Seriously, posting here has been on my to-do list forever and a day. Life has been ridiculously hectic for the past month, but with school winding down, I'm thinking that updating the blog will be significantly more manageable. For now, it's time to play some major catch up.
The weekend after Katie's visit and our housewarming party was prom. And I was lucky enough to somehow become the prom sponsor. Technically, the prom sponsor should be the junior class adviser, but because he was slacking (no venue was booked when I stepped in in February...eek!), the junior class Stugo kids asked for my help. I never knew how much responsibility it would be when I agreed! In two months time, we fundraised, booked a venue and DJ, bought decorations, sold tickets...the list goes on! Luckily the event was a success...no one showed up drunk, brought alcohol/drugs, got in a car accident or engaged in any other stereotypical prom behavior. While I didn't get the extra payment the junior class adviser receives for planning prom, I crowned the king and queen, had a great time with a lot of the juniors and scored the responsibility of senior class adviser next year. The number one responsibility of senior class adviser, you ask? Senior trip...i.e. drive through night number one to Disneyland, chaperone 150 seniors running lose around the park all day, find them all and pack them back up on the bus to (you guessed it) drive through night number two. I foresee a ridiculously sleep deprived and cranky me. At least there's mulah involved in it all next year :)
The weekend after prom, Dad came out to visit! He stayed in the polka dot guest room...the perfect fit, clearly :) We didn't put him to work as much as we did Mom when she visited over spring break, but he did help us hang curtains in the kitchen. These replaced the disgusting slit blind things I struggle to describe and hated a lot. They do a much better job at being functional as well, because they're designed to keep out the heat and reduce energy costs, which is a pretty important feature given that the sun sets at the back of the house. So far, the curtains have been making a big difference. A big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa, as they were our housewarming gift from them :) Here are a few pictures...
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It was a little early in the day to take this picture...the sun glare makes it a little hard to see them tied back.
On Friday night we took Dad to Oregano's for the best Chicago style pizza and pizzookie ever. He was quite impressed, I think. And now Rob and I are a little sad that our string of visitors has slowed and we don't have an excuse to go all the time! We hiked on Saturday morning in the Superstition Mountains, and worked our way up a good bit of elevation. Here are a few pictures from the hike...
It is probably hard to see without enlarging the picture (just click on it), but in the middle of the photograph, between the cacti and mountains, is the parking lot where we started. We are probably about halfway up to the point where we turned around here.
Mountainous Landscape Scenery.
Little lizard friend who surprisingly didn't scurry away when we came near it (most do). Luckily, this harmless lil guy was about the extent of desert wildlife we saw. I was a bit nervous most of the way because this is the time of year when the snakes come back out.
We went to a baseball game downtown on Saturday evening, and spent most of Sunday relaxing, cheering on the Cavs and making a quick trip to Costco. I love family visits. It's fun to show off Arizona, and makes me feel better about living here. I've felt like I've been missing a lot lately, between prep for Shelly and Jenn's weddings, bridal showers, graduations, Mother's Day...there are so many weekend events that I can't make. It's nice to bring to light the fact that Rob and I are settling in well here...we have good jobs, good friends and a house! I definitely wouldn't have expected to hear myself say any of that when we first moved out here.
Finally, to wrap up the catch up on life/Arizona weekend stories....this past weekend Rob and I went camping. In a tent. Me. In a tent. (We stopped at Starbucks for half priced frappuccinos on the way up to Payson. Clearly, wilderness woman, I am not.) I exaggerate a bit, possibly. I enjoy everything about camping except for the sleeping and the dark. The woods are creepy in the dark. And rocks and ground tend to hurt my lil body when I don't have an air mattress (electric pumps aren't so great in the great outdoors). Also, I'm a tad picky about the cleanliness of the bathrooms I use. Aside from that...s'mores are my favorite food, roasting marshmallows is a pretty excellent ability I have and I like relaxing in the outdoors. It was a little chilly the first night...Rob said probably 55-60 and my teeth were chattering like mad...but I survived. Rob made me pancakes for breakfast over the campfire, which, I'll be honest, I was ridiculously impressed by. Plus, they were delicious. And, in the afternoon when Rob went exploring a little creek and tried to do some fishing, I created myself a little nook in the rocks and read a book. It was quite calming. We had to drive into town after a bit to use the clean(er) toilets at the Wal-Mart, but I survived. We cooked hot dogs on the campfire for dinner and I ate my body weight in fantastically toasted marshmallows and s'mores. But then it was the night thing again. We ended up heading home after only one night. I felt like a little bit of a camping failure until today, when Rob talked to Davina at work, and she shared the greatest camping idea ever: cabins in Sedona near wineries. Mmmmmm wine, electricity, campfire in the backyard and shower and bed inside. I think wine-cabin-camping might be more for me. We are going to look into planning an adventure for June. :) Up next: documented evidence of the camping trip...
Me on the first night...kind of creepy dark woods, no? :)
yummy wheat pancakes with chocolate bar pieces mixed in cooking away!
my rock reading nook at the creek.
kind of an overview of the campsite set-up.
Roasting marshmallows, my specialty.
Oh, and one last piece of news that I almost forgot because it didn't have a picture/event associated with it! I am teaching summer school! (I think ! at least.) It will be middle school summer school. I find out more about the grades and curriculum in a few weeks. Despite the lazy students I am sure I'll encounter, it is the perfect job. It runs June 7-30, and is only half days with three day weekends each week. The extra pay will be really nice because our district doesn't issue paychecks in the summer months for teachers only contracted 9 months out of the year. It also will be good to have a regular routine, but still plenty of time to relax and get done the work I've been putting off for summer break. And I get to teach The Giver, which is something I'm really looking forward to. I'm hoping that it will be a positive experience. For now though, I'm focusing on surviving the last 8 days, and enjoying the two weeks with nothing to do before summer school starts :) My summer to-do list is the best to-do list ever...watch the World Cup, bake soccer ball cupcakes, get sucked into horribly wonderful reality tv shows like the Bachelorette...I'm honestly not sure how I ever thought I could survive a job that didn't have a built in summer vacation :)
I'm a little embarrassed because I just realized there are zero pictures of Rob on this post. He's been here for the last month, I swear. (What would possess me to go camping alone?) He's had a busy few weeks at work, and was also dragged into the joy of chaperoning prom. He is coming up on one year of working at Quantum, which will hopefully result in every Saturday off, but who knows if that will come through or not. He did, however, get a raise for the pay of the hours he flies with CFI students.
That probably should conclude the life update. Rob will be home soon and we need to decide which is a better plan for the evening: working out (we did join the YMCA out in Queen Creek after losing the little bootleg gym in our apartment complex) or finally hooking up the DVD player, renting a movie and popping popcorn. :) Hope everyone is having a great Monday and actually sees this because they still, miraculously, check in for updates. I promise to make them more frequent! Love, Sarah and Rob
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