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!!!

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!!

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!!!

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!)