More Pics

Here are a couple more holiday pics. This one is the only positive thing I can think of about not being able to be with family for the holidays....I can eat and act like I am Trevor's age.

Holiday Pics

Here are some more pics from the Holidays.

New Home!

So, we purchased our house this past week. Since we moved here, we have probably looked at about 40 homes. We looked at new spec homes and resale homes too, in all different cities. This house was a great deal. We knew we would put an offer in as soon as we saw it. It was perfect and in a great location. The house was owned by a fighter pilot and his family, so they move for the military every few years. They had just dropped the price $35,000 and we knew they had to move at the end of December. They are moving out of state so we offered them $25,000 less than their new asking price and offered to close by the end of December. So, even though we will have to pay double payments on the house and our rental for about 2 months, we could not pass up the deal on this house. Basically, we bought it for 20% less than what they were asking 2 weeks before we came in. And we had it appraised this week and it is valued at $20,000 more than what we paid.

Anyway, the pictures are below...we can't wait to start moving in. It is 4 bedrooms with 3 full baths. It has 2 floors on one half of the house and a living room and family room that go all the way to the roof on the other half. The yard has a great pool and a walk out patio with a misting system for those 115 degree days. Above the patio in the back is a walk out balcony from the master bedroom upstairs too. The best part of the yard is that it is also private. Even though there are houses around the back, there is no direct line to look into the backyard. So it has some privacy which is very hard to find in homes out here. Can't wait for everyone to come visit.

21 More Days

When we went to the NHL game, the arena is right next to the new Cardinals Stadium. The new stadium is huge and is known to be the most innovative and state of the art stadium in the country. This is where the National Championship game is being held in January that Ohio State is playing at. It is all in a huge growing part of Glendale.

Phoenix Coyotes NHL Game

This was our first experience at an NHL game here in Phoenix. The team is not doing real good, but this was a great game. They won in a shootout after overtime. We had a lot of fun. My manager has season tickets, so he gives us tickets from time to time. His seats are in the corner 3 rows from the ice. We forgot how freezing it is at a hockey game. It was a little different than being at the Lumberjacks games.

Christmas Party - Dec. 9th

These pictures are from Tiffany's friends house. All of these people have moved here in the last year. It is pretty amazing. I don't think we have met anyone outside of work that has been here longer than 2 years.

New Elves

Santa traded in the reindeer this year for dogs.

Tempe Art Fair

These pics are from the Tempe Art Fair near Arizona State University. We went to this on the weekend of Dec. 1st. It was pretty fun, but everything was ridiculously expensive. So we went the cheap route and bought a Christmas ornament.

Christmas Time in AZ

Here are some pictures of our decorated house.





And most importantly, here is our new Phx decoration.

OSU Going to National Championship

The last thing we were waiting for to complete our move was for the Buckeyes to come visit for the National Championship game in January. They beat Michigan on Saturday and are 12-0 for the season! Craig and I bought tickets to the National Championship at halftime since we knew at that point OSU was going to win. Tickets were expensive, but well worth it. If anyone wants to visit, that week will be a huge party in Phoenix!


We watched the game at the Half Moon sports bar in Tempe. The couple on the far right is Dave and Marta. We met them a few weeks ago at a game. His one good friend is a big Michigan fan. Obviously he was a bit disappointed.
Gary stopped by for some of the festivities as well before going back to San Francisco. Notice I look a bit more intoxicated. Only for the OSU game though, as I normally do not partake in such activities.

In other news, Tiffany had an interview today for final placement in her firm. She will be starting her permanent position on Monday in Real Estate Law. She used to work in Litigation in Cleveland so this will be new and exciting. I don't start until Monday but will keep you posted.

I went mountain biking for the first time in the mountain trails Monday. It was completely exhausting as I am not used to mountain biking and am probably 8 yrs older than I was the last time I did it. Not to mention it was 90 on Monday. We are having record highs this whole week. Everything else is going good. We have Arizona licenses now and plates. We are full Arizonans.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We will be spending ours with some new friends who don't have much family here either. They live in Buckeye. Miss you lots.

More Critters

I guess we have the largest grasshoppers here. Kind of strange since there really isn't much grass, but this thing was huge. Cleo was also entertained for awhile until she batted it down in mid-flight.


I guess we have the largest grasshoppers here. Kind of strange since there really isn't much grass.

Mmmmm...Nice and Warm

To really make everyone want to puke, it was about 84 again today, 88 tomorrow, and expecting 90 on Tuesday (record high).

Halloween Dogs

Here is fun with the dogs on Halloween. Cleo was a Dwarf and Kaiya went as Crazy Remote Control Head.

Jobs!!!

As most of you already know, Tiffany started her job last Monday. She is already in the money. She works at Snell & Willmer, one of the largest law firms in the West. They have offices in phoenix, Tucson, LA, Dallas, Denver, and one other place. I officially accepted my job with JPMorganChase today! I will be working in a department very similar to the department I worked in at National City, except I will be a 1st Shift Manager. This is the largest Retail Lockbox Processing site in the country. It was orginally part of Bank One until they were bought by Chase a couple years ago. Now I can be in the money too, not just Tiff. I will most likely not be able to start until the 13th or 20th depending on when they are prepared for me. Now that 95% of our dreams are being fulfilled, we only need Ohio State to make it to the National Championship, which is in Phoenix on Jan. 8th! Go Bucks!!!

Our First Hiking Trip

This past Sunday we went for a short 3 mile hike in the South Mountains. The South Mountains are the foothills that you see from our backyard. They separate downtown Phoenix from our area of Phoenix (Ahwatukee). The South Mountain Park is the largest city park in the United States. There are about 10-15 different marked hiking paths that can be used for hiking, dog walks, mountain biking, and some for horseback riding. These pictures are from the Telegraph Pass Trail which starts at the base of the mountain about 10 minutes from our house. There is a trail that starts right around the corner from our neighborhood, but we thought this one looked more adventurous. In any event, it was fun and we are looking forward to taking the dogs next time and seeing all the trails. It is just amazing that these things are 5-10 minutes from home. Watch out for mountain bikers though...these guys are freakin' crazy! The paths get really steep and have no dirt towards the top...all rocks, and very uneven. We were looking for rattlesnakes and gila monsters too, but didn't see anything. The trails are pretty heavily travelled and the websites say that most animals or reptiles come out at night. Take a look, the views as you hike up are breathtaking!

More Hiking Pictures

This top picture is a view as we were hiking up the mountains, looking back at part of Ahwatukee and the skyline beyond it.


In this pic below, you can see what most of the trails are like as you hike. They are narrow dirt paths that wind back and forth up the hills. The guys that mountain bike here really know what they are doing. They have very expensive bikes and fly through these trails as if there is no ledge right next to them. Most of the paths are right on the edge of a fairly steep slope.

Here's Tiffany striking a pose as usual:

This pic is a view from the top. Once we hiked to the top of this one particular trail, you are high enough to see to the other side. This view shows the opposite side of Phoenix. This is the side of the mountain that overlooks the city and some of the more poorer parts of Phoenix. The skyline is definitely amazing out here as you can see for miles and miles from in the hills.

Dogs at Peace in the Desert