instagram gems

:)

i love the sunsets in arizona

baseball game

yummmmy

first time having ben & jerry's...how did i wait so long

mamma cindy and me.  we totally meant to match.

a little gift from work for 'administrative professionals day' 

i fought the urge to run the truck down

pablo picasso 

 memorial day

who doesn't love mexican train?

new years

just realized that i never posted this entry...eight and a half months later...

yes, as promised heather & michelle came to visit me over new years and it was fannnntastic.

we had so much fun!

the weather over the weekend was perfect. sunny & not too warm or cold.

michelle & heather wanted to go swimming, so we found a way to make it happen!  michelle's grandparents live in a retirement community in mesa.  they weren't actually there, so michelle pretended to be her mom, who's name is on the 'guest list.'

we had such a good time! especially michelle...she got to play water volleyball with all the old people!  i think she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

one day we went on a hike up the san tan mountains behind my house.

seriously, it was like the perfect weather to be outside!

i took them to a big candy warehouse.  i think they were in a candy coma by the time we left just from looking at it all!

new years eve we went to schnepf farms out in queen creek.  we rode a few rides, did some planking, laughed a lot and rang in the new year.

i took the ladies to san tan flatt for dinner.  i knew we would have a good time.  

great food, live country band, dancing, and fire pits ready for smores.

new years was so much fun with michelle & heather.  i'm so grateful for friends that will always be your friends.  no matter the circumstances, the distance or the time gone by.

neworleans

who cares if this next post is about what happened a few months ago...it's still relevant!

back in october my family took a trip back to the south. oh yes, it was time for another trip to
visit the littles.  i can't believe it had been a year since i had seem them last!

it started out with clint, heather and myself flying into houston friday night.  we wanted to
spend the night in houston since we would need to be in galveston the next day.

first stop, some TC.

please, don't confuse this with taco bell, del taco, taco rama, filbertos (and all their other names), etc. taco cabana is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of place. everything, i mean everything is delicious. they make their flour tortillas f-r-e-s-h, in house.

we stayed with some friends of c & h. monica, the wife, was so cute & nice! saturday morning she went & got us some of these:

this, my friends, is what you call the perfection of donuts and koalches. i grew up on these bad boys. we ended up getting them two or three different times because we couldn't get enough!

saturday we headed up to conroe to see how everything looked after years of not being back.  it was surreal.  everything was kind of the same, but so different at the same time.  growing up i thought it took forever to go around town doing things. however, it took us like 15 minutes to drive around it! well not the outskirts, but the main part of the town. 

after a few hours it was time to head down to crystal beach, in galveston. it was time to celebrate Nanny's 80th birthday!  it worked out perfectly for us since we were planning on visiting the jardines in new orleans the same weekend.  we were able to do both since it is so close.  glenda invited everyone out to her beach house for the big party.  it was priceless to see nanny's face of excitement as she saw everyone gather around to honor her.

 

 look at how HAPPY and BEAUTIFUL she looks

 i think nanny forgot to smile! haha

 nanny and the girls

 me & my nanny - i love her oh so much

that night burke, amber & the kids drove back to new oreleans. dad, mom, chelsea, josh, heather, clint and myself drove a little ways back and spent the night.  the next morning we got up & drove to new orleans. along the way we stopped and looked at different things. it was fun!

SUNDAY WAS THE BIG DAY!!  it was time for Tyler Brandon Jardine to be baptized!
tyler asked me if i would give the talk on baptism. i was so honored that he wanted me to do that. he is such a great kid. he likes to play his ps3, he hates doing homework and he is a great big brother.

oh, and i am his favorite auntie :)

the baptism was wonderful. it was such a great opportunity to see a little kid so excited to do something so great. tyler is a pretty smart little guy and i know that he understands a lot, but one day he will really know how special being baptized and receiving the holy ghost is.

i had to include some adorable pictures of the other littles

miss b

cj

halle kate

while in new orleans we spent time shopping, taking a cooking class, driving around town,
taking a new family photo, and riding the streetcars through uptown.

it was such a great trip. we all had such a good time with each other.
the only problem was that it wasn't long enough!

maybe one day soon i'll get back to posting regularly...but that's not going to happen today. 

today deserves a special post. you see, two of my favorite ladies are coming down to the grand canyon state to visit me!

 

circa january twenty-ten

  i'msoexcitedican'tevengotosleep

usually i try to be asleep by midnight, especially when i work the next morning, but right now 

i find myself doing laundry, cleaning, organizing, checking the weather, planning fun things 

to do, listening to music, blogging, checking email, playing words with friends, 

you know...everything but go to sleep.

the story goes a little something like this: in november michelle wanted to know if i would be home during Christmas/new year's. she said her family might be traveling down to visit her grandparents, and if all went according to plan then she wanted to see me. i was happy and content thinking i would get to see my dear friend, maybe for a day or two...

fast forward a month later and i get like 20 missed calls from my sweet little peice of pumpkin pie, heather. when i finally saw my phone, there was a voice mail that no one was hurt or dying, but i should call when i get a chance. when i called her back i was told THE greatest news 

i had heard in a while...

HEATHER AND MICHELLE WERE COMING DOWN TO ARIZONA OVER NEW YEAR'S WEEKEND!!

seriously, could i be any happier?! michelle totally tricked me when she was talking about her family! AND, they were in cahoots 

with my sister, heather, on my schedule and if i would be around! i would like to think 

that they were just so excited, they could not keep it a secret any longer :) they will arrive around ten o'clock

in the evening and it will be a joyous reunion. i actually saw them earlier this year, but it feels like eternity. 

annnnyhooter (a common phrase from heather) i definetly will be posting after this weekend is over. 

i anticpate no sleep, lots of eating, enjoying the beautiful weather, talking etc., etc.

if i was a gamblin' man, er...woman, i would say this will be a darn good weekend!

icannotgetenough

i was told about this delicious goodie, but did not realize how yummy it would be.

costco is where you can find my new favorite holiday treat.

you will not be disappointed!

dressing up

for weeks before halloween, my co-workers were telling me that i had to dress up for the holiday.
i didn't jump on board at first, because i normally don't dress up for halloween.
but, like any good employee, i followed orders.

well, a witch was the obvious choice. and since i sit at the front desk, i decided to hand out poisonous caramel cream apples.

everyone loved it.
we also had peter pan, a football player, waldo, a pirate and fred flinstone. it was a fun holiday!

boooooooo!

in the beginning of october, i babysat some kiddos & of course wanted to do something fun with them!

since it was getting close to halloween we made some scary monsters

and later we made some monster mash

 

the kids were so cute & we had a great time!