Arizona Knows How to Party...

Arizona knows how to party..
In the citaaay of Me-sa.
In the citaaay of good ol' Globe.
In the citaaay of Tempe.
We keep it rockin. We keep it rockin.

Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west...

That's how the song goes right? What? It's not?? The song is about California? Oh. Well, it was sort of working for Arizona too.

I am not even sure how I know that song. I think I heard it on the radio a long time ago and it stuck with me because at some point in the chorus it says "shake it Cali." And my name is Cali. Of course I know it was using Cali as an abbreviation for California, but still, my name was in a song. The song, by the way, is California Love and it features Dr. Dre. I don't think I particularly recommend it. I probably should not have even admitted to being aware of its existence. Just kidding. Mostly.

What I am trying to convey to you is that I went to Arizona a couple of weekends ago. I can not seem to stay away from that place. Why is that? Oh ya, it is because an enormous chunk of my family lives there. Good ol' family.

I went alone. I was gone for four days. I missed Danny. I will say one thing though (only one thing? you wish) I am completely okay flying by myself. You see, I completely stress out about getting to the airport on time and getting through security and finding our gate. And that stresses Danny out. As a result by the time we are settled at the gate Danny is sullen and quiet. But of course, as soon as we are at the gate I am excited to be traveling and want to play a game or comment on people watching. Danny does not want to have anything to do with that because my unnecessary stress bothered him and he needs a moment of quiet. It is a vicious vicious cycle. We are making improvements. I do not stress out so much. In fact, I would not call it stress. I would call it 'intense focus'.

My reason for traveling to Arizona is because my cousin had a get together with family and friends before she goes on her mission to New York. And I included a couple of extra days to hang out with my grandparents. I have some pretty fantastic grandparents.

I arrived Friday evening and spent Saturday with my paternal grandma. It was delightful. We spent a lot of time visiting. And I do mean a lot of time. I enjoy talking to her.

Funny story: She locked me in her backyard. Not on purpose of course. It is quite a long story but I will summarize. Sunday morning my uncle was picking me up. My grandma had to leave earlier than me. The arrangement was for me to lock the back door behind me and exit out the backyard gate into the alley. Well, out of habit she locked the gate behind her. I discovered the gate was locked after I had shut and locked the back door behind me. Oops. So, I climbed over the gate using folding chairs, a recycling bin, and the tail gate of my uncle's truck. What did YOU do on your Sunday morning? I bet it was not that.

Here, I have a picture that my uncle took.


It was fantastic. I thought the whole thing was hilarious. I managed to come away without messing up my dress or getting a run in my nylons. I was (and still am) so impressed with myself.

The rest of that Sunday was great. My cousin gave a lovely talk and I spent the day visiting with family on my mom's side. I have really awesome cousins. We are a dignified and classy bunch as evidenced by this photo:

The lady on the far right is Hermana Sanders. She will be serving in New York New York speaking the Spanish. These are all the grand kids on my mom's side besides my brother. (also excluding 2 spouses)

Sunday evening and Monday I spent time with my maternal grandparents. We played cards and ate Mexican Food. My grandma showed me some new scrapbooks she made about my great-grandparents. It was exciting to see and hear about their lives. I got to know those great-grandparents fairly well and I adore them. He passed away in 2004 and she passed away last summer.

Then early, and I do mean early, Tuesday morning we went to the airport and I flew back to Dallas and to my husband who missed me. And my turtle who was blissfully unaware of my absence.

The next day we went on a BBQ tour of Texas. Let me tell you, there are some delicious delicious ribs to be eaten in Luling, Lockhart, and Austin, Texas. Wow.

In other news: Dany as been at his new job for a week. He has been training. He loves it and I love to see him so happy and enjoying his work. Win win.

Tonight we are supposed to get lots of rain that will turn to lots of ice. Something like that. Ice is not nice. On that profound thought, I think I will end this rather lengthy post. So, remember that my friends. Ice is not nice.

The white stuff is stalking me...

I know it snows in north Texas. It really was no surprise to me. What was surprising is how often Danny and I became confused as to our whereabouts. We had left snow a couple weeks ago. We looked out the window and for a split second assumed we were back in Provo, UT. It was so unsettling to be so nonchalant about the snow while several people around us were stoked and freaking out about it.

And now, a tragic story of friendship lost and renewed:

Snow and I have had a rocky relationship. Many years ago I thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I would see him once or twice a year. We would spend several hours of those precious days together. We went sledding. We made snowballs. We slid across the trampoline while it was covered in snow. We were the best of friends. Imagine my excitement when I went to college in a land where Snow visited several times each year, even staying for days and weeks at a time. People told me I would grow weary of him. That idea seemed ludicrous. The first couple of years were magical. I saw Snow frequently. I did not always have the time for sledding or snowballs and I no longer had a trampoline but we had fun. I realized as Snow hung around that walking to class became more difficult. The sidewalks could be slick with ice. But my love for Snow endured. My third winter is when things started to go downhill quickly. I had a car. And Snow loved to cover my car. He loved to cover the roads and the driveway. Danny spent hours trying to get Snow to move over so we could leave our house. Early in the morning or late at night. Snow did not keep very consistent hours. Slowly but surely my love for Snow faded. Last month we were not even speaking. I could barely stand to look at him. The thought of driving around with him made me cringe.

I moved back to a land Snow visits annually, but usually only staying a few days at a time. I had about two weeks with out Snow. I did not miss him. Or perhaps I did not realize how much I missed him. Suddenly, last Sunday, Snow dropped in for a visit. I was confused at first. Unsure of how to greet him. Part of me remembered our old relationship of love and happiness. People around me seemed to welcome him. They seemed excited about the changes to the landscape Snow brought with him. I felt a spark. This spark quickly grew into a flame of love and appreciation once again. Snow and I are once again friends. I realize now that Snow has an excessive personality. I love him, but can not handle him hanging around all the time. However, when Snow visits only a few times a year and does not stay for too long, well, that suits me just fine.

Almost an Entire Year!

Wow! It has been nearly an entire year since I last updated this thing. You know, it is tempting to wait until March and make it a nice even year. Blogs can be annual, right?

Right?

Okay, maybe not.

I sure picked a fine year to not update. In this last year I graduated from college, Danny finished college (graduation to come in April), Danny interviewed for jobs and he got one, we went camping, we went to Arizona, and then I went a second time for a funeral, spent time with family and friends, and we moved...to Texas!

Let us take a look back into the past..


This is my graduation announcement. My aunt was fabulous enough to take pictures of me and set this photo up postcard style.



Danny and I after my graduation ceremony.


The traditional parents on either side of the graduate picture.

Several more of my family members were able to attend. Such as...


The Behrmann/Burbank group
and...

The Nicoll/Moore/Wilson group


During the summer we went camping with some family on my mom's side. We went to Duck Creek near Cedar City, UT. It was absolutely beautiful.

I had not been camping in a long time. It felt so good to be away from everything. I am still a fan of camping.

This last semester Danny interviewed for jobs. We are blessed that he was offered a job with his top choice company! He starts January 24. It is for this reason that we moved to Dallas, TX. We are very excited about this.

Moving is not fun. I believe the key word I felt (especially during December) was STRESS! But everything worked out and we are currently staying with my dad while we look for an apartment.

Leaving Provo was harder than I thought it would be. Not because we loved Provo. We do miss our friends though. It was hard to say goodbye to them. It was also hard to say goodbye to our little home.

Here are some moving pictures:

The 'Bulk Cruiser' hauling all our worldly possessions and pulling our dear car.



Erasmus was not a happy camper. I do not blame him though. Amazingly he survived. We had him set up in this pet tote in between our chairs.




Heading out on our journey.






Welcome to Texas!!




Danny and I with all our stuff in storage.


The move took us three days. We left in a snowstorm that had already dropped over 6 inches of snow. What an adventure! Bless his heart, my Dad drove out to help us with the move. He could drive faster than we could so he drove a head a little ways to give weather reports. It was great.

Lately, in 2011, Danny and I have been taking it easy.

Here is a picture of us from Christmas. We are rockin' some Christmas sweaters.



I am going to try to keep up with this blog better during 2011. You should be excited about that.