Zombie Outbreak

Nadine’s Got a Brand New Bag

In an effort to reduce our use of plastic bags (or is it to look good with a cool shopping bag?), Nadine made this hip new shopping bag.  It’s even lined with vinyl inside.  It was the envy of all her friends, so she taught them how to make their own.  What’s that saying?  Give a person a bag and they’ll carry their groceries for a day; teach them how to make their own and they’ll carry them for a lot longer.

I want to make one too, but can I still look manly carrying one of those things around?

Utah

Last weekend we headed to Utah to visit family for a weekend.  Stepping out of the airport in Utah was much nicer than getting to the airport in Phoenix.  Jeremy picked us up from the airport and we spent the first two nights of our stay with them. Their basement and the weather in Salt Lake City felt amazing. It was the first time we’ve been cold in quite a while.

We spent a couple of days with Jeremy and Hillary, where we played Wii with Hunter and Joseph, ran around with Tessa, and saw Wall-E, which we both loved.  Saturday morning, we attended the wedding and luncheon for Angela and Jonathan Chin. The wedding ceremony was conducted by Elder Bateman, which was a special treat. The luncheon was held at Old Spaghetti Factory, and was delicious and we had lots of good company. After briefly hitting the BYU Bookstore, we headed up to Amy’s for swimming and a barbeque with everyone except for Jason and Larissa who were in Kenya. It was fun to see everyone and the new babies — Emma, Parker, and Belle. Becca hosted an awesome Minnie Mouse Clubhouse party for Maya, who is now one year old.

Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as most of Sunday were spent in Park City–where the weather was even nicer–with Justin, Becca, and Maya. Sunday morning we attended church at the special visitor’s ward in Park City. They have a special sacrament meeting just for visitors and there were at least enough people attending to comprise a full ward. Both the talks were excellent. Afterwards we went to a park and ate a picnic lunch.  The rest of the day we spent hanging out at the hotel. Just before we left for the airport, the Martins showed up, so we got to see them a little more. We’re so thankful we were able to see everyone, and appreciate all the chauffeuring around that we got (Justin, Jeremy, Kim). Thanks!

Sedona

Last weekend we went to Sedona to escape the heat.  (Phoenix is currently enjoying its eighth consecutive day over 110 degrees.)  Sedona is about an hour and a half north of here and has a lot of beautiful red rock formations.  Its also a lot higher in elevation, so there are actually trees there.  It’s very colorful. 

We left Phoenix on Friday afternoon and hurried up to Sedona.  We were intending to camp, but all the campsites were taken.  Instead, we ended up getting a cheap, but clean, hotel room and watching Man vs. Wild pretending we were actually camping.  The next morning we went hiking in Oak Creek Canyon.  We snagged one of the last available parking spots, and began our hike.  The hike we took was along Oak Creek and right up against the canyon walls.  Unfortunately, our camera died, so we don’t have many pictures. 

After the hike, I was pretty hot.  Even though Sedona is cooler, it was still over 90 degrees.  We decided to head into Sedona to get some ice cream.  That plan was quickly abandoned once we saw how crowded and expensive Sedona was.  The ice cream was $4.50 for one scoop.  Instead, we decided to make our way back towards Phoenix.  We hit a Sonic for happy hour on the way back and got some cold, slushy drinks.  Overall, it was a fun trip, but I think next time we’ll try to go when it’s a little cooler and not so crowded. 

Boulder

The day after Kim and Cole left, I flew to Denver, Colorado to attend a conference at the University of Colorado-Boulder. I really enjoyed the conference, but I especially enjoyed the weather and scenery there. The campus is right next to the mountains! I also got to visit Kurt and Megan, who are friends of ours from Logan.

This is Chattaqua Park — a park with lots of hiking trails leading up the mountains.

UC-Boulder’s campus. The music building (where I spent most of my time) is on the far right.

Memorial Day Weekend

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Kim, Cole, and Alexis came to visit us. It was so fun having them here, even though it was a little cramped. We visited Kiwanis Park, Tempe Town Lake, the outlet mall, ate Mediterranean food, and played a lot of Wii while they were here. Alexis is getting so big, and I’m doing my best to remind her that I am and always should be her most favorite aunt. The weather was surprisingly mild while they were here — only about 80 degrees, which, for Phoenix, is a treat.
At Kiwanis Park.

We let Alexis taste an Otter Pop.

I don’t think she liked it much.

It’s been a while…

Hello all! I’m not sure if we have any readers left since we are huge blog slackers. We don’t really have any good excuses for our slacking, but now that I am out of school, maybe I will up my blogging to…once a month?

Anyway, life in Tempe is good (as long as you ignore the heat). I just finished the semester, and am out of school for the summer. Adam is still working as an editor and is also doing a research project on the side for the Tempe Historical Museum. Since we haven’t posted in so long, here are a couple of things we’ve been up to lately.

In April, we were very fortunate to be able to go to Boise for Dad and Sandy’s temple sealing. It was a great weekend, and we are so glad we were able to be there. Here are some photos.

Last week we also went to our first ever Major League Baseball game. It was Diamondbacks versus Phillies. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks lost, but it was a really good game, especially after security took the drunk person behind us away. The stadium has a retractable roof and air-conditioning and it also has a swimming pool just behind centerfield. I guess those are the “perks” of living in Arizona.

Air Conditioning

We finally turned on our air conditioning. We wanted to make it to May before we turned it on, and with a diligent routine of opening windows at night and closing them in the morning, we managed to make it almost a whole week into May. I think it got up to 88 once or twice (inside), but we suffered through by cranking up the fans, stepping outside then back inside, and consuming several frozen treats.

We think we saved a little money. Now it won’t come off until October or even (we hope not) November.

Nadine’s Recital

Some time ago, longer than I now dare admit now because of my late post, Nadine had her first graduate flute recital. It was given in partial fulfillment of a Master of Music degree, which means she’ll be performing another recital sometime during the next school year. You should watch, she’s amazing.

She played four pieces by four composers, each representing a different time period and style of music, which included CPE Bach (1714-1788), Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Eugene Bozza (1905-1991), and my personal favorite, Martin Kennedy (b. 1978). She said she chose these pieces because she liked them, good reason. She played with precision.

Nadine practiced for some time for the recital, as she does for all her performances. I am a witness to the amount and intensity that she practices. I think I heard each piece, or at least a part, numerous times before the recital, so I know how much time went into preparing. I must say it was rewarding to hear each piece in full. She has learned much from her teacher.

Lynn and Sandy and Anne and John, along with Brian, attended. We were grateful for their support, and happy to have them come visit. If nothing else, so I could beat Brian in golf.

After the recital, we had a rockin’ Guitar Hero recital. Nadine is already beating songs on expert! Maybe we’ll post more often now.

Nadine’s Soloist Concert @ ASU

Hi All. Nadine’s Dad here. Never published anything here before & I wasn’t sure whether to post this on our own blog or here — but since the concert was really about not our visit, but rather Nadine’s performance, I decided that people would probably see the post here.

Last Monday Sandy/I went to see Nadine perform in the ASU “Concert of Soloists.” Nadine was chosen as a soloist last fall after auditioning along with the other students at the University.

I won’t go into details of the rest of the program, but Nadine’s performance was terrific. She performed the first movement from Ibert’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra. I don’t know how to write reviews, but it was quite technical, from what I could tell, but still very musical.

Thanks to Adam & Nadine for shuttling us around and letting us share this event and for the taxi service to/from the hotel.