A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Lovely weather we are having. I just really love October in the desert. Very comfortable days, cooling down a bit in the evenings. The kids and I can take our walks later in the morning if we want but we pretty much always get going by 8:30 a.m. I almost wished I had put socks on Kayley this morning as it was breezy, but once we started walking in the sun all was well.

I am hoping Iowa is receiving great weather, too, so Mark can get back into the fields and harvest but the weather forecast talks more rain. Good grief! That poor state is having atrocious weather. :-(

A short video of the kids:

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone....

AND there ain't no sunshine when she's here! I have been back in Iowa since Wednesday night and have yet to see the sun. I had forgotten how gloomy it can be in the midwest. Oh well, I didn't come here for the weather! Mark and I have been enjoying the days. Good food, lots of laughs and just happy to be together.

I had my teeth checked, my eyes checked and lunch yesterday with Katie and Shari in Webster City. Went to a sports bra (private joke) for lunch and had a great time with two great gals.

Today we watched our Hawkeyes defeat Wisconsin with brother Kevin and that was awesome, too.

Mark and I have grilled every night and it was wonderful. We both decided that the next week will consist of a lot less meat, though! :-)

I fly back to Phoenix tomorrow afternoon. Wonder how the grand kids are doing? :-)

Since it was so gloomy here I will post a couple of pics of Drew and Kayley. Looks like Drew is in need of a little desk, don't you agree?


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Walk, walk, walk!

This week has seen Kayley really take off walking. Not always graceful but getting better each day and she can squat and stand back up and fall down and get back up on her own. Yes, she is going everywhere...FAST! I am getting lots of exercise this week. :-)

Megan and I are going to hike this morning. I am looking forward to that. Ever since Sharon moved to FL I have been hiking alone which is okay but hiking with Megan will be much better!

When we return I am going to help Andy paint their bedroom and bathroom. I love to paint so that is not a chore to me. We will follow that job up with pizza and watching the Iowa Hawkeyes take on Michigan. Go Hawks!

I'm baaack...

I have been so busy flying around the country and babysitting that I haven't had time to post for almost a week. That is unusual for me!

Friday night I took a 7 PM flight out of Phoenix to DM. Due to the time change, didn't arrive there until almost midnight. By the time we drove to the farm it was past 1 AM and didn't get to bed until after 2. Now, that is WELL past grandpa and grandma's bedtime let me tell you! But, I was glad to be on the farm with Mark, regardless the time of arrival.

Saturday morning I got up and went for a jog....in ear muffs, gloves and a warm coat! That is the most clothes I have had on in months. :-) Actually, it felt very invigorating and the air was so clean and crisp. We made BLT's for lunch with Mark's home grown tomatoes....delicious. Then it was time for bloody mary's and a fire and the Hawkeye's playing FB. We had a great day together then grilled t-bone steaks for dinner. Delicious meal once again! Sunday we lounged around until it was time to head back to DM for my 2:50 PM flight. That departure time kept getting delayed....and delayed...and delayed. :-( Mechanical problems with the de-icer wiring on a wing. I was sitting there thinking they wouldn't need to worry about de-icing going to Phoenix! All told I sat in the airport over three hours and then we finally got the go ahead to board. It made for a very long travel day. Such is your life when flying. You just never know.

Now I am back with the grand kids and we are pushing trains and learning to walk all over the house and to take naps without pacifiers. Did I ever mention that I have pretty neat grand babies? Yes, I thought I had. :-)






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Finally off the bottle!

No, I don't mean me. :-) Kayley was given the green light to get rid of the formula and get on whole milk out of a sippy cup. We all are in heaven about that development! As you recall, we have had a struggle from the beginning with her taking a bottle. Only through sheer strength and lots of walking through the house did we get her to take enough to thrive. Now our only concern is that she gets enough liquids throughout the day from the cup. She loves her solid food, though. Yes, life just got a lot easier here for all of us!

It was so nice last week but warmed up a little this week. I think we are through with that now, too. Before I know it I will need a long sleeved shirt in the morning and the kids will be wearing jeans outside to play. That will be different!

Mark has been harvesting beans. A breakdown here and there but sounds like he is rolling now. May the weather please cooperate for him!

I am having a blast watching Kayley go nuts with Teletubbies videos! She just goes bonkers when it comes on. Too funny...at least for grandma.

Can't believe it is almost October!

Where does the time fly? We will be carving pumpkins before we know it!

It was a nice week here. Not too hot and definitely not too cold! This week-end was a sports week-end for Andy and Megan. Had tickets to the Diamondbacks Saturday night and a Cardinals game tonight so I watched the grandkids both nights. The Cardinals had a very disappointing showing against Manning and the Colts but they seem to always be a great team with him in charge.

On a brighter note our Iowa Hawkeyes soundly defeated the 5th rated Penn State Nittany Lions so that was a great high point to our week-end! Have a great rest of the year Hawks!

I did manage to get in a great hike by myself Saturday morning. That is the one thing I dearly love to do in Arizona. So many beautiful trails! Other than that, not a whole lot to relate from this end of the U.S. Just enjoying the great weather and the grand kids.

Another video of guess who! :-)

Such a beautiful day!

It is just lovely here in Phoenix today. Cool breeze and nice temps. Maybe it has finally arrived...the weather we wait all through July and August to receive! Here's hoping anyway.

Grandpa Butch flew back to Omaha this past Monday after a week long stay. For some reason Drew thinks he is still at the airport. :-)

Kayley is getting more and more mobile even though she is not fully walking yet. This gal has NO fear which makes her tricky to watch. She is getting in to things Drew never did at her age. She will keep grandma on her toes. Drew is very good at pointing out to me (hollering, actually) if she is doing something she should not be doing. Drew is especially diligent about keeping her many feet away from his precious Thomas and Friends...

Mark was going to try beans so am anxious to hear if he actually got a field harvested. Only one field was ready and I think he thought the others might be a week or so behind them. Time to get harvest underway and over!

I took the kids on a walk yesterday and saw the aftermath of a horrific car-school bus collision right on Megan and Andy's cross streets. Two teen boys were killed when they broadsided the bus. The boys were estimated going 90 mph in a 40 mph zone and were almost completely under the bus. The accident happened at 7:20 am and at 10:00 they still hadn't lifted the bus off of the car and one boy was still trapped in the car. Five or 10 minutes either way and it could have been Megan, Andy or me. Makes you really stop and think...

A couple of videos from the week.

Live....it's Saturday night!!

and grandma is pooped! Started out the day with an early morning hike up to Shaw Butte. It is a fairly long trail that usually takes 2 hours but doing it alone today I shaved off 25 minutes from last week-end. I think I will pay for that feat. Going alone with my iPod and no one to visit with just makes you walk faster I guess! After the hike I stopped by Megan's and she and the kids were going for a walk so I went with on that, also. Like I said...I am pooped!

Dinner tonight was courtesy of Andy's dad and it was very delicious. Megan, Andy, the kids, Butch and I went to the Horny Toad for prime rib dinner. It is rather a touristy place in Cave Creek but it is fun. I remember going there the very first time years ago while visiting sister Sharon for her 40th birthday. Sorry Sharon, shouldn't have said "years ago" but my 40th was years ago, too! :-)

Tomorrow I think I will hike Pinnacle Peak. It is so nice to have cooler temps so that hiking is enjoyable again on the week-ends. I need to hike because I think we are going to Fastso's pizza tomorrow night. :-( Hope all of you are having a fatso week-end too, and not just me!

A video with a little Barry Manilow! I read where malls that are having trouble with teenage gangs hanging around are blasting Manilow's mellow tunes on them and they don't like it! Ha!

Grandpa Butch is in town!

Kayley and Drew are having a great time with their grandpa who is visiting son Andy and family for a week. It took a little while for Kayley to warm up to Butch but they are great buddies now. Drew and Butch golf a little every day and Drew has managed to get him fairly wet with the hose. Oh well, that feels pretty good out here!

We have been going for a walk every morning and with each passing day I notice I am perspiring less and less. In no time at all we will be on our way to about 9 months of gorgeous temperatures. I must admit I am looking forward to that prospect! Well worth the two months of hell one goes through here in July and August. :-)

Mark says the beans are starting to turn on the farm in Iowa so harvest will be just around the corner and he can come down here and enjoy this nice weather with his wife and grandchildren and daughter! A few short videos from the week:

Short week

It was a short week with the kids. I didn't get back to Megan and Andy's until around 10 a.m. on Tuesday. We took walks every morning...still warm but it is improving. Only 100 degrees this week-end. Trust me, that is great compared to those 115 days!

Sister Sharon is in the valley visiting from Florida. I am playing golf with her and her grandsons Nick and Taylor this morning in Mesa. Looking forward to that! The Hawks and Cyclones are playing at the same time but I don't get any coverage down here. :-( Go Hawks!!!!!

Tomorrow Sharon and I are babysitting so Andy and his father can attend the Cardinals first game of the season. Well, time to get my clubs in the car. Have a great week-end.

Fun Labor Day week-end

What a wonderful week-end back on the farm in Iowa! The weather was picture perfect. Jan came down from Osakis, MN and Matt made it home from Omaha. Friend Cyndy spent a day and night on Saturday and John and Sue Swanson came over for our Saturday night bonfire. So great to see them all. Dan and Katie have a smoker and Dan smoked all of us some of Mark's pork chops on Saturday night along with sweet corn, compliments of Cyndy. Delicious meal!

Sunday we all went in to Jan and Clayton's and had about a two hour visit. They looked great, as did their home and yard.

I had an 8 am flight out of DM on Tuesday morning so Mark and I had to get up really early yesterday so I could make that plane. I was soooo tired all day yesterday. I was afraid I would have trouble staying awake watching Drew and Kayley but they seemed really happy to see me and that perked me up. :-) Some random pics from the week-end:
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Under 100 degrees!

I am back in Iowa and loving these nice cool temps. Everything is so lush and green here and Mark's crops look great. I flew into Des Moines about 5 PM last night. Great to see my hubby! Sister Jan came down from MN and Matt is coming today from Omaha.

Here are a couple of videos of guess who. :-)

Fatso's

Our new favorite pizza place. They had a live singing duet who were great, the pizza was loaded and Andy's personal favorite: 19 beers on tap! Drew and Kayley were so good and Drew loved the music. A fun dining experience and we will all definitely return to Fatso's. I fear if we return too many times we will begin living up to the restaurant's name, though!

Drew and Kayley enjoying our visit to Fatso's and a short video of Kayley "talking".

She will be one tough kid

We finally went for a walk today after a several month heat layoff. It felt so good to get the kids and the dog out of the house! Sox and I were sweating and panting when we returned but it was worth it. She hasn't made a peep the rest of this day so we got her good and worn out. We left around 8:45 which was a little late. It is still pretty warm by 9 a.m. here.

Kayley is rapidly aging me. She is such a go getter. I have pulled her out of the fireplace soot three times today before finally getting smart and using a bread tie to keep the gates together. We both were a mess! She leaves no stone unturned...

I brought out the bouncing Zebra that Drew got for his first Christmas from Uncle Mitch. Drew rarely rode it but Kayley loves it. So guess what? Now Drew thinks he loves it, too! Every time she goes near it he is right there to make her fight for every bounce.

Wild week-end

Andy flew to Peoria on Friday morning so Megan was a single parent for three nights. Granny helped out here and there. Saturday evening we decided to take them to Chuck E. Cheese Pizza and fun and games. Not for the faint of heart. It is naturally quite noisy and surprise, lots of kids. Everywhere. I don't think I will be taking Grandpa out to dinner there when he returns to Phoenix. We just may take the kids there for a lunch so he gets to experience it, though. Ha!

Still pretty warm in the valley. We just need to get through part of September and then the really gorgeous weather returns. That means hiking returns. Yay!

Our evening at the pizza parlor....

A bit of a milestone

Grandma, Kayley and Drew had a pretty good week. Only one more day to go until the week-end. Still a bit too warm to go for our daily walk with Sox. I think the kids and I and definitely Sox are waiting for that ritual to return.

Grandpa tells us he is eating lots of his home grown sweet corn but we don't like hearing that! We miss that great taste.

Our little preemie decided to take 5 steps yesterday! I was ecstatic. I had noticed she was standing longer by herself and just held out my arms to her and she came to me. Yes, it was a bit of the Frankenstein shuffle, but she did it! Won't be long before she is racing to tick off Drew and his trains!

Drew has had a couple of mishaps under my watch. Wednesday he slipped on the tile and bit his upper lip, giving him the proverbial fat lip. Today he went down on the sidewalk trying to push a stroller a little too fast. Ouch!

Kayley is doing great. She will eat absolutely anything you throw in front of her. She is catching up on the doctor's chart for normal babies her age. Yay!



Drew has finally started to figure out how to get his tricycle moving forward. Yay!

Sorry for the lag in my posts. Mark and I were on babysitting mode 24/7 with Drew and Kayley while Andy and Megan went to San Diego for a getaway for their 5th anniversary. We had a great time but I will have to admit that I can see why parents are young! We both were pooped after this but we did enjoy it "despite our age"! I think the kids will miss grandpa. Mark flew home to Iowa today. I think I will miss grandpa, too..

Pool time

Mark and I returned from Prescott mid-afternoon on Sunday and then went over to Megan's for a swim with the kids. For some reason it was surprisingly hot in the valley so a swim sounded just grand! Drew is feeling so "at home" in the pool.



Grandpa and Kayley

Greetings from Prescott

Mark and I arrived in Prescott yesterday afternoon around 3:30. It was noticeably COOLER up here. Almost 30 degree difference from Phoenix's temps this past week. We were loving that! We got settled into our hotel and then took off for Whiskey Row, which is the historic part of the old west town. Lots of saloons and even more shops. We dined last night at a place called The Rose Restaurant. It appeared to be a converted large house. We ate at an outside table so we could enjoy that weather. The food was superb but when we got the bill I should have skipped those two glasses of chardonnay that cost $8.50 each and contained about 1.5 inches of wine. Good grief! Our bill was $35 higher than what we spent Wednesday night taking out Megan, Andy and the kids. We at least fed five people off that bill. :-) Oh well, if I had it to do over again, I would because it was THAT good!

Today we spent from 9-2 downtown again. They have a huge flea market and it took a long time to look at all the booths. Lots of gorgeous paintings for sale. I have my eye on one of Havasupai Falls in the Grand Canyon. It is breath taking and reminds me of our hike down to the falls. I may go back and buy that tomorrow. I offered the guy $50 less than what he was asking and he just laughed at me. Laughed. He could have said "I just can't go any lower" but the guy chuckled. Maybe I won't go back...

Tonight we are going to a steakhouse that has good online reviews. Matt's saloon is offering $2 bloody marys until 6 so we better go there before dinner. :-) That beats the pants off an $8.50 glass of freaking wine!

We will probably head back to Phoenix in the early afternoon to beat the huge traffic jam coming out of the mountain on I-17 every Sunday. Hope you all are having a great week-end, too!

Some pics of Mark with his grandchildren and also Mark's new stetson to keep that AZ son off his his head.

It's a heat wave!

Mark arrived in the Valley Friday night to record setting temps in AZ! Hope he doesn't regret leaving that nice Iowa weather for a 114 degree blast furnace! It is manageable, though. We play outside with Drew late in the afternoon with the misters on and we survive! It has been just great having him here. Drew hadn't forgotten him at all and immediately took him in to "play trains". Kayley loves him and would rather be held by him than grandma. Go figure!

Friday night we are driving up north to spend the week-end in Prescott. Temps there are about 30 degrees cooler than here so that will be so nice! We are looking forward to our little getaway.

Some recent silly videos follow.