Mom and PJ come to visit!

Josh and I were fortunate enough to have two visits from our parents within weeks of each other! No sarcasm here. Josh and I LOVE it when our friends and family visit. We were sad that Dad couldn't be here :(, but still happy that Mom and PJ were able to come out. This trip wasn't as packed as the trip with Mom and Dad Downing, because Mom was a little handicapped. She dropped a bottle of San Pellegrino on her foot back in the beginning of April and broke two of her toes! They still haven't healed to the full extent, so we had to take it pretty easy. We hung around the house most of the time. Mom helped us organize and decorate...moms are always great at that :). We did manage to take a day trip down to Sedona and celebrate Mom's birthday. It was a fun and relaxing visit. As always, we were sad to see them go :(

Kept on smiling despite her injury!

At Three Dog Bakery in Sedona. PJ went crazy! We spoiled him :)

The boys took an afternoon nap while mom and I shopped

Happy Birthday Mom!

Moving Day

Josh and I have been living in a tiny apartment since I moved out last December. It was a nice little apartment...not to mention our first home together :)...but we were more than ready to move into a house. Half of our furniture and other items were in storage (to include my wonderful, oh-so-comfortable, PERFECT, couches). As you can imagine, we were excited to move to a house so we could enjoy all of our furniture/household items AND have a kitchen I could actually move in!

Moving helpers!

Took a break for Chipotle

We love the house! Plus it's twenty minutes closer to the base. SO NICE! More pics soon to come...

Mom and Dad Downing's VIsit

Mom and Dad Downing were able to come visit us for a weekend a few weeks ago. It was a very fast and packed visit! We all had a fabulous time and didn't want it to be over :(. We started off the visit with a tour of where Josh and I work, followed by a trip to Sedona, a trip to Cave Creek, and finished off with a show by the McMorrows at Lis Doon Varna.

Josh's office

My cubicle...not quite the same as Josh's office, but it works for me!

Sedona is absolutely gorgeous! Red rock and evergreen... can you think of a more beautiful combination? It's the first on our list of sites to bring visitors and we never tire of it. It's only a 2.5 hour drive from where we live. A perfect little getaway!

Sedona

Sedona

One of our favorite activities at Sedona is to rent a four-wheel drive jeep and go "jeeping" (as I call it) through the trails. A lot of fun!

Stopped on one of the trails and took a short hike to some cliff dwellings

Steep!

The next day we went to a town called Cave Creek. It's a quaint little town close to a lake. The desert landscape is beautiful.

Had to get a picture with the Saguaro :)

Lis Doon Varna is one of our favorite restaurants in AZ. Odd, since it's an Irish pub. It is one of the best Irish pubs I have been to. It was built in Ireland to ensure authentic architecture and piece-mailed to the U.S. They have excellent food and TRUE Irish bands. Another visit on our list.

The McMorrows

Time to depart :(. It was a wonderful visit. We can't wait for Dad to retire so they can stay longer next time!

Allardice Family Trip for 2010

Most of you all know that I leave for a deployment later this year. My family tries to have at least one family trip each year. This is extremely difficult since we are all active duty military. We managed to coordinated our schedules and planned a family trip to Colorado Springs this coming July. But, as always, the Air Force had other plans. Around the first week of April, Angela received a short notice deployment (which was odd, because she just returned from a deployment in August before our wedding). She was tasked to leave in the beginning of May, which meant our family trip was not going to happen in July. Furthermore, I leave for my deployment before she returns and I don't get back until spring 2011. Which also meant our family would go a year and a half without seeing each other! We didn't like that :(. So, we all decided last minute that we would fly out to VA for the weekend. Angela is currently stationed at Langely AFB, VA and my parents happened to be TDY to Bolling AFB, VA for two weeks during the time she received word of the deployment...perfect timing (which we all know is rare). So Amber and I flew out to VA. We were almost a complete family...Josh was TDY, so he couldn't go. BUT, at least the five of us were together. It was a VERY short visit. We enjoyed every minute of it :). Our family owns property out in VA (hopefully our parents will retire on it one day!). So most of our time was spent hanging out on the land.

Family pic...minus Joshua :(

Dad and his beloved tractor

Cute, cute, cute!!!!!

Hunting for a mouse

The property

Dad and Ang

Beavers at work!

A view of the lake and a bratty pup! But we still love him :)

TDY = Family Trip

TDYs can be good or bad. Sometimes the Air Force sends us to unfortunate places, such as Kettering OH (yes, that would be MY TDY). Other times, they send us to amazing places like New Zealand (that would be Joshua's TDY...jealous? Yes!). This time, the Air Force sent Josh to San Diego for two weeks. Not quite New Zealand, but it's still a great location! A TDY to San Diego meant a weekend trip for me :). (ummmm New Zealand please?) I packed up my bags and flew out there for the weekend (8-10 April). It was a fun little weekend get-away. And Josh definitely loved the break from Luke.


Our first stop...San Diego Zoo! FYI, San Diego zoo is free for military members. You should stop by if you're in the area!



This Panda was adorable. I could have watched her for hours! I'm easily entertained :)




Joshua was super excited to see the Galapagos tortoises...then he was extremely disappointed to find he was one month too early.

Isn't this face so cute?

Next stop...Seaworld! Another park that gives free access to military members.

Our little dolphin friend :)



Shamu in action!



I love flamingos! And they loved me because I had food :)

The next weekend Josh spent with the guys in San Diego and I took a last minute trip to Virginia (featured in the next post).

A Navy aircraft carrier ported in San Diego that weekend (I missed all the sailors). Joshua and his guys were able to take a tour of the big ship. Pretty neat experience.










They finished off the weekend with a ride around San Diego. Yes, they all brought their motorcycles out. Josh always gets his ride in :)

Our first Easter!

Spring is here! And so is Easter :). One of the most significant holidays in our lives because it celebrates the day our Savior gave His life for us. Thank you Jesus! Along with the spiritual significance, Easter brings spring cheer! Don't you think so? Flowers (daffodils!!!!), chicks, bunnies, easter eggs, I love it :). Unfortunately, I didn't get to decorate any easter eggs this year :(. I try to every year, but just never manage to find the time; HOWEVER, I did manage to find time to make Easter brunch! And yes, I made a feast...for two. It was worth it :)




Post service picture. Josh and I had planned on attending the sunrise service...didn't quite make it. The 0900 service was just as good!

Prepping brunch!

Josh helped too :)

Brunch is served!

It was a wonderful first Easter. Very relaxing Sunday...reflecting on all of the Lord's blessings. He is so good to us!

A Break

We're back! Busy, busy, busy...three words that best describe the months of April and May. Easter, a trip to San Diego, follow-on trip to Virginia, visits from both sets of parents, and a move out of our apartment into a new house brings us to the current date. I'm going to post the events separately...just know they're a couple weeks behind :). Here we go!

Motorcycles and Firearms

This past weekend Jen and I had what she deemed a "Josh Weekend" full of motorcycling and shooting.  Several things prompted this development.  First, I've been trying to match up my schedule with several friends from work who all ride motorcycles.  Saturday everything worked out for us to ride up to Bartlett Reservoir.  Four bikes headed out that morning and rode to the reservoir over some gorgeous desert landscape.  Plenty of twisties and elevation changes kept me happy, while the scenery kept Jen entertained.  The reservoir itself was pretty cool.  For such a large lake on a beautiful day, it was surprisingly quiet and empty.  We'll definitely plan to take some more trips up there in the future.  On the way back, Frank, one of my friends, let me ride his 2008 Harley Street Glide.  It was amazing, and has now become the new desire for my next motorcycle.

Bartlett Reservoir surrounded by "mountains" and cacti

Jen found this perfect photo spot as we rode along, and we just had to pull over to take a picture

At the boat launch with Frank's and my bikes

On Sunday we met some friends to go shooting at a nearby range.  Since Jen's deployment is coming up quickly, she's decided to become comfortable firing a pistol similar to the one with which she'll most likely deploy.  I ran her through the basics of my HK P30 and let her loose on a 25 foot target.  She did very well, and decided that shooting wasn't as scary as she'd previously thought; in fact, it was fun!  Her goal is to get range time in about once a month til her deployment gets closer, then increase that time to once a week.  At that rate, she'll be a trained killer before we know it!

Getting in my turn

She already looks like she knows what she's doing!

Don't let the smile fool you...  she's dangerous.

Since everything we did this weekend was testosterone-infused, she now claims I owe her a weekend of pedicures and shopping sometime in the near future.  We'll see about that.

Spontaneous Trip

Last weekend Josh and I decided to take a spontaneous overnight trip to Scottsdale....via Hotwire! For those of you who have never used Hotwire, it is a vehicle that hotels use to sell rooms that didn't get booked. The hotels push the unsold rooms through Hotwire to sell at a discounted rate rather than not selling at all. The catch is that Hotwire masks the hotel name until you actually make the purchase (if they didn't mask the names, the hotels would lose revenue). That's the best part about it :)...the surprise! So, Josh and I went to Hotwire's website, selected a Five-Star equivalent for the search criteria and clicked submit! Our result...drum roll please...Intercontinental Montelucia! Sounds fancy right? Well, all I can say is....HEAVEN.

The resort was gorgeous. We arrived at 8pm so the night crowd was already trickling in. Some were staying at the resort but the majority we think were local Scottsdale people. You know, the rich type with judging eyes at our blue jeans :). I was able to change out of my uniform at work, but Josh didn't have enough time (working those Maintainers hard)! We decided he should change out of his uniform in the car before we walked into the hotel. Didn't want people griping that the Military puts its members in Five Star resorts (although I would argue that they deserve it)....ok, back to the story. The central part of the resort had two restaurants, fire pits, cafe, spa, and pool. The entire area was surrounded with speakers and Spanish style music was playing. The night, fire, spanish music....altogether, it was pretty romantic. I'm just going to give you one little tid-bit about the resport and then I'll stop typing, becuase the pictures are always the best part of blogs :). The Owner (or CEO of the resort developer...someone like that) traveled to Spain, Morocco, and Italy to get an idea of how the culture and architecture of the resort should be. That is the best way to describe the resort. Mesh all three countries together :). Ok, now for the pics. Sorry for the poor quality photos. I forgot to pack our camera, so everything was taken with our iPhones...not so good quality at night.


The room was perfect. Bathroom, bed, balcony, TV, furniture, everything was beautiful!

Gorgeous and very big bathroom. The shower heads (notice it's plural) were very nice. Paying for a room at a resort is worthless if it has a bad shower head. True story.

Photo shoot before dinner.

Sleeping in the bed was like sleeping on a cloud. No, I've never slept on a cloud before, but if I had, it would have felt like that bed. Makes perfect sense. Oh, and the bathrobes felt like getting a hug from that same cloud.

Josh sleeping in as I enjoy the morning...the usual :)

Morning read!

Views from our balcony.

Breakfast at their cafe called "Crave." Their espresso was acceptable.

Cool pod swing!

I thought this orange tree was really neat so I made Josh get a picture in front of it. So weird to have them all over the place.

We ended our adventure by laying out at the pool.

It was a wonderful little getaway!