My New Frenemies

Matt has been telling me for some time that he keeps seeing owls sitting on fence posts in our neighborhood as he drives to work in the early morning. I believed him but never saw the owls myself (I don't get up before 8am....just sayin). So a couple of months ago I was driving at dusk and I saw the little precious things sitting on the school fence. Since then we have gone on many walks and taken pictures of the burrowing owls. They like to live in the ground and burrow into the dirt...hence their name. However, these owls do not live in a dirt hole. No they are much more sophisticated. They live in the rain gutter! I don't know what happens to them when it rains but good thing they live in AZ. There are three of them that live near the school and we always see them on our night walks. They don't like when we get too close and they hiss at us. That is why they are frenemies and not just friends. We are getting there slowly but surely! Matt wants to take them some meat and see what they do. I got a new camera from Matt and took these pictures. Aren't they just the cutest things you have ever seen? I've only named one so far and his/her name is Hoot. I'm still working on the others.

Family Time

We were so happy when we found out that Matt's sister's family was coming to Arizona for a few days. They spent Friday night and all day Saturday with us at our house. The girls went swimming literally all day long! It wasn't even that warm but at 8:30am they were out in the pool! Glad the pool gets some use! Friday night we went to a spring training game. Angels vs Indians. We were planning on sitting in the berm but it was sold out so we sat in the left field seats. The Angels won!! Saturday we hung out while the girls swam and then we had to go to Cabela's! Matt has to go there every chance he can get. In fact I think he is there right now. He shops more than I do! Anyways we had a lot of fun and love when family visits!

Hunger Games Review

I absolutely have been looking forward to this movie ever since they announced they were going to make it! I read the first book almost three years ago and it has been one of my favorites. So I knew I had to see the midnight showing with my girlfriends. We were invited to a party type premiere with giveaways and swag bags. The party was fun but I didn't love that we sat in the 3rd row! The movie is shaky and my eyes were killing me by the end. Anyways, so my review of the movie is that it was EXCELLENT. I loved it. I loved it even more when Matt and I went to see it last Friday. Yes I have seen it twice already and yes I want to see it again but I'll restrain myself! Of course the movie doesn't have everything the book has but for a 2 1/2 hour movie I think they did pretty good!

I Won Something!!!

So when it comes to contests everyone in my family knows that my sister Lauren is the big winner. She wins EVERYTHING. In the past year she has won a Hershey's contest, tickets to a BYU football game and a tour of the stadium, $150 worth of BYU bookstore gift cards, a night at any Ayres Hotel and $50 Visa gift card, and the list goes on....well its also no secret that I enter every single contest under the sun. So when I saw my name on Deseret Book's Facebook status as a winner I was SOO excited. I called my Dad and he just laughed....he finds it amusing that we enter all of these contests.  So I am now the proud owner of a signed Jimmer DVD! I'm on a roll and I'm hoping to win a hawaii getaway next haha.

 

Girl's Camp Fundraiser

So this year for the fundraiser the girls decided on doing a mexican fiesta dinner and a silent auction (well the leaders kind of decided and the girls ok'd it!) We started in January by promoting it and passing around sign up sheets for donations for the auction. Our ward was so incredibly generous! We had over 50 items and about 20 desserts for the live auction. I was also very fortunate that my Uncle is VERY generous and donated a ton of Xbox and Wii games and accessories for the auction. I asked him if he had anything lying around his office and I really thought he would just send one game....well he sent a HUGE box of stuff, all brand new!!
The girls were very involved and helped out a ton with their fundraiser! They made up the auction sheets, made reminder calls, made the flyers, donated services, wrote the thank you notes, set up, etc! For dinner we had sweet pork, chipolte chicken, and ground beef with lettuce, tomato, fresh made salsa, homemade refried and black beans, homemade lime rice, chips, and yummy tortillas. I think people were impressed that it was 'authentic'. Everything was made from scratch! The decorations were beautiful! The girls made the tissue flower centerpieces and all of the table cloths and runners were donated from a wedding the week before the auction! One of the YW was the emcee and Matt was our auctioneer for the desserts! He is good at that kind of thing haha.  Oh yeah and we also had a talent show that night! Busy busy night packed with FUN! We had a lot of help from everyone in the ward and we are so so grateful for it. In the end the girls raised enough money to cover girl's camp (including the leaders)!


Getting ready and writing Thank you notes to all the donators!

Silent Auction tables

 

 

 

 

We had so many great items and some of them went for a ton of money! Ward members donated Suns tickets, crafts, services, gift certificates for hair cuts, laser treatements, craft classes, and professional teeth whitening! The only thing I forgot to auction off was a bounce house rental...I'm still upset I forgot! Thanks anyways Poiette!!

 

The lemonade was even homemade!

 

 

Matt made this golf cake for the live auction! He is the domestic one in this relationship! So talented.  

Sensitive

This is what I needed to hear today.

Infertility is so much more than not having a baby in your arms.

Adieu, Adieu, To You And You And You

This year has been an eventful and exciting one thus far. We've said good-bye to familiar faces and hello to new opportunities. The most notable (and really only good-bye) was said to Hyatt two weeks ago. That was a hard one. I will passionately miss the free hotel nights. I may never go to Hawaii again because I cannot bear to stay in another hotel.

So we want to stay in Arizona and we figured that Matt needed to look around for an Arizona company. He applied to many places and finally received a call for an interview (I guess I shouldn't say finally since it was only a few weeks later!) His interview lasted 2 1/2 hours. It was really hard for him to leave Hyatt because it was his first job out of college and he's made some great friendships there. However, he really likes his new job! His new title is Facilities Operations Senior Manager with Banner Thunderbird Hospital.

We are really missing some of the Hyatt benefits....free nights (Matt says I shouldn't miss them yet, not until we go on vacation and realize we can't stay at the Hyatt but have to PAY to stay at the Best Western), free cafeteria food (now Matt has to make his lunch each night), uniforms (yep had to spend a ton of money on new shirts and pants and Matt has to remember to iron them each night. He doesn't let me iron because I never do a good job. I have no patience for the iron).

It is a really good move for us (and Matt!) We are happy to stay here in Phoenix. We love our ward and the friends we have made. We may not have a lot of family nearby but our friends have become family.

So that's the big change we are still getting used to. I also took on another job. My business is doing well and I'm keeping pretty busy but I have some time so I decided to look for some more work. I applied for a per-diem job with a home care agency and because of my Greenwich Woods days I was hired! I am a Medical Social Worker. Basically I just go into the homes of the elderly and help connect them to community resources. Works great with my schedule!

So that's the big news of 2012 so far. Hoping to have more big news in the future.