Remembering Mom on Thanksgiving

It was mom's birthday yesterday. I wish she were here to take part in the feast tomorrow. It was one of her fave holidays (because there was glutonous feasting involved). It would fall on her birthday some years. I miss her dearly and think of her daily. Click here for pics and a post I did this time 2 years ago. She was a fun-loving, crazy lady that loved us like no other. I know that she would be proud of Matt and I. I hope I get to see her again someday.

Mel and Jimmy play in Flagstaff!

We trekked up to Flagstaff last Saturday and played till Monday! It started to SNOW on Sunday! It was the first snow of the season. We loved seeing Mark, taking him to Lunch and Dinner and getting him some groceries! Here's some highlights! We got to relax and enjoy each other. Little America has one of the largest fire places that I have ever seen! We got to sit by the fire and read the newspaper Sunday morning!

We also got to meet Mark's new friend Maria. We of course ate at Oreganos and she joined us.

50 Free Holiday cards from Shutterfly!

This is the first time I have ever tried this so here goes! Thank you Charlotte for the info! I am excited to get free cards but now the hard part is trying to decide which design is best. Unfortunately I won't be able to have all the kids together this year for a family portrait so I am going to have to get creative!

If you are a blogger and want to get in on the action, click here. I really like the card pictured here and I toyed with the idea of not doing cards at all. OR maybe doing New Years cards since I will get the opportunity to get all of the kids together for Christmas Eve.

Every card has to have a picture. Check out this link and pick out your favorites. There so many cool things to choose from and I am surprised that the prices are so reasonable! This card is pretty festive and I would be so torn on which pictures to choose. What do you think? Please drop a comment and let me know which design/direction I should do.

Now that I get free cards, not doing cards is not an option right?

Visit with Aunt Wilma!

Aunt Wilma was here visiting and we got to spend some time visiting! Here are some pictures.

A storm like no other

Last Tuesday, there was a severe storm here in the valley that produced winds that had to be atleast 70 mph, golf ball sized hair, quarter sized hail and was over all, unlike any storm I have ever been through. This is the aftermath. I took video and will try and upload it. I wanted to take pictures of Jimmy last night sweeping the roof. We lucked out at the house and the only damage we have is a broken condensation line on the air conditioner and plastic chairs with big holes in them that are now going to chair heaven. The neighbors trees were shredded onto the lawn and into the pool. Jimmy is cleaning up the yard today. Stay tuned for video!

Jimmy and Mel on vacation

We finally got to escape the heat and take a vacation! We drove to Palm Springs to break up the driving and spent the night there, got up then headed to Palmdale, CA to see my Dad and Hanh. We went to the Peach Orchard and picked more fruit than I thought possible. We had a nice visit with Dad and Hanh and even got to play a 3 hour game of Mexican poker.

The next day we set out for San Diego. The traffic gods were on our side and we got there before noon. Just in time for Jimmy to hop on a boat and go sport fishing! He was in hog heaven and so was I. I got to lay by the pool and read a magazine (something I never get to do on vacation).

We also had a beach day. We packed a picnic, our beach chairs, blanket, umbrella and got ourselves a good spot on Mission Beach.

Me lounging at the pool

The View from our room

We also got to spend a couple of nights in Huntington Beach. I reminded Jimmy it was basically the exact same trip we took when we got engaged, minus the Palm Springs and Palmdale stops. We got to hang with our good friends Tamara and Pierre and thier little munchkin Sebastian. Looking forward to taking more vacations!

San Diego Swap meet sights

Here's a video I took of a couple of guys and thier homemade instruments. Not sure if you can tell but the guitar, drums and amp are all made out of suit cases. Pretty unique