Outdoor fun!

Last week Ryan and Cameron played a show on the lawn at the U of A. It was gorgeous out (until the sun went down and then I wished I'd worn long sleeves and pants), and tons of students came to listen. It's so nice being in a university town. I definitely don't take advantage of it as much as I'd like to, but there are so many neat little shops, restaurants, and people around.


After their show, we went and saw Matt Wertz play at Club Congress. Matt is doing some amazing work in Uganda building a village for girls who have run away from being sex slaves. He is part of something called the Mocha Club, which he invites his audience members to join, which says that they will give $7/month to this cause...$7 roughly being the cost of going out for mochas twice/ month.


Last night I helped out at a high school track meet! It was so much fun (and even a little emotional) to be caught up in the track atmosphere! I miss organized sports sooo much! But, I do have a running partner now, so that helps to compensate for the team feeling. There was a girl from Flowing Wells H.S. who took first (among boys and girls) in the two-mile...she ran an 11:10....it was unbelievable!

Yeeeehawwww!

It's Rodeo Week in Tucson! School is closed for 3 days, Western Warehouse is having a huge sale on Wranglers, and I even borrowed a pair of cowboy boots to look like I fit in. :)

After church today a group of us had lunch at Pico de Gallo...I even got pico de gallo (fruit with chili powder, salt, and lemon sprinkled/juiced onto it)...I know some of you may be saying, "That's not what pico de gallo is...it's salsa!, but we asked the woman who owns the place and she said that the salsa like stuff is technically pico, although it's a regional thing and it can vary from place to place what what is called. ...mom you would probably like the type of pico de gallo that I had today! :)

(Eileen, David, Melissa, Chris, Randy, Lanie, Ryan, and me)


Then, we headed down to the rodeo grounds, only to see...


This is how that made us feel...


Even though we were looking like cowboys (Ryan in his Wranglers, I in my boots)...


The most we got to see was...


Next year we'll be buying our tickets in advance! :)

Hike-a-luca!

This past weekend we had gorgeous weather and took advantage of it by going for a hike with Chris and Melissa at Sabino Canyon (the telephone line trail). Part of the trail was closed due to the monsoon damage from last summer, but what we did get to hike was beautiful and gave us a great view of the mountain ranges south of Tucson. And, it was a very special occasion...the very first day of Chris and Melissa's 6th year of marriage! :)


After the hike, we went back to their house and had a great dinner followed by Scrabble! :)

Over the weekend, we also saw the movie, "God Grew Tired of Us", a documentary on the Lost Boys of Sudan. It's an incredible movie, that I highly recommend for everyone to go check-out...for those in Tucson, it's playing at the Loft right now!

Our friend Owen is in town, and Ryan, Cameron, and Owen are lounging on the couch right now listening to/playing music...I always love it when they play their guitars together!

Craftastic!

The world-famous Gem and Mineral Show has finally arrived in Tucson! I've been hearing about this big occasion since before I even moved out here, and even though I've had a year to digest it and prepare for it, it has still succeeded in completely overwhelming me! Imagine a LARGE expo event, such as at a marathon, food show, car show, etc...and multiply it by 25! No joke, this thing is spread throughout the entire city of Tucson. It has taken over hotel conference rooms, actual hotel rooms, parking lots, mansions, convention centers, etc...it's out of control...and lasts 2 1/2 weeks! I've gone down there twice so far to get some items for making jewelry with, but both times I've reached a point where I can't buy anything anymore because I'm too overwhelmed. Our friend Liz has told us her survival plan for going ot Ikea, and I think I'm going to have to attack this in the same way when we go back next week, by bringing snacks and a list of exactly what I need to buy and how much I can spend.


Wednesdays I go to a Bible study (BSF) at a church down the road, and afterwards a group of us go to lunch and knit/crochet at Christina's house. They are hardcore knitters...making sweaters, ponchos, bags, socks, etc...I like to stick to the easy stuff like blankets, scarves, and washcloths. :)


This morning I went to tumbling class with Naomi (Ryan's cousin), Elijah, and Isaiah (her two kids). Then afterwards we went to Naomi's sister's house to visit her and the new baby! Baby Naomi was born on Sunday weighing a hefty 9lbs and 12oz!


This weekend we will be honoring Grammie with her very own Grammy Award!! :)

S'mores, Sabino, and Saguaros!

Hello!

We are FINALLY experiencing the Tucson winter weather that I had been hearing about...no more of that snow, freezing nights, and slow starts for the car...(well, that's not true about the car...she'll always need a little extra rev in the morning). Oh, speaking of the car...have I even shared a photo of our new car with you?? Here's a picture I have, it's kind of dark, but her beauty shines through...

It was an amazing deal and a huge answer to prayer! It's a 1987 Nissan Sentra with only 57,000 miles...and only had one previous owner! Her current name is Gray Beauty, but feel free to post any other possibilities, we don't feel like this name is final.

Oh, back to weather...it's currently about 75 degrees. It actually made Ryan and I think of going camping the other night...so we went out and bought fixings for s'mores!




Yesterday our "Boston" (none of which actually live in Boston anymore) friends came to Tucson for a beautiful hike in Sabino/Bear Canyon! We hiked the Seven Falls Trail, which looks quite a bit different after the monsoons we had over the summer, but still beautiful!


(ErinStacy, Natanya, Paul, Abby, Ryan, and Cameron)


This morning we woke up at the crack of dawn, which for us is 6:20am, for a 7.6 mile trail run out at Colossal Caves! It was a gorgeous park with saguaros everywhere. The course was another hilly one...we gained 1300 feet of elevation within the first 4 miles, then turned around and pretty much repeated that same gain again. It was fun to run on the trails, although a little slow because they were very narrow and single file, so you could only run as fast as the person in front of you, and choosing to pass meant that you were committing to passing a whole line of people and staying at a speed ahead of them. The post-race party was at a ranch with a bonfire and a hearty southwest breakfast of eggs, beans and tortillas! :)




(Yes folks, we had pop-warner cheerleaders guiding us through the finish line!)


Well, we're off to a Super Bowl party/card playing party...Go Patriots...j/k. :)

Fur, friends, family, and flees!

Last week, I went to the zoo with Ryan's cousin's wife (cousin-in-law?) and her two cutie patootie kids. We have a great zoo here...they even have baboons! I'd never seen a baboon before!



It's so great when kids don't know that you can put a quarter in and it makes the sounds for you...



We had a great lunch that afternoon with our friend Samir who is in med school and, lucky for us, has an easy rotation right now so he can sneak off for lunch some days! :)


Yesterday we went to the U of A vs. UNC basketball game...we were anxious annies from the tip off to the end, with a horrible loss of 62-94!

Ryan led worship at church again this morning!

This evening we went over to Chris and Melissa's for dinner....Chris made an incredible gourmet meal that was sooo delicious! Chris' mom is in town for the weekend, so we got to have a lot of fun spending time with her at Chris' concert last night, and dinner tonight!


And, of course we couldn't let the night slip away without another rendition of "My Cat Has Fleas" on the uke!

Ice Fights

Last weekend Lori, Ryan, and I went to an Ice Cats game (our Christmas gift from Sara!), unfortunately though Sara was sick and couldn't join us. I was really into the idea of seeing a fight on the ice, since that seems to be such a crucial element in hockey. Well, my wish was definitely granted, and I quickly regretted it...it just wasn't pretty. They were ripping each other's shirts off and going crazy until they got done on the ice and then the refs would break it up. Four players got kicked out of the game due to fighting and there were 120 minutes in the penalty box...it was an unreal kind of game....but a fun night out!

We're Tuc-sno-nans!

We were planning on going up to Mount Lemon today to go sledding and have a "real" winter experience, but then decided we'd wait until tomorrow to avoid the weekend traffic... But, the winter experience actually came to us instead while we were at Melissa and Chris'!

Prior to the knock on the door by a neighbor to tell us to come outside...


The second largest snowfall that Ryan can remember ever having in Tucson...the other being when he was 5...








And...of course a great rendition of "My Cat Has Fleas" on the ukulele to finish the night!

spray paint?

I was just at Home Depot to buy spray paint and decided to make my purchase in the self check-out lane to save. In my rushing to save time, I accidently pressed the button for everything to be in Spanish instead of English....which I wasn't too concerned about since rarely do you really even need to know what the "register" is saying. But of course that wasn't the case today. After I scanned my bottle of spray paint, the register screen said something in Spanish, and I could pick out that I needed to wait for cashier assistance. The cashier came over, and of course was a native Spanish speaker, and assumed I was as well since I was doing the check-out in Spanish, however she quickly learned that I couldn't keep up to her speed. It turns out that I needed to show my ID in order to buy spray paint! Who knew one could be carded at Home Depot!?

Momarama

My mom came to visit for a week, January 1-7. Much to my dismay, I didn't take many photos...I guess we were too busy having fun to take the time to capture it on film. :) Overall, we had a very relaxing week of sewing new placemats,

planting flowers,

creating a compost pile,

going for walks, etc.
We also went downtown for a great dinner and a great benefit concert that involved: Luca, the Pueblo High School Mariachi group, Luz de Luna Mariachi group, and Calexico. Our friend Chris played bass for both Luca and Calexico, so it was fun/proud night for us to get to cheer him on. It was an incredible show that involved 2 rock bands and 2 full mariachi groups...I mean there were like 50 people on stage at one point...it was crazy! It was soo much fun though...the perfect concert for anyone visiting Tucson to get a taste of our Mexican flavor.

Ryan and I were spontaneous with our cash for once and bought new shirts to support Calexico...


I took her and Grammie to the botanical gardens that I work at and we got to see all the beautiful butterflies fluttering around...


This morning I woke up nice and early to meet my college cross country for a 7.4 mile run at Sabino Canyon! He is originally from Tucson and still has a house here, so whenever he's in town we usually get together. Thankfully, I was in much better shape this time than during his last visit when I thought I was going to have to crawl up the canyon! :)

Sno' Way!!!

Yes that's right folks...we can see snow (in the mountains) from our driveway!!