Continuing

After breakfast we rode our bikes up to the check-in to sign our paperwork. We got rejected because it was in our room and they wouldn't just give us new papers. So we went back and got it. Then they wanted John there (only Steph and I had gone back). They finally let us go and we headed to the coffee shop. We sat out on their back porch and enjoyed some iced coffee and root beer floats. We decided we were going to go kayaking. However, upon further inspection we realized that would be lame. There was a tiny trout pond that you can kayak on.

Instead we decided that we would go for a drive and check things out. We drove around and looked at the other cabins and up the other side of the creek? where there was a fire recently.

The tree stump has the address to identify where a house had been

We drove through a campsite and ended up down some road where there are a bunch of lakes or reservoirs. We decided to get out and walk around at one of them.

I don't think any of us touched the water to know what it felt like. There were too many crab skeletons and snakes!

There were some rocks and stuff for us to climb on and throw. It kept us entertained for a while. We even got some artistic photos.

This tree had so much sap running down it we thought it would be pretty to add some flowers.

Camping

I don't care what anyone says. When you leave the sweltering hot city and go to the mountains, to relax, cook marshmallows, ride bikes, and sleep in a log house; it's camping. That is what we did this past weekend. I have been dying to get out of town. I have such a wandering soul and I needed to get out and do something! We were able to coordinate things to where we would leave Thursday night and come back Saturday. Stephanie and Bart went up earlier Thursday and we got up there about 1030 that night.

We stayed in Greer at the Greer Lodge. It's about a 4 hour drive from our house and it was pitch black driving up there with sporadic cell service. When we got up there we basically just unloaded and went to bed. It was so quiet we were afraid of getting in trouble for talking.

The next morning John and I were both up early and we sat out on our front porch and enjoyed the cool air and sunshine. There were trout ponds right out our front door that we watched people fish out of and watched birds; especially a hawk catch fish out of. We had tried to be good and bring food with us. So for breakfast we had cherries, bagels, and hard boiled eggs (gotta have your protein).

Stephanie's birthmonth

The Fray

 I've already talked about the first few days of Stephanie's birthmonth. Well, here is a pic. We went to the Kelly Clarkson concert with Carolina Liar, and The Fray. I didn't get a good picture of Kelly Clarkson. It was a good concert and we had a good time.

Birthday dinner

 On Stephanie's actual birthday it was a Monday, so we went to Oregano's for dinner. We love that place.

I'm awesome

I tried to get Stephanie a birthday tweet from Kelly Clarkson, but apparently she has better things to do that tweet her awesome fans. So I started asking some of my other "famous" connections. My favorite singer came through for me.

More!

I think these pictures brings me up to date on my last writing.

Here we are on the 4th at Joe and Heidi's playing some Apples to Apples.

I will probably get yelled at for this picture, but it's the only one I got from our pottery outing in N. Phoenix.

After the pottery we went to the bike shop and then Oregano's. We were sitting outside enjoying the weather and this happened.

Then we went to Frost. This whole weekend started with Nick and I talking about him trying to get a tweet from someone "famous". I checked in on his efforts Saturday afternoon (which makes me think that this wasn't the same weekend as pottery. They all seem to run together...... Anyways, Nick told me that he had a better chance than me getting Chris Mann to tweet me. So I put it out there and went on our way. Yes, it was a different weekend because we ate at Blue 32 and then went to Frost to play around. When we got home, I had this tweet! Totally awesome!!

 

This is random, but it fits Stephanie and I.

Another random photo. I love this car. I dream about this car.

Let's add some pictures

Going back to graduation here are some photos:

Here is Heidi and I! She is the biggest reason that I walked in the ceremony because we had discussed it probably 2 years ago that we would be able to and it was extra special to be able to do that.

Dani, Heidi, and I. I work with Dani and she also graduated with her Master's in Psychology. Another nice thing was having someone to sit by and talk to while we were waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Stephanie and Bart came, which was super nice of them. I didn't get to see this until after, but she was definitely having a BLAST!

Bart looks really happy.....

Nick and I had a good time texting and tweeting during the ceremony. He was supposed to get me a tweet from Chris Mann (update on that coming!), but I thought this was cool

Oh boy

Well... I guess I should try and get this written down or else I won't remember what has gone on. It's only been just over a month too; how pathetic. Well, probably the biggest thing is that I walked in the graduation ceremony for my Master's the last weekend of June. That was a busy weekend. My dad showed up Friday and they tried to surprise me. We went had the family over for dinner and then we went to Ted. Oh my, it was hilarious!!

Saturday was the ceremony and Heidi and I rode out together. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together because we were different degrees, but it was fun to have a friend. Martha Stewart was the speaker. I wasn't super impressed with her and I thought Condolezza Rice for my bachelor's was much better.

Then we went to Oreganos and it was awesome as always. I can't remember what else we did, oh wait, we spent pretty much all Saturday night at Apple trying to get John's phone to work. This is why I will never drop my phone in water. What a joke.

Sunday we went to Crackers for breakfast and then hit a movie later. Girl's went to Magic Mike, boys went to something else. Then we went to Frost. We actually went Saturday too I think. We love Frost. I think we've been at least once a week since then.

4th of July - it was an overcast, rainy day and it was pretty awesome. We ran some errands with Stephanie and Bart and grabbed some lunch and then mostly hung out at their house. We had some craft projects we were working on. Then that night we went to Joe and Heidi's for dinner and played games. Pretty awesome day overall!

I think we had a couple of boring weekends without a lot going on. Then about 2 weeks ago we used a groupon we had bought for pottery on the pottery wheel. It was clear in North Phoenix and it was a little creepy but we had a good time. We talked about investing in a pottery wheel but I think our problem would be sharing.... and I don't know how we would fire the pottery.

Now it's Stephanie's birth month. We started it out the 1st with the Kelly Clarkson concert. It was actually Kelly Clarkson, The Fray, and Carolina Liar. We had a good time, although it was a late night for a work day! Saturday was dog grooming at our house. I made homemade fettuccine alfredo and we had a little snack from Frost as dessert. Today we met Stephanie, Bart, and her parents for lunch and ..... Frost!

Oh yeah, last weekend we went to Batman The Dark Knight Rises. I loved it. I was seriously crying at the end. One because I loved it and two because there are not plans to make another one.

I know there's more, but I'd have to go through my bank records or something to figure it all out. I know we've had a couple good dust storms and such. I'll check and post anything extra with pictures.

What?

There's been a whole lot of nothing going on lately. We had hockey pretty late into the season. Unfortunately, we couldn't beat the Kings. I think if we had we would have had a cup to celebrate!! It was a great season and I think we got to at least 1 game every series.

This was about the first week of May. I remember several of us on the team at work made an appointment to go donate blood at the same time. It was the funniest time ever. I think the girls taking our blood had the best hour of their day while we were there. I always get nervous doing this because it sucks so bad when you get sick but I made it just fine!

Lemon bars are my new favorite treat to make. It's super handy to have a lemon tree in the back yard, but I am out of lemons for the time being. Everyone at work seems to enjoy it as well. I just need to find a better way of grating the lemon....

Now for the controversial portion of this post. Chris Mann. He was on the voice and was my favorite throughout the competition. He didn't win, but I am obsessed with his music, and he's not bad to look at ;-)

This is the license plate cover that I want. Some people will know why...

I feel like this picture sums up my life right now. We have been getting up really early (4:30 am) and hitting the gym for about 45 min. Then we hurry home to get ready and get to work by 7 am. The workout seems to make it so I have more energy at work but by the end of the day I am exhausted! Still fighting the shin splints as well. But I think the overall workout has helped my running time. I'm averaging a 13 min mile now instead of 15. Dawn also conned me into starting another class right away. So now I'm in my second to last class; social psychology. 

We were able to get in a breakfast and bike ride in May. We went to Crackers, which we love. We decided to ride a few miles to Starbucks and then were headed back. Unfortunately, we had just left Starbucks and watched a dog get hit by a car. We of course stopped to help which resulted in Bart riding to the vet with this lady and her poor dog and us trying to get all the bikes a few miles back to the cars, loaded, and go pick him up. Definitely not the way we wanted to end our ride. 

I remember Mother's Day we were at hockey. Memorial Day we didn't do anything. Father's Day nothing either. About 2 weeks ago John and I went to Million Dollar Quartet. That was good. I liked the music but it wasn't our favorite. We spend most nights with me doing homework and maybe sitting in the hot tub. That whole project.... well we got the cement for the tub poured and the tub here and that's about where it ends....

I did plan a surprise dinner for John not that long ago. We went to Donovan's up by the Biltmore. I really like that area and that is going to be our new hangout. It was a lot of fun and EXPENSIVE, but worth it.

John's been working on the Camaro because stuff has been broken. Hopefully it is fixed for now.

We've been working on not going out so much and rotating houses to hang out at. So we had a Mexican Fiesta at our house about a week ago. John made enchiladas and then we went for a bike ride. We rode to Dunkin Donuts and they were closed. Stupid. Then we went and made Nick walk to Sonic with us and had milkshakes.

This weekend the dog's had their grooming appointment at Stephanie and Bart's. We enjoy the time without the dogs. Stephanie warned me to bring my swimming suit and I didn't listen and I ended up in the pool in my clothes. It was pretty funny and a lot of fun. We decided this morning to get up early and go to Matt's Big Breakfast. It's been on Diner's, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was yummy!

I think that is all the random musings for now and pretty much catches me up to date.