Graduation

Last week the big day came, and Jose officially graduated with his MBA! I honestly couldn't be more proud of him!!! We had a great celebration with family and friends all week long and are now happily adjusting to life without school. : ) Thanks to all of you who came to help us celebrate and those who watched and cheered on the festivities via Internet! Here are a few pics of the happy occasion!

Last Day of School!

Last Wednesday was Jose's very last day of school! Does he look smarter? Graduations festivities are this weekend, but we had to commemorate the last day. More to come...

I'm Back!!!

So after many months on blogging hiatus, I'm back! But just because I've been absent doesn't mean I haven't been reading all of your blogs! Actually, my amazing and trusty IBM bit the dust a few months ago and I've just been slow to replace it! Considering that I got it to go to college it's amazing it made it that long....I think computer years are like dog years! But sharing a computer with a busy grad student hasn't allowed me much time online. But I am an independent woman, so expect to be hearing from us again!
So now I'm going to go back to playing with my new toy.... : )

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!