what the hail?, more visitors, china town, fowls...

 This blog is brought to by Jourdan... :)

Last week we had a surprise visit from Jack Frost.  The father of winter himself!  It  turned out to be a big misunderstanding.  (he was supposed to be in Utah blizarding...)  We were happy to have him regardless of the mistake,  his parting gift was an inch of hail. 

What the hail is this?

What the hail is going on?

 

What the hail is on your head?

Later in life we had some more visitors.  Our dear friends Hilary, Sam and baby Ike. And fetus baby Matilda.  Hilary is one of Mindy's dear friends from school. We made them entertain us the whole day.  Thank goodness Sam grew up here and knew some great things to do.  Here is what we did:  

1. Ate the crab for breakfast at TC eggingtons

2. Went Antiquing 

3. Consumed delectable shushies at Bahama Buck's   

4. Hilary made Mindy cut her hair.

5. Mindy made Hilary cut her hair

6. Jourdan had to go take a test for work

7.  Went to the show (jukebox the ghost)

 8. Had fun

                                                                      9. Said Goodbye

10.  Drove away.

A day that will go down in history as a day with Hilary and Sam.  (and sometimes Ike)

We love them and miss them.

One day my students said "sir you come to dinner"  So we did.   Here is the photo proof:

I don't know what happened in this one but Chase (the one to the right of Jourdan)  got all snuggly.

It was really amazing, authentic, Chinese food.  We had a fun time experiencing their culture and food.    

This is not the food they made for us.  This is Mindy's Triumphant dinner that tasted just like India Palace.  Food so good that it got photographed!

 We thought it was a good idea to go to the bird store.  So we went.

 We found lots of neat birds.  Good thing they cost more than our monthly income.  We may have just bought one.

Mindy wakes up early in the morning so she can take videos of me sleeping.  Here is her latest work.

imagining the dragons, tuck-son fun, love day...

well hi! lots of updating for this post. jourdan and i have had lots of visitors within the last couple of weeks. it's been so fun to have family in town. first, my mama came down for a visit. imagine dragons played a show in tempe and so, of course, their biggest fan made the trip down to cheer them on. it was so much fun and i am so proud of my brother. it's so great to see him doing what he loves. music. he is so talented. it blows my mind. it was jourdan's first time seeing them live. we were all blown away. we got escorted backstage! it was weird but neat. it was nice to be able to hang out with daniel and alex before the show. jourdan and i decided to stay backstage to see them go on. it was really amazing to be behind the scenes of it all.

waiting backstage, hangin' with the fam.

brother daniel getting ready to go on stage. so proud of him.

view from backstage! cool.

i wish i would've gotten more pics with everyone. rats. it was a grand time though and it was so fun to spend some time with my mama. i love that lady.

jourdan and i celebrated our first married valentine's day together! kindof...he ended up having to work really late so we spent the morning together. haha he got me some wonderful and thoughtful gifts. i love that boy. also, jourdan's mama sent us the best love day package ever. thank you april! :)

love day morning...i was trying to make the bed but jourdan wouldn't get out. so, i made the bed anyway...a gold star to whomever can find him. :)

happy love day!

the day after love day my family came. well, some of them. :) mama, pops, grammy and gramps, chloe and kaydee. what a grand time that was! alex had a ballet performance in tucson and so we all headed down there for the weekend. i'm grateful that jourdan didn't get a job in tucson. it's not that cool. haha sorry to anyone who has any ties to tucson...anyway, alex did a marvelous job dancing. she is a beautiful ballerina and it was fun to see her do what she loves. she's a neat gal and we're lucky to have her in our crazy family. :)

fancy for the ballet. love my beautiful nieces.

 

after the performance. so proud of alex!

i got a candid snapshot of these two cuties. they are a delight indeed.

this was NOT planned. but, we love imagine dragons. :)

 we swam at the hotel, ate food and relaxed. it was so nice. we also went to this AMAZING aviation museum. it was unreal and jourdan was in a far way la la never land. haha it was fun to see him in pure bliss. he looked like a 10 year little boy the entire time we were there. cute. there are seriously hundreds and hundreds of airplanes at this museum. it was pretty remarkable...

look at these two. they are in heaven.

this plane is from the 70's. it was my favorite. :)

giant airplane!

what's not to love about this guy?! haha

i've never seen these 2 so giddy. it was hilarious.

this is my all time FAVORITE picture of our tucson adventure. he is so happy.

we got a little bored. shadow photo shoot.

 

we had the whole lot stay in our tiny apartment for one night. it was a blast. perhaps we should start a bed & breakfast?

 well, now that i've completley overwhelmed you with this never ending post... we love and miss you all! visitors are always welcome, plus you'll have a cozy place to stay. ;)

more photos to come! xo

their happy is too loud...

 well, we had another mighty fine week. jourdan's still one busy guy! his students like him a lot. they always compliment him on what a good teacher he is. brown nosing? perhaps. but, jourdan really is a great teacher and has the perfect personality for this job.

let's see...this week. we didn't watch the super bowl. no big deal. BUT, we did get to hear all about it from our neighbors....people were seriously yelling from all directions in our apartment complex. it was unreal...here's a little glimpse. also, you can hear jourd practicing the piano in the background too. :)

we had a fun skype date with jourdan's family! oh how we love them all and miss them dearly.

 we went to the mesa temple the other day and what a fine time that was. i love the temple. so much. the mesa temple is beautiful and very unique. it kind of resembles the manti and salt lake temples, on the inside. very ornate and stunning. we are very grateful to have a temple close. it takes us about 40 minutes to get there but it's well worth the drive. the temple is my happy.

it was extremely sunny. hence the squinty eyes.

 here's a funny. i came home from doing something important, i'm sure and this is what i found by the front door...

 

haha poor jourdan. he got a bit distracted. he was listening to his friend's band's new album, which is amazing and you should check them out polytype. anyway, he forgot about his bagel in the toaster oven. i love that boy. haha so much.

well, that about does it for this week. i'm on my way to go pick up my mama from the airport! so excited. then, we'll meet up with my brother daniel and his sweet wife, alex in tempe tonight. the band is playing a show! woo! it will be a grand time indeed. love you all!!! xxx

i've been through the desert on a horse with no name...

happy monday to you! on one of jourdan's days off last week we decided to go on an adventure. so, we went exploring in the desert and found us some mighty fine cacti, cactuses...many cactus? not sure what the proper plural name for cactus is. haha anyway, we had a grand time...

trail 100, let the adventure begin!

jourd got off to a bit of a rough start...

and then it got worse...poor hugsband. the wilderness is a dangerous, dangerous place.

good thing i was there to make it all better. :)

and then, we found the feather of a bald eagle. a rare find indeed. ;)

we got hungry, so jourdan went hunting for food. the food was too quick though. darn lizards.

we discovered all kinds of cactus life. some were really tall, like mindy...

some were short and pokey...

...we love each other

we named this one medusa. get it?

some grew sideways.

we look like we're 12 years old.

some were just plain crazy...

and some were cute and baby little.

pretty neat, aye?

all in all, we had a great adventure! jourdan talked to a park patrol fella and found out the best mountain biking that's in the area. he's very excited to explore those soon! jourdan's uncle bryant and aunt taryn invited us over for dinner last saturday. what a fun family they are! we loved spending time with them and are grateful to have some family close. :)

jourdan started full time, with his first batch of students last week. he already has 5! jourdan's really excited and will be one busy lad. they all call him "sir" and it makes jourd feel uncomfortable. ha most of his students are in the beginner stage of flying... which has kept jourdan on his toes for sure. the other day he sent an email to all of his students to set up a time and a place for them all to meet up. here's a couple of replies from his students...

-Tomorrow morning, 630 am, at the tables outside dispatch approved. 
Looking forward to see you, sir ^-^

-Ok sir, we are looking forward to meeting you, our permanent instructor.

what a couple of gems, huh? my favorite is the asian emoticon. haha Jourdan LOVES his job and has really enjoyed his students so far. we are very blessed to be here!

we've been enjoying a lot of rain here in the AZ land. It's seriously been non-stop rain for the past 3 days. it's been nice though. arizona needs it! i am a bit sad that i've been missing the icy sidewalks in utah. i'm sure there have been some of the best falls of all time. haha i'm the worst and for some reason, people falling on ice is the funniest thing ever. sad, but funny. i'm awful, i know.

well, all is wonderful here! we hope you're all doing wonderful too. love you all so much and miss you dearly!