Holiday Blessings

It has been awhile since I have written, so I wanted to update everyone on how things are going here. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. We enjoyed a nice, quiet Thanksgiving just the two of us. We made all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods (and then ate them for a week afterwards!). After we ate we got to spend some relaxing time together and put up Christmas decorations. Although I missed being with family on Thanksgiving for the second year in a row, it was nice to just take a break from school and work and spend time together. December was a blur. I had bronchitis which wasn't pleasant. Things at school were crazy. By the time Christmas arrived I was exhausted. Although I was tired and ready for a break, the last day of school was very special. For my students (many of whom don't have a lot of things) I bought several new games and toys for the classroom. I put the presents under the tree in our classroom, and I picked several students to open them while everyone watched. They were so cute! There were so appreciative and understood that they had to share the presents and they were to use at school. They were already asking when they would be coming back to school to use them! Giving is my favorite part of Christmas:) Santi's parents arrived on the 16th. It has been nice to have them here. Santi's dad has been working like crazy doing things around our house. So far he has put knobs on the kitchen cabinets, lights under the kitchen cabinets, painted the guest bathroom, put shelving in our garage, and a new shower head in the master bathroom. Plus he has fixed a few things here and there that we didn't do such a good job with:) Our Christmas was nice and quiet. We went to church on Christmas eve (they had a beautiful service), went to zoolights which is a new tradition for us, then came home to a delicious meal that Santi's parents made. On Christmas day we went to see Marley and Me and of course I cried my eyes out. I love the book, and the movie didn't quite do it justice, but it was good none the less. Both of our parents were very genrous to give us money for our backyard for Christmas, so that project is lined up to be completed in the next couple of weeks. It is going to be a lot of work, but it will be so nice to have a backyard we can actually use and enjoy. We are very grateful for this gift, and the labor that Santi's dad is going to put into it! They are going to be here until the end of January, and we are enjoying spending time with them. Next week I have to go into school and get ready for the 3rd quarter. On Friday we are going to Las Vegas with Santi's mom and dad which was our Christmas present to them. This will be my first Vegas trip so I am looking forward to it. We also plan to stop by the Hoover Dam which I have heard is amazing.
As 2008 comes to an end, I feel so blessed. We have had some ups and downs this year as everyone does, but God has truly provided for us. In 2008 we moved into our first house, I started graduate school, and Santi continues to be successful at work. I love my job, even though at times it can be very stressful. Our families are doing well, we are both in good health. We have a lot to look forward to and be excited about in 2009. We are BLESSED! I feel espcecially blessed this year because I have seen those close to me go through very difficult times. Our neighbors I grew up with lost one of their children to a heart attack at age 23. He died at their home just 4 days before Christmas. Every day for the past couple of weeks there has been a homeless person sitting up by the cross streets just outside our neighborhood. I can never see the person because they have made a make-shift shelter out of plastic bags and cardboard that always covers them. There is a black dog that sits with that person all day. Despite how sad this is, I think it has shown the good in others. Every day I see people bringing food to the person and the dog, and yesterday someone had brought a huge bag of dog food. There are still pleanty of good people in this world. Despite all that is going on in the world around us, we have much to be thankful for.

Ecuador Vs. Mexico

This week we got to see the Ecuadorian national team play the Mexican national team here in Phoenix. Although we were definitely outnumbered, we enjoyed cheering Ecuador on! Santi was so thrilled to see them live, and I thought it was really cool too. The game was televised on Telemundo and Santi recorded it on the DVR. I haven't watched it yet, but he claims that he saw us in the sea of green and red waving the Ecuadorian flag. There were around 26,000 people there, and I would say about 200 of them were Ecuador fans. We sat surrounded by Mexicans, but we did see one section where most of the Ecuadorians seemed to be concentrated. Ecuador scored the first goal of the game and I thought we might be able to send the Mexicans home crying, but unfortunately Mexico came back and scored two goals in the end of the game to win. Ecuador played a great game, but Mexico brought twice as many players and constantly had fresh legs on the field. Not to mention, Mexico definitely had the home team advantage!!! The Mexicans were rowdy as usual when they won, and we went home soaked in stinky beer that they had thrown over the upper balconies in celebration. Even though we lost, we had a great time. We sat really close and during half time Santi walked down as close as he could get to the field to take a picture of some of the players. He had his Ecuadorian flag with him and he saw Pepe Pancho (who also plays for Santi's all time favorite team Liga). He yelled Pepe Pancho's name and he turned around and waved at Santi. It was really neat. ApparentlyPepe Pancho's mom was friends with Santi's grandma...small world. Santi comes from a long line of soccer players....

Into November...

Wow fall is flying right by! It seems like October was a blur. We had so many things going on at school. Fall festival, math carnival, red ribbon week, Halloween...it was crazy. This weekend I was so thankful to be able to enjoy a four day weekend (yes we get those because we have no snow days). I really needed the rest. Santi worked most of it, but he did have Sunday off and we went to get our Christmas pictures taken with Tevez. He has gotten so big over the last year! We also had Jackie's dog Comiskey here all weekend. She went home to Illinois for a funeral. Tevez really enjoyed having a playmate. They are two peas in a pod. Comiskey is a little dog, but he sure can hold his own around Tevez, and when he can't he just hides under the bed.
November is moving right along. I have one full week next week and then it will be Thanksgiving week already! I will be happy to have the time off again, but sad that we can't spend Thanksgiving with family. This is the only time of year when it is hard being so far away. It isn't as big of a deal to Santi because he didn't grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, but I really miss grandma's noodles! I think we are going to get together with several friends who also have family out of state. Most of our friends out here are implants like us, and a lot of them are from the midwest as well. Hopefully we will have an enjoyable Thanksgiving with some yummy food. Last year it was just the two of us and we attempted to make some Thanksgiving foods...it was entertaining to say the least. We are also hoping to get up some Christmas decorations so they are ready when Santi's parents come on December 17th. This will be our first Christmas in the new house, so we are looking forward to decorating AND getting a real Christmas tree!
On a final note, we are super excited to have tickets to see Ecuador play Mexico here in Phoenix tomorrow night! Santi never imagined he would be able to see them play in the U.S. We even know what hotel the players are staying at, so we are going to try to track down some autographs:) I will post pictures later this week!

Ahhh....fall weather....

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:)

Grad school begins...and fall is finally on its way (that just means the temperature is under 115)!

Well, although I would like to say that we spent labor day weekend working around the house, cooking out, and relaxing like most people would on labor day weekend...we didn't. Unfortunately Santi had to work all weekend, and I was stuck working on things for kindergarten AND grad school which started yesterday (yes, on labor day). I am really looking forward to the day when Santi and I aren't BOTH in school and working. It is so hard to spend time together. Not to mention with his current job he works a lot of weekends. Hopefully in about 2 more years we will both be finished with school!
Because of our crummy labor day weekend, we decided that we might do a short little getaway during my upcoming fall break the second week of October. Due to no snow days in the desert, I actually get a week for fall break! Last year it was two weeks, but they cut it down to allow for an earlier summer release next year. I will take one week over none any day. Because I LOVE fall and we don't experience anything really "fall-like" here in the desert, we are thinking of going up to Prescott or Pine Top. Both are in northern Arizona in the mountains. We thought it would be fun to get a little cabin and take the dog with us. I hope we can scrounge up enough money to make that happen. I think it would be delightful:)
Speaking of traveling...I am headed to Indiana the weekend of Sept. 13th. I am in Amanda's wedding and looking forward to it! I am not looking forward to getting behind on all the work to be done here, but I will be glad to go home and see friends and family as well as escape the heat. Santi and I were joking as we walked the dog tonight that we could tell "fall" was approaching because it was under 110 on our evening walk. I must say, the sunset was gorgeous tonight. Nothing compare to an Arizona sunset over the mountains. Living in the desert just like anywhere else has its ups and downs. I do miss water and the seasons....but I will trade those for the beauty I experience every day here. It is magnificent! If I REALLY miss the seasons or water, Prescott and Pine Top are only a couple of hours away.
Well....I should get busy on some grad school reading, I am sure it will be riviting.