Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I don't have to listen to you!!

This is the blessing of technology. We have free wi-fi in the room...and I know that every stinking one of you will be asking 50 million questions...so I figured I will keep brief updates so you can know...don't worry we aren't spending more time on the computer than with each other.

I only did two runs today but I stayed more on my rear than on my feet...or at least it felt. Brian was a great teacher and I was a very impatient student. I wanted to pull the board off my feet and throw it down the mountain. But I didn't...and finally made it down...Brian did one more run without me per my encouragement. We are both really excited about tomorrow. However...now we are hitting up the hot tub and just taking it easy!!!

PS: Tons of pictures have been taken but we both forgot our camera cords so no pictures until we get back!!

Whistler, Day 01

We were suppose to leave Chelan at 8 am. With most family that sit down to breakfast at 7:45 am and talk more than eat...it's pretty hard to leave on time. Finally at 9 AM we were about to break away and get on the road. The drive from Chelan to Whistler should have taken about 7 hours... 9 and a half hours later we were finally pulling up to the lodge. We did have some weather but nothing that Brian worried about driving through.

The problems started in Vancouver where I guess we were driving through right when everyone else was. Traffic was SO slow. Once we were on 99 heading to Whistler we thought we had made it!! However, there is this thing called the Olympics coming in 2010...so construction is crazy!! Roads were down to one lane and when you have snow and slush and one lane...no one is driving very fast.

Oh well...we got there safely. The lodge is phenomenal!! We got settled into our room. Walked around the village. Went to Can-Ski and got my snowboard!! I bought goggles so now I own my own ski gloves and goggles!!

We are eating breakfast now and will be heading toward to snow here is just a little bit!!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

The honeymoon, Part 2

Most might consider this part 01 but only Valerie, Brian and I can reminisce on Honeymoon, Part 01 two months ago! :) What a wonderful car ride back to Tucson.

Brian and I made it into Seattle on Christmas Day without any major travel problems. We had to circle around the clouds of San Francisco 3 times before we could finally land because of a thunderstorm that had blown through. We didn't have any major delays and were able to get back in the air toward Seattle quite quickly. We landed without any problems thought it was snowing and rainy outside. They had to dig our car out of the snow from all the snowstorms that we heard about on the news. Connie had dropped off the car when she left for Tucson for Christmas with the Tucson clan! What a blessing to have family in both places so we can share cars and places to stay!!

Christmas Day evening we drove to Bremerton, WA where we spent the evening with Nan (grandma Quigley) Uncle Tim, Aunt Tish and cousins Siri & Iain. We had a delicious traditional Scandinavian meal including lefsa, swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, and lingonberries. Dessert was orange sherbet served in hollowed out oranges...one did have the almond at the bottom! Nan won (she had the almond at the bottom of her sherbet) and received a gift card to Barnes and Noble!

We spent the next day reading books, relaxing on couches, and visiting with each other. Sara, my new mom :), was able to finally make it out of her parking lot in Portland and head over the Bremerton early on the 26th. We were so happy to spend the day with her. During the evening she was here we had a wonderful meal together and played cards all night long. I love playing Hearts and 8, 7, 6 with the Quigleys! We're all a little competitive!!

The morning of the 27th we went to visit Nan for a little while at her new retirement community and then got on the road to head to Lake Chelan. We had heard that there was a snow slide on I-90 where we would need to drive through to get to Chelan so we took a quick detour to the Tacoma Mall (where Brian worked during the summers of college) so we could buy all of our Christmas gifts for the Wick family we were heading to visit.

Once we were on the road again, besides the consistent rain, we didn't have any driving issues. There was rain and some snow through the pass but all was safe and sound. We made good time getting to Chelan and surprised everyone right before dinner!

We opened and sharing more gifts with the Wick family on the 27th and again on the 28th when Dave and Connie were able to make it. They had just flown in from Tucson yesterday where they shared that Tucson saw a little bit of snow two days ago! CRAZY!!!!

It was so much fun getting to spend time with Dan, Berit, Kristina, Grandma and Poppa, and Erik, Angie and Jaxon. This was the first time for Angie, Jaxon and I to all meet each other!! I was so excited to finally meet their faces!!!

We went to church this morning and received a wonderful lesson on Recession-proofing your life!! We went to the casino for brunch...insert sarcastic comment here...

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving to head to Whistler!! We are so stinkin' excited to be snowboarding SO SOON!!!!!!!

We'll keep you posted...

Pictures are to come, I promise!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

life...

We had a Christmas party at our house on Sunday night. Everyone that I work with from Starbucks came over to celebrate the holiday. It was a lot of fun and so nice to finally be able to utilize the space of our house!

Brian is no longer sick. Monday was a slow day for him but after that he was back to working hard.

We leave for our honeymoon is just a few short days! I can't believe that Christmas Day is almost here. 2008 has flown by so quickly. And there are so many things to be thankful for.

I hope you have a blessed Tuesday!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Brian's sick

I hope that for as long as Brian and I are still living there will be firsts.
First time we held hands
First date
First dance
First kiss...
First projectile vomit as a married couple...or for as long as my memory suites me..ever!

Brian has not felt well all day. He thought he just had a little too much dairy in his tummy from a type of shake he has been making every morning for breakfast since we received the Vita-Veta-Veg-A-Mine! His tummy has been very heavy; slightly gassy. You know how it goes...

Either way, he was suppose to be going to the UA v ASU game tonight and had really good seats too. He stood up slowly from the couch to get ready to leave. Walked straight to the bathroom. Made it to the toilet. Well, and you know the rest!

After the first go around he just stayed on the floor enjoying the cool tile.

After he had his second go around we settled him on the couch with water, gatorade, a blanket and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. He just finished reading the book for the first time.

Poor guy. I hope he feels better quickly!!!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Saturday after Thanksgiving

Today has felt very productive. Here is how the day has gone so far...
4 AM: Woke up by alarm (cell phone) I had left in the bathroom. Prior to the alarm going off, Brian had at some point during the night shut the bathroom door (a wooden sliding door) because of water dripping in the shower that we have not been able to completely shut off. I, of course, did not know this because that door has NEVER been shut during the night. I walked right into the door nose first. This is how my morning started. No blood until I blew my nose. It hurt but I am fine.

4:30 AM: Mom and Dad packed up the car and headed on their way back to Dallas. Brian and I went back to bed after they drove away until 8 AM. It was so nice to sleep in for the first Saturday in a very long time. I would normally be at Starbucks by 4:15 in the morning.

8:30 AM: Organized the kitchen, continued to clean up around the house, finished up the laundry.

1:00 PMish: Brian and I went up to the bank to get my named changed on everything there. Returned a gift to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Went to Home Depot and bought paint for the kitchen!!!! We have been talking about painting the kitchen for a while now!!

5:00 PM: Asked Brian if he wanted to take a quick break and go check the mail. He had to look for his shoes so I went out to check on the turkey carcass we left out side on Thursday. It was still there yesterday. As I was walking toward the aluminum platter I noticed a larger bone.

Went in between two large cactus that were blocking my view and noticed it was completely empty.

At that time Brian walked out side. He had not done anything to it. Nice to know the coyotes were crossing through at some point today!! Too bad we didn't have a camera watching the movement! :) And speaking of movement...Brian and I were jamming out to some music while painting. He was dancing around while painting..I wished I was able to capture some video. He then thought it would be funny to pull this paints up over his belly and dance around. This is what I got to look at!!

You know you're jealous! :)

7:00 PM: Finally sitting down and relaxing. The paint job is not done but we are making good progress. We will be done tomorrow. The sunset was gorgeous this evening. The pictures do not do it justice. Beautiful blues and reds right over the mountain. The moon to the left and two vibrant starts to the right of the moon!! So many things to be thankful for in Tucson!!

Friday, November 28, 2008

T-Give in the T-son

Thanksgiving (or T-Give if you're Veeves) week has been a blessing. It has been wonderful having my parents drive in from Dallas and spend the week with us. They stayed at Dave & Connie's condo and enjoyed a little fill of vacation. Their condo is right down the street from our house so it was perfect for all. They arrived on Tuesday afternoon. I was able to work a 1/2 day on Wednesday. We spend Tuesday and Wednesday organizing and opening wedding gifts. On Wednesday afternoon mom, dad, Brian and I went to Paradise Bakery for a late lunch and then to B,B&B to return duplicate gifts. Later that even my momma and I went and did the same at C&B and then bought some new items too!
Mom and Dad at Paradise Bakery

Brian (doing the Valerie pose) & Catherine at Paradise Bakery

The gang at the PB


Some of the gifts that my parents brought!



The Shaffer's chair they donated to The Wick cause! :)

Me and my daddy!


Thanksgiving Decor and T-Give Day





Those are 6 hawks on top of those trees. Mom and I were driving down my street back home after hitting up the big sales at 6 am on Black Friday. She told me to look up and asked if those were the hawks I kept talking about...then she said she wished she had her camera. Low and behold I had mine in my purse! I put the car in reverse. Backed up. And shot a few!

So neat...right after the picture was taken 4 flew a way! Great timing mom!!


After a fabulous Thanksgiving Day with the fam and friends we decided we needed to something a little more productive..like actually being on our feet walking around. We decided that we would walk over to Tohono Chul park since it is SOOO close to our house (I drive by it ever day to get to and from work). We spent the rest of the afternoon having lunch and walking around the park. Brian and I have lived in this area for so long and never been to the park. It was about time!




Cath being eaten by a Century plant...that sucker was huge!

Mom with the ACU purple plant and her cool new vest!


There were so many humming birds flying around. It was so much fun trying to spot them and capture a picture before they quickly flew away!

I love this picture of them. I wished they would print and actually frame it!

A yellow finch

That's a bunny in the middle of the screen!

That is right my friends. People in Arizona know how to decorate for the holidays!

Brian and my engagement picture...I know it is a little late...but still fairly funny! :)






So, what is neat about Tohono Chul park is that if Brian and I really want to see what we saw there...we can just walk in our back yard. But I do completely recognize why people visit. It does definitely have its own type of beauty.

What a fabulous week we are wrapping up. My parents leave early tomorrow morning for a 14+ hour trip back home. It has been so much fun having them here. I'm glad they were finally able to come see the house, check out the area and also meet our sweet roomie Amanda!! Blessings to you and your this Thanksgiving season!!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The hawks

When I was driving home this afternoon I looked up while pulling into the drive way and saw this...



There were 4 in a row. But by the time I stopped the car, grabbed my camera and rolled down my window, two had flown to the top of the telephone poll. Either way...still cool...as long as they don't bite me! :)

Happy One Month Anniversary!

Brian and I have made it one whole month!! Now after 12 years of friendship and 10 years of on again off again dating, one month doesn't seem like such a big deal. I wished I could be gooey romantic about it but really we are just having fun and not much feels that different!!

To celebrate this time however here are a couple things that have been going on in our lives over the last few days...

We are going to Whistler over the holidays for our honeymoon. To gear up Brian has pulled out all of his snowboarding gear, the board and the boots to start polishing, sharping and doing whatever else you do to these things to get ready for the season.

Two nights ago Brian brought his boots in from the shed and was pulling them on over his feet. He started lacing up one and the laces broke. If you remember our pack rat problem from a couple months ago you understand why. Those little suckers chewed on his laces until they were hanging by the thread. He started to put boot #2on when he noticed a little lizard inside of it...remind you, he is in the house!
My thoughts are get that little sucker on the OUTSIDE of the house NOW!! Brian thinks, 'Oh great! Max can learn how to kill!' Oh, the difference between boys and girls minds. Praise the Lord that Max is a little dingy and didn't know at all what to do with that lizard!!



Brian finally decided Max had had enough fun and that lizard was probably terrified. Brian just picked the little guy up and put him outside! We will just let Max keep playing with his little stuffed mouse on a string. That gets his energies up just fine!

When Valerie was driving back home to Dallas a couple weeks ago she called as she was driving through Abilene to let me know that gas prices were only $1.89 there. Gas in Tucson was still in the $2.50+ range at that time. Well, just like everywhere else, gas prices have continued to drop here. Brian and I were driving last night and saw this...

What a nice surprise. The funny things is that I drive by this gas station every day to and from work. When I left work at 5:30pm gas was still $2.05/gl. Within the hour as Brian and I were driving passed it again prices had dropped!! This is the only $1.99 gas I have seen in town so far. However, I am not complaining one bit!!

Before Valerie had decided to move back to Dallas so quickly she had purchased concert tickets for one of her favorite peeps, Jason Mraz. The tickets were for last night and since Valerie couldn't go and there are no exchanges at the Rillato Theater she gave the tickets to us. We thought the concert started at 7 pm so we left the house at 6 pm to give us enough time to find parking and find good seats. After we parked we walked to the theater and saw the line wrapped around the building with people wanting to get in. We got our tickets from will call then walked across the street to Hotel Congress and the Cup Cafe. I had no desire to wait in that line. We learned that the doors didn't open until 7 and the concert wasn't to begin until 8 pm. Jason didn't end up actually coming on stage until 8:45 pm. That was pretty annoying. Once he started playing though those bitter thoughts were washed away. He is a wonderful artist and such a witty performer. You can tell he passionately loves what he does. Here are some pictures from the concert. I took some video to but will upload those once I get home tonight. Enjoy!!

Thank you Valerie for our One Month Anniversary present! :)

(Brian in his ACU shirt...I would never tell him that but I know...I know!)