Where Do You Go When the Blinds Start Shaking, the Floor is Moving and You Are On the 12th Floor!

The earthquake in the Baja was felt here in Phoenix today! Missy felt it on the 12th floor at the law firm today. It must have been because the building was so tall because we didn't feel it at ground level in Tempe or Gilbert. She said that the lawyers were coming out of their offices because their blinds were moving back and forth!

Phil's "Holiday" Vacation

Phil has been on vacation for the past week and a half. Last week started off with him getting sick on Saturday, which lasted up until last Tuesday. He was pretty slow moving, but that probably was a good thing and what helped him get through it quicker. He also saw the Dr. about his knee. He's been having alot of pain in it for the past couple of weeks. His Dr. put him on Celebrex for arthritis but also gave Phil some business cards for orthopedic surgeons for him to see just in case the Celebrex doesn't help. So we will see. Anyway, this week started off on a better note, so he has started the project which has been planned for this vacation. He is painting the garage, removing our existing cabinets and either epoxy painting the floor or tiling it. (that will be decided tomorrow) We also picked up some new stainless roll-away garage storage units (tall storage and workbench with storage). New pictures will follow upon completion!

Merry Christmas! from AZ

Merry Christmas from Arizona! Christmas Eve day was busy putting the spiced ham in the oven, making swedish cucumbers, icing Lucia buns and making watergate salad. The night before, I made swedish meatballs and no bake cookies (cocoa,peanut butter and oatmeal). I was just finishing up the cucumber salad when I got a call from cousin Cindi saying that Uncle Dick had been taken to the hospital the night before. Dick went into the hospital around 10:30pm Wed night. Aunt Gail and Cindi were there until around 4:30am. Cindi called me with the news around noon, so I decided to run down there for an hour or so to sit with Gail. Missy was just leaving work so asked if I would wait for her, so that we could go together. When we got to the hospital, we found out that they were releasing Dick. They took many tests, but couldn't find what might have been causing him the problems that he was having the night before. He is to go see his primary care Dr. as soon as possible. Anyway, good news that he didn't have to stay any longer.
We had our dinner around 6pm and then watched a couple of movies before opening up gifts. Mike and Missy stayed the night, with a promise of pancakes for breakfast. Had a blast watching Casey and Mike's dog Rocky interact. They don't see each other very often- hardly ever so they were quite comical together!

JC Celebrated His 1st Birthday Today!

Today, we helped celebrate Brett and Ginger's son's 1st birthday. Missy was at the hospital when Ginger delivered him and was able to hold him within 15 minutes of his birth. It was just 4 days later that Missy ended up at the burn center. Ginger had brought a picture of Missy holding JC to the hospital. I remember looking at that picture and just hoping and praying that Missy would look the same after the ordeal was over!

JC is such a cute little boy and his facial expressions are pricless! Ginger put his cake in front of him and he had at it! What a mess. After he had his fill, Ginger put him in the kitchen sink to clean him up and then it was off into the family room to open gifts. As with all kids, he would have been happy with a gift bag filled with ribbons and bows!

Forgot to mention, that Ginger had quite a spread of refried beans, spanish rice, roasted beef with pepperocini's and taco "condiments"! And of course, the weather couldn't have been better, a "balmy" 75 degrees today!

Who Do Those Legs Belong Too!

Missy's poor car sure has had it's share of problems lately. Thank goodness, it's been paid for awhile now! A month ago she had to have a new transmission installed. Two weeks after that, she had to trade in her "bald" tires for new ones. and then this past week she lost all power on the freeway! Pretty scary for her! Phil and Missy got the car over to Auto Zone, where they hooked up their analyzer. It said that her crank shaft sensor was bad, so they picked one up. Before they did anything with that though, they had the repair shop look at it and they told her that her front brakes were cracked, so she got a brake job. The next night, Phil and Missy ended up under the car. It was a real challenge for Phil to find the sensor and then replace it. Missy ended up going under there and could visually see what Phil couldn't, so she was able to tell him if the wrench was where it was supposed to be. I, held the light! and grabbed the tools out of the tool box!

St. Lucia Day

I did my baking of Lucia buns on St. Lucia Day this year. I was busy with Mike's party for the few days leading up to it, so didn't start the buns until late morning on Sunday. I made a quadruple batch of buns which netted me 160 buns and 4 swedish tea rings. Three huge platters of buns, 1 tea ring and leftover brownies made their way to my work this morning for morning break. Every year, I roll a cart with the buns back to the stockroom and set up a table for everyone to stop by. My department area is pretty quiet up there, so if everyone went up front for their buns, it would get pretty loud and disruptive!

Mike's Christmas Party

Mike had a Christmas party at his house Saturday night. Actually, it was Mike's first party at his house. His house and yard looked great and thank goodness, it only sprinkled for about 3 minutes. It turned out to be a beautiful day and night!

Sandy and Turk JC and Missy
Brett and Ginger (JC's Dad and Mom

Phil, Karen, Ilene and Mike Missy and JC Hillbilly Horseshoes

Ginger and Missy

JC and Missy

Missy and Sal

Missy and Dani

Danielle, Addysen and AJ

Donna and Missy

Brad and Karen

Justin and Ilene

Turk and Herb

Crystal

Mike and the glowing fire pits

Donna

Phil and Turk

AJ, Missy and Sandy

Missy and AJ

Sandy, Addysen and Julie