back in business!

We finally got internet! Yay! I have felt unconnected for the last two and a half weeks! It has been difficult not having internet, but we have managed. When we first moved in, Robert hooked our tvs up the the provided cable jacks, just for the heck of it, and BAM! We had cable! That was a luxury that I haven't had since I lived with my parents. We figure that the previous owner had paid for this month and then moved mid-month. Well, when we got home from running errands on Tuesday (the day our internet was hooked up), we flipped on the telly and NOTHING. So, now that we have internet, our "free" cable is gone. One luxury for another. Oh well... Discovery.com has some of the shows I grew fond of...
Many people have been asking if we have everything all moved in at the new house and put away... Honestly people, it is ME we are talking about. We were completely moved in WITH decor up within less than a week! We have even added onto our previous allotment of "stuff": baby furniture, end pieces for the entertainment center, and a piano! I am not one who can live out of boxes... nor can I feel at home in a place that is not decorated to my liking. The only problem is my entire house is complete, so I have nothing to do between now and when school starts at the end of August...

some news

This blog may not be as detailed as one would hope; my parents have HORRIBLE internet. I hate cox. Anyway! We are now completely moved into our new home. Last Saturday, with the help of Robert's family, we were able to get everything moved from the apartment to our new condo. No real problems or anything! While everyone was moving furniture and boxes, my parents and I painted in the nursery. It looks great! Robert had Tuesday off from work, so we worked hard that day! We cleaned the apartment; unpacked and organized our home; and he put together the baby furniture for the nursery. I have spent the rest of the week getting things completely unpacked and put away. I have even found the time to decorate the place! Slowly but surely, it is starting to feel like home. Saturday evening, we took our fathers to the D-backs game (our Father's Day present). CRAZY! We were surrounded by Dodgers fans. At one point, a fight broke out a few rows back. It was intense. The game was intense as well; the 9th inning was spent at the edge of our seats! This past week has been busy busy busy. Hopefully we will have internet soon, so I wont have to rely on my parents internet...

an interesting day...

Yesterday was quite the day for us! We have been waiting all week to hear when we would close on our new home. We finally got the call yesterday around 2pm; Robert left work early, sped to pick me up, and we raced to the title company to sign the docs. Honestly, I got worse at signing my name as we went along... at one part, I even forgot how to spell my name! After signing our lives away, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up paint for the nursery. I am excited to paint!
Upon returning to our apartment, we found a notice lodged in our front door... it was a termination of lease notice! We FREAKED out; we have NEVER been late on our rent. The notice warned that as of July 1st, they had not received rent... and a whole bunch of fees and fines were being slapped on what we "owed". I am grateful that we always ask for a signed copy ("receipt") when we give them the rent check; we immediately pulled out the receipt from July 1st. Apparently, our 30 day notice had not been filed, so they assumed we were underpaying. As of noon today, everything has been cleared up (thankfully). What a scary experience! With the cost of purchasing our own home, there would have been no way for us to make the supposed apartment payment!
When the shock and frustration of the notice cooled a bit, Robert and I rushed to get our dining room table to my grandma's for repair. While driving home from signing the docs for the new place, we noticed a looming storm. We worked as fast as we could to clean the table and get it into the back of the truck for transport. We hadn't even driven a mile from our apartment before the storm hit... It was crazy! As Robert was driving, I was looking out the window at some tennis courts near our home. It looked as if a HEAVY rain was falling on the courts, but we were less than 100 yards away and it wasn't even sprinkling on us. Then, without warning... BOOM. We were being pelted with a heavy rain. Luckily for us, my grandma only lives a few miles away. By the time we made it to her house, we couldn't see the lane lines, we couldn't see other vehicles, we couldn't even see out the windshield! I had a hard time getting out of the car; the wind was whipping so fast that the door slammed shut on me! I learned QUICKLY that I picked the wrong day to wear white shorts... We got the table inside without any problem (well, except for the excess amounts of water). Once we got home, the rain had stopped. Go figure.
Yesterday was full of ups and downs, laughs and tears (just kidding, no tears!). Today is full of packing...

the fourth

Fourth of July was great. It has been a while since Robert has had a day off, so this holiday was much needed. We took advantage of this and SLEPT IN! After lunch, Robert and I went to the movies; we saw Get Smart. Entertaining. When the movie was over, we ran home to grab our swimsuits before heading over to my parents house to swim. I love being in the pool! Being in water makes me forget that I have gained a lot of weight and am now "front" heavy. Joel also likes when I am in the water; he always starts moving around and kicking when I swim. Hopefully he will be a water baby like I was. At five, we went over to Robert's parents house for a BBQ. The burgers were delicious! After dinner, Robert serenaded me while playing piano. He has his romantic moments, even if they are selfish (he does it just to play the piano). Luckily I had my camera, so I recorded him playing and singing. We provided dessert; a festive rice krispie treat! We also brought his sisters "fire crackers" made out of life savers (I do crafts to be decorative, not patriotic...). I was pushing Robert to go see fireworks, so we left at nine and headed for Tempe Town Lake. What a MISTAKE! The traffic was hideous; we ended up going eight or so miles out of our way JUST to get away from the lake. We called it quits on the fireworks, jumped on the freeway, and headed home. On the freeway, I snapped a couple shots of the MCC fireworks display (that's why the picture looks crazy). We fell asleep that night watching Ocean's Eleven. Overall, a relaxing day!
Saturday was spent with more relaxing and quite a bit of packing. It is strange how bare our living room is! Hopefully we will be in our new place this weekend (keep your fingers crossed)!
And to start off this week well, I was awarded $5000 for my final semester at ASU! That means that I will be receiving a check for about $2300 at the beginning of the semester (on top of the check he will be getting for about $1000). I love free schooling!

play time!

This past weekend was a fun one! It has been a while since Robert and I had set plans for a weekend, but this past weekend we were booked! On Friday night, we met up with several of Robert's siblings and their families for a game night. We all hung out at his parents' house (who were out of town with his two youngest sisters... so we basically reeked havoc) and played Rock Band. Michael smoked some ribs, but they magically turned into a ball of fire, so we opted for pizza instead. Luckily for me, some ribs were set aside in the oven, so I had something to eat as well. After food, we played. The intent of the game night was NOT Rock Band, but that was all we did for the rest of the evening. Several of us were bummed because we wanted to play Curses, Apples to Apples, or Imagine If... but we all had fun regardless!
Saturday, after Robert got home from work, we went to a pool party hosted by my friend Amanda and her hubby, Brent. It was like a blast from the past! Almost all of the friends have been friends since junior high. Brent cooked up hamburgers for everyone while we caught up on the happenings in each others lives. Nearly all of us are married, three of us are pregnant (the other two are a few weeks further along, but I look the furthest), and one already has an 11 month old little boy! After food, we swam. Swimming is so entertaining when you are a little kid. When you get older, swimming isn't the same... so we spiced it up. We got a little crazy, needless to say. Robert and I really enjoyed ourselves. When the party dwindled to a close, Robert and I went to the movies with Brent and Amanda. We saw Kung Fu Panda; way fun!
Luckily, Sunday wasn't as "go-go-go" as the rest of the weekend, so we were able to relax and enjoy some time together. After church, we went over to my parents' house; my dad made us steak. YUM!
I have a bunch of pictures from the game night on Friday, but none yet of the pool party (still working on that). Enjoy!

so...

So... our offer on a condo was accepted! YAY! Our new home is only two bedroom, but seeing as how we plan on only staying there until Robert finished his degree, that wont be a problem. Besides, 9 Root children grew up in a 900 sq. ft. home; we have 1,200 sq. ft. (not that I plan on having 9 children...) My favorite part: it comes with ALL appliances AND it is in top notch condition! The only painting I will have to do is in the nursery (babies need color)! I am so excited! We should be in our new home in less than a month. I recently took some more pregnancy photos for those of you who don't see me on a regular basis; I am really starting to fill out! Luckily, the only area that is getting larger is my belly. :)

graduation and anniversary

This past week has been a big week. On Friday, May 29th, Robert and I had the "luxury" of driving out to Maricopa with my parents for my cousin, Kristen's graduation. For all of you who are thinking "why go to a cousin's graduation", I come from a family of 8.5 (if you want a breakdown of what that means, ask some time)... And that 8.5 is including all of my extended family. Kristen is my ONLY cousin and has been the closest thing that I have had to a sibling. I also take every chance I get to see her... she practically lives on the other side of the moon. Graduation for Maricopa High was one step away from being ghetto. It was held at a baseball field owned by a casino... Though there were only 180 graduates at most, it took longer than my high school graduation of over 730... One of the main speakers gave congrats to the class of 2009... It was just an interesting experience, not to mention the other side of my cousin's family was there... In all honesty, one family has enough drama of its own; no need for someone else's family to add to it. But all that said, I am proud of my cousin. She graduated salutatorian and has a full-ride scholarship to ASU.

The other big happening this week was Monday, June 2nd. It was our first anniversary! Honestly, I wasn't really expecting anything HUGE... I've never been big on celebrating anniversaries. Robert surprised me with lilies when I returned home from school in the early morning. We then took my ring in to have a chipped diamond replaced. After dropping the ring off, we headed off to Chandler Fashion mall; we went to Build A Bear. Since Robert proposed using bride and groom bears, I thought it would be fitting if we made a baby bear for our soon-to-be baby. The rest of the day was spent relaxing; no plans, no schedule! It felt nice. Robert treated me to Chipotle for dinner and we finished off the evening by watching I Am Sam. It was a great day; I wish we had been as relaxed and unrushed on our honeymoon in Hawaii! It is strange to think that it has only been a year... but at the same time, it seems like the hustle and bustle of the wedding day was just yesterday. I am so incredibly grateful for Robert. He is such an amazing person.

pictures

For those of you who click on the links to look at my pictures... good news! Aimee spotted a problem with my links and everything is fixed. If you would like, you can go back through my last 3 posts and view the pictures now! Thanks again, Aimee!

onesies, cameras, and twinkies

For Father's Day/our anniversary (which I know haven't happened yet), I got a gift idea for Robert from my friend Aimee. I loved the idea, especially because it allowed me to go buy more baby clothes. :) I bought a cute little onesie that says "COOL just like Daddy". I also bought a cute jacket, a striped onesie, and khaki shorts... all for $22! Robert loved the Daddy onesie.

For Mother's Day/our anniversary, Robert decided to get me a new camera! I have been bugging him about it for months, but didn't think I was getting my need for a new camera through to him. He didn't understand why I needed a new camera when the one I have works just fine (for all of you photographers out there, I am sure you understand needing to upgrade size of megapixels... duh!). After he told me about the gift, he gave me a budget to work within... Given an amount, I researched several different makes and models and finally settled on a Canon Powershot A590IS. Maybe one day I can advance onto an SLR, but for now I am content with my advanced digital. We picked up the camera on Memorial Day! This is the first shot that I took:

Later on that day, we went over to Robert's parents' house for a BBQ and Family Home Evening. Part of our lesson involved communicating with others in order to built a twinkie tower. The tower had to be at least 3 inches off of the ground, using ONLY plastic silverware and had to be able to support 10 twinkies for 5 minutes. We were given 8 forks, 8 spoons, and 8 knives. The teams were chosen by my niece, Noelia, and my nephew, Diego; it ended up being boys vs. girls. And the girls ruled! The guys started cheating, using clothing and cups to help support the twinkies... Our tower was totally legit! In the end, Lisa and I took charge and plowed through, but we had help from some of the other ladies in the family. Poor Cami! Everytime she tried to help, the tower collapsed and we would have to start over. But we appreciated her help anyway! It was fun and entertaining.

half baked

Yesterday was a great day for me; my bestest best friend Jodi (who got married then immediately moved to no-where, Florida) arrived for her visit to AZ (Jodi's visit is mainly to visit a friend in Tucson who is graduating from U of A). I met her at the airport with our friends Carter and Nikki. It was awesome seeing her after so long! She was so excited to see me; she left when I got pregnant so she has only seen my growing bump via webcam. Jodi, Nikki, and I went out to eat with Jodi's in-laws. The food was great; I ate SO MUCH. Afterwards, the three of us went swimming. We were going to spend the rest of the evening watching 27 Dresses (Robert was SO excited), but we were nearly passed out and skipped on the movie. That night, right before going to bed, I let Jodi feel the baby move. Her eyes got HUGE and she started squirming and giggling once little Joel kicked me. After running some essential post-wedding errands this morning, Jodi and Nikki left for Tucson for the remainder of the weekend. She will be back Sunday evening, so I will probably have more pictures later...

On another note... I hit my half way mark in the pregnancy! It feels great to know that I am closer to giving birth than I am to having gotten pregnant (I still pray he isn't a week late like my hubby was...)! To "celebrate", I did some special pregnancy pictures with my friend, Aimee. The tag on my tummy says "1/2 Baked". Jodi likes to tell me that I am a baby cooker, so I figured the phrase half baked fit perfectly!