SUPER...CALIF...RAGIL....ISTIC....

Over Valentine's and President's day weekend, we took a relaxing and warm trip to Arizona. The main reason for our venture south was for Mary Poppins and although I have no pictures of our night at the theater, it was so much fun! Naomi has been singing the songs ever since.

We spent a morning at South Mountain park hiking. This is our favorite trail and a must do every time we go to Arizona.

Steph and Naomi (and the yellow chick) get ready for story time at my favorite bookstore in the world, Changing Hands! We made lots of great book finds then headed across the parking lot to stock up at Trader Joes.

We explored a wonderful botanical garden. They had a children's garden and Naomi tried out the human sundial.

There were so many kinds of cactus, some that you could touch. I can't remember the name of this one, but it was covered with little velvety patches.

On Valentines day we went to the Mesa temple. Many of the flowers had just been planted and the grapefruit trees were were loaded with ripe fruit.


There was some pretty high jumping done to get these since all the low hanging fruit was already gone. This little chick went everywhere with us.

We went fishing at Tempe Town Lake. Gray was a bit envious of the people down the walk who were pulling out fish after fish but we soon found out they were using "questionable" bait. One trip to Grandma's pond and he'll have his confidence back.

Finding good food is always a must. A friend suggested Chino Bandido (a Chinese/Mexican place) and it did not disappoint.

All too soon, it was time to go home. I loved having time to spend with Stephanie and my parents. We don't get enough time together and it was fun to have this weekend. Also, after 30 hrs. in the car I love portable dvd players!

Who can resist this chair at the Beaver, UT Chevron!

Definitely January

We've spent most Saturday's heading to Beaver Mountain. The kids are having lots of fun on their snowboards and I think Gray's been averaging hitting the slopes twice a week. As soon as we park the car at Beaver, Gray's got his board and is heading for the lifts with a "I'll find you later!". Because of this, I have no pictures of Gray snowboarding. Here are a few of Naomi's first day this year.

Kory and Naomi heading up the "Face" lift for her first time ever. Definitely not a crowded day (mostly due to the vegetation still visible through the snow).

Home for the Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas spending time with family and friends. It's hard to believe that another year has passed by. Looking back over the past twelve months and thinking about how much has happened I feel blessed. Our family has experienced joy, excitement, restored health, much change, loss, struggles, a depressed economy and we have grown through all of it. Christmas time brings everything together for me, helps me take note of where I am and inspires me to be a better person.

December began by putting up our Christmas tree. This is what our tree looks like to a 7yr old.

The night before Christmas Eve. The kids were too excited to sleep in their rooms so they camped out in the living room.

Getting the table ready for our Christmas Eve dinner. I like to have our fancy meal on Christmas Eve (a tradition from my own childhood) and leave Christmas Day for nothing but playing with new toys, games and leftovers. Honestly the last thing I want to do on Christmas is spend the day cooking. Well, we do make a big breakfast, but it's easy stuff.

Yeah!! Christmas Morning!!

The aftermath of wrappings!!


Even though there wasn't a ton of snow, the kids had to try out their new sleds. We love having the town sledding hill next door. As I sit here now, the street is lined with cars and the hill is full of fresh snow, dozens of kids, sleds, four-wheelers, rhino's, and lots of excited screaming. On Christmas day though, we had it to ourselves.


Naomi heading back with a kitten on her shoulder. The cats follow the kids around like puppy's would. Zeta got some energy out chasing sticks (and cats).

While the kids were sledding, the cats honed their tree-climbing skills. It was pretty funny to watch. I think this was the first time they realized they could climb trees. In the picture above Nacho and Libre are on a branch together, below is Inkie (the more daring of the trio).

It was so much fun to have Dan, Rachel and James as well as Erin and Abe here the day after Christmas. We dipped lots of food and played some great games. I love all of you!

A Bit of Irish

Naomi has been taking Irish dance lessons. Julie, her teacher, is wonderful and Naomi has absolutely loved every minute of class. At the end of class last week, parents were invited in to see what the kids have learned so far.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas! (with a little Rudolph thrown in)

Meet Inkie

We have a brand new member of the family! Meet Inkie the 8wk old kitten. He will soon become a mouser extraordinaire, taking care of the old homestead in the back yard. Inkie is also joined by Missey (coming to us from another home) a two year old black and white who wants nothing to do with us people and especially nothing to do with Zeta the excitable shiloh. Hence, no pictures.

Moab

We went on a quick getaway to Moab for some outdoor playing. Gray and I were greeted by this sign on the cabin door from Naomi. She would have included Kory in the sign, but he was still sleeping.




No, Kory is not pushing Gray across Mussleman Arch, he's holding onto him just in case. It's hard to tell from this angle, but this arch isn't that wide. We drove part of the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands, a 100 trail we hope to someday experience by bike.


Hiking to Corona Arch, the only place we went where the dog could go too. National Parks and pets are not a good combination. In parts of Canyonlands you can't even have a pet in your vehicle so Zeta spent a lot of time at the cabin.

More of the hike to Corona arch.

The kids loved Arches! This was after playing at sand dune arch. I remember as a kid that you could jump off the arch into sand dune, but not anymore. There's not much sand left right under the arch.


This was Gray's first time riding Slickrock and he LOVED it! I'm sure we'll be going back to southern Utah soon.