Day 243, October 19th

While I was driving my mom's car last week, I had the great pleasure of having an aux thingy so I could listen to my ipod! So fancy my mom's car is!!! 
So last week, I returned the car, which means I had to wrap up the cord, and go back to my radio...which is sirius so I guess I can't really complain!! Any way, so my fault, but I just set the cord up on the counter.  Max, is insane when it comes to hair ties, cords, anything.  He's chewed through 3 pairs of headphones, so again, this really was my fault. I came home from work on Tuesday, and the cord is in the middle of the living room, chewed the heck up!  He was not remorseful, and I was upset with him and myself.  
Ugh, kids!

Day 242, October 18th

Tuesday has become my school night, and lucky for us, a couple weeks ago, Ryan's mom gave us a chair for our office desk.  It was quite a treat to have a fancy set up in our office to get my work done.  I spent most of the evening in the office hitting the books.  And randomly asking Ryan to come in and talk to me every once and awhile!

Day 241, October 17th

Monday, I had to out some Kids Walk packets together for a presentation on Tuesday.  Ryan and I set up an assembly line and we got to work to putting together the packets! It was a repetitive task, so now I really know what our volunteers go through putting these together!! 
Tommy stopped by to pick up Sam, sadly our time together was up...we got to hear about his trip to Austin, and tell him about all the fun we had with Sam!

Day 240, October 16th

Sunday, what a treat, Ryan headed down and gave Lola a bath for me.  She sparkled so pretty, and we were both grateful for the nice gesture.
After washing the car, we went grocery shopping, spent a lovely day around the house and then made a yummy dinner.  We made pork chops with bourbon peaches, and let me tell you, delicious!  We watched Walking Dead and Dexter, our usual Sunday night, and got ready for the week ahead.

Day 239, October 15th

So we did a lot on Saturday, and I'm not sure why this is the only photo we took!!
We went hiking Saturday morning.  Sort of our thing when Sam is with us, he loves hiking, and we love pretending we have a dog who hikes with us.  
After the hike, Ryan and I headed over to the Taco Festival, since we super love tacos!! It was fun, but really over the top hot outside! I was searching for shade to stand under most of the time we were there! Crazy that last weekend was so nice, and then bam, hello heat wave!
Once we had our fill of tacos, we headed back home, got ready, and walked over to Gallaghers to meet some folks to watch the ASU game.  Elise, Sizemore, Brandon and Heather all came out to join us to cheer on ASU.  We lost, but still, it was a fun time!  Such a busy day, and again, one boring photo...sorry about that!

Day 238, October 14th

Friday was finally here, and Ryan and I decided we needed to hit the town for dinner.  We went to Panchos, a Mexican joint in sort of the hood, which we thought would become our spot, but I just can't do their bland salsa!  We had a nice dinner, with a very loud family next to us, and then a cute lady across from us who was giving all the staff their presents!!
The real highlight of the day was that Ryan went out and bought himself an iPhone.  He's now too cool, and makes me, sort of, a tiny bit jealous I don't have one.  Even though my phone does a good percentage of the same things, I too want the latest and greatest! Our family is moving quickly into this crazy technology era!

Day 237, October 13th

Thursday, Tommy headed out of town, which means our favorite pup, Sam, came to stay with us for the weekend! Tommy dropped him off when we were at work, so it was quite a treat to come home from work to another kid in the house!
We didn't do anything exciting, but we did remember that the cats needed liter, so Ryan and Sam headed to Petsmart for a late night shopping trip.  It was a fun first night for Sam, back with his favorite Aunt and Uncle!

Day 236, October 12th

Wednesday we had a nice healthy dinner of steak and sauteed spinach.  After dinner, we were sitting on the couch, and I decided we had to have something sweet, and remember seeing this dessert on a blog I read.  We pulled out two bananas, split them and filled them with a bunch of toppings we have! Then we grilled them up in the grill, and enjoyed!
They were too good for words! A delicious mid week treat.  And since it was mostly banana, I'm pretty sure it was healthy too!!

Day 235, October 11th

Tuesday we got one of those, you should switch to Century Link mailers, and instead of tossing it, we read it and realized that it was significantly cheaper then what we currently pay! 
After dinner, we spent some time looking into switching and talked about the real possibility of switching over to Direct TV.  Yes I realize I will be consumed with Football on Sundays, but if that means my Saturdays can be filled with One Tree Hill reruns, so be it!! It was a night of decision making, and although we didn't come to a final conclusion, we were heavily leaning towards switching!

Day 234, October 10th

Monday, after Mary and I conquered Piyo, I headed over to Southern Springs to visit my old stomping grounds.  I hadn't seen Mary since she headed out on her road trip for work, so it was the perfect time to catch up with my froomies, and furoomies! Mike ordered us some pizza and wings, and we caught up like old times.  It's weird to hang out at a friend's house when you used to live at that house! 
It was a nice relaxing night, just like old times, and it is always nice to see Nash and Lucy, and play a good game of fetch.

Day 233, October 9th

Sunday, we  cleaned, grocery shopped, did all the grown up stuff you do on weekends.  We were looking forward to Dexter that night, but obviously that excitement was too much for Ryan and Max, who took a nice afternoon nap.  We have a guest room all made up, but we never actually have guests sleep over.  Adrienne and Kolby did the night before we headed to Mexico, but that's it.  So since the room doesn't see too many guests, we have dubbed it the nap room, anyone looking to take a nice snooze, can hunker down in there.  Max loves that bed, so he always jumps at that chance!

 

Day 232, October 8th

Saturday came, and it was a lovely day.  We opened all the windows and enjoyed the fresh air.  In the afternoon, we decided to go for a nice bike ride down the south canal.  As we were riding, we saw this adorable neighborhood, so decided to ride around.  It was the cutest, kids in yard, people out front working, and everyone waving to us! It was like Pleasantville! We biked over across the way to the model homes, and made up a lovely little tale of wanting to grow our family and needed to look at something bigger!

Well bigger indeed, the house I fell in love with was almost 5000 sq feet!! It had a basement that is probably as big as our place now, and basically, we need to own this home!! :)  Our bike ride turned into looking at houses around our neighborhood, and seriously trying to reason with ourselves that we don't need 5000 sq feet for us and our cats!!!   

With all the biking, we were a little exhausted so spent the rest of the night just relaxing and watching a movie.  Great Saturday, and a motivational day to some day buy that house!

Day 231, October 7th

It is hard to believe it's been a whole year since Stephanie passed away.  It really is crazy how fast a year can fly by.  This whole week had been pretty hard, so I was expecting to have a tough day Friday, but surprisingly felt pretty okay.  Rachel text me and asked how I was, and said she was experiencing the same thing.  
Ryan and I started the day by hiking Squaw Peak, and I'd like to say it's because Steph and I used to hike it every week, but that's just not the case.  To our defense, we did hike often together, and hiked Squaw Peak last spring while she was waiting to hear if she had been accepted into the Peace Corps.  She had gone hiking with her brother's girlfriend and felt out of shape, so we went to get in some practice hikes before the next hike she would take with Cece.  We hiked the mountain, and sat at the top talking about how crazy it will be when she is in the Peace Corps, not seeing each other for a couple years, and what if she met her future husband, and African King of something exciting like that.
So anyway, Ryan and I went out and hiked and I told him all the crazy nonsense I just babbled about on here!
That evening, Steph's parents had an open house for her family and friends to get together and remember our friend.  It was a great night catching up with everyone, and telling classic Steph stories.
The day as a whole, was pretty okay.  I think the hardest part was knowing that I don't have a friend like Steph anymore.  I thought about what she would have done on this day if it were another friend of mine.  She was very good about doing things for friends who were down.  She made me a break up box once, with all sorts of goodies to "help" me through a break up, so I knew if she could have, she would have been here for me today, doing something to cheer me up.  And maybe she was, which is why both Rachel and I weren't all that sad today.

Day 230, October 6th

Thursday was my last day of work for the week, four day weeks, are always so nice!  Ryan came home with some pretty flowers, tomorrow will be one year since Steph passed away, so it was nice of him to come home with such a pretty surprise.  We decided to go grab dinner at Z Tejas, since it had been awhile, and he had a nice night chatting and catching up on our out on town time!

Day 229, October 5th

You can tell we went and stocked up at the grocery store this week.  We also got back into the habit of planning out our meals.  We grilled up some kabobs for dinner, so good, and did a lot of nothing! I wish I could say something more happened, but it really didn't!

Day 228, October 4th

We had some Italian sausage still left over, so Tuesday we, or really Ryan made a yummy meal.  I was working most of the night, so Ryan grilled up and made us a wonderful dinner.

We chilled out on the couch for the night, and enjoyed our Tuesday!

Day 227, October 3rd

Monday, after the gym, we made a delicious little dinner! We cooked up some Italian sausage and broccoli and threw it all together with some pasta and of course topped it with some cheese! It was so good, we really will need to make it again, it was quick too! Nothing else exciting about our night.  Mary called me to look up a hotel for her while on the road, and I felt nervous about picking a safe place, but really, that was the biggest excitement of our night!

Day 226, October 2nd

Ryan had a baseball game Sunday morning, so he headed out early to the diamond.  I spent the day doing homework, and trying to get our weekend chores taken care of.  Tonight was the wonderful night we'd been waiting for, the premiere of Dexter!! 

We invited Brandon and Heather down to watch with us, but since it's on pretty late for us old folk, they didn't think they could make it.  So instead, we met them for lunch.  Heather had just bought a new car so they were close-ish to us.  We met at Hula's for some yummy bites.  It was a good lunch, and we got to see Heather's new whip!

After lunch we headed home, finished up our obligations, and then prepared for Dexter! Last season was pretty disappointing, but the season premiere sure gave us the feeling that Dexter was back!!! Fun filled weekend!

Day 225, October 1st

Happy Birthday to my froomie Mary!!  

She was on the road for work, so we celebrated for her at the ASU tailgate!  But first, there were some other things to take care of!
I had to wake up super duper early to take my mom and Rick to the airport.  Positive of having to do this was I get to drive her car all week.  After I got the car, I headed out to a family's fundraiser for the Walk.  It was a fun golf event, and it was great to see the turn out!
After the busy morning, Ryan and I got ready to tailgate!
It was the second tailgate of the season, and the group was starting to grow. The girls headed down to spend the afternoon with us.  They had tickets to the game, but never made it, since we offer too much fun!

We headed to Blondie's to watch the game with the group, and had a fun night with our friends.  We were out on Mill into the late evening, acting like we are still in college I suppose, and had a seriously fun time! We light railed it back to our car, I drove Elise and Amanda home, and then headed home ourselves.  I think ASU won, but that's not really something I pay attention to! :)

Day 224, Spetember 30th

Friday, we hit the town to celebrate my dad's birthday.  My dad was born and raised in Phoenix, so he knows some serious history on this wonderful place we call home.  He may know lots about the past, but it is my job to show him the future!! Years ago when the Light Rail debuted, he, of course, thought that it was a big lame waste of money.  Now I can't say I use the rail on a super regular basis, but I enjoy the option.  
We decided to go to Arrogant Butcher for dinner, it is Fox Friday after all! I told my sister that we must take the light rail downtown, and she agreed!! Ryan and I took the light rail from near us, to the stop by Ann's house, where Ann, Sara and dad were waiting.  We all jumped on the light rail, and headed downtown.  Of course we sat by some crazy guy who kept asking if any of us were doctors, so that was unfortunate since we were trying to give dad and Sara a great experience! We got downtown, had a delicious dinner, and a wonderful evening.  I think dad liked the light rail ride, even if he won't admit how amazing it was!  We split up for the ride home, since Ryan and I were headed south and they were heading north, I was nervous sending them off on their own, but they did superb! It was a fun night out with the family, and a fun different experience!

Day 223, September 29th

This week was sort of a busy one, traveling around town for baseball games and work events.  So, Thursday, we calmed it down a bit. We hit the gym after work, then made a simply dinner of turkey tacos!  We hunkered down on the couch for the night, preparing for the weekend!! 

Day 222, September 28th

On Wednesday, I headed out to Gilbert for a Family Walk Team's fundraising event at Blue 32.  Ryan came out and met me for dinner.  It was a pretty yummy Wednesday, and there were lots of people support the team so it was really nice to see.  

Day 221, September 27th

Tuesday we met Ryan's parents downtown for the baseball game.  Two in less then a week, big fan I am becoming!! We met at Sliders, had a drink, and then headed inside for the game.
Ryan's sister got tickets 6 rows behind home plate, they were amazing seats!! I honestly don't know if I can go to a game again and not sit there!!!
The Dbacks were playing the Dodgers, and it was a pretty slow game.  Ryan had convinced me to go to the gym before work, so I was going on 17 hours with my contacts in, and that was not pleasant! We were tied 1-1 in the 10th inning, then the Dodgers started a hot streak and got a handful of runs, so we decided to leave, it was super late, my eyes hurt, and obviously we were going to lose!
SO...we walk to Ryan's car, he drops me off at my car at the lightrail stop, and of course, because I have a problem, I got on Facebook to see what was up, when low and behold all these people are talking about the amazing comeback, and how rocking the Dbacks were!! I call Ryan to tell him we won the game and he was shocked! I guess after the Dodgers went crazy, the Dbacks did the same, and won 7-6 in the bottom of the 10th! I'm not even a baseball fan and I was ticked we left early!! Lesson learn...never give up!

Day 220, September 26th

Because we did so much this weekend, you know our Monday was boring!!! 

After our gym session, we headed home, made dinner, and then straightened up the house a bit, since it was neglected all weekend. Everything is always more exciting then it should be in our house, so putting dishes away was quite the highlight of our evening!!

Watch out kids, marriage is crazy!!!!!!!!

Day 219, September 25th

Our jammed pack weekend meant Sunday was all about homework for me.  So I unfortunately had to stay home and work, while Ryan headed up to celebrate Marisa's 15th birthday!! 

Not that I have been around for a long time, but Marisa was 12 when I first met her, so it is sort of nutso that she is a year away from driving!!!

After Ryan celebrated with the family, he headed home, and I headed out! I had to work Sunday night at an event at Charming Charlies.  By work, I really mean I spent two hours walking around the store picking up things I couldn't live without!

It was one of those super crazy weekends, but it was great!

Day 218, September 24th

Saturday, we woke up early and got our green thumb on! I long for us to volunteer at least once a month, but it doesn't always work out.  Luckily, Ryan's work links him with opportunities often, so it does make it a touch easier.  We volunteered in our hood for the Tigermountain Foundation, where they grow fruits and vegetables for the local area! It's a really great foundation, I was very happy to help out with their cause.  We spent all morning clearly out the garden, getting ready to plant and crop and all of that! When we were done with our flower bed, it looked amazing!!

After we helped out our community, we headed home, made jello shots, bought some beer and ice, and headed out for the the first tailgate of the year! 

My lovely MOH bought Ryan and I these adorable shirts for tailgating for our wedding, so I've patiently been waiting since February to throw them on!!!

The tailgate was a fun time for sure! Julia, a co-worker of mine came out and we walked the long walk to Jenna's, another co-worker, tailgate.  Hung out with those cats for awhile (haha Jenna went to UofA, get it?!) then met back up with our crew at Blondies to watch the game.  It was a jammed packed day, but wonderful all around.

Day 217, September 23rd

Friday I met Ryan downtown to hit the Dbacks game.  If they won this game, they were for sure for the playoffs.  I had quite a day at work, so I was ready to pretend it all didn't happen! We went to Coach and Willies for some more than satisfactory beers and grub, I vented like a mad women, then we headed into the game to cheer on the Dbacks! We  sat in our new fav spot, the bleachers, where Ryan made friends with these college dudes who thought we has the bees knees.
Well the Dbacks did win! YAY!!
It was quite exciting, with fireworks and the whole shebang!! After the game, Ryan realized he didn't get his card from Coach and Willie's, so we headed back there, then we made the long walk back to Ryan's car, then to the lightrail stop to my car, and finally home.  We had to hit the hay because tomorrow was crazy busy!

Day 216, September 22nd

I had a Board meeting Thursday night for work, after that fun wrapped up, I headed down Scottsdale to Limelight Dipping Bar to meet up with Ryan, Alex and Heather for our second stab at Restaurant Week!
We had a fun dinner with our expectant friends!! I can't say I think I'll be hitting up Limelight again, it wasn't too exciting, but it was good.  It's sort of weird to have friends who have babies, or are having babies...it really hits home that we are grown ups!

Day 215, September 21st

Wednesday was a pretty uneventful night.  We hit the old Abs Diet cookbook for this Chili Mac recipe which was quite delish.  After cooking up the meal, and enjoying dinner, we hit the couch and watched shows! Fall tv is back, so it was nice to spend an evening laughing at the hilarity of the fall line up! :)

Day 214, September 20th

Ryan and I tailgate.  It's how we met, so it's what we do.  I am not a huge fan of football, but spending a few hours with friends on the weekend having a grand ole time, will always be fun for me!

Brandon has a bags set, but has since retired from the tailgating scene, so we needed to replenish for those still truckin'.  I hit Costco after work on Tuesday, and got this dope ASU bags set!!

Now we are ready for tailgating season with our wonderful friends!!

Day 213, September 19th

I got super lucky with printing off our wedding photos, there were so many different deals going on, that I'm pretty sure I printed our Engagement, Wedding and Honeymoon photos for under $100.  This deal made it difficult to buy photo albums because I couldn't stand to spend more on the books than the photos.  Alas, I broke down, found some on a small sale, and purchased them.  Monday was our 7 month anniversary, so it was fitting that I spent the evening going through all the wedding photos, organizing them, and putting them in photo albums.  It was quite a large task, and I kept sadly skipping pages, only to notice 16 pages later!! Ryan stepped in and helped in those cases to ensure I didn't fling myself off our balcony in despair!  Good night of organization!

Day 212, September 18th

This weekend kicked off the Fall Arizona Restaurant Week! Ryan and I pretty much love food.  If we could eat lavishly every night we would.  If we were on the Newlywed Game, they'd be like, What's the one thing you love to do together, and our answer would be EAT! Food is so good, I'm baffled at people who stick to one thing for a meal all the time! Insanity!!!

So anyway, it's Restaurant Week, which means you can get great meals at great restaurants for a much more bank account friendly price.  

My mom and Rick were all about going to The Keg, and so Sunday that's what we did!!  The concept is that you get a three course meal, so I got the French Onion Soup for course 1, Ryan got a salad.  I have never liked french onion soup, but had some strange urge to get it, and it was yummy! Now all I want to do is make some french onion soup!  We had yummy steaks and over the top chocolate peanut butter cake for dessert.  It was far too much food, and far too wonderful!! Great way to kick off the week!

Day 211, September 17th

Saturday morning, I headed up to PV Mall to have breakfast with my Rachel and her little man Asher.  We had a nice breakfast at Chompie's  and then decided to wander around the mall for a bit.
Rachel asked that we go somewhere close to her house since Asher is only a few months old and isn't a big fan of hanging out of the house all that much.  Well, she is a liar, because we walked around the mall for hours and he only was awake long enough for lunch and was quite the perfect little angel! It was a fun afternoon of shopping with Rachel, we haven't shopped in years so it was a nice treat, and I got some great deals, while staring at Asher's adorable face all afternoon.

Day 210, September 16th

Friday night, we decided it was time for a serious date night! It was Friday, so the perfect opportunity for Fox Fridays!!  He headed to the Biltmore and True Food, and I thought I'd dress for Fall since we're half way through September...well it wasn't Fall weather, I was hot!!
We had a nice dinner, but awkward company.  The couple sitting next to us seemed a bit off from the start, but once they were done with dinner, the wife suggested they go see a movie...bad move on her part.  He yelled at her, they got in quite a fight about why he didn't want to go to the movie, while Ryan and I sat creepily and listened.  After we thought maybe they were on to our eaves-dropping, we headed out to get some frozen yogurt at Mojo.  Another successful Fox Friday in the books.

Day 209, September 15th

Wild Thursday! As I finished reading My Sister's Keeper, which is far different from the movie, Ryan watched football.  We decided to just order some pizza and lounge on the couch.  It was nice, I finished the book, Ryan enjoyed the game, and we had no dishes to do!!

Day 208, September 14th

On Wednesday, we decided to hit the gym and then make some dinner.  We had a nice dinner, glass of wine, and enjoyed our mid week treat.
After dinner, we got to cleaning up, when Gus snuck his little tush into the pantry to try and get some treats, as if he is missing food by any means! He shamefully looked at me when I caught him, apologized and jumped down.  Kids...

Day 207, September 13th

Tuesday was quite a treat, we got rain! Us Phoenix folks are not used to getting rain, so when we do, it is quite a treat.  We were able to turn the air off, open the windows and enjoy the evening air.
After we ate dinner, we decided to take a stroll along the canal and enjoy the rain scented night.
Relaxed and lovely Tuesday.

Day 206, September 12th

Monday was very exciting! My friend Jen, who moved to Denver, was in town so we had a little ladies happy hour.  
After work I headed to the always favorite Aunt Chilada's to meet up with the crew.  We had a good evening chatting, catching up on life and listening to all the excitement that is the life of Jen.
It was a great night getting up to speed, and always a wonderful time with all my lovely friends. 

Day 205, September 11th

Sunday was really a day of not too much excitement. It was the first day of football, so that was really how Ryan spent his day.  I did some chores around the house, read a little and we headed out to the grocery store.
We had some bananas that were on their last leg, so I made some banana nut muffins for the week.
Since it is the 10 year anniversary of September 11th, we had taped all the specials on during the day, and spent the night watching some of them.  It was actually quite a depressing night, and I'm not sure why we did it, but it was a reminder of that day, and how awful that tragedy really was.

Day 204, September 10th

Wooo, it's 9/10/11!
Saturday, I had some family team events around the Valley, so I headed out to make my rounds and support the fundraisers.  While I headed out, Ryan spent the afternoon watching college football with the boys, by boys I mean our cats.
When I got home, we watched a movie and made turkey sloppy joes! This was my first time cooking with turkey, and I must admit I was nervous to try it, but it was quite delish! 
We watched Just Go With It, which was really quite funny! Nice little night in the house of us!

Day 203, September 9th

Friday night marked the start of ASU football season.  I am far from a football fan, but since Ryan and I started our little love session at a football tailgate, it holds a lovely place in my heart.  This year, our usual tailgaters weren't in commission, so we knew it'd be a different year for us.  The first game was a Friday night, and my friend Amy has season tickets and asked if Ryan and I wanted to go.  So instead of tailgating, we hit up Mill for a drink beforehand, which was crazy and reminded us why we tailgate, and then headed into the game.
The weather was crazy, insane lightening storm and a little bit of rain, but the game ended up being quite exciting. ASU won in overtime, which really added to the less then exciting game.  It was actually the first game Ryan and I attended together, so it was a magical moment!
It was a great start to a wonderful college football season.

Day 202, September 8th

Thursday night, we gym'd it up, and then made some dinner.  It was day two of our Abs Diet, six packs coming in nicely :) It was really impressive how yummy their meals are.
We ate dinner, watched a movie cuddling with our children and doing a whole lot of nothing!

Day 201, September 7th

Wednesday was a very stressful night.  Ryan and I had our Fantasy Football draft, BUT Ryan had a baseball game, a playoff game, so he couldn't miss it.  So I was in charge of both our teams.  I've done fantasy for the last few years, but I'm not really a pro in the draft, last year was the first year I did a draft, I've always just done the auto one.  So it's nerve wracking enough to do your own team, but then to have to do someone who actually knows what they are doing...that's stress.
I set up both our computers, had Ryan's picks, and spent the night stressing out and picking our teams.  I was so happy when it was over, and hope Ryan doesn't lose because of the team I got him!

Day 200, September 6th

So as I mentioned last post, Ryan and I bought the Abs Diet Cookbook.  We super love food, and the book has real food recipes so it's right up our alley, we aren't ones to eat chicken and salad every night.
We decided for September we'd try to eat majority of our meals out of the cookbook, so we started Tuesday with the Taco Salad.  We are Mexican food lovers, as I'm sure you're aware, so we decided to start off with a bang with our favorite food.  The meal was really good, I must admit I was hesitant, and we're looking forward to the rest of the month!