quick-ish catch up

Seeing as it has been several months since I last updated our Blog, I wanted to do a quick catch up post, lest you all think Ry and I lead a boring life.  Seeing as it has been anything but boring the last couple of months, I am just going to hit the 'high' points...

I guess the rest of August wasn't too interesting, because I can't really remember anything that happened after the Grand Canyon visit...

So, moving right along, that brings us to September...

During the beginning of the month, we were visited by Steve and Diane.  It was a wonderful visit, but I think it was far from a vacation for them, as they dedicated their time in AZ to assisting Ryan and I with home modification projects.  I am still in love with my RED front door.  So great!  The other wonderful thing is that they gave us an awesome swing for our front porch!  

Red door love.

Red, of course!

While visiting, we discovered Bin 239, where we went for an early birthday celebration for Ryan.  The food was all around amazing, but the bread pudding was pretty much to die for.  Yum!  

A week or so later, Brian came to visit, taking the opportunity to carelessly travel prior to starting his NEW JOB!  It was a great weekend for him to visit, as it was the Arizona Best Fest -- an awesome event celebrating the centennial birthday of Arizona!  There were different sections devoted to various cultural aspects of the state, including the military, the hispanic population, being environmental friendly and a, uh, beer garden.  Even Wayne Newton performed, which we actually missed, but I heard it was a... memorable performance.  

We also got lost in conversation and ended up hiking amongst the Prescott Dells for hours one day...  love ya, bro!

During another weekend in September, we darted back for the wedding of my cousin Craig to his beautiful wife, Jenna.  It was a fantastic ceremony that was delivered by this pastor-dude that was from some far-off country and had an awesome accent that made his speech/sermon even more amazing.  At one point, I swear he said "childhood obesity" but I don't know what that has to do with getting married, so I guess I heard wrong.  He was absolutely wonderful to listen to and it was altogether a Beautiful wedding!  Welcome to the family, Jenna.  

Finally, in September, we celebrated Ryan's 26th birthday!  We recall that we went back to Bin 239 for another wonderful Bread Pudding dessert, but that is all Ry or I remember about his birthday.  Obviously I made it super-memorable.  Way to go, wifey.  Psh.  Must do better next year...

I love you, Ryan.  :)

Moving on to October...

What a busy, busy month.  It started off with me flying to Boise, Idaho for a Neuro IFRAH (Integrative Functional Rehabilitation and Habilitation....whew) certification course.  I have been SOOOOO super excited about getting certified and it was a crazy, enlightening week where I learned techniques for treating individuals who have suffered a brain injury or stroke.  After 8-9 hours of class for 7 straight days my brain was absolutely Fried, but in a good way.  It has been awesome trying out all of the techniques over these past couple of weeks and seeing such amazing results!  This is good because I go back in just about a week and a half for the second half of the course!

At dinner one night of the week, while I was at this course, this is the fortune I received in my cookie.  Encouraging.  :)

From Boise, I trekked across the country to Maine, where Ryan met up with me and we spent the week with the Allen family, including their newest little addition, Melanie.  What a blessing to be able to spend time with this family and get to know our little niece.  It was a definite perk that Maine is absolutely stunning this time of the year.  

Meeting little Melanie for the first time!  Love her!!

While out on a run!  

On one particularly beautiful fall day, we went apple picking at a local little orchard.  You are encouraged at this particular orchard to try apples while you are picking to make sure that you get the kinds that you like.  We took this one step further and decided that it would be best to try out the apples while they were still attached to the tree... hence, the evolution of "Hard-Core" Apple picking.

Post-apple picking endeavors included the baking of two Grandma Jo-style apple pies, fresh apple sauce, and a butternut squash and apple casserole side dish.  And we still weren't 'appled-out.'

Other Maine Highlights included:

Heading to the L.L. Bean Flagship store.

Mel-Beans and Uncle Ry Ry exploring L.L. Bean

Carving Moose-inspired pumpkins.  But seriously, what other kind of pumpkin would you carve while in Maine?!

Cool as a Moose

Braving the rain to see the Portland Head Light.

And, of course, falling in love with our new little niece.

At the end of the week, we were, of course, reluctant to leave.  But, never the less, our plane delivered us back to Arizona where we got back to a relatively normal life.  

What a joy-filled couple of months!

5 percent of 5 million at one of the 7 natural wonders

We are beginning to really love living in Arizona.  One of the newest reasons... from our front door, it only took us 2 and a half hours to get to the Grand Canyon (thanks Uncle Mike and girls for the AZ guidebook w/ foldout map!).  Because of this, we were able to have a most awesome (much needed) weekend get away.  AND, we finally got to celebrate our one year anniversary!  What better place to do it than in one of God's craziest landscapes!

We arrived at the Grand Canyon at about noon on Saturday, as we got a little bit of a late start because we stayed up super late the night before having dinner and awesome conversation with some of our new Arizona friends.  Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, it was cloudy and so we didn't have to worry about the heat and set out to walk the Rim Trail.

Yay, One Year Anniversary!  And goin' strong... :)

Absolutely Awesome!

Kinda a funny story behind this picture...

While up on the rim we stopped to listen to a Ranger Dude talk about the geology/history of the Grand Canyon.  It was an interesting talk and it is just crazy to think that water was able to carve out such a magnificent canyon.

Another thing the Ranger mentioned, almost as a side note, was that only 5% of the 5 million people who visit the Grand Canyon every year ever venture below the rim.  That seemed just crazy, but as we glanced around at the other visitors, I guess it didn't seem so staggering.  Apparently high heels, dresses, and little dinky flip flops are adequate "hiking" atire.  Ha ha!  At first we were frustrated because there were SO many people present on the Rim Trail.  But then we found it really funny because we only had to venture about 50 feet away from any of the bus stops and we were in complete solitude on the path.  The other thing we marveled at was all the different languages being spoken!  We ventured 2.5 hours via highway to arrive at the Grand Canyon, whereas most of our fellow explorers had traveled numerous hours and over oceans to arrive at the same destination.    

Sunday morning we got up early and headed out on the South Kaibab Trail.  What incredible views!!!

Steep, steep at the beginning/end.

3.5 miles later, at Skeleton Pt, we turned around and began the 3.5 miles UP.  

The view, Dad.  You know what I mean.  

Our recommendation... if you visit the Grand Canyon, hike down past the rim.  And, while your legs will hurt for days afterwards, the views are totally worth it!  I'm going to go limp off to bed, now... :)

What an Awesome weekend!  And what an Awesome first year of marriage!

mi casa es su casa

Well... technically, mi casa es the bank's casa.  At least until the year 2041.  But after that, it is all mine... and yours.

Anyway... we moved into our first home last week and we LOVE it!!  My brothers and dad came down to help, which was appreciated immensely.  The move went pretty well, overall... just no one mention the treadmill.  The boys worked tirelessly all day to truck our stuff over from the old house and lug it into the new house. They even went to such great lengths as bench pressing our entirely oak wood kitchen table over a 3' fence so that it would make a safe entry into the house.  Whew.  Exhausting.  I directed the process and also scrubbed down the walls, cupboards, baseboards, etc., as the previous owner had not cared to do so prior to her exodus.  She did, however, leave all of her cleaning supplies in the laundry room as, I believe, a somewhat sad attempt at an apology.

Yay! Moving!

Thanks for helping, Brian

Gun Show.

Beer break.  No wonder it seemed like it took you guys forever to get back after that second load...    

Jared, you are stud.

Futon making

Trying to decide how to configure the front room.  A conversation that took about 45 min and contemplated about 50 different possible setups.  But, the final configuration, to my joy, did include the treadmill.

Checking out the hammock.

Checking out the recliner.  Anyone else see a pattern...??

Patio furniture!!

I told you not to mention the treadmill.

Relaxing in the almost finished Living Room.

We celebrated with a quick dip in our new hot tub...

and when I say a quick dip, I mean a quick dip.  

Within a few minutes of jumping into the hottub, the water gushed out.  We'll go ahead and put "Fix Hottub" on the honey-do list and chalk this one up to one of the joys of being homeowners... I guess it is time for me to get over my fear of Home Depot. 

One of the things that I just absolutely love about the house, is that there is a path that goes right by the house.  This has already proven to be a most awesome dog walking trail with some incredible views.  

We took a break from unpacking and scrubbing to venture up to Sedona for a day and enjoyed a wonderful hike up the West Fork Trail.  For those of you keeping count, my goal was to do the West Fork Trail during all 4 seasons... and, after being here for less than a year, we already have 3/4.  Only Fall left!!

So, we have kind of known that Maeby, our little puppy, gets car sick.  But she had been doing pretty well on this particular drive up to Sedona and, so, had gone back to the back seat to sit with the boys.  Please reference the happy picture below... 

Happy Picture.

When we were literally about 100 yds from our destination, Maeby threw up all over Brian.  Sad... hilarious...but sad.  :)

Brian, and his quick drying pants, had a quick turn around and we were able to continue on with our hike in beautiful Sedona.

During this hike, we taught Maeby how to swim.  It was awesome!  And she is only 4 months old!!!  We took a video but it is not wanting to upload currently.  Bummer.  Because it is super cute.  I would not want to deprive you all of this awesome video, so if it ever decides to load, I will put it on here.

Yay...I think it worked...

Now, of course we have to celebrate new homeownership with several amazing meals, including...

In-N-Out, of course...

I made my scrumptious, almost famous, ribs....

And, finally, we enjoyed an incredible meal at our new favorite restaurant in Prescott, Papa's...

Again, I truly appreciate the hard work that my family and awesome Hubby put into our new house!  It already looks amazing and feels like home.  I will post some "after" pictures once all of the unpacking and cleaning has been done.  

And, I have to mention, that the invitation to come visit is, as always, open!!

Happy Homeowners :)