Exploring Flagstaff...

From My Documents

This past week Jason and I spent time hanging out at home together cooking dinner and watching movies at night. Jason was busy preparing for his trip to Barcelona (he is probably somewhere over the Midwest right now), and I applied for two advisor positions at NAU. I have an interview tomorrow for a part time advisor position, and I am very excited to see where it leads! I also started tutoring a fourth grade boy three times a week, which is going well; I am really brushing up on my fraction skills.

This weekend Jason and I spent some time exploring Flagstaff. On Friday night we went to happy hour, dinner, and more drinks, trying three new places in town. There is a great new burger place in town (I had salad and frites:) and we discovered a great drink spot called "Pay and Takit". They have a great selection of beer that you can buy in six packs, and drink it there or "takit"...lots of fun. On Saturday we hiked a new trail in Flagstaff that had great views of the mountains. I was a little worried about bobcats and mountain lions for the first 20 minutes, but only saw one lizard and two birds. Interestingly enough though, about 30 minutes South of Flagstaff, in a town called Cottonwood, a rabid bobcat wandered into a bar Thursday, attacking two people, including a guy trying to catch the whole thing on his camera phone...this is the kind of thing that happens out here in the wild west!! Catch a video of the incident here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4mneZZpF0k


On Sunday we headed down to Phoenix and met Mary Hampton Lovekamp, and her kids, Ben (3yrs), and the twins (3mths.) in Tempe at the art festival. Jason and I decided we should have gone to ASU because the area around campus is amazing. We spent the night in Phoenix with the Lovekamps, where Jason played lots of baseball with "baseball sticks" that Ben ripped off trees outside of our hotel room, and watched plenty of cartoons. The picture above is Jason and Ben with their "baseball sticks".

Jason is off to Barcelona, and I am working on my job hunt this week, and spending time with some great gals I have met here. On Friday, when Jason flies back into Phoenix, we are meeting in Glendale for the Bruce Springsteen concert (our third in as many years!). Have a wonderful week! Miss you and love you all!!

Helen's Birthday & Hiking In Sedona

Helen turned 28 years old on March 18th. My gift to her was a GORE-TEX(TM) jacket to shield her from the elements when we go on our hikes in the mountains. For dinner, I steamed her up some Alaskan crab legs, and brought her a chocolate raspberry cake for dessert. After dinner, we went up to the Lowell Observatory for a night of stargazing. It's named after Percival Lowell of the Massachusetts Lowell family, who moved out to Flagstaff to explore the skies and ended up discovering the planet Pluto, which may or may not actually be a planet. We got to see a pretty amazing view of Saturn and its moons while we were there. Helen wants to thank everyone for their cards, calls, and birthday wishes...it is easier to have a great birthday with so many wonderful people in our lives!

This weekend we made the short drive down to Sedona for a day of hiking. The weather was perfect, and the views of the surrounding red rocks were astounding. A few years back, Sedona was actually named the most beautiful place in America by USA Today. Check out the accompanying slide show to get a feel for the terrain. The hike went smoothly, except for Helen being stabbed in the leg by a vicious cactus. Thankfully, she only bled a little.

Happy St. Pat's Day!

We hope everyone had a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Jason and I enjoyed the day with some delicious boiled cabbage (yummm) and Guinness. I wanted to add a few new pictures of Madeline. We have a dining table in our new house, and Maddie has a few new favorite tricks. She waits for us to start cooking dinner, and sits at a seat at the table. She sits there through the whole dinner, as if she's eating dinner with us. She only gets down to momentarily beg for food. She has some serious cat / human / dog complex. Thought those Madeline fans out there would appreciate these pictures.
Also, Jason and I confirmed our tickets for a trip down to S.C. to see Richard graduate. I'll be in town from April 29th, and Jason comes into town on May 7th. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone in S.C.!
Hope everyone had a good St. Pat's Day!
Love,
Helen Jason & Mads

A New Discovery...

The snow has finally melted (except for those few stubborn shaded spots) and some "grass" - I use that term loosely - is turning our yard green. Jason and I explored our backyard this weekend and made some pretty neat discoveries. We knew we had a pond in the backyard, but to our surprise found three bright orange coy (very small at this point) swimming around in the pond. We aren't sure how or why they are alive, but have some interesting theories involving disintegration of fish, animals generating out of dirt, and so on... We are not sure if they will grow, or stay this small throughout the summer, but will keep you posted. I've included a picture of the pond from our deck, and a close up on one of the fish. Unfortunately, the others were hiding too deep to get a picture, due to our neighbor's obnoxious barking dogs -- long story. There is another picture of our yard too, and although you probably can't tell, we discovered two horseshoe pits along a long piece of grass -- Jason was kind enough to inform me that they were in fact not miniature sand boxes, or cat's toilets. So, I guess we will be playing some horseshoes this summer!

Thank you again for all our great anniversary wishes. It was a great weekend together, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner out at Cottage Place, a nice restaurant in town. More to come soon...

1 Year And Counting

Today is our 1 year wedding anniversary. I'm sure the fact that it has already been a full year is as surprising to those of you who were there for our wedding as it is to us. So much has happened since then (graduation, job search, moving to Flagstaff) that the intervening time has gone by in a flash. Helen and I have been relaxing this weekend, and are going out for a nice dinner tonight to celebrate the occasion. Thank you for all the well wishes from friends and family!

We just returned from our trip to San Diego a few days ago as well. I (Jason) was there for a conference, and Helen drove out to join me for a few days. We got to stay in a beautiful hotel right on the ocean. Helen had some free time to explore the city and visit the famous San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, and enjoy the California sun. For me, the conference was very productive, and a lot of fun. We drove back to Flagstaff together, which was pretty interesting, as much of the route hugs the Mexican border. We had to go through a couple Border Patrol checkpoints, and also saw the "Minutemen" who were stationed along the border at various points.

Helen also got some good news this week on the tutoring front. She will start tutoring a 10 yr. old boy three times a week, and is looking forward to getting back into it. Hopefully there is more to come!

Tim's Visit

I am writing from a Borders Books in Phoenix, AZ. I just dropped Tim off at the airport to head back to S.C. He came in on Saturday, and the time flew by too quickly. We visited Grand Canyon (no one fell over), took a pink Jeep tour through the Red Rocks in Sedona, and spent a lot of time just hanging around Flagstaff. I think he enjoyed Flagstaff, although he was pretty annoyed that S.C. got 4-5 inches of snow and snow days while he was on spring break! He also determined that there were a lot of "weird" people in Flagstaff (probably some truth to that!). There are a couple pictures here of his trip, and more are posted on Facebook.

Jason is still liking work, and is off to San Diego on Saturday for a week long conference. I am packing up the Subaru and driving out there to meet him on Monday (really break the Subi in!) My plans are to wander around San Diego, read books in cafes, and visit the zoo while he works all day. I must tell you that being unemployed has its benefits :). Speaking of employment, I have connected with a retired teacher in town who runs a tutoring agency, and can hopefully pick up a few hours a week tutoring this spring. Due to NAU's hiring freeze, I'm working on obtaining my AZ teaching certificate to start substituting, and hopefully apply for any teaching positions that come available for next school year. Who knows, I may end up back in the classroom after all...

Arizona is really starting to warm up and come into bloom. It is over 80 today in Phoenix, but still about 54 in Flagstaff. I am not sure it will ever cease to amaze me how varied the climate is between two points a 2 hour drive from one another. I am off to meet Jason. We are staying in Phoenix tonight because J has a workshop tomorrow -- gotta go enjoy the city!

Much Love,
Helen & Jason