A Little Dab Here... And There...

A close friend of mine, Diana (who I used to work with at another school), babysat Rufus last week while I attended an educational training class. Her daughter, Emily, works at As You Wish and gets to keep any slightly damaged pieces they can't otherwise sell. She had recently acquired this heart-shaped plate and thought it would be a fun activity for Rufus to paint it. He indeed had loads of fun! Of course, Emily added a few finishing touches and below is what the finished product looks like. I can't wait to hang it on his wall in his room!

Getting Dirty

The first day we were in Holbrook Rufus & I went out in the garden to help Grandma. Little did we know that she had a family of sneaky snakes living in the grass and insects galore! At one point we went squash bug hunting. She and I would find the squash bugs and Rufus would step on them for us. It was a fun morning...

Finding a big "stick."

Relaxing with an old friend.

Getting dirty.

Playing in the water.

Watering Grandpa & Grandma's grass.

Singin' In The Rain

Rufus and I made the trek back to Holbrook this week so I could cook a few Saladmaster dinner shows. Like most of Arizona, Holbrook got a few sprinkles and it sure felt good! Grandma & Grandpa let him splash in the puddles while I was away at a show. Like Bill Cosby said, "they're just old people trying to make it to heaven!"

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

I couldn't resist posting this picture. He just looks so cute! The tie and corduroy pants are courtesy of my sister, the shoes are from Grandpa and Grandma Frost, and the shirt I borrowed from a sister-in-law to complete the ensemble. Doesn't he look like a smaller version of Albert?

For it's 1, 2, 3 Strikes Your Out...

I got a smokin' deal on a set of group tickets to the Diamondbacks game on the 4th of July. We played a lousy game against the San Diego Padres and lost by 4. Rufus was obviously dreaming in this picture...

It was Rufus' first baseball game!

My parents drove down to attend their first NBL game ever, too! You can see my mom modeling the free 4th of July D-backs t-shirts we earned by being one of the first 25,000 in the gate.

Albert's mom and sister came along as well. (His mom tends to throw things as the game intensifies, so we put her at the end!)

Our seats were on the bottom level in left field. They opened the retractable roof and after the game they shot off fireworks from the parking garage next door. We were told we wouldn't be able to see them from our seats and would have to walk out to Jefferson St. if we wanted to watch the show. Thinking we were going to beat the heat, we climbed to the 3rd level (above our seats) to get a better view of the night sky. Unfortunately, we were still at the wrong angle to see the firework show.

"...Livin' in a Van Down By the Riviera!"

So, um... yeah we bought a mini van. It's a 2003 Mazda MPV LX with a fold away third row seat. I know what you're all thinking, we didn't think we'd ever by a mini van either. However, I have to say it's so nice when you have children... even if it's only one child. Not only were we thinking futuristic (more children down the road, no pun intended) but we're also looking forward to vacations where we can actually tote everything we need (e.g. tent, chairs, coolers, etc.) It looks sorta greenish-blue in the photo, but it's really a light blue. Oh! And it's gets decent gas mileage 19/25 mpg. Anyway, we hope you understand and can forgive us. Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!

Goodbye, Old Friend...

We found a vehicle on Auto Trader that peaked our interest, so this past Saturday we drove to Paradise Valley to test drive it. Surprisingly, we both felt it would be beneficial to purchase the vehicle and sell our Nissan Stanza. Sunday evening we posted the Stanza on Craigslist and by Monday evening we had cash in hand. Albert and I were both sad to see it go (I'm tearing up just thinking about it!). I'm having a hard time understanding why I am emotionally attached to this car! I know change is the only constant in our lives. However, this change makes me feel like we're saying "goodbye" to our years as a young, newly married, couple and "hello" to 30-something, debt, and parenthood. We purchased the Nissan Stanza 6 years ago at a steal of a deal; and it saw us through our remaining years at EAC, the blistering heat and monsoon season in Mesa, and the bitter cold and snow while we attended NAU. More importantly it was a constant, reliable mode of transportation while everything around us changed. May be seeing it drive down the road with its new owners made me feel like we were losing the last piece of memorabilia from our college years. Who knows! Crying over a car is just ridiculous [sniff, sniff]. Goodbye, old friend... our little silver bullet.