Good friends, good times..

Last weekend my good friend Danielle came to visit. Once again it poured rain on the day she got here and then rained on and off for the weekend, but we still had fun. We didn't really do much but hang out and enjoy eachother's company. On Saturday, I had to work at an event for my job. The event was for a strip mall on the other side of town - they had Santa skydive into the parking lot and I had to have a TV crew come out and film it. Here Santa is making his approach.

He landed safely in the middle of the parking lot. It was pretty cool. He also had two elves that landed with him. None of the children were frightened, although Danielle was scared that Santa would crash into the WalMart across the street.

The next day I took Danielle to two of my favorite places in AZ:

1. Encanterra to look at our new home. Danielle loved the models and promptly decided she should move to AZ. She then called her husband who snapped her back into reality and reminded her Encanterra is in Arizona - not San Diego. Although I still think they should move.....

2. Costco Home - that's right all you Costco lovers. Here they have a whole warehouse dedicated to the home - furniture for every room, patio stuff, window coverings, flooring, granite - you name it! It rules....we plan on furnishing our home with Costco goods once we are finished with the sale and ready to move in.

PJ....so strange, so thirsty

Here is PJ chillin next to the treeHe LOVES the tree- he spends at least 20 hours a day under the tree. Not only does he practically live under it, but he drinks about 5 gallons of pine water a day. He has never drank this much in his life. It's almost as if someone moved him to the dry, hot desert and he is so thirsty he might die.....oh wait - did we do that?

So, we aren't very good at blogging....

So, blogging is hard...not the physical act of blogging, but actually taking time to remember to sit down and do it. Maybe if I set myself a reminder....an alarm once a week or something.

We have had a fun couple of weeks. It has rained the past two weekends here in AZ, which has been a bummer because we have had people in town. But, the desert is in a drought (imagine that) so we needed the rain.

My Mom came two weeks ago. We relaxed and took her to see our new home. We actually went to the new house both days - that's how much fun it is! On Saturday night we got our Christmas tree and put it up. Here are some photos of the occasion - our first Christmas in Arizona.

I forced Chris to hang up an ornament - this is him obeying me. The rest of the time he sat on the couch and directed the decoration process.

My Mom was a great participator in the tree decorating - thanks Mom!

I feel as though I look fantastically tall in this photo - something about the angle makes me look at least 5'5" - I am stoked! This is the tallest I have ever looked! I know it is an optical illusion, but I love it - I don't even have heals on.

Giving Thanks

Chris and I spent the weekend in AZ. We had a great holiday. I did the cooking, and I have to say - it ROCKED! I cook a great turkey and a mean pumpkin cake (with homemade cream cheese frosting). Chris made delicious gravy - his Dad's recipe.

Here is a picture of our feast and us about to dig in!

PJ is thankful that we treat him like he is human - here he is at his place at the table!

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

More home stuff

Here are some details about our home:

We have a glass wall just like the one above that opens to an outdoor living space. The whole wall is a glass slider that opens up - not to sound too lame, but it is the coolest!

This is the outdoor living space - really just a covered patio with a built in fireplace, but once again it is awesome! We can't wait to have fires and drink wine and relax outside. Chris REALLY wants the outdoor flat-screen too!Our kitchen will look very similar to the one above. We have a great island, built-in appliances, a range hood, granite counter tops, etc. We are also going to have a backsplash, but we haven't picked it out yet. We may get one similar to the one above!

This is the view looking from the kitchen into the great room. We love how open the floor plan is! To the left is the dining room and our master bedroom/bathroom. To the right (directly off the kitchen) is a "smart space" where our laundry will be and there is room for two computer/work areas. Also to the right, but down the hall is a bedroom, bathroom, den and the entry way.

I hope this gives you an idea - We will post more pictures as things go along.

Taking the plunge

Well, we did it - we have bought a home! We have been thinking about it and decided that the time (and the incentives) are right. Our home will start under construction in January with us moving in sometime over the summer. We are really excited! We get to pick all the details on the home since it is a new build. We don't have all the details finalized yet, but are thrilled at the thought of paying a mortgage instead of rent. Here is a picture of the front of our house (the first photo), although we will have brick work and paint/garage doors similar to the second picture. The model home is the "Spanish" elevation, which you will notice mainly by the green tiles. We have the "Andalusian" elevation which has the masonry work in place of the tile.

Encanterra - the golf course

Here are some pictures of where Chris works. It is amazing - the property has eight lakes and tons of turf. All you see is green as you drive around. He is really lucky to be working at such a great course in a great community.

As you can see it is more than your average community. They have twelve model homes all of which are beautiful. Chris and I are most likely going to buy one. We really like them and the idea of living in such a nice and peaceful place.

cool down begins

Hi everyone - this is Chris logging in to share a few words.....

Well the weather finally started to turn towards the norm. After an unusual week of record high temps in November we finally had a weekend of temps under 90. We are definitely looking forward to enjoying the winter weather and the outdoors of Arizona.

Life has definitely changed that we are now in Arizona. As our club isn't quite open yet I have been enjoying the luxury of a Monday - Friday job. However, with this comes the cooking duties since Kelly is commuting substantially farther than me now. Total role reversal. Who would have thought that I would be cooking dinner and doing the laundry.

Otherwise things are good with exception of our woeful Chargers. Hopefully winter and some luck will change their fortunes. Amazing the Chargers actually beat the Colts tonight!!!! The small things never cease to amaze me.

It's really hot here!

So, once I found out I had a job in Phoenix, it was time to leave California. After a fun week-long celebration to say good-bye to all things San Diego, Chris flew out to California to drive back to Phoenix with me.

Our first weeks here were great. We both like our new jobs and we have been lucky in that we have had a few friends come out to AZ already. This has given us a little taste of home and made us less homesick.

Here are some of the details of where we work and live......

I now work at a PR agency called Allison & Partners where I am a senior account executive. The people that I work with and the company that I work for have so far all been amazing. I am going to have a lot of opportunities. The only downfall for me are long hours and a long commute. I work in Scottsdale.

Chris is the head golf professional at a beautiful new property called Encanterra. It is a new housing division/country club. The property is beautiful and is located in Queen Creek. He has been enjoying starting a club from the ground-up and is learning a lot (although he hasn't golfed in a while).

Our rental home is in Gilbert, AZ which is about 40 minutes outside of Phoenix. It has been really hot, although people keep on swearing it will cool down in the winter. We have been enjoying trying new restaurants, hanging out with friends that we have in the area and checking out model homes in the hopes of buying something!

If anyone would like to come visit, we have a great guest bedroom that is open to all!

Yes-these are real light fixtures

Thankfully we have been able to aviod all types of "southwestern living" including these atrocious light fixtures. We really enjoy Arizona, just not the STYLE of all things southwest...although maybe that will change with time.

A new start for me too!

The day after I returned to San Diego to begin my friend-crashing experiment, I got news that I had gotten a new job! Lucky me - I, too, now had a reason for moving to Phoenix. Aside from my undying love for Chris and my commitment to raising PJ in a proper home with two parents......

This meant that I would be spending three weeks with friends and then would be joining Chris to start our new adventure.

Much thanks to Alli and Brian and the Riordan family to hosting me at their homes when I was homeless in SD. I hope that I wasn't too much trouble. Extra thanks to Brian who actually had to pre-plan each outfit he wore the night before so he wouldn't wake me up in the morning.

Across the desert....

In mid-September, Chris and PJ made their trek across the desert, from beautiful San Diego to the arid desert of Arizona. Luckily for Chris, PJ was a good boy and only pooped in his cat carrier once! Once they arrived they set-up shop in our new home. I flew in the next day and we got things situated. Our rental home is nice, completely free of cactus (although you will notice the substantial use of desert rock landscaping) and we are happy to have the space that comes with living in the suburbs.

After three days of unpacking, I flew back to San Diego to begin living without my husband and child (you all know how much PJ is loved) and to begin crashing with friends for an unknown amount of time.....