Goodbye Encino Royale

Never judge an apartment complex by its name. Unless, of course, you consider royale to mean... A stove with a broken knob that doesn't tell you what temperature it is and is almost impossible to turn off (we often need to turn off the gas all together) Cockroaches ...including one ENORMOUS one that I discovered crawling in my hair while I was in the kitchen the other day. (Christian tried to kill it with his crutch, but instead only hit my leg leaving a huge bruise...roach disappeared ..yeah) A leaky roof. Although it was finally fixed, we dealt with this sick, nasty, and leaky roof for a month.

I feel that I've paid my dues in sub-par housing. I could not be happier to be leaving these "Royale" accommodations!

Viva Las Vegas

Here's a couple pictures from our trip to

Vegas a couple weekends ago.

Our hotel gave us some free money to go gambling...

Christian trying to "sense" where he's gonna win BIG

About to lose everthing

The day's winnings!!
I was ahead $1.40 so I took my loot and bought a Diet Coke!

One of these does not look like the other one...

My gift to Christian for his birthday last month:

Tickets to Mystere for our trip to Vegas last weekend
Some new shirts from Urban.

Christian's gift to me for my birthday last week:

A box of my "favorite" (new to me) cereal Tootie Fruities

A box of Hot Tamales.

If it's any consolation...he did get a great deal on these snazzy gifts (as he informed me) since they were purchased at the Dollar Store. However, due to my unethusiastic response, I don't think it'll save money in the long run (i.e. my online shopping the following day and his necessity to make up for this on future birthdays)!!

Friends and Fireworks

Christian's version of "low impact" as prescribed by his Dr.

Face-plant Going, going...gone!
We watched the fireworks sitting on the boat!

Greg provided the musical entertainment:

I had four days off so we took full advantage of the holiday! The Wheatleys invited us up to Tahoe to stay in their amazing cabin and enjoy a weekend on the lake. In the words of Greg, "we could have one hand in the fridge and still have a toe in the lake"! Greg and Madeleine & Mike and Mary were also invited. It really made us miss living near friends. We also got to spend two days in Los Altos before heading back to the daily grind of work!!

Wedding Bells in Idaho

The long awaited Cafe Rio trip with Russ and Jen!

The Galley (cafeteria) was closed...Christian was not happy!

Note to self: Must start saving for trampoline purchase (and maybe a backyard to put it)!

We went to Rexburg, ID this past weekend for Ashley's wedding. It was so refreshing to see open space...a rare sight in LA. Mitzi joined us for our drive to ID. Christian was so excited to visit his old stomping grounds from when he attended Ricks. After the wedding Christian gave us the deluxe campus tour, which included much personal commentary of his doings as an 18yr old boy away from home for the first time:) One story included putting notes on their trays before sending them through to get washed while eating at the school caf. (Note the picture).

Since we flew into SLC, we got to see lots of family and friends. We started our trip visiting Russ and Jen and before flying back to LA we also got to visit Missy, Grandpa and Grandma Hansen, and the Easton family (which also included a delicious home cooked meal (thanks Camille) before heading to the airport.

Victory Before the Finish Line

Words will never be able to describe my excitement when after the 1st hour of last night’s Bachelorette…there was a 2nd hour!! Christian and I have been loyal fans since episode 1, when we each picked one man who we thought would take Deanna to the altar. Looks like I’m one step closer to victory after Christian’s pick (Jeremy) got sent home last night and my pick (Jason) walked away with another rose. Favorite quote of the night came from Chris. In response to Grahams "I was trying to make a statement" comment he responded, "I’ve been married a long time…that’s not the time to make a statement".P.S.-Graham…we still miss the eye-candy (I use "we" loosely)!