The "Love" seat

A little before Scott and I met, Scott bought this lovely loveseat from a yard sale. It was covered in dog hair and he spent many hours using duck tape to clean it off the best he could. This couch has come along with us our entire married life. When we moved to AZ, I really really didn't want to bring it. It really wouldn't fit in our living room, we had much better looking furniture to fill that space. But it came along anyway and it took up a packed corner in our extra bedroom. Now it's in a new home, to a couple in our ward who can use it. And even though I've complained about this loveseat for years (it really is the itchiest thing you'll ever sit on) I'm feeling a bit sentimental when thinking of it being gone.

We have so many monumental memories of this loveseat. Even though it is wickedly uncomfortable the memories associated with it are very sweet. Scott and I first held hands on this loveseat. The first time we cuddled was on this loveseat. I was leaning against this loveseat when Scott first told me he loved me. In a cheesy, romantic way, this really was a "love" seat.

Although I will not miss it taking up space that could be utilized in other ways, I do cherish the memories that I associate with it. Luckily even with the loveseat gone, those memories will always be there. Farewell loveseat!

The Wedding

Have I mentioned that I'm done road tripping for a while? I've been to Utah way too many times this past year (4 times for work, 2 times for weddings, 1 time for a funeral). Luckily 1/2 of those times I got to fly which was nice, but they were all legit things to go to Utah for and I don't regret going for any of them. But we won't be going back for a while. We will soon be entering the paradise season here in AZ and we are going to soak up every minute of our delicious weather.

So on to the main reason for the post. My niece got married! It's so hard to believe she's old enough to do that, but she is. I'm so glad we got to be there for this, she is such a special girl and we've always had a close bond and I just love her to pieces.

Of course the trip involved visiting multiple people, it was a lot of fun but we felt like we were constantly on the go and were pretty exhausted by the end. That is the hardest part about traveling to Utah is seeing everyone you want to see and not offending those that you didn't get to see and trying to divide your time among so many people.

One of the sites we were able to see on our roadtrip was the Navajo Bridge at Lee's Ferry. It was so gorgeous. Cosmo was super excited to walk over the bridge, even in the rain. Anything to get out of the car.

Our first stop on our trip was Scott's grandparents cabin. Scott's brother and family were there so we got to spend a day with them and their cute kids. We had a lot of fun sitting on the porch drinking in the cool mountain air, playing games, shooting BB guns, taking naps, eating lots of goodies, and getting to catch up. It was short lived but it was super fun to see them! 

We stayed with Scott's cousin and his family for most of the nights while we were in SLC. I didn't get any pictures of them but it was so fun to hang out with them.We ended up moving over to my parent's place for the last two nights because Cosmo was not handling the separation from us very well.

Friday we were able to attend the Oquirhh Mountain Temple with Kenzie and Justin. They went through for the first time that day and it was so special. We're so grateful we were able to be there. After we went to lunch with everyone.

Friday night we went to Jordan Landing to see some old neighbors of ours. The dad plays in a band up there. We ran into some friends we had in the single's ward which was so great! They were really good friends of ours but time and distance has taken its course and has caused us not to see them for along time. We were able to play with the grandkids of our old neighbor and they are just so cute! It was a fun night to get to spend time with friends from the past.

Saturday we had a girls afternoon. We got manicures and pedicures. My sister, the mother of the bride, was sick that morning so she wasn't able to come which was a huge bummer, but we got some good quality girl time.

Sunday we went to the family ward that we attended when we were first married. I was a little nervous about going because we were only in that ward for a few months and I didn't remember a whole lot of them, but it's the ward that Scott grew up in so we thought it was a good idea since we usually go to my parent's ward. The best part was getting to see our old bishop and his counselor from our single's ward. They still remembered us and were excited to see us. It was so great to see them and it brought back so many great memories. We were so blessed to have them in our lives for a short time. The rest of the day was spent with my family.

Monday we went and visited my grandma. It was so great to sit and chat with her for a few hours. I asked her to give me some tips on genealogy. I was able to see her great big pedigree chart on her basement wall again. Then we went for a walk through the "graveyard" as my cousins so lovingly call the room that has all of the pictures of our ancestors. She told stories about many of them. As always it was good to see my grandpa's train set. I have such fond memories of those trains even though I've seen them so many times, I still love to spent time looking at them.

Tuesday was the big day! They are such a cute couple and will one day have cute blond babies. I just love them! Was a special day!

Wednesday we spent a few hours with Scott's grandma. It was nice to visit with her. She kept thinking of things to give to Scott that were his grandpa's. We came home with a box of rocks (from different places around the world) a hat and a shirt. We then went and visited Scott's aunt and uncle and 2 kids. They live on the foothills of Sandy and their backyard is a total oasis. We just sat on the swing and chatted with his aunt for a couple hours. It was so relaxing and fun. Then we ventured up to Layton to see Scott's cousin and his family. It was a long day but well worth the driving.

Thursday we spent the day in Price America. We were able to stay in our old house for the last time. Grady will be moving the end of this year. I got to see some of my old co-workers and we were able to see some friends from our old ward. It was a very fun visit. Unfortunately, with Grady moving, we probably won't go back there again for a long time.

All in all, it was a good trip. We are so glad we went and are so glad we are done travelling for a while.

The 4th of July and other fun things

 We've been able to do a lot of fun things lately here in Phoenix. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that heat doesn't stop people from playing outside. And we've learned the same thing. We are still making memories through the heat indoors and out. Scott had to work on the 4th of July which was a bummer, but we attended our ward breakfast and that evening we went to Tempe Town Lake for festivities. It was so crowded and ridiculously hot, but we had a good time and we're glad we went. It was our first chance since moving here to get to eat some food cart cuisine. 


Waiting for our first ride on Phoenix light rail



Not so healthy dinner. But oh so tasty!  

 


It was a ridiculousy beautiful night overlooking the lake.

 


The fireworks were awesome and went on and on and on.

  So on the to the next adventure. We got a Pogo Pass which is pretty much one of the coolest things. It's $50/person and you get passes to all sorts of things, like 2 trips to the zoo, 2 Diamondback (baseball) games, 3 Rattler (indoor football) games, a visit to the aquarium, a visit to a museum, 13 sporting events at ASU, a visit to a small amusement park (more like a county fair), a visit to a water park, laser tag and a few other things. It's been a great way for us to do some things around here without spending tons of money. The zoo alone is $20 a visit so that made it worth it, because we'll definitely go twice.

Our first experience was an Arizona Diamondbacks game. The seats weren't great but we had fun. Luckily for us, they close the roof and air condition the arena so it was nice.

Two days later we went to an indoor football game. Wow was that an experience. It's definitely different from regular football. The field is only 50 yards long, so it's a very offensive game. I think the final score was something riduclous like 70-40. We had really nice, comfy seats, but it was very loud. I'd probably wouldn't buy tickets to go to a game but if they were free I'd probably go. I'm just glad I got to experience it.

 We are loving the adventures we get to participate in here. We're hoping to go to an Arizona Cardinals game for our anniversary and go to the opening Phoenix Suns game (gotta support Jeff Hornacek as our new coach!). 

Our First Camping Trip

After over 5 and 1/2 years of marriage, we finally had our first camping trip as a family. The last 2 summers we've planned weekends, even gotten to the day of a camping trip and cancelled just because our lives were so crazy and other things took priority, but for Scott's birthday I promised him a camping trip. So we planned one and followed through!

We drove about 3 hours northeast of Phoenix to Show Low which is up in the mountains. Unfortunately we went camping on a the weekend when the majority of the west was getting a heat wave. It was 95 degrees in the daytime in the mountains and only 75 at night which made for a really hot night in the tent. Cosmo enjoyed his time but was done by the next morning. While we cleaned up camp, he sat in the air conditioned car, it was a little too warm for him.

 I think we've done a good job at making a camp kitchen.

 Beautiful view of Fools Hollow Lake.

 He was filthy!

 We couldn't have a fire, so we had to be creative and cook solely on our stove. We used our pie irons and made pizzas for dinner and breakfast sandwiches for breakfast. And we made some cinnamon roll pull-aparts which were so good.

 Beautiful day to play in the lake.

It was a fun trip, but we'll definitely watch the weather next time and go when we can use our sleeping bag. The irony of the whole thing was that Scott and I didn't use any bug spray and I only got one bite and Scott didn't get any... The next morning after sleeping in our bed, we both woke up with bites all over our legs (like dozens of tiny red bites)... I ripped off the sheets and found a teeny tiny baby spider in our bed and it did it's number. Jokes on him since he's dead now.

P.S. A shower never felt SO good than after sweating for a full day and night and coming home and unpacking when it was 117 outside.