Kitchen Progress

We're making progress. We're officially mold free! Thank goodness. Our laundry room is now a room again with actual walls. Our red paint will have to go since I can't seem to find our extra gallon anywhere. So we'll be painting that back to tan :(. Poor guy who'll have to paint it has his work cut out for him. Trim and door guy, cabinet guy and countertop guy are all scheduled for the January 7th. Just in time for the McConkey family Christmas the walls are done! So we can move the fridge back into the actual kitchen. But in the mean time we'll have a hole where our cabinet was supposed to go and no countertops for a couple weeks. Oh the joys of home ownership during the holidays...

Our Kitchen Mess!

Bunco night has arrived, December 15th, and as I'm cleaning the house I notice our base boards seem to be getting fatter? Wait...baseboards don't get fat? Unless there's a bunch of water behind them causing them to expand that is! Ugh! Sure enough, Justin came home and I showed him the baseboard in the laundry room. He pulled out the fridge and saw a little water on the ground and around the ice line. Then Justin pushed on the drywall, just a little, with his finger, and water came seeping out of the walls! It's was gross! So I called my favorite construction manager James and asked for advice. He came over, took a look, and said, yep you got issues! So the mold remediation people came over and went to work. My fridge is now in my dining room and my kitchen countertop is now on the living room floor. The laundry room door is against the wall in the living room and the cabinet is in the garbage. Apparently there was an entire science project growing on the back of it. So just in time for Christmas and my kitchen is an absolute disaster!
This is what it looks like to see through from the kitchen directly into the laundry room! It was a little drafty with all the fans blowing for 3 days!

Zoo Lights 2010!

Nicole, Bill, Justin and I made our annual stop to Zoo Lights this year! Every year they have something new or add more lights to some crazy tree. Always a spectacular site to see! We had yummy hot chocolate and then made our way to dinner at Z-Tejas. Yum-O! This is Justin and I's 5 year seeing Zoo Lights since he took me there for our first date back in '05. It's always fun to look back and see where it all began. Gotta love zoo lights!

Lindsey's Baby Shower

Ashlyn will have a baby brother very soon! We had a great time at Lindsey's baby shower. Lindsey's sister in law Stephanie held the shower at El Cantina Laredo, a Mexican restaurant at San Tan. It was excellent! We had the entire back room to our selves. I of course had a virgin margarita so I could fool Mom a little longer before surprising her with the news on Christmas day.
The best friend has to buy the boob pads. It's just the rule! :)

Just Found Out!

The afternoon of December 9th I took a test and Yes we're pregnant! Kinda crazy! I had to go back to work and attempt at keeping it a secret, which was WAY hard to do! Then went to an ornament exchange party at a girlfriends house, kept my lips shut the whole time. Then still made it home before Justin did from work and I sat and waited patiently. Once he finally came home I gave him his present, yes I gave him a pee stick (he was grossed out too!). But whatever! With a note that said, "You were right, first try's a charm! Happy Early Christmas!"

Mom & Daughters Night Out

Mom, McKenna and I drove to the Marriot near Cave Creek to see the 3rd place ginger bread house in the nation. It was pretty cool! The entire hotel was decked out head to toe in Christmas. We had a nice time, took pictures, shopped and then went out to dinner at Maggianos.

McKenna and I

YUM-O!

My New Car

It's finally here! My brand new 2011 Chevy Equinox! Justin ordered it for me about 10 weeks ago. It was supposed to only take 6-8 weeks however it was pulled randomly for quality testing. Apparently it past because they put in on the train and sent it over! The best thing about this car, other than the new car smell of course, is the heated seats! Love me some heated seats!

Ode to my Toyota Rav-4, How I loved thee...Let me count the ways! You were good to me. With only a few flat tires and your regular oil change, you got me to and from. You're the greatest car I've ever had and I know you'll be happy with your next owner. As I'm sure they will love you as much as I loved you! Thank you for 6 wonderful years and 109,540 miles. You will be missed but not forgotten.

Toyota Rav-4 (2004-2010).

Our First Thanksgiving!

Justin cooked an amazing meal! His first turkey ever and it was so yummy! Tom, Jody, Thomas and Emily joined in for the festivities and supervised as Justin went to work. It was so much fun having football on in the background, the heavenly smells coming from the kitchen and a great family to share it with! Mom and McKenna joined us after first stopping at Aunt JoAn and Uncle Dave's for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. They both found some way to make room in their stomachs for more. After the dishes were all cleaned. Thomas and Emily helped decorate the tree. The house went from Thanksgiving to Christmas in a matter of hours.

The joke on the table was the little reindeer candle holders I had on the table didn't turn into reindeer until the tree went up. So for Thanksgiving the reindeer were just deer.

I had so much fun putting together the table. Justin and I watched the food network for ideas on "How to cook a Thanksgiving Meal" as well as "How to set up the table." A big thanks to Ina Garten on the Barefoot Contessa - She loves her tea lights! And to Paula Dean for a super yummy turkey! I don't know why I was so nervous about our first Thanksgiving? It was so much fun and so good! I can't wait to do it again! :)

My Fabulous Partners!

It's a Happy Halloween at Layton Lakes! We all dressed up as football players and Jess as our referee! :)

Posing for the Camera! Hey if you're stuck working on Halloween you mine as well have a good time with it!

Jessica and Myself

Happy Halloween!

We go together like Ketchup and Mustard.... Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy!

Mom as a Beer Wench! And I as a Ketchup Bottle! Let's be honest most of the time I'm wearing Ketchup one way or another. Mine as well be it for Halloween! Mmmmm Ketchup!

Miss Sedona Rae!

Mark and Sarah representing our Arizona Cardinals!

Chloe and I with Crockett trying to eat the bouquet.

Sedona Rae as Tinkerbell and Lyla Jeanne as a Bunny.

Miss Chloe as the Bride to Be & Tena.

The McConkey's, Emily as Minnie Mouse, Jody as Sylvester, Thomas as The ultimate Cow and Tom as himself.

Sarah, Mark, Ken, Lindsey and Ashlyn

Let the cookie decorating begin! Now kids, "Don't forget, the Black frosting has to be dry before you eat it!" Lesson learned after last year with black teeth, black tongues and black hands!Grandma was the ultimate supervisor in the decorating process. She told me she would come to my party but she wasn't dressin' up. I told her, how about you be a "Grandma," Grandma? She agreed :).

Mark jumpin' in to lend the ladies a hand in decorating.

Sedona, Ashlyn and Aunt Julie being silly on the stairs.The kids lasted a whopping 15 minutes decorating the cookies. Naturally the adults took over!

Emily and Thomas - aka Justin Bieber & Minnie Mouse (I couldn't resist Thomas!)

Some of my favorite Ladies! Grandma, Ashlyn and Roxi chillin' on the couch! Roxi followed Grandma all night. Wherever Grandma was, Roxi was!

Poor Chloe's missing her two front teeth! Talk about the underdog in the bobbing for apples competition! I think she ended up with more water on her gown then in the bucket!

So much fun!

Who's going first?

Sedona vs. Crockett who's going to get an apple first? :)

Crockett was the most successfull "bobber!" He bobbed apples all night until all the apples were no longer bobb-able! Crockett's new favorite fruit is a Red Apple!

The wonderful clean up crew! A big thanks to Emily, Jody and Mom for all your help at the end of the night!

Happy Halloween from the McConkey's!

Our Maui Vacation

Our first day in Maui, Hawaii! Life is good!

We took our week vacation this year in our favorite location, Maui! The best thing about our trip...No Agenda! No wedding, no preview for possible sites, no marriage license, no obligations what so ever! It was wonderful! We had an amazing time and probably our best vacation ever!

Justin and I ate at our favorite restaurant called the Lahiana Grill. This is where we had our rehearsal dinner last year.

Yum-O Ahi Tuna! Please, sir may I have some more? I ate so much fish this week I didn't have to take my fish oil pills! Love the Lahaina Grill!

We've stayed at the Hyatt in Kannapali 3 times and this hammock is one of the top 5 reasons why! How cool is it to be able to lay in a hammock with your husband on the beach between 2 palm trees? That's like something straight out of a movie!

If there's a brewery on the Island I will find it! We, of course, had to try all of the beers offered by Maui's local brewery. So we did!

The Gazebo restaurant, a MUST for breakfast! They're famous for their pineapple-banana, macadamian nut pancakes. I don't even like pancakes and I LOVE these! The white stuff on top is their own version of whip creme (but no whip creme as the waitress pointed out to Justin). Whatever it is, it's good!

Rice is also an option instead of potatoes. Who'd of thunk? It was still good!

We drove and drove and then drove some more on a very windy road to get to the Tedeshry Winery. Maui's own winery. They make an amazing pineapple sparkling wine. Tastes a lot like champagne with a hint of pineapple. We took the tour through the grounds and tasted away. Believe it or not they did have a red wine to offer however it wasn't anything special in my opinion. I actually preferred their "Maui Blanc." We brought a few bottles home with us. Probably why my suitcase was over the 50lb limit!

October 8, 2010 - To think only a year ago we were standing on a beach taking pictures in our wedding attire at this time! Justin and I started the evening with cocktails over looking the ocean at our resort. Then headed to David Paul's for dinner.

We had an incredible dinner and David Paul himself delivered our dessert to our table! I was so star struck! He was actually the head chef at the Lahaina Grill 4 years ago when we firs visited the Lahaina Grill. Of course back then it was called David Paul's Lahaina Grill. Hence the reason I wanted to have our rehearsal dinner there. Sure enough he and his menu took off so he decided to open his own restaurant. Anyway, long story short it was WAY cool to have him come out and say hello.

The ONLY picture I have of this trip with Justin showing his teeth and grinning ear to ear! Why, you ask? I'd like to think it's because his beautiful wife is sitting across from him. But I'm thinking it's most likely the fabulous mojito in his hand!

Our view from our balcony.

Last day in Maui. We stopped by the Sea Watch Restaurant to visit the place we were married. Apparently it's under new ownership with a new name? They're now calling it Gannon's. Really? Gannon's? Nothing says romance like Gannon's? I mean come on! It sits on a golf course on top of the hill over looking the gorgeous ocean! You will always be The Sea Watch to us!

This is the spot where we were married! Still happy and smiling a year later!

Our last restaurant stop in Maui before heading to the airport. Mama's Fish House! So incredibly good. By now I'm sure you've noticed a re-occurring theme here...Food! We certainly ate a lot and ate very well.

Lobster Guacamole?!? Who'd a thunk? We're glad they did! It was great!

Hard to see but I was attempting to take a picture of 3 different turtles that kept sticking their heads out of the water. This is a popular surfing area for the locals near Mama's Fish house on the way to the airport.

Oh Maui we will miss you! Thank you for another wonderful vacation!