HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Isn't this the cutest cake ever!  My sister's friend made it for my mom.  Wish we coulda been there to help eat it! By the way, "Nano" is what the grand kids cal my mom...long story!

I LOVE YOU!

Things Worth Remembering

Get out your kleenex, this is going to be a tear jerker!  No, just kidding.  In all seriousness, since I'm no longer a student and currently unemployed I've spent a lot more time thinking lately.  Anyways, tonight I couldn't sleep and I was thinking about my grandparents, the ones who have passed on, the ones that are still here, changing, aging, not quite the same as they use to be.  I was thinking about my favorite times with them.  Watching "Matlock" and "Murder She Wrote" thinking it was the scariest show ever as an 8 year old.  Cleaning Granny's house for extra change so me and my cousins could walk down to AMPM because it was super cool to be so grown up.  Staying up until 3am with Grumpy, playing board games and then waking up to "Grumpy's Grand Slam"  which included waffles piled high with a slice of ham, poached egg and ketchup (can't believe I ate that!)  Granny & Grumpy taking the cousins to Pancho's & putting up with us all fighting over who got to raise the flag for more sopapias.  Spending the night at Grandma's, making "healthy chocolate milkshakes" (honestly, she puts flaxseed in everything)  while she helped me with my long division (man I hated math).  Sitting on Grandpa's lap out on the porch in Heber, AZ with our cowboy hats on while he sang me his favorite cowboy songs at the very home & porch he grew up at.  Racing Grumpy down the water slide at Sun Splash, thinking "I must be his favorite since I braved The Bonze Eye slide".  Playing Wii with Grandma Taylor, flinching after her every swing thinking she would surely throw the remote right through the t.v. screen.  Then laughing as she did her famous victory dance to rub her win in a little more! (this was my first experience with Grandma Taylor, she is Andy's grandma...I loved her instantly)  My grandparents were and still are very simple people.  They didn't spoil me with gifts or take me on elaborate vacations (heck, grandma's big outing is still going to the grocery store on Friday) Instead, they gave me a lot of great memories that will stay with me longer than any tangeable item. I feel like sometimes the world today doesn't remember the simple things in life, doesn't remember to take a little time for others.  We feel like things could always be bigger & better.  I feel like we are all so busy that we forget to take a step back and remember it's the simple things that can be the most fun.  

What's your favorite "simple" childhood memory?

Wow!  I feel like Dr. Laura or something, I must be losing me mind...need to find a job ASAP before I turn into some sentimental sap!

We Be Cruisin'

we just got back from our celebration vacation! (graduation & anniversary)  we had never been on a cruise before, it was a lot of fun!  everything is done for you, you don't have to worry about a single thing except what you are going to eat next!  yeah, that's real good for the waist line.  after a week on the ship andy & i decided we forgot what its like to be hungry, you're either stuffed or full! haha  our first stop was cabo.  we had spent a week there on our honeymoon & found a restaurant up out of the tourist area where the locals lived so we had to journey back when we got to the port for more of their delicious "totopos".  (this was in the dining room on the ship, not at our delicious "El Burro Loco")next stop was mazatlan, i loved this clean little city!  we paid a cab driver to give us a tour. Of course,  alfonso our cabbie & andy became good friends chit chatting the whole time...they definately forgot i was there & that i didn't understand much espanol except enough to know the topic of their convo which at one point involved "nalgas y chi chis". still not sure what that was all about!  

last we docked in puerto vallarta.  this was our favorite day of all!  all the people at our dinner table on the ship were telling us about an excursion they were doing, which involved zip lining in the jungle.  we wanted to do it so bad but it was pretty expensive.  when we docked in puerto vallarta andy made some more mexican friends and got us the zip line excursion for half the price all the people on the ship paid!  it was so fun, we got to hike all around the jungle and then go on these super fast, long zip lines like 200 feet above the ground.  the view was amazing!  i felt like jane from tarzan!  oh, & the tequila tour afterwards was fabulous too!  just kidding, we only watched & did not partake!

Hiking & HAPPINESS!!!

So these past few days have been very interesting & full of adventure! Wednesday started with waking up at 1 am & never going back to sleep because I had a nightmare my alarm clock didn't go off and I missed my boards exam in Anaheim that morning at 8. Long story short, I ended up making it to the test and 7 hours later was done with what I thought was the end of my life because I honestly didn't know if I had passed or not. Scores come out every Thursday so I was very skeptical about going on an 18 mile hike with Andy & some of his classmates that day because all I wanted to do was wait by the computer to find out if I passed or failed. Long story short, I decided to go, that way if I did fail I'd at least be by a cliff to jump off! As we climbed higher up the mountain, one of Andy's friends got reception on his cell phone, so we decided to check the internet for my score. As he was accessing the website, I literally started crying & thought I was going to throw up, I was so scared. Andy & his buddies captured the whole thing with pics and video, pretty funny!

Now for the adventure...after the 7 of us reached the summit, we all started trecking back down in groups of 2 0r 3 at slightly different paces. At sunset only 5 of us were at the bottom. It was getting really dark so Andy started hiking back up the mountain to look for the other 2 friends. After about 1.5 miles up he ran into a trail runner who had told him our friends were about 6 more miles up the mountain and one of them was hurt. Andy got down as fast as he could to go get search & rescue. We thought they would get a helicopter or something but they said it was too dangerous for anyone to go in their until daylight hit. We were freaking out, Andy and the runner were going to run up the mountain with blankets & help get them out but the Sherff wouldn't let them go because then the rescue team would have to rescue 4 people instead of 2. Finally, after a lot of prayers, our 2 friends made it out at 3:30am after hiking since 7am the day before! It was a crazy day!

P.S. YAY for being done with school and that stupid mountain! Hooray for Andy, he has nice Jen back again, evil Jen has been around for the past 2 or 3 weeks and he asked her to start sleeping in the backyard in a tent until she finished taking boards. HaHa!

BEFORE

AFTER

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! warning: super long post

It's our two year anniversary today!  I can't believe it!  These last two years have flown by.  This might sound weird but when we got married I started PA school two weeks after and I never thought it would end but it has and we made it  and now we've already been married 2 years, I'm done with school and Andy is in PT school.  Crazy how time just flies by when you never think you're going to get to the next phase in your life.  I am so thankful to have such a great husband, I couldn't have asked for a more supporting, understanding guy.  I'm not sure if Andy really knew what he was getting into when we got married, especially with me starting school and all.  He has been fabulous!  He's cooked more meals for us on the past 2 years than I have, spent weekend nights watching movies on his laptop with headphones so I could have silence while I studied, been woken up with my crazy sleep talking and water throwing in the middle of the night, he's helped me get through a lot of stressful times when I didn't think I'd be able to get through school.  Sorry if all it seems I've been writing about is school, but that has been our life since we've been married!  I love you babe, happy 2 years, you survived JenJolley!

Anyways, what else have we been up to?  Andy got us tickets to the Jack Johnson/Rogue Wave concert last weekend and it was awesome!  I have never seen Jack live, I was in heaven!  If you don't know who Rogue Wave is you should look them up because they are the bomb dot com, seriously I love them! 

Friday night we went to the D'backs vs. Dodgers game since they were in LA.  I of course put on my D'backs hat to support my home team!  Andy looked at me funny and said "I don't know if you should wear that, the Dodgers fans are pretty ruthless, I've heard they throw ice at people cheering for the other team".  I thought whatever they will not, and said to Andy "If they throw ice at me I'll just throw my Nalgene bottle at their head"!  So we get to the stadium and still Andy is encouraging me not to wear it inside but I didn't care because I think I'm really tough and all.  We were sitting in our seats and I had to go to the bathroom so bad!  All the sudden

 our whole section stand up and starts booing and yelling at this guy walking up the stairs who was wearing a D'backs jersey!  I was so scared, I was about to pee my pants, but I did not want to walk through the stands getting yelled at!  Guess Andy was right, as usual.  Needless to say

, the stupid D'backs got slaughtered, oh well they'll still win the NL!

Last but not least i can't forget to wish my favorite sis a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  She just joined the blogging world, I am so proud of her!  She was kind enough to share her birthday with us on our wedding day!  I am so thankful to have such a fabulous sister, she is so talented

, I look up to her so much.  She is such a great wife and very fun mom!