Day 1: Getting there...

Wow. What a rush the last couple of days have been! I finished my last final at 8:30pm Thursday night and met up with Rodd to finish some last minute errands before heading home to pack and get ready. Rodd ended up falling asleep around 1am and I was up all night. Around 3:30am we got up to shower and load the car. We headed up for our 6:45am flight to Houston.

We're found ourselves saying to each other... "This is really happening..." ... "We're really doing this" ... I guess it didn't hit us what we were ACTUALLY doing until we got to the airport. We had left ourselves with less time than we usually do and , when we got there, were surprised to see a huge line just to check our bags and an extremely long line for security. Long story short, we ran to the gate and made it to the plane with only 8 minutes to spare.

Three flights in all. SLC to Houston to Newark to Madrid. We left around 6:45 am and arrived to Madrid around 10:30 am (2:30 am Mountain Time). We wasted no time and headed out to explore. We purchased tickets to travel on the local metro and buses and headed to the Madrid Temple.

Just got off the subway, looking for the temple.

Rodd at Madrid, Spain Temple

                                                                   Madrid, Spain Temple

By the time we got there, ready, and inside, we were both so tired from lack of sleep we could hardly stay awake! It was still a good experience. I love doing temple work in Spanish. :)

When we finished, we found a hotel in the city and went straight there on the Metro. It was already 6pm in Madrid and we told ourselves we would only sleep a couple of hours, then look for a place to eat dinner. 9pm came and we were both too tired to get up! We slept until 11pm and made plans for the next day, then back to bed at 2am. 

The Countdown Has Begun!

For all of our friends and family that will be following us while we are away, I'll be updating our blog as often as I can with pictures and such.

Thanks for all of your support!

Countdown: 6 days and counting!

I'll try to post our itinerary this weekend. :)

Total Money Makover

As I mentioned before on Facebook we are doing the Total Money Makeover. I am now a Dave Ramsey fan and am reading the book. We really focused last year and paid off all of our debt in August 2011 (before listening to Dave). We are now completely debt free except for our home and we are now working on paying our home off early while building savings and retirement. For those looking to make their money work better for them, READ HIS BOOK! I am even happy to loan it to you if you want (I have it on Kindle and a hard copy).

He is on Talk Radio each night from about 7pm-10pm (105.7fm or 570am) and I love his view on money. It will change your life. It's not rocket science, but he does make it very plain and simple. He calls it as he sees it and will put you in your place when needs be. :)

We didn't have any consumer debt, but were able to pay off both of our cars and a student loan. It feels amazing and a huge weight has been lifted! What I love about his book is that it doesn't matter how much money you make, you can always make a way to be come debt free and live financially/payment free! I am looking forward to the day when we no longer have to make a mortgage payment. WOOHOO!

 I hope we can turn as many people as possible on to his plan so they can experience the same joy we have by relieving yourself of the weight of ANY debt. It's amazing and totally worth it. We hope everyone will join us in living a payment free life. :)

This year so far...

It's been a great year so far! We are so blessed.

I continue to work and go to school full-time and Rodd is also working really hard. I am looking at some options for working part-time so I can finish my degree sooner. Again, we are so blessed and have been surprised at the number of options available. We have a lot of decisions to make.

His birthday was on Tuesday, right in the middle of my finals week. My birthday is also in the middle of finals for the fall semester. What's up with that? I had finals on both of our birthdays this year. Since he would be heading out soon to work for a while we did a Birthday Week Marathon and did all kinds of fun stuff all week: movies, dinners, nickel arcade, gifts, games at home, etc. It was quite the weekend and so much fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY! :)

I think that Facebook has kind of replaced my blogging as I feel I have already posted most of this stuff there... but I still  need to do better.

NYC - Day 5: 9/11 memorial and Wall St.

9/11 memorial
Back for nap
Wall st
Late show w David letterman
Sushi, pizza, nuts
Times sq., Bom on broadway
Change in flight plans, staying an extra day
Duane reade for some treats

pics to come.

NYC - Day 4: Times Square and Empire St. Bldg

Squires Diner for Breakfast
Got ready, changed rooms for view. Awesome!
Times square
Madison Sq Garden
Saw Hugh Jackman outside of his show on closing night
5 napkin burger for dinner, cupcakes treat
Chrysler bldg, Empire St. Bldg

Pics to come. :)

NYC - Day 3: New Year's Eve

Manhattan NY Temple

Got up relatively early to get to the temple before it closed early for the holiday.

Lunch at Katz Deli

Took the subway there and got there about 2pm. There were 2 huge lines outside headed down each side of the street; one for dine in that was super long and one for take out that was a lot shorter. We opted for take out and actually didn't wait too long. We got a hot dog, pastrami on Rye, and pastrami reuben. Delicious! We ate our sandwiches down the street at Roosevelt park and watched some street basketball. Loved this. Took the bus home to change and rest for the late new year festivities to come!

Went back, super crazy about a block away from the ball. Left about 1130pm to go to hotel to watch countdown and see fireworks near bridge.

Pics to come.