Christmas vacation...

John and I drove to EP at the beginning of Christmas break to see family. We weren't quite on the status of the movie "Four Christmases" but we were close with three.

We killed some time on the way with getting our picture taken on the road. Gotta love camera timers!


When we arrived in EP we were greeted by Jim, Michelle, Danielle (who was in for a few days), Ryan and his family. Ryan is getting married to Annie who has three very sweet children.



Here's John with the house cat Posha. His eyes were normal until he saw me.



We had a pre-Christmas visit on the east side which included Grandma and Granddad and then AJ and his familia.



Nat Nat (Natalie) is actually sitting still for her picture and she's looking at the camera!!!


Here's me with AJT IV (Joey). He's such a sweet baby!!!


John and Nicole never finished their game of Candyland. Too many distractions!


Christmas Eve was spent back on the west side with John's side of the familia. We went to church then ate some great eats and played cards.

John and Brad before the church service began.



Jim sang in the choir.





Our three Christmases begins...

We started our day at AJ and Adriana's house. The girls were very excited because Santa had been there.





Then for our second Christmas we got to hang with the grandparents.




For our third Christmas we were again on the west side with John's side. We had steak and lobster for Christmas dinner. I'm not one for seafood but I became a fan of lobster...delicious!




Our three Christmases were wonderful and we enjoyed every part! We will get another Christmas in January when John's mom and Greg come to Phoenix. We look forward to that! Next year...Christmas in Horseshoe Bay with my mom and Dick.

Holiday Hair

My hair...not me was getting the holiday blues. Talk about unmanageable! So yesterday I got a trim and a color. I'm happy with the new color scheme for my mane. Although, maybe I should have gone with the green streak my hair dresser suggested for extra holiday spirit...next time.

Phoenix Suns holiday kitty

Christmas time is here...happiness and cheer

Johnny went with me to our after hours school holiday party on Friday at a beautiful house in Gilbert. It belongs to our Language Arts specialist and her assistant principal husband. Both educators...they scored! It was such a fun time!

They had a raffle for gifts and John and I both won! Great night for the Maxfields!


My friend Joni had the genius idea of putting this picture of me holding my frame inside my new frame. It's already been done and it's in our living room. I should now have a picture taken of me holding my frame with me inside of it holding my frame and put it in another frame...oh boy.


John looks great in his Phoenix Suns Christmas hat with the price tag hanging on it. That's hot! It's now on our big wooden cat next to the fireplace. Picture of the kitty to follow in a later post.

John bustin a rap...

Last Friday night we went out to watch our friend BlaineLong.com play at an eclectic place called the Paisley Violin. Before we left John told me that he and Blaine had worked up a surprise. He kept saying,"You don't know...you just don't know!" I really didn't. John played along for a few songs and I thought that was the surprise. Then when we thought the set was over he took the mic and turned into LL Cool John. He busted out a rap he and his friend Tom made up seven or eight years ago. Have a listen...



Awesome!!!

Animals behaving badly...

The weather here is awesome right now so we take any excuse to be outside. Yesterday was a fun trip to the zoo. We were on our best behavior...I can't say the same for the animals. We started with the Savannah where the animals were able to roam (relatively) free. The giraffe was our favorite there.


Then we went to the lions and got really excited for January...we're going to the Lion King!!!! This is where the wholesome animal exhibits ended.


The demise of animal decorum began with the Rhinos. Our Rhino viewing started off with a typical meal of grass until one of them decided he would move on to something tastier?



Then we went to see the baboons...let's just say that they didn't realize that the zoo is supposed to be a family environment.

The wolf was actually very well behaved. He just didn't fit into the four legged creature category.

Bowling...

I have been bowling on and off now for years. I've even been on a bowling league. So I have to say that through all my years of practice I'm still terrible. There's a force when I'm walking up to throw my ball that pulls it into the gutter...frequently. I do have moments where the force isn't strong so those moments must be celebrated!

Thanksgiving in AZ

Thanksgiving for us started with a photo opp with the queenie of the household...Keets. Kita in her beautiful winter coat which is unfortunately not necessary in Phoenix and us in our sports wear. Lookin tough! We rode our bikes to Target in search of tin foil. Target isn't open on Thanksgiving...too bad for us. So the regular grocery store it was. When we were there we bought Kita a bone filled with meat...sorry if you're veggie and reading this. She went nuts! We would have to take it away from her to give her jaw a break. When she actually finished it (which took hours) she whined because she wanted more!

Later we had a fantastic pot luck Thanksgiving dinner at our friends' house. I made a potato casserole and green bean casserole. Thank goodness for the Campbell soup web site!

All in all it was a really fun day! I definitely give thanks for my wonderful family which includes Johnny, Kita and all our crazy but fantastic relatives! I'm also thankful for great friends and new opportunities!