Our House

Well, the search is finally over! One of our many house offers was accepted Monday and we have spent the last few days doing the inspection and getting everything in order to open escrow! :)

The Lord truly had His hand in it because it is everything we were looking for and still in Old Town Orange, which is the location we ideally wanted but didn't think we could afford. Our home is a 1924 bungalow style, two bedroom, two bath with indoor laundry and a 1 car detached garage. The house sits on a corner and so there is a cute little white picket fence that surrounds it. It even has an orange tree in the backyard, but that is about all the backyard has! 

Below are the pictures that the listing had and as soon as we can get over there this weekend with a camera, I will be taking more pictures that will give a better idea of what the inside looks like! :)

The Horrocks Girls

It has become a Horrocks girls tradition to get together once a year and have a girls weekend. During the time we are together we take pictures with all us girls.

This past September we all met up in Las Vegas for a weekend filled with fun and time together just sisters and mom. We try to do dinner and have as much fun together as possible until our next get together. I thought I would share the pictures we took this year, since they are so much better than last years!

Hope you Enjoy!!!!

Rosie is Back

Last night we ended up driving over the Jackie's friends mother's house and picking Rosie up. After 2 weeks of her being gone, Jackie just couldn't do it anymore. We brought her home and I have never seen Jackie happier. I guess we will have 5 cats forever! :)

We Said Goodbye to Rosie...

As some of you know my sister Marnie's son was allergic to the cat they had so she was trying to find a home for her. After many months without finding a home for her my sister came down to California for mother's day and brought Rosie with her. Jackie and I agreed to take her until we could find a good home for her. Well, that was in May and this weekend we finally placed her in a home that we feel will be most ideal for her. Jackie had a friend whose mother had one cat and was home most of the time that was willing to take her. We are very excited because that is the most ideal for Rosie with her personality and even after all the time we had her, she was still not getting along with one of our cats.

It was a sad day Saturday when we took her over there, but we know that she is in a much better place because she has only one other cat to live with, rather than the four we have. We hope that she will thrive in this new environment and her new owner will come to love her as much as we do!

Goodbye Rosie, we love you!

House Hunting....

Many of you probably already know that we have been house hunting since March. It seems like it has been forever and nothing has worked out. Recently we decided to broaden our search and include condos. So, this week we will be looking at a lot of condos and hopefully making some offers. We both had a small epiphany that maybe all this trying and not suceeding was the Lord's way of guiding us where He wanted us to be all along, sometimes we are just too stubborn to listen to what we are being told.

Hopefully soon I will be able to put up a post about our new house, but until then the search continues!

Back to School I Go....

So last night was the first night of school for me. I am very excited to start another year and also to know that this is my final year. I never thought the day would come when I would actually be finishing my degree. This will be year 10 of going to school and I am extremely excited that it is the last one (Well, at least the last one for my bachelor's degree). I will still have 1 more year to get my teaching credential, but that is a completely different program so I don't count it as time until I am done. :)

I decided that I wasn't going to stress myself out this year so I am only taking 3 classes this semester and most likely 3 next semester as well. One of my 3 classes this semester is an independent study class where I have to write a 30 page senior thesis. I have decided to do my paper on the impact of high-stakes testing in the math classroom and how instruction is affected. It is a bit overwhelming right now, but I am feeling better and better about it each step I take. I am also taking a pre requisite course for the credential program about Content Area Literacy in Secondary Education and a Senior Seminar class that incorporates Literature and Science. It looks like it might actually be a bit interesting. We will see, since I have that class tongiht.

Wish me luck! :)

My Sister Megen...

Today is my big sister Megen's birthday and so I thought I spend a moment sharing with everyone just how proud I am of my sister! She is a mother to 4 beautiful girls and a wife to an awesome man! I admire my sisters determination and her resolve to be the best mom and wife she can be. She spends long periods of time being a single mother while her husband is over seas defending our country. She has always been someone I can count on to be there for me when I need her. I am very fortunate to have 3 big sisters and 2 big brothers, but Megen is my big sister closest in age and that makes her even more special. At times she had to sit back and watch her littler sister be the athlete she wanted to be and she always did it with pride and love for me.

I hope that one day I am the mother and sister that she is!

I love you sis, Happy Birthday!!!!

Alive and Well

I just wanted to take a minute and post a little blurb to let everyone know that I am alive and well. I have just been so extremely busy since Jackie's sister and niece were out that I haven't had time to post anything for a while. There will be a little bit coming once I do have a chance to actually take some time at home and do it, but with being gone to North Dakota and getting back to start searching for a house to buy, it has been a bit hard to find time to post. Also keep in mind that I am getting ready to start my final year of school and have some pretty big classes I will be undertaking this semester... One that will require me to write a 30 pages argumentative research paper on any topic that relates to my degree. If any of you know me, that will be the hardest thing I have ever done, with no real guidelines I tend to overwhelm myself and can not seem to focus my thoughts. I have at least gotten to the point where I have decided I want to write my paper on "The Affects of High-Stakes Testing on classroom environments and teacher's instruction." :)

Family Visits

Let me just tell you how wonderful it is to have family come and visit!!!!

Friday night Jackie's sister Mary and her youngest daughter Karmen arrived for an 11 day visit. We were extremely excited to have them come out and share our town with us. They arrived late Friday night and Saturday morning was the start of a pretty busy schedule (at least so far). Saturday Karmen and Mia (our other niece) went to a Jonas Brothers concert and were so excited about it that they couldn't sleep the night before. When we all caught up on Sunday about their experiences, they did not have enough good things to say about it.

Then Sunday afternoon, Mia tells us that she was able to get an invite for her and Karmen to be casted audience members for their 3D movie that they were shooting on Monday. The only hang up was they needed a chaperon to take them and be with them all day (11am-9pm). I was the lucky one chosen to go with them and I do have to admit I was a bit excited myself. Living in California all my life, I can't say that I have had that many opportunities for something like this.

So... yesterday I picked the girls up and we headed the the Honda Center in Orange at 10am for a day with the Jonas Brothers. The girls were so excited they just kept giggling. Once we were inside, they were assigned to the yellow group (which ended up being a not so bad group, but the girls will tell you it was the worst group to be in). After approximately 2 hours of waiting in lines, we were brought into the arena and the girls again had to wait to be called down as audience for some of the scenes in the movie. At one point they thought for sure they were not going to be picked to go down and they were just about in tears. Needless to say, they were eventually taken down and they were so close to the stage that the boys actually touched their hands!!! :) Once we finished with the taping portion of the movie, we were fed and asked to wait for a while longer.....Then the girls were taken down with all the kids that came for the day to the floor to watch the concert that the Jonas Brothers were doing that night. Mia and Karmen were up close to the stage most of the night and had a ton of fun from what I can tell. Mia made a cute comment that her life was now 95% complete. !!!

Here are a couple pictures from what I could see from the concert, but it was not nearly as good as the girls view!

This is of the boys up on platforms above the entire crowd. You can barely make them out!

This one is of the oldest brother Kevin coming down the stage with his arm up in the air.

This is a picture of the youngest brother Nick on the big screen they have up.

I figured I should probably give a description of what the pictures were so that you could kind of try to figure it out. :)

I am not quite sure that yesterday could be topped for Karmen, but I am hoping that the rest of Mary and Karmen's time will be as wonderful as the time so far.

Another Word About My Challenge

Okay, so over the course of the last few weeks, I realized that I do not need to post updates about my challenge so often. It has become very disheartening to see the very small results each week and I am sure for those that might be struggling like me, it would be discouraging for you as well to see that someone else might be having a hard time. So I have decided that I will not be posting updates on a weekly basis anymore and maybe not until I hit some sort of milestone on my journey! :)

My Challenge Update #2

It's sad for me to confess, but this past week was definitely not good for my goal of losing 20 pounds before Jackie and I head back to North Dakota. I gained 2 pounds back rather than losing any at all. I do have to say that it was almost worth it when I think about the fun that I had with my family over the 4th. My sister Megen, her husband and 4 girls plus my mom and Jackie and I celebrated the holiday together with lots of good picnic food and tons of fun.

This week I will be trying to make up for the fact that I gained weight rather than lost weight. I am going to be having Usana shakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as kick my butt into gear on my wonderful treadmill that I just had to have. I found a good exercise routine for runners that will help you go from the couch to a 5k in 9 weeks and I intended on being able to run the 5k by the end of the 9 weeks. I love to run and always have, but it's not like riding a bike. You have to rebuild the endurance and stamina that you used to have and it has taken me 2 weeks to realize that. Slow and steady wins the race, right???! :)

A True Blessing from God...

Many of you already know that Jackie and I have been working towards buying a house this year and one of our hold ups was that we were trying to sell the Jeep in order to put ourselves in a better position to buy. We put the Jeep up for sell in January and had no success for the longest time. A few calls here or there, but nothing seemed to be working out. We both had prayed about it constantly and knew that the Lord would make it sell when the time was right....

Well this past weekend, the time was right. We sold the Jeep and are now on our way to searching for a house to call home! The selling of the Jeep has been a true answer to our prayers and a huge blessing for our financial life! Praise Jesus!!! :)

A picture to remember our little Jeep!

My Challenge Update

It has now been a week since I starting working towards my goal of losing 20 pounds before we leave for North Dakota and I am happy to say that in one week I have already lost 4 pounds. I sure hope that I can keep it up until we leave and even do a bit better over the next 3 weeks because I really want to reach my goal! 

Our Day with Cole

Jackie and I were blessed to have the opportunity to have Cole this past Friday night until Saturday afternoon. When we went to pick him up Friday night, we both were surprised to find that the big kid standing in the driveway was Cole. He is getting so big!!! :) 

Cole had written himself a note that said, "Ask to go the driving range and then to the Army Navy Store." Needless to say, Saturday morning we headed over to the driving range to hit some golf balls and then over to the Army Navy Store before taking him home.

Jackie decided that she was going to be the photographer for the day and so all the pictures are of Cole and I. Thought I would share a few from that wonderful day!

Cole getting ready to hit the ball :)

Me giving Cole a few pointers from the very short time I took lessons.

Setting him up to "knock it out the park." :) As Cole puts it when he gets a good one!

Look at the form!!!!!

And just one of me using the beautiful clubs Glori gave me! Thanks Glori :)

One of Lifes Many Challenges...

Like many people in this world, I have struggled with my weight. For the past five years my weight has gone up and down and I have resolved to make a healthy change. I have decided that if I want to enjoy life to the fullest, then I need to create healthy habits that will keep me happy with my life and my body!

So... a month from today Jackie and I will be leaving for our trip to North Dakota and I have made a goal of losing 20 pounds by then. I ultimately want to lose approximately 50 pounds, but I figured I needed to start with baby steps and then go from there. Two weekends ago, Jackie and I were able to find a treadmill at a garage sale. I have been wanting one for months and we finally were able to find one that would not put a huge dent in our budget. I plan on using the treadmill as my main form of exercise and hope to see the results I am looking for. I have taken a before picture and was going to post it with this post, but decided that waiting until I have an after picture just might be a little better time to share. :)

Wish me luck!!!

Life

It seems like forever since I last put anything up and I have wanted to for a while, but sometimes I can be a little OCD about things and so I have been postponing posting anything because I wanted the events to be in order of when they happened. I finally realized that if I waited to post again until I actually sat down at my computer at home and uploaded the pictures I wanted to use, I would never make another post. :) My semester of school is over and I am extremely excited to have a little break before I take on my final semester of my Bachelor's Degree. It will have taken me a full 10 years to complete my degree, but I figure that I at least finished and that is the biggest accomplishment. If it took me longer than most people, oh well... I did it and I have to be proud of myself for that. I will be the 3rd person in my family to achieve this accomplishment and for that I am extremely proud of myself. I will let everyone know when I will be actually walking. I know it won't be until May of 2009, but as it gets closer I will update the exact date.

Jackie and I will be heading to North Dakota at the end of July for her nephew's wedding. We are excited to have the opportunity to go back for another family visit, but more importantly, we are extremely excited to share our road trip to North Dakota with her sister Mary and Mary's youngest daughter Karmen. Mary and Karmen will be coming out to California for a couple weeks as a graduation gift for Karmen (I think ?) and we are thrilled to have them come! It will be nice to have the time to better get to know Mary and Karmen (as I have not had the opportunity to visit with either one of them much) as well as for Jackie to spend some quality time with her sister and niece. :)

Mother's Day Part 2

Mother's Day Part 1

So, I am going to try and post my pictures from Mother's Day. My sisters came down from Oregon, Utah and Las Vegas to surprise my mother for Mother's Day and it was the greatest surprise ever!

Joinin' In

So I have finally joined the blogging world. I have spent the last several months reading family and friend blogs and decided that it was time to join the group. I always figured I would wait until I had children to post things about, but decided that it would be okay if I wanted to create one now that I can share a little about the happenings in Jackie and I's lives. We are heading to a church retreat this weekend and I am extremely excited about the time we get to spend completely with the Lord. He is amazing and the more time I spend learning and reading, the more in awe I am of all that He is and does!