football championship

well the BCS was definitely interesting this evening.....not as exciting as i would have like it to be. i was rather disappointed to be honest-normally college football is a-mazing but it was a rather weak game tonight. oh well, whatever.  joshua was feeling much better today, not sick at all so we decided to take kyle up on the invite to steph's place for a get together to watch the game.  it was fun, glad we got to see them since we haven't in forever.  i made some dessert for the dealio.  rasberry sherbet dessert and the ooey gooey bars that josh loves so much!  they were okay, didn't come out as nice as i would like for taking dessert to someone else's house.  but it's okay, no one really cared anyway, they just ate them.
my love got a cute hair cut today, he is so very handsome.  and he may have convinced me that the facial hair would be okay for a wedding even though i'm not at all a fan cause he trimmed it so nice today, so i'll possibly consider it...maybe :)
well we'll see what tomorrow brings, it will be a busy day i'm sure cause there will be so much work to do!  hopefully in the evening there will be time to just relax and snuggle with my man!

january 3rd, i love you today, even tho 3 weeks ago you were not really my friend

technically monday january 3rd hasn't happened yet, since i am like an hour and a half into what is considered to be january 3rd in this new year, but just humor me.  just 4ish weeks ago, my love was coming home for a 12 day christmas vacation, and would have left today for what will be the start of the off season in collegiate football.  i won't lie, i always cried on those days, even though that is majorly pathetic on many levels, but it was never enough time and it always meant that things would become harder again since there would be 6 hours of football, time zone changes, homework, school classes, work and a million and 2 other things. yes, i am whining about it, but i can cause i don't ever voice it to anyone really, well except for poor joshua lol. BUT i am happy to report, that instead of crying tonight as i left joshua's house, i had completely forgotten about it til he reminded me as we were about halfway home.  we will no more have to deal with the 1800 mile separation, no more time zone changes, no more football practices, no more 4-6 months between hugs or kisses, no more crying (well.......not over people leaving far away anyway, i mean, there are times a girl needs to cry, especially under the overwhelming circumstances we now face.). while there are some downsides, like no more girl time with miss leia, no more hanging out with jesse, and no more live football games or seeing my man in his football uniform, there are certainly more ups that i am looking forward to.  we are finally starting to settle into a routine, its sort of working, it's still a challenge between the distance across town between houses and the strangeness in work schedules, BUT, he's always here, i can always go to him when i need him, he always makes me feel better at the end of the day.  i say all of this, and you are probably thinking, "uh dude he's been home for like 3 weeks" well yeah, i'm probably a little bit overly excited, a little bit silly probably, but it makes me oh so happy, moreso than i can EVER ever explain.

just a quick note before i actually go to sleep cause i'm failing miserably on the "go to bed early and get up early" portion of my new years resolution, oops.  on saturday evening, mom and dad and the man and i went out to have a quick dinner (original destination was back yard tacos, but they were closed for the holiday, so we instead had delicious mexican food at the original tia rosa's in downtown mesa). we had a lovely time.  the man and i enjoy spending time with my parents, well i should probably ask before making such assumptions, BUT i'm guessing from the way he reacts and engages in convo during dinner, and shares his thoughts and feelings, and the fact that we never have conversations afterward that hint at the negative/annoyance end of things.  i love it when we have thougtful and deep conversations, especially those involving the future and its possibilities, i always get tidbits out of the man that i don't always get in our own conversation since thoughts from others provoke new thoughts of our own.  like last night my joshuabear was telling my dad about how much he can't wait to have kiddos. it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, and my heart smiled a little and i took a drink of my soda so i didn't look like a dweebus cause i secretly just wanted to kiss his sweet little face and almost have a little tear. (yeah, i am overly emotional, a)because of super stress, b)because of superly overly hyped up hormones. they are driving me C.R.A.Z.Y. but we'll discuss THAT another day)
anyway......i am such a rambler geez, i'm sorry.  after our little dinner we went to see the lights at the temple. it is always a favorite of mine to go and see all of the beauty.  it was a little different this year since we normally go before the holiday actually comes and goes. but i won't lie to you, there was NO ONE there. it was glorious and very peaceful.  and i loved all the beautiful new lights they added this year. very fun. we met josh's dad and stepmom there and i even managed to make everyone take some pictures. maybe i should add that to my list of new years resolutions since i royally suck at picture taking and i always regret it later.  please enjoy! one of my fav's is the one of dad holding the wise men in his palm. oh i love the goofy peeps in my life :)

 here are the rents, not paying a single bit of attention to me trying to take their picture...

 ah yes, much better and much parental cuteness

 i just really loved these trees so you get a pictures of them

 hahah oh dad you crack me up



here is mom trying to walk a camel, our perception was a little off since we couldn't get any closer to the lawn!

here is my love-his dad literally got like 17 inches from our face for this picture with my camera....

here is josh with the parents....love it

okay short story, there was this couple making kissy faces under an identical arch, but the arch was half lit and they were, um not cute? so josh leans over and says to me, "we are so awesome" and i hear dad at the same time saying something to the affect of, "oh a little wedding arch" so we decided a picture was necessary, mostly because of the fact that we needed some cuteness, it was less about a spur of the moment wedding under a lighted plastic pvc pipe....

and here is the last one of the evening by my cool trees. i think we are rather cute and i rather much love it.

goodnight!

A Trip Down Memory Lane....Sort Of

Okay so this is slow coming but I'm finally getting around to it-it's hard to keep up with a blog sometimes when life is craziness!  Anyway, so on Thursday Nicole last minute had an emergency and could not go work the Highland High Varsity Football game (why it was on a Thursday, I do not know, other than the fact that cox 7 was there and wanted to film everything, but they were largely a pain and in the way and I did not much appreciate having to work around all of their crapola), so being somewhat experienced at the same job, I told her I would cover for her......this was largely in part because I had NOTHING to do for the evening seeing as Nicole would not be around and Mom and Dad always go out for date night on Thursdays, plus Josh is kinda like 1300 miles away at the moment so that doesn't leave much for hanging out there, and I do believe he was on a "man date" as I would call it with his suite mate Jesse (who happens to be a very nice suite mate and he and Josh are super good buds and I love that!) SO anyways, I went to cover this game, slightly, okay more like incredibly, terrified because its been over 2 years since I have had to fix anything similar to a helmet and the mere thought of something breaking during game time gave me a heart attack so I was pretty sure I would surely die if anything were to go wrong....I probably would have survived seeing as some fire fighter people were there since there were fireworks, but still.  I'm pretty sure I shocked the crap out of most people cause no one knew I was coming and no one would have expected me, so that was kinda cool, plus I got to see so many teachers and coaches that I enjoyed working with when I was there!  I even saw Mr. Vincent, who is the sole reason that I became involved in sports! He's pretty much like a smaller version of my own father and I definitely miss working with the guy!  It was definitely kinda a strange experience since the last time I was on or near the game field was when I was still in high school and when I started dating Joshua.  Part of me loved it, but there was a part of me that felt way funny, I think largely in part because the players I used to know are no longer associated with the numbers I remember and because I only know like maybe 7 of the kids that are still there!  Thankfully nothing went wrong during the game, and I had some great conversations with old friends and teachers!  It was overall a very good evening!  I kept having strange flashbacks of all the times I spent on that field and all of those great memories, its so weird to think that it was really only 2 years ago, but sometimes it feels like it was 20 years ago with all that has happened in the last 2 years.  I don't necessarily miss all the sweat and stinky boys, but I do miss being so close to all of the action, and the great relationships that were built, and it will always be (yes this is preparing for cheesiness, so deal with it) special because it is where I met and fell in love with a very cute football player! :) 

My Love, The Stud

So anyone reading this blog obviously already knows that I love Joshua and that is pretty much enough of an explanation for this posting as far as I'm concerned!  My handsome man is the kicker for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and I would say he does his job well.  Yesterday UAB played UT- for those of you non-footballers, that would be the University of Tennessee (yes they are a fairly large school, and yes you often see them on tv, but who cares?).  So my handsome man did not have such a good game yesterday, and has been pretty down because of it, which is natural of course, but I happen to strongly dislike it because I hate it when he's hurting and I can't fix it for him.  And after games like yesterday, I pretty much feel like I have the award for "terrible girlfriend of the year" because I am across the country and not available to cheer him up with a hug and a kiss. Mushy? Maybe, but hey, I love him!  Somedays I wish he truly new just how special he is, but it seems that words can never fully convey that message.  None of his teammates blame him for their loss, and his coaches still have incredible confidence in him.  And he has incredible support here at home from his friends and famil-oh and me :) I'll probably be in trouble for this at some point, but I am going to claim it anyway: I am and always will be Joshua Zahn's number one fan and supporter in everything he does-especially football cause I love it regardless of the outcome (though I do prefer to win, and I much prefer shut out games because they are less likely to give me a heart attack, which I'm sure is well on its way since I'm pretty sure my blood pressure rises to like 800 when I watch any game, especially those that JZ is participating in! Part of me prays that he will not one day choose the NFL just for fear that my poor little heart will explode :) )  Though I think he is probably not aware, I look up to and admire him SO very much.  He definitely has a courage and strength that I wish to someday possess.  Regardless of the toughness of a situation, he always finds a way to pull through it and come out better in the end.  He is his biggest critic, so I know that next week he will come back bigger, better and stronger and learn from the mistakes of last week.  I am so incredibly proud of him.  He works so hard to be the best he can be.  He is so selfless and incredibly loving.  Moreso than most people that I know, even when he really doesn't have to be-for example, with me, especially when I'm a butthead and cause more stress in his life than is necessary cause i'm being a dumbo!  He is definitely wise beyond his years-which sometimes I hate cause he points out things that I never think of and he makes me reevaluate them, but he's usually right (don't tell him I said that)!  He has an amazing since of humor and NEVER fails to make me laugh in a day.  He can make any situation positive, he can make any bad day better and best of all he loves me just for me, all my weirdness and faults and even the freckles on my nose (which I happen to loathe with the deepest part of my being).  Though I'm sure many other girls who have a man would claim they are the luckiest girls, I'm pretty sure that I have one this contest over so don't even bother trying to top me, cause I'm pretty sure I'll win regardless of what you might say!  I am definitely incredibly blessed to have been given the gift of Joshua in my life, I won't doubt that any day.  I don't quite know what I did to deserve such an amazing man to love me forever, but I am certainly not going to question the big man upstairs and his decision making! (partially for fear that maybe He'll check his records and say, "uh, actually i meant to send him to someone else that day" and rearrange history, which I'm pretty sure can never happen, but still.....not risking it!)  If you are ever reading this Joshua, I hope you know how much I truly love you with everything that I am.  Thank you for making my life so wonderful, for bringing smiles and laughter and showing me true, real, and unconditional love like I have never known before.  You are more than I deserve and better than anything I could have imagined happening in my life. :)
Now enough mushy lovey stuff cause I'm sure everyone is totally over it by now! :) smile a little smile today and tell someone you love them too!

xoxo,
Aly

p.s. Here's a picture of my stud in uniform, courtesy of al.com-for those of you who care, that's Birmingham's local newspaper website!