Bowlers

I Love This...

2012-02-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a long day...
Someone sent this to me and I thought I'd share!

New Furniture

2012-02-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

This weekend, we had my brother in law Ray come visit. On his visit he brought down our new furniture that he made.
I love love love it!!!

Here is the China Hutch...
Now I want to redo our cabinets so that they match...I've heard that's quite the project!

Here is the entertainment center...I can wait to decorate it...Hobby Lobby here I come!!!

I made a quiche this morning for breakfast...it turned out delish!

I had this pic of Jack Jack on my camera and thought it was funny. :)

Happy Groundhogs Day!!!

2012-02-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

Looks like we have more Winter coming our way...

Wedding Part 4

2012-01-29T16:32:00.001-08:00

Wedding Part 3

2012-01-29T16:11:00.001-08:00

Wedding Part 2

2012-01-29T15:49:00.001-08:00

The Wedding Part 1

2012-01-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

Bridals

2012-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

Teasers...

2012-01-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

4 More Days!!!

Going to theTemple

2012-01-22T17:10:00.000-08:00

Monica went through the Temple last night. It was such a neat experience for everyone involved. It was nice to be in the Temple as a family. We missed Alexis and Ben!!! I love the Temple and need to go more often. It's so close to us, so there should be no excuses (I think that may be my theme for the year...no more excuses)! It was nice to meet Monica's mom and Grandparents. They are very kind people.

After the Temple, we went to Macaroni Grill as a family. Kristen's hubby Nick was not able to make it out to the wedding, so she was the third wheel with John and I...haha We had fun together!

Here are Scott, Monica, and Kristen waiting to get a table...

Here are the siblings, minus Alexis, and my mom...

Kristen and I...

John and Scott...

The entire night we kept hearing someone singing Opera version of Happy Birthday...we decided that since Monica's grandmother had a Birthday coming up, she should be sung to as well...
Here is the gal singing...

Here is Grandma listening.
She was nice enough to share her Cheesecake with everyone!!!

Chandler Mall

2012-01-22T16:48:00.000-08:00

After the Shower, we went shopping at Chandler Mall (for wedding attire). Kristen needed an outfit for the weeding, my mom needed shoes, and I needed a cardigan. Kristen was the lucky lady who found what she was looking for that day!
We had lunch at the Cheese Cake Factory. Here is the famous restaurant pic...

And who might this be??? Larry Fitzgerald!!!
Did we see him at the Cheese Cake Factory???

No, we didn't...
But we thought our waiter resembled him a little bit!!!

We were at Down East Basics and ran into Christi Stone and her sister Shelly Cook + Baby!
How random is that ???
And to make things better...she and her hubby are moving to Gilbert possibly in July.
Wahoo!!!

Here is a picture of a service dog my mom wanted me to take...not really sure why???
Super cute dog though!!!

Bridal Shower

2012-01-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

Monica had her Bridal Shower this weekend! I love going to Bridal Showers. It's fun to see new "brides to be". It was a great shower. There was a great turnout and she received some really nice gifts.

Here is the Bride To Be...Miss Monica...or should we say the future Mrs. Shipley?!?!?!

Here are Kristen and I. I love having her in town!

Here is Aunt Susie. We were able to have some of her famous Carmel brownies!!!

Here is my Mom and Aunt...

Here is Monica opening up Kristen's gift...Kristen and I were a little scared because we were the only guests who bought Monica lingerie...lol

Kristen also bought her some Hersheys syrup...no one really got the joke...once again...lol

Here is Kristen laughing hysterically (my little movie star)!!!

Here is a gift bag we liked...

It was a great shower and we are excited to have a new sister in law soon!!!

Bowler Update...

2012-01-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years!!!
A New Years goal I have every year is to be better at blogging. It may be the same goal this year. :)
Last year was great year! It had it's ups and downs (mostly ups). I am happy to start a New Year. John and I have set some great goals for the coming year.

Not a whole lot has happened since my last post. I can't believe how fast the holidays flew by.For Christmas this year we were able to spend it with both families in Woodruff and in Tucson It was a lot of fun seeing both families!

John celebrated a Birthday!

For New Years, we went Quading, out to dinner and then to the show (Sherlock Holmes).

Scott gets married in 2 weeks. We are doing their Bridals tomorrow afternoon which should be fun. They are a fun couple and we are excited for them. :)

Alexis moved to Australia a couple of weeks ago. It's weird not having her here. She seems to be having a blast. It's summer over there right now, so she has been hanging at the beach. LUCKY!!!

Kristen is coming out this week with Elle. She just got an IPhone which is exciting (aka we can text now)!

That's about all that's going on right now.
I Promise to be a better blogger.!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I'm thankful that the holidays are finally here.
This year we were able to host Thanksgiving!
Here are some pics from the fun day...
John and Scott in the kitchen before everything started...

John with the Turkey (our first Turkey making experience...by ours, I mean John...lol).

Here are Scott, Monica, and Grandma Gray...

Here are Darl and Ross...

Here is Alexis and Amelia...

Here are the dogs trapped inside our bedroom...

Here are Amelia, Darl, and Ross...

Here are the Gray Grandparents...

Here are Scott and Monica...they just got engaged! Congrats!!!

Mom and Scott...

Grandma, me, and Alexis...

The rolls...

We had a slight mishap in the kitchen...good thing they were old dish towels...lol

Here we are with the masterpiece...aka Turkey...

Here is John cutting the Turkey...

And here is the after party...Nap time begins!

It was a lot of fun having family come to our house this year. I really enjoy Thanksgiving because it is a good time to reflect on the things that are positive and things that we are thankful for. I've had a lot going on the past couple of months and I haven't taken the time to be as thankful as I should. In fact, I have been quite the opposite. This weekend was good reminder that I have tons to be thankful for and also a good reminder that everyone has trials...and I need to be thankful for those too. :)

Hiking!!!

2011-09-17T07:13:00.001-07:00

I've been really into hiking lately so for some reason. I'm SOOOOO happy that the weather is getting nicer outside.
when we were in Tucson, my parents took us on a hike. It was fun (except when my dad realized we were going the wrong way and we had to hike back up a hill)!

We found a rock in the shape of a heart. :)

Here are my parents...

Here are John and I...

Here are John and I hiking at Lost Dutchman's on my Birthday (we always take a hike on my Birthday...it's a fun tradition)!

Birthday in Tucson

2011-09-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

This year for my Birthday, we went down to Tucson to celebrate with my Grandma Shipley. My mom made her famous cake that I absolutely love!!!

Cardinals Game

2011-09-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

John and I went to a Pre-Season Cards game this month. It was a lot of fun! We even won! I wanted to make sure to get to a game this year because most of the games are on Sunday and this game was on a Thursday.

We had a blast!!!

Steve Chandler

2011-08-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I was able to go to a conference with Steve Chandler as the speaker. I had never really heard of him before...but apparently he has written like 30 self help books...ha He gave a great seminar on how to become better motivated though the everyday language we use. One my my take aways is that we need to avoid using the word "should". The word should could come across as indecisive and negative at times. I'm going to give it a try this week avoiding the word "should".

Steve also said that one way that we can help motivate ourselves to to think positive about every situation we are placed in. It was a really good conference, but everything he said were things that we all should know as adults. All of his points seemed very common sense to me. If you have a good attitude, you will be happy. If you have a crappy attitude, you will be miserable. I suppose it was a good reminder of those simple truths. :)

On more exciting news...we got another boat. We got rid of our last boat because John was having surgery and we thought that he wouldn't be able to boat anymore (clearly we were wrong). He is doing great and we thought it would be fun to be boat people again!!! I'll take better pics of the boat when we go out. We went out last night...but it was dark.

Mt. Ord

2011-08-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Mt Ord to go "glassing" for deer. For those of you who don't know by now...I have been drawn to hunt a deer this year. I'm not sure if I'm ready to hunt, but I'll give it a whirl I suppose. The hunt is at the end of October, so at least it won't be too cold out. Anyway...back to this past weekend...it was a lot of fun! We were able to take the quads out and the weather was so much nicer than Phoenix (although it still was warm out).
Here is John glassing for deer (he didn't know he was being photographed...sneaky sneaky...).

Here is John once he has figured out I was taking pics of him. Isn't he cute?!?! His smile melts my heart. :)

We brought the dogs...they lasted about 2 miles and then were out of breath.

Playing in the cow water...yuck!

Jack gave up so we took turns giving him a ride on the quads. It was quite comical!

Here is a pic of me...

Here is another pic of me on the way back down the mountain. :)

Wig Day

2011-08-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a wig day at work. It was really fun to see what everyone came up with! Here I am sporting the "Fro"...I think it looks sassy...lol

Here I am with my work wife Jessica. She wore a red wig. Hers actually didn't look too bad...

Here is Bri (my manager)...she's not wearing a wig...ha

Cake Pops

2011-08-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

Why can't these...

Look like these???
Actually I don't think I did to bad for a first try. I think next time I'll use a mold instead of doing everything by hand. Cake pops are a fun treat to make and you can get really creative with the designs. October will bring some fun pumpkin cake pops (assuming I master the technique). :)

Girls Camp

2011-07-31T17:53:00.001-07:00

This summer, I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp. It was a lot of fun. I have always heard about Girls Camp at Camp Lomia. It was way different from my camp experiences in Tucson. Both camps were super fun and spiritual!!!

Moms Birthday!!!

2011-07-31T17:34:00.000-07:00

June and July were full of Birthdays!!! Elle, Kristen, Nick and my Mom all had celebrations! We weren't around for Kristen and Nicks B-day. We were at sweet Elle's B-day, but didn't take pics. Kristen's FaceBook has some really cute pics if you would like to see them. We did however celebrate my moms Birthday up in Mesa at an Italian Place. Here are the pics. :)

Hawaii!!!

2011-07-31T17:17:00.001-07:00

This Summer John and I took a vacation to Hawaii. It was a ton of fun!!! I have seriously 1000 pictures to go through. It's overwhelming (which is partially the reason I lost track with blogging). When John edits some of the pics, I'll get them posted. :)

Hello Out There...

2011-07-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a couple of months. Life has been super busy this summer. I can't believe that tomorrow August begins. Crazy!!! Anyway, I'm going to make a couple of posts of what we have been up to this summer. My blog is an online journal to me and I have tons to catch up on. :)

Graduation

2011-04-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today was my graduation! Very fun. My parents came up from Tucson and celebrated with us at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Here we are after the ceremony...
My mom and I...
John and I in front of the stadium...
We then went to Fajitas (which is one of my fav's) and had lunch. My parents gave me 2 new charms for my Pandora bracelet which were super cute. John gave me a charm and well and then an envelope with plane tickets to...
Hawaii!!!!
We are leaving at the end of may for a surprise vacation!!!
Today was such a fun day. :)

Fishing Trip 2011

2011-04-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend, my Dad came up from Tuscon and we took a fishing trip to Roosevelt Lake. It was a blast. The weather was perfect!
My dad caught 2 fish...
John caught 2 fish...
Drum Roll Please...
I caught 4 fish!!!
Here is my cute Dad with one of the fish that he caught. :)

Geocaching

2011-04-23T19:41:00.001-07:00

John took me Geocaching recently. I have never really heard about it before. It's like a hiking scavenger hunt. Random...but really fun!
We found this "treasure" by following the coordinates. It had been there since the 80's.

The Dogs

2011-04-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

Here are some cute pics of the dogs I took on my phone. :)

YW Fun

2011-04-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

I have been having so much fun with the Young Women in our ward lately. We have a Pioneer Trek coming up and the girls are making pioneer clothing for the activity (good thing they all know how to sew...John keeps wanting me to take his clothing that needs mending to Mutual on Tuesday nights...lol).

We went to the Easter Pageant this past week. It was a lot of fun. These crazy girls arrived 3.5 hours early and we ended up in the seventh row. I have never sat so close in my life. Totally worth it. :)

Conference Weekend

2011-04-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we went down to Tucson for conference. It was a lot of fun. We arrived Saturday afternoon. I went shopping with my mom while, the guys went to the Preisthood session. We all met up for dinner at the Olive garden later that night.
Here are the guys after their Priesthood session.
Here is Alexis and my mom. We need to start planning her wedding soon!!!
Here is a pic of my mom and I.
It was a lot of fun to be around family. Conference was really good too!!! I liked how most of the talks were about helping those in need. It is amazing the welfare programs that we offer through the church. :)

New Church Building

2011-04-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

We get to go to the new church building in May. We are super excited!!! It is right up the road from us. It is such a beautiful building. I took the dogs for a jog a couple of nights ago and took pics.
Here it is!!!
Our new building. :)

April Fools

2011-04-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

I think it is crazy that April is here. This year is going by so fast!!! This year for April Fools day, I played a joke on my parents by telling them I bought a new Camero (I actually really do want one...it's the muscle man inside of me!!!). My mom didn't really believe it...but my dad fell for the joke. It was fun! This is about as creative I get with April Fools Day.

YW Broadcast

2011-03-27T15:53:00.001-07:00

Last night was the YW's broadcast. It was really good. I haven't been to a Young Women's broadcast since I was actually in YW about 11 years ago (Yikes!). This year we have been studying the 13th Article of faith. All of the speakers tied the article of faith into their talks. It was also about being prepared and worthy to go into the Temple as well as building and maintaining a testimony. Here are some of the take aways that were highlighted for me personally:
*The definition of Benevolent is to wish someone well
*Be true to yourself and do not judge or criticize others with their actions
*Be virtuous, as this is required to be Temple worthy
*Surround yourself with uplifting and virtuous friends
*Have goals and constantly re-evaluate them
(Here is a pic we took of the Snowflake Temple last week when we were visiting with family)

Then Elder Eyring spoke and here were his remarks:
*"Come follow me" is the Saviors invitation to everyone
*Have a living testimony of Christ and the Gospel-do not rely on a previous testimony for the future (a testimony is every growing and changing and needs constant nourishment)
*Look forward to the future and stop living in the past
(Here is a cool pic of the moon from last week when the moon was huge)
I have had a super long week and hearing the talks during the broadcast helped me to put my perspective in check and more aligned with what I know to be true. Conference with be fantastic next week. :)

Jack Turns 2

2011-03-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Jacks Birthday (actually we received an email from our vet reminding us it was his Birthday). Apparently in human years, Jack is now legal. He just reached the ripe old age of 21. Happy Birthday big boy! Charles, John and I love you.

Safford

2011-03-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we went to Safford AZ to visit Johns Uncle. It was a really fun day trip for us. We went fishing in his pond. We both were able to catch some fish. Fishing is definitely more enjoyable when you are catching fish!!!
Here is John with one that he caught...
Here I am with a fish. I was freaking out becuase I have never actually touched a fish before. After John took the photo, I flung it back in the water.
Then we went and saw the Gila Valley Temple. It's really pretty. It's cool how many Temples they are building in AZ. We are excited about the Gilbert Temple coming our way soon.
What a great day. :)

Hilarys Wedding

2011-03-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hilary got married last weekend. Her wedding beautiful and the reception was a blast!
Here is a pic of the happy couple! John did the photography. I forgot how involved doing wedding photography is. Good thing she was a gorgeous bride. :)
Here is a picture of us.

Yahoo!!!

2011-03-16T18:38:00.001-07:00

I'm officially a Master!!!
Here is what the girls at work did to celebrate.

Cabela's

2011-03-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

We went to Cabela's last night. I haven't been there in forever. John's jeep was broken into a couple of weeks ago and they took off with a lot of his hunting tools. We needed to replace some of the items. My dad tagged along for the ride. They have so many fun things at Cabela's. We found a fun moose where we all took a turn sitting with. Here is my dad. He got candied walnuts. The were so delish!
Here is John with the moose...
Here I am with the moose...
We were looking at camo hiding tents...
Where is John?
Where is Dad?
John finally found what he was looking for. He ended up getting a backpack, some binoculars, and knives.
Then...we met up with Scott and his new girlfriend at 5 Guys. I haven't been there since my cousin Daniel went through the Temple.
They have automated soda machines. They were the coolest ever!

Little Larry Paints Our Guest Room

2011-03-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

I love my dad. He is too cute. This weekend, my mom was visiting Nick, Kristen, and Elle, so my dad decided to come up here and help with a painting project. He forgot extra clothes for painting, so we went to the Goodwill to find something inexpensive for him. Lo and behold...we found some these basketball shorts.
I was wondering around the store and my dad motioned to come see him...and here was the sight. He is hilarious! After the Goodwill, we went to Filiberto's for a breakfast burrito. He had never been there before.
Here he is painting the room...
He had fun writing on the walls...
Here is the end product.
Here is a pic of the dresser that was painted. Once everything is hung up on the walls, I take some more pictures.
We are so glad that we had my dad come up and spend time with us. :)

Baseball

2011-03-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

I went to 2 spring training baseball games this week. Once with my work and then again the next day with John and his work. The weather was incredible and the games were fun too!
Here are my 2 girlfriends from work Adriana and Jessica. We were all part of the big glasses club!
Here we are standing in front of the field.
Here is the next day (yes I am wearing the same outfit). Here we are in our lawn seats. We had the best Navajo Tacos for lunch with lemonade.
Here we are in front of the field.

One More...

2011-03-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

One more week to go!!!

Busy...

2011-02-27T18:32:00.000-08:00

This week has been super busy, as I'm sure everyone's lives are busy. 2 more weeks left!!! It's really weird to finally be wrapping everything up. I'm way excited!
On President's Day, we went hiking near our house. This time, I had John with me, so it went much smoother with the two dogs.
Here is our self portrait...
Another pic of us...
John and I have been taking a hunter safety class over the past couple of weeks and had to take our test. The test was held in Superior AZ at the fire station. I have never been in a fire station before. It was pretty neat. I took a picture of the bathroom. It is so cool to me that they they live there for certain days out of the week.
We took the test with our good friends the Zapponti's. Here is their son Jace. The whole class was full of kids from age 10-14. John and I were the oldest students in there (sad...lol). If I didn't pass the test (which was quite possible at this point) I would have felt pretty silly.
Here is the remainder of the crew after we all passed the test. John and I tied with a 96%...we were a little worried about me because I kept not passing all of the practice exams online. It's most likely because I have had a lot going on and tend to do better on actual tests rather than practice tests.
Here is Jessica and myself. She is one of the Laurels in our ward. She passed her test a couple of years ago...and came for support. :)
So...we passed the test on Wednesday and then had to go back Saturday morning for the field test. The field test is to make sure you know how to handle a gun properly and practice safety.
We had to cross a fence properly when handling a gun (there are rules for this) and we did a simulated hunt. It was really cute to see the young boys in our class get really excited about tracking an animal. I kept forgetting that I was in the class. John and I were the only ones in our class to cross a fence properly as a pair. We did the demonstration (I am laughing while I'm writing this). I love my John, He is too cute!
Here we are on the way to field day...
Here are Jace and Josie. They passed as well. They are twins. It's fun having them in Mutual.
And here I am with my certificate of hunter safety achievement. If you look closely, they added a M for my middle initial. Not really sure why. hunter safety was a fun experience and I'm glad that I know more about safety. I think that every person who wants to handle should take the class. Very informative!

Nutshell

2011-02-19T19:46:00.001-08:00

Here is the week in a nutshell...
The countdown continues...3 more weeks to go!!!
Monday was Valentine's Day! Lots of fun being showered by John. This year I received Tulips. They were really pretty. A different gift for me, is that he is going to plant some rose bushes in our front yard. For his Valentine's Day gift...he received some new binoculars.
Some of my flowers in the front are top heavy and tipping over. We cut them and here they are!
Tuesday was mutual and I found out that I'm going to Girls Camp!!! I think I may have been more excited than some of the girls!
I finally broke down and purchased a planner for my busy life. It's a Steven Covey Planner! It's the planner of all planners. John purchased one in January and loves his. I already feel more organized by writing things down. I think it's adorable and it fits perfectly in my purse!
Today, John went hunting with one of his buddies, and I had the day to myself. I decided to take the dogs on a hike up to Silly Mountain (even though it looked like it was going to pour). We had a lot of fun! I'm not sure what got into me. I'm generally ok with taking one dog on a hike. Two was a little crazy.
Here was the only pic I got of them. It was so windy and when we got close to the top, it started raining, which is to be expected because it rained most of the day in Phoenix.
Here I am. Not the greatest pic, but I got a new hat this week. I think it's fun!

Love

2011-02-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.

Happy Birthday Jessica!!!

2011-02-13T19:21:00.000-08:00

Jessca's Birthday (my BFF at work) is tomorrow. How fun is that? She's a VDB (Valentine's Day Baby). She celebrated on Friday and Saturday night. We met up with some of her friends on Friday night and ate out on Mill. I have not been down Mill Avenue in a long time. It was fun!
Here is a picture of us (please excuse my double chin...lol).
Here is a pic of John and I.

Four more weeks/Dogs have a new bed

2011-02-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

Four more weeks and I'll be finished! I just received my grade back from my last class and scored 100%! I don't think this has ever happened. Nice way to end a wonderful Sunday!
John and I bought the dogs a new bed this past week. They love it!
Here they are sharing...
Jack takes over...
They finally end up together!

Hilary's Wedding Shower!!!

2011-02-05T15:04:00.000-08:00

Today was Hilary Holt's wedding shower. We have been close friends ever since I moved up to Phoenix. It was so good to see her and her family. What great people...and great cooks!!! The food was fantastic. Hilary received a lot of neat things. We are so happy for Hilary!!!
Here are some of the gifts that she received...
Here is a picture of us together!

Getting Closer...

2011-02-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

5 more weeks left and then I'll be a free woman!!! I'll be happy to be able to relax with John on Thursday nights. I have been in class every Thursday night for the past 2 years!
I was taking a walk with a girlfriend from work and we saw caution tape up. We went to go check it out and the sidewalk had partially turned to ice. What is with the weather this week? It's a bit chilly...but I like it!
Here is a close up. They put salt down. We found it entertaining...because we're in AZ!

2011-01-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

This week marks 6 more weeks until school is complete!!!
This weekend, my parents came up from Tuscon to help celebrate John's Birthday (which was Dec 28th). It was a lot of fun. We went to Old Chicago by our house. They have the best Pazookie's (I'm not sure how to spell this word?).
John and I...
My mom was enjoying her treat!
We liked the parking meter...
John thought this was entertaining...
Fast Forward to today...dad taking a nap and Scott being obnoxious!
John was nice enough to make Navajo Tacos for everyone. Our house still smells like tacos!

They call me Scotty...that's not my name...(think of the tune)!

2011-01-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to my brother Scott (who secretly stalks my blog). Scott was nice enough to use his Macaroni Grill gift card with me last night.
The wait at Macaroni grill was 45 minutes...so we decided to look around at the nearby shops. First stop...Bath and Body Works!!! Scott likes the soap I have in our guest bathroom. They didn't carry it anymore because it was from the Christmas edition...Bummer! We still had fun smelling different scents. They have a really neat Summer Selection. I can't wait for my soaps to run out so I can replace them. :)
We also visited PetsMart...isn't Scott a cute Kitty?
Then we went to some Shoe Store and Scott tried scaring me...enough said!
Scott decided that I needed a picture in here. I 'm afraid of having birds as pets...so we took a picture of me standing next to a bird cage. I know I didn't pet any of the birds...but I had to wash my hands because they really weirded me out for some reason.
Finally we made it to our table. We both were a little under dressed for a sit down restaurant. Scott was out hiking Squaw Peak, I had ran a couple miles, and then John went out with both of us for a hike in the late afternoon. It was a long day!
On another note...I am starting a new project. It's called our guest room! I need help deciding if I should paint an accent wall green or purple. I'm obsessed with green right now for some reason. Purple make more sense because it's not as loud. We have an old antique dresser that we are also going to paint whatever color we paint the wall. I bought a new quilt for the room (the one that is already on the bed), but I'm not sure if I like it yet. It was half off at Target which is why it was purchased. It might be too busy for the room though. I'm more of a solid colors kind of gal. Thoughts? I am the most indecisive person when it comes to decorating my house.

Getting Closer...

2011-01-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

We are down to seven weeks!!!
Date:Saturday April 30, 2011
Time:10:00 am
Place:Phoenix AZ
Invited:Everyone!

2011-01-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

Eight more weeks people and then Becky will be finished with school!!! Here is my countdown post of the week. I'm currently taking a class on Community College and how it is funded. There is a lot that goes behind the scenes.
This weekend has been a lot of fun so far. John and I have Friday through Monday off due to the holiday. It has been nice to just relax and get things done around the house. Yesterday we went out to the shooting range by our house. It was really loud...but fun. Here is the road leading up to the range. We are lucky to be having such wonderful weather!
Here is the actual range (we are members to the range...who would have thought that I would be a member of a gun range???).
We had some cousins come and visit from Woodruff this weekend. They were here to find a horse (random). We spent most of the day looking at horses. It was a lot of fun. We were just watching the movie Flicka the horse movie yesterday. I kept calling all of the horses we saw today Flicka... I found it entertaining. Here is John with an English Bulldog. We took this picture because this is John's favorite type of dog.
Here we are with a horse (self portrait).
This is the main horse that we were looking at. His name was Stetson.
Here is John riding a horse. I had no idea that he was good at riding horses. I was a wimp and had John walk me around while on the horse. I haven't been on a horse in about 10 years. It was fun!
Here's John walking Flicka (insert me on the horse and that was how I rode).
Here's a close up.
Here's my close up.
John found a friend while his cousins were looking around. We liked this one as well.
Horseback riding is a lot of fun!

13th Article of Faith

2011-01-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

Tonight for YW's we made some cute crafts on the 13th Article of Faith. This Article of Faith is our theme for the year. I haven't reviewed the Articles of Faith in a long time and the 13th Article has so many rich beliefs. I especially like the phrase, "We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things".
It was a great night!

Countdown Begins...

2011-01-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

I've decided to blog every week left while still in school. Last night marked 9 more weeks of school until I have my Masters Degree. Super exciting!!! I'm hoping that this keeps me motivated to blog and finish school out strong!
What else is new with us...the flowers in our front yard are starting to grow. You can't see the actual flower yet, but the stems are popping up everywhere...which is odd because I thought that I had dug up all the bulbs from last year. I wasn't sure if I wanted to plant them again this year...I guess that answered that. Here is a picture of how they turned out last spring. Imagine the flower without the flower and just the stem. That's what our front walkway looks like at the moment. :)
In other news ...Scott is moving back up to Phoenix. We are excited to have him coming back up again. He has already called and invited himself over for Dinner on Sunday. It's fun to have the little guy up here because he always brings a treat for dessert.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T06:54:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year's Everyone!!! I can't believe that it is 2011. I don't know about you, but I am ready and excited to start a new year. This coming year is going to be great!
Yesterday, my parents came up from Tuscon and spent some time with us. We woke up yesterday and went to the Temple. It was a fun New Year's Eve activity for all of us. Later in the afternoon, we decided to drive up to Payson to see the snow. It was sooo COLD...but tons of fun. We went to Fargo Steak House, and then went to my favorite park in Payson and played in the snow. We also went to the movie True Grit in the Payson theater. Yawner of a movie, but I didn't see the original, so I had nothing really to compare it to. Then we went back to our house and celebrated the New Year with some Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Delish!
Here are some pics from yesterday!
Here are the ducks in the freezing lake. They must have been so cold!
John and I...
Mom and I...
A Snow Angel... (created by yours truly...sooo cold)
My Dad tackled my Mom to the ground...she was not amused...lol
Throwing Snowballs...
Mom with our snowman...
John and I with our snowman...
My parents with our snowman...
Group shot. :)

2010-12-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

The Rest of November...

2010-12-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for 2011 is to be better about blogging. It should be easier because I'll be done with school in March!!! Here are some pictures from the rest of November...

Here we are at the Mesa Temple. Our nephew went through the Temple. It was nice to be in the Temple with family.

We had a family breakfast at Mannie's house. It was delish! Here we have Laura and Mannie, 2 of my sister in-laws.
Here is Ethan. He's the one that is on a mission. He is currently in the MTC as we speak. He will be a great missionary!
Here is John making his world famous BBQ chicken!!!
Here are the cousins hanging out together...
Here are some of Marvin's kids on the quads...

These are the happenings in November...hopefully December will be posted soon!!!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T18:55:00.000-08:00

This year Thanksgiving was at my parents house and was a lot of fun! We met my parents at the tennis club early in the A.M. and played for a while. It's really funny to watch John and my mom play against each other...lol Alexis had her new boyfriend join our family for Thanksgiving dinner. He is from Australia and has a delightful accent. Here are some pics from the day!
Here are the plaid boys in thier cute shirts! (John and Scott)
Here are some cousins. (Ross and Nicki)
Here is a pic of John and I.
Here is my mom stirring the punch. Grandma Shipley is in the background.
Here is Rachel and Darl. Congrats to Rachel for graduating from U of A in December!!!
Here is my dad...AKA "Little Larry" rounding everyone up for family prayer.
Here is Alexis and her boyfriend Ben. They are really cute together.
Here is Grandma Dillon and her new hubby Jim.
Even Kristen was able to come to Thanksgiving...via Skype that is...lol Elle is absolutely adorable!...and Kristen too!

This next section is dedicated to my Aunt Susie. She was unable to make it to dinner because she has had a recent knee procedure. Even though she was not present, she sent her family with fantastic food to add to our Thanksgiving feast!
Here are Susie's famous caramel brownies...they are pretty much the best brownies ever...just saying... :)
Here are some of her homemade rolls.
Here are the pumpkin rolls that she made. John loves them. He actually told me this afternoon that he wouldn't mind living with Kenny and Susie due to Susie's cooking...lol

Thanks Susie for all of the delish rolls and treats! We love you and hope you feel much better soon!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

A Little Remodeling...

2010-11-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some before and after pictures of our guest bathroom. John painted my walls a tan color and the rest was up to me! Alexis was in town this weekend...so she was able to go shopping with me. It was a blast having her tag along. I made her go to about 5 stores with me!
Here is a before picture of half the bathroom. It was navy and cream mostly.
We added some other colors to the bathroom and some fun things from the Hobby Lobby.
Note to all Hobby Lobby Fans:the entire store is pretty much 1/2 off!!!

Here is the shower curtain. All that is left to do is add some pictures to the wall. They are coming soon!

The Rest of October...

2010-11-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

I have been neglecting the blog lately. It has been super busy around here, as I'm sure it is for everyone else. Can you believe it is November already? Here are some things that happened in the month of October...
Alexis won tickets to a Colbie Caillat concert at the Arizona State Fair. She took me as her date and we had a great time. I heart Alexis. She is such a fun sister!

We won a frog together by playing darts!
Here is John, Charles, and Jack when we went to Miami AZ.
Scott helped us celebrate the Fall by bringing over some Candy Cane ice cream and hot fudge for sundaes...I could seriously eat the whole tub!
John and I gave each other an early Christmas present this year and got quads. John has a red one and I have a blue one. Scotty came over and was nervous about riding a quad, so...John gave him a tour of the neighborhood while Scott clanged for his life.
Happy Halloween!!! We had 2 little Bumble Bees running around all night!
I have been called to work with the Young Women in our ward as the Secretary. I'm way excited. We have great youth in our ward!
3 more classes for my Masters Program to be complete. The next couple of weeks are going to be insane with school, work, and church. School is almost over!!!

Family Reunion 2010

2010-10-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our family reunion back in July of this year. One of John's cousins posted them. It was when were are at the gun range.
I'm a good wife right?!?!?
Shooting clay pigeons...
Shooting more clay pigeons...

Kind of a random post, but thought I'd share.

Cadillac Ranch

2010-09-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

Last night, we were able to take my Dad, Uncle Darl, and Scott to Cadillac Ranch for dinner. It was a lot fun. The ASU game was on. Bummer they lost! My uncle and dad had a seminar over the weekend, so they came over and spent the night. It was fun to see them. :)

Minnesota Fun

2010-09-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

John and I were in Minnesota for a while. It was a lot of fun. What to do in MN???...hmmm can we say Mall of America!!! It was a lot of fun. I don't have any pics of the mall of because I was by myself the whole time I was there while John was working. I did manage to purchase some new 9 West Boots. They are sassy! We did have fun together when he was able to play.
Here we are at Lake Minetonka...

Here is John at the Outdoor Sculpture Museum...deep in thought...

Here I am...definitely not deep in thought...lol
Here we are in front of the spoon with the cherry...

Here we are in the flower garden...
Here is a cool picture of an insect on a flower...
Here is the spoon, cherry, and city picture...
Here we are walking across the Stone Bridge...

Scenic Minnesota

2010-09-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some scenic pictures from Minnesota. It was absolutely gorgeous there. The only real issue I had with the state was the 2 lane freeways (eek). Everything was so green and the weather was perfect. The leaves were just starting to turn into fall.

Here are some cute Ducks...A pathway...
Lilly pads...
A bridge...

Sprinkles

2010-09-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for a while because we have been out of town for a bit. We are back now and I have uploaded all of my pics. The next few blog postings may have a lot of pictures!!!
Before I went on our trip to Minnesota, I stayed the night with my girlfriend from work (so she could drop me off at the airport...because John was already on Minnesota). Anyway, we had a great night eating Sushi and then tried the cupcake boutique called Sprinkles in Scottsdale. The cupcakes were incredible. It made me want to experiment with cupcake making!
Here are our cupcakes. Jessica had a chocolate cream cheese cupcake and I had a coconut cupcake, They were delish!
Here is Jessica posing with our cupcakes.

BAS Weekend

2010-09-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Alexis came up from Tucson to have some fun. We went couple of different places, and had fun documenting our mini trips to places. First stop was Superstition Springs Mall. Here we are with our different meals...
Alexis ate Mexican...
Scott had a some pizza...a food court classic!
I had a baked potato...it looks kind of nasty in the picture...but it was really good!
Here is Scott with the cow from Chick-Fil-A...they bonded. After we went through the Superstition Springs Mall, we decided to go and check out the Scottsdale Fashion Square!!!
Here is Alexis standing in front of a boat.
Here is Scott with some random sign...not really sure what it means?
Here I am in front of the Tiffany's sign!
Then later in the evening, Alexis went to go and visit some friends while Scott and I went to Pei-Wei for dinner. I'm pretty sure I royally embarrassed Scott by telling the waitress that we were on a date. Oh well...builds character right?!?!?

Birthday Weekend

2010-09-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my awesome husband and wonderful family, I had a nice and relaxing birthday weekend. We went out to dinner at Caruso's in downtown Tucson. John and I were laughing that 4th Avenue in Tuscon is like Mill in Tempe. Fun times! On Saturday we went golfing at the Tuscon National. Longest Course ever!!! After golf, we lounged around the pool for a while and then played some tennis later in the evening.
Here we are at Caruso's. I hadn't been there in years.
Here is the amazing cake that my mother slaved over for two days. I had not idea that a cake could have so many steps it would have to take 2 days. Thanks Rocket!
Here is a picture of myself getting ready to blow out the candles. Note to self...never wear that red shirt again...not flattering at all...
Here is a picture of Scotty. He's such a funny guy!

Here is a picture of Alexis and mom at the restaurant.
I feel really lucky. This weekend was just the beginning of my Birthday celebrations...I have a trip planned for Minnesota to take a little trip to a place I like to call the Mall of America!!! Keep you posted on that trip!

Big Lake

2010-08-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend John and I went camping with some of his coworkers at Big Lake. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pics. :)
Here we are at camp...
Here is John with our fishing boat. The water was really choppy, but we still managed to catch some fish.
Here is Diane Back at camp cookin up some grub...Thanks Diane!
Here is Jim with the fooseball!
Here is sweet Kelsey. She was such a trooper the entire weekend. She also caught the biggest fish out of everyone. You go girl!
Here we are playing frisbee golf. I had never played before. Fun Game!
Here is a picture of our car surrounded by cows. I was freaking out.
Here is a picture of John and I on the way back home. We were by the Salt River. I had no idea how beautiful it was. We also went through Globe. I had never been there before. Cute town!

Temple

2010-08-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we were able to witness John's cousin be sealed to his wife and two kids. I had never been to a family sealing before. It was such a sweet experience. We are so happy to know that their family is sealed together forever. I am also grateful to be sealed to my sweetheart John. :)

Shooting

2010-08-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend Jessica had never shot a gun before. John and I took her out to the shooting range by our house. It was a lot of fun. Then afterwords, we went to Crackers...which is the best breakfast place ever!!!

2010-08-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure why my blog is formatting all crazy? Anyway...last night my parents flew in from the Phoenix Airport and we were able to spend time with them. Scotty lives in Phoenix now so he joined us. After we came back home, my mom wanted to play Yahtzee. A game which apparently I am awful at. It was fun though anyway. Robin of coarse won!

Farewell Elder Shipley

2010-08-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

My cousin Daniel had his mission farewell this morning. He is going to be going to Guatemala. Lucky duck! He is going to be the best missionary. He gave a great talk this morning about the Priesthood and how it applies to our life. After his talk, we all headed over to Ken and Susie's house for lunch. The lunch was fantastic! Here are some pictures from the afternoon.
Here is a picture of Elder Shipley. He is going to love serving a mission.
Here is my mom, Daniel, John, Alexis, and myself.
Here is Daisy. She didn't want to be left out of all the festivities. She told me in the other room. We had fun doing a photo shoot together. :)
Here is Susie standing behind the dessert bar. It was fab!
Here are John and I. Thanks Rachel!

Here is a picture of my mom and Linda enjoying their lunch.Here is a picture of Becky and Amelia. Can you believe that Amelia is starting High school this week?

The Diamondbacks

2010-08-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Diamondbacks game with Johns co-worker and his fiance. I haven't been to a game in years. Did you know that their team colors had changed to red and black? I thought that they were still purple. They played the Padres and ended up winning by 1 point. It was a lot of fun. They even had fireworks after the game. We didn't get to see fireworks for the Fourth of July because we were in the White Mountains. It was sweet!!!
Here is a self portrait of getting excited for the game. GO DIAMONDBACKS!!!

Here is a picture of the couple that we went with. Scott and Victoria are getting married in October.
Here is a picture of John and I . I think John is adorable. :)
Here is a shot of the baseball field. The stadium is absolutely huge.

Rosita's

2010-08-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to go to Rosita's Mexican Restaurant. I've seen them all over Phoenix ever since I moved up here years ago. Jessica and I decided to go this afternoon for lunch. I must say...it was pretty good. We thought it was blog worthy.

New Class

2010-07-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

I just started a new class and it'll all about how to enhance teaching with the use of technology...so I'm going to be practicing on the blog.
Here is a picture of Charles and Jack when we were up in Pine Top last Fall. It was so cold outside that we let them sleep in our hotel room. The room we stayed in had a big spa in the middle of the room...Random!!!

Racing

2010-07-24T10:13:00.001-07:00

This week, my co-workers and I went to the race park in Phoenix for a team builder. It was indoors, so it was nice to get out of the heat for a while. It was a lot of fun. I had never been there before. We even had the option of getting dressed up in the racing gear (which clearly was a must). Here are some pictures from the day. :)
Here I am by one of the many cool cars displayed.

Here is Jessica all suited up and ready for her race.

Here are Jessica and Mary being sexy racing models!!!

Here is Brent...AKA Speedo (this was his racing name).

Here are the peeps from the first race. Can you tell which one I am?

3 Year Anniversary

2010-07-14T18:49:00.001-07:00

Today is our Third Year Anniversary. I can't believe how quickly time has passed. Today has been a nice day. John brought me flowers and chocolate to work. It was really sweet of him. We also went to dinner tonight at Texas Road House (one of my favorite places). I'm very happy to be married to John and look forward to this next year. :)
Here we are at Texas Road House tonight...

Here is a picture from our wedding 3 years ago...

Family Reunion in Bryce Canyon

2010-07-11T17:11:00.001-07:00

This weekend we wet up to Bryce Canyon in Utah for John's family reunion. It was quite the drive, but totally worth it. I have not been up to Bryce Canyon since I was a kid. Surprisingly, it's exactly the same as I remembered it. At the reunion, they had fun activities such as hiking, rappelling, gun shooting, and shopping (clearly my sister-in-law and I went shopping one afternoon). It was really fun to see John with all of his family. He has a very strong background and a great family. Here are some pics from the event. :)
Here is a pic of me getting excited about our trip in Blondie (that's the name of my car).

Here are Charles and Jack in the back of the car. We were excited to take them. They had fun staying in our hotel room. Our dogs are living the high life. :)

Here is a picture of John and I in from of the hotel where we stayed. The hotel was called Ruby's Inn. I highly recommend it. It even had an indoor pool!!!

Here are some of John's nephews at the kiddie shooting range.

Here is John at the shooting range.
Funny story...they were all shooting clay pigeons and asked if I wanted to try. Sure why not? The very fist pigeon that was shot up, I shot perfectly. Needless to say...I might have impressed his family. lol

Here are some of our nieces and nephews. Aaron, Dana, Shayla, and Ethan.

Here are our nephews. Ethan, Kailab, and Alex.

Has anyone ever played the game of Rook before? This is a Bowler famous card game that they all love to play. We have been married for about 3 years and I still have no clue how to play.

Here is John and his brothers playing Rook the first night we were there.

Here we are with Bryce Canyon in the background. It's a beautiful national park. :)

Happy Fourth of July

2010-07-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

So...I haven't posted in over a month. The last time I posted was for Memorial Day...now it's a whole new holiday! The month of June was super busy. I was taking a statistics class for my Masters program and it took up most of my time. Happy to say that I got an A in the class. This is my excuse for not posting. Also in the month of June, my niece was born. Elle Renae Smith. She is such a doll.
We went up to the mountains this year for the Fourth of July. The weather was great and it was nice to get out of town for a while. We went up north to the White Mountains and stayed at Big Lake. It was nice to get to know some of John's cousins. The women are really big into scrap booking. They set up an entire tent for scrap booking. Pretty impressive if you ask me. We had fun quading through the wilderness. I'm getting pretty good at it. We went fly fishing one night. John kept telling me how the fish dance on the water and I thought that he was messing with me. When we got to the water, the fish were jumping out the water...aka dancing. It was really neat. It was a great trip and definitely something that we both needed. A little R&R. Here are some pictures from the weekend. :)

Happy Birthday!!!

2010-07-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today is my Mom's Birthday!!!
She is a great mom and friend!!!
Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day everyone!!!We were at church yesterday and I couldn't figure out why they were playing patriotic songs on the organ.haha (get a clue Becky!) Anyway, we were able to attend one of our nephews Eagle Court of Honor last night. I actually had never been to a court of honor. A lot of work is involved I quickly found out. It was very patriotic and put me in the mood for today. Here are some pictures of the event.

We are PROUD of you Alex!!!

The Suns

2010-05-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

John and I went to the Suns playoff game last night. It was a lot of fun. We had great seats (on the first floor). We were both bummed when they lost. We received free T-shirts though (which I'll use for a night shirt because they were all in XXL). It was a really fun night and I can't wait until next season!!!
Here is a picture of us at the game.

Here is a picture of us 3 years ago at the Suns game...

Here is a picture of the stadium.

Bowlers vs. Shipleys

2010-05-30T09:00:00.001-07:00

We went golfing this weekend...and I must say, I did pretty well. John took first place, my dad and I ties for second place, and my mom was in fourth place. I'm pretty sure my dad has developed a complex about us being tied for second...lol When we played as couples, the Bowlers took the cup!!! It was a lot of fun and hopefully there will be more golf tournaments to come.

Trimming the Tree

2010-05-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we had a lot of things going on...we went to a funeral of John's Aunt Pat, went golfing, trimmed a tree, and went to the Suns game. Here is the tree trimming portion of our weekend. Our HOA every year provides our neighborhood with City of Mesa 3 big bins for cleaning up the community. We ended up filling one of the bins from trimming our Chilean Mesquite tree. Here is are my Mom and my Dad helping out.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day everyone!!! Today was a great day. We spent the day going to church in the morning and then had a great dinner. We had someone take a family picture after church. I think that it turned out nicely. I love my mom and I'm glad that we were able to spend Mother's Day with her. :)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Jeff's Wedding

2010-05-09T17:09:00.001-07:00

Last night I had the opportunity to go to a wedding reception for Jeff Struthers and his sweet wife Krista. Jeff looked great and I'm excited that they were able to get married in the temple. That's awesome. :)
Here's a picture of my mom, dad, Scott, Alexis, and myself at the dinner portion of the reception.

The wedding location was absolutely beautiful. It was in downtown Tucson...

Here is a self portrait of my dad, Alexis, and myself...

Congrats Jeff and Krista!!!

Kristen's Baby Shower

2010-05-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend, my sister Kristen had her baby shower down in Tucson. It was a lot of fun. There were many great women who came to support Kristen. Kristen and Elle were definitely showered with lots of love and fun gifts. Here are some pictures of the big day!
Here are the guests of honor...aka Kristen and Elle Smith...

Pink was definitely the color of the day!!!

Here is Kristen with Grandma Shipley. Grandma is excited to have a new great-granddaughter. :)

Chocolate dipped strawberries...

Kristen opening gifts...

Here are some of the presents that Kristen and Elle received...

Here I am with Pam Peterson...I was in charge of keeping track of the gifts...

Here is Alexis with Sister McCaleb chatting it up.

Here are some more pretty in pink presents...

We are excited to meet you Elle!!!

Avocados

2010-05-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

I love avocados.
Last week I was at a wedding reception, helping out in the kitchen and my sister-in-law asked if I could cut up all of the avocados...has she ever seen my fruit and vegetable cutting skills?...if she had, she would not have asked.
Anyway...she proceeded to show me how to cut an avocado and make it look pretty at the same time. Thanks Laura.
So tonight for dinner I made shredded chicken burritos...with avocados. I used Laura's trick and they looked beautiful. :)

WigWams

2010-04-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have secretly wanted to spend the night in the WigWam hotel for about 3 years now (which is the same exact time as when I first laid eyes on it). It is located in Holbrook Arizona. John's family calls it the Cozy Cones because of the movie "Cars." Last night, John surprised me and we were able to stay there. I might have felt like a real live Indian!!! Anyway...there were like 15 WigWam rooms and around the parking lot, there were classic cars everywhere.
Here is a picture of the WigWam we stayed in...Aren't they adorable?

Here was my favorite car...

Here we are in front of a different classic car...

Here we are inside of the WigWam...pretty snazzy isn't it!!! I wish I had more pictures. All of the walls were slanted.

Beth's Wedding

2010-04-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday John and I had the privilege of attending a wedding for one of his cousins. It was held at the Snowflake Temple in Northern Arizona. It's always nice to go to the Temple. It is such a beautiful place. Here are some pictures.
John took a picture of the Angel Moroni that is on top of the Temple.

Here is Beth with her new husband. :)

Here is a picture of John and myself in front of the temple.

My Little Window Cleaners

2010-04-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

Who Are These Lovely Ladies???

2010-04-13T21:31:00.001-07:00

They are a great bunch of ladies to work with. :)

Silver Creek

2010-04-11T09:45:00.001-07:00

John and I went to Silver Creek this weekend with his family. It was fun. I generally like to go because it's outdoors and the weather has been so nice lately. Little did I know that I was going to catch the only fish of the day....at the very end of the day. Here are the stats: The fish was 22 inches long and it weighed about 8 pounds(dad...this is for you).
Here I am with fish that I caught...John somehow talked me into holding it by the mouth for a picture. The fish was still sort of alive and bit me. Needless to say...the fish was thrown...haha

Here is a picture of all of us who were at the fishing trip... the dogs kept trying to lick the fish...yuck!!!

Here is John holding up the fish. We had such a fun day yesterday. :)

Easter 2010

2010-04-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

This year for Easter, we spent the holiday down in Tuscon. We had a great lunch with lots of great family.
Here is a pic of John and I eating Eater lunch on the back patio.

His is Sunshine (My parents new puppy). She is the cutest thing ever!!!

Here are the sisters with baby Elle. We can't wait to meet her soon. :)

Cheese Cake Factory

2010-04-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Who knew Tuscon had a Cheese Cake Factory? I had no clue, but I'm soooo excited that they do. While the boys were at Priesthood meeting last week, the girls went out to eat. It was a lot of fun!!!
Here is a pic of Kristen and I. Don't you love Kristen's maternity shirt? (I picked it out a while ago for her)

Here is a picture of mom and Alexis... sitting across from us...

Here is a picture of Kristen and I...clearly she is enjoying her food.

Sushine AKA Sunny

2010-04-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Last week my parents had to put their dog Gabby down, because she became really sick. This past week, my mom found Skye crying because she missed her friend Gabby. So... my dad decided that it would be a good idea to get another dog...and it was my job to find it. Obviously I love dogs and was up for the challenge. We found this couple who had just had a litter in Buckeye (it was the longest drive ever). There were 5 girl puppies to choose from and my dad picked out the cutest one! We named her in the car Sunny. Her real name is going to be Sunshine. Sunshine Shipley!!! Here are some pictures.
Here are Gabby and Skye. So long Gabby girl. :)

Alexis, mom , and I with little Sunny.

mom and I with Sunshine.

Fishing and Flowers

2010-03-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a recap of what we have been up to the past couple of days...
John and I took a day trip up to Roosevelt Lake to go fishing. The weather was gorgeous. We didn't catch any fish, but sure had a great time. :)

Here is John napping with the dogs. I'm petty sure that our dogs believe that that they are 80 pound lap dogs...ha

I planted a flower garden down our walkway in our front yard back in January after John's first surgery. I've never really planted a flower garden before, so I was curious to see if they would even grow. Our first flower bloomed today. It's going to look really nice when they all come up. :)

Scott is up here visiting with us this weekend. I forced him to take a picture with me and my one flower.

Ummm...looks like someone took off with the camera and was doing a mini photo shoot...

Waffles

2010-03-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

My dad is pretty much the best waffle maker on the planet. I don't mean to brag...but it's true. This weekend my parents came up to visit with John and I and this morning...we were surprised with waffles. They are not just any waffles mind you...they are made with strawberries, chocolate shavings, whipped cream, and homemade maple syrup. They were absolutely delish!!!
Here is a picture of the final product...I know you are wishing you were at our house this morning...

Here is Chef Larry Shipley...we'll have to get him a chef's hat to wear next time!!!

Here are the parentals in the kitchen...

Alexis joined us as well. Here she is eating some strawberries by the bar...

Here I am with my plate of the wonderful waffles...

My mom and I went out for a walk this morning. I took her over to a state park over by our house for a nice stroll...and my mom ended up finding an deer head...she took it home because she felt sorry for it...she has named it Cooper and it is now sitting in our garage. Talk about random!!!

That's what has been going on with us this past weekend. Hope everyone has a nice week. :)

I Can't Believe It's March...

2010-03-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that's it's March already. This past year seems to be flying for some reason. Here are some first week of March pictures...
This past week John had his second and last surgery...HOORAY!!! He is at home and is doing really well. John has had a two part surgery over the past three months to remove his large intestine due to having Ulcerative Colitis. It has been a long couple of months...but totally worth it in the long run.
Here is me waiting for John to get out of surgery...I promise I don't have that many wrinkles on my forehead... It was a long day for sure...lucky me to have my mom come up to Phoenix. It ended being a lot of fun. Alexis joined us for lunch at Texas Roadhouse for lunch.

Here is a picture of John waiting to go into surgery. He is such a trooper. I would be such a baby if the tables were turned...

Here is my work wife Jessica. We received slap bracelets from our manager (do you remember slap bracelets?...from like the early 90's)...and were trying to think of new ways to wear them...ha

Here I am with the dogs...we went on a hike to Coons Bluff by our house...Notice the new glasses...I'm in love with them!

Anyway...this is what has been going on in our life in Mesa. :)