Christmas Activities 2009

This year Christmas was spent with Tony's family. Ann and the boys came down around the 16th. Kyle came that Saturday, and Al came the next week. Mostly we just spent time together. We visited a Palizzi family friend in Scottsdale who served us yummy enchiladas and this awesome lemon cake.
Here's a picture of Kyle in one of the sports cars. Ann wanted a picture of Kyle in it, although I don't know that Kyle cares as much about cars as Tony. Tony would love to have a sports car, particularly an James Bond type.

We also went to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo. It was kinda of cool, but WAY too crowded. I probably would not go again unless it was totally at an off peak time.

Christmas day was nice. As always, Tony and I were up before the kids. We are such young un's at heart. Tony got the saw he wanted, and I got a treadmill that I needed. I love it. I can watch TV and work out, which I really need to do. I was starting to feel like I looked prego, which would be good if it were true, but not good since I am most definitely not.
For dinner we adopted Melissa and Cameron's tradition of prime rib. Tony made it and it was very good.
We didn't take hardly any pictures, which is kind of unusual for us. It was partly due to the fact that we didn't charge the camera battery and partly because we just forgot. Oh well, there's always next year.

Thanksgiving 2009

My sister and her family came for a visit this past Thanksgiving weekend. Wednesday we went for a drive out to a ghost town and then around the Apache Trail somewhere east of Phoenix. It was a very loonnggg drive to me. Most of it was dirt washboard roads and desert landscapes. I still have not grown a fondness for the desert. Yes we can get great sunsets, but I just don't love the sage brush, prickly cactus plants and the barrenness. Melissa, Cameron, and Tony seemed to enjoy it though, so that is good.

Towards the end a came upon this bridge almost perfectly reflected in the water, if it weren't for a faint breeze.


Ali and Ashling each opened a present from Grandma Bonnie. They were those sit on bouncy balls that you hop around on. They thought it was great fun to hippity-hop down the hall in the house, although their dad was worried they'd bounce off and hit their head on the tile, which never happened by the way.



On Thanksgiving we of course "feasted" as Ali kept saying and played Settlers of Catan. The next day, Melissa and I joined the massive throng of people fulfilling their patriotic duty at 4:45am outside of Target. (By that I mean we spent money to help the economy.)
Not sure it was worth it, although she did get a lot of her shopping done. Plus it was fun for me to have somebody to go with. I required a nap later that day, even though I did not really want one. Sometimes there is no stopping the head from hitting the pillow.


Saturday we all hiked Camelback Mountain. Annika wasn't feeling well, so she cried a lot, forcing Melissa to stop part way, and then I decided that I didn't need to do the very top part which is climbed mostly by hand, but Cameron and the girls made it.
It was also Eko's first hike. He really enjoyed it, although I think he was kind of sore after.

All in all a pretty good weekend. The worst part was having to come back to work after, but there's another light at the end of the tunnel. Tony's parents, Kyle, and the boys are coming for Christmas, so that's something to look forward too.

Labor Day Weekend Trip 2009

Arizona's heat has been relentless for the last few months, so to escape the constant incessant sun, we hightailed it to the cloud covered skies of Washington.
Some might have been disappointed with a cloudy rain infused weekend, but I felt relief at the 30 degree temperature difference. Sure, it would have been nice to have a little more sunshine enabling us to get more time outdoors, but honestly I loved the drizzles and clouds. And the Trees! I kept looking at Tony and saying “trees!” with the awe of someone who is seeing the ocean for the first time. Everything was so green and fresh. There was that earthy smell of wet dirt and pine needles that hasn’t yet been bottled or turned into a candle fragrance. It was really quite nice.

The down side to the weekend was that Ann had gotten sick a day or two before we got there, and remained feeling quite under the weather for the duration of our stay. Yet we managed to have a pretty good weekend and it was probably helpful for her to have us there.


Saturday, Al and Brandon picked us up from the airport and we went to lunch at a seafood place I think is called Wally’s. It’s so nice to get seafood and know that it is pretty fresh. I love a good scallop! Later one of Tony’s childhood friends came for a visit, and Tony enjoyed watching a game of BYU Football. (He is by the way, very happy for football season, while I will be mourning the loss of him for the next few weekends.)

The next day we met my Dad, step-mom Natalya, little sister Amanda, and my not so little-little brother Davey for lunch. Carter thought it was funny that there were two grandpa’s there. I asked who he meant, and he pointed to my dad and my brother. Davey is pretty big, and I can see why he might have thought that, although he does not look old. It was good to talk with them and visit. We seem to be making a tradition of meeting at the Olive Garden behind South Hill mall, as we did the same thing this past Christmas.

Monday morning we played with the boys and then Tony and I met Natalya and Amanda at the Super Mall in Auburn for a little shopping. Nobody really bought much, but it was fun just to spend some time with them, as I rarely get to see them. I don’t remember what we did later that day. Weird, since it was just a few days ago and I’m sure it was fun.




Tuesday Tony and I took the boys for a walk. Well we walked and they rode their bikes. It was so relaxing and peaceful to be in the trees. The boys seemed to enjoy it and would have ridden longer, but I was worried they’d get further on the trail and then not want to ride back. That night, thanks to Tony’s friend, we took the boys to Chuck E Cheese. You can almost never go wrong with little kids and the enticing lights and games of a Chuck E Cheese.














Wednesday was Brandon’s first day of kindergarten.
He was pretty happy to be going to school, and didn’t even look back at us as he boarded the bus. It’s kind of funny that they have him take the bus since it is all of a quarter mile to his school from the house, but I guess since it’s right on the way, they just pick up the kids. I took the opportunity to run to Sumner for a little antique shopping. Again it was relaxing to be out in the early fall weather, where things are just warm enough that you don’t need a jacket, but cool enough to wear jeans. I didn’t find anything I had to have and instead just headed home to pack up.


Carter really seemed to like having us there. He called me “Mommy” the whole weekend, which I wasn’t sure Brandon liked, but he said it didn’t bother him. I corrected him at first saying I was Auntie or Aunt Stacey, but that just seemed to make him more determined. It was very cute. He even called Tony, "Daddy" on the last day. He especially liked to wait by our bedroom door in the mornings until he knew we were awake and then he would crawl up into the bed.

Brandon really liked having someone to play his Wii with, although he was loads better than me. I only liked the Mario cart game. Some of the others were too confusing.

We are now looking forward to having them come for Christmas, which is my favorite time of year. Hopefully it will be just warm enough to swim in the pool as they boys know we have a pool and would be disappointed to know it’s there and not be able to swim in it.

Musings...

Life around the Palizzi household has been moving at a steady, albeit normal pace.

Work, eat, sleep, pretty much the basics.

Not that life is particularly void of entertainment. Saturday we went to the water park for a few hours, and attended a free mystery dinner that Tony had won tickets to.

I have to say I am glad he won the tickets since they are normally like $38.00 a piece, and to be honest the show was not really worth it. There was a portly guy parading around the whole night in a busty nurses uniform who thought it was vastly entertaining to shove said boobies in the faces of any unsuspecting person who dared to sit in any accessible location. Really I was wishing we had been able to eat first, and then slip out the door, but the food was spread out over the 3 hour show. I am certain I would have been pretty upset had we wasted money I could have been saving for house decor or a trip.

Speaking of house decor, I'm wondering if I'll ever make any effort to further decorate the house. The kitchen is painted, although the brown accents we are undecided on. We like the colors together, but can't decide if we like them together in a kitchen family room combo.
Also our master bedroom has not preceded past the coat of primer that I used to mask the bright faux orange finish dominating one wall. It still has 3 other walls that are a beigy yellow, not in the "ahh a neutral beige," but in the "this might have been a cheery yellow on the paint card at the store, but just looks bland on the walls yellow." Our bathroom is still the track home white and very generic, but at least it isn't something we HAVE to paint right away.

Sometimes I feel like we are in over our heads with this house and yard. Everything seems so big, and it feels like it would take a fortune to decorate. The yard is still dried yellow grass in a few places, although Tony is no longer trying to keep the whole yard green, as he has decided it is way too much lawn to cut.

I guess it's not that we feel in over our heads, it's just that it isn't such a concern to me to decorate. I would love to have a house that was showy and beautiful, but I keep thinking that I don't really have too many people over and would much rather travel.

Oh travel. again I am feeling the yearning to disappear to a foreign land. Well not really disappear. I could never leave without letting someone know where I was going. It really just isn't smart to not have someone who could alert the authorities when I don't come back, but I mean to soak up the places I am going almost to the point where I been come a part of it.

I keep wondering why I never studied abroad, or why I haven't found a way to live in another country for a few months a year. Aren't there jobs where people travel? I sell travel right now, which may or may not be good for someone with my addiction. I am literally at any given moment planning somewhere I would like to go.

Right now I have five places that come to mind:

Brno, Czech Republic. (Why, well you'll have to guess)

Hawaii. (No explanation needed)

Dominican Republic. (It has great beaches, so I hear.)

China. ( I was thinking today in Primary that I would love to have a fancy princess dress made for Halloween or masked balls (another side note, yes I do still enjoy dressing up, and you never know when you'll get invited to a ball), and am quite certain I could get better fabrics and a higher quality custom costume made there for less.)

Alaska (Alaska... where did that come from? Oh yeah, it's because I wish that I was somewhere I could see the ocean, go fishing or camping where I might actually want a fire, oh and a little thing called trees. Not big frondy palms, but evergreens, or maples or something green and leafy.)

So really it's that I can't see spending money on things for the house when I am generally dreaming of being somewhere else. It's good I suppose that we are taking a brief trip to Washington over labor day. While it won't take away my wanderlust, it might give me a slight distraction.

Bet you can't eat just one

I'm not the only one who likes Pringles...

Free Chicken

One should never pass up the opportunity to have fun for free.

Last Friday, while my sister was visiting, we took the girls to Chick-fil-a for a free chicken meal each. The catch was that to get the free meal, we had to dress up as cows. Tony wouldn't go. He said it wasn't worth his dignity to dress up as a cow, just to get free food, but I think it was fun. The girls helped make the masks and spots for our outfits. We even got them to say "We're Happy cows" and then the other one would go "We're from California." They didn't quite get why they were supposed to say it, but we thought it was funny. The store was all decked out in cow stuff, and they rang a cow bell when anyone came in dressed as cows. They even had a guy dressed in a cow costume part of the time.

Any way here for all to enjoy is a quick snap shot of our costumes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!

Happy Birthday Tony! Here are few pictures of him through out the years.




























Tony survived the 80's.























He played a lot of sports, including high school football.




He served his mission in Venezuela.










After years in which his family despaired greatly, he finally met and married a beautiful bride. (I'm not partial at all.)


He graduated from BYU...



traveled to Ireland and China...

went to law school in New Hampshire...






and is now working on the next step of his life.

Happy Birthday Tony!

Mr. Eko

Tony has wanted a dog for as long as we have been married, but since we lived it apartments it just wasn't logical.

Well about a month ago, not very long after we moved into the new house, we saw an ad on the internet for a Beagle puppy. Tony went to check the little guy out, and instantly fell in love. We picked him up the next day. The puppy was kind of scared on the car ride home, and was a little anxious for the first day, but once he got used to us, he decided the house was his throne.


The previous owners had just been calling him Spiderman, which we didn't really like, so after a few days Tony came up with the name "Mr. Eko". I thought he meant Echo, but I guess it comes from a TV character. Any way, Eko is making himself at home. He likes all types of food, including any unattended cat food and especially puppy popsicles, because in Phoenix, even the dogs need something to cool them down.

My sister visited for the Weekend

We have started doing away with the yellow paint in our kitchen and family room. My sister and her family came for the weekend to help. Cameron did a great job edging and everyone worked hard with the painting.







Of course the girls had to swim at least twice a day. Our pool is much more fun with kids. They jump, dive and are much more fun to chase.