2 vacations for the price of none!

I know this is a much needed update, so here it goes. I must first warn you, I did not make one of those slide show things, so you will just have to scroll through all the pics.
So for the last 2 weeks of summer John has been out of town and for the past week I was able to join him as we met up with my family in San Diego! Can I just say it was one of the best vacations ever. It was beautiful weather, wonderfully company, great food, relaxation and the beach. What more do you need.
John and I enjoying a walk and watching the sun go down in Beautiful San Diego!
We set up a blanket and relaxed on the beach while the sun went down.
Prior to our time in California John enjoyed his time in Arizona spending time with his family and a few of his friends. Soaking up the sun, and not worrying about school or studying.
In AZ John got to spend time with his brother and sister!!
John drove out with my parents and I flew in along with my sister and her husband and 2 boys. We stayed in a nice condo right in Mission beach, out in front was the beach and behind us was the bay! Each day was filled with so much fun! A few highlights of the trip included:
>John scuba diving with his friend from AZ who was in Cali too. He did this
before I came up, otherwise I would have joined him.
The scuba divers. John saw a huge manta ray!

>Surfing and boogie boarding in the cool ocean water! Definately better at
boogie boarding but surfing is so cool, I wish I was better at it!
John in the process of catching a wave. John is the pro surfer. It is tons of fun and can be frustrating too!
John and I in front of our boards. Excited to hang ten!! Yeah right, I was lucky to catch a wave and ride it in!

>Sand castle building, volleyball playing and walking along the beach!

>Going to the World famous San Diego Zoo. It was so amazing. Our favorites
were the polar bears and the arangatangs.
John is happy to be entering the Zoo for a whole day of fun with the animals!

Caden and myself posing on the silver polar bear!


>A session in the San Diego Temple with my sister and brother in law, while my
parents babysat. It was awesome to be inside my favorite, most beautiful
temple!
John and I at the beautiful temple!
The whole gang in front of the temple!

>Watching fireworks from our balcony each night. (Sea world set them off each
night)
Aunt Sarah and nephew Jackson while watching the firework show!

>Playing games and watching movies after a long day at the beach.

>Our 15 mile bike ride around mission bay and down the boardwalk. Talk about a
sore bum the next day!
John flying off a little cliff, look at the air he caught!
John even put on a show. After flying off the cliff, he went straight into the water, all the way under and rode back out. It was hilarious!!
The Hunter family: Nick, Jessika, Caden, and Jackson!

>Shopping at the outlet mall and getting great deals!

>Enjoying a few roller coasters at Belmont Park!
My mom, sister, John and me on the Big Dipper, the classic wooden roller coaster at Belmont Park at Mission Beach! It was tons of fun.


>Boys Golf day! John still tries to impress my dad.
The boys early morning golf session near the ocean!

>Eating and eating so much great food!

It was a great vacation and great to spend time with my family since it does not happen too often since we are far away in Buffalo. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great trip! The reason we got two vacations for the price of none is: not only did we enjoy San Diego with my family, but John on his way to Arizona, and on his way back from San Diego(we took separate flights) had stayed behind and caught a later flight and recieved vouchers. . . so now we have over $800 in southwest money to buy us another vacation! I am thinking Mexico, Hawaii, or to Florida for a cruise! (ha ha)

Enjoy some more pics!!

Cute little Caden doing the monkey bars!
My brother in law Nick during our cathing-the-grape-in-your-mouth-contest! John and I won!


John hanging out with the ladies.


John inside a hole he dug, he actually made it much deeper so you could sit inside and no one could see you and then he would pop up and scare people!

Thought this was cute. My mom (grandma) and Caden sitting on their boards watching the waves.
Yeah! Our reunion since our week being apart and John's first time seeing my short hair!

10 inches of WHAT!!

A few fun things to do when John takes advantage of summer and goes home for the week!

*Girls dinner at Kristen and Aaron's house- yummy pork tenderloin, rolls, mushroom risotto, fruit salad, cumcumber & tomato salad- It is always fun to get together with friends and enjoy some food! It always helps not miss my hubby so much! I also brought a dessert peach kuchen, i had never made it before but it was delicious,(check out the recipe on our recipe blog at sweetteeth.blogspot.com)
(And by the way I still don't know how to do the link thing, maybe I can get some help)

*Another girls night on Monday night at Red Robin! Who can resist those all you can eat french fries! It was so fun. People look at us like we are weird because we are always a group of a ton of young looking girls, with at least one baby per girl! (except me). It is kinda funny, out west in Arizona or Utah we would fit right in, but out on the East its very odd!


*So why the title 10 inches. I finally got brave enough, for a little trim! Well, let's just say there is 10 inches less hair on my head! Yes, that is right! I chopped my hair! And sorry for you, I have no pictures. John has the camera in AZ, and I will post pics when I get the camera. But I love it. I think it is pretty cute, and takes about a fourth of the time to do!!


*Now it is time to get all ready for the fun vacation coming up to California. Packing, cleaning, doing laundry etc. Just two more days of work then I'm off on Saturday to San Diego to spend some time with John and my family relaxing on the beach!
Yes, that will be me next week! I can't wait!

Baseball, Friends, and Beach!

This week John and I invited a new couple that moved into our apartment complex to a Buffalo Bisons Game. The Buffalo Bisons are a triple A baseball team here in Buffalo. Garrett and Jamie will be first year dental students, (well actually just Garrett) they live really close to us, are in our ward, and are newly married just like us, (yes, I know its been over a year and a half but we are still newly weds, right??). My hospital hooked me up with free bison tickets, and free hot dog and soda tickets, so it was a pretty cheap date. It was a good game, I think. . . We chatted most of the time, so it was hard to pay attention, but it was fun. They even had a great firework show at the end. We could not end our night without enjoying a yummy cone from Anderson's.
John and I hosted the missionaries for dinner Wednesday night, I made some yummy orange cashew chicken stir fry, and ended the night with a fun game of Bocce Ball. Okay, the missionaries have beat us twice now!! That is not a good sign, we thought they would be an easy team to beat!
John and I also enjoyed a fun game night at our friends house. We went over to Kristen and Aaron's house,they have been in Colorado most of the summer, so it was great to see them and their growing boy! Chase is so cute! We invited Garrett and Jamie too. It was fun playing Would you Rather, Apples to Apples, snacking and chatting until the early morning!!

We also enjoyed an afternoon at Crystal beach with friends! It is always fun to soak up the sun! We played some volleyball and of course enjoyed some yummy food, all the ladies out here are such great cooks! I am always impressed! (not a real pic, sorry)

We are now looking forward to our upcoming vacations. For John it is Arizona and California, and for me it is just California!(the sacrifices I make as a working woman) We are so excited!

Taylor Fun in BUFF

MaryAnne and Jordan Taylor (John's mom and brother) came out to spend some time with us in Buffalo. First of all, they were lucky to have some nice weather. We moved here last year at this same time and it was humid, hot, and nasty. This year its been so nice and cool and not too humid! I will try and recap a few of the many fun things we did!
(remember how I mentioned I love to plan vacations and fun things to do, well we did maybe half! Surprise surprise)

* Palmyra pagenant- A beautiful night to enjoy such a wonderful pagenant. It truly is amazing, the story that is portrayed and the spirit felt.




* Amish Town- Bonnets, jam, rugs, chairs, cheese, all handmade! It was quite an experience! Several horse and buggies were seen! The amish were very nice, and they made some beautiful rugs, for a reasonable price too!



* Crystal Beach- It was a Beautiful day, the warm sun, cool breeze, even sand volleyball and a picnic. We enjoyed hanging out on the beach with family!




* A few days in Toronto!- A yummy high class tappenyaki restaurant! They had flames tricks and the whole shebang!

Not the mention the food was absolutely fantastic! We spent our time enjoying the city. A harbor boat tour out to the islands, walks down to the water, St Lawerance marketplace, the CN tower and Rogers Center!




* Yummy food- Original Pancake House, Duff's wings, and El Palenque! Not to mention the cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins, chocolate peanut butter bars, rice krispy's homemade fruit salsa, and homemade hummus that I made! ( wow, time to get back to the gym after those treats!)

* Guitar Hero- The one video game I enjoy playing and watching! I love it! We had tons of fun, competitions and everything!



*Playing games together, having a sleepover under the huge fort we made, and just spending time together!!

I can't believe the summer is about over. I am so not ready to have John gone all day! Time to soak up our time together. And enjoy our last vacation coming up soon to San Diego before the start of Dental school for John!

My Blue Collar Worker

A list of John's prior jobs:
* valet
* test driver for volkswagon
* telephone interpreter
*dental lab boy
* gymastics coach
( we can't forget the first job at Taco bell, or pizza delivery boy)
Notice the lack of manual labor skilled jobs in John's resume.
Since John has not been too busy these last few weeks with no school and me still having to work,
he has sunk to a new low. . . . MANUAL LABOR.
John has complained about a sore back, muscle aches, and look at those ankles.
Is that a nice farmers tan or is he just really dirty?
Yep, that is right, John comes home after a long day of roofing in the hot sun, with those sexy ankles. I send him straight to the shower! I have been calling him my blue collar worker. John is glad he is going to school so he will never have to rely on Manual Labor!

America the Beautiful

Happy 4th of July to Everyone! When I think of July 4th, I think of great food, BBQ's, nice sunny weather, family and friends, fireworks, and a great patriotic feeling! Well, this fourth of july was a little different but I was able to enjoy a few of those traditions.
I was kind of nervous because my first day back to work was on the 4th of July, after 5 days off, so I was kinda dreading it. But it was a surprisingly nice day, kinda slow and quiet, plus getting paid time and a half, allowed me to be okay about being there. John enjoyed a nice BBQ with friends. Since I was not able to make it, I supplied some treats, some cute little mini cupcakes. They look a little cuter than they tasted, I am struggling to find a homemade cupcake recipe that is really moist! If you can help, let me know!

Throughout the day it was gray, gloomy skies and rainy, all day long, I was thinking that the fireworks were cancelled, but amazingly they did not cancel the shows, so no sunny hot days here on the 4th, but cool and gray ones!
After work, John and I met up with some friends for a firework production over a small lake near campus. It was very fun to hang out with family (John's cousins) and friends! We enjoyed the cool night and lovely firework production. The show featured several new types of fireworks that I hadn't seen before. I tried to take a few pics, but the pics do not give justice to the great show.

After the show, it already being quite late, being that it is still light here at 9:30pm, we came home, not to go to bed, but to pull out some fireworks that we had stashed. Yes, fireworks are illegal, but that didn't seem to stop John. We lit off a few, and hid, to watch them explode.
Happy Fourth of July to All!!

Camping with Racoons a.k.a.- Racoon Ranch

Monday afternoon after we got back home from the temple we decided to pack up and go camping. Since it was not a planned trip we gathered up what little camping stuff we have, and headed out. We were on our way to Allegany state park, it is about an hour and a half drive. I was so exicted, I love to camp, and to hang out with John out in the beautiful park and camp would be awesome. We made it there, and picked out the perfect spot. First, I must say Allegany is so beautful. There is a pretty lake, with people fishing and boating, a large picnic area with courts, and grills.
What beautiful trees, Huh! This is the view from our campsite.
I know it looks crazy, John got an energy drink, and I had to taste!! Needless to say, we were high on caffeine all night!
There are also cabins to rent and of course camping. The green trees and cool breeze made me even more excited. Our campsite was pretty secluded, trees surrounded us, which was a good thing, because we slept under the stars. That is right, no tent for us. We really were roughing it! People had campers, tents, even DISH network, but us, nothing but some blankets, and each other. Let's just say we were in survival mode. not only did we survive, but we had a blast. That night, we took a little hike, and started the fire.
John gettting the fire started!
We had packed some nice tin foil dinners, that we threw in the fire. Isn't it weird how things seem to taste better when you are camping? . Enjoying chicken with some veggies around a warm fire, John said it was a highlight! We also brought some stuff to make Smores. We enjoyed our night chatting under the stars, keeping warm by the fire.
I know, it doesn't look to appetizing, but it tasted so much better than it looked!
John enjoying his Smore!
I forgot to mention as we were checking in, there were signs, notifying us of black bear sightings in the park, and warnings and what not. I was getting a little nervous, since we had no tent. When it came time for bed, we buddled up in all the blankets we brought. It was pretty chilly and John did not pack a sweatshirt so I pretty much had to swaddle him. We were awakened several times during the night, thankfully no black bears, but several raccoons. They came right into our camp site. It was crazy cause these little guys were rummaging all around the camp, climbing up on the picnic table and checking out the ashes from the fire. we even heard one jiggle the door handle on our maxima. John woke up once to one sniffing his head! Weird huh! So needless to say, our night sleep was not the best. We woke up, started a fire, warmed up some water for some hot cider, had breakfast and just relaxed.
In the morning, tending to the fire, sipping some hot apple cider!
On our way out we stopped by the lake for some gorgeous views, the park had numerous biking and hiking paths. John and I had a great experience camping, I want to go back already, maybe next time we will bring a tent. We recommend Allegany park to anyone for camping or a nice picnic!
John and I LUV 2 CAMP!
When we go home, we first showered off, you know that camping smell when you have been out in the wild, and then took a little nap to make up for our lack of sleep!

I'm the winner!

Okay so Sunday night we got together with a few couples and had a BYOM BBQ and game night. BYOM = bring your own meat to BBQ. We had some yummy food, chatted, and then pulled out the fabulous game . . . . PIT! Yes, the game from the early 1900's, we love it. And I love it even more because I won! Yes, that is me, the winner! It was a fun night!


Monday we spent the morning and afternoon down in Palmyra enjoying the temple. It was great to go back, it had been a few months. John and I were able to do some sealings. On Hill Cumorah they are getting ready for the pagenant, I am excited to see it. Before went left, we had to stop at a yummy little burger joint. It was called Chill N Grill. We had a burger and some yummy homemade ice cream.
What a beautiful day!
John and I after some sealings!

Saturday in the Park

I must say I am now seeing, a little glimpse as to why people actually live in Buffalo.The weather is absolutely gorgeous, I am saying this now, it may change shortly. The days are cool, and even cooler nights, a nice breeze and sunshine. So perfect. John and I took advantage and head into downtown Buffalo, to Delaware Park. It is a huge park, with a golf course, a zoo, tennis, and basketball courts, lots of trails and trees, perfect for a picnic and a walk. And that is what we did. We packed a little bag and set out a blanket and relaxed under a huge shade tree, and had a little lunch. ( I don't think you could do something like that in Arizona, unless it was near a pool you were about to jump into.) It was so fun.
John resting in the park!

After the park, John played tennis with Dave and I hung out with his wife Briste. It feels like everyone is doing their own thing over the summer, I am sure glad John and I have been able to spend time together! We came home and it feels so much earlier than it really is. Since its summer it doesn't get dark until at least 9 o clock! We made our famous fort, and played a quick glame of Would You Rather before we fell asleep.
Today was a great day, Fast sunday's are always great. Our Primary class was pretty good today. They are so cute. After Church we enjoyed a few web chats with friends and family. So if anyone is interested in chatting go out and get yourself a web cam, they are so fun!! Since fourth of July is coming up, I had to make something festive, I wanted to make a nice Red White and Blue Tart, but I backed down, and dipped some pretzels in red white and blue chocolate. They are still yummy but not quite the presentation I was looking for, but for John and I its works!

I better go, so I can continue to enjoy the cool weather, with the windows and door open!

Jam & Hwan

So I have a long streak of no working, like 5 days! Which means lots of time to do fun things together! We are trying to take advantage of this time we have right now, because we checked out the second year schedule and SCARY! It looks like John will be very very busy. Which translates into me never seeing him!
Anyway, so in our time off, we have been enjoying going to the gym together, being in the kitchen together ( my request), and sleeping in! The other day John and I picked some strawberries at a farm near our home, it was tons of fun. In a few weeks, it will be Blueberry time, I am excited for that one! (Homemade Blueberry Muffins, sounds so good!) So today, we spent some time making some homemade jam, and we are plan!ning on making some homemade strawberry frozen yogurt. We have been loving the ice cream maker, its so so easy and makes delicious frozen treats!

The past few days have been beautiful, perfect weather, not too humid, and at night it actually cools off! We were off to the pool today! We spent some time laying out realxing and reading, and of course we did some swimming too. Whenever we get in the pool, its hard not to act like 10 year olds. (Since we don't have kids, we need to act like them I guess.) Handstand contests, surfing on each others backs, lifting me up like a cheerleader, etc. Check out a picture of John flying in the air!

Tonight we went to Lasertron, for a fun game of Lasertag! Our friend Briste had a FREE game for up to 10 adults, so it was a fun night for free!! John or better known as his code name: Hwan, had a great night, having like the highest score on his team all four games !! Way to go! I guess I have to let him win on something! It was a fun time, running around and shooting each other. John and I were on separate teams, my team won all the games, even though "supergirl" did not do to well, and Hwan rocked!
The group at Lasertron!
Supergirl and Hwan!
After our fun night, we ran to Walmart real quick for a few things, and what a nightmere! Since it was late, the stocking boxes were out everywhere, and you couldn't get through, it took us forever!
Oh, I almost forgot, another reason to celebrate besides it being summer, and hanging out with my hubby on my days off, I got a raise!! Yeah, it's only a dollar raise per hour, but hey, I just started!
P.S. We tried the jam and its pretty good!

Its Summer Time!

I must say it feels quite weird and not natural for me to have to get up every morning before six, work 12 hours, and come home to a husband who doesn't HAVE to do anything, can sleep in, and do whatever he wants. I don't know how much I like this picture. Actually it is fine. I am actually telling myself that this is fun, and to enjoy it and it is working. I am really enjoying my job and although it is hard to leave John each day and go to work, I know someday I will miss it, and wish I could go to work and he stay home. (maybe?) I must say I am really enjoying this time that he is not in school and has no job, well, the job part not so much. Okay, He is doing research for childrens hospital, in the dental clinic, its really low key and he hardly does anything, plus we can hang out at lunch, so that is an easy job for the summer (if you can even call it that) and he gets paid too! He is also going to try to do some interpreting, but we will see. I tell him to relax and enjoy this time, because he probably won't have a whole summer off, once out of school for a long time. I love my days off even more now that John is home. We try to do something fun together each day, and take advantage of our time out here in Buffalo, there is truly a lot to do out here, so hopefully this summer we can explore a little.
Last Wednesday, or June 20th, John and I celebrated our 1 1/2 anniversary, I know we are a little extreme, who counts the months anyway. . . we do. Our theme song is by Tony Toni Tone, "Anniversary". We play it on the 20th of each month. Anyway, wednesday night we made dinner, packed it up, along with blankets, and our computer, and headed out to a nearby park. We had a beautiful view of a waterfall, enjoyed our dinner, and watched Cinderella Man while bundling up in blankets. Yeah, that is right we bundled up, a few nights last week, it got down into the 40's. I know its June. No 100 degree weather out here. We had a great night enjoying our time and celebrating. Actually it is supposed to warm up here, like 90 this week, I know that doesn't compare to 110 but with the humidity it is way worse!
1 1/2 years of wedding bliss!
I know our set up is a little weak. We should have brought a tent and sleeping bags.
We also had a girls night out to Shakespear in the Park, which is a play acted out in a huge park here in Buffalo. I guess it is the 2nd largest Shakespear festival in the US. I must admit I am not a huge shakespear fan, so the play was a little hard to follow, but the longer I paid attention the easier it got. It was fun hanging out with friends, for sure. The girls at the park.
We have lost a few girls from the group, for the summer, but they are having fun at home and will be back soon! While the girls were out, the guys thought they had to do a guys night, so John was playing guitar hero into the wee hours of the morning!This game is actually quite fun, I enjoy playing it too! You get to be a rock star!

Tonight we had our cousins over for dinner, Adam and Chantel and their very cute kids, Allie and Luke. We had yummy mexican with green chile pork burros, and a fun game of Bocce in which we did a wife swap, Chantel and John, vs. Adam and myself. Chantel made an amazing comeback shot, knocked the ball away from us, and her ball closer. Whatever!! But it was an awesome game! We also enjoyed some amazing homemade frozen yogurt. Yes, John and I tried out the new attachment and the results. . . . . YUMMY!! We made some fresh rasberry frozen yogurt, it did not taste like ice cream, although very creamy for frozen yogurt, a nice and refreshing summer treat!
Me so proud of the ice cream maker, the first creation was a success!