Exciting Month!!

Although it was a very hard decision, Jason and I decided not to move back to Indianapolis right now. We both had a hard time finding jobs in Indy and didn't feel that we were making a good decision. To make a long story short, we decided to stay in Arizona. Jason had several job offers here that he was much more excited about (the facilities and type of therapy). He completed his national boards and officially took an OT position last week.

I have also decided to go back to school for my RN. I have been accepted into an accelerated two year Associates of RN program in Phoenix. (1st year is LPN, 2nd year is LPN to RN). I get to start in January with a few classes, and the full time nursing program starts in March. I can't believe I will soon be in school again after being out for 3 years but I am so excited and ready for a new, more challenging career!

We miss our families and are planning to come home more often in 2010- especially since Jay's sister Emily is expecting in June and we will soon be an aunt and uncle for the first time!!

Here are some pictures from the last month or so:

Decorating our Christmas tree and making home-made sugar cookies for the first time. Reminds me of being little and making them with Grammy every year!

Our First Cruise!

We finally took our first cruise together. We went to the Bahamas (Nassau and Cococay Island) and Key West. Jason and I went with some of our best friends, Matt and Stacy, over the week of Thanksgiving. Our ship was Magesty of the Seas on Royal Caribbean. It was around 80 the entire week and beautiful! The ship had lots to do like entertainment and comedy shows at night. We stopped in Nassau first and took our own tour of The Atlantis hotel. The center part of the hotel (arch) is actually a suite that is $30k per night, four night minimum. We relaxed on the beach and saw the water slides that plunge people through a huge aquarium of sharks. Very cool!! The next island we went to was Coco Cay. Royal Caribbean owns this island. It was gorgeous. While walking along the ocean, sting rays and reef sharks swam right next to your feet. Our last stop was on Thanksgiving day at Key West. We did a glass bottom boat tour (saw four dolphins jumping by the boat) and sailed right by the Bermuda Triangle. The picture of Buoy 13 represents the beginning on the Bermuda Triangle. We also walked around Duval Street. It was a great cruise and we would do it again!

Us on the top deck:


Pool side!






View of Miami as our ship was leaving.. next stop.. Bahamas!!






Stacy and I after we got ready for our first dinner on the cruise. We were in with the band!





The first full day of our cruise. We arrived in Nassau and in the background is the famous Atlantis Hotel!




















We had way too many great pictures to post on here! It was hard to choose. I think we took over 300 total. Check them out on our picture website-
On Fotki

Heinz "Talking"

FEA Day

Jason and I met up with 12 of my favorite work people for lunch at this little italian restaurant from heaven... called Olive Garden!! :) Afterwards, I was peer pressured to the movie theater to see Paranormal Activity. This was the scariest movie I have ever seen. I almost walked out of the theater twice. I woke up last night for every single noise I heard!! Glad we saw it during the day. We came home and watched almost the entire season 2 of Friends while we were packing. Here are some pictures from our "goodbye lunch"... I will miss everyone at Family Eyecare!!

Sedona, AZ

On Saturday, we drove up to Cottonwood, AZ and met Rob, Sharon, and Lily for breakfast at a cute local restaurant. I'm so glad we got to hang out with them again before we all move out of Arizona! Lily gets the award for being the happiest baby we have ever met!!







After our breakfast, Jason and I drove on to Sedona, only about 15 minutes from where Rob and Sharon live. We wanted to have one last day of hiking in our favorite place before we move. We ended up hiking the Jim Thompson Trail, which was about 4.5 miles total. It was a good thing we changed our minds from some 7 mile trail we were going to do at first because we were done after 4.5 miles!!

Sunrise

I woke up this morning and let the dogs out on the balcony to get some fresh air. Here is what I saw:
Beautiful! Looks like our state flag.

Disneyland

Jason and I took a roadtrip to Anaheim, CA to visit Disneyland for Halloween weekend. Since deciding to relocate to Indianapolis in December 09, we felt we should take advantage of our season passes to the park while we can. The decorations for Halloween were really cool, especially at the haunted mansion, tower of terror, space mountain, and down main street. California Adventure park had a candy corn theme that was really neat too. It was beautiful and 85 degrees the whole weekend. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip.

Tinkhams Gone Wild

Gary, Ali, and Lauren came out to stay with us for the weekend! As usual, we had a full itinerary planned. We went to Westgate (an area of shops and restaurants close to our house) to eat at Margaritaville. Had the best cheeseburger EVER! We also took a roadtrip up to the Grand Canyon. Its about a four hour car ride. Jason and I have been there several times since living in Arizona but this was the first time we had been there on a clear, warm day. No hail, snow, rain, or fog.... so we actually got to see the Canyon and the Colorado River!
In front of the fountains at Westgate in Glendale:


Mr. and Mrs. Skinner


The Grand Canyon:










On Sunday morning we woke up early to go hiking a few minutes away from our house at Thunderbird Park.





Look how little Lauren looks!

Carving Pumpkins

It really doesn't feel much like fall here in Arizona (or any season for that matter, except summer) with it still being over 100 degrees during the month of October. Trust me, I'm not complaining though, I am the first one to go to the pool! We decided to carve some pumpkins to get into the Halloween spirit. Here is one of Heinz and I as I was gutting the pumpkin. I did not realize that he had ingested several pumpkin seeds at this point until we noticed his fur was orange around his mouth.


The finished product- I carved a saguaro to represent!



Dakota and Heinzy- Precious!!!