MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Having 3 girls and 0 boys there tends to be alot of pinks, greens, and purples around our house, as can be seen here in the girls christmas haul. Santa did pretty well this year but one year I wish he would bring a GI Joe or something...:)

DO YOU BELIEVE?  

Polar Express train ride in Williams Arizona.



The girls playing in the snow waiting for the train.


While traveling to the North Pole you hear the story of the Polar Express...

...drink hot chocolate...


...eat cookies...

...and wait for Santa to see if you can hear the bells!

WEDDING FUN  

On the 15th my brother-in-law Jason got married to Laura. They had a wonderful wedding and a fun reception. The whole family spent the two months prior to the wedding preparing for the big day and everything went very well.


Playing around at the reception. :)



They spent their honeymoon night at the Hotel Saint Michaels on Whiskey Row in Prescott. Here they are standing out front, Jason is about to carry her inside.

SNOW  

We have been having some good wet weather in these parts, and like most of the south west united states we can sure use it. Arizona snow! Ain't it pretty?

It won't last very long, but it sure is nice while its here.

DEC 7th 1941  

Lets not forget what, why and who we are as a nation!

TURKEY  

Deep fried turkey...Aint nothing better!

Now this is what you call a spread! We had one fried and one oven cooked turkey. Mashed potatoes, stuffing and all the fixings. The fried turkey was Cajun flavored. It was a big hit. The family got together at my folks house for Thanksgiving and we enjoyed each others company along with the food.

ARIZONA ACDA  

Elizabeth recently had the opportunity to sing in the the Third Annual Cantaremos Honor Choirs on November 17, 2007 at Gilbert High School in Gilbert AZ. She sent in a tape to try out and was accepted. She did great and had a good time. She spent the last few months leading up to the concert rehearsing with her choir teacher at school. Then on the 17th we drove down to Gilbert where she spent all that day rehearsing with the conductor and the other kids from around AZ. Were are very proud of Elizabeth and her hard work to be part of this choir.




After the concert we decided to spend the night in Gilbert. We ended up having lunch the next day at the Rain Forest Cafe. The girls thought it was great. The food was not very good IMHO but I guess that's OK. It's not famous for it food. Where else can you eat with a hugh Gorilla looking over your shoulder?


It was a great weekend and Elizabeth gained some great experiences!

Trains ROCK.  



Always have liked trains...must have gotten that from my dad. Here's one we saw just outside of Gila Bend AZ on our way home from a recent trip to San Diego.






Here is the reason behind the trip to San Diego. To see my sisters new baby.
Babies just look so cute in black and white.


DISNEYLAND!!!  


In October we spent a few days at Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim California (DUH). It was great fun.

The girls rode almost everything in both parks. Samantha was a little miffed because she could not ride the bigger, faster rides, she was not quite tall enough. She loved Space Mountain and the Matterhorn. So it looks like we will be going back when she grows abit, but that's OK because we all had a wonderful time.


Grandpa and Grandma came up to share in the fun...




The little girls dresses like princesses...Like little girls should!!!


Eli hung out with a handsome Prince...



Shannen and Brett surprised us by driving up after work just to go on a few choice rides. Namely Pirates and the Haunted House (done up for "The Nightmare Before Christmas"). Yep there is no telling what a pregnant woman will do.


MORE DISNEY IMAGES

PUMPKINS  

October is the time for PUMPKINS!!!




Each year since moving to the high desert we have made the trip out to Youngs Farm for the annual PUMPKIN patch. Most of my family has made the trip from California to participate in the festivities with us. But as you may know Youngs Farm is no more so we had to change plans. Bates Nut Farm is a small farm in Vally Center CA. Growing up it was the PUMPKIN patch we went to each year. So with Youngs gone, we made the pilgrimage to Valley Center.


Audrey picking her pumpkin. My dad always had a rule..."You've got to carry your own PUMPKIN." He would buy us any PUMPKIN we wanted as long as we could haul it out. As we got older we got some pretty large pumpkins but we always carried them out. :)



Now that the Grand kids are around my dad bought this AWESOME wagon to haul everything. It usually only comes out for the annual family trip to the pumpkin patch. So it stays in really great shape. If the kids can at least lift the pumpkin into the cart they can have it. I guess the folks are getting soft. :)


Elizabeth, Audrey and Lourdes.

Pick the real belly! Lets hope it's not moms!



Healthy??  


Well awhile back I decided I need to get some exercise and thought Mountain Biking would be fun and low impact. Well the first time I impacted the ground it didn't fell very "low impact" but still very fun.


Caring a bit over 200lbs I needed something that would hold up to all I could toss at it. I looked at some full squish bikes and for the strength I wanted the price was just way too high. I started looking at hard tail, so called AM (All Mountain) bikes, like the Spec. P2 All Mountain, the Gary Fisher Mullet, Kona Hoss and the Haro Escape etc. etc. Even a few bike from internet vendors like IBEX and Iron Horse, but decided I wanted the support of a local bike store for my first "real" mountain bike.
I ended up getting the Haro Escape Comp because it seemed to have the best components for the price. Plus it was plenty beefy and I've always been a HARO fan.


I have been very happy with this bike. Ive owned it for just over 5 months and it has taken all I have thrown at it. The only thing that has broken was the u-turn adjustment knob on the Tora fork.


Here she is the day I got her after my first ride. The refelctors had not even snapped off yet!


Avid Juicy 3s with 185mm rotors provide the stopping power and have been great. The RockShox TORA front fork has been great and seems to be very strong. I upgraded to the xtra firm spring for >180lbs people.

The Deore XT rear der. is wonderfull.

It sure is fun and I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life.

CAMPING!!  


We decided that a camping trip to Granite Basin sounded like a good idea. It was lots of fun. On Saturday we took a trip down to the Hasyampa to do some off roading and let the girls play in the water.





Breakfast always tastes better while camping and with as many people as we had with us we made a TON of food. It safe to say there was not much left over.




There aint nothin like hanging out with family and friends, by the warm glow of a fire!.


Life is to short to not enjoy it. There just is not enough time to waste it watching t.v!