Our December Visitors....

December wouldn't be complete without my favorite brother-in-law and his wonderful wife, who just happens to be my very best friend in the whole wide world, coming to visit.  Actually they were here to attend both the Tempe and Tucson festivals of the arts to make a living, but to me....ahhhhh it's fun, fun, fun.  I take time off from my real job and get to 'work' doing something I love doing! ...And with my favorite people.....what could be better than that!?!   The hustle and bustle of their booth is what i think makes it fun.  Despite the economy, their booth was off-the-wall busy.  (Literally, Lynne only had one 'pic stick' left by the end of the show, and then a lady even came and bought that!)  So it was very fun.  Of course, any aspect of shopping is fun in Lynne's and my eyes ;)  So here is a little rundown of their trip here.  Luckily, Lynne came early so we could start it all with a day of shopping....where else would any worthwhile trip start, I ask you.....???  I first introduced Lynne to the wonderful world of DOMESTIC BLISS in Mesa, where we both fell in love with all of the goodies in that store.  WOW.  Then....off to the mall, of course.  And the shoe dept.  So, Kelley, does this first pic look familiar???  Don't worry, they are still there waiting for you...

Then onto my favorite display of the season....see those 2 boxes???

ok....so we are dorks when we are shopping.....big surprise there!

but it ended on a good note in the Nordstrom cafe near closing time....

The Tempe show was first....this is just a pic of the sisters after a 3pm lunch on the bench after a VERY busy morning...

 This is the sales team, minus 1, but more importantly, look at how great their products are!  Those things on the wall are the 'pic sticks' that I mentioned earlier. SO CUTE!

 After Friday's show, off we go, to what seems to be a favorite hangout of ours each year!

The place was decked out...

And...it was happy hour, so we posed our drinks for a picture, too...

Great deal on the appetizers...

and 3 great choices, Lynne!...

what a team!  End of Day 1!

Nearing the end of Day 2, there's Dan down there on the street....

and guess where we are??....saving him a seat and a cold one...

those hands have done some hard work...

The artists getting a long awaited chance to sit down after the final day...

While Dan is packing up and loading the car....guess where the 'help' went?....

in suspense yet?   Dan finally joined us...

and here we are AGAIN!!!!!!!

So, in retrospect, as I look back over these pics, one would think that all we do when Lynne is visiting, is eat and DRINK!  Truth be told, we are both such lightweights on the drinks, and we have so much fun together, that we just laugh anyway, whether one or none!  But the eating is a different story....we sure LOVE food.  I know we are sisters at heart!  :)  Thanks for coming out...it was great to be with you again, as always!

Thanks for the Memories...

Last Monday, November 10, was the memorial service for Dad at Trinity Lutheran Church in Fountain Hills.  The service was very nice;  gave us time to reminisce a bit about what a great man and Dad that he was.   He would have liked it, I think, and Jim did a nice job of also talking about what a great husband he was to Mom, making their life together something to look up to. He lived a long, good life, and was the last left of his siblings and his "gang" that he hung out with since a young boy.  It was hard seeing Dad the way he was the last couple of years....just not the same without Mom.  I miss them, and am so happy they are together again.  That's the greatest comfort we can have.   I thank God everyday for them.  Great people, great memories :)  

  This is the alter.

After the service, we had a bite to eat at the church and then the family came over to our house for some relaxation time...of course Logan was her usual fun self. I wish i had pics of her dipping her little feet into the icy cold pool and then jumping out to make footprints.  So funny.  She kept saying she wasn't cold, but I don't know how she couldn't have been.  It may be sunny and blue, but it was only about 70 degrees (if that).  Put it this way...none of the adults were doing that!  Both kiddos were so good all day...even without a nap!  

Logan picked up my camera and was taking pics all over the house...she was walking with it up to her eye, so we mostly had pics of the floor and of people's behinds, but this is one that she took, and i thought it very appropriate, cuz it was a pic of her and her ever-present blankie :)

The cousins (and cousin-in-law, Sally) looked at old-time pics of our folks and grandparents when they were younger than we are now!  Fun to see all of them together again.  The pics were hysterical!

And then it dawned on us that we hadn't seen Logan in awhile.  It was dark out, so we knew she couldn't be outside....so we went on an exploration, but didn't have to go far, cuz there under the dining room chair was the big clue as to her whereabouts!  We pretended we couldn't find her and finally she popped out and said "I was hiding!" with a big grin on her face.  (And then she went into hiding a few more times, because it was so fun!.....in the same place).  

Dad would have loved it!  He loved those babies, that's for sure.

Lynne and Joye's Excellent L.A. Adventure....

Well, I know that these pics have been a long time coming. But the memories are still loud and clear in my mind. I know that you have seen Lynne's blog, but these are just a few (well, maybe more than a few) from me. I think this little trip was the most fun I've had in a long time....guess the fact that we planned it and went in less than 2 weeks is what was really amazing!

So, I was excited just to SEE Lynne, but to actually go on a trip with her was gonna be fun...

Ok....so i took the same Michigan/Arizona footwear pic as Lynne,(refer to the Carmichael blog for more detail) and we laughed for the first day.....so much so, that I didn't take anymore pics till the next morning when we headed for the "easy" (as Joel put it) hike in the Hollywood Hills. Just the sound of it put a little excitement in me. "HOLLYWOOD"....home of the stars....and we were HERE!

So this should have been a clue as to what was to come....SUSTAINANCE for the hike ahead. I only got a water, which for me, is trouble.

These next pics aren't the best in quality, but just a little idea of the view as we were heading up,up,up! That's Hollywood/LA down there!

And looking the otherway to to the famous "Hollywood" sign. I think we were even with it at one point....but it was still far away.

And looking down into one of the canyons....darn...the sun was in the wrong place! It was much more impressive than it looks here!

Joel had mentioned that some famous people, stars, whoever, might be up here hiking, but we didn't see anyone that we recognized....no makeup at this time of the day!...but...

Here's my sister/"hiking" buddy/best friend in the whole world sitting for all the world to see.

Who needs stars?????? :)

After the hike, we went to a nearby Starbucks, for some rehydration....pumpkin non-fat latte for me! with whipped cream, too....I'm on vacation! and iced tea for Lynne, of course

Headed back to Joel's about lunch time at his favorite sub shop, which was great!

So here we are at home eating subs at 1 pm, talking about where to go for dinner, and it dawns on us that we hadn't been shopping yet! After all, it was California, we were together, and what do we do best? :) So we had strict instructions to be back by 3:30 so we could leave for dinner/happy hour. (didn't we just eat?) So....off we went to a new shopping area in Glendale....thanks to Lynne's portable GPS, we got there just fine. Was there ever a doubt? We did stop to take a pic of the fountains in this mall area. Amazingly enough we didn't eat at that cheesecake factory that you see.

And Lynne paying for parking as we headed out, after the fastest shopping trip ever....but i came home with a bag, of course. When there's a will, there's a way!

Here's Dad in the kitchen....isn't he cute?

Off we head to Casa Vega for happy hour at 3:30 pm sharp. If you ever visit Joel, I can GUARANTEE you will go to Casa Vega. :) Good food, good times. The waiter brought us some club soda for shirt cleaning w/o us even asking.....it must happen frequently there!

It proved too much for Joel to watch!

We never even ordered an entree....wait...the margaritas WERE our entree!

Saturday came and went....Lynne and I hit another mall and had some hilarious times trying on clothes....(again, refer to Lynne's blog), and had a great spaghetti dinner, and settled in at 9:30 pm on a Saturday night in L.A....! Big bike race in the a.m. down in Long Beach. So you'll notice it was DARK when we got to Long Beach. Here's Lynne, the bike caddy, holding Joel's bike for him. Daylight was still a figment of our imagination. Joel was very excited for his first race.

And they're off!

The morning was chilly but beautiful!

Joel's cheering section....waiting at the finish line...awwwwww

His biggest fan...

You can see Lynne with her video on, and i had my camera set for fast sequence pics, but wouldn't you know....none of them worked when we needed them. darn. But Joel is approaching in this little group...I think I can see his arm...

He did GREAT! Finished w/in the top 20. We never expected him to do so well in his FIRST race! CONGRATS, JOEL!!!

But here's the real biker of the group! I love his cool shirt!

And we each got to take a turn riding up and down the "boardwalk", which, by the way, used to be traintracks that they've converted into this really great pedestrian, skateboard, bike path. Very cool.

Putting the bike away after the strenuous ride....

And how many people does it take to cover a bike????? jk

Well...for dinner, off we went to beautiful downtown Burbank, for a wonderful dinner under the stars.....

Fireplaces and space heaters were around us to keep us warm....but Lynne and I had a better idea....isn't she cute in this pic???

all gone!

And now....the FOOD...it was GREAT! Best burger I've had in ages. Of course, I had to get a pic of how good it looked! Yummm. Good call, Joel!

on the way downstairs from the rooftop

Dad and daughter waiting for our ride....

And, despite being SO FULL, our farewell dinner ended on a sweet note......what's dinner without dessert??? (of course!)  We kept saying that our diets would start after the trip! Right. I'm still waiting.

But WAIT!!!! One last chance to eat together! In LAX... before we caught our flights home on Monday a.m. No matter what meal...how big or how small...it's always better eaten with a friend.

Thanks for the fun time, Lynne.  It was the BEST!!!!