Snow Play

A couple Saturdays ago we took Julia up to play in the snow, which she had never done.  She hadn't even ever seen or touched snow.  We took the long route to the cabin in Williams, going through Yarnell to see the after-effects of this summer's fire.  It's still a pretty sad sight.  At the cabin we picked up our sleds, checked to make sure everything was okay, and got a little practice playing on the ice.  Then it was off to the Wing Mtn Snow Play Area, just north of Flagstaff.  Yes, this an area where you pay $15 a car to go play in the snow.  I'm sure anyone east of the Mississippi reading this will get a hearty chuckle out of that.  Someone is making a bundle off all us Phoenicians coming up for a few hours of fun.  They do have port-a-potties and a snackbar, plus people had already made cool snow-men which you could appropriate for yourselves.  We brought a lunch and enjoyed it on seats of hay.  It wasn't as much fun for Bobbins, esp. the long car rides, but she enjoyed watching us sled around.  MM seemed to get into it more than JoJo, of course.  By the end they were getting wet and cold so it was time to motor home.
V I D E O       (http://youtu.be/ke4vgCBMKbo)

 

 

 

 

No Dairy or Soy

Apparently MM is allergic to dairy and soy.  The dairy we already knew and had cut for her, but her rashes persisted, and the doc said it was also soy.  Which isn't too hard to cut, although she will miss her Clif bars.



The thing I don't understand is that she used to be fine on dairy.  Heck, she was even drinking raw milk.  Hopefully we can bring her back someday.

It Was a Countdown

Christmas Comics

Thoughtful Essay

People like these often get drowned out in our black-and-white shout-em-down discourse.  I must confess I didn't know they existed.  Still not sure what to make of them.

"They are the New Homophiles and they accept the Church’s teaching that sexual activity can only occur between married men and women. They oppose a redefinition of marriage to include anyone else. They are fine, if that is the right word, with living celibate lives. They do not want to stop being gay; they don’t believe they can or even should. They believe God made them gay so they want to be known as gay and they want the Church to accept them on those terms. And they believe being gay is part of God’s plan and vocation for them."

FULL ESSAY 

Butterfly Museum

Uncle Jack took Bobbins and the girls to the new Butterfly Wonderland out in Scottsdale, with a stop at the railroad park on the way home.

 

APS Light Parade

Bobbins, Julia, and the girls braved the cold the other night to watch the APS Light Parade downtown.  They met up with Bobbins' friend Mary and her family, including Mary's dad, who saved them great seats.  I was at the ASU-Stanford game so missed the show.  The Okies might recognize those jackets.

 

 

 

They Love Little "Moey"

This is at 33 weeks.

We think she's about ready to pop already.  May be early on this one...

Tree Hugger

The Dog, for some reason, wanted to huddle next to the tree when we first got it.  You can see we haven't fully decorated it yet, and it's a tad smaller than years past.  But it smells nice and is fairly healthy so far.

Zoolights

Aunt Katie took the girls to Zoolights this year.  It was quite a night out in their new vests and hats with their favorite aunt.  They were pretty pooped at the end.

Creche

Last year Bobbins bought plastic Joseph, Mary, and angel statues from a thrift store for use this Christmas in our decorations.  I thought it'd be cool to build a wooden enclosure to make a real nativity scene, or creche.  I went to the google and found these pretty easy plans.  My dad graciously brought down the 1x boards.  Coach and I got a little bit of a late start Fri. after Thanksgiving but got the back and sides completed.  Sat. we built the top and assembled it.  It turned out just as I envisioned.

 

V I D E O of me putting the top on as Coach looks on.

Nutcracker 2013

This year JoJo was old enough for her first ballet.  Julia had never been so I took all 3 girls down to the Orpheum Theater for the Nutcracker.  Bobbins found a good groupon but was mistaken on the time, so we missed the first twenty minutes.  We sat up in the balcony (there was no assigned seating) for the first half, then down on the main level for the second act.  I ended up seeing a guy from work whose son was one of the Chinese dancers.  JoJo seemed to have a great time, and Julia enjoyed it too.  MM has a hard time being patient that long.

 

Tough Loss Redux

I didn't really expect us to beat Stanford the second go-around in the Pac-12 championship in Tempe, although I secretly hoped we would.  Going to the Rose Bowl would've been a dream.  And it'll stay that way, at least for another year.  I thought it'd be a closer game and we'd be more in it; instead, we were almost out by the middle of the 2nd quarter.  We had some chances in the 3rd quarter to make it interesting but couldn't get any plays.  Being without #1 RB Marion Grice hurt, then losing his replacement (and the one guy on offense who really came out to play) DJ Foster really hurt.  Credit really goes to the Stanford offense, especially QB Kevin Hogan, who executed flawlessly in the 1st half and made big plays in 1 on 1 match-ups.  Their RB Gaffney got the game's MVP but it should've been Hogan in my book.

Off to San Diego to play Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl.  Coach and I plan on going to the game.  Sure hope it's a better result than the last two (a heartbreaking loss to Kansas State in 2003 and a blowout by Texas in 2007).  Should be a pretty high-scoring game.  I hope our defense exacts some revenge on T Tech for their slow-start and shellacking they took last night.

This Guy's Seen a Lot

Comboni priest says time in L.A. prepared him for strife-ridden Egypt

 "I appreciate the civil rights tradition in the states. You can be who you want to be as long as you respect others," he told Catholic News Service in his residence in a building attached to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church, which St. Daniel Comboni founded in 1880.

"The other thing I learned is ... a sort of entrepreneurial approach. You can make something out of the nothing. If you work hard you will get somewhere," said Father Esti, who holds degrees from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and Claremont Graduate University in California. ...

"In spite of the fact that the Western world sees this area in retrograde, there is a kind of sanity," he said, adding that, unlike some of areas of the U.S. where he'd lived, most Egyptians "don't have guns and, generally speaking, are not on drugs."

"In the states, life is too fast, so even if you have a lot, you cannot enjoy it. Here life is slower, and you can enjoy the little you have," he said.

FULL ARTICLE 

Cinderella Party

One of my buddies from work has twin girls and they turned 3 recently.  They graciously invited us over for a Princess Party featuring a hired Cinderella to celebrate.  There was delicious catered Qdoba food and an awesome spread of cakes, cupcakes, and treats to feast on.  Our girls loved Cinderella, who was quite talented in singing, dancing, face painting, balloon making, and patience with young kids.

 

 

 

Bye Jenny

The ladies of Bobbins' moms' group recently got together to bid farewell to original member Jenny M., who is moving back to Wisconsin.  Plenty of alcohol (except for the few preggos/nursers) and tasty, highfalutin food.  Best of luck to Jenny and family in the WI.

No Pity for the Kitty 2013

Was really hoping for a Sun Devil victory in the 87th Territorial Cup on Saturday night.  Yes, an ASU victory meant the home field for the Pac-12 championship and would be a huge momentum builder going into that tough match-up against Stanford, whom we lost to badly earlier in the season.  But for me, I really wanted to beat UofA at home after very tough losses against them the last two times (in 2009 and 2011).  I look forward to this game every season.  Not only is it one of the better rivalry games out there, it's always unpredictable.  And I LOVE beating the Stink of A.  The 1996 game was my second best college memory.

This year the Devils lived up to billing, whipping the Mildcats handily.  North Nogales St. head coach Rich Rod called it right: embarrassing.  The Mildcats didn't help themselves, turning the ball over three times, inc. a devastating pick 6 by QB B.J. Denker in the 3rd Q just as UofA was mounting a little comeback.  I had been hoping to just survive the quarter, where our offense has been particularly anemic the last few games.  That pick 6 was a back-breaker.  All we had to do was hold Ka'deem Carey, which we did for the most part (he still easily got his 100 yds), in particular twice in the first half on 4th down.

I wore my No Pity shirt my sister got me two years ago (last year watching on TV from OK) and am now 2-0.  I admit, it was hard to really appreciate the win until the 4th Q; you can never rest easy until the game's over or pretty much over in a contest like this.  It's pretty crazy we're now playing for a chance at the Rose Bowl, and at home at that.  I honestly didn't think we'd be at this point.  The team's playing confident and are undefeated at home.  I'm not saying we'll beat Stanford, but it's going to be quite a game and will be close.  I will be very happy with the Holiday Bowl too.  Either way, I'm going to the game with Coach.  Was great he was able to be out here for the game Sat. night.  Felt bad Featha had to leave early to tend to his sick wife.

Coach, Featha, and I watched the end of the crazy Iron Bowl, with Auburn returning a failed field goal 100 yards to win it.  I got back from the Nutcracker with the girls just in time to catch the end of the Ohio St.-Michigan game.  As soon as Mich. decided to go for two, I knew we'd win it.  Great football day all the way around.