One Year of Marriage

These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity with moving into our new house, ending the school year, and having my brother here to visit before his trip to Indonesia. In the midst of all the chaos, Santi and I were able to take some time to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. Santi had the day off work, so we were able to spend the whole day together which was very nice. During the school year it is very difficult to spend time together because he often works weekends when I am off. After we dropped Andrew off at the Food for the Hungry headquarters downtown, we headed to the Desert Botanical Gardens. I have been wanting to go for awhile, so I was very excited. The garden was beautiful...if only it wasn't over 100 degrees out. I guess that's par for the course when you live in the desert. We made our way through the garden jumping from shade spot to shade spot trying to stay cool. We found out that they have a flashlight tour on Thursdays and Sundays, so we decided that we will return later this summer and give that a try. All in all, it was a really neat experience. After the garden we wanted to go somewhere with AC, so we stopped by the teacher store and checked out the sale items for my kindergarten room this fall. I found a few good deals...but I still need a lot of things. Then we headed to the Chandler Fashion Mall and purchased some soap and candles for the house. After the mall, we grabbed a romantic (ha ha) lunch at El Pollo Loco (for those of you from the midwest, it is like the Mexican version of KFC). After lunch we decided to keep cool and see a movie. We went to see Baby Mama, which was actually very funny. By then it was time to pick Andrew up, so we swung back by the headquarters. On the way home we stopped at Rancho Market (the Mexican market) and picked up some food to grill for dinner. Yes, we bought a grill. I finally gave in, and I am glad I did because we have used it every night since we bought it. After dinner we enjoyed a piece of our frozen wedding cake and some dessert wine from the Oliver Winery that we brought back over spring break. It was really special being able to spend the entire day together, and honestly it didn't matter what we did. Yesterday I took Andrew up to the headquarters again and then ran some errands. Santi was back to work again, so I tried to accomplish some of the things that needed to be done around the house.
Andrew leaves tonight for Indonesia, and last night he stayed at the house of one of the guys he is going with. I am waiting for him to call and let me know exactly when his flight leaves. Depending on when it is, I may try to head up to the airport to see him off. Santi has class tonight and gas prices are through the roof, so we will see. I am so proud of the work he is doing, and I am hoping and praying that all goes well during his time there. I am not going to lie, I worry about him going there a lot. I will be happy when he is back in the U.S.!
On another note, now that things are finally starting to calm down and I have the summer to get settled into the house, one of the goals Santi and I have for the summer is to successfully get on a budget. It has been so difficult to get on track financially lately because of the move and all of the costs associated with a new house. Not to mention we still have our lease (and bills) at the apartment until the end of July. We are basically paying double right now on most bills. Making things even more of a challenge is the fact that I won't see another pay check until the end of August. On the last day of school they gave me a check for the rest of my salary, and that has to last us all summer long. If anyone has any tips for getting on track with a budget, pass them my way!
Wow...that was a lot of updating. I am not sure how much I will have to write over the next few months because we for once don't have a lot planned! I am just looking forward to a relaxing summer!