Frenaissance

I recently had the opportunity over the fourth of July weekend to go spend it with some of my BFF'S. We have known each other since Elementary school and it was such a blast to go spend the weekend with them in San Diego! Right now my friend Shannon lives there so we got to stay with her. It felt really natural being with Shannon and Jessica again after so long. We haven't been together the three of us in a while. I really enjoyed just being a dork and catching up with them. Here are a TON of pictures from our little trip. (Pictures are out of order a little bit.)

We had an intense kick ball tournament go on... Don't worry, my team WON!

These 2 pictures below are the only pictures from the entire trip of just us 3 together. We could not get serious for them at ALL! It was fun though!!!

Jessica on the Left, Shannon on the right and of coarse that's me in the middle.

Jessica's cousin Tasha was there on the trip with us. Super fun and nice girl, glad she came!

Day trip to sunset cliffs. Super cool! Maybe even cooler than La Jolla???

Shannon and I. Gotta mention real quick because I am obviously wearing a jacket in this picture that it was so nice to wear jackets and jeans! It was 50 degrees colder in San Diego than in Arizona. Steve can we move there?

Balboa park is always fun!

We watched the fireworks on the fourth of July from a park overlooking the city. So pretty!

So funny story about the picture below... Just as the fireworks where starting the sprinklers came on and started getting everyone wet. Jessica thought fast and grabbed some bowls we had for our picnic and put them over the sprinkler heads to stop from soaking everything. She kept shouting as she was doing it "I'll save the day", and she did. Just as she finished covering up the sprinklers Shannon's Ipod (which was playing an America songs play list at the time) started playing Miley Cyrus's song Party in the USA and this HUGE group of high school kids standing next to us in the park freaked out and started jumping around, dancing and singing to this song. We joined in too, it was totally random and fun. Who doesn't love spontaneous dance parties??? After the song was over all the kids where cheering and this one girl from the group came over and asked if we could play it AGAIN! And we did.

The fourth of July also happens to be Shannon's birthday so we had a little party in the park before the fireworks. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANNON!!!!!!!

Dinner Saturday night at a yummy Thai restaurant.

Day at the pool

Trying to touch sea creatures

The End! I had a lot of fun last weekend but I'm am so happy to be back home with Steve!

Circle K Moments

I decided today that I am going to start a segment of our blog and dedicate it to Circle K moments. Let me explain why... I work at a Neurologists office and our building is literally right next to a Circle K gas station. I frequently visit this Circle K to get either a Dr. Pepper or a snack when I am hungry and it's gotten to the point where I'm pretty much best friends with the workers there. My favorite cashier and person that I most often see there is named Muhammed. We often joke about How I always pay with my debit card, don't ever want cash back and never keep the receipt, he just doesn't even ask anymore that's how well we know each other (I know your super jealous of my gas station best friend right now!) Anyways, I also think it's important to mention that it's not the nicest area in the city, they don't get the best caliber of people coming in and it's got some crime issues. Muhammed is my favorite because he is not afraid to call people out on whatever they are doing. He's friendly but stern, funny but intelligent, old but young. I already have a few interesting stories about my experiences inside the gas station but I'll just start of with one so there is something for you to look forward to...

I think I will start out with the most interesting experience I'v had so far. It will be hard to tell a story better than this one in the future. About a month ago I headed over to the gas station for my normal Dr. Pepper in the afternoon right after lunch. While I was walking in I walked past a Hispanic man trying to purchase a beer and overheard Muhammed asking for his I.D. The man had a friend standing right behind him inching towards the door to leave. I went over to the soda machine and filled up my cup and then walked back over to wait in line behind the 2 men. The man in front trying to buy the beer claimed he did't have identification so naturally Muhammed said he couldn't sell him the beer. While this questioning was going on the mans friend was getting ready to walk out the door when Muhammed turned his head and said "hey where are you going?" I was confused because I was thinking "hey... The man has a right to leave if he wants too?" but then he also asked if he was going to pay for those beers he had hiding in his pocket??? I guess these guys had a plan, one guy tries to distract the cashier by trying to buy a beer without I.D. so they don't actually have to pay for it while the other guy hides beer in his pockets and sneaks out the door. Pretty good plan except for that Muhammed was working that day and he knows everything!

After my buddy called out these guys on there plan to shoplift they got a little angry and used some profanities that I will not mention here. Basically they told Muhammed off and stormed out the door WITHOUT paying for the goods. It was kind of frustrating not being able to do much about it. Muhammed did call the police but by the time they would get there it would be too late.

This was an interesting experience I had but what I just told you wasn't even the best part. The funniest part of the whole situation was their get-a-way transportation device. It was a bicycle. A single bicycle for the two of them to ride off on. Muhammed pointed to the surveillance camera video they had circling the perimeter and we just watched as the guy trying to buy the beer got onto the seat of the bike and the other guy with the big bulky pockets tried to hop on top of the handle bars spreading his legs out to straddle the tire. It took them a moment to get on together but when they finally did they rode very slowly and looked like they could fall over at any moment. The guy on the handle bars looked ridiculous. He could't get his legs to bend the right way because of the contents of his pockets.

So that's my first Circle K moment. I hope you found it as funny as I did! See ya!

Love

Oh where to begin... It's been getting even hotter here if you can imagine, only 110 degrees today:( This is why I was glad to escape it over the weekend. For our 1 year anniversary we decided to skip town and go somewhere cooler... San Diego! It was so nice; only about 75 degrees during the day. I managed to take a couple of pictures from our trip so here ya go!

The Cove

The cove is in La Jolla where we stayed. It was such a nice area.

I loved all the cliffs in La Jolla. It's very different than your average sandy beaches.

Hey there good lookin! I swear he just keeps getting better looking with age. It's been 2 1/2 years since I met Steve and 1 year since I married to him, I feel extremely blessed (not just because he's attractive), but because he makes me a better person... and he's attractive! Ha ha.

Steve made me take a picture of the hole that our hotel room looked out over.

The view from our hotel. This is not a good photo at ALL, but you get the idea. Golf course to the right of the pool and just a little bit further there is a cliff down to the ocean below. Beautiful!

On the day of our anniversary we went to Sea World. It was amazing! I loved every second of it (except maybe the getting sunburned part of it), but everything else was fantastic!

We saw the new show Blue Horizons that had just opened up the Saturday before and it was good. I think the best shows though were SLL (Sea Lions live) and Pet's rule. Both of them were extremely hilarious.

It was a great trip. Thanks honey!

Homesick

Steve and I have a lot to look forward to right now, especially going home to Utah to visit our families! I have to admit though, I've been a little homesick lately. Here is a list of things that I miss about home...

• I miss going to movies with my mom and sister.
• I miss long and spiritually girl talks with my mom and sister.
• I miss shopping with my best friends Ashley and Brittney.
• I miss hanging out with my other best friends Jessica & Shannon.
• I miss getting to know Steve's family better and spending more time with them. (They are awesome).
• I miss by brothers. They are sooooo cute! (even the 22 year old who thinks he is too cool).
• I miss my dad who is always so giving and perhaps even spoils me a little bit...
• I miss Gracie and Olli (my parents dogs). Gracie is just so smart, smarter than your average dog, I mean, she can open the front door for you!
• I miss crazy (and I mean CRAZY) dance parties with my cousin Lexi and sister Alli. We have some super sweet moves that just can't be done without each other (Michael Jackson techno dance).
• I miss training table cheese fries and Noodles & Company gluten free macaroni & cheese. Yum!
• I miss snowboarding during the winter.
• I miss the smell and beauty of Spring.
• I miss how pretty it is in Utah with the big beautiful mountains and soft green grass.
• I miss downtown Salt Lake with it's big city feel without the big city danger. (Phoenix is Ghetto!)
• I miss the Avenues with all there historic homes that just need someone like Steve & I to live in one and renovate it. I love that area.
• I miss Amy's gluten free bread... Only available in Utah. I have yet to find a bread comparable to it:(

There are so many things I miss about home but to not leave on such a negative note here are a few reasons I love Arizona...

• Don't feel too bad for me. I love that we have a pool in our back yard that I can lay out by any time I want too!
• I love our orange trees, lemon tree, apple tree, apricot tree, lime tree and banana plants.
• I love the way we have re-done our house. I feel like a queen living in a castle sometimes and think "how did we find such an awesome place".
• I love my friends out here! A lot of them where originally Steve's friends and their wives but have quickly became mine too and I love them! I love spending time with them, going to movies and dinner with them and of course... playing games with them. They are all so wonderful!
• I love my ward here.
• I love our calling (in nursery).
• It is hard to see past the heat of the summer but of course I love the winter here... It is so amazing! You can't beat it!
• Most of all, I love my husband and he is here! I would live anywhere for him and he makes everywhere the best place to live as long as we are together...

A little update

May has been a great month for us. Even though it's been getting warmer it has only hit 100 degrees one day so far this month (which is amazing for May!) We have been doing a lot of work on the house and planning our summer trips. We officially have plane tickets to come to Utah the weekend of the 24th of July, so we are looking forward to that. I am also looking forward to a fun girls trip with a couple of my friends from High school to San Diego the weekend of the 4th of July!

In a week and a half Steve and I celebrate our 1 year anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year, it just flew by! I love Steve so much and am so happy to have been able to marry him. He is truly perfect for me. I will probably elaborate more come next week. Steve is planning a surprise anniversary trip for me that weekend and I can't wait. I'm sure wherever we go it will be wonderful because we will be there together:) (Yes... I know that was super cheesy!)

We have been doing a lot of fun things lately. Last Saturday we went to dinner and a drive in movie with some friends and it was a blast. Earlier that day we went to a Gluten Free convention in downtown Phoenix. I was surprised to see the convention was packed full of people, we could barely move around without bumping into someone. I was a little disappointed in all of the booths that where set up. Pretty much all of the products or stores they where advertising I already new about. I was kind of hoping to go and learn of some new products available to me here in Arizona. That's okay though, it was a good and educational experience for Steve to learn more about Celiac disease and the gluten free diet because chances are half of our kids will have it.

The gluten free expo is not the end of my adventure though. I plan on visiting a new gluten free grocery store called the Gluten free country store. It opened a couple of months ago in Gilbert AZ and I am so excited to visit it this week. I will have to let you know how it is, I'm pretty excited about it.

Scorpions and water heaters

Living in Arizona has a lot of wonderful things going for it. The nice winter weather, the palm trees, the way the streets are all on a grid system and make it so easy to get around and even how pretty it is (in a desert'y' kind of way). Let me just be the first to admit though that we have a few negative things going for us too, like hot summers, all bland tan stucco houses and of coarse SCORPIONS.

About two weeks ago our dog had an encounter with one of these scorpions. Weston loves to play with bugs, I think it is a gross dog thing. We always catch him chasing mosquitoes, flies and even spiders. He often tries to catch them in his mouth, it's like a game to him. Steve and I always figured Weston may eventually have a run in with a scorpion seeing that we live in orange groves which is where they apparently like to hang out. What we didn't know is what to do if he did.

Around 9:30 at night Steve went outside to take the trash from the back yard to the street and Weston was playing around the trash area. Steve noticed that Weston looked like he was trying to play with some type of bug but didn't know what kind so he went to the front to drop of the trash can. He came back to find Weston sneezing like crazy and kind of having some sort of breathing attack. Sure enough Steve looked around him and saw a scorpion right next to him. That scorpion was quickly smooshed and I thought my dog was going to die! (I overreact sometimes:)

We think Weston was stung on the nose and mouth area, maybe even inside his mouth because he just would not stop sneezing. We tried to look at the area where we thought he was stung and he wouldn't let us near it. Right after it happened we immediately looked online for some advice. Every website we saw suggested taking him to the vet so we looked up emergency animal hospitals that where open that late. We called one place and the lady told us that we did NOT have to bring him in unless he was experiencing hives, or swelling or throwing up. She told us to just keep an eye on him for a couple of hours and try to get him to relax.

After the call it made me feel better because I knew that Weston would most likely be okay. We laid him down on the bed and just petted him a lot and eventually he just relaxed and was not sneezing or breathing funny anymore. He slept pretty much through the night and the next day he was back to his normal, goofy self!

The reason I tell this story is because it made us realize we really should be checking our house and yard for scorpions every week. We have found a few since we bought the house but nothing to abnormal. Yesterday I bought a scorpion flashlight which is basically a black light. They spot scorpions because when you shine a black light on one it glows. So last night we put the scorpion flash light to work looking all over our house and yard. I am pleased to announce that we did not fin any scorpions inside our house. But... We did find OVER 20 SCORPIONS outside in our back yard!!! A little more than I thought.

Even though we found a lot we managed to kill all of them and realized they where all mostly on the back wall fence. None of them where in the actual grass area which is nice. Below are a couple pictures of the scorpions we found last night... Enjoy!

After we mass murdered all the scorpions in our back yard Steve went to work fixing our water heater which was disgusting, and probably originally purchased in the ice ages. It started leaking the other night and had this weird, gross build up of some kind lining the top of it. I posted a picture of that below so you know what I mean. I am soooooo glad I have a husband willing to take on the challenge of replacing the old water heater. We bought a new one yesterday and Steve is working on installing it as I speak! Hopefully by the time I get home from work today I will have a new working water heater!

Steve getting ready to rip out the old water heater.

The gross water heater... Yuck.

Ciao!

Visits and Visitors

Steve and I have been very busy lately with vacations, planning vacations and hosting other peoples vacations. Pretty much, life is GREAT when your on permanent vacation! We have a lot to be thankful for right now and we are so happy when we get to spend time with our friends and family.

The Zion Trip

This was a blast! I think our driving time to time spent with the Family ratio was a little off because we only got to spend one full day at the cabin, but it was worth it. We went on an amazing hike through part of the canyon which I really enjoyed. We also spent lots of time playing games (of coarse).

Yes... Steve's dad convinced Keona to crawl into this hole in a tree. She loved it! She kept trying to fit herself all the way inside, pretty cute.

Lexi & Macie

Just two weekends ago my wonderful cousin and her six month old baby Macie came to stay with us for a bit. Macie is sooooo cute, I got to hold her as much as I wanted over the weekend and she played and laughed and especially loved our dog. She would always try to reach out and touch Weston whenever he was around her. It was adorable.

One of the best parts about the weekend was getting to brake out the swim-wear and get into our pool for the first time since we bought our house. The water was still a little cold but once you got in it was nice. One day we went to a resort in Scottsdale to swim, that was fun because not only did we get to lay out by a fancy pool in a fancy place but we also got to sip fancy strawberry pina' colada drinks which were delicious. Yum!

We have an ally way behind our house that lead to various things but one of the things it lead's to is our neighbors back yard where they have horses, pony's, Geese, dogs and other random animals which makes it sort of awesome to walk by. The horses are super friendly and they loved Macie!

Last weekend We had the pleasure of hanging out with Steve's friend Tim from High School. He drove up for the weekend to go watch a couple Phillies games with Steve. Steve is very proud that at the Saturday game when the Phillies hit a home run he could be seen on ESPN highlights in the crowd cheering for his teem. I watched it several times and can honestly not see him, but he assures me it's very obvious.

While Steve was off becoming famous on ESPN highlights, I was off feeling famous by being pampered at an all inclusive day spa on Saturday. It was amazing, can I just say I love facials!

I spent a total of 6 hours at Dolce' Salon and spa getting a facial, Swedish massage, pedicure and they also did my hair and make-up before I left so I could look as good as I felt. I know that this does not get to happen very often so I soaked it up. It was a wonderful day!

We where sad to see Tim go but now it's back to real life I guess. It has been getting very hot here (which I'm not too excited about) it reached 94 degrees yesterday making it the hottest day of the year so far. We have a lot to be thankful for so I shouldn't complain, but I'm not looking forward to the 100's... On a more positive note, Weston still loves laying out in the sun. Here are a couple cute pictures of him.

Soaking up the rays poolside (what a lucky guy!)

Lately he has had an obsession with golf balls. He has a collection of 2 or 3 he caries around in his mouth and spends hours trying to figure out how to carry all 3 in his mouth at the same time. Steve's a proud papa right now. He always wanted to raise his dog to be a golfer!

Steve and I are in the process of trying to plan a trip down to Utah, so anyone living there we look forward to seeing you soon! We are also in the process of trying to plan our anniversary/ get away from the hot summer heat vacation so if you have any ideas or suggestions for us that would be great... Also, if everyone wants to call Steve to try to convince him that Thailand would be the logical place to go I would also appreciate that!