water, water everywhere...way too much to drink

If you haven't heard yet, I am working nights- I don't get home til midnight, so I don't usually wake up until around 10:30. Well today was a special occasion, I was taking my niece Melody out for an "adventure" so I had my alarm set for 9:30. I had been woken up three times before my alarm actually went off, so I was a little groggy- but I got up- went potty- and all of a sudden I notice that I can hear water running somewhere.

Did Nathan start a load of laundry before he left? No- and it would be done running by now anyway. Hmmm... Is one of the toilets running? No. Hmmmm.... wait it sounds like it is coming from outside! I walk over to the back door (I would have ran, but I was too sleepy) and...

"Oh...My...GOSH!!!"

The dogs had figured out a way to turn on the faucet on the back porch. It was running full blast and the patio and half of the backyard was flooded!

I opened the back door and they came trotting around the corner, all excited to see to me. "What did you do?!" I asked them angrily as I turned off the faucet.

I called Nathan, in the middle of his managers meeting, FREAKING out. I don't know why- it's not like there was anything either of us could do about it at this point, besides wait for it to dry up. And of course, take pictures so I could blog about it. =)

I don't think this picture accurately displays the flooding to the patio. Parts of it were so bad, that my feet were getting all wet from the water going over top of my flip flops. Over by the door, and doggy door was really bad.

As you can see, the water flowed off the patio and into the yard, making it- and my dogs- a muddy mess!

I walked out into the yard until it wasn't wet anymore and took a picture. It didn't stop until about 4 or 5 feet from the back wall.

Dave, showing me the damage...

Buster and Dave standing in the mess they had made. They are a lot dryer in this picture than they were when I first found them. They must have been playing out in the dry part of the yard. Bad dogs.

When I looked out back to check on them, Dave was just standing by the back door lapping up the water. Either he was thirsty or trying to hide the evidence! My theory is that they were thirsty- and they knew where the water came from, and figured out a way to make it come out. But being dumb dogs, they didn't know to turn it back off when they were done!

I am beginning to agree with Nathan- maybe I don't want kids! My dogs are handful enough for me right now!

all the pieces

Married for one year- sealed together for all eternity.

When we're together, I have nothing to hide
I can hold you close, and feel you deep inside.
When I needed you,You always found the time
To listen to me and what's on my mind.

I cross my heart and hope to die,
I'll always be the one by your side, yeah.

I can't live without you, that's all I can say.
I think more about you every day.
What you've got to offer, I really need.
Cause you have all the pieces to complete me.

I'm sure about one thing,
And that's you and me.
I locked my heart and gave you my only key.
Before I go to sleep
I say a prayer that when I wake up,
You will always be there.

I don't care how long it's been,
If I could do it all over, I'd do it again.

I can't live without you, that's all I can say.
I think more about you every day.
What you've got to offer, I really need.
'Cause you have all the pieces to complete me …

I can't live without you, and that's all I can say.
Well I thank the Lord each and every day
For sending an angel to watch over me.
I finally found someone to love

for all eternity!

presidents day adventure

Nathan had to work on President's Day, but I had the day off paid (one of the perk of working for government I guess)- so I headed over to east east east Mesa to pick up my sister and niecey poos for "an adventure!"

Our first stop was Burlington Coat Factory. We tried on the most fabulous of fabulous hats.

Then we headed over to home decor...

Where's Mel?!

Peek-a-boo Bethany!

And then my horrible sister made her 3 year old daughter put on a bra- just so she could photograph it for her own sick and twisted amusement. It was funny though.

Then we headed over to Superstition Springs mall to look at puppies and try on sunglasses. THEN we were hungry- and as we drove by 5 & Diner we noticed they had a value menu and $1 kids meals- so we stopped in. We spent a lot of time waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting- o we had plenty of time to snap some photos.

Say cheese!

The girls with "The King"- eating adventure cookies. Savor those cookies girls- because even though we are at a restaurant- it's gonna be a while before you see any food...

Mel and I- having a super fantastical time on our adventure.

KISS ATTACK!

FINALLY seated- but still about an hour away from getting any food... If I had known that, I probably wouldn't be smiling so big in this picture. Haha

The girls had fun coloring and wearing their little paper hats. I wish I was still small enough to get color pages...

For some reason, the girls got their food like a half hour before Jessica and I did. Dinosaur chickens and fries- Delish. WAY better than the complimentary 3 cucumber slices and ranch they brought to hold us over until our food was ready.

Aw, how nice- Bethany feeding her mommy- since the restaurant wasn't! And I have to defend my sister's fashion sense- this is not her jacket! I was wearing her sweater because it was freezing- then she got cold too, so she was wearing Melody's jacket, since neither of the girls were cold. You rock that purple leopard print Jessica!

VALENTINES DAY!!

This year for Valentines day, Nathan decided it would be to take a trip to see some snow!

As you can see, he was very excited.

Dave- not so much. He hates riding in the car.

I wasn't even sure that there was going to be any snow, because it had been a while since the last storm. But what is that I see in the distance on those mountains? SNOW! YAY!

We were going to check out the snow play area that Nathan's sister and her family found around Christmas time- but it was packed! So we headed back up the road to a picnic area that we had seen. As you can see, there was quite a bit of snow.

Here's Nathan gearing up. He was lucky to have those boots! My sneakers got all soaking wet- and that's no fun at all once you leave the snow.

I wasn't sure how the dogs were going to react to seeing snow for the first time- they can be little weenies some times. They were so excited though! They both just took off- they LOVED it.

It was pretty deep in some spots- I sunk in to mid-thigh a couple times. That didn't phase the dogs though. Both of them biffed it in some deep snow a couple times, but they just shook it off and took off running again. It was really cute.

We were a little disappointed that there weren't any good areas to use the tube or sled thingy, but we found other ways to entertain ourselves.

Hand prints in the snow! His hands are so much bigger than mine! But they fit perfectly together when we hold hands =)

We also built a snowman!

He's a snowboarding snowman, with a hat, glasses, and a mouthful of money!

After our little romp in the snow, we headed into Williams and got some famous, and most delicious pie! Then we dropped by a little restaurant in Flagstaff to get some lunch, and headed back down to the valley. It wasn't anything too spectacular- but it was fun, and nice to be able to spend some uninterrupted time with my honey.

looks like our insurance is going up again!

Since Nathan and I got married last year, we've both gotten tickets. Nathan was busted by a sneaky photo radar van in Scottsdale and I was caught making an illegal U-turn. (You can't make a u-turn like anywhere in Scottsdale- it's ridiculous!) But anyway, after those unfortunate incidents, we've been SUPER careful drivers. You know how expensive car insurance can get for a young married couple! The last thing we need is rate hike for a stupid mistake. But with those photo radar cameras all over the place-it was bound to happen sooner or later...

Bad Buster.

valentines treaties!

I thought it would be really fun to make some Valentines Day treat baskets for friends and family this year. So I enlisted the help of my best friend Kassi and we made some V-Day deliciousness!

Here I am filling in some of the candy molds...

Kassi making some candy hearts!

We made some super yummy strawberry mousse and put it inside a homemade candy shell, and topped it off with some fresh berries. These were most exquisite, but unfortunately our candy shells kept breaking when we tried to take them out of the molds! So we only wound up with like 3 of them.

All of our candy creations! I think they turned out pretty well for our first time!

And here is sheet one of my sugar cookies....

...and sheet 2! There were supposed to be more giant hearts- but I just couldn't get the dough to cooperate with me!

Here's a few of the delicious cupcakes that Kassi made. There were a lot more, but we had already packed some up (and Nathan had eaten a few) before we realized that we hadn't taken a picture of them yet.

After all the treats were finished, we packed them up in little boxes so we could deliver them! This is the inside of one of the boxes.

Our original plan was wear our love bug attire, as shown above, and deliver the baskets of Valentiny goodness- but we ran out of time. We actually had a few things that didn't go quite as we planned- but at least we will know better for next year.

After Kassi headed home to get ready for her hot Valentines date, I headed over to deliver one of the boxes to my sister's house.

Bethany enjoying her Valentines sucker!

Melody, hamming it up for the camera!

My two little niecey-poos! So cute. Hope everyone had an awesome Valentines Day! Sorry if you didn't get a basket this year- our treats didn't go as far as we had hoped! Love you all!

my babies

Our puppies are growing up so fast! It's been a while since I did a Dave & Buster post, so here are some recent pics of the boys.

I snuck up on them for this one. They had been rough housing a bit, that's why Dave's ears are all funny.

I love it when the camera catches the dogs mid yawn or lick. This one looks like Dave is screaming. And of course, Buster is giving me a death glare.

He really doesn't like getting his picture taken. That's why there is only one picture of him by himself.

Little Dave doesn't mind though.

Aren't my boys just the cutest?!