Finally an Update...

I have been meaning to jump on here for the past few weeks to update and have managed to stay crazy busy. Yes, watching the 2 hour Grey's premiere counts as busy :) But, so does grading and test writing and things of the school/work sort. About a week and a half ago, Rob and I bought a new vehicle! It is a 2002 Ford Escape that we bought used from Craig's List. I've named it Esmerelda (because all cars need a name) and Carlos my Corolla needed a lady friend :) She is a pretty fantastic lil SUV. (We were driving toward a monsoon for a hot second last weekend and I felt quite safe.) There was a crack in the windshield that needed fixed right away and we actually took it into the Ford dealership where we turned in Rob's truck to be detailed because it was kinda dirty, so it took a lil bit before Ezzie (her nickname, of course) was photo ready. But, long awaited photos are below:

the inside plus Rob's lunch for work today

hooray storage space!

Let's see...what else is new...Rob and I decided that we would run the Phoenix half marathon together in January. The training plan I found online lasts 15 weeks and the race is in mid-January, so we have just a few weeks to get up to the 4 miles that is required for week one. I'm super excited about it. I think Rob is slightly less excited, but to give him credit, if I tried to swim for 13 miles (he's a lil fish), I'd likely drown. I'm looking forward to training for it and finishing together though :)

Rob has a flight on Tuesday morning this week with his chief flight instructor and if it goes well, he will be officially off of probation...which means a raise and one Saturday off each month. Freedom! :) I am looking forward to heading up north with him to go camping on some Saturday in the future.

I went to a district-wide meeting on Friday afternoon to get more information about teaching AP English because it looks like when the school I am teaching at adopts an AP program, I will be the AP teacher. I was really hoping to launch the program next year, because I have a handful of juniors who I think would be very successful in AP, but I'm not too certain the district has the money for it at this point. The training I would need to attend would cost about $700 and literature sets would need to be purchased. I'm really hoping I have the chance to teach AP while we are still in Arizona because it would look amazing on a resume. (Typically it's a responsibility reserved for veteran teachers.)

Last weekend Rob and I went flying in the plane he is able to use because he works on Sundays at Cutter. We flew over the big stadium where the Cardinals play and the Super Bowl was played a few years back, Indians spring training camp and the school I teach at. We also flew over the houses we have bids on and marveled at the ridiculously dead grass :) There are pictures of everything but the houses below:

Super Bowl/Cardinals stadium Indians training campSan Tan Foothills!

That is the excitement out here. We slept with the windows open the past few nights (it's actually dropped down into the 70's!), but have to close everything up when we wake up because it's still in the low 100's during the day. This should be the last lil bit of crazy heat I am hoping. I'm looking forward to cooler weather, our anniversary in 2 weeks, Vegas in 3 weeks and mom coming to visit/fall break right after Vegas! Hooray for good things coming up :)

Hope all is well with everyone :) Love, Sarah and Rob

Why do weekends always go so fast?!? Rob and I had another crazy, busy weekend (which probably answers that question!). We went to Foothills' first home football game on Friday night...we don't have the greatest football team, but we had an awesome pep rally during the school day on Friday and have a good amount of school spirit for the school's second year.

On Saturday morning, Rob worked and I tutored before we headed back out to Queen Creek to look at houses again. It'd been a solid month since we'd last been out, and I definitely felt myself getting frustrated that we were starting the process again. (We still have our offer on the table and are waiting on the bank, but wanted a few back-up possibilities because we would really like to close by the November 30th tax credit deadline.) Things started a little dicey, but ended really well. At the first house on our list, Ed (our crazy, but awesome realtor) was having trouble with his little device to open the lockbox. Ironically enough, the house was on the same street as the house our bid is in on. We headed over to the other property to see if his lockbox opener would work there, and sure enough, it did. We figured we would walk through the house again, forgetting there was a security system. As soon as Ed opened the door, the alarm went off and we didn't have the code! Needless to say, we didn't see either house on that street!

We did end the day by looking at a house that went up on the market late Friday night. Ed actually knew the listing agent and the seller, so after we decided we liked the house, he was able to negotiate with the listing agent to ensure that ours would be the only offer that they would take to the bank. The house is immaculate and about 10 minutes closer into town, which means a shorter commute for both Rob and I. It also has a gorgeous back patio that wraps around the side of the house. However, the kitchen is awkwardly large and the living room is very narrow...and the biggest downfall is that it is also a short sale. However, we have bid out all other bidders on a house that we realistically never would have been able to submit a competitive offer on without Ed's inside contacts. Now we have two offers on short sales sitting at the bank. Fingers crossed one comes through by the tax deadline. With all of the closing hassle, it will be close.

Saturday evening we met up with a few other instructors from the helicopter school and their spouses to watch the Ohio State game, which was a lot of fun, except for the outcome of the game. Also, Miami still hasn't scored a touchdown this season. It might be a rough fall for football. Time for Grey's to start back up probably :)

In car news, I think we have decided that we will buy a Ford Escape from the early 2000's. We went to see one this morning and really liked the model, but the actual car itself was priced on the high end of our price range and its A/C didn't work...a small problem in Phoenix. There are a few others of the same year and model listed online that we will hopefully look at this week. Rob turns his truck in on Friday! Eeek! It will be a busy car shopping week.

I also am being observed by my assistant principal on Tuesday and one of Rob's ground lessons is being observed by Missy on Wednesday (to get off of probation!). Fingers crossed both will go well! I spent most of late last week and this afternoon writing an honors curriculum for all 4 grades. (Our school doesn't offer honors classes as of right now, but we will incorporate the additional assignments into the regular classes for kids who do want the honors credit.) I am hoping that all my work puts me in a good spot with my department and administration and also lands me the position of honors and AP teacher when those classes are offered.

At any rate, I am going to head to bed and get ready for another Monday. Have a great week! Love, Sarah and Rob

Happy College Football Day!

yayyyyy college football starts today! And even better...it is crazy overcast here today. It poured rain this morning and just never really cleared up. It's a bit humid, but still in the 70's. I opened up the windows for the first time in I can't even remember how long! It's wonderful. Rob just headed back up to the airport for a pair of grounds and I am planning on watching the first half of the Georgia game, going for a run during half time, and making buffalo chicken dip during the second half. A delicious day :)

I do have a quick favor to ask of all our readers :) The high school I teach at is participating in the Boxtops for Education program. Usually you only see elementary schools participating because the parents are more involved at that level, but we are giving it a shot. I teach at a Title I school, which means a strong percentage of the students come from families with a very low income and the school itself is in a district that does not have strong financial backing. For instance, each teacher was given one pack of paper (which went to copying syllabi) and is then responsible for providing their own paper. I have one set of literature books (and no novels), which means all the reading must be done in-class, because there isn't enough money to buy a book for each student. The library printers are out of ink...the list goes on. We're hoping to raise a good amount of money through this program to start purchasing more books and supplies. Here is where I am asking for your help...if you aren't already saving box tops to donate to a school, it would be awesome if you could save the tops before you pitch empty boxes. If you wouldn't mind hanging onto them until Christmas, I could pick them up in person and skip the whole cost of mailing them. I would really, really, really appreciate your help :)

Not too much is new out here. Rob is working all Labor Day weekend, which is a lil sad, but also not the end of the world. I have a lot of grading to do, so I am going to go to work at Cutter with him on Sunday and grade (it is cooler there and they have comfy chairs and more tv channels in the pilot's lounge where I can hang out!). We are going to grill out burgers (real beef for me again!) on Monday and continue our hunt for a new truck...it looks like we have decided to get the lil SUV in a few years when we can afford to lease a newer car and will go with a hybrid. There aren't too many older cars out there now...it seems like most people turned them in for cash in the clunkers program and Rob is starting to get a lil nervous about finding something soon. No news on the house, except my patience waning. I am trying so hard to sit tight, but it's frustratingly difficult! We will let you all know as soon as we know anything.

Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend! Love, Sarah and Rob