moving on...

Jules, from this lovely blog, posted the above picture on her Instagram the other day. And I loved it so much, I had to steal it. It was another confirmation of what I've been working towards lately...

One of my friends posted this on her Facebook page a few weeks ago and it was what I needed to hear that day. When I read this, the things that resonated with me were title, position, and income. Again, another confirmation of what I needed to do...

I've also found a few good quotes in some books I've read lately (maybe I'll find them and use them for a future post...) that all kind of relate to taking control of your own happiness. And doing what you want to do in your life. And guess what? I'm not happy working at home in my current position. The hours were too long, I was forced to ignore my child all day in order to accomplish my high work load, and I was constantly stressed out. While I'm grateful for this time I've had working at home, because it has helped me sort out my priorities more, I've had enough.

Now that we've paid off all our student loans/medical bills, we are blessed to be in the position where I don't need to work if I don't want to. And I don't want to anymore. I want to stay at home and play with my son. I want to be able to go out to the playground with Henry and be carefree and FUN. I also want to have time (and energy) to pursue my other interests. I haven't even done anything with my sewing machine since we moved. I've barely even read a book. These past few months I have just become more and more stressed, and it has been a complete revelation to realize I don't need to put myself (and my family) through this anymore.

So last week I put in my two weeks notice. It was freeing. It was like a weight lifted from my shoulders. I am more excited for the future and for all the opportunities I will have because of this. And I am happy. Happy with my decision, happy with my life, happy with my family, just plain HAPPY. And it's awesome. I am so grateful that I have made this choice, and for a supporting husband, family, and friends who have helped me so much. Cheers to happiness ♥ It's definitely something worth fighting for.

how we paid off all our debt

Well, we've had some people ask us how we went about paying off all our debt... So I figured I would write a post about our personal experience, rather than emailing each person and having jumbled responses to different people. If this is completely boring to you, come back later and I'll talk about beauty supplies or something ;)

First of all, Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball Plan is what we shaped our goals around. Before we planned to do this, we were trying to make higher payments on loans with higher interest rates. But we really weren't being very aggressive about making higher payments, and were mostly making minimum payments on all our loans. The main problem is we didn't have a definite/clear goal, and steps to work up to that goal.

To give a background, here is what we had in debt:

6 medical bills (infamous kidney stone of 2010, and having a baby)
5 student loans (Josh)
5 student loans (Jess)

This list could look very different for you. There could be credit cards, store accounts, second-mortgages, whatever. But what it comes down to is debt is debt is debt. Boo. Also, side note: we did not include our mortgage on our list of debt. If we were planning on living there for the rest of our lives, then I might. I haven't looked into what little Davey thinks about that, but mostly because I didn't want to get involved ;)

So the first step you need to take is to save up an emergency fund. Dave Ramsey suggests a $1000 emergency fund. We saved up a bit more than that so we'd feel more comfortable (considering that alone would be our mortgage payment!). The second step is to write out every bill you have, and the amount. Then organize the list from lowest amount to highest amount. Tackle your list, starting with your lowest bill, and work your way up. You can make minimum payments on all the other bills while making larger payments on the lowest bill.

i guess this is what a debt snowball looks like. gimme that money!!

Since Josh and I are both working full time, we did a little math... We made sure we could pay all of our regular monthly bills (mortgage, Dish, internet, groceries, etc) with just one of our paychecks. Since Josh makes a little more than I do (INEQUALITY IN THE WORKFORCE, WHAT!?! haha just kidding...mostly...I gave up a raise so I could cut my hours a little bit after having Henry), we chose to keep his whole paycheck to go towards our monthly expenses. My entire paycheck went to childcare and paying off debt. To make this easier for ourselves, we set up an auto-transfer to our savings account every week (that came out the day after our paychecks were deposited) of the total amount we set aside to go to loans. When it was time for us to make a big payment on a bill/loan, we would transfer that amount back to our checking account, and make the payment. That way the extra money was untouchable to us. Out of sight [of your checking account], out of mind...

For single-income families, it might be a bit more involved to figure out how much to set aside strictly for loans. You would have to be a lot better about doing a monthly budget, so you could know a definite monetary amount to allocate just to debt. Just figure out how much you need for all your monthly bills, giving a little lee-way for extra expenses that might come up, and think about what kind of lifestyle you want to have. Dave Ramsey would say every single extra penny needs to go towards debt. But what do you define as "extra"? We like to go out to eat at restaurants on the weekends and hang out with our friends. (And I like to buy candy...what?!) This factored into our monthly bills, as this is not something we wanted to give up. Shopping trips to the mall or Ikea, however, were virtually cut off. So do your budget, make some hard decisions of any "extra" things you can afford to include in that budget, and then take all the rest of your money and put it towards debt.

Once you start crossing off bills on that master list, it feels awesome! It really does make the overall goal feel that much more achievable, even if you only paid off a $300 bill. Stay consistent with your goals, and communicate about your progress with your significant other (if applicable). Talking about your accomplishments with another person increases your enthusiasm and drive, so feel free to remind eachother how amazing you are at life. Because, for reals, you're getting out of debt. You're taking control of your money and your future. Therefore, you ARE amazing at life. ;)

Best of luck, friends!! And of course, I am not an expert, nor am I pretending to be one. I am just someone who has experienced this, and would love to be your cheerleader.  Some great resources for your financial journey that we liked are Dave Ramsey's website, and Suze Orman's website. They both have tons of tools, advice, and links to additional resources. Feel free to ask us any questions, although like I said--I'm no expert!

helicopter ride!

our work uses helicopters as part of transmission line construction. the whole time i've worked for this company, i've never been on the helicopter, while most of my coworkers (and husband) have. this past week i went out to hike some crazy terrain for work, and got some helicopter rides. i have never flown in a helicopter before, so it was an extra fun experience for me!

on the first day, after a long day of hiking, we got picked up by the helicopter to fly out of the mountains. there were 3 of us together, and normally the pilot only takes 2 people at a time, so he doesn't have anyone in the front. but this time he made an exception, and i got to sit up front by the pilot! he handed me a headset and i slipped it on, and we got to chat while flying. i told him it was my first helicopter ride and he asked if i was scared, and i was like "no! this is awesome!"

laughing into my headset

the next day i got to ride in the helicopter twice! once into the mountains, and then once back out. it was so fun, i wish i could do it every day! both of these times there were only 2 of us passengers, so i rode in the back (with no doors on!).

hows that for an open door policy?!

ew, you can see how smokey the air has been!

on my last flight, it was me and my supervisor heading out of the mountains. the pilot decided to have some fun with us, so he made the helicopter drop really fast. after we were done screaming, he then did it again! we screamed some more, and then we saw him look back and laugh. too fun :)

yay for helicopter rides!

money money money moneyyyy....money!

word to the wise...DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO NOT GET STUDENT LOANS!!! got it? good! student loans are the devil, and the bad thing is that they are way too easy to obtain. you have this mentality of "i'm going to college, i'm going to get a good job, and then i can pay these suckers off no problem." false. interest rates are crazy. if you just pay the minimum payments you could be paying on them for decades. also, it's no easy feat to get a job right after you graduate. especially a good job.

so yeah, moral of the story is: work your butt off, be dirt poor, apply for every scholarship you could possibly qualify for, harass financial aid counselors, and say no to student loans. i wish i could go back in time, shake myself, and change the way i did it all.

josh and i have been working very hard this year on paying off our loans/medical bills (remember that kidney stone from like 2 years ago? yeah, still paying on that...ugh!!). we are kicking ourselves for not being more dedicated last year, but you can't change the past. so this year my entire paycheck is going to childcare and loans, and we're only living off of josh's paycheck. so far its been really good as far as paying off more and more loans, but also really depressing at the same time. sometimes i think of all the things we could do with that money if we didn't have any student loans... shopping trips, vacations, plastic surgery (what?), a fence in our backyard, a dog, and most of all: staying home with my adorable child. sigh.

please don't get student loans, folks. and if you have gotten them in the past, work extra hard on paying them off when you actually have opportune fiscal situations to do so (like we did, last year). whenever josh and i get all depressed thinking about how we should have been doing this last year, i just have to remember that at least we are working really hard now, and we should have it all paid off within this next year. then our only debt will be our house.

...i can deal with that.

first week back (boo)

this past week was my first week back at work... it was kind of tough, but went alright. monday was the worst, and when we dropped henry off i was BAWLING. i may have even been hyperventilating a little bit in the car, and i definitely got so worked up that somehow i got a bloody nose too. basically, i was a hot mess.

thankfully we have henry in the BEST of hands during the day, which is a huge peace of mind. plus Sarah is totally cool with me texting her all the time and asking how henry is [hopefully she won't get tired of that....haha]. apparently all the cousins love on henry all the time, which is super sweet too. when we drop him off in the morning (at 6:15am!), griffin is always there with sarah to greet us, and sometimes lila is too. and when i pick him up at the end of the day they always say "byeeee henwyyyy!" at least 5 times before i leave. so adorable :)

another thing that is helping is that i'm actually good at my job, so everyone missed me. and now that i'm back they all tell me how much they missed me and how awesome i am and stuff, which is a big self-confidence booster ;) haha. of course, i also have a picture of henry as my desktop background, and i look at it all the time and smile. and i show everyone who comes into my office his picture, because he's so cute i just can't help it!

it's definitely a big adjustment, and i've had a meltdown or two, but i'm pretty sure i'm going to survive. plus it will be nice to see those bills keep going down, down, down! [imagine rant about student loans and how college is basically a sham, etc, because now is not the time or place to get into that. maybe another day... ;)]. if you're getting a hankering to see little henry and all his dazzling accomplishments, check out his blog.

also, thank you to everyone who has sent me sweet messages and emails and encouragement this week about going back to work. i really appreciate it ♥

work

i go back to work on monday. i'm not exactly looking forward to it...

growing up i always said i wanted to be a career woman. i'm not sure if it's been some sort of twisted feminism thing where i want to be some sort of power woman, or if i didn't ever fully see the value in stay-at-home moms, or if i thought i wouldn't be a good mom or would have a hard time, or if i wanted to do it as a statement of my independence. i think it was some sort of messed up cocktail of all those things...

well, i've learned some things over time, and some interesting things recently:
-feminism is the right to choose to work or stay at home, not some need to become wonder woman
-being a stay-at-home mom is hard work and incredibly valuable
-i love being a mom. i never knew i could love a tiny human being so much
-i'm allowed to rely on other people if i want to (like my husband, and vice versa)

overall, i've definitely surprised myself by realizing i would love to stay at home with henry. and someday i probably will. but we've decided that right now the best thing we can do for our future is to have me work right now. we have really good jobs, we have built-in childcare only 10 minutes away, and we have a lot of bills. add these all up together, and working makes perfect sense. we're taking advantage of our current situations while we have them, and being really aggressive about paying back student loans and medical bills (remember that kidney stone from a couple years back? yeah...thanks). then we can reevaluate our situation in a year or two.

and with all these realizations i've been having over time, i have one more to add to the list: it doesn't make me any less of a person or a mother to go back to work. i still love this adorable face just as much:

absolutely batty

we have a new friend at work. he was hanging out by our porch light at our office. meet mr batty:

he was there today too, so i think he knows that he's safe hanging out by the environmental office trailer :) haha.

also speaking of batty, i am going nuts over pinterest. i've been avoiding it until just this week because i knew i would become obsessed. i have an addictive personality, and this definitely falls into that. i still dont know how to do everything on the site, but i get the general idea, and that is good enough for me :) do you have pinterest? follow me so i can check out your stuff!

21 weeks

hallelujah that its the weekend! here are some recent highlights:

i made a new boyfriend at work. he's a horned lizard.

theres an ice cream shop kind of near our house and they have delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream! yesterday was the first day i've been, and i just had to go back today :) haha

we're watching our friends dog for the weekend! her name is puff. she's my new bff.

and here i am at 21 weeks. i'm starting to actually feel big, and just yesterday someone at work told me i look like i swallowed a basketball. i'm obviously not that big, but henry is definitely protruding more lately. also, i've started to feel henry's kicks from the outside! its not super often, but it just started on thursday. josh has felt the kicking on 2 separate occasions, and its so cool :) the first time was thursday night and he felt one kick. he said it was cool, but that it was like a little burp or something haha. and then this afternoon he felt him kick like 3-4 times. i think now he actually believes me that i can feel henry moving ;) haha. yayyy!

anything fun happened for you this week? i hope you have a great weekend!!

work adventures

on friday at work we had short-haul training. this is when you are attached to a helicopter from a long rope, they lift you up and then fly (at 60 mph) to another spot, and set you down. we were having training on it because there are a few spots on the transmission line we're building that aren't accessible yet (no roads, mountainous terrain, etc). so in order for surveyors and us wildlife biologists to get in (and out of) there and check things out, short-haul is the solution.

i obviously didn't partake in training, besides just listening and seeing how it was done. josh, however, got to do it!!! they take 2 people up at a time, so he went up with one of our coworkers. here are some pictures from the adventure:

waiting to be lifted up

starting to get lifted into the air

flying!

up in the air, traveling at 60 mph, just dangling from a helicopter!

on the way back to get set down

josh said it was awesome!! two of the guys we work with got to go up in the mountains later in the day and put the training to use. they were way up in the air, high over the mountains, and then got set down in the mountains to go hike part of the line. craziness! who knew being a wildlife biologist could be so cool, huh? ;)

wildlife attacks

i got attacked by a pronghorn antelope today.

...ok, juuuust kidddding. but i did make friends with one!

...ok, actually josh and i just happened upon one while at work and kind of scared it. then it just sort of stared at us, and then went and scratched its head on one of our flagging stakes. he really showed us!


here is the little guy. he was actually pretty close to us, but my work camera has really crappy zoom. or something like that. i dont know, i dont speak camera.

ps: we usually see these at least once a day on our ride home from work. and one time we saw one with a baby. and the baby pronghorn was ADORABLE!! grown up, theyre not so cute. but baby version?? cutest thing ever!! maybe someday we'll see another baby again and i'll get to snap a picture :) or maybe later, when i'm less lazy and not about to go to sleep, i'll just google one and post a picture...

tall, dark, and mischievous?

sometimes at work (because i'm a girl, mostly) funny things will happen. guys who drop the f-bomb every other word and generally act like they hate people will smile and open the door for me. sometimes when i'm being silly and i curtsy at people, they will try and curtsy back [always humorous]. sometimes when you're walking to another office across the yard, a guy in a water truck will try and spray you with water on purpose (even though you are carrying a computer...). and sometimes, i get called some funny things. for instance, cher. at least 2 or 3 different guys at work have made that reference. i've also gotten elvira (ew). and the latest and greatest? ...one of the guys started calling me natasha. at first i didn't get it, and i thought that he just thought that was my name. then someone made the connection for me, that its natasha from bullwinkle.


today i had the privilege of riding around with the guy who started this, and he was like "well, you're tall and skinny and have dark hair. and you're married, so it was a good way to remember you two: boris and natasha!" he later admitted he still didn't know my real name, but i thought it was funny so he's allowed to call me natasha. he also asked if i even knew what bullwinkle was, and i was like "DUHHH, we used to have a Rocky and Bullwinkle movie and it was the best ever and i'd watch it like once a week!!" it was pretty funny.

i'll take natasha. she's pretty snazzy, minus the crazy eyebrows. i dont think josh is very fond of the comparison to boris, so maybe we'll just forget about that one...

where oh where has little jess gone?

while somedays work can be stressful, and i feel like its all we do, the truth is its awesome. especially when i have moments like this:


there are horses along the sites where we work, and some are more friendly than others. this particular bunch (there are 5 or 6) are really friendly. sometimes i even bring carrots to work just in case we happen to work near their hangout ♥

what are some highlights of your job?

work adventures

on friday, josh got to go up in the helicopter at work! our company uses helicopters for surveying, as well as to install towers for the transmission line. crazy, huh? so josh went out with our lead wildlife biologist, as well as a biologist from another company involved in the project (and the pilot of course). they were flying along the area where the power line will be, and looking for raptors (birds of prey, not dinosaurs. it would be pretty awesome if they were dinosaurs though...!). they ended up seeing some hawks and eagles.

the helicopter!

a view of salt lake city

he said it was awesome! he didn't get sick, although by the end he had a headache. the biologist from the other company, however, puked. twice. and made the pilot land at one point. i'm glad my husband is so manly that he didnt puke. hahahaha. i told him thank you for not embarrassing me ;)

allegedly i will get to go out in the helicopter next week (!), and i'm pretty excited. i don't really get motion sick, so i dont think i'll have any problems (lets hope not, anyways!).

dont worry...

i'm just busy being all cute and junk. oh wait...i'm not so cute wearing this get up:


but i'm showing it so my mom knows i'm safe :) and so you guys know i'm actually working and not just ignoring everyone in the blogging world. hahaha.

also, oscars... what a kings speech-fest, eh? i think we might finally be seeing it this weekend if we have time. and then maybe my tune will change, but it was really annoying. also annoying? anne hathaway. ughhhhhhh. i wish james franco would have pushed her off the stage! the only redeeming little act of hers was when she sang. otherwise i really just wanted her to slip and fall. too much? oh well...

night! ♥

ps: i asked my boss if i could have a purple hard hat... he said maybe for christmas ;)

weeds

well hello there! if you follow me on facebook or twitter, you know that we've been at a weed conference for the last couple days. yes... a conference about weeds. we were in the middle of nowhere (Vernal, UT) and it took us about 3 hours one way to drive there. gross. such is the life of a wildlife biologist? i guess so..

in other news--the move was great. thanks to all our friends who helped us!! my mom happened to be in town over the weekend too, which was awesome to see her, and she helped us a ton too. we're slowly getting everything together, which means we're staying really busy. i can't wait until it starts coming together and i can show you guys!!

also, i'm just going to leave you with a few gems from the weed conference:

"Let's kick the crap outta some weeds!" --guest speaker at conference
I made 2 new boyfriends, who were both over 60. I'm such a charmer.
One of the prizes was a bbq apron that said "Smokin' weeds with DuPont" (DuPont is an herbicide manufacturer)

realizations...

so josh and i have been talking about babies lately, and we've come to a complacent place with the whole thing. we were thinking about it and if i was pregnant or had a baby right now, i probably wouldn't be able to do this job. or doing this job would be a bit more taxing. also, we probably wouldn't be able to afford a house either, since babies are expensive and stuff. especially since we'd have to pay extra haha.

so we're going to focus on our careers, we're buying our house, and we are enjoying our time together. we'll save up our money so we can eventually pay for in-vitro, and hopefully we'll have a baby in a few years. thats the plan for now, and we're actually content with it. so this is an end to the baby hungry chapter in our lives. at least for now. i guess this is more like putting a bookmark in this chapter... ok, i need to stop trying to make analogies... haha

cheers to living in the now and enjoying the blessings we have. ♥

home sweet home

here's kitty on the drive home! drugged up again (poor guy), but he found his little spot on the suitcases in the back. can you spot him? it's a shoddy phone picture, sorry. haha


sooooo, we are HOME! after being away for a MONTH we are finally home! and it's glorious. we got home last night after a long drive back from arizona. for all of you who didn't watch my vlog, we were in arizona for a month starting our jobs down there. while the weather and close proximity to my parents was delightful, it is rough to be away from your home and living out of a suitcase for a month straight. especially since we only thought it would be for 2-3 weeks. then it turned out to be 4. phew! but anyways, we are liking the new jobs and we are extremely grateful that we have them.

the drive home was exhausting, but we made it. i got a rock chip in our BRAND NEW work truck within the first weekend we got it... awesome... it was literally a brand new truck, only 50 miles on it when they first gave it to us. and BAM, rock chip. you should have seen me, i was just yelling "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU STUPID VAN!!!!!!! YOU THINK YOU CAN PASS ME AND THEN GIVE ME A ROCK CHIP!?!?!?!" so yeah...that was just fabulous.

theeennnn, when we got home both of my plants were yellow-ish (i didnt even think about getting someone to water them! durr...) and.... our toilet had some issues. you would flush it and it was like niagra falls. the thing between the tank and the bottom part was busted. thankfully my dad had driven back with us so he was able to fix it for us. he also fixed our shower handle. basically he is super dad. love you dad!

jay-z is happy to be home too. he's totally back in his element and absolutely adorable. see for yourself (also, shoddy phone pic. my new phone is awesome, all except for the camera. oh well!)

we are glad to be home, and hopefully now that we're back in our element i'll get back in the blogging groove! also, josh's aunt sent us a Flip (those recorder things), which is awesome, so you might be seeing some more videos in the future :) muahahaha. i hope you all had a great weekend! ♥

sweet reunion

wow guys...it's been like...forever! ahhhhhhhhhhhh. did you miss me as much as this little guy did?

yes, now my butt has officially been plastered on the internet.
but there's a cute cat involved, so it's ok, right?

so just to kind of update all of you, we have been in arizona. we spent christmas with my family (my parents are down here, and my grandma is staying with them), and it was so much fun! I love spending holidays with my family ♥ since the monday after christmas, we've been training for our new jobs, which is code for being thrown right into the thick of things. honestly though, that can be the best way to learn stuff so it's all good with us. our company has been so nice to us, we still feel like we're in some kind of dreamland and we'll wake up at any moment!

we went back to my parents' house and spent the weekend with them, and got to see our little kitty! he's been staying at their house while we worked away for the week so he can be looked after and still get attention when we're gone. my parents have dogs, so it's been quite the little experiment. when we left a week ago he wouldn't even go out of our room. when we came back he was even venturing out into the living room with the dogs right there! he's still really on edge, but he's progressed a lot during the week. this gives us hope that someday we can get a dog!

josh totally has retracto head in this picture, so just ignore that.
he was smothering the cat on the bed right after we got back.

well i need to go to sleep so i can wake up tomorrow, but i will try my hardest to be better at blogging this week! everytime i was like *i need to blog!* something would happen, like going to eat food, staying late at work, being so exhausted it was all i could do to wash my face before falling into bed, etc. so if you're actually reading this and you haven't totally forgot about me, thank you. i love you too. ♥ haha ;)

the big news

oh my GOODNESS! i have been dying to share this news for so long, but I wanted to make sure everything was official before i shouted the news from a mountaintop.

we.

have.

jobs!

like....career jobs. like... what we learned about in college. like.... actually applying our degrees!

today it became official and we gave our two weeks notice to our current jobs. also, notice i keep saying WE? thats right. we BOTH have jobs with the same company. ahhhhh!!! i will be an environmental scientist, and josh will be a wildlife biologist. you have no idea how excited we are about this. after searching and searching, unemployment, putting in time at $10/hour jobs, dozens of emails sent and resumes written, pestering emails and phone calls, etc... it has finally paid off.

we will be starting right after christmas, and after some training we will be working here in utah! we have started looking into buying a house, and we are going to look at some this weekend. anyways, there is the big news. i've been waiting to tell you all for months! also, i reallllly hope this doesnt come off as braggy at all, because i do NOT want it to come off that way, but i am just so excited i want to share it! eeeeeeeps!

halle-freaking-lujah

i got a job today! i went in to interview at a security system company, and it went so well i got hired on the spot! i was actually scheduled to have two back-to-back interviews in different departments. near the end of the first interview the girl said, "So I heard you have another interview at 4? I wouldn't even bother going.." i was like wait...what!?! she got a hold of the interviewer in the other department and told her they were keeping me.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah, it's not a job in my field. but it is a FULL TIME, decent paying, steady job! i start on monday. having this job takes sooo much stress off of us while we look for our dream jobs. also, josh and i will work at the same place, and maybe even have the same hours (i find out tomorrow)! i'll be in the retention department, "saving" accounts from being canceled. i think it will be fun and challenging. and you can get commission and other perks like that, so i'm pretty excited.

on a different note, my stomach has been super messed up since i had lunch with a friend (it was awesome to see her but not so awesome to get sick from the salad). luckily i was able to keep it together [aka i chugged enough maalox] to be ok for the interview. thank goodness! i thought it was just nerves at first (i get super nervous for interviews!) but nerves don't make your stomach messed up for over 8 hours. thank you, food poisoning. [...tmi? meh, who cares]

so... i'm going to eat some more toast and try to go to bed now. cheers ♥

***UPDATE: i get to work the same hours as josh! hollaaaa!