Christmas

Yesterday evening Rob, Sonora, and me just returned from Colorado for Christmas! We drove out there, and it is only a 12 hour drive and therefore was more financially viable than flying. We left Wednesday afternoon after Rob got home from work. On our way out of town we stopped at Margaritiville at Westgate to pick up Vern's gift (a polo). We then headed out of Phoenix right when the sun started to set.

We drove through to Alburquerque where we decided to stop at a hotel and rest for a few hours. We had to leave Sonora in the car because the hotel didn't accept pets, but it was fine. We got into bed at 11pm and the alarm went off at 3am. We got up, got the puppy ready, and headed out. About an hour out you could tell that Rob was still tired so I drove for the next two hours. Rob took over again around 6am and we pulled into Colorado Springs a little before 8 am.

My family weren't expecting us so we surprised them on Christmas morning! We had talked with Vern so he knew we were coming, we had to do this for logistical reasons (aka there was food for us) lol. We knocked on the door around 830am and Brian Jr. came and answered the door. He was like "oh my gosh!" it was pretty cool. :) We enjoyed surprising the family. We ended up relaxing around the house that day and ended it by watching one of the "Scrooge" movies; however, Rob and I were exhausted and in bed by 8am.

We spent time with my family, dad, Aunt Dee, and friend Jeremiah and his brother Morgan who was home from college. We spent lots of time eating out, playing with the dogs, playing pool, playing the computer game Age of Empires with Brian Jr., Old Chicago's, and Bristol Brewery.

The weather was cold, but clear skies for the most part. We really enjoyed being home but I realized why I loved Phoenix weather so much :)

We left Sunday morning at 5 am and Rob drove the whole way back to Phoenix. We got home (to Avondale, specifically) a little after 6pm. We watched Planet Earth and ordered pizza. We were ready to be home, and it felt so good to be home, too! All our pictures will be uploaded on Facebook here shortly.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas like we did! God is good.

Finals upon us

So last night I fell asleep studying for my Greek final. And that was at 7:30 or so. At least it's because I had had 3 straight late nights. My final paper was due in my Early Church History Class, and I have two finals to do prior to tomorrow officially. Unofficially, I have until Monday to finish up one of the two. But then my first round of classes is over--and fairly successfully I believe, too!

And Amanda's busy wrapping up her semester as well. She just had her last clinical yesterday up at The Mayo Clinic. I know she's been liking this rotation and is thinking that critical care is forerunner for the specialty that she'd like to get in! She's finishing up her requirements, some due this week, others next week, which are her finals as well. After this semester is done, it's only 3 more to go! And this one she is wrapping up is considered the most difficult.

As for the rest of our lives outside of school, we are doing a little, fairly impromptu, Christmas party this Saturday night. There will be a few people there, but we only asked a week out so the numbers are still staying kinda low, but it should be fun. It is a champagne tasting and white elephant gift Christmas party. Should be fun, I think!

Work is work and still progresses. I definitely see a difference in the economy there. My work has had to make some cut backs, not because we aren't solid, but simply because there are no jobs for us to get here in Arizona. There are a few on the horizon, but we have to get there. And even out here on the job I am working on, you can see the different subcontractors are scaling down their operations because there just isn't the work that there was. Construction is definitely not the boom industry it was even a year ago. But it is all a cycle, and our company should be fine long term. Amanda's work is great - only 12 hours a week! She's going to apply, most likely, for an extern position at her hospital, which will require a couple more hours, but also gives her increased duties at the hospital and better pay. It should also help her transition into nursing once she graduates!

Morning After

The wonderful Thanksgiving holiday has come to a close! Rob is already at work and I am getting ready to jump in the shower to begin my day of class and work. I will update more on the Thanksgiving weekend this week but just wanted to update the blog real quick so everyone knows we are still alive :)

(Rhonda, Rob, and me the Thanksgiving morning)

P.S. New Orleans

Also, my mom and I booked our flights to New Orleans the weekend of December 20th to watch Ashley graduate from University of New Orleans. I've known Ashley since 8th and we have been through a lot together, so I'm so excited to be there and watch her graduate. My mom and I are also really looking forward to vacationing together! It's going to be an awesome & amazing weekend!

Busy Days

It's already that time of year again! The Holiday Season! One of my favorite times of the year, actually. My wonderful parents (well, Rob's parents first) :) are coming in to town the morning of Thanksgiving Day. Rhonda and I are exchanging emails to finalize our Thanksgiving Day meal. I'm excited because it's the first Thanksgiving that I am preparing.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, that also means it's time for sending out Christmas cards. Rob and I were extra proactive last Christmas season and bought really nice Christmas cards when they were 75% off at Target. I don't remember what they look like, so it'll be fun to pull them out. I am trying to figure out what type of picture I want to take to send with the card. I would love to have a picture with Sonora and Socrates in it, but that just might be impossible! :)

Tonight, Rob and I are meeting a friend at Game Time for a quick bite to eat then we are heading to a bon-fire with friends in Estrella Mountain Park. Tomorrow Rob and I may go on a hike in the morning, work around the house in the afternoon, then I am going out with some friends Saturday evening for a little girls night. Not sure what we are going to do yet. Then Sunday is church and then I am working from 1-9. Monday I have an exam and working, Tuesday is pre-clinical work, Wednesday is clinical from 0630a-630p then the COLDPLAY concert at 7!!!! So excited! We pick Rhonda and Gary up from the airport Thursday morning and spend the weekend with them. Whew, it's going to be busy! Should be fun!

Work Work

Well, I figured I better chip in here and give you an update from the worksite. I've been overseeing the construction of the administration building for the water treatment plant. It has been interesting and mostly consists of coordinating, scheduling, ordering materials, and making sure everything gets built correctly, per the drawings and specifications. I'm doing a lot more than just the admin building, but that is the primary focus, but a lot of what I've been busy with at work is problem resolution. They are getting to the point where there are issues with materials as they are going in the field, so I have to be the middle man, back and forth between the subcontractors, the owner, and our guys to make sure it installed to a level that is satisfactory. Especially once mistakes are made-because mistakes are always made.

As for other goings on I finished up my first Masters' degree class this past Saturday! One down, two to go this quarter. I have a Greek quiz tonight that I really still need to do a bit of memorization for...the vocab keeps growing every week, so it's hard to keep ahead of. But all in all, classes are good. The class I just finished was Foundations for Spiritual Life, which was awesome. I'm also in an Early Church History class, which is very interesting as well. I love seeing how people have responded to the circumstances of their time.

Amanda is keeping busy right now working and studying right now. Unfortunately, she was kept from being too productive last night while I was at class because Sonora decided to get sick and start throwing up all over the house. Nasty.

We are looking forward to an "off" weekend this weekend. It will let me get some chores done around the house and start working on a paper that is due after Thanksgiving. But we'll also have some time to relax and do fun stuff. Amanda is planning a Girl's night I think on Saturday to go hang with some of her friends. Also, we got invited to go hang out Friday night at a campfire at a local park...it should be fun and relaxing--the weather is awesome here now!

Alabama Weekend

Rob and I just returned from a quick weekend in Alabama to attend Nathan and Amanda's wedding. It was extremely short notice and still not quite sure how we made it out there, but we did! Nathan and Rob have been friends for almost 20 years so it was exciting to go and see him get married. It is kinda funny how his wife's name is Amanda, too!

Rob and I really enjoyed getting a little vacation time together and we always enjoy traveling together. Traveling is now great study time for both of us. We were able to experience the changing of the leaves and cool fall temperatures, which we enjoyed! However, I was ready to come back to my warm home! Even though temps in Phoenix have been cool as well!

We kept Sonoroa at a Canine Country Club while we were away. We choose to spend a little bit more time researching a place where she was not locked in a kennel the whole time. I know with her always catching the least bit of a bug under stressful environments, the least I could do was find her a place she might enjoy! She loved it so much she didn't want to leave when I came to pick her up :(

To conclude this post, I thought I'd include a hilarious picture of Sonora. Petsmart had Halloween costumes marked 75% off so you know I had to pick up something for Sonora. So, the picture is of her in a mullet wig as well! She let me put the wig on her with the promise of a peanut butter treat :)

Carving Pumpkins

This weekend while Rob was in Seattle a good friend from nursing school, Crystal, came over and we ended up carving pumpkins. It was fun-mostly because we were able to talk and laugh and not have the stress of nursing school looming over our heads. I met Crystal the first week of nursing school and we instantly connected because she graduated with her degree in Chemistry from Ball State University. Rob's parents (Rhonda & Gary) graduated from that school (and met and fell in love) and his bro (Joe) and our sister in law (Heather) met and fell in love there, too! :) She also attended CCV, the church we went to (we now go to the Christ Church of Goodyear-closer to our home). She is from Indiana and came out here to become a Pharmacist through Midwestern University. She decided that wasn't for her so she switched to nursing. However, she meet her fiance who is attending med school there so it all worked out for the good :) Haha, now that I've told you her life story...she'll kill me if she reads this (Sorry Crystal!)

Anyhoo, today I went to class and then headed over to work. Work was very, very interesting. The patients were definitely unique so it made work fun. I have been in a Sudafed haze all day so I'm glad to be home. I'm still fighting a head cold which is no fun. I'm going to finish a paper, then go have some Thera-Flu then plop down in front of the TV and wait for Rob to come home.

Tomorrow Crystal, Leanna (another girl from school) and I are going to go hike Squaw Peak. Rhonda, Gary, Heather, and Joe all hiked Squaw Peak when they were out here last Thanksgiving and they really enjoyed it. It looks like it offers some amazing views of Phoenix. I'm looking forward to it and hope I remember to grab my camera.

Tonight, Rob is at school. On Monday evenings he has a church history class. He turned in his first paper for that class and was slightly nervous because the teacher did not give any specifics on formatting! Tomorrow night he has Greek until 10:00 and then every other Saturday he meets with his Cohort group. I'll let him explain the details of all his classes (whenever he gets on here! which might be awhile because he's so busy!)

That's about it for now! Ciao!

Home Alone!

This weekend Rob is visiting Joe in Seattle. Since Rob has never been to Seattle, he's really excited to be there! I touched base with him this morning and him and Joe were on their way to Tacoma to meet up with a friend from West Point who Rob hasn't seen in a few years.

I woke up early and went to work to finish off my 4 of 12 hours I need to put in every week. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find 12 hours to work some weeks! I usually end up working on the weekends which I hate because I'm so tired by the weekend and just want to sleep in! So now I'm home and I've been putzing around on the computer instead of getting done any of the "To-Do"s on my list :) The one I did do was stop by the bead store (Destiny's Beads) to pick up the tool I needed to create a unique type of bead jewerely called wire wrapping. I'm so excited to learn this technique so I can start making gifts for people!

I'll end this blog by talking about the two things dearest to my heart other than Rob...Sonora & Socrates. :) Socrates is doing great like always. Right now he is laying by my feet, he likes to come cuddle up to me when I'm on the computer. Sonora is still high energy and cute. We had to take her to the vet again because she has Demodex, a mite that lives in the hair follicle of dogs. All dogs more than likely have this mite, but it normally causes no harm. Just like the normal flora that lives in our gut (e.coli and the such). Well, since our sweet little Sonora has such a cruddy immune system, this mite is alive and well on her. We are starting our second round of treatment with her. The medicine tastes nasty and she hates it. She's learned to recognize when she is about to get her medicine and runs off. We also have to give her a pill which is "horsepill" size. All we have to do is coat it in peanut butter and down it goes. She loves it! The cons about this mite: she looks kinda funky because she is missing patches of hair. The pros: at least it doesn't cause any itching and it doesn't spread to other animals or humans.

Well enough talking about her, I'm going to go get her from outside and maybe start on my "To Do" list :)

Hello & Welcome

Amanda here...

Decided that since Rob and I currently have such busy days that lead to busy weeks, months, and soon years, this would be a great opportunity for us to track our day-to-day life and share it with our family and friends! Hopefully, this will all keep us closer connected in this hectic life we lead! Already I can't wait for the time when life is a slower pace-but currently I am enjoying it for what it is!

And because of the busy life I lead, I currently cannot write more than this quick introduction. Off to write a paper about wound care! I'll share this blog with Rob (he doesn't know I created it yet) and I'm sure he will be on here soon blogging away!

Until then, I leave you a picture of the Birthday Boy who celebrated the big 3-0 on Thursday!