Holidays, Birthdays and Anniversaries...Oh My!

I will be so glad when February and March are over, even though I am really enjoying myself. There is just too much celebrating going on...



First, on February 6th, Dave turned another year older. We didn't do much that day, but took a short trip on his behalf February 21-24. Belive it or not, the school kids get 2 days off for the rodeo in Tucson. So we took that opportunity to get out of dodge. My parents have this book called Weird Arizona that talks about sites that have strange or interesting things in this state and Dave's goal is to go to all the places in that book. We started at the Dreamy Draw Dam, which is touted in the book as being a "fake" dam built on top of a crashed UFO to cover it up. You cannot get close to it because of all the No Trespassing signs and there is no water behind it (but there is not really any water anywhere in south Arizona - even the rivers). Who knows - Dave and his conspiracy theories thought it was very cool.



Valentine's day was in the middle of all this somewhere - which I almost forgot. Dave, Noah and I had a very romantic spaghetti-from-a-jar dinner at our card table dining set.



Next came Charles and Barbara's anniversary - see earlier post.



Then Diamond's birthday. She turned one year old on February 17th. Her favorite things are eating, licking people's nostrils (especially Dave's), sucking on the inside crease of my elbow, biting at my toes when I'm walking around without shoes, playing with her cousin Beagle, and barking ferociously at any other animal (on tv, outside, in pictures, her own refection, etc.) She makes us laugh everyday - even when we are angry with her.



On February 23rd, my parents celbrated their wedding anniversary - 41 years. Dave and I took them to a place of their choosing in Phoenix, where we dined on steak and rattlesnake (does not taste like chicken). We went with my sister-in-law and her two girls (my brother was at a seminar in Vegas). It was a good evening.



A wonderful surprise occured last Sunday. There was one whole row at church filled with Loganites from Utah! We were able to get them all to come over for a meal and had a great time catching up. It is always so comforting to see dear friends from our old home. Here we are in the top picture - notice the weather and attire. Left to right - Front: John and Jean Stewart; Back: Mary and Norb Debyle, Ray and Betsy Franchina, Dave, Barbara Hedgepeth; Very Back: Charles Hedgepeth



So I am now gearing up for next month. March 1 and 2 are Tate and Heidi's birthdays, March 13 is Noah's birthday, then spring break and Easter. And lets' not forget about St. Patrick's day!


Happy holidays, birthday and anniversary to all!

50 years!

Happy 50th anniversary to Barbara and Charles Hedgepeth! Dave's parents have been married for 50 years today - what an amazing accomplishment. I found out that only 5% of married couples make it to their 50th anniversary. It's a long time to be together - especially for those two. They will be the first to admit that they are total opposites and it hasn't been all fun and roses. But we sure are overjoyed that they are together and thankful that we can benfit from their example.

We went out to dinner with some friends of theirs and had a very nice night. Noah was very excited to get all dressed up (he can't be my son) and he behaved like a perfect gentleman for the 2 1/2 hour meal where he had crab, lobster and steak. He said that all he was missing was the "little rose in his pocket." His is definitely Pop's little capitalist prodigy.

Noah has started taking archery lessons and really likes it. I think it would be so fun to learn myself. He has also begun a chess class with Dave along with the bowling he does with his dad. We are raising quite the little geek. Is it any surprise - look at his parents! It's a good thing he is progressing in his karate lessons.

New Year's Resolution

I made two new year's resolutions. First, to open all my mail the minute I receive it. So far, so good. Second, to maintain this blog.

So, here I go again. Finally, going to try to keep this site current. I have many excuses which I won't bore you with and I'm sure won't change in the future, but for now, I'm going to pretend that I will do it this time.

Thanksgiving was at our house this year which is very ironic since I don't cook. But everyone piched in and it all came together - I made green bean casserole, Dave's mom did ginzagrout, his dad brought ham, Heidi made rolls from scratch, my grandmother made homemade pumpkin pies, and my mom did stuffing, turkey, sweet potatoes, (does this seem a bit unfair?) waldorf salad, mashed potatoes, gravy,...

The turkey did not finish cooking until late that night and we had to eat on card tables because after almost a year, we are currently in a law suit over a dining table we ordered last March - it's a long story. However, the weather was gorgeous, so we spent a lot of the day playing outside and having a great time being together.

We had a spectacular Christmas! Dave, Noah and I spent a quiet Christmas eve and day just the three of us doing just what we felt like. Our dinner consisted of salad (me), Kraft mac-n-cheese (Noah), and artichoke dip (Dave). We went to church services, played our new Wii video games and packed for our trip to the White Mountains in Pinetop, Arizona.

We headed to a cabin there December 26 and stayed until New Year's Day. We met Dave's parents, my parents and my brother's family. It was perfect! It snowed, we went sledding, and skiing, played games, did puzzles, ate, sat around the fire and listened to christmas music for a week. Even the dog cousins had a great time playing together. And, at the end, it was so nice to come home to the warmer weather and the sunny days.

We have decided that it needs to be an annual tradition. Last year, things just did not feel like the holidays to me. I had such a hard time adjusting to an Arizona Christmas. I realized that I was trying to compare it to and make it be just like the holidays in Utah, and it was very disappointing. I decided that I needed to make a new kind of Christmas celebration with new traditions and memories. I absolutely loved our Utah Christmases, but things are just not the same here and I had to love something different. And I so do!

These are some picture highlights from the years end. 1: guys playing foosball on Thankgiving, 2: Sadie and Burnee in thier New Year's eve attire, 3: The gang all stuffing their faces (without turkey), 4: Grandma and the girls in the bouncy hut on Thanksgiving, 5: Grandma Great taking an afternoon snooze with Diamond, 6: the girls sledding at the cabin, 7: Noah on the slopes in Arizona (if you can belive it)!

Hope you all had a wonderful 2007 and, if not, here's to 2008!

It's all good!

I've been such a slacker in posting. In March, Noah had his 7th birthday and we were blessed to have my grandmother here to help us celebrate. Noah chose to go to a local fancy restaurant so he could get their wonderful crab legs. The next day, with a few friends, and his cousins, we went to an indoor playground with all kinds of giant blow-up things to roughhouse on. It was a much milder party than we have had in the past so it was kind of anti-climatic for me, but it only counts that Noah and his friends had a great time.

One week in April:

-Dave's parents were finally able to sell their house, so we received a house full of furniture and decorations . We are so excited! Dave and I spent our anniversary putting everything away and hanging pictures.

-We got the new puppy - her name is Diamond. She only weighs 3 pounds right now - I can't believe how little she is! Noah loves her to bits and takes very good care of her. Ginger is not so thrilled with the new addition, but hopefully will warm up to her once we can get Diamond to stop biting Gingers ears and tail. I am not getting anything done around the house because of her - it's like having a new baby except that at this age, diamond does not stay in one place when you put her down.

-The family all came from Phoenix for Easter weekend and we had a good time. Playing with the puppy, decorating eggs and going on string-maze hunt Easter morning.

I feel like I cannot get my head above water these days - too much constantly being thrown at me and being very unprepared for it all (which is so not my style!) But it's all been good stuff - so I say bring it on!

Exhausted

This past weekend was a total success! My wonderful father came down from Phoenix and spent three whole days busting his butt helping us with our yard. We got a ton of stuff done, the best of which was to get a shed put together for backyard tools and toys, lay a path between our patio and pool that was previously just dirt and figure out why our pool vacuum was not working and actually fix it. I always love it when I figure something out that I didn't know and it works!

The most important thing that happened is that I got to spend some real quality time with dad all to myself. Even though we were both crippled and exhausted from the experience, we had a great time renting the Home Depot truck and loading it up with stuff from Lowe's, assembling the shed in toreential winds that carried us (and the shed) around the yard, and having nothing but ice cream and donuts for dinner (food for hard labor). His help also kick started my desire to get out in the yard and do things. I had been procrastinating out of fear because I know nothing about cactus and the Arizona planting season and out of shear laziness. It's always so nice to do things with someone else, especially when they have some knowledge about the subject.

I wish I had taken a picture of my dad before he left to show how crooked he was from all his toil. I love you dad - you're a serious trooper!

They're here!

Well, we have finally made the commitment to get a pug puppy. Noah has been wanting one for a very long time now and he has shown he can be responsible by helping to take care of Ginger. We have put a deposit down on a puppy that was born in Phoenix on February 17th. We will get to choose one of the litter at the end of March and then get to bring Diamond home on April 14th (yes, unfortunately, that will be her name as chosen by Noah).
I'm not sure I am ready for this, but we are all excited - except for maybe Ginger, I'm not quite sure how to read her yet.

Handsome Man

Noah and I attended the Twin Peaks Elementary Mother/Son dance this past weekend at his school. He insisted on getting very dressed up - jacket and all - and was so excited to wear his fancy duds.

I sat like a wall-flower with some other moms while Noah spent the evening running around with his friends pummeling each other with balloons. He and I did do the Chicken Dance and get a picture together, however.

And even though I spent most of the evening without my date, it was a great night because I was with the most handsome man there!