Spontaneous!

This is not a word that I typically...well...ever...use to describe myself, but this past week I went on a spur of the moment trip to St. George! I was at work on Monday and Linds texted me and said they were driving to St. George and when could I join them? I thought about it, and I had a few days off in a row during the week, so I asked how long they were staying. I ended up being able to switch a Saturday shift for Wednesday, and after work, I flew up to Las Vegas and Mom, Linds, Daner and Campbell came to pick me up! It was so much fun being able to hang out with them for a couple of days! I felt bad leaving Andy at home to fend for himself, but he did fine and I had a blast! We made super cute aprons, went to this awesome park and watched Daner climb a rock wall that was about 20 feet all by himself, we went swimming, we ate at Brick Oven and the Pizza Factory, we watched movies, played Skip-Bo and Domino's, and hung out and enjoyed each others company (I am well aware that I look really chubby in the apron picture, but in my defense, I had a hoodie on underneath). I always love so much spending time with family, and it was even more fun because I hadn't been expecting it even a little bit! I flew back on Saturday, so it was a short trip, but completely amazing anyway! Thanks for the invite, guys! Hope to do it again soon!

A Weekend of Food, Fun, & Frivolity

Apparently spring time is the time of year to visit Arizona--I like it! We heart having visitors! This past weekend, the Zo's came down to visit! It was truly a fat weekend, and it was FAT-tastic! They drove straight through on Thursday after Zo got off of work, so they got to our house at 3:00 in the morning. Needless to say, we slept in a bit, and Friday we went to the much-awaited Chompie's for lunch and came back to a feast of Japanese candy that Jen Buddy brought down for a house-warming gift! So, so tasty. Andy loves his Japanese candy, and Jen found an Asian store in SLC and cleaned them out, I think! Our coffee table was COVERED in Japanese candy. Awesome.

It's fun to try that stuff out--some of it is so weird, and some is so yummy! The Zo's brought down season one of "Justified", and we spent a great deal of our weekend eating and watching that show. We miss watching shows with them! On Saturday, we smoked us some ribs! Andy and our friend Mike wanted to take advantage of having a smoking guru in town, so he taught them how to make some tasty, tasty ribs. We had a feast! Zo and I had a bean-off (my bean recipe is from Nancy--thanks, Mom!), and Zo made his secret recipe. I can't take full credit. We had our friends Erin & Spencer, Mike & Lindsay, and their girls Tessa and Hadley over to partake of the feast! They loved Zo's towel shorts and still talk about them!

We finished up season 1 of Justified on Saturday night. The Zo's had to leave on Sunday, but we were able to squeeze in a quick game of Dominion and Easter baskets. It wasn't long enough, but we are so happy that we were able to have a fat weekend with the Zo's! We love you buddies! Come again soon!

March Madness!

This past weekend, we had some more visitors! I love it! Linn, Evan and Dawna came down to visit! It was a quick one, and Andy always has to study, but we were able to squeeze some fun in! Linn & Evan were nice enough to buy Andy some toys for his smoker, so he made ribs! We also introduced them to our 3D movie experience, and I think they liked it! We always have such a great time when they come down to visit! It never seems to be long enough, but hopefully one of these times Andy won't have to be studying so much and we can really party!

Brock & Lindsay Visit

Since Brock is done with his Master's program, the Anderson clan finally had some time to come down and visit! It never feels like it is long enough when people come down to visit! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get work off for all of the days that they were here, but it sounds like they were able to keep themselves entertained by Andy and with the parks by our house! We went to the zoo, fed ducks at Freestone park (I'm a fan of picnics there, it turns out).

We also went to a baseball game and saw the Padre's and Indian's play (our first taste of spring training!) which was way fun!

Unfortunately, Daner was a bit under the weather for a couple of days, but we made the most of it and hung out and played around the house! We watched 3D movies, Andy smoked a brisket (tasty! He is honing his smoking skills nicely, under the tutelage of Zo), and we went to Bahama Buck's for some amazing Hawaiian shaved ice. It was so fun to have them down here! We are now going through visitor withdrawals...

Granite!!!

Andy's buddy from school had a man named Barry do granite in his kitchen for a smokin' deal. We decided that since I had a ridiculous week at work and got a bunch of overtime, we would put those funds toward our kitchen makeover! We got a crazy good deal on granite counter tops for our kitchen. It looks AMAZING!!!

We were hoping that we would have the granite in before Bear & Bobbie came down, but instead it was the weekend that they were there! We had to get creative with our meals since we didn't have a sink, and Bobbie was nice enough to help me with food! The guy that came to do the installation had some leftovers of the same granite we had installed, so we had him come back to do our guest bathroom when he came back to finish the back splash in the kitchen. He didn't charge us much for the granite or installation since they were leftovers and I guess he wanted to get it off his hands, and we were more than happy to oblige!

Of course, after the granite was in I couldn't leave the cabinets that color, so I painted them too! Oh how I love house projects! Hooray for good connections!

The Bear's Visit

This past week, Bear and Bobbie came down to visit with Soph and Lucy! We have been so excited for them to come down! They got in late Friday night, after an unintentional detour through Flagstaff, so we stayed in, had some Cafe Rio takeout and did some catching up! We went and played at the park by our house on Saturday, since we were getting our granite in the kitchen (the guy was supposed to come Thursday before the fam came in, but what can you do?). As you can see from the pictures Sophie was quite determined to get in the pool despite the cold water temperature. The air is warm but the pool temperature hasn't caught up yet. Bear could only take so much begging and the softie finally gave in. He tossed Soph into the pool. It was so cold she could hardly breathe. So he scooped her back up and pulled her out shivering. It was tough to understand through chattering teeth but we were able to make out that, according to her, the water was warm and she wanted to get back in.
On Sunday, we went to Freestone park and had a picnic and fed the ducks. Soph enjoyed the park enough that we made a return trip later in the week to feed the ducks again. Best $1 we ever spent!

We hung out around the house on Monday, and Bobbie and I crafted, since we were getting our sink reconnected after a weekend out of the kitchen, and we watched some 3-D movies. I had to work on Tuesday, so Bear & Bobbie hung out with some of their friends from the U of U, and Andy & I met up with them for dinner at Joe's Farm Grill. So tasty.

On Thursday, we went to the "zoo park." The Phx Zoo is a pretty good one, and Soph seemed to love it!

We went boating on Friday with Addi, Blake & the boys, and Blake's dad. He was nice enough to invite us along for the ride! We went up to Saguaro Lake, which was still pretty cold, but the boys and the kids rode on a tube behind the boat. That's right all you in the frozen north!!! Boating in February! They had a great time until right before we were going to call it a day, the tube caught in the front and submarined under! Max and Jack hung on but Andy had to bail. Needless to say, Jack and Max both tapped out after that and we were done. And Jeff's cat like reflexes caught the sinking with their camera. That is Jack's "is this fun or terrifying?" face.

We also had some intense Canasta tournaments, tried out some new facial techniques I found on pinterest (it will take all the gunk off your skin...but may rip off your face!), watched Soph play around in the pool (well, on a step of the pool--it is still too cold!), and just enjoyed having them down here in AZ! We also spent a lot of time trying to convince them to move down here with us, but I think we'll have to keep working on them!

Layover

These past 2 Mondays, I have had the opportunity to visit with Mom & Dad! They went with some friends from B-town to Hawaii, and they had layovers in Phoenix for both of their flights! My boss at work was nice enough to let me take a long lunch so I could go and have a bagel with them for a bit each time. It wasn't for long, but I was so excited to see them! Maybe sometime soon they will come down and stay for a bit longer than a couple of hours...