Beautiful

We have had some interesting weather this week... cold and rainy. Poor Aunt Donna came all the way from Illinois to get warmth and we just gave her another week of cold and rain.... anyway, I was at work and looked out the window and thought this clouds were so beautiful...

Cool

Apparently I say "cool" A LOT, because after spending most of the weekend together my little 2 year old Nephew picked up this favorite word of mine... We were looking at the ducks at the park and he points and says "cooooool" It was so adorable! And I have to say if he is going to pick up a 4 letter word from Aunt Amanda... I am glad it is COOL --

Dirty

I have mentioned this a little before, but it is so dang cute I have to share it in more detail. One Sunday a while back we were visiting my brother and I was holding Jacob (as always) and he started pointing to all my freckles and saying "dirt", "dirt" Super cute right, but it gets better. The next time we were visiting Kenny was holding him and he pointed to his goatee and said "dirty" "dirty" Well I of course found this very amusing and laughed and laughted.... We have been trying to teach Jake our names so I will point at Kenny and say "Kenny". Then Jake gets a giant smile and points at him and says.... "dirty!" I captured a picture of this very moment and just had to share...

An unexpected visit

On Monday Kenny got a call from his Aunt Donna (from Illinois) and found out she was here in Arizona! She was visiting a friend in Mesa so Wednesday after work we drove out to Mesa to have dinner with her. It was a nice night and fun to catch up.

Rainy Day

Monday 02/09/09 Was a cold and rainy day... I looked out the office window and saw this beautiful rainbow! I snapped a quick picture, but it just doesn't do it justice.

The Good, The Bad and The Cute

Saturday (01/07/09) morning we (Ken,Brian, the boys and I) decided to try out the new light rail here in town. We met at Christown Mall and parked two perfectly good cars in the lot and took the "train" down town (Phx) to Chase Field where the Diamondbacks play. They had Diamondbacks Day where you could walk down on the field and catch fly balls, bat, run the bases, get autographs etc. We checked it out but realized it was more for older kids so we headed over to Heritage Park where there was a car show-- Motoring thru Time-- They had everything from model T's to hot sports cars-- all the guys loved it. Then we walked over to Hooters for lunch-- the men loved that. While we were there we ran into a couple we used to play softball with which was kinda fun to see them. After lunch it was time to head back so we caught the light rail... made it thru a the first few stops... then the fun began. They lost power and we were stuck downtown, inside the train. There was a ruff looking man who started throwing a fit saying "Open the doors, open the doors its an emergency" Well there was no power and I guess they couldn't open the doors... then the man thought it would be a good idea to kick open the doors.... when he did this it started a confrontation between two older men and him. The two men happen to be standing right by Kenny and Jake... Finally the doors opened and the man walked out and strolled away. About 15 minutes later we were told we had to get off the broken train and wait for another one to pick us up. All and all we were stuck for about 40 mins on Phoenix's new billion dollar light rail... We missed have of Kenny's softball game, but he still got to bat once.

That night we went out to dinner with a few people from Kenny's softball team to a place called the Golden Coral. Its a buffet and actually had really good food.

Saturday night I made these fun Cars pillow cases and bought them some new pillows for Valentines. Also, I finished my heart table runner-- just in time to display it for Valentine's week!!

Sunday, My mom, Kenny and I all met my brother and the boys at a park to play. It was a lot of fun until the incident... My bro and I thought it would be funny to swing on the baby swings... well were doing that and Jacob decided he wanted me and came running right at me... I couldn't stop and swung right into him. Knocked him right down and gave him a big ol mark on his forehead... I felt terrible. Before long he was back to playing and laughing.

Chocolate Affaire

Every year down town Glendale has an event in February called the Chocolate Affaire. There are lots of vendors, romance novel authors and everything Chocolate you can imagine from Chocolate potato chips to chocolate covered strawberries. My brother called us up yesterday afternoon and asked it we wanted to go with him, his friend Heather and the boys- of course we did and we had an absolute blast!

They had a kid zone with tons of those inflatable jumpers and slides... I think Brian and Kenny had as much fun if not more that than the boys did! Each guy took one of the boys and Heather and I took pictures... didn't get many good ones because we were laughing so much. I finally had to join them. Some of the "rides" were just slides, but most of them were kind of obstacle courses... They would climb up and slide down and wiggle through-- you get the idea. I was super impressed with the both the boys... they may be part monkey. I think the highlight was this cars slide... although you had to climb the stairs under the car and that scared the boys, but once they did it they were ready to go again. Bunkie just loves trains so of course we had to take a ride on that. After the adults were all tuckered out we headed over to Mama Mia for dinner. There was live entertainment - a man singing with a guitar and the boys just loved him! They would clap and clap. Jake danced a little too- too cute! Also, I tried a chocolate martini in honor of the event!

Later we walked through the park where all the vendors were. I got some yummy homemade potpourri and Kenny bought a nice metal art piece. Bunkie and I made a chocolate Pizza to end the night. It was such a good time. My bro and Kenny are such a riot together you cannot help but have a good time.

From the Pink Room

I am super excited because I finished my new little lunch bag tonight! It is called the desk deli and it is a pattern my girlfriend from work let me borrow and I made it from the fabric she gave me! I just love the way it came out!! I know when my mom sees it she will love it and want it so she may end up with this one and I will make another. Anyway, just wanted to share!

UFC fight and Super Bowl Sunday

After softball last night one of Kenny's teammates had a bunch of people over to watch the UFC fight on paper view. We had burgers then watched the fights, but the main event was so hard to watch... the guy Chunky and all the guys wanted to win (BJ) got beat bad... I was relieved at the end of third round until they told me that championships are 5 rounds... poor guy! Finally after the 4th BJ called it quits.
Tonight we had a few people over to watch the Super Bowl. We had a squares game going and a few side bets. It was actually a really intense game to watch! I am sorry the Cards didn't win, but glad I am $10 richer--- thanks dad! My dad is a real cardinals fan and has been for years. I remember back when my Grandma Taylor used to bet my bro a quarter a game for the entire season... she would always take the Cards, and back then that meant paying out! My dad continued the tradition for a few years after she passed away. She would have been proud to see them make it to the Super Bowl!
Anyway, hope everyone had a good weekend... ours was too short!!

Little Brian turns 4!!

We had a fun little get together at the park for Little Brian's birthday celebration. My bro ordered him an awesome sponge bob cake-- the boys just loved it... we didn't mind eating it either! I think his favorite gifts were the toys from the top of the cake and the clothes my grandma got him. The picture to the left is him opening the clothes. It is always the simplest things they love.

But the highlight of the afternoon was the pile of leaves... that's right no store bought toy could bring this kind of joy. Kenny tossed him in the pile of leaves and he erupted with laughter and continued to roll in the leaves and toss them in the air. I asked him he was having fun and he just giggled and said yeah fun! It was so funny.