Growing Old Together

Ok I've been meaning to write about this for a while so I'm doing it now before I forget! A couple weeks ago at work there was this old man who just made my day. I work as a receptionist/sales rep for a vacation membership club. Customers come in and we give them a presentation about our company. There are a number of qualifications people have to meet in able to see the presentation, for example, we aren't allowed to tour single males. That's where the old man comes in. He was alone, so we couldn't tour him, and we had to turn him away. One of the managers explained our regulations and sent him on his way. About 5 minutes later he comes back in and walks up to the front desk. I thought he was going to yell at me (which is a pretty common occurrence) but he just started talking. He was pretty offended that he couldn't see the presentation only because he was single. He told me how his wife had died of cancer earlier this year, and showed me pictures of them dancing on their 50th wedding anniversary. He told me about how they met (on a blind date), he could even remember what she was wearing. He gave such lovely descriptions of her. You could hear in his voice how much he missed her. I wish I could have talked to him longer but I was really busy and my boss was rushing me to get things done. Before he left he told me a joke/pick up line that I love. He asked me, "are my eyes blue?" and I answered yes. Then he said, "That is so weird. They only turn blue when I'm looking as something pretty." Isn't that so precious? Haha I have a point to all this I promise.
Sometimes I am terrified of getting old. Like.... dentures? They freak me out. So does having to get glasses, hearing aids, and having back/knee/any kind of joint trouble. It scares me. But that old man helped me see a little bit of the sweeter side of old age. Spending all those years with someone you love. Nothing could be better. Our hair will turn gray, our skin will get loose and wrinkly, our bodies will weaken, and our senses will dim, but love will always stay strong. Even after death. I'm in no rush to reach old age, but I am excited about all of the life Jake and I get to live before we get there. I am so grateful for him and most especially that I get to keep him forever! This isn't nearly as eloquent as it sounded in my head. In a nut shell, life is precious! Enjoy every bit of it!

New Apartment!!

A quick shout out to Mom and Dad Rucker for letting us live with them for a couple months. They helped us out so much, we will be forever in their debt! And again thanks to Jesse and Mallory for storing our stuff all summer. Seriously. Thank you!

Well, Jake and I are really picky (or maybe it's just me...) but once we found our apartment we fell in love! So here are some pictures of our new place. We're on the third floor which is sometimes a bummer but we get a good workout! And I feel safer on the third floor when I'm home alone.

My favorite room! I love love love this kitchen. Our last two kitchens (in Mesa and CA) were so small! Absolutely no counter space. But this one is marvelous!

Dining room. Out table looks tiny in this picture. All of the walls are so blank. We need some cool art to cover them and bring in some color!!

Bathroom!

The bedroom is pretty boring. Just a bed, a side table, and a lamp. There is a sliding door in the bedroom, which is another reason I'm glad we're on the third floor. Sliding door+bedroom+1st floor=scariness. So we'll move onto the wicked awesome closet! We don't have a dresser so it's pretty packed in there.

Family room! Wahoo! And that concludes our tour.

Dress Design for Shabby Apple Dresses

So I was reading a friend's blog yesterday and saw that she had drawn some dress designs for a contest by Shabby Apple dresses. I've always loved their dresses and since I love drawing I figured I'd sketch something fast (since the contest ends today!) and post it. So here is my dress design. I couldn't decide which color I liked better so I did both. Wish me luck!

Yellow is by far my favorite spring color, and I always have the hardest time finding a fun, modest spring dress. The main part of the dress would be a strech cotton, with white sleeves overlayed with a sheer fabric (Sorry, I don't know much about fabric and their specific names). The sheer fabric is also ruffled along the neckline and toward the hem, which ends just below the knee. A light flowery/paisley pattern in a darker yellow fades in and out sparadically throughout the dress. This dress is designed to be light, airy, and is sure to turn quite a few heads.Alghouth dark blue is rarely seen as a spring color, the stark contrast with the sleeves and waistband still maintain the fun and flirty aspects of the yellow version of the dress. The type of fabric used would be the same, the only difference is the striped wasteband verses the buttons on the yellow dress, and this dress is a solid color (no flowery designs).

Phoenix Symphony

On Saturday Jake and I went to the Phoenix Symphony! A friend of ours has a friend that was able to score us some sweet tickets! And it was amazing. Jake picked me up after the Relief Society conference (which was great), and we made our way to Phoenix. I had never been in that part of the city before and I loved it. There really is some great architecture in Phoenix. We'll have to go back one day and go through some museums or just walk around.

Alondra de la Parra was the conductor, and Adam Golka was a guest pianist. Both are in their 20s. It was great to be able to see such young, talented, successful people. My favorite piece was the Sinfonia India, composed by Carlos Chavez. Parts of it made me feel like I was suddenly in The Lord of the Rings or some other fantasy book. Next was the Concerto No.2 in G minor by Sergei Prokofiev. This is where Golka preformed. He was brilliant. We were lucky enough to be seated on the side of the concert hall that allowed us to see his hands. At some points they were moving so fast everything was a blur! And he played without any sheet music. A-maz-ing. Last was Symphony No. 8 in G major by Antonin Dvorak. The whole experience was wonderful. I'm always amazed at the feelings and emotions that music can invoke.

Art Take 2

So I've been working on a few things (not nearly as much as I should) and I thought I'd share! It's hard for me to be motivated to do art projects without an art teacher and a due date. I start a lot of things but don't finish them. But since I'm unemployed and with Jake now starting his new job I have a lot of free time. Jake is pushing me and his mom to start a mural business, where we'd paint murals and little flourishes in peoples homes. It'd be an awesome job but I need some practice! So I'm determined to sketch AT LEAST once a day, and paint something a few times a week.

This is called The Girl with the Blue Sucker. It's my sister Sydney when she was little. She is my favorite person to draw/paint. Not really happy with the shirt. I get impatient with oils after a while, since I haven't had much practice with them. So as soon as the face was done I scrambled through the rest.

Mesa Temple! This was commissioned by my father in law. It took me FOREVER! I'd probably rather draw hands all day (which I hate) than draw buildings. It's crazy hard to get all the angles right and there is so much detail. But it's nice to broaden my horizons and work on something different. It was a really neat project. My mom wants one in water color, and I think I'm going to do a big drawing/painting of the Bountiful Temple whenever I can afford to get it framed.

Sorry this one is so dark! I couldn't figure out the scanner so I had to take a picture. I did this today as my daily sketch. It's called Rain Dance. I want to do more with it, it'd look really sweet done in watercolor, and I think it has the makings of a cute book. Anyone want to write a story?

Labor Day Weekend

We drove up to Utah again for Labor day. The drive was pretty uneventful, except we did get to see how construction is going on the new bridge at Hoover Dam. We drove by it last Christmas and were impressed. It's a HUGE bridge.

Sydney was visiting from Tucson this weekend too, but we went a day early to surprise my family. We pulled into the driveway and no cars were there. The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in, but there was no one home! We drive 13 hours and there is no one to suprise. What a bummer!
Some highlights of the week include, going to the Music and the Spoken word on Sunday, visiting my niece Emery, playing tennis with the fam, visiting grandparents, my parents buying a Cadillac (haha!), eating delicious peaches, seeing my brother Rory and his wife Rebecca (hadn't seen them since Christmas!) feeling the first touches of fall, and the 2 year anniversary of our first date/kiss! It was such a wonderful weekend!

Carson drew on Jake's neck with a permanent marker. So Jake tackled Carson and did this :)

The Orchestra and the bells were there. It was amazing!

2 Years from our first date/kiss at Temple Square

Emery! She's getting so big! And she has hair!

Tippie toes! She can stand on her own pretty well and can walk a little bit when she has her toy cart thing.

Yellow watermelon. I kid you not.

Pretty Zaugg farm

I've always loved this sign. I think it'd look really neat all cleaned up and in someones laundry room or something.

Tucson

My little Sister Sydney moved to Tucson last month to live with my cousin Amber. Originally she was going to nanny for a family down there but they changed their mind once she got down there. But Syd loves being with my cousin and helping her take care of her kids. It's been great for Sydney, teaching her more responsibility and patience. She's always been amazing with kids. She isn't sure how long she'll be down there but I like having her so close! I've visited her twice, once when Jake was still in CA and then again when Jake came home. Here are some cute pictures from the trips!

Syd and baby Kate

We forgot her hat when we went to the pool. Amber's was too big so we fashioned one out of my tank top.

Amber and Jack

Jack's pre-birthday presents :)

Jali on her first day of school

Rain dance

Well since she wasn't soaked enough, she decided to sit in a tub of water.

Jake's reaction whenever I make him hold a baby