Monday Night Football

One of Mark's regular customers that comes into the restaurant was generous enough to share his season tickets with us on Monday night, November 10th. It was the Arizona Cardinals vs. the San Francisco 49ers'. We had awesome seats. They were on the 45 yard line, 13 rows up from the field. It was one of the most exciting football games I have ever been too. It was amazing to see the entire stadium stay filled until the very end. I don't think one person left their seat to go home until the last play was over. Thanks John for the tickets!

Baby Weekend

The weekend of Nov. 8th, I traveled to San Diego, CA to visit my girls. All three of my bridesmaids from my wedding now have baby boys. Jennifer was the last one to have a baby on October 10th. First, I spent the afternoon with my mom shopping for a cedar chest. Something I have been wanting since I got married. Once we were done shopping we headed over to Jennifer's house to spend the afternoon with her and meet baby Jacob. Afterwards we headed down to our friend Elizabeth's house for dinner. Our friends Kristen, Josh and baby Andrew also joined us. Below is a photo of myself with Jennifer and Jacob (1 month), Kristen and Andrew (3 months), and Elizabeth and Nicholas (1 year). It was really nice to get the chance to visit with the gang and their beautiful baby boys.

Halloween

It has become a tradition since we moved to Laveen, AZ, to sit out on our driveway with our neighbors Reggie & Tracee, handing out candy to the trick-o-treaters. 2008 was no different. Mark was dressed as Indiana Jones, me as Superwoman, Tracee as minnie mouse on vacation, and Reggie as a pirate.

Of course our babies (the dogs) were dressed up as well. Anakin was a pirate, and Obi-Wan as an army sargeant. We had a great time as usual.

Trip to Canada

This past weekend, Mark and I returned from a trip to Montreal Canada. I had to go to my company's Montreal office to perform an audit, so Mark was able to tag along. Mark and I took Friday off from work and flew to Montreal. After we landed we hopped into a rental car and drove to Quebec City for the weekend. We toured around town seeing the sights. Quebec is a very beautiful city. What a great time to go back east, when all the trees are changing colors. I can't even describe how beautiful it was. While we were in Quebec City, they were holding a summit with more than 60 leaders. They had many streets blocked off, different motorcades driving through town, and police all over the place. We were hoping to tour inside the parliament building and the Castle Frontenac, but with the summit going on they had all of these sites closed. We still were able to see a lot, and really enjoyed our time in the city.

(St. Anne de Beaupre Basilica)

(Yes, that's Mark next to the waterfall)

(Castle Frontenac)

On Sunday, we drove back to Montreal so that I could get ready for the work week. While I was at work during the week, Mark got to tour around Montreal on his own. The weather was very cold, and except for Tuesday's rain the weather was pretty clear. One of the most exciting things we did in Montreal was go to a Canadiens hockey game. What an experience! The game was sold out on a Monday night and the energy in the arena was amazing. They really have some loyal fans in Montreal. I definitely want to visit Montreal again so that I can see more of this fun city.

Busy Busy Busy!

I know its been a while since we have posted anything. Mark and I have been very busy at work and also fixing up our rental property that we purchased this past July. Yes, we bought another house here in Phoenix. The house is in the same neighborhood as ours, in fact it's right behind our current residence. It is a one story house with 3 bedrooms and 2 full bath. The house had been sitting empty since November or December, and was being offered as a short sale. The house has some minor cosmetic work to be done inside including all new paint, carpet, and tile throughout. It also has a huge backyard that had already been landscaped. However, since it was empty for so long the weeds had taken over. We have been slowly working on the house together, and my parents even came over for a week the first of October and did a ton of work for us (thank you so much to Mom and Dad). Our plan is to have it rented by the first of the year. It will definitely be something new for both of us being landlords. Wish us luck. I leave you with a couple of "before" pictures (front and back).

That's our residence on the other side of the wall in the second picture. I will post some updated pictures when the house is done.

San Diego Weekend

This past weekend Mark and I packed up the dogs and headed to San Diego. The main reason for our visit was for my very good friend, Jennifer's baby shower. My mom and I both attended the shower on Saturday, and had a great time visiting with Jennifer and her family. Jennifer has 8 weeks left to go, and looks great!

While the girls were at the shower, Mark, my dad, and all the dogs headed to dog beach for the day. I think Anakin and Stryker (my parents dog) had a great time chasing other dogs, playing in the surf, and running after tennis balls. Obi decided to be a moma's boy. He is not to happy about being in the water or having other dogs running all around him. He pretty much sat in between Mark's legs the whole time.

On Saturday evening Mark and I went to dinner at the Coronado Brewing Company (where Mark use to work). We had some really good food and got to visit with some old friends. Afterwards we crashed a house warming party that one of his friends was having.

Sunday, we got to meet Andrew Jacob for the very first time. Andrew was born on August 4th to our good friends Kristen and Josh. We had a very nice visit with Kristen, Josh, and her family before heading home to AZ. I leave you with a picture of Mark holding baby Andrew.

Staycation

This past weekend Mark and I did what people are calling a "staycation". We had the opportunity to stay at the Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa, here in west Phoenix, or Litchfield Park to be exact. We took the dogs over to our friends Lauri and Ron to stay for the night, and headed over to the hotel. We spent the day at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Day Spa which the hotel has on site. We each had a massage, and then took advantage of all the amenities including the pool, jacuzzi, steam room, etc. It was a very nice relaxing day. That evening we walked over to Red's Steakhouse for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and very nice bottle of wine before turning in for the night.

We had a great weekend, and it was just what Mark needed after working 14 days straight. I guess you can say that we celebrated our 1st year anniversary a bit early. Wow, I can't believe we have been married a year come this Monday. It has gone by so fast.

Cancun

Mark and I returned from a week long vacation in Cancun, Mexico on July 12th. We stayed at the Omni Hotel right on the beach and had a great time. The view from our hotel room was awesome! We had an all inclusive package, and took advantage of the yummy daiquiris and pina coladas that were included.


We took an all day trip to Chichen Itza (Mayan Ruins), visited a natural sink hole (Cenote), and had a buffet lunch with authentic Mayan food. We also went scuba diving at some coral reefs off the coast of Isla Mujeres, took a wave runner tour, went snorkeling, and took a ride on an aqua twister (high speed jet boat). We were on the go so much, we felt like we needed a vacation from our vacation. The weather was great, other than the 90% humidity all week (yuck!). We have now returned to our daily routines and await our next adventure.

4th of July Weekend

On Wednesday, just before the 4th of July weekend we had the pleasure of welcoming Isabella (Mark's mom) back to Arizona. Isabella came out for a visit and to babysit the 'granddogs' during our vacation in the week to come.

On the 4th of July, we bbq'd at our house with our neighbors Reggie and Tracee. We actually got to see a few fireworks from our backyard. The following day we took Isabella and drove up to Sedona to do some sightseeing. We ate lunch at the Oak Creek Brewery, toured the Chapel of the Holy Cross, and then attended mass at St. John Vianney Catholic Church. Sedona has become one of our favorite places here is Arizona, though there are many more places to see.

Hello!

Hello and welcome to our blog. Since Mark and I moved from San Diego, CA to Laveen, AZ at the beginning of 2006, our life together has been very happy and exciting, and better yet, very busy. We plan to use this blog to keep our family and friends up to date on what is going on in our lives. Stay tuned for more.