Last Day

I'm getting a nice little tan here. Just sayin'. :)

Since today was Kalyn's first day completely off work, and our last full one before we fly back tomorrow, we took full advantage of it and got right into the day. We started off with a hike up from the apartment to the resort on the neighboring mountain. Being everything except conditioned to traversing inclines of any type right now [IL is essentially like treading across a sheet of paper], it was admittedly a winded experience, but absolutely worth it.

Back at the apartment, we showered up and made our way into a different part of Phoenix to Aunt Chelada's, a quaint little Mexican dive that they seem to like. We snagged a table outside on the nearly empty patio and devoured some tasty grub before heading back.


besties @ aunt chelada's



dos amigos



dos mas amigos ;)



It was easy for us to spend the rest of the afternoon playing volleyball at the resort before resigning to a few hours of basking by the pool. The boys took to the water, a section marked with a waterfall centerpiece, which afforded me some time to really catch up with Kalyn on the happenings of our lives over the last year since I last visited there. I realized today just how much I really do miss my best friend, but likewise how fortunate I am to have one like her in my life. :) Good times, good times.

We called homemade dinner tonight, complete with more grilling out and simple relaxing before getting everything packed up and ready to go first thing in the morning. This trip has been oh-so-relaxing and really a huge blessing for Joe and me. 

grilling out :: beautiful....

Love love love.

See ya back in the midwest, kiddios.

xo | cmd

*@&!?? - Sunday Snow in Sedona?!

KP was already gone this morning when we rolled out of bed and got ready for church. Sam, Joe and I made our way over to the service at the church Sam & KP attend regularly. It was a unique experience, one that I'm glad we were able to have. As it turned out, the 'regular' senior pastor was out sick with strep, so one of the associate pastors was standing in. Apparently, the senior pastor is someone to marvel; I'll have to remember that and look up his webcast.


rainin dippin' dots in sedona

 Anyway, once church was out, we headed over to Grayhawk for a quick bite and to see Kalyn briefly before we decided collectively to make a run for it and go up to Sedona for a few hours. It was cloudy for the most part in Phoenix today, but we figured it might be a bit more clear up in Sedona. We couldn't have been more wrong.


snow day!



Gone were the brilliant red rock formations that mark then entrance into the heart of Sedona; instead, there was haze everywhere, and by the time we were nearing the central strip, it was flurrying. Yeah. SNOW. You can imagine how frantic the locals were when we pulled into the parking lot and it was coming down in sheets. You really would've thought the second coming of Christ was just around the next cactus judging by the looks of sheer confusion and hints of terror on the faces of these people. Snow in Arizona?!?! EVER?! ABSURD!!! Yeah. Well, it turns out it wasn't just an average blase snowfall; this was a shower of ice pellets, which in non-weather-nerdo terms look and feel just like dippin' dots, sans flavor. We know. We tasted. If you could do a farmer's market version of dippin' dots, this would've been it. The strangest part was, as soon as they'd come, the clouds passed on and they melted, almost instantly. So bizarre....



goofin' off in sedona

sedona olive oils!

We tried to wait out the clouds by busying ourselves with stops to some of the touristy spots; a cozy pub restaurant, and one of the artisan shopping plazas. We stopped in at one particular gallery, where the artist himself greeted us with warm welcomes, proceeding to share with us everything about his work, all the way down to the technique [using technical words, meaning that the whole shpiel escaped us, for the most part]. He was such an endearing spirit, I couldn't help but fork over $5 for a postcard of his work, simply because in the half hour we spent bonding, not one other person so much as passed by his entrance. I'm sure he's not a starving artist, since one of his larger pieces was mounted next to its pricetag of a mere $18,000. Yeaaah.


these two fools.......



The vibe of Sedona is one so eccentric and spiritualistic that it was nice to retreat back into Phoenix after a bit, if nothing else than to clear my head of images of my palms being read by a polar bear wearing a suede vest and an onyx navigation staff..... It was that type of thing. The good news: by the time we started our trek back, the clouds had dissipated and the truest reds of Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock, and all the other structures that Sedona hold dear, were clear for the viewing. Pretty incredible stuff. God has a flair for bold colors.

Anyway, back in Phoenix, we met back up with Kalyn; Fred joined us a bit later and the lot of us took off into Phoenix, finding our dinner spot at the Yardhouse. Talk about portion control! The plates at this place were enormous! Not a problem though; we went in with appetites, and satisfied them with brews off their in-house taps, oversized dinner portions, and good company. Sam's cousin was in town for a dentist conference; he, his wife, and another couple joined in the festivities. This was a first for Joe and me, to meet another couple named Joey & Corey. We savored that rare moment with a photograph :).



joe. cori. corey. joey.
yes. :)



my. best. friend.
xoxo.

We're back now, and completely spent. Kalyn's off all day tomorrow; about time for us all to relax!

xo | cmd 

Better Be a Baller to Bowl in Phoenix...



tennis :)

We got off to something of a late start today, but it was all good once we did get moving. We started off the day with a hike up from the apartment to the resort on the neighboring mountain. Being everything except conditioned to traversing inclines of any type right now [IL is essentially like treading across a sheet of paper], it was admittedly a winded experience, but absolutely worth it.
Once we'd done that, we headed to the apartment to meet up with and trek over to the resort. We got into some good tennis there before making our way to the resort pool. The guys insisted on doing a few runs down the waterslide before we recruited a random vacationing couple to even out the numbers for a fervent game of pool volleyball scored on a scale of "good one" or "that's gotta be out!". Needless to say, it was sheerly recreational with no final score.


we make our own fun :)

 Back at the apartment, it was a quick shower [and some quick refreshments!] before the four of us headed out to the bowling alley. P.S.: Bowling in Phoenix is crazy expensive! I definitely took for granted the $1 games, $1 shoe rentals, and $1 food and beverage items at the base bowling alley. Here, it was nearly $15 each, which tastes just as icky recalling it now as it did while we were standing at the registers tonight. Oh well. We made it through two sorta serious games before the third game rolled around and we were getting sick of bowling altogether. That usually leads to goofball bowling, which is exactly what happened. We got some of that glory on tape :)

See exhibits below.

Love them.

Kalyn's gotta work in the morning; Sam, Joe & I are going to church and then meeting up with her later. Time for some ZzZz's..........

xo | cmd

'Tis a 13 on Friday. 'Tis.

wakin' up to this... again. :) hi again, arizona

And?

zucchini | window plants | veggies :)

I'm in Phoenix! Correction - WE are in Phoenix! What a transformation it's already been coming from the flatlands of IL to the elevated terrain of AZ. I woke up this morning to the familiar mini mountain that ascends in the immediate backdrop right outside of Sam & KP's apartment, and felt immediately rejuvenated. That of course, didn't happen until almost mid-morning, but I was ready in time for Sam to get back from his errands. Kalyn was already at work, so he and I headed out to see her, tour the elaborate golfcourse, and of course, eat breakfast at Mojo, the deliciously adorable and classy coffee bar/deli in which she works. It's totally her, too.

brunch @ grayhawk

After consuming the signature breakfast burrito off their menu [to.die.forrrr], I got a brief tour of the place: the peaks dotting the skyline in every direction surrounding the stark but lush greens and flowering color bursts on the golf course itself, stone laid veranda overlooking the experience, the pro shop laden from wall to wall with purple plaid golf shirts priced at a quarter of my car's value, and lockerrooms complete with lockers reserved for choice celebrity golfers. Hey, if I was a golfer, I'd be falling over myself to play here. I'm pretty sure the caddies here probably have caddies. [I'm outta my league, yo.]

that's right, valet ... at the grocery store. seriously?+ + hummus hummus & more hummus!

poolside. not bad for a friday afternoon :)

Anyhow, after brunch, Sam and I headed out to run some errands: last minute grocery shopping, but more importantly some souvenier scoping for Joe. I wanted to do something of even a small suprise element for him, knowing that even so, it wouldn't equate to a surprise trip to Arizona. Turd.. haha. We passed through REI, where I found what I  wanted, only to find the exact same thing at a much more sane price 20 minutes later at Costco. Some things never change :).

bottom of the hiking trail
top of the hiking trail :)

We invested the rest of the time between then and Kalyn getting home from work hanging by the pool at their apartment, reading books and basking in the early afternoon rays. Once Kalyn rolled in, Sam took off for some hangtime with his uncle; KP and I took to hiking up the exercise mountain across the street before hitting the tennis courts and the pool at the Marriott resort that's nestled into the mountain right beside their complex. Really not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

When we'd had our daily share of outdoor rec, we rendezvoused with Sam at his Uncle Fred's house, stayed to chit chat for a bit and then headed back to clean up for dinner. We wound up at Pei Wei, where we found the most advanced beverage dispenser I've ever seen. We ordered some grub, proceeded to devour all of it, and then settled into the evening back at the apartment before KP headed off to bed and Sam headed off to the airport to pick up Joe.

pei wei space-age bev dispenser

He's here! Let the weekend begin. It was the final part of getting all four of us together in the same place at the same time; we'll get the fun underway starting tomorrow.

Phoenix is two hours behind Illinois; I feel like I'm still jetlagged for some reason. Weird.
G'Nite!

xo | cmd

S U R P R I S E !!!!

early. early. early.
holy cow. early.

I am fairly certain that I woke up beFORE Thursday did. I had carefully prepared everything so that I could easily throw my clothes and shoes onto my body, grab my bag, and undoubtedly stumble my groggy self down to the lobby and out onto the airport shuttle. I knew exactly how it would go.

different times, different cities, different states.
flyin' around town....

I was right on the money. Right around 3:30 AM this morning, I found myself fully dressed and dragging a still half-asleep me downstairs. I joined two other airport-bound commuters on the shuttle, one of which happened to be the 1st Officer of my flight. [Small world!] This would later result in my being offered an upgrade from coach to 1st Class, which I, for some reason, politely declined simply due to the effort entailed in relocating myself and my carry on. Pretty sad. Haha.

Anyway, one disembarked-and-reboarded flight later, I found myself boarding again at my layover in Denver. From there, it was smooth sailing [flying, rather] into Phoenix, where I awaited the arrival of my completely unaware best friend and her boyfriend. They pulled up to the curb, where this happened:

LOL. Love it. As it turned out, Sam had told KP that he'd accidentally veered off the wrong exit en route to Ikea [which we still visited afterwards], and to the relief of having to fib so much, it totally paid off. She was absolutely surprised. Thank you AGAIN!, Joe & Sam!!!

 

 

 

surprise visit to the best? check.
trip to ikea? check.
doin' the whole shebang.... in phoenix?? cheeeeeck!

gallo blanco | sprouts

Anyway, we spent some time at Ikea before toting off to Gallo Blanco, an adorable yet oddly-menued [word?] restaurant nestled in a vintage hotel on the outskirts of Phoenix. It was quite the cute little digs; I ended up buying shirt logo'd on the back for Gallo, but with a sentiment that I absolutely share. Plus, American Apparel did a solid job on the actual shirt. Thanksmuch! One more pitstop at Sprouts [no, we didn't buy the coconut head; he was cute though! lol]

dinner! y-u-m!

i made the cut! 2 outta 6 isn't half bad..
.. thanks, best!!

It's about closing time now; we just put some finishing touches on Kalyn's photo framing project, which I'm sure they'll get to hanging as soon as we depart from their guest room. Joe gets in tomorrow evening; it'll be great to see him. For now, it's off to bed - we're heading out to visit KP at work tomorrow morning. I hear it's an extraordinary specimen of a country club.

Ahhhh, Phoenix. Hi :)

xo | cmd

Game Night: Cranium

It was difficult to bid farewell to our country abode this morning, so with reluctance we loaded up our gear with destination: Cincinnati, OH.

Here we are.

The good news is, we didn’t have to completely crash off the ‘high’ of a stellar honeymoon; we were greeted by an invitation to join our friends for a game night. We met up with JB and headed out to West Chester to meet up with Eric at Geoff & Sam’s.

We quickly progressed into an ambitious go of Cranium, with the artistic women on Geoff’s team, and Joe, Eric, and JB left to their own creative devices as a trio team.

I’m so thankful for friends like these, for real, soulful laughs like these, and for nights like these.

My parents are coming down tomorrow to visit with us, and to return their little vacationer. We're all doing lunch here with Joe's mom. We’re looking forward to having the family together; right now, it’s time for sleep J

xo | cmd

Rocky Mountains, Sand Dunes, & Albuquerque

world's best shower, ever



Haha. If you’ve ever been forced to go without showering for a few days, or if you’ve just endured a night tenting in 45 degree weather with 50+ mph winds, than a hot shower paired with solid water pressure will be one of the best showers you’ve ever had. That was our thinking this morning out of the KOA showers after a ridiculous night that was more riddled with sleep than filled with it.



rain in co. springs

Once on the road, it was a soggy entrance into Colorado Springs. That meant the Rocky Mountains were shrouded with fog and haze; we were sad our first glance of the mountains was dampened by the weather. We saw some light once we parked at the Omelette Parlour in Colorado Springs.



omelette parlor

We definitely put our diets on hold for this trip, but know this: It was worth every bite. Ha.

After brunch, the weather seemed to clear some, and those majestic Rockies came out of hiding. They’re absolutely breathtaking, and even though we were unable to see Pike’s Peak, but what we did see was enough to make us smile and get us going on our way.



great sand dunes national park



Kalyn found a national park that was about 20 minutes off our path, but we figured the opportunity to see this would hardly present itself so willingly again anytime soon. Off we were: Great Sand Dunes National Park.

If you’ve never seen these dunes, my saying they are incredible does them little justice, if any at all. They’re created by sands off the Rockies, and the only place in the world these exact type of dunes are found. Pretty intriguing, to me at least. So it was there that we ate lunch, took some silly pictures, and got back on the road.



sand dunes & rocky mountains .... and jumping kids :)



best friends | enjoying the landscape!



 Don’t ask me how, but somehow we atlas’d ourselves around Santa Fe, but we were taking a scenic route and figured bypassing to Albuquerque would be just as good as anything else. We stopped for dinner at the Church Street Café, and enjoyed some fajitas, taco salad, and Pacifico to a soundtrack of a strung out guitarist ;)



albuquerque, nm!

Since our first attempt to sleep on the road wasn’t a complete success, we opted for bunking in an actual hotel tonight: Sleep Inn in Gallup, NM. It’s another early day tomorrow!

xo | cmd

On the ROAD!

get ready

And we… are… OFF!

Sam and Kalyn stayed at our place last night, and around 9:30 this morning, the three of us loaded up into her jeep and jumped on the highway for their 2^nd day, my first, on the road from Cincinnati to Phoenix.

heading to kansas

We were pretty excited when we hit Kansas City, somehow thinking we were making pretty decent headway. It wasn’t until we hit the meat of Kansas that we quickly realized that it consisted of windmills, and ……………. Nothing else, really.

No, seriously. Kansas is flatter than a pancake, literally. Aside from the windmills, there is not a single intriguing thing to see while driving straight across this state. It took all three of us to conquer the plains of KS before I struck gold on my turn and flew past the Welcome to Colorado sign before we had a chance to celebrate it. [Don’t worry, we stopped at the border of CO & NM to capture the sign!]

colorful colorado!

Once we crossed onto the grounds of CO and in spite of Sam’s urging to find a hotel, Kalyn and I were determined to camp out. We found a KOA in Limon, CO. We checked in and found our little tent plot nestled in the midst of a crowd of RV’s. Fortunately for us, there was a wooden fence no more than 8 feet long and 7 feet high behind which we claimed our spot. Against our better judgment, we unloaded and pitched a tent in 50+mph winds and a dropping temperature of 48 degrees at that point. We found ourselves with clogged tent poles with no other option than to Macgyver the staking and climb inside as quickly as possible to help prevent the whole setup from blowing away.

If you think I’m exaggerating, I promise you, I’m not. It. Was. Cold. We had two blankets, two pillows, and a sleeping bag. Needless to say, it was an interesting night.

tenting in limon, co | bad idea.

Tomorrow is back on the road: Colorado Springs, the Rocky Mountains, and Santa Fe, NM!

Oh, and P.S. – Not to put a damper on the excitement of our journey westward, but today would’ve been Jena Fogle-Blake’s 27^th birthday. You are always missed, but never forgotten, friend. <3

xo | cmd-

St. Louis Zoo || Kalyn & Sam

Ya’ll know how much we love visiting the zoo (any zoo). Today we decided to take Sydni to the St. Louis Zoo, which is one of the few zoos that offer free admission while still maintaining appearances and interesting displays. Plus, the place is huge.

st. louis zoo

After the zoo, we headed back home. We made a pitstop and grabbed a new game for the Wii, just in case we needed a little extra for entertaining guests later on.

As it turns out, KP & Sam showed up and we ended up heading to base for a bit to play some volleyball by the base campground lake before heading back to the house for some old school NES Mario and calling it a day.

nes, buddy.

Saying prayers tonight for Joe & Sydni: I’ll be gone for about four days and they’ll be on their own for that time. I’m hoping all goes smoothly!

xo | cmd

Memorial Day 2011



American Flag: USAF F-117 Nighthawks



Happy Memorial Day!

Today I want to pause and THANK, from the core of my heart, the men and women whose lives were and are dedicated to protecting our rights and freedoms. You are remembered, supported, and honored.

Today started fairly early for us. We had a 7:00 AM breakfast date with KP & Sam before saying tearful farewell-for-now’s [mainly just KP & I crying like babies]. I got another parting gift from my best:



handmade book :)

Joe, Syd, & I hit the road after breakfast for the mid-length haul to IL. Time to move!! I didn’t realize exactly how FLAT the landscape actually becomes when nearing IL.



nope, not ohio, but i gotta love the name ;)



The good thing about driving from Eastern to Central time is essentially gaining an hour’s time. So, we made it to our IL home around 1:00 PM, CDT. We unloaded the final cargo and wasted no time getting refreshed and ready to head over the base [Scott AFB] to visit the Sandven clan [Kyle, Amy, & Miss Tessa]. We took a group stroll to the park and let the girls romp around together for a bit.

base park near the sandven's

Not too bad for the first day in! The Dills are officially together as a family.

I love it <3

 xo | cmd

Joe is Licensed into Ministry!

Our plans for the next 3+years, in a rough draft:

-         Joe finishing his BA through the Air Force

-         Joe going into Seminary school

-         Cori starting her master’s

That middle one is the one we celebrated today.

Our church decided they would be the licensing support behind Joe when he makes that step into seminary school. We’re honored that they would do that for us. It’s a rather big deal, but I’m confident that Joe will make New Harmony proud

licensing | sydni & ellie- matching ♥

Joe’s mom, KP & Sam, and Mike & Phyllis made appearances to show their support. Oh, and I sang today. Totally butchered it, but hey- rather do that on my own that at someone’s wedding ;) Oh, and Katrina had gotten Sydni and Ellie matching dresses. It was completely darling.

sufficient | adie camp

After church, we ate Goldstar for the last time for a long while. We headed home to pack the rest of our stuff before heading over to the Powell house for a bit. It was a good night, with some great people.

push ups and laughs at the powell house

 

Tomorrow’s Memorial Day. Let’s stay mindful!

 xo | cmd

Mr. & Mrs. Rekitzke!

9:00 AM: Hair appt. at Regency.
Q: How many students does it take to french braid?

A: 5.

Haha. At least it got done, and that + ½ can of hairspray + 47 hair & bobby pins later it was a done deal. KP, Brittany, and the lovely bride Linda all got some fancy work done as well, and it didn’t turn out half bad at all. Kudos, Regency students!

9:15 AM: Joe dropped Sydni off with our Pastor’s family for her last weekend sleepover there for quite a while.

10:30 AM: Run-through of both songs with the DJ and one.wired.mic. Oh boy. Not to worry, though- we made it happen.

11:15 AM: Get ready, fast. Yeah, it didn’t start until noon, but you’re talking a bride + three girls in one bathroom doing everything except hair.

12:00 PM: GO. <3



congratulations to linda & pete!!

best friend :)



I’m happy to say both songs went off without a hitch, and we partied our little hearts right out until 4:30 PM. Haha. Then it was home to take a nap [we’re old folk now, apparently] before our 7PM group reservation at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse.



Mark Ballas | Dancing With the Stars



Oh yeah. Celeb sightings at the Boathouse. Mark from DWTS

After dinner, we stopped at Rob’s to play spoons, with a twist. Instead of drinking as a consequence for losing a round, it was something sufficiently worse: eating a piece of week-old smurf-blue frosted angel food cake. It’s a dangerous game when you’ve got Brittany and Joe in the finals with blue cake on the line. It was hilarious.

brittany. rob. kara. cameron. jess. tim. cori. joe. nathan. kalyn. sam.
|| after hours at rob's ||



Anyway, weekend’s not over just yet: Tomorrow’s another big day!

xo | cmd