Tim's 50th

My dear friend Tim had a 50th birthday weekend bash at their new house in Tucson. So on Friday I left Flagstaff and headed for the Phoenix airport to pick up Jerry and continue on down the road to Tucson. They had eight or so people for dinner on Friday, and although we arrived too late for dinner, they saved us some leftovers (mmmm!). On Saturday night, they had another 16 or so people. Then the main party was on Sunday afternoon. I think there were 35 to 40 people at that party. As always, we had so much fun with Tim and Mark and their multitude of friends.

This is chef extrordinaire, Janet, and birthday boy Tim. She orchestrated the whole thing and did all the food. I helped as a prep cook/dishwasher/errand runner, but it was really Janet's show.

Jerry and me

50 years young!

Flagstaff Visit

I just returned from a road trip to Flagstaff and Tucson. My baby sister Karen lives in Flagstaff - at least for now. I took my mom and my great niece Marina with me. I stayed Wednesday through Friday, then left them there while I went for a visit with friends in Tucson. I picked them up yesterday on the way home. This is my mom, Karen, my nephew Hunter, and Marina (Karen's granddaughter). Unfortunately, my mom is hiding in this picture and I didn't get another. You can see that we have some redheads in our family.


This is their house. It has a lot of really cool features - I love it! I wish they wouldn't sell it, but they've decided to move to Scottsdale (more business for Mike). I've always loved Flagstaff, even before they moved there. It's a little city in the woods. Since it's at about 7,000 feet, the weather there is more like Utah than what you would typically think of as Arizona weather. It was really cold there, and WINDY!


Marina walking Stitch. I'm not really a dog person, but Stitch is a pretty good dog.


Several houses just build around trees for their decks, stairs, etc.

Biggest Loser - Results

Not that I had the greatest results (certainly nothing like the real Biggest Loser contestants!) - nevertheless, I did win the contest. I won four of the ten weekly weigh-ins, and the end-of-contest pot ($100!). I lost a total of 15.8 pounds. However, I still have a few more to go before I'm even close to my ideal weight according to the charts. I kind of plateaued at the end of the constest, so I'll have to do something new to shake things up. We are currently in another fitness contest at work, which is about weight but also about exercise. And it's not just about the weight for me, although that certainly is important. More importantly, I've gotten my blood pressure and cholesterol under better control. I have to work to overcome my genetics. :-)

Spring in Utah

Luckily I finished my run this morning before this "welcome to Spring" snowstorm hit. The good thing about spring snowstorms is that they don't stay around long. Besides, I'm heading out on Wednesday for sunny Arizona! Eighty degrees and sunny (at least in Tucson ... Flag is another story).

Sleep-over #2

Kaiya and I had another sleepover on Friday night, which thankfully went much better than the first attempt. We went to the store, and then watched a movie, and didn't make it to bed until 11:00. Saturday morning we went to get the oil changed in my car, and then to the library. By that time, it was time for Steph & Mickel to bring Teague over while they went to their soccer game (which they won). The day went by pretty fast!

Chicken Noodle Soup

This weekend, in addition to my regular visit with Kaiya and Teague while Steph and Mickel participate in their soccer league, I made my home-made chicken noodle soup. This soup has quite the following, although I'm not sure how much is due to the quality of the soup, and how much is due to the fact that I actually cooked something (there's been so little of that going on lately ...). But, whatever the case, I like it! So if no one wants to eat it, then all the more for me. It must have turned out okay, though, because I only ended up with one small bowl of left-overs. The secret - or at least the secret of why I like it - is that I make home-made noodles, and I make them on the thick side. Kind of a cross between noodles and dumplings. As Mr. Campbell says, "Mmmm good!"

Teague may be Mama's Little Man, but he likes his Daddy okay too.

Kaiya had a good time "helping" with the dishes.

We were just sorry that Kris and Sterling couldn't join us. We're praying that whoever finds the money does the right thing ...

She's The Apple of My Eye

This is perhaps a small conceit on my part - since I think our darling Kaiya is the most beautiful girl around - but I do think there's definitely a family resemblance ... what do you think?

Gymnastics

Kaiya is signed up for a gymnastics class, so Steph decided to take her to a Ute's meet to show her what it's all about, and very kindly invited me along. First we met Mickel at The Pie for dinner, after a bit of confusion about the location since The Pie actually has two locations, one right around the corner from the other. Great pizza - but VERY crowded and noisy! You know - typical college hang-out. Teague sure liked it. Then we went to the Utah/Arizona State meet, where it was very apparent that the Lady Utes would dominate the night. They are FANTASTIC! Kaiya was very intrigued by what they were doing, although I'm not sure she quite made the connection to what she does in her gymnastics class. And she didn't want me to clap ... not sure what that was about.

However, I think she was a bit more entertained by the people around us, the stairs, the seats, and Grandma's camera. In case you can't tell, the picture below is a self-portrait of Kaiya's legs, by photographer Kaiya Jane.

When we were driving back to Steph & Mickel's house, along 1300 East, we could see an orange glow. As we got closer, it was apparent that it was a HUGE fire. A house right on 1300 East was FULLY engulfed in flames, and apparently it had just happened because there were no fire crews there yet. We stopped to look (and Mickel had already called it in - he was in front of us in the Mazda). The heat was so intesnse we could feel it in the truck. The flames were so high, the trees in the neighboring yard were begining to catch fire. It just looked like one huge fireball. We were so dumbfounded, I didn't have the presense of mind to to take a picture, and it was starting to freak out Kaiya so we had to leave. But I was in the neighborhood again today so I thought I'd take one of what it looks like now.

This isn't the best picture, but if you can zoom in you might be able to see that there is absolutely nothing left of the inside - it's just a shell. What I don't understand, though, is why it appears white and clean on the outside. I mean, those flames last night engulfed everything - why isn't it charred-looking? At any rate, it was sobering to realize how fast it got to that point, and how deadly fire can be.