Turtle Turtle!!!

I hope you saw the last post about the rattlesnake...made for a fun Saturday evening. Sunday afternoon was a blast too. We went over the Bill & Kim Dycus' home for pool party fun time!! Brian forgot to mention that Kim & daughter (Drew) were at a dance recital so it was just me and the boys. The pool was nice and warm and it has already hit over 100 degrees here in Tucson!
Bill, Ryan & Brian hanging in the pool

The Dycus Family does not have a tradition pet but I think they may some of the coolest pets ever...and the most low maintenance!!





These suckers are big!!

And my favorite picture of the weekend!!!

This guy (the turtle...not Brian) grunts a lot and really just wants to eat grass. He will nip at your toes if you get too close!

The weekend rattle snake

We have had a great weekend! We both had our papers and outlines turned in before church this morning! Last night we drove out to Benson, AZ to have a dinner hang out time with Patrick, Kate and Jason (Patrick's HS buddy from Connecticut). Patrick had just put the steaks on the grill, Kate and I were inside talking in the kitchen and Brian and Jason were outside being boys when Brian loudly says, "Hey dude, I think that is a rattlesnake over there". So of course I yell, "WAIT! Don't do anything! I'm going to grab on camera!!" Which of course I always have with me!


Patrick was using a shovel to kill the snake. However, the sucker wouldn't die. Brian grabbed a hatchet and handed it to Patrick who then chopped the body from the head that was on the other side of the shovel. You can see the rattler pretty clearly from this picture.

Patrick is working hard on the snake while Brian excitingly watches from the other side of the brick fence.

The aftermath...


Patrick and I walked back around into the house. He went to go check on the steaks and they had all burnt to a crisp during our little adventure. Needless to say, dinner took about an hour longer to prepare since we had to defrost more meat. The blessing was we got to hangout outside for an hour spending quality time with each other.




The girls!!

The view from the back yard!

Patrick & Kate...I can't believe I actually captured this picture




We had such an awesome night! It was so nice getting to spend time with them and to see Jason again...the last time I saw him (and first time to meet him) was at Patrick & Kate's wedding!

Coming up next, pool time fun at Bill & Kim Dycus' home...with the massive turtles.

My new hair

I have been annoyed by my hair for the last couple of weeks. I had planned on going to the Toni & Guy Academy while I was in Farmers Branch next weekend. However, I woke up this morning and it just had to go. I didn't feel that I could deal with the length and grown out color for another week. I called the Ulta on Wetmore to see if they had any availability and specials today...and they had both! For just $50 I got a gloss and hair cut! it does not get better than that. Here are two pictures that I just took of the new look. Just a little shorter and a little darker! Hope you enjoy it too! :)

Don't these look like they should be a myspace photo :)

My first paper

I have been working on my Life Styles Inventory paper all week. It is due on Sunday. It is only 3-5 pages long double spaced so I know it will not be difficult to fill up the pages with words but I am really struggling with writing a decent paper! It has been over 5 years now since I have had to write a paper! I am sure it will get easier in the long run but right now I don't like it. Thanks for letting me take a little break from the paper to complain! Also, I have a one page outline due on Sunday for the BIG paper due at the end of the course...haven't even started on that one yet!

:)

100%

Now, I have only been in school one week and have only had one assignment so far but right now I am 40 for 40...or 100%. If I can just keep it up! :) How cool would it be to have a 4.0 in a Masters program. :)

An uneventful update

Nothing overly exciting has been going on. Brian and I both are trying to get used to being in school mode while not actually having to 'go to school'. It's a little weird... More than anything it is a matter of being disciplined to readings, assignments and discussion questions. We do have a group project coming up next week so we will be interacting with three other students in our class...I don't know if it is through email or phone yet.

I took a spinning class this morning at the YMCA. A spinning class is a one hour work out on a stationary bike. Great cardio work out! I am trying to be disciplined to take that class M & W, jog T, R & F and take a Pilate's class on Saturday mornings. That is the goal...then maybe I can start getting back into shape. I don't think I have ever had this much blubber around my belly...I stinkin' don't like it my friends!

Brian is definitely seeing results with his work out regimen. He and our friend Bill work out every morning together! Great job guys!

Work is going well for both of us. No complaints, that's for sure!
That's all I've got for now!
Love you!
Later!
Bye!

MBA

Today is day #1 of going to school...online style. It hasn't been so bad so far. I am very interested to see how this continues to go. This morning, Brian and I woke up at 5:15 am. He went to the gym, I went jogging around the neighborhood. I was showered, had breakfast and ready to go by 7 am...I don't go to work until 10:30 am. I have been reading Organizational Behavior and have already posted on the two discussion questions. The hard part will be staying disiplined to check in with the other posts and respond in addition to writing the papers and other assignments that will be given.

Brian and I had a nice weekend. Saturday morning we both had to work. Then Patrick came down from Benson on Saturday afternoon. We had a delicious dinner at Tavolino's and he ended up spending the night because it was very windy and he didn't want to drive his motorcycle on the highways so late at night. On Sunday we had a laid back morning until church at 10:30 am. We went to lunch with some of our friends and enjoyed a meal out on a patio...I am loving this heat!

I also got to speak with my aunt (JJ) very briefly until she decided that the person that beeped in was WAY more important than I was. Alas, I think I will be okay!

Happy Monday!

Happy 6 month anniversary... plus some

Brian and my 6 month anniversary was April 18th. It doesn't feel like it has been 6 months since our wedding and I do miss all the presents coming to our door every day! :) I realize that you are suppose to wait until your one year anniversary to thaw your cake and eat it in celebration but I really wanted the freezer space back and it took too much room in the fridge!
Here are the lovely thawed cakes...remember, Brian's grandma (Gini) made the Kranskaka. Whoever wrapped the wedding cake did a wonderful job keeping it airtight. I was very impressed when I was unwrapping it. The white chocolate curls were delicious!

This is Brian having a good attitude about eating "old" cake when he really didn't want to! :)



I dared him to shove that whole piece in his mouth...he got about half of it in! It was a hilarious moment!

Of course I didn't have a problem giving it a try! :) Hello!! Sugar!!
This is a shout out to all of my college McKay's cake party girls. We all have to do it!


The wedding cake was good. Not as fabulous as it was when we first had it but it was good for a bit or two. The Kranskaka was delicious though! We need to call Gini and let her know how yummy it still was. We will savor the kranskaka as long as it lasts!

This weekend, Brian's roommate Adam came for the weekend from Vegas. He was finishing up his spring break (he is in medical school...smarty pants) and decided to come hang out with us for a couple of days. It was so nice having him around again. He and Brian played paintball on Saturday morning. They both had some facinating bruises...I did try to take pictures but my camera could not do them justice. We just sat on the back porch Saturday evening and I had a yummy lobster dinner and Adam grilled shrimp skewers. It was so good!!

(This is an old picture of the boys but all I could find.)

And lastly, when I opened up by blinds the other morning there was a baby bunny eatting right out front of our bedroom sliding glass door! All the warm weather is bringing out all the fun animals!

Aunt JJ,
Are any of these pictures the one that you wanted? Let me know which one you want printed.
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And just in case you needed a reminder of my mother dancing away with Bailey...it just has to make you smile!


Aren't y'all so cute...


Or who could ever forget this moment...

Happy Easter

Yesterday was a very nice day. It poured (rain) most of Saturday so I was a little nervous for our Sunrise Service with the Fellowship Church of Christ at 6 AM on Sunday. Sunday morning was slightly overcast in the early morning but the skies parted over the mountains about 6:45 AM and the sun shined proudly the rest of the day.

After the sunrise service, which consisted of camping chairs and blankets in the middle of a gravel opening at the Narajana Town Site, we went over to one of the church members homes that lives super close to the Town Site and had pancakes, omelettes to order, scrambled eggs, etc together. This is one of the blessings of going to a church that has approximately 44 members! It was so nice to have that fellowship time together.

Once we were all done with breakfast we went over to the Ronald McDonald House and made an Easter lunch for all the families that are staying there as their children are receiving medical treatments. All in all, it was a very rewarding day.

The rest was spent sitting on a couch next to Brian reading Harry Potter Book 7 together. We have to finish it before April 27th...our first day of going back to school. Brian and I are both beginning MBA programs through the Keller School of Management at DeVry University.

Freaking out a bit...

So I have enjoyed having a laid back Saturday. I opened up my Netflix queue to see what movie we are going to be getting next. I noticed our list is getting short so I thought about adding so tv shows that would be nice to catch up on. I immediately went to abc.com to see what tv shows I would like to watch...and I saw this. Just a little weird! It is not normal to see your name on the internet as a tv show.

On a lighter note, I finished Harry Potter Book 6 today. I am SOOOO ready for the movie to be out now. On to book 7 now. Brian and I are reading it together. I know...how sweet! :)

Happy Saturday!

Little blessings...

...they come in all shapes in sizes. With the focus for both of us being balancing work and relationship (like so many of my peers too) we are trying to find the little blessings in life. Last night we were able to meet up with Patrick and Kate for some sushi at Ra and then dessert at Frost geleto!!YUMMY :)

This morning Brian HADDDD to finish Harry Potter Box 6. I left for church and told him to meet me when we finished the book. He had 8 pages left and COULD NOT put it down! :) He was about 7 minutes late. When I got to church, Nathan the preacher, as well as 4 other people asked if Brian had to work this morning. My response, "He has to finish a book he's been reading. He's on the last chapter." Everyone completely understood. :) Not Brian has started on Book 7 and I am rereading box 6 so I will be prepared before it comes to the theaters on July!! Brian has made so much progress from all of those days of torment when he did not understand the Goode Girls obsessing with all that is The Harry Potter books. He finally gets it girls!!!

On Saturday evening Brian was on the phone looking out the front window when he saw my precious baby bunny. I love all the bunnies and there has been a precious little baby bunny I look out for every day. It was just sitting out front of our house chilling. I took these two pictures...


(Look toward the bottom right corner if you can't find the bunny)
...and then walked out side to see if I could catch it and pet it. That didn't go to well. Brian and I looked under the different cactus and hiding places. I finally saw it again but by the time I got my camera out it ran away again. Sad. Alas... at least I don't have to feed the suckers or pick up their poop. So, I've got that going for me.

Brian noticed a bunch of yellow flowers moving and then realized all the ants were carrying them. We followed them from their house they are building over by were the bunny was and realized they were coming all the way past Brian's office window on the other side of the house. I don't know how far away that is but it's a pretty long haul.


They ants are carrying the little yellow flowers! It was cool to watch for a little while.

Now for this evening...Brian and I had been reading our Harry Potter books and decided to hit up the mall to find him some jeans that fit. We were successful...PTL! On our way home we decided to check out the American Home Furnishing Going out of Business auction to see if they had an good final deals on a nice dining room set. We checked in and actually got a ticket so we could bid if we found anything good. Here is Brian working his magic...

except we didn't buy anything. I think he is going to try to go back tomorrow and see if he can find a kitchen table!

Who knew an auction could be so fun!

The Real Deal

So, instead of writing my own account of the week, which you pretty much already got in the last post, I figured I would direct you to the bride's post where there are a ton of pictures and a more accurate account of the weekend festivities. Read/scroll through the last three posts to get it all and see Lindsey in her gorgeous wedding dress! She actually walked barefoot down the aisle and then slipped on her boots for dinner and dancing!

I LOVE TEXAS!

My college roommate, Lindsey McCrary, got married this past Friday in Austin, Texas. A bunch of the college gang was able to come into town (or they already lived in town) to play!

I left Tucson on Wednesday morning to make it to Austin via Dallas by 5 pm so I could help begin the celebration with the bachelorette party! Of course that just happened to be the day that weather wanted to blow through the south. We left Tucson on time flying through 80 degree clear skies! Once we got into the metroplex we got to circle over the city and surrounding areas for an hour until the weather had calmed. DFW airport had to shut down completely during that time so no flights were going in or coming out. Once we landed I found that my flight to Austin has been canceled. I scrambled to get on the next flights stand by list but the earliest seat I could be guaranteed was not until 8:30 that night...the bachelorette party was starting at 6:30 pm. Luckily, I was able to get a seat on the early flight! YEAH!!

Well, during this time the weather that had blown through Dallas was over Austin causing high winds and golf ball size hail. Once we were on the plane we taxied to the take off stripe. Then we got to sit on the side lines for about an hour until the weather cleared over Austin.

Wonderful Chez Dishman was able to get me from the airport and then go to Moonshine for dinner and Pete's Piano Bar on 6th street for singing and catching up! Lindsey got to go sit on the piano while they sang a song to her...it was dirty and inappropriate and that is just how those piano guys are.

On Thursday we went to Oasis Day Spa for mani's and pedi's which was just much fun!! We went to the rehearsal at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center. The weather had been yucky all morning so there were a bunch of puddles and we were all nervous for the weather on Friday since the reception was suppose to be outdoors. After the rehearsal we went to a delicious Italian restaurant in Lakeway for the rehearsal dinner.

Melanie Knox Larson, Katrina Kincaid, Aubrey Eyer, Lindsey McCrary (almost Stokes!!!), Catherine Wick, Elizabeth Robinson

**I have to go to work now...I'll continue with Friday through Sunday soon**