Only in Arizona...

Last Friday the kids and I were walking by a golf course and noticed a HUGE flock of Canadian geese. "Don't the geese fly south for the winter?" the question was asked..."Sweetie, we ARE the 'south' they fly to"...And how do I know this? Because, it must be 'South' where this happens on any random late November evening after dinner...

Fun Night on the Town...

Saturday night, Mike and I went to a fantastic birthday for a friend of ours that was celebrating her 50th birthday.

It was an AWESOME night with good people, good food, and great times...It was so fun to let loose and tear up the dance floor grooving to some great disco tunes, learning some fun line dancing, electric slide, doing the "Thriller" dance (or pretending to), Sprinkler, Lawn Mower, Rodger Rabbit, Running man, and whatever else we wanted to make up. It was SO.MUCH.FUN. And we didn't even have to have alcohol to help us let loose-just surrounded by fun, good people who left their inhibitions and stuffiness at the door. FUN, FUN!! Our friend Doni, had such a great time and had so many special memories to treasure from the night. She shared some emotional and precious moments with her daughter, hubby, grandchildren, and friends...She is such a beautiful lady and so encouraging and inspiring and both Mike and I are sure-absolutely convinced-that she has bathed in Oil of Olay her entire life because she doesn't look a day over 35, for sure...Beautiful inside and out!!

Aloha Thanksgiving...Aloha Christmas

(Aloha-Hawaiian for hello AND goodbye)

So, Friday, true to tradition, we hauled out the decorations and began our decorating for Christmas while listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas classics such as Elf, Santa Clause Is Coming To Town, Santa Meets the Martians, The Santa Clause...SO much fun!!

Our fun rolled into Saturday. We're still not done, but we've got a great start. Being that we're scooting over to CA for Christmas, we may be satisfied with keeping it simple this year...

Thanksgiving

Mike had a shift right after Matthews concert on Wednesday. So he worked through the day and over night. Thanksgiving morning, bright and early, the kids and I dropped off the bread load to the food bank in south Phoenix and then headed to pick up daddy. Mike had an unbelievable shift that included a fantastic review. He'll have to write about it.

So Thursday, we got home and chilled all morning. In fact, We all took a real great nap for about 2 hours. And when we got up it was time to get ready to go to Popo and Nana's for celebrating.

We had a nice time visiting, watching movies, and spending time together...oh! and not to leave out EATING! Fantastic food. Carol tried out some new recipes and with Brian's help, the two of them turned out an amazing dinner-sage infused turkey, extraordinary garlic potatoes, sticky sweet yams, creamed corn, cranberry jello...Yum, yum, yum....Wow, I'm hungry again just thinking about it...

So after eating and having a great after-dinner political conversation while sipping wine, we were all worked up, scared out of our wits, paranoid and ready to quit our jobs and move to Canada...Then we headed home. (read a tiny bit of sarcasm in that last thought...just a bit)

Matthew was so excited on Wednesday to have his WHOLE family come watch his 'concert' at school. He and his class have been practicing for a good 3 weeks practically every day. He came home and sang the songs and did so well at remembering and practicing them all the time. He made sure to behave himself during practices so he could participate in the big day.

So Wednesday was showtime...8:30 am. We all piled into the multipurpose room and waited for curtain time. In he marched in a single-file line with the rest of the kindergartners and then filed into their places on stage. Then the songs began. He got all his songs right, participated fantastically, then just like that, in about 8 minutes, it was done...They did such a fantastic job. They were precious, adorable, and perfect.

12 years...

MORE PHOTOS

This past weekend Mike and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. That sounds like so many years...until you're talking to a precious 80-something year old lady from church who was married 60-some years to her husband. 12 seems like we're just beginning. And in a sense we are! We have had such a good time together growing up together, discovering who we are together, learning about life together, learning about people together, learning about the world together. We have so much more to learn and experience and explore in our lifetime and we are so honored and excited to be able to do it together!

This past weekend, my mom took the kids for the weekend as she as done for the past 10 years for our anniversary. We went over to the resort near Lake Pleasant, Cibola vista, that we have visited before. Such a beautiful property to retreat to. So, after dropping the kids off Friday afternoon, Mike and I went to go see the movie 2012. A bit disappointing of a movie, but at least we saw it. We checked into the hotel after that and relaxed in the hot tub and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

In the morning, Mike and I took off up north off a dirt road to Crown King and Bumble Bee. It was a fun drive and Crown King was fun little, LITTLE town. W ate lunch at a really cool place called The Mill. It is constructed out of materials fro 4 different area mills and a schoolhouse. Pretty interesting place with a lot of history in it. Good food from a 5 star chef and good people. Fun place.

We got back and went swimming, went down the water slide several times, watched hot air balloons set up and take off right over our heads, then went back in the hot tub. We bbq'd diner and had a great evening.

Sunday was our anniversary day. we picked up the kids and went home and relaxed together the rest of the day until our class that evening.

We had a fantastic time celebrating our anniversary. It was fun, relaxing, and memory making.

More pictures here

Today we took a field trip with the kids school to the Sonoran desert museum in Tucson. It was a perfect day. 63 degrees, overcast which made all the animals very active. We learned so much about the plants, animals, minerals, critters of the desert here. We really enjoyed the family time and had a blast!

This week was another busy, but great week that flew by. I hate that each week seems to fly by so fast, knowing that we can never get them back to go through them slower and not miss anything. (if that made any sense) i just feel that this season of our life is going to be done and over with, thing of the past before we know it and somehow I'll get to the other side of it wishing things had slowed down more so we could have enjoyed "the moments" more. **sigh**

Anyhow...The kids did awesome in school this week. We worked with the older two on Wednesday to get caught up a bit, but Matthew was off that day from school so we made it an early day and relaxed in the afternoon. Bethany went to the movie with her friends down the street and the boys had some peaceful playtime with their toys. Great day. I spent the afternoon studying for a huge exam on Thursday (which by the way, I scored a 119/120!!). Mike had to work that day, at home, but nonetheless work...

Tuesday, my brother, Corey, celebrated his 34th birthday and my niece, Ava, celebrated her 4th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! to two wonderful lives that bless our family and make it what it is!

Mike and I are getting ready for our weekend right now. A garage sale tomorrow morning, I'm doing some teaching in the training for the new connectors for Mesa FD in the afternoon and then we have a Leadership meeting with 2=1 ministry in the evening. Then we're teaching the lesson for our class on Sunday.

Ok I am a Firefighter again!

Well not a full-time Firefighter but a Part TIme Firefighter with Ak-Chin Fire Department. If you think Ak-Chin sounds familar it is because of Harris Casino! It is official, I went down today @ 10am talked to the Chief of the Fire Department, then went to HR and filled out some new hire paperwork. Then there was some meetings, and got some more information. They are paying pretty good for a part time job. Have new trucks, new equipment. Planning on hiring 3 firefighters from the list of the new and existing Part Time Firefighters. So I get to throw on turn-outs, ride on a Fire Truck, offer EMS services to the Community of Ak-Chin, PT and do some drilling! To me this is awesome! I wanted to let you all know when I get some pictures I will send them in of the trucks, people and the community. Now just so that this is clear this is a part time position. Still working Full Time at Food for the Hungry and things are going well there.