Arrived in Indiana

Last night, Rob and I arrived in Indiana to Robs parents house ( a log cabin in the woods) :) Snow is covering the ground and it is beautiful. They live on a lot of land, so it is fun to watch Sonora run all over the place. She is a happy pup! Right now, we are waiting for Joe, Robs brother, to come over with Sydney and Sarah. We haven't seen Sydney since last July and this will be the first time we meet our new niece, Sarah. We are so excited! The next few days will be filled visiting w family. We had a great time with my family in Colorado...all in all, we are so blessed we are able to spend this Christmas time with BOTH families!

Weekend in Colorado

Rob and I are currently traveling across Kansas towards Indiana after our weekend in Colorado.

We left Phoenix Thursday after my final class for the semester. We got into the Springs Friday afternoon. That night, we headed to the Kairos Christmas party. It was so great to see and talk w old friends. Afterwards, Rob and I headed to Old Chicagos to see Jeremiah and his mom and brother. We use to always go to Old C's w friends in CO so its always so great to go when we are in town.

On Saturday we headed to Ft Collins to watch Nic graduate from CSU. We are so proud of him. Him and his fiance are thinking about moving to Phoenix, which would be pretty cool! After graduation we went to dinner at a hibachi restaurant, so fun!

Sunday morning we went to church w my mom and celebrated "Christmas" with my family that day.

All in alln it was a great weekend. I think one of the most memorable moments from this trip will be my Aunt Dee's rant about models vs regular women. Rob and Brian Jr know what I'm talking about.

So currently, we are 30 miles out of Hayes, KS. Tonight we are stopping in Kansas City, MS and we are finishing up the rest of the drive tomorrow.

(Please disregard the flow or grammer, this was typed on my blackberry)

Most Beautiful Thing In The World

Upcoming Courses (4)

NUR443 Nursing Mgmt & Leadership 08-Mar-2010 (1)

NUR456 Complex Care 08-Mar-2010 (1)

NUR498A Capstone 04-Jan-2010 (1)

NUR498B Practicum in Nursing 04-Jan-2010 (1)

the last 4 classes popped up on my class schedule...then I am done with my undergrad!

Our First Thanksgiving as the Hosts

This Thanksgiving Nic, Andrea, and Brian Jr drove down from Colorado to share Thanksgiving with us. My mom headed up to Minnesota, with Vern, to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. I thought having my brothers come down to Phoenix was the next best thing so we could all spend time together. Rob and I were really excited to host the Thanksgiving dinner. My only hesitation: would I be able to pull of a delicious & moist turkey?!

They left Colorado Wednesday around 5pm (from Colorado Springs). They drove through the night and go into town around 5am Thursday morning. We got them set up in bed and then went back to bed ourselves. They woke up around 8am so the boys could go play football with the church. Andrea and I got up as well and chatted and went about deciding how to start preparing our feast.

I finally got the turkey in the oven around 1130am. Next year, I will give the turkey more time to defrost (4 days instead of 3) and get up earlier to get the turkey in the oven. We then went about taking showers, getting to know each other, watching football, etc. At 3 we started making our sides and had dinner served around 6 pm. Way too late for my taste, but it was my first time getting things prepared so i'm not being hard on myself. Other than it being served at 6pm, it was a success! The turkey was delicious. The best compliment was Rob saying ( a couple times) how good the turkey was. I was very happy it turned out great :)

Everyone (including the dogs by licking the dishes clean...shhh!) helped with clean up! We had the whole kitchen clean in less than 45 minutes, it was awesome. We then sat down and played the game "Things". I turned in early that night because I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled the next morning. I was feeling very, very anxious about that! I will write in another post how that went...but for now, I gotta go study for an exam. Just wanted to get some blogging down about our Thanksgiving. It really was great, we enjoyed having my brothers and future sis in law, and 2 dogs, and 1 cat running around the house. I love a house full of family!!!

November Happenings

....well, not much has been happening in November actually. But, figured I needed to get up here and update something.

Rob and I are both busy in our fall semesters of school. For me, this one is a tough one. Community Health is about the most boring class I have ever taken, and it's more research/stats based than anything else. It'll give me a broader perspective when I am out in the nursing field and definitely is a class that probably models more Graduate-type classes, but nonetheless, it's a tough one and I am just gritting my teeth and getting through it. They say this is one of the classes that Bachelor degree nurses take and Associate degree nurses do not...who knows.

Rob is finishing up his internship at our church so we are at a crossroads and are expectingly and nervously awaiting to see where God leads next. Of course, if I am being honest, I'm hoping it leads Rob to a job that he loves AND pays well. I know that these last few months have taught us a lot about budgeting and saying "No" to going out to eat a lot...but I would definitely enjoy a little wiggle room in the finance department.

Sonora and Socrates are doing great, as usual :) The weather here is turning cool and it's wonderful!!! Nic and Andrea are coming out for Thanksgiving which we are really excited about! Then, we are driving out to Colorado for Nic's Dec 19th graduation from Colorado State University! From there, we are continuing on to Indiana for Christmas, where we will meet the newest addition to our family, Sarah Madison. Since we are driving, we are taking Sonora Jones along for the ride. We are really looking forward to this Winter Roadtrip! We love roadtrips, just pray that the weather holds out for us and no surprise winter storms!

Well the weather here as finally turned and is becoming cooler. Still shorts/tshirts weather but at least in the evening you have an excuse to put on a long sleeved shirt if you wanted :) It's amazing how you can become so tired of the summer. We all look forward to the summer but here in Phoenix, you really do look forward to the cool weather more than the hot weather!

Today, Rob is in class all day and I should be studying for an exam. I'll get around to that sooner or later :) I have 8 1/2 more weeks until I start my FINAL semester of my undergraduate work! Yay! I'm almost a nurse, cannot wait!

Rob is busy with his graduate work. He is taking three classes this fall, which are, Exogetical Method (translating the Greek Bible into English), Study of the Pentateuch (which are the first five books of the Bible) and an Oral Communications class. He is busy, busy, busy!!! He is still interning at our church but come January we will find out if he will go on staff or if he is on the job hunt again. Please pray for some direction and peace with that decision because we really need it.

Other than that, life has been filled with working, school work, and other various activities of daily living but nothing that exciting!

The picture at the top is from our quick trip to Orlando last month. My cousin Ben got married and we were able to fly out a Thursday-Sunday for the wedding. My aunt works for Disney and she was super sweet to give Rob and I park-hopper passes to the Disney parks. We checked out Epcot and Magic Kingdom. It was fun since we hadn't been to Disney World since we both were kids and probably won't go again until we have kiddos of our own! So it was fun to experience it has a couple :)

Spiritual Retreat in Los Osos, California

Last weekend we headed out of town for a spiritual retreat in Los Osos, California. Rob has been wanting to organize a spiritual retreat for some time and the pieces fell into place so that we were able to have one!

The "theme" and activities were planned for Rob. One of his seminary classes focused on the Spiritual Disciplines and one of the projects was to plan a spiritual retreat curriculm. This worked out perfectly and Rob decided to focus on Solitude & Silence.

We headed out of town on a Friday afternoon around noon. Our friends Andi & Joe, Amber, Rob, and myself piled into a van borrowed from a friend and headed out to California. It was a 9.5 hour drive but it flew by. We had fun driving through L.A. trying to see if we could spot a celebrity (we didn't). We stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant right outside of L.A. and then finished off the last 2 hours of the drive.

We meet our friend Barry at the house that night around 10. He had joined us from Cananda! That night, we settled in and most of us went straight to bed. We woke up the next morning, had breakfast, then headed up to the upper deck for our first study. We had a time of quiet time with God and search for passages in the Bible were God talks about the value and importance of rest.

We ate lunch outside on the upper deck and then headed out check out the town. We took a walk around Morro Rock in Morro Bay (original, right?) :) Then wandered over to Montana del Oro State Park and took hike to the cliffs overlooking the ocean. There were some mountains in the background, it was really green, and the fog started rolling in. It reminded me of Hawai'i! We headed home tired and suprisingly sunburned! The weather was so cool and we spent so much time outside, we didnt even think that we might get sunburned...but we all were!

The next morning we all slept in much later. We got up, repeated the same routine as the morning before, and in the afternoon headed out to check out a couple of wineries. The first winery we went to was actually the first winery Rob and I ever went to! It was fun :) We checked out on other winery and then headed back to town. We wanted to check out a local seafood restaurant so we did that, but not before Andi and Amber found this amazing taffy shop and bought lots of taffy!

The drive home wasn't as quick as the drive to California bc we were tired but very relaxed and rejuvanted from the weekend. It was wonderful. God is good and it was great to spend time with Him.

School Bells Are Ringing

I have started back in school! Second day under my belt and I haven't broken out in hives yet so I'm doing good. At the moment I'm kinda tired so I don't have much energy to type but I think often about updating here, I just haven't lately. Sorry :(

Till I feel up to it!...

2nd Wedding Anniversary!

Rob and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary by taking a weekend vacation to Livermore Wine Country. We decided to drive since it is only 10 hours from here. (We saw only until we started the drive back...whew, that's a long one!)

We left Thursday evening after dropping Sonora off at our friends house. (Thanks Lanni for watching our energetic puppy dog!) We headed out and stopped in Pasadena, California for the night. We wanted to get out of town so we could have pretty much all day Friday for vacation and Pasadena was a great 1/2 stop.

We left Pasadena at 7am Friday morning and pulled into Livermore around noon. We settled into our hotel and then headed out to the vineyards. The weather was 85-89 and sunny. We visited 3 wineries and that evening headed to Rob's cousin house. Anne and Craig live in Livermore and they have a beautiful home right in the middle of wine country! We enjoyed a great bottle of wine, a pork tenderloin from the grill, and great conversation. We ended the evening sitting on the front porch in cool weather watching the kids play out on the front lawn. We then headed inside for pictures then headed back to our hotel.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to a local city park for a walk/run/hike. It was a great workout and a fun time with Rob. That afternoon we headed to a few more wineries and just enjoyed being in wine country. That evening we headed to Concannon Winery to watch the play The Seagull. The play was held outdoors in front of this old house on the property. It was perfect!

Sunday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed back home! We got back into town around 10pm Sunday night. Tired from the long drive and wishing we were still on vacation!

It was a great way to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. I'm glad that we have had the opportunity to "get away" for both of our anniversaries. It really is so great be so close to California! We love it!

Monsoon Season

Right now we are just beginning Monsoon season. It's awesome! around 6 pm every evening the wind starts blowing, dark clouds roll in and sometime it rains. I know this sounds crazy, but that is different weather from what we are use to hear in Phoenix. Usually is little to no breeze, cloudless skies, and definitely no rain!

Pictured above is the dust storm, that they call them "haboobs" (umm, not sure why, could probably look it up but feeling lazy). This is a phote of the haboob rolling over Avondale two days ago, which is where we live. Along with the strong winds from the monsoon, it kicks up all the dirt and dust to it gets really dusty and the visibility decreases tremendously. Anyone with allergies can definitely tell!

Just wanted to share this because thought the picture was so cool and I am enjoying the change in weather!

july 16, 2009

Haven't updated in awhile and that probably has to do with not a lot has been going on! we are dead in the middle of the intense phoenix summer where things really seem to be at a standstill. i'm doing everything i can to keep the few plants i in the backyard alive. rob gets in the pool more than i do but it definitely is the best way to cool down after being out in the heat.

i'm really enjoying not having anything to do, but at the same time, it's so easy for laziness to set in. i'm just trying to soak it all up because come august i will be swamped once again with school. but...i'm almost done! yay!

sonora and socrates are doing well, of course! last month my parents came out for the weekend. they bought us a grill which was so cool. we've used it 1-2x a week so far. my favorite is having rob throw chicken breasts on the grill for us and then adding it to a salad. yum. it's healthy too!

right now i'm at work...10 more minutes till my lunch break is over. then up to help a floor file some paperwork then back to the icu. i love shadowing the nurses in the icu and even better, they know me now and actually utilize me. it's awesome.

till next time!

a hot summer day post

whew, it is heating up here in phoenix!! i was looking at pictures taken in december and we are outside in t-shirts and jeans and riding around with the windows down. those are the things you have to remember when you are sweltering in this intense summer heat. the monsoon season is starting up so that means humidity with the heat. augh! pro: i don't have to water my few hardy plants as often. con: the vicious crab grass starts it's attack. last summer, rob and i didn't attempt to control it's growth and we ended up with a backyard full of weeds that overgrew on our grass and flowers. we had to pay someone to come in and do the dirty work to get it all cleared out, it was too much for us. not this year though, i'm on top of it! :) i am trying really hard to develop a green thumb bc even though i dont have one naturally, i loved a beautiful yard with lots of flowers and "green". i do have to say, i am much better today at gardening than i was this time last year which gives me encouragement.

right now i have my little brother, brian jr., with us for the week. it's pretty awesome. he's grown into such a sweet and polite young little teenager. actually, little is the wrong word bc he's 5'10, 170 lbs! much bigger than me. both of my brothers are bigger than me, not fair! :D

i was a camp counselor at a camp at the beginning of last week and caught a nasty cold. severe soar throat, swollen and tender lymph nodes, a constant cough, constant thick and green nasal discharge, and sinus pressure like i have never experienced before. it started on friday morning and it is now tuesday evening and i am still fighting it. i can take adult germs all day, but kid germs? i guess i have no defense!

well thats about all from this little part of the world!

Summer Camp!

Just a quick update on our summer! Yesterday after church Amanda loaded up her packed bags, and went off with six kids to summer camp! She is being a camp counselor for 3rd and 4th year old girls from our church - there are 5 girls going, as well as 1 boy and Steve Graham, the Refinery's Children's and Youth Pastor. Hopefully she is having lots of fun and enjoying spending half the week up in Prescott, AZ with the gals! 

As far as other things go - my intership is continuing to go well, getting more developed by the week. We had an informational meeting on The Streetlight Project - which is one cause we are fully supporting - it is aimed at ending Child Prostitution in Phoenix. This is a very serious issue, and unfortunately one that is also very prominent. If you'd like to know more, check out http://www.streetlightphx.com 

Also, I got to get up and do the communion talk this weekend, first time for that at the Refinery! It went well I believe, but I'm sure I was a little stiff, need to get a bit more relaxed! That will come with opportunity to get up there, I'm sure! I didn't want my first time to be my last! Ha! I finished up my Spring classes Friday (2 finals were due) so I'm enjoying my first real break yet - I have a month until the next class starts in early July. I'm sure I'll have some books that have to be read by then, but honestly it won't be too big a deal. I'm looking forward to reading this month, that is actually my goal. I want to get back into reading for enjoyment and personal growth. I have a novel that I've been stuck about 1/3 of the way through, I want to get that done! Also, a couple other books I want to wrap up - as well as just spending more time in Scripture, for personal reflection over preparation of class material or homework or even church!!! Just need to focus in on God a bit, you know?!

The ladies of the house enjoying some sun!

Fun Pic of the Day!

summer doldrums

amanda here. so far to describe my summer: lazy!! :D at anytime i could change that and start planning things to fill my days so at the end of them i dont feel so unproductive, but i always tell myself i'll do that tomorrow ;)

anyways, i know once the fall starts i'm going to be go-go-go until may, when i graduate!! whoo-oo!!! the end is near and i am so darn excited. this time next year i will be studying for my NCLEX (the boards to become a registered nurse) and probably anxious/nervous/stressed as ever. once i have taken (and passed) my NCLEX i am hoping to go on a cruise as a celebration. there are two things i have had as rewards for myself ever since i started nursing school: new car and celebrate by going on a cruise. i have never had a new car and i have never been on a cruise. the cruise doesn't even have to be exclusively rob and me...the more the merrier actually. it'll be a celebration! as far as the new car, i probably wont buy brand new bc even though i'm not the most frugal person in the world, i know that the minute you drive that car off the lot it starts to depreciate in value. i'd rather buy used, with less than 10,000 miles and the car seems brand new. my eyes are set on an infinit g 37 coupe, even though i know that wont happen. probably get a nissan murano or something in that category. gotta start thinking of the new additions that will be here sooner than later!

speaking of starting a family...it's kinda surreal that this part of my life, being a mom, is so close. will i ever be truly ready? no. but who is? there are things rob and i want to do before having little ones (like travel to europe) but i know we are going to be the type where we dont let our little ones slow us down, they will just be on the ride with us! i am reading the Duggars book (the family that has 18 kids) and it is really amazing the values, morals, and character traits they instill in their children and how they do it. they are a christian family and the way they raise their children is amazing. i'm reading and thinking "wow, they are truly raising their children to live for and love God" and that is a goal of mine; however, i wonder how i could ever do it. but, that is where faith comes in and i know that God will give me the words when i need them and direction in raising our children and therefore i am not worried.

well, didnt think i was going to go into all that! was just going to write about how lazy and bored i've been this summer :)

seattle vacation

rob and i got back into phoenix this morning after our 6 day seattle vacation! we left last wednesday and returned this tuesday morning.we couldn't have asked for better weather! the whole time we were there it was sunny, clear skies, warm with a cool (refreshing breeze), and just perfect weather.

we explored downtown seattle and checked out Pike Market (where they throw the fish), checked out different vendors, ate at Pike Brew and Co., visited a wine tasting room, and walked around taking pictures. of course, we got some coffee, but not from starbucks though we did stop in the original starbucks just to say that we had :)

we stayed with our friends joe and joanna and their little chihuahua molly. molly doesnt like me, oh well! i like my bigger sonora anyways :) she does remind me of my childhood chihuahua mugsy though, which was cute. over memorial day weekend we headed out to the Washington/Oregan border to spend a couple days on in a cabin in the woods. we stayed at the flying l ranch and it was so peaceful in relaxing. i went on a short 1 mile hike the first evening by myself and saw two woodpeckers actually pecking a tree and two deer. rob spent some time by the pond there watching the sunset over Mt. Adams. We went for a short 4 mile hike and saw a beautiful water fall and just enjoyed relaxing and not having to watch a clock. Rob led a devotion (devo) for us on our last evening there and it was good to talk with friends about spiritual things.

on one of the days we were in seattle we took a ferry over to (well, cant remember the name of the town) and when we got to the other side we just rambled through the country side and took in the beauty that is the seattle area! that evening, joanna took a ferry over and met up with us. we then found this amazing pizza restaurant where the owners were super friendly and just made our dinner so fun and memorable.


i'm kinda too tired to write more, but all in all, it was a very relaxing trip and it made me realize how much i really just love being with rob and hanging out with him. he is my best friend and favorite travel companion and i couldnt imagine living this life without him.


on that note...i'll post a picture with this post and get off the computer for the night!

God's direction for us!

Amanda mentioned a bit of this earlier - but wanted to go ahead and give a bit more of an update on where we are and what we get to do!

Well, long story short is the opportunity arose with our church - The Refinery Christian Church in Goodyear, AZ to begin doing some work in the outreach and community service areas. There was another type of job that had been on the horizon, but which God slowed the process down. Some medical issue, etc. on the part of those involved have not killed that project, but slowed it down. Anyway, during this time is also when the last job went south, leading to unemployment. This was a good thing! God was working through this all to open a door into something better at the church. The Community Involvement Intern position.

What this position involves is creating and establishing our churches involvement in serving the needs of the community. Bascially, each of the ways that we can do service work, whether local, nationwide, or international. I'm excited! The secondary responsibility is Small Groups, which is cool too!

Outside of this, we leave for a near week in Seattle Wednesday! Exciting, getting to spend some time up in the mountains, etc! and away from our 100+ heat (which is way early and above average at this time, by the way!).

summer has begun!

Last week I finished up the 3rd block in nursing school...and I passed so that is always good news :) I now am enjoying my 4 month summer break and will be ready to start back up in August. In block 4 i will be tackling psych and community health. block 5 will cover critical care, leadership, and my capstone project. this time next year, i will so excited that i have graduated and nervous as i study for my NCLEX (the boards you take to become a registered nurse). i am going to take the NCLEX as soon as possible after graduation. i have already told rob i want to go on a vacation (preferably a cruise) to celebrate after taking my boards.

rob accepted the position of Community Involvement Intern at our church, The Refinery. We are super excited to see what God has in store-because we know He's just going to show himself and work through our lives in an amazing way.

This week our highs are in the 100's, so safe to say we are HOT! We are already starting to use our pool! It feels great and really helps to cool you down, not sure how people survive in Phoenix w/o a pool!

Today i worked a looooong and boring 12 hour shift at work...and now i get to look forward to the 3 hour finale of Biggest Loser, my absolutely fav show! Not only do i enjoy watching it but it motivates me to stay active and eat right. Truly, it is one factor that has kept me energized to keep back in shape. That and i want to be bathing suit ready and it helps me enjoy hikes (and other physical activities) w/ Rob because I am able to keep up and enjoy doing it with him.

Thats all from me for now...i'm going to get Rob on here to update about his job situation and other things like that :D

Oh yeah, one more thing. We are headed to Seattle next week to visit Joe & Joanna. I have never been to Seattle, much less the northwest so i am really looking forward to it. i know its just going to be beautiful. we may do some hiking, explore the city, and keep things simple so there is lots of flexibility and spontaneity; should be a wonderful vacation!

Hitting 100

Well, it has officially hit 100 degrees here in Phoenix! i sweated through the two days of extreme heat while Rob was in Irvine, California for a conference for the "next generation" Christian Leaders. The conference was called Catalyist West Coast. I'll let Rob write more about all the learned and gleaned from the conference if he wants. He was super excited, revitalized, and ready to go full force into whatever God has planned for him and we are really thinking it is going to be something in ministry. We will definitely keep you updated on that because there are some really cool things going on right now that Rob may be a part of...I just ask for prayers of guidance for us in the next couple weeks.

Tuesday is my final day of class for this semester and then I'm off for 4 months! I love the time off and am already planning days of laying by the pool, catching up on cleaning, working in the yard, and just relaxing. Even though i haven't neccessarily felt stressed the last few weeks with it being the end of the semseter, my stress has manifested itself in the stomach flu and now an annoying head cold that won't go away! I always seem to get sick at the end of the semester!

This summer we have lots of things we want to do, but we will see what actually comes to fruition. These "things" include: visiting Joe & Joanna in Seattle, planning a spiritual retreat with friends, visiting family in Colorado and hiking Wade's last Colorado 14er with him, visiting with family in Indiana during the 4th of July, and spending some time in at the Grand Canyon.

Other than all that, not much has been going on here at the house. We are staying busy with school & work and spending lots of time with Sonora who is always begging for our attention! We got a "Save the Date" invitation for my cousin Ben's wedding in Orlando at the end of the year so that is something to look forward to! I guess that is about all for now!

Update

Well, thought I should get on here and do a little update! Rob and I have started full swing back into classes after a quick weekend trip to San Diego. It is so nice to be so close to California! While in San Diego we went whale watching, tried out some neat restaurants, walked around and shopped in the Gas Light District, and enjoyed the cool weather San Diego was having. It is already starting to heat up here in Phoenix. Rhonda and Gary are visiting us this week and today we have spent the whole day outside. Working in the yard, reading, talk, drinking ice tea, having lunch outside, and listening to music. It has been wonderful!

I have started my new rotation in Pediatrics. It is definitely emotionally draining and I am ready for summer break and this rotation to be over. Our professor's son was just diagnosed with cancer after being in remission for the 6th time so it is definitely a unique situation to be in.

Rob has had some recent developments with work and most who read this blog we have already talked to about it so I won't post it all over the internet!

Other than that, Rob and I are really enjoying the weather and our church and spending time with each other. But, we hope to get some good quality time in with friends this summer! True friends are hard to come by and the ones you have you don't want to lose...no matter how far away they are! We are so thankful for the great friends we have made here in Phoenix too :)

Wow - It's March!

So not sure where February went, but it's gone! And we are already getting the warm temperatures - it's pushing 90 already the last couple days! This is way above average, and we will be cooling back down.

But as for what is going on: Amanda is on Spring Break this week, so I'm taking Friday off and we are heading out to San Diego Thursday evening for a hopefully relaxing weekend. Amanda got us some whale watching trip tickets for Friday, so we can see the migrating Gray and Blue? whales that are out there. The tour places are guaranteeing seeing whales right now, it is in that season. That should be fun!

I just wrapped up my New Testament 2 (Acts-Revelation) class and it was a tough one to do the tests. So much material was covered, and then the tests covered so much that there was little guidance to help us know what to study. But got through it.

There are a ton of things going on actually - possibly some changes in career for me as well as answered prayer. I won't go into the details yet, not until I know whether I will be doing that or not. But likely, that will happen soon!

But for now, we'll just be enjoying the wonderful weather, the sun, and the sunsets. (yeah - just have to rub it in a little now)

24

It's that time of year...my birthday! Tomorrow I turn 24 and really can't believe that I am getting so old ;) The years have been flying by since turning 20! No huge plans, just get together with some girls from nursing school. Rob has a super busy weekend of studying and writing papers! Hopefully year 24 will be kind to me and have wonderful adventures in store!

Just for Clarification :)

Well, I jumped on here and saw that Rob posted something yesterday...and really he pretty much covered everything I was going to say, so that saves me time :)

But as I was reading the post, I was laughing to myself about how Rob described my sickness in the morning...and how that could be interpretated. But, I really think it was just a little stomach virus...nothing more. There is no bun in the oven here! hahaha...at least i hope not! not yet! i need to at least finish school first!

School Cycles!

So we are in the full swing of another semester. Amanda is swamped with school work, papers due and readings, assignments, tests, clinicals...just lots of time! Me, so far hasn't been too bad, mostly reading but I'm hitting the paper writing time. In two weeks I have a paper due and three mid-terms. Of course that is right at Amanda's birthday!!! But all in all, no complaints, things are going well, except for a quick sickness for Amanda. Sunday, she got up and was getting ready and suddenly she got nauseous and really couldn't keep anything down. She was down for the count that morning, so I went off to church on my own, so I could answer all the questions about where is Amanda? Ha!

Church is going well, after missing about a month straight over the holidays, we are back in, and it is getting well organized and establishing itself. There is a lot of excitement and potential, and people growing closer to God and each other. That is a good place to be, even if there is obvious room for growth and improvement!

On Saturday night, we met up with our friends and fellow greeters from church, Tim and Shannon Schwartz, and had a good time at BJ's eating pizza and drinking a beer or two. Such a good time, hanging with others who are committed to Christ and living life for him! Plus, they are so fun to hang around with!

Possibilities at this point in my life are giving a glimpse of change, and of hope, that haven't necessarily been readily apparent over the past several months. It could be the answer to long-standing prayers, and I hope that something pans out to the level that I can mention it on here. I'm not ready to say anything yet, don't want to jinx myself!

Vulture Peak Hike

We went on an AMAZING hike with friends this past Saturday. Vulture Peak Hike right outside of Wickenberg, AZ. Drive time: 55 minutes west of Phoenix. You were literally walking among all the cacti and then climbing up the mountain. The views were incredible, you could see downtown Phoenix (barely through all the smog, though). We left the house at 7 am and returned around 3 pm that evening. We were exhausted :) It was such a wonderful day and so awesome to get in God's beauty that He has created here in Arizona.

Just a touch of work

Well, the busy cycle is back after the couple week holidays! That was nice! But now it's back at work, doing what I have to do. The building I've been in charge of is basically complete with everything that can go in until we have power and more importantly conditioning in there. Then we can get the flooring, wood doors, and computer gear in, but not before that! The rest of the job is moving along. I'm sure it looks nothing like when Mom and Dad came to visit anymore. In fact, I don't even know if Amanda would recognize it! It looks like a water treatment plant...but still have a long year ahead in getting it up and running.

School Amanda mentioned in the last blog, so the only other item I'm going to touch on right now is the weather. Just to make everyone jealous! It still gets in the mid to upper 60's and low 70's every day. Just wonderful. Perfect weather for getting out and hiking when we get the chance! I got one in just before Christmas that was awesome, a hike into a wilderness area, where there were a bunch of petroglyphs, then back out. A nice, quiet day. I'm going to get Amanda and Sonora out there soon (before the end of January!!!)

1st post of 2009!

The Family on New Years Eve

I just got in from a day of work and school. I started my OB/GYN semester yesterday. My professor is awesome and I am so excited to learn from her. Even though I want to go into ICU (Critical Care Nursing), I think God has definitely given me a passion for Labor and Delivery as well.



Rob's classes started up as well. He had Church History II last night, and Greek tonight. Every other Saturday his Cohort meets.



This weekend we are going to the David Crowder Band Concert with Shawn McDonald and the Robbie Sae Band. We are so excited because we are also going with a lot of friends. We have seen David Crowder twice before and their concerts are AMAZING. We are also traveling up to Show Low, Arizona to visit Wade and Dara! They are in Arizona to visit some friends from when they lived here. We are so excited to see them as well.



Barry had a connection from Canada to Hawaii yesterday here in Phoenix, but we were unable to go meet up because Rob was at work and I had my first day of classes-he was so close, yet so far away!!!



Well, gotta go and get Sonora from outside. I am kinda tired from the day but have lots of studying and homework to get done-so might try and work on some of it tonight. Also, my favorite show starts back up again tonight: Biggest Loser! I just TiVo it though and watch it with a hot cup of tea when I have the time!



Hope everyone had a great New Year's! We ended up going to PF Changs and then over to our friends Joe and Andi's house to play games and watch the ball drop. Andi's sister, Bri and her fiance Rob, were there as well. It was a fun and relaxing evening, and by midnight Rob and I were ready to come home and go to sleep :) Maybe some of you had more or less eventful New Year Eve's than we did!