Still alive!

Every morning. Every morning on my highway trek to the office I think, "Hm. I should update my blog today." And I never do. I think mostly because there's just nothing extraordinarily exciting happening right now.

Our big ongoing event is waiting to see how much we'll owe in income taxes this year. So...that's what we've been doing. I would post pictures, but it would be just us. Carrying on with daily lives. Waiting. Without divulging tons of personal financial information (um, hello internet), we always have to wait until pretty ding-dang late in the tax season to even submit our taxes to our accountant. Just yesterday we got word that our final piece of yearly paperwork was finalized and our taxes are ready to be processed. So...here we go.

We've got a few big plans this year (mostly buying a new car!), and the timing of that strictly depends on what we hear back about our taxes. Since Dan got a new (higher paying) job in the middle of last year, we have ZERO idea how much that will affect our income tax. It prooooobably put us in a higher tax bracket, which stinks. But I mean, look at me complaining..."Oh, gosh. Life is soooo hard. We have really good paying jobs, a super low mortgage and low interest on our student loans. And we have zero kids to claim as financial responsibility." Yeah...rough life, right? :) I always have to put it into perspective; paying once a year for such a blessed life? Worth. It. (Plus side! We get to write off a lot of Dan's meningitis medical bills!)

New and exciting news! We're going to be spending this Thanksgiving in Chesapeake, VA with my sister-in-law! Dan has a few extra days off, so we were able to budget his vacation enough to finally make a trip down there! Unfortunately, Jessie's hubby will be away on patrol, but this way at least we can keep her company and remind her how thankful she is for all of us :) It'll be unconventional, but super, super fun. I'm excited about being close to the Outer Banks and Chick-Fil-A and all things native to the Motherland; The Southland. We're planning to haul ass and drive. And since the 'rents wouldn't handle that too well, they'll probably fly down there and we'll all reunite. We have to work out some details, but I'm already looking forward to another excuse to travel! I'm an M.K. It's in my blood...

Now some pictures! We celebrated Dan's 29th birthday at the Grill House. I don't see how nobody else gets SO hot by that grill. My face gets beet red when I try to make garlic toast and everyone always says, "Oh, Heidi! You're so flushed!" Yeah...no kidding...I'm standing over a 700 degree grill! Why isn't your face flushed?! Anyway...

After the birthday hoop-la settled down, me and Dan were lounging on the couch and realized that he's entering his 30th year. And people say when you're close to 30 you have this kind of "entering-your-30's-crisis." I always thought it was just hype, but we seriously had to sit there and let it sink in that...we're almost 30. And this is life. Of course we'll have big milestones in the future, but for the most part, this is it. We're here. And it's kiiiiind of weird and a mix of satisfying/overwhelming/scary to realize it.

Anyway...pictures!

Our supps. Kabobs, steaks, shrimp and veggies

Mom & Dad's kabos and steak, grilling

Mmmm...beautiful vegetables!

I'm pretty much the garlic toast master

Monitoring Dan, who's monitoring my shrimp

The Grill Masta'

My supper!

 

Dan, being those Asian tourists on Forgetting Sarah Marshall

On another note, my parents just moved into their new house (yay!) and are going through bunches of old stuff they've had in storage. And "bunches of old stuff" includes old family pictures. Man! What I would give to get my hands on all of those and scan them! Anyway, my dad's been sending random old pictures every few days and it's fun to see what he's come across :)

The Immel gang in our hayday :)

So many things: AMANDA. My mom's glasses and bangs curl, my BLACK hair (?!), my dad's BROWN hair (he's been a stately silver fox for so long now), my mom's velvet vest...

That said, I'm sure there'll be more Immel picture gems on the horizon :)