Another week-end gone

I truly cannot believe it is already time for the holiday season. I fly home Tuesday for the Thanksgiving Day week-end and am really looking forward to it for a variety of reasons......I get to be with Mark for 6 days, Matt is coming home, Megan, Andy and Drew are coming to the farm (Drew's very first visit to that neck of the woods), brother Larry and brother Kevin and families are coming to dinner, etc. I love preparing Thanksgiving dinner but it is the same amount of work whether it be 4 people or 15 people so the more the merrier to have their fill!

Mark had a good week-end topped off by dinner last night with great friends Jan and Clayton at their new home. Jan had a birthday so here's a big birthday greeting to her! Love you guys....

My week-end was equally good...and busy. Saturday morning Megan and Drew picked me up at 6:45 am for a fund raising walk for breast cancer starting at Tempe Beach Park. It was only a 3 mile walk but their were LOTS of walkers so I would say the cancer society had a very successful day. It was very fun and Drew was a trooper the whole way. That afternoon Megan, Drew and I went to several stores and the mall and had a good time. What is there to hate about shopping! Last night we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant but took Andy this time. :-)

I have posted some pics of the breast cancer walk and also one I took of Megan and Drew today...... Here is wishing everyone who visits this blog a very happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much. Ha!

Bah, humbug.........

Mark and I have our work cut out for us this holiday season! First photo is our town house and the second photo is our next door neighbor's town house! The picture does NOT do this place justice.....it is lit up in every nook and cranny available. :-) They were putting them up this past Saturday and we had a good laugh because the gal said she wanted to get them up because it was below 90 degrees!! At home Mark tried to put them up if it was possibly in the 30's. :-) I don't think Christmas out here is much different than Iowa anymore. No snow there for what seems like several Christmases...... Naturally, had to throw a photo or two in of my grandson! Merry Christmas everyone. (Maybe we should get Thanksgiving over first, huh?)

Finally!

Megan has tried 3 week-ends in a row to get Drew's pictures taken and finally got the job done yesterday. The first time Drew was having stranger anxiety and no really good pics could be found. The second appt. found Drew fighting a bit of a cold and runny nose so it was cancelled. The third time (yesterday) I went with her to Babies R Us for the photo shoot and things went much better. He was a little timid at first but then got a tad more comfortable with the photographer and put out a few smiles. I have added them here.

The week-end here has brought cooler temps, low 80's and quite nice. I even "thought" about putting on something warmer to grill last night, but decided that shorts and flip flops were still comfortable. :-)

I went for a long walk yesterday and plan to do so again today with Drew. (There is a Cardinals home game and I am babysitting from 10:00 on today). Drew and I are going to drive up to Terravita this afternoon and hike around there with sister Sharon. The terrain is such that Drew's jogging stroller should work fine IF I can fit it in my Camry. May have to take a tire off to squeeze it in, though!

Mark is busy chopping stalks and ripping the ground. I hope the weather continues to "hold" in Iowa so he can get those jobs completed!

Well, wishing everyone a very enjoyable Sunday and have a good week.

Daddy, Drew and chunky food

TGIF

This week seemed to fly by. Mark is busy in the corn and the weather is behaving so that is a great thing. Another Halloween has come and gone and it is on to seeing Christmas decorations in stores everywhere now. :-)

Drew is doing great. He keeps me hopping every minute he is awake. A very busy young boy! He still has a very happy personality and when he smiles at me I just melt. :-) They are coming to the farm for a day and night during Thanksgiving so I am very excited to have him meet our family and friends at home.

Hope everyone has a grand week-end!

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Grandma's spooky Halloween......

Tigger came trick or treating last night to Grandma's house. It was most definitely a "treat"

A conversation with Grandpa

Great long week-end with Mark

Drew and I picked up Mark at the airport Thursday afternoon at 3:30. It was so great to see him. I was afraid Drew would have nothing to do with him as he is into not liking strangers but I think he remembered him from his visit in August! He whined a bit if granny got out of his line of sight, otherwise was great with grandpa. That first night we were invited to Megan and Andy's for dinner.

Friday Mark helped me babysit all day. We all went for a long walk through the parks that morning. It is just beautiful especially in the morning so we thoroughly enjoyed that time outdoors. That evening after Andy got home we all met Megan at a pizza restaurant close to where she works. Following a great dinner we met sister Sharon and Arne and Lisa, Nick, Dan and Taylor for bowling. Erik had just flown in from Los Alamos for the week-end so it was a special treat to see him.

Saturday morning Mark and I spent some time around the townhouse. Went for a walk through this housing complex. Went to a Mexican restaurant at noon for a salad. At 3;15 we Megan and Andy dropped Drew off with us as they had a wedding to attend. Drew helped us eat a ribeye dinner cooked by the greatest griller I know. :-)

Today we had a 9 am tee time followed by stopping by Megan's so Mark could see Drew's Tigger halloween costume before he leaves tomorrow. I hate to see him leave but the corn fields are calling him desperately!! Won't be long and he can join me for a long stay in the desert. Hope all is going well for everyone visiting this blog!!

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A Monday morning adventure

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Good morning

I haven't been posting many photos lately and needed to catch up on the still shots I have taken over the last week or two.

It is really nice here lately. The temps are in the low 80's, I am not running my air conditioner anymore (yeah!) and it is a really nice time to be in Arizona. Many say October is one of the best months and I can see why. The three of us (Granny, Drew and Sox the goldendoodle) take a long walk every morning since the heat went away. Every afternoon we get a blanket and frolick on the lawn. Drew dearly loves the outdoors so I think he takes after his grandma. :-) If he should happen to be in a sad/bad mood all you have to do is open the door and walk outside with him and he is all smiles again.

A couple of photos are from this past Saturday. Megan and I met Sharon and her grandson Nick and girlfriend Brit for a nice hike up Pinnacle Peak. The trail was very crowded, all due to the nice cool temps, I am certain. Sunday Megan and Andy went to the Cardinals football game and I babysat. Mark and I have tickets to two Cardinal games in December so we are really looking forward to seeing their brand new stadium and the games.

Mark is coming for a visit very soon and had hoped to have all his harvesting done. Ha! It just keeps raining and raining and raining in Iowa. Very depressing, to say the least. It has been quite the year for the Iowa farmers.....and none of it good it seems. Hopefully he can forget about it for several days while he is here. We plan to golf and hike and play with Drew the rest of the time!

I hope this finds everyone in good health and spirits! Marla

Drew's 9 months old today!

I look at him and I'm so amazed......

This video is for dad Andy.
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Catch up time again

Busy week-end, beautiful weather sums up life right now. Since the weather was so wonderful Saturday and Sunday I spent more time out in it! Saturday morning Megan and I drove to Black Mountain for a hike and afterwards stopped by Sharon and Arne's place to fill the fish pond and throw some food at the little guys. The Swensen's are in Iowa for a week. Iowa Wesleyan had a big reunion that they wanted to attend since they are both alumni of that college. They rented a car and drove to the farm last Wed. and spent the night with Mark. He said they had an enjoyable evening together and he grilled ribeyes for them. Yum! They return to AZ tomorrow so were gone exactly one week. They talked about getting to enjoy fall weather but from what Mark has told me, Iowa has not exactly been having fall-like temps. Very, very warm and even higher humidities. Unusual for October....

Saturday night Megan and Andy went to hear my nephew Aaron and his band play in Mesa. He was going to be the third band to play that night so I offered to keep Drew overnight since they would get home very late. It was the first time I had Drew for a sleepover with Grandma and he did just great. In bed by 8:30 and slept until 7 a.m. I can handle that! Megan picked him up shortly after 9 am on Sunday. That afternoon I started out on a walk and ended up going to Megan and Andy's, which is 2 miles. After some water and a brief visit I walked back to the townhouse.

I also did some gardening this week-end. It is really weird.....when I was at home in Iowa last week I was clipping all my perennials back, trimming the hedges for winter, etc. I get back to AZ and I go buy geraniums, other annual flowers and start planting them! I have been told that Oct. is the time to plant flowers in your pots, etc. since the heat is subsiding. I also brought some of the farm's canna bulbs on the plane with me and stuck them in a big container in my front yard. Will be interesting to see if they grow out here. I am sure they won't look as good as Mark's did but you never know! Be watching for pictures if they ever do make it. :-)

Well, hope this finds everyone happy and healthy.

I cannot do a post without a picture or two of this blog's main character.....

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Having fun

Grandpa wanted some video of Drew crawling......

And it's only Monday...... :-)

Four days in Iowa....

I made a trip to the farm on Thursday to see my husband, "winterize" my flower beds and to just generally enjoy the harvest season with Mark. Of course, it is more enjoyable when the combine stays healthy, which it did this week-end except for a minor thing or two. Mark grilled delicious meals each night.....I have never made steaks on the grill quite as wonderful as his and probably never will! Anyway, had a wonderful week-end with him....

I am now back "on the job". That hard job of caring for Drew. I flew back last night around 7 pm out of Omaha. Mark and I left Sunday for Omaha around noon and met Matt at a sports bar to visit and watch some Pro FB on their huge screems. Got to visit for a couple of hours and then it was time for my flight. Megan picked me up at Sky Harbor last night and I was home by 8:45 AZ time.

Drew, Sox and I went for a walk this morning. Really, really nice. From here on out the weather is looking finer and finer. Worth all that heat this summer! I will still be in shorts probably all winter here, except for evenings and some cooler days that pop up. I will be thinking of all my friends and relatives in that midwest god awful weather and thankful that Mark and I will be golfing, hiking,etc. this winter. Doesn't that make old age sound like something to look forward to? I want to say to all my old friends at Ogden: "Take your IPERS as soon as possible and enjoy a stress-free life!" :-)

Pictures posted show the farm looking very fall-like..........landscaping all trimmed back, corn ready to be harvested. Also some pics of Mark's new pick-up, a Toyota Tacoma. He needed something to have out here this winter and the diesel big truck didn't seem very practical. Matt got him a great deal through connections in Omaha and it just happened to be ready on Thursday to be picked up. That was the day I flew in to Omaha so Matt got me at the airport, drove me to the Toyota dealer and I drove that home. It worked out quite well, as he didn't need to stop combining to drive all the way to Omaha. He got his new truck and his old wife in one fell swoop that day. :-) It is a really nice truck and I think he is going to love it! Have a great week everyone.

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Good morning to all

Hope everyone had a great week-end. I certainly did. Sharon and I hiked Black Mountain on Saturday morning then came back to her place and changed clothes and went to the driving range for over an hour. It was good to hit some balls again, especially since Sunday we golfed on her home course at Terravita. It is a beautiful desert golf course with mountains and rugged scenery everywhere. The weather was picture perfect, too, in the low 80's. Never even broke a sweat out there! If I could get 365 days a year of that exact day I would be in heaven...... :-) Before golfing on Sunday I went with Megan, Drew and Sox for a long walk. Anyway, other than the Hawks losing to the Badgers it was a nice week-end. The only thing keeping it from being a perfect week-end was if Mark could have filled out a foursome on Sunday! Soon, Mark, very soon!

The pictures are varied in this post. Some are from here, some are from Megan and Andy's Labor Day trip to Omaha and a Carroll wedding. Pictures 5 and 6 are Drew with his Grandpa Butch and his uncle Mitch in Omaha. The last two pictures show Drew meeting his brand new cousin, Macie Rose Thiel, for the very first time!!

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Drew makes a new discovery

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Oh my! The Cardinals actually won!!

Megan and Andy have season tickets for the AZ Cardinals pro football games and they finally had something to cheer about last Sunday. Maybe it is just the beginning of a winning streak! Hope so. As they say, everybody loves a winner. :-)

The week is flying by here in the desert. It is cooling off (into the 90's, and yes, it is noticeable and welcome) so Sox, Drew and I have been finally able to go back to morning strolls in the beautiful outdoors here.

Tuesday night I picked up sister Sharon and hubby Arne at the airport as they arrived back home from a 16 day cruise. Must be nice! :-) Sounds like they enjoyed seeing the Panama Canal, Colombia, etc. A Jamaica stop was bypassed due to a hurricane. Yikes. Big waves but they were not even close to trouble from the sound of it. With this nicer weather I look forward to getting back to hiking with Sharon on the week-ends.

Hope all my friends and relatives are doing well, wherever their location. Have a great week-end!!

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A peaceful Sunday afternoon......

Megan and Andy and another couple are at the Cardinals FB game and I am babysitting. Sox and I have another guest today, Bailey. Bailey is the pet of the other couple attending the game. Someone please get me Michael Vick's lawyer. I may need him..... :-)


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How 'bout them Hawks?!?!?!?!?

Ok, Cyclone fans....go ahead and gloat. You deserve to do that! Needless to say, I was not all that thrilled about today's outcome. I have never quite put my finger on just why ISU is always ready to play this game and the Hawks always are never ready to do so. The only thing that gives me ANY hope at all is past history of this match up.......when they lose, the Hawks usually go on to do very well in the Big Ten. Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

At least Drew can still smile........

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No nap for me

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