Finally an Update!

Finally got around to updating the blog! As most of you know we have now moved to the crazy world of Las Vegas! I was offered a job at SAFY as a Family and Youth Specialist.  SAFY is a treatment foster care private agency.  This basically means the state contracts SAFY with foster children who have been diagnosed with a psychological disorder.  Our foster families are all treatment homes which means they have been trained to provide therapy to the foster children in their home.  My job includes being a support for the foster parents as well as providing another form of therapy for each of the children. The therapy I do is called Psychosocial Rehabilitation.  (sounds important I know:) ) I currently have 14 kids on my caseload and 7 treatment homes.  I love it but it is definitely a very stressful and busy job!
Scott currently works for the great MGM International in the accounts receivable department.  It is an extremely interesting and rewarding job... right honey?.. honey? Well he gets to work with an office of women... and he gets weekends off... and he gets free buffet lunch everyday... and..and.. ok so no it is obviously not the job of his dreams but it's a paycheck! Which is very important since we are currently trying to... BUY A HOUSE!!
This is the most exciting thing of our lives right now! The housing market is so great here in the lovely sin city and we loving the idea of paying less for a mortgage then we are currently paying for our little apartment! We are currently looking every Saturday with our realtor so we will keep you updated!!
Another big part of our life is our adorable puppy Bailey.  Scott gave her to me last year for Valentine's day so we are currently celebrating one year with our little love! She is a Morkie.. which is a Maltese/Yorkie mix.  She is so much fun! Scott is going to have a hard time doing better than that for V-Day this year;)
Well that is a quick update on our exciting lives.  Overall we are doing great and really really loving the winter weather in Vegas! I know you are all jealous!

December

      This month has been full of fun and we haven't even made it to Christmas yet! First of all I celebrated December 1st which marked the end of "No Shave November". For those of you who are unfamiliar with this it is basically a male-created, month-long holiday that gives them an excuse to be lazy! By the end of the month I was refusing to kiss Scott due to multiple scratches on my face. I am including some before and after pictures in hopes that you will comment to Scott how great he looks in the after shot:).
       On the 4th we celebrated my birthday.  First Scott made me breakfast and then we went bowling.  The bowling alley was really fun, and as you can see from the pictures we were able to choose what screen designs we wanted.  We really got a kick out of the animations.  Next we went to Build-A-Bear where Scott works and made me a super cute bear.  We picked out his clothes, named him Stitches McGee, and even got an official birth certificate! That night we went to dinner with a some of our friends and played games.  I was even spoiled enough to get Coldstone!! As if this wasn't enough Scott surprised me with a beautiful white gold necklace and earring set in my birthstone.  Such a great day! Thank you honey!
      The second weekend of the month we had a visit from "Santa", aka Lauren.  She came bearing gifts from home and spent two days with us.  She and Scott went to a hockey game to cheer on Scott's favorite team the Dallas Stars.  Unfortunately they lost, but it was a fun game.  I colored Lauren's hair and we played multiple rounds of Clue, Yahtzee, and Scene It.  It was really great to see Lauren!
      This week we had a Christmas party with Scott's work.  One of the radio talents is named Ron Wolfley and he owns a restaurant called Wolfley's.  For the first hour we enjoyed a buffet of appetizers and I met a lot of Scott's coworkers.  Then they fed us dinner and had a raffle.  Sadly we didn't win anything, but the raffle was forgotten when they brought out dessert.  We ended up at a table by ourselves so we scored this entire tray for ourselves and it was AMAZING! The brownies were especially heavenly.  It was definitely the best work party we have ever been to; quite different than the typical pot lock and Christmas Bingo we experienced in Utah.
      Finally, we spent Friday night with another couple we are friends with.  We ate pizza and then went to look at the Temple lights.  I have to admit I prefer Temple Square, but Scott really liked the different colored lights and the fact that we were only wearing jackets.  I forgot my camera so the phone pictures are kind of dark, but it was beautiful.
     Next week we will be heading to Houston to spend Christmas with my family.  I am super excited but we are both dreading the 18 hour drive we will be making in one day! No fun...luckily I have prepared a list of "conversations" we can have to help pass the time:)

           

Thanksgiving Dinner!

At first we thought that attempting a full fledged Thanksgiving dinner was something reserved for those with children or even grandchildren.  Seeing as how we have neither of those, we were unsure exactly how to proceed with this most recent of holidays.  Thankfully, Jenn, my beautiful and talented wife, filled me with the confidence to give it a shot.  We were both excited, and although we were faced with regretfully turning down a number of generous offers, we forged ahead with planning and executing our goal:  To successfully prepare a Thanksgiving meal worthy of notable mention.  Not only did we (mostly Jenn) succeed with this endeavor, but we even took pictures to prove that it turned out remarkably well.  Unfortunately for those of you reading this, you are not privy to the utter joy that this succulent feast brought to the hearts of the three of us (the third being an old high school friend of mine that now lives in the Phoenix area).  All I can say is Jenn holds remarkable talent.  She will deny that, without a doubt, but rest assured, she continues to amaze.  More information on our lives here in Phoenix is sure to follow, but this fabulous feast was one for the ages.  Hope all of you had a marvelous holiday.

Surprise Visit

This past weekend Mom and Dad surprised us by coming down for a couple days.  They got here Friday afternoon and that night Scott and Dad went to a Sun's game.  The game went into double overtime so they had a lot of fun! Mom and I went shopping. Then on Saturday we showed them my school and practicum on the way to Mesa.  We looked at the temple and Mom and Dad got me temple clothes for my birthday! We then went to dinner and then to a place called Castles and Coasters to miniature golf.  As you can see from the pictures it is a really fun place.  Scott and I want to go back sometime and ride the roller coasters!  After golfing we went to our apartment to play a really FUN game of Catan.  (note to all readers besides Mom..fun is a relative term!) Overall we had a really great weekend though. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming!

Halloween

Well, here are a couple of pictures from our first Halloween together.  Unfortunate that we (mostly Jenn) worked so hard to make our place look killer awesome and only had 3 knocks on our door to show for it.  Of course, that means that somebody will have to finish off those four bags of candy we bought, and I think I know just the right person for the job.  Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and that your bag of candy is just as full as ours turned out to be.

Home

We've been getting a lot of questions about what our apartment looks like so I thought I'd share some pics.  It's a work in progress but it's home.  Life without roommates is heavenly!

Arizona Fun!

So Scott has a friend from high school who works with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Phoenix Coyotes.  He was nice enough to get us comp tickets to some of the games.  I had never been to a baseball or hockey game so it was a great new experience for me! We had awesome seats and Scott even caught a T-shirt!

And So It Begins

Let it be known right from the start.  I love my wife.  How she loves me is a mystery still, but she tries to explain it to me from time to time.

We've been married for three months. 

We found ourselves an apartment.  We found ourselves a couple of jobs (finally). We even set ourselves up with a Netflix account.  You'd think that we had done it all, and with just over 90 days gone by.

Then, out of nowhere, my gorgeous wife brought something to my attention.  Something that, for some reason, had slipped my mind entirely. Something that seems to have become detrimental to the success of a marriage.  I'm not talking about a large savings account, health insurance, or secret lives (all of which we lack), but an oft-updated blog!

How could I have been so blind?  After all, I'm the journalist!  Thankfully, my wife revealed the missing ingredient to our marriage casserole and I'm starting to feel much better about things.

These days, it seems you can't really show your commitment to each other unless you have your own website including colorful stories with pictures to match.  I suppose it's just one more way to say "I love you, and here's the published post to prove it".

With that spirit, I present to you the first of what should be a great number of posts on this blog.

Here is a quick character list and breakdown.  This will give our beloved readers a little insight into who might be mentioned in our posts.  Since my wife has retired for the evening, I will leave the introductions of her immediate family for later, so she can make sure things are accurate (and so I don't get into trouble).

Scott Anderson - Me.  One of the two posting stories on this website.  I'm clever, funny, good-looking, honest and humble, of course.  What more could you want?
Jennifer Anderson - My wife.  The other one who will be speaking in first person.  She's gorgeous, intelligent, gorgeous, caring and gorgeous.  She might add her own description of herself later.
Julie Anderson - Scott's mom.  Generous, loving, kind, fun and one cool customer.  She's won the award for Best Mom Around each year for the past three decades.  Impressive, I know.
Lauren Bustos - Scott's older sister.  Married to a guy named Nolo who likes Metallica, wrestling, and hazing brothers-in-law.  Obviously, she's one classy girl.
Nolo Bustos - Scott's brother-in-law.  Married to a girl who loves sports, traveling, and thinks that I am a good writer.  He sure knows how to pick 'em.
Clark Anderson - Scott's older brother.  Has the same sense of humor as Disney's Goofy and somehow managed to get a degree in Civil Engineering.  Scientists are still studying that mystery.
Shilah Anderson - Scott's sister-in-law and married to Clark.  Sweet, bubbly, and loads of fun.  The type of girl that doesn't let things get boring on her watch.
Bryan Anderson - Scott's younger brother.  A rocket scientist.  About a week and a half away from developing the hoverboard and time machine.  Also, he likes popsicles.

Clearly this cast has personality enough to rival most sitcoms, and that's just my side of the family.  With that being the case, I don't see how these posts could be anything but interesting.

In conclusion, I would just like to urge all you millions of readers out there to give us a chance.  We know there are people who just sit around and read blogs all day, so please make this one of your routine stops.  If all goes according to plan, this blog will be anything but temporary.