Weekend Update

This weekend has been fun. We had lot of coupons for free dinners and ice cream as Walt's gift, we've been splurging this weekend. Friday night, we went to a new-to-us place close to our house called Maui Grille that prides itself on Hawaiian cuisine. We got Walt's meal completely free for his birthday as well as a dessert because we mentioned an ad we saw. Saturday, we went to Red Robin for a tradition since they give you a free burger for your birthday. Saturday night, we went to Walt's boss' house and had a great time with him, his wife, and one of their grown daughter's and her boyfriend. It was a wonderful time and she made the best twice-baked potatoes EVER! YUM! After church today, we went to Red Lobster for Walt to enjoy Endless Shrimp. (This was going to be his birthday meal but the boss was planning to invite us over for dinner before he knew it was Walt's birthday!) We had a birthday coupon for Red Lobster but it wasn't accepted because of the Endless Shrimp special...that's okay!

For this week, Monday, our TX house is officially off our hands! We sign the closing papers sometime this week for our new house and close with funds a few days afterwards. (We have our storage crate being delivered 11/11 since Walt has Veteran's Day off.) Wednesday, our friend Traci, is coming to Phoenix and we're very excited about that! Friday, Walt is taking the day off of work and the three of us are going to the Grand Canyon! It's about a 4-hour drive from us and we have a couple stops that will make the road trip even more fun!

Happy Birthday, Walt!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Walt!
I'm so thankful to walk side-by-side with you in life!
Looking forward to the next 41 years of your life! :)

A couple videos

The apartment's free wi-fi is super slow so here are a couple short videos for now. Happy Friday! :)

Photos from San Diego

We had a great time in San Diego! Here are a few pics from our trip!

Obligatory ocean pic! (At La Jolla Shores)

Tons of seals at La Jolla Cove! (post some video later!)

This is where we watched the sunset on Sunday night!

Going,

Going,

Gone. (Gorgeous!)

Now for the zoo pics...I have TONS but will start with these four cuties!!!

Mama Panda

Baby Panda! (Is he not the cutest?)

"Leave me alone!"

"Sure, I'll pose!"
(video of him eating eucalyptus leaves coming soon!)

Congrats, Ben and Rachel!

Getting the last minute things packed up for our trip today! We're so excited!

Another surprise today! Our friend, Rachel, had her baby girl early this morning! Ansley Jane was born today weighing 5 pounds, 7 ounces, 18.5 inches long.

Congrats Ben and Rachel!

Vacation time!

Although the weather is still in the 90s, we enjoyed some great chili tonight! YUMMY! I am loving staying home and cooking chili was fun yesterday. I let it simmer for awhile and then we ate it tonight...the great flavor set in overnight! I knew Walt loved chili so I surprised him! He was so happy!

We're looking forward to CSI premiering tonight...only 30 more minutes for us!

Tomorrow, we're heading to our first vacation since last October! (a work conference in St. Pete and checking out Phoenix in July don't count!) We're heading to San Diego for 3 nights thanks to Columbus Day weekend! We know there is tons to do in San Diego but we are going to take it easy and starting with the zoo one day and then relaxing on the beach the next. San Diego is only a 5 hour drive from us so we hope to go 1-2 times/year and do something new each time!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Time Change

Sorry it's been awhile! No news is good news. We've just been busy doing various stuff and enjoying our free time. The only thing that is frustrating is the time change for us. Our bodies are used to moving 2 hours back but our family and friends are still 2-3 hours ahead of us! I keep mostly to email and Facebook as I find myself wanting to pick up the phone at inopportune times! After Ive done everything for the day and dinner is done and cleaned up, I settle down at 8pm and presto, it's 10p or 11p where everyone else lives!! UGH! Or I call while Walt's on his way home and it's someone's dinner hour! Or someone calls during our dinner! It's amazing how hard it is and I shouldn't complain...it's just an adjustment, right?

At least when the time changes in 4 weeks, it will be better. Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings so we stay the same time year-round. We just have to be mindful of everyone else. We are technically Mountain time zone but since we don't fall back/spring ahead like the Mountain time zone, we are in Pacific time 8 months of the year (now) and Mountain time 4 months of the year. So that will make us feel a little better when we are only one hour behind Central!

If you forget how many hours we are behind you, just go with 2 hours and you'll be safe. We've gotten calls at 6:15am from the Central time zone! "Oops" is a common response to my groggy raspy "Hello?"