Sorry!

I know it's been way too long, I just don't have time to blog! I have so many pictures to post from Lake Powell and our very first camping trip together! I'll get to it eventually I promise. Things are going great, Jake really loves his job, the people there are so nice and it is a really great company. I got a new co-receptionist at work (for the third time) and she is amazing! We're the same age and have a lot in common, including our husbands working for the same company, in the same building, on the same floor! Such a funny coincidence. And school is just as crazy as ever. I really enjoy it but I can't get anything done around the house because I'm always bogged down with tons of homework. But I'm learning a lot and I'm so grateful I am able to go to school. Next semester should be better (although no less time consuming) because I'm taking painting, photography, and a graphic design class. Woot!
We're moving back in with Jake's parents this week. We've been thinking of saving up to buy a house since they are so cheap and because we'll probably be here until Jake can finish school. (It's a bummer I know... maybe we'll get lucky and he can transfer somewhere!) The drive from Maricopa won't be very fun, especially at 10:00 at night... but we'll survive.
On another note. Um... it's November. Where did this year go?? Seriously! It flew by. I'm so happy though, I love this time of year! It finally feels like fall in AZ. Time to bring on the Christmas music!

Valley of the Goblins

On the drive home from UT Jake and I decided to do some sightseeing. I'm usually too anxious to get to UT on our drives up, and too tired on the drives home to stop and look at anything. So we put Goblin Valley into our official plans so I couldn't make any excuses.
If you've never been you must GO! It's basically this huge valley with tons of cool rocks worn down by an ancient ocean. There is a lot to explore and fun shapes to discover.

Can you see the gorilla?

Find the Ninja Turtle Head

Jake found a Geocash thing! Haha at first I thought it was a snake trap or something, but Jake thought it was a treasure chest and he was right! Don't worry we put it back just as we found it.

Running from the goblins

Jake's jet ski

Kissing rocks

Oh boys. :)

Ok this was probably the scariest driving experience of my life. After Goblin Valley we came across this road (if you can even call it a road). As we rounded the corner onto this cliff there was a barrier with spray paint that read "Welcome to Hell Town" and there was a crow sitting right above it. How's that for creepy? This road had NO railings and it was DIRT. I was seriously driving 5 mph. Jake asked if I wanted him to drive but I knew he would drive over 5 mph and I would have a panic attack. Seriously how anyone can deem this road passable is beyond me. Needless to say we will never be driving that way again.

Zaugg Reunion 2010

I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted anything! My computer died, taking photoshop with it so I haven't been very motivated to post pictures. There are just so many that I love from this trip and since I lost my montage program be prepared for an onslaught of pictures!

This was the first night. It was also my grandparents anniversary (I can't remember which anniversary, but they're both over 90 so it was probably their 70th) This was great because I got to see cousins I haven't seen in YEARS! Like my cousin Sabrina from Canada and my cousins in AZ (who live right done the street yet I never see them!) And most of them have never met Jake so it was nice.

And of course Emery is always a highlight so there are plenty of pictures of her :)

Sydney, Carson, cousins Katie, Mindy, and Jake. Me and Dad! See those cow shirts? I designed those!! There's this rusty old Zaugg Dairy sign that I cleaned up and added the words and stuff.
This was probably the most exciting thing we did all weekend. Night Ultimate Frisbee! SO FUN!! We taped some glow sticks onto a frisbee and then we all wore some on our wrists. Half way through the game the sprinklers turned on but that just made it more fun!! My cousin Mindy was a superstar, I'm pretty sure she scored all of our points. I think we're going to make it a Zaugg reunion tradition.

I can't even tell you what a JOY is was to be OUTSIDE!!! I miss bearable summers so much. I loved being able to eat outside, and play games without getting heat stroke.

I love my family! And COLOR!

I love this little girl! This is my cousin's daughter, Alora. My cousin has always been a Disney princess fanatic (hence the name Alora, similar to Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty) and has obviously taught her daughter well! I got this AMAZING Art of the Disney Princesses book from my brother Taylor, it just has a bunch of gorgeous pictures of different artists' interpretations of the princesses. Some of them are hard to recognize at first but Alora knew them! So cute.

Wildlife World Zoo

Last weekend Jake and I went to the Wildlife World Zoo with our nieces and Jake's parents. Um... coolest zoo ever! I would even say if tops the San Diego Zoo. We made the long trek north to Litchfield, trying to beat the storm clouds that seemed to be chasing us. It started raining right as we got there but it was perfect because we went to the aquarium first. Sadie and Grace had a blast in there! They probably would have been happy to play in there all day, petting starfish, sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, and sting rays! When we left the aquarium the rain had stopped and had lowered the temperature dramatically. It was a perfect day in Arizona! We started at the petting zoo, where we got to touch turtles, goats, deer, and even a lama! The girls loved running around feeding all the baby goats.

So this is why I loved this zoo so much. Everything just seemed so personal. We were two feet away from tigers. Two feet! Jake almost touched a jaguar (until it heard him and growled/hissed, scaring the bajeezes out of him haha). A lot of the animals weren't even caged. It felt like most of the barriers were there to keep humans out, not to keep the animals in.

I loved the baby animal exhibit. We saw a baby lion, baby ocelot, and baby tigers (precious!).

The Kangaroo walkabout area was fun too. We had a couple kangaroos following us ;)

It was such a great day! It is so worth the 45 min trek up there! It's a tad pricey so if any of you Arizonians ever find some coupons, GO! You will not be disappointed!

The Amazing Jake

What an amazing husband I have.

We have struggled with a problem our entire 2 years of marriage. That problem? Where to store our shoes when we come home at the end of the day. Our entryway of every apartment we've lived in has been cluttered beyond imagination. We've thought of buying a basket of sorts, but Jake's shoes are so huge, two pairs would fill any decent sized container. We're both too lazy to take them off and walk them back to our closet, and we both wear several different pairs each week. What to do??

About a month ago Jake announced that he was going to make a shelf for our shoes. I scoffed at him and immediately came up with a million reasons why that was not possible. What a terrible wife I am! Here my husband was trying to solve our problem and I basically tell him he doesn't have the means or the ability to do it. I felt bad about it later though and told him to do it, but I think he was crushed.

It's a good thing he's so determined though, because the next week he went shopping for wood, nails, and a hand saw. He told me his idea, I sketched a rough design and that was that! Several hours later we had a shelf. And an awesome one at that. We painted it black to match the rest of our furniture, but the artist in me will have to revamp it one day.

My handy man :)

Jake wanted to include a shelf for my purse. He was tired of me throwing it on top of our shoes. I love it.

No More Cleo

Well we no longer have our dog Cleo. There were several reasons for getting rid of her but the biggest one was that she was locked up too long while we were at work. So Jake put an ad on craigslist and we got a response back from a guy who lives outside of Maricopa. He lives on a ranch and has over 100 acres (30 of which are fenced so Cleo could run around outside!) He has a little 3 year old and a baby on the way so he wanted to make sure Cleo is good with kids, which she is! He also wanted a guard dog, and we told him Cleo pretty much growls or barks whenever she hears people outside. He came by last week to see her and she wasn't shy at all, which was a first. He was really nice and Jake and I both felt good about letting our dog go with him. Even though she was frustrating at times it is still hard to say goodbye to a life you have been responsible for.

The guy texted Jake a couple days later and said that Cleo was doing great. She runs around all day chasing lizards! So everything has worked out really well. We are really happy for her and grateful that she went to such a good home. Now my job is trying to keep Jake from convincing me to get another dog (I didn't even make it a month last time!). I told him the only dogs we are ever getting again are chihuahuas. And as much as I would love to have one, there are several factors that keep me from wanting one at the moment.

So now we just have our cat (who is sick and Jake hand feeds everyday!). Cats are easy though and even though they aren't as entertaining as dogs, it's nice to have her around. Ok I'm done for the day. Stay tuned for a picture of our newest piece of furniture, designed and created by my wonderful husband!

2 Years of Blissfulness :)

I'm not sure if blissfulness is a word, but it describes Jake and I perfectly! Extremely happy and a little crazy. I can't believe it has been two years already. We've had so much fun! This year we both had to work on our anniversary. Rarr! But we just got back from our UT trip and we didn't want to take another day off. So we celebrated that Saturday by eating at Buca Di Beppo (because we had a sweet coupon and wanted to try some place new) it was really good! They serve things family style which is a little different, but that just means we had tons of left overs the next day. They put us in the love booth where we were surrounded by pictures of all the famous romance singers like Elvis and Dean Martin. There were also a lot of pictures and weird sculptures of dogs. After that we walked off our meal at the mall and headed to the theater to see Robin Hood. Such a good movie. Like wo. We love epic adventures and classic stories.

All in all it has been a wonderful two years. I don't think we've even had a real fight yet (knock on wood!). Jake is an amazing husband and my favorite thing about him is that he is always trying to make me laugh. We have so much fun together and spend all our free time together. I am so grateful and so blessed to have him in my life. And I love knowing he is mine FOREVER! I'm so excited to share life's greatest adventures with this wonderful man. Happy Anniversary Jake!!



Pictures from our first date/s