Arizona in December 2009

A quick trip to see the family in Arizona including Kurt Warner. OK maybe Kurt isn't family but he should be. December is a bit different in Arizona than the December we know in Washington. Sunny skies and warmer temperatures but all the same Christmas trimmings. Check out this giant Christmas tree at the outlet mall right by the Doolittle's house. Huge! We made a trip to the mall to see Santa.

Santa was feeding his reindeer when we got there so we had to kill some time. The yogurt store seemed like a good place to do that! Yum!
Here we are in Santa's house. Ryland was excited about the whole adventure.
Easton did great but was a bit concerned about the guy in the red suit!
After the trip to see Santa it was time to get ready for the garage sale that was happening on Sat. It was a family affair. Everyone helped get ready! Mark, Keri and the boys are moving to Denver!!
The sign coloring motivated Ryland to do some coloring of his own! Such concentration!
The morning of the garage sale Keri and I ventured out for donuts and Starbucks. Ryland thought the donuts were a pretty good idea!
Keri kept telling me Phoenix could get cold. Ha! Right! I would say. Well, I got to experience if for myself. It was about 39 degrees at sale time and I am not sure what the wind chill was but it was cold!
While Keri and I manned the sale the boys played together!
Here Keri is telling me how she saved my life in the middle of the night Friday night. Easton was crying and Mark got up to take care of him. As he was leaving Easton's room he saw the bathroom door shut. He was not quite awake and wondered who was in his house. He went into the bedroom and got the bat out from under the bed. Keri is demonstrating how he was holding it when he woke her up. He told Keri someone was in the bathroom. Thankfully, Keri woke up enough to tell Mark not to smack her mom with a bat! Whew! Close call!More playing! This time with the bubble machine!

I just could not believe all the stuff these people bought. Not only at Keri's garage sale but the things they already had. Two huge TV's! They still had a lot of space on their trailer. I think they were making a day of garage sales!
The garage sale ended at 11:00 and it was off to Ryland's soccer game after that. BRRR! So cold! Really!
Does Ryland look like he was enjoying himself!!!! He was!
Mark is the coach! A good one too. He was full of encouragement for all the kids!

Go get em!
This was interesting. This young man wore his Mickey Mouse hat for the whole game. I guess he always brings along something to help him in the game. This week it was the hat. He was also very hungry because almost every time I saw him he had a cracker in his mouth. Cute!
Home again! The rest of that day was quiet! Sunday the baseball bat came out! Ryland can hit! He can adjust to a slow pitch after hitting several fast pitches thrown by Mark. I took a video and uploaded it and it is still processing. If it makes it on this post you will know it finally stopped processing. It has been 15 minutes so far.
Off to the Cardinal/ Viking game for the three of us!
Easton thinks we are nuts I think. He might be right!
We got to the game early and realized Kurt Warner really likes to Go Green! He rode his bike to the game! Amazing! What a guy!
No mistaking it! This is Kurt Warner. Look at the jersey!

I think we might have gotten to the game before Kurt did! The car is a bit faster than the bike.
There were the typical tailgate parties in the parking lot!Keri asked me if I wanted my picture taken with one of the cheerleaders. Ah!! NO! Easton was a much better choice for that picture!
Once inside we discovered there were some Vikings fans in attendance.

Easton loved watching all the activity around him!
Here come the Cardinals and Kurt. I guess he made it OK on his bicycle. He was there for warm ups!

Had to get a picture of Brett Favre!
Here we are! Happy to be at the game!
Cheese heads are now being used by the Vikings fans. What is the relationship between cheese and Vikings?????
I always think it is so cool to see this! Kind of puts everything into perspective. It isn't about football or who wins it is about faith and living your life for God! I am pretty sure God wanted the Cardinals to win though. :-) Sorry Vikings!
The worlds biggest Cardinal!

This gentleman above sat right next to me. Easton wasn't afraid of him but he wasn't enjoying him either. This Cardinal fan tried to smile and be friendly but the only response he got from Easton was a stare!
What a great time we had at the game. In case you don't know the Cardinals and Kurt Warner handed the Vikings their second loss. Nice job!