Four Years Ago...

....We were doing this.

We have now been happily married for four years! That's just nuts to me. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were counting down the weeks to get married. This year Joseph and I left the girls for an overnight date to down town Phoenix. It was not all that it's cracked up to be. We thought that it'd be awesome to check out downtown. Just like in any other major city but no... aside from the stadium and a science museum, there's just a bunch of office buildings and a handful of restaurants. But, whenever I'm with Joseph, it doesn't matter what's going on. I still have fun. (Sappy, but so true) We stayed at this old 1920's hotel that was pretty neat and cute. It had some history behind it which was kind of cool.
Joseph eating at a way good Mexican restaurant.



Our cool historic hotel.



Hanging out in the hotel.



We look like dorks here but it was just because the sun was in our eyes. We really are pretty cool.



We thought it might be nice to go to a Diamond Back's baseball game so we headed over to the stadium. I'm the biggest tight wad and didn't want to spend a lot of money to see a game I really didn't care much for so we just went to check out ticket prices. It was going to be too much (for me anyway) to go so right as we were about to turn away, this guy and lady came up to us and asked us if we were looking for tickets. Thinking they were just ticket scalpers, Joseph didn't want to deal with them and blew them off. So the guy shrugs his shoulders like, "ok, whatever" and hands them to someone else for FREE! We were thinking, "uh, but, uh, wait, but we thought...DANG!" We totally could've gotten free tickets and had fun at a ball game. Instead we went to a movie (we're pretty big fans of going to see movies) and then went for a walk to the Ghetto Circle K down the street and Joseph was so freaked out he started to take out his wallet and pull all of his cash out to stick it in his shoe. Then I started freak'n out b/c he just flashed a wad of cash out in public in the ghetto! Coming from the Ghetto in Vegas you'd think we'd have no problem walking around Phoenix but I guess we've grown accustom to not having to see bums digging through garbage dumpsters and such out here in Mesa. ha ha. Oh! I've got to let you all in on my favorite story... So we were just walking around a lot and we hear this guy yelling so we turn and directly to our left is this bum standing in the middle of the street right smack in front of this lady's brand new BMW SUV, yelling at her, "I just need $2 for the bus! I'm homeless!!" and he's holding up all of this traffic. At first I was thinking, "that's a little crazy" and then, as she's yelling at him to get out of her way, he gets down on the ground and lays down right in front of her car on the street! It was totally nuts! There were seriously like 20 cars behind her. What an idiot that guy was. Yelling at that poor lady like she owes him something. I kinda felt bad for the guy having to degrade himself to that also. So sad.

Anyway, we definitely had a fun time but we also found ourselves saying to each other, "I'm excited to see our girls". haha We celebrated last weekend b/c Joseph started school on Monday. Today Joseph had a lot of homework so we weren't able to really do much but, every year, on our anniversary we get a cake identical to our top tear on our wedding cake. I wasn't able to get one this year so I just made one.



It doesn't look quite like it but it sure tasted just as good.




So here's to four years Babe. I love you!

Carly is 8 Months!

At 8 months old today Carly is jabbering on all the time and loves to give hugs. Although the hugs are a little violent we love them all the same. I'm sure we taught her how to give such aggressive hugs b/c we can't stop biting, pinching and squeezing her. She's got two bottom teeth and a top one coming in right now. It's so cute b/c she keeps licking her top gums and she's always got her tongue hang'n out. She's always up for a smile and we just love her to death. She's real good at picking food up by herself and eating whole green beans and other finger foods. She's great at sitting up and I just know she wants to crawl. Just as soon as she figures it out. Well, I gotta go. Joseph and I are leaving for a nice weekend trip for our Anniversary. I'll write more later.

Yes my friends, mid 20's

There has been so much going on lately I feel I don't have time to write it down. And when I do have time to write it down I'm too exhausted to do so. Where shall I start? Well, Joseph and I celebrated my birthday by playing miniature golf. Haven't played that since I think I was pregnant with miss Ella. It was fun but usually I beat Joseph and love to rub it in his face b/c he's a big golfer but this time, I didn't get to do that. He totally beat me! We also played some arcade games like air hockey, ski ball, deal or no deal, and this one that I thought was pretty cool it was like this virtual reality roller coaster. Kinda fun (by kinda I mean it was entertaining but I wouldn't beg to go on it again or anything) We went out to our regular date night treat place, Golden Spoon. (love it) My birthday was on Monday and yes my friends, I am now well into my mid 20's. Oh man. 26. I'm officially starting to be afraid of my birthday. We spent my birthday with my family. Ella was SO excited that it was her mommy's birthday that she's still talking about it. Joseph and my brother Noah made a pretty sweet birthday cake. It was the infamous strawberry shortcake (infamous b/c that's the cake I've had every year since my 16th birthday party) but this time they stacked two angel food cake bunts on top of each other so they were pretty big. It was a fun birthday and I'm glad I had family to spend it with.

In other news, we've been so busy here b/c Joseph and I decided to stay in Mesa all through school. So last minute Joseph signed up for classes at MCC to finish up his associates degree. After finishing, he'll transfer to ASU and finish up his bachelors. We're hoping that staying here and becoming AZ residents and going to Arizona schools will help him get into dental school here in AZ. (feel free to tell me your thoughts and opinions on this Maggie, Brooks, and Steph) We've also met a lot of people here who are dentists and Joseph has talked to them about job shadowing them. On top of that Joseph has been getting job interviews lined up with companies that will help pay for college tuition. All this week he'll be going to interviews and then on Monday he'll start school. Today we had a great opportunity to interview with the high council of one of the stakes out here that has 4 baseball fields they need a grounds keeper for. The ball fields are directly in the church's "backyard" as well as a house for us to live in. We would get to live in the house totally free! Free rent, electric, gas, water, sewage, internet, ect. Seriously the biggest blessing that has crossed our paths! There were 3 other guys interviewing for the job so we're really saying our prayers they pick us (we totally wouldn't mind if you all said prayers for us too ;) to take care of everything. Living in my parent's house has it's perks but it is a 3 bedroom house with my parents, our little family of 4, and my two brothers. It's a little limited on space. I can't find anything bad about having this living situation at the church. The girls would have 40 acres at their disposal, Joseph would have unlimited use of basketball courts, there are picnic tables (unfortunately no playground) and SO much room to run around. Not to mention the fact that there are 3 bedrooms so Carly could finally be out of our room! The guy who just quit the job said that they lived there for 4 years and were able to save up $50,000! and just bought a home. That is something we would definitely benefit from! Anyway, we REALLY want this job. We'll find out in a few days if we get it. I'll keep everyone posted.

I ventured out to make friends for Ella and me. It's been so sad, Ella keeps asking to go "home" and for her friends. I tell her that we are home and live at Nonie and Pop's house and she says, "No, MY home. My home in Las VAAAAgas". So I decided to use my new hobby of card making to make some cute invitations to invite her whole nursery class (about 15 2 year olds) over for a pool party and popsicles so that Ella AND I could make new friends. Well I worked so hard on the invitations and gave them out 1 1/2 weeks in advance so everyone would have enough time to plan for it. The day of the party I got Ella all hyped up. She woke us up at like 6 am with her swim suite on! She waited so patiently all morning for 10 am to come and for her friends to show up. Anytime she heard a noise she'd run to the door with her hand cupped to her ear saying, "I hear sumptin! My Fwends!!" And can you believe it... NOBODY showed up! I think I was just as upset as she was. (probably more) I couldn't believe that not one person showed up, not even so much as a phone call! I know that it's hard to talk to new people but there are 2 girls in our ward that I know of who look about my age and each have a 2 year old and a 7 month old baby. So what they heck??? I know I should probably step up and say hi but for some reason my body just won't let me do it. My brain says go and my body says no. It makes it even harder that nobody showed up to the pool party b/c I take that kinda thing personally. It's stupid but I do. That's another reason I want to get this job at the ball fields so that we can move and start all over in a new ward.

Oh, and one more thing...I totally forgot to tell you all this. Joseph and I are training to run our very first 1/2 marathon! I owe this all to Monica and Alissa! Thanks for helping me get motivated. I've been pretraining for the past month and am now running about 4 miles Mon, Wed, Thu, and Sat. This week it gets bumped up to 5! Holy smokes! (Monica, remember when I couldn't stop puking and going to the bathroom just after a 2 mile jaunt with you! ha ha) I can't believe by the end of this I'll be running 13.1 miles! Nuts I tell ya! I decided one day that I need to set some goals in my life so I can say that I've had lots of accomplishments. I decided to start with this. There are some more but we'll get into those later.

8 Things

8 things I am passionate about…in no particular order:
1. Raising my children to be good kids
2. going on dates with my husband.
3. gospel
4. working out
5. my friends
6. my family
7. being a good mommy
8. helping those who need it


8 Books I Have Read And Enjoyed:
1. Harry Potter
2. Durrr, I don't read.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.


8 Words/Phrases I Say Often:
1. That's stupid.
2. Holy crap!
3. I don't even know what you're saying right now.
4. Ok, crazy.
5. Your mom.
6. I love you.
7. That's Nuts!
8. Ella! Get your panties back on!


8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die (in no particular order):
1. See my children married in the Temple
2. Own a home
3. Run a 1/2 marathon
4. Be close with my children
5. Enter into a fitness competition
6. To travel the world
7. Be able to go shopping whenever I want
8. To be debt free

8 Things I Learned This Past Year:
1. School is always a good thing.
2. Love your children.
3. Your family is always going to be there guaranteed
4. Be careful who you trust.
5. You can do anything you want, just not everything.
6. Kids grow up fast.
7. If you think you can, you just might.
8. Make your home a sanctuary for your family.


8 places I want to see:
1. Chile
2. Italy
3. Hawaii
4. Caribbean
5. Jamaica
6. Puerto Rico
7. Africa
8. California (yes, I have never once been there and want to see what all the hullabaloo is about)

8 things I currently want/need:
1. A ipod arm band
2. A cricut machine
3. A house
4. An amazing job for my husband
5. to go to bed
6. to drop 25 pounds
7. to do some serious guiltless shopping
8. to finally hang pictures on the walls of my OWN home.


8 People I Want To Tag:
1. Alissa
2. Steph
3. Erin
4. Ashle
5. Abbers
6. CJ
7. Crystal
8. Samantha