I have gotten a little behind on my blogging, but September was a very busy month! Grad school started, we went to Indiana for a weekend, and I was trying to wrap up the end of first quarter at school with parent/teacher conferences. I can say that we successfully made it through September and I am now enjoying my favorite time of year. Our short trip to Indiana was nice and Amanda's wedding was beautiful! It was so great to see everyone, even if it was only for a short time. I missed seeing my mom because she was in Florida for business. I am hoping she and dad make it out to Phoenix again soon. I am not sure when we will be able to go to Indiana again because we are saving up money and days off for a trip to Ecuador in June.
After all the craziness of September, fall break was a welcoming escape, and what a beautiful fall break I had! I spent the first part of my week frantically cleaning and getting all of my school work done (kindergarten and grad school) so that I could enjoy the second half of break when Santi had time off work. On Thursday morning we left Phoenix and drove up to Sedona with the dog for a little 2 day hiking excursion. We hiked in Oak Creek Canyon on Thursday and we could not have had more beautiful weather! It was a breezy 75 degrees and sunny. Up in Oak Creek Canyon the leaves were turning colors and the scenery was magnificent. We got the taste of fall we have been missing in the valley. Tevez had the time of his life playing in the creek and doing dog things. It was fun to watch him enjoying himself so much. After hiking we took an evening stroll around downtown Sedona...always beautiful, especially at sunset. After dinner we headed back to our room exhausted. We stayed in a little motel called Oak Creek Terrace. It was right on the creek and we had a cute little room with a fireplace. It was so nice to cuddle up to a movie in front of the fire and relax in the peace and quiet of Oak Creek Canyon. On Friday we slept in, then packed up. Before heading out of town we did some hiking in the red rocks of Sedona (my favorite). It is more amazing every time we go. After we were officially tired we headed back to Phoenix. When we got back to Phoenix we were surprised with nice cool fall-like weather. It was lovely. Santi had Saturday and Sunday off which was great because we had time to relax, work around the house, and watch some football. We enjoyed the nice 75 degree weather on Saturday and Sunday, unfortunately the heat is returning on Tuesday and we will be back to normal for the remainder of the week...95+ degrees. Oh well...I know we will soon be approaching winter which is the best time of year in the desert. Tomorrow I head back to school and Santi is back at work. I am looking forward to seeing my kiddos again...but I am not excited about getting up at 5:30! In about 4 weeks or so I have a long weekend, and then shortly after that Thanksgiving will be here! This is my favorite time of year!
On a final note, Santi's mom and dad booked a flight out here for December and will be here for almost 2 months! It will be great to spend that time with them. We are hoping to take a short trip to Vegas...which will be a first for me! We will also be thankful to have Santi's dad's help with some big projects around the house, the biggest being our backyard which is currently nothing but dirt. We will be so happy to have that finished and looking lovely since we spend so much time outside. I am just hoping we can scrounge up enough money for all the things we want to do in the yard. We also have to pay a big chunk of change for Santi to renew his green card. I will be glad when we are finished sending money to Immigration Services.
Santi also wants me to add that we are happy that the Colt's won today and Ecuador beat Chile 1-0:)
Well...that about sums it up for now! I will try to do a better job of keeping everyone updated when something interesting happens:)
