The Quick & Dirty

I know, I know... It's been too long. Here is the quick and dirty of the past 4 1/2 months. Our house is finished and updated. We have new flooring (carpet and wood) and new paint on every surface of the house. The walls were all painted and the ceilings too. I think it looks great!

We went on vacation with Saremy the beginning of March. We had a blast! We went to a LA Laker game, Universal Studios, Disneyland for 3 days, an Anaheim Ducks game, Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and many restaurants and shops in So. Cal. It was so fun! Sara put 9 days worth of vacation on her blog and she explains it so well! We always have so much fun with Saremy. Thanks for the great "First Annual!" Here are some pictures:




Also, some more great news... IT'S A BOY! That's right we have a new baby boy in the family and his name is Alfie!




We got him from the animal shelter out here. He's 2 years old and such a lover. We were told he is a St. Bernard/Hound mix. I'm not sure. He has a hound bark, St. Bernard coloring, and a Pitt Bull body-he is very strong and muscular. He's a mutt. Him and Nico are great brothers and friends. They play most of the day and sleep next to each other at night. Now Nico isn't lonely when we are at work anymore. He is a great addition to our family.

My birthday was great. I turned 26 this year. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Its just another year. Jake bought me an amazing cake. There is a guy we work with whose wife owns a cake bakery. She is amazing. Check out her website Cakes By Jenna. She is amazing!


Yes this is actually my cake.


A group of people at work have decided to run a relay race. Dareth, you may know this one from up in Utah. It is called "The Ragnar Relay". It is a 24 hour, 201 mile race from Prescott to Wickenberg to Mesa. There are 12 runners each running 3 legs. Each leg varies from 2-9 miles. I've already claimed the 5, 4.6, and 3.1 mile legs. So needless to say, I have started running. The good news is that Alfie goes with me each time. I bought him a backpack and he carries my water, a collapsible water bowl for him and my cell phone. He has so much energy that he happily carries the extra weight and still keeps up with me. I'll keep you posted how my running goes. I've started writing in a journal about each run too, just to have a record to look back on. The race is next February so I have plenty of time.

Well, that is pretty much it for now. Sorry it took me so long to catch up. It won't happen again... probably.

I'm so excited about SPRING and Earth Day April 22nd! I have big things planned!

St. Patrick's Day!

Well, St. Patrick's Day is coming and you know what that means... My birthday is just around the corner! Yay! I'll be the big 2-6 this year, yep, the among the four of us- Jeremy, Sara, Jake and I. I know it doesn't really matter at 26 but when I'm 50 and they are all 49 it will matter. Bummer.

Anyway, we have a vacation coming up very soon! We are going with Saremy to California. We will visit Disneyland for 3 days, San Diego where we will go to Sea World and either the Wild Animal Park or the Zoo. We'll hang out at the beach too! I miss the beach.

I'm so excited!

The Big Apple

After Boston, we took a 4 hour train ride down the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut to New York City. What a BEAUTIFUL ride! Although most of the trees were still green, some had started to change colors already giving us a beautiful show of yellows, oranges and reds. Fabulous! Once in NYC, we took a cab from the train station to our hotel. HOLY CRAP! Taxi drivers do not care how fast they drive, whether or not people are crossing the street, whether or not a car is coming at them as they want to turn, or anything! They get you where you need to go as fast as possible not matter the cost! SCARY! I decided that hoofin' it would be our primary mode of transportation. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Times Square. It was a really nice hotel.

The first day there, we went to the Empire State building. It was so much higher than I ever imagined it was. we went to the 86th floor and took pictures of this pigeon who was just kickin' it there on tallest building in NY and he posed for us.

That night, we went to a place called Carnigie Deli for a pastrami sandwich. Jake and both ordered one and quickly changed our order to just one sandwich to share after we saw them bring other people their dinner. The picture shows why. Anyway, it was the most delicious pastrami sandwich I have ever had and the pickles were delish!

The next day was 9/11. We took a ferry to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. That was really fun. The Statue of Liberty is much larger than I thought it would be. Ellis Island has hundreds of pictures of immigrants that I really enjoyed looking at. It was a pretty place. That night, we went to go see "Legally Blonde" on Broadway. What an AMAZING show. It was so good and hillarious at that! Highly recommended. After the show, we went to ground zero. We went late at night thinking it would be a little quieter, and it was. I have to say, there isn't much there. There is a huge hole in the ground with a chain link fence around it that is lined so you can't see inside. There is no memorial or anything yet even after 7 years. There was a fire truck out on the street with people talking about where they were the day of and all of that. It was very emotional hearing how these people could see it out their window and I was all the way in Fresno, CA when it happened. It shed a new light on it.

The next day, we woke up to rain. We went to the Metropolition Museum of Natural History which was great and HUGE. We also walked through Central Park which is much bigger and much more beautiful than I ever thought and then we went shopping on 5th Ave. I'm going to use the excuse that I didn't like anything I saw as a reason I didn't buy anything... it had nothing to do with the prices of course! We also had a Yankee game planned. Jake hates the Yankees (he's a Boston Red Sox fan) but we wanted to see the stadium before they tear it down. So we heard that we had to get "the best pizza in the world" at a place called Nick's in the Bronx. First we got on the wrong train, then another wrong one. Then we walked around in a little place called Harlem for about an hour trying to find the subway station that had the correct train. Talk about standing out in a crowd! Now keep in mind it is still raining. We decided to skip Nick's and just go to the game. Well, we finally found a cab willing to pick us up and he took us to the right subway station. We caught that, with about a kabillion other people going to Yankee stadium, and finally got there. We found a line and they proceed to announce that no backpacks are allowed, which of course we had because we had been out all day long. So we had to walk down and across the street to a bowling alley which would check our backpack. We finally get into the stadium to find the field flooded. Well, we hung out for a bit and took some pictures. When game time can and went, we left without seeing a game and about $155 in the whole for 2 $15 face value tickets. Oh well, the price you pay for one of the last games in that stadium EVER. Anyway, we went back to Times Square and ate at Bubba Gumps. Delicious and way fun!

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. We got back safe after 19 hours of travelling which included a subway trip from Times Square to Grand Central Station, then a train on the Long Island Rail Road to Islip, NY then a plane to Baltimore where we sat for 3 hours. Then a plane to San Antonio, TX and then to Phoenix. Then we ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory and drove 2 hours back home. What a long day!

Boston

Jake and I returned from our east coast vacation late last night. It was wonderful! First off we flew into Providence, RI. What a pretty place! We then took a train to Boston. We both agreed it is our new favorite city ever! The people there are friendly, the city is beautiful and clean, and it felt very safe. There is a ton of stuff to do and the food is fabulous! We went to an Italian place called G'vanni's and it was the best chicken parmasean I've ever had! HUGE! We also went to a Boston Red Sox game. It rained, but we went anyway and had a great time. We were tied at the end of the game when the Tampa Bay Rays scored. Jake turned his hat upside down and inside out (a "Rally Cap" he calls it) for luck. I did not. Boston ended up losing and he said it was because I wasn't wearing the rally cap.

Exciting!

So to add to this "Waiting Game," we have our big vacation to New York City and Boston coming up as well. We leave September 7th and return September 13th. Yes, we will be there for September 11th, but it wasn't planned. We plan to spend a few days in Boston and then taking the train down the coast to NYC. We are going to go to a Boston Red Sox game and a NY Yankee game. It's the last year for Yankee Stadium. Boy does that make ticket prices soar! We are going to go to Ground Zero of course, and Liberty Island, the Empire State building, and Central Park, and a Broadway show, among other places. We are geting very excited! I'll bring home LOTS of pictures!