Stacie's Place

It's Fair!

2009-11-04T23:40:00.000-08:00

I'm a huge fan of going to the fair. Fair food. Rides. Exhibits. People watching. Animals. Concerts. I miss the County fair in Woodland, CA so very very very much. I miss the Sacramento State fair too. But since I live in Arizona now, I'd have to settle for the state fair here.

I was lucky enough to go to the fair a couple times with friends 2 weeks in a row. The first time I went with my friend Ben (his first time to the fair ever!) Jennifer & Melanie, and their friends Sam , David and Becky. We went ate fair food ( I had pork & rice ) and went on a couple rides...

Ferris wheel - a'ight....Haunted Mansion (there were 2) but this one was lame!

since it was Ben's first time at the fair, it was also his first time on the Ferris Wheel

Went to the Old School Jamz concert where Lisa Lisa performed and Stevie B. Some of Lisa Lisa's songs sounded familiar. I liked Stevie B even though I'd never heard him before. Fun show! With lots of people, age ranges, up dancing or singing along. Way cool.

Got some more fair food....stopped by the exhibition building on the way out and then Melanie was nice enough to drop me off at my car.

The other night I went to the fair was a Tuesday night and I skipped play practice to go...shh!... and I went with my friend Chris who had about 70 or so ride tickets to use up and I still had about 30 to use. I stupidly forgot my battery charging at work so all I had was my camera phone - boo! - but it was better than nothing. Sorry for the not so great pix though. Once at the fair, I got a hamburger which was super good and only $4. We went to the David Cook concert...

which turned out to be a great show. Chris wasnt so sure but he's a fan now. I didnt know so many of David's songs but I still enjoyed the concert. The BEST part about his show was when he came down off the stage (surrounded by a bunch of security of course!) and was singing IN the crowd of people. I wanted to rush down from my seat but it only lasted a couple minutes. Still though...it was neat to see him singing on the main floor down with everyone and of course ther was a mad rush of people trying to get a close pic of him or touch his arm. Kind of funny but very very cool. Mad props to David Cook for being brave enough to do that!

Then we went on a bunch of rides.;Disc-O , we went on the spinning cups, cyclone, a roller coaster, many other rides until the ride Chris wanted to go on, it's his "tradition" was this upside down ride thing called the Zipper. I was not a fan at all. It was my first upside down ride ever. I tried to tell the people in the cage across from us before the ride started that I wanted to get out. Haha!

my new favorite ride - Disc-O!

Chris & I on the tea-cup ride...hehe

I liked this ride, whatever it was called. It went FAST (to me)

The upside down Zipper ride - I did not really like it! This was my FIRST upside down ride I've ever been on in my 27 years of life. For reals!!

Then we ate more fair food & went home. I'm so glad to go to the fair twice! Esp bc of the pineapple whip that I missed the first time around..and the fact I got it for $2 instead of $4 was extra nice ;-)

I thought they only sold these in Disneyland!! and maybe Hawaii! And to think, if we had not been searching for corn-on-the-cob for Chris, I never would have found this booth! it was a little bit tucked away...phew!

Cant Forget About Sunday!

2009-11-03T11:54:00.000-08:00

The last day of the best. weekend. ever.

Hopefully its not the end of best weekends ever, right?!??!

My morning of sleeping in & watching a movie online & cleaning my room was good.

Church in the afternoon was good I think. I dont remember now if I went to the family ward, Gable YSA ward or the Countryside Park Ysa ward. O well.

I DO remember that I burned Brennen the Owl City cd bc he is really liking that band now and he had invited me over for a family dinner at his parents house. Heck yes!!

I got to meet some of his step-siblings and get to know his dad and step-mom better. His dad made the BEST lasanga...not too much sauce or cheese. It was PERFECT. The broiled french bread turned out so so so good. Not burned at all. We had a veggie, played Uno! (one of my favorites) and sang Happy Birthday to Brennen & had some cake & ice-cream. I was SO FULL!

Then we played Wii until I left around 9'ish or so. It was so fun spending time at Brennen's parents house & enjoying good company , laughs and food!

*he turned 27...not 25! there are 2 single candles off to the right...*

Super Busy Saturday

2009-10-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of the Best. Weekend. Ever.

Saturday started early. I went to REI and waited in line with my friend Justin for the members only sale. Some people camped overnight. Justin got in line a bit after 6. I arrived at 8. Was supposed to get there sooner but when I heard they werent giving out numbers, I slept in a little. They put people in 2 lines and there were 2 sections fenced off with orange plastic and at 9am they let everyone in and once everyone was in their sections (this all took place outside) then you could go inbetween both sides. People are quick and grab the good stuff but I was able to snag a camelback waterproof backpack for $20 instead of $130 and the only reason it had been returned was because the customer wasnt satisfied.

Hooray for me!

Got a couple other things , said bye to Justin & went to Target. The best deal I got was a car seat cover for the drivers seat in my car. $4.99. I love the end shelves at this store! I used a bunch of coupons to get $$ off soap and toothpaste. Exciting I know.

In the afternoon I kind of relaxed after my busy morning and chatted with my dad online, worked on cleaning my room, washed my car and washed my birds!

They really enjoyed being sprayed by the mist from the hose. Chloe' is on the left with Mr. Chubbs and Rococo and Shanaynae (on the ladder) on the right hand side of the cage. Chloe' has her wings all spread out in this pic, enjoying the "rain"

Went to Chandler to pick up my battery charger from work for my camera. Stopped by Fry's Foods to get this whipped cream stuff that doesnt expire til January! and it tastes WAY better than regular whipped cream. It is so so so so so GOOD!

Here is 1 of the containers I bought (less than $2!) and I'm trying to do the healthy thing and eat some apples with it. A little more whipped cream, a little less apple!

Picked up food from Panda Express because I had a coupon that was about to expire, got some for Brennen too. Drove back to Mesa to his dad's house where we hung out until I got a call from my friend Kyle saying that he had been able to get me into the Owl City concert @ Martini Ranch in Scottsdale. YAHOO!!!! I had been wondering all day if he'd be able to get me in and he was able to do it!

So I went to Jamba Juice (had a coupon for there too and got a gift card for some friends who got married) and changed clothes at home, went to the reception for about 10 minutes or so and then headed out to Scottsdale. I had to be there at 8:45pm . No sooner. No later. Or I wouldnt be able to get in. Luckily I was able to get there right on time, talked to the guy at the door, showed him my ID and he lead me around to the back and wah - lah - I was in!!!

The show was awesome!

It was so packed inside so I managed to get on 1 side of the stage but that meant that Adam, the lead singer, never really looked over towards me. OH well, his drummer was real good so that was fun to watch. There were people of all ages here. It was a really fun concert.

Got back to Mesa about 10:15 and Brennen and his sister Kim picked me up and we went to a Rock Band party hosted by Countryside Park ward. The Rock Band was set up on a big screen outside.

There were also tons and tons of boxes of pizza that had been eaten. There was delish homemade rootbeer. Steve Cox kissed my eye. I talked to a few friends. Dil avoided me it seemed. Haha. It was so much fun. I'm glad I got to go. OH and I wore my Owl City shirt (had to get one!) and on my way in, a guy heading out said "Oh I love Owl City!" and I said "Me too! I just came from their concert" and he was like "No way! Lucky! How'd that happen? " and I said "I have a friend who got me in. Dont worry, they'll be back in April if not sooner."

Saturday was a jam-packed day but it went so awesome I wouldnt change a thing (well, being able to go to Joey's soccer game would have been hecka nice..but..next Saturday I'll be there!)

Best. Weekend. Ever.

2009-10-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

And because ( I know sentences shouldnt start out with those words..but..its a blog...) it was the best weekend ever, I might have to write about it in 2 or 3 separate posts.

I'll start with Friday night.

Kristi Yamaguchi Ft. The Backstreet Boys @ US Airways Center in Phoenix. AMAZING. It was SO worth the money to go. It was worth it even though I went by myself. They were taping this for a tv-special airing November 1st (I think). Here are some pix I took from the evening:

The arena was set up SO COOL! Lots of neat light combination's and the Backstreet Boys were at the opposite end from where I was but its okay. At least I could see them.

This pair was amazing! Eesp when he swung her by her feet!

This couple was amazing! They skated to one of my favorite songs from Glee.

I should probably crop this pic, the camera crew is in the way, but this is Michael Wiess mid-air

This couple was really good. She even flipped him upside down!

I will have to look up what his name is but he is the guy who can do a back flip on ice! WITH skates on! So amazing.

Yuki Sato

My Backstreet Boys!! Loved the stage background behind them too. Sooo pretty

Ekaterina Gordeeva was one of my absolute favorites growing up to watch on TV so it was so awesome to see her skate live!

Kurt Browing. Another favorite! He is so funny & entertaining.

At the end of the show all the skaters came out and skated together and then they lined up with the Backstreet Boys.

GREAT SHOW. YES YES YES. Did I say that already?

Then afterwards, since this is going to be on tv, they had a few of the skaters who fell in their routine, redo that part so they can fit it into the tape and make it "perfect" for when it is on tv. I had no idea they did stuff like that ! LOL

Chris Daughtry in concert!

2009-10-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to fairly cheap tickets online & a rescheduled show that opened up more tickets to be sold I guess, I was able to see Chris Daughtry LIVE at the Marquee Theater on October 13th. Here are some pix from the show...

I didnt know all the songs her performed but it was great to sing along to the ones I did know and see him again in real life! The last time I saw him was in 2007 when he performed at the state fair in Sacramento, CA. I liked the single he performed coming off his new album , which I am not sure when it comes out, but probably soon! Cant wait!

I got a bit closer to the stage towards the end of the show which was cool. Also it was nice that my friend Bryan & his friend could come to the concert as well so I wasn't totally by myself.

I posted a couple vids I took on my Facebook page so feel free to go check those out as well

Random Photos of the Day

2009-10-15T11:11:00.001-07:00

The bangle tiger cat at work just chillin. Looked funny so I took a pic.

I thought this car had sweet rims

The morning I was to get my wisdom tooth out. Got $1 off a strawberries & creme Starbucks frappachino. It helped my morning a tiny bit.

Protesters that slow down traffic above the freeways (the 60) and they usually are protesting the cameras that are going west-bound towards Phoenix

Free Pei Wei

2009-10-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

I heart Pei Wei. Not "pee-wee" as my sister Laura calls it. Thanks to Facebook I signed up to be a fan on their page and got a card in the mail for free food! Mmmmm

Got this on Saturday evening, a day after having my wisdom tooth out. Everything was nice and soft & tasted great as I laid on my bed and ate and watched a movie online with Tony.

Conference Weekend

2009-10-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

Landing in SLC , UT on Friday October 2nd

My flight was an hour late in leaving Phoenix and the plane was hot and smelly (due to people/children) and the lady next to me complained the whole way. I did get to see the band Cavo but they were on a flight headed to New Orleans. Sad day.

The original plan had been for me to get in at 6pm, change, do a session at the SLC temple & go to eat. I ended up landing at 7pm and the last session at the temple was at 8pm so we would probably not have made it in time. My visiting teacher Tara told me about this place called the Red Iguana so we decided to check it out. It is so popular that we had to wait and hour to be seated! So we went across the street and had dessert first at Leatherby's.

We shared mint chocolate ice-cream and it was so good!

The picture on the left is the door into the Red Iguana. It is COVERED with stickers from many places, to "represent" I guess. There were even a couple of In N Out stickers!

We got the Red Iguana Plate and it had a bunch of food to try. I liked pretty much everything and even with Tony & I sharing it we had a whole box of leftovers to take home. Definitely a winner place to eat and I cant wait to go here again next time I am in Utah. I cant believe Tony used to live right down the street from this place and we never knew about it or how popular it is!

Saturday morning we dropped off Tony's "new" truck to be check out at a mechanic and we walked to a church building and sat and listened to the morning session of conference on my Zune.

We went to Tucanos for lunch. I thought it was really good. My friend Steve Cox met us there and I ate and ate and ate - even more than Tony! The food just settled really well in me I guess. I for sure got my money's worth. When you want them to bring meat to your table , you flip the wood peg to green. When you dont want them to stop and offer you meat, you flip it to red. You use the tongs to hold the meat as they slice it (if it is a sliced meat). I liked the sliced meat the best and the rice & fruit salad. I never got to make a regular salad or try too many things at the salad bar but Tony liked Tucanos and said he'd like to go again sometime. Yay!

Tony & I watched the afternoon session at his place, then did a few errands before Tony took off to the priesthood session and Laura picked me up and then we went to pick up our friend Suzie! We met her at a Camp Ritchie YSA Labor Day wknd in California & have been friends ever since. She got back this year from her mission to New York and so it was great that we could all be in Utah and hang out some!

After meeting up with our guys on temple square when the Priesthood session got out (me-tony, Laura - rolfy , Suzie - her friend I forget his name but he just got off his mission a few days ago!) We went to eat at Noodles & Co (minus Laura & Rolfy who went to Tucanos) and I believe there was a picture taken but it is not on my camera so it will be inserted in this blog later.

[ picture here later ]

Tony, Suzie and I dropped off Suzie's friend & we went to my friend Teresa's birthday party. That was cool to see her. Teresa and I both served in the Oregon Portland Mission. We stayed about 45 min or so admiring her birthday presents - an iphone and snuggie - and dropped Suzie off at her aunts and then went to bed. SO TIRED! and we had to be up early for the morning session of conference on Sunday.

Enjoyed Music & the Spoken Word before conference started at 10am

So many people down below

Always gotta take a picture coming out of the conference center with the SLC temple in the background

Saw Laura after the morning session got out and took a quick pic

We went to eat at Dees Restaurant after looking at a couple houses. I was so starving! Gotta love the cheesy fries with fry sauce! Only in Utah...

Watched the afternoon session at Tony's and then Brian & Susan came over to visit! Brian & I both served in the Oregon Portland Mission. I havent seen them since their reception last year. They hung out for about 45 min or so before having to leave. Yay for seeing friends!!

I went to my friend Aimee's to pick up some tapes she had converted to DVD of my mission for me that my dad had sent her. Talked to her for a bit while Tony read stories to her daughter Bailey who is 2 I believe. It was sooo awesome to see that and I wish I had gotten a pic. Sometimes I wonder how Tony is/how he will be, around children because I never see him interact with them ever! But he did a great job in reading to her and she kept bringing him more and more books. So funny.

Watched a movie and popped popcorn and Monday morning Tony took me to the airport. It was harder for me to leave this time because as of today , there are 50 days til Thanksgiving , and thats when I will see him next! Seems like an awfully long time :( Thank goodness for Internet, web cams, texting, cell phones and IM so we can keep in touch!

Not Quite Sure...

2009-09-25T10:01:00.001-07:00

I dont know what happened but my awesome cherry background decided to stop working yesterday so I had to grab this one. Not sure that I'm totally loving it - plus my header is not lined up correctly so I'll see what I can do about fixing it. If anyone has any suggestions for a new background - cherry or not - please leave me a comment. Thanks!

One Place I Love the Most...

2009-09-23T13:41:00.001-07:00

....is Portland, Oregon! I had never been there before, (previous to 2003) despite living about 10 hours away when I lived in California. It wasnt until I got my mission call to serve there for 18 months that I realized how cool of a place it was. I seriously had no idea!

I was able to visit many people during a short 3 day visit there this last weekend. Special thanks to Southwest Airlines for providing me with a cheap round trip ticket!! The point of my trip was to see people that I had not gotten to see on my last trip. For the most part I was successful.

I arrived Friday night at 10pm and picked up my rental car and headed to my friend Jeremy's where I was "camping" out at in his pop-up trailer! It was really fun & awesome to be able to come and go as I pleased. The arrangement worked out well and I am extremely grateful to him for offering it to me. I got to meet his brother who is living with him right now and also his gf Libby who made us dinner and we all stayed up talking until 2 or 3 in the morning. I was soo tired because I hadnt been able to sleep on the flight thanks to the guy who sat next to me.

Woke up in the night to the sound of rain and it was still raining a little bit when I got up - close to 10am! An hour later than I had planned on. Quickly headed out to Gresham, the first area I had served in as a missionary , from October 2003 to February 2004. I was able to see some families there that I had not seen for a few years!

Visited people on Saturday afternoon and ate at Big Town Hero - SUCCESSFULLY! Because you might remember from past blog posts of mine that I tried to eat here last time in Oregon & also once in Vegas and they were both closed!! Major party foul on their part. My friend Mirna who was in the Mt. Hood YSA ward when I was there , met up with me and we caught up big time!

Had some time in-between and thought I'd better go to Deseret Book in Lake Oswego to get something. Well, they didnt have what I want, but I ended up getting a DVD and a great cd by David Tolk...the cd was playing while I was walking around and seriously gave me chills so I wound up buying it.

Stopped across the street at the Portland temple - one of my favorites!

Took this pic and got it right dead on the first time! Mad skillz....

Grabbed some food here - Clackamas Town Center mall HAS one! Arizona does not. Utah does. So I was wayyy excited to pick up some dinner here. You can get it to go or eat in the restaurant. I got chicken curry and it was VERY good!

Took my food over to my good friend Autumn's house and hung out with her and her kids for a couple hours. LOVE THEM! Autumn is GREAT to talk to and her kids are so amazing. CJ showed me some of his dance moves and Ari was acting cute all over the place. Miss them but soo fun to visit when I'm in town.

Next I met up with my friend Rachel who was a girl I taught in Milwaukie and we went to Cold Stone for some ice cream - unfortunately they were out of marshmallows so I did not have a mix in to my chocolate mint. Extremely disappointing. I bought some later at WINCO! YAY!

Dropped Rachel back off at her apartment and pretty much crashed ((aka "sleep"))

Sunday morning ! Up again to visit people & go to church.

As I drove to visit the first family of the day, I did not take for granted the beautiful changes happening to the trees since fall is coming!

It had been awhile since I had seen the Wing family so it was great to visit Rachelle, plus see how big her kids Kaylee, Jayden and Jayce have gotten too!

Went to sacrament meeting in Gladstone at the Aldercreek YSA ward with Jeremy and Libby. Saw Tyler Foster and Garry Zink and saw a few familiar faces still left from when I had served in that ward , the summer of 2004!!

Took off to Cedar Mill - Beaverton area after I left church to see...

Ahhh this family treated me and my companions that I had while served in their ward, so so well! One time they left us a TON of food on their doorstep. Seriously amazing. They have since moved and switched wards but I was able to track them down in time for my visit prior to coming to Portland. We had a great time talking about all sorts of things and my time with them was too short! But it was great to have a little time , they are a wonderful family.

Had to hurry to Damascus for dinner with the Wilsons. Another family who I have not seen for a very long time! They have SIX boys now and so dinner was very entertaining. Bro Wilson is now the bishop and gave me some good marriage/dating type counsel & words of wisdom. We had spaghetti for dinner and I tied with one of their sons in a contest! I felt SO full afterwards and a little sick but it was worth it. I'd rather tie than lose! When I was serving in Gresham they had me and my companion over for dinner once and apparently I beat the same son eating spaghetti so he wanted a rematch.

Me with some of the boys before I left...

I havent seen this family (above) since early 2004 at least! Sooo crazy huh. I was able to visit them Sunday evening and it brought back such good memories of serving in their Hartley Park ward and sometimes they would feed us dinner too. It was a great visit & they knew a lot about what had happened to other people I was wondering about from the ward so it was great to get updated! I hope to keep in touch more often with them!

Headed back to Clackamas after not too long and visited the Yates family. Watched some History Channel (so wasnt allowed when I was a missionary!) talked to Rob & Christina and said goodnight to Brynn. The girls were in bed. Sweet family & I am glad I had a moment to stop and see them.

Went to bed around midnight or probably a little later. Had to be up extra early on Monday to get to Dr. Egan's office in McMinnville by 9am. Got my teeth cleaned by him and had good news - NO CAVITIES! Woohooo!! Finally! Guess that earned me a goody bag or something because the hygienist filled it up with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, flossing materials & a pencil! Sweet.

Met up with Tausha and her son after that. I havent seen her since..2007 maybe? It was great to meet up & talk with her. I cant believe we are both 27 now!

Visited Ruby at work next, did not take a picture with her. Tried to find Billie Cymbala and happened to drive by her scrapbook store. Thank goodness because I know it had moved but I had no idea where. She doesnt work there anymore apparently and the lady working told me she was about to have her baby! WOW I had no idea! Again! I was clueless. Lol. I ended up getting a phone # for Billie after I got back to Arizona so hopefully I get to see her on my next visit.

Drove out to the Egans and had lunch with Dr. Egan and his wife Barbara and their son Doug and his friend who was visiting from Oklahoma, Raegan. She was very nice & it was great to sit and each together and talk. Even though I saw them a few months ago when I had been in town. But!! It's all good, I love love visiting them and the warm welcome they give me every time I am visiting.

Drove to Cedar Mill and had a few families left to see but only had time to see Bro Bigelow who was the ward mission leader when I had served in the Sunset Hills ward. His wife was feeling under the weather so him and I talked outside for about 30 min or so. It was great to hear what he has been up to and get updates on the ward.

I badly wanted to see Jeremy and Libby again one more time before my plane left but was advised that due to traffic, I'd better leave and not make any more stops!

Bye bye Portland....I hope to see you again in 6 months! Thank you for not raining on me too much, the lovely fall colors, expensive gas ($2.80's mostly when it is only $2.49 in AZ!) , no sales tax and not letting me getting carried away in my shopping!

(flying over Mt Hood)

Tony Time

2009-09-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

Tony & I packed a TON into our weekend together! I picked him up Thursday night at the airport and we pretty much just chilled at my place and watched Jericho online.

Friday morning I had to work so while I was at work Tony fixed my bike!! He put on my new bike seat and pumped up my tires with air. After work I picked him up and we went to Sweet Tomatoes because I had a coupon that expired that day + it is one of our favorite places to eat.

mmm their muffins are so good!

Then we went to the Mesa Arts Center where my friend Morgan took pics of us. The intent and purpose was to get some of us together since usually it is us standing with an arm extended trying to take a pic but the ones Morgan took turned out tons better!

(this was just taken with my digital camera up against an old school bus that looked like homeless people lived in!)

Next we went to Phoenix to pick up a sweet bike rack I found on craigslist. YAY ! Finally I found a good one for a decent price so I can take my bike with me when I travel. Right now I just want to take it to Chandler to ride with Paul, Rene & Joey or meet them wherever they are biking. For now I need to practice though because it has been awhile since I have ridden for an extended amount of time

Next we dropped off our roll of film at Walgreen & went to Superstition Springs mall and walked around before our dollar-theater movie started. We watched "Imagine That", cute G rated film and hung out outside the theater for a bit. It was SO nice outside and we even got a few drops of rain. Love the atmosphere at SS Mall.

We hadnt eaten dinner yet so we at at Cheesecake Factory, right next to the theater. Tony had never eaten there before and it was super delish. Their bread is so good, we tried their triangle cheese crisp appetizers and shared a dish of rice with veggies and meat with a piece of
cheesecake - chocolate mousse - to go

Saturday we could not decide what to do! Ended up not going to CA for my friend Kevin's wedding reception. I was very sad to miss it. Ended up not going on a hike to Water Wheel due to fires up there that had not been cleaned up yet :( Missed Joey's first soccer game because we didnt really wake up until 745 or so and by the time we got out there it would have been almost over. Didnt go to my friend Tausha's baby shower out in Peoria. She is having twins but I dont get to have Tony time too often so I decided just to spend the day with him.

So instead we did so many other things starting with picking up our pictures from Walgreens...here are a few that I will share:

(this one is one of my favorites!)

Then we did an "errand" which I am not going to disclose right now....went shopping at Goodwill and I got a shirt & Tony got a couple shirts and a pair of PJ pants. it was half-off everything day which happens every other Saturday & pretty much the only time I go to Goodwill now! Stopped by Costco and got free samples of so many different kinds of food! Then we drove and met up at ChickFila with Paul, Rene & Joey for a late lunch. That was really fun & the food was good too. Plus the company! It is always so fun to see my cousin and his family!

Headed over to Fry's Electronics to walk around and check out cool things there. AND to Ikea! It was really fun to walk around and pick out different bedroom set ups and kitchens that we liked.

So much walking around was wearing us out!

But the day was not over yet! We drove out to another undisclosed business in Scottsdale only to find out they were closed! So we went to Scottsdale Fashion Mall and found a Build-A-Bear! And this is where Hoote was born. A sister for Pandy! We are expanding our little family. Hehe

Getting an air bath..

Is our Saturday over yet? Nope! Not so much. We stopped by a YSA back-to-school activity and ate hamburgers and watched the dance off. It was pretty fun & I saw a few friends there. Went to Golden Spoon before it closed at 1030 and got frozen yogurt. I got coconut and chocolate mouse and Tony got strawberry. Mmm Mmm delicious! Hooray for coupons again!

Sunday we watched more episodes of our show & went to the Gable ward for church at 1:45. The primary kids from the family ward came and performed their program which was about families and they did such a good job! Talked to Rusty & Ben afterwards and then we went back to my place. We made dinner (stir fry) and cookies (molasses/ginger snaps) and went to my friend Dallin & Julie's for a movie on their projector screen! We watched WallE which neither of us had seen before.

Got Tony to the airport this morning at 630 and his flight left at 650am so he missed his flight but was able to catch one at 830 so that is good. He ended up leaving all his stuff with me though so he didnt have to check it in and so now I have to figure out how to get it to Utah! Good thing I am going for conference in a few weeks...

Not my baby!

2009-09-08T09:38:00.001-07:00

My friend Nicole had a baby boy on August 8th and they named him Asher. I got to go visit in the hospital and out at their house in Maricopa which is an hour or so away from me to visit and hold him!

He is really cute and so well behaved!

Sister Visit!

2009-09-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

I have been soo excited for Laura to come visit me in Arizona as soon as I bought her ticket and knew she was coming for reals. When Laura got off the plane on Thursday afternoon, I found her pretty easily waiting for me at the Phoenix Airport. We went to Yogurtland to try out what they had to offer. Thought it was a 1/2 off day but you had to have some card and even the employees there didnt know where you could get the card but we enjoyed our frozen yogurt immensely. I'm a huge fan now...tasted so good you really didn't need to add any toppings!

Came to Mesa, unloaded Laura's stuff from my car and headed to my institute class because it was the opening social and I didnt want to miss it. Enjoyed food afterwards and she met some of my friends. Then we just went back to my place and hung out and I showed her around my place.

Friday I worked in the morning but at 1215 Laura picked me up and we met up with Rene @ Benihana's for lunch! MMMmmm it was so so good

Then we shopped shopped shopped all afternoon! Laura & I went to Arizona Mills mall and it is a huge oval like a track,with stores on both sides. Plus its a outlet mall so things are a bit cheaper there. Found this cute cute cherry dress at Burlington Coat Factory. Of course I bought it! It was nice to be in a cool mall rather than outside in the hot hot heat which I usually miss M-F because I am inside working at my desk!

Friday evening we were so tired that we just rented a couple movies and chilled. For dinner we went to Pita Jungle in Mesa and it was kind of a fast dinner because we were still full from lunch.

Saturday morning we went to Sprinkles Cupcakes in Scottsdale. Mmmm so worth $3.25 a cupcake. Definitely the kind that takes a little time to eat and not just gobble down. Our friend Tim came with us because he wanted a morning adventure I think.

Right next door to Sprinkles was...another Yogurtland!

This time I didn't put any toppings on my yogurt. I tried 3 or 4 different flavors. Mmm Mmm

After dropping Tim off to his car, we hit up a couple Goodwill stores for their 1/2 off sales!

I'm a sucker for bird shirts but I didnt buy this one...

Door on the left is Laura trying on 5 items, no wait, HOW many hangers are in there with her? Trying on ELEVEN items of clothing! Haha we found sooo much good stuff. It was such a successful shopping trip! Laura found the cool cherry plate but I will paint one myself someday.

Enjoyed a late lunch here and I was stoked to take Laura who has heard all about it but never eaten here before. She loved it!

Came home and met up with Brennen a little later in the evening and went over to my friend Alex's who was having a low-key party at his mom's house because she was out of town. Then we went to another party where there were a bunch of bands playing in someone's backyard. Hung out there, went to Fry's Grocery Store because I really wanted Laura to see how cool this grocery store is...and I think she liked it a lot!

Sunday morning we slept in and then got up and made food. Laura made me rice-a-roni, chicken and brownies. I made angel food cake to take to Nicole and Benson's for dinner in Maricopa that evening.

We went to the Gable YSA ward for sacrament mtg. and talked to Rusty afterwards. He is so nice! Went home and changed and drove out to Maricopa where we were having dinner. We got some really good pics with Joshua, Hannah and Asher but they are on Laura's camera and she still hasnt sent me the pix a week later!! so I will be adding them to this blog as soon as I get them. We had a very fun time visiting with everyone and Nicole made a delish dinner of spaghetti, salad and french bread. The angel food cake with whipped cream for dessert was super yum.

Stopped by Paul & Rene's afterwards for an hour or so then headed back to Mesa where we wrapped up the evening by finishing a movie, downloading some songs for Laura's i-river and I fell asleep long before she did!

Us @ the airport Monday morning early. Thanks Laura for coming out to see me before you head up to BYU-Idaho! I had a blast and hope you did too & I also hope you can come visit me again sometime soon!

Also..many many MANY thanks to my friend Mary in Woodland, CA for sending a little something in the mail to help Laura & I party it up (or down) on our special weekend together!

Traveling Chick in Utah

2009-08-24T14:48:00.001-07:00

Got to Salt Lake on Thursday night around 10pm. Tony took me to Sonic and then we went to hang at his house for a bit. Friday morning he had to go in to a meeting and so I worked from the laptop for a few hours which was really nice. He came back around 1pm and we got to take off and do some fun things! Like...

Going to this cool Bulward Auction in SLC on Friday and walked around to see everything and what we might like to bid on. The mountain board ended up going for $60 and the ASL rug and picture were gone before we got there but its all good. We bid on a couple things like a knife block and a twin bed air mattress with pump but didnt get them. Frustrating but fun at the same time. At least I didnt have my heart set on anything, right?

Then we went shooting out at a place Tony found and it was perfect. I learned how to load a revolver (so easy) and got to shoot the 9mm (some kick to that!) so we shot about 100 rounds of our ammo we bought from a guy on the KSL website. I got 550 rounds for the .22 for only $20. Pretty sweet deal. Ammo for the 9mm is more expensive.

Getting our game on

So hot outside & I'm so hot with this 9mm. Jk jk

Went to eat at one of our FAVORITE places - TEXAS ROADHOUSE! I had never eaten here until I started dating Tony & we went to one in Fremont, CA. The food here is sooo super good. My mouth waters

Later that evening as we were trying to recover from the delicious food...

HOMEMADE POPCORN! Got so excited to make popcorn and bring it to the drive in on Friday night but we got there to see one movie and it was $14 for the both of us! True, it was cheaper than a normal movie but honestly! We ended up going back to Tony's and watching a movie and eating the popcorn. Not as much fun as a drive-in but it worked :)

Driving to Provo Saturday afternoon ...Pandy came along for the ride & Tony got us Icee's at the gas station because it was a very hot day

A short time later Tony's car overheated and smoke was pouring out from under his hood so we quickly pulled over and we found ourselves near an exit sign to Lindon. After spending what felt like forever! in the 100* heat while Tony was on the phone trying to get a tow truck, a highway patrol officer showed up and told us he'd push our car off the freeway to the exit and to a gas station. So so nice of him!

Waited for awhile for the car to cool down and checked out a nearby car lot at new and used cars but didnt find too much. Tried to get a ride to the train or back to SLC but that wasnt working out so finally I just said , "Lets try starting your car and see how far we get" so we did and it made it to an Auto Zone. Perfect! Tony bought a bunch of fluid for the car and we walked to Wendy's to get some food and then my friend Nicole got off work and picked me up and Tony followed us in his car.

(pretty sunset on Saturday night)

We visited with Nicole & her husband Ben and then we went to Sub Zero ice cream (one of my favorite places in Provo!) and met up with my good friend Melissa who is going to the Paul Mitchell school there. She is from Arizona and I havent seen her for a few months since she left so it was SUCH a good time to see her! I was still majorly bummed that none of our other Provo plans happened but there is next time, right?

Sunday was no church because it was the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication so we went to visit one of my friends who had a baby in June (pics coming soon) and did other things to fill up the day before my flight left.

Visited my friend Erin & her husband and baby Faith for the first time since she had been born.

We were going to ride Tony's Honda Rebel "StayC" but he couldnt find the key. I was pretty bummed because I wanted to try out the new helmet my friend Jeremy from Oregon airbrushed for me for my birthday! Better luck when I come back in October...

Dinner on Sunday night -we made stir-fry... one of my favorites and Tony is good at making it (even though I did help)..its not hard...but it always tastes better when he cooks!

Here are a couple more shooting pix:

Went out shooting one more time before I left & shot about 100 rounds again. Was able to get the guns to Arizona with me! Southwest was really nice about it all. So I am excited to go shooting with friends & family here in Arizona and become better with my aim and learning about guns in general. Woohoo , watch out Arizona!

Country Concert @ Cricket Pavilion

2009-08-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Met up with Paul, Rene & Joey after I got off work last Friday and we headed first to eat at Jason's Deli. Free ice cream with our food, cant beat that!

Got to the Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix around 7:30 and the first main act was Trace Adkins

I knew some of his songs so that was pretty to get to see him because I never have before.

Then after a long intermission and people chanting "Toby Keith Toby Keith" the main man finally came out!

TOBY KEITH

We had lawn seat tickets (cheaper) and sat in the family section so that was pretty much away from all the smoking and drinking going on around us which was very nice.

The finale was one of my favorite parts (no not bc it meant the concert was over) but they did a salute to all the soldiers and tons of confetti came down and so many red white and blue lights and Trace & Toby came out and sang together for the encore. It was pretty amazing.

It would have been amazing to see some college hunks hauling junk on our way out but much to my dismay, there were none to be seen. Better luck next time!

Comic-Con & the Beach!

2009-08-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

(Convention center in San Diego)

I needed to get to the beach. Didn't get to go when I was in Woodland. So strange how I think 2 hrs is too long to get to the beach when I am there, yet I don't bat an eye to drive 5 hours to the beaches in San Diego. I went the same weekend as last year so I figured the weather would be great. It was...but on Saturday it was very muggy and gross. Luckily that day I got to be inside the convention center in downtown San Diego - at ComicCon!! It was quite the experience as last year was my first time ever hearing about it. Here are some pictures from the few hours I got to spend there:

My favorite picture of the pretty much only famous person easily recognizable that I saw that weekend. The screenwriter from Ironman. I loved the display that was set up for this!

Original from Batman movie

Left picture shows a bunch of people dressed up as their favorite super hero or comic book character. On the right, my friend David, yikes! the joker from the movie The Dark Knight found him and posed for this cool pic

So scary!

I get their emails and always always wanted to try some of their frozen yogurt and finally ! Walking millions of blocks back to Chris' car, it was so so hot and I saw Pinkberry and insisted we had to stop. I tried the coconut flavor and it was very very good!

This hotel is in a lot of famous movies

After getting some food at Subway we went to Sunset Cliffs beach. It was really pretty! One side of the pier had rocks and no sand, the other side of the pier had nice sand and lots of people!

Stayed with my friend Adam and a few of his friends at a family's house that I actually stayed at last year. They are LDS and really nice, especially to let so many people come crash in their living room! Saturday evening Chris & I hung out in Old Town San Diego for a bit and ate at a pretty good mexican restaurant.

Went to the Santee 4th Branch (YSA) on Sunday morning and then headed to Oceanside for a little more beach time before heading back to Mesa.

This is one of my favorite beaches!

A nice group of friends offered to take our picture together. LOL

Cool car cruising below us and stopping for pictures

So weird that suddenly a ton of people showed up. We figured out it was a church group and they were doing baptisms in the ocean! Interesting. I've never seen such a thing.

I love love love the beach. Feeling the ocean waves and the sand and the smells

One of my favorite favorite pictures from the trip that I took

Couldn't resist taking a pic....

this car was so funny in front of us and kept us entertained while we were stuck in stupid stupid traffic heading back to AZ.
It said : manual locks, radio, loose change under seats, floor mats...lol! all for $17,800

My cell phone got so weird and went from AT&T to TelCell (Mexico) and to T-Mobile back to AT&T! LOL

Because we got stuck in silly traffic for no reason (not even an accident!) instead of getting back to Mesa around 11:30 we got home around 1am. O well. The trip was still WELL worth it! Thanks to my friend Chris for letting us take his car and do all the driving

Hey Shorty, It's your Birthday

2009-07-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

I had to wait to get some pics and belated gifts before I could write this post.

I was at girls camp @ Camp Ritchie AGAIN for my birthday so there, the whole camp sang to me in the morning and I got to see them all do the chicken dance for me. Lol. That was funny to see. In the evening they sang to me again...

(Steve Millett - head cook - leading everyone in singing to me at dinner)

The cooks gave me a cake! Thanx to Mari Anguay for the pictures...

Don't worry, I shared cake with many people! And it was Friday night so that meant the bishopric members were there and we all had to sit according to wards...

Linda, Laura , Me & Mari! enjoying pizza and soda for dinner...as well as my cake

Also for my birthday I got...

- gift card from my parents to Target!

- cards from my relatives

- sweet bird necklace, cherry jam, B&BW lotion and a cherry chocolate bar from Kokob

- Paul & Rene & Joey got me an Ocean Blue shirt & gift card!!!! One of my favorite places to eat in Arizona. It is frozen yogurt and there are all kinds of toppings you can put on from fresh fruit to candy to crushed candy bars and cereal. If you come to visit, I will take you there!

Tony got me an iPod Touch! (well I paid half but it was still a great deal for me!) It is so so cool and I am finding cool apps for it (free ones!) and I figured out how to put my music on without deleting all the music that came on it from the previous owner. It has external speakers because it is a 2nd gen (8 gig) and I am really liking that feature too. If only I could get my bluetooth on it to work! I'd love to sync it with my phone and send my phone pics to the ipod for quick uploading to the internet.

My friends Hillary & Ben got me a gift card to eat and you can go to 4 different places! Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 32. I have never heard of the last 2 so if they are in Arizona I will have to check them out maybe! I'm so excited to use this card!

Blake & Bonnie got me snacks and a cool mini slinky and everyone signed a sweet card for me, "Happy Bird-Day" Hooray that everyone knows I'm a crazy bird lover! lol

Got together with a bunch of friends to eat on a Wednesday night at Rumbi Island Grill, that was great! The food there was so good and my "half size" (below) was SO MUCH I took the rest home for lunch and dinner the next day.

Jeremy , my good friend in Oregon, airbrushed my motorcycle helmet for me! He did an amazing job. I'm really happy with how it turned out. So, if anyone needs anything airbrushed or a bumper painted in the Portland area, Jeremy is your man!

All in all it was a great 27th birthday. Stinks to be that age-number but what can you do except score some awesome gifts! Thanks family & friends!

Summer Swimming

2009-07-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Arizona in the summer has lots of YSA pool parties, the neighborhood I live in has a pool, but my favorite place to go swimming is at my cousin Paul's house with his wife Rene and her son Joey! Here are some pics we took testing out my underwater camera a couple weeks ago...

In case any of you are wondering what kind of camera I used to take these pictures, it is an Olympus Stylus 850 SW 8.0 mgp It is shock proof and waterproof. Can go 10 ft underwater, be dropped on the ground from up to 5ft and survive in 14* F temps. Its a great camera!

Goodbye Is Not Forever

2009-07-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Had fun hanging out with Laura & Jeffrey one last time after getting back from camp on Saturday. Got to go to the Woodland 2nd ward for sacrament mtg on Sunday and hang out for a few hours before I started my drive back to Arizona. I had planned to leave around 11 but it was more around 2pm. These are some pics taken with Laura and Jeffrey <-- the last time I will see him for about 2 years as he leaves August 6 to serve a mission for our church in Durban, South Africa! He is way excited to go and I am very excited for him! He will have some amazing experiences over there I am sure.

Met up with Kokob in Tracy and she gave me her birthday present which I loved! (chocolate cherry bar, bird necklace, lotion & cherry jam/jelly!) Grabbed a cup of ice and a Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino and I was on my way. The drive was alright. I ended up on the 99 instead of i-5 but its okay. The traffic wasnt too bad and I talked to friends the whole way pretty much. Thanks to Tony, Laura, Kokob, Brennen, Rusty, Ashley and Matthew for helping me stay awake! I made it to Mesa a little after 3am and was in to work before 9am.

Adventures on the way home:

- Ghetto ghetto gas station in Victorville and this grandma came over to me when I was pulling up to a pump, crying because she had no money for gas to get to Palmdale and her son and grandson were with her so after I got gas I went in and put $10 on her pump for her. Hope it wasnt a scamish scam...

- 3 CHP (CA Highway Patrol) passed me so fast a bit after leaving Victorville and there was an accident on the left side of the road and on the right side by me a bunch of officers had cuffed a guy in the grass and were pulling him to his feet

- headed more into Phoenix, maybe 2-3 hours away and the guy in front of me was drifting all over his lane and acting real weird so I called 911 and they sent a car out to follow the guy. I ended up passing him eventually, then I passed the cop car hiding out and I dont know what happened after that.

All in all an exciting drive home & I'm glad not to have to make it again til December!

It's The Middle That Counts

2009-07-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

CAMP RITCHIE 2009 - ITS THE MIDDLE THAT COUNTS

After some confusion and hassle, I got to ride up with Linda , Laura and a few girls in the Woodland 2nd ward up to Camp Ritchie early Monday morning on July 6. Scored a bed up in the nurses cabin again and had an outlet right by my bed and a working sink! Could camping get any better?! I'm so glad they let me stay in the nurses cabin because rappelling staff were supposed to be in tents but I played the "I'm only going to see my sister for a week!" card so they let me stay. Phew.

SO EXCITED that Laura was back from her mission and we could both be at camp together again!

I've really missed this view. Now I was back for one whole week to enjoy it every day!

The second level made stew and cobbler in dutch ovens after learning about how to build different kinds of fires. They had to start a fire with a flint & steel. Eventually all 3 groups got it! The stew that they made was sooo delicious I didnt even eat lunch up in the lodge.

Posing with Linda for a pic after the camp picture which happened Tuesday afternoon I believe

I'm not a morning person. And neither was Pandy! Lol. She got to sleep in while I, being on rappelling staff, had to be up and out at 5:45am every day except Friday (which everything was an hour later that day) .

Left hand side picture is the rappelling staff belaying girls down the rock durning the early morning rappelling. I worked with Sheila (course master, purple sweatshirt), Matt (blue sweatshirt) , his student Jessica (pink) and Bro May (khaki hat) as well as a couple other people who were on staff.

Pandy came to camp with me and tried not to get into too much trouble. For the most part she did well, except when she got onto Laura's bed and tried to hide some water balloons.

The weather was AMAZING. 80's in the day and 50's at night. It was perfect. I wore pants every day except Monday and then one evening I got hot from running around so I wore some shorts. Other than that I was almost cold. Especially at night. Brrr! It was a great change from the hot hot Arizona heat though.

Awesome stake presidency skit one evening with the help of Steve the cook and Bro Haley, the camp nurse. They did a spin-off of "The Princess Bride"

Lodge in the evening. Trash had a certain place to go. Everything was usually neat an organized.

Rappelling staff made a boat for the boat race on Friday down at the lake. It had to be a cardboard boat and we got 1-1/2 rolls of duct tape to use. Other supplies we used for out boat was wood, styrofoam and plastic milk jugs & plastic bags. Couldnt wait til Friday to see if our boat would sink or float!

Thursday was the first aid hike. Laura was injured while running through camp down by the rappelling wall in flip flops! I was the "screamer" and I was supposed to be in shock.

All the injuries and their "screamers"

Hanging out at the lake on Friday for the beach-swim party!

Looks like our boat floats!! Sheila did a great job paddling the lake.

Some random pics...me by the rappelling stuff on Saturday morning and then the rope bridge from the Indiana Jones trail on Friday evening

Saturday morning, water staff gave out awards for the boats that we had made and "raced" on Friday. We got a tiny canoe and a spyglass!

Me with friends! Jazmin, Lacey and Katie!

Headed out Saturday morning. Loaded up Linda's van so it was packed! Took Sis Morgan so it was just the 4 riding together. Stopped at In N Out in Placerville, as did almost every other vehicle coming out of camp! LOL. Got home in the afternoon and took a shower and relaxed for awhile. I'm so glad I got to go to Girls Camp again this year & help with rappelling staff. Who knows when I'll be able to go again!

I Heart Traditions

2009-07-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

I heart traditions. Especially ones I grew up with in my family. July 4th was a day full of traditions, even though my family doesnt live in Woodland anymore, Laura & Jeffrey were there to celebrate it with me!

It started with the annual Woodland 2nd ward (combined with 1st ward) flag-raising ceremony and pancake breakfast.

A navy officer spoke and did a great job

Got to see Camille Curteman! Laura & I used to babysit her and her brothers back in the day. Crazy that she is 8 years old now!

Another Skinner family tradition, donuts from Donut Depot!

Then Laura & I went thrift store shopping & hit up the 50% off sales...

Grabbed some food at Sonic and then saw this sweet car show in the Ross parking lot on Main Street so we stopped and checked it out

Went to Food4Less that evening and scored some Go Girls! Our favorite energy drink!

Linda's oven exploded while she was making really juicy thick burgers for dinner so we ended up at In N Out. As much as we love that place, I dont think we were so excited to eat there for our 4th of July dinner!

Linda, Laura & I went to Woodland High around 9:30 pm to see their fireworks show and it was really good! There were massive amounts of people it was so crazy. I think because of the economy probably not as many people bought fireworks? Well, whatever the case, it took some time to find a place to park and then we set up our chairs behind the high school and had a great view!

Went to Linda's and set off some of our own fireworks. Ground twirlers and sparklers!

All in all it was a GREAT 4th of July and I'm glad I got to spend it in Woodland with traditions, family and great friends!

Stompin' Grounds!

2009-07-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

Left Mesa around 6:30 pm on Wednesday after work. Picked up a friend who was getting dropped off in Fairfield and headed out. I'm so glad I got new tires on my car before I left. It helped my peace of mind greatly!

I drove until about 2am and then Tim drove for a couple hours. Until we dropped off this dog shampoo ( a craigslist deal ) in Lathrop to a lady in a Target parking lot. We unloaded it from my car and waited for the lady to come and I imagined in my head the cops showing up because on the Target cameras they saw 2 people unloading suspicious containers from a car. Lol! It worked out fine though.

Next stop was Fairfield where I dropped Tim off at his parents house. He was going to be in the Sacramento area for a couple weeks visiting friends and family and playing golf. Along the way I saw hot air balloons, we went across 3 drawbridges and I saw my favorite windmills!

Arrived to Linda's house around 8am and she hadnt left to work yet so we talked for a little bit and I unloaded my car and got started working for the day! I only had to work 5 hours which was nice. In the afternoon I had a dentist appointment in Roseville where a dentist that my friend Sara from Oregon referred me to, was able to put a new filling on my tooth because the last one was cracked. My AZ dentist wanted me to spend $900 and get an onlay or something silly like that. PHEW I am soo glad it cost me tons less with this other dentist! And all I needed was another filling!

Met up with Linda and her friend Georgie for dinner and we went to In N Out! I just chillaxed for the evening and went to sleep early becauses I had only gotten 2 hours the night before!

THURSDAY

After working my 5 hours....I dropped off a card to Linda at her work and visited my old job - Color Supply. Got to see Kip, Ed, Nita, Mike, Brandon, Steve, Hugo, one of the drivers and then Ed's son is working there again and he was working there my first time around working at CS, before the mission! So like in 2003! It was crazy to see him again. I was really thirsty so I went across the street to Sonic to try the new Cherry Sonic Chiller. It is very very good! Then I went and got frosties for everyone at Wendy's.

Went to visit Andrea's parents, Amada and Andy. Amada and I had a nice chat before Andy got home from work and Amada made such such good food

beans and rice and chicken with veggies. OMGOSH I LOVE eating at their house! They make the best food!

Then I found out Laura & Jeffrey were in town! I was so surprised because I thought they were not coming until Friday. So I went to Linda's and it was so fun to see them finally! Later in the evening, Kokob came over for awhile!

FRiDAY

Oh glorious day. I didnt have to work! Laura & I did some errands, Jeff did his own thing, and we went to Andre's apartment pool party around 1...

That was really fun. Andre and I used to work together at Color Supply! Laura didnt have a suit yet so she just texted & tanned while I eventually got in the pool and the water felt really nice after awhile .I think that day it was in the 90's. We also tested out my camera which can take pics underwater. The pool seemed a little cloudy though.

Around 2:30 we met Kokob and Betty @ a thrift store and we did some shopping! Then Laura & I went to the Woodland Mall and found out Anchor Blue is closing (that location) so we scored some clothes for half off. Woot! JC Penney was having a good sale...other than that , the mall seemed pretty dead. OH! I did find a sweet pair of swim shorts that match my swimsuit so well at Pac Sun for $7!

Found a new pet store in Woodland called Pet Extrememe! OH I love it!

I wanted all the birds. They were so cute! The pet store was HUGE and had other animals in it too - including a shark in a very large tank!

My next post coming up will be about the 4th of July....

Vegasmorgasboard

2009-06-23T13:24:00.001-07:00

It's working out fairly well to meet up with Tony once a month. Sometimes he comes to Arizona. Sometimes I got to Utah. Last month we met up in Oregon. This month we went to Vegas! I found a great deal online for a $99 round trip ticket. I flew US Airways (Sorry Southwest!) and the flight was so short I barely had time to drink my cran-apple juice.

Explored the strip for a bit after getting some dinner at IN N Out. Met up with Emily and her friends at the Bellagio before heading to her place in North Las Vegas around midnight.

Didnt stay up too much later when we got to Emily's because we were headed to the REI members-only sale on Saturday morning! We woke up around 6am and got in line at the store around 7am. They eventually handed out numbers on slips of paper and we were # 33 and #34 in line and at 10am we were let "in" to the roped off area outside. We were able to walk around beforehand to see what kind of things were being sold. This is all stuff that had something wrong with it or was returned because the person didnt like it, etc. While we waited we practiced some knots and watched a movie on my laptop. I forgot my phone at Emily's house so I didnt have it ALL DAY! Stressful....

Finally! At 10 am we were let in and we took off seperate directions to grab stuff because the first 75 people were let in and we had 20 minutes to shop. The time went quick but I felt like together we found some great deals. Even better, when we went in to pay at the register, we found out how good of a deal we got!

My mouth has been watering all year and last year for a sandwich from Big Town Hero. They are just that good. Well, when we tried to go in Portland, they were closed early on Saturday and also because of the holiday on Monday. Darn. So I was excited to see on their website that they had a location in Vegas. So we went to eat there for lunch and walked in (they shared the space with a mexican restaurant) only to find out they had closed for the day and are no longer open on Saturdays or Sundays!! It was only 11am! Oh I was pretty ticked and very very disappointed.

Found a place to park at the MGM and went in to see the Lion exhibit and watched a tv show to rate it and get free food. Well, the tv show was called "The Vineyard" and it was all drama, a tv show like The Hills. We had dials we had to keep turning to show how interested we were in what was going on. Tony & I didnt rate it very high. It took about 45 min to watch and 15 min to fill out the online survey on a screen in front of us. The "free food" was actually buy one-get one. Darn! So we did the pretzel one and were going to do the ice-cream coupon but it was $7 or $8 for most of the stuff! No way! So all in all it was disappointing.

Next we went to the Hawaiian Marketplace...took awhile of walking to get there even though it wasnt super far down the strip but it was very hot! We saw a temperature board and it said it was in the 90's but it felt a lot hotter. We got to the Marketplace for the bird show at 3pm and it never happened! Anotherh disappointment :( They did have some nice cooling fans blowing out air and misting water so we took advantage of those...and kept walking

...to the M&M Factory! It was fun to go in there and see all the neat things they have and this time we watched the 3D M&M movie which neither of us had seen before. It was pretty cool and the room had effects like air blowing and our seats shaking. Kind of reminded me of Disneyland!

The Coke place was right next door. They had a lot of good stuff on sale so I took advantage of that and we got our pix taken with the Coke bear! Upstairs their cafe/diner had opened and for $7 you could try 8? or 16? different drinks from all over the world. So colorful in small cups, but when we saw the faces of people trying the different flavors, we opted for coke floats. I wish we had gotten the floats in different flavors of soda, 8 for $8. Next time!

We walked some more and checked out the Luxor (big pyramid hotel) because Tony had never been in there before. It was cool to see the inside but very dirty in the hallways!

Met up with my friend Emily around 7pm for a mid-singles Luau at a park by the church. It was windy so my rice and pork and chicken got cold fast but the fruit salad was good. It was fun to hang out with Emily and meet some of her friends. The fire dancers were really good too.

Headed to Emily's after a couple hours and I helped Tony fix an LCD monitor (he just brought the chip board and the tools to fix it) and we watched a movie until Emily and her roomie got home. We also laid out our goods from REI:

I got a REI pullover jacket and climbing shoes and gloves. Tony got a tent , backpack, head lamp, knife, camping pot-pan and snow shoes. Everything at face value equaled about $700. The discounts we got put us at $107. Tony had $84 of REI credit and so we paid about $23 for everything. The tent had a broken pole and a life time warranty so he gets a new pole for free. The headlamp was claimed not to turn on but after some inspection it turns out you have to hold the button down a second or two and it works perfect! So hooray for our great deals!

Sunday we went to sacrament mtg in Emily's singles ward. Then Tony & I wanted to go check out the Las Vegas temple so on our way out (after changing clothes) I needed to take a pic with this street sign!!! I wish I could live on cockatiel street! It'd be perfect!

After eating a delicious dinner Emily made in her crockpot of chicken and pineapple , we also had rice and asparagus. YUM

Then we packed up our stuff and got ready to head out but before we left so I could get dropped off at the airport, Emily took us for a drive in her fairly new Toyota Rav 4 and we went exploring and saw the sights of North LV. Went to a cool dinosaur park and took some pics...

It was very pretty with the lake, ducks and turtles. All the kids seemed to be having fun playing in the water and on the playground and digging up dinosaur bones

All in all it was a very fun weekend despite some disappointment (no Big Town Hero or bird show) and it was awesome to see Tony and spend time with him and of course see my friend Emily & hang out with her some on Sunday! Thank you too Emily for letting us stay at your house and eat your food!

Whazzup Homie

2009-06-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Okay so for all of you who are currently not my homie here in the state of Arizona, here's what I have been doing lately...

Hanging out with Brennen a couple Saturdays ago, working on my car ( maintenance to make sure its ready to drive to Sacramento at the end of the month! ) we washed our cars and Brennen's dad let us take his 1924 Dodge for a ride around the neighborhood! Pretty fun car

Free root-beer float night at Sonic a couple weeks ago with friends! In the first pic is my friend Spencer, my roomie Renee in the yellow shirt and Emily is in the blue shirt. She almost moved in with me, but then Ashlie did instead ...we stayed friends though! In the other pic, gray shirt is Krystal who is engaged and getting married in a few months, Brennen was the only guy that came..lol...Emily (pink hair) who Melissa (sitting next to her) they both work at Cold Stone and then my roomie Renee again. It was such a fun night because we enjoyed free dessert and I saw some people from my old family ward there too.

Went to Ocean Blue (fro yo place) and met up with friends there. Spencer came, then Sean, Tim, Emily, me and Melissa! Melissa's friend Emily, (pink hair girl) took this pic

Staying busy working...trying to sell stuff on eBay and Craigslist, hanging out with my cousin & his family in Chandler, going to YSA activities - this last wknd went to a birthday-swim party for a friend, to a dance w/Brennen and to ice-skating for only $2!!

(Steve Cox & I)

Sunday went to 3 different wards for church (combination 5 hours i guess) and then to my friend Randy & Chris' place in Gilbert for dinner & smores!

Road Trip!

2009-06-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

I was gone in Portland the previous week. To keep up with my travels and my string of being out of town on the weekend, my friend Brennen and I decided it would be a good weekend to go to San Diego. My first district leader from my very first area on the mission was getting married in Chula Vista and I thought it'd be cool to go to see him since I hadn't seen him since 2004 at least! We started the trip Saturday morning around 7:30am or so. Leaving behind blue and sunny skies

To enter a cloudy and drizzly San Diego about 5 hours later. The buildings were so cool to look at. This is a part of San Diego I haven't spent too much time in.

We went to Seaport Village. Met up with Brennen's sister , Julie. She was really nice. They used to go here all the time as kids.

Got some delish pizza at at one of the shops and there were birds flying through and some came walking right in , asking for handouts! It was sort of funny. And sort of unsanitary.

We went to the water front and saw some cool kites flying and enjoyed the fresh air and smell of the ocean. Walked around more of the little shops and found a cool kite store and also a place that sold all kinds of hammocks!

This was my very favorite place because I found this:

and this fatty phatty chicken purse!

I loved loved loved the purple trees! And this flower type thing (bottom right) looks like it is related to the bottlebrush. I had never seen a purple one before though!

Headed to Blockbuster and I bought "The Italian Job" to watch on the way home. Also got a gift card for Johnny & Juliette. It took awhile to find their reception and we got there almost towards the end but finally we found it and he seemed pretty excited that I made it!

Drove to Vista , about an hour away, after getting some new windshield wipers for Brennen's car at Auto Zone. Stayed with my friend Melinda, we were in the same room at the MTC together (missionary training center in Provo, UT) but she went on her mission to Seattle , WA and I went to Portland Oregon. We have remained friends though and it was so fun to see her husband and her girls were sleeping but they were so generous to let Brennen and I crash at their place.

Early Sunday morning we were up and out and on our way back to Arizona. Got lost for about 20 miles (thanks a lot Lia! ) but eventually found our way and saw lots of pretty green on the way back home.

I took this pic while Brennen was driving. Impressed? I was. It is so centered I could not have done better if the car was stopped!

Back in Arizona I got a bit hungry for this...

Back to sun and fun in Arizona. Hopefully the next trip to San Diego will prove sunnier. And that we have time to go to the beach for reals instead of just looking at it from the sidewalk. It was a very worthwhile trip though and Brennen was a good sport to want to go with me. I already have another trip planned for the end of July. HECK YES!