Christmas!!!

Derek and I had our first Christmas this year without snow!! I am not going to lie, we actually really missed it! One day I was doing homework and Derek was pulling stuff out of the closet and got into all of our snowboarding stuff. Trying to set the mood and get into the christmas spirit, this is what happened.


For my work, I volunteered to work with the Physical Therapists for the Nutcraker, and I had a lot of fun getting to work with some of the ballerinas. Because I did volunteer work they gave us free tickets to go to he show, and we had a lot of fun!! My little neices got to come as well and they LOVED it!!
After we went to the Nutcracker, Derek and I went to the temple to look at all the beautiful Christmas lights! We had so much fun!! There were choirs singing and missionaries were everywhere spreading the gospel. It was such a fun night!
Both of us in front of the temple lights.

Derek in front of the lights.



Another fun thing to do here during the Christmas season is to go downtown! They have a 40 foot tall Christmas tree made entirely of tumble weed.

Me in front of the Christmas shed.

Chrismas Eve we didn't have any plans, so Raylon's friend invited us over to his house. We ate homemade chicken noodle soup, played spoons, and we acted out the Nativity Scene, and we even went caroling. we didn't do any ordinary caroling, we sucked helium and went caroling. Hahaha it was so much fun, but all of us just about passed out in the middle of the song!! haha another funny thing that happened was that 2 of the grandkids refused to act out the nativity scene, so they made me dress up as a wise man b/c i was the only adult who would fit into the costume. I did not live that down, Derek and Raylon made fun of me the ENTIRE time!

Christmas morning we woke up and opened all of our presents!! My dear sweet mom sent us quite a load of presents!! Thanks to her we had a christmas this year!! We are so grateful for my mom for helping us out and doing that for us!! I about cried when she sent a load of presents b/c we only had 2 presents under the tree until then! We didn't know what any of our presents were this year, so we felt like little kids all over again!! Derek can not handle surprises haha so he struggled waiting until Christmas to open them up. After we opened gifts Derek attempted to make my mom's Christmas breakfast to help me with my homesickness. Haha it did not taste like my mom's, but it was so adorable of him to do that!! After breakfast we went out to Maricopa and spent the rest of the day with Derek's sister and her kiddos. It was so much fun seeing how happy they all were and how excited they were to show us all of their presents!!
This Christmas was such an amazing Christmas!! It was SOOO hard being away from my family, and I was super homesick, but it was OUR first Christmas together. This will always be a very special Christmas to us!
For New Years Even we spent it with our good friends Brock and Tara Greer! We had loads of fun!! I don't have those few pictures uploaded yet, and my camera just died so I will have to post about it next time!!! Love you all lots and lots! Hope you all had a great holiday season!
Derek sportin' his awesome new sweater my sister bought him! He wore this sweater the day we had to give talks b/c he wanted to distract the audience from his talk. haha

Catch up time and pictures

WOw, it has been a while since I've last posted. We ended up going home to Idaho for Thanksgiving and we loved every second of it!! There was so many people to see, and we still didn't get to see them all!! It was so hard turning around and leaving them all to come back to Arizona. Derek's birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day this year, so we made sure to get him a cake and not just pumpkin pie! :) Here are some fun pictures we took while in Idaho. Most of the pictures we took only when we were with our friends Ryan and Syd.

Syd "jumping" in the picture! (baha)

Derek and Ry guy



The cutest Birthday boy ever!!!

Me at Derek's grandma's house

Our cute little neice Taysia. I love her BIG brown eyes!

Derek with our nephew Jarom at Derek's grandma's the night before we left.

Mine and Sydni's engagement photo!! HAHA I love this girl!

Dawson's and the Pasley's just "hangin" out. Baha


Also... something really awesome that just happened to Derek and I is Derek got a job!!!!! YAHOOO!!!!! Finally, a huge stress has been taken off of our load!! Derek actually got the job through one of my patient's. Someohow one of my pateints figured out I was LDS, and he is a convert. The more we started talking, we figured out that we are in the same stake and associate with some of the same people. About 2 months of working with him he asked me if my husband was looking for work b/c they were looking to hire someone.... Anyways, after 2 interviews and a drug test, they called Derek today at 8:30 in the morning and asked him to start at 9. As you can see we are ecstatic that he has a job now!! We are so blessed, this is the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for!!!!

Halloween Fun!!

This Halloween we had loads of fun!! We went to a pre Halloween party on Friday night at some people's house.... haha i have no idea who these people were, but they had about 200 people at their house!! We had a lot of fun dancing and Derek and I dressed up as twins this night.
Saturday I had class, and afterwards we all went to get a massage at the college. We went with 2 of our friends Josh and Perry. I FINALLY had a good experience with getting a massage so I was pretty happy about it!! After our massages, we got all dressed up and went to an awesome dance party at the Chandler Airport. IT was so much fun b/c we had a HUGE dance in an airplane hanger! I dressed up as an 80's dancer, Raylon was a gangster, and Derek was dead... Haha he ended up looking like the dad from the Adam's Family (Gomez. After derek got all dressed up he changed his costume last minute to being a gangster, but I didn't get any pictures of it. It was so hilarious, b/c our friend Perry dressed up as a banana, and Josh dressed up as Lil' Wayne. HAHA the best part of it was that Josh painted himself with Brown face paint and he had a ligit wig, so he SERIOUSLY looked black!! hahaha, there was a black guy who came up to Josh during the dance and asked him if he was really black or not. haha anyways Halloween was a success and we all had a blast!! Here are some pics... enjoy!!


Perry the banana man, and Josh our black friend Lil' Wayne!


Raylon the gangsta gangsta!!!


My 80's girl comin out!!


Made in the 80's.


Derek my dead husband!!

Blogging Inadequacy

I am not going to lie.... but I don't know how to put this video on my page.... but I love this contemporary dance from last season on SYTYCD!! If you want to take the time, you should definately check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szUJ9yo2CpU

Random Facts about AZ

ALRIGHT, here are some random facts about Arizona I have discovered while living here!!

1. In Primary, we do not sing "Once There Was a Snoman". Considering that most of the kids here have never seen the snow before, we sing "Once there was a Cactus". The cactus starts out small, then grows tall tall tall in the sun! hahaha

2. If you live in a house, your next door neighbor lives 2 feet away. You can see into their living room if you're lucky!!

3. The water tastes like chlorine... so EVERYONE drinks purified water.

4. Finding cockroaches is not a rare thing!! While playing sports at the church, someone always seems to find the cockroach of the day!

5. Everyone here hates being cold!! That is why people live here... because we are all big fat babies about being cold!!

6. The wards here are awesome!! Many of the members here are converts, so no one cares what you've done in the past. As long as you are in the ward, you are family!

7. People are so active here!! Most people love being outdoors, camping, biking, GOLF (it's a big thing down here), and anything active outside. I love it, b/c that's exactly what Derek and I enjoy is staying active and being in the great outdoors!

8. There are a lot of members... but it's rare running into them, b/c there are sooo many people here!!

9. EVERYONE drives fast!! Get out of the way, b/c people will run you over!

10. You HAVE to know your directions here, b/c it is so big! Everyone gives directions using North, South etc. There are main streets that go through multiple cities. This is why you must know your directions b/c you dont' want to follow a road all the way to Gilbert if you are supposed to be headed towards Tempe.

11. People mind their own business and do their own thing. This can be a good and bad thing. It's great b/c it's not full of gossip and drama, but hard to feel close to others at times.

12. I never knew how to sweat until I moved here!! Holy Moly, it sucks when all you wnat to do is open the windows up at night to cool down the house in the heat of the summer, but it's hotter outside at 1 a.m. then inside of your house.

13. October is the perfect weather!! I am loving this 80-90 degree weather, and I just can't get enough of it!!

A RUN DOWN

Well.... basically I haven't posted a blog in a VERY long time!! I don't even know what to say b/c I feel like I've gone through a lot but I haven't written about any of it b/c I just wanted it all to pass and I didn't want to dwell on it!!
Pretty much.... it's been rough!! We moved 900 miles away from home. We have been struggling b/c Derek has been out of work. I was stressed with work and school. We sold our car... and we were ripped off when we bought another car. The man who sold it to us scammed us... so we are basically screwed. We've had horrible car problems, and everything just kept piling higher and higher. Derek and I held it together for so long until about 2 weeks ago. The car completely pooped, we didn't have a vehicle, getting to work for either of us was kind of an issue, and... basically we couldn't see any ups in our situation.
Finally Derek has been receiving some input back from jobs, so there was an up. We fixed our car... or so we thought... but there was a small little up to that situation for a while. Just having these small little ups made a world of difference. I feel like going through all of this has made us stronger. It's made Derek 10x more motivated to go to school and to get a career. Derek came home from a down interview realizing that he didn't want to take a crap job. He came home and worked on his resume for hours. He was determined more than ever to find a good job. He also registered for school that night, so he will be starting in January rather than September. I have been more motivated about my job. Even though I don't enjoy going to work everyday b/c of the people and the stress levels of it all, I am still determined that I want to go into this field. It has made me so thankful that I have a full time job b/c without it, Derek and I could have never made it this far!!
I am grateful for the oppurtunity to be going to school!! School is so important, and I know that it is important for me to have a degree as well. You never know what life will throw at us. In the future we may need an extra source of income, Derek could end up jobless, or I could even end up a single mother. I have always felt that I need to get a degree for my future, and I have always been bound and determined to make it happen.
We really do enjoy Arizona!! Derek and I have amazing friends here!! I love our ward, and I love our friends!! Every week we get together w/ some young couples from the ward and we play sports. Whether it's some intense dodgeball, volleyball, basketball, or ultimate frisbee, we do it all!! We also get together and have dinner, movie/game nights. Without our ward and our friends, it wouldn't be the same!! About 3 weeks ago they completely divided out stake. Now rather than having 100 people in our ward, we now have 400 people in our ward!! We have met a lot of new great people and it's so exciting getting to know everyone!! Derek and I were both put in the primary, but then they had to put him into Sunday School, so I am left with a class of 9 children without Derek!! haha it's so much fun though, I love it!! I teach the 7 and 8 year olds!! This is such a prime age, and they are all so excited to learn! Derek teaches the 14 and 15 year olds, and his first week is Sunday!! Wish him luck!! He will be an awesome example to those kids!!
So even though it has been a struggle moving down here, we have learned a lot!! We are working towards our goals, and we have amazing support down here!! I just hope that we can get this car situation sorted out, and I hope Derek can find an enjoyable job!!!

Happy Anniversary!!

I can't even believe it, but on Saturday Derek and I shared our 1 year anniversary!! That year flew by, but YAY we did it!!! Somehow I fed us and we survived!! We had an awesome anniversary, and I just want to say that I have an amazing husband and I love him more than anything!! I don't know what I would do without him!! Anyways, enough with the gushyness let's talk about our fun adventure!
Friday after I got off work... Derek and I made our way over to L.A. It is a 6 1/2 hour drive from our apartment! We got to our apartment... and it was disgusting! It smelt like smoke, and I was afraid to even sit on the bed! haha so luckily we found another hotel down the road that was available for 2 nights.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and made our way to 6 Flags!! The park was just like in the movies. As soon as those front gates open... everyone comes running through them screaming and racing to get to the rides before everyone else. I sat there laughing my head off at the madness and Derek insisted that we run like the rest of the crazy people so we start running through the park! Being the intellectuals that we are.... Derek and I ran to a dead end of the park, and had some women following us. Haha... so out comes the map, and we ran to the closest ride available!! Our first ride that we rode was called Goliath, and that rollercoaster was MASSIVE!!! It was a lot of fun, and we got some pretty fun rides in for the morning. Finally we decided we were going to pass out if we didn't get food in us pronto.. so we bought a $9 dinky little chickin finger with a few dinky fries. Ya... it's a little bogus that they overcharge but when you're starving you have to buy it. After lunch the rides were ridiculously long and we spent most of the time just waiting in line. That sucked, but we were able to see a couple of shows and they ended up being really good. Finally, we decided to ride one more ride before we were going to go back to the hotel. We waited in line for over an hour, and right when we got up to the gate to ride... they had technical difficulties and told people where to exit if they wanted. I was not too happy to hear this, and I was very freaked out about riding a ride after some technical difficulties. Luckily after about 15 minutes they solved the problem and thank goodness it was only a sound problem. Well... it was definately a good thing that we stood in line b/c this ride was RIDICULOUS!! I have NEVER screamed so long in my life!!! The ride takes you up the hill backwards and upside down. You then hit a little dip so it throws you forward, and then all of a sudden it flips you backwards and you go plummiting head first to the ground!! The seat itself turns 360 degrees, and it makes for an insane ride. Derek threw out a few choice words here and there... but who could blame him?! HAHA it was so crazy and so much fun, it topped off our day!! After we went to the park we went out to eat and a cute little 50's diner, and had a nice relaxing time at the hotel.
The next day we went downtown L.A. and did some shopping. If you have never been to downtown L.A. it is a lot like Mexico with some bargain shopping and some pretty awesome deals. There are also some of the scariest people that I have ever seen and I thought that we were going to die a few times! I saw so many bums, and druggies, and gimps, and some crazy stuff!! We also had to make 50 u turns, we got lost a few times, and.... we were lost trying to find our car!! I began to hyperventilate when we were lost trying to find our car, and we are walking aimlessly down the sidewalk when all of sudden a guy in front of us is screaming at some guys behind us, and yup... poor Derek and I were stuck in the middle of this fight. I thought that we might get shot or beat down to the ground, but luckily they ignored us and just went straight for each other. After being lost for about 30 min we found our car and I finally felt safe!! HAHA this made me very grateful that I do not live in the slums in the middle of all the crime! We had a pretty enjoyable time shopping, and I found quite a bit of good deals... however Derek did not which is sad, but he still enjoyed himself!! There are some pretty interesting people in the world... but they are very entertaining I will admit!!
Overall we had such an awesome anniversary!! It was not relaxing in anyway, but it was a blast and I laughed my head off!! Thank you Derek for planning an awesome trip and for being my everything!! Happy Anniversary!!

On our way to L.A. Derek is in deep concentration driving.


here are some pictures of a few of the thousands of windmills off of the highway in California.




On our way home! Derek once again with his mad driving skills!!