2008 in Review!

2008 has been a very great year for us and a lot of awesome things have happened in our marriage. There were numerous fun and huge life milestones we encountered this past year and it has been a year of many many memories.





In January we went on a Fair family vacation to Seaside for a couple of nights. We had a lot of fun playing with the girls and browsing through Seaside and also just relaxing for a couple of nights.


This brings us to April where things started to pick up for the year! Peter graduated from college! It was such a big milestone for us! Our entire dating and married relationship had focused around getting Peter through school and it was finally done and we could celebrate!

My husband, the (nerdy) accountant!

To celebrate the graduation milestone we took off to Jamaica for a week. This vacation was awesome. We had such a great time together and made many memories that we will never forget.

I think that this picture right here pretty much summarizes the highlight of my year. This was a picture taken at our private oceanside dinner in Jamaica. It was such a romantic experience!

The end of May we got our precious baby girl Juno. She has been such a great dog and we spoil her rotten! Juno is unique from other dogs because she has no hair and we wouldn't want her any other way!

In July for our 2nd Anniversary we returned to Disneyland. We had a very fun trip. All of Peter's family joined us for this short 3 day jam packed tripped and we experienced an earthquake Disney style that shut down the park for several hours.

I do not want to go without acknowledging one of the lesser known parts of our year. In September I found out I was going to be an aunt again and I was thrilled. A short time later, the baby was lost. We still acknowledge the precious little May baby that is not here.

In early September Peter started his career at KPMG. He is really enjoying it there and has his career off to a great start!

In October Peter went to Chicago for training with KPMG.

The view from the top of the Sear's Tower

The beginning of December we added a new baby to our family. Indy our chocolate miniature schnauzer. He is adorable and very awnry!

Our puppies celebrated their First Christmas, and we even had a white Christmas with record snow falls!

At the end of December our condo finally sold! We had a very long drawn out closing on it but it all finally went through and we said goodbye to condo living.

We moved into our new home with lots of room to grow!!!

2008 was a great year and we look forward to what 2009 holds for us. We already have lots of exciting hopes and plans for the year ahead. Happy New Year!!!!

Good News!!!

First things first - Peter passed!!! We are so excited and I am so proud of my husband!!! 1 test down 3 to go. I have been checking the mail this past week to see if he got the letter from the OSCPA because he really did not want to find out he failed the test a week before his next one. So if he did not pass then I was supposed to hide it from him and tell him that he did not get it yet. I was so very happy that I did not have to lie to him and was so excited to share the news with him!!! Peter can relax a little now and be very happy for what he has already accomplished. So reward #1 - A trip to Benihana's!!!!

In other very big news - KPMG called and asked Peter to begin employment on MONDAY!!! That was a little too short of notice for him with a CPA exam next week and also needing to give his work decent notice. So he will be starting the following week. Tuesday September 2nd - a full month early!!! He is a little sad to be leaving SP so soon and knowing he will be leaving them with a lot of work because they have not hired his replacement yet. What do you do though, when opportunity knocks??? He has to make the best move for his career and it will be better for us financially too!

Lots of exciting news for Peter - I am so proud of him!!! He is one amazing man :)

much needed update

It has been a long time since I have posted, in fact I did not know it has been as long as it has until I started typing. There has been so much going on in our house that needs to be updated on.

First things first with Peter. He took his first CPA exam on Monday and he feels things went pretty well. He feels like he knew quite a few of the answers but there are never any guarantees so he feels like the test could have gone either way. We have to wait until sometime in September to find out if he did or not. Now he is starting in on the second part of the exam and he will be taking that portion at the end of August.

There is also one other possibility going on with Peter but there has not been anything set for this at all. Peter was asked by KPMG if he would be interested in starting in the next couple of weeks if they need him to. The catch is that it would be located in Seattle for 8 - 10 weeks. The complication with that would be him trying to find time to study while working long hours (we assume since it is a big project he would be working quite a bit). Plus us trying to find a way to spend some time together with him in Seattle, it would be complicated with one of us having to travel over the weekends to see each other. The pluses of this opportunity would be him getting a jump on his career, and of course the pay increase! There would be a lot of things that need to be figured out for this to be possible especially since it would be happening soon.

Things in my life have been hectic lately. We have been working a lot of overtime lately and today I had enough of it and called in sick. I have been having some issues with my heart racing lately and finally saw my doctor about it and they ran a bunch of tests and nothing has been determined from all that money, err I mean test results. They put me on a medication that has made me very tired this week and with this work week being a possible 56 hour week I couldn't do it and gave up some of my overtime. Work has been very flexible with me and allowed me to rest and take it easy which has been very good.

And the last bit of real exciting news - we will be listing our house this weekend!!! We have been wanting to start the process of looking at homes for sometime now and we are finally at a point where this is a possibility so we have been looking at homes, we have been pre-approved for a loan, and we have been cleaning, packing, and doing minor home improvements to get the house ready and I think it will be ready by the end of the weekend. Now we just hope that it sells quickly and we can find a house that is perfect for us and within our budget :)

Pressing on!!!

Check out the ticker over there - 3 months left and Peter is free! Free from the bondage's of education at last! He will have a few weeks or months to enjoy life a bit before the business world swallows him whole! Although his "freedom" for the summer will consist of working and studying for the CPA exam so I guess that isn't any freedom at all -actually it sounds like the same thing he has been doing for the past 4 years. Oh well!!!

He has heard a little bit from KPMG this week. It sounds like his start date will be early October. That is a bit of a bummer but they want their employees to be well on the way of passing their CPA exam before starting there. Plus he has to attend a national orientation somewhere - we assume in New Jersey - so he really doesn't has a lot of control over start daters. We just have to pray that his current place of employment is willing to keep him around that long. At this point in time it appears that they want to keep him around until he goes to KPMG!

They also sent him some information on the CPA exam process this week. It is such a blessing that they are willing to pay for him to take the best CPA prep courses there are and also pay for the exam. Basically anytime he is ready to take a test he just needs to let them know and they will either provide him with a 6 week online course to study for that particular portion of the exam or he can take a 6 week in class course to prepare. It sounds like he will opt for the 6 week in classroom prep class. I think he will begin this daunting process as soon as we get back from Jamaica and try to get as far along in the CPA exam as he can before beginning at KPMG.

Still just looking to the future around here! We are living day to day and pushing through the different tasks asked of us and keeping our eyes focused ahead. It is getting exciting around here and the anticipation for April is mounting!!!

It's Official!!!

Many Emails

7 Applications

6 Different firms

15 Interviews

5 Water Bottles

4 Courtside Blazer Tickets

3 Free Meals
2 Fleece Sweatshirts

1 Free Hotel Room

3 Great Job Offers

1 New Job!

All In 2 Months time..........

It is finished. Peter will be working for:

It has been a very difficult decision in coming but we both are confident that this is the place for Peter to begin his career. We have had so many ups and downs in trying to weigh through both firms but finally with some help from God we are excited about what Peter's future holds!!! We are that much more excited now to finish this school phase of life and on to the real part. This year is still going to be full of a lot of information and decisions and we will be sure to post as all of that comes into place. Yes, we were highly considering the offer at AKT, but it really came down to benefits. KPMG has amazing health care and retirement and disability insurance (hopefully will never need that one) and that is so important to have with our hopes of being a one income family someday. What KPMG offers with help with preparing and taking the CPA exam is going to be so valuable in the coming months. Peter will be able to get the best education available to help him prepare for the exam and they will also pay for him to take the exam. One less thing for us to worry about.

Like I said, all of our nervousness and anxiousness has been overshadowed with a calmness about the decision we made and a sense of anticipation and excitement for what our future holds. Thanks for all the prayers sent our way in this decision. God has surely blessed us!