Soccer and the rest

Friday morning was a huge game of Soccer. It started out great with Jeff's dad kicking a soccer ball into the back of Chelan's head. She decided to play with the little kids after that. The field was kind of wet and muddy so there was a lot of slipping and sliding around. Jeff was so proud of himself when he made it through the game without falling. That lasted until he was walking off the field and his cousin tripped him. Jeff ended up just a little less muddy than everyone else.

It was colder in California so we were able to wear our jeans and jackets that really don't get pulled worn in Arizona. After spending two summers in cold Alaska, we have a lot of cold weather clothes, and not very many warm weather ones. So it was good to be able to wear something different.

We also spent a lot of time visiting with everyone around. We don't get to see everyone very often and now it will be even less with us here in Arizona. But we enjoyed our trip. We made it back in about 9 1/2 hours of driving. Which was pretty uneventful except for the gas station Jeff stopped at to let me go to the bathroom. They either never finished or are remodeling and so the bathroom had no lights. The options were to either leave the door open and chance someone walking by, or trying to find the toilet in the complete dark. It was quite an adventure.

Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving since we have been married has been spent in a different state. This year was California. Jeff has two brothers, an aunt, an uncle, cousins and all their families, and grandma that all live in Fresno so we headed out there. Jeff's parents and sister were also out there for the festivities.

We started out the day with a 5k turkey trot. Here is everyone before the race. I forgot pants to run in, and it was way to cold for my shorts, So I wore Jeff's. They were definitely longer, thicker, and warmer. The goals for the race: finish it, enjoy it, and stay warm.



Here is Jeff and his dad finishing the race. 27 minutes. Great for such old guys.
Here is Chelan and Moroni. 35 minutes.

Here is Becca and Brendan, and Jeff trying to encourage them? Brendan sure looks energetic for just finishing. 40 minutes.

Eric, Jacob, Jeff's mom and Judson were there but didn't run. Instead they chose to get some sleep, cheer us on, and take pictures.

We then had a great breakfast at Uncle Doug and Aunt Melissa's. We stayed with them all week and had a lot of fun.

Thanksgiving dinner was at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mike's place. It was really good. It got a little crazy at the end with the siblings reminiscing about all the crazy things they did growing up. There was definitely a lot of laughter along with a lot of food. The tradition in Fresno, is to get together with everyone (49 people total) and have pie at the church. There were some great pies along with some rousing games of volleyball, basketball and peanuts.

By the time we got to sleep, we had endured a long and fun day.

Yosemite

While in Fresno, California we tried to find something to do. Fresno is apparently a geographical oddity because everything is 2 1/2 hours away. We decided to brave the driving and go to Yosemite National Park. It was fun to go hiking among all the giant sequoia trees. There were quite a few people there but we hiked far enough that we stopped running into other groups. We really enjoyed wandering around the place. Unfortunately we brought our camera, but someone forgot to get the battery that was charging. With no battery our camera did us no good. We would have gotten some great pictures if we had it. We also saw a few different groups of deer. They were only about 10 feet away and were a lot of fun to watch.

Football...again.

We headed out to California for the week. We went out early enough to see Jeff's sister Cindy and her family. We drove out on Saturday and had to leave early enough to get there before the BYU-Utah football game. Plans to watch the game at Jeff's brother's friends house fell through and we were stuck trying to watch it at a sports restaraunt. We called to see if they would be showing the game and they told us they had the channel but it might be blocked, and they wouldn't know that until the start of the game. So we went down there and they gave us the run around about whether the game would be on there. Well they finally changed the channel and the game was on...SIX different TV's. We were able to watch the game with Jeff's brother Eric, and his son Jacob. It was actually quite fun, until BYU started making quite a few mistakes which led to an easy Utah win. Hopefully they can redeem themselves next time.

Hotel or Gym?

We've been working out either outside or in the little workout room that our apartment complex has. Jeff gets a free membership to one of the gyms around here (you have to sign up before Dec. 1) so we went to sign him up. As a spouse I would get the membership at a reduced rate, so we went to check it out for me. The first thing we noticed was the guy who was trying to get me to sign up was really really annoying. He drove both of us crazy. He was trying to make it the best gym ever, which it isn't. The two things I was wanting was a pool and a yoga class. They don't really have a yoga class, it's some weird body flow thing that is a combination of a bunch of other junk. And there pool. This is the real reason I am writing this. Get ready to be amazed. The pool is 14 yards. WOW! Please sign me up to swim laps in that. It is literally smaller than a hotel pool, and definately smaller than our apt. pool. Although it is a square. They have water aerobics classes, swim lessons, and family swim time in the morning, afternoons, and all day Saturday. In a pool that is 14 yards x 3 yards, where and when am I supposed to swim. He tried to convince me there would be room around all the little kids, but I am not buying it. There is just no room. But seriously who puts a pool in a gym thats only 14 yards long. At least make it a nice round number like 10, 12.5, or 15.

YEAH!!

Jeff hasn't been around much because he has had to study for finals. We really didn't see each other at all, but he has now finished finals. And he did really well on them. Jeff now has a two week break. Yeah!

New Foods

There is store by us called Superstition Ranch Market. It's not the fanciest store around, and they mostly sell produce. It is always crowded in there, but you can find the cheapest produce around. Lately we have been able to get strawberries and blackberries really cheap, so we have eaten a lot of those. They have also had other things very cheap, so we have bought and tried a lot of things I've never cooked before. These have included such things as egg plant, sweet anise, brussels sprouts, kale, and mini kiwis. The only ones I would probably not buy again is the sweet anise. The recipe I could find anywhere said to cook it with garlic. Well it just tasted like garlic black licorice....not necessarily the best combo.

Buffalo Wild Wings

We have spent many, many, many, many hours in this lovely place. 4 hours x 12 BYU Football games=way too many drink refills. We are very fortunate that Steve and Ashlie got directTV and have since invited us over to watch a few of the games with them. There are a few good things about watching the games at Buffalo Wild Wings:

1. It is worth the money to buy a drink. Normally we get water, but in four hours you can definately get your money's worth (especially when we share!)

2. We get to watch all the games that are on at the same time.

3. You get to know the waiter quite well and give them plenty of time to earn their tip.

4. We usually ask and get the game on the BIG tv.

There are also a few downsides:

1. Sitting on a bar stool for 4 hours is tiring.

2. You get to watch the BYU game, but have to listen to a different one.

3. You order when you get there, and then by the fourth quarter you are ready to eat again.

4. While watching the BYU game, we usually here the ASU game.

Amazing!

To celebrate Jeff's last day of class, he came home early and we went and played wiffle ball at the park today. Our playing was cute short by the fact that Chelan split the ball into two pieces. An amazing feat! Although, Jeff did break it first. And broke it a little more later on, he was kind of enough to let me take the last hits. And I successfully broke it apart. We tried to keep playing but two halves of a wiffle ball do not work as well and one whole wiffle ball.

Voting!

Our apartment complex is one of the places people go to vote. They have it set up in the clubhouse which is one building away from ours. Our apartment is right by the 'public' parking, literally ten feet from the cars. Normally the little parking area is pretty empty. But while everyone was voting, it was full. It's not such a big deal, except all these voters have keyless locks. You know, the ones that beep when you lock or unlock your car. Since our apartment is so close to the parking lot, we were the lucky ones to here beeping, constantly, all day long.

Other than that it was good. Jeff wanted to watch the election results, so I made strawberry freezer jam. It turned out really good. And I figured out that it really was cheaper, and better, than buying it.

Daylight Savings

Arizona is not on daylight savings time. That means we do not have to switch our clocks. Enough said.

Halloween.

I got one little pumpkin when Bethany was here, but then Jeff wanted a bigger one. As it was Halloween, I thought that we might be a little late to get one. Our first Halloween we couldn't find a pumpkin to buy and if it wasn't for Warren and his garden we would not have had any pumpkins to carve. This year, I was at the store and they had pumpkins. And they were only 50 cents each. So I got a couple and Jeff carved them. We didn't have a candle to put in it, so we put the candy in the pumpkin (in a plastic bag so it wasn't all nasty). Jeff is dressed as a thug, the only costume we could come up with at the last minute. My dad's idea was to put on garbage sacks and gloves and go as marathon runners;) To bad it was too hot outside to want to wear a garbage sack.