Our Christmas Entertainment

I arrived in COLD and snowy Minnesota on Wednesday morning. Joce and I spent the day shopping at the Galleria, enjoying its festive atmosphere and catching up with each other.

The following day, Chrissy brought Sierra over to Nana and Papa's and we decorated sugar cookies while enjoying the little girls. Viv has a tendency to steal whatever Sierra has, be it food or Nana's lap.


Christmas Eve: another day full of family and fun. It was a might smaller than usual. Only those in our family who are MN residents and me were home. Vivian and Sierra, being the only grandchildren around, received lots of attention!! More than their fair share... :)


Sierra got a soccer ball from caring godfather David.


Our First Laptops. Viv and Nana both got one! Very exciting.


Viv showed Nana a thing or two, seeing as how she's already a pro at using hers.


Christmas Day was even more quiet. It was just the 'rents, and the four of us who are unmarried. We had the most elbow space at the dinner table that we ever have on a holiday. Following lunch, we all napped, then played a new game (Mom won), and went to church.

It feels amazing to be home. So normal. I'm soaking in every moment. :)

Not GFF

Remember this post? Well, turns out my self-diagnosis was wrong, as mine usually are. A while back, I went to an integrative medicine doctor down here, with the same stomach issues I was experiencing last year. She did blood tests, and the Celiacs was negative. Unfortunately, she didn't come up with a solution either... told me to take peppermint oil. It does seem to help some.

So this Christmas, I'll be able to eat everything!! :) Last year, even our traditional Christmas Eve waffles-on-the-woodstove were gf, and the boys weren't too happy. I admire anyone that can eat a gf diet, because it is hard!

Speaking of Christmas Eve, it's coming so fast. We're leaving tonight after I get off work, driving straight through. I cannot wait to see my family.

Jan- I'll be back down in this warm place on January 4th.

Fall has come to Arizona

Despite what the calendar says, the leaves are turning colors and falling to the ground. I love crunching through them. It's funny because they just stay on the ground right under the tree they came from, instead of blowing around in the wind.

I've been busy. Working mostly. Anneli left to MN on Sunday, and Jill leaves this weekend. We leave in 5 days! My Christmas season is going to seem mighty short, seeing as how it doesn't feel so Christmas-y without snow. We do our best though. We have lights, candy canes and exchanged scarves. No tree though :(

Bright side

I miss my family a whole lot, but I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. I got to go for a run outside today, December 5th. I was squinting into the sun, and sweating in its 75 degree heat!

I know what you're thinking

WHIT WHEW!

p.s. Beanbom- thought you'd get a kick out of this picture :)

Faith

We are lucky to have others who share the same faith down here in AZ with us. When we're so far away from our home congregation, it makes spending time with our church family even more special.

This picture is from back in September when we visited Elaine S.


And church in early November with Ken L.

Brings back good memories of childhood

Except back then, we had a mom who made us frosting. We were too lazy to do that, so we bought marshmallow creme, which, although sticky, does not hold for more than a half hour or so.

I quickly snapped a picture before candy started sliding off.
The brown thing in the front is a palm tree, duh. :)

Just because we're not home doesn't mean we're not having a big dinner

We are! Ok, so we only bought part of a turkey, but we have a lot of other food too; squash, mashed potatoes, salad, green beans, cranberries, bread, pumpkin pie and ice cream. Yum. Can't wait to eat.

I called my mom yesterday and got a little sad about not being home for the holiday. Viv was chatting away in the background whilst stealing candy from the cupboard. She has Grandma (and Grandpa) wrapped around her little fingers. Christmas isn't that far away though, and I'll be home before I know it.

What I am thankful for:

-food
-family
-friends
-faith
-MRK
-shelter
-laughter
-the opportunity to be here in AZ!

A day off = shopping with An

Work is... going to consume my life until I leave for home on December 21ish.

Except today. My boss called just before I left and said I didn't need to come in. Whoo-hoo! An and I drank coffee then went shopping; Trader Joes first, and the (outdoor) mall next. I bought my first Christmas gift. It feels good to get that started!

I've been slightly boycotting the Christmas spirit, but at the mall today, there were carols blasting over the speakers and wreaths, lights, and trees everywhere. After a bit, it broke through my grouchiness. I'm starting to feel it... the excitement of the season!

All work, no play

Tomorrow I start another job. I will be then working from 9 am to 10:30 pm about 4 days a week. Whew. It's going to be tiring, but with the holidays coming up, I need some extra cash.

The good thing is that my new job is just a block down the street from our apartment. I will be working the front desk at an Extended Stay hotel in the afternoon/evenings. The flower shop will have me in the mornings, then I'll bike home and run over to the hotel.

Another Love

I have a lot of loves :)

We went to the Fountain Hills fountain again today; Nat, Sarah, and me.

My New Love

The music of Bruce Springsteen.
Thank you Coralie, for putting it on my mp3 player!

I especially like this song.

And 2nd place goes to...

Rita H, Kim H, Anna K, and Heidi H from the cities. They are our second group of visitors down here. Sara K took the gold home back in the beginning of October.

Last night, I (practically) begged Rita, Anna, and Kim to take me up on South Mountain for the sunset and city lights view. Twice before I had tried to go, but neither time could make it up to the top for one reason or another.

Third time's a charm. It was cold up there... like maybe 50 degrees! Such a neat view of "The Valley of the Sun" though. Phoenix and its suburbs are surrounded by mountains, and from our vantage point, we could see them coccooning the city.

Rita posing for a facebook prof pic :)

I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture or not, but downtown Phoenix really stands out, since it has most of the many-storied buildings in the valley.

All of us girls, freezing our buns off.

Can you see the heart-shaped lake on the golf course that Tiger plays at?

Unbelievable view!

Afterward, we filled our rumbling tummies with Grimaldi's pizza, then warmed up in the hot tub. I was really wanting a sauna, but had to settle...

We went to church yesterday

for the first time in what feels like ages. We went Saturday night too. I'd been looking forward to it since I heard Ken L. was coming a few weeks ago. Saturday night, services were at April G's in Gilbert. There were eleven adults there, and two kids. Sunday afternoon we gathered at Elaine S's in Sun City. Same numbers of adults and kids, but some different names. After church (communion), I got to hold sweet baby Gunner, brother of adorable little Ella. There was lots of visiting over coffee lunch, and we learned of some new places to hike. The whole weekend was a happy one.

5 big ones

I have a special, sunshine-y niece who turned 5 today. I kind of forgot until this morning though, so her card will be late. Happy Birthday Kaisa!

Wow, did I feel powerful today

Maybe it was the strawberry Nerds I ate before I walked out the door, or the Skillet blasting through my pink Skullcandy earbuds, but I felt like I could run forever on the treadmill. Of course, I didn't go much further than normal, but I did turn up the mph a teench. Love that feeling!

On a completely unrelated note, although sometimes I do feel powerful at work, I took a few pictures there.

This alstroemeria was so open and completely perfect, I couldn't not take a picture.
This is the chaos of a back room in a flower shop. It may look like a mess, but Lucie (the owner) and I know where almost everything is. The amount of stuff a florist needs to make all the different arrangements customers ask for is amazing!
My workstation is the bit of clear counter space next to the sink, as evidenced by my white waterbottle I go nowhere without.

The colors of the vases (and the organization) on the back shelf speak to me.

Just thought I'd share a little of my job with all of you who have probably never seen (or are even interested in seeing, well too bad ;) a flower shop back room.

YAY!

We have a BALL to play with and a sand VOLLEYBALL COURT to play on. With lights! Plus, it's only a short walk away. It's in the middle of a neighboring apartment complex, so maybe we'll get some randoms to play with too. Last night we played two on two. It was a blast! I have been missing volleyball, and I didn't even realize how much.

Pumpkin Fun

Thanks for the comments/encouragement on my previous post. Much appreciated!

In previous years, Jill has hosted a pumpkin carving party. There was always food, laughter, and lots of creativity from people I didn't know were creative. This year, we had a mini mini party with just the four of us (Anneli is gone during the week for work). Sarah didn't carve a pumpkin, so there are only three pumpkins out on our deck. which are already shriveling in the heat.

Here's Jill, with her hands full of pumpkin goop. She baked the pumpkin seeds afterward, and I took some to work today for a yummy snack.

Nat, also scraping pumpkin innards.

The finished pumpkins. Mine, Nat's, and Jill's.

I don't like making just a face on my pumpkins. As usual, I was the last one carving. I always put too many curved lines.

Here was my inspiration. I got this ring at Target about eight months ago, and rarely take it off. For some unexplainable reason, I just love it.

So although our party was downsized, and probably not as loud as last year, it was a good one nonetheless.

Sorry, I've been neglecting you

I don't have any new pictures, and not too much exciting news, so I've been staying away from the "new post" button. But maybe you like to read about things that aren't awesome and exciting. If so, stay tuned.

It finally hit me. homesickness. I was just tra-la-laing along, for a good six weeks or so, and then thoughts of home began to make me feel teary. I wanted my mom, but I thought talking to her would make it worse. Not talking to her made it worse too. I gave in and called her. I felt better after I realized she hadn't changed a bit, and will still be MOM when I get home too.

Maybe the excitement of being in a new place has wore off. I still love Arizona, but I wish it weren't so far away. Like maybe just a two hour drive and not 24. I keep telling myself that Christmas isn't so far away and will be here before I know it. I can do it!

Also, the weather difference (87 degrees today) makes me feel a teeny bit better. :)

New roomies are here

Nat D and Sarah H arrived from Michigan on Tuesday night, and then we said good-bye to Coralie and Kayla on Thursday morning. The total count of girls was seven for a short bit, but is now back to five.

Nat and Sarah brought furniture with them, so our apartment is starting to look more normal, and our backsides are feeling better. They are also full of excitement and zest for life in Arizona! We're excited to have them.

Inspired

I was excited to watch Leanne's marathon, because I never had watched one before. I told Mark the night before the race that I would probably tell him I wanted to run one after watching it. Then I said to disregard it if I did say that. I just knew I would be inspired.

We got up at 5 am to catch the shuttle from our hotel to the race start. All of us, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

The atmosphere down by the start spot was giddy, exciting, and most people were smiling. I wouldn't have been happy if I had to wait in line for a porta-potty though. There were about 50 of them all lined up, and the lines to use them were very long!!!

Kind of a blurry picture, but this was the starting line. Mr. Heart was jammin' and dancing all over the place. The runners took off in 6 waves, with the fastest ones in the first wave. Leanne was in wave 5, and estimated she would finish in 5:30. One lady in the first wave had a prosthetic leg, amazingly!

I have never seen so many people running in my life. Everyone running the half-marathon started with the full-marathoners, so the streets were crowded for the first ten or so miles.

As we sat and waited for Leanne at mile 4, some man and his daughter walked by with home-made noisemakers. They gave them to us, and for the rest of the race, we made an annoying, but fun, racket.

We kept seeing the same runners (the ones around Leanne's pace), and I think after a few times they recognized us because we were so loud. I was surprised at how little people were cheering on the runners.

Our signs said "Sweat is sexy", "Nice legs!" (got lots of comments, smiles, and shorts-raises on that one), and "our MN rockstar".

Leanne's goal is to run a marathon in every state. This was her ninth marathon in her fifth (I think) state. She seemed to be hardly out of breath, even at mile 22.

Finish line!!! Her official time was 5:25:something, a personal best by about 15 minutes!

Here she is showing off her sweet medal by the coolest sand sculpture I've ever seen.

I think all of us AZ girls were inspired by watching the race to run one. If not a full, than a half. I'd love to be able to do a full, but since I've had leg stress fractures in the past, I'm not sure if I could. I'm amazed by anyone that can or has!!!!

Yippee

We're going to Cali this weekend! Long Beach, to be exact. We are watching Leanne N**ka's marathon, and will be staying with her and Ruth Helt*n*n. Should be fun.

It almost makes up for missing R Ladies Weekend... :)

6.5 mile bike + 1.6 mi hike up Camelback + 1.6 mi hike down + 6.5 mi bike home = WHEW. tired.

Still have to bike 3 mi to work and 3 mi back today too. Plus maybe the library later (5 mi round trip).

Gettin' crafty

Been feeling creative lately, and the others have too. Some of the girls tie-dyed shirts, and they turned out pretty neat. Cor and I stitched on our shirts.



Sara preparing hers for tie-dying. She left home for MN this morning, and already the apt feels empty without her! Notice the fountain pop... 79 cents at the gas station that is a few short minutes on foot from our front door. Anneli is hooked on them :)


Shoot, my pictures came in sideways. Oh well, it's not too awesome, so probably looks just as good that way. I took a plain yellow shirt (already had the ruffle) and added some rolled fabric flowers and embroidery thread stitching. I got the idea for the flowers from Heather A.'s blog, and the how-to from http://mysparkle.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-rolled-flowers.html. (the link thing wasn't working, so maybe that will)

I really like what the stitching adds.

The shirt was pretty worn out, so I didn't mind if I messed up. Now I'm ready for bigger and better (aka newer and nicer) things.... maybe.

World's 2nd Largest

Fountain, that is.

It's 330 feet high, but when all three pumps are going, it gets up to 530 feet. It is located in Fountain Hills, which is about ten miles east of us. We went for a nice Sunday stroll around the lake.

Today, it rained, and then was 65 degrees afterward!!! The coolest it's been since I came down here. This week is supposed to be "cool", or in the mid-eighties.

some new Vivian pictures

She is adorable. You don't have to agree, but take a look at these pictures anyway.... :)

They were taken by Emily Hammar.
She's such a big girl now. She doesn't talk much yet, but gets her point across using facial expressions and gestures.

Here she is with her mother, my beautiful sister.

Joce wore this dress when she was little, and Kurt had a matching outfit, I believe.

Now do you agree with me? ;)

Happy, happy

We celebrated Kayla (Sept 29) and Anneli's (Sept 9) birthdays last weekend when Anneli was home. She works on hiking trails, and is gone for 11 days at a time.

Oh, did I mention that Kayla and Sara got into town last Friday? Now we have six girls here. Three don't have jobs though, so they hang out all day livin' the life :)

On Sunday, after a very fun visit/lunch/Scrabble game/song services with Elaine S. who lives in Sun City, we went up South Mountain for the sunset.


This week, I've been settling into my new job. We've been pretty slow so far, so I've had time to learn the ins and outs of receiving wire orders (teleflora, ftd, bloomnet) and making them for delivery.

My style is slightly different from the shop owner's. It's been a might frustrating to adjust to her way. I think she is losing money because she puts too many flowers into the arrangements. I didn't think I would ever complain about that (usually it's the opposite), but the beauty of them is lost when they are smushed together with hardly any greens.

Last night, we went to a volleyball game at this high school. Coincidentally, it is where uncle Aaron (Coralie's dad) graduated from. The Firebirds lost in 4 good matches, but I had a blast watching!!!


Go Firebirds! Only in Arizona would they have a weird mascot like that ;)

Tonight we're headed to Applebees to use a gift card we got from our girls back home as a going away gift. Whoop for half-price appetizers after 9!

things are looking up

I just got back from meeting a nanny family, one that I will be spending probably just 6 hours or so a week with. They're super relaxed. I like.

Next Tuesday, I am working at a flower shop! It'll be like a trial day, and if Lucy likes me, she'll keep me on part-time. The pay is not so good, but I'm happy to get some experience. Plus, I get to work with flowers :) :)

So at least I have some income. I will still be looking to fill more of my free hours.

Camelback

I know I post about Camelback a lot, but we climb it a lot... Here is a smattering of photos from various trips.

Early, early morning from the top. It was so windy!

Kind of looked like rain in the distance.

Sunrise from the top. What a great way to watch it come up!

Soooo pretty.

Camelback at night. Can you see the camel? Two humps and a head. We climb to the top of the taller hump.

Our sweet idea was to climb it during the full moon, but a police van sitting at the end of the road stopped that idea pretty quick.