Do you ever play Hookie?

We took a day off from work and responsibilities on Wednesday and went to a D-Backs game with Janet and Bob. We did do some necessary stuff first, like get blood work done for our annual physicals and get the garage door opener fixed. But the afternoon was great! Thanks for the tickets, Jarret. We drove down town and had lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory before hooking up with Janet and Bob. We parked at a big church just a few blocks from the stadium. I have never been to this particular stadium before. It was really beautiful, and I always enjoy going downtown Phoenix. I love the color of the dirt and the beautiful green grass of the field. I love the sights and smells of a ball game. It always smells like hot dogs and mustard, cotton candy and peanuts. I love watching the people. (It's not really the ball game itself that I love, but all that goes along with it!) This was Rod's first professional baseball game, and so he especially enjoyed the experience. He had never done the seventh inning stretch - so I really belted out the old "Take Me Out to the Ball Game...." for his benefit. The game was rather boring as no one scored until the bottom of the seventh. Then the D-Backs kicked in and got two runs, which won them the game.

The big screens are a nice touch when you are sitting up in the nosebleed section. We decided we like these seats because you can see the whole field at once and for the real action, you can see the replays on the screen. This was an interesting stadium; there was actually a swimming pool over in one corner, and people were using it during the game. I have never heard of swimming during a professional ball game... in a pool located out in right field. Weird. But we are so glad we got to spend this time with Janet and Bob. It was a great day to play Hookie.

Sweet....

It was administrative professionals week. My administrators gave each of us one of these lovely little boxes on Monday wishing us a good week. It came from a special bakery in Scottsdale called "Sprinkles."

Inside we each got a beautiful and perfect cupcake.

Mine was Red Velvet. It didn't last long...

Thanks, Greg and Tami!

Buzzy Boy is turning 5!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Cooper. He is turning 5 on Friday and I just can't believe it! He will start kindergarten soon!

This is when Cooper got blessed.

I love this picture of Cooper with his Grandma Sue.

She is such a wonderful grandma!

I love his Flintstones feet, and his sweet hands. He was the cutest, chubbiest baby!

Cooper is checking out his first birthday cake, which I had the honor of making. I used to make these elephant cakes for my own children...

He looks like he is tired from his party!

Cooper is checking out Julie's "Billy Bob" teeth at Halloween time.

Look at his beautiful eyelashes.

This is one of my all time favorite photos of Coop.

I think he is 3 years old in this picture.

If you look closely, you can see that the ball says

"Life is Good."

Time for a cookie after playing so hard in the water at Cherry Hill.

Katie always takes the best picnics there!

Peeking out from the fort at Wheeler Farm.

I was lucky enough to be there when Cooper learned how to ride a bike last summer. He just climbed on and took off. (Actually Mom and Dad had run behind him a little the night before.) In November, I got to go to Utah for a visit. I enjoyed seeing the grandkids so much. Cooper is always willing to give me a big smile!

Showing off the skateboard.

I got to go for another visit in February! Yes, I am spoiled. This is Coop modeling the spare body parts I brought for him to play with. He thought this stuff was pretty cool.

Coop and Savannah doing cartwheels and round-offs.

Three of my grandkids. Aren't they beautiful!

Cooper, I hope you have a really happy 5th birthday. I wish I could celebrate with you!

I love you and miss you, Buzzy!

Some Saturday Stuff

Up for our early morning walk - the trek tryout - had to walk 4 miles in one hour or less. Started at 8:00 AM. It was a beautiful morning and we thoroughly enjoyed the walk. We had to keep up a pretty good pace, and to make it, even had to jog a little at the end. Then we hurried home for the delivery of . . .

How blessed we are! We were able to get a new washer and dryer delivered today! Hooray! Now the laundry can resume. Rod had an office party so I made Famous Dave's Baked Beans to take. The folks really enjoyed them. They called for grilled steak, grilled smoked sausage, and smoked bacon. It really made the kitchen smell good!

While doing the beans, I also made sweet corn salsa for our ward picnic, along with a chicken pasta salad. The salsa is always a big hit and the secret ingredient is Tiger Sauce! This colorful salsa packs a surprising punch with its sweet hot flavor and there is never a drop left!

Grocery shopping came next and then we went to Rod's little get-together for a few minutes. He really did not want to stay long. We had other things going on like... A visit from Rod's sister, Janet, and her husband, Bob. They are here from New Mexico for a vacation with some sun. They came to our ward picnic with us and we had such a good time visiting with them. Becca with a couple of her cute friends in YW, Briana and Taylor. Some of my friends in the ward. We love our ward family. There are so many amazing people and wonderful friends! Our adorable sister missionaries.

Sister Mclean and her husband brought their cool spring stilts.

Lots of the youth wanted to try them out including...

Becca! Above she is getting the stilts strapped on. They have to fit the legs and feet quite snugly.

Careful . . . this is certainly a time to lean on friends.

Maybe a little interview with the bishop will help. This was a busy day! Our ward picnic was so much fun. We went home tired, but with a smile on our faces!

Darn the luck!

So last week, Rod and I were shopping at Costco at the mall down on Montebello. We came out to put our stuff in the trunk and discovered that someone had hit our back bumper. No note - just a nice ding. Thursday night when I finally got home from making a visit, the garage would not open. Becca ran out and said that the door had crashed down when I left. She said the chain on the opener was hanging down. Yes, it was totally broken. I was staying up rather late and kind of fuming over stuff when I noticed that the washer was was making a really odd noise. I went in and lifted the lid - BLACK smoke rolled out - STINKY black smoke. I had to get a fan to blow it out. Rod had to prop open the garage door with a ladder so the smoke had somewhere to go. Now we have to get a new washer. The motor is completely burned up. They say that bad things come in threes. Hopefully that is ALL.

Go Coyotes!

We got to go to a Coyotes hockey game tonight at the Jobing.com arena. Brother Sharp was kind enough to give us some tickets. We had a blast!

I always love seeing fountains anywhere, but these are some of my favorites.

Here is the big blow up hockey guy with Rod standing in front.

Inside the arena - the colored lights and the big board in the middle keep things so lively! This was a really fun game. We played the Mighty Ducks from Anaheim. We ended up with a tied score so had to have a play off. After the 5 minute overtime period, it was still tied so they had a shoot off. 3 players from each side got to take a shot. We were STILL tied, so they had to do it AGAIN. The Coyotes finally won in the last shoot off session. What a game. Thanks for the tickets, Jarret! We will remember this Saturday for a long time!