Wow...I didn't realize it had been so long since I had posted!!! Well, here is the last few months in a nutshell....at the end of June, Brian and I were lucky enough to be able to go back to Hawaii with his family this time. We spent a week hanging out on the beach, it was great. This time we actually snorkeled with the sea turtles...that was an amazing experience! We got back, and after a week, I was still feeling a lot of jet lag...well, surprise surprise! It wasn't jet lag at all...I am pregnant!!! We were a little shocked, but I guess Hawaii and the turtles were lucky for us this time around! So, we are expecting at the end of March. Tomorrow we find out if it is a boy or a girl, so we will post that later on....
In August we were lucky enough to be able to go spend time with all of my siblings and nieces and nephews. Tons of fun! It had been a few years since we were all together, so it was a great time, getting to know my nieces and nephews a little more and catch up with all the family.
Oh, and our "St. Bernard" puppy we thought we got back in February is more of a terrier/cattle dog mix, lol...she is a lot of fun though, hyper, but fun, she definitely is getting us ready to baby proof the house, that is for sure.
Brian's sister and her boyfriend came down to visit at the end of September, so we did some hiking, explored some caves outside of Tucson and went to the air and space museum. Busy weekend, but lots of fun.
My mom, dad, sis and her little girl are coming down for Thanksgiving this year...so I am hoping to do the whole dinner by myself...we will see how well it turns out=)
I'm still working at the same old place, Brian is in the process of getting his own business/service truck going, so all is good here!
I'll post the boy/girl pics and results later....

It's a Beautiful World

So Brian bought me the new Dierks Bentley CD, which I absolutely love, I listen to it all the time. There is a song in there that just touched me so much, sooooo you know me and my music, here are the lyrics....

All the noise and the voices are screamin'
What they have to say
And the headlines and sound bytes are givin' me
Demons to hate
And the man on TV
He tells me it's ugly
But if you ask me

It's a beautiful world
It's a beautiful world

There's tears and there's fears and there's losses and crosses to bear
And sometimes the best we can do is just to whisper a prayer
And press on because
There's so much to live for and so much to love


In this beautiful world
Say what you will but I still believe
It's a beautiful world
It's a beautiful world
And I know (I know)I'm not dreamin'
I just choose (choose) to believe it

So I hate that I sometimes miss what's right in front of my eyes, oh
And I know at the end of my road I'll be wantin' more time
Just another sunset
One more kiss from my baby
A smile from a friendIn this beatiful world

It's a beautiful world
Yeah, it's a beautiful world
Say what you will, but I still believe
It's a beautiful world
Yeah, it's a beautiful world
Oh, it's a beautiful world

I guess I just love this song because it is so true. The world is so beautiful, but you have to look for the beauty, if everyone just focuses on the drugs, murders, rapes, wars, everything does look like the world is hell. But, take some time out of your day, watch the sun rise in the morning, just be amazed at all the little things that make this world beautiful. Even with the horrible things, I am thankful to be alive in this beautiful world.

Proud new parents

Brian and I are the proud new parents of little Daisy. She is a St. Bernard mix, possible with a lab, so it will be very interesting to see how big she gets!! So far her brother Buddy is not too certain about the little one, he has gotten so stressed out that he made himself sick the last couple days. But, I took both of them into the vet, and they are both very healthy, which is good news. Daisy just turned 6 weeks old, so she is very much a baby, but very very playful, and Buddy does not know what to do with her. He just runs from her, which I don't blame him because her little pirahna teeth are very sharp and she definitely likes to bite. They both come to work with me everyday, which is fun, but wow, tiresome trying to keep her away from him, and her whining every time I put her in her little kennel....hopefully life will get back to normal pretty soon, because I need a full night's sleep!!! LOL, I guess it's preparing me for motherhood, right? So here are a few pictures of the baby and a couple of Daisy and Buddy too.

Hiking Gorgeous Arizona

Okay so here are some pictures from some hiking we've done in the last month or so. I know I live in the desert, but the beauty amazes me. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, I just can't get enough! My new goal is to get out at least once a week and do some hiking, haven't quite kept up with that, but hopefully soon. Thank goodness I have a great boyfriend who enjoys going with me and taking some great pictures! Kris (Brian's mom) and I went up to a small trail yesterday, and it was great, so at least we are going to go there if we can't hit the big trails. I would love to head up to the Grand Canyon this summer and hike around there, but I guess we will see what happens. I will do my best to post some captions, but sometimes it doesn't work out right. The pictures above are from the Heiroglyphics Trail, and the our hike thru the desert up to the Siphons Draw trail in the Superstition Mountains. The best thing, is both these trails are only about 15 minutes from my house!!! Enjoy and wish you were here!

Yes, I am still here....

Yep, I am still here. Sorry I haven't written on here in forever, but there has been a lot going on. To catch everyone up, in case you didn't know, Brian bought a house on an acre and a quarter in Apache Junction at the beginning of November. So, needless to say, we have been very busy. We pretty much remodeled half of the house. Brian got some killer deals on Craigs List for wood floors, cabinets, and appliances. So that has been what we have been doing since the beginning of November. It is almost done, just have to finish putting the trim up, which doesn't take long, we are just both sick of working on it I think. Once we get it all the way completed, I will post some pictures on here.
Christmas was great, very quiet, but wonderful, except that I couldn't see all of you! We went to the candlelight service Christmas Eve, and that was beautiful. Christmas Day we just relaxed at Brian's parents house all day. I know everyone had snow, but we did have a ton of rain that day, and it was pretty darn chilly outside. New Year's was good too, the first sober New Year's for me in about 10 years, and I had a great time. We went over to Renee's for a little while, then came home, watched the ball drop and went to bed. Yes, very exciting, I know=) New Years Day we went hiking, which was a ton of fun. I will post pictures of our hiking on here too, just didn't want to do it all at once.
Well, that's about all that has been going on in our lives down here in beautiful Arizona (oh yeah, it's supposed to be 80 degrees today, just had to rub that in). Hope all is well for everyone! Love you all tons!

Hawaii

HAWAII!!!

Okay, so we had a blast in Hawaii. I cannot get over how gorgeous it is there! Brian has decided we need to move there, so who knows, you might get a call from me one day saying we are off to Hawaii, which would be fine with me! We went to Pearl Harbor, which was amazing. I learned so much about that day, or maybe I just didn't pay attention in history class, but either way, it was so interesting.

The Waimea Falls were indescribable. But, I do have to say, that swim from the side to the falls is a lot longer than it looks. Shellie, Brian and I were the only ones who swam, and Shell, gotta give you credit, you are a much better swimmer than me!! It was such a refreshing swim, and was so worth it to go and sit under the falls, what an experience! And the botanical gardens there, WOW!!! And yes, if you haven't seen on Shellie's blog, she tried to play Jane of the Jungle and it didn't quite work out. Pretty funny!

The sea turtles, now that was amazing! Brian and I actually spotted one outside the condo, but couldn't get close enough to take a picture. Later that day, we all went to Laniakea Beach which is a favorite spot for sea turtles, and we saw quite a few. I'm posting the video I got of one of them, and a picture in the slide show. They would get so close to you, I almost touched one, but then it swam off, which was probably a good thing since we found out it is a federal offense to touch the turtles. Oops, my bad!

Well, the waves on the North Shore are absolutely crazy!!! They knock you down so hard! In the video I'm posting you will see Brian and I go completely under, my leg flips up, and then we finally come back up, and I'm holding my jaw. Somehow Brian hit me in the face when the wave crashed into us. It was so much fun though, we all had fun doing this, even Mom & Dad tried it out. The waves would push you 20-30 feet up the shore than pull you back in, it was crazy! The water is so crystal clear that you can see forever. We literally spent about 4 hours one day at the beach playing in the waves, it was too much fun.

The Polynesian Cultural Center was a lot of fun. They take you on a little tour on the canoes, then there is a canoe race (think parade floats on water) that represent each of the different Islands. The luau was great, the food was ummm....different, they have purple sweet potatoes, very interesting...not so good. The rolls were good though! They had a show going the whole time we were eating. The show they put on at night rocked! There was a bunch of dances, and the Samoan fire guy was crazy! He caught this stick that was on fire from like 100 feet, craziness.

And most of us tried snorkeling. We went to Sharks Cove (no sharks, thank goodness), and wow, if anyone ever gets the experience to snorkel, you need to go. It is an amazing experience! We literally saw about 90% of the fish that are on "Finding Nemo". Didn't see Nemo, or Dorey, I don't think, but there were so many fish, and they would swim like 2 inches from your face! After snorkeling we went to Sunset Beach, and I can see why it is called this, it was an amazing sunset. We played in the waves some more before we finally came back to the condo to crash.

This was an amazing vacation. Being in such a beautiful place, and being surrounded by everyone I love so much made for a great time, I am truly blessed. I wish the rest of the family could have joined in all the fun. I myself cannot wait to go back. Enjoy the pictures (this is only about 5% of the pictures just Brian and I took), but enjoy!

Ever have one of those days?

Okay, so do you ever have one of those days that are just indescribable? In a GOOD way, not a bad way. A day that everything just seems right? I don't know, but today has just been one of those days for me. I've been happy and smiling. Every time I turn on the radio, a song I love is on, one that holds a great memory or has helped me through a lot in my life. The sun is shining outside, it's not too hot. I don't know, I guess today is just one of those days that I am so thankful to be alive. Thankful for the sweet guy I'm dating, for my best friend, for the friends I have at work, for my family, and yes, even for my job. Today is one of those days, summed up, where God's letting me know that everything is going to be okay, that my life is going in the right direction. Just felt like sharing that...love you all!