Fall is finally gonna be FALL

So yesterday was 80 degrees and today is gonna be 56 degrees, yeah for some good fall weather. Ok so which long sleeve can I pull out to wear???
I'm tempted to count the 70 degree days this year. That is my favorite tempurature, but it doesn't last very long.

New Cell Phone

So we are walking into Costco with no intent to look for a new phone.
Some how they catch our eye and the suave sales man lures us in. Oh we are near our 2 yr upgrade date and qualify for a new phone.
Costco had this great deal for a phone that has a qwerty keyboard and is offered for an amazing discount of $9.99 until Nov 1. Ok we ask a few questions , the answers are all favorable. Ok lets do it.
we leave our phones come back to get the new ones and ask them to show us a few features.
Where is the camera button? Ok -and how do we use video....... WHAT there is no video, that was one of the questions we asked about. (Laura sends video of Alana and we like to view it)
Ut Oh the sales guy made a big mistake, so now instead of an upgrade we will be getting a down grade. Nope , let's back it all out and not feel pressured to make a quick decision on another phone. Backing it all out takes no less than about an 1 hour ....ugh.

So we go home and later find out my phone (that I had borrowed from laura ) the charger recepticle breaks. Great Now what??? Oh I can reactivate my old phone on line...cool.

Then after some talk and discussion and research we go back to Costco the next day to get an upgraded phone.

So we both ended up with a LG enV3. They are reallly sweet. Large numbers ,large screen , easy texting (which I have become very fond of ).

I never knew the deal Costco gives. They include a car charger, earbud, and carry case. The price of the phone came with $100 rebate so it was much cheaper than at the Verizon store and they throw in all those extras. It was more than the $9.99 but that is ok. The sales guy and the sales manager at Costco gave us a huge apology. So that was appreciated too!
OK we are happy in cell phone land again!

Now it's Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year. Probably because it begins to cool down. So now that it is October 1st I think Im gonna get out my pumpkins and fall foliage. This was taken a few years ago near Boston and is one of my favorites. Covered bridges and Fall leaves - Ahhhhh

Smokey Mountains -Tennessee

Wow I wish you could see the beautiful scenary we are seeing in Tennessee. We are in Gatlinburg , right at the foot of the Smokey Mountains. Lots of green trees, cool weather, wildlife. We found a wonderful arts and crafts community, were at several shops they had bluegrass music playing out side. Inside local crafts, wood work, pottery, and the such. Today we went along side the North area of the National Park to Cades Cove. Lots of old but maintained cabins nestled right in the woods. We saw a bear in the tree, several deer and a spotted fawn.
Even our time share place is tucked right into the mountain trees and stream. Denny had a great fishing trip yesterday with a guide, who with his heavy twang guided them to a fun and successful day.
As we enjoy this idiolic lifestyle, it makes us want to come back for more. But for sure it helps us realize how important vacations are!!!!
Pictures later.

This Summer

This Summer has been too hot! We did get away for a couple of nice adventures. This last weekend we went to Woods Canyon Lake. I'm so glad Dad has found a lake to fish closer to home. Only two hours, which is better than the white mountains drive.

I loved the pine trees there, such a nice change of scenary. We even saw a group camping site. Wouldn't that be a fun family outing???

On the way home our tent trailer had a blow out, which was NO fun, especially changing a tire in 103 degree heat. Wasn't it only suppose to be 98 today?>?? The tires had been replaced we thought just 2-3 yrs ago, could of been 4yrs. Anyway the outside tread looked like new, but on the inside it was quite bare...Oh My Gosh we really needed new tires, and we didn't even see it. Those will be replaced in the next week or so.
We relaxed and totally forgot to take pictures! :(

The Garden

The Garden is looking great. All the plants and veggies are at the small stage, but so , so cute. Leaves are budding on the grapevine, cilantro is ready to pick. Corn is about 3 inches tall( the whole plant is that size, no corn until its 6 ft tall. The tomato plants have flowers, the mint is thriving. The oregano likes it's new location in the garden and looks very healthy.

We love looking at it!

Birthday's Are Great!

Wow I had lots of fun . Starting last Sat with lunch with all my kids at Calif Pizza Kitchen. Then today Calls from lots of important people in my life. Gina took me to In & Out. More family fun at Joe's BBQ for a free Birthday girl dinner!

Denny bought me a Cold stone Ice Cream cake. It's a good thing I had people to share it with.
THEN on Facebook all sorts of fun birthday wishes from so many neat people.
Enough fun to last the whole year....

Sweet Valentine

Alana and Laura got very creative this Valentine's Day. They made these cute iPod's complete with head set! The main box was candy hearts and the earphones are Reeses peanut butter cups. All decorated to look just like an iPod. Aren't they cute???

Grape Arbor

Denny wanted to make an Arbor for our grapevine to grow and hang on. It came out wonderful. Now to plant the rest of the garden. OK I don't post often , so tonight I did 2. So keep reading down!

thanks

Four Peaks -Tempe

Tonight we went over to Four Peaks Brewery. It was an awesome place. Last summer we had gone to the Scottsdale area one, since we were near there...oh my NO comparision, Tempe was worlds better, nicer and and everything else you can think of.

I had a glass of wine which was 2x the cost of a beer, little did I know. Dad says I HAVE to learn to drink beer. (No Way).

So we had a nice dinner. The artichoke spinach dip was awesome and best I ever had. We picked up a Kiltlifter pint glass too! Well we did pay for it!

Although when we got there Dad ordered a beer took a swig and found a glass chip in his mouth!!!!!! The manager was very apologetic... and about the time I walked up and heard the story I looked at the manager and said , wow I thing you might need to comp him his beer. He said oh yeah maybe more than that. So when the bill came and all was as we ordered I saw the manager and reminded him. He quickly took the bill and took off Dad's beers , which were only two, but still better than nothing. I had hoped he would do our 1st round seeing as my wine was so much. It was still a fun night and no blood was shed!

So Glad it's Friday

Yep the work week is over. Our work load is increasing this week, so it will be a good break.
We are entering our busy time at work this month and for the next 3 months.

Can you believe the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl. wow wie. We will wear our red this weekend.

Also today is Jan 30th. It has been 1 year since we closed escrow on our house. Man time flys.
We have lived here almost a year. We have loved being up here in the area. Visiting with family more often and enjoying the surounding neighborhood.

So much to write about

I'm so behind on posting, but lucky for me , you can check out most of the holiday details on Marc, Pam, Randy and Paula's blog!

Today I had a GREAT relaxing morning. I woke up early like usual. But stayed in bed and read. I don't usually do that, but I put on the fireplace and just stayed still. Denny was gracious to let me have a small light on while he slept. Then after an hour or so I crawled back under the covers and sleep til 7:30. It was wonderful.
Then mid morning we went out to the veggie garden to get it ready for planting. It's looking nice and neat and weed free now.
Denny is going to build an arbor for our grapevine. So off to Home depot for supplies.