Billy Joel and Elton John Concert!!

Amazing is all I can say about this concert!! Last night, Houston and I with some of our friends went to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert and I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it. I didn't realize that I knew most of the songs that they played until last night. These two are truly remarkable to watch live and so talented as musicians. We all stopped and had a few drinks before, except for me, I was DD. The show was over 4 hours long so we didn't end up getting home until really late but being tired this morning as I was getting ready for work was so worth it. We had so much fun and I would highly recommend this concert to anyone!

March Madness

Oh how I love the month of March!!! The weather is absolutely beautiful, everything is in bloom, St. Patty's Day celebrations, spring training games, friend's birthdays and our anniversary! We had so much fun this month with family and friends and here are just a few of the pics we took. I am so blessed with the people who surround me and for the wonderful job that I have. I hope you all had a nice month as well :)

My awesome work friendsDinner with my best buds from high school!

Spring training games and day drinking with friends St. Patty's Day celebration at Padres

More spring training game fun with friends...The infamous weinermobile...

Fit 2 Fight

Last weekend, Houston and his fellow firefighters competed in a competition called The Fit to Fight Firefighter Relay which was held in the Anthem Community Park. The event is a challenge, testing the strength and stamina of fire departments from around the state. It is also an opportunity for fire personnel to promote cardiovascular health, the leading cause of death among firefighters. It was so nice to see all of the families with their adorable kids from our department and get a chance to cheer on our guys! All of the fire fighters participated in a 70-mile relay run, which I was a little worried about Houston doing it after his knee surgery a few months ago but he did great. The Daisy Mountain Fire Department donated all proceeds from the event to We Care in Anthem, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to helping seriously ill children and their families. The day of the event started early for the guys, Houston was there at 4am, as the teams of 12 from the departments rotated teams of two running throughout the 70 mile relay in full gear, with one member of the team carrying the American flag. After completing the run the teams took a brief break before gearing up for the combat challenge. Last year Daisy Mountain won the event defeating Goodyear and Sun City West in the contest. This year the contest grew as Goodyear, Surprise and a team from Georgia participated. The combat challenge requires four people from each department to make their way through an obstacle course. Each participant had to get fully dressed into their fire gear while being timed, carry weights approximately 40-50 yards, flip a tractor tire down a field before finishing by dragging a 170 pound dummy 40-50 yards before the second person from their department starts. They were so exhausted after this event! I felt so bad for all of them but they all did a fabulous job. Daisy Mountain did not take first place but they all worked extremely hard and raised a lot of money for their charity. During the relay every guy involved ran somewhere between 10 and 15 miles. I was so proud of Houston and his buddies!!

Happy 2 Year Anniversary

This year, it was my turn to plan something fun for our anniversary. Last year, Houston surprised me with a wonderful trip to Vegas with all kinds of fun things planned. So this year, I wanted to do something really fun but different than anything we had every done before. On Monday, we headed up to the Grand Canyon Railway for a train ride. Houston had never seen the canyon before, so I was so excited to show him how beautiful it was up there. We got to the depot in Williams, checked into our hotel room and then boarded the train on our luxury parlor seats. I have to say that first class is the only way to go on a train. You get nice comfortable couches and plenty of walking space, not to mention your own private fully stocked bar. We had pastries and mimosas on the way in and enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way. When we got to the canyon we had lunch at the El Tovar restaurant which had beautiful views of the canyon at our table. After lunch, we walked around and took some pictures and did a little shopping. It was so cold and windy at the top, I was actually surprised how cold it was. I guess I'm used to being at the bottom of the canyon at the campgrounds and it is much warmer down there. We boarded back on the train after 3 1/2 hours at the canyon and then headed back to Williams. We listened to a few musicians on the way back and enjoyed a champagne toast (or a few!) with the rest of our friends on the train.

We had a delicious dinner that night at a Mexican restaurant, it was so fun just to walk everywhere since it's such a small town. The next day we had breakfast at a little diner there and then took off for Sedona where we spent most of the afternoon walking around the down town area. We had reservations at L'Auberge de Sedona for a very romantic lunch by oak creek. It was very quaint and the food was to die for! On our way home from Sedona, we stopped and Houston let me pick out a new pair of running shoes because I've been wanting to get new ones so bad. When we got home, I had surprised Houston with a professional massage table set up in the middle of the living room with candles and rose petals everywhere. He was so surprised! I gave him a hour full body massage, it was so much fun! We had such a great time together and finished the night with dinner and dessert at home. It was so nice to not be rushed at all and to have my husband for two WHOLE days! Cheers to many more to come :)

A Wonderful Valentine's

On Friday before Valentine's Day, I was sitting at my desk at work and I heard a coworker of mine shouting to me that I had a package that was delivered. Completely surprised, I walked out to where the package was and saw that my wonderful husband had three dozen red roses delivered to me. They were beautiful all lying there in the box, so I took them out and put them in the vase that was sent too. He totally surprised me with that and I was SO excited!

So later that night, we went to the Tempe Improv with two other couples that we love so much. We saw Patton Oswalt who was most recently heard as the main voice in "Rattatouille" as well as appearances in The King of Queens, Seinfeld, News Radio, MTV's Human Giant, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Reno 911, Comedy Central's Roasts of William Shatner, Flava Flav & Lewis Black's The Root of All Evil. He can also be seen regularly on Jimmy Kimmel Live & Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Needless to say we had a great time and he was really funny! We ate a delicous dinner before the show started and had a few drinks. That was the first time that Houston and I had ever been there and I have a feeling that we will be back there again soon.

On Saturday, we both had to work so we didn't get to see each other until after 6pm or so. He made me macadamia nut crusted chicken with steamed yellow squash and zucchini with sauteed shrimp and couscous. We had a bottle of champagne together and ate some chocolate covered strawberries. He got us tickets to the Keith Urban and Sugarland concert on July 25th! I am so pumped for the concert! He made me a homemade card which was the absolute sweetest thing I have ever seen! It was 7 white pieces of paper stapled together with a drawing of the two of us holding hands on the cover. On the inside he wrote down all of the reasons why he loved me :) it was an absolute amazing card and it was so much better than any card he could have bought. It was a great Valentine's Day and I was so incredibly happy to be spending it with the love of my life!

Top 5 Things in life...

Sherami tagged me on this one, so here it goes. These are my top 5 things in life...

1. My marriage - I am so speechless when it comes to describing how I feel about my husband and the marriage that we have together. It is honestly a dream come true and I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to have the husband that I do. We both work so hard at it and yet it feels so effortless because we love the other that much. He is so handsome, patient, kind, respectful, caring, sensitive, thoughtful and not to mention hilarious! He is my absolute best friend in the whole world and I only wished that I would have found someone like him to share a marriage with. God truly rewarded me when he brought Houston into my life. We were meant to be together and I thank my brother for knowing exactly what his sister wanted. We've created such an amazing life together and there are still so many wonderful things to come. I am amazed at how long our "Honeymoon Stage" has lasted and will continue to last for. It's nice to know that the only two people that could change that are the two of us and that is so comforting to know. I still get butterflies when I hear his truck coming up the street and he still can make me laugh hysterically by just looking at me. I love the life that we have created together and I can't wait to add to it ;)

2. My Family - I love my family more than anything in the world, the people who love me unconditionally no matter what. My parents are truly amazing people and I am the way that I am today because of them. They are the best parents that anyone could absolutely EVER ask for and the love that they have giving me in my lifetime is unmeasurable. My brothers have also shaped the person that I am today because of all of their words of advice over the years, not to mention being my protectors. I love them all dearly! I have the greatest woman in the world who is my godmother and she was sent into my life for a reason. She is such an amazing lady and I have learned so much from her over the years. She never forgets anything and hearing her voice will always put a smile on my face. I love all of my sister-in-laws and their families so much and am so happy to have them in my life. I am very excited to get to know all of them more over the years and become much better friends. My mother-in-law and step-father-in-law are wonderful people as well and I wish that we got to see them more. I have enjoyed the time so much that I have been able to share with them and I'm looking forward to spending more time together down the road. I am so grateful for them in my life. I also have an amazing extended family and I am so grateful for all of them in my life. I wish that I got to see them more often. In a perfect world, we would all live near each other.

3. My Little Buddy - We truly have the worlds greatest dog and I can't imagine him not being in our lives. He is not just our dog, he is a member of the family. He has the best life that a dog could ever ask for and I'm sure the dogs looking down on him from doggy heaven are a little bit jealous of how good he has it. He sleeps on a soft, comfortable bed every night in an air conditioned/heated house; he gets treats all day long, he plays at grandma and grandpa's house at least three times a week where he can play with the cats, go swimming, play hockey with his Uncle Dave and run like a mad man in their backyard; he is the epitome of an only child and is showered with attention 24/7. He gets everything he wants but he also deserves it. He is the best behaving dog ever, he never chews anything up or goes to the bathroom in the house. He talks to you with his facial expressions and is probably the most sensitive dog that there ever was. We are all blessed to have Bear in our lives. He has truly showed me the meaning of "man's best friend".

4. My Friends - I am so thankful for having such wonderful friends throughout my life. As time goes by it's hard to keep in touch with everyone but I think of all of my friends often and a smile always comes to my face thinking back on memories together. That is why I love to scrapbook because I can always look back on pictures and times that we spent together and nobody can ever take those away from me. From volleyball friends to school and work friends, I have been blessed with wonderful people in my life and every one of them has taught me something different about myself. I try hard to keep in touch with everyone but there are so many people that I consider a friend that it's hard to let them all know how much I care about them. Thank you to all of you who are special friends to me!

5. My Home - I am a cancer so I cherish being at home and really I am the most content when I am at home. I love our house that we have worked so hard on over these few years. Houston takes great pride in our home too and I love that about him. I love decorating it for the holidays, cleaning it, fixing it, painting it and most of all enjoying it! It really is a never ending process to make your home "perfect" but I don't mind that it's never ending because we have so much fun doing it together.

I am going to tag Brooke, Mary and Dawn.