Nothing Exciting to Report

So I haven't blogged in a while...mainly because I feel like I have nothing important to write about. I pretty much live my life, day-to-day, which is pretty dull and boring. I work, go to school Tuesdays, come home and cook dinner, maybe watch some boob tube, spend some snuggle time with my hunny, and go to bad. Wake up...and start the day over again. I look forward to weekends the most!

This past weekend was a long weekend, which was nice. Even though we just got back to work after sailing through the wedding, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, it felt like a long time since Deo and I got to spend some quality time together. We both had the whole long weekend off, which is very rare. But we didn't even do anything worth doing. We watched a lot of movies and spent some well-needed quality time with our dogs. We were able to take to our dogs on a long walk every day of the weekend and even a fun trip to the dog park.

It was Hannah's first time to the dog park and we were a little worried. But she did really good. She shied away at first and got aggressive at some points, but the people that there were there were really nice and I think that makes a difference. We used to go to a dog park where the snobby dog owners would snub their nose at our mutt-of-a-Toby and take their dogs away when Toby would try to play with them. I'm sorry, but don't take your dogs to a dog park if you don't want them to socialize. And the way dogs socialize is by barking, nipping, and some occasional humping. So to get back to my story, Toby and Hannah did super. It was really funny how Toby could recognize Hannah's bark among all the other dogs' and he would come running to her rescue when she was getting attacked. It's also funny to see the different personalities come out in our dogs. Toby had to be in the middle of every squabble, would run after every ball throw, and always tried to join one of the packs of dogs playing together (to which the pack of dogs would ostracize poor Toby like the dorky kid on the playground). Hannah, on the other hand, is very timid and shy. She didn't like playing with other dogs and would just follow at the end of the group running around. And of course, ALL the dogs wanted to play with her...and sniff her. It was fun to be able to spend time with them since we take them for granted so often.

As I'm running long on my blog, I'll quicken my movie review of our long movie weekend I wanted to post:

Cloverfield: Not my kind of movie. Made me motion-sick for the rest of the day. Deo really liked it if that's any indication.

Shoot-em up: The title says it all. A movie about guns and shooting. Corny lines and over-sexed characters. Entertaining if you don't take it too seriously.

Perfect Stranger: Definitely worth renting. Twists and keeps you guessing. And I LOVE Giovanni Ribisi...even though he was really creepy in this.

Stardust: Fantasy-filled, magical movie geared for or kids. And a happily-ever-after in the end. I LOVED this movie...if that's any indication.

Back 2 School

Well, tomorrow marks my first day back to school after a nice, long break. It's funny how easily you get out of the groove and used to coming home from work and not doing homework. Not planning out your weekend around group meetings and paper writing sessions. Not going to school is much more of a motivation than anything else for me....I can't wait to be done. If you don't know yet, I applied to a different Master's program. I am now a Lumberjack of the blue and sage. For the past year and a half (I can't really believe it's been that long) I was working toward my Masters in Educational Psychology through the UofA. But after a year and half, I only have 4 classes completed. After only being able to enroll in only one class, again, in the Spring semester, I realized it was going to take me forever to complete this program. The program at the UA is primarily geared for full-time graduate students and the majority of the classes conflicted with my work schedule. I haven't even been able to take any summer classes because they are all run during the day. A few colleagues of mine are enrolled at the NAU Distance campus so I started doing some research. Basically, by going through NAU, I can complete the program by Spring 2009 instead of the 5 years it would probably take me at UA. The program is still a Masters through the Educational Psychology department, but with an emphasis in Human Relations. All of my classes transfer and all of the requirements through NAU are very similar to what I would be taking at the UA.

It is, however, kind of a change since I'm SOOO used to the UofA's environment. It's kind of nice to have a change of pace and it's actually interesting to learn more about another school instead of Arizona. I log in to LOUIE to add my classes instead of Student Link. And it's called LOUIE because their mascot is Louie the Lumberjack. I may be a Lumberjack for the time being, but I'm a Wildcat for LIFE!!!!

Some Christmas Memories

I just wanted to post some pictures from Christmas to share our memories.

Malorie (our niece, Holly and Mikey's) looking like a little Christmas present tied up with a bow.


Malorie posed on her own by the Christmas tree.


Our kiddos in their holiday gear. I know...I'm so mean.


All the dogs (Toby, Hannah, and Spike) with Michael (Deo's brother).


Ella (my niece) opening up her present from Deo and I.


Toby digging into his stocking. And I have to say, we got them Kongs with the Kong stuffing.....it is awesome! They love it and keeps them busy for hours.


The kids (Alexis, Michael, and Malorie) on Christmas morning.


Deo Sr. and Jr. got matching Rams helmets.


Malorie opening up her present from us.

Happy New Year!

Well, 2007 has come and gone. We had a very eventful past year and are looking forward to the upcoming adventures life has for us in 2008. It is difficult to think waaaaay back to January of last year to think about how much our life has changed. Last year during this time, we were just settling into our new house. We closed on it right before Christmas and were excited to spend our first holiday season in our new house. Last year on this day, Deo and I were sleeping in our full sized bed after driving all night from celebrating the New Year in Las Vegas. The painful, and slow, drive home culminated a lousy first time in Vegas after walking the strip for hours on end. The white walls and fresh carpet looked so crisp as we slept the entire first day of the year. Since then, we've pulled up that carpet and replaced it with fresh wood laminate. The walls have been painted a calming buttery yellow and celery green. The second bedroom has went from a storage center with an elliptical machine, stationary bike, and computer to a actual guest bedroom with our once full-sized bed. Deo and I lie in a humongous king-sized bed in which we still to this day question how we ever survived without. We even made some last minute touch-ups to our garage thanks to the awesome fatheads we got for Christmas. (If you are not aware of what a fathead is, they are basically huge stickers that you can put on your walls; most of them are sports-related but you can also get cartoon and action characters).

Our Rams and Steelers fatheads in our newly-painted garage with the Glidden Team Colors line through Home Depot:


We've landscaped our backyard (which now needs re-landscaped after a year of dogs running around) and put up a security door (thanks to some friends who recently got invaded). It's hard to believe we have come so far in our house in only a year; it feels like we've been here forever.

We also welcomed a new addition to our family in 2007. Hannah Marie Diaz, our German Shepherd pup, came into our life right after the new year and is growing up to be a sweet, gentle, and protective family dog. Toby, our min-pin, doesn't like it to much, but I think she started growing on him too.

Toby and Hannah then:


Toby and Hannah now:



We also celebrated two nieces turning ONE this past year which was fun and exciting. Having two little girls in our lives has been an incredible experience and calms our baby-fever whenever we get to babysit them for an afternoon.

In 2007, my sweetheart finally became a college graduate. I am super proud of him and it is such a huge accomplishment. It took a little longer than I'm sure he wanted to, but as of December 22, 2007, Deo Daniel Diaz Jr. finally has is Bachelor's in Business Management. We haven't really done anything big to celebrate since it was so close to the holidays, but we will soon! Yaaaay!

Suprising Deo after his last day of class:


Lastly, but definitely not least, we got married. After a 4 year courting period and 1.5 year engagement we finally tied the knot. Not to mention I officially changed my name to Sarah Diaz (even though the lady at the Social Security Office tried to pull a fast one and change it to Davis). It's still really weird and hard not to say "Sarah Thompson," but I'm sure I will get used to it....right?

Like I said, it's been a whirlwind of a year. I am definitely looking forward to what lies ahead, and am happy to finally be living in the present.