Vacation in Northern Arizona

Pictures from our extended July 4th weekend in Heber-Overgard (3 hrs outside of Phoenix).

Great time, cooler temperatures, beautiful scenery.

Rockpoint Worship Band

I am so happy that I finally have good quality pictures of Greg playing at church.  I believe Sarah just took these pictures for her personal portfolio but I absolutely love that she took these. I especially love how Sarah captured the little nuances of Greg's demeanor while he's playing, which only I may be aware of after watching him play all these years.  Love, love, love these - awesome job Sarah Bel Gray !!

 

 

Sarah captured these pictures during  a week Greg played keys which I equally love...

We just lack pictures of Greg on Bass, once we have those, we'll have a complete portfolio for this master musician - totally love how talented he is! Though modest b/c even this post will embarrass him a little. Sorry hon. ;)

Catching up with Coupons

I recently took an involuntary hiatus from my life due to a work project that took 563 hours of my time.  As a result, a number of personal priorities were left unattended....

At times, it was my child who watched countless hours of cartoons (insert mom-guilt) while I pecked away at my computer, working late into the night again.  Other times, it was my house - unkept, cluttered, a total wreck of a home (exaggeration? Not at all.)

And the majority of the time, I neglected clipping coupons.  Realistically, I didn't have time to shop the store sales anyways.  There were a couple of times I had to shop for basic necessities but there was no time for coupons or checking sales.  I recall holding a box of Minute Rice for $4.99 - not on sale and no coupon.  I wanted to throw up.  I can no longer pay full price for items without feeling completely sick to my stomach.  And that's when I realized...this lifestyle has become an addiction.  Literally.

Now I'm catching up, tonight I clipped my coupons. Whew.  Relief.  Now I can shop with a clear conscious.  Grocery stores, get my freebies ready, here I come!

It is finished.

The data conversion project I've been working on for 2 months finally went live Friday night at 6:46pm pst.  Released.  Done.  Over.  Finished.  Why all the fuss?  What's the big deal?

Well....it means I can have my life back!  I can sit on the couch with Greg at night again.  I can play with Nathan. Cook quality dinners again.  I can clip my coupons & grocery shop like I used to, I can scrapbook, I can work on our yard, I can work on home projects, I can take Nathan to the library....

*happy face* - *happy dance* - *happy me*

My Self Portrait

Just so you know where I am.

Seven on Saturday

Seven pictures for this Saturday

 Nathan's soccer team this season.

 
 Our Sunday morning donuts at the park.

 

One of many typical rainbows in Arizona this time of year.

An after dinner walk, enjoying the nice weather.  It's time to get a new bike for our FOUR year old!

Sneaking in some reading time at Sears while Greg and Nathan shop the tools department. Seriously.

Putt-putt golf after our Friday night dinner, Nathan's first time!

The only way to survive the rigorous work schedule this month.  Coffee.  Hot coffee, Iced coffee, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, it doesn't matter-just give this woman some coffee!

Family Ties

While in Austin, I made it a priority to visit my Aunt & Uncle who helped raise me.  I lived in this house with them when I was 5 and again when I was 8.  I once read something that said "family is not who you are born to but who understands you' or something like that.  My Aunt & Uncle would fall into that category; they understand me because they understand the history that shaped who I am. 

My Aunt is like a second mom; she bought me clothes, cooked dinner, took care of me when I was throwing up spaghetti in her upstairs bedroom.   To this day, I'll use my left foot to brake while driving because I always wanted to mimic her when I drove.  My cousin, also pictured, was an equally integral part of my history because she became a big sister to me at a time that I needed one.

My Uncle pictured here was always a steady and consistent presence.  I love hearing him talk, I'm not sure why but the sound of his smooth voice is just comforting to me. 

Something I really valued at their house while growing up was a portrait of my Aunt and all her siblings which hung in the living room.  Perhaps my affinity for the 1950's era stems from the countless time I would spend looking at this portrait! Here we are looking at the picture on the kitchen table while I was grilling my Aunt on who was who and how old they were at the time (1955).

Top Row, from left to right, age in parenthesis: Faye (14), Shirley (16), Sylvia (18), Tilda (20), Jean (22).
Bottom Row: Eddie (12), Gary (10) [my dad], Myra (8).

These are all my Aunt's and I lived with almost all of them at one point or another while growing up!

Visiting my Aunt and Uncle was great but they were very quick to remind me that the last time they saw me was 11 years ago when Greg and I got married - Ouch!!  I really need to do a better job at staying in touch....