03.22.2012: Guiness...Not the Beer...the World Records

This morning was extra special!  We had helped Christina arrange to fly in and surprise VJ & Sarah!!  Unfortunately VJ had to go to Lareto for the night for work, so wasn't even going to be home!  Argh!  Oh well....  Well, we had planned to meet Sarah at a breakfast place in the morning to treat her to breakfast.  Then, we were having Christina show up there after we were all seated.  It worked out perfectly!!  Christina even came over and asked Sarah if she wanted anything to drink (like a waitress) and Sarah was like WHAT?  Someone already came & took my order.  Then it registered that it was Christina! It was soooo funny!! It was awesome though.  So we all enjoyed breakfast together, then we parted ways.  The girls went shopping and day drinking...and we headed back down to the Riverwalk area to go the the Ripleys Believe It or Not Museum and the Guiness Book of World Records museum.

Both were very cool....and the Ripleys musuem was even kind of a horror house! Drake didn't enjoy that part too much & was ready to be done.  Just your standard haunted house & scary people dressed up in bloody gear! 

03.21.2012: The Alamo

After leaving Sarah & the baby so they could rest, Vince Drake and I headed down to the Riverwalk area to go to the Alamo.  Drake had never been to any of the touristy things in San Antonio before, so we though we would take this Spring Break week of his to also do some sight seeing, history stuff, and some fun touristy stuff.  So, where else do you start in San Antonio but the Riverwalk area.  First we stopped for some lunch and margaritas at a popular Mexican restaurant downtown.  Much needed nourishment!!  Then we headed down to the Riverwalk and Alamo.  We walked the river a bit, but it was getting late in the afternoon and we wanted to make sure that we had time to walk around the Alamo area too.  So, we went straight there.  It is always interesting to me to read about American history, as well as be able to actually see some of the sights and locations that these historic battles took place.  Someday when Drake studies this in school, he can say he has been there.  It was amazing to see depictions of how it was then, how it ended up, and how it is now.  Again, history amazes me!!  Wonderful afternoon!

Since it was getting late, we headed back to Charles' house, as I had some work to do (imagine that), and just needed to recoup from the long day.  Not to mention my allergies were trying to take me out...literally.  And we realized Drake is also allergic to Texas. Argh...oh well.  Definitely something we can handle for the occasional family visits though!  Just stock up on the Benadryl and Alavert on the way!  And don't go during "cedar season"!  Haha!  Thats the worst for me.

03.21.2012: Miss Paisley Claire

First thing we did when we got up in the morning was head right over to VJ & Sarah's house.  I couldn't wait to see little Paisley again!  I hung out with Sarah & her mom for the morning while Vince and Drake ran some errands.  We did a little photo session with Paisley....and why not since she was just sleeping anyways.  She let us pose her and move her around all over the place.  It was fun!

Some of my fav pics:

03.20.1012: San Antonio Here We Come

This week is Drake's spring break week so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to head to San Antonio for a few days to meet lil' miss Paisley.  She arrived into the work on March 2nd...a few days earlier than expected, and after a very unpleasant delivery for poor Sarah! 

Anyways, we flew into town on a Tues night. We were staying with Charles, so as not to disrupt the baby and the kids (Gabby & Darien were still in school this week), and they were having their big AIMS testing all week.  So we got into town late, but headed right over to meet Paisley...oh ya, and to visit with the rest of the Hearns! :)   We made it a short night since it was late and the kids had school and VJ had work the next am......and we had allllll week to catch up and visit!

02.25.2012: Fountain Hills "Great" Fair

On Saturday, we headed up to Fountain Hills to attend the Annual "Great" Fair. Thousands of vendors come out to sell stuff...crafts, art, food, furniture, anything and everything you could imagine.  It is HUGE.  It was a super hot day, so we were forced into the beer garden for some quenching.  While we were enjoying our Bud Light, Ray, Lois, Billy and Doreen walked by!!  Crazy who you meet out!  They were headed to find some mini-coffee cups that Lois was looking for. 

We finished off our beers, then headed home.

Vince & Drake were in love with the Hello Kitty Smart Car.  It was really cute!  Wouldn't be caught dead in it...but it was cute!  Also, Drake had never seen the WORLDS TALLEST FOUNTAIN.  Yes, that thing in the background of the last picture is actually in the Guiness Book of Records for the World's Tallest Fountain.  Everyone knows my story of this damn fountain, so I MUST take everyone there for the same wonderful experience.  It's my thing!  :)

02.24.2012: Lunch with the Riedmans

On Friday, Vince, Alisa, Avery and I had lunch with Ray, Lois and their son Billy and his wife Doreen.  Billy was here visiting his parents for the week from Montana.  I hadn't seen him for probably in at least 20 years, if not more.  They had been out in AZ since Monday, but today was the first day they had some free time!  They were definitely enjoying the warm weather and swimming in the middle of Feb!  Also sitting out on the patio of Macayos overlooking the lake.  They did not have the same weather back in Montana this time of year.  It was actually quite warm for us for Feb, but we were not complaining (yet).

It was great though hearing all their stories!  I love meeting relatives that I know but just haven't seen in a loooong time!  I wished Mom could have been there too, since she hasn't seen Billy in forever either.  And none of us had met his wife before, so that was nice to finally meet her!  And she was from CA, so we chatted a lot about how things have changed since she left (and how different Montana is from SoCal)   Next trip Mom will have to make sure she gets out here ....as they said they are coming back next year too!

Oh, and a Lois update....she looked amazing!  Even though it had only been a week or so, she looked pretty healed.  Although not healed enough for us to not get harrassed by Billy for beating up his mom :)

Alisa & Avery had to leave early to go pick up the other 2 kiddos so they missed out on the picture together.

02.20.2012: Track Time!!!!

On Sunday morning, Vince, Drake and I all got up super early to head over to the NAU Skydome for Drake's track meet.  This is his first "away" meet, and what a great weekend to have it!!  It was up in Flagstaff, and it was snowing! So cool to be at an indoor sporting event and see in storming outside.  However, Drake had to check in at 7am, which meant that we had to get up pre-dawn (ie...DARK), and get it together and get to the track.  And who knew it would end up being such a long day....

So, even though Drake had to be there at 7am, his first event wasn't until about 2pm.  He started off with the Shot Put.  This was his only field event and his first attempt at the shot put.  Vince gave him a few training sessions the weekend before, so he was ready, but had never done it in competition before.  He actually did GREAT and came in 5th place overall.  His throw even qualified for Nationals in Chicago.

His next 2 events were the 55m dash and the 2000m.  His 55m time was 8.94, his personal best.  And his 200m time was 32.09, another personal best (and turned out to be his best time of the whole season).  The 200m didn't run until about 7pm.  Yes, that would be 12 hours after we arrived at the meet.....making for a very very long day!!!!  However, it was the most exciting race ever!  Drake pushed so hard and won his heat in dramatic fashion!  He had a whole cheering squad at the finish line!  It was so amazing and I know having so many people there yelling for him really pushed him to do his best.  He REALLY wanted to win that one!!!!  It was amazing.

After that event, Mom, Dad, Kenny, Jordan, Vince and I all headed back to the cabin.  Brent & crew had left a little earlier to get down the hill before the dark.  It began really dumping snow on us in the afternoon, which made for an interesting drive back out to the cabin.  It was fun though....and we just hung out in the cabin the rest of the night eating pizza and drinking wine/beer...enjoying the cold & snow.  What a great and exhausting way to end the weekend!!!

02.19.2012: Brianna's Birthday Dinner

For Brianna's 6th birthday dinner we had tostadas...YUM!!!  Alisa made her famous shredded beef which is oh so good!  And we had all the fixings to go with it.  Brianna even got her birthday ice cream cake!  As you can see from the pictures, she was very humbly enjoying being sung to, and she blew out her candles in a very dainty way...unlike most kids who end up spitting all over it! Haha!  Not Nana!! 

After b-day cake, she got to open her presents....while watching Sons of Guns.  Luckily she sat right in front of the tv to open her presents, so all eyes were on her...errrr the TV...errr HER! Well, they were all pointed in the right direction anyways.

We ended the evening by playing a little family fun board game.   It was actually such a blast and the kiddos had a good time.  We laughed soooo hard!!!

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!!!