My latest addition

So Sunday was raining in AZ and I was feeling a little spontaneous, so what would you do? Well of course go and buy a puppy. So meet my new latest addition...... her name is Lucy, she's a cockapoo and she is adorable and the life of the party.

Come and visit :-)

A short adventure to Flag

So I am finally getting into the swing of things.... I have finally found a good balance between family, friends, school, work and blogging. Two weekends ago Kyle and I did an amazing job of taking a break from Phoenix and we headed to Flag to relax and see some friends. We stayed in a little hotel downtown and spent the weekend exploring Flag. Christy and Esteven were in town for a good-bye party so we were able to see lots of people and we wrapped up our weekend with breakfast with Kristin's family. It was so fun to see the snow and hang and meet new friends. We will definitely be back soon......

I finally got Kyle a memory card for his camera, so he definitely went a little crazy with the picture taking!

Birthday dinner with the FAM

We all headed to dinner at the Country Club for Wok Wednesday it was delicious and definitely the perfect birthday dinner. Topped off with a tasty chocolate cake!!! Yummmmm! Thanks for all the laughs, gifts and of course spending my birthday with me!

The Big 2-4!!

So it happened and I am still not sure I want to admit it :-) but I had yet another birthday. Once again my birthDAY turned into a birthWEEK, hahaha! My week was filled with shopping with the ladies and dinner, phone calls, fb messages, presents, a birthday party from my students, dinner with the fam, bowling with friends, dinner with Kyle's fam, more presents and text messages galore. I am thankful for everything I was given and all the kind thoughts, Love you all!!!

So I got something new for my birthday and I am sure if you've seen me lately you've seen a difference........ because I am getting toned!!! My Sis got me the new Reebok Easytone shoes I have no idea if they actually work but I keep telling myself they do. So check them out.... I'd recommend them!

Another present I got this year was something from one of my students. I think I almost peed my pants at school the day of my birthday party. One of my students arrives at school with a big bag and all day is so excited to tell me about his present. I continue to remind him over and over that we need to wait till the birthday party later. So finally we pull out the cake and they all sing Happy Birthday to me. He grabs his present with a smile bigger than you can imagine and tells me to open it up. Here is what was inside......

I know I know.... just what I wanted, my own electronic sleeping puppy!!!! I LOVE MY JOB!!!

Yet another great birthday!!! Here's to making year 24 just as great as the last 23 years!

*please note that the part about the shoes is a little bit sarcastic*

Finally more updates...

I am definitely continuing to struggle with blogging but lucky enough people keep asking me to keep the blog updated so it's keeping me slightly motivated.....

Tonight I am finally motivated to blog as an outlet to an end of a grad class. Yep, it is true I finished my third class for my masters. I am definitely in need of a break but that will have to wait till April because 3 more classes started on Monday :-) Instead of a break from school, Kyle and I are heading to Flag on Friday to get a break from Phoenix and see some snow (hopefully)! I promise there will be lots of pictures as we spend the weekend relaxing, visiting

friends (Christy & Esteven) and maybe even a little skiing or snowboarding.

Here are some pictures from a little family tailgating at the Insight bowl on New Years. Once again U of M played against Iowa State this year. My family was more than excited to ALL get together to watch the game. Aunt Cindy, Uncle Dan and Danny drove all the way from Kansas just to get a little sunshine and family time :-)

M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A, Minnesota Minnesota Go Gophers!!

Just taking care of my auntie, hahaha

Kyle and I

Ali, Auntie and I

The whole gang (minus Mom)

Dan grubbing on some yummy treats (Thanks Adrian)

Half of the cousins