It has been a very long time

A lot has happened over the last 5 months!
First of all...

Yay to Dan for finishing his first year of being a Firefigher and making through probation! No more studying, he can take naps now and watch TV. I am so proud of him! Now we can focus on planning the wedding.

By the way we got engaged in August. It was all a huge surprise to me and I was hoping it would happen but I didn't think it would so soon. He called me on a Thursday night and told me to pack because we were driving to San Francisco in the morning. He had came to my work and got the day off for me. So, of course I was thinking it might happen there, why else would he surprise me with a trip right?? So he came home from work Friday morning, we finished getting things together, I was so excited :) He told me he had to drop something off to a guy from work who was surfing down in Huntington Beach. Of course I thought how the heck are we going to find him, and we can't call him if he is in the water. So when we got there, I told him to go ahead I would wait in the car so we didn't have to park. He made me get out. We walked down towards the water, he then took me to the other side of the pier, and was all "What does that say?" There was something written in the sand, but from where we were standing (right in front of it) I couldn't read it at all. As I was trying to see what it said I turned around and he was on one knee! I was like..."right here?" I was sooo surprised!! He had friends come out and write "Natalie will you marry me" in the sand, and another friend come out and stand on the pier and take pictures of the whole thing!! And of course I can't get those up because the pictures are so huge, and they only will upload on an Apple computer. Dan has one and is in the process of making them smaller so we can email them off to family and friends. Oh, then we drove up to San Francisco and had a wonderful weekend just us 2! We drove the cost home and it took us forever, but it was extremely beautiful!

School is going great for me! We finally are on a 2 week break. But I am moving right along. I passed 1 of 3 of my 70s test. That is 70 words per minute on a Stenograph, the machine in my last blog. I must say that it was very difficult, and I was worried I wasn't going to pass. At this point we should at least be at our 50s and I whizzed right to my 70s. I have a feeling I will be stuck there for a couple weeks. But I love school. I love the girls there, we all get a long great. There is a total of 5 of us in our class, and 4 of us are all the same age. And all very very different.

I also got a new position at the bank! My title is now a Fraud Specialist! I love it compared to being a teller. The only bad thing is that it is a little bit further from my house, and I start at 7:00 am. Which means the alarm goes off at like 5:30! Which if you knew me before I started working at the bank, I woke up at noon everyday! So getting up early really really sucks. But I am slightly getting use to it. Plus I get off at 4 which I must say is way better than 5:30. Our bank built a brand new office building in Seal Beach for all of the departments. The best part...Chef Alonso. He makes us breakfast and lunch everyday. We have Carne Asada tacos every Tuesday, my favorite! I now sit on the computer all morning looking for fraudulent checks. It is actually quite interesting. A couple weeks ago I got a small bonus for catching a large fraudulent check. It came at perfect timing, right before the holidays. Who can't use the extra money? The girls at work are awesome too, so that definitly helps when you are changing positions.

I keep telling Dan that I wouldn't mind moving to Corona if I could quit working and just focus on school. Some days he says ya he wouldn't mind but then some days he laughs at me like its a bad idea. I can't really picture myself letting him pay all my bills, like my car payment! I know he makes enough money to do it but I still couldn't do it. Now, if he wants to buy me a new car and put his name on it too, and it will be both of ours, then I wouldn't mind so much haha. I might consider moving there anyway just because you can get a lot of house for not a lot of money, however you are in Corona. Away from most of the family. But I do have a cousin that lives there so I would spend most of my time there when Dan is working, I don't know how I am going to feel sleeping in a huge house by myself. We would need to get a dog. A mini goldendoodle to be exact! And maybe a bigger one that can actually protect me. I know my mom and Kristen really don't want me moving that far. But we have time to think about it because we are getting married first, and that isn't until October 3rd! Vegas! I am so excited, we are doing it at Victoria's Chapel, but not in the Chapel, outside, and the reception is right there too. Its a all in one place. With an open bar, for one set price. It was a pretty awesome deal and me and my whole family are so excited!

Well I couldn't put up any pictures today because I am working. But I will try to put some up soon. I will get pictures of Charlee :) She is getting so big now, and she knows who I am and loves me lots. She is actually 6 months today!! She is soooo cute!

Gotta go, we are closing soon :)

My new toy!

Stentura 8000!
I started Court Reporting school 3 weeks ago and I am loving it. The school gives us a machine to rent, but I had to buy my own because I found it on Ebay and couldn't pass up the amazing deal. This one is electronic, you can save whatever you write onto a floppy disk, and it plugs into your computer and it will translate what your writing. The one the school gives you in just manual it does none of this. South Coast College is where I am going, it's in the city of Orange. There is only 5 girls in our class. We are only 3 weeks into it and I have learned so much! I am doing the night program and they say that it takes about 4 years to finish! I couldn't believe that I was signing up for another 4 years of school, that is super expensive and I have to get student loans for. This was a huge step for me, I have been wanting to do this for so long and I am loving it!

Also, Dan has been gone since last Friday to go fight the fires up North. It is kind of weird to be home alone for a week straight. He says it might be another week which will suck majorly! I have been hanging out at my mom's and work and school have been keeping me busy. I miss him though and I hope he comes home soon! I don't sleep as well when he is gone because I get paranoid and hear all kinds of noises!

Our trip to West Virginia

This is our first picture with Dan's nephew Sean. He is so adorable he had no idea who we were yet. That definitely changes . He ends up liking me best though :) We had a red eye flight so I must say I was really tired!










This is the next morning and he already loves me. I am giving him his Corona Fire Department hat that Dan got for him. He loves it haha













We went to the Air and Space Museum. The museum was awesome they had a space shuttle there...I never realized how huge they are! Its crazy! If you are ever in West Virginia I recommend the museum. They have every plane you can think of there...really really small ones where you cannot even imagine someone in it to the really huge Boeing planes and all sorts of fighter planes. Everything you can think of!!






The next day was the First Annual Fagan Fishing Derby. I was reluctant to participate because I am not really a big fisher, however I decided to do it. This was us getting all of the stuff out of the car. I had no idea what I was in for. We were river fishing where you actually have to go to like the middle of the river. My first step into the water I slipped and fell right in. No one told me that I would be getting my clothes wet or to watch out for the moss on the rock because it's slippery!



I did end up finding an awesome rock to stand on so I didn't have to stand in the water...however I wasn't catching any fish. I needed to be where Dan's brother is...he is the other guy in the picture you can barely see cause he is so far out and half way in the water. I didn't want to do that. Later though we did go up the river but decided not to bring the camera which was a great decision because we all fell in. My line was stuck and I kept reeling it in so it was tight, and because the current was sorta strong it knocked me right over and I dropped the pole. But Dan saved it, it couldn't go anywhere anyway because it was stuck! I did slam my knee on the rock. I did walk away from this fishing trip with tons of cuts and bruises. And I did end up catching ONE blue gill fish!! I caught mine before Dan caught his and he only caught one too!! His brother and sister caught around 7 each.

This is Dan way before any fish were caught! I think he actually spent more time helping me every time my line got stuck in the mud and getting the knots out of his. That is his excuse for only catching one fish!!



Dan and Jimbo spent a lot of time working on the Fishing Derby trophy. The scarecrow also wanted to be in the picture. I have no idea why Dan can't smile normal for a picture.










And Debbie WINS the fishing derby for catching the biggest fish! The trophy will eventually have a plaque. Poor Debbie she had to pack this in her bag, good thing I didn't win I wouldn't have had enough room in my bag! Maybe next year!!





This is on our way to Harpers Ferry...of course I got to sit next to the baby...good thing cause he loves me most! He is so adorable!This is everyone in Dan's family! His parents, his brother Jimmy and sister in law Mariann. His sister Debbie and Dan and I...oh and of course Sean he just woke up! Overall the trip was great! We had a direct flight home on Jetblue which is awesome because you have your own tv. I can't wait to go back and hang out with Sean!

My Favorite Hockey Player!

TEEMU SELANNE!

Plays for the Anaheim Ducks, by far the cutest professional hockey player. Before he decided he was going to play this past season, he skated at Anaheim Ice. One of our friends just so happens to know Teemu and got invited to skate with him. Then he called Dan and invited him which couldn't be better timing because I was sick the day before, so I called in sick again. I was the only one in the stands watching them play. Teemu looked at me a couple times from the ice, probably wondering what this crazy girl was doing watching them skate. Then realized at the end I was with Dan because Dan invited me to go into the locker room with them ,before they got naked of course, and that is where when we got this picture taken! I was so happy, I may not look like it because I was sick, which kind of sucks that is how I looked when I met Teemu Selanne!! After they all took showers, I got his autograph on one of those bright orange towels they pass out at the playoff games. Both the picture and the towel are hanging up in our apartment so Dan can remember how super happy I was the day I met Teemu Selanne!! :)