Tuesday Oct 30 2007

Today I spent 2 hours in rush hour traffic in an attempt to see Zig Ziglar. I left the house at 7 a.m.; I thought Zig would go on at 8:00 sharp. I finally arrived downtown around 9 a.m., and found that parking within a half mile of the venue was $40!!! Parking a mile away was $10.00. So, I decided to 'forget it'. Meanwhile, I had Bri help us get the girls to school, arranged for Bo to watch the girls today ( usually I stay home Tuesdays ), all to see Zig.



I left downtown, and texted Ryan and he met me for a high calorie meal. At "The Good Egg" I ran into Dr. Harrison, the previous principal of Canyon Rim Elementary. We see her at Suns games sometimes. She calls Quynn "Pebbles'. She told me that herself, her husband, and her son are all going on a month long cruise around the Mediterrainen(sp). She's going to see Egypt, and Italy extensively. HOW AWESOME!!



O, by the way, a friend in attendence of the "Get Motivated" seminar texted me and let me know that Zig went on stage at 11. Uggghhhhh!!! If you have any ideas of what the lesson is here, I'd appreciate it. If I would've hit the seminar and continued through the struggle, I would've seen Zig. But, then I wouldn't have ran into Dr. Harrison. Thoughts? Coincendence? Or, fate?



Today is Michelle's, Brett's, and my bro in law Sam's birthday. Michelle, 32...Brett, 27, Sam 30!



We're all getting old. I'm leading the pack. When I was 19 I was the 'oldest'. When I was 22, and Sam & Erica started dating I was the sage on the hill.



Not to get to mooshy, but I am excited and blessed to have Michelle in my life. She is definetly my bestess friend. Thank God she likes basketball and football and allows me to become immersed. I sometimes am puzzled at my dumb luck in finding my soul mate (in Kip's voice) at only 19. Wow. Very lucky indeed.

Tuesdays with Mr. Mom....

Times is tough in the mortgage, real estate world. So, to save a few bucks ($280.00 a month) I stay home on Tuesdays with Emery & Peyton. The idea is to 'work' from home, but all I do is 'work' for Pey. She is quite the spoiled little princess. I move from making meals, to making snacks, to cleaning up toys, wiping butt, to loading dvds, back to making snacks. It is constant. Emery has decided that she prefers to be held 100% of the time. She's the last of mine, so I indulge her in every way. It can get annoying, but I try and remember that the time spent with the kids is time well spent, and to appreciate every moment I can. The bottom line is I'm a lucky man and I love spending time with all these little brats! :)

Skyelee worked for Leann today. Leann is our hairdresser. She's done Michelle and I's hair for the past 3+ years. I'm a very picky person, and it seemed that every haircut I've ever had I was unhappy with until I stumbled upon Leann. Leann has Skye cleaning up, organizing, and scheduling appointments. I'm really proud of her.

Michelle saw in the paper today that Raja Bell was going to be signing autographs at a new Dillard's. Quynn, Skye, and I went to Dillard's and were able to get an autograph and picture. I chatted a bit with him. He was cool. I told him that I sit above the tunnel and am the guy who always yells for him. He wasn't impressed. I now have a full on man crush :). GO SUNS!

Saturday Oct 20

Woke up this a.m. and actually seized the day. I went and did my favorite and most convienient hike up in Usery Park. Great day. Perfect AZ weather. The kind of day that reminds you of why we actually live here.

After I returned, I took Skye to "The Comebacks". They should've called it, "You'll want your money back". It was terrible.

The girls are going to make Halloween cookies today. I'm going to eat them. :)

Land of Zion

I spent the last week in Southern Utah. We took the kids in the RV to St. George for the marathon, Zions National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and a couple days at Lake Powell. After all the driving I feel like a long haul trucker.

We went to watch Michelle's Mom, Mona, run the St. George marathon. She has ran it a few times, but this year she actually ran her best time. It is so impressive to witness someone get better, faster, and more ambitious as they age. Truly inspirational. Her husband, Kelly, my brother in law Landon, and myself rode our bikes aside Mona the last 10 miles as she finished the race. We cheered on the runners and tried to provide hope and motivational. The mantra I kept yelling to the pleasure of some, annoyance of others, "Some people talk about it, you guys do it!!"

Riding my cruiser down Snow Canyon was truly surreal. Killer weather, absolutely breath taking scenery, the 100% positivity in the air from the runners, I truly felt so happy just to be alive. I was completely in the moment as I was allowed gravity to take me down the canyon's hills, loving every moment of it. I want to do it again next year. I don't think I could run 26 miles, but I definetly can ride my bike downhill for 10 miles :).
That Saturday night Landon and I also hung out with one of my buddies from childhood, Travis Bonino. We playes cards with him, his wife, and another couple they hang out with while they're in St. George. Travis & Teri are always fun to be with and needless to say, generous with the cocktails. Good times. Good times.

We took the kids to a 'haunted corn maze'. ALL the kids, and Teri, too, were 100% petrified to go in. I came to my senses and didn't make Quynn go in. Travis let Teri take his youngest son, and Quynn to the fun maze. But, Skyelee and Whit were very scared. I could've been a jerk and made it hell on them, scaring them too, but Landon & I just escorted them through the cheezy scare fare. Skye spared no expense in trying to escape going in. She claimed to be feeling 'dizzy', thought she was about to have a seizure :), felt sick! Hehehehe....but, she toughened up and made it through. She's a trooper when she wants to be.


We spent a couple days in Zion. Springdale, the town prior to the entrance to the park has a killer little bar & grill named 'Oscars'. If you are ever there, I highly recommend the 'Garlic burger'. MMMMmmmm. Yum Yum. Their specialty. Also came with Sweet potato fries, and only in Utah, fry sauce. I wish I had what I couldn't finish right now.

Finished out the week in Lake Powell with Mona,Kelly, and Whitney. The lake wasn't all the crowded, and to us Arizona people, the weather was a chilly 80 degrees. Couldn't get wet, wouldn't dream of it now. Just cruised around the lake, painted some rocks, and chilled with the Davis'. We ate at an authentic Mexican restaurant in Page, again, I highly recommend. You won't be disapointed. I know I'm easy to please when it comes to food, any kind of food, but this place was exceptionally good. Afterwards, we decided to just 'nut it up' and drive home. I hate driving at night, but the thought of getting up early and listening to the CONSTANT arguing and bickering about the most trivial things made me cringe. As hoped, the kids all crashed out, and Michelle and I discussed the fate of the world for 5 hours and made it back to Mesa at 2 a.m.

I'm torn....

I don't know who to root for? Chicago Cubs or AZ Diamondbacks? I'm not much of a MLB fan, but I do kind of like both teams. I've been to Wrigley Field a few times, and it is an experience everyone should get. The Cubs are the loveable losers. Red,white, and blue. Chicago, my favorite city I've been to so far. It would be nice to see the 'curse' lifted.

I was fortunate enough to be at game 7 in the 2001 World Series here in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks won the evil empire NY Yankees 2-1. An old friend, Jayson Bonino and I slept out on the streets with 10,000 other Arizona fans in hopes of getting tickets. Our seates were WAY upper level, but it didn't matter. It was shortly after the 9/11 (inside job) and during the National Anthem, I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. Everyone was choked up with the sureal moment of how lucky we are to be Americans. Then, as the singer finished the Anthem, a B 52 Stealth Bomber cruised overhead. It seemed like I could've almost reached out and touched it. This night will definetly go down as one of my top moments on this earth.

Money,Money, .................... Money!

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