Sedona, AZ

We went to the beautiful city of Sedona this past weekend and boy was it fun! We had a great time road tripping up there.... it was a full house too! We went with Joel's sister Jocylin, her husband, their baby, our puppy and their dog! Can you say PARTAY! We seriously had a lot of fun though. We decided that we would all stay in ONE room to keep the cost down and boy was that an adventure. We basically didnt sleep the whole trip. Overall the trip was lots of fun and we got to see lots of beautiful red rock and visit a couple vortex sites which was pretty neat too. Here are a couple pictures of our fun trip.

 

 

Our hike to see the vortex

 

Joel sitting in a HUGE tree that had been curved from the vortex

 

 

And it's a GIRL!

So we finally took the plunge and added an addition to our little family. In May we got our sweet little Chocolate lab puppy Lucy.

This is like the first week
we got her, this is her protesting
going down the stairs!

We just love her so much. She is seriously a hand full. Living on the 3rd floor in Phoenix Arizona in the middle of Summer was not ideal for potty training. On any given day we would take between 20-25 trips outside daily. Take into account the 3 sets of stairs and the 100+ degree weather and you have a very tired mom and dad :) Joel and I have really enjoyed having someone else around to look at though and Joel has done such a good job training her. She knows quite a few tricks but at the same time she is very naughty and definitely "does what she wants." She gets in trouble quite a bit and spends a lot of time in "puppy time out". She must like it though because she just doesn't learn. We sure love her. Here are a couple pictures of our sweet Lucy Lou!

Adorable in every way!!

Caught in my purse yet again...
this literally happens on a daily basis!

She's getting bigger!
 She loves playing in her swimming pool :)

Grand Canyon here we come!

While living in Arizona we have been blessed to make so many new fun friends and this weekend we were lucky enough to go on a road trip to the Grand Canyon with two of them; Bridget and Taylor!

Funny story about how we all became friends so I will share. Taylor and Joel met at work and bonding over their crazy love for sports, naturally they became friends. Well, when we realized that Taylor and his girlfriend lived in the same apartment complex as us we had them over for dinner. At dinner I met Taylor's girlfriend Bridget and found out she was also a teacher, and that we both shared a love for children so as you can see this was a friendship made in heaven. We have really enjoyed their company and the many dinner dates and road trips spent with them :)

Okay enough about that back to our Grand Canyon adventure...
We decided that since we finally had a moment to breathe with school being out that we should take Lucy to see the Grand Canyon... she has been dying to see it for weeks :) So we got up Saturday morning, left at like 6:00 am and drove up to the Grand Canyon National Park. When we arrived we set up our camp site. As much as I love camping (no sarcasm here, surprisingly) we have not yet invested in any camping gear so we had to borrow from Joel's sister. We were reassured several times that this camping gear had just recently been used by them and that everything would work perfectly....

 

Well as this picture clearly illustrates, the tent and air mattress were not made for each other. The tent was just right for Joel and I but when you add a crazed puppy to the mix you end up sleeping with your knees touching your chin. It was great fun as you can see!  

Overall we had a very fun trip, we hiked around the rim of the canyon. Lucy tried to be a trooper but all the walking combined with the heat made for one pooped puppy. At one point Joel had to empty out the backpack and put Lucy in it and carry her. She absolutely hated it and didn't last long, which is why there is not a picture. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip:

Making breakfast on the BBQ

Grand Canyon Sunset was absolutely beautiful!

Sports, Sports and more Sports!

So it seems we have really made the most of our time here in Arizona visiting every major sports team at least once! I guess that's what you get when you're married to a sports fanatic! Here are a couple of pictures of us at some of the games!



PHX Suns Game- Basketball

DiamondBacks Game- Baseball

PHX Suns take 2



Don't worry we also got the chance to see the Arizona Cardinals as well as the Phoenix Coyotes play... for some reason these are the only lame pictures I can scrap together, I must have been so engulfed in the game I forgot to snap some good pictures.... haha! NOT! ( really I was probably asleep:)

 

AZ Cardinals game- Football

Phoenix Coyotes Game- Hockey
 

I seriously dislike watching sports even more than playing them which is why as I look back at all these pictures and see all the games I willingly went to with my husband, I realize what a wonderful wife I am...and I am going to go remind my husband now :)

We're going gluten free

So it is official our little family of 2, is going gluten free! After several test and plenty of lab work, Joel has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. For those of you who don't know much about it, "Celiac (SEE-lee-ak) disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is primarily found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. People with celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten experience an immune reaction in their small intestines, causing damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients." (MayoClinic 2011). After several months of feeling progressively worse and worse Joel decided to find out what was going on. He visited dozens of doctors, all of whom told him he was completely fine. One even referred him to a psychologist, basically claiming that Joel was crazy and all the symptoms he claimed to be experiencing were only "in his head". Reassuring right? Joel wouldn't give up and eventually he saw one doctor who said she "just felt like she should test for celiac." Boy are we are sure grateful she did. Now that we have a diagnose we have a place to start and hopefully Joel will begin to feel healthy again soon.

Here's a picture of my handsome man, we found a recipe for gluten free fruit pizza... his favorite!!

The month of December in a nutshell

The first week of December my family drove down for a short visit which was soooo fun! All the boys went to a Dallas Cowboys/ AZ Cardinals game while the girls went shopping. It was really fun having them down, especially since the weather was absolutely beautiful... We definitely made the most of their visit and Joel really hooked us up... tickets to a Suns game as well as the Phooson in Phoenix concert. This concert was like the concert of all concerts, with a huge variety of artist it was very fun! Selena Gomez, Flo Rida, One Republic, Karmin, Nicole Scherzinger, Gym Class Heroes and Taio Cruz just to name a few. This concert was literally like 3 1/2 hours... we were exhausted but it was so fun!

This year, Joel and I celebrated our first Christmas 'alone' together! I have to admit it just wasn't the same. We both missed our families and it just didn't feel all that much like Christmas. We made the most of it though.

I had so much fun decorating. As Joel would say...
 "It looks like Christmas threw up in here!"

Christmas morning we skyped with my parents which was really fun. Then Christmas afternoon we went over to Joel's brother house for presents and a white elephant gift exchange. It was very fun! Sorry no pictures. I'll just leave you with these cute little Grinches :) Merry Christmas 2011!

 



Time to play catch up

So it has been an extremely long time since I last blogged, like over a year long! This last year has been crazy and our little family has been very busy. I am going to try and catch up on all of the exciting things that have been going on in our life up to this point so here I go.



I miss them!

In October 2011, I got hired as an ELD Kindergarten teacher in Glendale, Arizona. Being that we were moving down to Arizona at the end of August I had accepted the fact that I would most likely be subbing for the 2011-2012 school year, so when I was presented this opportunity I was THRILLED. I have to admit I was a little scared of the idea of spending all day with 5&6 year olds  but it seriously was the greatest year. I loved every moment, even the early mornings, late nights and long weekends spent planning... it was all worth it. Here are a couple pictures of my classroom/kiddos.


My classroom was HUGE, I embraced every moment of it
 knowing I will probably never have a room that large again!



Classroom library- my favorite part of the room!

Joel on the other hand has been busy working for the Arizona Cardinals.. selling tickets like crazy! More updates to come!