I somewhat retract my earlier opinions

Tim decided to drive home from California on Friday night instead of yesterday morning so that we could get to the DMV as early as possible yesterday. It opens at 8 a.m. so we got up around 6 so that we could leave at 7 and get there by 7:15 or so. When we got there, there was a line of about 100 people ALREADY lined up and waiting. The parking lot was already full. Our jaws hit the floor and visions of an 11:00 finish time flashed through our heads. So we hopped in line and by the time 8 a.m. rolled around, there was another 100-150 people BEHIND us (we were so bored and FREEZING cold that we counted the people in front of and behind us to make the time go faster).

At 8 a.m. we sort of started moving when they opened the doors. Tim got out of line and took the mini to get 'inspected,' which is basically the stupidest thing ever. It involves sitting in a line with your car to have someone take 10 minutes to write down your vin number.

We got in to the front desk at about 8:25 and then I had to wait in another line to take an eye exam. We finally got a number at about 8:35 and we sat down, anticipating to wait another 20-30 minutes (which I do have to say is MULTITUDES better than the last time we visited the DMV in July). BUT, BUT our number was called in 2 minutes after we sat down!! We went over and I got my license. The lady sent me over to the photo line so that I could do that while Tim did the title/registration for the mini. By 9 a.m. we were finished! We were only there for about 1.5 hours and we ran into NO problems whatsoever. Absolutely astounding. And, even better, we ended up paying about $200 less than what the DMV website said we should have paid to register the mini cooper. Sweet! We were pumped!!

And to add to the exciting DMV news, we have not seen barf from the cats since Friday night. I guess the bag of food I bought last week was bad because with this new food, they have been 500% better. I am so, so happy. Tim claims that it's because he's home now... they just missed him, thus the reason for the barf. If that's the case, he's never leaving again!

Tonight's total

11 piles. Why am I even surprised anymore? However, due to the lack of food this morning, the piles were substantially smaller even though there were more than last night. But in case anyone was wondering, that brings the grand total to 42 piles I have met and cleaned up. I'm now 75% finished with the 2nd bottle of resolve and I've used 3.5 rolls of paper towels.

And I am really optimistic that perhaps it was bad food because I just fed them the new good food and they CHOWED. Which they haven't done in about 5 days. And I mean chowed. Like devoured. Like they were starving...which I'm sure they realistically are. And they aren't huddled over in the puke position yet when the past five days after I've fed them, they've remained in that position all night.

So, I'm crossing my fingers that I'm onto something with this new food stuff. Although in some ways that would just make me feel like the most terrible person/cat mom on the planet. I would have been the sole responsibile party for the past 5 days of throwing up because I gave them bad food and made them eat it. At this point though, anything to stop the barfing would be like finding out as a little kid that Santa Claus IS real and you get to live with him FOR A WHOLE YEAR. In the north pole. With Rudolph. No school, just get to play with toys all day. Even if I'm the worst person in the world for giving them bad food, if that means no more barf I DON'T CARE. I will publically admit that I am terrible. Just stop this madness barfing PLEASE. I'm getting desperate and more and more convinced that kids are a definite, 100% NO WAY, Jose. Thanks, anyway, for asking.

100 bottles of beer on the wall

Oh how I wish that was the song that was in my head because there were 100 bottles of beer on my wall-or at least in my fridge. Instead, I have that same tune in my head but instead of singing '100 bottles of beer on the wall' I am singing '100 piles of puke on the floor.'

I am about ready to fly to Japan, start a new life SANS cats.

I know no one cares (and it is entirely disgusting) but I am just going so completely crazy with all of this that if I don't vent somewhere the Japan life could become reality in about 3 seconds. So, newest development. Like I said, last night I picked up 8 piles of puke, which brought the overall total to 26. SSCCREEAAAMM. And when I posted, I said that Emerson was going through the 'puke motions.' And Berkeley was in position. Emerson's never came out. I went and found her with her head tilted back, eating it back in. I then had to go sit in the bathroom for five minutes from the pure grossness of that and will myself not to just walk out and forget about puke forever. Then I had to forcefully shove my fingers down both cats throats to give them medicine to STOP THIS MADNESS. Do you know how gross and degrading it is to your whole being to put your fingers down a mouth that licks an ass on a multiple times daily basis? This morning I get up and find: a) Three more piles of puke from Berkeley b) two yellow piles of something from Emerson...my question is, is it puke or piss? I don't know. That is to be determined. c) wads and clumps of hair from Emerson. Massive.

Being the neglectful person I am, I barely fed either of them anything this morning because I am so damn sick and tired of being the pooper and puker scooper. Why should I feed them if I am just going to have to pick up the regurgitated mess that has greeted every part of my floor?! So, instead I gave them a tiny bit of food and 3 hairball treats. I am such a freakin loser. All I've done this week is pick up puke and go to the vet. Do you now see why I don't want to be a parent? I have no desire to do anything worthwhile after I've picked up crap all night. So I don't. People ask what I've done the night before and I say, "Oh just picked up puke and then sat on my ass thinking about how disgusting that just was. Then go to sleep and dream about cats barfing on my head." Such a life, such a life.

I can't wait to see how many piles I get to add to my total when I get home tonight. I really think there is a good chance I could make it to 100. And then I really WILL need to have 100 bottles of beer. All. to. myself. And in Japan.

Let's play the numbers game

Number of times I dropped my cell phone today on a concrete surface (one being in the middle of a crowd. Nice.): 2
Number of Amoxcillian tablets (500 mg each) I took for no apparent reason yesterday: 4 [Yes, it appears that I was a drug user. My dentist cancelled my appointment to fill my teeth FIVE MINUTES before I was supposed to be there. Classy. And since I have a heart murmur I have to take the drugs AN HOUR before the actual appointment. I was doped up.]
Number of minutes of my drive to work yesterday: 55
Number of minutes of my drive home from work yesterday: 70 (!!)
Number of minutes of my drive to work today: 55
Number of puke piles I have picked up in the past 24 hours: 26 (not an exaggeration. There were 8 when I got home tonight. And I almost just had one more...Emerson was on the verge, Berkeley is also in position. So I wait to add to the number. I am going to go certifiably INSANE. I hate this. It is making me crazy).
Number of bottles of Resolve I have used on the puke: 1.5
Number of rolls of paper towels I have used: 3
Number of minutes I spent at the vet yesterday just to have him tell me that one cat has a hairball and the other is obsessive compulsive (and probably also has a hairball) both of which I ALREADY knew: 45
Number of dollars the vet cost me to tell me what I already knew: 89
Number of zits I have at the current moment: 7 (!!!!)
Number of Oreos I've eaten: 6
Number of boxes of girl scout cookies I just ordered: 3...sweet! I love girl scout cookies!!
Number of weeks I will be out of the office until May: 14
Number of humongous, 5 inch wide by 5 inches tall by 1 inch deep chocolate chip cookies I have eaten today (do we see a pattern with the cookies?): 1
Number of calories that one chocolate chip cookie probably was: 1500
Number of miles I now need to run: 4
Number of miles I will run tonight: 0
Number of insanely weird people I ran into yesterday: 1 (a korean lady staggering around in the grocery store parking lot [I was there buying more Resolve] singing 'Jesus Loves Me' at the top of her lungs).
Number of times I have been flashed today by a lady: 1 (yet another weird instance... was at Nordstrom in the bathroom, walked in and all I saw were boobs. For no glaringly apparent reason).

Ok...I'm done. No more numbers.

A series of events that make me really question exactly why I am a pet owner

1) Last night went into the bedroom at 10:00 p.m. Didn't go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. Why you ask? Oh, just the damn cats. They were banging, clanging, fighting, crying...you name it, they were doing it. It's like they were just completely determined to try to make as much noise as possible and cause as much damage as possible. It was absolutely unbelievable.

2) Come home tonight to massive piles of cat barf. Lovely. I wasn't sure whose it was at first. I thought that Berkeley was acting weird this morning but on the other hand, I can't even begin to fathom how many massive clumps of hair Emerson has in her stomach (see point 3). So, I cleaned it up and then fed them. Emerson wouldn't eat anything so I thought to myself, "Oh, WOW. For such a little gal, she really got massively sick." Berkeley started eating, of course, but stopped early. Uh-oh. Big warning sign. RUN! I vacated to the other room so that I didn't have to witness the act and sure enough, when I came out five minutes later: more cat vomit! Joy. And does everyone know that I have a seriously throw-up phobia? I literally do. Just ask anyone. I haven't actually done the deed myself since I was around 8 years old. I run if anyone mentions being sick. I am absolutely petrified of it. Many people would tell you that it's a miracle that I can even clean up the cat stuff. Well, as long as I don't hear it or see it happening, the cleaning up is ok but I DON'T enjoy it. And I know that there is more just waiting to come out. GGGRROOAAANN. Berkeley is still acting weird... probably working on one of her enormous hairballs that probably rank as one of the top 10 most disgusting things I have ever seen in my life.

3) I have to take Emerson to the vet tomorrow due to her bald ass and tail. Literally. Her hips are bald, parts of her tail is bald. She seems to be acting normal (although I should note that normal for her is really quite weird). I'm hoping they can tell me what's wrong so that I STOP finding the clumps of hair. It really is madness.

So, in conclusion, I'm utterly tired from only getting about 4 hours of sleep last night due to the cats, I have been cleaning up barf all night, I am continuously picking up and finding clumps of hair all over (literally...earlier there was a huge clump behind the toilet), and I have to go to the vet tomorrow. Vets=trauma=crazy kittens. I really can't imagine being a real parent. I think the comparisons are similar: lack of sleep, dealing with sickness, weird problems, doctors. Now someone PLEASE present me with a GOOD argument of why any sane person would willingly bring that upon themselves (i.e.: having kids). I don't want to hear that 'kids enrich your life.' I always hear that argument. I just want to know what makes all the puke, exhaustion, problems, and yucky stuff worth it. I seriously doubt my ability to cope so an argument as to why I should ever consider it would be appreciated. I don't even like dealing with a 10 pound and a 7 pound cat on their bad days. Maybe I'm selfish and I don't have that mom instinct. Maybe I'm just not one of those super moms. Maybe I'm just not cut out for the job, the responsibility of it all. And that scares the living hell out of me since I know that someday I'm going to be faced with the decision of whether or not I want to become that person: the mom. I'm seriously starting to consider Tim's offer of him being a stay at home dad.

Weekend in review

Great weekend...

Yesterday morning started off somewhat rough (see last post). But it ended up being ok. Since we were up so early we had tons and tons of time. We felt like by 9 AM we had already accomplished so much. Always a good feeling. We went to my favorite little breakfast place, Wildflower Bread, yesterday AND today. I love that place. I really just crave their iced tea more than anything and I like the atmosphere of a little coffee-type shop on weekend mornings.

We also went on an awesome hike in the White Tank Mountains yesterday. We went on a waterfall trail that was an easy two miles roundtrip. It was so awesome at the back to see the canyon where the waterfall is when we actually get rain (we haven't had rain here since around October 15... not that I'm complaining... I like the sun better, anyway. But apparently, this long dry stretch is a record). After the family-packed waterfall trail, we went on the more challenging mesquite canyon trail. It was actually really awesome. It goes forever (like 10-12 miles one way) so we turned around after we'd probably gone 3 miles in. It was an awesome day for a hike and I love hiking up the mountains! After that we went to see 'Munich.' It was pretty good...interesting, if nothing else. I think that film people would like it a lot. I thought it was kind of gory and sad but I could see where critics would rave about it and it really was an interesting story.

Today we just kind of relaxed... it was kind of cold here today and windy. I think it was still like 62 degrees but it felt chilly, like fall! It was kind of cool. It was supposed to rain but it didn't. We did have a few clouds that looked sort of dark but nothing happened. We heard that Flagstaff got one of their first snows of the year, though, so now the skiing people will be happy. We did go on a bike ride which ended up being an excellent workout since we rode into the wind the whole way out. We were definitely feeling it! After the bike ride we came back here and made herb-turkey burgers on the grill and made twice baked potatoes. And we ate ice cream, a weekend staple.

So, the weekend was really pretty low key but those kind of weekends are my favorite, by far.

Another example of how much I hate the DMV

It's Saturday morning at freaking 7 a.m. Usually I would be awake at this time so it isn't a big deal. But this morning I was particularly unwilling to get out of bed because I picked up Tim from the airport last night at around 10:40 (his plane was an hour late getting in). So, we didn't hit the sack until about 12:30 a.m. So, getting up at 6 a.m. to shower and get ready to go to the DMV was a challenge.

As we are looking online for directions on how to get to the only DMV in the west valley that is open on Saturdays, we see the FINE print that any Saturday before a Monday the DMV is closed. Monday just happens to be Martin Luther King day... although I don't have Monday off work so I don't think that is very fair for the DMV to be closed if I have to work. So, all of that build up for nothing. Grr.

Other random thoughts

I am grumpy and I am craving lots and lots of peanut butter. And mashed potatoes. With a glass of chardonnay. Anyone in?

I hate the dentist. Am too grumpy to explain the HUGE FREAKIN ordeal that my cursed teeth seem to be as of late but I will suffice it to say that I did in fact chip a filling (which explains the hole) and I do have another cavity (the one that I refused to fill at my dentist in Iowa before I left...apparently it has grown to enormous proportions. Go figure).

And then it hit me in the middle of the afternoon...it's friday the 13th. Aahh. It all becomes clear...the grumpiness, the unusual cravings, the cursed teeth. Hmm.

You might think I just have mood swings but I have to convince you that I really don't. I'm usually quite a stable person. I've spent today prepping myself for the trip to the DMV I have to make tomorrow morning...which I partially contribute to my grumpiness (the other contributors being my teeth, my insurance, and difficult clients). I would literally rather have teeth pulled than go to the DMV. Yes, my friends, it's finally time to face it. I have to submit and get my license and plates. After 7 months of absence from the DMV, I have to return to the land of horroric torture otherwise I might face real consequences. The main being that I was SUPPOSED to get my license and plates 10 days after moving here. Oops.

Stating the obvious

Superficial people suck.

And I definitely feel guilty for that last post...

Aahh... like I said, I was fine in a few hours. The morning just started off a little rough as I thought about the several trivial things that were bothering me. By the time I got to my client, I was perfectly fine. A short drive and a good CD really does a lot to clear the head and put things in perspective. I don't want to be known as someone who complains so loudly, so incessantly that anyone and everyone can hear. It's really quite humiliating when you look back and realize that your rantings are so silly. So, my apologies.

I've been thinking a lot lately about change. Do people like it or dislike it? I think that at my age change happens frequently, perhaps without any awareness that it is happening. I feel like since I've graduated from college, I've changed a lot. I've developed a new career, I've met new people, I'm still trying to discover who I really am, who I want to be, how exactly I want myself to come across to other people. I would consider myself to be more of an extrovert now when I used to consider myself an introvert; more flexible when I used to be more stiff (not literally-I used to do more yoga than I do now); more willing to expose my character flaws when I used to hide my faults; more willing to face confrontation when I used to avoid it at all costs. I am still more of a listener than the life of the party but I've come to accept that isn't all that bad. I feel more liberal, more open-minded to anything. I've broken down everything I was taught growing up and I have re-taught it to myself, making sure that my beliefs are really what I believe in and why or why not.

I wonder if this is a part of growing up or if that just happens as people take paths in their life that develop their character even more. I feel like a different person than I used to be and I think I like it. I think that change is good. I feel as though I am blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I am lucky to have a man that I am slowly learning to change with, a man that is becoming my partner and my best friend in this new stage of our life. I have found a job that I love. I feel like I live deeper and more fully and that I am independent and capable of anything. Is that ignorance or optimism? I feel like it is just a change in me. A change that accepts life with all of its faults but that loves it anyway. I feel like I am just living the process and loving every minute of that.

Call this the cheesiest post ever, if you will. I will probably agree when I look back and read it tomorrow. But, hey, I was feeling philosophical. What can I say?

Can anyone guess what type of week I'm having by the following clues?

1) I have yet another hole in my tooth. Check out the July archives for my dentist story. I think what happened this time is one of the fillings chipped. And I've put off going to the dentist AGAIN for 3 weeks even though I have insurance now. So I've probably managed to complicated the problem.
2) My cat is compulsively losing clumps of hair...still. I found about four rats worth on the floor this morning. I have no idea what is wrong. We're scheduled to go to the vet next Tuesday.
3) A friend of mine from work can't hang out with me anymore outside of work because his girlfriend is uncomfortable with it. Apparently, it's not because of me (hello...I am married) but it's because of him and her distrust in him. Right. Because I am totally THAT girl and our relationship, of course, is anything but platonic. Come on. Kind of think it sucks though I completely understand and respect it.
4) I have two zits which really makes me pissed.

Answer anyone? I'll answer for you: Shitty.

I know everything seems so trivial in the grand scheme of bad things that can happen but sometimes the little things add up and just get to you. A grand bout of PMS complicates the problem even more. So, while I don't have cancer and no one that I love has died, the little things are just getting to me. So, I'm sorry to anyone that I'm sure has massive problems compared to my little tiny ones. I cannot comprehend the type of pain some people experience and for that I am grateful. But right now in this moment, I just want five minutes to feel sorry for myself and my little shitty week that I think I am having. I'm sure in a few hours I will be completely happy again and I will want to delete this post. And for that, I know everything is great.

A stolen idea

Rachel just posted this meme on her blog the other day. I struggle to come up with things to post about and this looked fun, so here you are (Thanks, Rachel!):
1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 a.m.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? Umm...I really don't remember. Tim is going to be embarrassed.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Grey's Anatomy
5. What did you have for breakfast? An orange and a ziploc bag of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal in the car on my way to work.
6. What is your middle name? Lyn (yes, with one 'n.' I'm told that's weird).
7. What is your favorite cuisine? I'm really into Greek food right now.
8. What foods do you dislike? Cows and pigs
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? I am obsessed with tortilla chips
10. What type of car do you drive? Mini Cooper Sport
11. Favorite item of clothing? I really love this blue sweater I just bought. And I'm currently in love with my new Seven jeans and I just discovered Express editor pants (I highly recommend them...they are much cheaper than BR and they look fantastic!)
12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Europe (London, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Ireland...) or Tahiti
13. What color is your bathroom? The walls are white but my decorations are sage green and ivory.
14. Favorite brand of clothing? I always love Banana Republic
15. Where would you like to retire to? I would love to have a summer house in the Colorado rockies and a winter house in Arizona, California, or Hawaii.
16. Favorite time of the day? Morning
17. What was your most memorable birthday? Probably my 18th...although I don't know why exactly that one sticks out in my memory.
18. Where were you born? In a hospital.
19. Favorite sport to watch? College basketball and professional football (specifially, I love watching the Kansas Jayhawks, North Carolina Tarheels, the Chiefs, and the LA dodgers [baseball]...just kidding. Tim probably just had a heart attack. I actually like the New York Yankees). Oh and I love watching tennis.
20. What fabric detergent do you use? Tide
21. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke or Dr. Pepper...remember the bubble post?
22. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Morning...I get grumpy at night sometimes.
23. What is your shoe size? 7
24. Do you have any pets? 2 cats-Berkeley and Emerson
25. What did you want to be when you were little? A doctor or interior designer
26. When is your birthday? Sometime in April.

We have pipes and front yard landscaping!

Our new house has pipes sticking out all over it. I don't really know what they are for, but I do know that it is some kind of progress. So, we're excited. We went to our landscaping appointment on Friday morning. Front yard landscaping is included in the package from our dealer but if you don't schedule the appointment and go to it, you get stuck with a standard package that is probably pretty shanty. So we went with an 'Oasis' package. Sounds fancy cool, huh? It actually just means that instead of rocks (the desert package), we'll have grass in our front yard. We will also have several colorful plants (purples, yellows, white, and red flowery plants that bloom mostly all year), a desert-ish tree, and an Evergreen Elm tree which is more like an Elm than an Evergreen. It actually changes colors and loses its leaves during this time of year so that's pretty neat. We also picked out the brick border around our grass and our color of granite rocks that we'll have. The irrigation system was included in the package which was awesome. We thought it would be a major upgrade but it wasn't. So, we're pretty excited with everything on the new home front. We'll keep everyone updated.

Weekend was great. We went to a friend's wedding in Fountain Hills. Tim's known him since he was little and we both went to Graceland with him. There were several people in town for the wedding, including Tim's parents, so it was cool to see everyone.

I don't think I've updated since forever ago. So, going back, New Year's was pretty good. It was kind of lame due to my uncontrollable urge to pass out and fall asleep. The night before New Year's, I had an inventory observation from midnight to about 2:30 p.m. I didn't sleep at all before going to the observation which could have been the first mistake I made. Tim's family was in town so we stayed up and played games, hung out. I finally got home and went to sleep at around 3 a.m. Then the next morning I got up a little before 6 a.m. to go to another observation. I had an observation that lasted from 7:30 a.m. to about 9:00 a.m. and then another one from about 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. I got home at about 3 p.m. and Tim and his family were golfing. Instead of taking a nap (mistake #2), since I was still feeling the affects of my Starbucks peppermint mocha I had gotten earlier in the day, I decided instead to clean my house and go on a run (mistake #3 and #4...note: do not try to convince yourself that exercise will give you energy when you are going on about 2.5 hours of sleep. It really just makes you feel like crap). So, needless to say, by the time midnight rolled around, actually by the time 10:30-11:00 rolled around, I was falling asleep in the middle of having conversations with people, literally. It was bad. So I feel extremely bad for being such a bad hostess to Tim's family but I made it to midnight while staying somewhat coherent which I was proud of. I think I was in bed and asleep though by 12:15 a.m. Perhaps on this night some shots of something would've kept me awake and made me more of the life of the party. Maybe next time.

Anyway, it was a good New Year's weekend. We went on a hike on New Year's day. Hikes are probably my favorite thing to do so I had an awesome first day of the year. January 3rd marked the official start of my busy season. I will try to post as much as possible but until about the 2nd week of May, I could be going certifiably insane and considering my life could be somewhat non-existent, I might not have much to post about.

Now, I am going to attempt to exercise. The 500 billion cookies I've eaten in the past 4 weeks are starting to show. Seriously.

OH YES! Today I went shopping and got THE BEST DEALS EVER at Banana Republic. I was extremely over excited. I got a pair of jeans for $13. Much better than the Sevens Tim just got me for Christmas for about 12 times that. I just had to buy the jeans because 1) They were actually super cute... BR jeans for $13 should not be cute...it just doesn't make logical sense. Usually if their jeans are that cheap, they would be nasty. BUT NOPE! The other deals were pretty sweet too but that topped the chart.

Oh, and to add to this random, rambling post (a result of what happens when I put off posting for a week and a half), I got Chelsea and Scott's save the date yesterday and I thought it was the cutest thing ever! Yea for them!!

Giant pipes all over the middle of our house.

More pipes...in our master bathroom.

Our new table...Looks kind of funny in our apartment but it will look awesome in our new house!

The whole house from the front.

Pipe that goes to the kitchen.

Picture update...at random

Christmas Dinner.

My grandma and I on Christmas.

White Tank Mountains (of Arizona). Tim and I have hiked up there several times because they are so close to our house. It is really pretty to go up there (not to mention it's a great workout!!)

My family and I on Christmas day.

Dad eating half of an apple pie at Christmas. Notice the shirt Tim and I got him for Christmas. I guess you could say it's an inside joke between him and Tim.

Arizona cactus...they look furry but they aren't! Tim's brother, Aaron, will tell you they are all cactus, no fur included. He got one stuck in his leg.

White Tank mountain hike in Arizona...about 15 minutes from our house.

The thanksgiving around a card table

Tim & I before opening presents on Christmas.

A crazy, crazy week almost complicated even more by a burned down house fueled by massive clumps of cat hair

When we got home Monday night, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our oldest cat, Berkeley had survived a week on her own separated from Emerson with only a 20 minute check in from one of our friends. We expected this from her since she is the best cat in the world. On the other hand, our 10-month old kitten, Emerson did not deal with the separation/lack of human contact very well. I've mentioned before that she has had obsessive compulsive tendencies in the past...with pooping, with cleaning the litter box, with cleaning herself, with cleaning around her food, you name it and she's probably obsessive about it. She's a little weird. Anyway, apparently this week her obsessive compulsive trait happened to be licking herself until all hair disappeared. We arrived home to find massive, huge clumps of hair all. over. the. room. Like so much hair we had both hands full when we picked it up. It was enough to probably create a decent sized stuffed animal. Oh, and did I mention that the end of her tail is bare? Yeah, it was bad. So, she's since returned to normal now that her separation anxiety should be gone but from all the licking that we assume she did, whenever she licks now huge clumps of hair continue to fall out. And I see them on the floor and FREAK out because it looks like a giant rat is in my house, seriously.

As we are dealing with this issue, we are simultaneously trying to put back our house so that it is somewhat presentable since my favorite aunt and uncle are in town and Tim's family comes in tomorrow. Last night we tried to unpack, organize, do laundry, do dishes, buy food, and clean up the clumps of cat hair. On top of all of this, since my work schedule is completely whacked out this week (another story entirely), tonight we are getting together with my aunt and uncle, which means the house will continue to be a wreck when Tim's family arrives and there is nothing I can do about it. Which absolutely drives me crazy. Not necessarily because I want it to be clean for them (which I do) but also because I just want it to be clean and uncluttered...for me and for my sanity.

So last night was kind of crazy since I realized that it was the only night we had to get all of the crap done. Tim stopped at the grocery store on the way home and I met him there on my way home while he was in the middle of shopping to prevent the buying of only foods like chips, oreos, ice cream, etc. We got home at approximately 7:30 and realized we were starving. We decided we would be adventurous and make some tomato pasta stuff and put a loaf of bread in the oven. The thought being that while the pasta stuff and bread were cooking, we would be doing laundry, unpacking, and doing all of the other crap. So, we started the pasta and preheatecd the oven. 10 minutes later we smell something burning. The pasta was fine so we figured no big deal...just something on the burner. 10 minutes after that, we open the oven to put the bread in, and are greeted by a huge cloud of smoke and an empty pizza box that we had rashly stuffed in there last week in attempts to clean up our house before we left for KC. We rushed it to the sink and opened all windows to get rid of the fire smell... luckily, our fire alarms are shitty (for lack of a better word that could accurately describe how horrible they are) so they didn't go off.

Needless to say, our night was compounded by this as it was likewise with the massive clumps of hair that continue to appear. Good thing that we don't have a dry heat in our house... I think that Em is trying to shed hair as the basis of a fire just to get back at us for being gone. Now that would make the week somewhat more complex, wouldn't it?

Happy holidays!

Tim and I got home last night from Kansas City at approximately 11:30 p.m. MST, 12:30 p.m. in the central time zone that we'd become accustomed to over the past week. Getting home was a whole lot smoother than going. The whole trip was awesome, though.

We got in last Tuesday after sitting on the plane for an hour while the plane was 'mechanically inspected.' We're told the majority of the hour was spent trying to fill out paperwork, whatever that means. I guess I can't complain since I don't know what they are doing aside from trying to keep everyone safe. Even though we were about 1 1/2 hours late coming in, we still had the usual dozen cookies when we got to my parents house. A dozen cookies at 1 a.m. is a lovely thing, seriously...yummy.

Wednesday Tim and I spent the day beginning our Christmas shopping. It was a bit crazy but it helped us to get more into the 'Christmas spirit.' Thursday we met up with our GU friends. We saw J.P. and Jill, Jeff and Emily, Lee and Jenny, Andi and Johnny C., and Aaron A. and his new girlfriend. It was so good to see our friends. Friday morning we were able to meet up with more of our friends, the Johnsons: Travis and Rachel, Brad and June, Chelsea and Scott. Again, it was so awesome to see more of our friends. We miss them all so much!

On Friday, my grandparents also came into town. I haven't really seen them since the wedding so that was awesome. Then on Saturday, my other grandma, my aunt, uncle and cousins came over! On Christmas we were all together again which was great. Throughout the whole week, there were consistent card games, board games, ping pong games, and walks. Oh, yeah, and i ate so incredibly much. It was a perfect week at home.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has an equally wonderful New Year's!

62 going on 50

Today is my dad's 62nd birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!!) I don't think he should mind that I'm telling the whole world his age. Most people would probably be genuinely shocked to learn that he is 62. The age that he would seem to be would be probably 10-12 years younger than he actually is. I hope that when I turn 62 I am still as young on the outside and inside as he is. He has good genetics, apparently. We just saw his parents (my grandparents) this week and they are 92 and 87 respectively and still going strong.

Anyway, I hope for him that this 62 year is the best so far. Love you, dad!

Time to fly!

Tim and I are leaving tonight for Kansas City. I took a half day at work so I could come home and get the cats and house together before we leave. We are leaving the cats home by themselves which may seem kind of mean but to put them in a kennel would have 1) traumatized them and 2) cost us $300. So, instead one of my friends from work is going to stop by and check on them in the middle of the week. We are still sort of paying him... we got him a pretty good sized gift certificate and a really nice bottle of wine. Not to the tune of $300 but enough to say that efforts are much appreciated. Anyway, I'm excited to go back home. I'm prepared to freeze my ass off but I can't wait to see my family and friends! Off we go...

As it usually happens

Every year I get all excited about sending out Christmas/Holiday cards. In the past I've always told myself that I am going to be ambitious and make my cards but I've since learned that that really never happens. So instead I go out and buy a TON of ridiculously expensive holiday cards that I only sort of like. I think I could totally make cuter ones...not as cute as Rachel's snowflake cards but still at least cute and not as generic.

No exception this year. I went out to Hallmark a few weeks ago and bought about 50 cards. I even printed off our wedding guest list for names and addresses of people I wanted to send them to. And I even individually emailed some people for their address.

I was going to make a Christmas letter to update everyone on Tim and my life. But that idea quickly got scrapped about 2 weeks ago when I realized that Christmas was only 2 weeks away and my Christmas card amibitions were slowly slipping away. So, I started writing individual messages on the cards. I got about 20 finished about a week ago. Then I totally lost all motivation. They have all been sitting in a bag in my car, which was moved to my kitchen table, which is now in the coat closet. At this point I think I am just going to scrap the idea altogether. It is almost Christmas and I really don't feel like sending them out this late in the game.

Maybe next year everyone will get Christmas cards from us. But I'm thinking that if that's going to happen I should possibly start the process a good six months before I need to send them out. For now, I will just add this years Christmas cards to the gigantic box I have of past year's Christmas cards that never made it to the mailbox.

Some progress at last!

We got a letter last week from our builder saying that our lot for our new house had been approved by the city. That was good news. It means basically that now they are ABLE to start building. Whether or not they do is a different question but at least they can.

Yesterday we drove by our neighborhood and were pumped up to see that they had imported port-a-potty's and there were curbs and sidewalks in the neighborhood. Today we decided to go back to take pictures of the sidewalks because we were so excited for at least that. Well, when we starting walking through the future neighborhood, we saw that on our street, on the end that our house will be on, the lots were marked off. So, needless to say we were even more excited because we are hoping that this means they will start framing relatively soon and maybe, just maybe, they will start from our side of the neighborhood first. We're hoping that it will be done in April but are still thinking that June could be the projected move in date. I guess we'll see! Here are some pics we took today...

Garage mark

Tim in our 'house'

Patio mark

Our house in the beginning stage... I'm standing at what will be the entry and the very back board will obviously be the back of the house. The side boards will be the sides.

Our lot

Walking down what will be Williams Street

Tim in our neighborhood

Out of control: me and them but in completely different ways

The cats are insane, which is making me insane. I'm pretty convinced that for both Emerson and Berkeley their life goal is to become a pro-wrestler. And they practice on each other...at least the chasing and pinning part. They practice their jabs on anything in their path: christmas ornaments, table legs, sweatpant strings, pillows...anything. And they even have the grunting and groaning part down. When they start to get pinned, they will start squealing as they try harder and harder to win the match.

At first this was cute. Now, not so much. I'm glad they have each other to play with, seriously. That's why we got two. But seriously, dudes. Do you have to decide to wrestle at 2 a.m.?? There have been countless times where I have been rudely awakened and scared out of my freakin pants by a crash of something or another. Or just by thuds and bangs. They wrestle with obstacles. The table, just a part of the game. The sofa? Let's lunge over it to land on a vase then proceed to chase the other cat down the stairs and then back up where we'll finally end underneath the aforementioned table...because, hey, it's more fun to wrestle with table legs and chair legs jutting into you and your opponent. It makes more clumps of hair come out and then you get to see your mom get really mad when she finds gigantic clumps of hair all over. Plus, it's just fun to make as much noise as possible because then the two unfortunate people SLEEPING in the next room will wake up and see the excellent fight going on IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

A few weeks ago they broke one of my favorite vases. We woke up to this crash and seriously thought someone was breaking into our house by first breaking a window. Last week when Tim was gone, they started up again and somehow managed to drag a target bag into it. Since I was in a sleep induced coma-like state, I thought someone was in my house (it seriously is that loud) and stealing stuff by putting it into a bag. Stupid, yeah, but I was sleep-walking! The other night they did it again. And I'm not kidding when I say that it seriously sounds like a 120 pound person throwing themself repeatedly on the ground. We went out there about 4 times to try to break them up.

So perhaps my cats are fated to be pro-wrestlers...the kind that only wrestle when the rest of the world is sleeping. It is completely out of control and I'm out of control because I can do nothing to stop it. I try to keep them awake when we're awake, but NO that is their sleeping time. Maybe that's the problem... hmm... maybe because I try to keep them awake when they want to sleep, this is what they are doing to me. Seeking revenge...those punks. It totally just clicked.

Trans Siberian Orchestra

In my previous life I was a band geek. Ok, maybe it wasn't a previous life. Maybe it was only about 10 years ago. I've played the piano since I was about 5 and the flute since I was about 12. I've also tried my hand at the clarinet, trumpet, piccolo, oboe, saxaphone, and bassoon. I was definitely a nerd. But I loved music, any way, shape or form. Although I have to admit that rap has never and probably will never do anything for me.

I've been in several bands...school concert bands, marching bands, choirs, and actual bands (with guitarists, keyboard players, singers, etc). The actual bands were my favorite along with the concert bands. This being the case, I've always been enamoured with the Trans Siberian Orchestra. They are known best for their Christmas songs. It's kind of Christmas classical music with an 80's rock band twist and a Christmas-y story. Great stuff.

So I've always wanted to go to one of their concerts. For some reason, it seems like it was difficult to get tickets in Kansas City. But this year, I was invited to go when a friend at work's date cancelled at the last minute. I knew that they were going to be in Phoenix but Tim was going to be out of town so I just figured we'd go sometime in the future. So, even though I should have picked Tim up at the airport like I good wife would do, I selfishly elected to go to the concert instead (after him first telling me it was ok about 100 times. And he only beat me home by an hour so it wasn't like he was just sitting at home for 4 hours all by himself).

I'm so glad I jumped at the chance to go...it was awesome! I am so intrigued by these guys. Their Christmas stuff was outstanding but even better than their Christmas music was their funky, modern rock arrangements of classical pieces like Beethoven. It was incredible. I would totally recommend that anyone go if given the chance. I was completely floored by the talent of this group. If you are into good music and actual music talent, check out these guys. They're amazing.

A realization of how much I don't know. Humbling, if nothing else.

One of the funnier things I've done lately is try to buy a baby shower present for one of my co-workers who is having a shower on Sunday. I know nothing about babies or kids.... well, really anyone under the age of about umm...15. Before I went to embark on this adventure, I chatted with her a little bit about what she really needed. In other words, I just wanted to shake her and demand that she tell me EXACTLY the one thing she wants most, in minute detail. BECAUSE I KNOW NOTHING. Instead, the response that I got was, "I threw everything away after we had [her first child]. I need everything." I went in to talk to her because I knew she wanted only practical stuff. There was no mention of clothes. I can do clothes. I'm always the girl who shows up to these things with ridiculously expensive baby clothes that will only get spit up on within two hours of the first wear and that they will grow out of in three months. So my problems arose when I realized that she wanted practical stuff. I understand but I don't DO practical.

So, out I ventured trying to interpret things such as boopy or goopy or whatever pillows that supposedly are used to nurse babies. And travel mechanisms...apparently it's a car seat that fits right into a stroller...isn't that a novel idea?! And receiving blankets...what the hell are receiving blankets? And onesies? Again, what the hell are onesies? And bouncers? (Until I saw what this actually was the 'bouncer' thing kind of cracked me up. A bouncer for a baby? Again, what the hell?)

As I'm trying to discern just what all of this confusing stuff is, I'm then complexed by a new problem: the brand. I genuninely believe that different brands are way better than others. Like Jif peanut butter or Heinz ketchup? Can't go generic. Or like Banana Republic, JCrew, or Nordstrom as compared to Wal Mart? Come on! No comparision. There is a complete difference in quality and I am all about quality. I'd much rather spend more to have it last longer and be nicer. And herein was another problem in the baby department. What baby brand is good? I've heard of Carter's, right? But I've just HEARD of them somewhere along the line. I've also heard of Wal-Mart...what if Carter's is the generic brand of something else? I have no absolutely no clue. And there were so MANY brands: fisher price, just one year, something starting with an 'e', pooh stuff...way too many overwhelming options.

So I spent approximately an HOUR pacing about five aisles, contemplating what was quickly becoming way too difficult of a decision. I finally decided on something. At that point, I still had no clue but I was tired of trying to decide. So I just went with it. I have no idea what it's called and I don't know the brand. It's one of those carrier things that the mom or dad straps on to their chest or back to carry the kid. I've just seen people wearing them (like one lady was wearing one carrying a TEENY baby while hiking up Camelback mountain. She is totally my hero). And I never decided on the brand thing. I just got the most expensive one, figuring that had to mean something. I'm debating whether or not to get an outfit for the baby... in case the practical thing turns out to be not so practical, at least I KNOW I can pick out a cute outfit to offset the other thing that I don't even understand.

After this whole experience, I'm a little bit scared at my ignorance considering that I could someday be a mom. Who knew there was this much stuff for babies? I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. There are even special BATHTUBS for babies. I just never knew. I have only seriously ever held three babies in my whole life. One was my cousin Kristyn. She was born when I was six so I have no memory really of the experience. The other was my second cousin Josh who was born when I was 12. Again, ancient history. The other was my cousin-in-law Camdyn about two years ago (and her parents probably didn't know that she was the first baby I've ever held in my adult life. Otherwise they might not have handed her off). I am not a pro at this...at all. There is a possibility that I could harm any human being I bring into this world simply by unconscious incompetence. Therefore, I don't have kids, and it's these humbling, overwhelming learning experiences that lengthens the time in which I will consider having them. It just got lengthened again. I'm thinking maybe 10 years? Sounds good to me. By 33 I should be somewhat more knowledgeable, right?

Snow issues.

When we were leaving Iowa, one of my biggest pet peeves quickly became the response to "We're moving to Phoenix." Everyone responded to this as, "Oh it's SO hot there." Really? Then I should have totally re-thought my decision to move here because I seriously thought Phoenix was the equivalent of Alaska. Someone the other day asked me if I missed the midwest, if I was homesick, if I missed snow. My response? If I thought I would miss snow, why would I move to Arizona? Exactly. Because, contrary to some people's opinion on what I know, I KNEW going in that Phoenix was warm. That was EXACTLY why I moved here. If I wanted to stick with snow, with cold weather, with long winters, with humid summers, I could have more easily found a job in the multitude of states that offer exactly that. There are about 5 states that have mild, warm winters. And I was picky enough to demand that we move to one. And here I am. Go figure.

I hate snow. Similarily, I hate cold. Especially in the midwest. Because it never ends. Not only is it cold, but it snows. Not only is it snowy and cold but it is dark late in the morning and early at night. And it is not always sunny. I hate the feeling of being stuck inside for five miserable months of the year and having to wear 24 layers just to walk to your car. I would much rather have heat than sub-freezing temps and snow or even worse, ice. I sort of don't like rain either. It's just so gloomy. I just like sun. Some people argue with me and tell me they like winters, they like the snow, they like rainy days but I guess I'm wierd. I just don't. And yes, it is hot in Phoenix in the summer. I'm not denying that. But HELLO! It is still sunny! And you can still at least go outside...go to the pool, do stuff at night or in the morning...

And I haven't even gotten into the other main reason of why I despise snow. And if anyone argues with me on this point, I hereby declare you as insane. Driving. Even in the heat of the summer, I can drive in Phoenix without fearing for my life. I cannot count the many times that I just knew I was going to slide off the road in the midwest during a snowstorm. Or the couple of times that I actually did slide into something. Or all of the cars piled up in the median of the freeway on 1-35 because they slid off (one day we counted 65 cars in the ditch in a 20 mile stretch of road). And we had $400 snow tires on one car and all-season tires on the other!

I will admit that I do think snow is pretty. And sometimes a rainy cold day would be nice to have just to sit inside and eat soup and have a fire. BUT, BUT my longing for sun, warmth, and perfect days far outweighs my desire to have that weather. I just looked and right now Iowa is in the single digits with a negative windchill and with snow forecast for tonight. Kansas City is likewise freezing and under a winter snow warning. Read: lots of snow is falling.

I cannot say I miss it. If I want to see it, I have VOLUNTARY snow available. I will hop in my car and drive to Flagstaff, to the mountains. But, as of yet, I don't miss it. I don't envy anyone out there right now. I get cold weather here, believe it or not. In the mornings here, it is literally freezing. Like 30-35 degrees. That is cold enough to experience cold but still under the high temp for the midwest right now! It warms up to 60-65 degrees which makes the days perfect. And for me, I couldn't ask for anything better. I've experienced both now so I can honestly say which one I like better. And judging by where I live, I'm sure you can guess which one is which. So, to everyone who gave the advice that Phoenix is hot, yes it is. But, when you are freezing your butt off in the winter, I'm outside running, not wearing a coat, leaving my windows open. Right now my advice to you is that the midwest is COLD and I'm admire you for sticking it out but I'm so glad I'm not you. Hopefully you are not like me and you enjoy the cold and snow. If so, have fun and enjoy.

And the argument of why truck drivers are so bad begins to become more clear.

There is something alarming about seeing an 80 year old hunched over grandpa-looking man driving a huge semi truck. Granted some 80 year old drivers are probably better than some 20 year old drivers but STILL. That just seems wrong.

How to annoy me so much I can't see straight...and no, I don't think this is an anal annoyance. I think it's just flat out rude.

For anyone who is married, does it annoy you when someone writes something or refers to you as "Mrs (your husband's first name) (your husband's last name)?" It drives me absolutely insane. I. despise. it. with. a. passion. HELLO! I AM NOT Mrs. Tim Richards. You can call me Mrs. Jenn Richards, Mrs. Jennifer Richards, Jenn, Jennifer, JR, butthead, whatever. ANYTHING but Mrs. Tim Richards. I hate that. Hate it. Did I mention I hate it?

To me it is so offensive. I get so annoyed by it. I think the tradition of it stems back to when women were considered to be almost property of their husbands. And they probably were very proud and flattered to be called Mrs. So and So. I am proud to be married to Tim. I took his last name (I didn't HAVE TO!) Doesn't taking someone else's last name mean enough? I feel that by referring to me as Mrs. Tim Richards, I am not really my own person. If it isn't bad, why isn't he called Mr. Jennifer Baker? Ha, seems to me like most guys would wet their PANTS if that happened. How hard is it to write MY first name or refer to me as JENN? I know it really isn't that big of a deal and I shouldn't get my panties into a wad because of it but it really just urks me. I can't understand how if it is NOT a big deal, why are people STILL referring to me as Mrs. Tim Richards? JUST WRITE MY NAME! It is ME they are addressing, put MY flipping name...how hard is it?

We ran into this issue when we were doing our wedding invitations. We wrote my parents individual names. (IE: Mr. and Mrs. (dad's first name) and (mom's first name) (joint last name)). But my mom actually WANTED to be Mrs. (my dad's first name) (my dad's last name). You can imagine the jaw dropping that occured on my part. I know that it's just a generational difference but I just can't understand it. And when people address me as that or refer to me as that or worse even, INTRODUCE me as that, I just want to scream. Lately I've received several things addressed to Mrs. Tim Richards which is why I'm so particularly annoyed by it right now...perhaps the next piece of mail I get addressed this way I should return to the sender and write on the envelope that no such person exists. Mrs. Tim Richards...who's that? So, maybe I am being a little bit anal but I despise being referred to as something that I'm not. I am an individual, Tim is an individual. We married so now we have the same LAST name. Not first...apparently some people think I took his first name too. But I don't really think I look or act like a Tim, do you?

November 29th was a sad, sad day.

Yesterday Tim's family's lab, Abby, had to be put to sleep. Her age has always been an area of debate so I'm going to say she was around 12 or 13. She has been acting strange for the past couple of months started by an incident of what seemed like vertigo. In other words, she couldn't balance and was walking in zig zagged lines with her head tilted to the side (perhaps what a drunk dog would look like). Tim's parents were told this was a temporary condition common in most older dogs.

Then lately she started walking in circles randomly and panting constantly. She was doing this a few weeks ago when I visited. It didn't stop and actually got worse. This week they started to have a hard time finding her outside. She would go behind bushes to hide...Tim's parents said it was almost as if she were trying to find a place to die. She also started to not eat anything, which, if you knew Abby, you would be alarmed simply by this fact. That dog could eat and could fake that she hadn't eaten so you would feed her again. Tim said he would be shocked to learn that she ever missed a meal.... Point: she loved food and the fact that she stopped eating was a sure sign of something amiss.

So Tim's parents took her back to the vet on Monday and the doctor said that her symptoms were that of a brain tumor. The panting, they said, is a mechanism for coping with pain. So, to spare her the severe pain of dying on her own (which the vet said would probably be within 3 months, but probably sooner) Tim's parents made the difficult decision so put her to sleep. Now she is in a better place...free of pain and at peace. I hope that somehow animals know how much they are loved and that they are never truly forgotten. Each one is so unique. Abby, I know, was loved deeply by Tim, Aaron, Ryan, Mark, and Beth. And even by me, whose time with her was short...but so precious.

Thanksgiving and the climb up a Camel's back

Thanksgiving was great. The day, the whole week. Just fab. I left work early on Wednesday to meet my parents so we could pick up my brother from the airport. Apparently Wednesday was a huge travel day...we waiting 40 minutes to go about 1.5 miles into the airport. I didn't mind... I got to show my parents what a really bad traffic day is like for me. I don't think they enjoyed it very much and they might think I'm slightly crazy for enduring it. (Really, it's not that bad!)

Wednesday night we had our own little Thanksgiving dinner. Our new table hasn't yet arrived so we had a hilarious time fitting 5 adults around a newly purchased $30 card table from Wal Mart (have I ever mentioned that I LOATHE Wal Mart? Well, I do. But I sent Tim out to find a card table and he found one at The Store That I Despise). Anyway, I will post pictures later but it was quite an experience. One that I'm sure we won't soon forget. I'm sure we'll be laughing for many years to come about the Thanksgiving we ate around a card table. Food was still excellent, though, thanks to my mom. Oh, and as a side note, Tim just got a call TODAY that our new table is in and ready to be delivered. Come on! Just like 4 days earlier and we would have been set! I actually didn't even expect it this soon, though, so I'm just excited it's in.

Thursday we went to my dad's cousin's wife's parents house. (Yeah, I was confused too. It took me practically the whole day to figure out who I was and was not related to and how). Everyone was so nice. And my third cousin (who's my age) actually lives right by where I work...it's shame I've never met him before...he is so nice! He played basketball in high school so Tim and him are going to start a basketball team. And the really weird thing? He is a fed-ex driver that delivers EVERY DAY to my work. He knows people that I work with! How strange is that?

On Friday, a decision was made to hike up Camelback Mountain (it's called Camelback because it seriously does look like a Camel). My brother really wanted to go on a hike and after spending time with our relatives on Thursday, my mom had decided that hiking this mountain would be cool (I don't think she considered that the people who told her this was a cool hike are 25 years old). I've heard of this hike and have been meaning to go. It's one of the hardest hikes around... it climbs 1200 feet in 1 mile. No switchbacks, just straight up. There are actually 50 foot poles to help you up in some places because you are going straight up. After you get past the poles, you basically rock climb the rest of the way straight to the top. It's really rather challenging. I thought it was great and I can't wait to go back. My parents were hurting... my dad, brother, Tim and I made it to the top, my mom had to stop after one of the first pole climbs because it really is crazy hard. The view at the top is amazing, though... you have a total panoramic of the whole valley. Awesome. I was so tired Friday night though, that I could not keep my eyes open. It was so surreal. I would be in the middle of a sentence and I would fall asleep. Tim would be answering a question and I would fall asleep. I'm told it was really quite humorous.

Saturday we all played golf. Amazingly, my swing has come back! I was hitting almost as good as I used to. We played a scramble...Tim, Jon, and me against my mom and dad. We lost by three (although after the first 9 we were winning by 2). It was fun anyway. After golf, we went and laid by the pool until we had to leave to take them to the airport.

The weather was perfect all week. Yesterday and today it has been freezing here! And I may be reprimanded for complaining about how cold I am but it is FREEZING. The temperature yesterday was 60 degrees and the same today. Big difference from last week when the highs were upper 70s to 80. So, I'm double layered with a sweater on top. Laugh if you want but it is dang cold...although I know it could be worse.

Anyway, the week with my parents was great. I ate too many oatmeal raisin cookies and junk food but I guess that Thanksgiving is about eating right? I guess that justification enough. It was so good to see my family and I will get to see them again in just 3 weeks... and hopefully by then they will not be hobbling around anymore after the climb up Camelback.

Baking phenomenons revisited

So, the other day my parents flew into town. Saturday, to be exact. Against my better judgement I went out with some people from work on Friday night. And planned to be home by 7. Which was extended to 8. Which was extended to 9. Which ultimately ended up being 10. Luckily, Tim cleaned the bathroom when he got home from work so the house was pretty clean in time for their visit.

However, I felt compelled to cook. Whenever I go to my mom's house, it's like visiting my own bake shoppe. There are goodies everywhere and good meals too many times a day to count... I honestly gain about 5 pounds every time I visit for a week. It's amazing to me that I stayed small when I still lived there. So I was going to cook Friday night. But seeing as how I picked something I wanted to do over something I needed to do, Friday night was scrapped.

So we got up Saturday morning and cleaned some then I began the baking marathon. I baked chocolate chip cookies, strawberry cookies, energy bars, pumpkin cookies, dips, and a lasagna. It was a lot. I've never cooked that much in one span of time in my life. Well, everything turned out ok, at least so it seemed. I was having a bit of a problem with the maple syrup icing on the pumpkin cookies. But I let it harden and it seemed fine. So I stored them away in a container. Two hours later, the icing was gone. What was hard icing decomposed to the consistency of water and pooled at the bottom of the container thus making the cookies look like I went out and dug up some mud and poured some pool water on them. Yuck. So, the thing I spent the most time working on (and the thing that was the hardest recipe) was ruined. But, BUT, everything else turned out great... That is progress, right?

Anyway, aside from baking, it's been great to see my family. My brother flies in today. We've shown my parents around and while we've been at work the last couple of days, they've been spending time on the golf course and at the pool. It's been a lot of fun...even without the pumpkin cookies!

All grown up...Happy Birthday, Jon!

Today my baby brother turns 21! I really can't believe that he is 21 already...I still feel like I'm 21. Regardless of my incapacity to understand how fast time goes, today is his 21st birthday and I hope he has the best day ever!

Auto Pilot: Off

My husband puts up with so much. Last night he called me on his way home from work and we were both chatting about our respective days (mine much better than the day before, I might add-no lock outs occurred on any front) when he suddenly interrupted the conversation with "Crap! I forgot to get in the lane to get on the freeway. Now I have to turn around." He then proceeded to tell me that he couldn't talk on the phone and drive home-that I distracted him. I was completely baffled. So I laughed at him. Out loud. Like I said, he really does put up with so much. Did I mention that he is the best person I have ever met and that I could only hope to be as good of a person as he is?

Anyway, I laughed because he does this drive home from work every single day. Just like I do my drive home from work every single day. When I am driving home ESPECIALLY from work, I could simultaneously be driving, talking on the phone, and listening to the radio. I wouldn't even have to think about the drive.... in fact I know sometimes I don't. Sometimes I get home and realize that I just got home but I don't remember any of the drive from point A, the office, to point B, home. It's completely and totally auto pilot. It requires no thought. So, I thought it was tremendously funny when he told me I distracted him from being able to drive a drive that he drives every day... it's not like he was trying to find a new way home or anything... he does this every. single. day. I think his drive really IS auto pilot in general, just apparently not when he is attempting to multi-task. So, from now on I think he will wait until he is on the freeway to call me...then he won't miss the turn. He works hard, though, so I guess I can understand why his brain isn't totally engaged after a long day at work. And, hey, if his only fault is that he is not the most efficient multi-tasker, then I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Golf, anyone?

I love Arizona! Today they are predicting 3-6 inches of snow in our previous home of Johnston, Iowa. Not to mention the temperature is FREEZING...literally. I think like 20-25 degrees and they might even have a wind chill! I heard they were under a winter weather watch and it could be blizzard-like because of all of the wind. My parents said that even in KC they were expected to get some snow. No, thank you. I will take my perfect day in Arizona today: 78 degrees and sunny. And maybe just to remind myself of how lucky I am and how much I hate cold and snow, I will go play golf later today just because I can.

One of those days where I totally screwed myself

Ah, yesterday. What can I say about yesterday?

Started off tired. Spent a great weekend by myself with Tim's family in Cali and now that they are an hour behind us I was still on their time Sunday night. Got home at 8 p.m., then had to go to the grocery store, clean up a few things around the house, watch Grey's anatomy (so important, of course!), and then sit and wait to be tired...which didn't happen until about 11:30 p.m. Got up at 5:30 a.m. yesterday morning (much better than Thursday and Friday last week when I got up at 4:30 a.m. both days). But, still, 5:30 a.m. FELT like 4:30 a.m. Other than being tired, though, it was generally a great morning.

Drove to work. Took an hour. Not bad. So far, so good.

Left work at 8:45 a.m. to drive to North Scottsdale to get the Mini's oil changed, get a tune up, and get our windshield fixed (finally!) No problems getting to North Scottsdale from the office. Drop the car off, no problems. Go to the rental car place provided by Mini so I can rent a car while the Mini is being taken care of. Can't rent a car. Why, you ask? Well, I stowed away my license in my butt pocket of my jeans when I was flying on Sunday night. And yesterday, it remained in the butt pocket of my jeans. Groan.

Go back to Mini dealer. Call Tim. We have to have a second car because the Mini will not be done until the next day (today). They can rent a car to him. He is not happy about having to drive to North Scottsdale from the West Valley. I think it took him about an hour. He was thoroughly impressed with how big Phoenix is. Ha. Finally get the car after waiting at Mini for two hours. So annoyed. We did get to rent a new mustang though...so I guess that is pretty cool.

Work day goes smoothly. Not as busy this week but I know in a few weeks it will be nuts. So I'm ok other than a massive headache that I attribute to a) being tired and b) the stressfulness of the car situation. Drive home and talk to Tim. He might have to work late. Fine, no big deal. Get to our crossroads and have the revalation that I am locked out of our house. I keep my key with our mail keys because I take that when I run. Garage door opener is in the Mini. Groan...again. Have to call Tim to come rescue me... again.

Tim finally gets home and I finally get in the house. Decide that there is no way in hell I want to work out...I could possibly injure myself if I tried. So, I take the day off.... after a whole weekend off. Groan. We eat dinner instead at 8 p.m. To top off my series of intelligent moves today, I spill a whole bottle of ranch dressing ALL. OVER. THE. FLOOR. The carpet, no less. Wouldn't have been a big deal if it was tile. At this point I am so ready for myself to do stupid stuff, I don't even get mad. I just sit and stare at it. Unbelievable. Then I eat ice cream because I'm just so over everything and I fall asleep at 9 p.m.

I usually think I'm pretty together but man, when I'm off, I'm really off. Today, I'm cracking up at yesterday.

Wondering...

You know how people always say, "You'll just know when the time is right," or "You'll just know if you're making the right decision," well, I'm just not sure I agree with that. Sometimes I wonder if any decision I've ever made is completely 100% perfectly right or if I could have made a different decision that would have been right in different ways. How do you really know for sure? And how do you know when the 'time' is right? Does something hit you between the eyes to make you aware? Sometimes I think getting smacked at the 'right time' would be easier because how else do you know? Hmm...

Finally, some time to post!

I cannot believe how fast the weeks go by. Is anyone else just absolutely floored that it is November 6? I have absolutely no idea what happened to October...or to September...or to August...or to this whole year. Amazing.

I feel like time has gone so fast lately. Tim and I are both keeping busy with our jobs. He was just put in charge of a big Pepsi implementation thing. I don't understand the logistics (literally...ha!) of it but it sounds like a really cool deal. I've been on an audit for the past several weeks...I really love my job. I always thought that the first second that I could get to not work I would jump at it but now that I have a job that I absolutely love, I never want to leave it. To think that someday I might have to make that sacrifice is saddening to me. So weird to think that my train of thought about working has changed so much...I guess it really is true that when you find a job you love, it doesn't feel like work. And I'm only just beginning...I'm still trying to figure out everything... I can't wait until I'm as smart as the people I work with! We had a team building activity on Friday. We all went bowling and then to happy hour... it is so nice to work with people that you genuinely enjoy hanging out with outside of work. The people are probably the number one reason I love my job so much.

Our house is coming along...slowly but surely. We drove by it yesterday and there are actually machines in the neighborhood and what the streets will be are more clearly marked. So, sometime within the next several months the building process should start... We just bought a table today. I love it a lot. We got it at Ashley Furniture... we got an extension table with 6 chairs. It was also pretty reasonable. We got all of that for $1000-less than what we would have paid for JUST the table at Pottery Barn and the quality was just as good, so I was happy. It's one of the things that we must have...simply for our sanity. We have been using TV trays for mostly all meals (unless we go out) and it's getting old. It's a really nice table...it's black with redish striped material on the seats... so it will match our couches and our black granite counter tops perfectly! I'm excited... but we still have to buy the boring stuff in the next few months... washer, dryer, refrigerator...

We want to fly back to KC for christmas. I should be able to get some time off and Tim will be too. I have to work on New Years doing inventory observations for everyone whose year end is December 31 so that's kind of a drag but it will be fun to go back to KC. Plane tickets are ridiculously expensive though. I think the cheapist we've seen is $360 a pop. I'm thinking that maybe the Christmas present I want from my parents is for them to help us buy part of the tickets. Hmm... Speaking of my parents, they are coming out here for the week of Thanksgiving. Should be really fun...I'm excited to see them.

I love Phoenix. Love it. I still have the mentality that all of these perfect days are going to come to a halt...the temperature is going to plummet to 30 below zero and it's going to snow and ice. So every day, I itch to get outside for the whole day. What I don't realize yet is that for the next six months, it's only going to be the same, if not better. Right now our average temperature is the low to mid 80s, at night it cools down to the 50s (which feels FREEZING!) It's always sunny... today it is cloudy and I actually kind of like it. Clouds are a definite rarity around here... I love that! We've been playing a lot of tennis, walking, and running a lot. Yesterday there was an art festival in old Litchfield Park that we walked around in...those people are so talented! I bought a cute little sign to hang in my laundry room. Probably not the best piece of art at the festival but I love it nonetheless.

Cats are doing well. Emerson has learned how to jump. We've found her on counters and on our top rack of our closet which is honestly about 8 feet up in the air. I think she climbs on stuff to get up there but it's still amazing. She also has dreams to be a body builder. She sleeps on my weights everyday. Looks entirely uncomfortable but if we move them I think she'd freak. Berkely didn't die (or barf) after ingesting Clorox. Thank god. They both continue to wrestle each other when Tim's not wrestling them. They are so funny...

Things are going well...I really couldn't ask for them to be any better. I just really can't believe how fast the weeks go by...November 6, huh? Wow.

A shot from our porch

A hot air balloon basket

Last Sunday morning as we were watching Today and trying to wake up we saw tons of hot air balloons flying so close to our windows we thought they could possibly hit our neighbors houses...so then we had to go walk and see them since they landed at the high school close by. It was pretty neat!

Here is Mr. Monster Balloon dude. I was amazed at how huge these things are!

Wrestling...does she look scared or unintimidated? I think it's the latter.

Dreaming of her future career as a body builder

Happy belated Halloween!

Hope everyone had a happy halloween... we had ZERO trick or treaters. We were kind of disappointed but that means more candy for us! We think it's because 1) our neighborhood really doesn't have too many kids...it's mostly people around our age and a little older and 2) the lighting in our neighborhood isn't great. So, maybe next year when we live in a real life neighborhood we will have some. Until then, I have a huge bowl of different kinds of reeses that I need to get busy eating... YUM!

Thank you again for the reminder of why I don't have kids

My cat, Berkely, is high. Has anyone ever seen a whacked out cat? If I knew that incessant vomiting wasn't going to follow I might be laughing a little harder right now. She just ingested Clorox. And reveled in the five minutes (or more or less...I don't know) she had in the sink all by herself with the glorious clorox while I forgot that this was one of those times I had to keep a close watch on her. Does everyone see now why I don't have kids? I would go certifiably insane if I had to 'keep a close watch' on them 24-7...which I've heard is true. The kids would get down a whole bottle of clorox before I remembered about it. Then I'd be charged with neglect and known throughout the world as the worst mom on the planet. No thanks.

For now I'll just be a cat mom and deal with the occasional slip up and stupidity on my part of leaving hazardous materials out for them to eat. Then I'll watch them be high and clean up their puke. And pray to everything that by the time we decide to have kids I'll have more of a mom instinct.

The old pissy guy behind me waving his hands and flipping me off is the best...

Even though I am in front of him, a car is in front of me, we are blocked on all sides and we. are. not. moving. Apparently that is MY fault. Who knew? Thanks, dude, for giving me a reason to laugh out loud for most of the rest of the drive home. Much appreciated.

The biggest downfall to having a cold...

I can't handle cold medicine. I take it and I feel stoned. I would probably get a DUI if I was pulled over if I have cold medicine in my body. I cannot walk in straight lines. I can't see straight. I can't focus. I feel woozy. My hands shake. I get hot. Then cold. Then hot. Then cold. This is not uncommon. Every time I get a cold I face the biggest dilema: to take or not to take cold medicine and if so, how much? Today I opted to take it simply because I knew I'd be in meetings all morning and if I didn't take it I would have snot all over my face, have blodshot eyes, and be sneezing on everyone at the table. So, I took it. The full dosage. Against my better judgement. I had the conversation with Tim this morning that I thought I should only take ONE tylenol cold instead of the recommended dosage of two because it's supposed to last 6-8 hours. He didn't understand why that would matter. Well, at least I proved him right. I totally feel like I'm on drugs right now. Definitely not how you want to feel when you are at work and you have to look somewhat competant. At least I can breathe.

It has to happen at least once a year...

I have a cold. Given to me by Tim. Nice gift. I want to know where the switch is that automatically turns on the second you get a cold to make your nose gush like a waterfall. Then I will proceed to turn it off along with the sneeze switch and the sore throat switch. Luckily the achy body switch and fever switch have remained turned off and hopefully will NOT turn on. Turning those two switches on is like pure torture. I always feel like I'm dying when I have a fever and my whole body hurts. I can handle a little cold.

By the way, has anyone heard of Airborne? People at work have told me about its wonders and we got some. It has like 1500% vitamin c, 1000% vitamin a, and tons of other vitamins and minerals (including echinachea which I usually take by itself to conquer the yearly cold). I bought some and took some...we'll see how well it works. I have to believe it will do some sort of good judging by all the good things it has in it!

One of the moments where we look at each other and think "Oh hell-this is either going to be one of the best or worst things we've ever done."

After meeting with our mortage officer the other day, listening to him speak in tongues, and then proceeding to sign away our life, I am still in a state of incoherence because of the foreign mortgage languages my head is still trying to process. One of the biggest moments of the day was when Mike the Mortgage guy nonchalantly said, "Assuming you pay off the mortgage in 30 years, don't refinance, and don't move, you will have paid a million dollars for this house at that point." That seems absolutely crazy to me. Granted, it's really not that much money in the grand scheme of the housing market-especially in 30 years-but considering the fact that we are 23 and 24, respectively, and in our first jobs, that sounds like a whole freakin lot. But hey, since we will have a house now, our payments and interest rates are reasonable, and we'll gain equity, we decided that signing a huge lump of debt into our names is bound to be beneficial. So, into suburbia we go...willingly but not fully knowing what we could be getting ourselves into. Such is life, eh? Life seems to be full of these blind jumps: marriage, buying a house, accepting a job, possibly in MANY YEARS having a child. Every experience has its own risks but in my experience (at least with marriage) the benefits have so far outweighed the risks. So, we will continue plunging. What fun is life anyway if you never take risks?

Weekend Update

We spent this past weekend in Orange County with Tim's family. We went to see a big cross country race that Aaron (Tim's brother) was running in. It was a lot of fun running all over the park to see him at various points in the race and he did really well, too! He got his best time ever: 17 minutes 15 seconds. He was fast! I wish I could run that well... On Saturday night it was really too cold to do anything so we just put on sweaters, hung around, and ate chili. And no, you cannot laugh. 65 degrees out is FREEZING to us now. It honestly felt like a December day in the midwest...weak, I know. Kind of funny though how you get acclimated to a certain climate so quickly. Anyway, being that it was cold, we stayed in. Beth and I were sent out to rent a movie for all of us to watch. Since Tim, Mark, and Aaron have been extremely depressed since the Yankees lost to the Angels in the playoffs, we thought we'd cheer them up by renting "Fever Pitch," (the movie about a huge fan of the Boston Red Sox, aka the Yankees biggest rival). I think they felt better after watching it.

The weather really was cold, gloomy, and rainy in southern cal but it was awesome because it felt so much like fall. We actually hit a few pretty bit thunderstorms on the way back to Phoenix and today here it has been really cloudy and overcast with sporadic rumbles of thunder, wind and rain. It's kind of a neat change from the constant sunshine, though... it really feels like fall and I love fall! October is by far my favorite month of the year. I was a little worried that I would miss fall but I haven't...October is still my favorite month even in Phoenix!

I can't believe I forgot!

In addition to the list I made on my last post, we FINALLY got our wedding pictures! We didn't get all of them but we got our album, several loose photos, and our engagement picture negatives and proofs. The rest should be on their way (per a lengthy apologetic letter from our photographer). I really can't believe we actually got them! AND, they are really good...an added bonus!!

A few jawdropping things that have occurred recently...

*I was stuck in traffic for an hour and a half this morning-a new personal record! But not something I'm proud of accomplishing...
*Tim has THREE doctor's appointments within the next month (the dentist for teeth, a physical because he hasn't had one for 7 years, and the skin doctor to check out his moles). This is astounding. I'm not sure he's seen this many doctors in his entire life. And that's not a joke. He hates going is the understatement of his life.
*Back to the car ride this morning...I was so bored, I pulled out old CDs from high school. I am publically admitting that I listened to the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears this morning. For the record, I can't believe I ever bought, much less LIKED either CD. Wow.
*I talked to my dad on the phone for over an hour the other day! Huh? Very cool but so unusual...
*We turned off our air conditioner on Sunday morning and did not turn it on again until today! It's been so awesome out here. It's not even bad today but they predicted 95 and we decided we didn't want to fry the cats...hopefully tonight we can turn it off again!
*I bought a shirt today at Target. And I like it.
*Emerson has not pooped on the floor for a REALLY long time. Like weeks.
*Tim and I have exercised consistently for the past week. We've played a lot of tennis and we've run/walked quite a bit.
*Mega peanut M&M's are awesome. I highly recommend them. I always think that nothing is as good as the original but these are great. And yes, they negate all the exercise I do now (that is not anything surprising).
*I like going to work. It doesn't feel like work.
*I tried to eat cows. TRIED. I still think they are disgusting.
*One last addition to the drive this morning: It took me an hour and 10 minutes to go what should take 20 minutes. Along the way, it was like a movie: I crawled at a standstill as the result of accident after accident (seriously) then finally got off to take the back roads. Bad idea. Old Faithful decided to visit Phoenix this morning. There was what I assume to be a water main break that was in the form of a 3o foot by 10 foot geiser directly in the path of me. Stupid Old Faithful. YOU SUCK.
*I haven't eaten ice cream for a WEEK. I haven't been able to not eat peanut butter, though.
*I made really good tacos the other night (Tim called it his reward for the trauma of making three doctor appointments).
*I really like Arizona.
*Tim answered his cell phone at work!
*I figured out an awesome new system of tracking our money and our expenses. I'm so excited about it...It's working amazingly well!!
*I missed Graceland the other day (something I really didn't ever imagine saying). College life sometimes sounds fun again...mostly, I miss my friends. I also miss the schedule...I think it is absolutely hysterical that I ever thought I was busy in college. Wow. 12 hours out of my day now are devoted to work and it often doesn't stop at home. Granted two hours a day are for driving but I count that as the work experience. People in college should definitely not take it for granted... they have it made!
*I decided that one of my new favorite things is orange-pineapple-banana juice. All of the health people always say not to drink juice but I drink shot glasses of it. And it's great. And I personally think they are dead wrong. I don't intend to give it to a kid but for my purposes, it's still fruit...at least the kind I buy!
*I've posted TWO DAYS IN A ROW. That is totally nuts. I'm done.

I miss the old days...

when fall meant more money being spent on new clothes (BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME)than my young mind could comprehend. Back to school clothes shopping is definitely one of the greatest perks of still being dependent on your parents. Unfortunately, I do not fall into this category anymore. Sigh. Now that I am independent I have a hard time rationalizing spending hundreds of dollars at one time on new clothes...especially when I know that in a few months we are going to have to be boring and old and buy a refridgerator, a washer and dryer, furniture, and wood blinds. Seriously, what has my life come to? I can't believe I just publically admitted that I am thinking about choosing to buy boring old people stuff over a new fashionable wardrobe. I have GOT to reclaim who I am. So I must go buy some new clothes...if nothing else but for my sanity and a reminder that I am not boring and old. Besides, it is FALL! That's what fall is! New clothes season!

I have a list of must-haves in my mind. Mostly anything from Banana Republic and JCrew are perfect...and in my price range. I really want some cute chocolate brown tall boots that I saw at Banana, some cute tiered skirts, a super cute berry 3/4 turtleneck from banana, and a cropped blazer that I am in love with. Oh, and I also need some new work shoes... JCrew always has great shoes. Hmmm... Oh yes, and I must have a new purse. Last time I was at Nordstrom I saw a really cute Kate Spade purse and I also saw a really cute Coach purse online... there are too many adorable things out there that I want! Now I just have to rationalize that I can spend money on all these things even though the boring old people stuff is still at the back of my mind... but everyone needs clothes, right? And plus, it's not really fall until you buy new clothes. So there, I've made up my mind. I must go shopping this weekend!

Pictures and Procrastination

I have been terrible at keeping up with this thing... I'm assuming people read it but I don't really think anyone does...aside from my mom, anyway. Oh well, I guess the reason I started it anyway was for the benefit of my family being able to see how things are going so I'll keep trying to update. I guess it will be fun to look back on someday as well...

Anyway, the weekend of our anniversary we went up to the high country of Arizona. I talked to a couple of guys at work that are big hikers and they gave us hiking maps and one guy told me about the hike that he thinks is the best in Arizona. We went on that one on the way up. It's about 10 miles north of Sedona-through red rock canyons. We hiked about 6-7 miles but it was flat and easy and SO beautiful!

We stayed in Flagstaff and explored the town of Flagstaff as well that weekend. The town wasn't as big as we thought it would be and not really like the other mountain towns (like Vail, CO) we would have compared it to, had we not gone there. It was very much a college town with lots of unique people who were all about peace and love. Very cool...we had a great greek dinner at an all natural, organic restaurant-recommended by one of the aforementioned people.

On Sunday (our anniversary) we decided to be adventurous and hike to the peak of a mountain. The peak was about 9300 feet and we started at about 6500. So it was straight up hill the whole way. The whole hike was a little over 6 miles round trip but it took us 3 1/2 hours... the going up always is the worst. It's so worth it to make it up though. We went on a hike in the rockies a few years ago with some good friends from college so we knew what to expect on this hike. Fortunately, though, we weren't affected by the altitude on this hike. On the hike in Colorado, we climbed up to 13,000 feet so we were absolutely dying by the time we got up. We were dead tired after this hike too, but it was much more enjoyable since we didn't feel like fainting! It was a great way to spend the day of our first anniversary!

In other news, I've been pretty busy with work. I worked last Saturday and the reason why I am mentioning this is because that day was almost the last day of my life. I had to do an inventory observation. I won't go into the details but to say that I had to climb up 60 foot silos to measure the product inside. There were 8 silos. And the way I got up? Ladders. With nothing around them or below them but the ground and sky. I have never been so scared. And the worst thing about these ladders is that the rungs were only as big as my fingers. They were unbelievably small. So, fortunately I lived to tell about this but holy crap! That was maybe the most scared I've ever been in my life. Other than that I've been out at client's and working at nights and I'm going to use that as my excuse for never posting...

Actually, speaking of being out at clients, on Monday when I was working out at a particular client a stray kitten walked up. It hung around all day and no one else would take it home. So, of course, I just had to! I couldn't let the poor thing get hit by a car or anything. I took it home and locked it in the bathroom for the night-just in case it was sick I didn't want it to get near Berkeley or Emerson. Then the next day, I took it to be put up for adoption. It needs to get tested for Feline Leukemia and if it has that then it has to be put to sleep (that's like cat AIDS). I'm trying to talk Tim into letting me adopt it but I don't think he will... I really just feel so bad for it and it was so precious and cute. But I guess we don't need three cats, but really, what's one more? Ahh...I don't know.

So I guess that's all that's been going on...enjoy the pictures!!

Red rocks of Sedona.

Red rocks of Sedona.

Hiking in Sedona

Getting ready to go on the hike in Sedona

Tim on the hike in Sedona

Aww...a nice couple took our picture on the hike in Sedona.

Cool!

Big red rock of Sedona.

Flagstaff mountains.

Flagstaff mountains

Just coming down from Mt. Elden peak...leaving the beatiful aspens.