A great week has come and gone

What a sweet time this past week has been. I was a little worried about keeping myself entertained since Brian was still in Europe with Sydne but it all worked itself out. At the beginning of the week, I stayed pretty busy trying to get school work out of the way, cleaning the house and packing for Las Vegas. On Wednesday is when all of the excitement began. My teammates, Mary Melich, Michelle Stribling and I boarded a plane for Vegas. The flight was very bumpy due to windy skies but we all arrived safely. All of the teams connected at the Apollo College Las Vegas campus to begin our conference. That evening I got a text msg from Chez letting me know that she was wanting to take advantage of the 72 hr sale that SW Airlines was putting on and plan a trip out to Tucson. Since I did not have email I just told her to book any weekend in January and that would work just fine. During this same chunk of time, Chez and Elizabeth connected with each other, Chez told Liz where she was going and Liz booked a ticket too!!!!

Thursday night was also our awards ceremony. Michelle won Team Play of the Year, Mary won Presenter with the most Success, I won Newcomer of the Year and we all won Campus of the Year!!!!!!! All of our hard work over the past year has definitely paid off!


After the conference ended on Friday I was picked up but my cousin Caren and 2nd cousin Bridget. We spent the rest of Friday bonding with family, walking around Caesars Palace, eating a delicious meal together and watching some old home movies from 16+ yrs ago. It was a sweet evening of just getting to catch up.

On Saturday morning we tagged along with Bridget to a Halloween 5K that she had planned to run. Bridget ran with her sisters, Christine and Jaime and Caren & I kept each other company.




After the 5K we went back to the house, had a yummy homemade breakfast, drank lots of coffee and then headed out to a shooting range in Boulder City. Jay brought along all of his guns and let Bridget and I have a go at all of them. It was so invigorating!! :)






Adam came and picked me up that afternoon, took me to meet his girlfriend (I approve), went to REI to buy Brian another pair of Reefs since his cratered a few weeks ago and then dropped me off at the airport.

Brian returned home last night. There was seem issues with the luggage carrier so we left Phoenix for home more than an hour after we should have. We safely made it home about 10:30 pm. I am so thankful he is home!!!

U2 Concert

Brian, Bill & Kim Dycus and I went to the U2 concert last week at the AZ Cardinals football stadium. It took about 4 hours to get there (it should have only taken 2 1/2) but the traffic was so bad. We got there in time to see the last Black Eyed Peas song performed. The concert was very good. I was surprised how many of the songs I recognized or could hum along to. Brian and I didn't end up getting home until after 3 in the morning and I had to be at work by 8 AM. That was not a fun day.

On Thursday, I left work early to take Brian to the Phoenix airport. He got on a plane that evening to head to England to see Sydne. He is now in Barcelona for two days and then will travel to Marrakesh, Morocco to spend a couple of days there.

I am enjoying the house to myself for a few days and then I head for Las Vegas for a work conference. Here are some pictures from the U2 concert...

Happy Anniversary

Brian and I celebrated one year of marriage on October 18th. It is hard to believe how quickly the past year has flown by. It does not feel like it has been a year since we last saw so many of our friends. We are so thankful for all the blessings we have had and look so forward to what the Lord has in store for us and our family.

We spent Sunday like we do most Sundays. We went to church, Brian had to go show some houses, we watched a movie (The Incredible Hulk...it was actually pretty good), and made a yummy dinner. Brian grilled fresh salmon, I baked some chicken and made some yummy veggies that Brian will eat.

All in all it was a great relaxing day. We enjoyed all the phone calls and getting to catch up with different family members. I missed all my sweet friends at ACU homecoming as well. I (not really we) wished I could have been there.


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One year down...

...and many many more to go!

As of Sunday afternoon Brian and I will have been married one year! What a ride it has been so far.

I began a new job that I love.
Brian went off on his own to be his own Real Estate agent and has been uber successful.
I learned how to snowboard in Canada.
We have paid off all of our credit card debt.
We found a church that we love and Brian is now on their Board of Directors.

We are so thankful for the past year of our life together and look forward to so many more. Thank you so much for all of your love, support and prayers through this journey!

Happy Anniversary!

A month later...

So, I guess I don't have a lot of exciting things going on so I am down to posting about once a month.

Today is Brian's 27th birthday. I am so thankful to have him in my life and to be a part of his. We have celebrated many birthdays together but this is the first as a married couple. Brian got glasses for his birthday. I know that is very exciting. He has been without them for over a year because I allegedly broke his old ones. I, however, do not recall that occurring.

Brian didn't really want anything extra and I am not creative enough to think of something else to get him. He is also on his way to Washington to spend the rest of the week and weekend with the Wick family for the grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. I wished I could be there but alas, I get to work instead!

When I got home from work this evening I was surprised to find a sweet note on the chalk board and flowers from Brian. The thought that pops into my head is that this is Brian's birthday and he got me flowers! Ladies, I'm sorry, I know you think you have the best husband...but you're wrong. So, thanks for trying! :)



I did try to make the recipe for palachinki Valerie gave me. She made it and put some nice pictures up n her blog. I followed the recipe. It made 5. The first I burned. The 2-4 all ripped in half when I tried to flip them and the last one looked pretty...but just like a pancake...not palachinki.


Brian and tried one with some nutella and melted margarine and it tasted not very good. I have no idea what I did wrong but we ended up throwing them all out and going to Paradise Bakery instead.

That's what has been going on with The Wicks!

Veeves & Baklava

I got to talk with Veeves for about 3 hours this morning (her evening). It was wonderful. She called at 6:54 am Tucson time and I called her back about 7:30...it is now 11 am. So much for finishing my paper this morning. However, I am 100% NOT complaining and am so thankful we finally got to catch up. At the beginning of our conversation I mentioned that I had already bought all the ingredients for baklava so she just walked we through how to do it over the phone. It was so easy. I also started, finished and put away a load of laundry while we were on the phone, washed my bed sheets and made my bed. It was great!
Here is what it looked like right out of the oven.
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A view from above

All the yummy layers!

Brian and I both had a piece and were really impressed. As I was taking a bit Veeves said, "You know what would be so good with that." I cut her off, "A scoop of Blue Bell ice cream". "That is exactly what I was thinking!" Veeves said...she didn't even call me Uncle Lindel for cutting her off! :)

I don't know if I shared this already but I thought it was just too pretty not to take a picture! I like to make things from scratch when I can and have the time. Since Brian and I are trying to somewhat watch what we eat it is hard to justify buying or ordering alfredo knowing that cream sauce is not the best thing for your body. However, I was craving fettucini alfredo so I went looking online at allrecipes.com to see if I could find anything decent. I found a great recipe that had almost 500 reviews and a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. With all the cheeses and dairy that the recipe called for I used fat-free or skim instead and used the Brummel & Braun cream spread instead of sticks of butter. We didn't have fettucini noodles either so I just used the pasta I had on hand which added a nice color to it and instead of chicken we used crab & shrimp.

I was pretty impressed with myself and Brian liked it too! That always helps! :)

San Diego pictures

Sandy, Lyndsey & Heather on one of the back porches. This compound was amazing!

Lyndsey "the birthday girl" and Heather "the bride"

Nate & Sandy Parde, Lyndsey and my San Diego hosts! Thank you guys SOOO much!

The gang socializing

Lyndsey's birthday cake!
This really was one of the sweetest moments of the evening. The party was for Matt & Heather however they went and got a birthday cake to also celebrate Lyndsey's birthday!! Those are good friends I tell you!

Heather & Lyndsey with the birthday cake!

Lyndsey and Heather took the fancy rings of the cake and wore them proudly for the rest of the night!

The sisters!