What we've been up to

The kids and I hiked up to the waterfall in the White Tank mountains. None of us had ever been there before, but we heard the waterfall only runs after it rains. So after Noah's flood in January, off we went!

At the waterfall:

Climbing on the rocks:

It was a gorgeous day, and everyone else had the same idea. It was pretty crowded, but still nice. It's such an easy hike, and it was fun to climb around on the rocks. There are also a lot of petroglyphs to look at. The waterfall is kind of around a corner in the canyon, so unless we wanted to wade into the water, we couldn't really see the whole thing. I'd like to go back when it's dry so we can do a little more climbing.

In front of some petroglyphs:

Some of you may know I got a new job. I've been working part-time at Kohl's for almost a year, and I went back to work full-time in August at Express Scripts. It was a nice place to work, and I appreciated my friend Mary for letting me know about the job! We would've been in bad shape without it.

A few weeks ago, Rob's sister Stephanie took a different job where she works, and she told her boss she knew someone who'd be good to fill her old position (me). They interviewed me and now I'm working at EcoPlan. It's an environmental consulting firm, and they do a lot of work all over the state. I handle contracts & cost estimates - very similar to what I did when I worked for Phelps Dodge. It's been good so far, and the projects are interesting; I like learning more stuff about Arizona. Although starting a new job is always weird until you get past the learning curve. Hopefully that will go quickly! I'm enjoying it, and the pay increase has been such a relief. Thank you Steph! I was even able to put in my notice at Kohl's last week. I'll work there the next two Friday nights, and that's it. I will dearly miss the employee discount, but I'm excited to have Friday nights back!

Rob started umpiring fast-pitch softball in addition to the slow-pitch he's always done. It will open up a little more availability for him to umpire more often. He likes it so far, and he got to buy a whole bunch of new equipment (yay for tax write-offs). The kids like whacking him in the chest when he's wearing all his padding.

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I went over to my parents house to see them and my sister and three of her kids, who were visiting for the weekend. We all went to Joe's Farm Grill, and it was gooooood! It's a pretty cool place & very yummy food. The weather was awesome again, and we had a nice time.

Erica, Robbie & Grandma:

Later that night, we went to see Rob for a little bit between games. He was umpiring at Papago Park. Since we were driving through the park on our way home, I stopped so we could hike up Hole in the Rock. The kids thought I was nuts since it was night, but the moon was so bright we didn't need flashlights or anything. They got a kick out of hiking at night & it was a pretty view of the city lights.

Well, I think that catches us up! At least on the things I have pictures of.

Christmas 2009

Now that we're a week into January, let's talk about Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at Macayo's (mmmmmm) and came home to get the kids bathed & in their pajamas. Then we drove around looking at Christmas lights like we do every year. We had to head home when the radio started reporting that Santa was getting closer to the west coast. We had some late-night cinnamon rolls and left a few out for Santa.

Lo and behold, Santa came!

Good morning!

Every time Robbie opened a present, he said, "I don't know what this might be!"

Happy kids

THEN, during breakfast, someone knocked on our front door. We heard bells and "Ho ho ho"... and it was Santa! He said he forgot a couple of presents & wanted to bring them by. Erin knew it was our friend Rick from church, but she loved it & played along. He told Rob and I that he wanted to stop by on Christmas morning, but we didn't know he'd be STOPPING BY Santa Claus style! Robbie absolutely refused to look at him. But what a fun surprise! It was so cool that he did that.

We missed my parents coming over this year, but we were happy my sister got a turn to have them at her house! And since my brother Chris's son was getting baptized on the 27th, we got to see everyone for a little bit then.

After breakfast, we went to Rob's sister Brigette's house for Round 2 of Christmas! It was nice to see everyone there, and they had Christmas dinner over there. I worked on Christmas night, so Brigette and Sandy made sure I had a plate of food to bring along.

We had such a nice time. And now all the Christmas stuff is down & put away and we're moving on into January. My mom always said January is kind of a letdown after all the fun of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Kind of like a giant Monday.

Happy New Year! ha ha

Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving, we drove up to Miami to eat with my family. Everyone was there except for my brother Chris and his family, because he had to work.

On the way up, we stopped by the Queen Creek tunnel on Highway 60 and hiked down the old highway through the old tunnel, just because.

It was nice to see everyone, even if it was just for a couple of hours. We always meet at the church in Miami and eat there. Of course we ran across the street and put a bunch of pennies on the train tracks, so we could collect the smashed results after the train passed. The kids really got a kick out of that!

After Thanksgiving lunch, we drove back to Mesa to have Thanksgiving dinner with Rob's family. We ate at Brigette & Steven's new house, and they did everything! Crazy, if you ask me. But it was really nice. The kids had fun running around in the back yard.

Erin's loose tooth held up through all that eating, but not for too much longer. It finally came out a few days ago, and now she's up to a grand total of 3 teeth she's lost. She's frustrated because some kindergarteners have more permanent teeth than she does! But it's OK, they'll come out when they're supposed to, right?

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!

We had a busy day on Halloween. Rob had to umpire a few games in the morning, and I took the kids to the ASU homecoming parade & block party. I forgot how much STUFF they give away at that thing! We came home with lots of candy, of course, and tons of pencils & pens, two whole boxes of crayons, a frisbee, Sparky masks, coloring books, magazines, Sparky tattoos... I'm glad we brought a little backpack. Some of the stuff we did there:

Watched the parade

Sat on a police motorcycle & tried on the cop's helmet

I didn't get a good picture of Erin on it because the cop took a Polaroid. It wasn't until afterward that I saw it wasn't a great picture. (By the way, Erin had never seen a Polaroid before & she was pretty impressed with the "magic picture" as the cop called it)

Bounced & slid on a big ASU inflatable

Walked over the bridge that says ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

After that, we had lunch at Boston Market with my parents. They were doing $1 meals all week, and there's not one on our side of town, so we had to take advantage. Then we hung out at my parents' house for a little bit before coming home to get ready for Halloween.

Erin wanted to be a devil this year. I probably should've painted her face & hair red, but it was so nice to not have to wash any off that stuff off before bed!

I found some firefighter-printed pajamas in Robbie's size for $6 and got a firefighter hat at the dollar store. The best part is that when we got home last night, all I had to do was take his hat off, wash his face & hands, and he was ready for bed.

We went to the Trunk or Treat at the church & it was a lot of fun. The weather was AWESOME! And we got 50-cent corn dogs from Sonic on our way over. This obviously isn't a good picture, but I still sort of like it. Maybe it portrays the overall feeling of Halloween (ha ha)

And of course, what would Halloween be without candy sorting?

Happy Halloween!

Ten Years

Rob and I have been married TEN YEARS today!

We were married Friday, October 8, 1999 in the Mesa temple. Our reception was that evening, and then we flew to Cancun the next day for our honeymoon. Shall we take a trip down memory lane?

Engagement photos....

Now, having been to lots more weddings in the past ten years, there are probably some things I'd do differently if I were to plan a reception today, but it was nice. We had fun, and and our families and lots of friends helped us out in so many ways to make it a special day for us! It's kind of too bad receptions aren't longer so you can spend more time with all the people who help out or travel from out of town or go out of their way to be there for you. It's nice to read the guest list and think about all the people we love who came to be there with us.

A few interesting things from our wedding day...

Like the bride forgetting to bring her white shoes and only having BLACK ones to wear out of the temple...

And having a fountain punch bowl that LIGHTS UP RED when you plug it in!

And I had to include this picture because, well... look!

...cracks me up.

Rob sliced up his hand while cutting string off the car so we could get into it, and he did a good job not bleeding all over the white rented tux. "Are you okay? Don't bleed on the tux!"

We drove off into the night, happily ever after....

WAIT. Almost. We stopped by my parents' house on the way to our hotel so we could hang up my wedding dress and leave Rob's tux, and he discovered one of the car vandals' keys in his car! So he took off to bring the keys back to the reception while I changed clothes at my parents' house. He said he got some pretty confused looks when people looked into the "Just Married" car and just saw some poor guy driving along by himself.

Mind you, it really was a great day! But what would a stroll down memory lane be without some entertaining details? We can't forget that stuff.

We had a good time in Cancun & got to do a lot of interesting stuff, like swim with dolphins and ride wave runners without glasses or contacts (going without glasses or contacts is an adventure in itself for both of us!) and checking out the Mayan pyramids at Chichen Itza.

When we got home, both of our parents came over and we opened our wedding presents. Later, we had our first meal in our apartment: melted American cheese on hot dog buns. Then it was back to work and school!

We had a good start, and ten years & two kids later, things are still going pretty well, entertaining details and all!

Happy 10th Anniversary, Rob! I love you!

Fall!

It's fall!! Either that or we're having a cold spell. The high was only 90 today!

Rob didn't have to umpire today, so he actually got to play softball. We went to a couple of his games. The kids loved riding their scooters at the park.

Then we hiked up Monument Hill. It's the point where the surveys for the whole valley started back in the 1860's. The whole city was mapped out from this point, and they have a little plaque and concrete compass rose right on top of the mountain. Erin is getting kind of interested in maps, so she got a kick out of that. We could see just about everything from up there. Downtown is just above Robbie's head, and Camelback Mountain is to the right of that.

Don't worry - they're not that sunburned. They just get pink in the heat like their mom.

Monument Hill also butts up against Phoenix International Raceway, so we got a good view of that. On Saturdays, they open up the racetrack & let people pay to drive their own cars in there. Kind of interesting to watch. Robbie really liked that, since it was so similar to the Cars movie. (Robbie really hated this cactus. I told him to be careful & not to touch it because it's pokey, and then he didn't want to go anywhere near it!)

The Base & Meridian wildlife area is right at the bottom of the hill, so we went down there for a little bit. We threw a lot of rocks in the water, and the kids put their toes in for a little bit. It's a well-used area, I'll say, because there were plenty of beer cans & grocery bags lying around. It bothers me to see so much crap around, but it's still a fun place to go.

Then Rob had a break between games, so we met him at Hungry Howie's for pizza. Pretty good pizza - same $5 carryout deal as Little Caesar's, but not quite as... well... Little Caesar's. You know.

We went home, had baths and cooled down for a bit, and then we went back to Avondale for Rob's last game. His team was undefeated & won the tournament, so that was pretty fun for him. Right now, he's proudly wearing the t-shirt he won (ha ha). Here are the kids watching him bat. (Not sure what's going on with the umpire & the catcher, though)

We're tired! But it was a good day, and I'm so happy the bearable weather is here!

Baseball

Last night, I took the kids to the Diamondbacks/Brewers game. The kids had their free tickets from the summer reading program at the library, and I spent a whole $6 on my ticket. Rob didn't get to go because he umpired from 9am - 8pm yesterday! It was HOT outside, I felt sorry for him.

When I told Robbie that we were playing the Brewers, he got all excited & started chanting "Walkie Brewers!" I reminded him that we wanted the Diamondbacks to win, but he had his own idea. (Remember, he likes the Brewers since we popped in on spring training that time and the guy gave him a couple of baseballs)

Well, Robbie got his way, because it was a shameful 9-2 loss for the Diamondbacks! We left during the 7th inning stretch. We stayed long enough to hear a couple thousand people sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" though... that's one of the boy's favorites.

It was Hispanic Heritage night at the ballpark, so the team's jerseys said "Los D'Backs" and they played a lot of Satana & stuff on the sound system. They had a few mariachi bands & dancers out in the concourse, and it was pretty cool.

Here come the pictures...

Diamondbacks tattoos:

The gun show - BANG!

BANG!

We had a good time.

So my blogging has suffered lately because I went back to work full-time. I am working at Express Scripts in Tempe, and it's been pretty good so far. Although I'm still in training. My friend Mary works there, and she told me about the job. I totally owe her lunch.

I was nervous/sad about having to leave Robbie during the day, but my friend Alayna is watching him & he loves it! Her son started kindergarten this year, and her oldest daughter is the same age as Robbie, so they keep each other busy. Alayna is great & multi-talented. For those of you who don't know her, go to her website & check out the coolest baby toys ever: Zadyball.com

For the time being, I'm still staying on at Kohl's, but only for Friday nights. Rob thinks I should quit, and I will when I'm completely tired of it, but for now it's nice to still get the employee discount and to get my window shopping done while I work. Not to mention getting a few extra dollars every week.

Erin is tearing it up in second grade. She loves it! Her teacher is really good & Erin is excited about school every day. She got her first progress report the other day, and she has all A's and one B. The B is 96%, and four of her A's are 100% so that's pretty cool! We're proud of her.

So that's what we've been up to.