I haven't written in a while so I thought I would write to say hi. We have pretty much up to the same ol things just a different month and better weather! Our softball season ended and our team ranked 7/8. Our team had a pizza party to celebrate the season and our coaches handed out gag awards-- Kenny got TP that was "new and improved" like him and I got an oven mitt for "best baker" since I brought treats to lots of the games. We both really enjoyed the season and are looking forward to starting up again in January. We are actually starting up a second team with our co-workers and we will be playing on Tuesday nights too. I will be coaching the new team... scary thought but it should be a lot of fun too. 

Kenny and I have been keeping busy with some home projects. We painted the dining room, put up some shelving in the garage and finally hung some pictures in the living room. Kenny has taken up a new hobby of woodworking and so far has built a great work bench, the shelves for the garage and had plans to make some bread boxes.

Earlier this month we went to Vegas for a two day trip. There was a Quilt Shop Hop that I wanted to go to so Kenny made a bunch of appointments for work so we could go. There were 6 shops and each shop I got some free quilting thing (ie a ruler, travel scissors, fabric etc). It was so much fun.

We did a little something different this year for Thanksgiving. Since Barb has to work the afternoon/evenings Kenny didn't want to miss out a Thanksgiving with her so we had a Thanksgiving breakfast. Kenny made us biscuits and gravy with sausage and Bacon and Eggs. We played some Pictionary and just enjoyed our time together. Later we headed out to my brothers house for a more traditional Thanksgiving feast. Crystal and Brian did such a great job and everything was just delicious.

Happenings

We were lucky enough to get a chance to attend Game 2- Diamond Backs vs. Colorado Rockies on 10/12 with our friends Beverly and Lloyd--- although they lost it was a great game! It is so much fun when the fans are pumped up and we can scream and cheer on our D-backs. At the gate they gave out white towels to waive in the stands- it was pretty cool seeing all the white in the stands and the cheering fans! The row in front of us won a contest and since they were on the "big screen" and I got on too and was delighted- Kenny thought it was funny how excited I got to be on "TV".  Before the game we went with Bev and Lloyd to Bill Johnson's Big Apple for dinner- yum!

Last Sunday my brother and his boys came out to visit with my parents and us. My dad got out his remote control cars and Little Brian loved them! Even Jacob did! He was doing everything he could to get out of my arms-- he wanted to crawl on the street to watch the cars! It was a great afternoon and we always enjoy spending time with them.

This past week Kenny and I celebrated our 8th "dating" anniversary at the AZ State Fair. One of our first dates was at the fair and of course that was where Kenny proposed so we like to go back and celebrate there. We ate some good ol' fair food- Indian Fry bread. We thought about trying out a deep fried snickers or a frozen Dr. Pepper- but just couldn't do it :-)  We walked through and looked at all the vendors, road the Farris Wheel and walked through the petting zoo.It was a great night and a fun way to celebrate our relationship.

This past weekend we went on our trip up to Kingman for March of Dime Walk America! Thanks to all of you Kenny and I exceed our goals of $150 each and raised $365 for babies!! Kenny picked up the trailer on Thursday and we headed out on Friday afternoon. We stayed at a great RV park up there and the weather was beautiful on Friday night. Kenny BBQed some chicken and we watched a movie (yes the RV Park had cable-- we really ruff it huh?). Saturday morning was chilly, but we were pumped up for the 7.5 mile walk. We did pretty good considering 1/2 the walk was up hill and against the wind! The last stretch of the walk was downhill and the wind was pushing up-- that was awesome. We completed the walk in just over 2 hours and we were soar -later : ) After the walk we drove into Laughlin. Kenny tried his luck at a black jack table and was going great until the switched the deal and she took all his winnings and $9. He decided to quit and we went to see Heartbreak Kid at Riverside. Afterwards we fed our extra popcorn to the ducks and headed back to camp. Saturday night Kenny grilled up some steak and potatoes- delicious. Saturday night we froze! It got down to 49 degrees inside the trailer! We came home Sunday morning, took the trailer back and went to Softball.

We are nearing the end of the softball season, but will continue with our team starting up again in January. Our "tournament" is this next Sunday. We are in 7th place (out of 8 teams), but our team has really improved and we just enjoy being out there fellowshipping and getting some exercise.

Parties and Vacation

On 9/17/2007 12:33 PM, Amanda L. Kuhn wrote:

Hi All!

Another busy month has come and gone for us. Hope everyone is doing well and keeping busy too.

 We just got home from an action packed weekend in Forest Lakes celebrating Kenny's grandpa's 80th B-day. Almost all of the family was able to make it up for the party and Bubba had some good days and was able to enjoy his family and friends. They had karaoke set up - which was pretty fun. Believe it or not Kenny and I both attempted it! I have to say though knowing the words to a song doesn't make you a good singer! But hey we had some fun at that.

As I mentioned before we are playing softball with our Church and really enjoying it! We have only won 1/4 games so far, but it is so much fun just to be out there playing. Kenny is doing SO awesome!! He is now playing 1st base most of the game and I am playing catcher. Neither of us have ever played slow pitch so there was a lot of rules to learn and some getting used to the pitching. 

Also, this past month we went to our first Cardinals game at the new stadium, to Suzannah Brewer's bridal shower, to Hannah and Matthew 's (Blair's kids) b-day party, babysat our Nephew Jacob and celebrated grandparents day.

The highlight of our month was of course the trip to Colorado. We spend 7 days up in the lush, beautiful green area of Durango. We took our dogs with us and although they were a handful we were both glad we brought them along. I attached a few pictures from the trip. I think my favorite thing was our drive up to Silverton, Co. The views were unbelievable and it snowed up there!! It was a great trip.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Love, Amanda and Kenny 

March of Dimes

On 9/11/2007 7:57 AM, Amanda L. Kuhn wrote:

Hi Everyone!

Kenny and I are doing the March of Dimes Walk America this year in Kingman, AZ on 10/20/07. We have each set a goal to raise $150 to help save babies! The money we raise goes directly to research to find the causes of premature birth and how it can be prevented, to support families whose babies must spend time in neonatal intensive care units and to provide women with the latest information on having a healthy pregnancy. We think this is an excellent cause and hope you will help support us in our venture. Please visit our webpages at www.walkamerica.org/kkuhn for Kenny and www.walkamerica.org/alkuhn for me to track our progress or to make a donation.

Thanks! Amanda 

July

It is that time again for the more exciting than the newspaper, longer than a chain letter e-mail - the long anticipated... Kuhn Update!
Yep it has been a month (actually longer) and here is what we have been up to--

Fourth of July week Kenny and I went to Flagstaff to camp in our new trailer.

Beautiful temperatures, a little rain, a nice forest trail for hiking and 3 great dogs- who could ask for more! My parents came up for the weekend and we all drove up to the snow bowl to ride the ski lift. It was so neat- the views were amazing and the it was so cool-even a little cold- at the top of the mountain.

Lately we have found ourselves at the movies often. It was one of our favorite things to do when we were dating and somehow fell off the list of importance as daily activities consume our lives. The last few "flicks" we have seen are The Transformers, Evan Almighty and License to Wed- all really great and enjoyable movies.

Also, Kenny and I have started to frequent the Tempe Improv. There are a few of us here at the office who meet before the show for dinner and then we head over to the show. We saw Pablo Fransico and Norm Mac Donald this month. It is nice to just go and laugh and hang out with our friends.

Thanks to my mom, Kenny and I have started to be regulars at Church again. We attend Radiant Church in Surprise. www.radiantchurch.com We really enjoy Radiant mostly because it is laid back in the atmosphere, but as pastor Lee will tell you serious about the Bible and it's teachings. Oh! Also, we signed up for the Church softball team! I am super excited about that- although I haven't played for almost 8 years. We are excited about meeting new people and getting out there to have some fun. Our first practice is this Saturday.

The church has also inspired us to become more active in our community. We have signed up to volunteer twice a month at our local food bank. In addition, we are in the process of applying to be BREAD drivers. Basically what that is - is you pick up a box of food and deliver it to an elderly person or couple who cannot drive or is otherwise home bound. It will be something good for us to do together and maybe help out others.

A friend of mine is walking in the Breast Cancer 3 day this year and has to raise $2200 for the walk. To help her out I made a quilt and sold raffle tickets here and work. We raised $145 for the quilt that she was able to put toward her goal.

One more thing on that same note- I donated my hair! I have been growing it out for a while and finally decided it was time to chop it all off. I donated it to locks of love.

Let’s see what else- Oh Kenny had a few appointments down in Tucson on my Friday off and asked me to tag along with him. The drive can be long by yourself so he said if I came he would take me to some quilt shops- little did he know I would have went anyway : ) He did his audits then we had the whole afternoon to explore Tucson. We went to several quilt shops and Twice as Nice shops. Twice is Nice is a resale shop that buys and sells clothing for the whole family. I used to work at the Phoenix location and had to drive to Tucson for our managers' meetings. It was a lot of fun to check out the shops and of course I came away with lots of crafty inspiration from the quilt shops. Also, we ate breakfast at The Waffle House for the first time on that trip and - yummy!!

Two weekends ago my brother invited Kenny and I over for dinner! We don't get together often enough so it was quite a treat to spend time with them. Brian BBQ some delicious stakes (I think you have some competition Dad!) and made mashed potatoes. They seem to really be enjoying their new house and all the space. Krissy (Crystal's daughter) has her own room and the boys share a room. Jacob is so adorable and is already crawling! He really wants to stand up and sticks his butt in the air, but then doesn't know quite what to do from there. We really enjoyed the time with them.

Last Friday we got Shelby (our black lab) fixed and she need the weekend to recover. Kenny had been itching to go up and see his grandparents so he went up there and tool Toby along with him. Kenny had such a great time up there. Nanette, Kim and Andy were also up spending the weekend at Nanette's cabin and they all played Andy's Nintendo wii- Kenny said it was such a blast. Sunday he came back early enough to take over babysitting Shelby (just that she was supposed to stay inside and we cannot trust them to be inside when we are not home) so I could go to my class. I took a rug hooking class at Quiltz. It was a lot of fun and will be a fun thing to take along camping.

Well, that is about it for us (I think). We are doing well just working and staying busy. Kenny still loves his job and I like mine. We are really looking forward to our trip to Durango, CO next month. Anyway, we would love to hear from you--

Love,
Amanda and Kenny 

June

Hi Everyone!!

I have changed the format of how I am doing the Kuhn updates so as not to bombard everyone with e-mails. I will just send out a monthly update now--- so they will probably be long... Anyway, here is what we have been up to in June-

Thursday (06/07) we went to my grandparent’s house for dinner. They ordered some Pizzas and we chatted for a few hours. It was a lot of fun and we need to do it more often. It always amazes me how different things were for them and it what really amazes me is how much things used to cost! I can’t fathom buying a house for less than a car costs now… amazing, but everyone made a whole lot less too so I guess it all works out.

Saturday (06/09) we took Andy out to Lake Pleasant on the boat. We had such a blast tubing! Andy is a riot and always up for more. He hit a huge wave and became airborne! He held on … until the tube hit the water again then he bounced out. I wish I had a video camera because it was awesome. We all got sun burned, but I think it was worth it.

On Tuesday (06/12) Kenny and I bought a travel trailer!! We had looked at a few and final narrowed it down to a Fun Finder. They actually had two- one new and one used of the same model. Being that I have never really camped in a trailer (or at all- for that matter) I wasn’t really sure what all we needed and good questions to ask. I was very glad Barb and Dave made the time to come out and give us some pointers. We ended up buying the new one and we just love it!!

On Wednesday (06/13) Beverly and I took a trip to Safford, AZ to visit a few agents down there. It is a long trip to make in a day but we were making good time, until we realized we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in New Mexico!! Ah man we had ourselves a good laugh --- later! We didn’t get back to the office until 7:30. Needless to say I missed my Tole class that night and Kenny fired me as his co-pilot (he he he).

On Saturday (06/16-06/17) we took the trailer up for a trial run. We (me, Kenny, our dog Hope and my parents) went up to Flagstaff just for over night. We stayed at an RV Park called Black Barts. The RV park was neat because it had a cool Stake house that had live performances.

We went over there for dessert Saturday night and had a good time listening to the NAU students perform various songs. It was a really neat place to stay and the weather was really great – although it was freezing at night!! We tried out everything on that trailer- from the AC and heater to the microwave and shower -- and of course all the beds. I think my favorite bed is the top bunk tucked in the back. My dad wanted it to be more of a camping experience and insisted on sleeping our under the stars in the bed of the truck in his sleeping bad. I don’t now how he did it because I was freezing inside the trailer! Sunday morning was Fathers day and Kenny made everyone pancakes. It was a great first trip and we cannot wait to take it out again.

On Wednesday (06/20) my dad celebrated his 50^th b-day! We helped him celebrate my TP’ing their house with black, red and white crate paper and a b-day sign! Also, we went out to Applebee’s that night. It was a lot of fun and of course we had the Applebee’s crew sing to my dad. He was a good sport and we all got a kick out of it.

Thursday (06/21) We went to Cabellas for the first time and let me tell you I was more than impressed! Kenny had been there before but never really looked around. We really enjoyed it and now want to check out the new Bass Pro shop I keep hearing about- who knew?!

On Friday (06/22) we went up to Forest Lakes to deliver a desk for Sarah and Quint (Kenny’s grandparents). We took Toby (our little wiener dog) up with us. I think that little boy was in Heaven! He really enjoyed Sarah and all her attention (and treats).

 They tried to get him to say but I think he would miss his sisters too much J   Also, that weekend my bother moved into a house! They are very excited about it and I hear Little Brian is really enjoying huge yard they have now.

Kenny went to Vegas for a few days (06/25-06/28) for work. He did a ton of audits this trip so he won’t have to go back for a few months. It is a fun place to visit and I love to tag a long, but I stayed home this time to save some vacation days for other trips. He did some gambling and got to see a few movies. He says it was a lot of fun but he was very glad to be home (and so was I!!)

On Friday (06/29/07) we went to the Tempe Improv with Blair. We saw Bobby Collins – he was a hoot! He is from New York and had a lot of jokes about “desert people” and the heat- very appropriate for this time of year. The opener was really good too although I cannot remember his name. Blair had never been there before and thought it was a really neat place.

Saturday (06/30/07) we took the trailer (which had been at the dealer for some minor repairs) over to Barb’s house. We are fortunate to have her place to store it for now since we cannot keep it at our house because of the homeowners association. On the way out to Buckeye I met up with a friend, Michelle, at Hobby Lobby in Avondale. She helped me pick out some brushes for our Tole painting class- since they were 50% we had to take advantage of the savings! Saturday night we went out to Beverly and Lloyd’s house and went out to dinner. Her place is so neat! She has 1.25 acres of horse property. It is out off of 27^th Ave (almost to Anthem). When she bought the property she was out in the middle of no where and now there are houses and stores all over the places which makes it difficult to ride the horses. We went to a really neat diner in Carefree. I love that little town – it looks like the old west or something. The four of us had a great time!

Sunday (07/01/07) we had the opportunity to go to a Brad Paisley concert! Dave had won some tickets, but he and Barb couldn’t go- so we did! It was a lot of fun- HOT- but fun. We originally had lawn seats, but since we were wearing Barb and Dave’s Camel Country T-shirt they upgraded our seats to the 200 section! I loved the 3 opening performers and Brad was great too. Thanks again Dave and Barb!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th of July holiday!


Love,

Amanda and Kenny

Mothers Day and more

Hi Everyone-

How is everyone doing? It has been awhile since I have written. How was everyone's Mothers Day and Memorial Day? Any fun summer plans? Vacations or anything? Did everyone enjoy the excitement with the Suns in the playoffs? Too bad for this year, but there is always next year.

For Mothers Day we had an ice cream social for my mom and grandma. It was so nice that my brother came out with Baby Jacob! Crystal couldn't make it as she was spending time with her daughter and took Little Brian along with her. We had so much fun loading up our homemade ice cream with toppings and treats! Then Kenny got to take his Mom out on Monday night for dinner and they had a nice time too.

On the Thursday before Memorial weekend we got a call from Barb telling us Kenny's grandpa Quint was in the hospital. He had been cutting wood and a piece flew in his face. Well, they didn't think anything of it until the next day when he slept all day long. A friend of theirs, who is a paramedic, came over to visit and said that he might have tetanus and they should take him to Payson. At first the doctors could not identify what exactly it was and many of the tests had to be sent to Phoenix. It was a long week which turned into weeks for Sarah, but finally they confirmed he had tetanus. Although, he gave us all a scare he is on the rode to recovery and staying at 67th and Thunderbird for the next two weeks. Your positive thoughts and prayers for him are appreciated!

Kenny has been traveling a lot for work. Mostly day trips to Yuma, Tucson etc so the weekends are definitely a time to rest up! He is really enjoying his job and enjoys the freedom of planning his own days. He is really becoming a business man. Sometimes I go along with him on his trips (to Vegas, Kingman etc) and I got to see him in action at one of our insured's offices. I was really impressed how well he communicated with them and how professional he was. In our business dealing directly with the business owners can be very difficult since a lot of people don't always understand insurance and our need to review their books. He has adapted wonderfully- I am so proud!!

I am keeping busy with my crafting hobbies. I just started Tole painting with a few ladies from the office here. The Shop is in down town Glendale in the historic district. The classes are one a week and we do one project per week.

 I am having a lot of fun with it, although it can be frustrating at times. Also, I am working on a quilt with another friend at work here, Carol. We are making a signature quilt for the claims manager that is retiring this month. There are 80 people in the office so it is quite a task, but we are having a lot of fun with it. I am still involved in many online groups. We just finished a "virtual quilt camp" It reminded me a lot of girl’s camp when I was 14! We had secret sisters that we exchanged camp survival kits with and there were door prizes, projects, bingo etc. I ended up winning a huge bag of fabric as a door prize.

My parents are doing well. You may already know this, but they work in the East Valley and live down the street from us in the West Valley. Their commute is about 45 mins to an hour depending on traffic. My mom has new hours so they aren't car pooling anymore, but she enjoys getting home in the early afternoon. When dad is not working he is keeping busy in his garden. Which is flourishing by the way! The man definably has a green thumb! My mom keeps busy with crafts and we are working on an appliqué project currently.

Well, everyone have a great week and hope to hear from you soon!

Amanda 

Busy Busy

Hi Everyone--

Wow May already huh? I know I say that every month but this year is just whizzing by! Unbelievable. Well, as usual we have been keeping ourselves busy- busy-

Friday (04/27/07) Kenny and I decided to drive out to Mesa. There is a great scrapbook store out there which I wanted to go to and Kenny wanted to drive the new truck (boys and there toys). Actually, we needed to get 500 miles on the engine before we can tow the boat so we thought we would make an evening of it. We ended up eating at Cici's pizza a new all you can eat buffet place. I think the location we went to was the only on in Arizona (?), but there are some in other states- if you have the opportunity to go to one you should!  It is decent Italian food for $4.99 and all you can eat!  It was a really great evening and I am so lucky to have a husband who will wait 45 minutes for me to browse through yet another craft store.

The next morning we picked up Crystal for our "girls day out" to Celebrate her birthday. My mom funded a mini shopping spree for Crystal and we had a great time picking things out. Afterwards we all went and had pedicures done. It was Crystals first pedicure ever (my second) and I think she really enjoyed it. My mom treated us to lunch and we enjoyed spending time doing girly things- can't wait to do it again!!

Sunday Kenny and I took our friend Blair to the D-backs game. Our company has season tickets so we occasionally get to go. They put our names in a pot and draw out the winners... the funny thing is Kenny and I both won the same week! We ended up letting someone else have the Thursday game to be fair- but how lucky was that!?

Tuesday (05/1/07) I got to spend some time with an old friend, Catherine. We had dinner with her family and chatted. I am always amazed at their family dynamics- always something going on with a large family. Definitely a change from our two person dinner at home.

Wednesday, after work, we headed to Vegas. Kenny had several appointments up there and I just tagged along for fun. We ended up seeing a few movies, getting some shopping done (baby shower and mothers day) and just relaxing while we were there. No great winning stories this time, but hey you can't win em all. We left Friday morning so Kenny could get to his appointment in Kingman and got home early Friday evening.

Saturday I got to see another old friend, Janesse. My mom and I went to her baby shower on Saturday morning. Her sisters planned the shower and came up with some really great games- never a dull moment! After the shower we headed over to my brothers house to pick up Jacob and Little Brian. My mom took Little Brian and Kenny and I took Jacob over night. Kenny did such a great job with Jacob and we had so much fun with him! He is almost 4 month now and really starting to coo and "talk". He is such a sweet baby.

Sunday we took the boys home and didn't do much else the rest of the day. Sunday night I woke up in the middle of the night with the flu! Then Monday night Kenny woke up with it too. We both went back to work on Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon Kenny took Dave and Ray to the D-backs game. They had a good time even though the D-back lost.

Now it is Friday and I am so ready for the weekend again! I hope everyone has a good one. We enjoy hearing back from you guys!

Shelby and I

Birthday, Trip and NEW TRUCK

How has everyone been these past few weeks? How was everyone's Easter?Since Kenny's b-day landed on Easter this year we celebrated them together with a Ham and an oreo ice cream cake from DQ. We had our parents, my grandparents and my brother, Crystal and their boys over for the afternoon. 

My brother and Crystal gave Kenny and acre of land...... ON THE MOON!  Now we were looking for an acre of land to buy, but we were thinking a little closer 8-) . It was just such a cute gift!

The next day I left of Des Moines for some training in our home office. The trip had a rocky start since US Airways over sold my flight and I was bummed off! I ended up having to wait 11 hours for the next flight that evening. Luckily Kenny was able to come get me so I did have to wait all day at the Airport. We went to a movie, ate some lunch and went miniature golfing! My flight ended up being delayed again that night and I finally made it to Des Moines and to my hotel about 2AM.  The training went well and we had the evenings free to do what we wanted. I wondered around the skywalk and has dinner with some colleges from other branches. Their skywalk is the neatest thing! It connects the buildings and you can walk inside there for miles! It was nice to watch the snow from inside the glass tunnels. While I was gone that week Kenny did a lot of traveling within Arizona- Yuma, Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott etc etc!

The weekend of 04/14 & 15 - My mom and I took up a new hobby - Cake decorating! Since Kenny was a professional cake decorator (when he was a manager for Frys) we elected him our teacher. I had no idea there was so much to it , but we are enjoying learning. Sunday we went out to Buckeye to help set up Barb and Dave's pool for the summer.

Last Friday (04/20) Kenny and I took Shelby (our black lab) out to the lake. It was a blast. She had never been around any body of water like that and was just so curious and wanted to investigate. We took her on a boat ride and he was all over the place checking out the waves and the water splashing. We got to an island and gave her time to play. Fetch with a stick was my favorite- she was just so eager to swim out and bring it back to us! I guess we found our boat dog!!! That night we took Barb and Dave out for Mexican food at Raul and Teresa's and headed over to their house to play cards.

Saturday morning my parents and Kenny went out to the desert to ride the dirt bike and the quads. There was a bit of an accident, but everyone is okay. My mom and dad flipped the quad going up a hill. The were a little banged up but are as tough as they come! That night we ate dinner with them and played more cards.

One last thing... Last Sunday we purchased  a new 2007 GMC Sierra

 We traded in our 2005 GMC Canyon. My favorite part of the new truck is that the seats fold up in the back to give the dogs lots of laying around room! I think Kenny's favorite part is he finally had the full size truck he wanted.

Anyway, that should get us caught up! We would love to hear from you all! Drop a line when you have time :)

Amanda

Boat and Birthday

Good Morning,

How is everyone? Things have been really busy and don't show any signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Friday was my half day so I met up with my friend, Blair, for lunch at Olive Garden. We headed back to the house and watched Cinderella man. When Kenny got home we ordered some pizzas and watch Babel (bizarre movie).

Saturday we took the boat out on the lake for the first time this year. It is running a lot better since we got it back from the Marine shop. I am not sure the technical terms, but it basically it wouldn't start and they fixed it.... Anyway, my mom hadn't been to the lake in years and had a really great boat ride. We took Toby out for the first time too... he was terrified! He is definitely not a boat dog.

Sunday, we went to my parent’s house for stakes to celebrate Kenny's B-day (early, but since it falls on Easter this year they wanted him to have a special dinner).

It was a great weekend, but went tooooo fast! This week we have birthdays, a baby shower and Easter and next week I am off to Des Moines (our Home office) for four days.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Love,
Amanda and Kenny 

Update

Hi Everyone!

How is everything?  I hope everyone is doing well, but I know some of you are going through hard times right now and I hope you know we are thinking of you during these struggles. During sickness and hardship we should be able to lean on our family and friends and I hope you know we are here to help.

On to more positive things, I have been so busy lately I haven't been able to take the time to write the "updates", but Kenny did a fabulous job in my absence :) He is down in Tucson working today, but will be home tonight. Also, today is Andy's Birthday (Kenny's cousin). HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!

As Kenny mentioned we headed to Vegas last Wednesday. I really enjoyed the road trip part of our mini vacation. We got to see the Hoover Dam at night -- it was amazingly beautiful. The hotel was really great too. We stayed at the Sunset Station in Henderson. They had half a dozen restaurants, a bowling ally, movie theater, ice cream shop, gift shop, pool, exercise room and of course casino all in the hotel. Thursday Kenny worked and later we went to a movie (Ghost Rider) and did some gambling. I usually don't gamble, but Kenny loves black jack. It was nerve racking to watch, but pretty fun.... he bet $75 on one hand and lost, but that is part of the game. I guess you have to bet big to win big...He ended up walking away with $140 in winnings. Friday before we left I was lucky enough to get a tour of the local quilt shops. It is always nice to see new ideas and get inspired.

We got home late Friday night and boy were our muddy dogs glad to see us. I am not sure, but I think it is a law that is must rain when you leave town. My parents came and fed them and played with them while we were gone, but they are used to being inside at night so I am sure they weren't happy with us. In fact Hope ignored us until Sunday...

Saturday we cleaned the house, did laundry all that fun stuff. I sewed... a lot and my parents brought Pizza over for dinner and we played some cribbage. We tried parents vs the kids.... and the parents skunked us! Then we tried girls vs. boys and the girls won !

Sunday we went out to Buckeye to see Barb and Dave. Their little puppy Sally is getting so big and cuuuute! We brought our Toby with us since he really likes car rides. It was a nice day to end a nice long weekend.

Have a great week everyone!!

Amanda and Kenny 

OC

It looks like we have a request for the Kuhn update.  I feel as if it's my responsibility to carry this on until Amanda can free up some time.  She's been really busy with work, but is stuck taking some days off.  I know that the weekend was only a few days ago, but I just don't remember much of it.  I know that we continued watching the O.C.  We got use to cleaning, cooking, and folding cloths watching the O.C.  Yes... It's that good.  I don't remember what really happened on Friday, but I do remember a little of Saturday.  Scarlett and Amanda went to the girly store and got all prettied up.  They both had a pedicure and manicure.  As the girls were there, the boys took off to the man stores.  You know Lowe's and Bed Bath and Beyond.  Well at least Lowe's helps us seem macho.   Doug wanted to pick up a patio chair at Bed Bath and Beyond.  Then he got a portable cooler for their patio.  Their patio is now cooler then the house.  Apparently you can have a cooler, freezer, stereo, and a large fan on one plug.  I'm very impressed.  The girls ended up going to Jake and Betty's house for some pizza leaving the boys to play Cribbage.  Out of about 8 games I think I won once.  Sunday ended up being a normal Sunday for us.  Yes you guessed it, we watched some O.C.  But we actually did it with some company.  Blair came over and watched it with us.  She's the one that got us addicted.  After that I guess we cleaned a little house, made dinner, and that was it.  

I guess that's about it for now.  Amanda and I are leaving for Vegas tonight.  I have some work to do up there, and Amanda's going to keep me company.  Well be back in time to live the weekend at home, and to have more info for y'all next week.  I hope everybody has a great rest of the week!

THE Weekend

Good afternoon everybody.  Amanda's a little busy, so I'm going to try and do the "Kuhn Update".

Let's see... Lets go ahead and start on Friday.  Friday was a good day, but an expensive day.  Amanda was off on Friday as she is on every other Friday.  She hit the town.  She went to about 13 stores.  Surprisingly she didn't buy something at every store as usual.  She got the dogs some stuffed animals at the thrift store.  The dogs love stuffed animals with so many different smells.  On Friday night Amanda introduced me to the television show "The O.C."  It's quite addicting.  We rented the first season and pretty much watched it until about 4 a.m. Sunday morning.  We did take a small break on Saturday.

Saturday we (Scarlett, Amanda and I) went to some quilt store in down on 32st and Thunderbird.  There are about five stores between our house and that particular store, but I guess there just not good enough.  After the quilt store we went to some yard sales.  It's pretty amazing that people want so much money for their old crap.  Knowing Amanda she loaded the dogs up on more toys.  Now we have a garbage bag full of stuffed animals in the garage.  After the yard sales we went to Jody's house, Dave's sister, and picked up the beautiful quilt rack.  We didn't actually see Jody, but we were able to sit and talk with Oma and Opa (Dottie and Ray, Dave's parents).  Those are two people that will make your day better.  They're always in a good mood.  After visiting with them we ran to my Mom and Dave's and picked up the boat.  It's that time of year.  Nothing says summer as tubing behind an old fishing boat.  A couple of years ago Amanda was on the tube and hit a huge wave.  She flew, on the tube, about 6 feet in the air.  I think the boat may have left the water too.  The wave was coming from a house boat.  She road it the entire time.  My new goal is to get her about 10 feet in the air.  We ended Saturday with watching the O.C.  We ended staying up until 4 in the morning.  It's so addicting.

Sunday was nice.  It started around 11 with Doug and Scarlett knocking on the door.  Of course we just woke up.  We talked with them for awhile and then they left.  Amanda and I started working on the boat.  It had to be cleaned and running.  Amanda cleaned and I was suppose to get it running.  Having Amanda try and clean out a fishing boat was interesting.  She had to ask on every little thing before she could throw it away.  The little rubber worms were my favorite.  She had such a funny look on her face when she came to one of those.  She got the boat really cleaned, but I couldn't get it started.  I'm going to leave it to the professionals.  After getting sun burnt dealing with the boat we rode out bikes over to Doug and Scarlett's for some swimming.  It was fun.  We ended the day with BBQed hot dogs and a few games of cribbage.

I hope I did a satisfactory job.  I hope everybody enjoys their week. 

My Birthday

Hi Everyone!!

How was everyone's weekend? Great I hope! I am having a great Monday at work and getting spoiled rotten for my birthday with flowers, gifts and treats to eat. The girls are all taking me out for lunch at PF Changs right here by our office. Kenny is having a great time teasing me about my age... but he is older than me...

Anyway, last Thursday we went by and saw Michelle and Trevor's new place. We went to help them move, but Andy and Trevor had moved most of the big stuff so we just helped with the boxes and stuff for a while. It is a nice place with a beautiful grass area in front and right by the pool too. The apartment was just completely redone with new carpet, new counters, new floor coverings and fresh paint. I think my favorite was the huge pantry! Nanette and Kim were there to help as well and it was great to see everyone.

Saturday my friend Beverly took Kenny and I to the Coyotes game. It was a lot of fun and I have never been so close you can watch the game on the ice instead of on the big TVs! Before the game we met at Famous Daves BBQ and had a great dinner. Beverly's son works at the Arena. He helps out the howler with all sorts of things, including shooting the T-shirts into the stands, passing our freebies etc. Fun stuff!

Sunday, we had a little BBQ at our house with my parents, grandparents and my brother and his family. I really enjoyed having everyone over. Kenny grilled up the hamburgers and polish sausages and we had ice cream cake (from my mom and dad) for dessert- my favorite!! My brother is the king of gag gifts... from grandpa's pigeon beater to my money tree he has been very creative, but I think this years gift takes the cake.... and reminds us to be careful what you ask for. He gave me a baby doll.... that pees. It comes with diapers to change and a bottle and a bunch more stuff. He is such a riot! And always the life of the party.

We had a great week and weekend--- hope all is well with you!

Love, Amanda and Kenny

On 3/5/2007 10:01 AM, Kenny W. Kuhn wrote:

Just to add something.  Yesterday I was two years older than Amanda, and now I'm only one year older.  She's catching up to me at an accelerated rate.  I'm pretty sure she'll pass me next year. 

Flying by!

Hello Everyone!

Wow! Can you believe we are already at the end of February!? Seems like we were just making new year's resolutions! So how was everyone's week last week? Any fun plans or special events coming up?

Last Wednesday Kenny and I got to go to the Phoenix Suns game and watch them beat the Boston Celtics!  We got the tickets from the Kia dealership for test driving a car, so we were in the "Kia section" up in the 200s. Although, we don't usually keep up with the suns or watch the games on TV --it was such a blast to be there and watch them. I really enjoyed it.

Friday I was off of work and took advantage of the extra time. I cleaned the house and then went with my friend, Blair, out to Buckeye to get her puppy! She adopted a little female black lab from the same litter as Barb and Dave! How neat is that! She was going to get a male, but fell in love with the little girl. Her son Matthew wanted to name the pup Captain Jack Sparrow, but settled for Black Pearl since she is a girl. We also went and looked at a few model homes out in Surprise and Goodyear- just for the decorating tips!

Saturday, I drug Kenny to the Posie Patch craft show at Ironwood High School. It was a lot of fun and very inspiring for me. Next we headed off to do some shopping at Kohls were we ran into Blair and Mike (a guy from our work). I guess Kohls is the place to be on Saturdays...  When we got home we were got a visit from two bike riders... my mom and dad! They got these really neat new custom bikes. My mom's bike is a cute 3 wheeler with a basket and my dads has a 'chair' as the seat. Really neat and great for the exercise! We went out to Apple Bees with them later that evening for dinner.

Sunday, was our relaxing day. We went to the grocery store and did a few other errands. We also did a few things in the back yard. We made Shelby a digging pit, which will hopefully help her stop digging up our grass. Also, Kenny fixed all the sprinkler heads she has chewed up and filled in one hole in the side yard with cement...

Puppy Dogs and Babies

Good Morning Everyone!!

I bet many of you are enjoying an extended weekend today - lucky people... however we are back at work after a weekend filled with puppy dogs and babies (really!)

Kenny woke up Friday with a really bad back ache and ended up going to a new Chiropractor to get some relief. They told him he had signs of arthritis already… Hopefully this new Chiropractor will be able to help him.  Also, Friday night Kenny and I babysat our one month old nephew, Jacob. I was so excited about it, but nervous too since neither one of us have ever changed a diaper!! My brother and Crystal were gracious enough to trust us with their little one and gave me a crash course in diapers and bottles. My mom is just down the street so I wasn't too worried, but still a big step for us. We took my parents out to dinner at our little Mexican food restaurant on Grand --- sorta a down payment for late night calls for help with the baby! It was cute to see my dad hold such a tiny baby and of course my mom (grandma) is a pro. Then we headed to the house- Jacob was so well behaved... our dogs on the other hand were not happy at all. They were very curious and jealous of the baby.  Then when they couldn't sleep in our room that night they were just mad as can be. They were up all night crying, barking and scratching at our door. Jacob slept right through it all and woke up around 2, went back to bed after his bottle and everything and woke up at 5. Such a sweet boy : )

Saturday morning we took Jacob home and Little Brian was not too happy to see his brother come home. He frowned at us when we carried him in. We asked him if he was happy his brother was home and he said, "no" It is too funny because when I was born I guess my brother was the same way... he Asked my mom "When is she going home" ha ha, he even had a sense of humor then. After we dropped him off I headed off to my quilting class. Then we just tried to recuperate the rest of the day!  My parents took us out for dinner at this really great Chinese Buffet right up the street from our houses. All you can eat! We were stuffed : ) Then we went over to their place and played a few games of cribbage. Dad and I won 2/3 games… he he he had to add that in.

Sunday we did some cleaning (those dogs can really mess up a house!) My mom and I ran up to Sun Valley quilts and picked up some adorable Easter fabrics for a project. Later my grandparents stopped by for a visit. I really enjoy have guests out to the house and visiting. Then we went and picked up my new ring at Jared! Yes, he went to Jared! It is a long story, but this was my Christmas/Anniversary gift, but our old jeweler didn't come through so we switch to Jared and we love them! Then we drove out to Buckeye to have dinner with Barb, Dave, Sarah and Quint.  When we got there Dave had the cutest little puppy on his lap! They adopted a 6 week old black lab! What a surprise! We knew Dave wanted one and I guess when they found the pups on Valentines Day- cupid did his work! They adopted little Sally on Sunday  : )  She is such a lover and perfectly content sitting on your lap--- we’ll see how that works out when she is 80 lbs! We got to walk down to the neighbors house and meet her mom and dad and see her litter mates. The women had them set up in her barn, along side the chickens and horses. It was a lot of fun to check them out. Puppies are great--- it is a good thing we don’t have a bigger yard otherwise we would have had a new Chocolate lab last night!!

Oh there is even more news--Dave's two kids, Kip and Jen, were in the Jr. Olympics this past week for fencing! They also had an article and their picture in the paper this past week as well. Below is a link to the article if you want to take a look- also I attached the file, but I don't think the picture came through. www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/0214sr-fencers0214Z8.html  Maybe there will be some Meyer Olympic gold medalist in the not to distant future!

Sorry these are getting so lengthy... I guess I just have lots to say about my family to my friends and family : )
Anyway, have a great week everyone!

Celebrating

Hi Everyone--- time to get caught up --

We had a nice Super Bowl Sunday. I was intensely cramming, but did catch bits and pieces of the commercials! We had nachos and sloppy joes for dinner with my parents.

Last Monday- the 5th I took another test. This will be part 5 out of 8. As many of you know I am working diligently toward my CPCU professional designation. There are 8 parts which are college level classes which you self study and take one exam. It is a pass/fail- no grades. Once I complete this designation I will be part of the CPCU chapter in my area and the company will award me $850 along with an all expense paid trip to the award ceremony. In 2007 the award ceremony is in Hawaii! That is what I am shooting for, but they are intense courses that usually take 6 months each... Either way I am glad to have another part under my belt. Now it is on to the next one!

Saturday we bummed around town. We went by Kenny's old store and saw his buddy Danny. Turns out Kenny is still know as the French Bread King! When he was the manager over there his bakery was number one in French Bread sales ever week... but since he left they haven't been. It's always nice to know you were appreciated and remembered.

Sunday we went to Little Brian's second B-day party. He is such a cutie pie! He was too funny when it was time to sing and blow out the candle he knew just what to do and blew is out just before we could start singing! So cute-- And Jacob what a doll! He is just over a month old and precious as can be. He is lifting his head now and awake longer. It is so fun to see him change and so fast too.

Monday and Tuesday I was off to California to visit several agencies I underwrite for. We traveled all over Southern California! Redlands on Monday night and all the way to San Diego on Tuesday. I saw the ocean, but there was no time to stop and play on the beach--- work work work : ) Our office over there is in Lauguna Hills and I fly into the John Wayne Airport - which is nice because it is a smaller air port with only two Terminals.

For Valentines Day we went to the Tempe Improve! Kenny planned the whole thing - dinner and a show. We saw a comedian from Comedy Central named Jeff Dunham. He is a ventriloquist. It was so much fun and we got free ticket to go back again!