Getting back to the routine!

Mark and I had a fantastic time aboard the Oosterdam, one of Holland America's ships. We left from the Port of San Diego on January 9 and returned on the 16th. We were at sea the first two days then we had three consecutive port of call days. Our first stop was Mazatlan where we joined an all day beach excursion to Stone Island. It included transportation (a rather old "tub", but fun)to the island, a very good lunch, all the drinks you wanted and two activities. We only chose the horseback riding activity and enjoyed that. Riding on horseback in the sand by the Pacific was great fun.

Our second port was Puerto Vallarta which was by far my favorite port. It is such a gorgeous seaside resort town. We have been here before so didn't join any excursion and simply hailed a taxi to the center of town and wandered the boardwalk by the sea and generally just relaxed by the sea. Our last port of call was Cabo San Lucas. We decided to take a military type water craft to see the whales up close and personal. We did! It was awesome to see these creatures so close to the boat. This craft went between 60-70 mph so we got around to each whale extremely fast!

The last day was spent at sea returning to San Diego. That was our only "cool" day because we were heading home and it was windy and the temps were lower than Mexico but it was still shorts weather. You always hear about so much food onboard and it sure is the truth. Our evening dinners were delicious and we tried most of it! Lobster, filet, prime rib, basa, rock fish, etc. This was a trip we will always remember and I would bet money that Mark and I have another cruise in our future. It is so much fun!

Some shots of the cruise and short video of our whaling adventure!

Hawkeyes win the Orange Bowl!

We were happy to see our Iowa Hawkeyes win the Orange Bowl last night in Miami. It seemed really cold there considering the locale but the Hawkeyes probably thought it was a heat wave after leaving the frozen tundra called Iowa! It appears to me that the fans and players around the country for the bowl games had the best weather for the two games here in AZ. It has been above normal temps and just beautiful here for many, many days. We are quite pleased about the weather this winter! I feel so sorry for everyone back in the midwest. Really a horrible winter and it has just started! :-(

I have been busy shopping and packing for a cruise. We leave Saturday morning for the Mexican Riviera with ports of call: Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo. We decided to do this in honor of our 35th wedding anniversary which was at the end of December. We are both really excited to go and I know we will love every minute of this trip!

Some pictures of Kayley cheering on the Hawks last night and some other random shots

Happy New Year!

It has been a busy week for all of us since Christmas. Sunday we were guests of Megan, Andy, Drew and Kayley at the Cardinals FB game. That is always great fun and the Cardinals won and looked good doing it. Maybe they will get to the super bowl again this year!!

Megan took the whole week off so Mark and I have been able to spend a lot of bonding time together. Ha! Bonding as in going shopping, Mark's favorite thing to do with me! We are celebrating our 35th anniversary by going on a cruise next week so we naturally needed some items for the trip! We are certainly looking forward to that getaway.

One night we all went to the Phoenix Zoo for "Zoo Lights". It was just beautiful and I could not believe the amount of work that spectacle must have entailed!

Megan's high school friend from Iowa was here with her hubby and daughter for the bowl game. Wednesday they decided to hike Camelback Mt. so Mark and I babysat Drew, Kayley and their daughter Gracie. Gracie and Kayley are very close in age so it was fun watching them interact with one another. They are both cutie pies!

Yesterday Mark and I drove to downtown Tempe for the Insight Bowl festivities and game. We had a great time and saw some friends from Iowa. Steve and Mona Satre, Lance Wilhelm and Mark Klever were all there. I am sure there were others we knew but just didn't see them. ISU beat Minnesota so that was great. Even though I am a Hawkeye fanatic it was good to see an Iowa college beat anything Minnesota!! Sorry MN family! :-)

Today we are going to Greasewood Flat for a pig roast. It is an outdoor, western venue with picnic tables, live music and desert dust! It is also great fun. :-)

I wish you all a great 2010.

Cardinals FB video:


Mark's first visit to Fatso's, our FAVORITE pizza joint!



Babysitting Gracie Britton from Iowa and the grand kids:

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas! So much fun watching Drew and Kayley open their gifts! In the afternoon Lisa and her boys and Aaron came for dinner. I made the traditional turkey dinner, as Mark wanted stuffing. :-) We even had Iowa sweet corn that he brought with him. I thought it was delicious...Megan and I cooked a great meal, even if I do say so myself! :-) After dinner the Swensen kids got on my computer and we
"Skyped" with Sharon and Arne in Florida. They had a great time being able to see them along with visiting with them. I am sure they wish they could have been here in person but Skype is the second best thing! Earlier in the day Sharon had skyped (I am not sure that is a proper word) and gave me a tour of their lovely and HUGE home in the Villages. That was such fun.

Well, whether anyone wants it or not...videos of our Christmas. At least a website is different than being guests in a home and forced to watch family home videos. On the computer you can choose not to click and no one is the wiser!! :-) Hope you all had as great a Christmas as we did. Matt, we missed you so much!!!! Next year....

Christmas morning:


Kayley on Christmas Day:



Father/Son tool bonding:



Misc. Christmas photos:

A very merry Christmas Eve

Just returned home from our niece Lisa's home. Great food, great company and a good time had by all. Drew and Kayley stayed up way later than usual and were troopers. Tomorrow will be a big day after Santa's stop tonight. Looking forward to that. Merry Christmas to all.

A video of a very giggly Kayley:



Random snaps of the week:

A great train ride

Last night we rode along with Megan and Andy and the kids to McCormick-Stillman Park where we hopped a train for a gorgeous light-filled ride through the park. The kids loved it. We had to wait in line for quite awhile but Drew and Kayley handled that very well. It was Drew's first time "out in public" since starting potty training and he did super. I would officially call him trained. Of course, he still wears a pull-up at bedtime. My grandkids are getting old!!!

Here's a video of the night and beautiful light display:

Christmas will soon be here

I am almost in shock to think that Christmas is less than a week away. I hope I will be ready! I am fixing "Thanksgiving" dinner for Christmas Day at the request of Mark. He is hungry for stuffing. :-) I love making that dinner but would be much happier if Matt were out here to enjoy it that day, as it is his favorite meal, too. We will have my niece Lisa and her sons here and nephew Aaron. Sharon and Arne cannot make it to AZ this Christmas so I am glad to have her children here with us that day to celebrate with family. When they still lived in AZ they always had all of us up to Terravita for the holidays so I am pleased that we can reciprocate with her children this year.

At the risk of being yelled at by my midwestern friends and family, the weather has just been superb for Mark's first week here. Lots of outdoor time with Drew and Kayley and yesterday we even golfed 18 holes. Just beautiful and so much fun!!! We were a bit rusty on the course but did not even mind that. We just enjoyed the day together. After golf we babysat for the kids so Megan and Andy could go to Megan's law firm party.

Today was designated for shopping! Kohl's has a 30% off everything deal so I cannot pass on that. :-) I also have to get my turkey today and probably everything else I need for that meal. Mark will be in heaven accompanying me on that journey. Ha ha!! Too bad there isn't a Home Depot close by...

Tonight Megan and Andy are taking the kids to McCormick-Stillman Park to see the Christmas lights so we are tagging along. They have a train ride there so you know who will be in ecstacy! Not sure if Santa will be there. We have been showing Drew the Christmas specials and he seems interested so I think he knows a little something about Santa this year. He will know a lot more come Christmas morning!

Time to get dressed for shopping! Have a great week and may there be NO snow in your forecast!



A video of Grandpa "reading" to Kayley



Outdoor playtime



Just plain NOISY!!

He's finally here!!!

Mark finally arrived in Phoenix late yesterday afternoon. It is wonderful to have him here after a long harvest season and an early midwest blizzard. He started out Thursday afternoon and drove to Matt's in Omaha. He spent the night at Matt's then began his long drive to Arizona on Friday morning. His Friday evening was spent in Tucumcari, NM. Mark said the roads were clear his entire 1500+ miles. Last year the mountain areas surrounding the valley were getting snow and he had to take a LONG southern route into Phoenix to avoid slippery mountain road conditions. This year he had much better luck and was able to come down the mountains via the shortest route. I cannot tell you how great it was when he finally walked through that door yesterday!

Megan and Andy invited us over last night for pork chops and Mark was able to finally see his grandchildren after almost 4 months. When he last saw them Kayley wasn't walking and we were still trying to get that bottle of formula down her. Now she is running all over the place and eating like a champ. He cannot get over how "old" Drew seemed and how tall he had grown. Drew didn't hesitate at all to run to Grandpa, seemed to remember him well. They talk on the phone a lot so that probably helped. Kayley took a few minutes to warm to her grandpa but then they became pals

He hopes to just have a relaxing day today...little does he know that he is going to help me put up Christmas lights on the townhouse. :-) Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday, too!




Kayley at my place on Friday and seeing Grandpa last night:

Snow, snow go away

Well, so much for Mark leaving from Omaha today for Phoenix. An "historic" blizzard (according to the news) hit Iowa today and my poor husband couldn't even get to Omaha. Thank goodness he is safe and sound at home. He would have been caught right in the middle of it. 14+ inches, horrendous winds and temps. Gosh, I do not miss that crappy weather at all. I am praying the roads will be clear enough by tomorrow afternoon for him to get to Matt's home in Omaha. He would then be able to leave Friday morning for WARM weather. Grandma and the kids are waiting for you!

The weather has been a bit on the unpleasant side here, too. High winds wreaked havoc on trees and power lines Monday night. That was probably a precursor to Iowa's weather on Tuesday and today.

Since it has been cool we have spent the majority of the time indoors. The video shows you how antsy everyone is to get back outside...


Pics of Drew talking to Grandpa Mark today...he even has grandpa's gestures! A picture of Kayley by the tree...she loves that tree!

More "Let's go bowling"

Drew decided he wanted to take Grandpa Butch bowling while he was visiting. Drew dearly loves to bowl, as does grandpa, so it was a fun evening for them. Kayley and I played in the arcade room. All the flashing lights made her think she was driving the cars and shooting the guns without spending a dime. That little trick will end soon enough!

Saturday was another very cool day here. I went with my hiking friends on a 6 mile trek and never took off my gloves which is most unusual after hiking that long. Usually I work up some heat units but the brisk breeze kept us all cool. I was also very cold last night when we went to Cave Creek. Megan had registered for the 5K night run there so Drew and I rode with to cheer for her. This was her first race and she did very well considering the route had major hills for the runners! She doesn't run on any hills so that was a different challenge for her. As she was off running and breaking a sweat, Drew and I froze our buns off. We did NOT dress appropriately for the temps. I could have used my Iowa ear muffs and winter coat. Glad this little front will be out of the valley in a few days. I don't like it! :-)

Mark should be in Phoenix this Thursday. Yay! We cannot wait to have him with us.

Below are some pics from the Thanksgiving week-end, my hike, the 5K race and a short video of the bowling night.