Arizona Living!!

Well, we have been here in Arizona for just over a month now and we LOVE it! We are very happy here and love the area we're in and we love our new apartment. We are actually in a city just outside of Phoenix called Surprise... Yes... SURPRISE! We get a kick out of it. Preston is loving his classes and the school and we're meeting new people and we love the ward that we're in. Of course, we moved here just in time for the heat and so far the hottest we've had has been 110 degrees. Yikes! Thank goodness for AC and swimming pools!We have started exploring the area and have found some fun things! We of course miss our family and friends but we're very happy here especially considering that this was our top choice for school! We can't really complain.
Here are some pictures of the beginning of our adventure here in Arizona!

Just after getting everything moved in. We had such awesome help. My dad and both of Preston's parents were able to drive down with us and help us with the move. We also had Pona and Donna Sitake bring their son Mani and a few of their foster boys come and help us and let me tell you... they were AMAZING!!! They were such great help and we couldn't thank them enough! Those boys sure hauled it and not one word of complaint came from them. We were so grateful for them. We're really glad we have the Sitakes down here to hang out with and have some "family" down here! Also, of course a HUGE thank you to both of our families... they have been a major help and have given us so much love and support. We couldn't have done this without our amazing families! We love you guys!Here are our dad's catchin some zzz's!While our parents were still here, we went to visit the Mesa temple with them. What a beautiful temple. Shortly after we visited with our parents, Preston and I had the opportunity to do a session with our friends 'Ema and Leone. Very neat temple! After being in AZ for a week, my uncle and dad both were down here in Tempe for business. My uncle's main office is here so he is down here a lot. Well, since my dad was coming that same weekend for a seminar, the two brothers bunked up together and the second night after my uncle had left, my dad invited us to come stay at this resort/retreat with him. Wow, this place is top notch. My uncle knows how to travel in style... and his company pays for it! My dad was at the seminar all day so Preston and I relaxed here and hung out by their awesome pool. The night that my uncle was still here, we went to Alice Cooper's Town for dinner. It's such a fun atmosphere and the food isn't bad either! Good times with dad and uncle Jeff! Thanks guys for treating us that weekend. Myself with Alice Cooper! ROCK ON!

For Memorial Day, we got together with the Sitake's. We swam for 3 hours, got burnt and ate lots of yummy food and had a great time with these guys!
Here we are all burnt and tired from swimming!
The guys doing what they do best.
Who needs matches when you can use a TORCH! We roasted marshmallow's later that night.

Preston and I went on an all day drive which was so fun. It's called the Apache Junction Loop. It took us past lakes, rivers and even a Ghost Town (which are my favorite!!)
Being help for hostage at the jail!!

Just a couple of pictures of our new home!

Our living room and some random guy on the couch :) We're eventually going to get up our curtains and maybe paint some color on the walls. I hate plain white walls!

Our dining area.
Our second bathroom.
Preston insisted I put this up haha. This is what I call the man cave/office/guest bedroom. Don't worry though, if you come visit, the weight set will be taken down and we'll make a nice little room for ya!

There ya have it! This is just the beginning of this experience/adventure down here in the good ol' AZ! Come visit!

Change of major plans

So remember my last post?!... Well, we're not going to Alabama anymore. We got the call this past Friday from our top school that Preston got put on the "Alternate" list for and they called us... drum roll please..... PHOENIX ARIZONA HERE WE COME. This is for reals. I've got our apartment lined up, financial aide stuff is in the process, boxes are flowing out of our apartment, our place is a disaster as I'm trying to pull everything out of ever nook and cranny. We're moving in 3 weeks. AHH! We're so excited as we were hoping for this school. It's 3 years instead of the 4, it's MUCH closer to home, a great school but wow... I don't think we're ready for the average of 120 degrees during the summers.

It worked out just in time as we got the call Friday and I was going to send out our deposit for Alabama the following Monday. We went to the temple, prayed and fasted all weekend and know that is where we are supposed to go! We'll always be excited to have visitors.. hint hint!

Back to packing.

It is official!!

See this cool place?! This is Birmingham Alabama... our new home for the next 4 years starting first of August! Preston got accepted into this school...

Samford University.

We will be living in a cute little town of Homewood AL. It's just like Murray to Salt Lake City. It's a very pretty town, safe, beautiful, nice people, gorgeous landscaping. We're excited. Nervous as ever but so excited for this experience to get out of our little Utah bubble. We'll miss our family and friends and ward SO much but we'll be back! We'll have an extra bedroom so we'll always be up for visitors and it's only 2 days away!

Another cool thing. We'll be close to here

The sunny beaches of Florida and of course...
Disneyworld!!!

We'll have this beautiful temple to attend...
We'll probably become a big fan of...
Eat a lot of...
Which means I'll have to make sure I keep up on
Preston will soon be one of these
Which will get us closer to having
(kiddies)
And owning one of these...
And coming back to
We're sure going to miss those mountains!

Oh, and regular words in our conversations will probably consist of... ya'll, sweetie, hun, baby and yee haw!!!

Yup, we're excited! Wish us luck. My husband is a smarty pants and I know he'll do amazing! I'm so proud of him and love him so much!

Thanks ya'll!

Anniversary, School, Cars, Babies

Yes.... I will be posting about all of those above.

I'm sorry it's been a while since I've blogged. We've been just a wee bit busy (okay... WAY busy). First part in January, us kids treated our wonderful parents to dinner (to the Jasmine) for their anniversary, grandparents came also! It was so much fun and awesome food. My parents have been married 25 years like I've mentioned in a previous post. I'm so grateful to them and we love them so much.

Feelin the love!


Oma and OpaMy sister and myself with her cute baby Stockton
Chris and goofball Cadence.

I am super proud of Preston. He is officially a graduate of SLCC. He is finishing up his last semester there to finish his pre req's for pharmacy school. We got his diploma and I'm super proud of him. He's worked his tail end off (and still is). He's not too excited about it being "just SLCC" but I keep telling him not a lot of people even get that far. He has gotten excellent grades and has been such a hard worker. His degree is in Chemestry.

This month alone, Preston has 3 interviews for Pharmacy school. Atlanta Georgia, Erie Pennsylvania and Birmingham Alabama. It's been stressful and lots of money but we're hoping it'll be worth it. He felt really good about the one in Atlanta and has the one in Erie on the 16th and Birmingham on the 23rd. I am so appreciative to Preston. He works so hard for us and we will have such a great future (not that it's already great) because of him and his dedication and commitment.
Yippee!! One down, one to go!

My dad took my brother and I to the car show... talk about AMAZING! I was in awe the entire time. I've always been a big fan of old cars (even new ones that have nice taste and looks). It seriously was sooo cool. Thanks dad for taking me! I kept telling me he could buy me one of the cars we saw, but he didn't buy in. Darn it.


I loved the color on this car!

The Grease Lightening car!

How many of you can say you've been in a Rolls Royce. This was the only car I was able to even touch and I got to sit in it. The guy must have seen me pretty much drooling over it and said I could get in. Not everybody was able to sit in it. I felt pretty speshil hehe. This is a '57 by the way. I felt rich for a few seconds!

Look closely at the paint job!
Chris' first car!
This sucker was HUGE!!!
I'm bummed this turned out a little blurry because this was one of my favorite cars I saw. Aint she a beaut!?

This past weekend, I was lucky to watch my cute little babies Cadence and Stockton. They are so precious and such good kids. Except for when Cadence has to come in from outside or you don't giver her a "gaga" (cracker) she throws her little temper tantrum. But I love these kids so much! I can't imagine how I'll be when I have my own kids when I can't even get enough of my sisters kids! Preston came up for part of the time to help out and see me. Cadence loves uncle Preston. She was linked to him pretty much the whole time. When he'd be holding Stockton, she'd flip out and squish Stockton so she can get on his lap too. Preston is so cute with these kids and was a huge help. I know he'll be a great daddy one day!
Wide awake rockin out!
Playing outside!
He's a natural. Burp cloth and all haha
Sound asleep Cadence. She'd just plop down on him and zonk out. He loved it though. He's becoming such a softie to kiddies.
Nu Night!