Grand Canyon Railway

May and Rob, along with the four of us headed up to Williams, AZ to ride the Grand Canyon Railway last week. We had a wonderful time and the boys really enjoyed it as well. WOW-It was FREEZING up in Williams and at the Grand Canyon, though. Although, we were priviledged to see the first snow of the season up there-definitely worth it. Funny story, Scott wasn't feeling well (that's not the funny part!), so we went to the pharmacist at the local Safeway to ask him what he should take. After recommending Cepacol for his throat, he told us to enjoy our visit there. Of course, we are bundled up like no tomorrow in mismatched winter clothes, so I asked him, do we look like 'tourists' that bad (mind you-we are still in AZ!!)?!!?! He laughed and said, 'No, there are only about 1,000 people who live here and we all know eachother!" That made me feel a little better LOL!!! We would recommend this trip to anyone (the Grand Canyon Railway Inn was great and really pretty-try to stay there) and are hoping to do the Polar Express next year...

Here's a shot of the six of us, notice the snow on the canyon itself??


Here are our two little snowbunnies...


Rhys and Ethan on the tourbus...



May, Rob, Ethan, Rhys and Scott on the train

Flagstaff/Sedona

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we went up to Flagstaff and spent the afternoon and night at Mike and Krista's house. We love hanging out with them and the kids love the dogs (well, for the most part!) On Monday morning, Scott and I and the boys went 4Wheeling in Sedona while Mike and Krista were at work. Here are some pics...(of course, we got none with Mike and Krista-SORRY guys :))!!

Here's the staircase on Broken Arrow trail that makes this a more difficult trail. Mind you, the only reason we're not 'kissing' the glass is because our seatbelts were locked :). It's a lot steeper than it looks!















Here's a pic of my three guys! What a cute bunch I have!!



















Sedona sure is gorgeous...















Dad and Rhys...















Woah, look at the 'travel' on that back wheel :)!















On the other side of that 'fence' is a huge sinkhole-probably 40 feet deep. Don't worry, Scott was standing right there :).

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year, spending it with Scott's side of the family. Scott's brother, Joe and his wife Brigitte and their two boys, Thomas (8) and Jonathan (6) drove out from CA. Scott's cousin Chris and his mom, Joani were out too! We went 4Wheeling on Thanksgiving and then came home to a wonderful meal on Thursday afternoon. Ethan LOVED spending so much time playing with his cousins. Here are some pics from that weekend...

Top (L to R): Melanie, Rhys, Scott, Chris, Joe, Brigitte, & Thomas. Bottom (L to R): Jonathan, Ethan, & May Not Pictured: Joani (sick in bed) and Rob (taking photo)















Here's a pic of the three trucks-our 4Runner, Joe's FJ Cruiser and Rob's Explorer.















Here we are wearing our Pilgrim and Indian hats .















Here's a pic of me driving over a nice sized boulder :)-FUN

Pics of the kids

Hey everyone. Here's some pics of the boys...

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY SCOTT

Scott turned 30 on November 13th and I threw him a surprise party at Joe's BBQ. Of course, the camera died before I could take any photos, but here's a pic of his cake!!! We (me, May and Rob, my mom and Dave and my dad) all pitched in to buy Scott an iPod Nano. He is loving it and has even downloaded some songs from iTunes.

Visit with GG

Scott's grandmother, Margit, was here last week for a 4 day visit. We enjoyed catching up with her and she had a great time with the boys! Ethan and Rhys call her GG (for great-grandma) and they enjoyed spending lots of time with her. Here's a four generation photo of Margit, Rob, Scott and Ethan (Rhys was sleeping). Pretty special!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. The Kearney's invited our whole home group (Hodin's, Kattelman's and Schaefer's) over for dinner and trick or treating. The kids had a blast playing in the yard and then trick or treating in the neighborhood. My mom and Dave, as well as May and Rob were able to stop by and see the kids too. We had a wonderful time and look forward to doing the same thing next year! Oh and thanks to G.G. for providing the wonderful costumes, they were a hit!!



Here's a picture of Ethan as a Blue Clone Trooper...













Here's a pic of me with my little dinosaur Rhys...










Here's a pic of Memere and the boys










Here's a pic of grandma and the boys

New 4Runner

Well, we decided to get a new-to-us 1997 4Runner 4WD Limited, one with an E-locker (helps with traction when 4-wheelin') and here is a picture of 'her!' We found it online through eBay and it was in Texas, so I bought Scott a ticket and he flew out there on Friday 10/27 to look at it and buy it (clean CARFAX, etc) So, Friday and Saturday he spent on the road driving the 1000 miles home from Dallas to Gilbert! Whew, what a journey!! Buying this truck was definitely a leap of faith, as we had not yet sold our '99 4Runner. When Scott got home on Saturday (at 12:30 p.m.), we had the tires switched over at Discount (we wanted to keep the Nittos) and he then proceeded to take off the brush guard, running boards and tow hitch/wiring. On Sunday early evening, Scott posted the '99 4Runner on CraigsList for sale. WIthin 3 hours, we had someone come over, look at it and put a deposit down! Scott hadn't even gotten the vehicle 'ready for sale', but this family wanted it and bought it on Monday!!! Oh and RIGHT after the family looked at the truck Sunday night, another guy called to buy the brush guard. He came over at 9 p.m., Scott installed it for him and he paid us $200 cash, which paid for Scott's plane ticket, hotel (ok, make that Motel6 in a shady part of town LOL), food and 1/3 of the gas! Pretty sweet :). Anyway, it all worked out so great and we are all very happy! Scott gets an e-locker for 4-wheelin' and I get to have it as my daily driver (which is SO nice with the two boys).

Back from Vegas

Hello all. My mom, Ethan, Rhys & I went to Las Vegas last week to visit my friend, Alana and her family. She and her husband, Kegham have two beautiful children, Kyle and Sara. Here's a few pics from our trip...We stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way there and back and Ethan LOVED it. He also loved the Pirate Show at Treasure Island. He was scared of the cannons and sinking ship, which was about 10 feet in front of us, but after it was over, he couldn't stop talking about it! He wants to be a pirate for Halloween next year (this year he's going to be a blue clone trooper from Star Wars)!

Our New Blog

Well, I have never done a blog before, but thought it'd be fun to have a place where Scott and I can post as to what is going on in our lives! Lots of changes are happening this summer and I think this is an easier outlet to tell everyone what is going on than constantly sending email messages :). Anyway, this is my first post, so I am going to keep it short, but will be back often to add info!