HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year! It was very quiet here at our home. We tried to stay up until 12:00. We got together with friends until around 10:00. We were trying to watch the ball drop in New York on TV but they didn't show it. We actually changed to channel and caught it on the news. Since the kids couldn't stay awake either, we got up in the morning and "made some noise" outside with some pots and pans and party favors. I am sure our neighbors loved us for that. Sorry!

Light Rail.....or WHATEVER!

Well we thought that we would take the kids to ride on the light rail. So much for that idea. We went about 12:30 pm and after finding a parking spot we managed to make our way to the line of a ton of people waiting to get on. A worker guy informed us if we would take the bus to another location we may get on sooner. We then took the bus to Mill. It was a fun ride (:) There was hardly anyone in line so we thought we would get right on. When the train stopped, NO ONE got off. After three trains stopped, NO ONE got off. We wanted to ride it all the way into Phoenix. After waiting about one hour, we decided to take the train (going east) back to the parking lot where we were parked. Well that didn't go so well either. We were experiencing the same problem. NO ONE GOT OFF. After another 1/2 hour we ended up taking the dumb bus back to the parking lot. Gee, it was super fun. For those of you who would like to ride it, wait until the new year.

Christmas morning - 2008

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It is such a great time to spend with family and friends. Our families were in California, but got together with friends. The kids got up at 4:00 AM, and I told them to go back to sleep. They got up at 5:00 AM. We started early and finished quick! We ate way too much, and the kids played all day with their gifts. I made a nice dinner (prime rib). It was really good. The kids were a bit sad because it rained all day and cold. We also watched about 4 movies, which is the most that I think I have ever watched in one day.

Makin and Decorating Cookies....Yummy!

As we do every year, we baked our usual stuff to hand out. After baking the cut-out Christmas cookies, the kids dug right in on the decorating. They did a really good job, and they were yummy as well. I tried to eat only a 1/2 dozen.... My neighbors loved getting the plate of different goodies. LJ missed out this year. He was shopping with dad. Lucky him.

4th Grade Christmas Program (2008)

Jack and Sydney's 4th grade class had the cutest Christmas program this year at their school. They practiced the songs so hard, and they looked so cute in their sunglasses and PJ's. Sorry that I only got 1/2 of the song. I used up all of the my memory on my camera, but you can get the idea. (Jack is wearing blue and in the last group of kids on the bottom left, and Syd is wearing pink and has pink glasses.)

TO THE BEST KIDS IN THE WORLD!

Here is one of the 20 pictures that I took for their Christmas card. They are great kids. Thanks for being the BEST kids in the world. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of you. We love you. Mom and Dad

Almost done

Becky and I are still running along. The longest distance that we have run thus far is 22.5 miles (3:38). (We were only suppossed to run 22 but got carried away. We talked too much and lost track of where we were going.) Yesterday we ran 14 miles (2:05). We improved our time by about 7 minutes from the last time that we ran 14. Upcoming runs: 11, 24, 14, and 10 miles. Then the big race. It will be here before we know it. Thanks again Becky for running with me.

Christmas is here...

As usual, I always put my tree up right after Thanksgiving. John bought me a smaller tree for the den. It has been up since Halloween. When he brought it home for me, I put it up. :) For those of you with children, you may already know that decorating is a quick event. As soon as I open up my Christmas boxes, it is a race for my kids to put out as many things, before the other one, as possible. I guess I shouldn't complain. At least they are helping. They also decorate my tree (bottom half only, of course), and I "rearrange" all of the ornaments when they are not looking. (The picture with the red pillow is the one in my living room.)

My outside Christmas tree light guy informed me that he is "out of the business" of hanging lights; therefore, I took it upon myself to hang them around the BOTTOM of the house. I am not brave enough to go to the second floor. At least they are up. We really enjoy the lights. I need to add electrician to my resume (not).

Next up: Christmas cards...

Giving Thanks...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It is always a joy to spend holidays with family and friends.

We traveled to Bakersfield, California to visit my family. The trip takes about 8 hours. We left on Wednesday and it RAINED hard the entire way. It was a bit strange to travel while it was raining since we haven't had any rain in months. Thanks to John we made it safely.

On Thanksgiving day and after a few cups of coffee, I started off my day with a short, 6 mile run (yes, the streets were wet), but it made me feel better to get out and exercise before I started eating everything. My mom, Sydney and I worked all morning getting the bird ready and all of the goodies that go along with it. She had her house decorated so pretty. She usually goes all out. Everyone started to arrive about 2:30 p.m. My Nana, my oldest brother, Scott, and his wife, Janell, and their girls, Jenna, Allison, and Emily all came to eat with us. Jenna and Allison brought their boyfriends. It was really great to visit and eat together. Of course after we ate and cleaned up, we dug into the pies.

My kids love to visit Pa and Mema. They love playing with everything at my parents house. My dad has a workshop in his garage with everything in it. They build things and then paint them.... they could spend all day out there. Lucky for me I get to bring it all home. Thanks dad! They live in a cul-de-sac and the kids also enjoy a good old game of catch.

At 4:00 am on Friday we started home. It was great because the kids went back to sleep and slept for 3 hours. It made the trip quicker.

Happy Halloween


Halloween is always a fun time of year. We get together with friends and walk around the neighborhood. This year one of my neighbors had the street blocked off (at both ends). This made it easier for all of the kids to run across the street from house to house. Once we circled the entire neighborhood, we came back to our street and the block party began. There was so much food. We stayed out way too late, but had lots of fun.

Sydney was a pirate, and Jack was Iron Man. LJ decided to go as a football player since his friend was dressing up too. He didn't have to try too hard to put together his costume. I think that LJ JUST wanted the candy. The kids really love to get as much candy as they can.

Running like the wind...

Ok, most of you know that I am training to run the PF Changs Marathon in January. I have been training with my neighbor, Becky. This will be my first; however it will be Becky's second. I can't believe what an awesome running partner she is. When we decided to run the full marathon, she printed out a training schedule and away we went. We have been working so hard. I hope getting up at 4:15 am to get ready for our runs is worth it. We are now up to 18 miles (2 hours and 49 minutes) which we just ran this morning. Since we start when it is still dark, we thought that we better purchase some headlights. We laugh and wonder how much more stuff we can carry with us while running. We wear reflectors, carry mace spray (watch out - we know how to use it), water/gatorade, and gel refuel stuff. Here we are with our headlights on. We look like dorks, but they are so cool. They really help us see. While it is dark, we have been very careful running. We went through one part of the canal (by Gilbert downtown) that had some pretty bad construction going on. I am surprised that we didn't break anything or fall in a hole. Here we are with the before and after pictures from this morning. Do we look tired? Thanks Becky for keeping me on track and getting me back to the house in one piece. You are AWESOME!

Before

After

Happy Fall!

Ok, I am now just updating my blog. I know I have been bad. Shame on me.

We have been very busy. John and I finished up our final "mini tax season." Hope everyone remembered to file their tax returns. Yes, this is always a lovely time of year, but glad it is over. Hint: For those of you who are late filers, START ORGANIZING YOUR PAPERWORK AND FILES NOW for next year. You will love me for giving you this advice by the time April 15th comes around...

I am still running, and my Sunday runs are now up to 14 miles. Next week I will run 16 miles. Gee, can't wait. John has been running a bit as well. He takes Sydney and she is now running 2 miles without stopping. She is awesome. Keep up the good work Sydney!

We had spring break this week and have been enjoying our beautiful weather. Even the dogs love the sun. Aren't they cute! Wouldn't it be nice to NAP in the sun all day?

The kids have also been busy. They have been swimming, playing, and bowling. LJ beat me in four games. He is getting really good. At this point I still bowl more strikes than he does (which is pure luck, by the way) and he still wins. Go figure.

The kids are still enjoying the pool. I can't believe how cold the water is already. My kids are crazy. After they swim, they run upstairs and take a very long warm shower.

LJ is still playing football on two teams and doing well. He prefers flag football to tackle. We only have a few more games and then he will be done with both. He was excited to hear that he made the All-Star team for his flag team at school.

Next up is Halloween. We have so much fun. I will send pictures of the kid's costumes. Bye for now...

Meet Our Family

Our oldest son, L.J., is now 13. Yikes! Time goes by so fast. He is now in 8th grade and plays on two football teams (flag for his school and tackle with Top Flight). He LOVES his video/computer games and is quite good at them. He buys a game and beats it within a few hours.

Jack is 9 years old and in the 4th grade. He is such a sweetheart. Jack is always trying to please everyone and works really hard at school. He loves to watch sports on TV and really enjoyed watching the Olympics. Good job USA! We rock!





Our princess, Sydney, is 9 years old (going on 21) and in the 4th grade. She is VERY competitive when it comes to sports and is quite the swimmer. You just wait, she will be in the Olympics winning gold medals for the USA! She is a very good student and loves to read, shop, shop more, clean house and make dinner... She is a huge help to me in the house.

We also have three dogs (all yellow labs), Jet, Lucy and Zin. They are awesome dogs but a handful at times. They love to swim in the pool (we're talking taking laps), sleep, eat, and poop.
Here are some pictures of Zin. He is the only one who will pose for a photo.

We had a great summer. We started off our vacation with a trip to Disneyland with FASTPASSES! They are a MUST for a Saturday trip to Disneyland. We didn't have to wait to get on any ride. We even went on some more than once. Then we headed to good old Pismo Beach, California (about 2 hours north of Santa Barbara). We met family and friends and had a wonderful time. The weather was much cooler and the food was yummy! (What's up with my hair??)

We also took a trip to Sedona. It was beautiful. We had a great time on our Pink Jeep Tour and climbing on the rocks.

The kids have been back to school now for about three weeks and are adjusting well.