Too old?

Nahh.... No way. Never too old for a little fun.
When Chuck and Mason were here in Phoenix for a little visit, we went out to eat. One night we went to Cyclo (of course). Mason loved it so much that we had to stop and get him more lettuce wrapped egg rolls. No quite road food, but we packed it up and headed out to see our new house. We were 10 minutes too late. So, we got a res for Ruth Chris Steakhouse...but it wasn't until 8:15p. So in order to kill time we went to Sprouts market to get Mason washed up and collect samples. Then, we decided to head over to Chandler Mall to pick up some gifts for the family. Don't you remember getting presents from your dad when he went away on business trips? Mine always did. It was a matter of great excitement when he returned, because you never knew what he would bring home. My favorite gift was probably the stamps my dad brought me back from London one time, during my stamp collecting phase. I still have them.
While we were shopping, Chuck gets this crazy idea that we all need Heeleys. Have you heard of these. If you are a mother of school aged children, you do. Me-- another story. I've seen (and been annoyed) with kids whipping around on their wheeled shoes, thinking very little of this 'fad'. Well, Chuck told me that his wife has them; then he proceeds to offer to buy them for Jordan, Travis and myself if we would wear them in the mall. I rose to the challenge.
I secretly doubted my abilities, having failed ever to get the skateboard thing down. But I went for it. If someone offers to buy you shoes, you take it. Every girl knows that rule.
So here's a video of my attempts at "heeley-ing" through...none but the best... Nordstroms. You should have seen the look on people's faces.
Ps. they're a great ab workout. Every mother should have them.





Heeley on Vimeo

Belated Green

Most of you are recovered from your Irish celebrations....So now I feel comfortable posting foods that are so thick and heavy, you might be able to stomach them.
I decided this year to try my hand at my husband's favorite sandwich of all time: The Reuben.
We ate them together with relish (mine without the beef... cooking it was enough of a "taste" for me). I loved the sour combination with the sweet cheese.

New Name

As you may have noticed, I changed the title of the blog. You may be familiar with the Ranch, but you might not know the Cave yet.
Well...meet the Cave.
We are not complaining. We are not complaining about the electricity savings. We are not complaining about the sleep-potential. We are not even arguing the merits of being on the first floor vs. stairs.
We are merely stating that our new home lacks direct sunlight.
Thereby, we discover differences between Man and Wife. Wife likes LOTS of sunlight. Husband likes privacy. Therein, we discover Man and Wife sanctification. Wife does not care about people seeing her eat dinner. Wife likes to watch other people. Husband likes to only watch people on the TV.
We had finally resolved the shade opening and closing at the Ranch to a system.
We are now relearning our system as most of our exterior windows face a courtyard wherein we can see the pool and the sand volleyball court. Now we are in process of deciding which windows can be unveiled how much and when during the day and when during the evening and when during the morning. I'll let you know so you can Google Earth us, Dad :)

Weak/Week

If you think that I haven't been posting, you're right. When you work 47 hours and you're only prn -- which means "as needed", you start to crave being less needed. Therefore, there have been no fancy meals, no new recipes and no new activities.
Life skills become survival. I've managed to vacuum, exercise and eat. Those are the things that are admirable about my week. The less wonderful things have been that it was the first time I've vacuumed since I've moved in (gasp), I've slipped into the pool only to do 30 lengths (not quite those swim team workouts of the past), and we ate hot dogs.
But those were good :)
These are the great things about this past week- reading that Livi's transplant went well, seeing my mom and dad off safely (sad but glad for safe travels), the evidence of grace in our marriage to work out some conflicts on our own (shocking) and generally attentive inpatients (abnormal, let me tell you). I also found out good news. I decided against going to a weight management class in Portland this month because of visitors, and this week there turned up in my email of a new one-- in Baltimore in June. This would be something my bosses would pay for! Yeah! God provided a trip that I didn't think I would get back this year. I'm only sad I am unable to see Brett in Godspell
My current projects at work are National Nutrition Month promotion, developing partnerships with Head Start programs through a contact I made at a conference I attended this week to teach preschoolers about nutrition, and covering for everyone else who is busy or sick or maybe...sick of their job??
I'm not sick of my job yet. I am just grateful to God for his mercy to show me how self-focused I can become when I "have to do" something like work extra hours. Not my choice for sure, but my privilege to support my husband and our life together.
This week is no different-- more work. But Travis is on Spring Break! So maybe we'll get a post from the man...if we don't catch him at our fabulous pool enjoying very warm spring break weather.

Respite

We had a wonderful weekend with my parents, enjoying much needed rest for all. We stayed local most of the weekend. (Travis' favorite answer all weekend was to the question, "How far away is it?" saying, "About 5 minutes!-- we are so enjoying being close to everything.) We only strayed into Scottsdale once to go hiking at Camelback Mountain. My dad was very generous, allowing me a continued break from cooking by taking us out for many meals. We paid a necessary homage to Cyclo, our favorite local Vietnamese restaurant, now a tradition whenever they come into town. Another highlight was sitting by the pool in warmer temperatures and relaxing poolside together. My mom and I were also given another little gift by being excused from the Phoenix Sun's game on Sunday to get in a little girl time. It's never enough. We miss the everyday things we could do together, but she's promised to come back herself in May and then again in August. I can't wait! Their visit was perfect-- a respite for me from working and to recover from our move as well as a relaxing time to enjoy fellowship and share our lives with my parents. We can't wait until they come back!