Okies over for Dinner

Aunt Mel, Kendall, Mavis, Bre, D Shea, and T-stan joined us for our Sunday dinner. We had a raucous game of kickball in the cul-de-sac beforehand. I'll admit, it was odd for me having them in our kitchen, since all but Aunt Mel had never been there before. Mavis thought the addition on our house was great. It was fun to BBQ for them.

Saturday Night with Bobbins Family

With Bobbins' brother Mark and family in town, we went out to her parents' house Saturday night for dinner. In the pic below, Hutch is holding Ruby and Tip. Which one is older? And of course Uncle Paul is always the cool uncle.

Friday Golf Scuttled, So Bowling

We planned to play our annual family golf tournament the day after Thanksgiving, but the rain scuttled those plans fairly quickly. Yes, in Arizona, we were rained out (just like last year in OK). Really disappointing. Instead, we went bowling in Scottsdale. Everyone had a great time. Bowling is more inclusive than golf, since nearly everyone can play.

Wednesday Night Out

Grampy came over to babysit the kids so we could go out with Katie, Dallas, and Zeus on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. We went to ole Hanratty's on 7th and Indian School. Easy to get a pool table and dart board. The women got snookered by the "mystery special" they had running, which were a couple shots and some lunchmeat. We had a fun time hanging out.

ASU Basketball Game

This year we decided to all go out to Tempe to watch the Sun Devil men's basketball team against Colorado for Owen's birthday. The Devils won.

On Deck through the Inside Passage

 

 

Old Bobbins' Fam Pic

MLK Day Hike

For MLK Day we hiked up Shaw Butte with the Schaefers. Yes, we made it to the top, but came down the same way as up.

Welcome Back Julia!

Our best Christmas present this year was Julia coming back for a visit, this time as a tourist, not a student. She's wanted to come for a while and was finally able to make it happen at the beginning of December. We were thrilled to have her. The girls were so excited they ran past security and nearly got in trouble. Owen, Fish, and baby Jack got to meet her for the first time. It was quite a reunion at the airport.

Christmas Eve

Mark, my girls & Anna (who spent the night with us), and I started Christmas Eve off right with a 15 decade rosary at the Planned Parenthood in Glendale. It didn't rain much, thankfully. Harold, our seminarian friend, was there, which was nice to see him. Mark also saw the girl he was homecoming king with at NDP back in the day. Walking back to our car we also found a toy gun on the sidewalk that magically became a gift for Will & Otto the next day.

I did our hour of Adoration, with Bobbins and the kids picking me up right at 3 to head out to St. Bernard's in Scottsdale for 4pm Mass. Sadly, this felt more like a school play than the holy sacrifice of the Mass, but we made it. Then to the Compound for chaos, dinner & dessert, and some gifts. It was not exactly the nice time with family that Bobbins and I were hoping for.

The photo of Mr. & Mrs. M has all their grandkids save 1, Mikey. The photo with all of us (kids and adults) includes everyone. It was quite a crew!

We were home by 830, which gave us plenty of time to set up for the next day.

 

Visit to Cemetery / Glasses / Tea Party / Mr. M and Kids



Bobbins, our kids, Mark and his kids, and other Munn's all packed this into one day. They wanted to visit Uncle Jack and Aunt Gin at St. Francis Cemetery, and Bobbins' mom had already set up a tea party. Remember Moosy breaking Bobbins' glasses? She finally got an appt. to get new ones. Moosy, for his part, thought Papa's glasses worked just fine. That is a nice photo of Bobbins' dad with his kids. Jack's missing, of course.

 

 
 

Claire's Baptism

The daughter of Bobbins' brother, Paul, was baptized back in November at our parish. Bobbins' other brother Mark and his wife Jessica were the godparents, so they came over from California. Bobbins and Jessica were due about the same time, and T Fish and their daughter, Georgia, were born almost two weeks apart. Of course, she's got some weight on our skinny kid. Mark and Jessica's oldest, Will, our godson, came over to spend the night, his first away from mom and dad. He did great and only called his mom once.

TX Pauls Visit

My dad's cousin Jeff and his wife Diane, whom we spent time with in Tennessee, came to AZ for a visit in early Oct. Uncle Jack hosted us all for a dinner at his house.

 

 

T Fish Baptism

We were lucky enough to have Fr. Bolding do a private baptism for just one morning after 11am Mass. With all the Schaefers (godparents) and family, it was still a large group around the baptistry.

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the house, we had everyone over for food and fellowship. Bobbins made a tasty cake and little cupcakes.