Unrelatedly and more importantly, we’ll be having a baby soon! December to be more precise. It’s been pretty exciting so far but I know it’ll get better. If you’re interested in getting more frequent updates on the situation, head on over to the blog my wife created for that very purpose: sarah-christmasbaby.blogspot.com

One thing that was interesting to see was Michael Tait as the new lead singer for the Newsboys. At first I was disappointed that Peter Furler (the former lead singer / the bald guy) wasn’t there but I think Tait did a fantastic job and I ended up really enjoying the concert. Also, as far as I know, Furler is still part of the band as part time vocals / songwriter. Another thing that really made this trip special was the fact that two former dc Talk members were there. Because of this, dc Talk songs were played two nights in a row, once by the Newsboys and once by TobyMac and his band.

This time was also interesting because of a little adventure we had on our way out. We got on I-5 and then 805 to get down to I-8 and be on our merry way. Well, we had been on 805 for a bit too long for my liking so I asked Sarah if she had seen any exit signs and she said she had been paying attention and hadn’t. I didn’t think I had seen any for awhile and certainly wasn’t seeing any at this point so I just kept going thinking I was being paranoid. Well after awhile, the landscape in the distance seemed different…the buildings didn’t look the same or anything. Then we saw a sign that said “Last U.S. Exit” and at that point we figured out what I did wrong…lol. Anyway, I hastily took that exit, turned around and thanked God we didn’t somehow get stuck at the Mexico port of entry. Guess we should have been paying more attention to the signs.

Also worth mentioning, the following weekend Sarah and I celebrated our one year anniversary! One down, many to go!

Anyway, I’ll start from the beginning. Back around Thanksgiving we got a dog (see picture to the left). His name is Chester. Now, you could be wondering how on earth Andrew ended up getting a dog…and sometimes I still wonder the same thing haha. Afterall, I think apartments are a terrible place to raise a dog, I get annoyed with them easily and I think they cost too much money (especially if you live in an apartment). But, when we were walking through PetsMart that one day in November and happened to see the animals from the humane society, I had a moment of weakness. And knowing Sarah really wanted a dog (despite my continuously saying we need to wait until we get a house) I said I’d consider the possibility if he could stay at her parents house (until we got a house). And that’s how it all started. My mom ended up giving him to us as a Christmas present and we decided not to keep him at Sarah’s parents house because we wanted to be able to train him and raise him ourselves. And, for the most part, he’s turned out to be a really good dog. Yes, we’ve had our share of “puppy troubles” that most people likely encounter in a similar situation but he’s a fast learner and pretty well behaved most of the time as long as he doesn’t get too bored. And while it was possibly too soon to get a dog…I think we’ll learn valuable lessons through training him…like patience!

Also, we had plans to go to California right after Christmas for a wedding in which Sarah was a bridesmaid. Well, for Christmas we ended up getting two tickets to Disneyland so we did that as well while in California. And it was my first time! We got to go on Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain, a handful of Fantasyland rides, Innoventions (which happened to have ASIMO at the time…really cool stuff), Tower of Terror, California Screamin’, Mulholland Madness, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Indiana Jones and Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately, we never made it on to Space Mountain due to misplaced fast passes but I’m sure we’ll be back again seeing as you probably need at least two days to do everything.

I also got a handful of cds for Christmas…all of which I thoroughly enjoyed (and still enjoy). But one is by a new band I’ve never mentioned before. This cd is The Heat by NeedToBreathe which was an instant hit for me. I’d highly recommend this album to anyone who enjoys alternative rock.

Finally, you may have noticed that I got around to importing my posts from the old website. Unfortunately, none of the comments made it though as it would have been much too time consuming to add those to the old RSS feed. So if you happened to have a comment on one of those posts that you thought was really important…feel free to go back and re-add it. Ha.

Anyway…Aspen (and the surrounding area) was beautiful. We were able to enjoy great food, good times, an amazing hot air balloon ride (a first for both of us), and the famous Maroon Bells (as seen to the right). Let me just say that you have to see the Maroon Bells in person. If you think the pictures are spectacular, just wait until you see them with your own eyes. The pictures don’t even come close to doing them justice! On the way out we also made a pit stop in Denver and I got to show Sarah many places of my youth. I was happy to find that Sarah loved Denver (and CO in general) as I thought she would…but it’ll probably be a long time before we move there, if ever (even though we’d really like to some day).

Since then we’ve been getting settled at the new apartment. Right now we have a recliner and two camp chairs (for living room furniture), a folding table and folding chairs for the kitchen and boxes for night stands. It’s good stuff lol. This weekend we’ll be heading up to Phoenix to hit up IKEA (and possibly Target) and see if they can help us out…we actually would already have a kitchen table if target had the chairs in stock but maybe we’ll have better luck in Phoenix. Definitely big changes of late…but they’ve been much awaited and welcomed as far as I’m concerned.

Yeah…that’ll change things pretty quickly lol. Basically, on Saturday, Sarah and I did “Picacho 3.0″. We took the easier, more scenic (but longer) route this time which I’ve never done before. After having a relaxing lunch on the top, I asked her if I could take her picture with the sun behind her, thus requiring her to stand and me to kneel down and “get my camera”. However, instead of coming up with the camera, I came up with the ring and proposed…at which point Sarah ecstatically said yes! On the way down we actually ran in to a girl who noticed us signing and explained that she was deaf too. Soon after, the rest of her family caught up and it seemed as though she had a few sisters who were deaf as well and everyone in the family was fluent in sign language. This was really neat for Sarah and she just couldn’t help but share the good news. By the time we got back to the base of the peak we were pretty tired but still had a good mile or two of walking to get back to the parking lot. Needless to say the whole event wore us out but it was beyond worth it. And despite Sarah’s dream about the proposal (yes, I kid you not, she actually had a dream about the whole event before it even happened!) she had no clue it was actually going to come true.

Needless to say this has been a year of change considering that I fell in love with Sarah, discovered many new things about life, learned how to ride a horse, moved out of my parents house and bought a new car. Not to mention my sister Amy getting married and moving to Phoenix! On the other hand I do still have the same job and I’m still trying to finish out my Associates at Pima (which should actually be completed before long now).

At any rate, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a happy New Year! 2008 will be an exciting year!

The rest of the weekend was fairly relaxing…sleeping longer than any of us have in a long time on Sunday and meeting up with my good buddy Alex on our way out. And we made it out just in time because that very Sunday one of the (now many fires in southern California) was darkening the sky just northwest of Magic Mountain. Anyway, despite the fun being cut short, the trip was still well worth it because I can now say that I’ve enjoyed a metal coaster, got to see my good friend…and of course there was the general good time in fellowship we were all able to have.

Now I suppose you could say that the busyness was partially self induced but good things came of it. I mean, yeah…Amy (my sister) getting married the weekend before last wasn’t exactly optional and was well worth it. Especially seeing her all beautiful and happy like that. Not to mention getting to see my brotha Danny and dancing with my Sarah (which is always a blast!). Needless to say, I’m very happy for Amy and Dave (her husband). And of course there’s school which started just last week and can’t really be helped. But during this already busy time…I found something else to make myself even more busy. Ironically enough, its been almost a year from when I last tried this. If you recall, just under a year ago, I (well, my parents really) purchased a Prelude which ended up getting totaled just a week and a half later.

Anyway, if you haven’t already guessed, I bought another Prelude…only this time it’s a ’98 (so newer body style), and it has much fewer miles. However, interestingly enough, it’s white again (as you can see in the picture) but the paint is actually worth taking care of this time. That and I exercised a bit more patience. But so far it’s been a great car and wonderful to drive and…believe it or not…infinitely better than my last one. I guess you could say Danny put the bug back in me when he came down here for Amy’s wedding (showing off his 2000 Prelude) but you’re only looking at part of the story if you don’t also take into account that back in the day, Danny didn’t even like Hondas…back in the day when I went on and on about like a crazy man about my dream car, the Prelude, and not some classic muscle car. Anyway…cross your fingers…if you don’t see a post on here within a week and a half from now, we’re golden.

We got back in the morning on the Sunday before the fourth of July and just kinda relaxed for awhile until Sarah and I joined my family for the momentous occasion of moving all my things to a new house where I am now living with three other guys (finally lol). Let me just say that so far it’s been pretty nifty. Yeah, we don’t have quite all the amenities found at our parents’ homes but it’s a pretty nice, comfy place and so far it’s been a new and exciting experience and certainly a blessing. Not that living at home was by any means bad…it was just time. Now all we really need is a washer and dryer.

Anyway, the fourth of July was especially special this year because not only was it our first forth (yes, first fourth ) spent with a significant other, it was our four month anniversary lol. And we had the day off which can only make things better. So we celebrated independence day, our four month and the day off all in one by going out to lunch and then watching the phirewerks later that evening. Good stuph!

Finally just this passed weekend, we went camping yet again! Yeah you might think we’re crazy but it was actually pretty fun and rather relaxing (which is how camping should be). Sarah and I left on Friday morning with my dad and headed up to the white mountains (yes, in Arizona) to join about 18 other people from the college group. It was near a lake again and there was a boat but it was a much smaller lake and the boat was a small fishing sort (I never rode in that one). But we spent lots of time kinda hiking around and finding cool places near the lake to just chill (as seen in the above picture). And then, of course there was plenty of good ol’ sitting around the campfire and everything that goes with that.

At any rate, yes, that’s what I would call a packed two weeks. I’m actually looking forward to things kinda settling down and chillin out a bit more. Because as busy as we humans like to be…there’s something to be said for simplicity.

The next day, we spent more fun times on the beach, went out to eat and finally saw Kutless and Third Day…both really cool in concert as well…especially Third Day. Then we hung out the rest of the night until it was time for bed.

Finally, on the last day…we explored around San Diego a bit, visited Point Loma…which was really neat (as you can see in the picture of the wonderful view from there), shopped at Target and finally headed home. It was overall just a really nice and relaxing time for Sarah and I to hang out and have fun. It was especially cool to see Sarah enjoy the music so much! Great times!

In other news, Sarah and I had the opportunity to feed the homeless last Sunday which was really neat. Sarah is a veteran but it was more of a new experience for me but it was still awesome for both of us. It was really cool to just see how happy those people were to have people like us willing to help them out. Very good times!

Speaking of Monday, for the first time in quite a while I got the chance to chill with Jay and Joel on Joel’s roof. We were able to catch up and chat for awhile which was cool. Good times.

In other news…this weekend I was able to go to my second wedding with Sarah…but this time, Sarah was a maid of honor which made it pretty special. It was a good reminder of just how blessed I am…seeing her all “gussied up” like that. That and there was plenty of general dancing and everything. Good times indeed!