ThanksFOODing

Phew! I survived!

 This year Kent and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house. I am proud to say that I finally got a system that works. Last year I cooked EVERYTHING on Christmas morning (bad idea). This year I heded my mother's advice and cooked everything the day before. I spent all day Wednesday in the Kitchen, and I definitely think it was worth it :) 

I am also very proud of my Turkey. It was absolutely beautiful- I should have taken a picture. I went along with the crowd and let it sit overnight in a brine. It was definitely more work, but I think it was worth it.

I was completely exhausted on Wednesday night, as you can see in the photo. BUT, I looked all fresh on Thanksgiving which is what is important right?

Before Dinner, we had some appetizers- a Jallepino Popper Cheeseball, Bruschetta, Tiger Butter, Shrimp Cocktail, and Jobie punch. It was just enough to wet our Turkey appetites!

My parents, Aunt April and Uncle Jim, and Kent's Sister Amy and her boyfriend Greg, joined us for dinner. We were hoping my Cousin Todd and his wife Leila could make it, but they came down with terrible colds and the drive from Cali would just be too much. We definitely missed them! We were nice enough to take a break from our Dinner and let them know how much we missed them ;)

On Friday night Kent and I also decided to set up our Tree. Growing up we always had a real tree, and last year I had to beg for Kent's mercy to even get a FAKE tree! He was a little more excited about it this year which was nice. He even decorated it :) My efforts this year will be for an actual tree skirt and not just a blanket.

Now we have one holiday under our belts and we're onto the next one. We will not be hosting Christmas this year and will be heading up to see Lanae's family (my Sister in-law) in Utah. We are really excited to spend Christmas with her family and see the magic of Sant Clause through her boys' eyes. 

In the meantime, we're still "battling" with ADRE- rediculous! Some things never change...we'll keep you posted!

We hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Busy busy BUSY!

What a busy week we've had and we're geering up for an even BUSIER one! The main hilight of this week (besides grocery shopping for Thanksgiving) was getting together with my parents to play a little disc golf up in Fountain Hills. We had such a blast playing with them, teasing them, and just laughing for a few hours. We then went to Arriba for some Mexican Food. 

On Wednesday Kent went to the 3rd Annual Entrepreneur Convention. It had a slow start, but he really got a lot out of it and met some new people. While we're not always passionate about the same topics, I love seeing him get so excited! He came home and talked my ear off for a good hour.

While he was away, I organized and rearranged our home office. Along with implementing a new filing system, I moved the desk about 6 inches. I know you're thinking, "that's nice, but 6 inches? So after 5 minutes what did you do?" I will have you know that this desk weighs probably 300 lbs and I'm only about 90. Do the math and you'll be impressed too :) That 6 inches did make all of the difference though!

On Friday, Kent and I trekked over to the ADRE office to see if we could move the Broker's license process any faster. I don't know exactly why we thought that, but all that was accomplished were 2 stress headaches and a grumpy Friday night. Thanks to my mom blabbing about the situation to a family friend, we have a wonderful Real Estate Attorney now. He really knows how the department works as he has worked there and represented clients against them as well. HOPEFULLY he'll be able to move along some resolve on our behalf. Our current Broker closes his doors in T-minus 7 days (4 of those days being a holiday weekend). 

I am just about set for Thanksgiving this week. I have my menu in place and just about all of the groceries I need. I will be brining the Turkey, so I am excited to see how it turns out. I've never brined anything before nor have I ever cooked a Turkey. Yesterday I dried out the bread cubes for the stuffing. It reminded me of being at my Grandma's one summer when she covered the Ping Pong table with bread cubes to make the stuffing for a Church Picnic. As kids we were completely devistated, BUT 20 years later...I knew how to dry bread :)

Well happy feasting to everyone this week!

San Diego Part Deux

San Diego Photos

Well I finally figured out how to post photos IN the blog and not on the side :) "Desktop Publishing Goddess" my butt! 

Happy 1 year to us, San Diego style!

Boy oh boy was this past week an absolute BLAST!!! Kent and I went to San Diego to celebrate our 1st Wedding Anniversary! Yippee!!

I had planned the entire trip about a month ago. You know me...reservations were made, maps were printed, and itineraries were in place. You also know Kent though and 2 days before we were set to go, he said, "let's go now!" So we did- well almost, at least as quickly as I was able to get everything packed!

We left Saturday morning and headed to San Ellijo, which is the beach we had camped at when we 1st started dating. Upon our arrival, we learned that California was on Fall Break, so there was not a single site open. We managed to "buddy up" with another family and camped at a beautiful site overlooking the beach.

We spent the next day at the mall and checked into our cabin. We also busted out the top of our wedding cake. The bakery we had ordered our wedding cake from a year ago, recreates the top piece for your 1, 5, 10, 25, and so on...anniversaries. Funny enough, I didn't like our cake at our wedding, but this year it was quite scrumptious!

In the morning we headed out to play disc golf. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I really enjoyed the course as there were so many trees and hills to play around and in between. We then headed over to Old Town and did a little window shopping and looked at the replicas they have set up there.

I had planned a little romantic/sentimental evening for us at Pacific Beach Pier. We played some paddle ball and then took our seats for the sunset. I had brought along a vase with blue, tan, and white sand. We poured the sand into the vase in different layers, which represents us joining our lives together. It turned out really pretty, and the amazing part is that it survived the trip back to Arizona! We then had dinner at "Moondoggies." It was so good! We will definitely eat there again :)

The next day we spent the morning in the hot tub and just relaxed. We also went to the San Diego Temple. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! We want to get a divorce, just so we can get remarried in that Temple because it was just breathtaking! Just when you think you've seen it all, you go up another staircase in which there is an atrium with so many beautiful flowers. I did not want to leave!

We then headed to the Children's Pool in La Jolla. It was such a neat beach and conservatory. It was a little too late in the day to see the Seals, but I really enjoyed venturing out onto the rocks and looking at all of the natural beauty that lives there.

Now we are back at home and have decided that we'll go ahead and give in another year :) We were so busy during this past year and I didn't ever really have the whole, "newlywed, googly-eyed, butterflied" feeling. Now I feel it though. I have such an awesome husband! After this trip, all I want to do is gaze into his eyes and giggle. Pathetic, I know. Hmmm...I love you Honeymuffin!

My parents are coming up to Scottsdale for the week, so we'll be getting together with them and are looking forward to it. They had to put their dog, Guy, down on Tuesday, so I think this trip will be good for them too.

This whole Property Management/Brokerage thing is a big ol' mess, so we'll update you on the outcome when we finally get to it :)

The Last of the Firsts

Well, this is Kent's and my last week of our first year of being married. It is almost bittersweet. I have enjoyed being a newlywed...you get so much attention! At the same time, it will be nice to get SOME credibility when we talk about "what has worked for us..."

I would say that we haven't been your typical "newlyweds" though. I think we've been pretty down to earth with the whole thing. We didn't spend hours and hours gazing into each other's eyes whispering sweet nothings. We've been busy dang it!

So here it is, our year-in-review (just in case you missed something!)...

We were sealed for time and all eternity on November 10th, 2007 in the Mesa, AZ Temple. Kent's Grandfather came down from Idaho and performed the ceremony. We then headed off (without my flowers) to Portico for our ring ceremony and reception. Fun was had by all.



Since we closed on our house only 2 days before the wedding, not a THING was set up. I was looking forward to running into Target in my wedding dress to buy some sheets, but my cousins didn't go for that. They snuck away from the reception and set everything up for us.

The next morning Kent whisked me away to San Diego and we headed out on our 7 day cruise to Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Viarta. We took a total of 3 pictures, however I will always remember the crystal clear beaches, exhilarating cab rides, and just the pure joy of being on a honeymoon!

We hit Fry's grocery store on the way home as we had no food. It was there on Aisle 7 where we had our 1st fight ever! Kent has come a long way since then and now understands that we no longer eat processed foods with high sodium levels, as cheap as they may be :)

A few days later we headed out for Houston. I was sick as a dog (story of the year) and prayed that I would at least feel better for our Open House. We spent Thanksgiving with the Attaya side and my brother flew in as he had just finished Ranger School. Miraculously the day after we arrived, I couldn't even tell I had been sick! The Attayas threw us such a beautiful Open House and I enjoyed meeting Kent's friends.

I then had a few weeks off before starting my new job at UOP. I was miserable. The painters hadn't finished painting when we got back from Houston, we couldn't move any furniture in because we were planning to get new carpet, and I just didn't feel "at home." We didn't have any pots and pans and had to resort to grilling our food at the park down the street! However, things came together and we were settled in!

Just before Christmas I started working at the University of Phoenix as the Real Estate market took a complete nosedive. Kent continued to stay busy with the Property Management and being a "house husband" (you can imagine how uncomfortable I was with this).

I then hosted our first Christmas and my mom said I did a good job :) We had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing my brother again. Then for New Years and Kent's birthday, Kent got sick and we went to bed at 8 :) That is the 2nd New Year I spent with Kent WITHOUT getting a kiss!

Then it was our 1st Valentine's day as Mr. and Mrs...but we spent the day packing as we were headed to El Paso the very next day. We drove through an awful storm complete with snow from Tucson all the way to Texas! But, it was worth it. We spent 2 fun filled days with Chad and Natalie and Sakura and Happy.

We also bought our 1st on-line business, www.bapeclothing.net which has been one of our smarter decisions.

Then the weeds came...boy oh boy did they come! For every weed we pulled and sprayed, 3 popped up! It was ridiculous. Obviously the people before us hadn't heard of pre-emergent. With the weeds I also developed the most awful allergies. Hives everywhere! I have taken at least 2 Benedryl every day since March! I guess I am a freak :)

Kent and I were then ready for our 1st vacation as husband and wife. We decided on Vegas. We should have known it was a BIG MISTAKE when we got into our room which had 2 double beds! Haha! Kent called down and said, "We had requested a King size bed," to which the desk attendant replied, "that was a request," and hung up the phone! The toilet ran all night long, we had no hot water, and a double bed! My rash came back like clock work and the hotel gladly let us out of our reservation :) We then spent the night at the Stratosphere which as a little better. That night however, we looked at each other and said, "no one is forcing us to be here!" We played a little disc golf in the morning and then raced back to Arizona! Ahhh...home!

That was when the fun began. Kent and I got sick AGAIN. I had 2 sinus infections back-to-back and Kent had Pneumonia! A few weeks later we were sick AGAIN. Neither of us got sick very often and then Bam- 2008 hits!

The 4th of July was then upon us and Amy, Kent's sister, was visiting as she was gearing up to move out here. We went tubing on the Salt River in the morning and then a good group of friends came over for Ribs, games, and fireworks.

We also bought our 2nd on-line business, www.starmarkelectronics.com which was not as smart as the 1st business. At this point we have chalked it up to being a good learning experience and are still working on it.

A few weeks later Kent and I decided it was time I leave the UOP. We had an amazing experience as we decided this and I know we made the right choice.

Kent then began his Broker classes and I ran the Management company. The days have definitely been long during this process, but HOPEFULLY everything will be in place in 6 weeks...6 weeks?! I know...not the plan we were going for as there have been some hiccups. I am so proud of what Kent has accomplished though and I know we will get to his dream soon.

Last night we had our 1st Halloween as well. I have to admit, I got a little flutter of excitement as our first trick or treater came to the door. I was in charge of the candy as Kent is avoiding a process server with 2 speeding tickets. I do not know Kent Burton and I have never seen him in my life...good thing I still have my Killmeier license in case they ask for an ID :)

So now here we are at the 1 year mark. I am in charge of planning our 1st Anniversary. I just about had Kent convinced that we were going to Apache Junction (basically a trailor park), then somewhere HERE in Arizona, however I broke the news this past week...I am taking him to San Diego/La Jolla. It was the 1st trip we ever took together and I am sure we will have a blast this time as well.

Well, there you have it. I know it was long but I REALLY want to remember all of those little details as I'll never have them again.

So here we go with our last week of the "magical" 1st year. It was definitely a dose of reality for us (or maybe just me), but I wouldn't trade it in for anything!