Phoenix Festival In The Desert

Over the week of October 10th - October 12th, Dave and I went to Phoenix to attend the "Festival In The Desert". This started out just as a quick little get a way for Dave and I, and ended up being a family get together. Dave's brother Bruce and his wife Gretchen joined us for the Festival and we stayed at their brother Robert's house. It was a really fun weekend. And we got to me their sister-in-law Sheryl's new fiancee'. Robert and his wife Jeanne has a cook out for everyone on Thursday night and we all sit around the pool and talked and laughed until late at night. The weather was great on Friday - 95 degrees, and the acts were wonderful, (Brian Culbertson, Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole, Kim Waters, Euge Groove, and Patti LaBelle). On Saturday the weather was quite a bit cooler only 78, but the acts were even hotter, (Eric Darius, Warren Hill, Dominic Amato, Ky-Mani Marley, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, The Temptations, Norman Brown, Paul Taylor, Chante Moore, Alex Bugnon, Peter White, Gerald Albright, Jeff Golub, Mindi Abair, and Smokey Robinson). Dave and I didn't stay for Sunday's performance, since we had to be back to work Monday morning. But Bruce and Gretchen went for Sunday's acts, (Jerome Calia, Sahnas Brothers, Craig Chquico, Guitar Shorty, Chuck Hall Band, Dr. John, Los Lobos, Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Pat Benatar, Neil Gjraldo, and Boz Scaggs).

Dave arranged for a meet and greet with his all-time favorite sax player, Mindi Abair. He also, at the last minute, arranged for Bruce and Gretchen to join us backstage also. Earlier in the day, Dave purchased a small gold sax in a red velvet lined box and had Mindi sign the inside of the box for him. He now has it in his office. I always tease him about Mindi being his "girlfriend". Mindi's road manager even took photos of us with her, she is such a nice person. I think that Bruce and Gretchen were a little "star struck". But, Dave has done several of these Mindi meet and greets, and he is at ease around her and talks to her like an old friend. I told Mindi that Dave's starting to become her roadie stocker... she just laughed...

I bought the shirt that Dave's wearing in the photo, at the festival, as one of his anniversary gifts. Anyways, we had a good time, and when we got home on Sunday evening, we were so tired, but we have good memories of the trip.

Happy 5th Anniversary to my Lovely Wife!

Today we are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary.  I have been very blessed to have married such a wonderful person.  We have had a lot of fun together since we met.  Barb's laughter is very contagious, in fact every time she laughs our cat Callie will come right to her.  Callie probably thinks that Barb is purring to her.  Barb has brightened up our home with her special touches; she truly has turned our house into a home.  My absolute favorite time of the day is waking up to snuggle with her.  We have been blessed with the ability to do some fantastic traveling from Cabo San Lucas to Australia to all over the U.S. including a cruise and land tour of Alaska and we are looking forward to our upcoming trip to England.  I wanted to get her something very special to commemorate our 5th anniversary so I found this beautiful Journey Vine Pendant.  Since the Alaska cruise was our anniversary gift to each other, I presented the pendant to her on the cruise.  She looks gorgeous in it (the picture was taken on our balcony on the cruise ship).  I just want to take this opportunity to say "THANK YOU FOR FIVE WONDERFUL YEARS, AND HERE'S TO MANY MORE!" I love you very much, Dave.

Strawberry Roses

Friday, (9/26), was Dave's 52nd birthday, and I surprised him at work with a delivery of a bouquet of strawberry roses, (these were strawberries that were stuffed with marshmellows). All the guys at his office thought they were pretty neat and very different, and he was kind enough to share them with the office, and bring home what was left, (which was still quite a lot). I also gave him a street sign that reads "Kronenberg Drive" for his home office. Everyday that whole week he got a card in the mail at the office from me. And on Friday evening, we went to his favorite restaurant, Market Street. Dave had 3 King Crab Legs and a large plate of mussels. On Saturday evening, we went to Mike and Tami's for dinner, and to celebrate all the family September birthdays, (Dave's Mike's and mine). So, he had a pretty good birthday.

Dave's Addicted - We need to do an Intervention !!

Dave's not been getting much sleep lately, and he's been spending a lot of time in his room on his computer. At first I thought he was busy with work, (they are installing this new software and it's a HUGH undertaking for the whole I/T department). Then he admitted to me that he's been spending his time with Bubbles. At first I wasn't too concerned - I thought that Bubbles was just the pole dancer at the local bar down the street. But then to my horror, I found out that Bubbles is a computer game. Yes that's right - Dave has been spending hour after hour every night playing Bubbles. He's so addicted that one morning he started playing at 4:30 am and he was supposed to leave for work by 6:15, and at 6:20 he was still at the computer playing Bubbles. He wasn't even dressed - he was just sitting there in his underwear playing Bubbles. I told him, just turn the game off and go to work. He said "NO - I'll lose my place and have to start all over again." He won't even turn off the game, he leaves his computer turned on to Bubbles all day, so that when he comes home from work he can sit down and continue playing the game. He's got the his mind made up that he can beat the computer and clear off the board.

And to make matters worse, he's now started introducing his friends to the game, and getting them hooked on it. And I already know the dangers of this game - I'm the one who introduced Dave to Bubbles, but at least I can play one or two games and turn it off and walk away. IT'S ONLY A GAME !! So beware, if he offers you one game, and says it's all in fun - RUN, don't play even one game. I told him, he's like a drug dealer. He gives you a little taste and then you want more, and more, and more until your hooked. Now what kind of a friend gets his other friends hooked like that. And I remember a couple of years ago Dave's exact words to me were "I NEVER play computer games".

Well - on to some serious news.

Dave found out that he's going to Bristol ENGLAND the end of October for a week. He has to do a presentation in conjunction with the new software that's being installed at his workplace. And the company is also paying for my plane fare - YEA. This is be a one time trip, (like our trip to Australia), so we're planning on making it a good one.

Tomorrow we get our new carpeting installed. So, we have been spending the evenings packing up our crap, uhh, I mean valuables and moving them out of the way. The only problem is we have more stuff than room to put the stuff. And my arms are so sore from carrying boxes. Dave says it's like moving only worse, cause we have to put everything away again.

Well the next time I write hopefully everything will be back in place and we will like the way the new carpet fits in.

HELP - It's gotten out of hand !!

Remember I said we've had lots of squash from our garden. Well, the truth is.. it's getting a little out of hand lately. Back at the end of Spring, when the peas were starting to die out, I planted just 3 little yellow squash seeds. I figured - we'll have enough from these three little seeds. So, I also planted our carrots close by. Well, the squash TOOK OVER that whole corner of the garden. Well - see for yourself, and this is after I cut about 1/3 away so the basil and cilantro could get sunlight and water: Last year, we couldn't get any squash, zucchini, or cucumbers at all to grow. This year the yellow squash really is making up for it.

On another good note, Tiffany came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. She told her doctor that she was going stir-crazy in the hospital and she needed to go home. She said "she's already feeling much better, just being at home". We're hoping that she's going to be ok being discharged so early.

Dave and I picked out new carpet for the house. It's a light brown color and they should be installing it in about 1 1/2 weeks. Dave says he'll be glad to be rid of this blue carpet after 13 years.

Well - guess I'd better go out and cut down some more squash plants, and pick more vegetables.

End of Summer

Well this is pretty much the last big weekend for the summer. Let's see what has happened that I haven't written about for the past couple of weeks. Well.. our little Oliver was in Primary Children's Hospital with a bladder infection. Luckily they caught it in time before it became serious and he only needed one treatment of antibiotics. So he only had to be in the hospital for one day, and then they sent him home. And boy is he ever gaining weight now. He's filling out and looking so healthy. And growing like a weed, and he's starting to smile - LOTS.

And now this weekend his mom, (Tiffany), is in the hospital with several blood clots on her right lung. Today she's doing better, but the blood thinners aren't working as well as the doctors had hoped. So far she has gone 3 days without any cigarettes and she says she is determined to kick this habit. Dave and I are behind her 110%. I told her it only takes 21 days to make or break a habit. Dave said if she goes another 18 days, (which makes 21 days), without smoking we will take her out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. She said "your on - it's a deal". So, we're rootin' for her to win this one!!

Tonight Dave and I had Dakota, Kaitlyn, Courtney (our grand kids), Jason, (Courtney's husband), and Blair, (0ur great grand-daughter) over for dinner and an evening of Wii games. It was fun and yet wore us out. Dakota and Kaitlyn tried to out score me on the Wii Fitness games. The only one that they were successful on was hoola hoops. Dakota said "she might be old, but she's good". Dave just laughed and said "ya baby".

Little Blair was fussy this evening, and it appears as though she might already be cutting her first tooth. Pretty soon, she'll be eating steak with Great-Grandpa Dave.

Two weeks ago Dave and I canned 25 quarts of green beans that we bought from the farm stand. We have picked lots of yellow squash from our garden and have been sharing with Mike and Tami. We are starting to pick our tomatoes, anaheim peppers, and cucumbers and hopefully will have plenty to share with Mike and Tami. Dave has enjoyed our having fresh basil and cilantro to add to my homemade sauces and salsas.

Well it's almost September and I'm hoping to do a better job of posting more information and photos of our life and family. Until them - thanks for reading.

End of the Olympics

Well, the Olympics are finally over. Dave and I tried to watch as much as possible. That Michael Phelps was phenomenal, and Usain "Lighting" Bolt, (the young runner from Jamaica), was so much fun to watch. I was so glad to see the "Redeem Team" bring the gold back home. Dave especially liked watching the girls volleyball matches. He kept saying "Nice uniforms - bikinis !!!" And Shaun Johnson - I think she's the cutest little thing. We recorded lots of our regular programs and now we're trying to catch up on them. Hope everyone else enjoyed them and got to watch their favorite parts. Here's my favorite olympic cartoon "Michael Phelps At A VERY YOUNG AGE":