Josh and Stacey

Western Sugar Factory Tour

2011-10-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Josh's mom took us on a tour of the sugar factory this evening where she has worked for many years. We started off by gearing up with hairnets, earplugs, safety glasses and hardhats.

This is where the sugar ends up and the last place we visited on our tour. We looked out the window at the top of the tower on the left. Cool view of the "city" of Lovell from up there! When all four towers are full, they contain enough sugar to make 500,000,000 Snickers bars. They fill them up over 3 times a sugar season!

Our tour guide entering the plant which was built in 1916. They process sugar beets about half the year. The sugar beets are being harvested right now so you have to watch out for slow beet trucks on the road. There are huge piles of sugar beets waiting to be processed from over 1800 acres of farmland.

I'd never been in a factory like this before and it was very eye opening.

only in AZ

2010-11-12T21:02:00.000-08:00

would you have an outdoor Ward Activity picnic at night in November. It was a mere 65 and some people (including me) were freezing. There was water balloon vollyball and a pinata and crafts for the kids. Everyone brought food to share. It was great. I kind of wish it would've lasted longer since it was my only venture outside all day but I needed to get home and pack the car for the boutique tomorrow. I'm exhausted just thinking about having to get up early tomorrow and all the work it's going to be to carry everything inside and set up but I do hope it goes well. I've made a lot of new stuff this week that's really cute. Calling it quits early tonight and heading to bed.

Listening to Conference

2010-11-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

Since we were in Wyoming over General Conference weekend we didn't see all the sessions and during those we did see there was a lot of commotion going on. So, in an effort to make up for it we've been watching a talk or two a day and I've been loving it. It's so great to hear exactly what you need to hear each day. We're so lucky to have them available 24/7 over the internet. Yesterday I listened to the CES broadcast from over the weekend while I worked on a craft project. Such a better alternative than listening to the radio. What a timely message for us. One thing that really struck home was about being addicted to facebook. I completely am. It's pretty much my only contact with other people. Seriously, without it I would have no idea what was going on with anyone I know. It's the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I shut off at night. Guess I shouldn't be so dependent on it. Something to work on.

Perfect 10

2010-11-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that I've gotten a perfect 10 score the last couple of days and am on track to get another 10 today. It so nice to get back into a schedule. I'm not happy that I haven't earned a 70 pt. week yet. Going on vacation and being sick really threw me off but I'm doing much better now.

Toy Story 3

2010-11-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

As an avid hoarder I take the message of TS3 to heart. Not having a little sister to give my toys to they were all stored in the rafters as I outgrew them. When my parents were transferred to OK they went along, when they moved back to our home in CA they journeyed back. When I moved to AZ to get married they came with me. I have an entire room of opened boxes that I don't know what to do with. Obviously all these toys aren't doing me any good. Of course I was thinking that by this time I'd have someone to give them to but as that's not the case I'm wondering what to do now. These are pristine vintage toys in perfect condition but even at that they probably don't have much monetary value. Since I just have nephews obviously they didn't need them. Good thing Josh has a plethora of nieces. Maybe some of them would be interested in some of these toys. I dunno. It's overwhelming but I have way too much stuff as it is even without countless boxes of toys. What to do... what to do...

Decisions, decisions

2010-11-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

I've come to the conclusion that the mind is a powerful thing. Once I decided a couple weeks ago to do the HHH challenge I've been mostly pretty good about not giving in to sweets. Lastnight I was over at a friend's for dinner and there were desserts a plenty. Pies, ice cream, brownies, etc... but I had no problem restraining from having anything. I think we have more control over ourselves than we give ourselves credit for. We think we have to give into our cravings all the time when the truth is we don't even have to have the craving in the first place. Once we make the decision to abide by certain rules it doesn't become a daily struggle anymore. I even bought some Halloween candy to use for treats for church and haven't even been tempted at all to dig into them. Maybe my resolve won't always be so strong but I'm glad it has been today and I'm finally back on track earning all 10 pts a day. If I do have any treats this week it'll be on Fri. at the ward party.

Bookman's

2010-11-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

I ended up going on an adventure with my cousin lastnight and we ended up at Bookman's. We were looking for a movie for her son in the children's section and as soon as I was the standup of Edward I asked her to take my picture with him. Good thing I usually always have my camera on me. He doesn't look very happy in this picture though. Anyways, if you don't know what Bookman's is you are missing out. It's a great used bookstore where you can trade your used books for credit or cash. They also carry collectibles, records, dvds, vhs, games, etc... My cousin and her family use the store a lot. They have an amazing selection. It got my wheels turning. I should probably pack up a couple boxes of stuff and take it over there and see what they'd give me for it. My cousin trades for stuff all the time and it works out really well for her. Next time my mom comes to town I'm going to have to take her here. As an avid reader I'm sure she would love the place.

So close yet so far away!

2010-11-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

I insisted that we walk over to the main gates on our recent trip to Downtown Disney. Halloween Time is one of my favorite times at the park. I was happy that the pumpkins over the main entrance were still up. I love Disneyland. So many happy memories. Countless hours spent there hanging out with family & friends. I'm so glad that I was able to have a pass for so many years. It was so great to be able to go whenever I wanted: lunch break, on the way to or from work, all day or just for a couple of hours. With the increasing prices most everyone I knew that had a pass doesn't anymore. It's like a chapter in our lives has closed. I will always treasure the great times I spent at Disneyland and Ca. Adventures and hope that I get a chance to go again soon.

Lego Store

2010-11-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

I love going to the Lego Store in Downtown Disney. We went there Monday evening. Not only do they have really amazing lego sets there that you don't see anywhere else but they have legos you can play with and really impressive lego creations like this woody which is fairly new since I've never seen it before. You can buy legos by the piece and also build three lego people for $10 and purchase that. There's new lego girl hair that was quite cool that I wanted. I also was tempted by a couple of the people key chains they had. But I just window shopped. Another funny thing that we noticed was the names on the mugs pictured behind Josh. They didn't have any form of my name there. I've noticed that lately on personalized items. Maybe my name is becoming less popular. I guess I should look into that.

Birthday Treats

2010-11-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

So having a birthday the first week of the challenge was not good timing. Yes, we get a free sugar day for our birthdays but since my birthday celebration tends to spill out over a couple of days I ended up losing a couple points for sugar that week. If you are going to have a sugar day it better be worth it. Below is a picture of the slice of cheesecake I got from the Cheesecake Factory the night of my birthday. It's their newest variety - Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake. It was amazingly delicious. Above is pictured my usual birthday "cake" - Chocolate Satin Pie form Marie Calendar's. So good. Rachael had her cousin that lives in our Stake deliver it to me. It sure was good. Halloween was a free sugar day too but all I had was a few pieces of candy and it didn't really seem worth it. If you are going to have a dessert make it something yummy.

Mustard's vs. Pink's

2010-11-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

On our last trip to L.A. over Labor Day weekend my sister in law told us about a hot dog place that they love to go to called Mustard's. We didn't get a chance to try it then so on Sat. when we were trying to decide where to grab some lunch we took the opportunity to try it out. Now mind you I hardly ever eat hot dogs so I'm not any sort of authority on the subject but they were pretty good. I just got a plain dog with mustard and that's it. They serve Chicago style dogs there that "snap" when you bite into them. Their buns are steamed to perfection and have poppyseeds.
Several years ago a couple of friends and I ended up in Hollywood. Our original plan fell through so somehow we ended up going to Pink's for the first time. It was quite an adventure. Finding parking is a feat in itself and then there's always a line of an hour or so no matter what time of day or night it is. A couple years later when Josh and I were in Hollywood we went and he thought it was overrated. Whatever! Anyways, recently they've opened a Pink's near the entrance of Knott's Berry Farm. This past Sat. night we were going to get some Knott's Chicken Noodle Soup to go which is one of our favorite things to do in CA but when we got there we found the Pink's and opted for a hot dog instead. Similarly to Mustard's their hot dogs snap when you bite into them and they have amazing steamed buns that are sans poppy seeds which I prefer. Both my dad and Josh thought the Mustard's hot dog tasted better than Pink's. I got my toppings of bacon, guacamole & cheese and enjoyed it thoroughly. Guess if I ever end up at Mustard's again I will add my favorite toppings and see how it measures up.
I do hope that Pink's does well at Knott's and that it becomes a favorite destination for many. It kind of takes the fun out of the adventure of having to go up to Hollywood to get a Pink's though.
Unfortunately I didn't get any pics. at Mustard's but you'll just have to take my word for it. Here's a couple pics we took at Pinks.

Tron Night!

2010-10-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I noticed on facebook that you could get free tickets to a special Tron Night so of course I immediately signed up for tickets and was so relieved to get some. You were supposed to get there an hour early to make sure you got your seat and it wasn't given away to someone in standby line so I'm all stressing out today about getting there early enough and wouldn't you know it there's hardly anyone there. All those years in CA have ruined me. I always think there's going to be a ton of people but at this IMAX there wasn't. I absolutely love having an IMAX theater so close. (It's just one exit away). Since I'm always figuring out ways to score free movie tickets we always use them to see IMAX 3D movies. I figure if it's not in IMAX 3D we can just wait to rent it at the library.
Anyways, it was pretty cool to go to this event tonight. We got these cool wrist bands and movie posters. It was about 25 minutes long. They showed a couple of full scenes and then a few clips. Josh loved it. I'm not really into it. I thought the original movie was a bit strange and could probably live without seeing the new take on it but I'm sure I'll see it at some point since Josh is so into it.
I'm glad we were able to attend the special even tonight but wish there would've been more people there. I think there were only about 40 people in the theater. I wonder if the other IMAX theaters in the PHX area were busier. Hopefully they were. It's kind of nice not having to fight crowds to go to an awesome theater here. It's one of my favorite things about where we live in AZ.

Extra Point?

2010-10-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

I think I should get an extra exercise point today because not only did I exercise for 50% longer than the requirement but I also pushed a 2 year old in a stroller the whole time. lol! It was quite fun and my little friend loved it. Even though it was after dark he was thrilled to be outside and was looking around and pointing out the stars and everything we went past. When we finally got back to the house he did not want to get out of the stroller and go in the house but we wrestled him inside and distracted him with some toys and he was fine. It was fun to go on a different route this evening since we are babysitting while my friend is off to a play.

Feeling Hopeful

2010-10-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's funny how so many things are up in the air right now but at the moment I'm feeling like everything is going to work out. I don't know how. I don't know when. I wish I did but I don't so I just have to keep on going and doing all I can and know that somehow, some way everything will be fine. It's hard for me to do that. I like to have a plan. Living in CA forced me to plan things way in advance. If you want to go to something you have to buy a ticket the second they become available or you miss out. I got used to living that way. Now I don't know more than a few weeks out. I like having something to look forward to. I guess I'll learn patience. I just have to trust that everything will come together how it's supposed to. Sometimes I'm just surprised that I'm not stressed out more than I am. Guess I've just been in survival mode so long. Anyways, I know this doesn't make much sense without many details but we're supposed to do a journal or blog everyday with the habits challenge I'm doing so this will count off for that.

BBQ Pulled Pork

2010-10-25T20:00:00.001-07:00

First thing you do is brown all the sides of the pulled pork. Just heat up your pan to medium and sear it for a few minutes on each side.

Next place it in the crock pot. Josh cut the pork loin in half so it would fit better in the pan.

Pour a 2 liter bottle of root beer over the pork loin roast.

After it cooks thoroughly (we usually turn it on high for 6 hours) shred it using two forks and then pour bbq sauce over it. Tastes great with homemade rolls and it's so easy! It was a big hit at my family birthday dinner last night.

Yummy Rolls!

2010-10-24T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is what I came home to yesterday. Josh walked to the grocery store to pick up the missing ingredient and baked rolls while I was at the craft fair all day. This evening we had three of my cousin that live in the PHX area over for dinner for pulled pork sandwiches so Josh made rolls for that. They are his best batch yet even though he was out of practice from not making them all summer since we're barely used the oven for the last 6 months during the extreme heat here.

Made for each other!

2010-10-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

You know when you find a pair of jeans that fit you perfectly you just have to have them? Well, that happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I was at the Gap and found the most perfect jeans. I wore them for the first time lastnight and was so happy with my purchase. They are amazing and are a perfect match for me.
Sometimes it's like that with Josh. Every once in a while he says or does something that makes me realize that we're supposed to be together. Even though our life is completely up in the air right now and I don't know where we'll be tomorrow much less next week I know that we are in this journey together and I guess that's all I need to know for now. I thought that a couple of very big life changing things were going to work out yesterday but they didn't and I was really disappointed but I have to believe that somehow everything will turn out for the best someday.

Drink More Water!

2010-10-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember I've had seriously dry hands. The kind that crack and bleed. I've been told all sorts of remedies over the years. Tried all kinds of different lotions. Slept with gloves on after I've applied vaseline. Been prescribed ointments. But not once did anyone ever tell me to drink more water. Now mind you that I only drink water having never been much of a soda drinker but gave that up many years ago nonetheless. Living in AZ has made me realize the need to constantly drink water and to take it with me wherever I go. I can tell when I'm drinking enough water when my hands don't look like withered old lady hands. One of the ways to earn points for the wellness challenge is to drink 48 ounces a day. That's pretty conservative. Most days I'm sure I drink way more than that and even that's not enough sometimes. I guess the whole point of this is just to point out that sometimes there's an easy solution to a problem but it's the last thing anyone thinks of. Wish someone would've told me this as a kid. I've probably been nearly dehydrated my whole life. Maybe most people are. Who knows? So if you have dry skin don't fork out a bunch of money for some fancy lotion - drink a glass of water instead. It'll do you good!

P.S. This picture is my trusty filtered water picture and my official water glass. I started out with 4 of these but this is the only one left so I know it's mine. I wash it every day or so when I do the dishes. Somehow I only use this one glass and Josh manages to dirty up many a day but he drinks a variety of different liquids not just water like me.

Beauty & The Beast

2010-10-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

Lastnight we had a special treat and got to see Disney's Beauty & the Beast at the Gammage. It was excellent. My cousin in law won two tickets but neither he or his wife had any inclination to go to a musical so we lucked out and they decided to give us the tickets for an early birthday present. I actually saw this show about 10 years ago in NYC on a business trip but I was happy to see it again. This has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. I dug out the soundtrack this morning and we listened to it and I have to say that the amazing cast we heard lastnight is even better than the recording. I'm amazed at their busy schedule. We are actually quite lucky that they are here in PHX for 6 nights. Some of the stops on their tour are just for a night or two. You can check their schedule here and see if they are coming near you. It was so fun to see so many girls in their belle ball gowns but I'm sure they were sleepy today having stayed up too late on a school night.
On the way to the theatre we stopped at Burrito Express to grab a quick bite of food. My friend brought us food from here last week and we both loved it and wanted to try it again. The place is pretty ghetto but the food is very good. They only have a couple locations but they are worth trying out. CityDeals even has gift certificates for just $10 for $25 worth of food so that would be a great way to try them out.
I guess that will count for our fast food quota this week. So worth it though!

Another Weigh In

2010-10-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

This morning we weighed in first thing. We probably won't do this every morning but somehow it made us feel a bit better. I was down 3.3 lbs and Josh was down 2.6 lbs. It is amazing how much your weight can fluctuate in one day. We went to the track lastnight and just walked. It was pretty dark but there were a few other people there. We walked a bit farther than we normally do but will probably just stick with our route around the block for now.
I pureed some cauliflower to go in our scrambled eggs for lunch. Neither one of us is big on vegetables so we have to sneak them into our food whatever way we can.

Moment of Truth

2010-10-18T18:11:00.001-07:00

I'd meant to do a weigh in first thing this morning but forgot about it so we didn't get around to it until 11am after we'd had lunch but it's a starting point at least. Neither of us were happy with what the wii told us our numbers were. We both set goals for what we'd like our numbers to be at the end of 12 weeks. I know we can reach them. Josh would like to start running so we're going to the track tonight instead of just walking the neighborhood like we normally do. So far we're looking good at earning all of our points today.
p.s. I thought it was funny that the wii reminded Josh that my birthday was coming up and suggested that he threw me a surprise party. um yeah. whatever!

12 week challenge

2010-10-17T07:38:00.001-07:00

This past week my diet has mostly consisted of no bake cookies. Oatmeal & peanut butter. They can't be that bad right? haha. Well, there's only one cookie left now and we won't be making anymore for a while because tomorrow starts the 12 week challenge! I was invited by a friend to participate and I think it's going to be great. Most of the items I do already but there's a few I really need to work on (like eating my fruits & veggies!) This is the official website. It's such a fun idea to have everyone contribute a prize. Depending on how this goes I'm thinking about organizing my own group challenge after this one is over. I think it would be lots of fun to have friends and family cheering each other on. If you want to unofficially participate, just print out the chart and follow along. Let me know how it's going and I'll keep you posted on here as well. Good luck!

Cheesecake Factory

2010-09-02T12:51:00.001-07:00

About a month ago The Cheesecake Factory had a deal where if you became their fan on facebook you got a free slice of cheesecake. It ended up being a kind of crazy day. (come to think of it most days end up being a bit crazy!) So anyhow we decided to take advantage of the offer. I got a bowl of chicken tortilla soup and Josh ordered a chicken sandwich. (We didn’t want to eat too much to save room for dessert haha!) Well, neither of us came close to finishing our decadent pieces of cheesecake but we gave it our best efforts. I got the 30th anniversary special and Josh got heath bar. These aren’t great pics but here they are:

We ended up finishing the pieces the next day and they were still super yummy. What’s even better is that they gave us a coupon that if we did a survey online they would send us a $10 gift card which of course I took advantage of and now I have this gift card burning a whole in my pocket!

I think this is only the second time I’d ever had an amazing piece of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. How silly of me that I grew up not liking cheesecake can you believe it?!?

Now they have a deal that if you donate $5 you can get a free piece of cheesecake. So tempted to do that…

Gotta start working out again so I can rationalize eating another piece…

Baby Bunny

2010-09-01T19:45:00.001-07:00

A while back we had many sighting of the cutest little bunny in the backyard. I think there’s a secret bunny den under this cactus right next to the groundhog den underneath the cactus next door. Honestly, the most redeeming quality of our neighborhood is all the bunnies we spot on our nightly walks in the winter/spring. I can’t wait for another month or so when it gets cool enough that we will start walking again.

Throne Room

2010-08-31T15:03:00.001-07:00

Several months ago a Kohler rep came to Josh’s work to do a presentation and gave everyone a free toilet. Kind of strange but awesome none the less. Josh installed it Father’s Day weekend. We’d been needing a new toilet seat but getting a new toilet to go with it was great. It’s one of those fancy low water high powerful ones. It reminds me of being on an airplane because of the loud swish it makes when you flush it. Josh installed it in the Master Bathroom. I wish we could’ve gotten two so we could’ve replaced the toilet in the hall bathroom as well. It’s been making crazy sounds lately but luckily Josh was able to replace a part and repair it but it would be nice to have been able to replace it instead. Anyhow, I never imagined having a new toilet could be so great but if you have the means to get a fancy toilet I say go for it.

Beautiful Blossom

2010-04-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

The other day I noticed that there was a pretty blossom on the cactus in the backyard but it only lasted a day or two and then was gone. So when another one cropped up I made sure that I got a picture of it. I love how these two pictures turned out. They are among the best pictures I've ever taken. More buds are forming so hopefully I'll be able to get some more great pics over the next few weeks as more flowers bloom.

Spring has Sprung!

2010-04-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

The other day when we were headed out I spotted this in the yard and stopped dead in my tracks. I ran back in the house and grabbed my camera and snapped a quick picture. I love how it turned out. The lighting was really amazing that evening. It's no secret that I'm not fond of our rock and cactus yard but I was happy to see these beautiful blooms on this little cactus.

Bill Johnson's Big Apple Restaurant

2010-04-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Sat. night Josh & I finally redeemed a gift certificate we'd been given by my cousin for Christmas. It was nice to go out to dinner. They have really good BBQ sauce here. In fact you can even buy it at the grocery stores here it is so popular. Overall though the workers and other diners were a bit strange. I'm not sure if we'd ever go here again but it was fun to go out. We HAD to order dessert to use up the whole gift certificate. Josh was pretty excited about it.

It was actually just mostly whipped cream. There was a river of fudge we eventually tapped into and a brownie and some vanilla ice cream as well. After dinner we went to the Easter Pageant. Last year when we went we took the YW for mutual so I was trying to keep track of them the whole time. This year it was nice to just go and relax and watch the program. I hope we make it every year that we live here.

Easter Treats

2010-04-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

Pretzels dipped in caramel
The finished product with chocolate added. Yum!

Without having regular access to a car I didn't do any Easter treat shopping this year. I've had the ingredients to make these pretzels but hadn't gotten around to making them so I thought I would make them for a treat for Josh. I've made them a few times before but never had much luck with the caramel. They seem to always get stuck to the wax paper. This time I sprayed the wax paper with Pam and it helped immensely. After the caramel hardened I added a layer of milk chocolate. They were really good and considering I made these a few days before Easter not many of them lasted till Easter day but it was ok. They tasted very good and look great in my Fiesta oval platter. I have to add that the caramel I used were called "caramel bits". They are made for melting and saves you the hassle of having to unwrap all the caramel candies. They worked great. I'm not sure if they sell them year round or if they just had them over the holidays. I'll have to look for them next time I make it to a store.

International Waffle Day

2010-03-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

I drove Josh to work today so I could keep the car and run some errands. Of course I had to stop at Ikea. While I was there I noticed that in honor of International Waffle Day they were going to have waffles from 2-5pm today only for a mere $2.99 a plate. I mentioned it to Josh when I called later to check on him and he thought that sounded like fun. Luckily he was done with work early enough to go. We each got a thick belgian waffle piled high with delicious whip cream and sliced strawberries. This seemed more like dessert to me but we counted it as our dinner. Yum! What a deal!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

2010-03-23T16:21:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Josh & I made a fast trip to CA for my brother's wedding. Josh has been working such long hours that he took Friday off so we could drive down that day since we knew he'd get home too late to drive after work. Even so several people called him from work to see where he was and ask him questions. That's what he gets for taking his work cell phone with him on vacation I guess.

Let's back up to Thursday night though... About the time we usually go to bed I decide to take some drastic measures to try to get my bridesmaid dress to fit. Luckily a friend had helped me with the top of it gaping open but it still couldn't be zipped up over my ribcage. I had Josh help me figure out where the tightest part was and I resewed it and ripped open the original seam. I was hesitant to make any alterations before because I was afraid of ruining the fabric but after seeing how durable it was when my friend worked on it I took courage and went to work and I'm so glad I did. It would have been completely unbearable otherwise.

So Friday I still had a bunch of stuff to do before we could head out so we didn't get on the road till about 8am. My friend had sent us off with a batch of cinnamon rolls so we snacked on those as we drove so we just stopped twice to change drivers and top off the tank.

We got to the church a bit after 1 and picked up my brother who hadn't been able to get the attention of the decorator's to get into the building. We went to In N Out for lunch. I was kind of worried about running into the last guy I dated who works really close to there and wouldn't you know it that he shows up right after we got our food. How's that for irony? We ended up chatting with him for a bit. Now Josh has met two of my ex boyfriends. Crazy.

After lunch we went back to the church and ended up having to change out all the chairs so that took a while. Then we headed over to my dad's cousin's house where we spent the night. We hadn't seen them in 20 years or so but it was great to visit with them. They used to live in the same city as my parents so we know lots of the same people and had lots to talk about.

After a couple hours we headed out to grab some grub and happened across Portillo's which is one of my favorite places to eat so that made me very happy. Then we went back to the house and visited for a while more. Ends up that my dad's cousin in law is a professional seamstress so I showed her my dress and she was the biggest lifesaver. Where I had taken out the seams the the dress was completely creased and I didn't know what to do to get them out. She steamed them out and saved the day. What luck that we stayed with her!

After a restless night of tossing and turning got up early to go get my hair done. R. wanted all of us to get our hair done in an updo but of course I didn't know anyone in the area to do my hair. Luckily Cheri called around and made an appt. for me. Originally she said it was going to cost $60 but that they would give me a discount of $45 but when I got out my checkbook she said $20 was fine so I gave her $25. I guess she took one look at how shabby I was dressed and took pity on me. It was nice of her to cut me a deal. I wasn't quite sure what I thought of my hair but everyone said I looked great (except my brother who thought I looked terrible but oh well!)

I got back in time to ride to the temple with Keith & Josh. I had my leftover lemon poppyseed muffin from dinner for breakfast but they wanted something to eat so after not seeing anything since we went through the hills to get there we stopped at 7-11 and they got donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast. Perfect wedding morning food for sure.

I ushered Josh & Keith inside and then attended to some last minute details. I snuck in the bathroom in the lobby and applied some makeup really quickly. When Jess got there I went and parked her car so she wouldn't have to walk so far on her crutches. Also made sure Brent got his vest & tie. I was kind of stressed making sure I got all the little things done that I needed to do.

Everything inside the temple went well. Josh & I walked along with Jess to make sure she could make it on her crutches. I was hoping that a wheelchair would've been available but someone else snagged it up. The sealing was beautiful. It was so nice to in the temple surrounded by so many family & friends. Some of our cousins traveled far to be there and it was so great to have them there.

After the sealing I send Linda off to get my dress which she helped me squeeze into. I also had her get the maps to the luncheon and entrusted cousin Kathy with passing those out and we also had to make sure my dad got his tie. Everyone got situated to congratulate the beaming bride & groom as they made their grand exit. We got a picture or two all together and then LaMar started with Rachael's family since they had the most little kids with them. We spent a lot of time taking pictures. I kind of felt more like a groomsman than a bridesmaid since the groomsmen consisted of my husband, brother and two close guy friends. The other bridesmaids consisted of Rachael's sister, a friend of hers that I'd met several times before and another friend that I was never introduced to. I kind of felt silly at one point they wanted to get a picture of their cute feet. Unbeknownest to me Rachael and the other bridemaids had gone out to get their nails done the day before the wedding and out to lunch during the same time that Josh & I were out to lunch with Keith. I'd been told that the dresses were supposed to be floor length so I chose to wear comfortable closed toe shoes. If I'd known I would've also gotten a pedicure and worn my dressy, strappy black shoes like the others but oh well.

It was a gorgeous day with perfect weather and the slight breeze kept us from melting. I'm so glad that Josh & I applied sunscreen as soon as we exited the temple that kept us from getting sunburned like the rest of the bridal party.

After the picture taking Josh & I rode with Brent over to the luncheon. It was such a nice drive through the hills which were green from all the recent rain. The gps didn't like our route but it was quite scenic. Amanda & Charity did a great job with the food and it was fun being able to visit for a bit with extended family. At 4 Keith called and said we were supposed to be at church for more pictures which we hadn't heard about so we grabbed our stuff from the room we'd stayed in the night before and headed over to church.

More pictures and then the bridal party was introduced. Josh & I went first and then the rest followed. We were lucky to have two extra seats at our table so I invited Gabe & Crystal to join us. After dinner I spent most of my time going from table to table trying to visit with as many relatives as possible but never got to everyone that I would've liked to visit with. Rachael's sister and dad gave toasts and Rachael danced with her dad and Keith danced with Rachael's mom. Since neither of us are into dancing and don't like having the spotlight on us we didn't have dancing at our reception so I was happy that I got a chance to dance with my dad during the father/daughter dance and also danced with Josh during the couple dance.

At the end of the evening I slipped out of my dress back into my skirt and sweater and got to work. We gathered up all the chair covers that had been used and helped load up the presents that my parents took over to Rachael's house. By the time we got back to the house and I washed my hair several times to get all the hairspray out and visited with my dad for a bit when my parents finally got back to the house it was well past midnight and we were all exhausted.

I was finally able to get a good night's rest. Sunday we ended up just heading over to my brother's house for a couple of hours and hanging out with them and then we drove back to AZ. It's nice to drive this time of year. The highways were lined with wildflowers and the hills were all so green. Also, it wasn't unbearably hot like it will be soon.

Our Yard

2010-02-25T12:24:00.000-08:00

Many people have been posting pictures about their yards lately. Mostly due to receiving incredible amounts of snow or rain resulting in huge piles of snow or flooded streets. I missed taking pictures of our flooded backyard the last couple times it turned into a lake but I did manage to capture the results of the lake this morning - beautiful, flowering weeds. Although I've never had much of a flower garden, I've tried many times - planting flowers at my parents house. I always enjoyed digging in the dirt and planing the flowers and trying to take care of them. I really miss not having flowers here. The yard consists of rocks with an overabundance of cactus - probably my least favorite landscape. I think it's interesting that a different variety of weeds sprout up each year. I don't know why this is. Perhaps the seeds lie dormant in the ground and depending on the timing of the rain different seeds sprout up. I happen to like these weeds since they are flowering and all. When I first moved in I spent 15 minutes or so pulling weeds every morning but I haven't been pulling weeds consistently lately and to my dismay these practically appeared overnight. Today my uncle (& landlord) came over and sprayed the yard with weed killer. Hopefully this will prevent more from growing and stunt the growth of the current weeds. Eventually I'll once again don my gloves and still have to pull them all out though. Everytime I see the rare yard with grass I'm so jealous. It would be so nice to have a yard although I realize it's not feasible to have one. It's funny the things you take for granted and miss when it's gone. Who knew I would miss grass so much? But getting back to the upkeep of the yard I'm sure there much be a better way to keep it looking nice then harmful chemicals. It especially saddens me to see the groundhogs that have taken up residency in tunnels under the cactus along the back fence venture out and nibble on the weeds that have just been sprayed.

Lemon Cupcakes

2010-02-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

Last Wed. I hosted a baby shower and made these cupcakes for dessert. I love having this cute cupcake stand to use for entertaining but it's funny because it holds 23 cupcakes so you always have one leftover.

which Josh is always happy about so he can sneak one before the event starts and no one knows.

Better than any restaurant!

2010-02-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

This was our Valentine's Day Dinner and it was absolutely amazing! There were tons of leftovers from the party Sat. night so some relatives got together on Sunday for leftover lunch but unfortunately they had it right when we were in church. But lucky us they saved us some and after church we went over and picked up this delicious box of food. We got an assortment of Brazilian BBQ meat including pork, chicken, ribs and more, 2 rolls, rice, black beans, super yummy dessert, a pkg to make pink lemonade, peach jam and some oranges. It was all so good and of course we couldn't even eat it all. We are so blessed to have been given this food because I really had no plan for dinner and our supplies are low since I've been waiting for our costco rebate to stock up on groceries again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day we decided to splurge on this Heart Shape Pizza from Papa Murphy's. It was on sale for $6.99 ($3 off) and I had a coupon for free cheesy bread sticks so it ended up being a great deal. It's the best take and bake pizza and is very reasonable. I'm sure Josh would love it if we got it every Friday night but we only end up getting it once every couple of months on special occassions.
Hope everyone has a very Happy Valentine's Day! We are looking forward to going to Josh's cousin's b'day party tonight and hanging out with some of his relatives.

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

I feel so negligent in posting on our blog. I haven't even been on here to read any of our friend's or family's blogs either. The highlights of Nov. were having my family visit for Thanksgiving. We had fun showing them around town a bit. And of course the whole month of Dec. I was so busy making presents that I didn't get around to updating our blog. Here we are at Josh's extended family Christmas party. I ended up getting this Santa Suit on clearance after the past Christmas. I kind of felt guilty using up the last of our Target wedding gift card on it but now that he's worn it a few times I'm so glad we have it. It's going to be great for years to come. We ended up going to CA for Christmas and New Year's weekends and had a great time. Looking forward to a great year full of exciting new opportunities. If anyone is reading this I hope your Holidays were Happy and wish you the best in this new year.

Doe a deer...

2009-11-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

a female deer. Can you see it staring at you in the center of the picture?

Here she is walking with two little ones in tow but only one is pictured.

Since we hadn't gone on our hike since New Year's Day and it was a gorgeous afternoon we headed outdoors yesterday. We made it to our normal spot but the sun was going down so we had to rush back. I took a few more pictures after this trying not to get the camera shadow on us but they didn't turn out very well.

Josh had the ingenius idea to hold the camera out to the side to get this last shot. Can't wait to go hiking again this weekend!

Food!

2009-11-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

These are some random pictures of food I took last Sunday. We had the soup for dinner and the pancakes and bacon for breakfast and lunch. Not the healthiest of days but we were just trying to be a bit creative with what we had on hand. We had a can of soup and some bread & cheese so we had grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. Josh crumpled up no less than 20 saltines on top of his soup.

Bacon was on sale for 97 cents a lb. Doesn't this look healthy?

We ran out of pancake mix so Josh made them from scratch. They turned out great. It'll be our new Sunday morning tradition. Of course they taste better with chocolate chips but with the way Josh keeps snacking on them they won't last till next week!

My Birthday at Disneyland!

2009-11-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

We hadn't been to California in a couple of months (yeah that's a long time for us) so we thought we'd live a little and take a road trip to celebrate my birthday. This year you get in free on your birthday and I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to visit one of my favorite places. I really miss not having a pass and being able to go whenever I want.

We had a really fun day and were able to go on most of the rides. Since my dad has a pass he went with us too and let Josh use his b'day pass to get in. Keith & Rachael met us in the evening after work. I especially love Disneyland during Halloweentime. This year they had Halloween fireworks for the first time and they were a lot of fun. I hope they do them every year.

Next year you can get in free to Disneyland by doing a day of service so we are def. planning on taking advantage of that opportunity to go again.

Cloudy...

2009-10-01T14:15:00.001-07:00

with a Chance of Meatballs

When Josh saw a preview for this a few months ago he told me that he really wanted to see it since it was a favorite book of his as a child. I had recently earned 5 "FREE" movie tickets from sending in tokens off pop tart boxes so we decided to use them to go to the movie. We went to a matinee since the coupons were only good up to $12 and the matinee price was a whopping $11.75

It was a cute film and it was nice to finally get out of the house and do something. This is the only picture I took of us all month and is practically the only time went anywhere together besides church. We love IMAX 3D movies and are so lucky to have a new theatre just one exit away. We can't wait to see Where the Wild Things Are with our other tickets.

When I finally logged on here lastnight I realize that it's been a long time since i'd updated our blog but I guess there wasn't much news for the month. Hopefully I'll be better this month. Already I am loving Oct. with the much cooler weather we are enjoying. Hope it will just keep cooling off and that our days over 100 are over.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2009-08-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

Usually on Sunday mornings Josh fixes breakfast. We typically have pancakes and eggs (& sometimes bacon or sausage but we're trying to cut back). Yesterday Josh made smiling faces in our pancakes so I had to take a picture.

Goldfield & Tortilla Flat with Jared

2009-08-13T20:53:00.001-07:00

My cousin Jared & I at Goldfiled Ghost Town.

We had a little more time with Jared to be touristy so we continued down the road past Canyon Lake and out to Tortilla Flat. This is the bar in the restaurant. The crazy place is wallpapered in dollar bills that patrons write on and stick up. It's interesting to see where everyone is from. There are also tons of business cards and foreign money as well. There are a couple buildings there but they've never had phone service. A new building is being constructed. I'm anxious to see what it will be. Next time we'll have to eat there and try the prickly pear ice cream.

Goldfield with Keith & Rachael

2009-08-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

Rachael & Keith at the entrance of Goldfield.
Josh & I at our favorite spot.

Since Rachael hadn't been there yet and we take all of our houseguests to this Ghost Town that's just a few miles away we didn't want to make an exception. It was so blazing hot that we only lasted about 20 minutes walking around. We'll have to go again next time they come to visit to spend a bit more time there.

Harry Potter 6 in IMAX (08-01-09)

2009-08-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Keith, Rachael & Josh waiting for the movie to start.

Rachael, me & Josh with our posters.

A couple of weeks ago my brother Keith and my friend Rachael came to visit for the weekend. Since none of us had seen the new Harry Potter movie yet and since it had just come out on IMAX we were eager to see it.

When Josh & I went to see Transformers a couple weeks ago we showed up about a half hour before it started and couldn't find a seat. We ended up coming back for the next showing and had to be there an hour early to have a chance of a decent seat. With this info. in mind, we showed up at the theatre very early to make sure we got good seats. As you can see, we ended up being the first people in the theatre. We waited for a good long while all by ourselves and the theatre never even filled up. We could have showed up at the last minute and it would've been fine. Well I guess you never know!

We had fun hanging out while we waited and it's much cooler at the theatre than at our house so it worked out fine. We really enjoyed the movie even though not much of it was in 3D it was still great to see it in IMAX.

Another pic of us

2009-07-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

One of the nieces took this picture of us on the 5th over at Josh's sister's house. We had a dinner party in celebration of blessing the new baby and a couple of the girls' birthdays coming up. We had a great time. One reason I love Sundays is because that is typically the only day of the week that Josh shaves. As the week wears on his face gets all covered up and scraggly. I love it when Josh shaves and unveils his cute face for all the world to see.

Billings Temple

2009-07-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we flew to Billings and spent a week with Josh's family in WY. Who knew you could fly nonstop from Mesa to Billings? and cheap too! Sometimes fares go on sale for as little as $29. We had a great time visiting Josh's family and meeting his new nephew and enjoying the great outdoors. We spent as much time up the mtns as we could. My favorite day was our last full day there when we went on a long hike through the trees and saw a couple of moose on the way back to town. Here we are pictured at the Billings Temple. Our first stop after leaving the airport. I took too many pictures to post here but there's several hundred on my facebook acct. if you want to check them out there.

One year!

2009-06-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our one year anniversary! We celebrated by going to the temple on Sat. morning. Here's us at Dairy Queen afterwards. (We were meeting up with a bride to rent her chair covers for her wedding reception so we got ice cream while we waited for her.)
Sunday after church we fixed steak, mashed potatoes and creamed corn and watched Pirates 3. We didn't really do anything out of the ordinary but it was nice to reflect on the past year. In some ways it's gone by really fast but at the same time it's hard to remember not being married.

Super Savings!

2009-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

One of my hobbies is scoring free or nearly free stuff at Walgreens and CVS. Usually every Monday morning I head over to both stores to get whatever I can. Some weeks I do pretty good and other weeks I'm not so impressed with the ads so I don't get anything. This week I did quite well. I picked up everything in this picture plus two more packs of tic tacs for approx. $2 out of pocket and get $14 off my next purchase.

Here's the breakdown by store:
CVS:
Toilet Paper regular price 10.49, sale price 5.49 - 50 cent coupon = 4.99
Bandaids regular price 3.59, sale price 2.99 - 50 cent coupon = 2.49 - 2.00 extra bucks = .49
Face Wash regular price 5.49, sale price 3.99 - $2 coupon = 1.99 - 3.99 extra bucks = -$2
Men's Deodorant 3.99 - 3.99 extra bucks = 0
The tic tacs were clearanced for 25 cents each instead of 99. I just had to get them since I had too many coupons when I got to the register and needed to buy some more stuff.

I already had $14 in extra bucks from a previous purchase so I spent 45 cents out of pocket and get $10 off a future purchase. Nice! So far at CVS this year I have spent $28.33 and have saved $255.56.

The other items I got at Walgreens:
Floss was on sale for 2.50 each and I had 1.50 coupon so it was 3.50 plus $3 off next purchase so they are a net 50 cents or 25 cents each

The ladies deodorant was on sale for 1.99 plus $1 off next purchase for it cost 99 cents

I already had $6 off so in total I spent $1.61 and get $4 off my next purchase there. Saved $10.48 on this purchase.

Hopefully that made some sort of sense.

It's a lot of fun. I could never do this when I lived in So. Cal. because all the killer deals sell out on Sunday and since I don't shop on Sunday I couldn't take advantage of these amazing deals. I only get one newspaper and I don't look at any blogs or subscribe to any paid plans that teach you how to do this. I just do whatever I figure out on my own.

Pretty much all of our toiletries are free or pretty close to it. I even gave my cousin 4 tubes of toothpaste the other day because I've gotten so much free toothpaste lately I don't know what to do with it all. So, if you are on my gift list, expect a basket of toiletries! ; )

Sometimes it's actually embarrassing to walk out of CVS with over $26 worth of stuff for just 45 cents. Most of the employees and even Store Managers I've come across don't really know how their systems work and what you can and cannot do as far as coupons go which was a bit frustrating when I was trying to figure out the system. Now that I know how it works I just smile and enjoy my fun, little hobby.

Josh's B'day Celebration

2009-05-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

On Josh's actual birthday he didn't end up working. We started off the morning taking our friend to Goldfield - the ghost town a few minutes away from our place. Then we went out to lunch at Oreganos and had an amazing stuff crust pizza. One piece fills you up. I think I can only handle eating there once a year it's so much food.

Then our friend Keith that was visiting from LA treated us to Star Trek. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first but was soon won over and really enjoyed it.

Josh really wanted to go to CA. so when he got home from work Friday afternoon we drove out there.

Saturday morning we stopped past the District Science Fair to see my nephews' projects. Jacob did his on the birds in his neighborhood and Jason did his on if his classmates could tell the difference between different chocolate chip cookies. They are so smart!

Josh loves the creamed corn at Hof's Hut so we met a couple friends there for lunch. After hanging out of the restaurant for 3 hours we moved the party down the street to my parent's house.

That evening we attended a performance at The Warner Grand Theater by the Golden State Pops Orchestra. My cousin in law plays the bassoon. I love going to see them. They always have really fun themes for their concerts and they play in a gorgeous building. Their theme for the evening was "Video Game Soundtracks". They finished off the night by playing 10 minutes from WOW. It was really good. The had several guest conductors that directed the songs they'd composed. Several songs were from video games that hadn't been released yet. Who knew video games have come so far as to have such amazing music?

Sunday morning we went over to my brother's house and he fixed us Begian waffles with fresh berries, whipped cream and chocolate chips. They were super yummy. I went to look for Josh and found Jacob curled up on him. I'm glad my nephews love my husband!
Jason rehearsed "Something" by The Beatles for us which he performed later that afternoon after we hit the road.

After breakfast we went to my parent's house and visited with them for about an hour since they'd just got home from a cruise up the coast to Estoria, OR, Seattle and Victoria.

We then went to the El Dorado Singles Ward since we had a couple friends visiting there. It was so weird since I hadn't been there in a few years. So many new people. I bet I only knew about 10 percent of them. Things change so fast!

We had a really great trip and were sad to leave our family and friends and the nice, cool weather and hope to make it over for another visit sometime soon!

Josh was happy to get a b'day card from my grandparents and a card and $ from my parents and Season 3 of Supernatural from my sister in law (even though she bought it for him just so she could borrow it). We actually watched a couple episodes from Season 1 lastnight and they freak me out. It reminds me of watching the X Files.

Cave Creek

2009-05-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

Seems like it'd been forever since Josh and I actually went out and did something fun. He happened upon Cave Creek a year or so ago and had wanted to take me ever since. Josh wanted to get out of the house yesterday so he asked if I wanted to go for a drive and do some sight seeing. Cave Creek is a fun little place full of neat shops to walk around. We happened upon the "Thieves Market" which takes place the first Sat. of each month behind the antique shoppe. They had lots of fun things to look at. I especially enjoyed all the rhinestone jewelry and was tempted by a piece of fiesta. I settled on 5 postcards for $1 to send out for some upcoming holidays and birthdays.

Big Earls - Greasy Eats - the last honest hamburger

We saw this place as we drove into town and new this is where we had to get a bite for lunch. We shared a hamburger, fries and drink combo. It was really good. Their salads looked amazing as well. Definately would recommend this place to anyone in the area.

The yellow blooms on these trees were so magnificent. This picture does not do them justice.

me with one of the trees.

I was impressed with the beautiful yellow blossoms on some of the cactus. The cactus in our yard are not blooming but maybe they will soon?

This totem pole was in front of a cute little collection of western buildings full of gift ghops, restaurants, etc...

I convinced Josh to let me take his picture in front of this overgrown cactus.

He Works Hard for Our Money!

2009-04-24T07:05:00.001-07:00

For the last couple of months Josh has been replacing bathtubs at an apt. complex just a couple exits down the road from us. Not only has he been enjoying the short commute and somewhat regular hours it was nice that he wasn't getting that dirty.

Since they finished up that job last week now he's back at the shop and never knows what he's in for that day. Not only do we get up 2 hours earlier now sometimes he comes home so covered in mud I don't know if I should try to wash his clothes or just throw them away.

These are so caked with dirt. He really needs some sturdier shoes for work and some rubber boots for when he's playing in the mud.

Even after washing these they didn't come clean. I'll have to run them through the washer again. Atleast most of the dirt clods he tracked in where confined to the laundry room.

Relay for Life

2009-04-22T08:21:00.001-07:00

This Friday Josh and I will be participating in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Queen Creek. As I understand it each team is made up of 10 people and you take turns walking so there is always one person from your team on the track at all times. It lasts from 6pm Friday night till 6am Saturday morning. I've heard that it's lots of fun. This is our first time participating. It should be great. As of yet we haven't done so great on our fundraising efforts so if there's any way you can donate to our cause that would be great. The minimum donation is $5. Every little bit helps. We are walking in support of Josh's cousin in law and former boss who has battled cancer for several years but is currently doing well. We love their family and enjoy every opportunity we have to hang out with them. Thanks in advance for your help in this great cause!

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/staceytippetts

Sidewalk

2009-04-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

Usually when I go out to the mailbox in the afternoon I see a couple of cotton tail, some quail, lizards, etc... I was a bit surprised yesterday when I went outside and the sidewalk had mysteriously buckled.

As you can see the sidewalk is raised up about 7".

This is a dried up dead lizard. Nice.

Quite a large section of the sidewalk is affected. I wonder who's tennis ball that is? Considering the other day the high was a mere 65 and it's gone up about 10 degrees a day since then I guess the sidewalk couldn't handle the extreme 40 degree temperature change. I wonder if it will eventually go back down or what?

Who's Been Blogging?

2009-04-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

Every now and again someone expects me to know something that they've posted on their blog which of course I don't because even though I enjoy checking on blogs it usually starts out on one person's blog and then wanders from there without any sort of order. I figured the only way to keep track of things was to start listing our friend's and family blogs on our blog and then I could just look there and see who's posted lately and what's new with them. The question is how many do I include? Of course I'll list all the family ones I come across but as far as friend's go how well do I need to know the person to list their blog? I'm sure I know hundreds of people with blogs. Everytime I come across someone's blog it is connected to many other people I know as well. And now we are starting to get to know people in AZ. Since I've spent most my time in YW I pretty much only know people from a distance but many of them have blogs that I've stumbled across lately and woul love to read as well. Is there some sort of blog list etiquette to follow?

Birthday Beignets for Rachael

2009-04-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

On our last trip to CA a couple weeks ago we met my friend Rachael for Birthday Beignets at the Jazz Kitchen Express in Downtown Disney. She was spending the day at Disneyland with her younger sister celebrating their birthdays.

It was Josh's first time having beignets and he really liked them.

Rach & I

My dad and brother.

Rach and her sister.

The Beach!

2009-04-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Josh was getting "homesick" for Ca. since he hadn't been there since Christmas so we made a fast trip the first weekend of the month. The one thing he realy wanted to do was go to the beach. My dad and nephews went with us as well. We walked along the beach around Seal Beach pier for a couple of hours and played in the waves and got too wet and collected a bunch of shells. It was a lot of fun. Josh wants to live by the beach and go there everyday.

Miracle Whip Cake

2009-04-14T14:58:00.001-07:00

Josh has been craving one of these for a while so Sat. he called his mom and got the recipe and on Easter Sunday he not only cooked me dinner but a cake as well. It's best eaten piping hot out of the oven. Instead of frosting you put butter on it. Sounds weird but was really good!

Here's the recipe:
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
5-6 T cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. water
1 c. Miracle Whip
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400. Mix all ingredients and bake in a greased 9 x 12 pan for 30 min.

Hayley's 16th B'day Celebration!

2009-03-29T16:14:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago my cousin's daughter came to town to compete in a Pokemon tournament. We picked her up after her competition on Saturday evening and took her out to eat at Joe's BBQ in Gilbert - one of our favorite places to eat. It was her B'day earlier in the week so it was a nice treat to celebrate!

I put together a photo album of 50 pictures I've taken of Hayley over the last 7 years or so. Many of them are at Disneyland so I thought this book would work great.

Her hotel ended up being right next to the temple so while we waited for her friends to get back we walked around the temple grounds and toured the Visitor's Center. She really enjoyed it. This is Hayley & I by the reflecting pool.

Josh and I on the steps of the temple.

Hayley said her friends & her were fascinated by the cactus on their drive over so we took a final picture of her in the cactus garden.

Brandon Mull Book Signing for FableHaven 4

2009-03-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

So tonight I went to my very first booksigning. When I found out a month or so ago that Brandon's first stop on his Fablehaven 4 Tour was going to be Mesa I marked it on the calendar. We arrived at Barnes & Noble around 6:30 and they gave us the letter "z" and said we'd probably make it to the front of the line in about 3 1/2 hrs. So we went to the grocery store, grabbed some food, went home and made dinner and ate and hung out for a couple of hours and then went back. The letter "x" was announced shortly after we walked in the store. Josh looked around at books and I did some of the activities around the store that were meant to keep the kids busy. I made a bookmark and a bracelet and picked up a coloring page of a dragon. (I figure I'm still a kid since I don't have any right?) When our letter was finally called we only had to wait a few minutes in line. I have to say that even though we only interacted for a minute, Brandon seems like one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. I'm so happy that his books are doing so well. With Josh being such an avid reader he happened across the books a few years ago. After he read them I borrowed them and even lent them to my nephew. Josh even had Brandon sign a couple books for me a few years ago when he signed books in Chandler. When Josh's brother was here from Taiwan in Oct. we introduced him to the books. He read Book 1 during his visit and bought us Book 3. He was going to get all of them when he went back home. I can't wait to start reading Book 4 and hope the movies come out as soon as possible. They are great stories and would make excellent movies. I felt kind of silly being the only ones there without kids but I guess we are just kids at heart. I'd much rather read Fantasy children's books than "adult" books anyday. Of course when I met him the first thing I said was, "I stalk you on Facebook" which I totally do. Atleast now I can say that everyone I'm connected to I've actually met in person.

No Bake Cookies

2009-03-17T13:36:00.001-07:00

The other night Josh and I were watching Psych Season 1 and got the muchies. Neither of us had ever made these before but I got the recipe a couple weeks ago and thought we had all the ingredients so we gave it a shot. They turned out great and they are so yummy we can barely stop eating them.

No Bake Quick Cookies Recipe

In large pan mix: 3 cups sugar, 1 cup milk and 1 stick of butter

Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat.

Add: 6 T cocoa, 1 1/2 c peanut butter (we used creamy), 6 c quick oats & 2 tsp vanilla

Mix well. Drop by teaspoonfulls onto wax paper on a cookie sheet. Put in freezer and chill thoroughly.

We used a Tablespoon so our cookies are huge. They look like animal droppings but they taste good and are easy to make.

Finally Furniture!

2009-03-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

After nine long months of sleeping on a very old full size bed or on our new queen size bed on the floor we finally have a beautiful bed to sleep on! I've been searching high and low to find the perfect bed. We needed a platform bed to use with our mattress without a box spring. Everything I found was way our of our price range. I finally found this bedroom set at JCPenney and absolutely fell in love with it. I dragged Josh over to look at it and he liked it too but by the time you added shipping and everything it was still a little high. I'd been searching Craigslist diligently but everything was super far away or in bad shape. Finally one day I saw this bed and dresser listed that was exactly what we'd been looking for. I called her and she said someone else had emailed her about it and I said that we'd bring cash over tonight. So we picked up the dresser Tues. the 24th and went back the next night for the bed. I went out of town the next day. Finally last Sat. we went to IKEA and bought slats to put across the frame and then we put our mattress on. Yeah! I love it. Everyone who rated it online gave it a 5. It is very good quality and exactly what we needed for our mattress and we saved several hundred dollars. The girl we bought it from had only had it a few months and it was really big for her bedroom. We are so lucky to have found this great deal!

This dresser is currently in our very large entry way. The top two drawers are felt lined and the bottom drawer has cedar. Now we only need to scrounge up about $2000 to get the rest of the set! (My parents gave us money for the mattress and bedframe) and yes that's the quilt my mom made us for our wedding!

Who is this masked man?

2009-02-23T11:59:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon when we got home from church we changed into our pjs, fixed lunch and watched Monk & Psyche online. Then I got a phone call from my cousin inviting us over for dinner. I told her we could come in our pjs and would bring a box of brownies to make for dessert. Josh has been having trouble breathing for a couple of weeks so Linda had him do a breathing treatment. The other day when he was trimming his goatee the guard fell off so he accidentally shaved it off. I buzzed his head yesterday morning since it'd been over 2 months since I'd given him a haircut and it was getting really long. It's an adjustment to seeing him without his facial hair but I'm sure it will grow back in no time.

Dinner by Josh

2009-02-23T11:53:00.001-08:00

This made me laugh so I just had to take a picture of it. Josh LOVES nacho cheese in the #10 can from costco. Last time we bought one was when John was here from Taiwan since he loves it too. Josh and I picked one up with our rebate check at costco last week and ever since have been trying to figure out ways to use it. After having nachos a couple of times Josh was craving hotdogs Friday night so we went to Wal-Mart and got some. This is his creation. They were pretty good actually. I'm lucky that Josh helps out quite a bit with the cooking.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

2009-02-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

It's so crazy. For some reason this picture keeps loading on it's side even though that's not how I took it. I have no idea what's going on. Anyways, we were blessed to be given a bag of lemons recently and it was the perfect opportunity to check out my juicer. I'd bought it years ago at picnsave since it was Fiesta brand I knew I had to have it. I'm glad to finally be able to put it to good use.

I kept cutting the lemons in half while Josh juiced them.

I poured the juice in ice cube trays to freeze it so we can make it into lemonade all through the year.

It's so great to have so many citrus trees here in AZ. For some reason no one anywhere near us has any. Hopefully next year we'll be able to get some oranges too.

Valentine's for Josh

2009-02-19T14:46:00.001-08:00

Josh with his pile of presents.
He was pretty excited about the jelly bellies. These are actually "belly flops" - jelly bellies that are mis-shapen but are still yummy.

Josh needed a new pair of sandals since it will be warming up soon and his pair from last year are wearing out. My nephew had this book and Josh liked it so when I saw it at costco for a super deal I picked it up. The carwash kit is kind of a joke. His truck has only been washed a couple times and always by me. When he opened it he said he'd start washing my car every week and then backpedaled fast and said once a month. We'll see...

Bed in a box

2009-02-17T20:16:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago when my parents were in town we searched high and low for a mattress. After spending two days driving around PHX laying on all kinds of mattresses we finally ordered one from costco sight unseen. Isn't that just like me? It seemed to be the best of both worlds. The first time we'd looked at mattresses several months ago we kind of liked the sleep number beds. Then the second time we went we liked the temperpedic beds. This mattress has air chambers like a sleep number with 3" of memory foam on the top like a temperpedic so we thought we'd give it a try. After sleeping on it for a couple of weeks now it seems to be a good choice. We'd been sleeping on full size bed that was almost at old as us so having a brand new queen bed it quite a treat. The UPS man said he'd never delivered a mattress before. It was quite compact as you can see. It was pretty easy to assemble though. Here's a link to it if you want to check it out.

Now we are in search of a bed to put the mattress on. I've contacted a guy on craigslist about building a platform bed for us since we can't find exactly what we want. So I'll let you know how that goes.

Belly Shots

2009-01-31T19:15:00.001-08:00

This was Christmas Day at my brother's house in Long Beach, CA.

This was New Year's Day. We took my cousin, her husband and three kids on our favorite little hike a few miles from our house.

I haven't posted in a very long time. The day before Thanksgiving Josh and I drove to LA to spend the holiday with my family. The day after Thanksgiving I left on an 8 night cruise to Acapulco with many members of my family. Josh went camping/quading with my brothers and nephews and then he went back to AZ to work. I stayed in LA after the cruise for a week to take my extended family members to Disneyland, etc... Josh came back to LA for my brother's b'day party and then took me back to AZ for a couple of days and then we went back to LA for the week of Christmas. It was a pretty crazy 5 weeks.

Now I'm sitting here on the last day of Jan. and can't believe that the month is over. Unfortunately I spent the first three weeks of the month in bed as a result of having a miscarriage and then this past week I went to CA for a visit.

Overall, I'm thankful for all the time I've been able to spend with family and friends this past couple of months and also gained an appreciation for the time that Josh and I have been able to spend together taking care of each other. Feb. 1st is my Jan. 1st this year. I am hopeful that even though we face many challenges that there are many good things in store for us and that the most important thing is that we have each other to rely on.

Phoenix Zoo

2008-11-11T17:05:00.001-08:00

As a bonus for participating in the MS Walk which went through part of the zoo, we got free admission for the rest of the day. So after we walked 5 miles, we put our free tshirts and backpacks that they gave us at the finish line in the car and walked back over to the zoo, wandered around the zoo a bit and then walked all the way back to the car. It wasn't until we were back to the car when we saw that there were shuttle buses taking the MS Walkers back and forth to the zoo. That would've saved us a lot of walking. Oh well. Now we know for next year...
I can't remember what the story was behind this tree but it reminded me of taking pictures like this in the caves on Tom Sawyer's island so I wanted my pic. taken here.

These little monkeys were so cute to watch. They were jumping and swinging all over the place. We were in a giant cage with them. It was kind of crazy.

I made Josh take a picture with the cowboy sculpture. He was excited to get some kettle corn to snack on as we wandered through the zoo.

We actually didn't take very many pictures but this guy looked pretty cool so I thought I'd include him.

You prob. can't read this plaque but it says, "USA Work Program Hunt Bass Hatchery Erected A.D. 1936 Sponsored by the Arizona State Game Department". It was just in a patch of desert a ways off the sidewalk as we made our way back to the parking lot after we left the zoo. Guess there was a fitch hatchery here 50 years ago. The sidewalk we took was marked WPA 1937. It got us wondering about how long sidewalks normally last and if this is one of the oldest sidewalks in such perfect condition.

MS Walk

2008-11-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

On Sat. Nov. 8th we participated in the MS Walk in PHX in honor of Josh's co-worker's wife. They had a large group of friends and family participating. Here's a pic. of us in our team t-shirt right before we started the 5 mile walk.

It was amazing how many people were involved. We were in about the middle of the pack. There were people as far as you could see in front of us and behind us. Never having been in something like this I didn't really know what to expect but it was really great. Even though we had packed our own water and snacks, every so often they passed out water, bannanas, oranges, granola bars, etc... I def. want to do something like this again soon.

Several groups wore really neat costumes although they were prob. pretty hot. The Star Wars group was our favorite. We also saw some Ghostbusters and a large group as the King & Queen and their court.

Halloween Night

2008-11-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

Instead of using the black hairspray I used mascara to darken Josh's beard, eyebrows, eyelashes and hair. It looked a lot more natural and not as scary.

I should've still sprayed my hair but I figured that it was going to be dark so no one would be able to tell what color my hair was anyways.

Close up with subliminal advertising for 102.

We sat on a bench in front of my cousin's house down in Queen Creek and passed out candy. There are tons of kids in her neighborhood so we stayed busy. They were having a huge block party with a firepit and lots of food. We figured there probably wouldn't be a whole lot of trick or treaters in our neighborhood so we made the treck down south and we were glad we did.

Trunk or Treat

2008-10-28T07:42:00.001-07:00

We dressed up as Brutus & Olive Oyl for our Ward's Trunk or Treat Sat. night at the church parking lot. There was a chili cookoff and hotdogs and then we passed out the candy. There were lots of cute costumes and a few people even decorated their trunks. (Maybe we'll get around to that next year.)

The costumes were pretty easy to make. All I had to buy was a hat which I found on clearance for $2 and a can of black hairspray which was also $2. You can't really see it in the picture but I cut out a felt anchor and glued it to Josh's hat. I found some yellow rick rack in my stash and sewed it around my skirt. The ruffles I added to my sleves and neckline are out of felt as well. The kids really liked our costumes and some even said we were the best dressed adults. After the activity we headed over to Josh's family reunion planning meeting and surprised them. They were pretty shocked to see us dressed up like this but thought it was great. We still don't know what we're going to do Halloween night but hopefully we'll dress up again. It was fun.

B'day Dinner

2008-10-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Lastnight we went to our favorite restaurant - Texas Roadhouse - to celebrate my b'day. The best thing about this place is that they place a basket of freshly baked rolls & cinnamon butter on the table when they seat you. Yum!

I got to sit on the b'day saddle while everyone shouted "yee-haw" for me. Luckily it was still early and our section of the restaurant was basically empty. You know you are old when they ask you how old you are and after you tell them they ask, "How old do you want me to say you are?". I told them to say I was 29 & holding...

After eating a couple of rolls and his two sides, Josh barely made a dent on his chicken fried steak. It ought to be against the law to serve such huge portions! Atleast we have leftovers for dinner tonight.

Mesa Temple Pictures

2008-10-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've been completely slack in not posting any pictures from the day Josh went through the temple a week before our wedding. It was attended by many family and friends. Josh's cousin Tamye took some pictures of us after the session. She is an amazing photographer and I highly recommend her if you are looking for a quality photographer in the PHX area. Check out her blog at: http://tmessmerphotography.blogspot.com/ Scroll down to June 10th to see some pics of us. Here are a few that caught my eye yesterday when I was looking through them again.

Seal Beach

2008-10-15T10:02:00.001-07:00

Yes my toes are painted orange.
Self Portrait
Last Wed. when we were in LA we had a little time to kill so we went down to the beach, walked out to the end of the pier and got a shake at Ruby's and then got our feet wet. If I'd realized it was going to be such a gorgeous day I would've packed swim suits. The water felt great. Got a little more wet than we were planning on but it was a lot of fun.

Skookies

2008-10-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah! Warm brownies with vanilla ice cream and Hershey's syrup! What could be better than that?
I actually received these pans for Christmas last year but hadn't used them yet. Why is Josh always wearing this shirt!?!?

Labor Day @ Disneyland

2008-09-16T20:27:00.001-07:00

For many years now, a bunch of my friends have met up at Disneyland for breakfast on Labor Day. We continued the tradition this year at the newly remodeled River Belle Terrace. Some of my family members came as well so we spent most of the day hanging out with family & friends at Disneyland. It was a lot of fun.

Hiking!

2008-09-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

It was a bit cooler today (only got up to the mid 90s) so we went for a hike when Josh got home from work. Can you believe this is only 10 minutes from our house? We only hiked for about an hour. When it cools off a bit more we'll prob. start hiking everyday.
Yeah, it was a bit windy when Josh snapped this picture. Just had to take a shot with this sign in honor of Jacob.

Temple Square

2008-08-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

On the way back to gma & gpas after the reunion we stopped past Temple Square. Josh sitting on the edge of the Conference Center right before we went on a tour.
Oops! It's a bit blurry but this is where I inherited my big nose - from Elder Erastus Snow.
By Temple Square.
In front of the Church History Museum by the Hollyhocks.
This is the new vault where all the geneological records will be stored after they bring them down out of the mountain.

Navajo Bridge

2008-08-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

We passed by here on the way home from UT after the 4th of July Family reunion.
This is my favorite shot. The colors are just gorgeous.
Two bridges - one for walking across and one for driving across.
I didn't dare set the camera on top of the fence for fear the wind would blow it off so it's on the middle railing.
Yet another self portrait.

Cricket Catching Kit

2008-08-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is our Cricket Catching Kit. It sits above the washer in the laundry room. We use it almost

daily to trap the little buggers and relocate them to a new environment aka - ouside! I'm not sure how they are getting in but we've caught three today and three lastnight as well. Hopefully they're gone for now so they don't keep us up tonight.

Toy Story Mania - Take 2

2008-08-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

We did quite a bit better than last time. Funny that our acuracy is the same. Josh always scores higher.
There was a 40 minute wait and we needed to get on the road back to AZ so we tried the Single Rider Line and after just a few minutes we got to ride together. Yeah!
P.S. What do you think of Josh's beard?

The Pork Shop

2008-07-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight we finally went to the infamous Pork Shop. We've driven past this place countless times past year on our way at to my cousin's but today was the first time we stopped. We had a nice long chat with one of the worker's named Jason. We told him about this picture that we took back in Feb. and he said that he'd heard that it'd been on the Jay Leno show. I'm not surprised since Josh and I both send it out to friends. It probably made it's way around the internet and ended up on that show. Let it be known that I took the picture though. We were driving past on a Sunday morning and it was too good to pass up. Josh actually turned around and we went back for this shot. My cousin had some meat sticks that they'd picked up earlier so we tried those and they were really good. We got some pulled pork and made sandwiches out of it. If you haven't been there yet you'll have to wait a month because they are shutting down for a while. Most the products are to be taken home and cooked. If you get there early enough in the day though they have burritos and pulled pork sandwiches for sale. If you are down in Queen Creek be sure to try it. They don't have a website but if you google it you'll come up with a couple of blogs with additional pictures. Enjoy!

wii fit

2008-07-25T19:29:00.001-07:00

After searching high and low for several weeks we finally got a wii fit on Tues. We've been having so much fun with it. We love unlocking new games and trying them out. Josh loves boxing. I like the silly games like the penguin slide and the bubble. These are our miis. It's so funny watching them hang out and talk to each other and do different poses.

don't JOSH me

2008-07-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

This was taken at the Snow Family Reunion near Logan, UT 4th of July weekend. My sister in law gave Josh this shirt for Christmas last year. I love it although Josh gets shy wearing it because everyone knows his name.

First Picture

2008-07-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is one of the first pictures we took together a week after we started dating. It was taken after church on Nov. 12, 2006. We look a lot different now.

Our Pet Prairie Dog

2008-07-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

This is our pet prairie dog. It lives in the backyard underneath the cactus. We watch it run around and eat the weeds. It's very cute. We haven't named it yet. If you have any suggestions let us know.

Toy Story Mania 06-09-08

2008-07-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to be able to go on the newest ride at California Adventures - Toy Story Mania the week before it opened to the public at a special Annual Passholder Preview. Even though Josh & I weren't drawn for tickets our friend Cindy was & shared them with us. Thanks Cindy! Keith & Cindy
Josh & Stacey
Our first scores - not too bad.
Scene on the way off the ride.
Our scores were a bit higher the second time on the ride. We can't wait to go again! It's our newest favorite ride!

Studio Portraits

2008-05-27T08:41:00.001-07:00

We got portraits done in the studio on Sat. To see them all when they are posted online please register on the link to the right.

Honeymoon at Disneyland

2008-05-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Monday June 9th we'll be going to Disneyland with Josh's family that will be in town from Wyoming and also some friends. We're planning on getting there when the park opens and staying until it gets crowded so give us a call and we'll hang out! Look for us in the bride & groom mouse ears!

Invitation Pictures

2008-04-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

These were some of our favorite engagement photos. Instead of just using one picture we thought it'd be fun to use a couple so Josh designed the collage we used in the invitations (with a little help from me). We had to crop them a bit for that so I thought I'd put the full pictures here so everyone can see them.

More Engagement Pictures

2008-04-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

I love this old fashioned church. They actually have services there every Sunday and you can also get married there. What a great spot for photos. It was so bright and windy that some of the pictures turned out a little crazy but it was fun. We kept putting our sunglasses on in between pictures but for the last one we just kept them on.

Engagement Photos

2008-04-27T23:20:00.001-07:00

My brother Keith took our engagement photos a couple of weeks ago when we went to visit Josh for the weekend. They were taken at Goldfield Ghost Town. It's less than 10 miles from where we're going to live. I'm sure we'll be taking everyone there when they come to visit us. http://www.goldfieldghosttown.com/

California Reception

2008-04-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday the seventh Day of June
Two thousand and eight
six to eight o'clock
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints
17909 Bloomfield Ave.
Cerritos, California

Wyoming Open House

2008-04-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

Josh's family in Wyoming is hosting an open house for us there the week after the wedding:

Open House
Saturday the fourteenth Day of June
Two thousand and eight
from six to eight o'clock in the evening
113 E. 1st St. S.
Cowley, WY

Arizona Open House

2008-04-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

Josh has so much family in AZ that they offered to host an open house for us there a week before the wedding.

Here's the info:

Open House
Saturday the thirty first Day of May
Two thousand and eight
from six to eight o'clock in the evening
2137 E Andalusian
Queen Creek, AZ

Directions:

From the 60 take the Ironwood exit and head South for about 9.5 miles. Turn left on Ocotillo. After 1 mile turn right on Kenworthy and then in a half mile turn left on Adalusian. The house will be on the right.

How we met...

2008-04-27T19:56:00.001-07:00

Josh and I met on September 14, 2006. He was in town for a couple of days with his brother John securing their visas for their trip to China. They were staying at "The Bachelor Pad" where John had lived right before he moved back to Tawain about 3 years previously. Our friend Keith invited a bunch of people over to see John while he was in town. I had something else going on but decided to stop by. John was always very entertaining with his funny stories he shared on Sunday nights at our weekly potlulck dinners so I thought it would be fun and was looking forward to seeing a lot of friends that I hadn't seen in a while. As soon as I got to the party, I was immediately introduced to Josh and we visited most of the evening. When I left I told him to let me know next time he was in town and we'd go to Disneyland since he'd never been there before.