Hello, everyone!

I wanted to let you know that the new Tempe Center for the Arts is having a Community Celebration on Sunday, September 9th from Noon to 5 pm. This is the only day of the grand opening weekend that you can attend for FREE. You'll be able to take a tour of the facility, purchase tickets for upcoming events and watch performances by various local organizations (including the Arizona Wind Symphony, of which I am a member). Oh, and did I meantion the FREE food and drinks?

For more information, check out their website at www.tempe.gov/tca. Also check out this link for upcoming events at the TCA: www.tempe.gov/tca/Theater/Events.htm.

If you know of anyone that may be interested, please be sure to forward them this email.

Hope to see you there!

Oh, man, I can't believe I haven't posted anything in a while. Here's the scoop.

Mattie's bridal shower was a great success. She got lots of awesome gifts, it makes me want to get married again. We had good food, good drinks, and good games. I think everyone had a good time.

A few days after the shower, Mattie found out that the church where the wedding is to be celebrated suffered terrible damage to the roof due to the monsoon storms. No masses are being held at the church until the repairs are completed, which is two or three months from now. But the wedding is less than a month away. Luckily, another church (which is a little closer to the reception site) is available. Unfortunately, the invitations already went out with the other church listed on it. Thank goodness she had a few weeks to find another church. It could have been really bad if it was the week before, or even the day before. I really like the new church, it's very beautiful.

Jason and Mattie both have birthdays coming up. Jason's is the 14th and Mattie's is the 21st. I've got a couple of presents for each of them already, but still need to pick up a few more. Tomorrow afternoon we're getting together with some friends to play Bingo at Harrah's.

Anyway, that is what's going on.

I can't believe we're in August already. The time is going by much too quickly. Tomorrow is Mattie's bridal shower. Her wedding is four weeks away. I can't believe my little sister is having a bridal shower. It's a very weird thought, that's for sure. I'll be sure to post pictures.

It has rained every single day since my last post. Humidy levels are so high, in the 60's. It's miserable in the Phoenix metro area.

I think it rained every single night this last week, and once during the day. Most nights started with a dust storm. For two nights we had lightening that seems to be striking right over our house, as the thunder literally cracked over the house, making everything shake. It's nice, but it's also humid, which makes the days yucky. I don't even bother to do my hair, I just let it dry curly as there is no use in fighting it.

On a happier note (not that monsoons aren't happy), Jason comes home today after spending most of the week in Las Vegas visiting his mom and dad. Ya!

We got an awesome monsoon storm last night. Check out this video of the dust storm that blew through Phoenix.

What the heck is it? We've got gray clouds, loud noises, flashes of light, and stuff falling from the sky that is making everything wet! Anyone have an idea of what it may be?

LOL!

I have Pink Eye. I woke up this morning and my eyes were burning. My eyes were watering as I was getting ready for work. When I started driving to work, the sun was burning my eyes. Even with my sunglasses on, I couldn't keep my eyes open. Somehow, I made it to the urgent care, where I was diagnosed with Pink Eye. Getting back home was another challenge. By the time I got home my eyes hurt so bad that I lied down, closed them and fell asleep.

Once I woke up, I called my sister to ask her if she could drive me to the drug store to get my prescription. While she was here I gave her her Hawaii gifts. Now I have my antibotic eye drops, which I have to take for the next five days. I can't wear contacts for two weeks. Now the concern is how to live with Jason and not give him Pink Eye. Yikes!

We're back from Hawaii! We got in last night at midnight. We'll post pictures tonight so we can share with everyone.

Aloha! I am writing from the beautiful islands of Hawaii! Currently I am sitting in the home of my sister-in-law, which is located in Hawi Town in the North Kohala District. I can see the ocean from where I sit, although it's about a mile away. We have been having a wonderful time here. It's been really nice to visit with Karen and Jim and most of the family. We've also been able to do a little site seeing, such as visiting the USS Arizona in Honolulu, hiking down Pololu Valley, visiting an old fishing village, driving 3000 ft above sea level to Waimea (it's cold up there!) and swimming in the ocean. Today we went to an old lighthouse and checked out where the old sugar cane plantations used to be. I've taken A LOT of pictures and some videos, and will be sure to share with everyone when we are back in Phoenix.

It's 3:09 pm in Kalamazoo, so my mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law should be boarding their plane in about 20 minutes. They'll have a quick layover in Chicago, and then it's off to Phoenix. Their flight should get here at 6:35 pm, and I'll pick up and take them on the long drive to Maricopa. Tomorrow we're off to Hawai`i!!!

Rogue just went through one of the most traumatic times of her life. She just got a bath. Rogue absolutely hates baths. She hates water. She doesn't want anything to do with water except drink it. I'm not sure what happened in the 8 months when she lived with two other owners, but something bad must have happened to her with water. She never got near my parent's swimming pool, she runs away from the water hose and she won't even go out in the rain to do her business.

We usually take her to a groomer, and yesterday the mobile groomer was supposed to stop by our house to give her a bath and cut. No one called us to confirm the appointment, but she is on a set schedule with them. We called them in the morning and afternoon and got nothing but voicemail. I think that's the last time we'll use the mobile groomer. It's too bad, because they came highly recommended. If you have a dog, we suggest you find another groomer.

It takes both of us to get Rogue in the bathtub. First, we have to close all the doors to the bedrooms. Then, we have to put the baby gate up to keep in her in the hallway. No amount of peanut butter or Greenies can convince her to go into the bathroom. She proceeds to pee on the tile, and we'll have to get to that later. Jason finally has to pick her up and carry her into the tub. Jason straddles the tub and holds Rogue while I get her wet. The entire time she is trying to climb out of the tub and is a making a huge mess. By the time we're done, there's water all over the bathroom, in the tub, on the floor and we're soaked from head to toe. It's almost as if WE got the bath. When the bathroom door opens, she's like a bat out of hell.

We get some old towels and try to dry her off, but she wants nothing to do with us. We let her outside and chase her a bit, trying to get her to air dry. Of course, she decides to roll around in the grass. So now she has grass stuck to her wet fur. She comes back inside the house where she proceeds to rub up agains everything. By this time I grab our Floormate and clean up the pee-pee that's in the hallway. Jason grabs the vacuum to pick up little clumps of hair from her rubbing up against the sofas.

After about 30 minutes she is tuckered out. It's been a dramatic afternoon and she's ready for a nap.

Back on May 3, I witnessed an accident on the way to work between a motorcyle and a truck. (You can read about it on MySpace blog.) On Wednesay I had to go to court to testify about what I witnessed. This wasn't my first time in traffic court, as I was in court back in 1998 for an accident I was in, but was the other driver's fault. I have to say that court, especially traffic court, is nothing like court that you see on TV. It's actually kind of boring. There were no lawyers, just the judege, his assistant, the cop that took the accident report, the guy on the motorcyle, a witness, and me. The guys driving the truck were not there.

The cop testified first, drawing the scene of the accident on a white board and describing what happened according to the witnesses and those involved in the accident. The motorcycle guy was given the chance to ask the cop questions, but he declined. I was the next one to testify. I noticed that when I was sworn in, they didn't ask me to say "so help you God." I wonder when they stopped using it. I told the judge what happened, and afterwards, the motorcycle guy had a question for me. I freaked out a bit, but the question was lame. It was, "Did you notice if the truck's turn signal was on, or if he looked behind him before moving over." My intial thought was, "What does it matter, you were driving illegally in the bike lane!" I instead responded, "I don't remember." After I was done testifying, I was told I could stay and watch the rest, or I could go. I chose to go, only because Jason was at urgent care.

Of course, this has to happen right before we go on our trip.

http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/hvostatus.php

Seriously people, sometimes you just have to take a little initiative.

This little girl is amazing!

Hello, family and friends!

We'd like to show off our new blog. Please be sure to visit this site often, as we'll constantly post updates on what's going on in our lives.

So what's currently going on in our lives? First of all, we're still not pregnant. That seems to be what's been on everyone's minds since we got married. We've just been having a lot of fun together (practicing with Rogue), traveling, hanging out with family and friends, just enjoying life without children. But we feel that the time has finally come to start a family. At this point we're going to wait just a little bit longer, so that Emma doesn't have to be pregnant at Mattie's wedding (with the morning sickness and not fitting into the bridesmaid's dress and all). So, hopefully by the end of the year we'll have some good news to share with everyone!

Speaking of Mattie's wedding, it's less than 3 months away! (For those that my have forgotten or don't know, Mattis is Emma's little sister.) Mattie got engaged last summer in Paris (ya, France!) and the wedding seemed to be sooooo far away. It's now just right around the corner. You can check out their wedding website on The Knot. You can also check out more wedding details here. The bridal shower is coming up soon, as well as the bachelorette party weekend in Las Vegas. Whoo-hoo!

In two weeks Jason's mom and two sisters will by flying to Phoenix, so that the five of use can fly out to Hawai`i to visit Jason's other sister (there's three of them). She recently had hip replacement surgery, so we're all going out to visit her for a week. She lives on the Big Island, and we'll be spending most of our time there, but we'll get to spend a few hours in Honolulu to check out some sites. Jason and his mom have been to Honolulu before, but never to the Big Island. Emma and his two sister's have never been to any part of Hawaii, so we're pretty excited.

Okay, so that's it for our first blog. We hope you'll visit often!