Thanksgiving Holiday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. We went to Dallas to spend it with Jose's parents. It was really nice to have a few days off of school for both of us and to spend time in our old hometown. We were able to spend some time with friends and family and watch A LOT of football. Ugh. If you don't know...I hate football. It is so long, and so slow, and so boring. But I am the awesomest wife ever and went to 3 games in 3 days with Jose.

First we went to the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day. Nothing like celebrating a holiday with 85,000 of your closest friends. But the new stadium was UH-Mazing and I was excited to actually get to use our season tickets. The big screen is unbelievable. It's like watching the best TV you've ever seen but 10,000 times bigger! The Cowboys won, so it was happy all around.

Then on Friday night we went to see Jose's High School Football team play in the state playoffs. There was some definite reliving of glory days. But, you haven't seen football until you've seen the Friday night lights of real Texas football. They ended up winning and Jose was really happy to see it.

Saturday Jose dragged me to the SMU game. We hit up the Boulevard for the tailgate and watched the game. I think that it might be the only place in the world where football fans come in high heels, pearls, and blazers/ties. Maybe I finally found my crowd! SMU also won, so it was a 3 game, 3 victory weekend. And it will be a long time before I go to a game again.

Thank goodness Football season is almost over!!

Disneyland

In October we went to Disneyland with the Pugh side of the family. We had a great time and it was nice to get away for a few days for both of us to take a break from school. We had fun seeing my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. I just can't believe how big they are getting. I didn't really take many pictures, but we had a great time!

Here's Jose giving your the Churro Salute outside the main gates.

Us in our sweet 3-D glasses for the new Toy Story ride.

Jose with my brother Brandon in the back being a dork. Typical.

Thanks for a fun weekend fam! We love you all

Happy 30th Birthday Jose!!

First, I suck. A whole month with no update. I think I totally forgot what it was like to have a life/be busy. Blogging drops very low on the priority list. Anywho...

Happy 30th Birthday to Jose! Yesterday (the 26th) we celebrated a big day as Jose has graduated to his thirties. We've spent most of the last couple of weeks celebrating and have had a blast doing so.

A few weekends ago we went to the Boulders resort up in Carefree with our good friends Tyler & Ashley. Tyler just turned 30 about 2 weeks ago, so we made it a big double celebration. The boys played all-you-can-golf, while Ashley and I went to the pool and the spa. We then went to dinner at T Cook's at the Royal Palms, one of the best restaurants in town. All in all, it was a pretty perfect weekend! Thanks guys for so much fun, as always!

For his actual birthday, Jose and Tyler played golf again (can you see a pattern...that's pretty much every saturday) and then we had a few friends over to watch the BYU game and have dinner. It was a fun night with friends and the Cougars pulled out a win for Jose.

In some ways, I think I have had a harder time with Jose's birthday. I mean, when did I get so old I could be married to someone who was 30 and it wasn't creepy?!?!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Babe! Here's to your 30's being even better than your 20's!

(Sunrise at the Boulders...isn't it beautiful?)

August at a Glance

Ugh...I've been so absent on the blog. My apologies!! It's been an insane summer, and fall just snuck right up on us. We've done a lot since I last posted and a lot has changed. There have been 3 trips, a birthday, a move, and one Castaneda going back to school. (hint: it wasn't Jose.) Here's a few highlights from the past month or so!

We had a great trip to Chicago. Neither of us had been and we ate our way through town! Lots of Chicago Dogs, deep dish pizza, and other fun treats. Not to mention an architectural tour, night time fireworks, and a whole mile of shopping. Twice. All in all, it was a pretty perfect trip and Chicago definitely got added to the list of cities we'd love to live in.

We also spent a weekend in Ohio. We started with a trip to Cedar Point (America's biggest theme park), visited with a friend of Jose's from his mission and his new wife, went to Kirtland, and then to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. And Cleveland does rock, fyi.

Then it was off to Utah for a few days to visit with my family. I went solo on that one while Jose finished up his internship.

Then it was a move back from Michigan to Arizona. I flew and let Jose drive home. He spent a week with his family and got to go to a pre-season cowboys game at the new Stadium.

I had to come home to start school! I decided this summer that I wanted to go to Culinary School. I am now 2 weeks into my 9 month program and loving it. It's something I've always wanted to do and it just seemed like the right time. Anyway, I started a separate blog about school and the things I am learning/doing so if you want to check it out it is:

cisforchef.blogspot.com

All in all it's been a crazy month, but we are happy to be back home and start a new year!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Tuesday night, Jose and I headed to downtown Detroit to watch the Tigers take on my hometown team, the Mariners. It was a fun outing and we enjoyed seeing the ballpark, enjoying the great weather (it's around 75 everyday here), and of course having a hotdog. I love hotdogs...I could write a whole post on that, but I'll spare you.

Jose sporting his new Detroit hat.

The outfield of the stadium opens right up to downtown. Gives a pretty cool view from inside. Especially because lots of the buildings are really old and ornate.

Life in Michigan

We've been running around so much lately I haven't even really gotten to tell you all a little bit about Michigan. It has been an adventure, that's for sure, and fun to get a chance to sort of "try on" a city. Here's the real shocker....we really like it! Who ever thought I'd like living in Detroit?! It is really beautiful (they don't call it the Land-O-Lakes for nothing!), the weather is great (70-80 everyday), the suburbs are really nice, and the people are so friendly. It's also so close to many major cities and we are hoping to get out and explore a little for the rest of the summer.

Every city/area has its own little quirks. Here are some of the most interesting things we've found while living here.

1. The state of Michigan is shaped like a left hand (see above map). People actually use this as a reference! They say, "I'm from where the ring finger and the pinky finger meet." Or they will actually hold up their hand and point! I've heard they make Michigan oven mitts...I may have to find myself one.

2. If you want to turn left at a stoplight, you actually have to turn right. What?! Crazy. They call it "The Michigan Left". You turn right, then in about 1/4 mile on the left lane there is a special U-turn lane where you finally get to go the direction you want. Maybe the above diagram will help. It doubles the amount of stoplights needed and you actually have to wait 3 times sometimes. Jose and I are NOT fans.

3. They take construction workers VERY seriously here. Everywhere on the freeways and streets there are signs saying that if you kill/injure a worker you will pay a $7,500 fine AND serve 15 years in prison! They are not joking around.

4. People are really aggressive drivers and they drive really fast. The speed limits are really high here:70-80 in major highways in the city. It's taken a little getting used to. Hard to keep up with the traffic when you have no idea where you are going! But we've adjusted.

5. We live NORTH of Canada. Eh? Yes, we actually do (you can check me on the map above). Did you know that Detroit and Canada (Windsor) pretty much touch? There is even a chunnel to go back and forth. I think we are the few cities in the continental US that is actually North of Canada. Pretty cool.

6. Pop cans are worth $.10 each! And the crazy part is people actually collect them. They have deposit machines at the front of every store and it gives you money. I think $.10 is a lot. I've been saving mine. I got a 12 pack of diet coke on sale the other day for $2.00 and with the cans that will be like paying $.06 per can. They are practically paying me to drink it! And everyone (I mean everyone) actually does it. That's the weird part. But I guess it's very green, so good work MI.

7. If you pay for you gas with a credit card you have to pay more per gallon. Or as Jose says, they give you a discount for paying cash. Definitely shows the difference in our personalities on how we see that! I think it's a penalty and he thinks it's a discount! Tomato...tomatoe...pay in cash.

I'm sure we'll find out many interesting things in our remaining month here. Who knows...maybe next year this will be our real home.

Seattle

This weekend almost the entire Pugh Crew got together in Seattle. Sadly, Jose couldn't make it as well as Melly and kids. But, we certainly enjoyed being home and saying:

WELCOME HOME MOM & DAD!

We're so excited to have my parents home from their 3 mission for our Church. We're looking forward to many more family events where we can all be together again. While in Seattle we visited with old friends, had some Burgermaster, ate baby doughnuts from Pike Place Market, and mostly just spent time with all the cute cousins and each other. We even had a wonderful 'adults only' dinner. There was needless to say lots of laughing and we were sad to see it end.

I wasn't very good about taking pictures. I think quite a few of them ended up on other peoples cameras, but here's a few!

Laura and Sammy - what a cute pair!

Trevor's big crack on the Pinata.

The madness that occurs moments later when candy is everywhere.

Princess Baby (aka Abby) enjoying a sucker.

Alex showing off his bag of treats.