Hey again,

We have finally gotten our car back from Sanderson. They didn’t install the nameplate correctly (much lower than it should be). Also, there were some items in the trunk that were installed incorrectly. Really poor service. I would never recommend Sanderson Ford Lincoln for any auto body work. We talked with them about it and they said they would take our car in later on in the month and will try to fix it.

To try to take our minds off of that frustration we decided to go out to eat. We tried something new: Valle Luna. It wasn’t bad, but probably isn’t somewhere we will go again.

We were able to go to the fan festival for the Cardinals. It was pretty cool (see the photos above). The girl was even able to meet and take a photo with Big Red – she was pretty excited but only wanted to look at him rather than taking a photo. Before I knew it the weekend was over and I was back at work. The following week went pretty close and I was back at Church the following week. Above is a photo of Arabella waiting with us before church.

The following Friday we dropped our car off at Sanderson and they provided us with a loaner car for the weekend. What does that mean? TRAVEL! Free miles, and a free car to add a bunch of miles on. We zoomed off to Los Angeles. We visited the filming location for one of the wife’s favorite movies – “Til There was You”

It is always a cool thing to me when you visit a filming location. The history of these places that are forever captured on film. Plus in a lot of cases, they are normal spaces used by regular folks each day.

After we went here, we met up with my parents and headed over to the beach. Arabella loves getting wet up to her knees. I’m sure if we let her she would try swimming but that is not happening. We walked the beach afterward and noticed that there was a memorial hidden on the side of the beach pier.

It was an Alaska Air flight 261 Memorial. It crashed on January 31st, 2000.

After spending some time taking photos of the memorial we made our way back home. Getting back in the Phoenix area close to 6 am the next day (also arrived to a beautiful sunrise).

Jake was excited to be back with us and he would lay down and just purr right next to us. I can’t say he minds when we leave for a day because we fill up his bowl with food to last him until we are back.

Work again, here is a photo of the multiple windows I have up on one of my monitors. There is another ECCO popup that normally fills the black area when I’m on a call.

What else? The wife took some cute photos of Ara while I was at work. Having a picnic with her favorite stuffed animals.

We went to one of those crafty places to make a tile for my parents for Christmas made with imprints of feet. Arabella had some dirty feet afterward – but I think that it will turn out great. I leave you with a photo of the girl all happy to be up and about at a local Starbucks who took it upon themselves to create a mural of the Starbucks logo and left the face off so that anyone could be the logo.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/30/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of August 2014 to keep chronological order.

We came back from our Southern California trip and the next day I went straight to work (see below). I get these cute photos sent to me throughout the day (see the photo below of the wife with the girl). It makes my week much more bearable – even if I have to be on the phone most of the time.

There is a not-so-flattering photo of me and the girl making a super cute smile. The wife caught this as I was looking at the doppler radar to see if we would get any rain on our way up to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is a really pretty park – these photos we captured do not do justice.

It was too exciting for Arabella as she passed out before we even left.

For a while now the wife has wanted to eat at Rainforest Cafe. We made it finally come true! It is a fun experience and almost feels like one of those exotic movies you would see in a movie.

The monsoon is in full effect. Below are a few photos we captured while chasing storms.

The car is finally repaired – we had an issue though where they put the car name on incorrectly. They had to order another one and we are waiting for that to be fixed.

Jake still LOVES being around Arabella – can you tell?! If she moves, he will move to wherever she is. Even when he looks like he is sleeping, he is paying attention.

At work when I take my lunch break it takes me 5 minutes to eat. I spend the other 25 minutes watching TV and typically Cash Cab is on. Sometimes it makes things go by quickly, other times not so much. Also – it bothers me if they don’t finish the people and their turn before I go back. It’s the small things.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/29/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of July 2014 to keep chronological order.

We start off July with Monsoon weather! I love it. It is by far my favorite thing that we have here in the desert Southwest in the summertime.

For this Fourth of July (Ara’s first) we decided to go to LA so we can be outside and enjoy the fireworks. We headed off to the airport, and since they didn’t have our class car size, they got us into a Toyota Prius instead. I’m excited to see the fuel economy.

Before we knew it, we were in Los Angeles. We visited the area where Grey’s Anatomy is filmed (at least the exterior shots of the Hospital). As someone who has been watching that series for a long time, it was cool to make it real. Then we headed off to the beach! Look at our little girl. Match her up with that sunset and there is no other place you would want to be.

One thing you can count on LA for is the beaches – and the sunsets at the beach!

The next day, before we headed home we headed home we finally go the chance to see our plaque that is at the end of the Santa Monica Pier. See it?! Kinda cool – now we have left our mark (in some way shape or form) in Portland and Los Angeles. Since we were already so close to the beach we decided to get wet and let the girl get a little wet too.

Can’t blame us, can you?! Then we were back to Phoenix – until we meet again – but I’ll let you in on a secret. We didn’t get enough beach time – Plus my dad was invited to a work event a Calimigos Ranch in Malibu. We returned the next weekend! First thing was to let the little girl enjoy the cool water again. Then we headed off to Malibu for the cookout/ranch outing.

Calimigos ranch was cool. They had a Ford that they let everyone paint (we added 503 PDX for good measure). They had free food, pictures, rides, and even a petting zoo. It was nice – we want to do it again. The Carne Asada was one thing that stood out. That and the Cotton Candy (but you can’t go wrong with that can you?). The only annoyance was when you went to get a refill of Coke or water – there were Bees all around that would be waiting near the spout of the drinks.

I can’t stand bees. Ugh.

Before we headed home from the weekend we went to Norms and enjoyed a nice dinner with my parents.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/29/22 but moved the publish date back to the middle of July 2014 to keep chronological order.