The New Openshaws

Blog Moving!!

2010-09-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately this site does not like to cooperate with me :(... I try to put captions with my pictures, move my pics, etc, and they never go where I want them to go. Which, has left me with no desire to blog... So, I started a blog on wordpress, and so far have found it easy to use. I'm sure I am the problem with this site, but I am tired of fighting with it, so please bookmark our new site!!

openshaws.wordpress.com

I have updated it with dove hunting and some roping and have a couple of more posts I'm working on!

Love,
Heather

Random Thoughts 4

2010-08-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

Peppy Jet & Fancy Pants... Our heifer is also pregnant. She is due in November... I think.... Peppy is our only horse that will share her food. Blackie and Bella will run her off.

1.The reason why I have only one picture in each post is because I can't figure out this new blog thing. Every time I add a 2nd picture, it wont let me add a caption, or it deletes my original one. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2. I have a new nephew!!! For pictures, click here.
3. Brittany and Kaiden came to visit us this weekend. I love it when they come down here! Kaiden has the most precious facial expressions.

Although he doesn't say a lot of words yet, he has the best facial expressions that go perfectly with the conversations we have.
He does not like Barbies(he wouldn't play with them at Nicki's house).
He loves Sam and he loves my Dogs.
When he eats his french fries, he will blow on one end to cool it down, and then bite the other end.
He loves Dougie (Our lizard), and wanted to touch him.
He would throw a toy for Nicki's dogs to fetch, and then he would fetch it himself!
He wanted to kiss Maggie, even though Maggie is a grumpy dog.
He picks up is own toys!
He is the cutest thing ever!!

3. Sam is super busy with work, and works too much. We are very thankful he has a job, but he works 65+ hours a week, and it is getting old real quick. He got his CDL a month ago, and drives a BIG truck and trailer. He gets layovers in other towns a couple nights a week, and starts at like 10pm almost every other night. He works 16+ hour days, and I can't wait until he finds a new job!

4. We went roping on Saturday night in Casa Grande and the weather was beautiful!! It had just rained and was almost COLD! I love this weather!! Little David won first, Sam had a chance to win, but unfortunately his heeler missed.

5. I got a team together to play volleyball on Tuesday nights, which I am really excited about. I love volleyball!!

6. My mom and family are coming to visit this weekend! I am super excited... To add to that, it is dove season! We are going hunting on Saturday morning, cleaning our birds in the afternoon, then eat them on Saturday evening( I don't like eating the birds, just hunting them).

Random Thoughts 3

2010-08-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

New Truck??? No... it's just a rental. A couple of months ago I was driving home and someone t-boned my truck. Luckily my truck is tall, so it was just a little damage, but the car that hit me was pretty messed up. Anyway, I have been driving this truck for about a week now waiting for our truck to get fixed. FYI- this dodge is pretty comfortable inside, but it gets crappy gas mileage... just in case you were thinking about buying one :).

Random Thoughts 2

2010-08-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

I love my doggies!! From left to right; Chase, Diesel, & Daisy. Chase and I recently finished an agility class, he is very good, with the exception of the tunnel. He is not scared of the tunnel, he just thinks its faster to jump over the tunnel and run to catch me! Diesel is big and dumb, if he wasn't so cute, I would have to get rid of him. Daisy is pregnant, she is due in October. This will be her first litter that is not illegitimate! Daisy gets to come inside and sleep with me lately, since Sam has been working or in a hotel almost every time of the week.

Random Thoughts

2010-08-30T20:17:00.001-07:00

I'm totally into couponing!! I don't really know how much money I have saved so far, but I do know that we have more food in our pantry than ever before, and I have not paid more than 1.75 for a box of ceral in a couple of months, so I'm sure I have saved hundreds of dollars right there!

Kevin & Nicki's Wedding

2010-05-13T22:23:00.013-07:00

Pictures that Sam took of Kevin and Nicki's wedding in Florence, Arizona. Nicki looked beautiful!!! One of my favorite things about weddings is how pretty the bride ALWAYS looks on their day :). The wedding was a blast!

Givin' Sam the evil look... Sam & Alex taking their "gay" picture

For Mark...

2010-05-11T18:17:00.014-07:00

Mark came out and stayed a couple of days with us. They decided to go "Bulldogging". I didn't get to watch, but Little David did take these pictures...

Random Weekend in Parker

2010-05-11T17:00:00.011-07:00

When Jesus comes back to get me, I think this is what it's going to look like :)...

Coltan gettin' some air. It's not Parker without some roping..

I looooove this picture! It's the canal that we used to go swimming in when I was younger.

Fuzzy Faces

David Wayne

P Mountian

Tammy's Quilt

2010-05-11T16:41:00.007-07:00

Here are some pictures of Tammy's No Sew Quilt, which I love! She finished it a long time ago, but I am barely cleaning out the pictures off of my camera, so here is to a bunch of random posts :).

2010-03-14T21:00:00.010-07:00

Kaiden and Brittany came up to visit us and here are some pictures. Yes.... They really do race the Ostrich!!!And then really do fall off!! Kaiden and his Uncle Sam.

For those of you who don't know, Kaiden LOVES animals!!!

He tried to kiss every goat he touched!!!AWE :) I hope my kids are as cute as this little guy!

Sam's Graduation

2010-02-04T08:31:00.006-07:00

Yes.... Sam really did graduate!! Here are some pictures to prove it! Thanks to all of our friends and family who were able to come down and celebrate with us!

Christmas Tree & House Decor

2009-12-07T15:38:00.014-07:00

Christmas Tree Cutting & House Decorations

What would a Christmas tree cutting be without Safeway Eggnog?

Yum...Sam & his tools...We love taking our own picture! Sam has gotten pretty good at it. Oh Snap... Watch out trees!!Dave & Kathy's Tree It was a huge tree, it looks smaller in the forest.Our tree still alive.It surprisingly was not heavy. After we cut our trees, Dave and Kathy rode the horses. Jerrod was kind enough to come help us decorate our tree. We LOVE it!! It really does look better in person!The top of our tree.We also made a wreath for our door from the limbs from our tree. My last decoration. I still need to do some for my stairs, but I go back to work tomorrow so who knows how long that's going to take me!

White's Horse Adventures

2009-12-07T10:07:00.006-07:00

I didn't get much pictures of my mom's family while they were here visiting for Thanksgiving, but we did ride the horses so here are a couple of pictures.

Our heifer going for a ride in the horse trailer...Diesel guarding the turkey in the back seat on the way to Parker.Parker has the prettiest sunsets!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-12-01T13:14:00.020-07:00

Here are some pictures of Thanksgiving... Hope you enjoy!

Shooting with the Openshaws....

For those who care, this is one of Daisy's puppies. Yes, the other two are still alive, they were just running around at the time of the picture.

I tried taking some pictures of my little brothers but they were not cooperating and the sun was not helping me out as well, so I only got a couple of good ones.

What is Parker without roping?

Exciting News in the Openshaw Household

2009-11-30T19:45:00.004-07:00

Sam is Graduating!!!!

Here is the information for the ceremonies.
When:Thursday, December 17th
Where: ASU Downtown Campus, Wells Fargo Arena
What time: 9am- University Commencement, 12:30 university commencement
More Info: http://graduation.asu.edu/ceremonies/commencement
For those who can't make it, you can watch it online, just go to the website above

We will also have a reception at our house after the ceremony. More details to come.

I found out today that after three weeks of waiting, I have been promoted! I am now an Operations (Assistant) Manager for the PetSmart on ValVista & Guadalupe in Mesa. I'm really excited for the new challenge!!

Sam and I are thankful for our family and friends who have supported us throughout our journey and are most thankful for the opportunities that God has created for us. :) I will post our Thanksgiving pictures tomorrow!!

2009 Favorite Pictures

2009-11-24T17:13:00.003-07:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures for 2009. Hope you enjoy!

South Carolina Gamecocks

2009-10-30T14:52:00.012-07:00

Yes.... their mascot is a Gamecock. They have cock rags, and their mascot is named Cocky... The most funny thing about it, is one of their big sponsors in Chick-Fil-A... Wait?? Isn't Cocky a chicken???

The Western States could really use some coaching on tailgating. They really know how to do it in the South.

Our setupRick & my Mom The cooks Playing games In the stands Cocky The band did some cool formations!!

Fire Department/ Oysters

2009-10-30T12:46:00.011-07:00

Garrett is a volunteer firefighter at Pimlico Fire Department. He gave us a tour of the firehouse and all of the the fire trucks. I was truly impressed with all of the knowledge he as about the trucks and equipment! It was awesome!!

His gear, he has to get dressed from head to toe in under 2 minutes. Helmet and badge

Grandpa, Garrett, and Grandma Libby

Rick cooked Oysters for us one night. Here are the pictures.

Everyone eating... I tried them, but they taste like a booger to me, so I just popped them open for everyone else to eat.

Boat ride/Carriage Ride/ Fr. Sumter

2009-10-30T12:15:00.012-07:00

Rick took us on their boat in the river(I think) next to their community. It was beautiful!!Yes, that is my husband, isn't he handsome!!! :)

The boat and its crew.

Yes... that is a real live alligator!!!! This is the first time I have seen one!! It was just a baby, but I'm sure the mom was nearby. We took a carriage tour of downtown Charleston, which was AWESOME!!

One of the other tours we took was of Fort Sumter. This is the place where the Civil War started. From this trip I learned that although nowadays the Civil War is presented to us as a war to free slaves, in reality it was all about economics... Just like every war we have ever been in...

My mom and Uncle LeRoy getting ready to get on our boat.

Yes, she is really fixing his fake hair. What a wife...The Island, It looks more like a sandbar.One of the cannons.

South Carolina -Magnolia Plantation

2009-10-30T11:46:00.010-07:00

We stopped to get some boiled peanuts for the ride to Magnolia Plantation. FYI, boiled peanuts taste like pinto beans.

There was some very pretty plants everywhere! Definitely a cool place to get married at if you are looking...One of the ponds Rick, Grandpa Walt and Grandma Libby Rick & me

1st 2 Days in South Carolina

2009-10-06T17:39:00.029-07:00

Here is some of the things I have done and seen in the past couple of days while in South Carolina.

Yikes!! I have not seen any gators yet, but I am on the lookout!

This beach is called Short Stay. It is a park just for military people and their guests. My mom and their friends go their almost every weekend in the Summer. Some rentals at Short Stay. It rained all day yesterday, which is why these pictures look so gloomy. This is my idea of a swamp. Kind of creepy, but the flowers on top of the pads are pretty cool.

I made Garrett stand in front of his school sign. He was not to happy about this.
A picture of the front of his school. His mascot is a Stag. Yes... they really have a grocery store called the piggly wiggly.

Savannah. I play catch with her every day. I tried to bike with her and she kept running in front of me so we had to come back to the house. We are going to try again tomorrow.

Today I went fishing with Garrett and his friend. There is a small lake (yes it has alligators) right in their community that they go on. Leaving the truck on the bank.... Kind of scary in this tiny little boat!GarrettSome houses in my moms community. Sunset.Beautiful!!!One of the little blue gills I caught.
Looks pretty cool hanging in the sunset!Lol... I think my worm weighed more than this fish!The Biggie!!! This is a large mouth bass. I think it weighed a couple of pounds.

I also got to go hunting for deer behind my moms house. I climbed up a tree in a tree stand and hunted for about three hours. I didn't see anything, but I'm going again tomorrow, so hopefully I will have better luck next time.

If you have never climbed up a tree with one of these, just let me tell you that if you are not in shape, don't do it. It was easy to climb up, but not to climb down. I am so freaken sore, its unbelievable!! Here is a link to a youtube video. I didn't sit on the stand like he did, I will try this technique next time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El2svLS8NJs

Don't You Wish Your Nephew was Cute Like Mine...

2009-10-02T16:28:00.012-07:00

Brittany and Kaiden came to visit us last week. We LOVE it when they come see us!

lol... Kaiden & Uncle Sam
This blog is really deceiving. If you see this picture in person, their eyes are SOOO Blue!!Why Sam is Kaiden's favorite Uncle.. He likes Pepsi!!That is one ornery face!!Seriously one of my most favorite pictures I have ever taken. This was my first saddle!The real McCoy...I Wanna be a Cowboy Baby!!!!
Sorry Nick... You have a future roper on your hands!

Come back to see us soon!

Hurtado's Come to Visit

2009-10-02T10:01:00.010-07:00

My Dad's family and Steven Hurtado's family were at our house the other weekend. I took the kids and all the puppies to our front yard and took some pictures. Here they are.

All three of them have pretty blue eyes. What color are mine? Crappy Brown :(...

Aren't they so darn cute?? They look all sweet and innocent here...
Ike & Bianca

So Cute!!

2 of the 3 puppies . My favorite one is on the right.

Lol... this is an awesome picture!! :) He sort of reminds me of a skunk.

Daisy's puppies... The Page family is the proud new owners of these 3 cute puppies!

Labor Day Roping

2009-09-06T19:15:00.003-07:00

On Saturday my Dad, David, Jon, Sam, & I went to Marana for a roping. The three of them roped while I got to visit with Brittany, Kathy, & Staci. I'm so glad you guys came! I just missed Kaiden :( :(. The roping was at night time, and Kaiden was sleeping. Brittany was not willing to sacrifice her Sunday with a fussy baby in order for him to get to see his favorite Aunt Heather. I didn't get any pictures, but Sam did win this really nice Gist Buckle!!

Congrats Sam!

Baby Horse

2009-09-06T16:15:00.007-07:00

We got a new baby horse today! We have not named her, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! The baby is 6 months old, and a registered quarter horse. She is not quite halter broke yet, but Sam and I are excited for the challenge...

Diesel

2009-09-06T15:40:00.009-07:00

Here is the Diesel update!

My big boy is 14 weeks old tomorrow. He gains over 7 pounds a week, and likes to wrestle and play. He eats 3 liters of dog food a day.

He loves to go for rides...

Wrestle with Daisy's puppy...

Run around the house like a crazy puppy...

Lay down & look cute...

Eat David's basketball...

Attack my hand...

but most of all... take naps!

Puppy Dogs

2009-09-03T18:45:00.007-07:00

Here are some pictures of Daisy & Chase's puppies... WANT ONE?? :)

Story behind the puppies: Daisy came into heat, which means we put one dog in the garage, and leave one outside, switching them back and forth until she is not in heat anymore. Well.. Sam was switching the dogs when the neighbors down the road started screaming at each other. Sam proceeded to call the police, and during that 45 second call, the magic happened....

Daisy had 9 puppies, but squished 6 of them. She would lay on them anytime Chase or Diesel came around, so basically she was too overprotective. We are down to 3, and are looking for homes for them!!!

Proud Parents.

Daisy gets more and more protective with every litter she has. Tonight we ordered Pizza, and Daisy chased the delivery guy and almost bit him...

The puppy on the left is a wimp like Chase, but the other 2 puppies are pretty cool.

" I love it when they call me Big Papa"

Our New Addition

2009-08-05T18:46:00.004-07:00

If this is not the cutest thing you have ever seen, you need to get glasses!

Welcome to our family Diesel!

We got Diesel last Thursday.

He is a 9 week old Great Pyrenees.

By the way, Daisy is going to have Great Pyrenees/ Australian Shepard Puppies in the next week or so, if you are looking for a dog, call!

Payson Roping

2009-08-05T18:31:00.004-07:00

We have been fortunate enough to go roping almost every weekend for the past couple of months. Sam has been doing really well. (Thanks Jesus!!) Here are some pictures from the roping we went to in Payson last weekend.

Kyle & Sam after they finished roping. Sam & his draw partner.
Sam & Kyle again.

Pretty cool picture :).

This weekend we are going to either Casa Grande or Payson again. Stop by if you are in the area!

Amazing Jakes

2009-08-02T20:06:00.015-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to Amazing Jakes in Mesa for Coltan's Birthday. It a a really cool place that has a pizza buffet, laser tag, bumper carts, bowling, arcade games, and mini golf. So if you are in the area, check it out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLTAN!

Tammy and Coltan. If you ask Coltan where he gets his good looks from, he will answer my dad ( if he is not it trouble), but he gets those pretty blue eyes from his mom!
Brayden driving the bumper cars. He was really good at it!

Everyone except for the photographer finishing up mini golf.

Little Bros

Jonathan Maverick & Tammy

Little does Coltan know, he is JUST LIKE HIS BIG SISTER!

Picnic & Tourists in Seattle

2009-08-02T17:09:00.015-07:00

The first pictures are from a Picnic we have on the base for my Uncle Walt. The second set is the Shontz Site seeing Tour!..lol..

Amanda & SaraWe played volleyball and I just had to put this picture in because check out Sam's HUGE calves.
Uncle LeRoy & Aunt MarionWow!Grandpa Walt starting the tour off right!We went on The Ducks tour. I highly recommend this tour if you are going to Seattle. It was 2 hours long and they took us all around Seattle, as well as on a lake/river (not sure which) that goes through the city. The gang...lol...Space NeedleView from Space NeedleWe went to Pike Place Market. Sam & I were not impressed. It was too many people in one little space... Not to mention most of the people were tree huggers who didn't save their pits. My husband is so freaking cute!!On our way to the airport, Sam & I stopped by the Boeing Center. This was the collest plane there. It is a car and plane all in one.

Seattle, Washington

2009-07-26T15:04:00.014-07:00

Sam & I went to Seattle, Washington (Ft.Lewis Army Base) this past weekend for my Uncle Walt's retirement ceremony. It was great to see all of my family, especially my cousins! This weekend I learned alot about the military, its ranks, etc. Apparently a soldier job, ranks, etc. can all be told by thier suit. The pin on the bottom is the retirement pin ( I think). I guess it's sort of like a letterman's jacket in high school. The Shontz clan... Need I say more...Pictures after the ceremony.

Three generations of Walts... SCAAARY!!!LOL!!!
This is what our tax dollars are paying for..... Ft. Lewis Army Base. BEAUTIFUL!!

Some Random Pictures

2009-07-26T14:36:00.009-07:00

Crafts at the Openshaw House

2009-06-14T17:07:00.014-07:00

The Page's came to visit this weekend... Well part of them at least. Unfortunately Jonathan had to stay home and babysit little David, so we didn't get the two of them.. My Dad and Sam went roping, and Tammy, Coltan, Brayden & I did crafts all weekend. Here are some pictures.

Coltan's first craft was this paper ball making kit. Here is his baseball.

Brayden decided to make a Pirate costume. He got a hat, hook, sword, and eye patch and decorated them. Concentrating hard... Arrrr... Brayden & Tiki

Coltan's second craft was making a t-shirt.

I made some shirts for Kaiden. He is going to come visit me on Tuesday! The one shirt says Kickin' it with Grandpa.... I couldn't find any Aunt shirts :(.....

And cake pops... Thanks for the great recipe Jennie!

Tammy's craft was a no sew quilt. We are still working on it, so here is the start of it.

Memorial Weekend in Parker

2009-05-24T18:53:00.013-07:00

Here are some pictures of this weekend so far. Sam went with my father and brother to Manzanita, California to rope. I stayed in Parker with my mom who is down visiting. Some highlights of the weekend include ... Sam roping, My Uncle LeRoy became a Deacon in the Baptist Church, I went fishing with my Grandpa, I took my little brothers fishing for tilapia, played cards with the Shontz Family, and had a great time visiting with my family!! Hopefully we will make it to the Openshaws tomorrow! So here are some of the pictures.

My mom and me at the Church Dinner
Tammy & Bryant

Uncle LeRoy with his certificate. Rick Carlson became a Deacon as well.

My grandpa Walt is a crazy picture taker!!! He takes pictures of EVERYTHING~

Here are the pictures of my brothers fishing. We went fishing for tilipia, which is just a bait fish, but they are a guarantee catch... except when your dogs bust out of the truck and into the canal and scare all the fish away!

We then went down a little farther and this is what we got.

The fish are so little! We usually use these fish for bait fish for catfish.

The poles we use are called ugly stick poles. We can't use regular poles because there was a whole bunch of weeds!

The biggest fish was caught by Brayden Trinity.

The Big Fish! They caught 15 fish in all.

Grandmother Wright's Wedding Gift

2009-05-24T18:27:00.005-07:00

Sam's grandma makes all her grandchildren quilts when they get married. Here are the pictures of our wedding quilt, which is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!! We are so thankful for it and really appreciate all the time and effort that went into making this quilt!

The quilt is laying on the floor and Sam is taking the pictures from our loft.

Close up of the pattern

Picture of the back on the left and the front on the right...

If you look close enough, you can see the edges are crocheted...

THANK YOU GRANDMOTHER WRIGHT!!!

Weekend Projects

2009-05-24T17:53:00.008-07:00

Here are some of the weekend projects we have been doing over the past month...

I apologize for the picture being so bad, Sam took it!! It is supposed to say Openshaw, just in case you can't read it... We broke a whole bunch of tiles up to make this. It looks better in person! We are going to hang it up on our patio in the back yard.

Backyard is slowly coming along! Here is the sidewalk that Sam is working on. It is big pieces of tiles pushed into cement. He still has to grout it but it looks really really good! I can't wait for our backyard to be finished.

This should have been only a weekend project, but 2 1/2 years later I finally finished it! This is a sampler quilt that I made in a class that Brittany took with me my Junior year of College. Sam hung it up in our hallway and it looks pretty good from far away!( Sam took these pictures too)

I bought some material to do a rag quilt this past week, so hopefully this next one will not take so long.

Cinco de Mayo Roping/Branding

2009-05-11T18:12:00.008-07:00

Some pictures from the Cinco De Mayo Roping in Parker...

Little David & my Dad.

Sam & Bub.

My Dad and Bub.

Our new minivan

2009-04-12T21:03:00.004-07:00

Before Sam & I got married, we promised each other we would never own a minivan. So, this is as close as we will ever get to a minivan!! This is the new truck we got this weekend.

And the backyard fun continues....

2009-04-12T20:16:00.012-07:00

We got some more progress on on our backyard! Thank you Dad, Tammy, David, and Anthony for your help!!

Sam finished the grass/rock border a couple of weekends ago, so my dad came down to help him put in a sprinkler system. This is what they did.

Talk about confusing...They used a trencher for most of the yard.But Sam did have to dig under the cement border.
David & Anthony gluing the pipes together.

DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

WE HAVE SPRINKLERS!! A step closer to the grass I am so excited for!
Our trees also got planted this weekend.
My kind of landscaping.

Sam & Daisy :).
My new Green Cheek Conure, Tiki. He is 4 months old.

Ice Skating 2 & Egg Coloring

2009-04-12T19:39:00.014-07:00

Since we had so much fun ice skating last weekend, we went again with my dad's whole family this weekend. Here are some pictures!

Sam & David The Boys

Gettin' our skates on

Isn't he cute??
Here are a couple of pictures I got from egg coloring.

Hugging... you don't get to see this very often!!

Page's go Ice Skating

2009-04-10T19:05:00.014-07:00

I took Coltan and Brayden Ice Skating last weekend and here are the pics!

Getting ready to skate

They started out hanging on the wall... Then Brayden ventured out into the middle of the ice..Coltan being a good big brother. Look at Em' go!!After a long day skating!

Golf, Backyard, Garden & Crash

2009-04-04T09:10:00.012-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been kind of boring at our house, with the exception of these few events...

We went to the driving range

Sam finished the border for the grass in our backyard. He is going to put in the sprinkler system next, then we can PLANT GRASS!! YEAH!

Hopefully our grass and other plants are going to grow better than my garden, because everything except my tomato plans died! I purchased them at the Home Depot because they have a 1 year guarantee on all of their plants, so I took the dead ones back and here are my new ones... I think they didn't have enough sun, so I relocated my garden to another part of my yard and hopefully this will work out better...

This is my tomato plant that has baby tomatoes on it!!

A couple of nights ago we were going to the gym and this is what happened....

Ok, so Sam really didn't do all that damage. Well, he did it, but he didn't physically do it. We were driving along and the sun was in a really bad spot, the vehicle in front of us stopped and we didn't have enough time to miss them, so this is the results!!

My Cake!

2009-03-27T16:43:00.006-07:00

Here is the cake I just made for my final course 2 class! It's supposed to be basketweaving on the side, but I had to go into work for inventory last night so I had to do my cake in only 45 minutes. I'm sure it will look better next time!
My flowers are made out of royal frosting. This frosting still hardens, but the flowers look more like real frosting.

The bird is made out of colorflow, which is a type of frosting that hardens really quickly and stays good forever.

2009-03-07T20:02:00.014-07:00

SERIOUSLY, DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY I CAN'T MOVE MY FREAKEN PICTURES!!!!!! I TRY TO DRAG THEM DOWN, JUST LIKE I HAVE ALWAYS DONE, AND NOW IT WILL NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL I WANT TO DO IS PUT THEM IN THE ORDER THAT I TOOK THEM IN!!!

Today is the day we planted our garden!! I have been wanting to plant a garden in our backyard for some time now, and we finally did it today. There is a area on the side of our house we weren't sure how we were going to landscape, so we decided to give a vegetable garden a try.(We will find out if it is a good spot in a couple of months, I'm not sure if it gets enough sun, but there is only one way to find out!!)

The before picture

David & Sam tilling the ground

Adding soil to our rows

Reading directions is always a good way start!

Staci planting strawberries, and David planting some chili peppers.

One of our strawberry plants

In this part of our garden we are growing tomatoes, chili peppers, cilantro, strawberries, and squash.

This is the second part of our garden. It is made up of just seeds. Hopefully we will see something more than dirt and water in two weeks! We planted watermelon, zucchini, gourds, and carrots.

I would love to post more pictures, but I don't know what is wrong with this program (or Me), and can't move the pictures, so I'm done!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaiden's Blessing

2009-03-05T12:00:00.017-07:00

Here are the pictures from Tucson last weekend. They are in random order because my computer is acting goofy.

Brittany, Kathy, Grandmother Wright, and Kaiden

Josh and Baby Kaiden's little hand
Sam & his brothers up to no good!

This started out nicely.....

And ended up not so nicely!!! Josh, Sam Nick, Kaiden & Austin

He's cute even when he's acting retarded!!

Nick, Brittany & KaidenWow!!

Kaiden chillin' in his Uncle Austin's arms.Nick & his Mom Sam & Brittany, Sam's face looks fat because he was eating bread while I was trying to take a picture.

Sam's Grandma feeling his muscles. Austin & Kaiden

Kaiden's little Outfit

OK BRITTANY, MY LAST 4 POSTS ALL HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN TUCSON!!! YOUR TURN TO COME TO QUEEN CREEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tucson

2009-02-25T13:16:00.011-07:00

When I lived with Brittany my Junior year in College, I made her take a quilting class with me. I had this great idea that I was going to make this huge quilt for our wall. Well, we took the class and never finished our quilts. I have been wanting to start some other sewing projects, but I made a vow to myslef to not start another project without completing the original project. So, I went to Tucson last week to finish my quilt. Here are the pictures....

Brittany is helping me arrange my squares. In the class, we were making a sampler quilt with like 6 different squares. We were supposed to make like 50 or so squares. Well, as you can see by the pictures, I didn't make that many. I am sick of looking at this material, so I decided to make a wall quilt for my hallway, which would be perfect size for the 25 squares that I do have!Organizing Brittany's quilt. She had less squares because some of the squares disappeared (Alex, Sam's friend accidently took them home with his clothes).

Brittany

Kaiden watching us sew.

Kaiden sticking his tongue out at me!!

Brittany's finished top. Well, she is still going to add a red border around the edge.

My fishished quilt top. I'm thinking about adding a brown border around the edge as well. Now, I just have to go back to Tucson to finish the back, and then hang it on my wall!

My Valentines Gift= Watching Roping

2009-02-19T10:31:00.021-07:00

Sam & Blackie

Our Cousin SteveThe ropers Sometimes I wonder about him.... My Dad & David

Baby HorsesSteer :) ( I was bored) Sweaty!!! This picture is kind of creepy because if you look close enough into Blackie's eye, you can see Sam's reflection!I have some good lookin' brothers!Trick roping while giving the horses a break. Yes, David is still being special in the background. Sam & my Dad

David & Steve
It's really fun to take pictures of him because he is so good!

David Wayne. Look closely and you can see his orange rope flying through the air.

Page Family Comes to Town/Cakes

2009-02-15T17:52:00.010-07:00

My Dad's family came to visit this weekend. Here are some pictures of my little brothers with my bird. I also took some AWESOME roping pictures, but they still need to be edited, so hopefully I will get them up tomorrow.

Brayden Trinity

Coltan
Jon was scared of the bird. Look at Chase in the background :)

3 weeks ago I started a Wilton cake decorating class at the Hobby Lobby. I absolutely LOVE it! Here are my first 2 cakes.

My first cake is a rainbow cake where we used our star tip to create the designs. We also used gel frosting to trace the design from a paper to parchment paper, and then gently touched the parchment paper to the cake for an outline. I know those insturctions were totally confusing, but if you really want to know, just call me!

Tonight we learned how to make a clown cake. We used the same tip to create the shell borders as the clowns. They are kind of squished and deformed because I put them in a shopping cart on my way out of Hobby Lobby, and went over the pavement.

Daisy & Duckie

2009-02-12T15:24:00.008-07:00

2 Creatures that live at my house... Daisy and Duckie.... Sam hates one of them, can you guess which one???

While we were pouring more concrete last weekend, we decided to see how Daisy would react to my bird. (FYI...Daisy has been known to pluck the heads off of my neighbors chickens). Although she was definitely annoyed, she didn't eat him and here are the pictures to prove it.

Daisy is following Sam, and the bird is hanging on for his life under her tail. Every time she would sit down, he would fall off.
Daisy was thirsty after hauling the bird all over the yard.

This picture shows how she REALLY feels about the bird. Can you see the short feathers on his wing? This is where his feathers are clipped which keep him from flying away.

Cool picture!

Backyard Boogie

2009-02-04T18:57:00.013-07:00

We have finally decided to start on our backyard landscaping! We are hoping to get our borders, sidewalk, etc. done by the end of February, so in March we can plant our grass and plants. I can't wait!

BEFORE

Here is phase 1. The border that is going to separate grass from our gravel and plants. Sam formed the first side, and is going to pour the concrete a little at a time. Here is the first section.
I didn't get any pictures of them mixing the concrete and pouring because I was taking a nap. I thought it was going to take all afternoon to do the concrete, but when I woke up, they were already done!

Thanks for the help Little David!

Finished product... Well, kind of, finished one section.

I know what you are thinking, wheel barrel, why would I put this on my blog? Well, consider this a shout out to my parents. Since I have left home, I have realized a lot of the things my parents used to say or make me do, were not stupid like I thought they were. For example, shutting off lights when you are not in the room. I have also realized how much things in the "real world" cost. For example, this wheel barrel that we had to buy was $100. My dad has three of them at home, along with a whole bunch of other stuff that I used to take for granted when I was a kid. I will no longer call his backyard, "full of junk". I have realized that all his "junk" is worth a lot! So here's a big THANK YOU to my parents for providing all of the things that I needed and then some, even though I wasn't always grateful!

I'm sure it is hard to imagine what our backyard is going to look like, but Sam has a great plan and I know it's going to turn out great! I can't wait to do the fun stuff like plant the plants and grass!

Friday Night Lights with the Openshaws

2009-02-01T19:24:00.014-07:00

Last Friday, Josh's family, Sam, David, Staci & I went to the park near our house and played basketball. Here are some of the pictures.

Brotherly Love....
This is a really cool picture, but also an example of how photos can be misleading. It looks like David is blocking Josh, but really Josh made the basket ( David did block him on others, I just didn't capture it:)

Baby Josh and Chase. I tried to take some pictures of Sagavi, but she was playing at the park, and my camera battery died before she came back.

David Wayne. Notice in his pictures, he is ALWAYS has this big grin on his face.

Dang, my husband is so good looking!!!!

My new nephew!

2009-01-28T19:16:00.019-07:00

I drove to Tucson on Tuesday to visit the Morgan Family and I took some pictures of my new nephew, Kaiden. These first pictures are of him sleeping, which he did for the first couple of hours I was there.

Kaiden Michael Morgan
1 Week Old!

His cute little hands and feet.

He is so cute when his eyes are open!
I was taking his picture, then he decided to spit up. It gets better, scroll down a little farther.We were trying to take a nice family picture, and as they were sitting there, he let out this huge, long, FART!!! His Uncle Sam would have been so proud of him!

Brittany and Kaiden.

He must be a boy, he's sticking out his tongue!!

I love this picture.

This is a cool picture. Kaiden has both Nick and Brittany's wedding rings. They look so BIG compared to his little hands. I think it will be a cool picture when he grows up and gets his own wedding ring, he will see how tiny his little hands used to be. P.S. Look at how pretty Brittany's nails are!!!

Nick & Kaiden. Kaiden is such a ham for the pictures. He seriously likes getting his picture taken. He must be Brittany's kid. lol.

Family Pictures that Kaiden didn't fart in.

Heather's 1st photo shoot lol.

2009-01-24T16:45:00.013-07:00

Yesterday I purchased a Nikon D60 camera that I have been saving for awhile for, and I was really excited to take some pictures! Most people come home and take pictures of their children, but since Sam and I don't have any, her are our dogs! ( They probably listen better than children anyway, and are definitely cuter than some kids as well :)

Before I took these, I had only read the quick start guide, so some of them are a blurry, etc. but I'm sure I will have the camera figured out here pretty soon, and hopefully they will turn out better.

Daisy 3 years old. Chase 1 1/2 years old.

Don't mind the Goldfish bag and Little David's feet in the background. I didn't feel like cropping my pictures today. :)

Chase is so freaken cute. He loves getting his picture taken.

Sam feeding Daisy some of his Goldfish. When the picture is bigger, you can actually see her licking it out of his hand.

Yeah, I still kiss him... Good thing Daisy will not take it out of his mouth, and only licks on command!

My action photos. lol.

Chase jumping over a bush on the way to the park.

This is a really bad picture but the story behind it is funny. We decided to make David crouch down on the ground and see if Chase would jump over him. Well, Chase didn't. Instead, he crashed right into him! It was really funny, I guess you had to be there to appreciate it!

Page Christmas

2009-01-03T17:40:00.011-07:00

Here are some pictures of the Page Christmas. Unfortunately we both had to work on Christmas, so we didn't get to go to Parker until the weekend after, so everyone had already opened gifts, eaten Christmas dinner, etc., so we roped and made tamales instead!

Here is some pictures of Sam riding one of my dad's newest addition. My family is better known as "heel hogs", meaning they don't like to share the heeling end of team roping. Sam finally got his first shot and I captured it on camera! Here are the pictures.

David & Sam

The instructor

Last Christmas my dad got a priefert chute, which is an electric chute that can be operated by remote control. Here is Brayden running the show.

Brayden Trinity walking Jonathan's first 4-H pig.

Decorations/ Shontz Family Christmas

2009-01-03T16:55:00.016-07:00

My mom came to town and stayed the week before Christmas, and decorated my house for me! We FINALLY got some pictures on our walls, etc. Here are some of the decorations we now have, you will have to come visit us to see the rest of them!

Unfortunately, the whole time she was here I was working overnights, so I didn't really get to help out very much. But, Sam got to have some great fun with her, helping her put up our pictures, decorations, etc. We got these really cool stars as a wedding gift from my friend Ashley Heagie, and my mom made some really cool decorations for our stairs that matched our tree. This is a sign that Nicki got for us for Christmas! It's hanging over the doorway next to the stars. It just wasn't put up until after Christmas, which is why it is not in the previous picture.

Here are some of the other decorations she got us. We got new candles, the cute deer, and actual pictures in our entertainment center! The pictures are from when I was in high school, so hopefully I will get a chance to change them out before she comes to visit us again!

We got this really cute pot holder for our kitchen. It is very cute! The only problem is I didn't realize how low our kitchen ceiling is, so only the little pots can hang from it. Those our my Paula Deen pans that I got from my bridal shower, which I absolutely love!

The weekend before Christmas, the Shontz Families came down to have "Christmas" with us. Here are some of the pictures.

Ever since I was a little girl my Grandma has been collecting this Red Avon China for me, and has said that she would give it to me when I get a house. Well.. we have one so we decided to use it for our first Christmas. Here is about 1/4 of the china I have....

I know it is weird to have a piece of meat on my blog, but this is the best prime rib I have ever had. ( Thanks MOM!). Here is the recipe in case you ever want to make it!

Prime Rib:
1 (3-rib) prime rib beef roast, about 6 pounds
5 garlic cloves, smashed, plus 2 heads garlic, halved
1/2 cup grated fresh or prepared horseradish
1/2 cup sea salt
1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 parsnips
1 red onion, halved
Wild mushrooms:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds assorted mushrooms, such as cremini, oyster, shiitake, chanterelle, or white, trimmed and sliced
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
1/4 cup reserved beef broth (drippings from roast) or low-sodium canned broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Lay the beef in a large roasting pan with the bone side down. (The ribs act as a natural roasting rack.) In a small bowl mash together the garlic, horseradish, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make a paste. Massage the paste generously over the entire roast. Scatter the vegetables and halved garlic around the meat and drizzle them with a 2-count of oil. Put the pan in the oven and roast the beef for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours for medium-rare (or approximately 20 minutes per pound). Check the internal temperature of the roast in several places with an instant-read thermometer; it should register 125 degrees F. for medium-rare. Remove the beef to a carving board and let it rest for 20 minutes. The internal temperature of the meat will continue to rise by about 10 degrees. Remove the vegetables and set aside. Pour the pan juices into a fat separator or small bowl and set aside to allow the fat and beef juices to separate. Pour off and discard the fat. You will use the tasty beef juices for the mushrooms.
Place a clean skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and a 2-count drizzle of oil. When the butter starts to foam. add the mushrooms and thyme; and season with salt and pepper. Stir everything together for a few minutes. Add the red wine, stirring to scrape up any stuck bits; then cook and stir to evaporate the alcohol. When the wine is almost all gone, add the reserved beef juices. Let the liquid cook down and then take it off the heat. Stir in the cream and chives, and season with salt and pepper.

My mom who cooked, and my aunt Marion who did the dishes! My mom is so beautiful, I hope I look like here when I am older!

My Uncle LeRoy and Mom.
My Aunt Marion and Uncle LeRoy. This is a picture frame they got for Christmas from my mom. It has pictures of when they were in Alabama in it.
Grandpa Walt and Grandma Libby.

Yeah, I know this picture is bad, but it's the only one of the 3 of us!

Christmas Tree

2009-01-03T16:22:00.011-07:00

I realize the holiday's have already passed, but I'm going to post our Christmas tree experience anyway! When Sam's was little, his family went and cut down their own Christmas tree. Sam and I want to make this a tradition in our family, so here is our first Christmas tree cutting experience!!

We purchased a permit for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, which is located near Springerville, Arizona, which is like a 3.5 hour drive from our house in Queen Creek. We were able to cut any tree, as long as it was 10 ft. and under, and in the permitted area.
Trees we had to pick from.

Sam measuring a prospective tree.

Our Blue Spruce while it was still alive!

Sam cutting our tree.

What I was doing while Sam was cutting our tree :)

lol......

If we were dogs we would have lifted our legs on the stump, but since we aren't Sam insisted we carve our initials into it.

Our decorated tree! My mom helped me decorate it and it looked better in person! Please don't mind all of the junk around the tree, I was wrapping gifts when I remembered to take the picture for the blog. BTW, that is Nick and Brittany's Christmas gift in the background still needing to be wrapped.

Painted House!!

2008-11-30T14:29:00.033-07:00

The reason that I have taken so long to get these pictures up is partly because I work 45 hours a week, but also partly because I wanted to get my house spotless before I took them. Well... it has been 3 weeks and every time my house is really clean, I forget to take pictures. So, look past the clutter and enjoy!

My favorite part of the house. This is what you see when you walk in the front door.

I just got this 30 gallon fish tank a couple of weeks ago. I love it! I have tropical fish in there like molly's, dalmatians, neon tetras, guppies, and I also have two semi-aggressive fish, Bala Sharks! Since I have started working at PetSmart, I have learned so much about fish, reptiles and small animals, so I decided to get my first fish tank. So far it has been fun.

This is the formal living room. We don't have any furniture in it yet. Hopefully we will get some soon.

The powder room in between the formal room and the family room.

This is the family room. My mom was nice enough to give us all of this furniture. It really goes good with our colors. This is a picture of the kitchen. I was standing in the family room. One of the reasons I love this house so much is because of how the kitchen and the family room are setup. It's possible to cook and do the dishes while still being a part of the family.

This is the china my Uncle LeRoy and Aunt Marion bought me. The cabinet it is in is actually an old gun case that was converted to a china hutch. It is the perfect size for this living room. My grandma has a bunch of Avon Red China she has collected for me over the years, but we are going to put that in the formal dining room when we get a hutch.

Our pantry filled with Sam's junk food.

These pictures are all upstairs. This is the hallway that connects the master bedroom, the two extra bedrooms, the loft and the extra bathroom.

Anthony and Aubrey's bedroom.

Little David's bedroom.

Their bathroom

Master bedroom. I will say this was really hard to get good pictures of this room! We have two closets, a walk-in and a regular sliding door closet. I love it!

This is the vanity. The bathroom and shower is connected to it, but it is small and I figured you all knew what a toilet and bathtub looked like, so I guess if you really want to see it, you'll have to come to our house! Here is the coolest room in the house, and the one you have probably been waiting to see. We decided to make our loft a fun loft, so we painted it University of Arizona red and blue.

Bear Down. Go Wildcats!

The long awaited house pictures!!

2008-11-30T11:34:00.020-07:00

Here are the pictures of our new house! Sam & I would like to thank my dad's family for all the help they gave us with the house. We painted, and painted, and painted, and we are finally done thanks to them! (well we still have some touch ups, but hopefully we will get those done before Christmas). We will then need to put up pictures, decorations, etc. but I'm sort of waiting for my mom to get here because she is really good at that. Me, not so much, but that's why we have family right?

The first thing we did was pack up our old apartment, so here is Sam getting some very needed boxes out of the PetSmart recycle bin!

Then we moved all of our stuff to the new house. These are all "before" pictures of the house. I wish I would have done a little better job of taking more before pictures, but we were just so excited to get some color on the walls.

The formal living room and loft. This is what you see when you walk in our front door.

The family room and the kitchen. The sliding glass door goes out to our backyard.

Our empty pantry. Don't worry, it will never look like this again. Sorry the picture is sideways,the rotating button was not cooperating with me.

And the painting fun begins.....

This is the master bathroom, the last room in the house to be painted! After painting a 2000 square foot house, we are all sick and tired of painting! Although there is no pictures of me painting, I swear I did. Remember how I said we still have touch ups to do? Yea, that's from my bad painting!!!
I'm sure you noticed a lot of tan. We painted our house three different colors of tan, a burnt red color in the kitchen and bathroom, and of course UA red & blue in the loft....

Marana, AZ Roping

2008-11-30T10:45:00.009-07:00

Here are some pictures from the Marana roping Sam, my dad, little David, and Raphael went to. Unfortunately someone has to pay for this bad habit, so I was working :(. I think either Staci, David's girlfriend or Brittany, Sam's sister took the pictures, and they came out pretty good! I'm mainly posting these for Isaac, since he had such a great time with the horse in Arizona. Enjoy!

Sam & Blackie

This is a really cool picture of David and my Dad. I want to get this framed and put it in David's room.

Raphael heeling a steer. I really like this picture too! After looking at all the pictures, I'm going to go with Staci as the photographer since most of them are of David!

Nicki's pics from the wedding

2008-11-29T17:18:00.002-07:00

Here are some more randoms from Nicki( my maid of honor)'s camera.

Ceremony Pictures

2008-11-27T18:40:00.002-07:00

Here are some ceremony pictures for you guys to enjoy! I put all that Jennie sent to me in the slideshow,so ignore the ones with our eyes closed, etc...
Sam & I would like to thank everyone who helped us make our wedding so wonderful. A lot of people worked long, hard hours for it, and we both really do appreciate it!

Golf Course/ Reception Pictures

2008-11-20T18:28:00.003-07:00

Here are some of our pictures from the golf coure and reception. If you want any of them, just let me know and I can send them to you. Enjoy!!

Honeymooners & Randoms

2008-10-24T14:21:00.009-07:00

Here are the last couple of good pictures we have from our honeymoon. We got the keys to our new house in Queen Creek yesterday, so we will be busy moving and painting. Any volunteers? Hopefully the Internet will be up right away so I can post pictures of our new home!

Nicki, my MAID of Honor got us these cool shirts for our honeymoon. They were really cute, we got a lot of compliments on them. Thanks Nicki :)

Picture of the front up close.

Picture of the back.

Here is the last picture we took, which happens to be on the airplane that we rode 6 hours on. Yes, we look trashy but its ok right?

Kualoa Ranch

2008-10-22T20:01:00.020-07:00

Another stop in Hawaii, and one of our favorites was the Kualoa Ranch. This is a 400 acre cattle ranch North of Waikiki. The ranch makes its money by raising beef cattle, providing sets for movies, and tours.

Pictures of the ranch. The one on the left is immediately west of the freeway, the one on the left is immediately east of the freeway. It was really weird to see a ranch so close to the ocean. The cows could literally fall into the ocean if they got close enough to the edge. It was raining the day we visited the ranch, which is why they pictures are all foggy looking.

Before our bus tour. I will explain the shirts later.

The ranch offered a couple of different tours. One on horseback ( you should have seen the Japanese tourists getting on :)), movie site tour, which is the tour we took, quad tours, and some scenic tours. This is the bus we rode on the tour.

This was the first stop on our tour. During WWII the army took over part of the ranch and made bunkers like this one as well as a runway. The army has since given back the property to the ranch, but the bunkers are all still there today.
The ranch is known for the movies and tv shows that have been filmed on it. Some examples are 50 First Dates, Pearl Harbor, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and all episodes of the tv show Lost.

Here is the the log that the people of Jurassic Park hid behind when the dinosaurs were chasing them in the valley.

One of Godzilla's footprints.

A picture from You, Me, & Dupree. Not sure what scene it was from though.

50 First dates scene. We went down the road that Adam Sandler used to stop Drew Barrymore every morning on her way to the Diner. The diner is still open, we didn't get a chance to go see it though.

A recreation of how the Hawaiian people used to live. The women and children used to live together in a hut, and the men lived in another hut. By the way, in this culture, men are the ones who COOK!!

Some cows that are on the ranch. They have about 400 head of cows and 15 head of bulls. They were really proud of this number, but to put it in perspective, the ranch Sam worked on a couple of summers ago has 3000 head of cows and about 500 head of bulls on 132,000 acres. So, a large portion of the money made on the ranch is definitely not from the cattle. But, if you think about the fact that all the cattle in Hawaii had to be imported from somewhere else, 400 isn't that bad of a number after all.

Picture of us on that wonderful bus before we got done with our tour. Sam says it was like riding on Dad's limo dump truck

Dinner Cruise (Thanks Alex & Patrick!!!)

2008-10-21T22:20:00.010-07:00

When we got to Hawaii and checked into our Hotel, we were pleasantly surprised by a dinner cruise that our friends Alex & Patrick purchased for us. The cruise ship left from its port and took us up and down the Waikiki beach while we eat a really nice dinner. This was one of our favorite parts of the trip.

Here we are getting ready to take off.

While in Hawaii, we got the most "cultural" experience that we will ever get. Mainland Americans were definitely the minority. The island is filled with Japanese tourists taking pictures of EVERYTHING! After being inspired by the Japanese, we decided to be like them and take a picture of our food, since it looked so delicious.

I can't take him anywhere! Good thing we don't do the fancy meal thing very often. Or maybe we should go more often so he will stop doing things like this!

Sam and his new ring :)

Sunset from the cruise.

View of Waikiki from the cruise.

Polynesian Cultural Center & Pearl Harbor

2008-10-21T21:31:00.013-07:00

The Polynesian Cultural Center was a park/museum type thing that displayed all the "Island" Cultures that are near Hawaii. (e.g Tahiti). The park had different sections devoted to different islands where you could participate in activities related to that specific culture. Unfortunately almost all the activities were outside and it was raining, so this was actually one of our less favorite things we did.

Our standard pose. :) This was a canoe parade we went to. These were dancers from the island of Hawaii. The cultural center was built by Mormon missionaries and now over 80% of the workers are BYU Hawaii students. The reason the center was built was to create jobs for the students as well as raise money for scholarships. Most of the students who worked at the center are from the other islands, so the dances are really apart of their culture which was kind of neat. After seeing these dances, Native American dances don't seem so odd! This man taught us how to use sticks to make a fire, get coconut milk, and climb a tree, just like the people on his island do. I apologize for the fat head in the bottom of the picture.

Standard pose #2.

Pearl Harbor
]Here we are before we started our Pearl Harbor experience. Standard pose #2 again. :) Yes, Sam does have the same shorts on everyday,lol. He didn't pack any shorts and it was too hot and humid to wear pants. He tried to wear his sandals to get some sort of sun tan. Jennie, I'm pretty sure that you can call Sam clear in these pictures, since I would bet that your legs are tanner than his right now!

Our favorite part of Pearl Harbor was the tour of the Missouri we took. It was HUGE!

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

Guns on the front of the boat.

This picture absolutely amazes me. These are the beds that our sailors have to sleep on. I don't know how they can get a good nights rest sleeping on these things. There has got to be something better for them! Rick, my mom's husband was in the Navy for 20 years, I can't imagine being on that ship for that long. I think my dogs have a better bed.

Dole Pineapple Farm

2008-10-20T21:20:00.011-07:00

While in Hawaii, we found the cheaper it was, the better it was. Seriously! Here are some pictures of the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

Newlyweds! Can we say losers??

Getting ready to ride the Pineapple Express! This was a train tour of the plantation that grows pineapples as well as bananas.

Here is the train we rode!

Fun Facts about Pineapples: It takes 2 years for them to grow, and only 1 pineapple grows per plant. Their are over 6 different kinds of pineapples. If you take the top off of a full grown pineapple, you can plant it, wait 2 years and get another one! Also, their is a really neat way to cut pineapple to get the most for your money. If you go to the Dole website, they have a knife for $6 that works wonders!!

Hotel Views & 1st day to North Shore

2008-10-20T20:35:00.015-07:00

Hotel we stayed at. Was very nice, definitely would recommend it.

Views from our hotel Balcony. The dark part in the ocean is actually coral reef. We stayed on the Waikiki Beach, which is about a 20 minute drive from Honolulu.
More views, notice the surf boards next to the other hotel. They gave surfing lessons right outside our hotel.

Here is some pictures from our drive up to the North Shore of Oahu. This side of the island was was prettier, and more relaxing than Waikiki. Their were less tourists, and more locals here. I took this picture while we were driving along one of the main highways. It was amazing how close we were to the ocean while we were driving. Almost scary, actually.

Picture of us on one of the beaches. All the pictures of us were taken by Sam holding up the camera, or us setting the timer which required a flat rock, etc., so if the poses are all the same, Sorry!

View from the highway. (Opposite of the ocean, obviously) :)
These are pictures of a beach we stopped at on the North Shore. The waves were HUGE and extremely violent, and their were warning signs posted all along the shore.

Thank goodness for flat rocks to hold our camera on!!

A really cool picture that Sam took!

We're Married!! 9 days and going strong!!

2008-10-20T20:31:00.003-07:00

Samuel & Heather Openshaw

October 11, 2008

Jennie (Sam's sister), was the official photographer at our wedding, and she is still editing our pictures, a preview of our wedding pictures can be found at her website (Sawyers Family News). I will put more wedding and reception pictures on our webiste when we get them! Also, I know a lot of people had cameras at our wedding, so if you did take any pictures, we would love to have them!! So, until then, here are some pictures from Oahu, Hawaii!!

House Progress

2008-08-21T20:06:00.009-07:00

Here are some more pictures! Enjoy!

Our new address will be 1368 E. Shari St. This is our living room window.

Front View. Garage is on the left, and master bedroom is on top of it. The tiles just got put up on the roof two days ago.

Sam and Mark standing in the entrance to the house.

Stairs in the house. Right above the stairs is the loft, and below the stairs is the formal dining and living room.

Back of the house. They have started putting the foam ( I think that's what it is called) up on the back.

View from the loft.

New House

2008-08-14T12:24:00.010-07:00

We have recently purchased our first house in Queen Creek, Arizona. The house is located in Pecan Creek South, a new subdivision in Queen Creek. We are super excited about it and can't wait for it to be built. We go out weekly to see the progress, hopefully it will be done sometime in October, just in time for the holidays. After it is built, it will be a 2000 square feet 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath with a loft. My favorite part of the house is the stairs that are in it, which are not built yet so hopefully in the next couple of months I will be able to post pictures of them. Here are some pictures of the property.

This is a picture of the foundation that got poured two weeks ago. I was standing in the middle of our front yard. The cement in the very front of the picture will be the entry way to our house.

This was taken in the middle of our backyard. The houses across the street will be our neighbors. We will have one neighbor on the right side of our house (looking at this angle) and the other side is a landscaped area.

We went out a week later and this is what we found! Our house has started to be framed!
I can't get this picture to delete, any hints would be greatly appreciated. :)
This is the entrance to our new home. I will try to keep everyone updated with the progress of the house. We try to go out their once a week to check on it, so hopefully new pictures of it further along will be done soon!

4th of July

2008-07-22T19:33:00.016-07:00

4th of July= Roping in Mormon Lake!!!

For the 4th we went to Mormon Lake, Arizona (near Flagstaff)with my Dad's family to camp and rope. Here are some pictures from weekend.

Sam and "Blackie" waiting to rope.

Little David was the only winner in the Page camp. He placed in the number 11 roping.

This is an example of me trying to be a professional photographer , as you can see, I need a lot of practice. Notice the mud in the arena, it rained and even hailed on us a couple of hours before this run.

Notice that all the "action" pictures are of David. I forgot to charge my camera, so it died within the first couple of hours of our camping trip, which left me with no time to take pictures on anyone else. :(. Also, the camera I am using is brand new, and I haven't quite figured out all the settings, so please excuse the picture color and quality.

Here is a picture of my dad and Raphael. Please excuse my Dad's USC hat, he doesn't want to get his good University of Arizona hat wet.

Alex and Tipling watching by the catchpen. They were my carpool buddies up to the roping.

I just wanted to take a nice little brother picture, and out of the 8 I took, this is the best one. :).

Brayden Trinity Page

Wedding Update

2008-07-08T22:01:00.009-07:00

So I'm sure you all know that Sam & I are getting married on October 11, 2008 in Parker, so I figured I give you an update on our wedding planning. Please watch for our save the date cards, hopefully I will get them out soon! I have had the cards for a week and a half now, and still haven't got them out. I am trying to get the last bit of mailing addresses together before I send them. Our friend Tracy McMurphy designed them, and we absolutely love them. She has started her own company/website that you should check out http://www.dreamdesignsbythm.com/. She also designed my graduation announcement and it's actually posted on her website. Anyway, I have also created a wedding website for Sam & myself. The address is http://pageandopenshaw.weddings.com/. It has our story, wedding details, and some pictures on it. Here are some "engagement pictures" we took at the golf course in Parker that didn't make it to our save the date cards.

Isn't the sunset pretty? I think my Grandpa took this one.

The wedding dress is picked out. I absolutely love it. I found it at Arizona Bridal Warehouse in Mesa, but found it cheaper online in Georgia, so I ordered it and it should be here in September.

Our colors are burnt orange and brown. We want our wedding to have a fall theme/feeling, so the bridesmaid dresses and suits are going to be brown, and the flower girl dress is going to be burnt orange. As for the decorations, we will see. All I have so far is a bunch of wheat hanging upside down in my dads garage :) (thanks dad) for centerpieces and such, the rest still has to be decided.

We have decided to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon! We are going to go to Oahu, so if you know on any restaurants, site seeing, etc. that can't be missed, please let us know!

And I think that's pretty much all I have done! Not bad for only 81 days left right? :) We have a lot of work ahead, but I'm not worried because I know things will just fall into place.