More Visitors - Next Up.....Alitia

Alitia is due in February and this is her second trip to Phoenix to visit. Lot of relaxing. We did go out to dinner a couple times and she cooked lasagna on her last night...wow! some good stuff. Eggplant lasagna for the ladies, italian sausage lasagna for me. It was nice to hang with her. I know Tiffany had a great time. With the second baby on the way, I am sure it will be more difficult for them to visit. Next up, hopefully and trip for Tiffany and I to get to Cleveland together.


At BW-3:


Going out to Abuelos for some Mexican food:

The ladies went to the dog park, except for Kaiya:

Finally, I can add video to the blog now! Just to start, here is a video I took the night Alitia came in. We went to BW-3 as we were starving. She didn't get in until about 10:30 Friday night. Tiffany and Alitia thought I was taking a picture with the digital camera...so they are posing...not realizing I was recording video.

Mom's Visit

Tiffany's Mom came out to visit two weeks ago. She was only able to stay for a few days, but it was very nice to visit. Tiffany and her Mom literally shopped till they dropped. I had my boss's Christmas party that Saturday night as well. We went to dinner at Cucina Tagliani, a new Italian restaurant just down the street from our house. That went great, except for the fact that they did not have a liquor license yet...no drinking...booooo! We also ate at Abuelos, a very good Mexican restaurant. Good enough that we went back the next weekend with Alitia. All I know is that we must have pretty good thrift stores out here in Phoenix, cuz Mom came a very, very long way to hit all the stores with Tiffany. I was definitely on my own as I prefer the mall!


In front of Cucina Tagliani:


At Abuelos:

And we also exchanged gifts while she was here:

Browns vs. Cardinals

When I was in Louisville for work and then in Cleveland, Tiffany, Zach, and Nicole went to the Browns game here. The stadium is about 5-10 minutes from the house and they had a great time...lots of tailgating. The Browns lost on the last play of the game, and the Cardinals fans were not the nicest. Here are some pics...this is from late November.

This picture is from the lot of the stadium. In the background is Jobing.com arena, where the Phoenix Coyotes play (NHL).





View inside the stadium...this is where the Super Bowl is this year. Same stadium that Ohio State played in for the National Championship game last year....this year - New Orleans!!!

Hanging Christmas Lights

For the second year in a row, I hung Christmas lights outside. Its very nice to do since its still warm around Thanksgiving time. I used an animated blow up Santa this year too. More lights every year I guess. Anyway, this years' look nice, but the pictures didn't come out so well since they have to be taken in the dark. Tiffany and I had the same ritual of putting up the tree, decorating the house, and torturing the dogs with fake reindeer antlers, and other Christmas costumes that they find extremely irritating.

Thanksgiving 2007

This year we cooked for Thanksgiving. We were joined by Zach, Nicole (friends we have met out here in Arizona), Zach's cousin Nick who recently moved here from Virginia, and Brad who moved out here from Parma probably 4 yrs ago now. It was nice...lots of food and football...and nice weather too! Working the next say was NOT fun.

Hangin Out

Here are some pictures of Zach and Nicole after one of the OSU games. We met them after moving out to Avondale. They are both from Ohio and Nicole went to Ohio State.

Update Pics of Our Home

Tiffany took some updated pictures of our house. Most of this furniture, with the exception of what we brought from Cleveland, is all from Craigslist. She finds awesome deals there...brand name furniture that people in Scottsdale are basically giving away for nothing because they don't like the color, or they never sit on it, etc. Very nice stuff too.

Kitchen:

Family Room (Living Room is int he back separated by the half wall):

Master Bath:

Guest Room:

Master Bedroom (with new panel curtains we just put up):

My Mountain Bike

I have been shopping for a mountain bike on and off for a few months now. I finally found a great deal on an older bike on Craigslist. Its a full-suspension XC bike with upgraded parts all over it and is in immaculate condition. The bike is 4 years old and has been kept up perfectly. Even though it is that old, it hasn't been rode in probably 2 full years. I have been riding it just to get the feel for the suspension, adjust the shocks, and get a feel for the right tire pressure. They are tubeless, so I ride them with much lower pressure than normal and the ride is much different from what I am used to. Hopefully the bike will hold up well. This bike brand new with all the upgraded parts would probably be over $3000. She was asking $880 and I bought it for $600. I am going out riding this morning...if it stops raining. Go figure, this is only the 2nd time I have seen steady rain in months.

Weather is finally breaking. We haven't seen over 100 degrees for probably the last week. It has been beautiful. We are going to our first Diamondbacks game tonight against LA. Should be good. The Diamondbacks are in first place right now...maybe an Indians/Diamondbacks World Series would be nice!

Here are some pictures of the bike:


High end Shimano components and disc brakes:

Fox front and rear shocks. The front shock is one of their top of the line shock. This guy probably paid upwards of $500 for this part alone. Its a fully adjustable coil shock with no air and lockout. The rear shock is the same, but its an air shock. They both seem to be in fully working order.

Trip to Cleveland

Here are a few pictures from my trip back to Cleveland. It was a very busy week, but great to see everyone again. I was able to spend a lot of time with Kristi, Matt, and the kids, which was very nice. Can't wait for the next guest to come to Phoenix...we are waiting!




Drove past our first home. Still looks the same...good to know its not getting run down with all the work we put into it.

Our Summer Yard

Here are some updated pics of our new home this summer. For those of you that were here in January or March, the yard looks much different in the summer. Everything is much greener and in bloom except for the lemon and orange trees. They grow fruit earlier in the year. It seemed like Feb/Mar was when most fruit was edible. Anyway, here are some updated pictures of where we live.
The back patio...


Living room and family room...

My Birthday

Here is just one of the pics from my birthday. We just went out for dinner and drinks. This is at Islands, a small restaurant near our house.

Visiting with Family

Dad and Lorrie came out to visit in the beginning of June. Most of these pictures are from the Royal Palms. Although Lorrie was in town in part for a reporting convention at the Biltmore, we did have a packed two days to give the Phoenix tour to my Dad...lunch at the Biltmore, Camelback mountain, Avondale, Arizona State, Scottsdale, Claim Jumper, etc. Then we all had lunch and went to the Scottsdale Fashion mall on the second day.

Visiting with Family 2

These are a few pictures from the Royal Palms Resort Hotel where they stayed for one of the two nights. It is a very nice, quaint hotel at the base of Camelback mountain...right down the road from the Biltmore.