Graduation

I felt so blessed to have such a great gathering to support me as I graduated from PA school this August 2011.  Those in attendance:
- Jonathan, Christopher, Kent, Christiane
- Mom & Dad
- Grandma & Grandpa John
- Grandma & Grandpa Brock

- Waino & Bette Herlevi
- Kris Herlevi

It all began with Christiane and I making the long trip down to AZ.  Thankfully we were able to cut the trip in 1/2 by crashing with Kris for a night in Vegas.  After a few days of school stuff everyone else started to arrive.  Thankfully everyone arrived on time and safely.  Including Dad who made it from Bagdad to NC then to AZ. It was your typical graduation, well done and professional.  Afterward, we all gathered at the Marriott for a Luncheon that was super yummy and Christopher used his Spanish speaking abilities to get us Milk to go with our delicious red velvet dessert.  I even got some Chocolate Milk which baby Lilly loves.

After all the excitement, Jon and Christopher flew back to UT leaving 5 of us to pile into my mid-size SUV for a 13 hour journey (over 2 days of course).  Our journey went very well, we stopped in Vegas and stayed on the strip so those who had never been could see what all the fuss was about.  We ate at the Bellagio buffet, watched the fountain display (which was the best I've ever seen it), then all crashed in one room at the Vdara Hotel (the only smoke free hotel on the strip).  After all was said and done everyone was of the same opinion I have held for year...that Vegas is a disgusting, smelling, sinful place that I care never to visit.  Mom drove the 2nd leg of our journey through the infamously dangerous Gorge (lol...Dad) safely delivering us to UT where we would prepare for the next 2 important events: Kent receiving his endowment in the SLC temple and Christopher and Melissa's Wedding.

 On the drive down Kent kept asking, "How far is it? I don't want to miss it. Is that it?"  It was so fun to tease him.  We were planning on taking the exit to see the Hoover Dam so I wasn't worried he would miss it. It was a beautiful but hot day...and no we did not take the Dam Tour.   

Christiane got her picture with a cactus as promised. 

Pregnant!

Baby Bobbie, as our new little bundle of joy has come to be known, will be joining our family sometime around January 17th, 2012.  We are so excited to find out if our little one is a boy or girl.  So far pregnancy has definitely had its surprises.  I apparently didn't get the "Super Mom" gene from my mother and have been quite sick but Jon has been an angel and together we are conquering one day at a time. Being the planner that I am, I had many great ideas about how to tell Jon he was going to be a Dad but it didn't really work out any of the cute/fun ways I had imagined.  After moving from AZ I had consolidated all toiletries during which the boxes to all pregnancy tests were thrown away.  So, when I went to go find what the single or double lines in each of the two circles meant on my pregnancy test, no instructions were to be found.  I walk back into the bedroom looking dumbfounded staring at the test in my hand.  Jon looks up from his book and says, "ummm honey....are you pregnant?"  My answer, "ummm...not sure"  We proceed to play detectives looking up google images for pregnancy test and wala! we found the exact tests and deduced that in fact I was.  Unsure of whether or not to get our hopes up until a more accurate approach was taken, Jon had me drink a glass of water and then woke me up a few hours later to take another test.  One that reads "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant."  Fool proof.

The Arizona Lie

So when I first got to Arizona, naturally I was a little weary of the infamous scorpion but everyone I talked to said, "Oh no, you probably won't even see one."  This is what I like to call the Arizona Lie.  I had only been there 3 months when I got stung by a scorpion!  I was walking across a field in our apartment complex and it had just rained making the ground a little damp.  Scorpions love the water and I was wearing sandals, bad combination.  Luckily, the little bugger didn't get me too bad because all I experienced was a burning sting that hurt for the next week; not any numbness or paresthesias.  Anyways, for the next year it was the running joke to push Teresa off the sidewalk into the grass. Very funny, not.
After that episode it was a few months before one breeched the border of my humble abode.  Just before climbing into bed, hanging out and the floorboard on my side of the bed of course, this is what I saw.

I let out a scream, similar to one you might have heard in a movie when an older lady sees a mouse in the kitchen, and then leaped up onto the bed.  I yelled to Jon to go get the hairspray (I heard this was a good way to kill them).  I then hear Jon clanking around in his tool box, I'm thinking, "What the heck is he doing!  The scorpion is going to get away!"  Just then Jon comes into the bed room with a giant hammer.  Go figure.  To my surprise the hammer is quite effective, he crunches the little sucker right in half.  Then he went to get the little purple black light flashlight, which is a MUST HAVE for anyone living in this part of the country, because it lights the scorpions up so you can find them.  

The Arizona Adventure

Highlights From AZ 

Right from the start I met awesome friends!  Here's us at our White Coat Ceremony.

One of our many celebrations after big exams! 

 Girls movie night

I bribed Elizabeth to come visit with tanning by the pool and frozen yogurt. We stopped in Vegas on the way down at Serendipity to get desert.  Biggest sundaes I have ever seen....we were so sick. 

 Tubing down the Salt River:
This is a once in a life time, if you are lucky, experience.  Unless you enjoy getting soggy wet jumbo marshmallows thrown at you and a hot plastic tube burning your tushee every time your sheet moves a little. I have to admit the short duration of fast moving "rapids" was pretty fun.  

Kris came to visit for the 4th of July 

One of many fundraising events but probably the most fun after dodgeball of course.

  Go UnderDogs! Can I just say, this team rocked at kickball. 

Another milestone, Pining Ceremony with our BFF couple! We will miss them so much when we move!

One of our favorite pass times was social softball league with good friends.  It was so fun to be outside after a long day of class.  Pictured is the result of Jon being a "bit crazy" sliding into home base. 

Our FAVORITE sushi place EVER! Sakana Sushi. We ate here more times than should be mentioned. I walked in the door and the manager would yell, "Supershrimp!" This was the name of the roll I always ordered.  Thanks to Tujague for introducing us to this place :) 

 Jon and I decide to do the trip from PHX to UT in one go.  We thought with good ole OnStar we'd have no problem.   Well, apparently if you get out in the middle of NO WHERE OnStar sometimes has trouble locating you.  So....Jon and I used our trusty iphones to take us where we needed to go. We didn't know that the iphone map would direct us onto a dirt road trail to get to our destination.  

We literally could not have made this drive if it had been raining, it would have been dangerous.  Narrow roads up through the mountains with a very steep, very high drop off.

We new it was going to be an adventure when we saw this road sign and asphalt became dirt road. 

I finally got Bette and Waino to make the long drive down to AZ to come visit me! We went for a hike up in the Superstition Mountains, we read about different plants and dared each other to touch the cacti.
After hiking we had quite an appetite so we stop in at Joe's Farm Grill (which was featured on Food Networks Diners Drive-ins and Dives) and has amazing onion rings.

Then we topped it off with cupcakes from The Coffee Shop (which won Cupcake Wars on the Food Network in 2010).  Lemon for Bette, Pina Colada for Kris and Red Velvet for Me! Yum!

My mom also came to visit but we were way to busy to take pictures. We did lots of shopping and played volleyball with a bunch of my friends.  For those of you who don't know, my Mom is an awesome volleyball player from back in the day she tore it up in high school.  So, Mom goes in for a one handed bump the ball goes flying under the net and hit my buddy Chet right in the baby maker!  Everyone dropped to the ground laughing so hard..... I almost peed my pants.  Mom made it up to him by ordering pizza for everyone.  I was a good time.
Grandma Brock and Christiane also came to visit.  We spent most of our time by the pool and in the club house playing pool.  You know I couldn't let Grandma leave with out shooting a little pool.  Christiane, who is growing up way to fast, enjoyed tanning on a float in the hot tub....go figure.

Art Project

Jon and I arrived in AZ with no kitchen table.  Our super comfy couch and ottoman serve the position for a while but when a member of our ward offered us this little set for $50 we couldn't refuse.  To begin with it was white and had some stains, the perfect little art project.  I wanted to paint the chairs different colors so Jon took me to Home Depot and helped me pick out the colors.  It was so fun! I first washed everything down with soap/water, then sanded it down and finally got my paint on! We used the  primer/paint combo and it worked well. 

Here's the final product: 

Jon's Trip to the Middle East

This is Jon visiting Petra. Petra is an ancient city carved out of surrounding rocks that is most known to those of us in the US from Indian Jones & The Last Crusade.  

They were able to take a 30 minutes hike up a trail to get a picture from this amazing view.

This is the group of guys Jon enjoyed working with while over seas. 

Young at Heart

I figured my first post better be a short one or I'll never get started on this whole blogging thing. SO... here it goes. Thank you to Summer for her expertise in getting this super cute background.  

When Jon got home from somewhere in between Abu Dhabi & Dubai he was quite tired and sun kissed from the hot desert sun.  I was so excited to have my husband home! While he was gone he celebrated his 28th Birthday.  I knew I had to have a REALLY good birthday surprise for him when he got home so where did I go?  

.... The Lego Store of course!  Soon to come... pics from Jon's trip to the middle east.