Sailing Adventures

Last week we had the chance to go sailing with my dad and 2 brothers. It was a blast! We left out of Long Beach, CA on Friday and sailed to Catalina Island. We have had the chance to sail with my dad a few times since he has been certified and it is always a treat :) but this was the first time we sailed on a monohull, as opposed to a catamaran. The cat' that we usually take has two hulls, which provides more stability and balance. A mono, on the other hand, has just a single hull and while it is totally stable, it does rock a whole lot more. We hit some really high winds on Saturday sailing back to shore and oh man we were really rocking back and forth! It was an adventure. But lucky for us we had sturdy helmsman Quinton at the wheel!

What a tough face.

But the rest of the trip was spent scuba diving, rowing around in the little dingy, exploring Two Harbors (a tiny little town on Catalina Island) and of course fishing for Austin.

We found the coolest little bookstore in downtown Long Beach: a $1 bookstore! It was fantastic, we found lots of favorites. Austin got a few Jurassic Park books, I found a John Grisham and a some chapter/picture books for my classroom. I love used bookstores :) They are some of my favorite places in the world.

Oh, and by the way, we found out when we tried to leave early morning Sunday, that every year on the second weekend in October the Long Beach Marathon occurs. It's apparently been going on for 26 years and just fyi, it shuts down ALL traffic, in and out. We were stuck for a good four hours, just waiting for the event to be over. The city of Long Beach really needs a new media campaign manager because we had no idea we wouldn't be able to move. But oh well. Now we know!

Can you tell I'm on break?

What? Two posts not six months apart? Yep, it's true! One of the big perks of working for the Chandler School District is getting a two week fall break like the kiddos :) so I actually have some time to post.
Anyways, this weekend after Conference, my brother Kyle was ordained an Elder in preparation for his mission next year. We were so thrilled to have so many family members there :)

It just blows me away how old my family is getting. I don't dare post how old my dad will be this year :) I went with Austin to ASU institute this week and I was surprised to see both my brother and sister's cars there.

This is what we used to look like...

But not anymore!
Just look how tall everyone is! I'm cheating because I'm wearing heels, but Quinton is actually just as tall as me! (If not taller!) I just love these people :) even if they make me look like a dwarf.

Time flies...

Good grief, I know I'm almost two months late but Austin and I have been married for a year! We can hardly believe it :) some days it feels like we just met - other days we feel like we've known each other forever. And we can't get enough of it :)
To celebrate, we took a slightly early trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain before school got started again. It was very short (3 days) but very nice :) We got to go on our favorite thrill rides - Superman for Austin, of course! And Tatsu for me.

It's difficult to tell from this picture, but Tatsu holds you parallel to the ground so you feel like you are flying over the park! So incredible!
It's remarkable how loud this ride is. You can hear the cars thundering to 100 miles an hour all over the park.

Since our anniversary, life has been flying at it's usual high speed. Austin got started at ASU this fall and is class a few days a week, in addition to working full time. Since he got all his non-design classes done at MCC, all he has are architecture studios and lectures. They are filled with projects, but fortunately aren't too hard. Here's a picture of a chair he had to make solely out of cardboard that could support 200 pounds:

And things in my work/school camp are the same as ever. But this is my last semester of weekly classes! I student teach starting in January and then I'm done :) Then it's on to the job hunt.

Here's to another wonderful year!

Doggie Doritos?

So apparently Indy likes Doritos...

I caught him stealing a bag off our bottom shelf and running away to hide under our bed :) I got a big kick out of that one!

I love my family!

We made loaded pancakes for Sunday dinner last week and Quinton got really excited over spray cool whip. But, as we are ever the teasing household, Kyle got a huge pile of whip cream in Q's face :)

But the real kicker? My dad tricked Quinton into shoving the whipped cream in his own face a second time!
Even though he was named the salutatorian in his 8th grade class, Q can be a little slow sometimes. But that's why we love him :)

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July :) May your day be filled with swimming pools, bbqs and NO WORK! We are sure enjoying that part.

My mom put together this table setting for Father's Day and I loved it, but didn't post it in time. But I think it still works for the Fourth. My dad is an avid sailor and Mom found some great nautical items.

And, if you're ever looking for a fun date idea, on Friday we went with my sister and cousin to the Science Center (FREE on the first Friday of the month), followed by $5 desserts at the Compass Room after 9 pm. The Compass Room is on the top of the Hyatt Hotel in DT Phx; it's the really neat restaurant that rotates and gives you a beautiful, ever-changing view of the Valley. Highly Recommended!



(By the way, we did the math, and.... A restaurant that has been open since 1976 and only rotates once an hour can't have an estimated 1 million revolutions... But it's still fun!)

Ok, I'm a slacker...

Wow, I have really neglected posting for the past 2 months! We have been busy, as usual, but good busy.

First order of business, we got a dog! Indy, an extremely cute mini-schnauzer (who is trying to atype with me right now), joined our home on May 6. He is a super good dog, which I'm very relieved about, as he's the first big pet I've ever had. The Macdonalds are bird people, and just all around not-big-pet people :) (not that we have anything against animals, we just never really had them) But the Baxters sure do love pets! So hence 1 very sweet dog, 5 frogs who love to hide and scare us and a few non-interesting fish :) Makes life fun! I admit, I'm converted on whole the dog thing. So long as they stay small and cute.

Jeez, what else has happened... Well, Kyle graduated from Perry High! My parents now have more children at ASU than anywhere else! I'm working on my MA, Janie's in nursing school, and Austin and Kyle will be there in the fall studying Architecture and Pre-Med :) Everyone's growing up! And check out our most recent family picture. We are getting old. It's a neat transition for us all :)

I am out of school for the summer! Sort of... Humphey Elementary's last day was June 1 and Thankfully I was offered a postition in my same ED classroom for next year :) I love my class, and especially love my co-teacher Denise, so I'm thrilled to be back! But while work-school is over, school-school is far from it. My Master's program runs year round until next May, so I'm in class nights twice a week for the month of June and four times a week for the month of July. But fortunately, I'm not working full time and having to be in class so much. I'm taking a few hours part time for the day care, leaving me plenty of time to catch up on all the projects at home.

What other adventures... Oh! We got go camping over Memorial Day with the Eagars and Acedos in our ward. It was suuuuuper windy while we were there, but worth it. It was a very relaxing weekend, we just played lots of games, read and hunted for crawdads at the lake. An overall great time!