HAPPY BIRTHDAY L.J.!

We can't believe that you are 14 years old. My first born.... We are so proud of you for all that you do. You are doing great in 8th grade, you help around the house (most of the time), you are a great babysitter for your brother and sister and the kids in the neighbor, and most importantly, a WONDERFUL, caring son. Keep up the good work! High school is just around the corner. :) Thanks to Dean, Kelli, and Anthony too for sharing with the singing and cake eating. (I wanted to show your baby picture but since my computer crashed last year, I was not able to pull one up.) Here's to many, many more. Love, Dad and Mom.

P F CHANGS MARATHON - 2009

WE DID IT! Yesterday Becky and I ran our marathon that we have been training for. When John dropped us off at 6:30 am in the dark, we huddled together to stay warm until the race began. We went to the rest room a few times and got some coffee (not to drink but to hold and keep warm). We were surprised at how many people were there to run. It was crazy! Once we got into our corral, we stretched more and were very ready to go. We started on schedule (7:40 am) and it was cold, but by mile 2 we took off our long sleeves and continued on. It took us awhile to get used to all the people running around us since it is usually just us running. The people on the side lines were cheering us on and encouraging everyone. They were very nice. It was fun to listen to the bands as we went by and were surprised to see people BBQing in their front yards (even drinking beer). I felt great during the race but started getting tired about mile 22. Becky didn't get as tired. She is amazing. I really couldn't have done it without her. One of Becky's friends, Sally, even came out, made us a poster, and took pictures of us going by. Thanks Sally! Anyway my worst mile was mile 25. I needed water, we were both out, and there was NO WATER station. Let me tell you once I saw Rural Road, I knew that I was almost done and kept on going. It was great to see John and the kids right before the finish line, but it was even better to CROSS THE FINISH LINE. :) Our official time was 4:09:30. Thought that was pretty good for my first marathon. Becky was glad as well because she beat her time by 7:00 minutes (from her 1st marathon). Way to go Becky and thanks for an awesome run! Can't wait until next year. (We'll see...)

Our "Kids Rock" - 2009

Jack and Sydney got to run (one mile) in the Kids Rock fun run. Their time was 10:47 (not totally accurate because they were starting the kids off a row at a time). They had so much fun. They were a bit nervous but once they started they said they were fine. Sydney was so cute. She told me that during the race Jack "got a cramp" (I didn't know that he knew what a cramp was) so they both stopped and walked for a bit. Then they started up again. They stayed together the entire time and were so excited that they got a medal as they crossed the finish line. We are so proud of you guys! You did a great job. Now its mine turn to run tomorrow. Will fill you in on the details later.

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.