Out goes summer, in comes fall

I wish I could say we've had an incredibly busy, hectic late summer/early fall so I'd have an excuse for not posting...but unfortunately that's not the case! :-( We had a fairly quiet summer, but did have fun with a few activities with our trip to Sedona and the Tom Petty concert in August, as well as hosting people for get-togethers where I got to channel my inner Martha Stewart (I made Schnauzer cupcakes!)...photos below.

Besides football (which I'll get to shortly), September was a good month for me both personally and professionally because I was awarded with the Phoenix Public Relations Society of America Copper Anvil Award for my work on an annual conference my Center offers. I got a few requests for photos of the award, so those are below. I was also pleasantly surprised the Monday after I won to receive beautiful flowers from Jim and Robin congratulating me!

Almost all of September was dedicated to watching what Sean calls his own personal Christmas Morning: college football season. Our poor Sun Devils aren't doing as well as we hoped after our 10-win season last year, but that's just a test of our loyalty as fans, right? Although wins make the drive home a lot more exciting, going to Sun Devil Stadium almost every Saturday in September was a fun event. We suspect there was an error in the ticketing office because our reserved parking spot is only about 50 feet from the gate! Word has spread (probably due to our "I can't believe we got that spot" bewildered statements to our friends) and we aren't lacking for friends to tailgate with before each game. Today we play USC, so our hopes aren't too high, but wouldn't it be nice to break our losing streak against USC of all teams? We finally get to return to our sweet tailgate spot and Sun Devil Stadium in two weeks when we host Oregon.

This fall we're also looking forward to meeting Joel up in Seattle for a long weekend trip. Who knew it, but it turns out we might be able to catch up with several friends and family membes! Sean's cousin, Heather, and her family live in suburban Seattle and due to the imminent arrival of their fourth child, Sean's aunt Maureen and Uncle Linc might be up in Seattle the same time as us! Additionally, Sean and I both have friends who either live in Seattle or travel there frequently, so we may be in for a very busy weekend!

I know it's October (boy we had a lot of birthdays this month, didn't we? Doug, Linc, Colleen, Andrew, Katie, happy birthday!), but I can't help but be excited for November: a trip to Seattle, a little time off work for Thanksgiving and a visit from my parents, Christian and Anna! The weather seems to finally be cooling off a bit, so hopefully it will stay pretty temperate...last year when my parents were down in November they brought the cold Minnesota weather with them!

Yesterday all of the first year associates at Snell found out if they passed the bar, which caused Sean and myself to reminisce about being in the same position two years ago...which then led to us recognizing that Sean is now a third year associate! It probably depends on who you ask, but I'd say that time has sure flown by! Sean having to actually practice law every day might have a different opinion. :-) This is fairly old news by now, but we were also very excited and proud to hear that Katie and Adam both passed the Missouri Bar in September!

Happy fall to everyone! We're looking forward to seeing everyone we'll either be visiting or hosting before the end of the year!