The New Toy

My husband was blessed with a nice little holiday bonus. That sounds weird. He has only been employed in the "real world" for a little bit over five months and I keep forgetting that we are real grown-ups now (not that every real adult receives a bonus -teachers most certainly do not!). Anyways. Of course we put most of the $ in the bank, but I did agree to one special purchase.

What was that special purchase? First, I'd like you to consider what most guys would buy? A plasma TV. An Xbox. A Nintendo Wii...something of the electronic variety. NOT my husband (I'm sure he wouldn't mind any of that stuff though). My husband decided to splurge on something he has wanted for a long time. He found himself a great deal on Craigslist. He bought a....

CELLO

Yes, a cello. AND he has been playing it almost non-stop since he purchased it just about 24 hours ago. Watch out Yo Yo Ma (or whatever his name is)...here comes Jonathan Hook:)!

State Champs

I have hardly written a thing about coaching volleyball this fall. It's just one of the many reasons I haven't been a very good blogger as of late. Here's a brief update...

I coached at LC high school, which was a bit of a change since I grew up as a panther. The first time I wore the orange and black it was a bit strange, and it was even weirder the first time we played Mead. It wasn't too difficult to make the switch, though, once I got to know the coaching staff and the girls. They are an awesome group of ladies and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to coach there! During the regular season I worked mostly with the JV team and with the varsity setter. Then as we rolled through the play-offs I worked with the varsity team. Not only did we win the GSL, but we won Districts, Regionals, and we swept State. Wahoo! Of course I can't really claim any of the success for myself:), I was just glad to be a part of it. I know that many people coach their entire lives and never earn a state championship, so it was especially sweet to experience it during my first year at LC.

It's Official...

I am pregnant! I know. You are surprised, but you're not really that surprised:). It is incredibly overwhelming, exciting, scary, terrific, terrifying news! I'm just thankful that we'll have until May to let it all sink in:). I'm sure as the belly starts to grow and I actually feel something moving inside of me (besides just that bloated, nasty feeling), it will start to sink in.

I'm officially 13 weeks and 4 days pregnant. For those of you who have experienced pregnancy before, this means something to you. If you are like me just over a month ago, you have no idea how to think in "weeks". My due date is May 9th (one day before Mother's Day - I might actually be a mother on Mother's Day this year - wow!). That means I won't be able to finish my first year teaching here in Spokane. Although I'm bummed about that, a few coworkers have told me that I planned it just right since I'll be getting out of the last month teaching 6th graders. Maybe it'll turn out to be for the better:).

I have been very blessed so far on this journey. I've only thrown up and experienced nausea a handful of times. My biggest complains are just that I have to wake up ALL the time in the middle of the night to pee. That plus general exhaustion at all times & the sensitive sense of smell (while teaching 6th grade - not the best combination) have been the worst parts. Compared to others I really don't have much to complain about.

I'm hoping this will be the last set of big news for a while. Moving from Australia & Colorado back to Spokane, living with the in-laws, starting two new jobs, buying our first home and finding out we're pregnant has been a little much all at once. Here's to a really long, uneventful, relaxing fall & holiday season!

Jonny's Hairdo

We are adjusting to the fact that Jonathan is now a professional and this new "doctor" title & actual job comes with a few new responsibilities. Case in point: the hair. For the last five years we have followed the "twice a year" pattern of hair-cuts. At two (usually strategically-planned) times during the year I would bust out the ol' hair-cutting razor and go to work.

I actually started cutting Jonathan's hair while we were dating and have been his faithful barber ever since (that's about seven years!). Before marriage, my clean-cut husband would require a haircut every two months or so. I'm not sure if over time the barber just got lazy (he could have gone somewhere else, right? but we all know that somewhere else wasn't free) or if the shaggy hairdo was just a welcome change from the clean-cut past. It was probably a little bit of both.

Now, though, we are realizing that this two-a-year plan will probably not suffice as we enter this new realm of adulthood. After a few weeks of "comments" at his workplace, I finally busted out the electric razor on Wednesday night and gave him a much-needed haircut.

I guess one advantage to cutting his hair more frequently will be the fact that he won't look like a total stranger for the week or two after his haircut...

The Process

...of setting up home has definitely been just that: a process. Just two weeks ago we were given the keys to our home. Conveniently, it happened the day before a school break so I had the three-day weekend to work. My mom and I got six cans of paint and went to work, along with my mother & father-in-law + Jonnycakes, painting every room in the house (on the main floor). After two long days of painting, we moved our things in on Sunday the 12th -thanks to the help of many great friends. Thank you!

Sadly, there isn't much evidence of progress two weeks later. We have unpacked quite a few boxes but we definitely still have a load of them unopened downstairs. I had high ambitions of "attacking" each room, one at a time, at night after school. My motivation somehow has a way of leaving me, though, when I get home after a long day of school, meetings, and volleyball. Our plan is just to chip away at it during the weekends and hopefully we'll have a place that feels a little bit more settled in the coming weeks. FYI: If you live in the area, we're going to have an open house pretty soon (we hope)...I'll post details later!

Here are a few pictures that Jonathan took on painting day. You can still see the blue tape along the window sills:). I commissioned him to take tons of pictures and this is what we ended up with. Just about five pictures (with NONE from the bathroom, kitchen, or living room). I will officially be taking over camera duty in the coming days and maybe will post some better pictures when the place is more settled. Maybe by then we'll have some furniture to go along with our scratched TV stand (just one of many moving casualties) and amazing pink couch from the Boggs:). Yeah for a place to sit!!!

Greenbluff

Ma & Pa 

Yes, my dad posed with an apple in every picture

"Touchdown"?

Mmmm, golden delicious

We had a great day at Greenbluff this past weekend with the whole family (minus Dev/Laris, Leah/Trav). This traditional Vaughn/Hook gathering started eight years ago when Jonathan & I first dated, then took a three year break while we were in Colorado. I have to say, Greenbluff is one of my favorite places. I never realized just how unique it was until we moved to Colorado and I went looking for "Greenbluffs" there, only to find out that nothing of the such exists in CO (or many other places). We are happy to be back enjoying Greenbluff & the fam!

A House for the Hooks!

To say that this past week has been insane would be an understatement. Actually, since the first day of school, September 2nd, things have been a bit nuts. This week, however, took "crazy" to a whole new level.

After months of looking at houses, saving money, looking at more houses, saving more money, being indecisive, looking at more houses and saving money, we found our house. Here is the play-by-play of Thursday, September 25th (from my perspective):

1. Jonathan dropped me off at work at 7am. It's his day off and we were leaving for Seattle straight from school so he needed to pack the car and get things ready. On the way we discussed house prospects (for the trillionth time) and decided we'd wait until the weekend to make any further decisions. We were really at an all-time low at this point. We knew we'd started looking at too many homes above our price range and we knew we needed to basically start at the drawing board again. We felt like we had seen all the houses on the market though, and were feeling a bit discouraged.

2. At 11:35 I dropped my class off at the lunch room and returned to my classroom. I had just taken my first bite of PB & J when I heard pounding at my outside classroom door. Instead of the regular scenario of a student forgetting a lunch box, Jonathan and our realtor appeared. Paperwork in hand, they proceeded to tell me about the home they had just seen an hour before. It was priced to sell and I was told, "we need to make an offer right now before others see the house and a bidding war takes place". We sat down with the stack of papers and I barely got in two questions (Where is it? What does it look like?) as I signed my life away at the U-shaped table. Jonathan just kept saying, "trust me on this, Amy." It's a good thing I trust my husband! They took off less than ten minutes later on their mission to deliver the paperwork.

3. I somehow made in through the afternoon (which was crazy on its own...moon phase stations & one "special" student sneaking around outside instead of spending time with the resource teacher - ah!) and Jonathan picked me up after school. He said we had to meet the realtor at the house in twenty minutes. I had prepared beforehand for two days of a substitute teacher (those of you teachers out there know what a task this is) and after frantically dashing around creating a stack of organized chaos, we took off.

4. On the way to the house Jonathan filled me in on the details...

-He'd found the house online that morning (Thursdays are his days off) and it had hit the market the night before.

-The home was going for five grand less than it had been bought for two years ago. The woman wanted to get rid of it.

-He and our realtor walked through in the morning and he "just knew" it was right.

-They'd turned in the offer, hoping to catch the seller before her move to California, but she had left on her road trip before they made it.

-They had faxed our paperwork to Coeur d' Alene in hopes that she would stop and sign our offer. If she didn't, other people would have time to put their offers in.

5. We showed up to the house (in a great neighborhood on the south hill - on 23rd, just blocks from Manito Park) just a few minutes late. We walked through the house, dodging the cleaning people who happened to be there at the same time. I tried to take everything in, but it was all such a whirlwind. When I had seen the house, our realtor asked me if I liked it. I said that I did. She said, "great because the seller has signed your offer." 

...and that is the play-by-play (in more detail than you were asking for) of the Hook's house madness. I know, many of you think I'm crazy for signing on a house that I'd never seen. In hindsight, I think it happened perfectly, even though it was very different than I'd ever imagined (with too many details working out to be counted a coincidence!).

What does all of this mean? We will be home owners at last! We had our home inspection yesterday and when all the paperwork goes through, we'll be closing in two weeks! We were so blessed to have been pre-approved for our loan before the latest economic mess, so we are so thankful that we'll be getting into a home at a time when it is really difficult. We feel so blessed (I know I already said that) and we know that it has nothing to do with us. Praise the Lord:)!

One Year Anniversary Of...

...our life in boxes! It's true. On this September weekend last year, we packed up our lives, rented a moving van, and delivered our goods to some friends in Colorado. They graciously allowed us to dump our belongings in the corner of their basement. Additionally, we stored items at three other houses. We knew that our things wouldn't see the light of day until at least May when we returned from Australia (from September through December we lived in a furnished ski condo in Frisco, near Breckenridge). Did we ever anticipate that they'd still be packed away one year later? Not quite.

After one year without our things, here are just a few things I miss most.
#1. Sleeping in our own bed (we've slept in four, not counting hotels & hostels, of course).
#2. Eating off our own dishes.
#3. Using the red kitchen aide/all other appliances.
#4. Knowing where miscellaneous items are located (purses, vases, pictures, etc.).

Thankfully, we are a lot closer to buying a house than we were one month ago. Who knows, maybe we'll have some exciting news in the coming weeks?! I sure hope so. As much of a blessing as it's been to have a free place to stay (w/ the in-laws), we are a little bit ready to move out on our own:)! \

Bon Voyage, Hartanovs!

My sister and her husband, Travis, left the country on Tuesday morning for Uganda. They will be living there for six months. Ugh. Of course I am really excited for them:). It'll be an sweet adventure and they'll be making an awesome impact on lives there. I am just really really sad. I have been spoiled this summer by living so close and seeing her nearly every day.

If you want to follow their adventures, their blog is: travisandleah.blogspot.com. They don't have much up right now. In fact, we haven't heard if they are alive & well on the continent of Africa yet. Hopefully they'll update soon:).

Here are a few pics of Leah I took before they left. She decided to go for a new short haircut since she's not sure about the shampoo/shower situation. I love it!

Triathletes

Er...not entirely, but kind of:).

My sister and I competed in our first ever mini triathlon this weekend! What started as a random Rockwood Bakery idea while reading the Inlander's list of races this summer turned into a full-fledged weekend of real sweat, tears (only of joy, thankfully) and great memories.

No world records were broken, but my sister did win third place in her age group, thus winning this sentimental gift of recognition: a specially engraved wine glass. She plans on bringing it with her to Uganda since she leaves next week. I, sadly, did not receive any special awards for my effort, although Leah and I did finish together. Her age bracket wasn't quite as competitive as mine. Grrrr.I am now a huge fan of mini triathlons. I'm seriously considering making this a yearly event - whether the Wenatchee Apple Triathlon or any other in the Northwest. Anyone that wants to join in the future, just let me know! It was so much fun to train all summer towards a goal and then do something so entirely different than I've ever done before.

Here are a couple pics of our day...
We were pretty much the only ones without wet suits, but the water wasn't too bad. We also got to wear some nice yellow swim caps. I felt like a real racer chick. This was my sad attempt to capture both of us with our bikes (using the self-timer on the top of the Forester). It gives you a glimpse of the scenery surrounding the event. Again, all those of you on the edge should now consider doing a sprint triathlon. Just think about it:)...

At Last!

At last...I am posting again. Yes, it has been a long time coming. No, I don't really have a good excuse regarding my long hiatus. Mostly I've just been lazy, but we can call it an "adjustment period".

At last...my husband is an employed man making a pay check! I am no longer the sole bread-winner in our family. Yes, it's true. He got paid for the first time a few weeks ago. We thought briefly about framing it instead of cashing it, but of course we need it too much:). Instead I decided to take a few pics of Jonathan posing with his first official paycheck. I guess it is the normal progression: go to school forever, get a job, get paid. It just seemed SO FAR away at many points during this journey. I can't believe he's actually "arrived". AND, he likes his job. That's the best part. He loves the variety of patients he sees & all the great people he works with. Yeah for job satisfaction + paychecks:)!
At last...I have a teaching job! Yahoo!!! I will be teaching 6th grade at an elementary school in a really cute part of town, adjacent to one of our favorite parks. I am very excited, even though the thought of teaching 6th graders is slightly terrifying at the present moment:). It'll be a good challenge, though. There's definitely potential for madness, but also potential to make a big impact on lives with the older kids. I am practicing my mean face and mentally preparing myself for the challenge:).

Here are a few things we've been up to lately...
*Spending time w/ family at Priest Lake (a week w/ the Vaughn nine & a long weekend camping with the Hooks, a weekend up there with Carly & Neal and the boys + numerous other misc. time at my favorite place on earth)
*Running, biking and swimming about every day with my sister as we train for our mini-triathlon (http://www.triwenatchee.net/) I will definitely post after our race. It's next weekend and we are so excited! I've never been to Wenatchee & neither of us have done anything like it, so we'll see how it goes...(this picture documents a first: all four Vaughn children going on a run together!)
*Reading lots of books, including many at the sixth grade level in preparation for this coming school year.
*Catching up with friends in the area w/ lots of dinner dates & time hanging out.
*Enjoying a visit from my good friend, Andrea. I have to document this one because it was so entirely random. On a rainy day after coming back from the lake, we decided to do what any normal twenty-five year olds would do. We decided to make skirts. Wow. Eight hours after our start time, we came out with these original masterpieces. (sidenote: Andrea paid $8/yard and I paid $1/yard - not sure I'll go for the shimmery look next time around)
All in all it has been a great few months. It hasn't been an entirely easy transition. We are so blessed to be living with Jonathan's parents, although we are dying to be in a house soon. We are saving like crazy to meet our down-payment goal and hopefully we'll be able to make an offer on a home by early this fall. We are just so ready to settle into life here, and we're currently extending our "out of boxes" stage to almost a year. Whew! We know the Lord's timing is perfect, so we're very much resting in his arms. Love to you from the Hooks!

Ode to Colorado

I know it's been a long time since I last posted. Life has been a bit crazy on the Hook front the last few weeks. Here is a little update....

We arrived back to the states on May 10th and spent the following two weeks trying to fit everything we could into our last days in Denver. Here are a few things we did:

*spent lots of time (and late nights) with family & friends*moved all our belongings from the six separate storage locations (thank you friends and family) into one house & eventually the moving truck
*drove to Colorado Springs for an overnight w/ Andrea & an Australian celebration with her class
*went to my classroom at Bergen Valley for an Oz Presentation + clean-up & goodbyes
*took one last trip up to the mountains in Summit County, including a quick stop at the Silverthorne Outlets (one of my greatest downfalls)
*Had about a dozen breakfasts, lunches & dinners out with friends & family (two trips to the Rio...the greatest Mexican restaurant of all time...how I've missed it!)*took a few walks & runs around Wash Park
*Jonathan wrapping up school & GRADUATED. He's officially "Dr. Hook" now. Pretty impressive, huh?!*Enjoyed two home Rockies games...both were W's!*Hosted a little graduation/going away party

It was a whirlwind. We love Colorado. We love our friends and family in Colorado. We love the weather in Colorado. We love the mountains and endless opportunities for adventure in Colorado. I loved my job in Colorado (teaching at the best school in the history of the world:)). (Here's my school. I got to see the continental divide every day on the way to school)

So, in honor of the state we both love, here is just a SMALL glimpse of our lives in Colorado over the past three years. Just a few of our favorites.....So, we moved away from Colorado. You might have gathered that already (or know it already). Why did we move away from this state that we love, you may be asking? Well....it's because we love Spokane, Washington too. It may have really long, gray winters, but is has absolutely gorgeous summers & falls. There are amazing lakes everywhere in the northwest (including my favorite place in the entire world: Priest Lake - see first blog post ever, Leah's wedding). There are many amazing places within driving distance (the Oregon coast, Portland, Seattle, Leavenworth, the sound, Vancouver, Banff, Glacier National Park, etc.). Most importantly, though, it is "home" because it is near family (and friends too). We are happy to be back in the good ol' northwest.(Yes, we took the "long route" and drove through the Grand Tetons + Yellowstone. I love the buffalo picture. These massive beasts came about two feet from our vehicle. Wow!)

The next few weeks and months will consist of a few things...
*Jonathan studying for his PT board exam
*Jonathan starting his JOB at a PT clinic on the south hill on July 7th!
*Me looking for a teaching job
*Both of us looking for a house (hip, hip, horray!)
*Both of us trying to organize our out-of-control lives

I'm not so sure about my role in the blogging world at this point. The "adventures" of the Hooks will continue, but we are no longer living on foreign soil and we're childless (two blogging musts)...I'm not sure if I should keep this up. As you can see it's been a bit harder to post these past few weeks. Maybe it's just the MAD transition? Hmmm....