Sunday is for...

Going to church...











Rastlin' up some of the best barbeque this side of the Mississippi at a place called Joe's B-B-Q in old Gilbert - kinda looks like a western town...


















Mosey'n to the local mountain (the area is surrounded by mountains and national parks).. for our first desert picnic (why did we think it was just like Black Hills Park!?!?!?)


























Throwin' footballs - it's warm but it's still fall.








Oh yeah, there's hangin out with our 'other family.'

what is today's date???

Let's see...Today is October...October 27th..

Can't you just see it? feel it? fall weather, changing leaves, hot cider, fresh apples, cold crisp mornings, sweater and jeans.....



NOT.

Not here.


Check out what we did today!

New Culinary Experience

Hard to believe,but I don't think my kids have ever eaten a pomegranate from its 'au naturel' state. In other words, they have had pomegranate juice and some pomegranate in a salad, but really had no idea where the pom seeds came from or how the sweet-tart little jewels were harvested.

Soooo....

Last week these lovely fruits were on sale on the local 'grocery' --course we had to pick up two.

The kids loved breaking the POM in pieces and eating the little seeds. We all liked the juice, but some of us didn't care for the harder seed inside(me!). We ate it over the sink and spit out the seeds...what fun!

warning: POM juice is red red red! and can easily stain.

The Mom

kudos to a friend: Cityscape

Phoenix rising is sort of a redundancy in terms. But local leaders here insist that Phoenix is on the cusp of becoming big-time for commerce, R&D AND a downtown center of life. (http://www.downtownphxrising.org/)

Last night, we were invited to an event of the Cityscape-Phoenix development representing a vision of a brother in the church here. I met DJ Cardon through Nelson who was introduced through Steve S. many years ago. Last night, DJ along with an entourage of city leaders and other 'suits' hosted a reception for VIP's and VUP's (us) for the groundbreaking.

Nice evening with a ton of folks interested in taking the podium. DJ spoke as the originator of this project at the very end; it is the unbiased opinion of this writer that DJ did the best job for the following reasons:

1) the speech was short
2) the speech was made with passion
3) the speech told a story

The pictures above show the artist's rendering of what should be there in 2 years. the photo is a view of the location from my current office so the dust and hammering ought to be interesting.. notice the archaeological dig prior to excavation... i think they found early native american artifacts. i understand that this location was the original downtown center over a hundred years ago - the wild west, cowboys, saloons and gunfights, i'm sure..

a Pic is worth...

we'd like to share something that this area gets in abundance: the most beautiful sunsets (this side of Maui). the pictures don't do justice to the consistent beauty of the southwestern skyline.

house pics

by popular demand, we're posting various before and after pics of the house..


Kitchen before...and really the green counter tops and the orange-terra cotta color were quite awful...








Kitchen and fam room..
After....


































That's the boys' room on the left,
the girls' room on the right








Family room before and after







Before with the 'lovely wall color'...and after with our stuff:)




Guest room before and



After.






hallway entrance B&A

















MBR before and after










the best features of the house in our opinion? the weather and the pool.

From the Girls

Twinkle:

Howdy! Get ready for a regular western tale, folks. One that will go down in history as the greatest western of all time. At least, in our history it will. So bite into a red pepper, stick a piece of straw between yer teeth and pull up a chair.

A few days ago, the Mom found a strange-looking poop. (You would think that me, being the poop-scooper of the family, would've noticed the fact. Now, don't get me wrong. I take this poop scooping very seriously. Er, right. Now, back to the story.)

Yesterday, a neighbor came galloping over during the afternoon hours and bellowed, "Get that precious dog of your rightly out of that ther yard. There is a ferocious, mean, hideous, and practically wild bobcat out there! He's drinkin' your pool dry. He's makin' pulp out of your towel. He's--"

As all the old westerns say, "Tweren't nearly what I been tryin' to say, rightly." Er, maybe I just made that up. Ahem. Back to the story. Anyways, the neighbor didn't quite say all that stuff about towel-pulp. But he did tell us folks that ther' were some bobcats in that ther' wash. (For you city-folks, a wash is a small strip of desert. With cacti, rabbits, dust, funny birds prickly things, and now bobcats.)

Yes, there was a bobcat, fellers. A mamma and two little 'uns, about the size the size of One Cent, here. Anyway, thems were just hidin' out thar. Waitin'. Minnie found one of them little 'uns, hidin' in a bush. But, the little 'un made for his mamma and we didn't see them no more. Twere an 'citing experience for Minnie. Minnie nearly fainted with 'citement.Yes, a very 'citing experience for us all, fellers. And that is the end of this here story. Us folks haven't set eyes on a bobcat since. But, I'm surely as the sun sets every night that them bobcats are still there. Waiting...

Break a leg and bite your tongue and watch food network and poke your eye and stick yourself on cacti and skin your knee and get bit by a scorpion and spill your coffee and sprain an ankle and eat junk food and I guess I'm trying to say HAVE A GOOD DAY AND WISH US LUCK WITH THEM BOBCATS.

Twinkle

Minnie:

Salutations!

Yesterday was the first day the pool was freezing but it was 6 pm. So probably about 3 it would be warm. So, we jumped in the pool, then went in the hot tub,and then got changed.

Me and Twinkle have been sleeping in the guest room because our room has the fort in it and I want to do a puppet show. The guest room is freezing now. Today I woke up really cold. And today I woke up and I realized I couldn't move my arm because it was frozen! And so I got up and it was 7am.
That's it.
See you later!

Well, not really see. Write later.
~Minnie

The Suns Shine in Arizona

Yesterday just didn't seem to end, in a good way. The zoo, the library, and a PHOENIX SUNS GAME!!!!

We were about six rows up from the players and coaches. I could even see Steve Nash's sweaty hair. Yuck! Of course, the Suns won: 124 to the Utah Jazz: 101. There were about three dunks, 10 fouls, four three-pointers, and lots of "Go Nash!" Steve Nash did a few unbelievable lay-ups; Raja Bell scored 24 points; Leandro Barbosa scoured 28 points; and Grant Hill made eye-contact with the Dad. Of course, the Dad wasn't too surprised.

Also, there was an extra bonus. Last year, D.J. Strawberry played college basketball for the Terps. And now he is playing for the Suns. So, for all you Maryanders, know that we saw Strawberry in person and he sends his greetings. Fine. What her really said was: "I love it in Arizona...the weather...the fans..." I'm sure he meant us when he referred to the fans.

The game ended early-ish. About 9:30 pm. Chip, Minnie, and Mickey all fell asleep on the way home. I didn't. I wasn't even tired. I was wide awake. Well, maybe I was a little sleepy. Anyway, all you need to know is I didn't fall asleep.

Oh! I almost left out the most important part. The food. At the game, the Dad got three Subway subs, two hot dogs, two pretzels, three sodas, one plate of nachos, and one bag of cotton candy. Yes, we ate it all. The cotton candy was great! Clarification: the first ten handfuls are great. It's amazing how quickly a sugar-headache can come on.

They are so tall! Marks is seven feet tall. Well, that's what Mickey told us.

Cotton-candy splurg!

the fun just doesn't stop today

We are off to a pre-season Phoenix Suns Game (thanks in part to a friends offer of some tickets). We'll take pictures and load them up later....

whew! what a day!

the mom

The Zoo

Hi Friends,

Today we went with the Mackays to the Phoenix zoo. Whew! We must have walked 50000 miles. Minnie, Mickey, Chip, and I brought our Heeleys. Whew! We must have Heelyed 500000 miles. Hmmm. There seems to be a what-do-you-call-it-when-you-are-repeating-yourself. Except I am. Not you. You aren't even talking. You're laughing. Laugh. Thank you. Pretend I am a junior comedian. And you are a senior laugher.

Here are a few pictures of our 5000000 mile walk around the zoo:









This giraffe looks mad. He's chewing his grass (see the bulge) and glaring down at the visitors. He probably doesn't realize that the visitors paid for him to be eating. He doesn't care. He's a giraffe.









This is a wild dog. Not your typical floppy-eared, silky coated, sweet, dog. Though very wild-looking, they are (in a way) beautiful. Wildly beautiful.













Operation in process. Mickey got a cactus-sticker-thingy in his hand, but it came out quickly.









So cute. Too adorable. A baby squirrel monkey.








Mickey, N., and Minnie










The kids.