Our Lives

Check out Katies new place. She moves in with Sara and Andrew on July 15. Very nice place, adorable actually!

Close to both school and Katies job. Nice little neighborhood.

Very exciting time.

Whew, I can feel the burn. Two days and counting on my road to getting in better shape. Katie comes over and gets photo albums out and I get depressed. I never realized how good I looked at one time.

Back on Weight Watchers (gained back 15 of the 30 I lost last year). Quit going out to eat so much.

Sunday - half hour on the treadmill, 15 min on the bike, 5 min on the elliptical machine. That was day one. Couldn’t do the weight machines because it had been so long since I had been to the gym that they had to reactivate me. (oops)

So, Monday I was reactivated.

Monday - half hour on the treadmill, 15 minutes of stretching exercises, 45 minutes on the weight machines (boy are my arms in bad shape!), 8 laps in the indoor lap pool. Before I knew it, two hours had passed. Felt great to do it all.

I have every intention of going again today. It will just be for the treadmill and laps. I don’t want to push the weight machines. Every other day is cardio only. I plan on getting thinner again.

Well let’s start out with the birthday dinner at Abuellos! Yummmmm… It pays to join these email clubs that many restaurants offer. We have a tradition of whomever b’day it is gets to pick the venue for dinner. I really enjoy Abuellos so picked it. A couple of days later, got an email from them with a coupon for a free dinner for my b’day! Yummmmm…

Matt, Jen, Katie, Sara, Jay and I had a great time! We ate great food and enjoyed great company. Jen brought her Jenny Craig (true to herself!), boy does she ever have willpower! Then, to top it all off, we were sitting there discussing whether or not to order dessert when the waiter brought over a huge plate of cinnamon tortillas with little scoops of ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce and caramel, then topped with luscious real whipped cream! Did I mention Yummmmmy?

Last night was card night. I haven’t mentioned that the girls have been catching up to the guys. We were just two games away from them, then the cards turned back again. Now they are five games ahead of us again. Oh well, we have fun anyway!

So, to the momma hummingbird. I caught that picture of her on the left and right. I took it through the screen though, so a bit fuzzy. Anyway, she is amazing! We have noticed for the last week (since it turned hot) that she hasn’t been on the nest. At first, we thought she abandoned them. I even googled it and read that in the desert the eggs often “cook” in the heat. First time mothers often haven’t yet learned the best places to build their nests. Once they loose a batch, they learn to find a different type of location the next time. Some experienced mothers even put their next lower to the ground in dense bushes to help fight the wind and heat.

Anyway, the spot she has her nest is between the two houses, in our (dead) ficus tree and gets shade for all but about 2 hours of the day. It is also pretty well protected from the winds. Well, the day we thought she was gone, I looked out the window during the highest heat of the day and there she was, STANDING over the eggs. She never sat, just stood. I honestly think that because of the heat, she is not sitting on the eggs. When the sun shines on them, she STANDS over them to shade them. Amazing!

I hope they hatch, we have a great vantage point, and it would be fun to watch her raise them!

Wow, the hottest day of the year so far and what am I doing?

Cleaning the Courtyard and Patio.

Well, there is a reason for my madness. Last night Jay came home from work and said, “Do you want to go get your birthday present?” Well, far be it from me to turn that down. So we went down to Pier One and got an umbrella for our table in the courtyard. Then we went over to Target because I saw they had outdoor rugs on sale that I wanted to get for the patio.

So, I cleaned the courtyard this morning early before it could get too hot. Then I put out the umbrella. Looks great! Sometimes it is just a bit too hot in the sun out there, so this will help.

Then I cleaned the patio and put the rug down. It looks great too. What a difference! It really makes the patio feel more like a room! I loved the way Matt and Jen’s looked, so knew it would help.

Then I came inside and cleaned the house! Busy day!

But…..

Tonight at 5:30 Katie and Sara are picking me up and we are going to meet Jay, Matt and Jen for dinner at Abuelos. My favorite Mexican restaurant. I am pretty excited about that. Think I’ll get the tamales. I love their tamales.

Will fill you in on the fun tomorrow!

Later, Lynn

Happy anniversary to Mom and Dad!

Katie sent some great photos over to show off to everyone her hiking prowress. A bunch of her friends went up to a waterfall in Strawberry, AZ (near payson). They jump into the water from the top (crazy kids!). The last photo is of Katie and her friend Sara. Enjoy!

Arizona is full of so many surprises. The different areas giving us so many differnt types of vegetation and climates. It is beautiful! Any one wants to come visit, just let us know, we would be thrilled to have you!

Check out the new paint job in our bedroom!

I learned a new trick for painting stripes. It is very relevant to our textured walls, but from past experience, I would use it on smooth walls too.

Simply take a little bit of latex caulk (I used the one in the aerosal can)on your finger and run it along the edge of the tape in a very thin layer. When you remove the tape, you have a PERFECT line with no bleeds. I used the technique on the baseboards too. Worked beautifully!

Yesterday was Father’s day. God bless all the Father’s in the family. They are the glue that hold it all together!

Katie sent me photos of her hike up to an amazing waterfall in Strawberry near Payson. I will post them tomorrow!