Camping at Big Lake

We had so much fun camping with John and Chantel Webster. The long relaxing weekend was defiantly needed, in that with my training schedule I hardly get to see my husband anymore. Anyways it was a 5 hour drive but I loved every minute of it. It was beautiful! It didn't even look like Arizona it was so plush and green. The wild flowers were all in bloom there were bright red and yellow flowers covering a good part of the medows. We played "forrest golf" . . .way more fun than normal golf because luck is a good part of the game. We played and I didn't end up keeping score of my points. . .I kinda lost track. . . it's probably a good thing :) I think my favorite part of the trip wsa going fishing. I loved it. At one point John got his hook caught on something not too far out in the lake, and it was his favorite loore, so thinking that I wouldn't get too wet I decided to go in and get it for him :) yeah I was pretty much all soaked by the time I got out. . .I guess it looked a lot more shallow than it really was. But I had fun witting in the back of the truck with my sweetheart, trying to dry off, as we headed back to the camp site. We sang all of our favorite silly songs like "oh Johnnery Beck" to songs from "My Fair Lady" as loud as we could . . . yeah we're nerds but I love it. It was a great weekend and we look forward to next time.

Rock, Paper, or Scissors??

So my parents, and Jesse and I all went out to eat the other night to a place called Buffalo Wings and Rings. And to our surprise every Saturday night there is a Rock, Paper Scissors competition with the people in the restaurant. So we decided to play. My mom and I got out in the first or second round and Jesse and my dad got out in the 3rd. But because there was a odd number of people they had to "resurrect" someone who had already lost. And that person just so happened to be me. I was excited. So I beat the guy in the 4th round as I jogged up the the front . . .I was pumped. It was the last round. I was up against the guy who beat my Dad and Jesse. . . . it was intense. This time it wasn't 2 out of 3 . . . it was 3 out of 5 rounds declares the winner. the first round I beat him. . . paper covers rock. . . . I let out a ooooooooooooo and get the whole bar to start in with me. . . . . we go for a second round and I am pounding my fist into my hand as we call out rock paper scissors. . . .. ( I guess I got a little too into it b/c my hands hurt afterwards) He beats me twice and I beat him one more time. . .we are neck and neck 2 to 2 . .. the first place prize is a $40 gift certificate and the second is a $20 gift certificate. . .. no matter what happens at this point I'm going home with something. As the last rock, paper, scissors is called . . . I throw down a rock, and he. . . my competitor throws down scissors. . .

The New House!!!

We are soooo excited! We are getting a house!!!! The close date is Aug 10th so in about 2 1/2 weeks! It's coming up quick! But we are so excited to have a place of our own. We checked out the ward on Sunday and it was the most friendly ward I've ever been to. It just seemed right- that's is where we are supposed to be. So here are a few pictures of the house. . . most will come when we are moving in :) It is in Gilbert off Recker and Williams Field. It is great we are just a half a block away from the community pool and the playground. It's a great area and we are excited to move.


The Kitchen is pretty- I love the dark wood, and it will be nice to have a dishwasher. . . it hasn't been as bad as I thought living without one . . . but it will be nice all the same.


Here is Jesse's citrus tree. . . the selling point of the house.




This is the front room. When we walked into the house we could just picture where everything went. . . .not just because it was outlined in the carpet of where the previous owners put there stuff :)



We are way excited to move in, we love it and we hope that you come visit us soon! And . . . we are about 3 miles away from out best friends . . .(see Filipino culture night for more details)

4th of July '09

This 4th of July we made a trip up to Utah for the Pettit Family Reunion. We decided to bring the kitten along for the ride, Jesse's parents have two rather larger cats that would rough Oopsie up a little, and since Oopsie basically dominates all of the other kittens we have put him with we thought it would be a good experience for him.
The ride up was beautiful! There was rain on both sides of us but we seemed to be right in the middle without a drop coming down on us.
When we finally got to Orem we had so much fun with the family- I love our nieces and nephew- absolutely adorable! I'm so happy I married into this family!
We had fun at Trafalga playing miniature golf, go cart racing and a few fun games.
Later that day we had a fun program introducing every month of the year and having a little skit for each one. My cute husband and his brother and sister had the skit for October- it was hilarious to say the least.

On the 4th we had a BBQ at Grandma Betty's with we watched a beautiful display of fireworks while having fun playing with glow sticks and long exposures on my new camera. We made it home safely with lots of fun memories with the Pettit Families.

Culture Night - Filipino

So we have started a tradition that we are going to have a "culture night" once a month in which we go to a different restaurant that has a different cultures food. . . such as Greek, Indian, Ethiopian ( amazing by the way!) So this last month we paid tribute to Jesse's mission and we went to a Filipino restaurant "Barrio Fiesta of Manila" We went with our best friends John and Chantel Webster (also amazing :)) The food was like a flavor explosion in my mouth! I loved it! Before my mission I didn't enjoy it that much. . .but I guess things change after living in a 3rd world country for awhile. But it really was amazing my favorite was Sinigon (excuse my spelling) but it was a bitter soup that had this flavor I've never tried before. My husbands favorite was this seafood dish. . . defiantly interesting and I surprisingly enjoyed it as well .. . I even tried a tiny squid with tentacles and all. . . not bad at all if you don't imagine what you are putting in your mouth. But anyways this months culture night was so much fun we can't wait to go back.
Here is John eating a tiny squid. . . gross

Scout Hike

So our first calling in our new ward is webelo scout leaders! I love it! They are so much fun and we are learning a lot from them. For one of our latest scout activities we went on a hike in the superstition mountains - we had a really good turn out. We thought only one or two boys were going to make it but we had a lot more come. We had a great time we went to the hieroglyphic canyon, there were no injuries and everyone had a lot of fun, so I would call it a success.

Flat Iron Hike

I haven't gone on a hike since I was about 12 yrs. old. But after walking for a year and half in Chile - I was up to the challenge :) My co-workers from Still Life Studios were already planning to go to Flat Iron that Saturday and they didn't mind if we tagged along. It was a rough hike - in some places you literally had to rock climb your way up but we made it and it was totally worth it! We had so much fun. . . and just a teensy sore for the days to come.

The Air Show

A little while back there was an air show at Luke Air Force Base. Although it was way hot that day we took my nephews to see the "Really Loud" air planes. From F-22s to Apaches to big AWACS we saw it all explaining along the way the different functions of each part of the airplane.


Brig and Logan were so brave - they even sat in a real helicopter and walked around in a medivac.

OOPSIE. . .

About a month ago my boss and his wife found 5 kittens in a near by storm drain. I don't like cats. . . but I'm a sucker for kittens. They are so curious and fearless. They can do anything and they are excited about doing it! So there was this particular kitten - Darla (which then was named angel once they figured out it was not a girl) this kitten always recognized me and would come to me every time i would come into work.

My husband LOVES animals so I knew if I asked him he would be more than excited to have an addition to the family. So after about a week of debating I finally gave in and we took our new kitten home and named him Oopsie. (If anyone has ever seen the marvelous misadventures of Flap Jack then you would understand the origins of the name) We love having him in our house. He LOVES to play but we get a chance every so often that he will treat us and give us a little cuddle time.

Honeymoon part 2

We got married in January and we decided to take a mini-honeymoon to Scottsdale to relax and have fun as a newly married couple. We planned a few months later to go on a cruise to Mexico so that I could speak my Spanish and have a blast on a second honeymoon with my husband :) About a week before the cruise they called and informed us that it was cancelled due to the swine flu :( (way over rated) So as a last minute decision we made plans to hit up California. It was way better than anything I ever expected we had a blast relaxing on the beach.

We went at the perfect time of the year when there were literally NO lines at 6 flags magic mountain- we could literally hop off one ride and if we wanted to go again- just get right back on :)

Although running into a tiny bit of car trouble, it just made the trip all the more memorable.

Then to finish the perfect vacation we were off to shoot a wedding in San Diego.