delicious! 

We had Thanksgiving at my aunt Kim's house. This is a photo of Jesse sharing his 3D books with my Kim and my grandmother Jennifer. This was a very nice holiday with my family.

The next day we went to my mom's house for dinner. She had Thanksgiving with her boyfriend's (now fiance) family so she had all of her girls over for another Thanksgiving. I planted this tree in the backyard when I was like 6 years old. It was a gift. Now it was time to cut it down to use as our first Christmas tree! :) However, after doing so, we both felt bad for killing the tree so next time we will get an artificial tree - no tree killing and it's way easier to set up/down.

That pretty much sum's up our November! 

Honeymoon - Victoria BC!

We went on another honeymoon - a whole week - to Victoria BC! It was so relaxing and nice. My grandma Jennifer and her husband gave me a week of timeshare when I graduated college in 2011. I finally cashed it in for this really nice vacation. We got the penthouse unit that included a hot tub on the balcony! Boy was that nice! We went in it everyday! We also did a ton of puzzles too.

On the way to Victoria Jesse played with the camera and did time lapse photography...

We ate afternoon tea! So delicious!!

Here is us doing puzzles...

We also had afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel. It was very nice. We don't have a picture with the couple who came to stay with us from New Years Eve to January 2nd, but they came with us to the Empress for tea.

It was a very nice time. 

New Hobbies!

I have been on this whole domestic wife thing. I have been trying to do more homemade food/things and she has brought in her sewing machine from the garage and found a place for it. My sewing machine was purchased 2 years ago, but with moving several time it has been in storage for most of it. I have a lot of motivation to learn more sewing even though I am just a beginner!

For Christmas my awesome husband got me a wonderful waffle maker...

Now I can make my wonderful husband delicious waffles! Unfortunately it did not arrive in time for Christmas. Jesse wanted to surprise me with making waffles on Christmas day. He realized it wasn't going to get here in time so we borrowed my grandma's waffle maker. It all worked out just fine!

Here is the delicious bread I have been making from scratch! It is so delicious and eating it the next day for french toast is Amazing!!!

Here is the sewing machine set up. There really isn't much room since we share a house and all. I made a cute little pillowcase dress - so proud of it! There are now plans to make 4 more for little ones in the family/friend's kids.

So right now I am learning how to be more domestic around the house and Jesse is learning more tricks on his camera and playing with time lapse. We are both excited for our hobbies and hopefully can most more later on things we have accomplished!

Family Reunion

Jesse's mom put on a family reunion on the 22nd. I got to meet more of Jesse's family at this fun event. Not only was it a reunion, but we just got married along with Jesse's brother. It was a celebration.

The immediate family

The whole family on Jesse's mom's side

Ashley & Jesse!

The First Few Weeks!

Holy cow! So much has happened since we have gotten married, and it's only been 2 1/2 weeks!

Our honeymoon was amazing: couples massage, comedy club, bowling, dancing, melting pot, chihuly museum, teatro zinzanni, bahama breeze, and a lot more food...

Teatro ZinZanni fun!

Jesse has gone back to both of his jobs. He is a busy busy bee now, working everyday of the week. The first week was definitely the hardest.

My grandparents were in a car accident on the 4th. Five hours later my grandmother (stepdad's mom) passed away at the hospital. My grandfather has broken ribs, fingers, a leg, and an arm. The two people in the other vehicle died at the scene. This was very sudden and shocking to the whole family. It has been difficult. :(

Ashley with her grandparents - June 2012 for graduation.

Jesse's brother got married. We attended their wedding on the 7th. His brother and his new wife have a beautiful 3 year old daughter who was the flower girl. It was a very nice wedding.

On the 8th we went to Jesse's dad's house for a family reunion. I met a lot of Jesse's family for the first time.

So that has been the past 2 1/2 weeks. What will we be working on in the next month or so... 

1. Jesse leaves for China with his grandmother on October 9th for 2 1/2 weeks. He wants to save up this and get himself a working laptop before he leaves. 
2. I am planning to work on clearing out her storage unit this coming weekend. I also just joined a gym. Crossfit was too expensive for us, so a regular ole gym membership will have to suffice - luckily they offer a few classes. I am excited to try Zumba! I also plan to upgrade my sad broken iPhone 4 to the new iPhone 5S. Today it was released that they will start selling them on the 20th. Hopefully an iPad is in my future too - probably a refurbished one from Apple.

As you can see, we have been doing and going through a lot, and will continue to do so indefinitely ;)