CA Choir Trip

So our choir at MCC got to go on a choir "tour", although I'm too sure why they called it that when we sang for all of 30 minutes the whole time. Anyway, on Wednesday night Steven took me out on a date and went and ate at Texas Roadhouse (yumm!) and then we went and saw Vantage Point. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I really liked it. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, was clean (a little gory at some parts) and was complex without leaving you saying "I had no clue what was going on". Anyway, I'd see it again.
Thursday morning our choir left for CA on a charter bus. The drive there actually went pretty fast. When we got to San Diego we went to a church to do some singing there. It was a gorgeous church and had great sound. Here are some pictures!
On Friday we went to Point Loma Nazarene University. It sits right on the cliffs of the ocean and is so pretty! I don't think I'd mind going to school there! We worked with a clinician for about an hour and then ate in the school cafeteria which was delicious. Here are some more pictures!
After Point Loma we went to Old Town San Diego and walked around then went to Balboa Park. My friend Ellen and I walked around and went to the Natural History Museum which was neat but not worth the money. If you've never been to Balboa Park there are about 15 museums and even more gardens and some theaters and what not. It's also where the San Diego zoo is. One lady was just walking around with a parrot on her shoulders so I got a picture. I thought it was part of the display in the arboretum but after I took the picture realized it wasn't. Oh well.

Friday night we went on a dinner cruise around the bay. It was lots of fun-there was excellent food and lots of dancing. I opted out of the dancing part and just talked with friends but it was still fun!On Saturday we went to the beach and I was expecting the weather to be cold but it was so nice and the beach was SO crowded. Most of us didn't get in the water because it was so cold. You could definitely tell we were from Arizona...
Anyway, I'm home now, after a long and torturous bus ride (some idiot put Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure on the tv...). It feels so good to be home!

Catching Up

Last weekend we were able to go go out to Surprise with Travis and Brooke to hang out with Josh and Trisha and the kiddos. We sat around talking, eating, and having fun! We barbecued some delicious soda pop chicken (thanks to travis and brooke) and went swimming for a while! We also had cake and ice cream to celebrate Brooke's birthday and Josh's birthday, which is today! They're all so much fun to hang out with and we had a really great time! I hope we can do it again sometime! Braden was so funny--he kept putting on our sunglasses, running out of the room, taking them off then coming back in. He'd do this over and over and we got a kick out of it.

Tagged Again--Book Tag

Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
Turn to page 123
Find the 5th sentence
Post the 5th sentence
Tag 5 people

Sarah tagged me so here it goes: The nearest book to me was Bridge to Forever by Rachel Ann Nunes (yes, it's a mormon romance novel :o)

"Is this where you sleep?" Belle asked, going down the short path to the couch.

I tag Amy, Jackie, Kati, Chelsea, and Alli

Tagged

Alli tagged me so here it goes!

1. Answer the questions about the list of friends/family that you have on your blog.

2. If you don't have the number of names that the question asks, answer the question about the next name that you have not had a question for your your list.

3. Tag your friends and family

• When did you meet the first person on your list?

Well, it's my sister, so I guess I met her when I was born! My mom showed me a letter she wrote to my parents when they went to the hospital to have me. I don't remember exactly what it said but it was sweet. She wrote to my mom, "If you need to borrow any of my baby girl doll stuff, you can. They'll bring joy and peace." Anyway, she's my only sister so naturally she's special to me. Love you Amers!

• What do you like about the third person on your list's blog?

Brennan and Amber--they're in our ward and we've been over to dinner and they've come over for dinner with us! I think we're a lot of like and Amber makes me laugh. I used to watch them when they were in Primary with sunbeams and how frustrated they'd get sometime. They were good! Amber's so stinkin' cute and is going to be such a great mom!!

• What do you like best about the 5th and 6th people on your list?

Well, I don't know Bret and Becki that much but I guess I would say I love Becki's style. She's such a cute mom and she was a good friend (is :o) to Steven.
This one's funny. I've never met Brittany and Brad Haggard but we'll post on each other's blogs. Brittany and I seem a lot alike so we'll have to meet sometime. I like reading her blogs. She's so straightforward and funny--they always make me laugh. And she looks good for having 4 kids :o)

• How long have you known the 8th person on your list?

Ashley (Webb) Flake. I've known Ashley since 3rd grade. She's Kelsey's older sister who was my best friend growing up. She'd always help us with make-up and hair and stuff. She was a fun "older sister" to have! I remember when Kelsey and I volunteered to give her a massage but little did she know we were drawing all over her with lipstick and other make-up while giving her a massage! I don't think she was that mad. All I remember her saying is she'd better not break out on her back now :o) Sorry Ashley. Had to put that in there because that's all I remember from it!

• What impresses you about the 11th and 22nd person on your list?

Dustin and Chelsea--Sorry Dustin, this one's going to be about Chelsea. She always gets out and does stuff with Chloe and I think that's important. I see too many moms get lazy and bored with their kids. She also ran a marathon and is really my inspiration for doing one in January! Or at least a half, then a full!
Well, I don't really know Seth and Tara, at all but from what I read on their blog, Tara seems so happy with her kids. She's always posting about how much she loves and enjoys them and she just overall seems like a happy person. I remember the first time I met her was at someone's reception (I don't even remember) but it was at that club house thing and she needed to do something and just handed me one of her kids and I thought it was neat that she was friendly and trusted me to hold her kid!

• What memory do you have with the 23rd person on your list?

TC and Desiree--I remember when we invited them over for dinner and played games. They're so much fun to play with and TC is so competitive. We always laugh when we're around them and think they're such a fun couple to hang out with. I remember doing a fireside with them when the youth got to ask us questions about marriage/dating, etc.

• Say something nice about the 27th person on your list.

Well, I don't have 27 people on my list....so I'll just pick the last one! Travis and Brooke--they're just a fun, easy-to-be-with couple. They always make us laugh and they're so generous with everything they have. I'm excited they're coming to Mexico with us!

I tag Amy, Brooke, Ashley, Jackie and Amber

I Love Going Home

On Friday Steven and I were able to drive down to Benson and spend the weekend there with my parents. I know I always say this but I love going home to Benson. It's always so relaxing there. Saturday morning Steven and I got up and went for a bike ride which was fun :o) It was kind of cold and we picked the worst road to ride on. We were straight in the sun so of course I got sun burned, we were straight in the wind which made riding 10 times harder and it was all up hill! Let's just say I wasn't a very happy camper at first. Once I got past the burn, it was fun.
The rest of the day we just hung out with my mom and dad. We rented I Am Legend--my parents hadn't seen it and I thought it'd be fun to watch...once we put it on I reminded myself how jumpy it was and ended up getting on my laptop and putting "happy" music on, trying to ignore the movie. Steven gets so mad because I watch movies through my fingers when I get scared but what can I say, I'm a girl.
Anyway, Sunday morning we work up to the smell of banana-nut pancakes (my mom makes THE best pancakes) and buttermilk syrup. Since it was our "free-day" we ate :o) We went to church and then came home and my mom fried steak and we had mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. It was the most delicious dinner but I felt so gross afterwards. Steven and I were both saying it was good but we've been so used to our program and eating healthy that this just didn't settle right with us. Anyway, we're glad to be home and ready for a new week! Not really but I've only got 3 1/2 weeks of school left! I can do it!

Steven here...my second post!!!!

Well, first of all I would like to reiterate Meghan's words by saying that this weekend was awesome. We were able to spend time with friends, family, and hear from the living prophets and apostles. It was a great experience hearing President Monson speak to us. As other apostles bore testimony of the call to preside over the church and over the world as a prophet of God, my heart was touched and I felt the spirit bear testimony to me that he truly is called of God to lead us. His guidance and counsel should be respected and followed. I thank the Beagly family from our ward for inviting us over and cooking some DELICIOUS crepes and watching conference. We ended up going back for the second session on Sunday and having hamburgers afterwards as well.
Saturday was a lot of fun as well. Derek, my little brother, is doing awesome in tennis. I went to play with him expecting not to have to lace up my tennis shoes, but I had to get sweaty and run just to keep up with him!!!! I'm getting old.
Anyway, as a response to all of the "geek percentage things" I have done mine. well....13% Geek

You decide, is not being a geek mean i'm stupid? Well, "stupid is a very mean word". and if you think I'm stupid just cause I'm not a geek, then let's take it outside! haha...just kidding. I'm not a violent person. I love everyone! Hey, have a great day...or night...depending on when you are reading this!

Conference Weekend!

This was such a good weekend! It was very relaxing and just fun all around. Friday night Steven and I went out to dinner at the Chili's by ASU and then went walking down Mill Avenue. There was this store there that's going out of business and it's all old vintage books and signs and stuff. Everything was 50% off. It was SO neat. I wanted to buy everything but...we walked out empty-handed. Anyway, after that we went to ASU for a concert that my collaborative piano teacher's husband was putting on. It's his last performance before he retires so she got us tickets! It was great--Steven was probably bored out of his mind but I loved it. It was the Spanisches Liederbuch by Hugo Wolf. They're very rarely performed in their entirety (44 of them)--we only went the first night and got 22 but it was fun.
Saturday we drove out to Buckeye to watch conference out at Steven's parents...but they ended up not being there for the first 2 sessions so we didn't see them for a while! Alli and Kyle were in town and bought a wii so we played with that while the boys were gone at the priesthood session of conference and we barbequed. It was fun! We got home late and were extremely tired but we got our bikes from Steven's dad for the triathlon! Yay--thanks Robert! He put a lot of time into getting those bikes ready and we REALLY appreciate it.
Anyway, we were going to just stay the night out there but an AWESOME family in the ward, the Beagley's, invited us over for breakfast so we went over there this morning. There were 2 other couples there and we had crepes and all the fixin's! They were delicious. Then we all piled in the living room for conference. On our way out between sessions, they invited us back to watch the 2nd one (since normally we'd be here watching it on our computer!) and for dinner. So...it was a day with the Beagley's! We barbecued hamburgers and then watched The Game Plan which is actually a lot better than I thought it would be. It kind of looked lame to me but it was WAY cute and really funny so I definitely recommend it.
Well, we're back home now and definitely NOT ready to start a new week but...ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, right? Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed conference as much as we did!

Typing Test

I saw this on Desiree's blog and thought it'd be fun to try. This is what I got! I'll have to keep trying and see if I can beat 100. I don't even know what's considered good though!

91 words

Speedtest

A Visit From Amy!

My sister Amy came down from Utah for a few days and since she was out in Surprise helping Trish with Braden and visiting them, Steven and I drove out there to see her and the new baby again...of course. We took our nephew Braden out swimming. It was so funny because he'd jump in the pool to us and as soon as he had jumped in, he'd be turning around wanting to do it again. Here are a few pictures and a video of Braden jumping.

She has the prettiest olive skin. It's not all white and pasty.

Update on Us

Well, nothing too exciting has happened but I just felt like posting to keep everyone updated. Life is going great for us right now. I don't think we've ever been so busy since we got married but we're trying to keep up with it. Between our work and school it seems like there's never any down time.
Our Body-for LIFE program is going great. This is our 4th week and we're surprised we've stayed with it this long! I've never felt so good in my life. I have so much more energy and just feel good all-around. I'm sure Steven would agree. We're still trying to train for our triathlon but it keeps getting pushed aside with this BFL thing but we're trying, even if it means going to the gym twice-a-day...like today...arg. We'll be leaving for Rocky Point a month from today! I'm SO excited. Travis and Brooke are coming with us which will make it so much more fun. The weather is perfect that time of year. The water's supposed to be around 78 degrees. Perfect! It'll be nice to have a vacation although I wish it was AFTER finals so I didn't have anything to worry about. I have to come back and accompany everyone in their juries on that Monday which will mean a lot of playing the piano that day! Oh well, I love it. I've had a few more opportunities to accompany lately and it's been great. I love getting the experience.

Aside from all that, Steven and I are loving life together and loving this time we get to have alone. We watched Alli and Kyle's dog Zeus for a week while they were in NYC. Even little dogs are a lot of work! It was fun though to have a little friend while I was home alone doing homework or whatever. Thanks Alli and Kyle for letting us "dog-sit." I think Steven would say thank you for taking him back! He wasn't too fond of all the licking and a little dog in his face any time he laid down. :o) But he was a good sport. Zeus would just crack us up anytime we'd go to put the leash on him he'd just kind of curl up and lay down and become all limp. Same thing when you say, "Zeus, crate!" he'd take off running and eventually just kind of cower like something horrible was going to happen. We'd laugh everytime. Poor little Zeus. :o)This picture cracks me up because Zeus would always go sit on Steven's lap in the car and he'd just shake his head and say,"stupid dog."
Here's one when I gave Zeus a bath. I couldn't get over how ridiculous he looked :o)
Anyway, we'll try to keep everyone updated on anything that happens...although I don't anticipate anything real exciting happening anytime soon! Hope everyone is well.