Hello family and friends!

So, I am assuming that you're here because you saw the link on our wedding website to this blog. Yay! Shoot, now I actually have to keep up with it! I am sorry I haven't done a better job, we are just so busy!!!

All of a sudden it was two months until the wedding, my to do list was 4 pages long and I don't have any time for anything!!! There was such a long wait in there and now it's all creeping up faster than we planned for!

So, here we are, at the end of January with our wedding almost just two months away. So much has happened it's going to be hard to post it all here! My students are watching An Inconvenient Truth as part of our environmental unit at school, so I thought I'd use this time to catch you up on what we've been doing.

Ian and I got back from Italy and resumed life as normal. My sub did absolutely nothing I told him to do, so we played catch up for two weeks when I got back to school. I resumed teaching yoga one day a week after school, and had about 30 students stay after each week to take yoga. It has been a wonderful experience and I'm hoping to get my yoga teacher certification this summer. I've also been busy at school taking over the recycling program and getting teachers to start recycling. It's the year 2009 people, what is wrong with us? It has been slow going but now I have each of my classes assigned to groups and rooms, and every Thursday we collect recycling. Everyone seems to be into it, and maybe the next step could be getting blue bins in the lunch area for cans and bottles . . . hopefully.

Ian finished his Master's Degree at ASU before Christmas. He worked so hard for years to get it done, and now he has his Special Education Master's Degree. I am so proud of him, he has done so well working full time and going to school. Hopefully after the wedding we can relax a bit and enjoy just being at home with nothing else to do! We had a party for him at Applebee's and he got a new Mac laptop which he tells me every day how much he loves.

Christmas and New Years came and went and we got a chance to ride the new Phoenix light rail train with my Dad. It was super fun and one day they will have lines all over the city, we can't wait!

Oh no, I'm already running out of steam . . . I've got to keep writing . . . don't want to lose my momentum . . .

We bought a new treadmill after Christmas because ours broke and we have been furiously working out for the wedding. Ian has even started to go to yoga once week with me! We have still managed to make time for all of our friends, and I have seen my ladies a whole bunch lately and I love it! Christine, Jenny and Christie have been busy planning my shower, and my mom and I got together on Sunday to stuff and address the wedding invites. They will be out to you by February 7th! Woooooo!

Ooooo, something else exciting happened. We originally wanted these photographers for our wedding that we couldn't afford, so we ended up working with someone else in their company with less experience. It turns out that they ended up no longer working with this person, so now we have Chris and Tammie shooting our engagement and wedding photos - the people we originally wanted! I am so excited to shoot engagement photos with them this Saturday, I just don't know where to go! We were thinking ASU or Falcon Field . . . we will see what we decide by then. If you want to check out their site, they are amazing!!! http://www.largophotography.com

So, all the big wedding stuff is taken care of and paid for, except for the caterer's final count. I just hope I can get all the little stuff done by the wedding! I just can't wait until the music starts and I walk down the aisle, that is when I know my job is done, and it's time to just relax and have fun!

I have to teach now so I will say goodbye but hope to post more later. I will also put up some recent pics for you to see what we've been up to! Lots of love to you all!

Allison :)

No Internet or WIFI in Italy

We are at an internet cafe in San Gimignano, Italy and only have 15 minutes. We have not had internet until today so we wont be posting to this blog. I am even using an Italian computer and all the keys are different than ours. Check our photo blog where I CAN upoload pics instead of this one to keep up with our trip. There are new pics on there as of today: http://www.fuzzyshot.com/heroesforsale

See you soon.

Preparing for Italy!

Since it was so much fun following Christine and Jeremy around Oslo on their blog, I thought Eb and I could use this blog to post pics and stuff while we are in Italy! That way you can see what we are up to and see the cities if you've never been!

Our villa has wifi and our phones are set for international calling and roaming, but if for some reason we can't post to this blog while we are away - I have created a photo blog for you to follow too! I gave the address to my students, so you won't be able to see yummy wine photos, but if we can't post on here you can always go there to see our pics along the way - www.fuzzyshot.com/heroesforsale

We also will have computer access there (hopefully) and you can Skype us if you have a camera and microphone on your computer. Our Skype username is: al-ian so add us so we can chat! The time difference is wacky so we will have to Skype you early in the morning or right before you go to bed. Just sign on to Skype if you're sitting at your computer and when we sign on, hopefully you will be there too! Skype is FREE video chat, download it here if you'd like to talk to us while we are away: http://www.skype.com/

We will both have our phones an are set up for international calling. However, it costs us 99 cents a minute to talk to you, whether you call us or we call you. So, the best thing would be to post comments on here, or on fuzzyshot, or talk to us on Skype or through email. My email address is heroesforsale2@yahoo.com and Eb's is rapidfireaz@hotmail.com. You can also leave us comments on our facebook profile or myspace! We will upload pics and blogs here, so keep checking back!

We leave Wednesday, October 7th and return Friday, October 17th. We fly into Rome, head to Venice and then up to San Gimignano in Tuscany. We hope to see Florence, Pisa, Sience and even lake Trasimeno. We have a villa in Tuscany and are meeting our whole family there, it's in San Gimignano. I posted a photo of the town and pictures of the villa for you to see. I hope that you all will be checking in! Love you you all!

I am so behind!

Ok, here is my apology for not keeping up with the posts on this blog. I got super excited about the wedding at first and started off with a bang and then it all kind of fizzled because we had SO long to wait. Now, there's only 300 days (10 months) to go and I have to get a move on! But, I am so unmotivated! It is hard to get the ball rolling again. There is so much to do and now I'm feeling like time is just slipping away.

There is so much I wanted to write about here - school, friends, Ian (Eb), summer . . . but I just haven't found the time. I have SO many pictures to upload from my camera to here too . . . but I can't seem to find the time to do that either! I've finally put together my wedding folder - a folder full of ideas and calendars for appointments and so on - but that's about all I've done. I just don't know what I do all the time but apparently I am really busy!

So much to contemplate on - life, love, friendships, fun - I wish I had kept up with writing about things. It's hard to sit down and post when I'm not at school and in front of a computer all day. So much has gone on I just don't even know where to start.

This is my promise to you - this week I will post some blogs, upload some pics and start keeping up with this. My hope was to keep everyone posted on what we are doing but I haven't been very good about it. I want to be able to log on from Italy so that you all can read about our trip in October but I HAVE to get working on this in order for it to become a priority.

This is what happens when I don't get out of bed until 2pm and stay in my pjs until 7pm . . . I gotta get MOTIVATED!!!

Sorry friends, keep checking back I will try harder!

I hate the movies.

I know I haven't written in awhile. The end of the school year is always nuts for us and I have been sort of procrastinating when it comes to wedding stuff. I got really excited at first and then realized I had so long to wait and now I am still in the waiting zone. I gotta get moving on planning, I know, I'm trying to get motivated! This is the first day of summer so maybe now I will start . . .

For now, I have something to get off my chest. Enjoy this rant about going to the movies . . .

Do you remember a time when you could go to the movies and no one would talk, no one would answer their phones, no one would text message, no one would be rude and if they were - all it took was a backwards look and they knew they disrupted your movie and would be quiet the rest of the time.

It's not like this anymore. I know why - parents. My kids at school do this same thing. We watch a movie in class (pertaining to our work, of course) and my kids sit and talk all the way through it. They yell at the screen, they participate in the story, they repeat lines the character's said for emphasis, they laugh absurdly loud at unfunny parts . . . and I blame their parents. Who taught them that it is ok to ruin someone's $30 movie (a couple with snacks and drinks) by talking all the way through it? Why do they think this is an acceptable way to act?

We went and saw Iron Man tonight - the 11pm showing on a Monday night. We were the only ones in the theatre until the movie started and then people showed up (late of course). 3 people came and sat behind us, and immediately started talking TO the movie. Commenting on everything, saying "get it" when Robert Downey banged some chick, saying "oh shit!" when something blew up - it was great. THEN, the girl with them decided to answer her phone and TALK ON IT while the movie was playing. A fairly open theatre with no one in it and we have THESE people sitting directly behind us. I looked back a few times, I even went outside to complain and of course the manager came in, stood there for awhile and left (and of course they were silent while he was there). 3 more girls showed up to meet them, and then they proceeded to LOUDLY fill them in on what they missed - 20 minutes into the movie!!!

This is why we never go to movies.

I used to love to go to the movies. When I knew I was being loud, even in high school, the minute someone looked back at me I shut up. When I went to the movie I went to actually WATCH the movie, not socialize, not talk on the phone, not text, not to make out - it was a weird concept but I actually wanted to WATCH THE MOVIE!!!

People used to get kicked out of theaters if they were loud. All it took was someone to complain and you were gone. Now, someone comes in, stands there acting important and leaves. Even when we left and asked for our money back no one apologized, no one made them leave - they got to just stay and watch them movie. I even said, "thanks you guys are awesome" as we were walking out and the guy said, "have a good night!" I hate him.

I am going to open a movie theater. It will be just for people who enjoyed the good old days when people actually watched movies. I WILL kick people out, I WILL NOT refund anyone's money if they get kicked out and I will make movie going a PLEASANT experience once again.

Or maybe, I should start a company called "the movie police." Theaters can hire us to come in and watch the movie with the crowd and the minute we see someone's phone, hear someone loudly talking - we police them right outta there. That is genius!

Is there something we can do about this? Will theaters even listen? Does anyone agree with me? Am I alone on this? Do people actually ENJOY watching movies with these RUDE people? I feel like I am the only one that feels this way - does anyone else feel my pain?

Ugh, we OF COURSE got two free passes for walking out tonight but I won't use them because I am never going to the movies again.

I'm so sad, we saw 30 minutes of Iron Man and now have to wait for it to go on video :( I hate those rude kids and I hope that one day someone is talking during their movie when they get older and they remember me!!!

So Very Thankful

Don't have much time, we are rushing off to bed.  I just wanted to post something quickly today (well, technically the day I wanted to post about is over now but I haven't gone to bed yet!).  

Next year at this very time we will be married.  It is so surreal and crazy how fast time flies.  It is so funny dreaming about your wedding day, waiting for it to come and realizing it's not that far away after all.  I have dreamt about this since I was little, I can't believe it's less than a year away.

I am so very thankful for Eb and for my life.  I am thankful for my family and my friends.  I had an amazing day today with Eb, going to the zoo and seeing how the weather will be this time next year.  I can't wait for you all to be there to share in this event with us.  It will mean the world to me, to us.

I love you all and goodnight.  See you this time next year as Mrs. Walden!!!

Guns

I also shot a gun for the first time in the desert while we were out riding ATVs. I know that most of you have alreaday done this (by the age of 29), but I had never even held a real gun until then. It was a crazy experience. I can't think of the correct adjective in order to describe it, but it was very unique.

I was very steady and wasn't nervous or scared. We wore earplugs and shot at a box. Joe taught me how to hold the gun and how to aim and shoot. He stood behind me the whole time I was shooting (I didn't know until I looked at the pictures). He was there just in case.

I think I would like to get a gun and go to the shooting range. Eb says he is going to put a gun on our gift registry for the wedding at Cabela's (yes, we are registering at Cabela's). I think I'd like to practice shooting more . . .

Here is me shooting for the first time!