And the winner is...

December Update

We wanted to show you what we've been up to so far in December.

Ryan's mom came down for a quick one-day visit. It was so fun to spend time with her and Doug.

We spent most of the day at the Desert Museum. It's like a zoo, but it has the animals in their natural habitat. So you're pretty much just walking through the desert.

We watched a free-fly bird show- meaning there were wild hawks flying above us and swooping at us. If you look closely at this picture of Ryan, you can see the bird in the background. This was not my favorite part of the day. As you can see, Ryan was ecstatic. He loves the zoo.

Behind us is the cutest fox in the world. I fell in love with him. He was just so cute.

We've also been enjoying the Christmas season. We went to my work Christmas party on the 11th. It turned out well, even though it took place in our backroom. I got spoiled by the associates with gift cards and a winning lottery ticket ($5)!

Ryan also braved the drug wars going on in Nogales, Mexico to provide audiological services. Basically he volunteered to help get hearing aids to needy Mexicans.

This is the group Ryan went down with. Thankfully, none of them got shot. (There have been over 100 murders in Nogales this year and multiple shoot-outs in the streets.)

We're excited for the second half of the month and hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season as much as we are!

It's just that I'm bored...

I've been tagged a few times this last month, so as not to disappoint the fans... Or just so I have something to post, I'll do a couple of them. Feel free to skip through. It's not that exciting!

Tag #1
This first one was a tag by one of my favorite friends Katie Glaz (that's what we call you Kate, no ier). Here you go...

Joys: I love coming home from work. There's nothing better than being home after being gone all day. I love running. I love the way I feel after I run. It makes me so content. I love being with my husband. I'm totally happy with anything as long as my husband is there with me

Fears: I'm terrified of being home alone all night long. I can't handle it. I "sleep" with the TV on and it does not work well. I'm scared that I will never want to have kids. I fear that I'll just have them to have them, but not find the joy in it.

Obsessions: I didn't think I had any obsessions, until I asked Ryan. Here's what he came up with... I'm obsessed with reality TV-I'll put TV in general. I definitely have our shows for the week lined up and ready to go on the DVR. I'm also obsessed with sweets. I love sugar. I can't get enough of it. I'm trying to be better.

Collections: I used to have a ton of collections, earrings, Zack Morris and Jonathan Taylor Thomas pics, NSYNC stuff, even DVDs. That has all died down. I don't really collect much of anything anymore.

Surprising Facts: I recently just got obsessed with playing Tetris again. It's a little handheld Tetris. It lays around the house whenever I get a free moment, I love to play it. Ryan just got the high score that I don't think I will ever beat. Also, I try to get as many people into The Office as possible. I loaned our DVD seasons to some co-workers and they are hooked. I love it. I figure that most people that read this already know me pretty well- I don't think I can surprise you with much.

Tag #2
This next tag was from a long lost friend, and an amazing former roommate- Alison Warner. Thanks for thinking of me Ali-

Seven Things

Seven Things I can Do:
1. I can make a mean Orange Julius and a mean Chocolate Chip Cookie.
2. I have a pretty fast ten key. Too much register time.
3. I can memorize songs pretty quickly.
4. Ryan wanted me to write that I can run an entire Wal-Mart by myself, but that's not true. I couldn't run it without my associates. I can definitely take charge of an entire Wal-Mart all by myself.
5. I can keep a consistent journal. I love writing in my journal and reading through my old ones.
6. I can interact with anyone at anytime while I'm at work. It's like I have a different persona while I'm there.
7. I can watch the movie Center Stage over and over again without getting bored.

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. I cannot blog. I know that I am blogging now, but I have the hardest time doing it. It always puts me in a bad mood and I just don't like to do it. I can't blog.
2. I can't sit still when I'm at work. If I'm there, I have to be doing something. Sitting in the office drives me insane.
3. I can't tell the Gosselin sextuplet girls apart- from the show John & Kate Plus 8 -no matter how hard I try.
4. I can't read a book without feeling guilty that I should be reading my Scriptures instead.
5. I can't be super outgoing when I first meet someone. It takes me awhile to come out of my shell. If I am more talkative at first, I'm forcing it.
6. I can't retell a story or explain a conversation I had. It's always jumbled and I always forget what was said by the other person. I know in my head what happened, but I can't put it into words.
7. I can't discipline someone at work without feeling guilty or second guessing my decision (unless it's over attendance.)

Seven Things that attracted me to my husband:
1. He's one of the funniest people I have ever met. He has made me laugh since the day I met him.
2. He has an amazing testimony of the Gospel. His knowledge and faith is so inspiring.
3. He laughs at me. This is a big deal. I have a hard time with people if they don't find me funny. I love it when Ryan legitimately thinks I said something funny.
4. He is unbelievably motivated. He will do anything and everything to be the best he can be.
5. How well we get along. We have never fought and we just understand and love being around each other
6. How well he can explain and teach me anything. I'm so impressed by his knowledge and how well he retains it. I can ask him about anything and he will explain it in a way that I can understand.
7. He is so sweet. He always wants me to be happy. He's such an amazing guy, I need more than seven things to describe him.

Seven Things I most often Say:
1. "Whatever"- I say this after anyone makes any sort of sarcastic comment. I didn't even realize I said it so much until my Store Manager started doing it to make fun of me.
2. "Thanks for Playing"- This is my favorite saying ever. It's usually said after someone does something they shouldn't do or shouldn't have done. It's hilarious, it gets laughs every time.
3. "Totally"- I throw this in the middle of sentences way too often
4. "Ew"- used in the same context as whatever
5. "Och"- long story, but it means OK.
6. "I hate my job"- I say this way too often-it makes me feel a little guilty, but then something happens to justify it.
7.It's not really a saying, but Ryan and I shorten any word and add an "s" on the end, example- dins (dinner), breaks (breakfast), etc.

Seven celebrity admirations:
*As a side note, this one was my least favorite. I don't think I admire any of these celebrities. I could only think of people that I would be interested to watch if they were on a talk show.
1. Justin Timberlake- I don't admire him and I don't really love him, but he'll always have a special spot in my heart
2. Barack Obama- I'm excited for his presidency and for what it means for our country
3. Julianne Hough- I will always vote for her on Dancing with the Stars
4. Bob Harper- He is so sweet on The Biggest Loser, I always love Bob's team, except this year. I want them all to go home
5. Any star on The Office, except Meredith
6. I think that #5 makes up for #6
7. My mom- she's an author and other people have put authors. She may not be as famous, but I think she is in her own right. Besides, this celebrity section is lame.

Seven favorite foods:
1. Cafe Rio Salads
2. Candy Necklaces (not a food, but it can be)
3. Cereal (Lucky Charms)
4. Cheese
5. Pizza
6. Plain old salad with ranch, or caesar
7. Ryan's Guacamole

Seven friends I tag:
1. Tiff
2. Diane
3. Rachel
4. Megan
5. Katie
6. Swa
7. Amy

The Big 2-8!

Yesterday was Ryan's birthday!! We enjoyed a fun night at the Melting Pot and enjoyed some apple crisp at home with his brother Richie. I hope you had a good birthday Ryan! I love you so much and can't wait to spend more birthdays together!

Yes We Can!

My faith in America has been restored. I have never been a bleeding-heart liberal. I have never even considered myself a democrat. I am a registered independent and consider myself capable of making a decision in an election regardless of political party. That having been said, I felt that America was in desparate need of change. Illegally imprisoning political prisoners, torturing captives in Guantanamo, spying on the citizens of America, an economic crisis, and two poorly-planned wars had me fed up. Never in my lifetime have the people of America been so pessimistic about the state of the country.

Enter Barack Obama. I first heard of Obama during the presidential election in 2004. Newsweek magazine reported that the unexpected highlight of the democratic convention was a speech by a young black political newcomer with a funny name. Newsweek listed him as someone to watch as a long-shot presidential candidate in 2008. My interest was piqued.

Over the next few years I paid attention every time I saw his name in print. I was impressed that there was never anything negative to report about him. Everyone that ever worked with him in any capacity had only glowing reports. Here was a man that transcended race: he has a Kenyan father and an American mother. Here was a man that transcended culture: he was born in Hawaii but spent his childhood in Indonesia and had a middle-eastern middle name. Here was a man that even transcended religion: his father was a Muslim-turned-atheist but Barack was raised by his Christian grandparents.

I became even more impressed with him as I watched him build the most successful grass-roots campaign in American history. He took on the Clinton machine and beat it. He gave the most eloquent, awe-inspiring speeches I have ever heard. He spoke of healing America, working together, and moving forward. He was accused of being too inexperienced but yet he out-planned, out-organized, and out-worked his "experienced" opponents. He faced endless attacks and smears, yet he consistently took the high road and refused to fight back.

On November 4, I wasn't sure that the American people would be able to see through the lies and the fear-mongering. Obama is a socialist! Barack is a Muslim! Barack Obama kills babies! Give me a break. People can see through these desparate lies, can't they? I wasn't so sure.

Yesterday my faith in this country was restored. For the first time in my life I felt a great sense of pride in my President. I can't describe how inspired I was by his acceptance speech. I loved his line about dispelling the myth of this generation's apathy. I was moved by his call for help from the American people. I was happy to hear him say that he will always listen to the American people, especially, he said, when we disagree.

I can't help but feel that something truly momentous happened yesterday. I had a professor today say that this election would likely be the greatest historic event in our lives. I feel that we showed the world that our brand of democracy works. I feel that we showed the world that America is still the land of opportunity. I feel that a new day has dawned on America. Never before in my lifetime have I been so optimistic about the prospects of our future.

Ryan's Externship

Ryan is applying at four Audiology clinics for his fourth year externship (internship). We'll probably be moving in May or June of next year. Check out our poll and help us decide where we should go!

It's BACK!!!

After three weeks of no communication, a few false promises of getting it back, and coordinating work/school schedules... I have a car again. It looks almost brand new (from the front).

They ended up replacing the hood and the windshield. They fixed a bunch of dents on the roof that were caused by the hood flying up and hitting it. They repainted the hood and the roof. They matched it perfectly. I had a picture in my head of the hood being a different color then my car and the roof faded to gray. I was expecting the worst. Luckily, that wasn't the case. As an added bonus, they fixed some random plastic piece in my car that had been hanging down in front of the passenger seat for the last three years.

A special thanks go out to Richie & Angie for helping us out by giving me rides and loaning us your car! You guys are the best!!

Before

After

Just one problem... Now it's not starting right... anyone know how to get rid of a bad car curse?

Will it Ever End?

I am so frustrated. I'm so angry I just can't help but cry. I really want to punch something or throw something, but that would hurt me or something else. I am so sick of car problems. I honestly didn't think so many things could go wrong with cars in such a short period of time.

Around 4 weeks ago, Ryan's truck started having a hard time shifting and getting into gear. We took it in to get it checked out and after a few separate trips of it not performing right and more money then we had hoped, it got fixed. Perfect. It ran like a champ. We went on with our lives as usual. Car problems randomly happen, right? Not so much...

Two weeks ago, on Ryan's first day of school, he got into a fender bender. He was stopped at a red light and felt a big bump from behind. It turns out that some lady, who claims she doesn't know what happened, rammed into the guy behind Ryan, who rammed into our little truck. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the truck's bumper got pushed down. Thank goodness this lady had insurance and we don't have to pay for the repairs.

This was taken before the accident

At the beginning of this week, Ryan was using my car to transport family to the airport-all the way across town. All of a sudden, my car started making noises and smelling like something was burning. Ryan and our brother-in-law Troy figured it was the air conditioning. They turned off the air and it ran well after that. Pretty much, my air conditioning (which was fixed in July) blew out on them. Bye bye air conditioning.

Later the same day, I was driving home for lunch. I was going about 50-55 mph on one of the main roads here in town. I was only driving for a few minutes when the hood of my car popped open and flew back into my windshield. It made the loudest noise and scared me to death. I pulled over as quickly and as safely as possible. I was lucky enough to not have any cars around me when this happened. We had to tow my car down to an autobody shop and it will be there until next friday at the earliest.

This is the best shot. You can see the shattered windshield and the hood of my car all bent up

Now for the kicker... Last night Ryan picked me up from work. We went out to his car and it wouldn't start. It would not turn over at all. We tried jumping it, we tried popping the clutch and nothing worked. The battery was fine, it just would not start. We figured it was the starter. I had it towed to a mechanic this morning. I just recently got a call from the repair shop telling me it would cost almost $500 to fix the starter. I knew immediately that it does not cost that much to fix. I called around and did some research on what starters cost and called the mechanic back. He dropped the price to almost half of his original quote. Thank you very much. I was not in the mood to deal with him trying to cheat me out of my money. Especially after what has happened to us in the last month. Hopefully we'll get his car back soon. We need at least one car.

The sad thing is, right before my hood flew up, I told Ryan I was done paying for car issues... I should have bit my tongue.

Birthday

I would first like to dedicate this post to my good friend, Katie Glazier. Thanks for making me feel guilty and making me post. I will try to post more often for you Kate, just so you can blog stalk me. Just know that I'm expecting to see a blog from you someday soon...

It's true, I had a birthday this past Sunday. Pretty sure I'm not too excited to be 26. Actually, it scares me more then ever. I'm officially getting old. I'm closer to 30 than I've ever been. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Ryan did a great job trying to make it special. It was on a Sunday which is the worst day for a birthday. The fact that I had to work made it even worse. But after work and church were over, it was time for the birthday celebration to begin. It was a really fun night with way too many presents from Ryan (not that I'm complaining), a beautifully made layered cake (I didn't even help) and Richie, Angie and Mylie came over to enjoy it with us. Overall it was a success, but I don't want another birthday for a really long time.

Ode to Tucson

I know I haven't been very kind to Tucson since I moved here. It's just never quite felt like home to me and I know we're not here permanently. I think it's time for me to appreciate Tucson for the city it is. So here are a few things I like about Tucson...

1. Weather- When I told people I was moving here, the first thing I heard was "it's so hot down there." (Orem, Utah was the same temp as Tucson was last week). Here's the deal. Yes, it is hot. I have felt the heat. I won't deny that it's hot. But 8 months out of the year, it's perfect. If you can handle a few months of "hotness," it's worth those 8 months of bliss. I also have to say that once it gets to 100 degrees-it's hot. I'm sorry to say that I can't tell the difference between 100 and 110. It's just all around hot.

We also can't forget the fact that it is almost always sunny. We see blue skies about 95% of the year. Just think how fun it is to wake up to blue skies and knowing it's going to be a nice sun shiny day. Imagine that happening almost every single day. It's very uplifting. As an added bonus, we get to experience Monsoon Season. It comes in July/August and really cools down the summer heat. We get amazing thunderstorms at night that are accompanied by an enormous downpour. This makes it a little more humid, but not unbearable.

2. Wildlife- This category is a little surprising coming from me, seeing as how I don't love animals. However, we have some super fun wildlife down here. Ryan and I love to go for walks and see all the little creatures running around. We do have a lot of birds-not something I enjoy. We often see quail-which I had never seen before moving here. They sound like Tickle Me Elmo. It's too weird. I do love to see the lizards though. There are always a ton scurrying around and running away from you. When they get mad and they try to be intimidating, they do little push-ups. The other day, one poor lizard fell into the pool. I didn't know what to do and I tried to put my towel in the water for him to grab onto, but he wasn't having it. He got sucked into the drain on the side-I still feel bad about it. We just discovered a new little Gecko running around at night. They blend in so well with their surroundings that they look see-through. We also have a million cottontail rabbits running around. They are everywhere. The two coolest animals that we've seen around the apartment are roadrunners and coyotes. I haven't seen a roadrunner for a while, but they are cool looking birds. They might be on the birds I like list-which consists only of Penguins. Coyotes are even cooler. Whenever I drive home at night I search to see if I can spot one. One night we were driving down the street and one ran in front of the car with some sort of animal in it's mouth. I've seen a small pack run across the street in the morning on my way to work. It's so fun to experience.

3. Pools- The pools are open year round. They're heated in the winter and they're refreshing in the summer. It's so fun that the option to go swimming is always there. I especially love the spring time when it's the perfect temp and laying out isn't so unbearable. I also love going for a run, changing into my swimsuit and cooling off in the pool. It's so relaxing.

The one last thing I love about Tucson, is that we don't have to experience this...

This is Ryan and my brother Jeff cleaning up my parents' flooding bathroom at 2 AM.

Wanna See Where I'm From?

This last week we were in Cedar Rapids, Iowa visiting my family! It was a blast, but if you've been watching the news-it hasn't been too safe. It was declared a disaster area due to flooding. We were amazed by how high the waters were and the damage that it is causing. Luckily, the water is receding right now, but it is still such a tragedy. We took some pictures of downtown Cedar Rapids. We drove through it more than we should have while we were there, but we were able to get many pictures. Try to click on them to get a closer view.

This is downtown Cedar Rapids where

the Cedar River is

I've eaten at this DQ many a time-not so much anymore, do you notice the dumpster floating next to it?

If you look closely, you can see the DQ sign...that's how high the water was.

This is a random street we came across while trying to avoid the traffic on the partially closed freeway-this was a dead end too... If you look very very closely, you might be able to see a little stop sign on the right to judge how high the water was.

Luckily, my parents don't live close to the flooding and have been safe from it all. Thank you Heather for your concern. They've been getting millions of phone calls from friends and family to see if they are ok. They are just experiencing some inconveniences. They've been asked to conserve water and to limit shower usage, flushing and anything else requiring water.

Nauvoo Fun!

My brother and his wife recently adopted two children from Haiti. This past week, they were sealed to them in the Nauvoo temple. Ryan and I were able to go back to be a part of the sealing and to spend time with family. It was a great trip and it was so much fun to finally meet our new nephew Teancum Wilson Schofield. We had already met his sister Tabitha Rose a year earlier. Teancum is 5 or 6 years old and Tabi is 3. They are cute kids. Teancum has only been in the states for 6 months, but his English is great. He can understand and communicate very well. We fell in love with his instantly. Tabi had an unfortunate incident in the Haitian hospital when she was about 18 months. A room full of babies were give an adult dose of a tuberculosis drug. Tabitha was the only one to survive. She isn't at the developmental stage of a 3 year old, but she's a great addition to the family. Ryan and I were able to spend time with the family after the sealing. We went and toured parts of Nauvoo and got to know our nieces and nephews better.

It was such a great experience to be part of something so special. We're excited to have Teancum and Tabitha in the family and can't wait to spend time with the Boise Schofields again!

Steve's Tucson Adventure

This past weekend we were pleased to have a super fun visitor. After 2 long years, we finally got to see Steven Tuitupou again. It was a blast to have him come stay with us and to reminisce about the olden days. We tried to entertain him and show him around the hot spots of Tucson- we weren't very successful, but we did have a good time!

On Friday, we all took him down to Nogales, Mexico. We thought we should show him how close we live to the border and let him use his Spanish a little bit! It seems like Ryan had more fun than the rest of us.

Ryan decided to get his hair cut while we were there... we were all nervous, but she did a great job! And it was cheaper than the US.

Ryan also decided he wanted to pose with a donkey. They have a lot of little tourist money makers down there and Ryan gave into to the pressure. Of course we got ripped off. I guess we learned our lesson. I think it was worth the pictures.

After walking around Nogales for a little bit, we went to eat at a restaurant called La Roca. It's located right on the side of the mountain. It's pretty cool to go to. We took pictures in a little courtyard you have to walk through to get to the restaurant.

The next night we went to a Sidewinders baseball game. They're the minor league team for the Diamondbacks up in Phoenix. It was way too cold that night for a baseball game...

We also had to introduce Steve to Guitar Hero...

We had a great weekend! We miss Steve already. You better come back and visist us soon Steve!

Cinco de Mayo

It's decided that Cinco de Mayo is one of my favorite holidays. To celebrate, we had a small gathering at our house. After eating a Mexican feast of taquitos, chips, homemade guac and salsa, we had to partcipate in a classic Mexican tradition.... the PINATA!!!

Richie taking his turn(his pic didn't turn out well)

Here Richie is picking up his prizes

Me taking my swing-not sure what I'm afraid of
Ryan just going at it.

Angie taking her shots-after this, the pinata came off the hook that hangs it...
Fake shot of Wendy (her photos didn't turn out at all... sorry Wendy)
Since the pinata couldn't hang, the boys decided to drop kick it.
Richie enjoying his rewards.

Please notice that the pinata never broke.