Go Cards...

This weekend Daron and I had the opportunity to go to a Cardinals football game!  A guy that Daron works for has season tickets and was going to be out of town, so he gave them to Daron!  It was a good time!  And a super good game to go to.  If you follow Cardinals football at all, you know they pretty much suck this year.  We ended up winning this game in overtime!  Yeah!

Even though we we actually at a game, Daron still had to check scores for other games on his phone.  Give me a break...

We won!!!

 I switched my schedule at work, so from now on I work four 10 hour days and I have Monday off.  I had lofty goals of this things I was gong to get done yesterday, but I didn't get to most of them.  Here are pictures of some of them:

I took the leftover bulbs I had from my wreath and I hung them from twine in front of my window.  A neat idea..but I didn't execute it as well as I could have it if wasn't 10:00 at night and I had to get up early the next day.



 I made this wreath...super cheap and super easy!



I got all of the gifts wrapped for anyone that doesn't live in my house!  I love wrapping gifts!  Now I just have to get them in the mail!



Yeah for fun weekends and now having Mondays off!! 



Well...I'm a bad blogger...but...so is everyone else!  All my friends that blog have not done so in over a week!  Here are a few things that are worth probably a full blog for each of them, but for now they will just be listed here:

*  Thanksgiving happened!  It was a pretty good day!  Daron put me in charge of the turkey so we did it differently from how he's used to cooking it.  He was nervous the whole time, but after faithfully basting in every 20 minutes for about 5 hours he decided it was one of the yummiest turkeys ever!  Yeah for new things! Daron's mom and dad and his sister and her family came over that day.  It was nice to spend time with everyone.

* I went black Friday shopping for the first time ever!  It was SO FUN!  I got some good stuff I think.  I went with Judy and Melissa (Daron's mom and sister) and it was a blast!  I am probably addicted now.

*The day before Thanksgiving Bryan fell off his bike and scratched his lip, and knee pretty good and busted his front tooth in half!  We took him to the Dr just to double check that he didn't break a bone in his face or something, but he was fine.  He goes to the dentist today to get something done with his hill-billy missing tooth!

*Hannah got a job!  She works for Smart Style in the Walmart close to our house!  So thankful for this!

*I have 99.9% of my Christmas shopping done! This includes everyone getting a present from me!  I am so excited for this!  Last year I put it off and had to do a lot of December weekend shopping...and that was miserable for me!  So this year I got on the ball and got it all done.  Yeah!

*We traded in my Escape and got Daron a new work truck.  I have to say I was a little sad to see it go...it was one of the few things I brought into the marriage...but since I was driving the new car we got in September I couldn't really argue.  Plus, it's a nice truck...I'm not complaining at all.

*Ashlie Wilson got married!  We got to share a last name for just over a year!  Now she is an Estrada.  I was the 'maid of honor' at her wedding the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Her aunts and uncle came in to town and it was nice to see them.  Ashlie made a beautiful bride, and her wedding was perfect!  Small and cute and great!  Now I've just got to convince her to move to the east side with me so we can be friends and hang out!

There is probably something else I'm forgetting to mention...but I can't think of it now. 

Parents Visit...

My parents came out and visited us at the beginning of November!  They were here from the 3rd and went home on the 9th.  We had a good time!  One day we went down to Tucson to Kartchner Caverns.  Daron and I had gone before and really enjoyed it, so we thought we'd take them and Bryan and see the other part of the cave we didn't get to see.  Needless to say, our tour was not as good as it could of been.  When me and Daron went a few months ago, our tour guide was amazing!  He showed us a bunch of neat stuff and seemed really interested in what he was doing.  The lady we had this last time seemed like she was just 'doing her job'.  It was still interesting to be in the cave, but only because I could draw on the stuff I learned a few months ago with the other guide.  But, it was a good time anyway. 




That hill above my moms and my head is the cavern.  They take you up to the entrance in a little shuttle and then you have to walk through a bunch of doors and get sprayed down on your way in so you don't leave any dust or particles behind, since it is a living cave.  That's why my hair looks so lovely, it got a little wet, then with the humidity in the cave, it was just beautiful afterwards. :(



Dad and Mom waiting for our tour to start



In the museum part of the tour they have little 'caves' you can crawl through to see what it was like for the original men that found the cave.



As you can see, some people would be better cavers than others! :)



We did some other fun things while they were here:  we saw the Casa Grande Ruins (fine to see it once, but I probably wouldn't go back), we ate at The Melting Pot (so yummy!),  and had Darons family over for a BBQ.  It was so much fun having my parents here!  I wish they would of been able to stay longer, but when you live far apart, you have to take what you can get!



Catch up...

I hate blogs that start out with "I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now"... but really I HAVE been meaning to blog about these things for a while now... I just got busy with my parents in town and preparing for that and stuff.  But anyway...here is my catch up blog...

A few months ago I bought a Groupon for bowling in Fountain Hills.  It was a pretty good deal, 3 games of bowling for 4 people, plus shoe rental and money towards their food.  It turned out to be a really small dinky bowling alley.  We ended up being by ourselves for a good portion of it, and shortly after we got their it was GLOW BOWLING!  So fun!  Here are the pictures to prove how much fun it was!

On Saturday October 29th Daron, his mom and I headed over to Schnepf Farms for their fall festivities!  It's a fun little festival where there is a petting zoo, a small carnival, a train ride, food stands, face painting, piglet races and a bunch of other fun stuff for families.  We went in the afternoon, so it was a tiny bit warm outside, but none the less we had a good time!

Ashlies Bridal Shower...

On Oct 26th Charlene and I threw a bridal shower for Ashlie!  It was fun times!  There were lots of people there and Ashlie walked away with lots of fun presents!

Here are a few pictures (some that I stole from Charlene's facebook page) from the shower.  I made the favors and came up with some games and Charlene put together the food table and did most of the food.  It was so yummy and we all had a good time!

This is the gift I made Ashlie for the shower. I had wanted to blog this a while ago...but had to wait until after the shower because she looks at my blog and I didn't want her surprise ruined!  It's hard to see but I bought some glass dishes and etched stuff into them!  It was cute, pretty easy..and makes some a personalized gift!  I sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but I thought these turned out really cute and WARNING if you're my friend and I am getting you a present in the near future...there is a good chance you may get some glass thing etched! :)



Rant and rave...

Oh man I'm so annoyed. 

The other day I bought a couple of these soups at the store because A: they looked good. B: I had a coupon that made them a pretty good deal, cause normally they are expensive. C: they looked convenient to take to my office to heat up and eat there.  I don't like taking dishes into work cause I forget them and it's hard to clean them there and all that. 

So today I'm in my usually grumpy "I hate my job...I hate working 10 hour days...I didn't bring my lunch and I'm the only one here so I can't go get something" attitude.  Then, I remember I brought those containers of soup a week or so ago and I could have one of those!  Yippie!  So, I read the instructions on how long to microwave it and YOU CAN'T MICROWAVE IT!  Stupid Campbell's soup people made it so the metal ring stays on the container, and duh you can't microwave metal!  I was so annoyed!  Cause I don't have a bowl or a Tupperware here and now I still can't have lunch.  Poor me!  But I just think it's stupid that they would package it like they do their other microwavable bowls and containers...so you think you can... but now.   This special overrated overpriced soup needs a special bowl to be heated.  Lame.

Getting my craft on...

This blog is dedicated to Jillian...cause I made a promise...and I don't like my pants being on fire (you know...from being a liar!)...

We bought a new coffee table and end table over the weekend and in order for it not to get ruined too quickly we decided we needed some coasters.  Daron wanted to buy some expensive sand stone coasters, and maybe someday we will.  But for now, I decided to make some coasters that I had seen on Pinterest.  

I have to say they were super easy and I think they turned out really really cute!

I made 12 coasters, 4 of them were Christmas oriented.  I was really excited cause now I could take a new coaster to my office!  I had been using one that my former roommate Whitney gave me that her sister made for her.  But, it often caused confusion because the girl who worked at my desk before me was Whitney, so people thought it was her coaster.  While I appreciate the loaner, I was excited to have one of my own!

To make them, all I did was get $ .14 white tiles from Home Depot.  The tiles were about 4x4.  I cut out some scrapbook paper into a square slightly smaller than the tile.  I put a layer of mod podge onto the tile, put the paper down on it, and then put another coat of mod podge on.  After it dried for a while I put another layer of mod podge on.  After all the modge podge was completely dried, I sprayed it was an acrylic sealer, so it makes it waterproof.  I did a few coasts of that, letting it dry for 20 minutes in between coats.  After they were completely dry, I glued the cork to the bottom of the tile.  You can use felt pads or plastic pads or a full sheet of felt, but Daron wanted nice cork bottoms.  The only thing that was difficult was the fact that I decided to use gorilla glue to glue the cork on.  Well, I forgot how much gorilla glue expands, so in the morning I had lots of foamed dried glue seeping out from under the cork.   After a mild tantrum on my part, Daron suggested I just cut off the excess with a razor blade, and that worked well. 

So, all in all they were super easy and really cheap.  The tiles were $ .14, I already had the glue and the paper.  The spray was about $7 but I had a 40% off coupon for Hobby Lobby where I got it.  Also the cork was $2.75 for 6 sheets, but I had a 40% coupon for those too. 



FINALLY...

Last night me and Daron headed over to his moms house to give her dogs the T-bones from our steaks.  It had been stormy all day, so by the time we cleaned up dinner and went outside...the weather was B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!  It was in the low 70's and there was a cool breeze!  As soon as we got home we opened all the windows and shut the air off.  I actually woke up this morning on the chilly side of the temperature spectrum!!!  It made me so happy...hopefully there is an end in sight to the 110+ temperatures we've been having all summer and maybe fall is finally on it's way.

It seems like the rest of the country got cool a while ago...cause all of my facebook friends and crafty bloggers that I stalk were all talking about fall and fall craft projects and soup and apple cider and pumpkins...and we were still having 115 degree days!  I really struggled with it...I was beginning to HATE the fact that I live in Arizona.  Fall (and everything that comes with it) has always been my most favorite thing ever, and I seemed to be getting screwed out of it.  But...the past couple of days I've realized how ungrateful I was for what I did have!  Sure, I may not be able to do the Nauvoo Pumpkin Walk every year anymore, and I may never get to really carve a pumpkin out here and have it last for any length of time, or be awe struck by river road every year in the fall no matter how many times I drive it.  But...I have a great family who I love and who loves me...we are healthy...and...when we finally do get down into the fall temperatures I love so much...the rest of the country gets to deal with this:

Friends...



The title of this picture is "My Greatest Friend"  I LOVE it and I used to have a copy of it hanging in my apartment.

 These thoughts have been on my mind for a few days now...but I hope they don't come off too jumbled and weird when I put them in my blog.  Also, I want to say that I am talking 'obviously' about friendship...but in nothing that I say or think do I ever want to downgrade the quality of my friends that I have now.  I love them and don't mean any disrespect or belittlement...


Daron and I were hanging out on Friday night and he says "We need to get some friends.  Why haven't we made any friends in our ward yet?  We really need another couple to hang out with sometimes!"  And it really got me to thinking....we don't have any friends!

I have friends in the area that I hang out with sometimes...like...quarterly.  But they aren't our friends.  And I feel really bad for him because he did have friends before, but since his divorce, you sort of loose those people that were both your friends because it becomes awkward.

So you'd think that we'd make friends at our church.  But we just haven't!  I am sure it's mostly my fault...cause Daron is very out going and loves to chat it up with people.  I am not very forward when it comes to new people, so it usually takes me a while to find a good friend in a new situation.  I think one of the major roadblocks to making friends is that there is such a difference between us and a lot of the other couples.  Firstly, our ward is full of mostly older couples, and by older I mean like 60's and 70's.  If it's not elderly couples, it's couples with mostly teenage kids.  Which is great for Daron but a little older than I really feel comfortable bonding with.  But, the couples in our ward that are my age either have young babies or no kids at all.  So, we don't have a lot in common with them either.  But I can't really say that...because it's not like we can't be friends with anyone who isn't exactly like us.  But I think it makes it a little more difficult.  Or maybe I'm just being silly and anti-social. 

There are a couple couples that we both agree we'd like to get to know more.  One of them is actually in a really similar situation as us.  The husband was married before and has kids, and she hasn't been married until him.  They got married a week before we did, and they don't have kids together yet.  The only difference is they don't have his kids with them regularly like we do.  So we thought they'd be fun to hang out with.  (Plus I talked to her our first day in the ward and I really liked her a lot.  She went to Ricks...and those are usually good folk!)  There is another couple too which just moved in a month or so ago, and they have a bunch of boys.  So we invited them over sometime this month for a BBQ.  (Hopefully Bryan can make friends with their kids and maybe not be such a baby about going to church.)

But the thing that makes me nervous about all of this is that I'm just no good at being like "Here I am...let's be friends!"  I mean...I think I'm a friendly and nice person...but it makes me nervous to invite someone over and be on the spot.  I'm not good on the spot.  Plus I've never really put an effort into making friends.  But this idea of finding a couples friend is really hard.  I guess we'll see how this goes.

In a perfect world, I would create a community where all my single friends had boyfriends/husbands, all my long distance friends lived down the street, and my family was close by too.  And in that community there would be seasons...

The ABC's of Katy...

  I have been working on a good blog post in my head for a few days now...but I dont' have it quite firgured out yet, so I saw this on a friends blog and thought I would copy it just to get a new post up in the meantime!


Age: 29
Bed size:  King
Chore you hate:  Putting away the clothes I folded
Dessert:  Cherry Chocolate Cake, or Caseys donuts
Essential start of the day: McDonald breakfast...but I'm trying to break that habit...
Favorite color: anything that is glittery... but especially purple glittery
Gold or Silver: Gold
Height: 5'6"
Instruments you play: violin and piano
Job Title: administrative assistant for now at least
Kids: 2 step kids at the moment
Live: Apache Junction
Mom's name:  Kathy
Nickname: Katy, Kitten, Kit, katarina violin mandolin trombone
Overnight hospital stays: none since I was a baby
Pet peeve: teenagers
Quote from a movie: it is causing me anxiety to come up with a good one, so I'm not picking any
Right or left handed: right
Siblings: two sisters and a brother, I think, I haven't spoken to him in over a year so I'm not sure
Time you wake up: usually 7:15 on a work day or 8:30 on a non work day.
Underwear: I wear them yes.
Vegetables you dislike: lima beans
What makes you late: traffic
X-rays you've had done: I had a chest x-ray done a long time ago, and teeth x-rays even longer than that
Yummy food you make: my family is a fan of a carolina BBQ chicken that I make sometimes
Zoo animal: giraffe

A new car...

If you read the title out loud and say it like they do on The Price is Right...then it's SO much more fun!

But anyway, this past Saturday me and Daron got A NEW CAR!  We traded in his Ford Taurus and got a Ford Fusion!  A new 2012 Ford Fusion!  And the funnest thing of all is that I get to drive it!  He is taking the Ford Escape!

One of my favorite things about it is the dashboard!  It's blue and almost 3D looking.  The car is 'Cinnamon'...but it's mostly just a really dark, almost black looking red.  Daron likes it so much that it may not be too long before we trade in the Escape for another Fusion!

Viva Las Vegas...

Daron and I went to Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend!  It was a lot of fun!  He got us tickets to The Lion King and to The Improv.  I would absolutely recommend seeing The Lion King if you ever get the opportunity!  We had a great time just relaxing and having fun!  And we ate at the yummiest restaurants; I've never eaten so much seafood and prime rib in my life!

I didn't take my purse around with me too often, so I didn't get many pictures.  But here are few that I did take:

This is the Bellagio.  The lobby ceiling was covered in Chihully glass lilies!

Excuse the fact that Daron looks stoned...but this is us waiting to see the fountain show at the Bellagio.

Us at the Bellagio fountain show again.

It was a great weekend!