Just another Manic Monday

James and I had the day off today and decided what better to do than go explore and get more wood. Whew- we left the house around 830AM and trekked up to Camp Verde with the dogs. We took a dirt road that winded through the verde valley. We found plenty of dead Juniper and even OAK! That's like hitting the jackpot- it's a great wood for the fireplace and very expensive- We have a $20- firewood permit for Coconino County so that's the extent of our cost, besides gas to get there and some hard work to get it cut and loaded. James said something about us being obsessed with gathering Firewood now and I had to correct him and let him know that HE was the obsessed one. Needless to say, I am pretty confident we have enough wood to last through the winter. We haven't even started burning yet- today it was 94 degrees in Phoenix, at this rate it will still be BBQ weather on Thanksgiving! After 3 Juniper trees we decided to meander the dirt road some more and came across a treasure- Lawrence Crossing it's the creek in the pics. The dogs were in hog heaven and were exploring and peeing on everything. At one point, we thought they were gone for good because they were nowhere in sight and weren't coming when called- a little scary but they scampered back after 5 minutes.

Sunday Morning

James and I got up early (as always). I think I am over mourning the loss of sleeping in. We went to Starbucks for our daily fix, checked out of the hotel AND went grocery shopping for Mark, all before 9am. I took some before and after pics of Mark's fridge. He had Jelly, Miracle Whip, old lunchmeat, mustard and 1/4 of a Dr. Pepper in there. After he had: Milk, lunch meat, cheese, string cheese, pudding, frozen burritos, hot pockets, apples, pickles, coke, easy mac, swiss rolls, nutty bars, bread, soup, raisins check mix. peanut butter pretzels and Emergency Vitamin C packets. Mark should be set for a while. Sam slept on the floor in Mark's room and we had fun waking them up on both Saturday and Sunday AM.

Adventures in Wood Cutting!!!

James and I got a firewood permit and we can get up to 5 cords by December 13th. James got a new chainsaw and we got the boys, the map and all of our tools and headed out into the forest. We found some dead Aspen and got started. The truck bed is FULL of wood. We aren't sure how it will burn but we have plans to come up in 2 weeks and our mission: JUNIPER. Juniper is great wood for the fireplace, burns slow and hot. It was hard work but fun. James loved using his chainsaw. The weather was perfect- I think a high of 72 and this morning we came out to the truck and it was a brisk 36 degrees. Last night we had dinner at Black Bart's Steak house. They have great food and live entertainment- NAU students sing! We enjoyed it and it was pretty funny watching Sam- He said that people that sing creep him out- not sure what that's about...

Flagstaff Adventures

We left the valley around 10am on Friday and got to Flagstaff in time to have lunch at Malones Deli. Then we went to Mark's Dorm and hung out for a while, dropped Sam off and went to check in to the hotel. After a quick nap we got ready, picked up the boys and went to Granny's Closet for wings. James is now hooked. After dinner we went to the Movies and saw Body of Lies. Pretty good movie with Russell crow and Leonardo DiCaprio. We called it an eary night to rest up for the big day tomorrow.

Annual Employee PicNic!

Arriving and setting up

Mollie and Sam Playing

Watermelon FUN!

Today was our picnic with Hyatt. It's every year in October at Encanto Park. The past 4 years I have been on the picnic committee and have been responsible for kids games- which is A LOT OF WORK! The good news is- it counts as a day of work- the bad news- it should count for 2 Days of work! I am dog tired and so is James. Mollie and Sam helped us- against thier will. The highlights of the day included water balloons and a watermelon eating contest. In previous year it was a pie eating contest and I think the watermelon is better. Check out some pics from the day...

One day HOT, today COOL

This is how it seems to be every year. We look forward to a cool down and it happens- one day hot, the next day cold. It's strange but we have come to expect it. Last week it was in the 90s and Saturday the high must have been in the 70s and when we woke up this am it was 50 degrees- um hello... that's a 40+ degree difference. So, since we have been used to 90s, this morning we were chilly! It's very nice though not to have to run the AC 24/7- we now have our windows open 24/7. We have been planting tomatoes and peppers and herbs! I used to think my favorite time of year was summer but I am begining to think it's fall when it cools down, gets darker earlier and you can spend time outside without sweating!

Aloha from Kauai

Hello everyone. Hope all are happy and well.

We are still loving life here on Kauai.

Jace has become quite a little beach boy. We

will need to start swimming and surf lessons

very soon.

Miss and love you all.

My very own Cindarella Story

Let me start by saying- DON'T TELL JAMES YOU READ THIS. He will never know about this because- I am pretty confident that he doesn't read the blog. Okay- now, I just got back from Chicago so I may be especially sappy. I have been gone for 3 nights and back just 1 day. I was in a ridiculously chaotic airport yesterday and they called for 1 person from our flight to give up thier seat for a free roundtrip ticket. I really wanted to get home but I wanted to gauge James and see if he could wait a day to see me to get a free ticket on United. When I called him from the gate I told him about getting a free ticket, I would have to stay another night and get a flight in the AM back. He responded quickly with, "No! NO! NO! Not No but HELL NO! I haven't had a meal since you've been gone! All I have had is Pop Tarts- YOU NEED TO GET HOME NOW!" I laughed. I was glad that his sentiments matched mine. But I did tell him later that he needs to make meals for himself even if I am not around.

I feel so lucky to have found James. I feel strongly that my Mom, had a lot to do with it. I would always tell her that I didn't think that I could ever find anyone good enough, that would be just as good to me as I would be to them. So in January of 2004 I moved back to Phoenix to help as she was sick with Cancer. If I hadn't moved back- I would not have ever met the man of my dreams and if my mom had not been sick, I probably wouldn't have moved back. God only knows where I would be and how my life would have been. See, the passing of my mom really changed me. I honestly feel that it prepared me for James. When we got engaged, we called his mom and I told her how lucky I felt and she said, "HE'S THE LUCKY ONE!" The fact is, we are both lucky. This is how life was meant to be for me.