02.19.2012: Snowball Fight!!!

Whooohoooo!  They are here!!  Time for a snowball fight!  The rest of the crew finaaaalllly showed up!  Seemed like it took them forever to get here!  It was just getting dark when they arrived, so the kids immediately hit the deck (literally) to get their little snowball fight on.  Mom stayed inside with Avery, and the rest of the group came in & out to check on the kids.  They were just fine throwing snow at each other, and the adults jumped in a few times too.  Every once in a while someone would get hit in the face, or the ear, or down the pants....and would have to take a moment to regroup...but for the most part, they were relentless!!  It was great!!

Eventually it was dark-dark and we had to drag the kids in the house.  Only then did they realize they were cold and wet....oh ya, and hungry!!! 

02.19.2012: Snow Weekend in Flagstaff!!

Waiting for everyone to arrive!!!!
We are having a snow weekend in Flagstaff for President's weekend.  Drake has a track meet at NAU here on Sunday, and Mom & Dad rented a cabin for the weekend.....so we all headed up for some snow & cabin fun!  Vince, Drake and I headed up earlier on Sat and waited for the troops to show up.  Andrew had a flag football game in the afternoon so everyone headed up after his game.  The cabin Mom & Dad got is SUPER cute!!!  It is soooo nice, great location, great decks, and plenty of sleeping room!!  We explored the area a bit...took some pics....and Vince and Drake had a mini-snowball fight!  It was a gorgeous afternoon!!!  So excited for the rest of the crew to show up!!

02.12.2012: ER Visit & Scene of the Crime

So last night, when we got home from our outting to dinner and the Mission, there was a little "accident"!  When we were all getting out of the truck, Lois tripped over the curb/cement from where the driveway starts, and fell.  She had stuff in both hands and couldn't react fast enough to drop everything and brace her fall, so she made full impact with her nose and the cement.  There was blood EVERYWHERE.  At first it seemed like she would be ok, but the more she got cleaned up by Mom, the more it looked like she would need some stitches....and also make sure there was no other issues like internal bleeding, broken nose, concusion, etc.  So off we went to the ER.  Mom, Ray, Lois and I headed to Kaiser.  Luckily Mom knows people :)  We got in right away.  Ray and I waited in the waiting room, and all he wanted to do was to call everyone he knew to tell them.....and even asked me to post it on facebook!!  Haha!  He is crazy!  He knew Lois didn't want anyone to know...and he couldn't wait to tell everyone!  I didn't let him, and definitely didn't put it on Facebook!  So, the doc checked her out and she ended up with about 5 stitches in the bridge of her nose.  She was so black & blue, and swollen....it didn't look good at all.  Looks like there would be permanent scarring.  Anyways, we spent a few hours at the ER that night...not a great way to end a great day!

That night Lois didn't want ANY evidence of anything!  However, the next morning, she was still pretty black & blue & swollen...but she wanted pics! :)  So, you know she was feeling a little better!  So we took some "crime scene" pics for posterity.  (And also she wanted pics for her lawyer in case she decided to sue! Haha....or so she threatened!!)

After we documented the event, Vince and I packed up the car and the 4 of us headed back to AZ.  It was a really great weekend out in CA, with a really bad ending!!!

02.11.2012: Dinner at Spaghetti Factory & Mission Inn

After Dad got home and we all got to rest for a bit, we got ready to head out to dinner at the Spaghetto Factory in Old Town Riverside.  While we were getting ready, we heard on the news that Whitney Houston had died.  Wierd how that was a significant moment that I remember from that night...all dressed & ready to go and all of us standing in the living room watching the news of her death.

Anyways, we headed out to dinner!  It was a surprisingly very good dinner!  I hadn't been there in ages....especially to the Riverside one....and it isn't somewhere that I even think of going often, but the food was really good.  The atmosphere there is always interesting with all the railcars in the restaurant, since they are usually all built inside old train stations.  And Ray & Lois had never been so it was neat for them too.

After dinner, we drove over to the Mission Inn and walked around.  They had never been there either...and Vince had only been once before but we hadn't walked around anywhere.  So we took the opportunity to walk around all over the Mission and take in all the beautiful views and architecture.  Mom and Dad even showed us where they took prom pics (or maybe it was homecoming??)  Shelly and Tina also both got married in the chapel there.  It was very cool spending some time walking around there and it was a perfectly gorgeous evening!!  If we weren't so full and tired, we would have crashed the wedding reception going on there and made some new friends :)  But we didn't, and headed home!

02.11.2012: BBQ at Gramma & Papa's

On Sat, we had a little BBQ at Gramma & Papa's house.  Papa LOVES Vince's ribs....so it has become a little tradition that we have BBQ's at their house and Vince makes his ribs, and everyone brings something.  We have done this a few times now, and everyone seems to really enjoy it.  We call it the traveling party.  We literally drive up, unload all our gear, tables, chairs, BBQ, food, ice chest, etc......we hang out, eat, enjoy each other....then pack it all up, trash & all....and drive outta there!  It is perfect for Gramma & Papa because they get to enjoy a party at their house without having to worry about doing anything, or going anywhere!  And when they get tired, they kick us and all our stuff out!

Anyways, these little pop-up-parties are a lot of fun and we do them well (just ask me!).  So Vince spent all morning prepping his ribs at home...then finish them off on the grill there.  Shelly & Jimmy came...Chad, Christina & Layla came...Shelly brought Tucker with them.  We brought Ray & Lois, Mom, Vince and I.  Dad had to work all morning, so he missed the party.  He has had some very long days, as he is working on a big project at work so is super tired and working 24/7!  No fun :(

So after we ate, Papa mentioned that he had a hole in his chimney on the patio.  So, he had Chad go up there to fix it.  So Chad was on the patio roof (which didn't seem very sturdy...but glad Papa wasn't trying to get up there)...Jimmy on the ladder supervising....and Papa and Ray supervising from the lawn.  Seemed like everyone had some input on what should be done...and seemed like Chad had it pretty under control! Haha!  I was just glad that Papa wasn't trying to get up there to fix it himself :)

We took some pics, and the brothers got to catch up some more and talk while we packed up our traveling party....then we got kicked out so Papa could rest!  What a great day and a great little party!!  After we made it home, Vince stayed at the house waiting for Dad to get home and Mom, Ray, Lois and I went over to Shelly's house for a little bit.  I hadn't been there in forever so it was neat seeing all the work they had done to it.  They boys all built a really nice pond in the back with a big deck....super nice!  And Jimmy made a very cool huge wooden bar down in their basement with a wine tap, that I absolutely LOVED!  Looked like a ton of work though!  We hung out there for a little bit, but we were all ready for a short nap so we headed home :)

02.10.2012: Ray & Lois Visit Riverside

This was the weekend for our annual trip where Vince and I drive Ray & Lois out to Riverside from AZ so they can visit with the CA folk.  We actually drove out Thurs afternoon and spent the weekend there.  Ray sat in the front with Vince and told him ALL his fishing and hunting stories.  Lois sat in the back with me and caught me up on all the family gossip.  As usual it was a nice drive out getting to catch up with them and hear stories of Ray & Papa growing up together.  These are trips I will treasure and remember forever....and know they mean soooo much to Papa and Ray to be able to spend some time together.  OH - and God bless Vince for entertaining my family all weekend! :)

Friday night we had a little pool competition.  Who knew Ray was a pool shark!!  Back in the day, Papa was a pretty intense and competitive pool player too.  He used to even carry his own stick in his car truck....just in case!  Many a day we had some great pool games at our house....and never knew Ray was a shark too!  We had some good laughs that night with all the competitve and trash talking going on between everyone (esp Mom!)!  :)

02.04.2012: Drake's Second Track Meet

Today was Drake's second track meet.  This was also a developmental meet at the same high school in Mesa.  Mom and Dad were in town so they could come to Drake's meet as well as Andrew's football game.  So they came to the meet for a while, and got to see Drake race in his 55m race...then they left to go to Andrew's flag football game.  Talk about fitting it all in!!!  :)

Drake competed in the same 3 events...the 55m (instead of the 100m), the 200m, and the long jump.  In the long jump, he went to the finals, and placed 5th overall, which is not bad for only his second time jumping ever!  (They hadn't practiced it at all during practice...so it was really good!)  In the 55m, he placed 3rd in his heat...which was the fastest heat of the competition.  In the 200m, he came in 2nd in his heat, with his best eprsonal time so far.