Gila Valley Temple

Thanks to Monica for this information! The Gila Valley AZ temple was announced several months ago, but I've been so curious about where exactly it will be.

Monica posted lots of details here today if you'd like to read about it!

San Diego

Rob and I spent the weekend in San Diego for our anniversary. Just the two of us - we've never left the kids, so that was kind of strange. Rob's mom took care of the kids while we were gone. They had fun playing with their cousins and Nana's dog (Robbie's favorite part)!

It was so nice! The weather was great (a little windy, but nice) and it was relaxing to just wander around and do whatever. We don't have too many pictures, because we're not huge fans of asking random strangers to take pictures of us in stiff poses. Just one - this is us on a horse-drawn carriage through the gaslamp district and Seaport Village.

A group of like 30 teenagers spotted us on the carriage ride, and while we were stuck at a red light, they all started chanting "Beso! Be-so!" (Spanish for kiss) so we had to oblige. They all cheered. Just a little embarrassing, but hey, that's not something that happens every day!

We went on a boat tour of the harbor, we went through the USS Midway museum (a decommissioned aircraft carrier - pretty neat), spent a lot of time at the beach on Coronado Island and Mission Beach, and Rob took me for some yummy seafood at Anthony's even though it's not his bag. We also got some good use of the hot tub at the hotel! Every time I'm in one, I wonder why we don't have one.

On the last day, we went golfing at Sycuan Resort in El Cajon. Rob loves golf. He's pretty good at it, too. I'm not so good at it, but I can get by & it's nice to be out on the course. It was a beautiful golf course! I hadn't golfed or even swung a club in years, so I didn't have great expectations. I did, however, get a hole in one... teed of right into a tree, and the ball dropped straight down into a squirrel hole.


We could totally see the ball down in there, but we couldn't get it out with our clubs; just pushed it further down. So I lost a ball, and probably confused the poor squirrel.

Now it's back to regular life! It was a nice little vacation, and I'm glad Rob thought it up & planned everything out. For anyone wanting out of Phoenix for a little bit, it's just a 5-hour drive - go for it!

Nine Years

Tomorrow is our anniversary! Rob and I were married Friday, October 8, 1999 in the Mesa temple.

We met while attending the University 2nd Ward (U2) in Tempe. "A bunch of us" were getting together at Golfland one night, and that's where we met. (I put "a bunch of us" in quotes, because while that's what it was supposed to be, it ended up only being like four people.) I was wearing my University of Illinois shirt (a shout-out to my mission) which caught his eye since he's from IL. We started talking, and we played mini golf and air hockey the whole time.

Neither of us was really looking to date anyone at the time. He was tired of psycho girls, and I was just enjoying dating & not having a boyfriend. He started picking me up for firesides and little get-togethers... "Why don't I pick you up? It's on my way." ...and I guess the rest is history. After a while, we realized we were pretty much seeing each other exclusively, and shortly after that, we were engaged! Just kind of snuck up on us. Good thing I lived on his way to everywhere.

A good way to get a guy to bring you flowers is to have surgery. I had my ACL replaced (knee surgery) shortly after we met; here's the card that came with the flowers Rob sent. See, I'm awesome.

Some more relics...
Our "take a number" from the courthouse when we got our marriage license:

My parents had Chinese food shortly before Rob proposed, and this is what their fortune cookies revealed:

Now nine years and two great kids later, it just keeps getting better.

Happy annivesary, Rob! I love you.