Come on Over!

Don't have plans for New Year's? Come on over!

Christmas Eve

With one day 'til Christmas all the stockings are hung, the presents are wrapped, the goodies baked, and now it's time to relax.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Survivor

I just survived 8 hours with 55 elementary kids hyped up on Christmas crack. If any one ever deserved a Christmas bonus I've decided that I do. Hurray for two weeks off!!!

Now excuse me while I go fill my body full of asprin and lay down for a long winter nap.

Traveling Home

After the wedding was over, we set out for home late Saturday afternoon. A few hours had pasted when we reached Las Vegas. As the strip came into view I said to Dave, "Just for fun we should cruise the strip and then head back out toward Phoenix." Then half jokingly I said, "it's only 6 o' clock we should get a cheap room, hang out on the strip, and stay the night."

As Las Vegas came more into focus the idea sounded better and better.

One night stay at the Best Western: $60

Visiting Italy, France, and New York all in one night: very tired feet and legs

Two Ben and Jerry's ice creams: $8

Watching the famous Bellagio fountains: free

Being spontenous with the one you love: Priceless

Grateful Day: Part II

On Friday, when many others were getting a head start on their holiday shopping, we had a wedding. A year ago Dave's Dad married a wonderful women name Estella, and on Friday November 29th they were sealed in the Saint George Temple.Estella is amazing! She made the dress she is wearing in this picture. They were so happy and cute.I for one really liked the scenery. All weekend I kept commenting on all the beautiful trees.
After the sealing we headed over to the club house for lunch.When I say Estella is amazing, I mean really amazing, she also made their wedding cake. Turns out she used to be a professional cake decorator. We eat cake.

And we danced. It was a wonderful time and so great to be with family.

Grateful Day: Part 1

I've decided that one of the things I am most thankful for about Thanksgiving is that it is not commercialized. It is just a truly simple holiday. It's all about being with your family and chatting over a good meal. And then of course, there is family football games and city Turkey Trots. This year I missed out on the Drain Family Turkey Bowl and the City of Mesa Turkey Trot, but I still got to be with family and have a good meal.

For the first time in my life I spent Thanksgiving without my immediate family. This year Dave and I drove to Saint George, UT to spend the weekend with his family. After a 7 hour car drive we arrived in Saint George just in time to help finish fixing the dinner. We had a wonderful dinner with Dave's brother Brent and his wife Andrea, Dave's Dad and his new wife Estella.

Friday we had a great time with Brent and Andrea. We took a drive to Snow Canyon where we hiked around and the boys a little too much fun throwing rocks. What is it with boys and throwing rocks?!

Not just any rock will do. You must find a rock of the perfect weight and size.

Brent had to have a target in order to throw rocks. A rock on its side, hanging over a cliff qualified as a very good target and supplied timeless entertainment.

I'm not sure what's going on in this picture but it cracks me up.

My beautiful sister-in-law, Andrea, proudly hit the each target before the boys. Way to be Andrea!

We had a great time at Snow Canyon. After our rocky throwing escapade was over we headed home for some of Estella's turkey soup, yum yum, and then off to the Saint George Temple to see the Christmas lights. It was beautiful.

I especially like this picture. I was so happy to see fall leaves! It made it feel so much more like Thanksgiving.

New Shoes

One thing I really like about Dave is how happy he always is. It doesn't matter how hard of a day it's been, or how awful the circumstances may be, he always faces life with a smile and a positive attitude. So as you can imagine, when there is actually something worth being happy about he's like a kid on Christmas morning.

Dave went and bought some new shoes for himself for the first time in well over a year. Forgetting what it's like to wear new shoes, Dave was tickled pink to have some new footwear. After modeling his new shoes for me, he took them for a test run around the house for hours. Every so often he would make some remark about how they felt so great, or how he felt walking in them. He was so happy to have new shoes on his feet! So happy in fact that he didn't even want to take them off to take a nap.
Sometimes Dave reminds me more of a 4 year old than a 28 year old.

Fountain Hills Arts and Crafts Fiestival

I woke saturday morning with a great desire to go out and enjoy the day. Lucky for Dave and I, Fountain Hills was having its annual arts and crafts fiestival. So, after completing a few chores we took a nice drive out to Fountain Hills.
It was a beautiful day for walking around, and we had a grea time looking at all the unique items made by different artists.
The highlight of the fiestival for Dave was his first funnel cake. While on our trip to Disneyland I learned that Dave had never had a funnel cake! Since then we had been searching out opprotunities for Dave to try funnel cake. I even suggested going to the State Fair just for funnel cake. So when we were walking around and spotted a funnel cake stand we just had to stop and get one.

For myself it was all about the Kettlecorn, yummy!After purchasing our yummy treats, we sat in the grass and eat, talked, and watched the fountain. It was a wonderful Saturday.

Oh No!

When my sister and I were little my Grandma would come and visit us quite often. I remember at night we always wanted her to tuck us in because we loved to have her tell us stories and sing songs to us. We would always ask her to sing us the song about the little girl who lost her kitten. And she would be begin to sing

I lost my poor kitten so cunning and pretty...

It was kind of a sad song at first, until she found her kitty and then all was well. I hope that I too can be as lucky as the girl who lost her kitty. Saturday night after searching in all my usual places I realized my wedding ring was not where it should be. Now, three days later, I have come to the painful realization that it is most definitely missing.

I have search all around. In our drain pipes, vacuum bag (eww), the trash (eww, eww), my purse, car, bedroom, kitchen, ect. And it is no where to be found. The worst part of it is I can't remember that last time the I had it on. So if you were around me the early part of last week and can say for sure whether or not you saw me with my ring on my finger please let me know.

My Parents Live 8 Miles Away Thank You Very Much.

DOOR BELL RINGS
ME: (Open door) Hello.
COX GUY: Hi, are your parents' home?
ME: ...Um, I'm the home owner.

Do I really look younger than 18!?!

Empty Nest

Every so often, when the weather is nice, we carry Jack's cage outside and let him bask in the sun and sing outside. A week ago Jack was outside when Dave saw 3 other parakeets perched around Jack's cages. It was at this point that we started to feel like less like we saved Jack and more like we sentenced him to a year in solitary confinement. Taking into consideration that he never seemed to like us much, he made the biggest mess on my floors, and the bag of food I bought for him had run out, we decided to set him free.

After sitting outside for a few days, to adjust to the new environment, Dave removed Jack's roof so he could fly away. The little bird brain just sat there, too dumb to realize that he could fly off. Dave replaced the roof, and to be honest, was forgotten about for the next couple of days. Until yesterday when I removed his roof again. After watching him for sometime, the phone rang, when I got back he was gone.

I so wanted to see him fly away, but it brings comfort to know that there are fellow parakeets out there somewhere for him to be friends with. So to where ever you are Jack, good luck, your sweet chirp will be missed, but your mess on the floor will not.

I'm Going to Disneyland!

The last time I was in Disneyland there was no such thing as Toontown, and the Indiana Jones' Ride was nothing but scaffolding and mortar. Dave's previous experience didn't follow too long after mine. So with a four day weekend approaching we decided it was time we go to the happiest place on Earth!

Thursday was spent driving to Cali, and since Dave had never seen a tiger, elephant, giraffe, ect. in his entire life (he later, so kindly informed me, that he didn't live as privileged of a childhood as I) we decided to take a detour on our way to Anaheim and visit the San Diego Zoo. If you haven't ever been, San Diego has an amazing Zoo. It was well worth the extra 1.5 drive.
Dave got to see his first tiger, and many, many other animals. If you would like a complete documentation of our trip to the zoo just ask. I pretty sure Dave took 3+ shots of every animal in the park. We even have video footage we could share.
My favorite part of the zoo was the panda bear exhibit. The whole zoo was peaceful and beautiful, but the panda exhibit even more so.

Did I mentioned that I like the panda's.Friday we planned to tackle California Adventure part in the morning and finish off the day at Disneyland. It was a gorgeous day and we were so lucky to not have to stand in any really long lines.
California Adventure Park was all dressed up for Halloween. I never knew you could grow candy corns!
After Soring Over California we decided to get a little buggy at the Bug's Life 3D movie.
Waiting in line at the Buzz Lightyear ride, Dave posed with his hero.
I decided that nothing makes you feel more like a kid than Disneyland at night. There is just something so magical about that place that you can't help but smile.It makes me feel so happy, that I have no shame in taking my picture while wearing a little girl's Minnie Mouse souvenir hat.After a wonderful day in Disneyland we decided we were done with all the kiddy stuff and ready for some real rides, so we made our way to Six Flags Magic Mountain. We had a great time, but after about six roller coasters, we were feeling a little shooken up. So we drove back to Anaheim. We made it back in time to check out Downtown Disney and get a bite to eat. It was a busteling place, but we had a great time. We found a great place to eat, and while we eat, we got to watch the firework show at Disneyland.

Like most trips, the time went by way too fast. I guess that just means we will have to start planning another ... :)

Posting to Me

As time goes by throughout the day I often think of different things I would like to post about. While I drive my 57 miles each day, I begin writing sentences in my head, forming (what I think are) clever ways of telling, the few people that read my blog, about the things that matter to me.
Since my last post I have probably posted 6 new posts in my head, unfortunately none of them ever go posted. I posted to myself about how I was so excited that my favorite season, fall, had arrived, only to be heartbroken when I remembered that I don't live in New England and there is no such thing as fall in Phoenix. I also posted about my green beans, spinach, tomatoes, and cilantro that are growing in my garden. I thought about posting about my wonderful soccer team and all our scoreless games. Unfortunately, once my 57 miles has been driven all my drive for posting is gone, and I spend my nights trying to keep my eyes open until 9:30 rather than writing to you all.

Growing a Green Thumb

Unrelated to my quest to begin my food storage, on Friday I began planting my fall garden. In June Dave and I built this raised garden box. And when I say "Dave and I" I mean mostly Dave, I did however waterproof the wood :)
My hubby's the man when it comes to building things. Thanks hon, you did a great job! Too bad I didn't realize before the box was done that it is so small you can hardly grow anything in it.

I did plant some carrots, lettuce, spinach, and herbs in it though. So here is a shot of the completed box and day one for my little seedlings.

And to make up for the lack of space in the box I planted some, squash, broccoli, tomatoes, and peppers in the ground.

Since I am completely inexperienced in the world of gardening it will be interesting to see if anything edible is produce. Gardening is like rocket science to me.

Only two days after planting, I've learned that I should have made furrows. All my plants were completely dried up when I came home from church. Lesson 1 in gardening: water more.

Are you in?

At seven o' clock tonight I attended a meeting about food storage, now two hours later I am feeling pretty certain. Pretty certain that if an atomic bomb went off while Dave and I sleep tonight, and that if we aren't hit directly, we might as well be dead because we have nothing to sustain ourselves with.

So now that I am fully convinced that we are nowhere close to being prepared I am feeling motivated to get prepared. I have a long ways to go, a lot to learn, and a lot of intimidation to over come but I believe I can do it! If I can do it, you can too. If you haven't started yet, like me, let me hear you say your ready to start getting prepared.

Check out Anna's blog she has a ton of info.

Camping Trip

It always seems that after three months of tripple didgit temptures, I get fed up with Phoenix and get the itch to get away. Laybor Day weekend was my boiling point. So I politely declared to Dave that we needed to get out of this barren place and go somewhere liveable. So on this past Friday afternoon, I said goodbye to Kids Corner and we headed up to Payson. We had no idea where we were going, which made me a little nervous, but I was confident we would find somewhere off the side of the road to camp. Once we got up over the rim we lucked out and found the perfect little camping spot. With just enough sun light left, we set up our tent and got a fire going for the night.This was Dave and I's first camping trip with just the two of us and the whole time we kept asking one another why we have never done this before. We had such a great time hanging out by the fire and making smores.

After a good nights rest we awoke to a beautiful cool morning. We rosted cinamon rolls over the fire and took a walk through the woods. By 11 o'clock we had played every game together that we had brought and then looked at each other and said, "what do we do now?" So we packed up our stuff and by one we were heading back home.

Not wanting the adventure to end, we made an unexpected stop at the Natural Bridge (one of my favorite places.) It was a little warmer there, so we didn't stick around too long, but long enough to see all that makes the Natual Bridge great.