Treehouse

"Everybody loves a treehouse" -some wise guy
I decided one day, about three weeks ago, that our backyard was missing something. We had two large Arizona pine trees eight feet apart no way to really access them. Over the years, I've cut the lower branches as needed to allow room for the mild arc of a nerf football or a wiffle. Recently, I had noticed my ladder to the bottom branches getting longer and not coincidentally, the routine of cutting back the excess becoming more involved. I thought, man, if I only had a nice platform from which I could access the upper branches, then I'd have something. Then I thought a platform might just as well be multi-use. So I started checking out books and websites dedicated to treehouses and decks. I decided to build a hybrid type structure. It's 8x8 and about 8 feet in the air. The squirt guns can reach it from the pool and vise-versa. It's been a blast to build and I'm still looking at it as a work in progress. I'm thinking in the Fall it may be time for storey 2. Riley has been taking his Summer breakfasts up there and the neighborhood kids seem to love it.

Beautiful Baltimore

A few weeks ago, yes I am a little behind, I had a business trip to Baltimore. Just my luck, it allowed me to spend a nice long weekend with my wonderful cousin, Kelli. I had never been to the East Coast. It was beautiful and so historic, you just feel like you are stepping back in time. We spent a Saturday wondering around downtown Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay. We crossed the huge Bay Bridge and saw all the sailboats on the water. For dinner we headed to Thorin's restaurant, Treaty of Paris, in Annapolis at the Maryland Inn. He made us a custom 5 course dinner that was absolutley fantastic. It was so fun to not have to read the menu and make the decision, instead the food just came plate after plate. It was perfect!
Here are a few pics.

A Work in Progress...

Two Saturdays ago I came home to find Jim working hard at tearing down that big, huge, old, ugly, metal shed we have had in our backyard forever. Many of you have seen it and you may remember how cramped it made the backyard feel and how restricted the "patio" area was, but not anymore! Here's a pic from standing at the back door. I just love how nice and open it is, no more eye sore to look out at it. We now have a dedicated patio area where you can actually sit at the table and have a fire next to you! It's FANTASTIC. Riley enjoys it so much, he sits out there to do his homework.
I'll send more pictures as we continue the efforts. Jim is now motivated to actually plant some bushes and maybe flowers to add some color to the yard.
Oh, and we still have a shed, a nice new one, that is much smaller and is hidden down at the RV gate area.
Love you all.... Jessica

Baseball is in Full Swing

Riley started Baseball last month with Jim as his coach again this year. They both enjoy it so much and I love watching them play.
In this video, Riley is at 3rd base, # 19.

Make an on-line slide show at onetruemedia.com

When it rains, it pours...

I think that saying is particularly accurate right now at work. The last 6 months have been usual every day stuff, the things that tend to bore you eventually and question why you do the thing you do, then all the sudden, it hits. I am now managing 4 projects that span the nation and trying to prep our teams for new daily business coming in. Lately I work from 8am to 6 or 7pm only getting up to get a glass of water and to get Riley from school. Don't get me wrong, the projects excite me, they are what I love, but why do they all need to happen at once! I'll survive and the lack of lunches will even help me to lose a few pounds, that wouldn't be so bad!
Valentine's Day was nice. Jim and Riley have actually been enjoying V-Day since February 1. I took this wonderful little scrapbooking class where my dear friend, Ann, created the "14 Days of Valentines". Each day they each got a special little treat with a nifty little lovey saying. They loved and looked forward to them each day. Jim brought me home some pretty pink tulips, my favorite, made my day.
So today is Friday and on the way to school this morning Riley says his throat hurts and then a few mins later it's his tummy. Come on Riley you only have 4 hours of school today, early release, remember? You can do it. 2 hours later, the school calls, he has 102 degree temp. Do I feel terrible or what? Jim just happen to be off work today, so he got to enjoy sitting with Riley in urgent care for two hours to find out, it apparently isn't strep throat. I still don't agree, he's had it once already this year and he always has the same symptoms. I just know they'll call back tomorrow or Sunday and say that the more in-depth test is positive, making my sweet little boy suffer for that many more days.... It's a mother's intuitiveness to know what's wrong with her baby, right?
I just hope he feels better by Monday so he can enjoy his day off.
The whole bummer of him coming home early... for the first time all year, he got 100% on his spelling pre-test, which makes him not have to take a Friday test and gets to have "Fun Friday". He's been waiting for this all year, finally gets it, then gets sick. He's kind of bummed about that. He says this week's words were so easy and they will never be that easy again. He doesn't realize it, even though his teacher and I do, he has made leaps and bounds in his reading over the last three weeks. He actually read a book on the way to school Wednesday, without even flinching... this would have never happened just two weeks ago. I think spelling will be much easier for him now!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend,
Jess

Wow, It's been a long time...

Hello, Everyone! Sorry it has been so long.
We went to Flagstaff last weekend to play in the snow, so I'm going to try something new and hope it works. I'm going to attach a video of our fun... the end is a little crazy, Jim and Riley went down the hill together holding the camera.
I hope you enjoy and I will update more a little later.
Love to all,
Jessica

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Cold and Rainy...

It is a cold, rainy day in Phoenix. I know much of the country has finally been hit with the cold of winter, but we live in Phoenix and there is a reason for that... we don't get cold! Not this year, as everyone else dropped in temps, so did we. We have had a week of 30 degree nights and 50 degree days and today, old mother nature threw rain in the mix... so 45 degrees today with rain... Riley insists it is the most rain he has ever seen in Phoenix! We just don't see rain during the day. When it rains here, usually during monsoon, it always hits us at night. We finally agreed, maybe not the most rain he's seen, but definitely the coldest. There was that time two years ago we got hit with hail and it looked liked it snowed everywhere!
Love you all and hope you are bearing the cold in your neck of the woods.
Jessica

Ian and Riley at the base of Piestewa Peak

More Cali...

Playing in CALI pics...

It's been a long time...

and a lot has happened!
So sorry it's been so long, I know many of you have been loyal viewers just waiting for some updates.
Christmas was fantastic, as always. How could it not be, it's CHRISTMAS!
Riley woke up Christmas morning and wondered to the tree all sleepy eyed and suddenly grinned ear to ear, eyes twinkled and I heard just the faintest "ssswwweeeetttt" come from his lips. I guess Santa did good in bringing the R2D2 robot!
We enjoyed the rest of the day playing with our new toys and just being together.
Mom headed out on the 28th. We really had a fantastic time together and always look forward to her next visit.
The 30th, we packed up our car and headed to Southern California. We left at 7am in order to get there in time to catch the Alamo Bowl on TV. Then that evening, the Hilbrant's made it in! Yeah! We were all so excited to be together and to meet Hadley (now 3 months old). We spent through New Year's day all together in Southern California, all of Jim's sisters and all the cousins together, it was a wonderful time.
Then Theresa and I agreed to switch Riley for Hadley so that Riley could head with them to Knotts Berry Farm and San Diego Zoo. He had so much fun hangin' with Ian, but we really got the better part of the trade being able to cuddle and just bond with Hadley. She really is a beautiful, fantastic, happy little girl.
They all arrived here from San Diego on the 4th! It was so exciting having the house so active with 5 bigger kids running and laughing and just having fun.
It was sad to see them leave on the 7th, but we know we will be together again soon. The boys miss each other already and meet up occasionally in WEBKINZ world.
The 8th was back to School and back to Work. Riley and I had both been off since the 22nd. It was tough getting ourselves together that morning to get back to the "real" world. The work week was spent on a large project working long hours which eventually wore me down as Friday, the 12th, yes, my Birthday, I was miserably sick!! Yuck... I laid around all day taking medicine which got me better enough to enjoy a nice dinner (Outback Steakhouse to go)and cake. Gabe made me a strawberry cake with relay strawberries sliced all around it. It was really wonderful.
So, it's been a crazy couple of weeks and a New Year! I'll keep up on the blogging now. I hope you enjoy the many pictures that have been taken over the last several weeks.
Love to all...
Jessica

Merry Christmas Eve...

Wow! It's been a crazy couple of weeks, as I'm sure it has for many of you.
Jim's birthday has come and gone. We celebrated by going out, which we NEVER do! We went to a brewery type restaurant for dinner and then went to Jillian's for video games and fun. Jim and Riley had a great time and I just enjoy watching them, and of course playing skee-ball.
My mom has been with us for the last week. We've been doing her shopping, planning our Christmas dinner activities and just enjoying the family time.
She stayed at my brother's yesterday so I sat and wrapped all my gifts which took about 3 hours...ugh, I'm not sure why I always wait until the last minute to start wrapping. But, I did get it all done and I'm ready to go...
We are having Christmas Eve dinner at Gabe's tonight. He and mom are making some soups, which will be wonderful!
I can't wait to hear all about your Christmas festivities and we'll share some pictures tomorrow.

T-shirt of the day.....

"I'M HOME TAKE ME DRUNK"
Yep, all bold and in caps. I think it must be a spin off of the classic "I'M NOT AS THINK AS YOU DRUNK I AM" shirts of the late 80's. Timeless indeed.

Christmas is in the air...

It's been two weeks since our last post and I apologize for that. I just love this time of year, Riley's Birthday, Thanksgiving, Gabe's Birthday, Jim's Birthday, Mom's here and, of course, Christmas, New Year's... it is the craziest two months of the year, every year, but I love it!
We are fully decorated... lights surround the house each night, the Christmas tree is beautiful thanks to Riley's help (after all, he does insist that a beautiful tree for Santa means he will leave more presents!).
I've done a little baking, the easy things... fudge, chex mix, seasoned oyster crackers... I plan to do more...Last year my grandma taught me how to make her "Magic Carpet Cookies" and I just can't wait to try them again this year. I won't get her help as she can't make it down this year, but I will be thinking of her the whole time. I'll also make the usual candy coated pretzels, just love them!
I've got the Christmas cards out...one more thing off the list!
My shopping is about 1/2 done. I like to focus first on all the items that need to be shipped, then move onto the people that will be here with us for Christmas. I just have two more boxes to ship and I'm good there.
Tonight I just finished the annual calendars I make for Jim and the Grandmas. I NEVER finish them this early, in fact, last year Jim didn't get his until about January 15th! I'm pretty proud that I have finished them on time this year. Just another thing to check off the list!
Tomorrow night we celebrate Gabe's birthday. My wonderful "little" brother is turning a BIG THREE - OHHH.... My goodness, how time flies... I remember when he was the little 6 year old pain in my 10 year old behind. Every year I make him whatever he wants for dinner and this year, it's taco pizza. A favorite for all of us here in AZ that can't get a glorious Happy Joe's Taco Pizza! I'm also going to make him a carrot cake, his favorite. I'm even going to attempt to make it without a box mix... that's a first for me... wish me luck, I hope it turns out good, I'de hate to turn him against his favorite :)
I got to talk with my wonderful sister-in-law, Theresa, for about 2 hours tonight. It's so rare anymore for us to be able to do that, afterall, she does have 5 kids to attend to! It's great when we can just talk and talk about anything and everything. I miss her terribly and can't wait to see them when they come to visit at the end of the month.
Love to all...

Turkey, Family and Beckham

Another four day T-giving weekend ended in the blink of an eye. Wright family including Deborah, Terry, Kennedy and Staci were kind enough to visit us for a variety of activities. We ate, drank, wiffle-balled, lacrossed, biked, boarded, golfed, facial-ed, cross worded, star wars-ed, shuffled/dealt, laughed and intermittently slept. The boys also took turns with the pellet gun. Poor David Beckham didn't have a chance with Ken at the trigger. Nothing personal, mate, just the perfect milk ad at the perfect time. Sunday we put up the Christmas lights around the house. For Riley, it's a legitimate excuse to be on the roof. For me, it's a chance to marvel at the number of light strings that somehow quit working while in storage(about 40%). I guess it's a good thing the Chinese make holiday lights instead of cars and televisions.

My Big SEVEN Year Old!

I can't believe how fast November has gone. Thanksgiving is in two days!
We just returned from a wonderful vacation in the Texas Hill Country where my grandparents rented a beautiful cottage for our family to come together for an early Thanksgiving celebration. My Aunt, Mom, Cousin, Brother, Grandparents and Jim, Riley and I all met up in Hunt, TX.
The "cottage" (sounds so small, but it slept 14!) was wonderful. Riley walked in the door and just beamed, "mom, did you see how beautiful the kitchen is!". What a thing for a 7 year old to notice, but he knows me well... the kitchen is my passion.
We enjoyed a fire each night, as it dipped down to the 30's, but warmed up nicely to the 60/70's during the day. The guys did lots of fishing, but no bites, probably because of the chilly nights. We canoed, Riley's first time and he loved it! He even got out in a two man paddle boat all by himself and cruised around in a big circle.
We visited a working ranch that now houses exotic animals. 40,000 acres of every species of deer imaginable that can be hunted for a mere $5,000. Completely amazing what people spend their money on. One particular animal (can't remember the name) can be hunted for $40,000! All for trophy. They also had Giraffe, which were loads of fun to feed. They stuck their head right in the bus looking for carrots and apples. After the tour we were treated to wonderful home cooked "cowboy" lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, beans, cherry cobbler. The cook even put a candle in the cobbler for Riley's birthday!
We also went horseback riding. It was the first time for Riley, Gabe and myself. Riley's horse was huge, he looked so tiny on it. It was interesting, but I'm not sure I need to do it again. It was a 30 minute trail ride up and down rocky hills, Mom's horse was in front of me and I could see it's feet slipping which just terrified me, and her! But I guess it knew what it was doing, it's done that trail a thousand times. I think if I did it again, I would like to run the horse. The wrangler that gave us the ride, said when they run they are smooth like riding in a car, not so bouncy and bumpy.
We also celebrated Riley's 7th birthday! After the trip to the working ranch (and getting lost in the hill country...I drove us a 100 miles out of the way (one wrong turn)!) we setup decorations and had cake, ice cream and punch. And, of course, the opening of the presents. He had such a wonderful Birthday, he was just beaming all day. I can't believe it has been 7 years, time just goes too fast.
I am now preparing for our Thanksgiving visitors. Jim's sister, Deborah and family, are coming for the long weekend.
I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It Went Too Fast

It was an action packed weekend (at least for the males) in the house. Thursday, I stumbled across a pair of 'complimentary' Coyote tickets. The catch being a requirement that Riley and I tour the high-dollar corporate boxes, clubs and even the Coyotes bench, prior to the game. Does anyone really need prime rib and champagne at a hockey game? As it turned out, we still don't own a luxury suite and we ate pizza and nachos. The seats were decent, lower level, to the right of the goalie. The yotes looked especially anemic, obviously missing Doan and Comrie. The Stars were superior in every aspect. It was the worst I have ever seen a team get spanked to only lose 1-0. 'Cujo' stood on his head in goal, it should've been 6-0. It was Riley's first hockey game and I believe his highlights would include the pee-wee game and the remote control taco-shaped blimp both taking place between periods.
Saturday included Riley's last soccer game for the season and then the Busch Series race at PIR.
Sunday it was back to PIR for tailgating, the Nextel Cup race and then more tailgating. Riley did the grilling and the brats were perfect, he may be the next Brian Hilbrant in this respect. I wonder if Brian wasn't usually grilling would he be endlessly repeating the phrase "dad I'm bored"? The race was awesome and the fanatics in NASCAR are unparalleled (in a number of ways). As is a requirement in major races be they dog, horse or human, we each picked our winners and threw in our $5. Gabe won, having picked Kevin Harvick with his first selection. Riley didn't want to pay up though as his picks came in 2nd, 3rd and 4th - (and all 5 in the top 15) -ouch!- He thought the guy who's driver came in 2nd should get something too. Alas, if we only had ten participants instead of four, he may have been rewarded. So, Riley walked away from the race with a new appreciation of charcoal grilling and wagering. And he still managed to score a #24 real-tree hat sweet enough to make even his uncle Steve cammo-green with envy. He also found out pretty quickly- during driver introductions- that Jeff Gordon has a huge following of both supporters and detractors. Why? I told him "he's a really good driver, if he wasn't people wouldn't care enough to make any noise". Soon, all cheers and boos were replaced with roaring engines and universal sign language. A pumped fist, a dejected head shake, smiles and silent high fives. Before the string of late cautions and even a red flag, it was starting to look like Johnson's car was closing down the distinct advantage Harvick had held all day. Maybe in the April race Riley. Or possibly at the dog track. - Jim

Just another lovely weekend...

We enjoyed more beautiful Phoenix weather this weekend.
Riley had a soccer game Saturday morning. Jim and I enjoy watching him so much more this year now that he is really getting in there and going after the ball. It really is exciting. For the first time this year, we are hearing cheers and chants for "Riley", which is a whole new experience for all of us. He is really becoming a great soccer player and I am looking forward to watching him grow and improve season after season. Next year he will move up a group, which will be nice as maybe they will start learning more concepts and keys to the game, instead of playing in the 4 to 6 year olds, who are "playing for fun".
We shopped a little after the soccer game. Jim actually went into the scrapbook store with me! I couldn't believe it, I don't think he could believe it either! I kept it real short and sweet, didn't want to ruin his experience! We then wandered around Target and started buying a few Christmas presents. I want to get a start before Thanksgiving when the stores get real crazy.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning house and Riley played with his friends into the night.
Sunday was similar... doing things around the house getting ready for all the Thanksgiving and Christmas visitors we are so excited are coming!
It took a few days to run the gas, install the electric, patch and paint the wall, but as of tonight, my stove is in place and cooking great! Oh, and we had a slight delay... On Wednesday night we went to hook it up, but when we opened the box all the way, the side was smashed, obviously by a forklift. So, I had to call the store and have a new one delivered on Friday.
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
Love to all...