Spring In Spokane

This last weekend we were able to go to Spokane to celebrate the wedding of Ryan's friend, Mark. Luckily, all of Ryan's siblings were also able to make it up to Spokane for the weekend. The grass was green and the weather was beautiful making an absolutely perfect weekend. The best part was getting to play with Ryan's nephew and niece!

Over the weekend, Ryan's niece Riley decided she wanted to set-up a lemonade stand. I'm pretty sure she ended up making about $5.00 for a half an hours worth of work. If only I could charm a crowd like her, I might be able to make a fortune!

Riley and Cooper are both super photogenic and love getting their picture taken. As my sister always says, cute kids make anyone look like a decent photographer.

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Prom Date

Last night, Ryan and I helped my little brother ask a girl to Prom. While my brother did the shopping for the supplies, Ryan did most of the actual work. I, on the other hand, supervised the project by "testing" all of the M&M's. What can I say, Ryan has better handwriting than me and he's much more of a perfectionist than I am - he was just a better fit for the job. But now that I think about it, I probably should have been a little more concerned about how excited my husband was to ask a girl to prom. Hmmm...

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A Drive-In Bbq

Last night we went to the drive-in movies with some friends. To make the most of our "drive-in" experience, we brought along our mini grill and had a bbq during the movie. Although the wind wasn't quite as cooperative as we would've liked, it was fun getting to watch a movie under the stars.

And yes, that's an actual hammock that Tiffany and James are laying on. They took apart their hammock from home and put it together at the drive-in's. We were quite impressed by their innovation!

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Cleaning House

Since we will soon be moving, Ryan and I decided it was time to "clean house." And by that I mean having Ryan go through all of his old boxes and throw stuff away. Growing up, I was known for being a total pack-rat. If you ask my mom, she will tell you that I kept everything because I felt like it all had some kind of sentimental value. As I've gotten older and have had to move around for college, I've developed a strict rule that if I haven't used it in the last 6-months, it needs to go.

The last couple times we've gone to visit Ryan's parents, Ryan has brought home his boxes with all of his stuff from his mission and from when he was a kid. As much fun as it is to look through all his old stuff and relive his childhood, the time has come to sift through the boxes and throw away the stuff he'll never use. Although Ryan didn't enjoy our little "cleaning party" as much as I did, it was absolutely hilarious to see all of the stuff that he's kept over the years. Keep in mind that he's already gone through these boxes twice in the last 2 years and this is some of the stuff that he's kept:

In case you were wondering, yes, that IS a Velcro wallet with his name on it. If he were to use that in the next 6 months, I think I'd be a little concerned.

I don't know who this Brazilian girl is but I think I should be worried. He was pretty adamant that she not get thrown away. And yes, he won that battle. It looks like this mystery woman will be living with us a while longer.

When asked where "My Buddy" is that goes with these overalls, his exact reply was, "I don't know, but that's all I have left of him." (This particular fight went on for quite a while.)

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A Place of Our Own

Although we never thought the day would come, we have FINALLY found a house. The offer has been accepted, the terms have been negotiated, and the inspections are done! We will officially close on May 21 and are extremely excited. It will be nice to finally have a place of our own!

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Our Home Search...

When we graduated, we thought we'd move down to AZ, buy a house and start "real life" in our new home. Apparently, life doesn't always go according to plan...

Started our home search in April '08.

Looked at over 60 homes in 3 months.

Put our first offer on a home.

Never heard back from the bank about our offer.

Looked at another 40 homes.

Put in 2 more offers on homes.

Had both offers rejected due to multiple offers on the homes.

Looked at another 15 homes.

Found nothing we liked.

Put our homes search on hold for a couple months.

Started our home search again.

Looked at another 20 homes.

Found a great deal on a fixer-upper.

Put an offer on the fixer-upper.

Got in a bidding war over the fixer-upper and gave up.

Found out the home sold for only $5k more than our highest bid.

Looked at another 20 homes.

Found another home we liked.

Home was a short sale so we didn't bother with it.

Found out the home went under contract the next day.

Found another home in the same neighborhood.

Put an offer on it.

Liked the home but didn't feel right about the area.

Withdrew our offer 2 days before offer would've been accepted.

Looked at another 15 homes.

Found our perfect home.

Found out it went under contract the same day we found it.

Looked at every home in that neighborhood.

Found two homes we liked.

Picked one and put in an offer.

Had our offer accepted.

Jumped for joy.

Had a home inspection done.

Found water damage.

Asked the bank to pay to repair the water damage.

Waiting to hear back from the bank.

And so here we are, 1 year, over 150 homes, and 6 offers later and pretty much nowhere. Talk about a patient realtor... (thanks Ann).

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Aubry Elise

On Thursday afternoon, my friend Hanna had her first baby, little Aubry Elise. Look at that head of hair!

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Little Stud

This last week my sister Adrienne was visiting with her son Brooklen. As always, we had a total blast shopping, eating, and playing. What can I say, my nephew's a stud!

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My Latest Obsession

About a month ago, Ryan and I decided to go on a hike at Usery Pass. Since that day, I have become completely obsessed with hiking! On the weekdays I sit at my desk dreaming about hiking. And on Saturdays, I wake up early out our of sheer excitment to get on the mountain. According to Ryan, "I have a problem." ;-)

On Saturday I went hiking with a few of my friends and was so ancy to get up on the mountain I actually went early and hiked the trail once before everyone else got there. I don't know if it's the fresh air or the combo of that and the amazing workout, but I absolutely LOVE hiking! On Sunday morning I even tried to convince Ryan that hiking is a "Sabbath Day activity" (apparently he doesn't agree). So if you've wondered why my blogging has been a bit sluggish lately (which you probably didn't even notice), it's merely because I've been a little preoccupied with my new "obsession."

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Vegas Made Me Do It...

Last weekend Ryan and his brothers had planned a weekend trip to Vegas to watch a basketball tournament. Since it had been a while since we were last together, I figured it would be a good time to plan a weekend get-together with some of my old roommates. We got to Vegas on Friday night and left late Monday night. We were pretty amazed by how much free stuff 4 girls can get in Vegas. Apparently, not having boys around has its perks. ;-) Here are some of the highlights from the trip:

Coca Cola Store

Dinner with the boys

Exploring the hotels

Unfortunately, my camera battery died early in the trip so I don't have most of the pics. Hopefully I'll be able to post more pics as I get them from the other girls. Overall, the trip was a blast and it was fun getting to spend time with family and friends. Hopefully next time EVERYONE will be able to be there and we won't have to wait 3 years to make it happen!

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The Perfect Day...

Yesterday was what I would consider an absolutely "perfect day." After sleeping in, Ryan and I got ready for the day and headed to the fruit market for some fresh fruit. After returning home and cutting up our newly purchased fruit, we headed off to Usery Pass for a hike. After a 2-3 hour hike in the perfect 85 degree Arizona weather, we came home and Ryan watched a basketball game with his brother while I sat by the pool surfing the web. After a couple of hours of relaxing by the pool in the most comfortable patio furniture in the world, we got ready and spent the evening exploring Phoenix with friends on the new Valley Metro Light Rail. Although I'm sure all of this doesn't sound exciting to most, it's pretty much what I would consider the "perfect day." If only every day could be like that...

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Kite Flying Festival

This weekend Ryan and I attended the "Pakistani Kite Flying Festival" in Mesa. After reading about the huge crouds the event drew in over the past few years, we decided we couldn't bear to miss out on this unique opportunity. Although it may come as a suprise to most, neither Ryan or I have any connection to the Pakistani culture. ;-) Luckily, the event is open to everyone so we thought we would join in on the fun. The festival basically consisted of people from Pakistan (we were one of the few without turbans) getting together for an intense day of kite flying. Unfortunately, we got there a little late in the day and weren't prepared with a kite. But you better believe that next year we'll be prepared with the best Pakistani kite you've ever seen! Begin preparing yourself for next year's post!

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Yes Man

After watching the movie, "Yes Man" on Friday night, Ryan and I decided that we aren't spontaneous enough in our lives. As a result, we decided to spend our Valentine's Day saying "yes" to whatever opportunities presented themselves.

We started off the day hitting a couple of rounds at the batting cages.


After a few intense rounds of batting, we came out of the park only to find a McDonald's right across the street. In the spirit of saying "Yes," we decided to have a romantic V-Day lunch at McDonald's. Following our "gourmet" lunch, we hopped back in the car and drove until we reached downtown Mesa. When we hit the downtown area, we parked the car and decided to take a stroll.


While venturing through the downtown area, we came across an awesome antique store. The store was massive and had a ridiculous amount of cool stuff. We spent over an hour rummaging through the two stories worth of antiques.



Later that day we had a V-Day feast at Texas Roadhouse. Following dinner, we hit up a late night showing of "Confessions Of A Shopaholic." (Although that wasn't Ryan's first pick, he was a good sport about it.) This post would be extremely long if we tried to include everything we did in the day, but those were a few of the highlights. 13 hours and only $30 later, I think we can honestly say that was the best Valentine's day ever. Hopefully, from here on out, we'll be a little bit more willing to say "yes" to new opportunities.

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Chocolate Affaire

On Friday night we had a night out with some of our friends. We started the night by hitting up the "Old Spaghetti Factory" in downtown Phoenix. In case you've never been there, it's an awesome restaurant with an actual train car in the middle. Ryan took me to the restaurant for the first time in Spokane and I've loved it ever since. After dinner we headed over to the Glendale "Chocolate Affaire." The event is an annual gathering of chocolate vendors from the southwest that come to showcase and sell their products. Although the chocolate was a little expensive, it was great getting to check out the event for the first time. Live entertainment was provided, but we preferred "people watching." As always, real people at free events never disappoint.

James & Tiffany

Celeste & Devyn

Ryan and I hope this will be us in 40 years
(Especially w/ the matching shirts & homemade Hershey Kiss hats)

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Super Bowl Bash

It's that time again...Super Bowl time!! This year was an especially exciting Super Bowl as our Cardinals were competing for the championship! As always, Ryan made his Mom's "to-die-for" buffalo wings and I made some football-themed cupcakes. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge football fan, but the food and atmosphere of the day totally draw me in. We went over to my parents house to watch the big game and had a blast getting to hang out and watch the Cards battle the Steelers. Although we lost, it was a fun game to watch! Go Cards!!

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Feeling "At Home"

Although it seems like we've been pretty bad at posting so far this year, the truth is that absolutely nothing post-worthy has happened lately. Our most exciting news is the arrival of our brand new camera. Finally we'll be able to post some "quality" pictures on our blog.

As promised before, here are the rest of the pictures from our recently completed painting project. After A TON of work, our apartment is officially complete! I'll be honest, I never thought we'd have to do this much work while renting. I guess it's just a small price to pay to feel "at home" in an apartment.

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Preparing for 2009

In order to start 2009 off right, Ryan and I decided we needed to "de-clutter" our life. So for the last month we've been working on an intense "apartment renovation" project to help us transition to 2009.

About a month ago we spoke with our apartment manager and found out that we are able to paint our apartment (without having to paint it back) as long as we don't paint it any super bold colors. Since we plan on staying in this apartment for a while, we felt that it would be worthwhile to paint our apartment and make it feel like "home." Within 2 days of finding out we were able to paint, we began our project.

Along with painting the walls, we also painted the baseboards (the few that the apartment has), re-caulked the bathrooms and kitchen, re-organized and cleaned out all of our closets and storage boxes, and did a super DEEP clean on the entire place (including all of the air vents). Although it took a month, we have now FINALLY completed all the changes. It took a ton of time, was a ton of work, and was ABSOLUTELY worth it.

We're interested to see how 2009 will go as it will be our first complete year working full-time. Even though we have no idea what this year will bring, we're much more prepared now that our home is in order. Bring on the new year!

(Pictures of the living room and kitchen are still to come)

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Bathroom #1

Bathroom #2

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