Canoes and Helicopters :)

Get ready for a whole lot of pictures. We've been busy doing a lot of photo-worthy things.

First, when Rob came home for his past week off, we bought a canoe! Buying it was a little bit of a process because Rob found it on Craigslist when he was still in Vegas and because it was such a good deal, knew it would sell quickly. So, our friends, Jared and Deanna, actually bought and picked it up for us, and when Rob came home, we picked it up from their house. (Then, we had them over for a cookout/s'mores night to thank them. They brought their two dogs and all three pups went crazy playing in the grass in the backyard. It was fantastic. Hunter is a serious alpha-dog and had to show them who was boss, but settled in really quickly and seemed to have a lot of fun.)

We took the canoe up to Canyon Lake (the same place we took Hunter just to play in the water). The lake was freezing! I was seriously afraid of tipping into the cold water, but Rob was extra nice and not only didn't intentionally tip the canoe, kept Hunter (who we brought with us in the boat) from jumping out and tipping it as well. I'm surprised Hunter was as calm as he was. There were fish, ducks and Rob's fishing line to distract him. I think he's a pretty good dog :)

Here are a few pictures of the canoe...

In the garage, and ready to go!

The weird spot is where a patch was fixed with fiberglass. (I sound like I know what I'm talking about, maybe, but I don't. So if it isn't actually fiberglass...whoops :)) The important part is, we don't sink!

Oars (I'm seriously hoping that's the right word too) and life preservers that came with the canoe.

In the parking lot, ready to get into the water! (The canoe, not me. But you totally knew that.)

Canoe on the shore of Canyon Lake.

Also! The man who sold us the canoe used a motor on it. Weird. But I guess Rob and his dad wanted a motor like this for a long time. Soooo. Here's a picture of it, Don. I figured you'd want to see this too :)


Now! More excitement! I came up to Vegas with Rob this week and brought Hunter along. We aren't staying for the entire week, but for longer than I expected to. This is a very bachelor house. I've been buying make shift utensils at the dollar store and baking with them. It's a fun little challenge. But that really isn't most exciting. Most exciting is that I got the chance to go on one of the helicopter tours Rob flies yesterday! It was amazing! I flew with five people from Montreal, which was a little strange, because I'm used to just Rob and I in the helicopter/plane. I felt sort of weird asking questions because Rob gave the tour in English and then played the tape of it in French and I didn't want to speak over the tape. But I took pictures like crazy as we flew over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and down into the Grand Canyon. We landed in the Canyon and Rob and the other pilots (all the helicopters basically follow one another to the picnic spot) served a picnic lunch with champagne. Fancy! :) Rob had one of his friends, Josh, who is a pilot from Indiana, take a few pictures of us before everyone got back in the helicopter and flew back to Boulder City (where the tour began). (Random side note: I guess Josh and his wife just moved out here. He was in Rob's training class and I think the four of us are going to go out to dinner tomorrow because the guys work the same shift and are out earlier in the day. New friends everywhere!!)

Okay. I think it's probably easier to let the pictures just speak for themselves. Hopefully the crazy amount of these didn't make the page load really slowly. (And if it did, thanks for sticking here!) I'm going to go bake while these load up because I bet it takes a while...

It might be hard to see if you don't enlarge the picture, but Rob is in this helicopter cleaning up from the last flight and getting ready for ours. I took the picture from inside the terminal building.

The pilots all meet their passengers inside the terminal, walk them out to the helicopter and give them an explanation of the aircraft and seat belts and puke bags (all that good stuff) before everyone hops in. Rob is pressing some buttons before take off here. 

Lake Mead from the sky. I couldn't believe how blue the water was!

The bridge that we drive across going from Phoenix to Vegas. (This is the bridge that construction finished on this past fall.)

A closer view of the bridge.

The Grand Canyon, up ahead a little distance still.

The Colorado River flowing through the Grand Canyon. It's super muddy here.

A little closer view of the river.

Standing where we landed for our picnic lunch.

Before we head over to the picnic tables, everyone wants their picture taken. Rob plays photographer on the ground :) And! That's the helicopter we flew in again, this time at the base of the Grand Canyon.

Helicopter in the Grand Canyon again :)

I got a picnic lunch and glass of champagne too!

The picnic cabanas.

Rob and I at the base of the Grand Canyon!

Same concept, just a different angle.

Another of Papillion's helicopters, but with a different paint scheme.

The other helicopter taking off and leaving the Canyon (just before we did).

The view as we flew out of the Grand Canyon.

Last look before we headed into Arizona on a different route home. (I didn't take as many pictures of that because I ran out of memory room and I already have tons of pictures of open Arizona desert from the sky. It all looks...the same.)

I did try to fit both of us into a picture without freaking the other passengers out. It worked okay. I'm kind of falling into it.

Rob at work in the official pilot's uniform! :)

Back on the ground in Boulder City...Rob's sitting in the helicopter he just flew!

And another helicopter shot.

The last thing to do (because there was a gap between this flight and his next) is tie down the aircraft. We headed in for some water after this...it was hot! About 105 yesterday and warmer on the base of the Canyon. I seriously don't know how those guys fly so much in the heat! I came home exhausted and in need of a whole lot of water!

I told you to get ready for pictures :) Turns out I like taking them...a lot.

I also like baking things and (shhhhh!) I am planning on surprising the boys by pulling this out of the oven when they get home. Everyone that lives here (and is currently working/coming home this evening) had a day full of four flights and a lot of wind. I met Rob for lunch and he said there was an unusually high number of pukers today. That can never make for a good day. Hopefully the smell of cinnamon and sugar will brighten things up!

Rob and I are super excited to be leaving Vegas and heading home on Tuesday! We will see many of you in Cleveland (and Lancaster!) very soon. And hopefully, we can plan for a time for you to visit us in Phoenix and head over to Vegas to fly with Rob too :) 

Miss and love you all, Sarah, Rob and Hunter

Memorial Day Weekend in Phoenix

Good Morning! I woke up early this morning to take Hunter for our regular morning walk and then have a coffee date with my parents on Skype :) I expected it to be warmer than it actually was at 6am and was almost chilly on our walk and sitting in the shade of our patio. It was a nice surprise. Now Hunter and I are both sitting on the floor in the sunshine of our living room. I'd say it's a perfect summer morning :)

Rob headed back to Vegas for another week of work on Wednesday, but we had a fantastic week when he was here. It was the first week I was off of school and we had lots of free time together :) We ran a lot of errands and even bought a fire pit for the backyard. I know it's crazy but I'm planning on making homemade marshmallows to roast. (I think this might make a serious, sticky mess in the kitchen.)

We stayed in Phoenix for Memorial Day weekend and went across the street for a cookout one night. On Tuesday, after everyone had left the lakes and headed back to work, we took Hunter up to Canyon Lake to play in the water. We found a perfect little spot where Rob could get in the water with Hunter and I could sit on a rock and dangle my feet in :) In January, when my friend Ryan came to visit, he brought a toy that floated in the water for Hunter, and we brought it along to play fetch with. Hunter loved the water! He was ready to run in before we even had his leash off! My favorite part was that he tried to pant when he got tired, but swallowed water, and so as he swam, he made pig snorting noises. Hysterical!

Here's a little photography sequence of what fetch looks like when played at a lake with people and puppies you know. I thought you'd enjoy this.

First, Rob says drop between five and seven times and holds his hand out for the toy.

Hunter finally gives in and focuses very intently on what's about to be thrown.

He goes sprinting out into the lake...

...making a pretty big splash.

He retrieves, and snorts like a pig. (I laugh hysterically behind the camera lens.)

And he shakes a little on his way back up to the beach to start over again. (But is very careful not to drop the toy as he shakes!)

Sometimes it's not this easy. Sometimes Hunter just wants to play tug of war...

...with me, a lot.

There were nice picnic tables at the lake and even little charcoal grills, so I think we will have to go back again and come more prepared with things like lunch and a bathing suit :) I think Hunter would be more than happy to take a trip back and spend even more time in the water!

Next week we are going to go camping up in Show Low. I'll definitely be bringing homemade marshmallows and requesting Frappuccinos for the drive there. I'm kind of a high maintenance camper (bathrooms and showers, please!). Hunter, Rob and I will all sleep in a tent together. That should be good material for the blog, if nothing else :)

We hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend :) And can't wait to see you in about two and a half weeks! Love, Sarah, Rob and Hunter

Happy Summer!

Happy Summer :) It is so nice to finally be able to say that! This spring was hectic with track and senior trip and Rob's new job starting up, but it's finally time to relax (at least a little bit!).

My school year finished out well. Almost two weeks ago now we (53 kids and 4 chaperones, including me) went on senior trip. We drove to California during the day (on a charter bus, thankfully), stayed up all night at Disneyland, and drove back during the day on Friday. I was brave and even rode a few rollercoasters. After Thunder Mountain I decided I had it in me to ride Space Mountain, but the line was too long for the amount of time we had left. I think I was a little bit relieved! I was able to get a little bit of sleep on the bus ride home, but not much. I was exhausted that Friday night! Then, last Thursday was graduation. We had rehearsal in the morning, followed by a breakfast that I organized (with much help from Costco and a handful of volunteer parents) and the actual ceremony on the football field that evening. It went really well. I was responsible for reading names, which was a little daunting given many of the Hispanic names, but I think I did alright.

Despite the break, this summer will be fairly busy with school work. I start my Master's classes in June, have AP training in July and was asked during my end of the year check-out to be department head, which means some meetings over the summer as well. Our previous department head took a job at another school, so I'll also be sitting in on interviews as early as next week to fill his position. I'm weirdly excited about that part. I really like being on the other side of interviews.

Right now, Rob is in Vegas. He's been flying 3-4 flights a day (with the max they can do being 4), so he has been keeping busy working long days. When he comes back we have lots of summer plans...like camping, taking Hunter to the day care where he will stay when we are home for a test run and replacing the tub in our bathroom with a shower (so we have a real shower with a door and not a converted one with a curtain). I think that last one might be a bit of a project, but I'm excited for it. I'm liking home improvement projects more than I thought I would. And, I bet you all get pictures of our handiness as we get started :)

One kind of big piece of excitement out here....we have new neighbors and friends! A couple with three kids and a golden retriever moved into the house across the street. We had talked a little here and there when we were both outside, and then we went over for dinner last weekend and had an awesome time! I really like having people we know better in the neighborhood. I think we will be pet-sitting, flower watering, drinking wine on the weekend kind of friends :) High five!

And, here are a few pictures of the backyard. I realized that the last time I really updated you with any pictures of it was when the grass was just starting to grow. It's all grown in now and probably in need of being mowed.

And here is a picture of my little potted garden. In the big flower pot are gerber daises and some sort of other daises as well, but I just plucked off all their dead buds and so there aren't too many blooms right now. And in the smaller pot, I have planted zucchini that is growing like crazy. There's also cilantro and basil, but they are growing a little bit slower. I'm hoping the zucchini isn't stealing all the space and water and keeping the herbs from growing. Realistically, this is all an experiment because I'm not sure how well anything is going to do when it really warms up.

Hunter is there to say hello as well :) He loves the backyard and is always chasing the lizards. Yesterday he nabbed one! Usually they are way too fast for him, but this guy was in the grass, which I guess slowed him down. Hunter came running over to me with a dead lizard in his mouth! I screamed and Hunter dropped it and we both ran inside. I ended up sneaking out back without him later and burying the stupid lizard. Gross! How is Rob always in Vegas when things like this happen?!?!

Last thing! I made over my food blog and bought out the domain name! If you haven't been there lately, check it out! The address is now: www.bakingserendipity.com. The process of redesigning was a pretty big challenge for me. I pasted the template I was going to use into this blog to make all the updates in the HTML coding, which means if you were here yesterday, you probably saw lots of crazy stuff. It was easier to use this blog because fewer people visit it and I knew that you all would understand the weird transition. Everything should be back to normal here and updated on the food blog now :)

Okay, it's a little later than usual, but dinner is about to come out of the oven. (Buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese!) Hope you all are doing well :) Miss and love you and can't wait to see many of you in June! (I think I've passed the word on to many, but I will be home June 21-July 9 and Rob will be home about June 21-28...depending on the standby flights. I bought regular tickets because Rob's flight benefits don't carry over to me until later in July, so my flights are set in stone.) Mark your calendars and let's make plans!

Love,
Sarah, Rob and Hunter :)

Things You've Probably Been Wondering...

I have been teaching, coaching, planning an overnight trip to Disneyland with 52 high schoolers, and practicing my white girl Latino accent to read names at graduation. I have not been blogging (here at least). But I bet you knew this and didn't need to wonder.

Things you've been wondering would be...

What has Hunter destroyed lately? That would include the kitchen window screen when he wanted in on a pinata breaking birthday party activity outside. And the living room screen when there was a lizard outside. He's also shedding like a mad dog and burning through the Swiffer pads pretty quickly. That's more acceptable than the graveyard of bent screens in the garage though.

What has nature destroyed lately? That would include the tree in our front yard. There was a wind issue. It's been resolved....but left a crazy looking asymmetrical tree in its aftermath. Good news? The grass has grown in and not died. The flowers still have blooms on them. (Blooms, right? You understand.) There are a few organic herbs and zucchinis growing in a new pot in the backyard. High five. There are also weeds growing like crazy too. That's not good news. But that's life.

Rob has successfully completed his training and passed his checkride. He worked his first "week on" right after training, and got home late last Wednesday night for the "week off." Near the end of the week he was working 14 hour days! He's making good tip money, flying well and really enjoying the job. He's living in a house with three other pilots that work at the same company (but because of the week on/week off schedule, only two are in the house at a time). He has his own room and I think is the official bathroom cleaner. Lucky Rob. :)

Here are a few pictures from his new job...

PS: This post is dedicated to Agnew. Thanks for reminding me to fill you all in on life. And! Good luck in your training :)

Hunter Busts Through the Screen Door

I think the title says enough. But just in case...

...photographic evidence!

On Thursday, I had a half day at school, which gave me time to come home and bake cupcakes...reason enough for a party! We invited one of Rob's coworkers, Davina, and her husband, Brian, as well as our realtor, Ed, and his wife, Jan. (Brian and Davina actually referred Ed to us, so we're all old friends.) Ed and Jan arrived first. Hunter was in the backyard at the time, and when Ed and Jan came into the kitchen (which opens up to the backyard), he got ridiculously excited about the new people and ran full speed through the door, bending it and knocking it totally off its track.

The good news? It was a friendly excitement. We've needed a new screen door (and actually a full new sliding glass door would be nice) since we've moved in, so now we have the excuse to save for one. And...the cupcakes were delicious :)

One other quick update...here are the most recent pictures of our backyard...

We have some grass growing...it's patchy and may need another round of seeding, but it's growing! And Rob and I spent all afternoon cleaning up the mess of weeds and overgrown grass. The previous bermuda grass had grown around the cement barrier and needed dug out and weeds popped up like crazy over the past few months (our rainy season). Rob dug out the bermuda grass and I pulled weeds. Both were intense jobs, but we're crazy happy with the results! It will be nice to sit on the patio, drink coffee with my mom and look out at a pretty backyard this week. 

We just finished pizza and Star Wars. I think Rob and I both are a little sunburned and a lot sore. It will be an early evening for us I have a feeling. Tomorrow we will go to church, clean up the house a bit and then my mom will be here! I think we will do more relaxing than house work this visit...so probably check the food blog for updates of our cooking all week, and I will be back here with some pictures and updates of our non-cooking adventures.

Miss and love you all! -Sarah, Rob and Hunter