CHRISTMAS TIME

Every year at Christmas time we try to always remember the true meaning of Christmas and think more of Christ.  Surprisingly, it seemed easier this year than it has in past years.  This year was similar to when I was on my mission.  Maybe it was coming home everyday passed the temple with the lights, wise men, and nativity.  The whole Christmas weekend was enjoyable.  It started on Friday December 23.  One of the women that I visit teach went to the temple to receive her endowments and asked me to be her escort.  Before we went to the temple we took her and her daughter out to eat.  Being in the temple with someone who has never been in the temple before makes you think about everything in a new way.  It was a very special experience and I'm grateful that she asked me to be there with her.  After the temple we went straight over to the baptism of my nephew who had just turned 8.  The spirit was very strong.  It was such a tender experience to see that little boy make such a righteous decision to be baptized and covenant to follow the Savior.  I got teary eyed as I thought about my children who are not here yet.  I hope that I can lead and teach them in such a way that they too will make the decisions to be baptized and later receive their endowments.  I am grateful for a righteous husband who will be able to baptize our children when the day comes.  I am also grateful for the guidance and hope that the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives me.  I am grateful for eternal families.  My parents and a couple of my sisters came to visit for the baptism and for Christmas.  It was a great way to end the day to spend the evening with my family.

Me and Karen Camacho after she received her endowments

Christmas Eve and day were spent with Mike's family.  Mike's family has a tradition that we all get pajama pants on Christmas Eve which we then sport for Christmas morning.  It was especially nice to be able to attend church on Christmas, and I thought it was very appropriate.  After the weekend I was feeling a little sick, but I think I was emotionally and spiritually drained as well as over fed.  All in all, it was worth it.

Opening presents on Christmas morning

Our pajama bottoms, and yes my legs are that long

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MIKE

This year for Mike's birthday I got him a couple of shirts that he wanted and a small charcoal grill.  Our apartment isn't big enough for a regular size one, so I got a small one that we can also use camping.  The day before his birthday we went out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack again for his yearly dose of crab.  On his birthday I made him clam chowder.  The day after his birthday we went to his family's house for carne asada.  It was definitely a yummy weekend.

The ASU sweatshirt that was "sick."

Polo sporting the W.P. Carey Business School logo

Mike obviously loves BBQ

The requested tres leches cake

ASU BASKETBALL

 I am a firm believer in getting things in life because of who you know and not what you know.  For example, my brother-in-law had some great seats to an ASU basketball game that he wasn't going to use.  As a result, we got to use them.  We were on row 2, aka right in the action.  If you don't believe me, see the pictures.  They ended up losing but it was still a fun game.  Thanks Spencer!

Sparky was imitating the security guard

THANKSGIVING ADVENTURES

This year for Thanksgiving my parents rented some condos at a resort near Ogden, Utah.  All of my family except for a couple of sisters and their families were planning on being there.  In anticipation for being in the mountains near a ski resort in northern Utah we spent the few weeks before Thanksgiving getting Mike snow clothes.

The week of Thanksgiving arrived and we loaded up our car with our snow gear, snow boards, luggage, and food and set off on our long drive up to Utah.  When we got to Flagstaff, a town that is about 2 hours north of Phoenix, we were looking for a place to eat when the car started to steam.  We quickly pulled over and found that a small hose was leaking coolant.  Easy fix, right?  Mike called his cousin who happened to live in that town and he came to give us a ride to a nearby auto parts store.  Two and a half hours and $50 later we were on our way.  Starving we stopped for some food and continued on.  The car worked well until we were about 3 hours away from the resort.  All of a sudden we heard a bang and a loud squealing noise.  The noise stopped a few seconds later and the car was still running fine.  We exited and went to the nearest gas station.  The AC belt had broken but the engine was still able to run without it.  We just couldn't use the AC which isn't a problem in the winter in Utah.  Finally, after 14 hours of driving and repairing the car we made it.

The next couple of days were spent playing racquetball, games, and socializing with family.  As for the snow that we so diligently prepared for, it was sparse and hardly enough to have a good snowball fight.  As for the ski resort, there wasn't enough snow for it to open on the day after Thanksgiving as anticipated.  Despite those disappointments we still enjoyed our time with family.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we were driving down to Salt Lake City to visit some of Mike's family.  We had just exited when the car started to over heat again.  We pulled over and called our family.  My parents were behind us by a half an hour or so.  Mike's grandma and aunt came to see us where we had stopped, but unfortunately we weren't able to spend more time with them than those few minutes.  My parents arrived and my dad and Mike determined that the car was drivable to a car repair shop near my parent's house.  They followed us to the shop and after a couple of hours the car was diagnosed as needing a new radiator, gasket, and several hoses replaced.  The previous owners of the car had put stop leak into the coolant and it had clogged up the system.  Needless to say, on a Saturday afternoon we were not going to make it back to Arizona the next day as planned.

Three days and $800 later we were on the road.  Thanks to my parents for letting us stay a few extra days.  Unfortunately the repairs were a quick fix and the repair shop did not have several of the hoses that needed to be replaced, so when we got back to Arizona we still had to do a few repairs to finish the job.  When I say "we" I mean Mike.

Through it all we do not think it was a very bad situation.  These were repairs that we had planned on doing in the near future.  Every time that the car overheated we were in a place where family could help us rather than in the middle of nowhere with no resources available.  We are very grateful to our family who helped us.  We feel very blessed and protected and know that we were watched over.

GUN SHOW

Every once in a while we dust off Mike's shotgun and borrow his dad's .22 to go shooting.  Last time I won the shooting contest but this time Mike won.  I guess next time will be the tie breaker.

HALLOWEEN

A few days before Halloween our ward had a trunk-or-treat party.  It happened to be at the same time that my sister's husband had a work party.  We decided to dress up as parents for the trunk-or-treat and take my sister's 4 children while they went to their party.  Mike did a good job of herding the children and helping them get the candy that he later ate.  Little did we know our parenting act would end up being great birth control.  We also carved a pumpkin with the children.  They weren't so fond of the gooey insides.  On Halloween we spent time with Mike's family.  They have a tradition of making chili on Halloween which we thoroughly enjoyed.

TRIATHLON

Mike and I participated in a sprint triathlon!  It was a lot of fun, and we both enjoyed it.  The race consisted of a 400m swim, 11 mile bike, and a 5K (3.1 miles) run.  The funny part is that Mike had lucky number 13.  He was afraid he'd get hit by a car or something.  Doing an organized race like that with people who do them all the time and have REALLY nice bikes kind of intimidates you.  We just did it for fun this time but plan on being like those cool people with nice bikes.  One day, when we have more money, we can invest more into better equipment and being able to do more races on a regular basis.

After the race

DIAMONDBACKS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

My brother-in-law Spencer was nice enough to give us tickets to the game that were right behind the visitor's dugout.  We got to see the game up close and personal without using binoculars.  We even brought our rings and sported them.  Our neighbor said that she saw us on TV.  Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks lost but it was still a pretty good game and we couldn't complain about the seats.

DIAMONDBACKS DIE HARD FAN

Mike likes watching sports but by far he loves to watch the Arizona Diamondbacks.  For those of you who don't already know, they are the professional baseball team.  They were created in 1998.  Amazingly, in 2001, in just their 4th season after starting, the Diamondbacks won the World Series making them the quickest team to win the series.  Mike explains that time as one of his most memorable sports moments.  Well, they had a special weekend to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of that achievement.  We went to the game with a couple of our friends, the Petersens.  We got there early and received a replica World Series ring.  Our seats were in right field and Mike almost got a ball.  We didn't come away empty handed though - Mike did manage to catch a t-shirt.  Unfortunately it is 2XL, so he won't be using it for anything besides exercising or dirty work.  Overall, it was a very fun and memorable evening.














 

GO FISH

As the old saying goes, third time is the charm.  After coming up empty handed the last couple of times we've gone fishing, Mike finally caught a fish.  Not just 1 fish but 2.  Plus, he almost got another one but started pulling too soon so it didn't hook.  Surprisingly it wasn't a very busy day considering the fact that it was Labor Day weekend.

MS, RD - AT LAST

I did it!  I passed the RD exam.  I am officially a Registered Dietitian.  It's all still so surreal that I am finally done with all of my school.  I have my Master's diploma and my licensure.  It's weird to think that school is in but I'm not taking any classes.  It may take a while for that to sink in, and I may end up helping Mike with his homework just because I'm bored.  I think it's strange how I finished my Master's totaling 6 years of school, spent hundreds of hours writing a thesis, and a full time internship right in the middle of it all and the only thing I can think of is when I can go back to school to get a Doctorate.  Old habits die hard, I guess.

 RD certificate and printed thesis

HOUSTON

Since we got to visit where Mike served his mission last year, he was willing to visit where I served my mission this year - Houston. Although I was very excited to be back in Houston and visit all the places I served and see most of the people I worked with, I was also hoping that this trip would get him excited or at least interested in applying for jobs in Houston. I kept reminding him that Houston is one of the largest cities in the U.S. and is even larger than Phoenix where we currently live. With large cities comes many more employment opportunities. It was a great trip and the following is a summary of all that we did: went to Six Flags, went to the temple, ate some awesome Mexican food, visited some of my friends, drove past multimillion dollar houses, went downtown, went to the pulga, got our car towed, ate Salvadorean food, visited more friends, went to church, ate more awesome Mexican food, went downtown, went to the NASA Johnson Space Center, saw the San Jacinto Memorial, explored a battleship, had a Family Home Evening with some friends, ate more amazing Mexican food. I think the best part of the trip was at the end when Mike said, "I could live here." I think I won him over by taking him to some awesome taquerias with amazing Mexican food. Since pictures are worth a thousand words I'll stop writing so you can get on with looking at the pictures.