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.

Aaron and I Hike Camelback Mountain

During Aaron and Alitia's visit, Aaron and I decided to hike Camelback mountain a day or so after we came back from the Grand Canyon. Wow! Tiffany and I hiked about a third of the way up a couple months earlier. This hike was a scramble all the way to the top. It was 100 degrees, noon, not a spot of shade in sight.....probably not the best time to go. But it was great. The hike itself is all rocks on your hands and feet for probably over half the mountain. It is about 1.25 miles to get to the top and about 1000 vertical feet....very steep for that short of a distance. Towards the top it seemed like we were stopping every 20-30 feet it was so tiring. But the view and easy trip back down was well worth it. And it knocked the hangover right out of us! Anyway, here are some views, the were incredible. The mountain is right at the edge of Phoenix as you go into Scottsdale.

Scrambling up to a small section of Camelback...

Looking back on an earlier section. This is the only area that is shaded from the sun. It is so steep and the rock is so smooth that there is actually and hand rail installed in this part for people to hang on too that are not more experienced hikers.

More from Camelback Mountain

Pictures from the top of the mountain. This is a zoomed in picture of a golf course community in Paradise Valley...
Looking out over Scottsdale. If you look closely to the lower right, you can see one of the easier hiking trails that also leads up to this peak. This trail is on the East face. We hiked up from the West face.


Looking back over the Southwest. You can see downtown in the distance.

The Twingstrom Visit!

Tiffany's parents visited us in March/April for over a week. They drove all the way out from Cleveland across the country. We had some plans to golf, see the zoo, dinner, etc which was great! It was right after I injured my back though, so I didn't get to participate in the golf outing. Tiffany and I both had some time off work so we were able to relax and have a great time. Miss you both.

At the shops in Scottsdale:

Dinner at Claim Jumper...

Golf in Palm Valley...


This is from the Phoenix City zoo. The zoo was fun, but due to the heat there is not as much variety in animals like at zoos in the midwest. Many of the animals are hiding in shade if it is too hot as well. It was about 90-95 the day we went I believe. Now its getting into the 115-120 range....gotta love living in the middle of a desert!

Tiffany is 30!

Here are some select pics from Tiffany's 30th celebration week....yes, she got a full week.