T-Minus Three Days and Counting

So, it's been awhile since I've posted in here; Vicki has done much of the updating lately. But, as we're getting pretty close to moving into our new house, I thought I'd put an update up and let everyone know how things are going.

We've had an interesting time trying to buy a short sale house. it hasn't always gone according to plan, but for the most part has gone fairly quickly. Apparently the people who were selling the house had moved to Boston, and their brother rented the house out to some random tenants. The renters have been less than cooperative with us throughout the entire process, and as a result has created a lot of headaches for us (and the sellers).

To make a long story short, the renters basically refused to leave the house, even after the seller served an eviction notice on them. They went to court last week, and the judge took one look at the papers and told the renters to get out of the house. They have until midnight tomorrow (Wednesday the 9th) to vacate the house. We are scheduled to have a final walk-through on the house on Thursday morning, and get the keys to the house Friday. We plan on moving Friday night after work, and being in our new house starting then!

Attached are a couple of pictures of what we are moving. For the most part, a lot of Vicki's things remained in boxes from when she moved here, so that has helped streamline the moving process. After the weekend I'll put up some new pictures from the new house.

It's a mess, but soon it will all have a home in the new house...

Thanksgiving

This year, I am most Thankful to have Todd in my life! Today, as I think back to everything that has happened in my life before he and I were "together," I realize how lucky I am to have him! I really have so many things to be thankful for; great friends and family, selling my house in 5 days, finding a job in 4 days.... So finding a new house took a little longer, but I hope that it is worth it!

This year was my first Thanksgiving with Todd and my first Thanksgiving in Arizona. The weather was beautiful on Thanksgiving - it hovered around 75 degrees for most of the day. Todd and Chris made the turkey in a smoker, Kerri made the noodles and monkey bread before she had to go to work, and I took care of the rest. We had two last minute trips to the grocery store, but all in all it was a success.

We had a few friends join us - Dolly, Loomis, Cara and Russ. We didn't get any Thanksgiving pictures, which I am sad about, but we have some of the food and Todd and I in Vikings gear ;)

Stuffing!

Monkey Bread

Cheese ball

Shrimp Crostini

I'm sporting Purple in honor of the Vikings. These colors look like they match in person....

Catch-up

A lot has happened since I last updated. Thought I'd do one catch-up blog. Halloween passed pretty insignificantly. However, work did want us all to dress up for the holiday. Halloween is actually a pretty big deal at US Airways; there is a costume contest employees can enter, the officers dress up and put on a Halloween show, and there is a employee children's trick or treat throughout the building. I'm not very creative and stress about Halloween costumes, which translates to I rarely dress up for Halloween. My boss had a few easy, creative ideas. I took one of them and was "tickled pink." I wore all pink, and had a pink feather boa for "tickling." Here are some pics of my department dressed up.

We recently took a trip to Las Vegas! I had never been there before, but Todd has been there quite a few times. We flew out of PHX on a Friday afternoon at 5:5opm. It was a short 30 min flight! I was amazed at how quick it went! We landed in LAS and waited in the corrals for a taxi. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott a couple of blocks off the strip, with Todd's Marriott discount. They did have a shuttle that would take us to the Mandalay. But once dropped off, there was a lot of walking to do! We spent a good amount of money on taxis that weekend. My first trip to Vegas was ok. We started the trip in the hole with regards to sleep. We both couldn't sleep the night before we left. But it was because we had received news about our house and were too excited to sleep. Going to Vegas already exhausted is probably not the best use of time. Either way, Friday night we spent at the "Burger Bar" at the Mandalay. That place offered a unique selection of beers and awesome burgers, custom made. Todd's brother was in Vegas that weekend because one of his friends was turning 40, and a few of this friends were also there for a tennis tournament. I got to meet all of them and they were a ton of fun. We didn't make it past 11pm that night - again the exhaustion!

Saturday we got up early and headed to a Las Vegas Iowa bar to watch the Iowa game. The bar had its own room set-up for Iowa fans. The bar apparently wasn't very good luck, because Iowa lost :( Todd showed me around most of the strip all afternoon. We did a lot of walking and saw a lot of casinos. We headed back to the hotel to take a nap and then got up to get ready for a night out. Flights back to PHX were very full, so we originally planned to stay up all night and take the early morning flight at 6:45am back. We first went on a search for a nice dinner. Most places were a 3 hour wait! We were too hungry to wait, so we wondered all around the strip to find somewhere to get us in. We ended up at a Seafood place in Caesar's Palace. We ended up spending way too much on dinner, but it was so good!! I ordered Filet Mignon and Lobster, Todd ordered KC strip. We also had to try the oysters - YUM!

I saw people walking around Vegas with these monster drinks, and I wanted one. Todd found a stand that sold them - yard long daiquiri's. However, i highly caution these drinks. I downed most of it in an hour. And was pretty sick afterwards. I didn't feel sick from whatever alcohol was in them; I felt sick from all the sugar in them! Ick. However, I kept the "cup" for future use :)

After wandering around for awhile and eating a huge dinner, we were exhausted even more than before. We changed plans and decided to go back and sleep, and abort the early morning flight idea. We instead got up at a normal time (8am) and searched for open flights that would get us back home. It didn't look good. We decided to try a route from Vegas to San Diego, and then San Diego back to Phoenix. We got on that flight without any problems. Its a good thing I booked that as back-up, because I asked the direct flights at the gate, and they were overbooked by 15 or more! So off to San Diego we went. It was a short 50 min flight and then I "stepped foot" in California for the first time ever. Although at work, they say it doesn't count as being somewhere if you never leave the airport. We had a layover, so we sat down at the San Diego California Pizza Kitchen and had beer and pizza for a couple hours, then hopped on a HUGE jet back to Phoenix. Another 60 min flight and we were back home. It was kinda nice making two small flights with a relaxing break in between.

All in all, a fun trip, but I hope to get some Vegas style dancing in next time!

The Oysters - sooooooo yummy!

Filet Mignon and Lobster - also unbelievably yummy

Me with my "yard-long" mango daiquiri

Us before going out Saturday night.

This weekend I tried Nascar for the first time. I don't have any pics, but it was a good time. I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't think I would like it. But I would describe it as a huge non-stop tailgate with little portable houses (RVs). I think I'm a fan - but that doesn't necessarily mean I want to go to a race. Yet.

United Way Jet Pull

One of the ways US Airways raises money for United Way every year, is to host a "jet pull." What that means is you pay $10 to enter the jet pull contest. The competition is to see how long it takes to pull a 10,000 lb airplane, 10 feet. Our team name was "Tow Fetish," and we pulled the plane 10 feet in 6.91 seconds. We were in third place for a short period of time. I don't know what the winning time ended up. But it was a fun morning at work!

The plane we pulled.

My Team.

Pulling the jet.

The whole team.

Our Score.

The Las Vegas crew brought in a couple of show girls. Had to get a pic!

Hawkeye Spirit

This week was the United Way kickoff week at US Airways. On donation day, we had a "tailgating" day and everyone wore jeans and their favorite team items. I wore Hawkeyes, of course! This is Cherame and I (my next door cube neighbor). I also signed up this week for the United Way Jet Pull at the end of October. You donate $10 to participate in the Jet Pull. Yes, that's right - I mean people pulling a JET plane. We have a team and try to be the fastest team to pull a jet 10 feet.

We went to the Sandbar in Phoenix for the Iowa - Michigan game this weekend. We were hoping to make it back to Iowa City for the big game, but flights were too booked. We really didn't mind not having to freeze outside. It was 95 degrees at about kick off!

This week

Todd parents were in town this week. They came to work on getting their condo put together. We ended up going to dinner almost everynight this week. Todd's mom, on my request, brought in some family photo album's of the Smith's and Todd's pictures through the years. That was a lot of fun to see! And familiar, since I had older siblings as well and always looked so much younger than them in childhood pictures.


Carolyn, Terry, and Todd Smith, and me

Weekend in Omaha

Last weekend we headed to Omaha, NE because two of Todd's old college friends were getting married. We flew out Friday night (free thanks to my flight benefits). We had reservations to stay at the Marriott of course. They had an airport shuttle, but we were told it didn't run after 11, and our flight got in at 11:30. As we were leaving the airport, however, we ran into the Marriott shuttle van. It turns out that it only picks up airport crews after 11. So he let us jump on, and the crew from our own flight hopped in the van as well! We made it to the hotel and we met up with our friends, John and Kelly, for a little while.

The next day we were up bright and early as usual for a football Saturday. We went across the street from our hotel to a bar that was playing the Iowa game. Some of the other crew made it into town by then and joined us. Two of our friends from Sioux City (Aryon and Jennica) drove up Saturday just to see us while we were in town.

Jennica and I

Kelly and I

Todd and Aryon

The bar had a theater style seating area. I've never seen anything like it in a bar, so I had to take a picture of all the men probably escaping from their wives to watch football at a bar! Ha!

Todd and I at Jen and Mike's wedding

John and I

Trying to take a self-portrait.

It was a fun weekend. The wedding reception included an open bar all night with top shelf liquor. That couldn't have been cheap....The reception was inside an old Railroad Station turned Museum. It was also only 3 blocks from our hotel. It was nice to be able to walk everywhere all weekend. Although the walk home at the end of the wedding night was freezing!! Besides my wedding shoes, the only shoes I brought back for the weekend were flip flops. Not a good idea! Its amazing how quickly you get used to warmer weather. The heat in our hotel room was also broken the first night we were there! Thank goodness they got that fixed.

I did spent a little time down in "Old Market." Its a quaint, cute part of Omaha that has original brick streets and buildings. Its full of great restaurants and unique shops. I went shopping with the girls down there Saturday, and Todd and I ate breakfast there on Sunday at this awesome breakfast buffet that reminded me of Iowa River Power Co in Iowa City.

We were a little nervous about making it back to Phoenix on a flight. The flights were pretty full, and since we were flying standby, we weren't sure we could get on. Lucky us, my priority level got us on, but a couple of people below my priority didn't make it on the flight.

House

Here is the front of the house we put and offer on and was accepted this week by the seller! Its a short sale, so we still have to wait on the bank's decision. But we're crossing our fingers! 2600 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a pool of course! It was built in 2006 in a newly developed area of Phoenix: Laveen. Don't worry, Home Depot is right around the corner!

We'd like a bigger patio, for a grill/kitchen/bar area and a patio TV. That will come with time :)

There is actually grass for the dogs! But I didn't move to Arizona to mow grass! Luckily, a weed wacker is all that is needed! It will need some bigger palm trees and foliage eventually....

WOOHOO!!

Way to go Hawks! 21 - 10 against Penn State!!!!

The guys were doing victory stomach bumps, and Gordan would do a high five with every play. He's become a football junkie, because he gets a treat with every high five! He stays on the couch and acts like he's watching the game. Izzy runs and hides under the bed with the screaming still. She'll learn.....

The Weekend in Review

This weekend we spent a lot of time (both Friday night and Sunday) up at the Smith Condo, trying to finish up the majority of the painting. Todd's parents are scheduled to come down to Phoenix the first week of October to buy furniture for their condo and get a little "moved in." I want to have the majority of the painting completed before we have to worry about working around furniture.

Saturday was an exciting day.... we officially started house hunting! We spent the morning with our realtor. For the most part, it was standard. Although we did run into one foreclosure that looked a little scary. It had graffiti and broken windows. And at another house, the owner was home and wouldn't answer the door. But we heard him yelling on the phone inside. We decided to scrap that one, and as we were pulling away, the guy came out waving us to come back. We did see two homes we liked; one in particular. We're hoping it can be ours!

Saturday evening we went out for a nice dinner for sushi and teppanyaki. We had Japanese beer; Sapporo and Kirin. Todd ordered spicy tuna (his favorite) and I ordered a new kind of sushi that was deep fried. It was yummy! We couldn't order off the teppanyaki menu without at least two entrees. We wanted to share one entree since we started with sushi. Luckily, one more group came in for teppanyaki. It turned out they were originally from Columbia, MO. So that started some conversations. The highlight was definitely the teppanyaki entree; we ordered lobster and beef tenderloin - beef on the rare side of course - we're from Iowa! YUM!!

Oh, and for a bit of trivia, Todd's brother Chris, was actually born in Japan, on a naval base. So he likes to tell people that he's Japanese.... might explain why the Smith's love sushi. :)

Before dinner Saturday night. We got a little dressed up for fun. And yes, that's me wearing a sweater in Arizona! It's starting to get down to a chilly 80 at night!

My camera has been sucking lately, and Chris was trying to take a pic for us. That's a bad combo. However, this "mess up" I actually like. I was laughing at Chris's attempts, and he caught me in a happy pose.

Oh, and don't forget that Iowa beat Arizona in football Saturday!! We have one friend in particular that went to Arizona. He told Todd he couldn't watch the game with us because "it wouldn't be good for our friendship." Actually, I think it was because he was too nervous about finding out some other results. After the game Saturday, he sent a picture text to Todd of a pregnancy test stick reading, "Pregnant." Guess they are expecting now, after 2 months of marriage!

My Parents Condo

My parents recently bought a condo here in AZ, and have asked Vicki and I (mostly Vicki) to help decorate it, paint it, get it ready, etc. Vicki is really good at that sort of thing, I just follow her directions... =) We've spent the last two days doing some painting up there, and below are some before and after pics.

The hallway, white before.

The hallway, some green color after (Vicki would have to tell you the color name...)

Vicki, doing the edging.

The living room (new color, was white).

Living room, into kitchen. Was also white.

I don't have any good before pictures, but one wall in the living room was an awful color of pink that we painted over. We managed to get two walls in the living room with two coats, and painted half the kitchen and the hallway with one coat. We might have gotten more work done, but we ran into some difficulties running errands both yesterday and today, including a dead battery in Vicki's car today at Home Depot.

All in all, we did a lot of work, but have a lot left to do. I hope my parents appreciate it!!

Iowa vs UNI

We went to the Sandbar to watch the opening year football game; home of the Phoenix Iowa Club. They played an instate rival - University of Northern Iowa. Even though not a conference game, UNI gave Iowa a run for their money, which is not totally unusual. Nonetheless, our alma mater ended up winning 17-16. There was a good crowd out for the game watch, although I would expect many more at the conference game watches. Todd and I got up at 6 am, and made it to the Sandbar by 7:30 am. Our friend, Armando (And Arizona State grad) tagged along with us, sporting an Iowa shirt and all. We met up with one of Todd's college friends that just moved to Phoenix as well, and her boyfriend. I knew of quite a few people that were going to be there for the game, but whom I did not see. But considering I never left my seat except to use the restroom all morning, I'm not surprised I didn't run into them.

Armando engrossed in the Iowa game. Even the Arizona natives love Hawkeye football! ;) Armando said he'd never seen anything like these Hawkeye game watches before he met Todd and the other Iowa guys down here.

Me, Cara, Russ

The dogs, apparently all tuckered out from watching football all day as well!

On a side note, Todd's grandma called him tonight and wanted to talk to me. I haven't met her yet. Talking to her reminded me of my grandma when she was alive, and made me tear up. I wish my grandma could have met Todd before she died.......