A very long overdue post...

Holy smokes! Lesson planning, grading, tutoring and Rolly Pollies take up a lot of time outside of school! I am finally getting around to posting and only have half the pictures I want to share with you all...the other half are on Rob's camera and computer at work. So, read on, enjoy the pictures here and check back for the remaining pictures (sooner this time, I promise! I spent all day today planning the next few weeks and am finally feeling on top of this teaching thing).

Okay, rewinding quite a bit...Bubs came to visit! We were able to share a good bit of desert warmth and visit a few parts of town Rob and I haven't even gotten to! One day after school, we went on a tour of the Phoenix stadiums...Chase Field downtown (where the Diamondbacks play), the big stadium where the Cardinals play (and last year's Super Bowl was played) in Glendale and the Indians spring training site in Goodyear! The spring training site was my favorite...there is a practice area and then a separate field about a half mile down the road where games are played. We actually met the architect of the game field (which was almost finished being built) and he took us for a little tour. Dad is coming next weekend and we are definitely making a trip back to spring training...unfortunately games won't have started quite yet, but we are hoping to see a bit of practice and Rob and I really want to buy tickets to a game! I can't wait to go back :) Okay, here is a picture of Chase Field (and more of the spring training site will be to come!)


Rob and Bubs did a bit more exploring while I was at school and went up to South Mountain, where you don't have to hike much at all to get a great view of the city. Here are a few pictures from their adventures:


The other exciting highlight of the past few weeks was our Valentine's Day celebration. At the last minute we made plans to fly up to Flagstaff for dinner on Friday night! It was basically the best date ever. I felt like a celebrity...flying somewhere just for dinner! Unfortunately, we had banked on the crew car being at the Flagstaff airport and it wasn't, so we ended up flying to Flagstaff, freezing a bit (probably more me than Rob, but Flagstaff is up at the elevation for snow and whipping winds and everything that resembles Cleveland winters) and flying back to Phoenix. We grabbed dinner real quick and headed over to Scottsdale to hang out with a guy Rob works with and his girlfriend. We stayed at their house for a few drinks...it was a lot of fun. We didn't get home until 2am!

view of the mountains from the sky!

Sedona...and a lil bit of snow! also a lil glare off the window of the plane, sorry!

flying together :)

My bootleg Valentine's Day gift to Rob was a giant homemade M&M cookie cake! The pictures will basically tell it all (of course they are on Rob's computer too), but let's just say there was a lot of flour everywhere and my attempt to write with frosting through a lil corner cut off of the Ziploc bag ended with the zipped side of the bag opening and frosting all over! At least it tastes delicious :) With our cookie cake and the box of Valentine's Day goodies from Mom and Dad, we definitely have our fair share of sweets around here...Rob is loving it!

Alright, I am going to finish up a bit of lesson planning and get ready for school tomorrow. The department head is observing my ridiculously terrible 5th hour class because my teacher put a bug in her (and the administration's) ear to think about hiring me to fill the yearbook/newspaper position that will open in a few years when the man teaching the two now retires. I am hoping that all goes well and I can keep them under control! We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and weekend and are looking forward to talking to you all soon! Love, Sarah and Rob