October Fun

So we went camping up in Payson, AZ earlier this month and even though it was BEAUTIFUL, it was COLD. Like.... 40 degrees cold. The leaves were beautiful changing to bright yellows, but nothing like a NH foliage that's for sure. We had our little campsite set up and we went to to lake that was just a few mins down the road. Gix is quite the hiker! Since it was a little chilly we put him in his little black hooded sweatshirt (haha) and after the lake settled in our campsite and I made us a large fire so we could cook our dinner. On the menu .... baked potatoes & Hot dogs haha. Nice gourmet food huh? Then of course for dessert we had smores :) Just hanging out chatting around the fire was really nice and relaxing and I wasn't as scared of getting eaten by mountain lions. Normally when we go camping we are out in the middle of NO WHERE it's super scary and I just am not a fan. Plus we've heard stories of wild cat encounters and yeah I'm all set!! For Halloween this year I'm going down to see my girlfriend Sarah and her little girl, Leah for some Halloween fun. Leah's going to be a cat from what I've been told and it'll be nice catching up w/ my old roomie. Brad's estatic he gets the house to himself. Maybe I'll make him hand out candy haha. I can't believe the end of Oct is here, and November is so close. I'm kinda excited to make my Thanksgiving dinner, but it won't be quite as fun since we have no one coming this year :( Oh well we'll have more than enough food for us. More to follow!

October

Well... I promise I'll get better at updating this thing!!! So Last entry was in July, not much has happened since then. I had my good friend Jeff's wedding in Oregon where I had to read a poem. Have I mentioned how much I hate public speaking? Jeff, Me & Matty ---------------->

THEN when I got back to Scottsdale, we left 4 days later to go to NH for our first trip back home since moving out here!! Our first thoughts when landing... dang it's GREEN!!! We had my girlfriend Kate's wedding while we were home & I got to see all my closest friends which was FABULOUS! Lots of time split between the families which was hectic at points but great to see everyone. My brother was home too, which was nice to see him since we hadn't seen him since Thanksgiving, and Brad's Sister and brother in law were also home which was nice to have EVERYONE in the same place! (And yes I wore the same dress to two diff weddings)

Ummm September... not much happened. haha We don't live super exciting lives. We did go to a fair in Flagstaff, AZ which was fun. NH weather all around up there! So of course I was chilly. It was just nice to get away from the 100 degrees and into cool jean/sweatshirt weather. That is something we miss alot. The changing of seasons is something I didn't think I'd miss so much, but I do. Good thing is all we need to do is drive an hour north and we hit NH like weather.

Ashley came to visit at the end of september which was SUPPPPEERRR fun! Brad got us Brad Paisley tickets (country singer) for my birthday present and we hung out poolside and went to Sedona! Had alot of fun hiking in flip flops haha The rocks are SOOOOO beautiful we didn't know hiking bell rock (a famous formation out here) would be SO much fun. Even Gix climbed with us!! We also went up to Oak Creek Canyon which is breath taking!!! Brad was our tour guide and answered lots of questions from me and ash :) haha




me & ash w/ our climbing accomplishment




Me Gix & Bradden @ Oak Creek Canyon

October should be fun for us the AZ State Fair starts up (I love fairs!!) and we're going to try and go camping a couple times before it's too cold! Yes, It gets cold camping like down to the low 40's at night. We actually really like camping it's more ... roughing it than I'm used to when my family went but it's fun. We can bring our lil gix as well :) Brad's still doing the Big Brother's program and really enjoying it. His lil's name is Troy and he's very nice and polite. Apparently he starts fights at school and has a very rough life but has expressed to brad that he wishes brad was his real brother. It's a nice milestone for Brad, as this just makes him feel good and gives him a sense of accomplishment. So proud hehe Thanksgiving & Christmas will be spent in AZ again, with no family :( But we have our little family (Me, Brad & Gix) and it's taking some getting used to but we like it. More to come as things happen!!

July

So I'm back haha finally able to get on here and update again, we had a GREAT 4th of July and birthdays!

For the 4th we went up to Lake Havasu, it's a biiiig spring break kinda place but they have the original London Bridge and what not. We mainly went to relax and hang out on the lake. The town is more run down and has nothing to really do so we were fine with being by the water.
There were Lighthouses all along the coast of the lake, 1/3 the size of real lighthouses on the USA's coast. This one was from North Carolina if I remember correctly :) We had some fun photoshoots haha.
Saturday, the 4th, we hung out on a secluded beach and it was the most relaxing thing EVER. The water was around 90 degrees, and it was about 110 degrees out so we were in the water as much as possible. It was clear water too so I wasn't freaked out. I usually hate lakes, but it was just so serene and fun!
There really wasn't much to do so we just hung out on the beach all day. Don't worry brad kept spraying SPF 30 on me while I napped. So I barely tanned. lol kidding. I managed to take lots of pix of us to make sure we had PEOPLE in our pics since Brad is notorious for taking just scenery pictures. It's funny to me to have so many pictures of trees... and yet no pictures of people. Like us. So I made sure to get Brad's happy smiling face on film...

We also celebrated our birthdays which were TONS of fun :) I got Brad a desk from Craig's List so he can start studying, and also got him a diploma frame so he can hang his diploma next to mine in our office. And the sneaky brat plotted with my best friend ashley and he bought us tickets to see Brad Paisley & Deirks Bentley in Oct... she'll be flying out yayayayya. I got beautiful roses from Whit & Amanda sent to me at work, and the card clearly indicated THESE ARE NOT FROM BRAD, and also had a bouquet of beautiful flowers waiting when I got home.

As of today we have one month until we are home in NH!!!! I have never been this excited. I have SO much to squeeze in within one week so I'm hoping it all works out and I'm able to do what I want with who I want. But as we are learning balance both our families, friends and relaxing... this won't be much of a VACATION as it is a social event. Yay! Can't wait!

Hello All!

So it's been about forever since I've updating this thing, and I apologize greatly!!! I always mean to update, then I forget and yeah. So we are doing fabulous, been here ALMOST a whole year! Can you believe it? I can't. The weather has been "cooler" than normal only being in the 90's, apparently it should be well into the 100's by now. I'm ok with the 90's. We got a new apartment, and we are LOOOOVING it! About 14 ft ceilings, 2 bedrooms and we're not on the second floor and have a garage under us. The space was definitely needed! Work has been good for both Brad & I, no more layoffs and now that it's the summer it's not so busy. Brad's going back to school to get his Masters, and I am just focusing on enjoying life :) haha No modivation for more schooling at this point. We'll see where life takes me.
We are going back to NH in August and I can not wait!!! I miss Family and Friends tremendously and just need to be back with normalness for a bit. A week is barely long enough but it'll have to do for now. We're bringing our dog back with us also (I'm very attached, but it was mainly Brad who wanted to bring him)
We have had tons happen since I last wrote, my parents came to visit in January we had a great but too short of a visit. haha. We went up to Sedona walked around and gix got a pretty stylish bomber jacket from gram & gramps haha.We went to San Diego for a last minute trip that Brad surprised me with. It was awesome, we went to Sea World and The San Diego Zoo and I was in Heaven hahaha I love that kind of stuff. It was just overall a great weekend to relax and enjoy cali.
Brad's parents came to visit in March and it was lots of fun. We also went up to Sedona and explored some of the trails with Brad's truck. Lots of great pics of red rocks and just looking around in all the shops. We also went to the Desert Botanical Gardens and got to see lots of plants and catus and humming birds and ooo yes the butterflys :) It was beautiful weather so they got a nice break from the lovely New England weather!

More updates to follow as I feel I have blabbed enough for tonight :)

Miss and Love you all

Michelle, Brad & Gix

Christmas Tree Fun...

So we got our Christmas tree tonight... So it's really starting to feel like Christmas!!! I have to say it's VERY entertaining to watch my tiny little pup ATTACK the tree. I have a feeling I'll have an ulcer wondering if the tree is standing up when I get home from work!!!! And I have to hand it to Brad for being the disciplinarian. I just laugh at poor little Gix and get lectured by Bradden to be stricter. I just feel so bad for Gix he's so confused with all this Christmas stuff!!

Of course I needed video of this, just so you all can enjoy it!

Holidays are upon Us

Hello All!!!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post... just been pretty busy around these parts. So let's see... we had Thanksgiving here and I cooked my FIRST turkey and huge dinner which I must add was a HUGE success!! The guys (Brad, Ryan, Michael and Dan) were speechless we had a 20 pound turkey, tons of mashed potatoes, green beans w/ almonds, STUFFING, and candied yams. It was quite delicious and Gix got to have some yummy potatoes & Turkey w/ gravy. No pics of the dinner cause Dan has those real pix... but it was fun and festive! We do have one of Gix waiting for the turkey which he did ALL day.

My brother was in town, and we went off-roading with Michael and the "FJ UN-Club" which was fun and entertaining! Ryan had never been off-roading so it was something different thats for sure.

Whit & I have started our holiday festivities so that has helped with wanting to be home for the holidays. I have been torturing brad with Christmas movies, music and what not. We even bought Gix a stocking haha. Whit & I decided to make some Christmas cookies on our Girls Night Thursday. ANNNNND we went out with Brad for the Festival of Trees... which didn't have quite the participation as we thought it would but it was enough to start up our Christmas Spirit. We then went out for coffee and found a HUUUUUUGE tree to take pictures with. It's definately weird to have NO snow and to be walking around in flipflops and sweatshirt at night and tee-shirts during the day. Snow would make it feel more "Christmasy" but we're VERY content with the warmth ....

We miss & Love you all and more updates to come!!!

Off-Roading!

Dunkins opened up close to our Apartment!!! And the general manager KNEW I was from New England cause I asked for a foam cup to go under my iced coffee hahaha. love it. Gix loves it too as you can see :)

So Today we went off-roading with Michael, Whit & Dan.... SOOO MUCH FUN! It was 85 and sunny sunny sunny (haha sorry had to rub it in a little! )... we drove about 40 mins north to Table Mesa Rd which leads to really fun trails. Some trails were prettttty steep like this. That's Michael's FJ... we decided to take pics of the boys driving up (I was just WAY too nervous to ride up this)

The boys let me and Whit drive so Dan let me drive some of the trail with his land rover which was really different, I really don't think I can describe how PRETTY it is out here! Cactus everywhere, and you and just see for miles to the mountains... I drove a pretty good distance and did pretty well for my FIRST time driving the trails and Brad said I made him proud haha. Plenty of people go out to these trails for target practice so while hanging out all you hear is gun shots.... pretty weird. The last mountain/hill whatever it was... omg it was SO steep but I'm getting better not freaking out. Mike's FJ can do basically anything so we got to the top of the trail and it was breathtakingSo many beautiful pictures to take, but I'll only post a couple, to spare you. So Enjoy!

Bradden, Me and Gix at the top of a hill

The trucks lined up ready to go again

The view from the SUPER steep hill (whit&Me)

What's a blog
without more pix of Gix?

Dan's Rover driving in the river

Thanksgiving is around the corner, My brother is flyin' in from Cali, Brad Michael and Dan will be here...Therefore I better learn how to cook a turkey!!

**Annnd next Sunday we're going to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra! Let the Holiday Festivities Begin!**