Memorial Day Trip

Doug wanted a nice camera for his birthday, so when Doug and I went to San Diego over Memorial Day weekend, we broke it in.  Be prepared for lots of pictures.

We used our free nights from Marriott to stay at a hotel right next to the beach in Oceanside.  Literally a 3 minute walk to the pier.  It was awesome.

On Friday we went to the San Diego zoo.  In the last year we've been to this zoo more times than the Hogle zoo.  Probably because it's 100x better.  The weather was PERFECT!  I think it was about 70 degrees and overcast.  So the pictures turned out nice, and we didn't get sunburned.

This is the Pappa giraffe.  He really gets around.

A good example of what a nice camera can do.

Normally we never see this little guy (Arctic Fox).  Look at that little face.

Snow Leopard

The majestic Sun Bear

 

I didn't think Doug was actually taking a picture

Baby orangutan.  Look at its hair!

So then Saturday we went to the Safari Park.  Again, the weather was really nice.  It wasn't too hot or too sunny most of the time.  I think our favorite part was the lion cubs.  They were just born in December and the mother rejected them, so they've been raised by the keepers.  They get to be out in the exhibit for half the day and then they swap with the parents.  The cubs were so active and romping around, it was really fun to see.  They also opened up their new tiger exhibit (that day, so it was super crowded).  They have six tigers, so you're bound to at least see one (they like to hide).  We also did the caravan safari again (because we can!) and it was just as fun the second time.

She has a little baby in her lap.

They have prickly whiskers, and their spit is really yucky.

That can't be comfortable.

I didn't count how many giraffes they have, but it's a lot.

That about sums things up.  Sunday we relaxed and walked on the beach, and then Monday we pretty much spent the day at airports.  Now our next vacation is the trip to Baltimore.  We're excited to see you all!

Let's play catch up

Work:
Doug is still working in Salt Lake at the same job.  They recently put him on a new project that he really enjoys doing.  It's a lot of techy stuff that I don't fully understand, but whatever makes him happy.

I'm still at the same company, but I've changed positions.  Now I'm working in Production (instead of Customer Service/ Sales).  I like it a lot better.  I don't have any interaction with customers anymore (except when they ask me to help out in Order Entry), so my phone never rings.  I'm on the Production Coordination team, so we make sure that once Order Entry enters the orders they get submitted correctly to production and from that point we make sure they go where they're supposed to in production.  It's mostly data entry type stuff, so I'm right in my element.  I like to think I'm good at it, I've caught a lot of things that would have been done wrong and corrected them.  I should have my 90 day review soon, so we'll see if I get a raise as well.

My company has also moved to a new building.  It was a big deal.  The new building is in West Jordan, so it only takes me 20 minutes to get to and from work (even when I leave at 5 in the afternoon).  I'm happiest about that.  We were really anxious to get out of the old building, so everything wasn't completely ready when we first moved in.  It took a week for them to build our desks (for Production Coordination) so in the meantime they had the three of us set up on a small circle table.

This was my "desk" with about 4 inches to move my mouse.

Travel:

Doug found out about the Southwest Companion Pass, so basically when you have it, you buy a ticket and a "companion" can fly for free.  We got the Southwest credit card while they were doing a 50,000 point promotion, so we just needed 60,000 more points to get the pass.  To be honest, I don't know exactly how we did it because Doug handles all the money stuff, but we did (I'm sure he explained it all to me, but whatever).  So we have the pass for the rest of 2014 and all of 2015.  We already took a weekend trip (left Friday after work and got home Sunday night) to San Diego over Valentine's Day.  We're going to Los Angeles next weekend over Easter, and I think we're planning on San Diego again over Memorial Day weekend.  We're trying to focus on having fun for a while and enjoy the stage of life we're in right now.  Plus, we've wanted to travel more, and this makes it really affordable.

The Cats:

I'm sure you're all dying to know how the cats are doing, but were too embarrassed to ask.  Don't worry, I'll tell you.  They are doing great.  Pepper is getting a little chubby, but who doesn't love a fat cat?  Milo is the same as always, such a little menace sometimes - but too adorable to be mad at.  Here are some pictures:

I had to put my scones in the oven to cool, because he was too interested in them.

Playing with the Christmas present

They loved the toy mice they got. 

I don't even know what's going on here.

I forgot to put the twistie tie on the bread.

Typical nap time.

She keeps pulling the feathers out, and then Milo comes along and eats them.

Her favorite warm spot

Lizzie:

Yes, I get a whole section all about myself.  For Christmas, Doug bought me an exercise bike (I totally asked for it, it wasn't a subtle hint or anything).  Then in January my company started a Biggest Loser competition.  We all know how much Pecora's love a good competition, and the entry fee was only $10.  I also started doing Weight Watchers, because I wasn't doing very well on my own.  We just had the final weigh in this last Friday, and I won 3rd place!  I only started making it in the Top Ten in March, but I really kicked things up a notch to cinch it in the end.  First place won 50% of the jackpot, Second place got 30%, and Third got 20% which equaled $50!  I lost a total of 12.06% (First place lost over 13%).  I also started the Couch to 5k running program, and I hope to jalk (jog/walk) a 5k sometime this summer.  I really dislike running, but unfortunately it happens to be really good at helping me lose weight.  I hope that once I get my breathing technique down it won't be so bad, and maybe one of these days I won't have to use my inhaler!  But I have gotten to the point where I like exercising and miss it on the days I can't.  It feels good to take control and see results.

I misjudged some rain clouds and got soaked on a run.

Treated myself to a cat purse (it was on clearance).

The smallest strawberry I've ever gotten at Zupa's, next to the biggest one I've ever seen.