Happy 50th Birthday Todd!

My mom and Todd came to visit over the weekend and we had a splendid time. Todd turned the big 5-0 on Friday and we spent all weekend celebrating.

Friday we went to watch Todd's favorite team, the Oakland A's, at Spring Training. He was hoping to meet his favorite player, Eric Chavez, and his birthday wish was granted! Todd got to meet Mr. Chavez who wished him a Happy Birthday and signed his poster. What a lucky guy! (My only souvenir was my first sunburn of the year.) Needless to say, The Todd was one happy camper :-)

Watching all those professional athletes work out of course made us hungry so we headed over to Bucca di Beppo's in Old Town Scottsdale. The food was scrumptious and the company delightful. Todd scored a free gigantic cupcake for his birthday dessert. We were, of course, happy to help him finish it off ;-)

Mom and Todd hadn't really seen much of Old Town so we walked around for a bit. Todd got to see Scottsdale Stadium (home of the Giants) and we stopped at the LOVE sculpture for a photo op. We also cruised through the Scottsdale historical museum which was also celebrating a birthday - 100 years. Wow - the museum is two Todds old!

We couldn't resist taking The Todd's picture by the Scottsdale Adult Day Health Services: A Program of the Foundation for Senior Living.

When Todd realized that Taliesin is just up the road from our house, he decided that we must do a tour during their visit so Friday night we enjoyed a "Twilight Tour." I didn't know much about Frank Lloyd Wright before the tour but really enjoyed it. He was such a revolutionary architect and such a big influence on so many industries.

Gorgeous view from Taliesin

We took Mom and Todd to our favorite restaurant for dinner. Pars has the best Persian food, awesome atmosphere, and a great staff. We then had homemade cheesecake and opened gifts at home. It was a great day and hopefully a memorable birthday for The Todd.

Saturday was nice and low key. We slept in, enjoyed some chicken and waffles at Lo-Lo's, went for a walk, and took a nap. That night we headed into downtown Phoenix to see "The Drowsy Chaparone" at the Orpheum Theater. The show was enjoyable and the theater incredible. Post-show we dined on delicious Greek food and then called it a night.

Todd at Lo-Lo's

As always when family comes to visit, the weekend flew by way too quickly. We loved having you visit, Mom and Todd, and look forward to your next visit!

and one more time...

Happy Birthday Todd!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Have a safe, joyous, and meaningful holiday celebration :-)

A Christmas Carol - in 3D!

We went to see the new "A Christmas Carol" movie last night. I was hoping it would be a fun holiday film that would help start off our December in the Christmas spirit. Now I have heard that it is dark and somewhat scary for little kids, but I thought it was creepy and scary - for me! Not my favorite movie ever and not something that left me feeling particularly festive, but hey, we got 3D glasses out of the deal :-)

I attempted to document how cool we looked in our high-tech spectacles with my cell phone but was having difficulty getting the flash to work. After a few minutes of fumbling I finally got it. By then Casey was irritated with my attempt to capture the long-passed moment hence his attempt to escape from the one actually well-lit photo.

Ah, well. We had a fun date night anyway :-)

Turkey for Two

This year we had a great Thanksgiving celebration with just the two of us. I worked on Thursday so we had our holiday on Friday. We cooked a whole Thanksgiving feast. Casey has done this before but it was a first for me. And it was fun :-)

We made some of the old standbys, but also branched out and tried some new dishes too. It was all so, so delicious. We had turkey (of course), gravy (we finally got to use our gravy boat!), sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. The new recipes we tried were browned butter mashed potatoes (fantastic), brandied carrots and parsnips (delicious), and apple bacon stuffing (a-mazing).

I also made my first pie ever. I've made countless cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, muffins, and other goodies but never a pie. I'll admit I was a little nervous but it turned out great. Let me rephrase that - it tasted great! It didn't look like this:

It looked like this:

Not magazine-worthy, but not too shabby for my first attempt. I somehow ended up with extra dough for the crust so we made some little mini pumpkin pies, too. You can never have too much dessert!

We had a great Thanksgiving and really enjoyed cooking together. But I think we pretty much used every kitchen item we own. I was thankful for our dishwasher :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

There is so much in my life to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for...

...my husband. He makes me so happy and I love him more than words can express. He gets me, he laughs at my jokes (even the lame ones), and he takes such good care of me. My life is so much better, richer, deeper, and more fun because of him. Love this guy!

...our families. We are so blessed by incredible families who love us unconditionally and support us through thick and thin. We also got to expand our family by one this year - we're so happy to officially claim you as one of the family now Todd!

...our little kitties. They are so much fun and keep us entertained every day. We can always count on Scout and Alice for some easy amusement or some good old fashioned snugglin'.

...our friends. It seems that most of our friends are far away these days but it makes us more thankful for the opportunities we do get to spend time with them.

...my job. I absolutely love what I do and thoroughly enjoy my job (most days). I love my co-workers, my hospital, and the opportunity to be a part of my patients' lives. In these tough economic times I am thankful to have such a great career.

...our health. We are both young and healthy - definitely something to be thankful for.

...Casey graduating. After two years of hard work Casey graduated in October. I am thankful for his persistence and dedication to better himself in hopes of providing a better future for our little family. I'm thankful he had the courage to pursue his dream.

...technology. Though I may not be the world's best or most consistent blogger I love this form of keeping in touch with people. It helps me to share what's going on in our life with far away friends and family and I really enjoy keeping up with others' blogs.

There is so much we have to be thankful for this year. God has blessed us richly.

Happy Thanksgiving!