Must see

37.5  years

That's how long I have lived in the wonderful state of Arizona. I love the desert, the orange trees, the sunsets, the weather, touristy Wild West stuff, and being so close to family. I was getting tired of it all and in a rut until we planned on moving to Minnesota last month. Then my I Love AZ campaign  kicked into high gear and I was sad to leave everything I had taken for granted!

After we decided to stay in Arizona for a bit longer, I have definitely enjoyed all that desert living has to offer. One of my regrets was not exploring Arizona to its fullest. Even being a native, there were still places I hadn't been, yet we always said "Oh, we'll go there someday". That someday is now and we are trying to check off all the "must sees". Our first "must see" was the Bisbee mine tours. Chet and I had been to Bisbee, AZ with Suzanne and Pat when they lived in Sierra Vista (oh to be that close again!) but never with the kids.

First stop -the supposed haunted Bisbee Hotel. 

*little tidbit about Julia- she has some odd/not so odd fears. She is very fearful of natural disasters and wants to know about each location's potential for disaster like "Does Minnesota have tornadoes?". Somehow Julia knows about the Chilean miner accident from a few years ago (from where, who knows??) and was apprehensive to go on a mine tour even though we explained the safety of our tour. 

Julia is also somewhat afraid of haunted hotels- well, what kid isn't? Julia made sure she walked in the middle of our group, peered around every corner, jumped anytime a hotel guest or worker exited their room and definitely didn't enjoy the fun fact that one of the resident ghosts was named Julia Lowell. 

*Julia clung onto Chet the entire time.

 

 Putting on their best scared faces for the camera!

 

Off to conquer Julia's fear of mines. :-)

At the entrance of the mine- they are very serious about safety!

 

This is the mine train that took us 1500 feet into the mine. 

 The narrow shaft that we rode most of the way.

 Ending our trip with an ice cream stop in downtown Bisbee!

 LOVE old towns that look straight out of a history book!

 Bisbee is only 10 miles from the Mexico border- since the kids have not been to Mexico, we decided to take advantage of the proximity and show them Naco, Mexico from the fence that marks the border in this border town. It delayed our long 3.5 hr drive home but it was one of those "why not?" moments that are fun to enjoy!

Iphone photo dump

 All bundled up to drive around and look at Christmas lights! Yes, they are over bundled for a car ride in Arizona but it added to the fun!

Chet and I putting the mustache gift to good use!

Julia and her BFF Ashlynn

Camille making snow angels at my parent's house in Prescott Valley

Riding bikes the day after Christmas!

Making banana bread for daddy.

 

Amazed at Bella's (on left) flexibility- and the appearance that she is almost bored in that cringe worthy position!  :)

Both girls were awarded at their school assembly for straight A's.

first day of gymnastics for this little tumbler!

at the Chandler skate park with the cousins

Half of my pictures on my cell phone are taken by Camille in the back seat- most of them were of her shoe or the window.

Julia who took 2nd place in her school spelling bee!

Wearing their new snow/rain boots for a rare cold, rainy day in AZ!

no words for this picture of Chet and his infamous footy pjs...

Auld syne lang

By the end of the holiday week we needed to get out the house for a little fun with the Giannotti clan- Angie (Chet's sister), Joe and the cousins.

We all needed a little release with some help from 'Bartender Joe'!

 

 The cousins- Julia, Keeley, Camille, Isaac, Brennan and Bella!

  

We crashed at their house which was fun for all!

Christmas 2012

Back on the blogging bandwagon! 2013 has been rough for us (with Chet's mom being sick, postponed move, etc) so blogging about little happy moments was a struggle and felt like a betrayal. However, I was recently reminded that we can suffer and experience heartbreak while still finding joy in the good. So back to blogging about it all- good and bad....

Christmas was a little "off" this year since it was the week of realization of all the hard moments ahead. Luckily, with children, all the magic of Christmas still surrounds us and makes the "happy" come back.

 THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE THIS CHRISTMAS

How much longer can I expect these 3 to be happy about new, matching pjs on Christmas Eve?? 

 

Trying on all the snow gear that Santa brought!

 

 Santa brought this one an Ipod touch- she has wanted one all year! 

The joy from this cute 3 year old as she squealed at the little stocking stuffers. See her untouched pile of gifts in the background? For some reason, her stocking was the first thing she ran to- weird!

 

Julia loved all her girlie gifts- her makeup set (which she doesn't wear but is a very talented makeup artist at age 10!), blow dryer and toiletries! 

 Chet faking a smile while it's still dark outside!

2 funny 'Bella' memories:

Bella bought each one of us a gift at the school student store. These felt mustaches must have had "daddy" written all over them!

 

I got these beautiful earrings from Bella- after a while Julia realized they looked a lot like the pair she had given me the year before. Bella admitted that she went through my jewelry box, wrapped them up for  her gift this year. What's funny is that I don't think Bella was trying to be sneaky- just didn't think it through!