Where to start....

I guess I will play a little catch up and finish writing about Phoenix....long over due...

The Fair...
-$1 rides (yes I did go on a few rides myself and felt 13 all over again)
-$1 food (mmmm elephant ears and candy apples)
-a petting zoo
-happy people everywhere
seriously what could be better!



We also hit up the World Wildlife Zoo which in my opinion was way better than the Phoenix zoo, they had lots of baby monkeys!

How creepy does this albino alligator look?...Just gives me the heebie jeebies.

I loved the giraffe too, he would come and you could drop food onto his tounge, sadly Bennett wouldn't let go of the pellets and his whole hand was covered in giraffe goo....just nasty.

This monkey was trying to reach some leaves out of the cage and couldn't so we helped him out...he was so friendly...so Melvin thought it would be nice to try and feed the other monkeys, he held out a leaf and one of the monkeys pretended to grab the leaf, but instead grabbed Melvin's hand, which made him scream like a girl....hilarious


Another fun thing we did in Phoenix was go to the Suns/Laker game...Melvin will never agree, but I thought the whole atmosphere was way more fun than the hockey games we went to, unfortunately the Lakers won, for some reason I have always hated that team.

We really did have a great time in Phoenix!

Kay

Life in Verrado AZ

For those of you who don't know, we moved to Arizona for a month for fun, we are living in a really cool community and it has been a fun change so far. I thought I would write about the highlights and lowlights of our time here so far:

Highlights:
-It is fun to go to the pool and swim everyday, Bennett loves it!
-Cheap golf, twilight is $12/person including a cart on a beautiful course
-Grazzie's seriously the best pizza place, real Italian pizza, thinking about the dessert there makes me drool
-The Zoo, we loved the monkey cage and the Mandrils
Notice the squirrel monkey in the tree by Bennett's head?

-Meg came for a week and I loved every second she was here, I just wish she could have stayed longer
-The weather, when we first got here it was 40 degrees out, too hot, now it is 26- 30 degrees...perfect
-People are extremely friendly here
-We looked ridiculous in our rental car...a CUBE
-I got to meet Melvin's Uncle Roy, Aunt Julie and cousin Morgan, Julie made us a delicious meal and it was funny to see that Bennett looks quite a bit like Uncle Roy
-We went to a high school football game, it reminded me of Friday Night Lights, the Jazz band, the cheerleaders, the crowd, the lights and the love of the game...the only downfall is they didn't have someone there that looked like Tim Riggins.
-We are going to a few Coyotes games and a Phoenix Suns vs. L.A. Lakers game
-I can't wait to hit up a fabric store...so cheap down here.
-I love Target, there are lots of outlets here too
-Bennett is starting to get the hang of walking...kinda, he is pretty stubborn and hates it, but he can do it, we usually have to bribe him with candy
-The small community we are in has over 50 parks, Bennett can climb up and go down the slide all by himself...what a big boy!
-The place we are staying in is huge and beautiful, the kitchen is so big...I love it
-In-N-Out Burger, it is both mine and Melvin's first time trying it, and we are in love with the place
-We bought an MDX, we have always wanted one and finally we have one, too bad it is only for a short time, we plan to sell it when we get home

Lowlights:
-I miss Tucker, my family and friends
-I missed my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary celebration and Thanksgiving Dinner
-While golfing, I saw Bennett munching on something....did the finger swipe only to find bunny poo
-While at the pool last week I saw a scorpion
-I don't have much of a tan yet
-Melvin watches just as much hockey here as he does at home (thanks to Mark Letestu, Melvin's buddy who is ripping it up, how could he not watch him, thanks for cutting into our family time Mark, keep it up!)
-Arizona really isn't that pretty of a place...the dry desert is U-G-L-Y, but we are lucky Verrado has quite a bit of grass and lots of palm trees
-Those dang lizards that are everywhere have made me pee my pants a few times...they sure startle me.

I would have to say the good definitely out weighs the bad...all in all we are having a great time here...we just want more visitors...any takers?



Kay

Pranks Gone Wrong...

The other day I was basking in old memories and I thought I would write down a few old stories or pranks that were pulled..

- I remember as a child our house was toilet papered on a weekly basis, and we definitely knew who the weiners were...apparently a lot of the neighbourhood boys had a crush on my older sister and thought they could win her heart over by toilet papering our house...unfortunately she never had to clean it up...Alan and I always got stuck with the task, then we had a brilliant idea to start saving the toilet paper to get them back...we had to hide months worth of collected toilet paper in garbage bags under Alan's bed so my mom wouldn't find it and get mad (kinda gross I know.) Well after we had more toilet paper than you could imagine saved...we went and toilet papered the Hogg's house and boy did we ever get them good...It literally looked like it had snowed there was so much white...needless to say Alan and I were cleaning up toilet paper every weekend after.....it just seemed to never end.

-When I was younger I was a little mischievous...My friend and I went to her house after school and were a little annoyed to see that all the fruit snacks and chips were gone...we look over and her older's sister's friend is scarfing down exactly what we were craving...we were ticked...In return we went and found some of her dog's pooh, smeared a little on a chocolate cookie and gave it to her sister's friend...she said thanks and started to move the cookie towards her mouth, meanwhile her sister could tell by our expressions that we had done something bad....she knocked the cookie out of her hand and yelled, "don't eat it" She examined the cooking only to find the pooh...went and told her mom and I was indeed sent home.....I know that one was bad...don't judge me I was young. Let's just say I was really influenced by my friend hahah

-In high school I was dating a guy and we were going to head up to my mom's class at the elementary school to steal some tokens for hot lunch...well my b/f wasn't anywhere to be seen when the lunch bell rang so I took one of my BFF's Cara....I knew she would appreciate a good roast beef meal. The meal was fabulous and we spent way to much time there...we rushed back to my car, got in and turned on the engine...seconds later we hear some weird sound in the back...we turn around only to be surprised by two live gophers, tied together scurrying around...I was terrified and Cara being the animal lover she is was disgusted...I made her catch the sick things and untie, and let the rabid animals go...we were indeed late for class....when I approached my boyfriend at the end of the day all he could say was...."I thought I was supposed to go to lunch with you....that's what you get!" Our relationship didn't last long.

-When in high school I was either really liked...or really hated...every basketball or volleyball trip that I would return from my car would be soaped/paint-balled so bad, there was no way of driving home...It got so bad that when I would get back from the bus trip the janitor would greet me by the gym door with a warm bucket and water and help me scrub off the soap just enough to be able to see out the window and drive home. He would always say...ughgh they sure got you good this time....Doug Pitcher...bless that man's heart. Well after hearing of who the culprit was I snagged his keys without him knowing and got another key cut...we went and opened 4 cans of tuna and placed them under his seats of his car....unfortunately that night he got in a car accident and he got a new vehicle in no time...ughgh my pranks never seemed to work.

-Once I left high school and moved up to Edmonton I thought finally the pranks will end...but nope one night the roomies and I were sitting in the living room and our door swings open...some hooligans in toques covering their faces, unloaded 4 bags of raked leaves right into the house....we ran after them and filled their vehicle back up with the leaves...pleased with our retaliation we thought the game was over!....to our dismay one day we were all at church, the hooligans struck again...you may be thinking why didn't you lock the doors? We did...they broke in through the window and left open cans of sardines...everywhere. It took us a good week to find all those dang cans, (under beds, under sinks, in our pantries, in the cleaning closet we thought we had finally disposed of them all but our house still wreaked big time...A week later I got an anonymous email that said..."look in your heat vent" we looked in it only to find a huge raw fish....just sick I tell you! We had big plans to get these turds back and even came up with a sweet name, "The Bad News Bandits" unfortunately we never followed through on our big pranks...and oh did we ever have some good ones!

*well sorry this was so long...I got a little carried away....but I wanna know who is up for toilet papering?...I wanna hear some good pranks anyone else has pulled or had pulled on them...come on share!


Kay

The Birthday Bash!

We had Bennett's b-day party on Saturday with lots of family and friends. There was lots of food, the company was great and Bennett got spoiled...thanks for coming everyone!










A special thanks to Julie for helping me with the cupcakes!

Kay (keep reading...I did 3 posts today!)

All about Bennett

I can't believe he is one! This year just seemed to fly past, we are just so lucky to have such a great little boy, he is such a blessing!
1. Bennett's favorite foods are spaghetti, scrambled eggs, veggie sticks and tic-tac's...weird I know!
2. Bennett's first words are Dad, Mum, go, but mostly Tucker...he says Tucker clear as day and whenever we see a dog on the street, no matter what size it is, Bennett will point and in a high pitched voice say "Tucker"
3. Bennett loves to blow bubbles in the bath
4. Bennett is just starting to give lots of hugs and kisses, but be careful you never know if you are going to get a hug, kiss or a bite...he thinks he is pretty tricky convincing you he is gonna give you a sweet kiss then crap...those teeth sink right in.
5. Bennett is still a huge Daddy's boy, I am secretly quite jealous!
6. Bennett has 8 teeth
7. Bennett is obsessed with dancing, he always crawls over to the cd player, turns it on, stands up and shakes his booty.
8. Bennett is a brat when it comes to eating, he likes the food, but thinks it is funny to spit everything out, more food seems to go into Tucker's mouth then his own! I guess this is his way of winning Tucker over
9. Bennett has taken 4 steps without falling
10. Bennett is obsessed with light switches, you can't go in a room without him leaning over to turn the light on and off
11. Bennett can nod both yes and no
12. Bennett will take a drink of something, smack his lips together and then say ahhhhhh, as if to tell us he is refreshed
13. Bennett will not go to sleep without his blankie on his face
14. Bennett loves to swim no matter what the temperature of the water is
15. Bennett loves when his Grandparents, cousins, Aunts and Uncles come visit
16. Bennett has already has 2 haircuts, his hair grows way too fast
17. Bennett is usually a pretty content little boy
18. Bennett's favorite toys are balls and anything that makes music
19. Bennett has the cutest smile ever
20. Bennett loves to watch Melvin play hockey outside
Seriously I could go on forever, we sure do love him!



Kay

The Birthday Boy!

Bennett had quite the birthday week! His actual birthday was on Thursday so Melvin and I took him to Galaxyland to go on some rides...he was in heaven! We ended the night at Red Robins with Spence and Julie, Bennett loved his birthday sundae and song!

heartbreakers!

How cute are these two boys....They are going to be such heartbreakers. Nancy came up to edmonton to give Tylee her Tucker fix and we decided to dress the boys up the same and go shopping! All day long we got, "oh how fun twins!" I thought it was funny because they don't look a lot alike, but I guess they are the same age. It is fun to see them play together, although I am lucky Bronson is so laid back because Bennett is a little bully...oh great why does my kid have to be the one that bites and pushes? At least he is cute...I can't wait to see them together when they are older.




Kay

E-C-H-O

It truly is my favorite place on earth. It was great to be able to go behind the boat this year, even though I am a huge sissy. I did go on one tube ride and that was enough for me. (How impressed are you Kelsey?) I did enjoy skiing and wake surfing though. Bennett loved the water, riding in the boat, tube rides, and spending time with his cousins. The food was to die for, and of coarse one of my favorite things about the lake is the card games...I never get sick of them. The two weeks went by way to fast and it was so fun to be there with my whole family. Thanks mom and dad for the great trip, we love going to echo!
















Sorry for the picture overload.

Kay