Shootaround with the Phoenix Suns

In August, the Phoenix Suns hosted a "shootaround" event.  You could shoot hoops on the actual game court (it was actually the Mercury court set up that night) or the practice court.  They also had areas for younger, smaller, players to shoot as well as inflatables.  Ryan brought his friend Shawn for the fun.  They had a great time shooting and playing around.

Walkway leading to US Airways Center

The boys posing with the large basketball

Phoenix Suns Operation Orange

Ryan & Shawn on the big court
waiting to shoot

Ryan taking his shot

Having fun with the inflatable hoop

Shooting on the lower hoop

Ryan & Shawn with the Gorilla

I got to pose with the Gorilla too

With Dan Majerle (I didn't realize he was that much
taller than me!)

Going to play in the Gorilla Greenhouse

Ryan's ready for that rebound

And to finish off the evening - Ted's Hot Dogs!

Here's a Trip Down Memory Lane

Ryan decided he wants to collect soda bottles.  I have a rather large Coke collection - been collecting since my teens.  I love the look of Coke bottles and all that old diner style stuff.  Ryan wants to collect a variety of soda bottles - and T-shirts too apparently since he has several different T-shirts - Coke, Sprite, orange Crush, Mountain Dew, and more.

The one bottle he really wants, and we have had a super hard time finding, is a Mountain Dew bottle.  I mentioned this to a friend of mine and she pointed me in the direction of a store on the other side of town.  We decided to make a day of it (way back in July) and go to lunch at a Mexican restaurant about halfway there.  And of course, we invited my parents and brother to join us in our adventure.

Lunch was great, but Ryan was anxious to check out this store.  So off we went.  It was a pretty neat place full of all kinds of candy and soda that you can't find anymore.  When, low and behold what did they have but . . . The Pop Shoppe sodas.

Total walk down memory lane.  When we lived in Virginia that was the name of a store - The Pop Shoppe.  You would take these soda crates and fill them up with whatever soda you wanted.  You didn't buy them in packs.  And they had the most fun - and delicious - flavors.  Such as pineapple, black cherry, cream soda, grape, I think there was even strawberry.  Stuff you couldn't get anywhere else.  We all had our favorites and you always knew which ones they were because they were the ones left until the end.  Once you drank the sodas, you put the empty bottle back in the crate and then when you went back for more, you took the empty bottles back to them and got a refund towards your new purchase.  It was fun.  And us kids always looked forward to going so that we could help pick out our favorite flavors.  

To make the day even funnier, while I was standing there reminiscing with my brother Kelly about going to the shop, his cell phone rang.  It was another brother, Warren - who had just moved out of state - calling.  When Kelly told him where we were and that we found The Pop Shoppe sodas, Warren started asking if he remembered that soda place we used to go to and picked out the flavors that we wanted.  Kelly was like, yeah it was called The Pop Shoppe. 

Here I am with my parents holding one of the beloved
The Pop Shoppe sodas.  Yum!



September 2010 Calendar Page

September 2010

Drive-Ins in July

So, I'm a little bit embarrassed.  I thought I was all caught up on pictures - or at least mostly caught up.  I went through my folder marked "To Process" this morning.  That is the folder that I put all photos in when I download them from my cameras.  They don't go anywhere else until I have, well, processed them.  Well, right there in that folder were some pictures from July.  Yikes.  So, let me spend the next little bit getting caught up.

In July, my brother - Roger - and his family came out for a few days visit.  They live the farthest away and so we don't get to see them as often.  The last visit they made was two years ago.  They are also the only family that has a boy cousin Ryan's age.  They are two months apart.  It was fun to see how much they have both grown over the years.

So, let me see if I can remember everything that took place in the few days they were here:  when they arrived we met at Culver's for lunch and chatted for hours, Ryan had two teeth pulled (after losing two on his own just days before his appointment, he still has a pretty holey mouth), saw Cars 2 at the drive-in, went to Big Surf, and one of Roger's boys - Austin - got sick with strep throat (as far as I know nobody else did).  I'm sure I'm missing some of the activities, it was a pretty busy couple of days.

Some of the family at the drive-ins.  We love going - even if it was
pretty hot that night.  We hit QT before going to bring some
drinks and brought food to snack on as well.  It was the
first time my mom had gone to the drive-ins for a long time
and she really enjoyed it.  I keep checking the schedule so
we can go again - they need to put on some good movies!

Ryan & Garrett in the back of our car.  They've got blankets
spread out to lie down on, pillows and of course their iPods
touches to play games on before the movie.

Happy 4th of July 2011

This year, our 4th was a little stranger than normal.  We celebrated with my entire family earlier than usual - one of my brothers and his family (at least his kids that are still living at home) have moved out of state.  And all their packing and such was taking place right around the 4th.  So, we had one last get together at their house early, complete with lots of food and even some fireworks at the end.

And then on the actual day, we had my parents and one brother over for a very small cookout.  Instead of going to see fireworks (our fireworks family - The Halls - moved out of state last year) we stayed home and enjoyed a show put on by Ryan and Doug.  Our state legalized fireworks to be shot at home just this past year, so that is what we did.  And I of course had a great time taking photos of the fireworks.  I love night shooting - and this one was a challenge since I've never really gotten good firework shots.

One of the desserts I made and took over for
the last big family gathering.  The other one
was homemade mint chip ice cream - that
picture did not come out very well.

One of many fireworks Ryan had fun
shooting off for us.

Doug & Ryan with sparklers. 

Just Had To Celebrate This One!

When I heard it was international donut day (back in June), I knew that we just had to celebrate!  After our summer Friday activities - summer movies, a science class, and on this particular day lunch with my parents and brother - we headed over to our nearest Krispy Kreme for their Donut Day specials.  We got a dozen donuts and ate one in the store before bringing the rest home.  Such yummy goodness!

Ryan by the Krispy Kreme trailer

July Calendar Page

July 2010 - Fireworks with Ben, Brittany, Baylee and Payton

Ryan's Birthday Part 2 - The Food

To continue Ryan's birthday, we did the Joe tour, sort of . . . we did Liberty for breakfast and then Joe's Farmgrill for dinner.  Ryan opted to have breakfast at home.  So, we went off to lunch and enjoyed ourselves at one of our most favorite places - Liberty Market.

Ryan waiting for lunch at Liberty - playing on
his new iPod Touch

Ryan & Doug

Mmmmm Pizza!

Doug & I split wonderful salad. I wish I could remember
the name something with Thai and chicken.  It was yummy!

They were offering a Tagalong cupcakes - based on the girl
scout cookies.  It really did taste just like the cookie too.

On the way home, Ryan decided he was ready to cut
his hair.

Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Kelly joined us for dinner
at Joe's Farmgrill.

Ryan enjoying his dark chocolate shake.

It was a fun Reunion

Over the past couple of years, we have had a great time doing fun activities with my niece and her family.  We have enjoyed getting to know them better.  That is, until they moved out of state.  I'm still in denial about the whole thing.

Anyway, they came back for a few days to visit and finish packing up.  And while they were here, we went to dinner at one of our favorite places to go with them.  As a matter of fact, the last time we were there was when we all went together.  We headed over to Ra for some yummy sushi and then to Ocean Blue for our desert.  It was great to see them again!  Thanks for sharing your evening with us.  We look forward to the next get together.  (Because I'm still living in denial about the whole moving thing . . . )

I was too busy enjoying myself that I totally forgot to even get my camera out until we were enjoying our frozen yogurt.  So, sorry but I only have two pics to share.

I can't get over how big Payton has gotten.
Isn't he such a cutie?

The buds - Baylee and Ryan.  It's always fun to hear them
laughing when they are together.

Hello February

February 2011 Calendar Page

Last year in February we went to the local Renaissance Festival with my niece and her family.  We always have such a great time with them.  It's been so fun getting to know them better and watch our kids have fun.   In the fall, they moved back to California, and it was sad for us to see them go.  But, we know that there will be plenty of visits.  Maybe we can talk them into coming out for the festival again this year?  If not, we are definitely on for the pumpkin festival again!!!

Ryan & Doug had fun throwing knives at targets.  We enjoyed several of the shows they put on there - including jousting and of course The Ded Bob Show.  Baylee, Ben & Ryan tried on several of them helmets, swords and shields as well.  I didn't take any pictures of the food this time - which is weird I always seem to get lots of food shots, but rest assured, we did enjoy the food as well!

Happy Birthday To Me - A "Joe" Tour

This year for my birthday we did the tour of the Joe's restaurants.  I decided that is how I wanted to spend my day.  Doug & I both took off work and had a great day going to a different place for each meal.  Why did we do this you ask, because on your birthday (and I had to show my ID) at all 3 places we got a discount on each meal.  And since Doug & I split meals it made it an even better deal!

We started our morning at Liberty Market for breakfast.  We
went before school so that Ryan was able to come along also.

Ryan waiting for his breakfast.

Ryan's breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon.

Doug & I split a veggie scramble, potatoes dish and a biscuit.

For lunch we went to Joe's BBQ.

The tractor inside the restaurant.

Doug & I split a chopped chicken salad and a baked
potato.  Their salad dressing is so yummy.

Doug & I at Joe's Farmgrill.

Doug & I split the portabello mushroom sandwich and
sweet potato fries.  Yum!

It was a good day.  I meant to get some pics taken of my gifts, and haven't had a chance yet.  So hopefully, that will come in a bit.  Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes I had that day.  It was a fun day.

Third Times the Charm!

On our third attempt, we finally made it to the zoo lights.  We got rained out the first two tries. 

On the Wednesday before Christmas, we went to dinner with our friends - Kim, Matt and Shawn.  We took them to Pete's since they had never been.  And literally on the drive over it started raining on us.  While we sat outside and ate, we watched the rain stop and start and stop and start and decided it would be a mess at the zoo so decided no for that night.

Then, we made plans to go the next Wednesday.  Well wouldn't you know it, it rained that day too!  So, instead we wound up at their house because they were having router trouble.  Doug got them up and running.

And then finally on January 7th, we made it to see the Zoo Lights.  They were beautiful as usual.  The weather was great and it wasn't that crowded so maybe it was a good thing we got rained out two times before.

One of the new displays this year - a dragon!  It was
animated showing it's belly getting larger as it got ready
to blow smoke.

Can you figure this one out?

Here is what the image really looks like.

They were handing out these glasses at the door
and when you looked through them this is how
the light displays looked.  The blue is one tree.
They were really fun to look at, but hard to walk
around in.

The Carousel

Another newer display - a giant ball floating over the lake.  It
changed colors.

The highlight of going to Zoo Lights for Ryan is getting to pet the
stingrays.  We always save it for last - not because we are mean
(although Ryan might tell you differently), but because you cannot
help but get pretty wet when petting them.  And that is not fun
for the rest of the evening.

Ryan, Matt and Shawn sporting their super cool glasses.