We saw the President

 Yesterday I heard that President Obama would be in Arizona and although first my thought was that would mean streets would be blocked off and I might be inconvenienced, when I mentioned it at dinner Rachel's eyes lit up and she said "The president of the United States is going to be HERE?!!"  And I realized that is in fact very cool. 

Unfortunately it was a closed speech (invitation only) so we couldn't go listen to him talk, but we figured seeing the President...even if it is only seeing the President's car..really could be a once in a  lifetime opportunity--and that is just the kind of stuff I enjoy doing.  So I called Heidi and asked if she wanted to load up all the kids and join us.  We opted for the bike ride because I assumed roads would be blocked off and we'd be able to get closer on bikes.  Unfortunately we mis-timed it and got to where he was speaking just after he had driven by.  So at that point we had two choices, go home and be done with it, or try again and maybe we could catch him on his way out. 

We waited...then waited some more...then the cops seemed to be blockading the roads...then we knew it was close....then waited longer...apparently we didn't "know" anything....

The sun was going down when they finally drove by--but there he goes!

November

Here is a photo just to document Rachel and some friends actually swam in the pool the first week of November.  It was pretty chilly, but they jumped in several times before they got too cold and the fun wore off.   Sometimes we are happy that the good weather lasts so long, and sometimes at that point we are dying to wear out winter sweaters and we wish it would start looking like fall around here.

Visit from Lisa

My friend Lisa from Chinle came to Phoenix for a few days just before Christmas. 

I showed them around Chandler one day, took them to Desert Breeze park and rode the train

Fed the ducks  (just after this photo, Rachel somehow managed to kick one of her shoes into the lake...so the next 15 mintues were spent trying to fish her shoe out of the lake.)  Good times LOL

It was my first time seeing baby Ella, what a cutie :)

Wishing.....

that my blog would blog itself.  And even with all my New Year's wishes--it didn't happen.  dang. 

So here is my attempt to update everything from the last few months.

#1 My brother Patrick got married in December.  It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, and he and his bride looked amazing...although, apparently I didn't take any pictures of them with my camera--oops, so for now here are some other pictures of the day.

Rachel and her cousin were both flower girls and as you can tell, they really enjoyed their job.  These were taken after the wedding when they were allowed to be silly.

Since we were all dressed up, I had hoped to be able to snap a family picture for the Christmas card...but of course, as soon as I get that thought in my head, Sam's thoughts go in a different direction...

For the record, he was enjoying himself at the reception, and in between each photo, but this grumpy face was solely to thwart my photo

Rachel tried to help, but as you can see--it still wasn't Christmas card worthy...

So here my niece tried to step in an help   Ha ha!   Sooo close...but no luck. 

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

*side note*this is why it is better to just let him grow a ridiculous mustache or side burns or whatever, because while he still thinks he is being hilarious, I at least get a smile for the photo. 

Here is Sam dancing with Rachel

And here is Rachel dancing with Grandpa Lennie

#2   I made it through my first semester of Pharmacy school!!!!  WAHOO!  And I passed all of my classes so I will not be repeating anything, which after the fact I am realizing was not that far fetched.  I had one class that I was failing at midterms --but I was able to pull off an A in it because the final was very heavily weighted (40% of the grade).  However, some of my classmates did not have the same luck, some of them went into the final with a B and ended up failing the class, which happens to be a prerequisite for moving on in the program so they will now not be able to continue and they will catch up with the classes they need to retake with the next class and graduate a year behind.  And come to find out 12 of our classmates found themselves in this situation, which is about 17% of our entire class.  So in the end I got a few A's and a few B's, and so I understand that is something to celebrate--and CELEBRATE I did!!--For my entire three week break. :)   Here are some details about that...

#3   We had a great Christmas.  We decided to continue our tradition of skiing on Christmas Day and so we thought about where we could ski and see friends (aka mooch some free lodging off someone lol).  So we decided to head to Utah, we left on the morning of Christmas Eve and we headed to Cedar City, Utah to spend Christmas with my grandparents.  My parents also drove up, so we had a fun Christmas eve dinner, then woke up to Christmas morning in Cedar City.  We went skiing at Brianhead and we took my dad skiing too--which was a blast!  He was quite the ski pro back in the day--even worked on the ski patrol at one point, so I have been dying to get him and Rachel skiing together.  There wasn't too much snow but the weather was nice and we had a blast that day. 

We made gingerbread houses.

celebrated an early Christmas with Sam's parents

Here is Sam holding Rachel down and letting Cali lick her face, something he threatens a lot while he is in a silly mood

We exchanged presents early at home, this was Rachel's big present

Here she is getting her first guitar lesson from dad

Here we are at Christmas Eve dinner at my grandparent's house.

Skiing on Christmas Day at Brianhead

As my dad's Christmas present we brought him skiing with us, and it was so fun.  He was quite the skier in his younger days (even was on the ski patrol at this very resort)  So I have been dying for Rachel to get to go skiing with him  (after all, nothing about my skiing is cute or impressive, but eveything Rachel does is worth watching :)

And here would be our Christmas Card photo had I ever gotten around to sending them...but sorry everyone, just didn't happen this year.  I think I am on the every other year schedule. 

Loved the views

And I loved how brave Rachel is.  The first time down this run she went right over this, didn't stop to think about it or anything

Sometimes she landed it, some times (like on this shot) she fell...

but then she just gets right back up and keeps skiing. 

#3  Then we drove up to Salt Lake City and saw my little brother and his wife who just moved up there.  We went to an awesome little place to eat that had the BEST waffles with strawberries and cream that I have EVER had...and trust me when I say this is one of my favorite meals so I have it a lot.   http://www.brugeswaffles.com/  if you want to try it.  Then we did a quick stroll through temple square to look at the Christmas lights.   We stayed with Kim and Chris and were happy to get to see them again too.

These girls picked up right where they left off.  Rachel made this creation with some foam stickers

Hanging out at the mall one day....due to the minimal amount of snow in Salt Lake this year

#4  Then a few days after we got back Rachel went back to school and Sam went back to work.  Thankfully I had one more week off from school ...unfortunately I spent the time dog watching Cali who managed to hurt herself at the dog park while we were gone.  She earned herself a trip to the doggie hospital ...twice.  Her stitches were not healing properly after about a week so they had to be re-done and the healing process (and trying to keep her calm and contained) started all over again.  Leaving the house was tricky because since she needed to be calm I would have to put her in her crate when I left, and let's just say even her giant crate is not big enough to comfortably fit a dog when they also have to be wearing the giant cone of shame (so that she won't mess with the stitches).  Our poor little Cali has gone through too much in the short time we have had her.  Thankfully, she is doing much better now and this time the wound is healing nicely. 

#5  Rachel has started playing soccer.  She has a great coach--played professional women's soccer and has coached for some of the community colleges here in Arizona.  All of the practices and games are held at a park that less than a mile from our house.  She had her first game on Saturday.  Her coach had a conflict and couldn't make it, so she got a friend to step in and coach the game.  Come to find out, this "friend" of hers not only also played professionally, but also played on the US women's national team for two years!  I don't think Rachel understands how cool that is. 
#5    I started back to school this week.  I don't want to jinx it, but this semester seems a little easier than last semester--so I am crossing my fingers I am right.  Either way...it will probably still be a while before I update everything again.