A Life Update from the Desert :)

Hello all! Believe it or not, I am not planning on ignoring this blog entirely this summer now that I am knees deep in my food blog project. While I've been updating the food blog daily, I'm going to try to update this one weekly (or even bi-weekly when life isn't as entertaining!). If I updated daily, you'd end up getting a million and one boring details about our days. I'll try to keep it to not-so-boring updates instead. First off though, Rob and I both want to wish a Happy Birthday to Rob's Aunt Sue. We really wish we could be back home to celebrate with her, and to stop missing so many birthdays and anniversaries and graduations...the list goes on. In addition to Sue's birthday, we missed Andrew Weaver's wedding and Shelly's bachelorette party this weekend. Yuck. But Rob and I tell ourselves over and over again when we get homesick that the opportunities just aren't in Ohio for us right now, and if we keep working hard out here, we could create them for ourselves there down the road. Getting back is our ultimate goal, and definitely keeps us going when things get challenging and busy, like this past week.

Rob sent a student to checkride earlier in the week, which is always stressful, and near the end of the week had his schedule totally upheaved. Another instructor, who was the only instructor certified to teach the higher level CFI students other than Rob, was fired, which shifted a lot of new students onto Rob's plate. Hopefully once the transition period is over, things will settle down and be much simpler. As for now, it's looking like a lot of 12 hour days.

My busy schedule is nowhere near as busy as Rob's. I did start summer school last week, and am teaching 6th, 7th and 8th grade reading. Middle school is an entirely different experience than high school, and some days I feel like I'd do anything to get the 6th graders to sit still and keep their hands to themselves for five minutes! Ultimately, though, it isn't a bad summer job. I work Monday-Thursday (half days) for 3 weeks and Monday-Wednesday (still half days) the final week. The curriculum is all written for me, and there's no grading, so really I just have to show up, teach and touch base with parents weekly. I don't have the most motivated students ever, but that is summer school, when you get down to it. It's nice to have something to get me up and out the door in the morning, but I still like being able to make it home for lunch, and usually spend the afternoon cooking. I've also started going to yoga classes at the Y, and it is the most amazing, relaxing thing ever. I expected to hate it because I'm not too flexible and usually don't feel like I've had a good workout if I haven't worked up a sweat, but I love it. I look forward to Mondays, which is strange, just because of yoga class (and maybe the Bachelorette too!).

After busy weeks, I think Rob and I both just wanted to stay in and watch a movie together this weekend, but we ended up going out both Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday, we went out with some of my friends from school, and on Saturday, we went out with some of the other flight instructors and their spouses. In between it all, I managed to make it to Old Navy for $2 tank tops before they sold out of my size (score!!) and Rob and I both hung the ceiling fan in the kitchen.

The kitchen table usually isn't pushed against the wall there, but I moved it to get a solid background for food pictures.

And, here is another random picture of a little lizard crawling across the screen door while we were eating breakfast. (Don't worry, it's outside. There would probably be no picture and a ridiculously freaked out me if it wasn't!) I like these little lizard guys; they eat all the bugs that freak me out.

It's driving me crazy that this picture won't rotate, but for right now, I'm exhausted and am giving in and leaving it like this. I'm sorry for making you twist around to see it!

The last thing...if you haven't already, I hope you'll check out my food blog. It is: www.bakingserendipity.blogspot.com. I've been cooking/baking everyday and posting pictures, recipes and little stories, so I hope you'll check it daily for updates. At this point, I'm averaging about 100 people visiting each day, which I'm very happy with it, but I hope for it to only grow from here! 

As always, Rob and I hope that all is well with everyone, and miss and love you!

Food Blog Link

Okay, here it is in all its glory: round number two of food blogs :)

www.bakingserendipity.blogspot.com

Favorite the link, check it often and pass it along to friends and family...maybe someday I'll be a food blog celebrity :) Enjoy!

New Friends and Baking Galore

I would say Rob and I had a successful Memorial Day weekend...in the friends and food categories at least :) Last Thursday, Jared (a friend of Rob's from work) and his girlfriend, Deanna, came over for dinner. We grilled pizza and because it seemed just too easy, I spent the better part of the morning baking dessert :) I made m&m cookies using Rob's mom's amazing recipe, then used the cookies to make chocolate and vanilla ice cream sandwiches! (The ice cream was store bought...I wasn't so adventurous to make homemade ice cream as well...though I am pretty sure it is on the to-do list :) I'd say the pizza and ice cream cookie sandwiches were a big hit!

Then on Friday evening/night, Rob and Jared flew one of Jared's friends out to California. (Jared has his fixed wing and helicopter license, just like Rob, so he really appreciated the opportunity to fly in the Cutter plane rather than drive.) I worked out and cleaned out the closet while Rob was at work, and still had a lot of time to kill before he flew to California and back and made it home. Instead of sitting around bored, I called Heidi, the guidance counselor at Foothills I'd become close with and ended up going out for happy hour drinks and then pizza with a new group of friends. It was such fun! We all planned to get together for a pool party on Saturday afternoon at one of the couple's houses, and so I had the opportunity to introduce Rob to all of them pretty much right away! We had a great barbeque with new friends and sat around the pool :) I was really proud of myself to go out alone and meet such great people!

We also had our own lil barbeque last night. Rob grilled chicken sausages and I made corn-on-the-cob and broccoli and bacon twice baked potatoes. I made a little extra of the sausage and corn and added both to a roasted red pepper and basil pasta salad I invented. We ate the pasta salad for dinner tonight and it was fantastic!

All this cooking has inspired me to relaunch my food blog. My first attempt was a pretty solid flop. But I've created it the way I wanted it this time: it is attached to a new e-mail address, so that it is entirely separate from this blog, and I spent a lot of time yesterday playing with my camera, so that the pictures I was taking of my cooking were a little more professional looking. I'm quite happy with what I've worked  on so far and am planning on posting the link (because it's not the same as the first) in the next few days. Here is a little sneak peak of photography...

Don't forget to check back for the link!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend! Wish you were here to eat all of this food I keep cooking! :) Love, Sarah and Rob