Time Keeps on Slippin'

T-3 days until we roll out from AZ.

Words can't describe how much our first assignment has meant to us. When we first got word that we were going to Arizona, I was not exactly enthusiastic. Luke was 5 out of 6 on our list of bases we wanted to go to. It was on the list, however, and I'm so glad we came.

Brad has done great things at Luke and I'm so proud of his hard work with the squadron and how his leadership has developed. I've spent two fantastic years at Mountain View teaching first grade. I am so blessed to have worked with an amazing group of ladies each year, as well as my two groups of kiddos. It is hard to think that I won't be there with them again this next school year, but those kiddos coming up are going to have a fantastic first grade year!

We have absolutely loved life out west. One of our favorite parts has been traveling to a lot of beautiful places, which many of you I know have seen from all of our pictures online! Aside from the travel, we are so thankful for the friendships we have and will cherish. We will miss all of you something terrible... and that is an understatement. [Hopefully I can hold it together the rest of our time here, unlike I did at TK's. ha]

The memories we've made here have been priceless, and we are so excited to continue that on in O-H-I-O!

We love you ALL.

Red Rock Country

As our time is dwindling down in Arizona, Bradford and I have vowed to make the most of it. Seeing friends, new places, loved places, etc.

This past weekend he informed me that we had some going away parties to attend for some of his guys who I have maybe met a couple times before. Of course I'll be there for support, babe.

Friday morning came and B placed our notebook that we write to each other in by my sink so I would see it when I got up and ready for the day. Inside he wrote to tell me to pack for 3 days including swimsuit, camelback and hiking shoes. And so my husband, who has not always been the best at keeping secrets or surprises from me, crafted a perfect weekend getaway.

I kept insisting that we were going to Sedona, while he assured me it would be Missouri. We ended up swinging by the airport (which was his lead into the Missouri idea) to pick up some of our best friends from back home in NC who joined us on our trip to...... Sedona. :)

We had such a great time with Josh and Carly seeing the Red Rocks in Sedona and visiting the Chapel of the Holy Cross, tasting everything at VomFass, hiking "0.5 miles" to Devil's Bridge, and of course hot tubbing at the resort. Props to hubs, it was a great way to spend one of our last weekends here in Arizona.

Views from the Chapel of the Holy Cross

Devil's Bridge with a great view!

Lunch break smiles

Our view from the lunch spot we chose under a rock at the top of the hike. Devil's Bridge is below us.

The boys at the bottom of our rock spot. Serious, rock climbing faces.

Banana Cookies

Say What?

Yeah, I made cookies with bananas, oats, and mini chocolate chips. They're da bomb.

I followed this recipe at skinnytaste.com. I didn't have walnuts on hand so I substituted them for chocolate chips. After I'd gotten started mixing everything I realized my oats were not 'quick oats', but mine turned out just fine!

If you haven't tried this yet please go make some!

Frisbee

One of Oscar's favorite things is to go outside with B and throw the frisbee. So much so that anytime B gets home from work he immediately goes for the frisbee and carries it around until B takes him out. 

Here's to Sunday afternoon frisbee action.

Fried Rice

Do you ever get those cravings for a food that just won't be satisfied by anything but said food? Brad doesn't believe in cravings, but I had one today while he was out working the last day of the air show on base. I whipped up a pan of fried rice with the help of two trusty things: Google any my rice cooker.

I typed in 'fried rice for one' and this is what I got. A post from novicehousewife.com on what turned out to be a pretty tasty recipe. Check it out if you'd like.. it makes a LOT!

Year Two

Happy 2nd year in our AZ home!

It's now been two years to the day that B and I have been growing some roots in our little corner of Arizona. We've loved it so much here and are looking forward to living it up as much as we can until our move to Ohio in the summer!

What better way to spend our 2nd year AZ-iversary than to watch the 'Lightning In The Desert' airshow practice on base. B of course was working it, but the flying was great nonetheless. :) Much love to hubs.. SO proud to call him mine!

Girls Day

Today was much needed during this Spring Break of mine. The wonderful Sammy and I were able to meet up for a great girls day. We had lunch and went off to paint pottery at a new(er) local studio in town. What a great relaxing time, can't wait to see our finished products in a week!

Pre-painting! 

Let's Go Racin!

During the first weekend in March, we drove out to PIR again for another NASCAR race in the valley! As always, I was cheering on Jimmie and Brad hoping for a Jr. win.

We had a fantastic time with some new and old friends tailgating beforehand and watching the race together. If you have not made it out to a NASCAR race before, you should go. At least once. :)

Our little patch of paradise. And those clouds!

Our whole group!

Hubs and I

Got to see a former student and his family :)

Kevin Harvick for the win

Slow Cooking

It seems like many people recently have put out tons of 'freezer to crockpot' meals and they look delicious, not to mention brilliant. I'm not quite to the point where I want to take on the ones with 40+ meals to prep all at once, but here's to giving a weeks worth of meals a try.

http://www.sidetrackedsarah.com

Hopefully we will be spending more time together, friend.

Valentine

This past weekend Brad told me in advance to pack my bags for a surprise weekend away to 'Peoria' as he kept calling it (For those of you who are far away, Peoria is about 20 minutes down the road). I had my suspicions that we'd be heading a little further north of Peoria.. closer to where the Red Rocks are!

We had such a sweet little getaway tucked up in Sedona at  our cozy resort with champagne and strawberries, not to mention being able to swim outside at night! We enjoyed lots of hiking and views seeing Sedona's red rocks and had a great jeep tour that Brad found on Groupon.

We also took a trip up to a little 'ghost town' called Jerome which is not too far from Sedona. It used to be a thriving mining town and we loved exploring all the history here too.

One of our favorite things to do together is to travel and try new things. This was such a sweet treat for both of us, especially since Brad had not seen Sedona or Jerome before. What a perfect getaway for Valentine's President's Day Weekend! ;)