Early April Fool's!!!

Rod and I just got home from our SURPRISE Easter Trip to AZ! Thank you to my extremely resourceful brother-in-law Quinton, who managed to get us buddy passes 2 days before so we could be there for the holiday and Gibson's blessing!
We surprised ALOT of our friends and family and the trip was so fun! It was especially nice to be in 80 degree weather for a change!! Not too many pics were taken...I decided I really need to be better about that! I will try and get some from my fam of Gibson in his 5 piece suit he wore for the blessing...ADORABLE! We got to go to the Easter Pageant too where my sister Danna is a multitude child and my dad is a Roman soldier as well as the "over-actor" blind man! You can always figure out which one he is b/c he's the only Roman that wears his bluetooth before the show starts and
right after it ends.

We had a BIG EASTER FEAST after Gibson's blessing with all of our family & friends and it's always fun to play our very competitive family games later that night...I think we may take it a little too seriously at times. Especially me.
Oh and since our first stand-by flight was overbooked and we had to wait 2.5 hrs for the next flight, we'd like to send a big thankyou to the "O'Neal family of four" who missed their connecting flight from ATL to PHX - you don't know us but my husband and I occupied your seats and we are forever indebted to you! :~)

New Job...New Gym...New Trend???

It's def. been awhile...I have no new pictures that I can think of and Rod is in the other room playing "Call of Duty 4" on Xbox Live w/ his brother that's in Texas...so I'm in here...trying to pass the time. A couple of new things that have happened since getting back from AZ:

I started working with a new company....and it just so happens to be for....

That's right - the same company that has employed my husband for almost 7 years now! It's really close to our apartment, the office staff is small - like 4 of us and I get to see Rod ALL DAY LONG! haha! Some ppl may not think this is such a good idea but I've successfully worked & lived with ppl simultaneously and never had a problem...I'm hoping for the same this time around! :~) He may be the boss at work...but we ALL know who's boss at home!

So after a LONG day at work - together ofcourse...what better way to spend the evening than at

!!!!
It's true - we joined a gym and it's about dang time! We drive by it every day so we figured it was meant to be. I was and still am very intimidated by the establishment they call a gym...but I feel much better knowing that Rod is there too. They have super nice raquetball courts and we took advantage of that tonight. This weekend we bought the raquets, the raquetballs and goggles...yes...goggles. I wear gas permeable lenses...aka "hard contacts" and if that ball comes back and hits me in the face, I will basically have an imbedded contact in my eye....no thanks. So as flamer as it looks to wear protective eyewear...I'm gonna sport it. Besides...there are plenty of other ppl that use them. Balding, middle-aged, tanktop loving men mostly but I'm willing to start a new trend! :~)

And Carrie, I know you requested a picture..but my camera battery is dead - soon enough my friend...soon enough.

Trip to AZ - Part 2

It's good to be back in Georgia with Rod! The 2 1/2 weeks in AZ were WONDERFUL! I didn't get pictures of everyone and everything but it's probably b/c I was too wrapped up in the moment(s)!

Some of my favorite:
*I got to see and spend time with my Grandpa J. and the rest of my Julander cousins!
*I had lunch/dinner dates with a friend pretty much every other day
*The fabulous Sonic crew at Lindsay & McKellips welcomed me back w/ open arms :~)
*Even though it's months early -Carrie, Jenna & I held our traditionanl birthday breakfast @ The Good Egg.
*Failed attempt at star searching in Scottsdale, getting harrassed by and then exchanging some choice words with a Ukrainian bike-cart man and then meeting your friends outside the big tent party that they somehow managed to sneak into and retrieve VIP passes for - good times.
*I had Costa Vida a total of 6 times while I was there...sounds a little much but we don't have ANYTHING like it out here!!!
*My mom's cooking - I don't even care what it was, it was fabulous b/c I didn't make it.
*Spending time with my younger sisters/family - probably more than they bargained for but I enjoyed it!!
*The warmer temperature & getting to wear sandals! YAY!
*Had the chance to play with my old Bunco group - and was a sub for another group too!
*The chill nights with the girls - we don't have to be doing anything in particular and it is ALWAYS fun!

A few pics:

The proud parents - Kara & Quinton

One of the outfits I got for him - look at that lil' face!

Tempe Town Lake - we missed Boys Like Girls but hoped Counting Crows would deliver. We were wrong.

The fireworks were FABULOUS! Better than any other show I've seen!

I think we love going to Sonic mostly to confuse anyone that takes our order:
Diet Dr. Pepper ~ Dr. Pepper w/ Vanilla ~ Regular ol' Dr. Pepper


I miss AZ and everyone there but I missed Rod too! I had so much fun & couldn't have asked for more. Being far away def. helps me appreciate all the ppl in my life more then ever! So for now...it's back to the dirty souf. Miss & love you all! I'll be back soon!

Trip to AZ - Part I

Rodney and I came out for a few reasons:

1. He had business meetings and since corporate is in AZ - I naturally tagged along!

2. One of my best friends Shannon Gillespie got home from her mission (the same day we landed at Sky Harbour!)

3. Kara and Quinton had their first baby!

4. I missed my friends and family a ton! But I guess that should be a given!


My Grandpa Julander and his one and only great grandchild

Nallie, Non and I at the Open House

Cuddling with my baby nephew Gibson Quinton Jones. Why is he so much tanner than me?!!?


I made these for his room - pretty sure I did it the hard way but it got done! Thankyou Natalie Ballantyne for the inspiration! :~)

I'm still here 'til Feb. 9th so I'll be posting more of my extended stay!

Rod - if you're reading this - I love and miss you! :~)

It's rain...it's flurry...it's SNOW!!!

I know...not that big of a deal but when you've lived in Southern California and Arizona your entire life - this stuff is an anomaly!

I took these pics from my apt. balcony and there were a few ppl walking to their cars prolly assuming I was a tourist or just a sheltered idiot.


Either way...I can't believe I live somewhere that it snows! UGH!

"Update your blog for heavens sake"

...that was the text I just received. Everytime Carrie tells me that my blog is slacking - I HAVE to take action! I've got a lot to update on but I'm on the couch with the laptop so I will only have the patience for one topic right now.


The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

Yeah, yeah I know - this book is old news and yes they've already made a movie about it...but let me preface this plug on the sheer fact that I am by no means "a reader." I've only just recently realized that pretty much everyone I associate with enjoys a good book on a regular basis. It didn't hit me until my good friend Jackie said bluntly that if you didn't read - you had no imagination. Ow.

Well after plowing thru the Twilight Series...I was in need of another read. So Rodney suggested this fine piece of page-turning literature. We went to Borders and picked up the illustrated edition b/c I'm a "visual" kinda person...and I couldn't put this thing down! I went to bed at 4AM the 1st day I started reading it and finished it the next! Rodney would sit and play XBOX and I would read - talk about quality time together! :~) We watched the movie right after I finished b/c I'd never seen it...I vote the book. Go get yourself one...and I'll be working on my next project:

Honeymoon Cruise

Well here are some pics from our FABULOUS cruise! I have to admit...I was TERRIFIED at first to go b/c of the whole Titanic thing. Yeah I know I'm an idiot but I can't help it, that event and movie seriously made me so nervous! But I woman'd up and went for it! We drove about 6 hours to get Jacksonville, FL. We were treated like royalty...we had VIP check in and stayed in the biggest veranda on the boat! And fine dining every night, I'm not that kinda girl usually but it was nice while it lasted. :~)

Here's our boat! The Carnival Celebration! Our room is on the same level as the life boats!

Our big comfy bed! Rod was prolly watching TV during this pic!

This was formal night - ok I don't do "formal" so I wore a skirt and Rodney forgot to pack slacks so he wore jeans! Whoops!

My favorite towel animal of the week! AWE!

Here's the HUGE bridge we had to take to get to Paradise Beach. Not intimidating you say? OH YEAH??? Try taking one of THESE bad boys over it...

HAHA! So in the Bahamas there are 3 traffic laws. Don't obey the speed limit - weave in and out as often as possible - and DRIVE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD! Needless to say I was pretty nervous but Rod did such a good job!

The Bahamas! The beach was beautiful - gotta play in the crystal clear water and I think I saw a fish that could easily kill me but all in all - we had an AMAZING time!

Georgia "Firsts"

I thought I'd post some pictures of our first week in Georgia! It's not much bc most of the time we were moving things in, unpacking and arranging.

So this is first thing I saw every morning while we drove across country...

Our first traffic jam - this was actually a relief to me knowing that it was a BIG city!

We ate Olive Garden for our first night in Buford - it was FREEZING!

My first REAL autumn! There were trees with leaves as red as my car!

You knew it was coming - SONIC! You gotta get on the freeway to get there but it's only a 20 min. roundtrip - and well worth it!

And our first home cooked meal on our first dining table! (Don't worry we have a real one now...)

We got married...and moved to GEORGIA!

I gotta throw something up here b/c Carrie said she's sick of lookin at my "boring blog". Ouch. So to catch you up - we got married on the 9th - packed up a moving truck and started our journey eastward on the 11th - drove thru New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama before arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, all in about 5 days time! WOW...talk about a road trip! haha! For half of it I drove Rodney's car behind him in our big Penske truck and car tow. The only thing that kept me alive was my music, and those oh so delicious David's Sunflower seeds!
Most of these are from Anais' camera...
What's this? A sonic trip on my wedding day - naturally!

Ok so this beast of a cake is the "Groom's Cake". I along with other ppl I'd asked, had never heard of it before! So ofcourse I thought it was pretty ridiculous but I was curious to see this so-called "tradition" for myself. Needless to say - this obnoxious, strawberry topped, double chocolate, massive Texas shaped cake was a HIT!

This is it for now - I'll post pics of my honeymoon cruise soon!

blah blah blah...i'm a crappy blogger

Yesterday Carrie, Loren and Rodney all pointed out that I haven't updated the ol' blog for quite some time. So this post is my public apology.
The Suns play the Lakers tonight. Now don't get me wrong - any other day I'm a Suns fan...but can you guess who I'll be cheering on tonight? (No I'm not a bandwagonner - I was born in Hollywood and lived in L.A.)


Maybe now ya'll will be a lil' easier on me about not having ample time to update the blog. You don't want tons of posts like this one now do ya? :~) Lakers Girl for Life!



Oh yeah...I get married to this handsome man in one week. :~)

THE END