Jay's cousin passed away recently. He was only my age, with a wife and young children, and it was very sudden. It is quite sad.

Jay and I went to the funeral, in another city a few hours away. We spent one night in Bisbee, a nearby town and sort of tourist destination. We stayed at the Copper Queen Hotel, which opened in 1902 and is the oldest continually running hotel in the state.
The funeral was very nice. He was a Gulf War veteran so he was buried with full military honors. I had never seen one before.... it was very impressive and touching.

Guitar and Basketball

Jay is learning to play the guitar I gave him for Christmas, and doing very well. He takes lessons (with Collin) from a neighbor. I love hearing them practice, and I'm kind of jealous that I'm not learning myself. Jay is a natural!
Jack is loving being able to play with Oliver and Nicholas just about every day. I'm dreading the day they go back to Utah.

Jack has been playing basketball with two of his friends. He does quite well, considering he is pretty new at it. It's so fun to watch these little boys take it so seriously. They have a good coach.

1940

My Dad turned 70, so my Mom threw a party with a "1940" theme (the year Dad was born). We were supposed to dress up, so I "rolled" my hair (didn't get a photo of myself, but got my sister with "victory rolls" and my mom as "Rosie the Riveter").
The boys all wore their scout uniforms (Collin is still a cub scout, but wore Jay's old uniform, and vintage hat from Jay's grandpa, and Jack wore Collin's cub uniform).

Mary wore her "Dorothy" costume from Halloween... and so did her cousin.
It was a very fun party.

Exhaustion

Every Wednesday when I workout with Dixie I want to cry, but today I actually DID cry.... literally broke down and sobbed. (I looked at the calendar, and it's not even PMS!) After only 2 sets of the workout! (Five was the plan.) The exhaustion just hit me like a ton of bricks and I felt like I couldn't go on. Of course, she talked me through it and I did two more sets (4 total).

Then I ran 2 miles on Jello-legs. Ugh.

THEN I got back and read an inspiring email from Dixie, and cried again...for a different reason.

THANKS DIXIE! I love you even though I want to curse you sometimes. :)

* I'm down 9 pounds without feeling deprived... eating whatever I want but learning how to control myself and stop eating when I'm no longer hungry.

** If you are ready to change your life, consider signing up at Race Day Training. You can do it anywhere in the world, out of your home.

Ollie and Gigs

Jack is so thrilled to have Ollie back in town. Every day after school* he rushes to get his homework done so he can go to Grandma's house to play with Ollie.

Today Ollie and Gigs are at our house playing with Jack, Legos, Mr. Potatohead... and collecting potato bugs. And eating peanut butter sandwiches and clementines.


* Jack goes to half-day kindergarten in the morning, and all his friends in the neighborhood go all day, so he usually gets bored in the afternoon without a playmate.

Peace Like a River

I just finished reading "Peace Like a River" for book club. I really enjoyed it. Leif Enger is a fantastic story teller. I hear there is a movie in the works, so hurry and read it before that comes out.

Run!

Remember how I ran my first race last month? Yes, 5K/3.1 miles. Remember how it took me an embarrassing 46:36 minutes? Pretty pathetic.

Remember how I could hardly walk the rest of the day and how my knee hurt like crazy for about a week afterward? Oh yeah, you wouldn't remember that, but I sure do.

Guess what! Yesterday, about a month later, I ran 3.31 miles in 36:43... without walking once! That is monumental for me.

AND, my knee isn't killing me!

My new goal = run a 10K (6.2 miles)

Next goal after that = work up to a half marathon



I have been training with Dixie of "Race Day Training." You can workout with her online even if you don't live near me. You can't beat $10 a month. Try it!

Carcassonne

My parents gave Collin this game for Christmas. Very fun! A great game to play together as a family... it's not complicated, moves quickly, and doesn't take too long to play.

Beau Jest

Last night I went with my sister to the Hale Theatre in Gilbert and saw Beau Jest. It was so fun! This is actually the first show the theatre produced back when this location opened several years ago... and I saw that one too. It was very well done, both times. A little romance, lots of laughs.... what's not to love?

It plays through February 13th, so there are still lots of opportunities to go see it. You won't be disappointed. Get tickets here.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! Funny, but we did almost an exact repeat of our New Year's Eve last year..... the kids spent the night at with their cousins, Jay and I had dinner at Carrabba's and sat at the counter (so fun!), and then we went to a movie, which was pretty much the only thing different; last time we saw "Valkyrie" and this time we saw "Sherlock Holmes." Good food, great movie, my favorite dinner companion.... it doesn't get any better than that!

Sledding

Last night we got back (and I was worried for a while there that we wouldn't.... ran into a snow storm, icy roads, several car accidents/road closures) from spending a few days in Pinetop for some adventures in the snow.

I'm not sure why we wanted to leave our gorgeous desert winter and go freeze, but it was fun.

The kids (and Jay) had a great time sledding (I decided to forgo the sledding and just take photos).

I crack up at these photos because of our mismatched, ill-fitting, "vintage" show gear. Since we are desert dwellers we don't own any, so we have to make due with whatever we can find. Beggars can't be choosers. Jack's coat had a ski lift ticket attached to it.... from 1984.

Zoppé

Last night we went to the Zoppé Family Circus! It was so much fun! This is what you think of when you hear the phrase "The circus is in town," and what you see in old movies. It is a traditional Italian family circus, started in 1842. It's just a single big-top tent, intimate seating where you can see everything, lots of audience participation, hilarious clown antics, great talent, and tons of fun. I was very impressed.

If you have an opportunity to go, you really should! They are in town until January 4th (Chandler) and there are still tickets available ($15 for kids 12 and under, and $20 for adults). I think this is an experience my kids will not forget.

I had fun playing with my camera.... took a bunch of cool photos without a flash, lots of experimenting.

'Twas the Day After Christmas

On Christmas Eve we went to Jay's parents' house for dinner with his family and a visit from Santa. The food was great, and my in-laws brought back lots of fun stuff from their recent trip.

Then we made a stop at my parents' house, where my youngest brother, who spent two years in Germany as a missionary, taught us some German traditions, including looking for the "Christkind" and singing "O Tannebaum" and "Stille Nacht" in German. (To German speakers we probably would have just sounded like we were mumbling.)

Christmas day was fun and crazy. Jay finally woke the kids up at 7:00 because we couldn't wait any longer. Of all days, this was the one day in the whole year they decided to "sleep in."

After opening gifts, we went to my parents' house for a delicious breakfast of my dad's omelets, pancakes, and bacon, and lots of visiting. And my brother gave me a beginning lesson in using my Christmas present.....
Then we spent the rest of the day playing with our toys.... I took about a thousand photos. It's so much fun! (But I have a LOT to learn!)

My awesome parents....Mary at Grandma's house...
I tried to take a photo of Jay with his present from me.... a Fender Guitar (and lessons)... but this was all I got.Jack wearing the "Yoda" hat that Mary made for him. You can't tell from this photo, but he loves it. Then we played some basketball.
Today the house is still a wreck, but what the heck. I went running with my new iPod Shuffle that the kids got me (with their own money, they were sure to let me know). Hooray! It was really frustrating taking along my old classic iPod that seemed so small when I got it several years ago but now seems gigantic. Funny how that happens.

Merry Christmas!