File Name: Driving Around and Almost Dying

That's what I named the file that holds the pictures below. Last weekend Matt wanted to go drive the Apache trail. It's basically a road that takes you past a couple of lakes, old mining towns, the Roosevelt Dam and the ancient Indian ruins. Mind you, 22 miles of this road are DIRT and it was raining, thundering and lightening. There were signs every 5 miles or so that read "Flash Flood Warning". But we kept going and it took 6 hours. I made Matt promise me that the next weekend was my turn to pick something fun to do. So we went to Sprinkles:Beverly Hills and ate a $3.50 cupcake. And that was that.

Not so bad....yet.

Looking very happy :)

Even stopped at this two store town to get a sarsaparilla float.

The sky is looking a little scary.

Wind is blowing and I am forcing a smile.

If you look closely you can see the cave dwellings. We wanted to hike up into them but it was pouring rain. I told Matt we could go back some day but it took like 2 hours to get home from there so................

Ghost Town

Since Saturday is the only day Matt and I both share an "off" day from work we decided to do something fun. It's been great just staying in our Pj's all day and watching "Heroes" but even that can get pretty boring. Matt found a ghost town located East of Apache Junction so about a 30 min drive from us. I was surprised at how much fun it was. The town has gift stores, ice cream parlors, a Saloon, a shop where you can take those old time photos, museums, train rides, mine tours, gold mining, and shoot outs! (they don't start the live gun fights until November so we'll have to go back).

We had to go into the Lizard Museum and see the baby rattlers.

They were selling baby desert tortoises and we almost bought one. We are waiting until we get into our house to see if we have room.

This dummy was inside the outhouse and it really scared me haha!

Notice it's the Peterson Mercantile!

Click Here if you want to see more of the cool things they offer.

Labor Day

Happy labor day to everyone! I've always felt that labor day is the kick off to Fall, kind of a here take the last day of summer off and be glad you have a job! Well I'm glad I got a job! I started last Thursday working at an elementary school as an aide in a resource classroom. It's a really good job in that it is mon-fri, I get out before 3pm and I get a total of 5 weeks off between now and May! I decided to take a break from social work but intend on applying for the ASU masters program which starts next June! So that's the plan for now.

Labor day also reminds me how grateful I am for Matt and all the hard work he does for us. He works really really hard at his new job and is gone from 6am to usually 7pm. He works dang hard and can you guess where he is today? Yes he is working on Labor day. His hard work will definitely pay off in the end and I'm just so thankful for a hard working husband! I stole some pictures he took for work purposes and am going to now post them for you! sneaky......

He had to go into work last Monday at midnight to fix a water problem and then ended up staying until 5pm....yeah like 16 hours of work on 2 hours of sleep! So here are the pics......

Here are our new best friends. They basically stalk me when I leave the apartment because they want food.

September Already??

I feel like this could have possibly been the fastest Summer of my life. This is usually where I get all mopey because Summer is over and Winter is upon us. However, I now live in AZ and it is 100 degrees outside with sunny skies. This month drops down to the 90's and then October goes into the 80's! Despite the excitement over these temperatures I honestly will miss Fall. I already miss the thought of the leaves falling and the smell of change. I will miss sweaters and beanies. I will miss going to Salem for Halloween and drinking apple cider.

September is my 4th least favorite month out of the year. Jan, Feb and March trump it! I like Sept. but again it marks the end of Summer and I just can't get over how much I love Summer. So to stay positive I am excited for some things this month.

1. Hopefully a new job! I mean I can't go another 30 days jobless........I might go insane. and I have no cable!

2. Possibly moving into our new house! Yes that's right we bought a house....well we are waiting for the inspection and final paperwork. More to come on this topic later.

3. "Catching Fire" came out today and it's in the mail. CANNOT WAIT.

4. My sister goes into the MTC tomorrow. I have mixed feelings. I mean I am super dee duper happy that she is serving a mission but I'm going to miss her. I also wish I could have gone to Provo to send her off. I have never gone to the MTC before but then again you can only drop them off in front now. My mom, dad and Kyra will be in UT until Sunday so maybe I'll drive up. Or not cause it is an 11 hour drive.

So I have high hopes for Sept and I will def. post pictures of the house as soon as I know it is locked in!

Lauren off to the Salt Lake City South Mission