Better Late Than Never

I think I am overdue for a post....better late than never, I guess!

Since we had yesterday (July 4th) off of work, my week is all screwed up. Today felt like Monday and Tuesday felt like a Friday. The good news is that the weekend came up really fast. Yesterday, we went to the lake with the Froehle's (family friends in Las Sendas). They have a really nice boat and just about every summer they've invited us to join them on it for a day. Yesterday was very strange weather for an Arizona summer. It was overcast almost all day....that NEVER happens here during the summer. Oh and the temperature was around 80 degrees all day. We got rained out of the boat after a couple of hours, but the nice weather made up for it. George and I went over to our friend's house for a BBQ. Nick put on a nice firework show for all of us. I actually took a video of it that I will post later. Speaking of firework show, did you hear about the mess up at the one in San Diego? Apparently, the entire 20 minutes worth of fireworks were set off in 10 seconds. Oooops!

Over the weekend, George and I went with his family to the SRP cabins near Saguaro Lake. SRP stands for Salt River Project....it is a utility company that Anna works for. When they were building the dams around Arizona, they also built housing for the workers. They now rent out the housing to SRP employees. The cabins were right next to the river (and dam, obviously) so we walked down to the river and hung out for awhile. They also had this little game room to hang out in.  Here are some pictures!

This one is from the boat on the 4th. Notice the clouds that Hannah is driving us rich into!

I am getting so excited for our vacation. We are going to Pineridge, a "resort" in Canada that my Dad has been going to with his family since he was a kid. It really isn't a resort....more like a step up from camping. They have little cottages with 2 bedrooms each. We haven't been in years (probably 12+ years, I guessing). I have such great memories of trips there with our cousins. I can picture the entire place perfectly in my head. I can't wait to see if it is like I remember. 

Tucson

I was gone last week for a work training in Tucson so I did not get around to updating. Although, since I was in training....in Tucson (not much happening there), I wouldn't have had much to write about even if I did have time. 

This past weekend, my work had an employee appreciation event at Wet and Wild Water Park. It had been awhile since I had been to a water park and it did not disappoint. Waterslides are SO fun, aren't they?? I brought Marie, Hannah, Jeremiah, and Emily....George had to work (he has had kind of a crappy work schedule over the past few weeks). It was a lot of fun. The one bummer was that the lines were super long so we didn't get to go on all of the slides. 

We should find out our official move-in date this week. It sounds like it will be in mid August. George went by today and said that the insulation is now in. We're thinking that the drywall will be next. THEN all of the fun stuff (tile, counters, etc). 

We have been looking just about every night online for home decor items. We browse different websites to get ideas. Last weekend, I bought a couple of items that I had my eye on. My mom also found this cool printer's box from an antique shop in Pinetop. I love it and it matches the one that my parents have (theirs is in the cabin). Let me know if you have any idea of little trinkets that I can put in it! 

Kitchen Table

George and I have been looking at a lot of furniture online lately. Just kind of getting ideas as to what we might like for our house. We have a small amount of furniture from our apartment and George has a bit from the house he rented with friends before we moved to CA. We have our bed, my small twin bed, a desk, side table, shelving unit (that we used as an entertainment center), coffee table, and small couch. We will have a loft upstairs so we plan to use some of our current furniture up there (i.e. small couch, shelving thing). Other than that, we aren't going to worry too much about decorating/furnishing the upstairs too much (at least for awhile). Downstairs is where we will focus. We have the office, the dining room (which we plan to use as a piano room instead...George bought a piano a few years ago on Craigslist), and the kitchen/living room area. So, our major purchases are going to be a bigger couch or couch and a love seat and an entertainment center of some sort. We were going to also buy a table, BUT George is making one instead!! He did quite a bit of research online to figure out what materials he needed, the measurements, tools, etc. On Sunday, he went with his dad to get the wood (they're using pine) and they started to construct it. So far, it looks really good. I'm excited to see the final result.

Lazy Saturday

I am currently enjoying a lazy Saturday. I love the weekends....don't we all? Except for those of you who are retired. In your case, everyday is a weekend!

We had a great time at the cabin over Memorial day. Half of us headed up on Friday (Paisley, my dad, Emily, George, and me) and the rest (Brian, Terrisa, Emily, Hannah, Jeremiah, and my mom) came up on Saturday morning. 

Prior to heading up there though, George and I went to Yewon's graduation from high school and Sarah Moser's graduation party. Yewon only had 6 people in her graduating class....yes, SIX! She went to a really tiny Christian school in Mesa called Redeemer. Yewon spoke at the ceremony - she read a Bible verse that her and the other students chose as a representation of their time in high school. She also gave a little talk on why they chose that verse. She did a great job. Afterward, we popped in at Sarah's graduation party. I have to say, the fact that she is graduating makes me feel old! I used to babysit Sarah when she was in 1st grade and now she is off to college. Crazy! Hannah will be next.

Back to the cabin trip....Saturday was spent hanging out at the rec center in the neighborhood. We had a few ping pong matches (Brian and Terrisa beat George and I in an intense match), played some Rummikub (I won), and then joined in on BINGO! They had a few sessions of BINGO - one for kids, one for teens, and one for adults. Hannah won the grand prize in the teen round. George and Terrisa both won a game in the adult round. Their prizes were decent....Hannah got a sleeping bag, George got two pizza pans, and Terrisa got a running pack with a with a water bottle. Nothing like a riveting round of BINGO! We finished off the day with a spaghetti dinner and a movie. 

On Sunday, we all went to the movies (minus Brian who was watching Paisley). The guys watched Man in Black 3 and the girls saw What to Expect When You're Expecting. Brian and my dad golfed in the afternoon while the rest of us relaxed at the cabin. At night, we found a restaurant that could accommodate our huge party and then came home, watched another movie and made milkshakes (Strawberry Haagen Dazs shakes, of course). 

On Monday, we went on a family run/bike ride and then packed up and went home. Fun weekend with family :)

This week was busy at work, as usual. The summer months tend to be busy for us. I guess people like to eat some cold ice cream when it is 115 degrees outside. I do.

Not much going on this weekend. George is swinging by the house on his way home from work today so I might have some updates on the house for you all tomorrow. We are probably looking at a mid August move-in date. I'm sure it will be here before we know it! We actually might go look at some furniture tonight or tomorrow. 

I made peach cobbler (from the peaches that we picked) for the cabin. It got good reviews :)

Yewon speaking at her graduation ceremony

The people that I beat

The Weekend in Pictures

We had an activity packed weekend! We celebrated Emily's birthday, Jeremiah's graduation, we went peach picking and rock climbing, went out with friends, went to dinner with George's family...no wonder I was exhausted last night! 

We kicked the weekend off with dinner with the Lucases. No pictures of that, but it was nice to unwind with family after a busy week of work. On Saturday morning, my mom and I went shopping for a couple of things for Emily. In the afternoon, my dad and his kids (George was working, Terrisa had a test, and mom was watching Paisley) went rock climbing in Tempe. I wasn't sure if I was going to like rock climbing (or if I was going to be able to do it!), but it was actually a blast....especially when I got to the top :) We ended the day celebrating Jeremiah's graduation from high school. His actual graduation ceremony is not until Thursday, they just had the party early. Actually, that was not the end of the day....we went out later that evening with some friends in Tempe. We can't stay out until 2am like we used to be able to though! 

On Sunday, we celebrated Emily's birthday (which was actually on Saturday) with a day at the peach festival at Schnepf Farms. Let me tell you, it was HOT...freaking HOT! I have had the fortune of missing the past two Arizona summers. Everyone came back to the house afterward for hotdogs/brauts and swimming. Paisley was unsure of the pool at first....she seems to love the bath and her little pool at home. I think the big pool must have been a bit intimidating. I'm sure she'll come around after a few more times. 

I captured some pictures from rock climbing. My dad is top/left picture, Hannah is the middle/left, Emily is the middle/right, Brian is the bottom/left, and Emily is the bottom/right. The last picture is of George and I at the peach festival. 

George is in Southern California (10 minutes from our old apartment) for work until Thursday.  Sarah Moser's graduation party and Yewon's graduation (Lucas's foreign exchange student) are this Friday. We all head to the cabin on Saturday morning. It will be nice to have a relaxing weekend in the cool weather!

Dedication and Mother's Day

I am so happy. I finally fixed that stupid, STUPID spacing error on my blog. It was making me very frustrated every time I looked at it. Thankfully, I figured it out.

This weekend was Paisley's baby dedication at church. Here is a small clip from the dedication from George's iPhone.

Terrisa said that she gave the pastor a funny look at first, but then she was just fine.

We, of course, also celebrated Mother's Day yesterday. George and I went over to his parents to wish his mom a Happy Mother's Day at 8am. We brought some donuts and orange juice for everyone....and a bike basket for George's mom with flowers in it (they have been riding their bikes a lot lately).  We went back to the house, got ready for church, and went to Paisley's baby dedication. Afterward, the 9 of us went to lunch and then back to Brian and Terrisa's house. We all chipped in got my mom a gift card to Sur la Table (a kitchen store in Scottsdale that is wonderful!) and a pair of navy blue Tom's. She was pretty happy, I think :) When we got home, I did what I love to do on Sundays....take a nap! Later on that night, George and I went back over to his parents for dinner. Busy day, but it was great to spend some time with our moms!!

A little bit more home progress this week. They have started to put in the air ducts (whatever that is). George went over today and they have also started a bit of the roofing. It is crazy how fast they move...and how a dirt lot a few weeks ago is starting to look like a home. I can't wait until they do the tile, cabinets, etc...I am anxious to see how our selections turn out. This picture was taken from the living room/kitchen area. I will see if I can find a copy of the floor plan to post. That way you all can kind of have an idea of what I am showing as I continue to post pictures.

George finished the semester strong on Saturday. He spent a ton of time over the past couple of weeks finishing up final papers and assignments. One semester down, a few more to go! I will be right along there with him in a few months.

Hope you all had a great weekend...Happy Mother's Day to you moms out there!

House Progress

I think I am due for a blog post...a little overdue actually!

Our house is really coming along now. George has been going there pretty much everyday after work and I've been going there about once a week. Last week, they starting framing and the frame is just about all complete! George has been keeping a close eye on everything to ensure everything is correct. This cracked me up...he went to the house last week to check on things. He noticed a few errors and sent an email to the sales guy that we have been working with. My mom and I went to the house on Friday evening and saw George's email with pictures that he had attached, posted on the wall. There was a little note that said, "Please fix immediately, homeowner in home everyday." HA! I guess they have gotten the hint that George is watching them :)

I had a great weekend. On Friday night, my mom and I went to dinner at Tia Rosa's and then checked out the house. All of the guys went to see Avenger's. On Saturday, my mom and I took a class at my beloved store, ETC. They are a crafting store....they sell scrapbook stuff, fabric, and much more. They also offer classes. I actually took my first quilting class there 2 years ago. My mom and I signed up for "rag quilt" class. I will post a picture of the quilt when I am done (my mom finished hers tonight). It is a really fun kind of quilting because there is no need for precision and it is a relatively quick process compared to regular quilting. Last night, Brent and Chrissy hosted a Cinco de Mayo party at their house. Chrissy and Terrisa made some awesome Mexican food...I brought the margaritas! It was a lot of fun. We had Paisley over last night so we got to hang out with her this morning. We all met up at Joe's Farm Grill for lunch and then checked in on our house (it was Brian and Terrisa's first time seeing it).

Here are a few pictures of our home progress:

I just hit "preview" and noticed that the spacing is off on my blog still! I don't know what's going on with blogspot. I draft the post in another screen and the spacing looks fine, but when I hit post, something goes wrong. I am getting frustrated...I better walk away. Goodnight!!!