pukey awesome weekends

So I'm folding clothes and listening to the nineties rock station. Clair is starting to cry and I'm officially beggining to psych myself up for work tomorrow. it is a good end to a great weekend!
As you might know it was 4th avenue street fair weekend which means we can't park in front of our house for three days (this is why we leave back yard parking no matter how much I want to close it all in). The beautiful thing about street fair weekend, though, is that so many of our friends just pop by to say hi. We got to hang out with Brent and Fred and Cara and Cadence. Alice and Jerry and Mike and Heather and Nate.
And while all this was going on, Ricky managed to puke like 5 times. I blame it on my mom who was sick all last week. Fortunately no nasty stomach or bowel issues for me and Clair...yay for breastfeeding!
And I totally got our backyard ready to grass and Ricky ate our first strawberry of the season!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

New Tenants

We just got a new tenant. He seems pretty cool. He asked if we compost so you gotta love that. I spent tonight cleaning what potentially might be the dirtiest room I've ever had to clean when someone has moved out. We're losing another tenant couple next month due to lay-offs and it's very sad because we love them. They've been here a long time. It's crazy how when people live in your house, they become a part of your life and it just feels like pieces of your life get ripped apart when they leave. I never realized before living here with Ricky how little forced disruption I have ever had to deal with. But we have a good God and he always provides for us when changes come.

catching up

So, Ricky's been back at work for three weeks and I've been back to work for two and we are adapted relatively well to the new schedule. However, it makes us very busy and I have discovered that now my days should start around 6 but I'm so tired that I'm not getting up, I just sleep in and then when I get home, I want to be productive but in order to be productive, I have to leave Clair sitting or laying around without me which means I don't spend time just being with her and I don't think that is good. So, I'm trying to find the balance between taking care of the stuff I need to do, fitting in things I really want to do, and spending time with my baby which I both need and want to do but keeps me from doing everything else that I need or want to do.

However, I was able to start my first quilt this past weekend. Jenn came out a few weeks ago and got me all inspired to make quilts...we'll see. So far so good but I haven't finished piecing it together yet so not sure if it will end up looking good. Fortunately, Abbey is my guinney pig and she's only one so I figure as long as she can chew on it, we're good. The fabric is awesome. I really love it. I think I will make Clair a quilt from the left overs.

We have been busy going to tennis matches for Cody. He is still playing number 4 varsity and we are learning the joys of watching your child play in a mediocre program where hard work and class are not necessary components to team building...sweet. Ricky is contemplating helping out with the coaching next year. It could be a great opportunity for him to spend time with Cody and give a little to the program as well.

My company has started a wiffleball tournament and I played my first game yesterday. It was really a lot of fun. I got so into the game that I was trying to field a ball before it crossed the first cones and bit it really hard into the ground. I'm thinking perhaps I will tone it down a notch in the next game. Afterall, it is just wiffleball.

Last weekend, also, I organized my first little "play date" with friends who have babies Clair's age and Jenn and Kristina came with Gwen and Gavin. I had a blast and realized how much I love drinking coffee and hanging out with friends. Our babies can't play yet so we mostly just hung out with each other. Yay for friends!

Here is a crappy picture that the waitress took. I just don't think it's that hard to shoot the camera on the iphone but she was really struggling...

Clair and I had fun hanging out and reading the newspaper together as well. You can see the little Tucson High Hat I made her to cheer for Cody at his games...It's way too big for her so I always have to roll it up. So much for my hard work.

Alfredo Night

Cody gets extra credit for making an Italian dish for his History class and he chose chicken alfredo so we spent tonight making lots o' pasta. Actually, my mom will be making lots o' pasta tomorrow morning. Tonight we made lots of Alfredo sauce and chicken!

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1/2 cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups milk
6 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long. Toss with hot pasta to serve. (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quick-and-Easy-Alfredo-Sauce/Detail.aspx)

My mom watched Clair for the first time alone today and everything went really well. She had a migraine so they just hung out on the couch. Clair is learning to smile so I thought I would show it off.

First day back at work went well.

Here is a good John Piper sermon for those of you who like a little bit of Piper...so good...

http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?keyword=how%20believers%20experienced%20the%20spirit%20bef&entiresite=true

Yard Work

We've been working in the yard again. I decided to get all domestic and plant a garden. I have this thought everytime I go to the grocery store and see the price of organic produce that I could grow those ridiculously overpriced vegetables...but first I have to build a rock wall to hold all the dirt in. I'm very excited about my garden and my rock wall but, as Ricky informed me this morning, it is like the fifth project in the backyard that I have started and we haven't yet finished the other 4 projects. So, after the fence is done, and the irrigation trench is dug and pipes laid, and the grass is seeded, and the big rock wall for our patio area is finished...then I will finish my garden. In the meantime, I planted two strawberry plants and atleast we'll have those. Tomorrow I will try to put up some pictures of our progress. Ricky is back at work now so I am finally figuring out what it's like to have Clair by myself...kind of. My mom is still here a ton and there are always roommates. It's really nice to have so many hands.

Here is a little photo shoot we did of Clair a few days ago:









Ok, not the photo shoot...just me screwing around with the camera. Now the photo shoot...

Cody's second tennis match is tomorrow. It is in Sierra Vista, I think...

Last Saturday we went to the last Ice Cats game of the season. It was a great game. The Icecats won in this ridiculous overtime shoot out that just went on forever. It was fantastic. I have a picture but I can't seem to locate my camera at the moment. And, speaking of camera's, Ricky somehow left his phone at the TCC so I went and got a new one this afternoon. So, if you read this and want to text your name and phone number to Ricky, you could, because he has no contacts in his new phone.

Catching up

So, I know it's been a really long time since I've posted and part of that is because I wrote an entire post early last week that errored out and had to be deleted and partly because we've just been busy and blogging takes time.

Here are some highlights of the last few weeks.

We went to see my grandparents. At my grandparents we went to two viewings and one funeral. As much as that could seem like maybe not a great way to spend a week, we actually had a pretty good time. The day we got to Michigan to surprise my grandparents, we found out their pastor of twenty years had just past away two days before and then that afternoon my grandma's best friend of 76 years died. Both deaths were sudden and unexpected and my Grandparents were very sad. However, I really believe that God brought us there to help my Grandma have a happy spot in the middle of all the sadness and to help her and my grandpa through the week. I have known Pastor Art for all of the twenty years he has preached at the church and even though I only get to see him every few years, he would always remember and know everything that was going on with me. I was very grateful to have the chance to be there and say goodbye. He was an amazing man. My Grandma's best friend I didn't really know as well.

We went with my grandpa to the old folks home on Thursday. Incidentally, I am really freaked out by nursing homes. I don't like the smell and I am very uncomfortable with the whole ambiance in general. For instance, I had to sit on pee pads because they had them spread all over the couches in case anyone had an accident. It took me several minutes to get up the courage to actually sit down. So, all that to say, I'm always so proud and humbled by the fact that my grandpa does this and I am reminded how totally selfish and spoiled I am in my comfortable life every time I go with him...which I always do because it's like this special Grandpa/Grandchild bonding time. When I was little they used to put me and my brothers up on the table and we would sing our VBS songs for everyone. Anywho...we went with my Grandpa this time as well because it was his first trip without Pastor Art and he needed a little back up. There was this lady who kept asking to sing versions of songs that don't exist or songs that weren't on the list. She asked to sing "Rock of Angels" (Rock of Ages) and You are my sunshine and a few others that I should have written down because they were so funny. And my Grandpa was so patient and just played everything he could decipher for her. Ricky gave a talk on the story of Mary and Martha and she kept asking him if he was finished talking yet so we could sing some more?

My grandma is who Clair is named after. It was fun to see them together. I got a few good photos.

From there we went to Seattle where I don't think I got any pictures. But, we had so much fun. It was nice to just relax and hang out with friends. We went to Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll's church, and we saw the fish market and sat on the piggy bank and I got a mug at the original Starbucks and we ate cream cheese hotdogs and got a ton of quality hang out time with Valor, Karen and Lauren...and then we went home...for a day.

The next day we headed to Dallas to show off the baby to Shane. We didn't get any pictures of Clair with Shane, mostly because I was passed out on his couch asleep almost the entire time we were there. But, we did get the picture below of Ricky and Shane showing off...something. :)

Next, we headed to Seminole, TX where we hung out with Ricky's Mamaw and his aunt and uncle. We got to stay with his Aunt Sherry and Uncle Rob and it was so relaxing and fun. They cooked dinner for us and we got to catch up on all the latest family stuff. Rob took us out in his new plane and I learned all about farming and how irrigation works in that part of Texas. Seminole has grown a ton since the last time I was there. Mamaw hung out with us the whole time. She was my flying buddy. I got to fly the plane and, you know, I always think of myself as being pretty tough but that was the second time I've been allowed to "fly" a small plane and it scares the heeby jeebies out of me. It's sort of like Ricky's motorcycle. I really like to ride on it but it terrifies me to ever have to be in control.

We got back from Seminole on Friday morning and Jenn and Kevin got in Friday evening to spend the weekend with us. We had a blast. While we were walking down University on Saturday we saw a Segway Club going for a stroll...check this out.

These are some photos of us all hanging out:

Brian and Kristin also came by to hang out this weekend. They introduced us to the Guadalajara Grill...so yummy. We will be going back. It was so good to see them and to top off their visit, I found this tshirt quilt that Brian's mom had written us to look for back months ago before they got married. Evidently he left it here when he moved back home but I didn't know where it was. Lo and behold I found it the morning they flew out. Just in time to have to mail it back to them instead of being able to just hand it to them in person. Oh well.

Jenn and Kevin headed out on Monday morning and then on Tuesday, Cody had his first Tennis match of the season. He made varsity at Tucson high and they played Sunnyside. Cody played his heart out but ended up getting beat right at the very end in a tie breaker match. I made Clair a little outfit to wear to his games. It was so cold I only took her out of her massive blanket for the two seconds it took to get the picture and you can tell she is none to happy about it.

We've been home for the last week and I think it has literally just flown by. Ricky went back to work for the first time today. I have one more week and then I go back. Sometime soon we need to get out to LA to see Hamilton...then our traveling days will be over.

Nadal beat Federer

So, since the majority of the world was watching the Football game today, I thought I would announce that Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in the Australian Open...it was a sad, sad match if you like Roger Federer. But we watched all four hours of it live...instead of watching the first half of the Superbowl (really, I don't think we missed much. All the excitement seemed to happen in the second half anyways) Ricky doesn't really care much about football and I just wanted to clean the house and file taxes so Australian Open it was. What a great match, too(besides the fact that it was so sad). They played some amazing tennis.

And now we're off for a whirlwind trip around the country to visit family. We will be going to Michigan then to Dallas, then to Seattle, then down to Midland, TX. Then, we will come back home and hopefully sleep in every day for the rest of our time off.