An old friend..

When I was still a young teenager we met the Drayton's. A family in Sedona Arizona. With Rachel, Chrissie, Tasha and myself we were always up to no good : ) But we always had fun! And we remain friends even now. Tasha has long been gone away from Arizona same as I have but a couple weekends ago she came out to visit her parents and all of us here. So we went...Yet Again...to Sedona. Not like it's something I mind doing, I wish we lived there! We had a long night catching up and making margaritas. We had a great time. then Sunday Tasha's brother-in-law (also visiting from Michigan) gave the talk, and WOW!! It was one of the most captivating talks I've heard in a log time. Such a very good speaker! Afterwards we all jumped into our hiking clothes and set off to find what was called the "Hidden caves". We traversed rocky terrain and boulders and crossed a creek on a wobbly tree log and not much to anyone's surprise, Tasha's mom Karen fell right in. What made it funny is that everyone had already crossed and immediately got the camera's out because they NEW she wasn't going to make it out of this dry! Once we got to the caves, which were between 30 and 50 feet in the air, we started our climb into the caves. They were a window to some of the most beautiful view's I've seen in Sedona. Truly breathtaking, and I don't say that only because I am mortified of heights and had trouble standing near the edge! But really...What a sight! I wish Tasha could come more often but we didn't waste the time we had!

A Gourmet Adventure! mmmm.....

Jeff and I headed down to the city to visit Chrissie, Amiri and Tee. They had some work for Jeff to do so we figured while we were there we would go to some of their favorite places to eat. My sister has good taste, she is a chef and I've never eaten anything that she suggested without loving it! So their gift for our anniversary was to take us to a hot spot in downtown Phoenix called "Cibo" (pronounced "chee-bow") and it was nothing short of FANTASTIC!!! Downtown has converted some of their charming little houses into restaurants or bars, this makes them a little hard to find but its an eating experience like no other. We sat out on the patio where there were lights strewn around trees, water fountains and candle lit tables. We shared an appetizer consisting of kalamata olives, mozzarella, large basil leaves, prosciutto, roasted peppers, tomatoes, marinated cucumber and focaccia bread to load your topping onto. Then for dinner we enjoyed an amazing prosciutto, mozzarella and basil pizza with a bottle of Syrah........Oh I'm not done yet!!!! Then it was time for dessert! We had chocolate filled crapes with vanilla ice cream and a sauce drizzled over the top...I don't know what the sauce was but it was so good!

Then we headed off to yet another cafe!! Like we didn't eat enough already we stopped at a little cafe that sold some awesome Gelato. The owner was a odd little fellow but nice, it was a very friendly place and the gelato was amazing, I had the tiramisu gelato, Chrissie had the Blood orange sorbet which was also REALLY good!!

OK...Next stop....Different night!!! I'm not that bad!! : ) Chrissie and Amiri took us to this Vietnamese restaurant they love "Da Vang". It has been awarded one of the Best restaurants in Phoenix and the place was packed with Vietnamese people so you know it had to be to their standards. It was both interesting and delicious! From build it yourself wraps with rice paper wrapping, pork, sprouts, peppers and mint with a dipping sauce to a seafood soup that had shrimp, squid, pork, fish meatballs and a special Vietnamese clear noodle it was an adventure to my pallet, I have to admit though that the fish meatball scared me a little...but I now can say I tried it!

Our Last stop...."Pane Bianco" A little Bistro we went to after service. I wish I could go there every day! Pronounce (pan-a bee-on-co) It is a sister restaurant to the World renowned "Pizzeria Bianco" where if your looking to make a reservation don't expect to get anything for at least a month. Even Jerry Seinfeld has commented on how great this pizzeria is. So...since we didn't have a month we settled to have a small taste of what we could expect by eating at Pane Bianco and It was fantastic! Wood-fired focaccia crust topped with mozzarella, basil and tomatoes, it was mouth watering and we washed it down with a vintage labeled Ginger Ale........I wish I had a bigger stomach! But if I'm not careful I just might get my wish! :) I can definitely say that we explored a wide variety of flavor and with great company and atmosphere its something I wish we could do EVERY weekend! So till next time I'll be exercising,dieting and saving money for our next binge!

SURPRISE!!!!!!!

So Saturday after service Jeff and I got home, I'm still all dressed up...I had to use the ladies room so I figured I didn't need to pull my nylons all the way up since I was just going to go to my room and take them off again.....Why am I telling you all this you ask?? Well Much to my surprise when we opened our bedroom door Jeff's family was hiding in there!!!! They made a surprise visit and my first thought was.."WOW, I have my pantyhose hanging half way down my legs!" But then that feeling was overwhelmed with feelings of joy as little Maddy ran to give me a hug. It had been way to long since one of those! It was soooo nice of the family to surprise us like that!

We had 2 days with them so we did as much as we could. This was my brother-in-law Patrick's first trip to Arizona so I wanted it to be a good first impression. We went to see the "little painted desert", explored a little of the reservation to show him our service territory and went out to Clear Creek where I spent my summers as a kid. We all had a fun time. It was great to have such an unexpected fun weekend!

Before the family had to leave we headed to Flagstaff and went to Cracker Barrel for brunch and OH MY!!!! I LOVE the breakfast there! Usually I would just order lunch seeing as it was around 11:00 but their breakfast is way to good to pass up. After breakfast we looked around the gift shop and Maddy found the perfect lolly pop. She was in search of one piece of candy that Judie said she could have so when I showed her the White flower lolly pop with a yellow center, that was it!!! Who would pass it up?! Its the size of 3 candies!!!

(Maddy playing "Peek-a-boo")

It finally came time to part ways..That's always a hard thing to do but it made it a little easier being the fact we weren't expecting them so even though they had to leave it was an unanticipated treat so we were just grateful that we got to see them, even just for a little bit. What a great weekend!!!

Getaway to Sedona

The Family got together over the weekend in Sedona Arizona. It was a nice little getaway. Not like Jeff and I needed a vacation seeing as we were not working and felt like we were already on vacation.... But we took advantage of the opportunity and packed our bags. Chrissie, Amiri and "T" met up with us the next day. It was such a nice weekend! the weather was beautiful and there was everything you desired just in walking distance.

We went walking through the courtyards and looked through the shops which ranged from cafe's, brewery's, Art exhibits, bead shops, candy stores and everything else you could imagine. its such a relaxing place just to walk through and see the structure of some of the buildings that graced the shopping squares, there are a number of hidden courtyards and trees that grow as if they are holding some of the buildings erect.

and the view was amazing!! Seeing the Red Rocks in the not so distant landscape. The old bell tower...It was like I was traveling and site seeing much farther away than I actually was, like I was in a Mexican village but I didn't have the challenge of understanding another language, which is fine with me seeing as I am not bi-lingual.

and no...there were no animals harmed in the photographing for this blog.....

The rest of the trip consisted of playing cards, watching movies, enjoying the outside with the occasional game of putt-putt, life size chess, horse shoes, laying by the pool, or absolutely nothing at all! Relaxing right!?

Needles to say, we had fun and I can't wait
to go again!

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday comes around fast and leaves even faster!! Every summer it seems the countdown begins.."Who's house will it be at?", "Who are you rooting for?", "What should the cake look like?"
Super Bowl has been a long lived and long Loved tradition in the Winslow area. An event with all the trimmings...There would be cookies the shape of footballs, guacamole dip made out to look like a football field with lines of sour cream posing as yard lines, going to the lengths of painting a 15x20 football field on the living room floor (they were replacing the carpet...its still there under the new carpet.) Even the older ladies are hip to the party decor bringing whatever they thought would suit a decent football party. I've been away for a long time so I have missed the dedicated spirit of Super Bowl. We've done well in California putting on some pretty good parties there but none are dearer to my heart then the parties I grew up with. I've yet only been able to tell the stories to Jeff about how great they were until now! He got to experience his very first Winslow Arizona Super Bowl!!! There were LOTS of friendly faces and GREAT food!



It was just as good as I had remembered them...However we were at a loss without Al. He was a great asset to the Winslow congregation as a friend and sports fan who sadly passed away last fall from a heart attack. He was missed and everyone there was thinking of him and how it was a little too quiet without him there..If you knew him you would know what I mean. That man could shake buildings with his laugh!! : ) But we partied like he would have wanted us too! : )

we watched 3D commercials..

and ate an AWESOME cake!!
I made it : )
Well....It has come and gone but they are always fun and this year was no exception. We had a great time and I do believe Jeff did as well.

Snowman!!

Well I was hoping that it would snow when we got here. I didn't think it would happen so soon though. Saturday night we went to Eric and Cicily Gutierrez's house for dinner. We had a very nice evening. When we left there was no sign that later that night we would get a few inches of snow but much to our delight I woke up to Jeff flinging the curtains open in excitement because all that you could see outside was covered in white. They day was still pretty gloomy because there was still a little bit more snow to come. It was beautiful........ of course I don't know if SO beautiful I wanted to be woken up with white glaring light shining at me jolting me out of a very nice sleep......Well later that day the sun came out enough to start melting the snow making it the perfect consistency for snowman making, before it was a little to dry and powdery.

And here is the fruit of our labor!!

Cute is he not?! Well he was, but that was short lived because much to his surprised Jeff thought it a great idea to destroy him all for the sake of a funny video. Yes it was funny but please.....
a few silent moments for the late snowman..............You will be missed.......
But somehow we will get on without you..............
somehow....

The Final Show

One of the hardest things for Jeff to say goodbye to was his band! Jeff LOVES playing music. He plays the drums, VERY well I might add. Jeff has been playing with Jared and Jason for years and Ryan came along and finished the group nicely. They have recorded a CD and were just about to go into the studio again when Jeff broke the news about us moving. Needless to say they were sad about it. But I'm excited to see what changes will come of the band after a new drummer is introduced. I hope the best for them and hope they have just as much fun as they did with Jeff. The last show was played at a families house. They were nice enough to allow all of us to invade there beautiful home. There were a few different bands that played before the boys, all of which played a piece of their music in honor of "Into The Ambiance". It was a nice tribute to the boys and made a little emotional knowing this was their "Goodbye" Show. There were a TON of people there!! Everywhere you turned (and you didn't have to turn far) there was another body, it was almost to the point of claustrophobia!! But it was great to see that many people there to show support to ALL of the bands. Its was a great show, I will miss seeing Jeff play! I was always so proud to see him up there. It wont be the same.....