Fall is Here

Wonderful weather we are having lately isn't it? We are finally cooling down in the Valley. This is probably my favorite time of year here in Arizona. Cool nights to get cozy in warm sweaters, the leaves change, you know, from green to brown. If only I lived here and this is what fall looked like.

To gear up for the fall season here at home consider the following pics for decorating inspiration:

Happy Fall!

What is your favorite time of year?

Mine?

Last night I dreamed of Camden. It was vivid and yet undefined. I dreamt of the color of his eyes. Since he never opened them I never knew their color. Where they deep brown like Phil's? My blue-green that changes with my clothes? Or were they the standard dark baby blue that will change as he gets older?

Trying to recall the dream now is getting difficult. The details are fuzzy, nondescript. I am beginning to doubt my own recollection. I saw Camden as more of a toddler, maybe the age he would be now, almost 17 months. He had big beautiful eyes, I do remember the color was brilliant and I was anxiously gazing into them, absorbing their depth. Perhaps only because I have longed for them and will continue to do so until I finally see with my own eyes. Only then will I be sure. I think they were mine.

The Male Mecca

Friday Night Date: Come home from an exhaustive 10 1/2 hour day, walk into my sparkling clean home! Phil cleaned everything~ the bathroom, started laundry, made the bed, swept and mopped. Just beautiful, I love it when that happens. You rock Phil!

Now, with nothing to hold he hostage at home we headed out to every man's dream date. "Hey honey, let's go down to the Bass Pro Shop, they have a restaurant there..." Seeing as my wonderful husband just cleaned the entire house so his equally wonderful wife (me) would have a leisurely Saturday not cleaning, I had to say "Sure, sounds fun." And it was.

We ate instead at the Cracker Barrel and our server was someone I knew from St. David-Curtis Mortensen. Fun chatting him up while we ate our Southern cuisine- fried okra, sweet cured ham, buttermilk biscuits and coleslaw for me and a meatloaf sammy for Phil. Tasty! Needing to walk off our meal we then headed over to the monstrosity of a building housing every imaginable outdoorsy apparatus known to man, (mostly unknown to woman). It actually was amazing, they have a big fish pond with behemoth bass and trout, mannequins fly fishing, hunting, camping, etc and poor furry woodland creatures stuffed and posing menacingly. 2 stories of money spending euphoria. We managed to leave without whipping out the plastic, but Phil will return next weekend with his brothers to prepare for the "Fishing Trip".

On a Lighter & Much Happier Note...

Phil has graduated! Yay Phil! For the past forever Phil has been working on his BS degree at ASU in Computer Information Systems. He quit his job last March to focus on schooling full-time and also to start taking the prerequisites for medical school. Now he is done and we can check that off our ever growing list.

He actually graduated about 1 month ago but we just received the diploma by snail mail about a week ago. He graduated with honors-Magna cum Laude- Woo hoo! Way to go Babe! You have worked so hard and I love you and appreciate your focus, drive and endurance, we are definitely in it for the long haul. Just think, now we only have 7-12 more years to go!

Remembering

Tomorrow marks 2 years ago that I found out I was pregnant with Camden. We were so excited. So much so that we started telling people right away. Camden was a wonderful experience, the pregnancy was picture perfect. Nausea never came around, nope, I frequented the porcelain for the other pesky ailment. It was dubbed my "office" at work since I was there between every patient and never could sleep through the night without at least 3 visits, let alone make it through a movie or walk down the streets of Rome without interruption.

I am a planner by nature. Map it out, write it down and make it happen, then cross it off and move on to the next task. I have been planning to get pregnant for the past 7 months. But this time things are not going according to plan. At least not my plan. I am definitely not in control here, despite my best efforts. I have charted, tested and mapped out the best course for achieving my ultimate goal each month, and yet each month we fail. It is very frustrating and depressing to say the least.

I am pretty sure we have failed again this month. No baby news, just another month to plan. It seems everywhere I look I am surrounded by happy expectant mothers or beautiful newborns. I lost it in sacrament meeting today, just got all teary as I observed cute bellies and soft cuddly cheeks. So began my monthly day of depression. It is short lived, just one day for me to mourn and then snap out of it. Life goes on and so will mine. Not to make this post a pity party for me, I just need to get my thoughts out so I can move on. Tomorrow I will be better and ready for another month to begin.

I am not patient. Phil says it will happen and I believe it will. I just wanted it yesterday, or 7 months ago, or rather 16 months, 2 weeks, 3 days and 9 hours ago. I reread my patriarchal blessing tonight. A certain sentence jumped out at me and I know it is the counsel I need right now. "You must and you shall realize that anything worthwhile is worth working and praying for." How true and very appropriate right now. If you will excuse me, I have some praying to do.

P.S. To all you pregnant people out there, I really am happy for you. No worries, I'm just a bit jealous...but happy nonetheless.

The End

These past 2 weeks we have had the pleasure of hosting Phil's sister Allison, and her two kids Brigg and Madison. They hail all the way from Philly where their daddy is starting his senior year at Temple School of Dentistry. Thursday we got together for one last big fling with the whole family. We ate at Joe's Farm Grill and gorged ourselves on American gastronomy and good company.

Fabulous food, I had the Fontina Burger which comes with roasted red pepper, grilled mushrooms, arugula, pecan pesto and fontina cheese. Snitching a few onion rings from Steve and Sweet Potato Fries from Jared and my meal was complete.

I got my baby fix snuggling 6 week old Taryn and Phil got to practice his skills as well. The weather was wonderful, cool and with a light breeze we dined alfresco. Thanks for staying with us Allison, we are glad you enjoyed your time in AZ and wish you a safe and happy flight.

Down by the River

Back from vacay by the good ol' Black River. Hope you all had a Happy "Labor free" Monday. We left Saturday morning at the crack of dawn and traveled up north to partake of a favorite pastime, fishing. Growing up with a single mom and a sister of course I have not gone fishing. Phil was quite excited to take me, even gave me casting lessons in the backyard prior to departure. Armed with rods and enough bait to catch a school of fish we left.

The Black River is just outside of Show Low on the Apache Indian Reservation, after you leave the lovely paved tarmac you take the 12-mile bumpy, rocky, down right hopping up and down in your seat road to get to the river. It was fun, but not when your bladder is beyond full.

My guide

The rocky terrain, even though it doesn't look so rocky-it was!

My first catch! And on my first try! Crazy Beginner's Luck, they weren't biting after that.

Sydney's First Catch!
After fishing Saturday afternoon our plan was to drive out and head over to the cabin in Pinetop for the rest of the weekend. We had a wonderful 3 hour thunderstorm that changed our plans and we ended up staying the night and sleeping in the truck. Good food-(salmon, shrimp and of course the catch of the day), good company and beautiful surroundings. Reed and Melissa brought the girls and another family joined us. We had a great time and it was so nice to get away. Now Phil wants to go fishing all the time and thinks we really need a Jeep!

Crazy rain, it was so nice though. And Phil told me I wouldn't need a jacket! Good thing I don't listen. We did get to wake up to this, crisp foggy morning on the river. Bea-utiful.