Good Luck Babe!!!

Noah has a big exam in the morning (instrument check ride - finally) , and though I'm far away from him, I just want everyone--especially him--to know how proud I am of him for his talent and hard work as a helicopter pilot in training. I've never seen Noah be so excited about something that never goes away -- he loves flying and gets the same feeling every time he flies. I know it's a career he is going to absolutely love, and one that will be new and exciting every time he flies... I really am so proud of him. Please keep your thoughts with him today as he does his Instrument exams!!!!

Just some old pics I have of Noah doing pre-flight while still in Utah...


Good luck Noah, I love you so much!

House Photos

Well, I guess it's time for an update on the Gilbert crew. I have been really just relaxing -- reading and watching t.v. and teaching myself how to cook and enjoy cooking. I got my gym pass, so I'll be spending some time there, and Noah is doing great at school. He just passed his 3rd stage check for the Instrument rating and will be doing his final Check Ride probably at the end of this week. He is SO happy to be finishing up with his instrument training. It's fun, but not as enjoyable because it's more like pretending to be a plane -- flying high and making flight plans to be followed by using the instruments only. Anyway, I said I would put some more shots of the house up as I got it cleaned, so here you go...

Well, Noah has been wanting a canopy for our patio since I got here...and here it is! It keeps the sun out of the kitchen, so we can keep the blinds open and keep it feeling open and spacious, plus it makes our patio a lot more useful! As you can see, we put in a 10' length of misters, which take the temperature down by about 20 degrees out there as well. Evenings are the nicest out there...even with this set up it's too hot in the daytime.

I also got my kitchen all organized and cleaned. The blinds you can see are covering the sliding doors into the back yard and the patio area... I've been cooking up a storm in this kitchen. I made 6 freezer meals, plus have been cooking every day and night. I don't think Noah knows what to think! The best part of AZ is that it's fruit and fruit dip weather everyday! So we have been eating a lot of that!!!!

And here is my living room. This view is taken from the front entry... you can see the kitchen ahead on the left and the hallway to our bedroom ahead on the right...just to give you an idea of what the setup is. If you took a sharp right you would see the hallway that leads to the other bedrooms and bathroom and the laundry.

Well, 2 down and several to go! I've definitely been taking my time getting everything cleaned and organized...it's A LOT and I'm really trying to enjoy my laid back lifestyle these days!!

Alive and Kickin.....

First of all, a huge congratulations to Patrice and Allen! Their handsome little guy, Evan, is the tiniest, most adorable little thing I have ever seen. They were kind enough to let me take a detour and stay at their house on my way to Gilbert so I could visit them and see their new addition to the family. He is TINY. I hoped that Allen holding him out for us would show how little he is, but it still doesn't do him justice. I just love that little guy. Good work to the new Mom and Dad!

Welcome to my backyard...
I would show you pictures of my house, but it's still a disaster from me moving in and being way too lazy to organize and clean yet. But it is awesome! Noah did such a good job picking a place to live without me. It was totally crazy to walk up the front walk of a house I've never seen before and knock, only to have my husband answer the door -- and he lives there! And technically, so do I!

It was 108 my first full day here...whew. But right now it's a cool 98.6 and the sun is out of my backyard and the hose is running making it seem even cooler. We have a nice little backyard, and if anyone wanted to come see it, I'd be more than willing to set up the sprinkler and you could play as much as you wanted! Haha, yeah right. I know we are WAY too far out of the way to just pop in...but maybe if some of you wanted a really warm fall or spring break, you'd manage to make your way down. I actually really like it here. And I think the heat will be okay...as long as I don't have to be out in it too much.

Anyway, I'm alive and kickin...I know I haven't really updated too many of you. Keep me updated as to what is happening in the cooler parts of the world... So far since being here, I've read 3 books, watched 8 hours of SYTYCD, and rented a movie from RedBox everyday :) If anything more exciting than THAT happens, I'll let you know. I love and miss you all!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: EUROPE PICTURES FROM BILLIE SUE, TERE, NOAH, AND MYSELF ARE LOCATED AT...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53223743@N00/sets/72157605559641959/
Take a look!!!

New Update!

Giselle out in front

Just after the dance, doesn't she look amazing!

Tower Bridge (London)

I just got home from London last night and decided that it was finally time to update the blog! Giselle's team did well with the latin competition and ended up taking 4th out of 8 really strong teams. The team was happy with their results (they were up against the world champions and the european champions and still managed to give them a run for their money)
We were all very proud of them and watching Giselle dance out there was really exciting and emotional as she accomplished her goal of competing against the best after so many years of hard work and training. After Blackpool we headed down to London and finished up our trip there. I'll post more pictures of that later. Good job Giselle!!
Giselle will be home later tonight and then she'll be driving down to her new home (she's never seen) down in Gilbert, Arizona!