Les Miserables

One devilishly handsome date + dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Tempe + 2 tickets to Les Miserables = one very, very fun Friday night!

Ryan and I really enjoyed the show. We had good seats on row 23 on the lower level and the production was just amazing. Ryan had seen it once before in Los Angeles when he was vacationing with the Alder family back in his high school days. He's always loved it and was really excited for us to go together. We've only had our tix for about six months :) I've listened to the soundtrack here and there over the years as well, so it was awesome to finally be able to put the music in context with the script.

Now I need to add one of the ticket stubs to our shadow box collage in the pool table room. We've got the collection going of most of the shows and concerts and cool events we've attended together over the years. Every now and again when I'm dusting the frames (which I don't do often enough - I hate dusting), I take an extra minute or two to walk down memory lane as I look at those ticket stubs and remember so many fun times together. I think my next memory project might be a collage of our race bibs on the wall in the home office....I've been thinking about doing that for a while now. Not sure I still have them all, but I know I have some of them. Maybe if we keep it up, we can collect enough for a full border print all the way around the room...he, he, he...that's a lot of running...

Date Night

What's that old saying? A picture is worth a thousand words...

Needless to say, we had a blast on our date night this past weekend. Super fun! But before that....Ryan and I had a busy Saturday leading up to date night. I spent the morning and early afternoon at our Stake Relief Society Women's Conference, which was fantastic as always, while Ryan manned the troops and transported them to all things sporty: Afton softball tryouts at 8:00, Barrett softball tryouts at 9:00, then quick intermission to bring Barrett to the conference and sneak in an errand or two before Afton's basketball game at noon. I am so grateful to have such a hands-on and amazing husband. I would never want to do this without him.

I loved the general session where Sister Holyoak and Sister Walters spoke, along with President Ahlstrom. They were all so good! The theme was "Choose Faith: Don't be Afraid to Get out of the Boat." The cultural hall was set up for come-and-go buffet style brunch all day, and everything was decorated with a nautical theme, including centerpieces with live fish. Very clever.

My "Parenting: Sink or Swim" class was fun. I taught two sessions at the conference (I thought the second one went a little better than the first, but I guess that's to be expected) and had a lot of really nice positive feedback from some of the terrific ladies that attended. I was in good company on Saturday, that's for sure. There's something pretty special about being among so many good women, all striving to be better, all trying to walk on the straight path. Clearly, the teacher benefits more than the students ever could due to all the time, study and preparation that goes into preparing, so I felt really blessed to be able to accept that assignment. A little nervous, sure. Humbled - absolutely. But really, really grateful. Being a mom is my #1 job, and raising our four fantastic kiddos is on my mind pretty much full time. I hope we are doing some things right amidst all the things I know we could be doing better.

My adorable friend, Jane, who used to be in our ward but who moved about a mile away into another stake a couple of years ago, asked if I would share a summary of my class, so I may post about it soon.

Anyway, after the conference and after all the kid stuff was done, Ryan and I got in some Saturday afternoon fitness (he biked and I ran), then got ready for a much-needed date night. We finally got ourselves over to Spinatto's - this little Italian food joint in Tempe we've heard much about and that we've been talking about trying out for months. The food did not disappoint! The ambiance was so-so as we were tucked into this corner in a very small-ish table, a little too close to a table of cute double-dating seniors (we could hear every word of their conversation), but the food was super tasty. And the company sitting across from me couldn't have been any better :)

After dinner, we headed over to Bass Pro Shop for a little shopping and browsing. I love that store. Seriously, it is just so cool. In the camping section, we ran into this guy...

and I just couldn't resist taking a picture. I was tempted to scale up one of the walls to get a photo op with the buffalo, but I didn't think the Bass Pro guys would be too thrilled about that.

Ryan scored with his new tent heater and hand warmers (he's taking the scouts on an overnight in two weeks so he's preparing for the chilly night.) After two years as scout master and another who knows how many years to go, we figured it was time to invest in the heater. We'd like him to keep all his digits in tact.

After a fun stroll through Bass, we went and picked out a movie at Blockbuster, ran a couple of errands and headed back to tuck in the peeps before watching our flick together.

Great day. Great date. Looking foward to another good week!

Flat Iron

Sometimes it's better to start the story from the top.

I love this Nike shirt by the way: "The Only Way to Finish is to Start." What a great saying.

In preparation for the big hike next month, Ryan & I had been planning on making the hike up Flatiron for several weeks, but we had some conflicts the last couple of weekends. Finally, the stars aligned and we did it. It was a great hike (or should I say great climb) - so different from what I was expecting. I thought we'd be mostly on trails and switchbacks. I had no idea we were scaling a mountain. Ryan has hiked this mountain a few times before, but I was a newbee.

Does it look far away? Does it look high? It's only about 2.5 miles from where I was standing, but it is pretty much straight up. Almost 3000 feet up. Just for perspective, that's about halfway up the grand canyon - a pretty decent climb.

Here's the skinny on Flatiron, per AZCentral.com (published in a good write up a couple of years ago):

"Imagine hiking two Camelback Mountains in a row.

Believe it or not, that would be easier than hiking to the Flatiron, a prominent rock outcrop overlooking the western flanks of the Superstition Wilderness.

The ridiculously steep route up Siphon Draw gains nearly 2,800 feet in 2.8 miles, stressing thighs, burning lungs and sending heart rates into the red zone.

It's one of the best hikes in Arizona."

We left the kids fast asleep with Barrett in charge of the slumber at 5:15 am, and were making our first steps up the trail at 6:00am on the nose. Surprisingly, the weather was incredibly pleasant for a mid-August day, mostly because the sun hadn't reared its head over the mountains yet which meant we were blessed with shade all the way up and about a third of the way down. The breeze was nice too. It didn't get really warm until about the last thirty minutes of the hike (despite what the gallon of sweat soaking through on my shirt might tell you.)

This part is called "slippery rock" and is the point where many hikers apparently turn around. Or so I read. Whatever. Why would you even make this journey if you weren't planning to shoot for the top? Anyway, it was indeed a steep, slippery slope to climb. Ryan and I both commented that it was a good thing it wasn't wet. I have no idea how you'd scale that thing wet.

This was pretty typical of the hike. Lots of hand over hand and straight up stuff.

The whole hike is 5.8 miles round trip. It took us 2 hours to get up, and 1:45 to get down. We stayed up top and enjoyed the incredible views for about 30 minutes, ate some fruit and granola bars, changed my socks, listened to the sound of peace on the the mountain top, took a few pics, joked about things we could do up there that no one would ever see or hear...It was a good morning for sure.

And here we are at the tip top of Flatiron. Pretty cool view. Super cool company if I do say so myself. Some fellow hikers arrived at the top just a few minutes behind us, so we took each other's pictures. Love this one. It looks like we're on top of the world. Not quite, but 3000 feet up isn't too shabby.

The hike up was the cardio workout. The hike down was the quad workout. It was fun busting out our new day packs that we bought each other for our early anniversary presents (Happy 14th Anniversary, Babe. I have a separate post to follow about that too...) I also broke in my new Solomon hiking shoes this trip. They worked great. No blisters.

We saw this guy on our way down the mountain. Some hikers from Denver told us that it was a collared lizard and pretty rare to find. They are lizard gurus (or so they say), so we thought we should take a pic. Of course, this was the only pic our kids really cared about.

I think our next long hike will be on the 28th. Not sure yet where it will be, but we probably only have 2 more practice hikes before the real deal. Oh, and lots of miles on the asphalt. We're sort of dual-track training for the Rim2Rim in September and the Shun the Sun Half Marathon in early November. Good times.

Day 1

On the first day of Valentine's, my true love gave to me...

a box of sour jelly bellies!

The first year that we were married, Ryan started the tradition of doing the 14 Days of Valentine's with me. That year, I was surprised to find a little purple cut out heart on my bed on February 1st. I had no idea what it was all about, until about 3 or 4 days into February when it hit me that I was getting a little something special every day. Sometimes it was a small gift, some days a small act of service. Some days a fun date or a massage or foot rub. But every day, Ryan made an effort to do a little something extra for me to let me know how much he loved me. Isn't he romantic? I think I'll keep him :)

Well...14 years of Valentine's Days later, and the tradition is still alive. He hasn't missed a year. My friend at work, Richard, jokes that all of the guys hate Ryan because he's making them look bad. I just smile and tell him to step up. Make your wife grin ear to ear this Valentine's Day. Do something out of the ordinary to let her know how much you love her.

That's actually good advice for all of us gals, too. Let's step it up this Valentine's Day and let our men know that they rock our world!

7 Homers on his 38th Birthday Eve!

He's still got it.  The guns.  The desire.  The gift.   Ryan has been playing Thursday night softball ever since I've known him and for years before that.  His team won the league championship last night (picture above).  They played their season ending tournament at Field of Dreams in Gilbert, and they took it all.  Four games:  7:00, 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00 pm.  He got home at midnight.  He was sore this morning after doing a p90x workout yesterday morning and then playing ball all night in the cold.  And even though we weren't there to cheer him on (too late and too cold for the kiddos), we were thrilled to hear about their big night.  When I woke up this morning to get the kids ready for school, his championship t-shirt was laying on the bathroom sink in full view.  Nice.

Even on the eve of his 38th birthday, he hit 7 home runs over the fence!  And had a great defense night to boot.  We are proud of our awesome dad and husband!  Go Ryan Go!

And Happy Birthday, too!  As of today, you can't really brag about being married to an older woman since we're both 38 now.  I hope your 3 days of glory was good.  I am excited to go out on the town tonight with the love of my life and spend a little one on one time together.  But before we go, I wanted to post a few pics of Ryan from this last year.

Snokeling off the Na Pali coast in Kauai, Hawaii June 2009.  We had such a wonderful vacation this past summer!  I so hope we do it again!

Ryan drinking coconut juice straight from the source in Hawaii.  He's never afraid to try new things, and I love that about him.

Barrett and Ryan share a sweet tooth, that's for sure.  Here they are on July 4th in Mexico, enjoying their caramel apples at the family BBQ.  Oh, how we miss Mexico.  Can't wait to go back!

I love this picture of Ryan and Easton at Father & Son's last spring.  It was their first ever father and son campout with the ward.  Easton and Ryan both had a blast and are really looking forward to this year's trip.

And here's our Scoutmaster hiking out of Fossil Springs this past August.  Ryan and the boys in the troop did a backpacking overnight and loved it!

We all love you, Ryan, and hope that 2010 brings you many blessings and many more great memories.  Thanks for being so awesome!

He makes me blush

I've been sitting in this chair for a little too long this afternoon. Work shmirk! So glad I just sent off the email and analysis to our client and that now I can take a few minutes to write. I just got done checking on my regular blogs, and my eyes are teary. One thing I love about reading my families and friends' blogs is that it allows us to share emotion and insight and perspective, even though miles may separate us. One of my fabulous cousins who lives out of state is struggling right now with much in her life. I remember having some of those same feelings years ago when I was single and looking for direction, not to mention wondering where the love of my life was hiding out. I am thankful that there is a time and a season for all of our trials, regardless of what they may be, and that as we look back with the benefit of hindsight and the wisdom gained from enduring the trial, we can see the growth and progress on our path. I hope that she finds joy in her journey.

I am grateful that 14 years ago I found my true love. I am grateful that I am still madly in love with him and that he adores me like he does. I am finding joy in my journey every day and loving that I have my best friend trekking along the path with me. I love that I still get excited to go out on a date with him, and that I feel the desire to get a little "gussied up" before he takes me out on the town. This morning, as I ran out the door to make my 9:30 appointment with our new IT company crew, Ryan planted a kiss on me and told me that I looked amazing. I was just wearing shorts and a cute little top, no big deal, but my hair was down and curled and my lips were freshly glossed. And even though my romantic husband says little things like that to me all the time, he still makes me blush and smile like a school girl without fail. 

We still rock!

In case you were wondering, yes - we still rock! Last night, Ryan and I had such a great time. We bought tickets for the Def Leppard concert out at Cricket Pavilion (fka Desert Sky Pavilion). What an amazing show! We had 9th row seats, so the view was incredible. And the sound. Wow - so loud and so clear. The place was totally packed. Cheap Trick and Poison opened up. Cheap trick was so so, but Poison was great too. They've had some real hits over the years for sure. They ended with their greatest hit, "Every Rose."

Def Leppard was one of my most favorite bands growing up in junior high, high school and into college. I think I've listened to the Hysteria CD a thousand times. And the great thing about the show was that they played all their hits from all their hit albums. I knew every single song. I was singing, dancing, waving my arms. Clapping my hands above my head. The whole bit. Truly, I was a rocker last night. And I loved it. We were in company with about 16,000 other rockers, so many of which were at least our age or older. Just goes to show you that the love of music never dies, no matter how old you get.


Thanks, Ryan, for taking me out on such a great date. I'll be sure to add our concert ticket stub to the wall of fame in our pool room. And maybe even this picture of us. After about 5 unsuccessful attempts to take our own picture together (cut off head, double chin, half face, etc.), the guy behind us was kind enough to offer to snap one for us. This was at the end of the show, right after "Pour Some Sugar On Me," the last official song of their play set. We were all cheering and clapping and yelling - the normal behavior to try and enlist the encore song. And of course the band obliged and came out for one last number. Rock of Ages. They couldn't have picked a better one to end on. What a great night. And thanks to Grandma Cindy for keeping the kiddos on our late night date, and for bringing them home and putting them to bed too! We appreciate you so much. Here are a few pics from the show.

Phil Collens - lead guitar & back up vocals

Joe Elliot - lead singer

Rick Allen (one arm drummer)

The band

Rick Savage - bass guitar

Lucky 13

Thirteen years ago on August 17th, 1996, it was a smokin’ hot Saturday. Ryan and I decided that despite the crazy summer Arizona heat, we wanted to get married before he started back to college for the year. We had high hopes of going on a fabulous honeymoon (which we did) and wanted to do that before ASU started up. (Not to mention the fact that I had been waiting an eternity – 10 whole months – for him to propose, so I was happy to have a quick 2-month engagement.)

Last weekend, Ryan and I were reminicsing about some of our early dating memories (music we listened to, things we did, how we felt). I told Ryan that I knew he was "THE ONE" so early on in our relationshiop. Our first date was in August 1995, and by late September, I knew. I knew he was the love of my life. I knew he was the one I’d marry. I knew we’d be great together.

And I was right. He is the love of my life. We are great together. No doubt about it. So today, in honor of our Lucky 13, I’m posting 13 of my favorite “us” pictures. We have sure had some great times together, with many, many more to come.

But first... here are 13 little reasons (in no particular order) why I am so crazy about him:

1) He makes me feel like I'm the most beautiful girl in the world.
2) He surprises me on random occasions with a bag of sour jelly bellies – my all time favorite treat.
3) He signs me up for scrapbook classes because he knows I love it and because he knows I usually won’t do it myself.
4) He anxiously looks forward to every date with me.
5) He always tells the kids (in front of me) how much he loves mom, then follows it up with a little smooch (to make them giggle and smile). I love that they know we are in love.
6) He makes me a fruit shake just about every morning I work, and has it ready for me on my way out the door.
7) He puts his arm around me and pulls me close when we sit together.
8) He loves to talk to me, ask about my days, and is genuinely interested in what I have to say.
9) He works hard for our family and is always trying to improve our lives.
10) He loves our four children with all his heart.
11) He treats both his parents and mine with so much love and respect.
12) He senses when I need a little "me" time, and encourages me to take the time to do things for myself (go on a run, get my nails done, get out of the house for a while).
13) He is incredibly romantic and passionate about "us."

Could I be an luckier?

Freestone Park 9/08

Lake Tahoe 5/98

Isn't he handsome?

Cancun May '05

Ryan's ASU graduation

Park City Jan' 08 (one of my favorite trips!)

Hiking the trail behind the Cabin (Pine, AZ) 8/08

Vegas for Ryan's birthday 1/8/05 (loved this trip too)

A little "Rebel Yell" going on here. Halloween Party 2003

Ft. Lauderdale May 2003

Kauai June 2009

Our first Christmas party together - Ryan's apartment Dec. 1995