Back to the Desert

If you have been wondering if John and I disappeared from the blogging world and you were deprived of our 'Oh so facinating blogs,' you were WRONG! Well sorta. I went to Phoenix, Arizona for a little over 2 weeks and recently just returned! Unable to get my blogging down while there and you know John's blogging discipline was not there...we were in a lull! But we are backkk!

I went out to Phoenix early before Thanksgiving to help with my mom post surgery (Attempted to play Nurse Lori for 2 weeks). We weren't able to do too much since I was mostly watching her sleep and getting her medicine and food ready, but I had a great time just being with family that I dont get to see nearly enough! There were a lot of visitors, so that was always entertaining and my sister in law, Sabina, was a great hostess for us and made some FABULOUS dinners (and Mike too!) I loved spending that quality time with my 3 year old nephew Simon who although he says "No Auntie Lori" quite a bit, I know he loves me and we had a fun time! Even when we were eating dinner and he broke out from the couch with, "Celebrate Good times..come on!" LOL Where do they get this stuff?!

Towards the end of the trip, my mom was feeling better, and I was able to sneak in a few dinners with some old friends and do a little Last Chance Shoppping! (although they switched up the purse procedure again..so missed out on the good ones! UGH..next time I will be seasoned and ready!)

Love, love, love to see everyone and wish I could do so more often! There is just something special about your friends and family that you grew up with and they know you better than most..there is always a lot of laughing, reminiscing, and just catching up on life (which goes way too fast)!!

Poor John had to work Thanksgiving but he did an awesome job holding down the fort here at home and only managed to shrink one load of shirts!

Here are a few pics of Simon that I thought were so cute! And one pic of me out with the Rios sisters...our usual Thanksgiving get together.
Enjoy!
                                 
                                             

       

       

At Last...

After 4 years of waiting, John and I finally took our Honeymoon! (John started his 3 year training program only a week after we got married). Hence why I have not been blogging recently- we were sipping pina coladas and basking in the sun! We decided instead of going to an island or a cruise, we would return to one of our favorite places...Clearwater/Siesta Key, Florida. John and I had been to this area about 5 years ago and fell in love with their beaches and the clear blue water! Would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a short getaway- very laid back, good food, and amazing beaches!

Here are a few pics from our trip...

Our view from 14th floor balcony at Hyatt Regency of Clearwater-awesome hotel, highly recommended! 

Hotel has pool and restaurant/bar on 8th floor overlooking ocean..we spent alot of time up here relaxing and drinking their signature drink that tasted exactly like those orange push pops we used to eat as a kid!

Our daily occurrence.

John of course went out much further than me, but yes I did go out far with him a few days to the sandbar until I saw a dark shadow in the water and he claims 'something rubbery knocked into his leg!" Last time I went out there! We saw plenty of fish, sting rays, sand dollars, etc..

The water is SOO clear..hence Clearwater!

View of hotel from water

Sunsets from our balcony were unreal and if you are at a restaurant for sunset its a ritual to clap at the last second before its gone!

Our Anniversary Dinner at Island Way Grill (owned by two former Tampa Bay Buccaneers- I guess one of them was there but we didn't know who he was?lol) but amazing food with outdoor deck/bar overlooking bay area.

Made sure I never missed a sunset!

Back to the beach!

Notice how shiny we are in most pics...we went through 5 bottles of sunscreen!! John is a stickler when it comes to not getting burned..we put 45 on twice a day! Needless to say..we also did not get tan either! LOL

Sunday Brunch

Siesta Key Beach...softest sand ever!

We went to Busch Gardens Tampa for the day..its a theme park with rollercoasters/safari animals. They have this tiger encounter area where you are basically in a plastic tube that you can get right up in their surroundings..very cool!

One came and laid on top of our heads in the plastic thing...scary! lol

whoa!

John's best bud...they seriously played this hide/seek type game for 20 minutes!

Our last night...beautiful!

We had such a fun time and we were sad to leave but until next time!

Found a little Piece of Home here in PA!

When looking for churches here in PA for John and I to start getting involved with, I came across a very familiar name.......Saints Simon and Jude in West Chester, PA! I wondered how it would compare to my own Saints Simon and Jude in Phoenix that I attended grades 1-8 and had such a fantastic experience. So we decided to give it a try a few weeks ago and guess what...its like a little piece of home! Pulling up, the school looks exactly the same..red one story brick buildings. The church is huge and has a large family following. The people are all very welcoming, and THEY SING THE SAME SONGS! lol. So we have been three times since. John thought at first all the 'sitting, standing, kneeling, and constant signs of the cross with repeating words after the priest' was interesting but since he has now attended quite a few masses with me he is really liking the services. Who knows, maybe my kids will be Saints Simon and Jude graduates one day too! ; )

On the road again...StonyBrook style this time!

John and I are just blessed to be able to attend two weddings on back to back weekends of such great friends (as most of you know..I love weddings and wedding planning!). This time we took a road trip through northern Pennsylvania on our way to Turning Stone Resort and Casino near Syracuse, NY for Sarah Hanover's wedding- a great college friend of mine that I played soccer with at StonyBrook University. Again, most of you know, if John and I have any excuse for a road trip..we jump on it! I love love to take random drives- hence my 4 times across country, random Sunday drives with Ash in college, and driving to Kansas City for Lauren's wedding. I think I definitely inherited that from my mom...when I tore my knee in the middle of Phoenix's hottest summer and didn't want to leave the house with my GIGANTIC hot brace on, she would either lay with me in bed and we would watch sports/reality tv or she would take me on drives all around the outskirts of town. I guess its the little things we remember most. (Not like when she was crying when dropping me off at rehab because it was the first time I was able to walk in without crutches..you would think I was walking into Kindergarten!). Lol.
So back to the wedding weekend...On our way up it was beautiful since the fall foliage was just changing and the colors were picturesque. We stopped for lunch in Jim Thorpe, PA and ate at The Inn at Jim Thorpe. Very cute and amazing food! The town is an old railroad town that you can take train rides to and from and they have a river that runs near the track. Lots of shops, antiques..reminded me of a cross between Prescott and Flagstaff.
We then made it to the resort and met up for dinner with one of my great college friends from the team, Krisha and her husband Rob! We decided to eat at their Brazilian steakhouse, little did we know we would be leaving there three hours later having ate 12 ROUNDS of different MEATS! haha I thought you would chose two but they just kept coming. By the end it was comical and we were all laughing that we just ate about 5 years worth of meat! But it was definitely an experience and would do it again..just less rounds!
We then tried our hand at a few 1 cent slots- I think I won 15 dollars!
Wedding day was sunny and beautiful! The ceremony was in a stunning old brick Catholic church in Syracuse, NY and then back to the resort for the reception!
Reception was a ton of fun and after...gambling! John tried his hand at black jack and only lost 5 dollars so we were proud of him!
It was a great weekend, loved seeing old friends and how happy Sarah is with Andy and wish them a beautiful life together!
On our way home, we stopped over for a few minutes in the Pocono Mountain area of PA and ate at Jubilee restaurant that has been family owned and running for over 40 years- know for their wings!
We wish we could see all our old friends on a regular basis- its great to catch up but times flies! Hopefully more weddings are in the near future!

JIM THORPE, PA 

(our seats for lunch..cute!)

TURNING STONE RESORT AND CASINO

A bar called The Recovery Room- we needed it after 12 rounds of meat! 

WEDDING DAY 10/9/10

our group was really into the bubbles!

John somehow leading the ChaChaCha!?!

Final Pic with Sarah of the night..she was SO happy!

 POCONO, PA