New Camp Trailer Idea

Theresa has graciously allowed me to post my random musings here, and this is the first one. We love camping. We like anything that allows us to get out there more, quicker, and easier. We are building a teardrop... S L O W L Y. Having one unfinished project doesn't stop me from daydreaming about a million other ideas involving camping trailers. I saw an article in 4 Wheel Drive Magazine recently about building an off-road trailer on a budget...here's the article.

I love the idea but at first I scoffed at his idea of "budget". Seriously a brand new ARE truck cap for $1800? Professional paint job for $400? Professionally applied Rhino Lining for $375? Why not get a DIY bedliner kit and apply it yourself for around $100? While your at it, why not rattle-can the thing yourself for under $100? Search Craigslist and similar sites and I know you could find a used truck cap a LOT cheaper. That's how I originally thought I would do it if I were in his shoes. Upon further consideration I came up with a new plan of how I would do it:

First, my truck bed trailer would use a utility bed, like this one:


All those cabinets on the outside would be great for storage, and generally the utility beds are tougher than normal pick up truck beds.

Next up...the cap. And for that I'd use a Flip-pac truck topper like this:


With the Flip-pac you can now stand in your truck bed trailer, you could cook in there, and you'd have a lot more storage space inside while getting there. With the "budget" trailer you'd have to stack all your gear on top of you mattress. Ever had a grease trap on a Coleman stove leak out, I have and I definitely wouldn't want it on my sleeping area (think dirt and attracting animals).


After that, you could do any number of other neat little touches like matching the axle under the trailer to your rear axle on your tow vehicle so that you always have a spare axle and parts in case you break way out in the middle of nowhere. Also you'd have two spare tires if needed, just swap out the flat on your tow vehicle with one of the trailer wheels, leave the trailer, drive back to civilization to get the flat tire fixed, and go back for the trailer... beats walking miles back to a repair shop! Also there has to be a way to use the spinning yoke on the trailer axle to do something. Maybe it could be used to generate electricity? I'd also drop the original gas tank and replace it with a water tank, and utilize the gas filler door to fill the water tank. You could have x# of gallons of water for drinking, showering, washing dishes, etc. You could have one of the cabinets on the utility bed flip down into a table for cooking. You could mount electric RV jacks at each of the four corners to level the trailer, you could mount a retractable awning to the flip-pac to provide shade, you could make (or buy) sliding drawers in the bed of the truck to hold even more stuff like this:


...the possibilities are endless.

So there's my latest idea for a camping trailer, feel free to use any or all of it, but if you do please send me some pics and info!

randomness. dig it.

Since our last blog post, I have had a million things I've wanted to blog about. But since I have spent the last 2 weeks getting back in the swing of things at work and still getting used to motherhood (will I ever get used to it?), the last thing I want to do when I get home is blog.

In fact, there actually really is no time to blog about everything I have wanted to - going back to work, balancing baby life with work life and home life, No Shave November, how stores start decorating for Christmas the day after Halloween, how much I love this time of year, my goal to not procrastinate shopping this year, how we might need a new car soon, how we can't afford a new car or christmas presents right now because i haven't been paid for 2 months, etc. etc.

Okay.

Looking back over that list, maybe it's a good thing there was no time to blog about it.

But I DO want to talk about a camping trip we took last weekend. It was our first camping trip since the 4th of July weekend, and our first camping trip with Vincent. I will admit. I was VERY nervous about it since he is just barely 3 months old this week.

Joe's parents were in town from New England and my parents went with us as well. After all, it was both our parents who created the love of camping in each of us. So it was quite the family trip. And Vincent was an angel. He was so quite the entire trip and just loved being outdoors.

For me, it was definitely exhausting. Very nice and peaceful. But exhausting. I remember camping trips where I could just sit and relax and breathe in the smell of nature with no distractions at all. It was still mostly like that, except now there are distractions. Now I'm not saying that having Vincent there was a bad thing. Quite the opposite, actually. I look forward to taking him camping as much as possible so that he can enjoy it with us. But it was just different this time around. And having a small baby meant that I could never really FULLY 100% relax.

You know?

But what I think is the coolest thing about this trip is that Vincent was able to be in the same place at the same time with ALL of his grandparents. When people have children when they are super young, this might not seem like that abnormal of a thing. But my mother had me at about the same age I am now, and I was never able to be with all of my grandparents at the same time. I was unfortunate to never even meet one of them because he had passed away long before my birth. And Joe never met all of his grandparents either. Is this really that abnormal? Or is it just abnormal for me and Joe?

Anyway, I just thought it was the coolest thing, and something that we'll be able to tell Vincent for years to come. That his first camping trip ever was spent with his parents and ALL of his grandparents (and Lucy, too, of course!). And let me tell you this...this kid's grandparents love the crap out of him. He is one really lucky little boy.

Seriously. How cool is this?

Grandma K, Grandma M, Vincent (sleeping), Grandpa M, Grandpa K

lucy fur the swimming beagle dog

As Joe mentioned in his last post, we had a very memorable weekend. And, part of that weekend was spent letting Lucy swim at Watson Lake near Prescott. We had to keep her leashed, but she still had a blast.

Take a look!



:-)

a very memorable weekend

We had quite the interesting trip this past weekend.

My work gave me Monday & Tuesday off so Theresa took Tuesday off giving us a 4 day weekend. We decided that due to the ridiculously hot weather we’d go somewhere as high as possible (for every 1000 feet you go up in elevation the temperature drops 3.5 degrees). We also decided to borrow her parent’s Coleman pop-up since tent camping really isn’t an option with a 8 1/2 month pregnant woman.

Our adventure began on Friday because I went into work for overtime, which messed up our packing and shopping because I usually have it done before T gets home. I even had prescriptions I had to go pick up, and neither Theresa nor I was feeling the greatest. By the time we ate dinner, went to pick up prescriptions, and got all our gear together it was 9:30pm. We headed down to Tempe to pick up the pop-up and spent the night at Theresa’s parents house in the guest room.

The following morning we got up, went food shopping, and hooked up the trailer. By this time it was about 9:30am and much later than I wanted to be leaving. The temperature was already over 100 degrees and climbing.

We got on the highway and got about 10 miles north of Phoenix when we saw a sigh warning us of a crash 27 miles ahead… less than 2 miles later we were at a dead stop. Because of the extreme heat, plus towing a trailer, plus the stop and go traffic, I had the terrifying experience of watching the engine’s temperature gague creeping up. When it got to ¾ we had to shut off the A/C.

Now we were sitting in 110 plus degree temp.’s, in stop and go traffic, with no A/C…not a good situation for anyone, but doubly bad for a pregnant woman and small animal. We immediately broke out the GPS and found an alternate route to Prescott and around the accident, but we had to creep 2 miles forward to the next exit to take advantage of it. When we finally got there we were ecstatic to whip a U-turn and start heading south on I-17 at 65mph. Once the air was moving over the radiator again Monty’s (Monty = the Montero) temp gague went back to its normal position at 1/3 of the way up. With the A/C back on, we were happily on our way, again.

First major crisis averted.

If you know anything about Arizona, you know that taking the Carefree Highway (SR74) all the way through Wickenburg to SR89, then following 89 to Prescott is the L O N G way. We were just happy to be moving with cold air blowing over us. Also, if you’ve never taken this route I highly recommend it, the ride is much more scenic and interesting.

After climbing one set of mountain passes we went through the cool little town of Yarnell. Never would have known it was there at all!

Eventually we made our way to Prescott and made our way towards Mount Mingus where we hoped to camp. We turned off 89 onto the badly maintained road that leads to the top of Mingus and were praying that there would be an open site. One mile from the CG my heart sank when I saw a “campground full” sign.

Being optimistic, we decided to go check it out anyway reasoning that maybe somebody had left and nobody took down the sign. We’d been in the truck for roughly 5 hours. Arriving at the campground on top of the mountain it was indeed full.

Bummer!

We discussed our options while heading back towards the highway. There was a free dispersed camping area about a mile away from Mingus campground, there was Potato patch campground about 2 miles away, and there were hotels in Prescott (that allowed dogs, with vacancy?).

After checking out the dispersed camping area we (Theresa) decided that it was a little too primitive for our current situation. There were no bathrooms at all, no water, very little level smooth ground and a lot of forest between sites.

So we headed over to check out Potato Patch Campground since we’ve never camped there. The first loop was for RV’s and it was basically a parking lot, but there were sites open. The second loop was paved, but much more our style with spacious sites, trees, grass, pit toilets and water… and there were sites open!

Crisis #2 averted.

We picked a nice spot far away from other sites and backed the trailer in only to realized that the door was on the wrong side, i.e. I was 180 degrees from the picnic table and fire ring. Because I haven’t backed up a trailer in quite some time I did not want to switch sites so we did what any self respecting Pollocks would do… we unhooked the trailer and turned it around in the site by hand.



Set up was quick and easy and other than forgetting to put the awning on before popping the camper up, went off without a hitch. Shortly thereafter an afternoon shower cooled things off nicely. Finally some good luck and Saturday ended on a good note.

Sunday morning we were awoken before dawn by coyotes that sounded really close. It was one of the coolest and weirdest sounds we had ever heard before. Kind of like a mix of dog and hyena.

Later that morning after breakfast we decided to head back towards Prescott and check out a lake we had seen on the ride in the day before. Watson Lake was beautiful, but temporarily closed to swimmers due to water quality. Being the rebels we are we let Lucy swim anyway, and stood in the water to cool off.

When we had cooled off a little and were getting hungry we decided to head back to the center of Prescott to see if the event we saw yesterday was still underway. It was and we walked around the “fine arts and crafts show” for a while then sat down on the common in a shady spot to listen to a Military Band play and eat shaved ice.

Refreshed, we started back to camp and saw ominous dark clouds in the vicinity of where we were camping. Normally not an issue as we love rain in the desert, but I sort of freaked when I remembered I left all the windows partially open in our borrowed camper.

Not good.

I drove as fast as I safely could worrying that we would get back and find a large puddle inside the trailer. Arriving right as the rain started we shut all the windows and celebrated our good fortune with naked dancing in the rain.

Not really, I just wanted to see if you were still reading this long blog entry.

Crisis #3 averted.

It poured rain most of the night and we slept soundly, dry and comfortable in the trailer. Well actually T slept soundly, I couldn’t sleep and layed awake listening to the really close coyotes making more noise than the previous night. It was actually really cool because I think I could distinguish adult and baby coyotes yipping, barking, and howling, and even though they sounded like they were right across the street I wasn’t worried and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Monday morning started off uneventful and we made breakfast and broke camp in a timely fashion. Once underway we had a 30 mile drive to the highway, and we made it about 25 miles before small vibration started and soon became a big vibration. I looked into my side-view mirror and saw chunks of rubber flying off the driver side trailer tire.

We had blown a tire on the trailer.

We pulled over quickly, and got as far off the road as possible. Luckily we had everything needed to change the tire, and I started while Theresa watched traffic for me since about half of the vehicles going by didn’t even move over. A few minutes later a DPS officer showed up and blocked traffic for me so I could concentrate on fixing the tire and worry about being hit.
Eventually, I got the tire on, lowered the jack, and tightened the lug nuts. Then I thought that I should check the pressure to avoid another blowout. I could not find the valve stem. Then it dawned on me… I put the spare tire on backwards.

DOH!

At this point, the officer let Theresa sit in the back of his cop SUV with the A/C going while I changed the tire and chatted with the cop. He wouldn’t let me take pictures of her in there, though. Anyway, I jacked the trailer back up, took the wheel off and put it on correctly. Checked the pressure and it was a little low but safe enough to get us to the gas station right before the highway.

When we got to the gas station I pulled up to the air pump and grabbed a tire gague from the car. When I got back to the trailer I realized that my tire pressure gague was worthless because it only went up to 40 PSI, and the tire needed 55 PSI minimum.

Did I mention I was sweating like a pig by now because it was 100-ish degrees?

Umm yeah.

Hot and sweaty.

Luckily the gas station had a heavy duty gague I was able to borrow and I got the tire up to the proper pressure.

Crisis #4 averted.

I worried a little about what would happen if we blew another tire on the way home, but my worrying was uneccessary, and we made it home safely and without incident, swam in the pool, ate food, and enjoyed the rest of the 4th of July.

PS - The rest of the pictures will be on Facebook soon!

adventure parents

Joe and I (and Princess Lucy Pants, of course) went camping this past weekend with my family.

Every year (for the past decade and a half at least), a group of people from my parent's work have been getting together every summer for a Summer Solstice Campout at Reynold's Creek, which is in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness east of Lake Roosevelt. Joe and I went in 2008 and 2009, and we missed it last year but decided to go again this year. And it was really awesome!

My folks recently picked up a cute little vintage canned ham trailer for themselves and this was their first camping trip with it.

It's so cute!!


And since Joe recently installed our hitch/tow assembly on the Montero (our birthday gift to each other), we ended up pulling their pop-up trailer and stayed in that for the weekend. It was really nice. I seriously LOVE camping!!! The stars, the fresh air, the cooking, the people, the lack of traffic and noise, the happy beagle...all of it! And it's always a little sad having to come back to the city, but it's nice knowing that it won't be long before we head out to the great outdoors again.

And, yes...we are planning on camping with our little one. Oh yes...and he will like it! He will be conforming to our life and what we like to do, so camping is just a given! And of course we're not expecting it to be perfect by any means of the word, but some things like this are important to us, so little Baby McG will be forced along for the ride.

After all, the Adventure Parents said it best when they said, "Just Because Kids Will Ruin Your Carpet Doesn't Mean They'll Ruin Your Outdoor Adventures."

Right? :-)

teardoppings

Check out our teardroppings HERE!!

the elephants have come and gone

The fact that our last blog entry was 4 months ago is abominable. My entry about The Cove yesterday doesn't count because it was my attempt at a PSA. So I count the last true McGresa blog entry as June 23rd. Really? It's October people!! What in the name of all that is holy have we been doing since then?

Well...

I remember talking about the elephants walking down the street in downtown Phoenix. That means our circus adventure has come and gone and obviously those elephants are long gone as well. But they were so cute. The circus was actually super entertaining altogether and I'm really glad that we all went. I really like the elephants, but the tigers were actually pretty amazing, too, because there was a big circular cage with one man and nine tigers. Yep...you saw that right. NINE tigers. ONE man. That guy has some major cojones, I'll tell you that much! I think my favorite part of the circus, though, was the motorcycle cage ball thingiedoo. There was one point when the cage had 7 bikes riding around and around. Utterly amazing. So, just as a quick summary - the circus was AWESOME!



Also...remember me talking about those pounds I lost? Yeah. Definitely gained some of them back. Not all of them. Not even half of them. But definitely a few. So my goal of losing 50 pounds in one year was not reached. Oh well...the fight goes on, right?

I also remember talking about my jury duty experience a little bit, too. Well, I was NOT picked as I mentioned before and the trial was the State of Arizona against a young man accused of child abuse and the first degree murder of a 13-month old child. Apparently, from what I gather of the story, he and his girlfriend had a child together. Then they split up at some point and the girl got pregnant again by another man. Then the young man got back together with this girl and now they were taking care of both his child and the other man's child. Confused? Yeah. Well, anyway. He was accused of allegedly killing the child that was NOT his biological child but the 6-week-or-so-long trial ended up being declared a mistrial because the jury could not come to a unanimous verdict. In this case, preparations for a second trial were discussed but the young man ended up pleading guilty to manslaughter and will be sentenced at the end of this month. But manslaughter? That's it? Ugh.

In case you are curious about some of the case details, you can find more information here and here. In case you are not curious in the slightest, please press onward...

In addition to that, to name a few things that have happened since June:

1. we saw the Twilight Saga's Eclipse and Joe loved it
2. we went camping on Mingus Mountain
3. we went camping on Mount Lemmon
4. we babysat Lucy's boyfriend, Yuma
5. Joe took his FIRST trip to California!
6. we went camping on Mingus Mountain a second time and literally within 20 minutes of starting to set up camp Lucy had already dug up a squeaky ball she buried when we camped there 2 months earlier
   
7. Theresa sang in the wedding of a lifelong friend and biffed up one of the songs that had a Spanish verse (which really isn't the WORST thing in the world except for the fact that 90% of the people at the wedding spoke Spanish!)
   
8. Theresa celebrated her 2 year anniversary with University of Phoenix
9. Joe celebrated his 3 year anniversary with Powill Mfg & Eng
10. Joe ALSO celebrated his 2 year anniversary of having a new kidney (WOO HOO!!!)
    
11. Lucy celebrated her 3rd birthday (crazy!!)
12. we started preparing and planning to build a teardrop trailer...and we can't WAIT until we are able to camp in it!!

More things have happened since June, but that's all that comes to mind right now because we have to get going and take Lucy to the park for a play date with her boyfriend. Hope you enjoyed the quick recap of our crazy past 4 months. Hope you all are well.

XOXO,
T and Joe and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Fur

alive and kickin'

Hey everyone!

I know it's been quite a while since we last blogged it up on our site, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to procrastinate my homework a little longer and type up a blog because it's really depressing to me that our last one was three months ago. That's just ridiculous. So...

Everything has been going well. Joe, Lucy and I are all good. That is all.

Bye, and thanks for reading!!

he he he

Kidding. Here goes...

• Camping - Joe and I went camping in Tucson for our Anniversary in February and ended up getting snowed out. We were camped at a place towards the bottom of Mt. Lemmon, but decided to drive up towards the top of the Mountain to sight see and walk around only to be greeted by an impending snow storm. It was crazy. A heck of a lot of fun. But crazy. When we drove back down to our campsite, it was raining heavily with a little bit of snow/slush mixed in, so instead of sticking it out and getting hypothermia, we packed up and went to a hotel for the night. We were able to go camping again in April, though. Mom and dad, Joe, Lucy and I went up near Prescott and camped up there. It was WONDERFUL! I love camping so much. It's a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of Phoenix, spend time with nature and each other, and relax. And making campfires is fun, too.
  
• Snow - Joe and Lucy Fur and Alanna and I were fortunate enough to get up north before the winter season was over and played around in the snow. And Flagstaff is so much fun! We spent some time sledding up at the Wing Mountain Play Area just outside of Flag and drove up to Snow Bowl, too. I can't wait until winter again! (and yes...I know it's just barely May).
  
• Camera - My camera was stolen at the annual Ostrich Festival in Chandler. Joe, Alanna and I had finished watching a freak show (yeah...interesting) and were walking towards the ostrich races when I realized I had left my camera on the seat. We were gone for only a couple minutes and it was already gone. No one turned it in either. I'm just thankful there were only a few pictures on it. There was one of Joe eating an ostrich burger, so I apologize for those whi were looking forward to seeing that. :-) On a side note, though, I am so disgutsed by the fact that this camera, which was a gift from Joe for Christmas just FIVE MONTHS AGO, is nowhere to be found. Why in God's name do there need to be so many camera models made all the time. I love this camera and apparently will never have another one because it has literally vanished from all existence and is NOWHERE to be found. Why do they have to discontinue cameras so quickly just to make new models that will be discontinued in 6 months anyway?
  
• School - I finally started my master's program and am just finishing up my second course. I've been doing really well, so far (whenever I don't procrastinate) and am actually enjoying learning again. The course I am in right now is called Life-Span Development and it has mainly brushed up on some things I already knew from my undergrad studies, but it's just really interesting to speak with a facilitator who is actually in the field and to learn from what she has to say. The topics are interesting as well. Most recently I have examined my own family tree on both my father's and mother's sides and analyzed different traits of each person to help in determining which characteristics are hereditary and which are a result of environmental factors. I'm probably boring you, so I'll just end by saying that I'm actually liking it a little more than I thought I would.
  
• Family visit - Joe's mom, sister Jen and nephew Jason just came out to Arizona for a visit a couple weeks ago. Jason is looking into attending a school out here in the Phoenix area so they came for a tour and to see Joe and Theresa and Lucy...the most amazing Phoenicians who ever lived. :-) We hung out, walked around Papago Park, played with Lucy Fur, and just had a good time. It is so nice having visitors so please come back! And anyone who wants to come visit, just give us a heads up and we'll get the guest room set up for ya!!
  
• Lucy -Lucy is doing well. She apparently needs long-term medication for her tick fever because it's still in her little body. But she isn't just a lump of fur anymore. She eats normally, is very playful at times, and is fairly healthy overall. But she has to take daily meds for six months. She'll go in for another check up later this year, at which point they will determine if they can lower the dosage or create another treatment plan. But overall, she's good. She's still pretty calm, but does have so normal beagle energy, so that's good. Poor beagle. Stupid little tick. What did she ever do to you?
• People and the never-ending quest to understand them - I am amazed by people and technology. What it is even more amazing is how people use technology. For example, technology is used for things such as relaying big news to family/friends in a quick and easy manner. It is used to keep in touch with long lost friends and rebuild friendships from years past. It is also used...apparently...to "break up" with friends. Sending hateful emails to friends and family, deleting people as friends from Facebook, ostracizing family/friends by blocking them from each other. Technology, while I love it and understand how it is helpful (for doing things like blogging!), has sometimes become an avenue where people lead such passive-aggressive lives. It's kind of ridiculous.
  
• Work - On a lighter note, work has been going well for both Joe and I. I actually really like my job. One thing that happened recently that was a little sad, however, is that the team I have worked with over the past year and a half (or so) was taken away from me. :-( Sad. The entire division was reorganized. It takes me time to build friendships and working relationships with people...especially on a team where there were already "issues" when I first came on board. But relationships are not just an automatic thing for me. I don't meet someone and instantly become in sync with them. And it definitely took awhile for everyone on our team to work well together. Finally, a year and a half later, when we are on a roll, working super well together as as high performing team...surprise! See ya later guys. They switched us around and now we're no longer together. While I know I will still see my old teammates regularly and while I know my new teammates will be good to work with as well, it's still just sad because of the amount of effort I put in to that team. We were like a little family of sorts. I liked them so much! All I have to say is that my new teammates have some pretty big shoes to fill. As for Joe...I know Joe likes his job, too (for the most part! he he), and is also thinking of possibly going back to school within the next couple years as well. So work is good. We have jobs and can pay bills. So that's good enough for me!
  
• Books - I decided to start a book review blog. I only have one review so far, but seriously. Check it out. This book is awesome. And I know this was written MONTHS ago when I didn't have too much going on and there will definitely be more to come, but don't judge. Just read.
  
• Joe - Joe told me to make sure that I add in here a quick note for him because he wants everyone knows how much he loves me. How sweet! :-)

Phew! How was that for procrastinating? :-) Have a great weekend everyone! Hope all is well...

XOXO
T

blogging it up!

Here are some updates on the Arizona McGowan clan.

Lucy:
For a reminder of Lucy Fur's latest health debacle, glance through our previous post. Christmas and the two weeks that followed were a pretty tense time on the Lucy front, actually. But after almost two thousand dollars' worth of testing (and a stressful holiday), they concluded that she had tick fever. The valley fever results came back negative, thank GOODness. They put her on a special bland diet, liver booster pills, probiotics, and antibiotics (why the probiotics and antibiotics don't cancel each other out, is beyond me) and then, after follow up testing, decided to keep her on the bland diet along with doxycycline for the tick fever. We will be having her 6 week follow up this week, at which time we will see if the liver enzymes have reduced (meaning less treatment) or not (meaning long term treatment plan is needed). Will keep you posted.

Car:
In addition to paying for vet visits and beagle meds, we also needed to buy a new car. When I say "new car" I mean new for us....not brand new as in "never been owned before". Over the holidays, Joe's truck finally went kaput. For good this time. And after researching different options, he decided that it wasn't worth the money that it would take to fix it. Sad. I actually really liked that little truck! And also, it's a royal pain in the REAR to have to get a new vehicle. But we ended up looking around to see what was out there in the used department. My dad actually found an SUV that was for sale and parked in the parking lot of where my Granny (mom's mom) moved to. 2002 Mitsubishi Montero, ES Sport, low miles, one owner, maintained really well, minor blemishes, decent asking price. After we test drove it, it was a done deal! Here's a pic. We call him Monty.


And I really hope we don't have to get another car for a LONG time!!

Camping:
Our year has gotten off to a rotten start as far as camping is concerned. We didn't go AT ALL in the month of January!! To our defense, we had outrageous vet bills plus a new car to buy. BUT...we are FINALLY going camping in a couple weeks to celebrate our first anniversary. SO WEIRD!!! It literally feels like yesterday you were all here to help celebrate the start of our marriage. And as cliche as this sounds, time really does fly by when you're having fun. It's definitely been a stressful year at times, but the fact that we don't hate each other yet is good news, right? :-)

Et Cetera:

• We went to the most AWESOME Polish Restaurant last weekend with the family. I don't think I've had authentic polish food since my grandma Bubba (dad's mom) was alive. She used to make the most yummy Golabki. And pierogies have ALWAYS been a favorite. This place was amazing. It's called A Touch of Europeon Cafe. Check it out!!!
  
• I don't even want to tell you all how much weight I've gained over the past 4 years. It's quite disgusting, actually. But I started a diet in November and I've lost about 27 pounds since then. I've been off the diet for about a month now, but I'll be starting again in a few weeks. I'm not quite at my goal weight yet and I know it'll be a neverending struggle, but I'm happy that I've been able to stick with it. Can't wait to lose about a million more!!
• Last, but certainly not least, I am finally Finally FINALLY starting my masters program in a couple weeks. Crazy, huh? It's been almost 10 years since I finished my bachelor's degree and I've struggled with finding the motivation to continue for quite some time, actually. But, since I'm an academic counselor and I speak with students every day, trying to remind them of the importance of continuing their education, I find it quite hypocritical that I don't "practice what I preach." You know what I mean. All in all, I'm scared that I might fail and I'm nervous about how much time I'll have to spend. But I'm also excited about learning more about what I'm interested in and I'm looking forward to having another degree to fall back on. It's going to be hard and I might tell you all (at some point) that I want to quit. But, please....don't let me!!

I hope you are doing well.....we love and miss you all.....and to those we haven't seen in a while, we hope to see you soon!!

do you know what that sound is, highness?....

...those are the shrieking eels!

This post, actually, has nothing to do with the Princess Bride (which is where that quote comes from, for those of us who are uncultured), but it just popped into my head for some reason.

Anyway...

HI EVERYONE!!! I know it's seemed like a bojillion years since we last blogged, so I thought I'd drop you all a line. It really hasn't been a bojillion years, but tons of things have definitely been going on, so we've been a little preoccupied:

SEPTEMBER

• LUCY - We are not millionaires because Lucy did not win the cutest dog competition. :o( For those of you who actually did vote and continue to show your endless support of our gorgeous beagle dog, THANK YOU! Maybe we'll have better luck next year. Or maybe we'll start a dog talent competition, or something. Lucy's pretty amazing at sitting, laying down, rolling over, speaking, and playing hide and seek! Anyway, to see information on the winner of the competition, click here.

OCTOBER

• SWINE - I'm pretty sure I had the swine flu in October. Joe and Alanna and I had planned a camping trip for the first weekend of October and, even though I started feeling like death with a fever of 103, NOTHING was going to get in the way of camping. I had a fever for a couple days and we were scheduled to go on a Friday night and I really didn't want to pull the plug on the trip. So we headed out of Phoenix and during the ride I think something pretty crazy happened because I don't remember much from that night. My fever seemed to skyrocket and I was freezing and burning up all at the same time. I'm pretty sure I was delirious (Joe and Alanna can probably give more details) and it seriously felt like I was actually dead. Not fun. We stayed one night and packed up first thing in the morning. :o( Sad!! It probably wasn't really the swine flu (I tend to exaggerate), but it was pretty brutal. On the positive side, I've hit my sick quotient for the year, so hopefully I won't be sick again for a long time.
• LUCY - Lucy turned TWO!! YAHOOOO!!!! Okay, so maybe this is only exciting to us.
• KIDNEY - Joe celebrated his first anniversary with his new kidney on October 7th!! It's definitely been a roller coaster as far as that goes - being more apt to get diseases and virus due to the suppressed immune system. They are constantly meeting with him, always doing new lab work, adjusting medications due to differences in blood levels and new viruses that pop up, keeping him healthy, etc. The Mayo Clinic and all of Joe's doctors in this city are really top notch. And so is Jen for being the awesome donor!! :o)
  

NOVEMBER

• MOVING - We moved into a new place!! Moving is always super stressful (especially when you realize about 1/3 of the stuff you own could probably just be thrown away), so we are glad to have that over and done with. And, as of yesterday, we have now been in the new place about a month and are pretty much all unpacked and settled in. It's a nice place, too. It's just about 3 miles away from our previous place, so it's in the same general area, but it's about $200 cheaper per month, so we're REALLY excited about saving some extra money. Which is something that isn't easy to do this day and age.
• WILDLIFE - We take Lucy for nightly walks around the new neighborhood and have had the opportunity of seeing and hearing different wildlife such as rabbits, owls, coyotes and even javelinas!! HOW COOL IS THAT??
• WORK - The coming of this month signaled my first anniversary at my current job. It's really crazy how time flies when you're having....fun? Yeah. Amazing. There are DEFINITELY days when things drag and situations get stressful at work (poor Joe never seems to hear the end of it, either) but, for the most part, I have actually grown to really enjoy my new position. This month has been really stressful at work because it's the end of my first year, so I had to work some overtime and work as hard as possible to make sure that I ended it with a bang (want to get some good points on my review!!). It's hard to do with unexpected issues that come up, fires that need to be put out, lives to save, etc. But on the other hand, there is a lot of teamwork involved, so there is a lot of time to continually improve upon communicating effectively with each other. There are great benefits and a lot of opportunity for growth. There are people who really make each day worthwhile. And among all the good and the bad (which you seem to find no matter WHERE you work), it's really been a pretty good experience so far.
• NEW MOON - I have nothing to say about it that won't make you all roll your eyes. So will spare you my thoughts.
  
• THANKSGIVING - It's scary how quickly Thanksgiving has come and gone, you know? My family traveled on a tour of Ireland for the holiday last week (the price was right) but Joe and decided to save our bucks (will visit Ireland someday...) and stuck around Phoenix. We had an awesome dinner celebration at my aunt and uncle's house and hung out and played games afterwards. We went camping amongst coyotes for a few days at Apache Lake, where we went last Thanksgiving. And had a really nice, stress-free weekend. I love Thanksgiving. And I am still so very thankful for everything listed here...and more!!
  

DECEMBER

Dude. Back off. It JUST STARTED!!! he he.

Really, though. December. Ahhh.

• Weather changes (finally).
  
• Holiday decorations.
  
• The season of giving.
• Making new year resolutions.
  
• Spending time with family.
• Enjoying life.
  

Hmmmm. I utterly love this time of year. :o)

Ciao for now!

reflections

The past week and a half have been kind of a blur for me. A lot has happened, both good and bad, but most of all...growth. A lot of growth in myself, growth with family and friends and, especially, growth with Joe. One thing I've learned in the past week and a half is that life throws you curve balls without even a moment's notice, you just have to learn how to catch them.

Today I am thankful for:

1. Family - Especially Mom, Dad and Alanna. You are my most favorite people in the whole entire world.
   
2. Alanna - I am so thankful that your trip in the South Pacific was safe and that you are finally home!
3. Friends - You know who you are. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have you in my life as my lucky stars and rocks of support. I learn more from each of you every day.
   
4. Lucy - My little ball of beagle fur. I am thankful for your hugs, your yawns, your kisses, your stretching, your cockroaches, your zoomies, your growls, your cuddles, the way you smell, the way you run up to us when we get home like we are the most important people in your universe. I love everything about you!
   
5. Work - In these tough economic times, I am so thankful to be working for a solid company that has much interest and support of their employees. Without this job I would not be able to camp, travel, pay rent, pay bills, buy groceries, etc. I am so thankful to have this job.
   
6. Health - I am thankful to be alive. This summer has been pretty rough (especially with regards to heat), but my health is something I definitely need to stop taking for granted and try to preserve. I'm starting to get into the swing of the gym again and, once the weather cools off, we'll be able to go for rides and hikes again.
   
7. Jen - I am so thankful that you gave one of your kidneys to Joe. It is the most amazing gift a person could ever receive. Sadly, words really can't even express gratitude for a gift like that.
   
8. Recreation - I am thankful to have the opportunity to do things like camp, sight see, swim, relax, read, spend time with family, etc. The joy I get from these simplest of things makes the weekends so precious to me.
   
9. (last, but not least) Joe - No matter how flawed you are at times and no matter how perfect you are at times, what amazes me most is how much more I grow to love you each and every day.

4th of July Camping Trip

We had quite an interesting weekend ! Here's a quick(?) recap.

Early Friday morning we left PHX and headed up to the Sierra Ancha Mountains. Our ride was uneventful as far as I can remember. Theresa drove first, then we switched just after Punkin Center, AZ. We got to FR487, off AZ288 around noon. Heading up towards the campground we wanted to stay at Workman Creek Falls. The first interesting thing we saw was a deer in the road (then another on the side of the road). Continuing up we saw an interesting sign warning us of abandoned uranium mines in the area. Finally we reached the campground, and although it wasn't full, people had parked on a few of the remaining flat spots we would have camped on. Since there were no spots left because of the people parking on empty spots, we decided to try to go further up the road towards Aztec Peak. This is where Theresa's panic attack started ! Apparently looking over the side of a significant drop off on her side of the road, the road going from bad to worse, plus my driving near the edge of the road worried her. We made it to Workman Creek falls 1 mile up the road and then almost got stuck trying to cross an old wooden bridge. Theresa got out and directed me so I wouldn't accidentally drive her car off a cliff, and I made a 20 point turn. We headed back down to AZ288 and found one open spot at the Rose Creek Campground. This was actually a blessing, because it was a much more private, quiet campground.

Saturday morning we got up early and decided to drive to Young, AZ before going hiking. There's not much to say about Young, The population was 561 at the 2000 census, there are two restaurants, one gas station, one convenience store, one church (Mormon), an auto parts store, a motel, a small medical center, a thrift shop, a library, and a refuse service. Young also has A resident deputy (one!) and a volunteer fire department. We got ice and water and got the hell out of there quickly. Heading back to Workman Creek campground, we parked there and attempted to hike to the summit. 3 miles. What we didn't think about was the fact we started our hike at 5200 feet elevation (roughly a mile high), and we heading to the top which is 7748 ft (roughly a mile and a half). Starting our hike we realized quickly how difficult it is to breathe when you aren't used to the elevation. Even Lucy was struggling. Even though it was close to 90 degrees, we made it about halfway, seeing some cool stuff (I got close enough to pet a horny toad, and did!), the 200ft drop of the "falls" (not really a lot of water in the summer, best to go in early spring or after monsoon storms) then had to turn around because we knew that we were not gonna make it back if we kept going to the top. I was pretty upset about not making it, there's a fire tower at the top the Edward Abbey (my new favorite author) worked at for 2 years, writing some of his books there and, supposedly, a stone living room I really wanted to find. Back at camp we were to tired to do anything except read. The skies started to darken, and we could hear thunder far off, but didn't think much of it (the same thing happened the day before and we never got the storm). The winds picked up, then it started to rain a little, followed by marble sized HAIL, and torrential downpours. We tried to wait out he storm under our EZ UP, but the combination of wind and rain were soaking everything. After a filming a video of the hail we dashed to the car and waited out the storm. Roughly half an hour later it wound down enough that we ventured out to the picnic table and dried off the seats. After a quick game of UNO (I destroyed Theresa) we made tacos and went to bed early.

Sunday morning we were packed up and out of there by 7:30 to head back and dry our stuff out. All in all it was a wonderful weekend. Here's some pics, enjoy !

looking back

Last year at this time....

• Joe had recently started dialysis
• I had been notified that my company was going to be closing and I had to look for a new job
  
• Lucy was only 6 months old and still in the process of being housebroken
• We hadn't gone camping anywhere in Arizona yet
• Joe hadn't gone any further West than Arizona
• We hadn't gone hiking at all in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve (which is literally 1 mile from our apartment)
  
• We just bought a brand new computer
  
• My nails were all long (past the tips of my fingers) and my hair was at least 7 in shorter
• Joe had just popped the question!!

This year at this time....

• Joe has an AWESOME new kidney...thanks to his sister, Jen
• I have a new job working with the University of Phoenix
  
• Lucy is a little over a year and a half and hasn't had an accident inside since I don't even remember when
• We have gone camping pretty much every month (or every other month) since last May
• We took an amazing trip to Hawaii, so now Joe has gone much FURTHER West than Arizona
• We have started to hike as much as possible in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve
  
• The computer is still up and running with no problems (knock on wood) and has been wonderful (iMacs are seriously a wonderful investment, by the way)
• My nails are all gone (sadly) and my hair is getting a little too long and scraggly
• Joe and I are now married (to each other, DUH!!) and it has been nothing short of wonderful!!!

I'm sure there are many other things I am forgetting here, but it's amazing how much can change from year to year, huh?

lake pleasant

Mom, Dad, Joe, Lucy Fur and I went camping this weekend to Lake Pleasant, just north of Phoenix.

My parents both work for Honeywell and, for years upon years upon years (since before it was even called Honeywell), there have been family events such as camping, Christmas parties, dances, rodeos, water park days, you name it! As kids, we always went to the annual Christmas parties, went to some rodeos and family water park days. We've never gone to the Lake Pleasant Campout and Fishing Derby but, apparently due to the economy, they are downsizing on their events for their employees and families. We've never gone to this campout before. Too bad, too, because it's probably the last one.

Anyway, I was actually a little hesitant to camp so close to Phoenix. It seemed like it wouldn't be the greatest "getaway", you know? When it came down to it, though, it was definitely a little crowded (people LOVE lakes here, man!) and there were people constantly driving back and forth kicking up dirt, but it actually turned out to be such a nice and relaxing weekend!! It was a little warm (pretty much the same temperature as Phoenix, since it's only about 30 miles to the North and West) and there was actually one point where we got hot enough to jump in the water. It definitely hasn't heated up fully yet since the summer hasn't "exactly" started yet, but it was so refreshing!!

We stayed up at night listening to dad jam on his guitar around the campfire, we walked around exploring, Lucy had a blast running around in and out of the water, played UNO, and.....of course, we sat around alot to just relax, chat, eat and just "be".

Enjoy the pictures...

A view of Lake Pleasant.
(you can see campers packed in on the left side)

Our campsite.

Joe splashing up some water.

Lucy ran around so much sniffing everything and playing in the water.
It's so cute when she's so exhausted that she just plops down to rest.

I love camping. Really can't get enough of it.

And this picture just tops it all off.


View MORE of our pictures from the camping trip HERE!!!

we've been busy...

Which is why we haven't posted in a while (not that I post that much...). Guests started arriving Monday February 16th, and everything went into fast forward. Wednesday Anna (muchacha) and T started to make the cake. Thursday I went and tried on my tuxedo to make sure everything fit correctly, met up with all my groomsmen and some family there. Later in the afternoon I went and got a haircut, then we went down to Theresa's parents house for an excellent dinner with family and friends. Following the dinner everybody in the wedding went to Holy Spirit in Tempe for the rehearsal. I was sweating profusely I was so nervous. Friday morning everybody met up at the Kolberg's again, and the girls went to do their spa thing while I took all the guys to Dave and Busters for some lunch and games. After we had spent enough money we headed back to Theresa's parents house for another great dinner with family and friends. After that T and I had to split up and go to seperate hotels for the night. I went to the Hawthorne Suites in Tempe where most of my family was staying, and Theresa went to the Fiesta Inn where a lot of her family and friends were staying. I probably wouldn't have slept at all without a sleeping pill that night, and even after taking one I only slept about 6 hours. Saturday morning I had breakfast at the hotel with the fam, then went to run some last minute errands. First stop was Target (I needed black dress socks!), then Starbucks, then back to the hotel to check out (forgot my hiking boots there, they still haven't turned up). Went to a drug store and got nail clippers (gotta have the nails neat in case the photographer wanted those "both our rings together" pictures. Had lunch with Ray (stress doesn't seem to effect my appetite) and headed over to the church. Briefly considered running to Mexico (just kidding !!!!). I waited anxiously in the Sacristy, peeking out the door as the church filled up. The ceremony went off with only a small hitch (apparently fingers get swollen and make it hard to get rings on), that most people didn't even notice, and everything went beautifully! After about 3.5 billion photos we made our way over to the reception. Everything was perfect, we had great meal, danced more than we ever had before, 2 million more photos, hours spent talking to friends and relatives and then it was all over way too soon, but it was the one of happiest days of my life. The hotel hooked us up with the Presidential Suite that was nicer than I thought it would be. Sunday morning we slept in, then headed over to pick up our precious little puppy, then went to Theresa's parents house once more to hang out with family, and open presents (we are working on the thank you notes now, they may take a while because people were too generous). Monday the real world made a brief appearance when my truck wouldn't start, but we didn't let that ruin our day, we just loaded up the car and took off ! I'll let T tell you all about our camping trip in a later post because I need to go to bed !

the countdown is ON!!!

I'm sure you have noticed that Joe and I have been a little lacksadaisical on our blogging over the past month or so. Please accept our apologies. We have had so much going on lately and definitely should have been blogging about it. We've been working, planning, meeting with DJs and MCs, meeting with the church wedding coordinator and musicians, hiking, camping, making seating arrangements, designing programs, getting kidney biopsies, etc.

[by the way...that last part was just Joe]

In addition, the next week or so may be a little crazy, too, because......Joe and I are gettin' hitched in exactly 7 days from today. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? Time just flies by like you wouldn't believe, huh? We were talking about this last night, actually. When you're going through anything, it always seems like it will take such a long time to get through. But once it's past, you look back on it and realize that time just flew right on by. For example:

When we knew that Joe had to get a new kidney and that he would be on dialysis for a while, that time went by SO SLOWLY! And then the transplant day itself was crazy - realizing that it was all actually happening. He was actually getting a new organ! And right after the surgery, wondering if his body would accept or reject it, if there would be any complications, etc. It was all physically and mentally draining. But now, he's going on 4 months and 1 week with no complications whatsoever! Jen and the Mayo Clinic really worked a miracle!

And when Joe proposed last April we knew that we had almost a whole year before our big day. But now it's only 1 week away.

Time just flies by.

This weekend we will be cleaning like mad people, putting programs together (I am making them myself and really hope they turn out okay), getting a trial run of hair and makeup (this will be me only), as well as getting some last minute shopping done. Other than that, we are pretty much DONE and it is so exciting!!! I am excited to marry Joe because he's my favorite person! I'm excited to see all of my family and to meet Joe's friends and family I haven't met! I'm excited to spend time with friends, to see all of our family friends, and just have a good time! I'm so excited!!!

Thank you all for being there for us every step of the way...

Apache Lake Weekend

Joe, Lucy Fur and I went camping this past weekend. We decided to go out near Canyon Lake (Tortilla Flat, to be precise), because Joe took a drive out there with his family last month when they were in town. Turns out, the campground near Tortilla Flat was nowhere near the lake. We remember reading that there was a campground on Apache Lake, so we decided to drive a little further to that site. Well, the road ended and we were stuck on a steep and winding dirt road for about 20 miles. It was fun, but looooonnng! I know I'm a wimp and it was probably just a "bumpy road" to some, but I consider it off-roading a little bit. There was one point where we thought maybe we should turn around, but right after we rounded a corner, there it was. And the sites were right on the lake. It was so beautiful. Cold enough at night that you saw your breath when you stepped away from the fire. But it was gorgeous. And Lucy even had fun swimming in the lake. The water was freezing, but she didn't seem to mind. We want to go back!! Here's a little taste of what the weekend was like. Hope you enjoy...



And here's a video of Lucy playing in the water. She LOVED it! Once we got to the beach, she just started going in on her own. Then we threw some sticks in and she went and snatched them and swam back. We had her on a lead so she couldn't go too far, but she loved it! She's our little Beagle Retriever. [oh yeah...and just ignore my annoying voice.]

it's been awhile...

Okay.

So maybe it's only been a week. But, still...I feel so removed from blogging that I've decided to write one even though nothing significantly exciting has been going on.

Here's an update on life in the Theresa lane:

• Reading: I have started reading 3 different books - Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. I've decided that I need to take a step back and read one. Just one at a time. I'm finding it hard to concentrate, though, since I finished the Twilight Saga. Yep. I finished it. All of 'em. They were good. But now it's time to move on. I think I might stick with Harry Potter so that I can read the Half Blood Prince afterwards (since the movie is coming out this holiday season and I want to have read the book beforehand). Afterwards, I will probably resume reading Labyrinth...and follow that up with The Host by Stephenie Meyer (which Alanna just bought for me yesterday! THANKS, LONI!!)

• Camping: I can't wait to go camping again! Joe and I will try to squeeze in at least one more trip before the transplant. It's just hard because we're leaving for a cruise around Hawaii next month and the transplant is a couple weeks after we get back. So this next trip might be our last of 2008. Now we just have to figure out where to go...

• Cooking: Ever since Joe has needed to start a new diet because of his ESRD, it's been a struggle deciding what things are "good things" for him to eat. It's really not TOO difficult now that we've got the hang of it, but it's still a change. Basically we have to make sure whatever we prepare has LOTS of protein, little to no sodium, little to no phosphorus and little to no potassium. Sodium is easy to eliminate, but try cutting out phosphorus and potassium when the nutritional content for those are rarely on the labels! Anyway, I've been getting good use of my new cookbooks and will post a couple of our favorite recipes soon.

• Current Events: John Edwards makes me so angry. There was a time when he was my favorite choice back when all the democrat contenders were still in the game. It's amazing to me how one (or, in his case, REPEATED) lack of judgment can change my entire opinion about a person. I feel terribly for his wife and am just really sad about the whole situation.

• Dialysis: I hate dialysis. I'm not the one doing it 3 times a week, but I still hate it. That's all I'm saying about that.

• Family: Joe, my family and I will be taking a cruise around Hawaii in exactly ONE MONTH! I can not wait for this. It's going to be interesting having to work our activities around dialysis, but honestly, I'm content just walking around and experiencing life in Hawaii. I'm sure no matter what we do will be wonderful and fun. I can't WAIT!!!

• Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds Fur: While on our cruise, Lucy will be staying at a doggie day care and boarding place I found since all of our potential dog sitters are going with us on the cruise! So...I took her there yesterday for about 4 hours to see how she liked it. She seemed fine after Alanna and I picked her up, so that's good. I think the REAL test will be when I drop her off next Wednesday for another half day - if we get there and she's excited with tail wagging and all, then I'll know she likes it. I know that she's just a dog. And animal. And she probably loves and prefers being around the other dogs all day, but part of me is freaked out that she's not going to remember who we are...or that she's not going to want to come home with us. I mean, she'll be there for 10 nights/10 days! That's a loooooong time! I know I'm weird, but I really hope she likes it and that she is happy to see us when we get back.

• Work: I have been out of work for 2 months now. I'm doing part-time design work on the side, so I do have a little money trickling in here and there, but nothing full time yet. I believe that I am at a crossroads. So far, the only people who have responded to my resumes and letters have been related to positions I have never done before. Interesting, huh? I had an interview yesterday for a position as an Academic Counselor (I'll tell you more about it if they offer me the gig) and have another interview set up for Sunday (weird, I know) for a position as a Publications Designer. I have my Bachelor's in Psychology and the area of psychology has always been an interest of mine. I've always been fascinated with everything about it, so that's what I went through my undergrad career studying for - to hopefully work in that field someday. But then life happened and I went through a few jobs completely unrelated to psychology; but they were jobs that I fully enjoyed as well. While working in one of those jobs, I was able to explore my creative side and being designing a whole bunch of different types of materials for print and web. I never knew I would like it so much! So now I have been presented with two interview opportunities: one pertaining to Psychology and Design. The Academic Counselor position, if I'm accepted, is one that I could use as a start to working in psychology and eventually going back to school to further my career in that field. The Publications Designer position, if I'm accepted, could be used as a stepping stone into the field of design (I'd have to eventually go back to school for that, too). These are two fields that I feel strongly about. So now comes the question of the day - which road should I take?
  

Until next time,
XOXO

camping pictorial

twilight, woods canyon lake, et al

Last weekend, two things happened:

1. We endured the teenfest at the Breaking Dawn release party at a bookstore in Tempe, and
2. We went camping with my parents and some family friends, the Rousch and Huffman families.
   

BREAKING DAWN
If you remember my Twilight Saga post from a week or so ago, you'll know what I'm talking about. If not, read it!

Anyway, Joe being the amazingly wonderful and thoughtful person he is, decided to go with me to Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe for the release party for this much-anticipated final novel in the series. I kind of had a hunch that we'd be the oldest people there, but I never really realized how MUCH older we would be. I mean, there were definitely some people older than us (chaperones, more than likely) and there were a small handful of folks older than us who were actually sporting homemade t-shirts and costumes. But all in all, we were some of the oldest people there.

We walked down to an ice cream shop for a little bit, then came back and found a corner to sit in away from the hoopla. When it came time to line up, Joe stayed with me for a few, but then decided to wait outside. Smart man! The whole store was like a can of sardines.

At midnight, after a very LOUD countdown by the customers, they began calling people by group to come pick up their copies. I had pre-ordered the book and with my receipt was a ticket that said group "G".

Group A was called and about 30 or so people filed by to pick up their books. Then group B was called and about 6 teen girls standing in front of me started to go get their books. I noticed one of them had been assigned to group Q. Now, I know they teach the alphabet to kids BEFORE they get into junior high, but I'm pretty sure that the letter Q is nowhere NEAR the letter B. So I decided, "heck, they're not even looking at group numbers anyway", got in line behind Q Girl, grabbed my copy of the book, and was out in 5 minutes.

Normally, I would have finished the book days ago, but I've been pacing myself. And while I only have about 100 pages left, I must say that Stephenie Meyer is really doing a great job at wrapping up the story. I'm very happy with my purchase!

CAMPING

Woods Canyon Lake was the place - we camped about a mile from the water. We drove up early on Saturday morning and got up there around 10am.

It was about a 2.5 hour drive (including one stop) to the north east of Phoenix. The drive out there was awesome. We had to drive through part of Mesa to get to Highway 87. The 87 is a stretch of road that (as far as I'm concerned) is one of the prettiest roads to drive on in Arizona. The highway drives through part of an Indian Reservation and, once you hit the reservation where the land is protected, it's just awesome. It still looks like a desert, but it's just pretty - rolling hills, huge rock formations, etc. It's something that doesn't look like it belongs amidst a huge sprawling metropolis.

Anyway, we got up to the campsite with little trouble. The only troubles were that (1) my car was very slow (especially on never-ending inclines) and (2) we almost didn't find the campsite.

Other than that, all was good. We went out to the lake for a short trip, took a hike to the rim, hung out around the campfire, relaxed, etc. I love camping SO MUCH!! The only part I didn't like was having to come back to the city.

(the picture upload on blogger isn't working right now, so we'll post some pics later on)

On the way back from our trip, something kicked up and cracked the radiator, apparently, causing all the antifreeze to leak out once we turned the car off. So I ended up having to take the care to the shop for a couple days to get a new radiator and parts. Yeah....this was definitely an expensive week. Fun...but expensive!