I'm BACK!

Okay, so it's been a very...very,very,very...very long time since I posted last.  Which is a little funny considering that I posted all that time ago that I had added blogging more to my list of things to do.  We can all see how well that worked for changing my habits.

It's NOVEMBER - holiday season has begun.  Typically MY holiday season starts in October however this October I found myself feeling...blah....about the holiday season.  Where as I normally have the decorations up on the first of the month they didn't make it out of the basement until mid October, which if I'm being honest really only came out because of the munchkins continual asking of when we were going to decorate.  Luckily I feel my festive spirit returning in time for Christmas! Yay!

I'll take this blog here to try and quickly paint a picture of how things have been the last few months.
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La Posada - A Harvey House Hotel

Pete and I took 3 days for our 11th anniversary and did a quick little "Arizona" Route 66 drive that ended in Winslow, AZ yes the one that is mentioned in the Eagles song, Standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ such a fine sight to see....We stayed at the La Posada which was historically a Harvey House Hotel - History lover that I am, I was in heaven.  Ghost stories aside we were not bothered during the night by any kind of supernatural events.  To my surprise Pete commented that the "hotel" even managed to make him feel special.  I would recommend staying there to anyone, however reservations are a must as they were sold out of all but 2 of their most expensive suites when I called to make reservations 4 weeks in advance.  The suite that we stayed in was priced the same as The Hilton East in Tucson where we stay every Halloween party night, and was well worth the extra dough.  Dinner in the 5 star Turquoise Room restaurant located in the hotel was also superior, being our anniversary the $90 splurge for dinner which consisted of a dinner salad for me, and soup for Pete, 2 Prime Ribs, 2 baked potato and steamed vegetables with Iced tea and a chocolate souffle for dessert was well appreciated.  Visit www.laposada.org to read about their accomodations and history!

-------------------------------------------June----July----August---------------------------------------------------

"The Beast" waterslide - After Party...party!

Soon after my cast came off, Ivan's cast went on - he fell of Grandma's horse which resulted in a compound fracture which forced him to wear a cast through out the summer months.  It was off before his birthday party so he could enjoy his waterslide!

School started and Ivan began 1st grade so he's in school all day long.  I thought when this happened I'd need to find things to do with all my free time, this is not so, extra time yes, however I really have no clue about what I do with it, lol.  Part of that free time has been returning to my role as the Art Masterpiece Chairman for the kids school "Legacy Traditional Casa Grande".

Boomer and Meeka meeting for the first time

Our family picked up a new member of the four legged kind, which amazingly enough was Pete's idea.  We welcomed a 25lb or so little male dog into our family in hopes that he would befriend our big heathenish beast.  His name is Boomer and he appears to be a mix of some kind of terrier dog (his jumping skills are amazing) and a beagle.  With the coloring of a german shepard, so that he looks like a little german shepard puppy.  He is technically 2 months older than Meeka.  The two of them get along famously and play all the time.  His addition has indeed helped calm Meeka, however I could totally do without his chewing problem.  Casualties so far have been 2 pairs of Sierra's shoes along with multiple toys and stuffed animals.

                                             

----------------------------------August-----------October-------------------
Moving on...one of the people Pete associates with through his job (the man we met Boomer through) began inviting Pete to go 4-wheeling.  The first of which was a fabulous day trip to Sedona.

...which continued and grew so that Pete has tricked out the FJ for 4x4ing...this new hobby began as day trips then expanded into overnight trips which means...camping.... now anyone who knows me knows that I can rough it, but that I don't like to.

Left to Right (Charlie/Dana/Mike/Amanda/Taylor-Ann)

 We went camping and shared our friends travel trailer, while our other friends love to tent camp.  Fun was had by all except my BF (Crystalle) who was all for camping then changed her mind and couldn't wait for the trip to be over which strained the feelings of those who were enjoying themselves.  Soooo, Pete and I not being fans of the sharing a full size bed (anymore) and not caring for the nightly snoring sessions of our friends or the morning gas issues, lol....went and sold our "fun" car and purchased a pop-up travel trailer. 

Pete, Mike and Ivan, Sierra and Amanda (Meeka&Rommel)

We have since used it on a lake trip with our tent camping friends and had a blast.  We are looking forward to future trips with family and friends alike.  Did I mention that our pop-up has a shower and a "john", my kind of roughing it!!

October began the busy season for the cake business with a wedding cake, a business cake and Halloween party cake, November continued with 2 birthday cakes last weekend and another this coming weekend....Soon I'll no doubt begin my truffle making for the store downtown, Truffles from Everything Cake exclusively available via "In a Pear Tree" located in downtown Casa Grande for the holiday season.
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HOPEFULLY I WILL Write everyone tomorrow!!