Back in the Saddle

We are home now and all settled in. I think moving so much so often lately has helped us get really good at adjusting quickly. BUT, I'm really ready to stay put for awhile. Thats exciting!


Steven started school again last week at ASU. This is his first semester at the main campus in Tempe, and his first semester in the W. P. Carey program. So far, I think he likes it, despite the looong commute. He only has to go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Wednesday nights. He's gone all day long on Tuesday and Thursday though. And, of course those are my days off. We have completely opposite schedules. Only 2 semesters after this one for Steven though! I'm so excited for him! He's such a smartie. He came home on Tuesday and told me that he's joining a club that helps you get paid international internships, and that he really wants to do it. Didn't I just say that we JUST got settled in and he's ready to be on the move again. Haha, he wears me out! But, thats why I love him and I hope it works out if thats what he really wants to do.



I started school on Monday at Grand Canyon University. It was my first day there and I must admit I was a little nervous. I really like it so far. It was so cool to sit in my first class and see multiple hands go up when asked if their major was pre-physical therapy. Its exciting to be going to school with people who want to do what I want to do, and who know and understand just how much time and effort its going to take. Some days I want to just give up and get an easier degree or something that won't take so much of my time and so much of our money, but it's my goal and Steven and my family won't let me forget it. So, the cool thing about GCU is most of their classes are eight weeks. So I have two classes right now and then two starting in Oct for a total of 13 credits this semester. The curriculum is sped up, but I think I'm going to like it so much better than having one class drag out the whole semester. I'm kinda scared how crazy its going to get with school and work though. I got a job in a physical therapy clinic right when we got home. I'm working for the same people that I always have, just in the Glendale clinic which is one that I haven't worked in before. Right now I leave for work at 6 am every Monday, Wednesday, Friday; work until noon, and then I have class from 1-5 pm. So far, my boss hasn't needed me much on Tuesday and Thursdays. It would be nice to get those extra hours, but its nice to not have to work and to have two days to study and maybe do a load of laundry! Hopefully I'll manage my time well. Thank goodness for weekends is all I can say. And, right now Labor Day weekend is looking pretty darn good.

Summer is OVER...

Steven and I continued our "end of the summer" tradition of going to the lake. This year we went with Steven's parents and brother Wes and his girlfriend Shawna. It was a great way to spend some time with Steven's dad before he left for Africa again for 2 more months. We all met at Apache Lake and stayed at the resort there. We had SO much fun! I still didn't get up on the stupid wakeboard, which makes me so mad BUT, we just bought a girl wakeboard that is a lot smaller than Steven's huge one so I will hopefully be successful next time we go! It was so nice to de-stress from our crazy summer, and was a good last hoorah before we started school again.

The lake was beautiful!

Steven and Wes

Steve and Ann

Oh Wes...

Pretty Shawna!

I took a little spill...

My arm ended up getting caught around the rope. This picture is of my rope burn right after my little incident.

This picture is of the massive bruise on my arm and back the next day. A week later, I still have huge bruises and they look a whole lot worse... I'm such a klutz!

Steven borrowed a Sky Ski for the weekend and fell in love with it once he figured out how to use it!

Goodbye Washington!

We are driving back to Seattle tonight to pack up our apartment and then come tomorrow morning we will be Arizona bound! And, 26 fun driving hours after that we should be back home. =) We have had such a fun summer, but its been a hard one too. We are glad its over and are so excited to go back home, start another semester, and be close to family again.
Thanks to all of the wonderful friends we have made this summer! We will miss you!

FOOTBALL IS COMING AND I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!

The Little Things

Today Steven and I stumbled upon a Sonic in downtown Spokane so we stopped and got lunch and drinks (my favorite!). It totally made us homesick for the seemingly "simplier life" of Thatcher. We always had little Sonic dates while we lived there. It got us talking about how ready we are to be done with the summer and to go back to our normal lives. This summer has been so crazy! The day to day grind gets stressful and wearing. We are so grateful we've had this opportunity, but we are definitely ready to be done with this summer. I don't think I've ever been so ready to go back to school! Steven's job leaves very little time for us to be together so I've become very grateful for the little things that he has done throughout the summer to show me that he loves me and recognizes the sacrifices that I have made so he can do this crazy job. Just a few of my favorite things have been:

• Last night when he was so tired and sick, but still was willing to let me drag the huge tv thats supposed to be in our hotel living room into the bedroom so we could lay in bed and watch a movie together.

• When I went back to AZ for a few weeks and he made sure that there were flowers waiting in my room for me when I got there.

• The simple fact that he let me leave for 3 weeks!

• The time he surprised me with a lobster dinner that he cooked himself.

• The texts that I get several times a day that say "I love you".

• The way he sticks up for me when the guys we work with are rude or disrespectful.

• When he says "thank you" for dinner or clean clothes, etc.

• The way he snuggles up to me in the morning when he wakes up and keeps shifting around trying to appear like he is "accidentally" waking me up.

• When we are finished with dinner and he says "lets go get a Mcdonalds ice cream cone". He knows I love that!

• And, that he has worked so hard for us everyday this summer.

It is so hard some days to feel that I have a purpose in my life right now. Its hard to stay patient and supportive. There is no way that WE would make it through this job without all of the little things that Steven does to make me feel special. This is just my little way of showing my appreciation. I'm a lucky girl!

Oh Boy!

So my life right now consists of work. Work consists of answering phones all day while being bored out of my mind, but mostly it consists of a bunch of crazy boys. Thank goodness I have the other awesome wives out here to keep me sane. Here are a few examples of the "fun" times we have with our boys...

The other night Steven came home and made me come outside with the camera to see these HUGE slugs that one of the guys found on a house he knocked on. I've never seen such huge slugs!

Steven was super sweet and decided to torture the poor thing by pouring salt all over it. It didn't live much longer...

A bunch of the guys also decided to grow mustaches. They were sick. I wouldn't let them in if they knocked on MY door! They all colored them in with mascara, black markers, etc to make sure they looked good in pictures... This is Steven's buddy Anthony who begged to use my mascara; I gave him a Sharpie instead...

THANK YOU STEVEN FOR NOT GROWING ONE! =)


And, here they all are showing off their manlihood by doing 4-man pushups. Boys... The married boys were sure to show up all the single guys though and WON.

Take Me Out to The Ball Game!

Justin and Elissa came with us to a Mariners game yesterday. Since they were playing the Dbacks we called up Steven's aunt who works for the Diamondbacks about a month ago to ask if she could get us tickets. And she did! Little did we know, they were right behind home plate! We were so excited. They were by far the best seats we have ever had at a baseball game, and made for a very memorable experience!

This girl sat right in front of us we figured out that she is married to one of the Dbacks players. She made sure to show off her HUGE ring the WHOLE time.

Ken Griffey Jr. made one appearance as a designated hitter, but the crowd went crazy for him when he went up to bat.

Boys Night

The other night Emily, Elissa, and I surprised our boys and Jud (his wife is gone for a few weeks) with a poker night. We had been planning it for awhile, but decided last minute that we should do it that night. We ran around to Costco, Safeway and the party store to get everything we needed. We made yummy nachos with tons of toppings. We found a cute bowl with spades all over it for the chips and napkins with poker chips and cards printed on them. I think us girls appreciated the themed decorations more than the boys did! The best part was that it was a surprise and none of them were expecting it. They all had a hard day at work, so it was fun for them to relax for once! Elissa and I could no longer stay awake at about 1 Am, so we walked back to my apartment to clean things up so at least we could go to bed. As we walked out of Emily's we could hear all of the guys laughing from a few doors down. I think that means they had a good time!

Steven, Justin, Chad, and Jud


What guys night is complete without Henry Weinhard's Root Beer?
Its the best!!!

Snoqualmie Falls

A few weeks ago Steven found out that some friends of his are currently living here in the Seattle area. They offered to take us out to Snoqualmie Falls. It was so awesome. The waterfall is HUGE. We took a few of the other couples out with us the next weekend and drove down to the bottom of the waterfall and walked out as close to it as we could get. It is definitely one of my favorite things that we have done thus far. It is so beautiful here!

The view from the lookout point at the top

At the bottom

Steven trying to figure out how he's gonna get closer


On a rock in the middle of the water

Downtown Seattle & Pike Place Public Market

Last week we went to downtown Seattle to the China Town here to eat some authentic Chinese food. We found a little hole-in-the-wall place that was pretty good. We then made our way down to the famous Public Market on Pike Pl. There were so many people and so many little shops and booths. The Market is famous for the "flying fish". One of the fish markets actually throws the fish from one guy to another. We thought this was gonna be really cool, but we were kinda disappointed. We aren't sure what all the hype is about! But, we still had fun walking around and seeing all the HUGE fish and getting ice cream cones afterwards!

Steven LOVES fish!

Some of the Seattle Skyline

Our Condo

The company Steven works for sets us up in apartments every year. Everyone that works in our office lives in the same complex, which is really fun. This year we got condos! I love the location. We are in Renton, just 20-30 minutes away from downtown Seattle. I wake up every morning and look out of the window and still can't believe that we get the opportunity to live in such a pretty place! We live right across the street from Lake Washington and Coulon Beach Park. Target is right down the street, along with LA Fitness (which we go to every morning when we aren't being lazy :) ) The new Seattle Seahawks training facility is also very close, as is a huge Boeing facility.

Our condos are 3 stories. The stairs are a major PAIN, but we are getting used to them.

A back view of our condos.

Disclaimer: These aren't pictures of my actual kitchen. I wish my kitchen was currently decorated this cute! But, this is what the main floor of our condo looks like!

And this is the best part... The view from our blacony and bedroom window!

We're Blogging!

Yay! We finally have a blog. This will be a perfect way to share our crazy life with friends and family.