A Saturday in southern Arizona..first stop, Boothill

Mark and I became midwest tourists today and left Phoenix this morning and headed to the Tucson area. We went about 70 miles past Tucson to the historical town of Tombstone, AZ. Very commercialized, but great fun and most interesting. We learned all about the history of the town "too tough to die" and the scene of the shootout at the OK Corral. We were there about 5 hours and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had a great lunch at a very fun saloon, Big Nosed Kate's and then walked the streets peering into shops and visiting the court house museum which was our favorite stop in Tombstone. We arrived back at our hotel in Tucson, the Windmill Suites, about 5:00 pm. We are now enjoying a cocktail in our very luxurious suite. :-) We were upgraded to a first floor patio suite so are not complaining about our room one little bit! The photos are from Boothill, the hanging gallows, the court room, our saloon hall lunch and our room tonight in Tucson. Tomorrow we will visit spots around Tucson. Until then.......

Happy Birthday, Dear Drew

Our grandson is one year old today! I cannot believe how quickly this year flew by for all of us. Megan and Andy had a party for Drew on Sunday after Sharon and I finished participating in the P.F. Chang marathon. It was Christmas all over again for Drew. :-) He had a particularly good time with his very own cake. Tonight we are going to Oregano's for a pizza dinner as pizza is Drew's favorite big boy food. :-) Have a great second year, Drew!!! P.S. The last picture is actually a video.

We made it! Thirteen miles!

Well, actually it was 15 miles by the time we got to where we could get picked up. Sharon and I (Megan wasn't able to go) had a great time at this marathon. The mass of humanity behind us and in front of us on this was remarkable. We felt we did really well and we plan to make this a yearly event. There were bands performing almost every mile of the way, cheerleaders keeping us pumped, etc. That all really helped because as I thought about this before hand and made the comparison that this was going to be farther than I drove to work for 33 years to Ogden it started to make me weary. I could not imagine just getting up one day and walking to Ogden. How boring! That is why the bands and cheer leaders and thousands of other people really helped spur you on. We both were pretty tired that evening and went to bed early but otherwise we felt great and still do. It was a great day!

Another week-end

It is a bright, sunny day unfolding here. I went for a walk around the housing development and it was crisp this morning but not bad. Didn't walk for too long.....need to save my feet and legs for tomorrow, the PF Chang half marathon and our 13 mile stroll along downtown Phoenix or Tempe, not sure which city it is actually taking place. :-) Megan and I went to the convention center yesterday and picked up our timing chip, race number and other assorted goodies. I guess you can actually go online and see people's time with the use of this chip. Ugh. :-) Oh well, one can only walk so fast! It makes me really admire a runner who does the entire 26 miles. The training involved must be monumental and horrible on one's knees I would imagine. There were a lot of very, very fit people picking up their stuff in that hall. I felt like John Travolta in Hairspray among all those fit runners and had a moment of hesitation doing this but it IS only walking, I decided. :-)

Took lots of pictures of Drew this week and will attach a few of the ones I really liked. Have a great week-end everyone.

Happy Wednesday

Grandpa and Drew check out the back end of his pick-up truck. Sometimes our blonde headed grandson looks red headed, especially in bright sunlight!

just a swingin

After a wet and cool week-end it is turning very, very nice for the work week. We are back outside and enjoying the beautiful weather. When we go through the park on our daily strolls we now must stop for a swing break:




Mark spent the week-end putting up wire shelving in our garage storage closet. I cannot believe what a transformation he made in that little room. I am going to have to go shopping to fill up all the shelves. :-) It is really nice and once again I appreciate his handy man talents!

We have yet to make it to the golf course but it is on our agenda for next week-end. It will have to be Saturday because Sunday Sharon, Megan and I are doing the half marathon in the P.F. Chang event in Tempe. I am a little worried about this.....we only signed up for the walking marathon but that little walk is 13 miles. Yikes! I walk every day, but only for two miles. This past week-end I decided to go all out and walked 6 miles. I cannot imagine doing another 7 beyond that stroll!! Sharon says that the huge throng of people and the bands along the way will spur us on. hmmmm........ The band would have to be the Eagles, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones to spur me on and that ain't happening! :-) Actually, we are pretty excited about the event and I KNOW we will finish, one way or another! I will post pics of our big day Sunday night so come back to see them if you are interested.

Happy New Year!

I have fallen a bit behind in posting so have a couple of new posts this time.

I hope everyone had a very happy New Year and here's wishing all of you a great 2008! As this Grandma gets older it is so unbelievable how quickly a year goes by. It seems just like yesterday that Megan told us she was expecting and now here we are 14 days away from celebrating Drew's first birthday. Wow.....

We had a fun (and early!) New Year's Eve by going Cosmic Bowling in Scottsdale from 6-8:30. We met Sharon and all her family there and had a very fun time. After bowling, the grandparents took the young children home so the older children could go out and have a bit of fun. Boy, I was usually right in the middle of that going out and having fun not long ago. :-) But, Mark and I took Drew to our place and he spent the night with us and we enjoyed it.

This morning Megan, Sharon and I decided to start 2008 with a hike up Black Mountain. It was windy today on the mountain but wonderful. Megan and I had hiked on Saturday and Monday so we had a few sore muscles at the start of this adventure! This afternoon we watched lots of bowl games and ate too many nachos and dip.....probably negating all the hard work on the hike. :-( Oh well, it is New Year's Day!

Pictures are from cosmic bowling. My nephew Erik's two girls (Kadin and Gracie) were having fun with Drew.

Drew's first NFL game

Two Sundays in a row we went to see the Cardinals play in their beautiful new stadium. (Which happens to be the site for this year's Super Bowl game.) Megan and Andy gave Mark and I tickets to both games for Christmas and we thoroughly enjoyed that gift. They have four season's tickets so we all sat together. This past Sunday they could not find a baby sitter so they decided to try taking Drew. He did great! Loved the tailgating and food and treats, was enthralled with the stadium noise and lights and just had a good time. Got a bit pooped out at the end as you can see from the stroller picture, but was a real trooper that day. To make it all the more sweet, the Cardinals won both games and UNI alumni Kurt Warner was fantastic as their quarterback! Keep an eye on those Cardinals next season. :-)

Scenes from the holiday

We had a very nice Christmas here in Arizona. The only thing missing was Matt. I would have dearly loved for him to get down here over the holidays but it wasn't meant to be this year.

Christmas Eve I made chili and appetizers and we spent the evening with Megan, Andy and Drew. Christmas morning we got back to their home to watch Drew's very first Christmas gift opening. I do think he was a bit overwhelmed but he loves his new "stuff". We had a breakfast brunch after the gift exchange. Around 3:30 we left for Sharon and Arne's home for Christmas dinner, which was absolutely fabulous. Lisa, Taylor, Dan and Nick were there so that made it extra fun. We all went home happy and full!

Below is a little slide show of the morning with what I think is a "very" appropriate song for a Christmas in Phoenix. :-)

Drew's First Christmas!

Drew and his dog

Twice the grandpa fun

Drew has the pleasure of having both of his grandpas here this week. Andy's dad Butch arrived Friday night from LeMars and is spending the week with them. Drew is getting lots of attention from both grandpas......about all grandma is good for this week seems to be feeding him and changing diapers and putting him down for naps. Other than the feeding part, that doesn't make me rate very high on Drew's scale this week!

Beautiful week-end for a 1500 mile drive!!!

Well, Mark and I made it to Phoenix Sunday afternoon but considering what weather we encountered I have decided to become a mailman. We drove through rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow and still made it!

I landed in Omaha Friday night at 6:40 p.m. and Mark picked me up and we went to our hotel. Matt came by and the three of us went to dinner at Friday's. Our hotel was right by Westroads shopping mall where the horrible shootings had occurred on Wednesday. The mall was closed and it was very eerie driving by and seeing the Von Maur store all lit up brightly for Christmas and no one in the parking lot but a few police and media vans at 8 p.m........

Saturday morning we listened to the weather report and it said Kansas (which would be the biggest part of our drive that day) would have freezing drizzle all day. It did. Our truck was coated with ice but amazingly we only had one iffy stretch and the rest of the Kansas roads were clear and perfect driving conditions. Kudos to their DOT for getting that miracle stuff down on the pavement to keep it from freezing! The trees and powerlines were sagging the entire day but the roads were just great. We drove nearly 13 hours that day and made it to Tucumcari NM around 6 p.m. Obviously, we were pooped and most glad to get into that hotel and off the roads....until the next morning!

Sunday started out great. I-40 was clear all through New Mexico. When we entered in to Arizona we had to make a decision which way to descend the mountain to get to Phoenix. Our choice was I-17 through Flagstaff or a state highway through Payson. We settled on the Payson route and I was very worried at first because when we started to descend it was raining and 40 degrees. Shortly it was 31 degrees and snowing. It was beautiful up there with the snow covering the tall pine trees and the snow falling but I saw no beauty.....only a very curvy and sloping road ahead and prayed it wasn't slippery. It wasn't so then I started (sort of) enjoying the beauty of the day in those snow covered mountains. :-) We got to the town house Sunday right at 5 p.m. So, considering the horrible weather we drove through I will have to say the roads were great. Now today is a different story up on top of those same mountains! Flagstaff and Payson areas could get anywhere from 6" to 14" of snow. Yikes! Glad we came through yesterday! As for us today, I took the grandson and the dog for a walk and was sweating pretty good when we finished. Ah, my kind of weather! :-)

Mark and I are going to buy a Christmas tree tonight for the town house. It needs some holiday touches badly. A tree is a good start. Well, hope everyone has a great week and drive safely!

Feeling MUCH better today...

Drew kept me on my toes today........all smiles and go, go go. :-)

A little under the weather.....

I babysat Drew this week-end and he is coming off a little battle with flu, lots of teeth coming in and a cold. I really couldn't even get him to smile (see pics) for the camera today and that is RARE. :-) Despite all that he has still really been a good little guy. Hope he starts feeling better soon!

I fly to Omaha Friday night and am meeting Mark and Matt for dinner. I am looking forward to that. Mark and I will leave Saturday morning from Omaha for our truck trip to Phoenix.

Mark said it is very cold right now in Iowa. It has actually been pretty cool here and lots of rain....for the desert. It cleared up today and was sunny and around 70. Drew and I did a 40 minute walk this afternoon and it was really nice.

Well, hope everyone is well and continues to stay healthy and cold, flu free!

What do you think?

Does anyone see any resemblance between Megan's baby pictures posted here and her son Drew? She and Andy's brothers have this question going on at gatherings and they all say he is his father's son. :-) Perhaps....or not?

My niece Sarah sent us a link of her and her siblings on an "elfyourself" website. It was so cute that I decided to make one of Drew and Grandpa and Grandma. Happy Holidays, everyone! Click here
If you cannot view it, you need to install flashplayer which can be downloaded here!


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