Memorial Day Weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend kick-off started with planting our new little tree in the front yard. It's a Mesquite Tree, lovingly called "Squiter" by those who love him and know him well...


Saturday night we went to a Sidewinders Baseball game with Melissa and Chris. Sidewinders is the minor league baseball team here in Tucson...not nearly as big of a deal as the Whitecaps for those of you that live in Comstock Park, but still a cheap and fun baseball game to go to! :)

Fundraisers and Home repairs...

Last weekend we went to a fundraiser for the Sonora Fund, which is a grassroots organization to help get grant money to organizations working towards social-change on the Arizona and Sonora, Mexico border. Cameron's brother, Kenyon, is on the board for the organization and played guitar/sang with a couple of other guys that he is in bands with.

Kenyon and Ryan


Kenyon and Carlos


On Monday, Lori and Todd came over to help us with some home repairs!

We got new locks on the door....


And can now be frequently found lying on the hammock while watching the sunset...


We found a park last night that is 3 miles in perimeter with a paved path, so we went for a late night rollerblade which was fun, and felt great with the chill to the air at night!

We don't really have any plans for Memorial Day weekend...I guess when you work from home, having Monday off doesn't seem like such a luxury anymore. Next week we'll be heading out to CA, where the temps are a little cooler! :)

School Lunch!

Last week I went home to Michigan for an unexpected death in the family. It was an incredibly sad situation, but so good to be with family. I got to spend time with cousins that I hadn't really had that much time to hang out with since I was in elementary/middle school, got to visit my nieces at school and share in their lunch period, and I got to be home for Mother's Day!

At lunch with Alyssa....


At lunch with Lydia...


The fancy life of a small town, lunch at Red Rock Grille, where I got to meet the janitor of Lil' Rog's school and also see people I used to work with in high school...


Lunch with Emma, Lil' Rog and Nichole...


Ryan and I were apart for 15 days!! That's the longest we've ever had to go...even when we were living in Boston, we were never apart for that long. So good to be home with him now! This past week we went with Lori to hear some bluegrass music, Ryan and I took our first swing dancing lesson, Sara got her wisdom teeth out, and last night we made the first good dinner we've had time to make in a while, and then saw a movie ("Inside Man"--very good!) and had ice cream with Chris and Melissa (our couple friends).

Sunday...

This morning I went to church at the place that I believe will become our new "home church"...this is our second week there and so far we've really felt that it's the right place for us. And, it so conveniently happens to be the place where a couple that we've started becoming friends with, go as well. After the service today, we went out for brunch and had a great time talking. Then, this afternoon (after the lizard incident), I went to a folk festival with a girl named Elisa that I met at Cameron's birthday party at his brother's house... I love how inexpensive Tucson is! First of all, it was free parking in the art museum's parking lot, even though I wasn't going to the art museum...Then, the folk festival was free...2 full days of great music from noon-midnight! I bought some roasted corn (it's basically corn on the cob that they grill in the husk with butter, chili powder, and salt (I think))...soo good! I wish I had pictures to show y'all...but since I had taken my camera out of my purse for the lizard this afternoon, it never made it back in! oops! :)

oh, and p.s. about the lizard...it was HUGE...it might not look like it in the picture, but you're going to have to take my word for it...in order to look at it the right way, it may help to know that it's looking at the camera...I'd say the body was 4" long plus tail!

Lizards...eck!

I was on the phone with Ryan (He's in WA) on my drive home from church this afternoon...I pulled into the garage and went to step out of the car and saw a HUGE lizard on top of our case of costco water bottles about 2' from where I was! Needless to say, I had to get off the phone so that I could take a picture of it on my phone to send to Ryan so that he could see how big it was...and then I had to take a picture with my camera so I could show all of you! :) Mind you, I did this all from the car window b/c I was a little nervous that it would run towards me, even though Ryan assured me it wouldn't...

Cinco de Mayo...

Well, I've been a bit of a blog slacker lately...sorry about that! The real reason is, is that I changed purses and my camera didn't make the change, so I haven't been taking as many pictures lately...but I promise to work on that! :)

So, just to back track a wee bit..

Last week Ryan and I went swimming at Grammie's pool...water temp of 86 degrees! Ryan taught me how to play the toothpick game. One person places a toothpick at the bottom of the pool and then both jump in and try to find it (no goggles or opening eyes under water allowed)...it's pretty tricky, in fact the only times I ever won were when we waited long enough for the toothpick to float to the top. :) Afterwards we had dinner and played "Gimme Five" with Ryan's mom and grammie...Ryan and his mom won big time...but only because I was tired from having swam. :)


This past Friday (Cinco de Mayo) Grammie and I went shopping for a dining room table...we drove all over south Tucson going to Mexican import stores, but couldn't find what we were looking for...so finally we decided to go back to a store (Tres Amigos) that I had been to about 8 times already in the past 3 days. Just as we were pulling up, they were putting up a huge banner that said "20% off everything in the store"! Needless to say, we found exactly what we were looking for...plus a few extra items...



After we got all of the furniture, we went back to South Tucson to get some good/authentic Mexican food...we went to this absolute hole-in-the-wall place that had the best mexican food that I've ever had! I was kicking myself for not having my camera with me b/c our waitress was this ~60 year old spunky woman wearing the cutest yellow traditional mexican dress.

Tonight I went with Mary (Ryan's stepmom) and Rachel (Ryan's half sister) to a huge Cinco de Mayo/Mexican Mother's Day celebration that was sponsored by the Spanish radio station here in Tucson. It was a really cool event...great music, lots of people salsa dancing in the crowd, and fun food (i.e. mango on a stick dipped in chili sauce...)...

Family time...

In between the Kansas/Missouri shows, Ryan and Cameron flew to North Carolina for a one-off show....instead of going with them, I flew to Michigan to see my family...it was a quick trip, only 18 hours to be exact, but it was great to be home for an afternoon of playing with my nieces and nephew, and evening of good food and company.

My sister took a half day of work and let her kids get of school early so that they could all come with my mom and dad (and other niece) to the airport to pick me up. We went back to my parents house and rode bikes/played outdoors and then went hot tubbing. I can't believe how fast they are all growing!

Emma (she'll be 2 at the end of May) is even starting to talk now...(and can say my name!)...though she doesn't really seem to remember me. :(


Lil' Roger is the sweetest little guy...he's five and kept telling me how much he loves me, how beautiful I looked, and even went out of his way to open the door for me...he's going to be a charmer to all the ladies some day! :)

Haleigh (6 years old) doesn't have any front teeth and is proud to show off her wounds from getting attacked by a pitbull a few weeks ago...she's amazingly brave!

Lydia (7 years old) is my shadow while I'm home...she's always right by my side and ready to play, color, or whatever it is. She's also little miss fashion...just got her hair hi-lited (I have no idea how one spells that...)...shows how into fashion I am. :)

Alyssa (9 years old) just started playing softball and is an incredible reader. She's in an accelerated reading program and was supposed to read 50 points worth and is so far at 350 points!


My grandpa came over for dinner...my mom had held off on having lamb for easter so that I could be home for it too...so we had lamb, shrimp, fruit salad and all the goods...

That night we went over to one of Roger and Nichole's friends' houses for a bonfire...it would be sooo great if they decided to transplant the family out here to Tucson...I think they'd love it...and it'd be so nice to be closer to them...


Then, I flew out at 6:30a.m. the next day...on the plane in time to see the sunrise...

Kansas City...

Last week we flew to Kansas City for a couple of shows (one in Kansas and one in Missouri)....most of the shows lately have been outdoor festivals at colleges and universities. When we were at the airport flying to go there I got bummed all of a sudden when I realized I had forgotten to pack my new flip flops, especially since they were going to be outdoor shows...well, once we arrived, I realized that there would be no need for flip flops in the midwest yet...it's gorgeous during the day, but come evening it's chilly and damp...no longer flip flop weather. In fact, the show at Rockhurst University (MO) had to be moved indoors b/c it was raining...raining so much that it was said to be that they were to receive more rain that weekend, than what would be average for a whole month!


It wasn't until this trip out there that I realized how much I miss grass and big trees! It's something I took for granted while living there...perhaps similar to how Ryan feels like he took the mountains for granted while living in Tucson growing up. But, as much as I miss the lush green grass and shade from tall trees, I was very excited flying into Tucson knowing that it was going to be warm outside, even though it was 10pm.

Cameron's dad lives in Missouri, so I got to meet that side of his family. We had dinner at his dad's house and I got to meet all of his siblings...lots of fun little kids running around for the afternoon. Here is a picture of Cameron and his dad listening to the other band sound check before their show...

Pop Culture Trivia Night...

Tonight we had Sara (Ryan's sister), Alex and Genni (Sara's college friends), and Lori (Ryan's mom) over for dinner (tortilla soup and beer bread)...sorry, I know I'm out of hand with these parenthesis!...and a game of pop culture trivia. Team Ryan/Abby tied with team Sara/Lori....we played for a couple of hours, but no one got the final question right!...Don't be fooled...I wouldn't have made it that far if it had not been for Ryan answering at least 99% of the questions correct for us! :) I did however know that Tony the Tiger's home was Battle Creek, MI...too bad that it wasn't our question though...

Game Night...

Last night we went to the park and played some tennis, got dairy queen and then sat at a park and watched a little league game...followed up by a hardcore scrabble game when we got home...we love the game of scrabble!!

p.s. the pictures from my Sabino Canyon hike are finally up if you want to check them out...

Outdoor shows galore!!

In the past 3 days, Ryan and Cameron have had 4 outdoor concerts! It's been so great...two of them were in Tucson and two were in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I had always thought that New Mexico would be super hot like it is in Tucson, however it's not...it's actually 5,000 feet above sea level and thus a little chilly...however a little chilly out here means like 75 degrees.


We are heading to the midwest on Wednesday for some shows...we'll be in Kansas on Wednesday/Thursday, the guys are going to North Carolina while I go to Michigan to visit my family for a total of 18 hours on Friday, and then we're all meeting back up in Missouri on Saturday...then next week it's off to the rainy state of Washington for 10 days! :) (We ordered airplane neck pillows so that we can be sleeping soundly through all of this traveling!)

Easter!

I experienced the hottest Easter day of my life! This weather is crazy, but I love it! :)
We went to church in the morning at Ryan's grandparents' church...

(left to right: Ryan's dad, Abby, Ryan, Great-Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma)

Then spent the afternon/evening at his mom's house with her side of the family....

(left to right: Papa David, Aunt Terri, Lori (Ryan's mom), Ryan, Sara, Genny (Sara's friend), Grandma Bonnie, Alex (Sara's friend)

The view we had at dinner from Lori's backyard...

Sabino Canyon Hike

Last Saturday I woke at 6am to go hiking with some people that I had met at a church I visited the week prior. Now, 6am is a VERY early morning here in the Green household. Our days usually start somewhere between 8am and 9:30am usually... Nonetheless, I woke up and was suprisingly wide awake and ready to go! I had been hiking at Sabino Canyon once before with Ryan on my first trip ever to Arizona (just over 1 year ago), however this time we took a different trail and made it a new experience. The trailhead we took was called Seven Falls...and the name came from the fact that you actually hike into the canyon until you reach 7 beautiful waterfalls that at the bottom create a pool of water that all the water-deprived Arizonans hike to so that they can go swimming in! It was an amazingly beautiful hike...and I even got to see an endangered species, albeit extremely poisonous, a gila monster--one of the only two venomous lizards in the world! Supposedly the younger gila monsters are more dangerous than the older ones because they don't know how to control their venom and let it all out at once when they bite you...good thing no one was attacked on this trip. :) I had such a fun time...I told Ryan that it may have even been the most fun I've had since moving to AZ while not with him (he was in WA for a show)..

The first natural body of water that I've seen in AZ...


The area we were hiking in....


The gila monster...


Seven Falls...


Tucsonans swimming away...



The group of people I went hiking with...



That evening, Ryan and Cameron played a show at the U of A out on the lawn. Due to some technical difficulties, they ended up doing the show acoustic and sat on the edge of the stage with everyone gathered close and sitting on the ground...it was a pretty memorable show!

LA part 2

Tuesday afternoon we set out for another roadtrip to LA...


We stayed in one of the shadiest hotels that I've ever been in that night. We were so nervous that someone was going to break in to our room while we went for dinner that hid the laptops under the bed and then put the guitars under the covers to make it look like someone was sleeping there! But, it was pretty humorous to look at...


That night we went out for dinner at a great Mexican restaurant to celebrate Cameron being a new homeowner!! He got a great house WITH a pool!! And...he'll be living very close to us, which is nice. Afterwards we went and played some putt putt golf...Ryan reigned, with Cameron being a close 2nd...I was a not very close 3rd. :) ALTHOUGH, I was the only one with a hole in one...although saying that probably makes it more embarrassing that I still came in wayyy last. :)


We got back to our hotel safe and sound...nobody stole a thing! :) The guys practiced for a bit....


Wednesday the guys rehearsed all day with the drummer who will be on their next album. They had a great time with him...said that he was just a really good guy, and overall they are super super excited that they get to play with him! While they were with him, I spent the afternoon with my friend Katie (I know her from City Year in Boston)...we walked around UCLA, sat, talked for 7 HOURS straight! And, just had a really good time. She is new to LA and doesn't really have any close girlfriends there, so I think we were in the same situation and just really excited to have another girlfriend to spend the whole day chatting with. We had dinner with her boyfriend Adam...who is also from City Year. I love the perk of traveling all over and getting to see friends who have dispersed throughout the country! :)

Dinner with Grammie

Today started out with me getting lost on my run. I had only planned on running 3 miles so that I could get back in time for us to eat breakfast before we had to leave for Ryan to get his hair cut. Well, my 3 miles turned into 7 miles because I couldn't find the road I was looking for to turn onto and I just kept running and running and running...eeks! I ended up getting back 5 minutes after the time we should've left...thankfully Ryan's mom owns the hair salon, so they showed us grace for being late. :)

Part of this afternoon we spent at Cameron's house so that the guys could rehearse for awhile....


Tonight we had Sara (Ryan's sister) and Grammie over for dinner and a game of "Give Me 5" (a family game of their's). Sara and I won 5 games to Ryan and Grammie's 2 wins!

Farmer's Market

The first week we were here Ryan and Cameron played a show that benefited
the Tucson Community Food Bank and ever since then we've had an extra soft
spot in our hearts for them and have wanted to find other ways that we
could help out. We found out that there is a farmer's market on Thursdays
that also goes to support the food bank, and it also accepts WIC,
foodstamps, etc. I've been missing haymarket dearly and the thought of
going to this place was soo exciting for three reasons: 1. farm fresh
produce, 2. helping the foodbank, and 3. it sounds like a great socially
just place in the fact that it accespts foodstamps and WIC..
Well, we drove a 1/2 hour to get there and found 5 small tents set up and
about 3 other customers....not at all like the haymarket experience I am
used to. I still love the whole idea behind them being there and the
causes they are trying to support, however I must admit that I was quite
disappointed. Afterall, I had been looking forward to this ALL day!
First off, there was hardly any produce there. It was mainly homemade
jams and crafts...and then a couple of stands of grapefruits that were the
size of small oranges...which, I ended up buying 2 of because I felt bad
for the people selling. And even that was a cultural shock...they
actually weighed the grapefruit and instead of throwing in a couple extra
like they do at hay market, they carefully made sure that they found two
grapefruit that would equal a perfect 1 pound.
The one great thing that I did get to buy there however, was a basil
plant! I'm really excited to put it in a big planter and be able to eat
fresh basil all the time! I had originally planned on planting in the
ground, but I was quickly warned that basil grows really well in the heat
and it will take over our entire yard if we do that.

Well, here are a couple of shots of us working on our flower beds with
grammie a few weeks back. We're still trying to get the bank roses and
pink jasmine to crawl over the fence...Ryan spotted this morning that one
of the branches is out far enough that we can begin weaving it through the
fence... :)