Zoo

The boys and I went to the Wildlife Zoo & Aquarium. We have not been since Trey was little and it was re-done.
We stopped for corn dogs first...one of their favorites.
They got very excited on the drive over because the jets were taking off and landing at Luke Air Force Base. At one point there was a jet right over us.
They had some new hands on exhibits, so Trey got to tough stingrays and starfish. Coby just wanted to splash the water, so he got a little wet.
We walked the whole zoo.
There were a ton of monkeys. A couple of them were eating leaves, so Trey threw some so they could reach their arms out and get them.
The black panther was right over our head, he never looked down at us, but we got to see him very well.
Trey got to feed the new baby giraffe.
Coby was not interested in the petting zoo, so Trey went in. He was so sweet, he was looking for all the small animals and then got down on the ground to pet them.
They both fell asleep on the way home.

Holiday Fun!!

We have been busy with holiday fun!! I cannot believe it is almost 2009.
Time to catch up!
We went into Trey's classroom to decorate houses. He was so excited to have us there. Coby was happy to be eating all of the decorations. Trey's teacher let Coby make one also. Trey got Student of the Month for December!!! We are extremely proud of him. He works so hard and is an amazing reader. Of course being a boy, he loves math. He is constantly asking me the answers to big addition problems. Seeing as how I am not a fan of math, I finally gave him a calculator so I could stop racking my brain.
We went down to Tucson the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with my family. Everyone was there except Dan and family because the took a trip to Arkansas.
We stopped in Tempe to look at Costco and Ikea...we are on a mission to find bunk beds for the boys. We met up with my Uncle Chuck at Ikea to get a cooler full of fish from Alaska.
We had a good time in Tucson. Lots of food and fun!
Flagstaff got 20" of snow, so we had to go let the boys play!! We just went up for the day, but it was plenty of the cold for us. We stopped and had pizza first with some of Mark's family. Then we hit the slopes. Trey, my little dare devil was on the big hills speeding down. Coby, not so much. After a few times down the hill with Mark I asked him if he wanted to go with me. His response was, "I don't wike it". HA! HA!
After the slopes closed we went over to the NAU campus and played a little more and then headed home.
Christmas Eve Mark grilled steak and halibut (the fish courtesy of Chuck) yummy!
After dinner every year we head out to see Christmas lights. We go to a house in north Phoenix that you can walk through. I have been going there since I was young. My grandparents used to live in that area. We also go to one in our area that must have 75 inflatable decorations and the homeowners dress up and hand out popcorn and candy.
The boys were able to open 1 present from mom and dad...new pj's.
Christmas morning was exciting as always. The boys are so good about taking turns and sharing. Trey was excited about all the presents he bought for us at his school santa store.
I read Marley & Me when it first came out, so I wanted to go see it after the present opening. Not a good movie to see when you have had to put 2 dogs down recently, especially when 1 of them was a Labrador.
So after we cried our eyes out, we went over to Juli's house (Mark's sister's sister in law). We had dinner and a gift exchange.
Late Friday afternoon we went over to Mesa to see my grandparents and uncle Chuck. We were all supposed to go to dinner and see the temple lights, but my grandma got sick. So we went out with Chuck for pizza. We stopped at a huge camping/hunting store on the way back. They had a inside aquarium and some shooting games for the boys.
On Saturday Mark, Trey, Coby and all the boys from his family went to a hockey game and us girls went to dinner.
Mark took the boys hiking at Thunderbird park and tomorrow I will be taking them to the zoo.
2008 was a year of ups and downs, but we are grateful to have each other and look forward to another year of watching our kiddos grow!

Suns Game

The boys went to a Suns game last night while I got to relax and make cookies!
They had a great time. Mark said they did really good sitting during the game.
The boys were chosen by the cheerleaders to go on the "smile cam". Trey went of course, but Coby was not interested. Mark tried to get a picture of Trey up on the screen, but he was not fast enough.
They have a huge play area for the kids and they both enjoyed that.

Busy Weekend!

We had a unexpected trip this past weekend. Neither Mark or I had to work, so we decided to pick Trey up from school after lunch and head up north.
We went up to Sedona first and relaxed at Mark's families condo. We all (18 of us total) went and had dinner at a Mexican place (very yummy!) and then headed over to Tlaquepaque to see all the lights. Yes, I know it has a funny name, it is a condo complex that most homeowners decorate each Christmas with a theme. The boys loved Tom & Jerry, Spongebob and Peanuts. It was rather chilly, so we had to bust out the winter coats, gloves and hats.
After that we went and spent the night with Mark's parents. The next morning there was a Christmas parade that Susie coordinated. So we all sat on the sidewalks of a main street, well as main as a small town gets, and watched the parade. The boys were excited because a lot of the floats through out goodies.
For lunch we went to The Haunted Hamburger in Jerome. The food was very good and the boys loved the ghosts that were flying around on the wires.
Jerome is a very neat town. It is an old copper mining/ghost town with a lot if history and amazing views. After lunch the men took all the kiddos to an old park to play. They even had a old metal slide, I have not seen one of those in a long time.
We got home just in time for the U of A football game. Dan came over and watched it with us. His family was in Tucson for the weekend, he had to work so he stayed back.
The boys are going to a Suns game tonight. It will be Coby's first time.

Thanksgiving

All my family came up for Thanksgiving weekend. We had a yummy feast and then relaxed and played games. On Friday we all did some shopping. Mark and my mom were the crazy early birds. They all headed home Saturday mid-morning.
Saturday night we went out to dinner and played in some "manufactured" snow and saw the Christmas tree at Westgate. We walked around a little...saw Calli at work and browsed through a "build a car workshop" as the employees call it. It is pretty neat. Coby could not keep his little hands off all the cars. The boys might have to add it to their Santa lists.
We also went up to Mark's parents house to take family pictures. Trey did a wonderful job. Coby was not at all happy about it. We played at the park for a while. Cottonwood actually has trees that change season so they were beautiful and the boys got to play in piles of leaves. Trey studied the seasons and wanted to know why there were no trees around with changing leaves...only in Phoenix!! There was also a ranch right by the park, so we got to feed a horse.