Catch-Up

Well it has been a very busy end to the Summer and start of the school year at our house, which is why we haven't posted in so long!  After July 4th we were able to go to Newport Beach, CA with my Dad's family and spend time relaxing and enjoying the beach.  It was very fun and a much needed vacation.  Then I was able to stay a little longer and spend time with my sweet mamacita which was also so fun!  We ate delectable ice cream treats, cooked breakfast together, went to the beach, went to some excellent book stores and had an all around good time.  After getting home from that, we were able to spend some time with Dean's parents and sister Lynne.  It was way fun!  Lynne and I were able to go see a fun movie and also eat some delectable ice cream and sorbet from the best place ever. We were sad to see Lynne go but excited for her because a sweet vacay in the Bahamas was in her near future!  Later that week Diana came down to take the AZ bar.  We are sure she aced it, and after she took it Rod also flew down for a few days of birthday fun.  We were happy to get to see John and Haley at their reception down here in AZ.  Do you see what I mean by busy now?  And I'm not even through yet! :)  At the end of July we found out that my grandpa is not doing so well and doctors discovered that he has a tumor in his brain.  I feel lucky to live so close because I've been able to drive down to Tucson a few times to see him.  My mom, little brother and sisters have also been able to go down and it was neat to spend this time with my grandparents. One fun thing we got to do was have dinner at Lerua's for my grandma's 80th birthday.  My sister surprised her by ordering a tres leches cake, which we all devoured despite being full of guacamole, green corn tamales, beans and horchata.   Then we went to a football scrimmage at the UofA with my grandparents.  My grandpa was able to tell me about a time when he played in that stadium during his high school days at Tucson High.  It was a fun evening and great to spend time with family.  Finally school started and Camp Zoo ended for Dean.  Dean was called into jury service but was released after a few days which he was grateful for.  School has been going well, I'm co-teaching this year which means my classroom has two teachers in it all day except for one period.  It has been a really good experience so far.  My partner teacher had a staph infection and was out all last week though :( and I can't wait to have her back!!  I thought handling 39 kids by myself all day would be fine, but I was so wrong! lol- Never before have I looked forward to a Monday, but this week I definitely am!  Sorry no pictures but I will post some picture-heavy posts soon!!

Happy 4th!

Wishing everyone a happy 4th of July tomorrow! We hope you'll party it up with lots of flag-waving, fireworks, and delicious bbq!  We'll be having our annual soiree in the evening, but we sure miss all our old pals who used to celebrate with us in front of our first lil' house in Provo.  Much love to everyone, we'll certainly be thinking of you tomorrow!

Eeek.

And now I remember why I never changed my name four years ago.  Well, at least one of the reasons I never did.  Just looking at this list makes me want to vomit.  Why are there so many fees?  Why does it have to be so complicated?  Why will this take weeks to actually finish?  Why will I not be able to travel in the interim?  Why will I now have to change junk with our car, house, insurance, etc? Why did I want to do this in the first place...

Summertime Love

Can you guess who's reading what?

Things I love about summer, 1st edition:

Drinking root beer floats (one with soy ice cream), relaxing, and reading our literature of choice after dinner.

Oh, and NOT stressing about grading, planning, or scheduling!

Denver Anniversary Extravaganza!

  Because, everything is more fun when it's an extravaganza!  :)  So over Memorial Day weekend we decided to head to Denver to celebrate our 4 (!!) year anniversary.  We chose Denver because neither of us had been before and it was relatively close to Phoenix.  We are so glad we did because we had a blast, and would highly recommend the Mile-High City to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure!  We flew in Friday evening and took a shuttle from the airport to our hotel downtown.  We decided not to rent a car, and although I was a little worried, it ended up working out beautifully.  Friday night we walked about a mile to a yummy sushi place near downtown.  We haven't found a great sushi place here in Phoenix so it was nice to have some good nigiri and rolls.

Then on Saturday we woke up and walked to Snooze, a breakfast joint recommended to me by my one-time Pilates teacher/personal trainer haha-Michelley you know what I'm talking about! It was soo good!! The thing is I love pancakes, but most places have majorly disappointing flapjacks.  I don't even use Bisquick at home, and don't feel like I should pay for someone else to use it when I go out.  Well snooze cakes were definitely NOT Bisquickey!  Dean got the sweet potato pancakes with ginger butter-and they were the best things ever!  I got an updated version of eggs Benedict with Salmon and spoon bread and it was also a-mazing! So check it out if you ever go there!!  After breakfast we caught a bus and headed on over to, that's right, the Denver Zoo!  Dean hooked us up so we got in for free and got some sweet tours.  As part of our behind the scenes tour, we got to feed a Tamandua live worms!! Even I was amazed that I was able to do that.  I just smiled and tried to not think about it and remain calm so as not to embarrass Dean in front of his fellow animal loving peeps.

Dean really wanted to check out their Predator Ridge exhibit and it was pretty cool- they had four lions in their pride, and one came right up to us (behind the glass of course)! It was neat to see one that close.  My favorite exhibit was the Gorilla enclosure.  We saw two of them and I loved it!  I like Gorillas because they seem so smart and very perceptive.  I'm never really sure who's watching who.

Sunday morning we went to Sacrament Meeting at the Capitol Hill Ward (made me appreciate how big our ward at home is!) and then caught a bus over to the Highland area (I think...) where we had the most delectable brunch and also my favorite meal of the trip.  Duo was everything we hoped it would be.  This is another one you should not miss if you head to Denver.  We didn't get to try them for dinner, but I'm sure it would be equally good! Read about the Cider Glazed Pork Benedict and the Sweet Sunday brunch items...enough said.  Highland was also a really cute neighborhood filled with lots of fun houses.  If I lived in Denver I would want to live there!  

Of course we had to check out the Birds &  Bees Trail in the garden!

That afternoon we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens.  It ended up being a surprisingly fun activity.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous so just being able to walk around outside in the incredible gardens was pretty nice.  Plus, we got delicious strawberry lemonade and got to see their Tropical garden which was really incredible.  That exhibit was inside, and so I was expecting a green house with like some Venus fly-trap plants or something (ok actually that would have been pretty cool.  Cancel that.  I was expecting...a small banana leaf plant or something?)  Whatever I was expecting this exhibit was about a million times cooler!  It was really like walking straight into the rainforest.  It was WAY humid, so we got a lil' shweaty but it was well worth it.  I've never really seen anything like that before and I was just really impressed with the logistics of pulling something like that off all year in Denver.  I bet it would be really cool to be in there in winter when it is snowing outside!!  

Ahh yeah...80's glamor shot in the garden!
Let's hear it for back light!

One of the best parts of Sunday was after we left the Botanic Gardens and rented two bikes from Denver B Cycle to ride to our dinner destination.  B Cycles is this really sweet bicycle charing company in Denver and a few other big cities.  How it works is you pay $5 a person to "rent" a bike for 24 hours.  Basically for the next 24 hours you can check the bikes out at one station and ride them to the next/another station as much as you want! As long as it's in thirty-minute increments it's free, and if you do go over it's only $1 more per half hour!  What a deal right?  Plus it was just fun!  Even for a bike-a-phobe like me.  The sidewalks were wide, the bike lanes were well marked, and best of all there was this gorgeous bike-only path right by the Platte river which was my favorite place to ride. On Monday we decided to hang around mostly near downtown, and after breakfast at this place (satisfying if slightly overrated- although if I went again I would def. try something with the pork chili verde on it, just to be fair.)  We rode our bikes to a giant REI flagship store and walked around for awhile.  The Platte and another unknown river meet right in front of the REI and there's sort of a little mini-beach there where lots of people hang out/swim/play with their dogs, so we hung there for ahwile and enjoyed the scenery.  We watched a Portuguese water dog play fetch with his owner and decided that some dogs are definitely more talented than Henry; but we still love him anyway.

Woo Bikes!

Seriously, I kept thinking this dog was about to drown, but apparently his owner knew he was quite talented.  We also saw a very rotund kid whose swim trunks kept falling off which caused his family to laugh and him to yell "Mi pantalones!" in a panic, which only made his family, (ok an us) laugh harder.  Yes, good times at the public beach/park.

So...this is the jungle.

After this delightful interlude, we rode our bikes back to downtown and spent the afternoon doing some leisurely reading (I never have time to lounge about in bookstores at home) at The Tattered Cover bookstore. Tattered Cover is an independent book seller there, and they have two(?) different locations.  I can't speak for the other locales, but if you are ever in Denver I would check out the downtown location for sure; it has a really relaxed vibe to it and with lots of exposed brick walls, old wooden floors and abundant sofas/armchairs it feels cozy and overflowing with books, as I think all the best bookstores do.  I actually wish we would have taken some pictures of this place just because it was so cool looking and you can't really tell from the website.  Oh well.  Just imagine a bookstore almost as cool as the Harry Potter library.  (The one in your imagination not the movies.)  On our way out we found a great market to eat at that seemed like the kind of place locals would frequent.  We decided that if we ever return to dear old Denver we will go here to get our picnic lunch before heading back to that magical river land via the B cycle bikes. We had some really good sandwiches, we eyed their killer dessert case but managed to restrain ourselves, and then we were off to the airport!

Totally normal...rainforest in Denver.

Overall, this trip was a much needed respite from the real world.  With the end of school for me (at least before summer school starts) and the beginning of Camp Zoo for Dean, it had been a stressful past few weeks, so it was nice to get a break!  (Henry free and everything!)  It also gave us a chance to reflect on all the fun times we've had in the past four years.  (I can't believe we have been married for that long already!)  Time really does fly by.  We feel so blessed right now, and not just because we got to take a sweet vacation! Heavenly Father has really been looking out for us and helping things fall into place.  Here's hoping for many more years of wedded bliss! 

ps- I'm sorry this post was so long but since I'm not the consistent at that whole journaling thing, this post was as much for us to read later as all of you!  You can always skim through and just look at the pictures right?!

A little musical love

So I just wanted to take a minute and show a little love to these guys.  Thanks to my ultra hip mamacita and one viral youtube video, I discovered them recently.  You can watch them here.

Reasons I like them:  
1.  Who could not love the lead female singer Jade?  She's adorable and crazy!
2.  I think Alex ripped off my brother's signature look.  (See below.)
3. Oh and their music rocks. Check out 40 Day Dream and Janglin if you don't believe me.

One Goal Down!

Just thought you should know!

Our very own lemon tree.
Scenting our backyard with delicate delights since February 2011!  

The big 2-8!

Let the festivities begin!

Sunday was Dean's birthday and it was sort of a drawn out celebration.  First, we went out to shabu shabu (hot pot fondue style Japanese food) with Lacey and Bille.  It was a few weeks before Dean's birthday but Lacey is stuck out of town for an extended time for work, so we decided to get the party started a little early!  Dinner was great and Dean got some sweet shoes to boot! :)  Pun definitely intended.  Then, the Friday before the big day Dean's family came up and after a failed attempt at a Spring Training game, we went out for some steak- muy bueno as they say.  My fam came up the next day for a little while and we watched the heartbreaking UofA loss to UConn at an ASU sports bar of all places.  My Dad also volunteered for some manual labor in the yard so Dean wouldn't have to do it when he got home.  Finally the big day arrived!  It was actually a pretty low key celebration but we did eat Dean's request of meatloaf, broccoli, mashed potatoes and cherry pie with coconut milk ice cream for dessert.  Bille and Logyhn came bearing gifts from the rest of the fam.  We are so glad they live so close to us!  I am so glad Dean was born and that I was lucky enough to find him.  He is the love of my life and one stupendo guy!!

We had a juice bar in honor of Dean, and we had sunflowers
because they were the manliest option available! 

All four of the boys!

Phofessional Bowling

Well since I'm perpetually behind on this blogging business, I'll just pretend that this happened more recently than it did.  So recently Dean and I got to hang out with my sister's step-son Logyhn for the weekend.  My Sister and her boyfriend were out of town so we took over all parenting duties for 72 hours.  Naturally we decided to load up on some delicious Vietnamese food before doing anything else.  Pho is fine, but only with lime- and trust me you'll want LOTS of lime.  Then we decided to go bowling.  Little did we know that bowling is practically up there with Golf in terms of expense.  What can we say, bowling in Phoenix is just that classy.  Anyhow, we forked over the money for a night of catching diseases in dirty shoes, being terrified of Boy George music videos and a general all around good time.  Here is some pictorial evidence of our adventure.  Oh yes don't be jealous!

The man of the hour-Logyhn aka bowling master

Some sweet poses

Don't worry Logyhn is def. not picking his nose.

Strike!

Oh baby oh baby

You may ask why is my husband such a sexy beast? 

Well after this we rounded out the weekend with some trips to the library, having our awesome neighbors and their two sons over for dinner, church, baseball playing and lots of other goodies.  Parenthood here we come! (J/K for the record!)

Still Alive

Well, it's January so I suppose we're due for another post. It's past new years but since I love the New Years season so, indulge me as I share a few of our thoughts and hopes for 2011. (If you don't call them resolutions, you won't feel as guilty for not following through..:)

1) Plant a citrus tree in our backyard: Okay if you didn't know already, I've had a lifelong love affair with citrus trees. In my backyard growing up we had a lemon tree, an orange tree and a grapefruit tree. Not only were they beautiful to look at, they produced prolific amounts of delicious fruit (for free) and scented the air with the most lovely delicate fragrance in the entire world when in bloom. Now that we have our own home I can't wait to plant a lemon tree. My gardening book says to plant in late winter or early spring, but since it's already in the low 70s during the day here, I think the time is drawing near! :) I'll keep you updated on this project, and if you're nice, I'll bake you a lemon meringue pie like this one if you come visit!

2) Activity Increase: Like everyone else in the world one of our New Year's resolutions is to get out and be more active. Surprisingly, I'm pretty proud of the progress we've made in this category so far this year. Dean generously got me a year's worth of yoga at a local studio and he in turn received some hockey gear/will be signing up for a local league in February when the new season starts. So far I've gone to yoga once each week, Dean's already breaking in his new skates and we've played tennis for a few hours the past two Saturdays. Okay, so we're not running marathons, but I think it's a step in the right direction. Exercise for me is more of a mental stress reliever than anything else at this point and I'm happy to report that my hour and a half of yoga is one of my most blissful hours of the week!

3) Go on at least one Fabulous Trip, preferably out of the country: What's the use of having no kids if we don't even take advantage of it by traveling the world? haha jk. But really, we would like to plan and take one wonderful trip this year. We always (ok me especially) talk about traveling, but somehow work schedules, money and other obligations always get in the way. Maybe it's the fresh start feeling of January, maybe it's jealousy of my sister's fabulous trips (Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Bali, and Thailand to name a few recent escapades) or maybe it's just bitterness about testing overload at work, but I am determined to seize the day this year and travel to at least one fabulous destination. Thank you Mr. Keating. And yes I am teaching Walt Whitman's Oh Captain, My Captain this week, which in a circuitous way makes me think of the whole Carpe Diem thing. :)

Well, We'd better leave it at three for now, lest we be too ambitious. I sincerely hope everyone else is enjoying this fabulouso month where great things are still ahead of everyone, and we can be content to refresh, dream, plan and find joy in the good things yet to come.
Ps-I love this video and hope you will too!