the 4th in DC

We decided that we were going to brave the masses and go to the fireworks in DC. NEVER AGAIN. The metro up wasn't bad, the fireworks were absolutely amazing, but trying to get home was a nightmare. way, way, way too many people and way, way, way too much touching. in fact, everyone on our team caught colds from it.

for almost the entire ride home i was standing up squished between a fiber glass divider and an extremely large and soft grandma. brandon could not stop laughing.

Here's a movie of our view of the show.

Splash Down in Manassas

Corporate put out an incentive that if we get our best week of the summer we would get a half day and go to a water park. we got it a day early...

Happy Daddy's Day!

I love my Daddy!

 

and Brandon's Dad too

but mostly (not really) the present i got for Brandon!

A norelco nose and eyebrow trimmer!!!

So for Father's Day today I got to give a talk at church. I was super nervous until i made the congregation say ALOHA back to me. Then i completely calmed down and was able to keep my um's and shaky voice to a minimum. It went really well. Everyone in our ward knows me now no matter what because besides giving a talk, our records were received and announce and Brandon and  I were called and sustained as Primary Workers today. So i stood up and my named was called three different times.

The cutest thing happened right after the meeting was over. While  i was on my way over to Brandon and a little girl came up to me and said, "you have pretty eyes" and then ran away. I hope she is in our class.

It's been a la la la long long time...

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. Things have been crazy here! I finally finished my online class!! what a relief that is. I got an A. Work has been going great! this past week our office had the best week of the summer! and because of it we get to eat at cheesecake factory and go to a waterpark. it make the hot, sticky days here is NOVA (northern virginia) worth it.

Here are a few random pics.

Sudden hail storm. Taken from inside a strangers garage.

 

Another rainy day. We get random rain storms here all of the time. Luckily I have my sweet northface jacket and stylish hat.

 A strange house decoration. I kill those for a living...

 Brandon playing the uke.

365 days of awesomeness

YAY!!! we made it! one year down, infinity to go!!

We have had one fun filled amazing year. selling pest control in portland, going to school and running in hawaii, christmas in idaho, another new years in vancouver, and our anniversary in virginia! whew...

We had so much fun celebrating our one year together. We started off by getting up super early to sell some pest control!!! after work, we hurried home got ready and booked it to the washington dc temple to do some sealings, in memory of our sealing. On the way there Brandon whipped out this cute little jewelry box. inside was another wedding band to complete my ring! So beautiful.

The temple was amazing. for the first time all week our thoughts weren't focused on work. it really felt like we took a break from the world and just got to be in a quiet, beautiful place together.

After the temple we went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse--the most amazing (and most expensive) restaurant I had ever been to. The food was absolutely amazing and the atmosphere was so romantic.

The next morning (mother's day) I was woken up to breakfast in bed, a bouquet of red roses, and a new purse!! He spoils me...and I love it!

Months and months ago brandon lost his charging cord to his electric razor, so instead of having him continue to borrow random people's cord..i got him a new one!! Happy anniversary!

We really had a great anniversary weekend. I love brandon more now than when we were first married. He really is my other half and I am so excited to spend the rest of forever with him.


I can't post very many pictures right now because my internet connection is too slow and wont download, but i promise i will get some up here.

Another Krout Adventure: Virginia

We made it! We are settled in and loving it! Our apartment is really nice and it is beautiful here.

We had an interesting first couple of days. They mostly involved moving in, setting up the office, a computer repair guy, and the dollar store. Setting up the office and getting ready for the summer took us a little longer than we expected, but we are up and running and ready to 'knock' the socks off of Fairfax! (pun intended)

Being a door-to-door salesman is a very interesting job. People say and do the darnedest things, so I decided to highlight each day with either a funny quote or an interesting story of what happened when we were out on the doors. Get ready...

SATURDAY:
Wife: "I don't really think I'm interested. Should we get it hunny?" Husband: "Yes." Wife: "Fine. Alright I guess we can get it." Hawheeah!! that never happens! except to me. once :)
it was super cold and rainy, but that didn't stop Brandon and I from each pulling in a sale!

MONDAY:
"I'm not home." Yep. and I believe you too...
Today was FREEZING and really rainy so instead of going home, we decided to knock in ponchos. Yep. Big, huge, bright yellow ponchos. It was awesome only because I got two cupcakes from wearing it. This family was just finishing dinner and starting dessert when I stopped by and they liked my poncho so much that they invited me in and gave me some cupcakes!! it makes it all worth it.
oh yeah--and Brandon got a sale.

TUESDAY:
Today was funny because this nosy black lady didn't like me knocking in "her neighborhood" and told me that I probably shouldn't knock on any doors or write down any house numbers because that could be offensive to some people and she mentioned that "her neighborhood" called the police on this one solicitor 5 years ago and blah, blah, blah. I didn't let her bother me. I was polite to her, but just kept doing my job. She got so upset that she called a boardmember of the HOA and tattled on me. It turned out though that the boardmember approved and said I could stay there and knock. So I did and I sold her neighbor. so, HA! Take that!

Brandon had the best day EVER! He sold a town home for a $1120 contract value!! (most contracts are around $500) They were renters and in order for their landlord to pay for it it had to be over a certain amount. So they chose the price and signed the contract!!

WEDNESDAY: Today was AWFUL. I'm not going to go into details, but my sale from the day before were really upset because they didn't think what they were signing a contract...(hello?) and they called me and yelled at me for a very long time and ended up canceling. Huge bummer. But after I took a few minutes and calmed myself down, I went out and got another sale. so once again HA! Take that! there ain't no one that can stop this train.
Brandon ended the day with yet another sale.

THURSDAY: "Hi I'm from Preventive Pest control. I'm calling because.." "You are a pest! You've called here six times already!" (if you would answer your phone I wouldn't keep calling)
The sales reps have been trickling in, but none with a car yet. So now there are six of us and only five seats and so I get to be the secretary until we get a few more cars or the real secretary comes--which ever one comes first. Today was pretty freaking awesome because even though I was in an office ALL DAY I still got a sale. I got a phone book and started calling a bunch of numbers in the area and it turned out that one of them really did want pest control. WOOHOO!!   sidenote--people are much ruder on the phone than in person.
Brandon managed to pull in THREE sales today! man I love that guy...

Pictures soon.