3 Shouts for Puppy, Sewing, and Scrapbooking

Headline news in the Rodriguez home:

1) We adopted a chihuahua named Maximus. He is gold with a brown stripe down his back and a black tail that looks as though it was dipped in ink. That now totals a whopping two chihuahuas for us. There has been some major growling and nipping but everyone is adjusting fairly well.

2) I have decided that I would like a sewing machine. Think of all the things to be created! Dresses, purses, aprons, pillows, bedskirts, pillow cases to name a few. My plan to pay for a sewing machine is to sell as many clothes as possible to those vintage second-hand shops. By the time I make enough money, I will need to sew a whole new wardrobe! Perfect plan.

3) Scrapbooking is my current crafty hobby in absence of the coveted Viking. I used to make fun of scrappers and could not fathom how cutting and pasting pictures on polka-dot paper brought so much excitement. I suppose this is the one thing that has crept up and peaked an interest as a result of marriage. There are so many memories that need to be glued down with flowers, ribbons, pictures and cute little sayings of how wonderful everything is. Who ever thought the scrapbook paper aisle would elevate my heart rate and give me those little butterflies of possibility? Thank goodness for hobbies, for the world would be mad place without them (moreso than it is now).

P.S. Pictures to follow. One of our beloved pups ate the camera USB cord.

Rain, Rain Go Away

It is raining! Yuck! Guess we shouldn't complain about the moisture since we live in a desert.

We had the opportunity to go pick fruit at a retirement community this morning in the rain. Disneyland has a program called "Give a Day, Get a Day at Disney" so that was our volunteer project to get our passes for this spring break. I love that Disney now gives everyone a chance to experience the happiest place on earth! We love it there. I don't think we made a post about it but we went to Disneyland over Christmas break and it was my first time. Matt was so excited to take me and I think we took over 100 pictures. My favorite ride was Pirates. Jack Sparrow looks so real I had to double take thinking it was Johnny Depp. Anyway, we are thrilled we get to be going back so soon!

Also, I just realized we didn't share anything about our Christmas in Chicago! We were there for the whole week and Dianne is an amazing cook! We ate wonderful food, played Beatles Rockband continually, up until the hours before our departure! Needless to say, we were all on expert by the time the vacation was over. We went down the famous Michigan Avenue wrapped in our many layers, as it was 10 degrees with windchill. It was quite an adjustment coming from the 60 degree AZ winter. We had a blast and we can't wait to go back to Chicago again!

Attention Friends and Family

We need more blog friends. I am still relatively new to this whole thing and want to know what everyone is up to, but don't know how to locate people. Help us be more blogger social! Thanks :)

Bitter Lamentations of a Frustrated Young Lady

What is wrong with this world? I find myself asking this question more frequently as time passes on. From irresponsible drug addicts having babies and naming them things that are synonymous with drug lingo to State-run departments that completely FAIL to understand the importance of customer service. Just because you are backed by the government and have a small percentage of going under does not mean you need to abuse the general public with a smirk of pride that you work under the powers that be! This screams privatization, don't you think? Examples of my recent disgust in these institutions are the DMV and unfortunately the library. When were such impractical and petty policies implemented? Good heavens! I just want to read a classic to better my mind so I can help better this degenerate world!

Second frustration: People preparing to celebrate the Easter season, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our REDEEMER and SAVIOR, by going out the night before on "Fat Tuesday" and getting hammered into oblivion. Is this truly the best possible way to get out all your carnal desires in preparing for a "holy" journey, symbolic of the temptations Christ went through for 40 days and 40 nights? Irony is dripping all over this concept. Interesting that people release in such a fowl way to set themselves up to worship the most miraculous act of sacrifice and love known to mankind. What a shame it is that there is blatant ignorance of the fact that what people are doing in preparation of their thanks and alms-giving to the Lord is what actually caused Him to suffer.

Pull your heads from the buckets you are drowning yourselves in, people. Life is simple yet fragile and needs to be esteemed with the utmost regard. Think about your actions and their implications beforehand and what you represent. Stand for something true, just and uplifting!

Birthday Celebrations and Other Shenanigans

It was my birthday on January 26 and I am now 22! It may seem like baby years for some, but to me it feels so old! We had a fun, simple day together- I got a pedicure and we had dinner at PF Changs (which regrettably made us a bit sick). Don't mind the birthday cake. We got a bit hungry and ate 3/4 of the Funfetti cake the night before which resulted in having only 4 candles because there wasn't much room left on the cake. Who needs an accurate amount of candles anyway? The wish is still good, right? Right. We also celebrated with Ginger and James and that cake was a bit more official. When we arrived at their house we got a celebrity welcoming from the kiddos. They were screaming at the top of their lungs and nearly knocked us over as we came through the door. It was the greatest greeting I have ever received. We love living near them and enjoy the time we get to spend over there!

We have had the opportunity to explore AZ a bit better in the past few weeks! Last week we hung out with a few of the Tbird students that Matt went to Costa Rica with and went to dinner at an out-door mall type area called Westgate with some friends from our ward. The next night we went to the Coyotes hockey game with a company that Matt is working with. It was my first hockey game and needless to say, I LOVED it! What an exciting sport! Unfortunately there were no glove-throwing fist fights but maybe next time.

Other than that, we are just working and studying, the same old routine we all go through.

Superbowl was fun today and Matt is very thrilled about the Saints victory. Go Reggie Bush!

Happy 2010

So we pretty much stink at updating our amazing blog. I'm sitting here in Costa Rica on a Sunday morning with nothing better to do. Here's what has been happening since October (our last post).

For me, the rest of the USC football season was a total disappointment. Top talent, great head coach, and really crappy assistent coaches. This is probably a topic Abbey definitely wouldn't address, but it is a necessity and one of the biggest parts of my life. I received horrible news while here in CR, Pete Carroll is leaving. Sad, sad day. Life goes on.

The rest of the year for us was rather uneventful with school and everything. Abbey did very well at school and I had an average first semester at Thunderbird. I've enjoyed the international experiences that I've had, and met lots of interesting people.

We enjoyed Halloween and Thanksgiving with Ginger's family. They have been so good to us and have given us so many meals! They are a lot of fun to be with. I saw Ginger's real crazy side when the kids went to be early one night and Brady taught all of us to play Texas Hold Em'. She's almost as goofy as Abbey!

After finals ended, Abbey and I went to Disneyland. It was a great way to enjoy the holidays. It wasn't over crowded and the whole park was decorated for Christmas. Abbey fell in love with the place and immediately wanted to purchase season tickets for next year. Maybe down the road once we have some money and we'll think about purchasing some season tickets.

We went out to Chi-town for Christmas. It was a ton of fun and we went downtown and played Beatles rockband for hours. We watched a ton of movies and ate lots of junk food as well as some good home cooking. Abbey and I didn't get to celebrate New Years together because she had to return for work and it was cheaper for me to fly to Costa Rica than from Phoenix. Other than that, life is good!

We Are Still Alive

Hello, Blog. We have not forgotten you exist, we have just been a bit preoccupied with other demanding tasks. Where do I even begin to update everything we have done in the past month and a half!?

Our move went well and we are so grateful for all of those that helped back in the beginning of August. We live in Archstone Desert Harbor in Peoria, AZ now. The apartment is cute and a HUGE upgrade from our old place, however our neighbors are a bit more questionable. We are in an amazing ward and we had to speak 6 weeks from the first day we moved in! It went well and gave us an opportunity to introduce ourselves to everyone. We have made friends with a few of the younger families in the ward but we still haven't been assigned our callings yet!

Matt is loving Thunderbird, however he gets tired of being one of the few who can speak English fluently. He is learning a lot and is is becoming superior to us less educated beings as he, "has to read Newsweek, the NY Times, and TIME magazine on a daily basis to keep up on the market flow and business direction of our economy". He works at the Alumni call center and is one of their best collectors (of course).

I am working at Ann Taylor Loft and get crazy people yelling at me or PMSing women telling me what to do. OK, it really isn't that bad but being stuck in a estrogen packed store 25+ hours a week can be a little draining. I really like it though. I am one of the sales leads (even though I am their youngest employee) and the discount is AMAZING!! School at GCC is going well. I am taking Pilates, Yoga and Chem and am doing well so far. Just found out that I got a B- in my online Algebra course! So relieved that ship has come and sailed! Phew!

Matt and I hang out with his mission buddy Baldo and his wife Lauren quite a bit. They are a lot of fun and we had numeorus pool parties with them for the last bit of summer.

It is finally cooling down here! Love that I can wear a light jacket now instead of sweating 5 seconds after stepping outside.

Every Sunday we go out to James and Ginger's house for dinner and hanging out. Camri, Troy and Bode are hilarious and we have had a blast hanging out with them. They ask if we can make cookies everytime and love to dance. They are the happiest little children ever and we like getting to know them better.

Dianne and Aunt Janice were out here this weekend as they helped Grandma Murray move down here for her winter "Snowbird" season. We got the VIP tour of the Monte Vista community and think that we should buy one of the little houses. Some of them are so cute! It's like one step up from every girl's dream play house. Anyway, it was fun to see them and watch General Conference at G-ma's place.

I have nothing left to report. So long for now, Blog.