Get Smart Teaser Trailer

Mrs. Smart

On Friday night Anna and I went out to see "Enchanted." I've been singing on her voicemail ever since. (It's no wonder she won't answer the phone anymore when I call :) Nothing like some good Disney to head into the weekend. Things are cold now in Tucson. We can drink hot chocolate without sweating. I love my wife and everything about her. The previews of "Enchanted" showed a certain movie that caused Anna to say, "the story of my life." I saw evidence of that again last night when we invited the missionaries over for dinner. By the way, it's easy for me to invite the missionaries over for dinner when I study all day because Anna cleans the whole house and makes the whole meal. She rocks!! But after the meal I went to check out a book on the couch and Anna was still sitting with the Elders at the table. Our computer was on the ground, playing music, and Anna was about four feet away from it. As deftly as Anna could, she tried to reach over to hit the mute button while at the same time staying in her seat. The laws of physics demanded justice and Anna slipped under the table. Now see if she can't co-star with Steve Carell :)

Ch-ch-ch-Changes...

I woke up yesterday and, for the first time since moving to Arizona, i was cold!!! It was a cold, blustery day in Tucson, the likes of which I had never seen...I knew immmediately it would be a big day, and it was! The day continued to be full of more changes for me:
-I had milk in my hot chocolate instead of just water and it really did taste better!
-I got my first pay-check in over a year! Hallelujah!
-I played Christmas music even though it isn't December yet, and was ok with it!
-We put up a tree (which we ourselves had cut down in the mountains!). That, in and of itself, was full of changes since it was with a husband, rather than my huge family. We used white lights instead of colored, the ornaments all match, and there aren't any paper-mache or play dough ornaments made by a first grader. It looks fabulous, if I may say so myself...Our apartment looks so happy now. I love Christmas season!

-I put mustard in my dinner and actually liked it...
-I made a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond without buying anything.
-I had an entire phone conversation without ever saying "What?" "What?"...maybe my hearing is improving!
-I didn't burn dinner (yes, that is definitely a first in our marriage!)
-And finally, I cut off a foot of my hair to donate to Locks of Love! I feel like a little school girl again, but it's so much less maintenance and fun to have a change.

Anyway, it was a pretty adventurous day...We'll see what tomorrow brings! (And forgive the Bob-Dylan title, but it fits!).

Funny Girl

Of course, I have to add a funny memory of our weekend. In Mesa they already play Christmas music on the radio so I turned it up on 99.9 FM. "Walking in a winter wonderland" never sounded so fun but evidently Anna has something against Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. She finally gave in and she slouched into the corner of her seat, trying to distance herself as far from the sound waves as possible. Out of the corner of my eye, not ten seconds later, and with a frown on her face she began singing along to the song!:) Oh, the power of the Christmas spirit!!

Valley Fever....

In our rosy little garret we've been having too much fun for a married couple. Today we just discovered if we concentrate and shuffle our feet around the house, without grounding out on anything, we can give each other shocks that will get our hearts racing. Adds a whole new rush to kissing! I haven't been as faithful at the blog as Anna Bird but I thought I'd add a few thoughts since I'm currently sitting in the eye of the med school hurricane. One week I see a lot of Anna and the next I don't, depending on which Fridays my exams fall. But we've had fun every week still. This past Wednesday Anna spent six hours painting our old neighbors new home and they invited us over for a steak dinner! We miss them since they were our first apartment friends. Anna has been awesome to them and hopefully the little girls can remember their "Wormon" neighbors when they see a couple missionaries walking down the road years from now.
On Friday we packed our bags and went to a session in the temple with the Hall's. We feasted at Buca de Beppo's after and then went to see Ryan and Stacey's new girl, Mabry. After spening the night at the Hall's, we had a great Saturday morning in the temple again and then, after stops at Mesa's Yogurt and Deseret Book, we headed home. On Sunday Anna and I spoke in sacrament meeting. The topic was prayer. Anna gave an incredible talk on prayer, the soul's sincere desire. I love watching her as she bears testimony because her arms and hands jump into the scene as she emphatically proclaims how awesome it is to know and talk with a loving Heavenly Father. Anna is all mind, body, and soul!! You'd think a young married couple would be sitting on the couch staring at each other after a couple months but we've been surprised how fast our schedule fills. In a matter of an hour after church we suddenly had plans for every evening of the night except Monday night, which is now filled with plans. Missionaries, scouts, dinners, home teaching, family...life has never been better.
Life is great in Tucson. This past week holds great memories. Some of the best include coming home at one in the morning after studying to see Anna on the couch, sleeping and waiting. Rarely do I make it in before she's up on her feet and hugging her warm body around mine. If that's too cheesy for you, I'll stop now:) Go Suns!!

Mtn. Biking Pics

The last few weeks Spencer and I have been taking pictures with the main purpose being to post them on our blog, but we of course have been forgetting to put them up...So these are pictures from our Mountain Biking excursion a few weeks ago.

Setting out...
















We laughed so hard at this sign, but should have learned from it (as you can see...)







This was my big woops...but I felt so lucky that on a trail strewn with cactus, I fell into one of the few bare spots! Thanks goodness or I'd still look like a pin cushion!

More Tucson Adventures...

What an awesome week! I know I say that every week, but it's cuz every week is so much fun in this Tucson town. It felt like a really busy week and flew by with going out with the elders, scouts (with a 100% increase in numbers as we went from 1 scout to 2!), institute, mucho studying, Jake's football game, mountain biking, baby showers, etc. etc. Busy, but very fun.
So, on to our questions:
1-the scariest moment of the week for me was probably way back on Monday when I went grocery shopping. Being from the city of Zion, there was this understanding that after grocery shopping, you could wheel the cart back to your house, then bring it back later. That way, you could get all you want and not have to grow extra appendages to get it home. So I walked to the grocery store, bought all we needed: a ten lb bag of flour, 6 lb bag of sugar, some milk, plus 5 bags full of other things. I set out to wheel the cart home, when I get to a big sign that says as soon as you get out of the bounds of the parking lot, the wheels on the cart will lock. And sure enough, right outside the parking lot, there were a bunch of carts turned on their side, obviously discarded after they stopped working. So I gathered up all the groceries and set out towards home. It wasn't long before I started seeing tears in all the bags. And then everything seemed to drop all at once. ketchup rolling down the street, apples fillling the gutter, a glass jar of something broken and strewn all over, and very smooshed bread with the milk on top (one of my pet peeves inherited from my mom). And I was still a block from home. I started scouting for places to hide the groceries so i could come back with a car, scared that they would get taken or something. Then, out of the clear blue sky came this sweet elderly couple, decked out in sunhats, overalls on him, sundress on her, and full of giggles. They pulled over, hopped out, helped lme gather up all my groceries and took me home (even carried the groceries to my apartment!). It was so sweet of them and I couldn't have been more grateful/relieved at the sight of them! They totally came to the rescue in my scary moment!
2-I think the scariest moment for Spencer may have been when we went to Target to shop for a baby shower of a friend. We sat there, staring at the baby clothes, lotions, trinkets, etc. and could not say a word to each other. Finally he asked if he could go look at the movies...I think we'll be a family of two for a while!
3-I don't know if I could pick a very favorite activity of the week...I loved them all, but i especially loved going to Jake's game in Benson. It was the most amazing high school game I'd ever seen with two touchdowns in the last 45 seconds, it was awesome to be with the Hansens, and, for the first time since coming to Arizona, I wore was cold! Hooray-almost like being home! It was a really fun night. However, mountain biking was just as fun--and super exciting, with my biggest fall of the year. And equally fun, though in a different way was watching Gettysburg with Spencer. It was an amazing eye-opener to me and it was cool to see Spencer's passion for history and our country.
So, it's been an awesome week. Spencer is still taking care of me and finishing raising me. Last week, he brought me breakfast in bed one day, made me lunch, bought me M&M's, came grocery shopping, and (even though he wouldn't admit it) he even read Martha Stewart with me...what a trooper! I've never been happier, thanks to him.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Super Woman Week

This is blog entry dedicated to Anna. She is Super Woman in all shapes, forms, and actions. Just check out her super, supine stretch down the half-pipe! We had a great week in Tucson. If anyone is looking for a place to live with Awesome weather, now is the time to cash in on the area here. Everyday I ask Anna if she could have the weather a constant temperature the rest of her life, would she want it how it is now? I would be tempted to ask my genie for such a wish. We've had fun adventures this week. On Monday night we planned to go out with the Elders. They arrived at our house without dinner so we gave them the lion's share of an awesome homemade pizza Anna created!! We were said we couldn't give them more. Then we booked it to the southern boundary of the ward. The contacts were not home but we made some street contacts with some snickering, smoking youth. That's a rough part of town that reminded me of the nights walking along the back streets of Rio de Janeiro. Preaching the gospel is fun.
Tuesday night we had cub scouts and Anna arranged the make sugar cookies with the boys. We have one more buy now so our attendance has increased %100. Anna has magnified every aspect of her calling and every duty she's undertaken since we got married. She is so caring that I think she even felt the pain of the dear pork chops she accidently burnt for dinner. Those poor babies :) Seriously though, it's awesome to me as I go throughout my day to see how much more drive I have to be a better person as I live with Super Woman.
Yesterday we went mountan biking at Fantasy Island. It's a bunch of trails coiled together in a desert patch right on the edge of town. We had a great ride, full of falls, thorns, and Christmas trees.
Our first question this week is: What was the scariest moment of the week? I was scared when I saw Anna riding through the half pipe. We had never ridden the trail before so we had no idea what to expect. She made it up an incline and then paused to see where the trail was going. The sandy trail gave out and she started teetering. The next thing I saw was Anna extended parallel to the ground, arms outstretched, holding on to the bike until gravity sucked her down the little ravine. After riding past miles of cactus, I was scared Anna would become Mrs. Porcupine. She seems to be doing all right.
Second question: What we think scariest moment for spouse was: On Friday when I went to school, Anna jumped in the shower. She found a bee in the bathroom and they quickly became friends. The bee stuck around all day and when I got home I saw the bee in the bathroom. I left the bathroom and gave Anna a kiss in the hallway. While we were kissing I slapped my neck and yelled, "Ouch!" Her face was priceless :) I think I scared her the bee relationship had backfired on us! Out bee friend is MIA.
The final question is what was the favorite activity of the week: The mornings are great times with Anna. The morning Sun pours down through the eucalyptus trees in the morning and since we live on the third floor, it looks like we live in a forest if you look straight out our front porch windows. On Thursday morning we made breakfast together, omeletes and fruit and cottage cheese, and talked about Infinite Atonement by Elder Callister. I learned much from Anna Thursday morning.
Life is great. How could it not be when you live with superwoman. And how could it not be when your wife wants to watch Gettysburg with you on a Saturday night? Thanks Anna!

Utah and Back Again...

It's been another awesome week for us! I felt spoiled--we got to spend the whole weekend with my family up in Utah! It was so great to see them! We had a blast mountain biking, playing/watching football, catching up, and eating like kings. Spencer and I even had fun driving up (10 hours both ways!). Spencer had a test last week, so he had practically lived in his books. So, it was so great to just be with him again. So, to answer the questions: My favorite part of the drive was the hoover dam on the way up. It totally looked like it was straight out Lord of the Rings! It was so huge and looming, with subtle light and no visible humans. And to make it all the more intense, Spencer and I were playing the soundtrack to some eerie movie, so there was just the intense drum beat going. I wouldn't have been surprised to see an army of orks chasing us!
My favorite part of mountain biking was just that--mountain biking, doing it! Everything about it is so fun and it felt like it had been too long. I hope we can find more trails around tucson! I also loved having pedals...something I appreciate now :)
Something I learned from being with family this weekend was something more just re-inforced to me than taught. I realized again how cool family is in that there doesn't have to be catch up time, re-aquainting, or readjusting. Even with the biggest change and the biggest move of my life, I feel the same with them. I'm still "Earth", all our jokes are still the same, and I still rely on their support as much as ever. It was so cool to be with them and really feel that--Thanks so much to you guys if you read this! I love you!
I know I've already written a lot, but I wanted to write just a few more tender mercies of this week: One was Wednesday morning. For the first time in our whole marriage, I left in the morning and Spencer stayed to do homework and it turned out to be such a GOOD thing! He was sitting there studying when all the sudden he heard a huge whoosh and the main pipe to our sink had exploded! So water shot all over the kitchen and was headed toward flooding our apartment. Luckily, he had the presence of mind to get maintenance as fast as possible, and they had it cleaned up within an hour, leaving us only a few cracks in the floor and a new faucet. It was so ironic that happened the ONLY morning Spencer was home, but thank heavens!
Anyway, it's been a grea week and I'm excited for what's coming!

I never make peas!

What do you get from a girl named Anna? Enough fun to make peas non-stop!! We have had a fun week so far after such an awesome weekend! Last Thursday after my test I came home to a beautiful angel-food cake! I would take a test everyday for Anna's angelic touch (cheese please). Married life is fun and it's fun watching each other grow. This morning I looked at Anna's left hand, peppered with cuts and scars from her personal food fights in the kitchen. She came off conquerer though as we dined last night to homemade pizza (thanks Rachel), homemade breadsticks, and homemade frozen yogurt. Anna made pizza for some neighbors and the missionaries too. She's an iron chef.
Anyway, back to last Thursday. We drove up to St. George to play for the weekend with the Boyers. After a tortuous ten-hour drive involving blinking bus lights and "99 bottles of root beer on the wall," we finally made it. It was fun watching Anna get antsy into the wee hours of the morning waiting for her parents to arrive. When they did we had a great reunion and then we hit the hay for a few hours. On Friday Rich, Jennie, Joe, Anna, Eliza, Ben, and I went biking on the Stucki trail. We came home, played some football, and dined out on steak. It was fun. On Saturday we hit the JEM trail, another fantastic mountain bike trail coursing around Hurricane, UT. By the end of the ride it was fun to feel the sore muscles that I never use to just run. We spent the rest of the weekend visiting, playing, lounging, laughing, and more playing. Rich cooked up some fantastic steaks and Lori enhanced it with a great spread of food on the table. Lori, as great as your cooking is, I'm intoxiated with your chili sauce and so that was my delectable high light. So our three questions of the week:
1) Best part of the road trip? Ask Anna why she never makes peas. But one of my favorite parts was watching Anna get wired as a city bus passed us in slow traffic, winking at us the whole way with four tail lights that shined in incoherent and random order. I also loved reading Les Mis with her on the ride.
2) What I like most about Mountain Biking? Pedals
3) Something learned from the family this weekend? I learned again how the only thing that matters is family, not school, jobs, money, cars, even mtn. biking, because in the end that's all we can take with us.
Ate mais amiginos.

thank goodness for pedals!

Wasn't conference AWESOME?! You'd think after 20 years I would learn, but I'm still always amazed at how many answers to prayers and tender mercies there are in conference. We had a blast staying in Thatcher with the Hansens. We got to see Jake OWN his football game, go mtn biking and target shooting, experience Kim's authentic Belgian waffles, and have lots of laughs. We're also excited to go to St. George with my family this weekend--we're so spoiled!
So Spencer has a test this week and probably won't be able to write, but I couldn't resist writing about my adventure of last week. Wednesday morning was gorgeous and clear, so i thought i'd go for a little bike ride. I rode on the river trail by our house for about an hour. I was in absolute heaven until out of the blue, one of my pedals popped off. I was more amused than anything, so I chuckled, picked it up, and rode with one leg for aobut twenty minutes. Then the other pedal popped off. This was not amusing anymore--being 6.5 miles from home. So i gritted my teeth, turned my ipod to mormon tabernacle choir to keep from cursing, and made the trek home. At first, I was a little peeved that such a thing could happen, but then i realized how hilarious it was...especially when I was pedaling with one leg. I know I'm always a spaz...but that was extreme. Anyway...I made it safe and now it's just a good story to tell.
One more thing I have to write about was another romantic Spencer episode. When we were coming home from institute the other night, he threw a blind fold on me. Then he drove to Border's books and pulled the blindfold off for me to see our own little table in the kid's section with two mugs of hot chocolate. We spent the next hours reading Berenstein Bears and Curious George, and reminiscing about being kids. It was so fun!
So...things are just great here! We'll see what adventures this week brings...

The better angels of our nature

Today is Thursday. I want to go find a place to sit and just smile. Sounds simple and cheesy enough, but there are moments in life when a smile handicaps you and all you can do is sit and wonder...and smile. It's a wonder the smile doesn't rip your ears off sometimes.
Tonight, walking into the door, I quickly felt the onset of another S.H.E. (Smile Handicap Episode) I walked into the front room to the aroma of sweet and sour chicken floating from the crock-pot. I know it's the pot's maiden cookage, and what a job it has done. I glanced at our IKEA table and see it set for two. The daisies stand as sentinels in a vase just to affirm that, "yes, life is bueatiful." Then I saw Anna walk down the hall to give me a warm hug. A day studying in the cold library is now a distant memory. After a long hug we caught up on our day and she takes me around to the kitchen where she shows me her minor changes that make the area more short-people friendly (aka taking things off the top shelves so they can be reached without a chair). Then we sit down and eat that sweet and sour delight.
Two months ago I came home to this same apartment. I walked in, saw my guitar against the bare, white wall next to my love-sac/bed. I walked to the kitchen, made mac and cheese, studied a couple hours and went to bed, alone.
Who wouldn't have an S.H.E. after tonight? These Smile Handicap Episodes are heaven sent. And now here's the chocolate to the milk...Anna's got skills. Mad skills. She will make the world a better place by working in it as a nurse. I know that means school and job will replace aromas from the crock-pot. But this, in the end, is what brings me the biggest S.H.E. But for now, I'll take that warm hug and hot supper while it lasts. Thanks Anna, you're the Bomb!

October and another week gone by...and what a week! My position is so different from last week! Last week I wondered if the whole "getting a job" idea was a myth, and now I have some AWESOME offers which I just have to choose between. Maybe with next weeks entry will come a report of a job! Hopefully...
We've had so much fun together this week! We had another "we're official" moment as we bought a TV (with a total steal of a deal!!!), we went on some really fun dates, hung out with cool couples, started our calling as cub scout leaders, ate more burned meals, went for a moonlight walk among the huge sugaro cacti of Sabino canyon, hung out with Jan one afternoon, etc. etc. etc. As hard as I've prayed for a job, it will be kind of bittersweet when I start one because some of our playtime will go away. I'm trying to soak in all I can now...
So, the three topics. The first topic, favorite quote of the week, I resent because Spencer has such a good one on me. Martha...I don't know if you ever read this, but if you do, maybe you can be assured that I took your place with saying comments such as this! However, Spencer did give me a laugh when he asked the difference between lemon meringue pie and lime bars. I don't know if that's a reflection of my cooking, colorblindness, his healthy habits, or what...
Second, what was our favorite activity of the week? Hard to say because we had a lot of fun...This may sound boring, but reading Les Mis together definitely ranks up there. We always have cool discussions and it usually comes with a nice foot rub :) . But I also loved walking through Sabino Canyon under the full moon. The silhouettes of all the cactuses, the sound of the coyotes, the smell of the desert...everything was just all around romantic. And finally, I loved Saturday night. We have so many gift cards from generous wedding guests, but no more household needs. So, we decided to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and independently pick out a gift for the other person. It was hard! That is so much more of a chick place than a guy-particularly Spencer-place. But we had a lot of fun. Spencer got me a really plushy pillow, with a massage thing, bookshelf thing, and a yummy candle. Sweet thing!
Finally, what was our favorite meal of the week? I'm not sure i could name a favorite meal, but I love dessert each night. We got on awesome icecream maker, so each night we've made frozen yogurt and dipped graham crackers in it. It's yummy and it's fun to do together.
So, it's been an awesome week. We're still learning so much and we're still creating our life here in Tucson, but it's a blast. I feel luckier and luckier every day!
Have a great week y'all!

"They're always on Steroids."

Life doesn't get any better than when your wife supports you fully in buying a TV so you can watch football on the weekends! So on Thursday we checked Craig's list and bought a TV, DVD player and cabinet from a couple who got the set for the marriage. They never had time to watch so they sold it. So if time's an issue with this entertainment system, then let us know if you're in the market for a new TV :) This country seems to be suffering from the doldrums on Mondays though. Notre Dame, Penn State, West Virginia, Michigan, UCLA... it's a darn good thing we got the Sun Devils!!
This past week went by super fast. Anna's been running around all over the city for a job and now she's got options to choose from. Yesterday I spent the afternoon alone in the apartment while Anna was at the Relief Society Broadcast and I missed her more than oxygen. She's been strong to be spending the days alone with no school or job. I love how Anna is always up and doing. When I imagine I would spend free time just lying around, she is a living model of productivity and efficiency.
So we have three more topics to write about. The first one is: Quote of the Week. Fortunately we got a good one from Anna at dinner tonight. We were sitting talking about cute actors and actresses (uplifitng Sunday talk for newlyweds :) and of course Brad and Angelina came up. Then Anna spontaneoulsy announced, "They're always on Steroids!" My first thought was, let's get Anna a job with MLB or the Committee of Olympic Drug Affairs so she can use her hound dog senses to catch suspect athletes, but then she looked at me and we bust up laughing when she said she meant Tabloids. I love it when Anna starts laughing hard because hiccups inevitably follow. I fell in love with those hiccups back when we were dating. They hurt her thoug so I never wish them on her.
Our second topic: Best activity of the week: This is a hard one. We've had a lot. Last night we went on a date and incorporated Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards into it by agreeing to split up and choose an item that we think the other would like. So at the store we split up for half and hour and roamed the store. We ran into each other right off looking for the lava lamps and then split. We both ended up with massage products. Poor Anna, next time we'll go to Sports Authority to make it more gender even.
Topic number Three: Favorite meal together: On Friday Anna rode her bike with a cooler on her back to school and brought me egg and bean burritos, complete with drinks, dessert, and appetizers. We sat out on the Institute lawn and had a fun lunch. Then we rode back through campus and I went to school and she checked out some nursing stuff.
We're having fun learning and living together.

Home Sweet Home

Lots of people have said they wanted to see our apartment, so I added some pictures of it on here.
On top, there is a picture of our complex. Our apartment is on the top floor, left side (behind the tree in this picture). Jan calls it the exercise apartment because of the stairs going up...
Next is our new barn red wall in our dining room/family room/front room/study (our apartment is very efficient).
Third, our bite size kitchen :)
And finally, I got this idea from Carrie--she took a picture of her favorite part of her apartment and put it on her blog. This is my favorite part--our bathroom cabinet. Part of it is cuz Spencer and I had such a time putting it together: starting over 8 times, shooting glue all over the carpet, and tearing out half the wall. But also, it just looks happy.
So that's home sweet home for us...thanks to all who have contributed to it! We love it thus far...

The land of Pecans

Well, the blogger Hansens are sending out to the universe what is happening in our warm neck of the woods, and we couldn't be happier. We had a great, fun week. This past week I learned a lot more about Anna that makes me realize how lucky I am every breathing second. One thing I learned a while back came back even stronger this past week. When I got home on Friday afternoon she had everything ready for the camping trip. We've been looking forward to camping since we were married and now we were actually going. While driving to our camping site I realized all that Anna had been through during the week. Looking for a job, arranging the apartment, getting Spencer ready for school, all these boring, monotonous jobs that would bring me down, and she never shows any measure of discouragement at the expense of my happiness. Obviously biased because she's my wife, I've still never known anyone who can go through hard personal trials on a day, and on the same day make her best friend feel like the happiest person in the world. Anna doesn't show her suffering. I just barely learned she gets headaches on occasion. But she never shows it. It's never a cause to complain or alter life. Whenever we're called to cross our pioneer plains during life, I couldn't have chosen a better partner to push the cart with. Anna is long-suffering. I knew it before this week, but this week highlighted it in a different way.
Best part of the camping trip:
We were watching Red Eye. Scary, thriller movie. In one scene Anna gave me a personal red eye when she wheeled her head from the screen to the pillow during a scary moment and nailed my head with her forehead :) The experience blew away anything IMAX could have offered.
Something new we learned about Tucson:
The sky color changes hue as the sun descends latitude with the changing season.
See you next week!

Coyotes, Cheesecake, Arizona Resident, and Whatnot...

Another week of marriage! I can't believe how fast the time goes! And I think every week gets more and more fun, if possible. This last week was full of more rollerblading, throwing the football, burned but fun dinners, our first camping trip, a trip to Grandpa and Grandma's, painting a wall of our apartment brick red (inspired by Lisa Tate!), my getting an arizona driver's license (once again, a "we're official" moment), and lots of laughs.
So the first question we thought of was the best part of the camping trip. For me, it was the coyotes. We had taken the lap top and watched a scary movie--scary movies are a whole different story when you're out in the middle of nowhere with wierd noises! So we were already jumpy, and we had heard rats, owls, and other animals. Then we were just drifting off to sleep when we heard the screaming of coyotes really close--we both jumped up with hair standing on end, then laughed uneasily, trying to reassure ourselves. As you can see...the coyotes did not get the best of us, we're alive and well, but it's funny to think how scared we were.
Second question of the week was what we learned about the other. This could turn into a novel. But there were two main things--first was how great Spencer is with kids. I had seen how much our nieces and nephews loved him. But this week we had our 7 year old neigbor come over a few times for homework help. Spencer sat with her for over an hour, working through math, teaching her techniques, and helping her keep focus. It was really cool to see his patience and his way of encouraging her. Second, I learned that Spencer is still full of surprises. When we were dating, he always had surprises for me at the testing center, in my classes, at my apartment, whatever. It was so sweet. And this week he still kept it up. I had a job interview and was pretty nervous about it. When I walked in, the lady interviewing me grinned, handed me a package, and said "Your husband dropped this off for you. He's SO CUTE!" It was a slice of cheesecake with a note he dropped off on his break. So my interview started by sitting down with the lady over a slice of cheesecake and talking about my cute husband. Then as she took me around and introduced me to different people, she would say, "This is Anna who has the cutest husband who just started medical school and grew up in Mesa and went to BYU and yada yada yada..." She then proceeded to offer my the job. So not only did Spencer provide a good breakfast and comfort when I was stressed--I think he was the one who got me the job! Thank you Spencer!
Long story short...we're having a great time, loving Arizona, and couldn't be happier. Thanks to you all for helping out! Love you all and have a great week!

never done this before...

Sorry, my attention span was a little too short to finish last night. But, as I was saying...it's exciting to be starting a Hansen "family" blog. Ever since Spencer and I got engaged, we keep saying "now this makes us official!" We said it when he gave me my ring, when we sent out invitations, when we got a blender together, when we were sealed in the temple, when we moved into the apartment, etc. Maybe starting a blog together will be the final mark of an official couple!
The last two weeks have been two of the best of my life. We've had so much fun every single day. I'm loving living not only in the same STATE as the kid, but the same city and even the same apartment! I feel spoiled. We've had fun cooking together, setting up our apartment, opening the mound of gifts, rollerblading, going to institute classes, making temple trips, building forts in our apartment, hanging out with new friends, etc. etc. I can't wait to see what the next two weeks, months, years bring.
So as Spencer already said, we both are writing answers to certain questions. The first one was the funniest moment of the week. There have been SO many it's hard to pick one. But, I think when I laughed the very hardest was the other night heading out to the grocery store. We had parked right in back of our apartment, so Spencer and I split up, went opposite directions around the apartment, and were racing to see which way was faster. As I was turning the corner (in the lead, I'm sure), I grabbed onto a lampost, which looked pretty sturdy--they usually are, to swing me around the corner. But instead of swinging me smoothly around the corner, it sent me flying across the sidewalk as it completely uprooted. I ended up in the most awkward heap with the lampost on top of me. A young man walked by right then with his jaw dropped to the ground, but not the slightest hint of a smile. I lay there shaking on the ground laughing until Spencer came and joined me and we laughed together for a long long time. (so if any of you thought that turning twenty and getting married might cure my awkward appendage management issues, nope!).
The next question was what the most surprising discovery about Tucson was. This is so boring, talking about the weather, but really...everyone I talked to about moving to Arizona told me that I would be a puddle within a week. Even Spencer told me atop Masada (the hottest place I've ever been) that he felt like he was back in Arizona. So I was expecting to be scorched by now. However, it's hardly been hot at all! I wear a sweatshirt most nights, we still have some afternoon rains, and it's nowhere near as hot as I was in utah my last few weeks there. What a blessing!
And finally, what was my favorite picture from the wedding? I think my favorite is this one of the family...remember the face Eric made as he took the picture? I thought all the skin was going to fly off his face! I love looking at everyone's faces: so many of us are dying laughing, Sammie the knowing photographer looks like "yeah--i try that trick too," Lou's scared to pieces, Abby's about to tell him to grow up, and who knows what Katie's thinking but she's paying attention--incredible!
Thanks again to y'all for making that day, everything leading up to it, and the days since so great. I love and miss you all tons. Thanks also to that Spencer kid for everything...Have a great week--much love

More Photos For/From the Family

Sunday, Sept 16

Querida Familia,
Two weeks down, and an eternity to go. Sometimes we feel like we're going to explode with gratitude for everthing you've done to make us comfortable in Tucson. We feel your prayers daily, even hourly, and know that we've got the best examples in you all on how to live a happy life.
I told Marc we woud start a blog tonight, so here it is. We might choose another format yet, but this is where we'll start, on good old email. We talked about how to make our blog unique and decided to focus on three topics each week. Anna and I will have the topics but we will write about them independent of each other, not knowing what the other wrote. Then we will compare only after we send off the email. So you're getting Anna's perspective and Spencer's perspective, purified to the genetic core of each individual. We laugh a lot because when Anna asks something like, "what would you want for dinner," after she mentions sphaghetti, I always have a sudden appetite for sphagetti. So, hopefully through the blog, you'll discover what Anna is hungry for in our lives and what I'm hungry for, and how our goals and experiences are woven together.
I. Funniest moment of the week: There were many, but on one occasion we headed out the door to the car. We decided to race around the building to the car, Anna going one way and me another. I got the the car panting and all I heard was this upbeat laughter. Knowing Anna, I thought she had broken her ankle. Most people show pain through sad countenances and weird noises. Anna laughs. But when I came back around the apartment, (Actually, we just had a funny moment: Anna is sitting on the side of the bed talking to Martha and I crawled into the room and peeped around the corner of the bed and smiled a huge clown smile. When Anna turned and saw she let out an awesome yell of fear) okay, back to the story, when I came back to the sidewalk I saw Anna trying to place a lamp post back into the spot where it was uprooted when she used it to catapault around the corner of the sidewalk. We both fell down laughing. Accident-prone Anna. As I started to help her the lamp itself popped off the top and bounced down a little hill. It was too cartoonish to be real.
II. Most surprising discovery of Tucson: Our great ward! With fifteen new couples, the mission president and his wife, and some seasoned veterans, it's a great mix of old and young. Fun, fun friends and exciting opportunities.
III. A favorite picture of the wedding/honeymoon (see picture) You can guess why Rich looks so young again :)
Anna...
I can't believe I'm doing this...starting a blog with my husband!!! It's so exciting. (To be continued tomorrow)