Family picnic ~ April 10, 2010

Our company had a family picnic which worked out great because we had our nephew Brycen and my Godson, Cody spend the weekend with us. The boys had a blast!

Cody, Me, & Brycen

Cody & Brycen

Cody flying down the inflatable slide - wee!

A little basketball action.

Dunking action

DBacks game ~ opening week 2010

A couple of pics from opening week.

April 7, 2010 ~ Dback vs Padres.

Our 1st year anniversary

I can't believe it's been a year since we got married in St. Thomas. Boy, do we miss being in a tropical climate enjoying some R&R. It's been a great year and looking forward to many, many more! Happy Anniversary Babe!!!!

New Moon fever...

We are super excited that in a few weeks we will be heading to West Des Moines, IA for Thanksgiving. We already have our tickets purchased for the midnight showing of New Moon (thanks Kate!). This past weekend we met Loren, a very dear family friend for lunch at Grand Lux at Fashion Square Mall. We had a nice visit with Loren and his sister. After lunch we walked over to Nordstrom's and saw these life size cardboard of Edward and Jacob. We couldn't believe all the merchandise that Nordie's had...shirts and jewelry with Team Edward and Team Jacob. Of course we couldn't pass up a few shots with the life size cardboards of Edward and Jacob.

Joe and Edward ~ 10/31/09 Nordies

Oh, who to chose?! I don't think you can go wrong with either one. ; )

And on this day 4 years ago....

Christina and Joe met on-line using a dating website. We instant messaged for a while and proceeded to talk on the phone until 5am the following morning. We had our first date that evening and needless to say it was an instant connection.

This is a picture of the white roses he brought me on our first date. So beautiful. I wish they could've lasted forever.

This was our first New Years together and was taken while we were having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

The proposal...October 14, 2007 at Cheesecake Factory.

Now four years later we are married and very happy. I'm a very lucky woman to have found such a wonderful man. I love you babe!

It's been a while....

It's the start of fall with Labor Day holiday behind us, the kiddies back to school and fall TV closing in on us however it is still 100 degrees here in AZ and still feels like summer. However I will take 101 over 115. It doesn't sound like much but trust me there is a difference.

We spent Labor Day weekend on the home front. We watched our nephew Brycen win his first Pop Warner game-- Way to go Nitros! Joe camped out on the couch to take in all that College football had to offer and was so happy to see Notre Dame win their game(this makes for a very happy hubby- yay for me). We ran some errands and took some naps (which were much needed). I watched the Rocker starring Rainn Wilson and Christina Appelgate. I must say I enjoyed watching this much more than I thought I would and found myself laughing out loud.

These long weekends are great because they give me a chance to catch up on some recorded shows like Project Runway, Inside the Actor's Studio, What's Brian Bointano Cooking?, and of course Mad Men.

How great was the opening scene on this weeks episode of "The Arrangements" showing little Sally Draper driving Grandpa Gene's Lincoln!

We scheduled a trip to West Des Moines to visit Joe's family over the Thanksgiving holiday. We got a smokin' deal on airfare. I'm just hoping for some pretty decent weather meaning no snow! This AZ native is a stranger to that kind of weather although we did have snow when I lived in Texas but that was 25 or so year ago. We are super excited for the trip and can't wait to eat at a few of our favortie places and hit the huge scrapbook store....tenderloin sammie and Archivers here we come!

Go Cards!

Ciao ~ Christina

Crown King

We took a little trip to Crown King, AZ on Saturday 4/11 to attend my brother Dan and Keri's wedding. It's quite a rough road up and is about 2 1/2 hours north of the Valley of the Sun. We got a big surprise when our final climb to Crown King brought snow falling on our SUV. It was pretty cold and we ended up having a mix of rain and snow falling down upon us. It sure made driving up and down the mountain challenging but was sure a beautiful site!

The cherry blossom tree covered in snow.

The beautiful scenery

Joe standing outside one of the cabins.

Proof that I was actually in the snow. My nephews got a kick out of throwing small snowballs at me. I would've gotten them back but they were in their wedding attire - lucky fellas!

Joe and I in front of the snow covered pine tree. It was so beautiful.

What's going on?

It's been a rough few weeks for us. We both battled sinus infections, and I found out I have tendonitis in my left foot which requires some physical therapy. This past week we also had some car repairs that couldn't be avoided. We had to buy a new radiator, new belts and new tires along with an alignment. When it rains it pours however we had great help with my SUV from Uncle Ruben who was able to replace the radiator and belts. My mom was great in getting us connected for a good rate on tires. Thanks to both of them!!!!

Today it was such a beautiful day with less wind than the past few days. We took a bike ride this afternoon and it was great to get out into the sunshine. Joe is still getting use to his bike and was able to make it a bit further than previous bike rides - yay! This is his sporty bike.

Here's my bike. I love it. It's a cruiser which is great starter bike as it has been many, many years since I've ridden or even owned a bike. Eventually I'll upgrade to sport bike but for now this is my new two wheeler.

Last Saturday we had a wedding reception with family and friends at Uncle Ruben's house. It was a lot of fun! Uncle Ruben and Kathy really made it a special day. We can't thank them enough.

Here's our very yummy cake. It was a strawberry mousse cake and was too pretty to even cut and eat. The cupcakes on the table were for the kiddies. They were very colorful and the way the kids devoured them they must have been super yummy as well.

Sunday Picnic Fun

My mom's company threw a family picnic. There was rock climbing, bungee jumping, food, games and prizes. We had so much fun and mom won a $100 in the raffle- score!

A "B" for Brycen.

Sliding fun

Brycen tackling the obsticle course



Sophia and I with our faces painted. She opted for a dalmation face and I got hearts and flowers on my cheek.

One of the many fun hat prizes

A pimp daddy hat

Brycen and I stopping the game play for a quick pose.

Crazy Grandma Debbie - Gotta love the hat!

My nephew and niece love their crazy Grandma Debbie!

The giant blow up hammer won from one of the games.

They loved the gumball machine prize.

The newlyweds

Joe had his duties down pat...those kids scored mucho prizes!

The purple pimp daddy hat that Brycen was going to give to Piper.

Sophia enjoying a blue snow cone.

"B" lovin' the cotton candy.

Joey with his snow cone- yum!

The picnic wouldn't be complete without a Bomb Popsicle.

Brycen getting preped for the wall climb.

He was so fast getting to the top and ringing the buzzer.

Bungee time! What a great way to work off all that sugar.

Brycen jumped a bit higher than Sophia but they both were too scared to attempt a flip. We had so much fun at the picnic. Thanks Mom for inviting us to share in this fun day!

It was such a beautiful day and Brycen still had some of that sugar rush happening so he and I went for bike ride and crossed over the "scary" bridge by the 51 freeway.