Disney, a Birthday, and Christmas

We have been wanting to go to Disneyland for the 60th Anniversary, besides it is the happiest place on earth.  We always have a great time there as a family.  I also convinced Trey that going to Disneyland would be better than having a birthday party. We finally found a time that would be good for out schedule and have lower crowds.  We decided it is worth it to take the kids out of school for a few days to make the Disney Crowd experience more bearable.

We left after school on a Tuesday, we planned to be there W,T,Friday and come home Saturday when the crowds started the get big.  We got the park Wednesday morning, we usually his Tomorrow land first.  Now that Disney owns the Star Wars franchise it had geared tomorrow-land all about Star Wars.  The kids loved "Hyper" Space Mountain, Star Tours.  Trey is finally big enough to go on all the rides so it was more fun for him.  To get everyone more pumped up, the new Star Wars moving was coming out just a few days (9 days Disney reminded us) later.

We had a great day first day at the park, then tragedy struck.  Derek woke up sick the second day.  Like really sick, fever, sore throat.  He begged to be able to stay at the hotel in bed rater than go to Disneyland.  This put a damper on everything.  We talked about it and we eventually left Derek in the hotel to sleep and we took off.  We could call him etc to check on him.  We missed having him with us, but he just wanted to sleep and be left alone.

We kept texting and calling Derek throughout the day, we never heard from him.  We went back to the Hotel to check on him.  He was wiped out,  high fever, felt miserable and slept almost the entire day.

On Thursday I felt bad leaving him in a hotel all by himself while everyone was at Disneyland.  I decided to stay back and hang with Derek.  I left a few times to walk down the street get him food or medicine at the Drug store, but he was still pretty sick. Thursday night we did get him out of bed and got him dressed so he could hang at the park for a bit, after short time Derek started to feel sick again.  I took Dax and Derek back to the Hotel (our Hotel was a bit of a walk this time) while Curtis and Trey stayed at the park until it closed at midnight.  Trey is a bit of a party animal and they had a great time riding the rides together with minimal crowds. I'm happy they stayed and had that fun time together.   I kept asking Derek if he wanted me to take him to the Dr. he said he did want to go to the Dr., but not until we got home.

We got home Saturday afternoon/early evening and I made an appt. to get him into Urgent care before they closed.  Derek had Strep.  Ughh.  I felt so bad.  He had been complaining of a sore throat for a few weeks, but I didn't think much of it considering the time of year etc.  Then boom, we show up at Disneyland and he gets so sick. Especially since going to Disneyland was part of his Birthday.  I was glad to finally get him some antibiotics and get him healed.

Love this family Pic at Disney.  Glad we took this the first night before Derek got sick

Derek recovered, and next stop... His 12th Birthday.  Derek is such an easy kid when it comes to his Birthday.  He loves that it is right near Christmas and he never asks for much.  This year he said all he wanted to do was go see the new Star Wars movie which opened the previous week.  Since he really didn't ask for much, I felt like I had to make it at least a memorable day, 12 is kind of a big deal.  I made him a Star Wars Breakfast.  He loved it and so did the rest of the family.

I truly am NOT a Star Wars fan,  I need most Characters, Names etc. explained to me.  I had to do some Pinterest/Internet  research and look what other people have done for similar Star Wars events.  Some of these ideas I 'borrowed", some I modified, and some I actually came up with on my own, after learning more about Star Wars.  Since I came up with the idea last minute, luckily I was able to find a Darth Vader Pancake mold on e-bay from a local gentlemen who so graciously agreed to meet me at a McDonalds parking lot for the exchange of goods in time for a fantastic 12th Birthday.  Double bonus I didn't have to pay shipping. For last minute days before Christmas it was a great price.

 Menu at the "Rebel Hangar"
Breakfast Dark Sliders (hehe instead of Dark Side)
Wookie Hash
Death Star Donut Holes
Sith Kabob's

Trey loved it, he wanted to make his own menu on the computer for when it's his Birthday.  Sweet Boys.  I love them.

Thanksgiving 2015

A few months back my oldest brother Steve, texted Darrell and I to see if we could all go up to Flagstaff and have Thanksgiving together.  The entire family- kids, grand kids and my Dad.  Darrell and I were skeptical about this.  As my dad has gotten older, and he has gotten crankier, he is very irritable and does not handle crowds well at all. On the other hand each year I worry about my Dad being lonely etc on the Holidays, although most years he just has Thanksgiving with Steven and his family at a restaurant. We also know he won't be around forever and the entire family has never been all together.

Steven said he knew of a nice restaurant in Flagstaff that wasn't too crowded, noisy etc.  That could accommodate all of  us and would make everyone happy.  Steven even talked to my Dad about this before hand he seemed happy about it.  When I talked to my dad a few days before he also seemed to be looking forward to seeing everyone.

The day before Thanksgiving about an hour before we were planning on leaving town, I get an email from my dad saying he is sick and not to come up.  I was so frustrated.  He actually pulls this "illness" every year.  For several years after my mom died I invited my dad to come down and join us for Thanksgiving.  We would wait and wait, he would never show up.  Then I would call him and he would tell me he is "sick". I think he just doesn't like the crowds and the thought of all of us overwhelms him.    After being frustrated for a minute (truly 60 seconds), I thought about it, then I was then relieved.  I didn't have to go pile the family into the car and drive 3 hours to Flagstaff  for a meal, then come home the next day.   I didn't have to put up with the Chaos of the entire family with kids of all ages being together in a restaurant with my cranky Dad.  I wouldn't have to deal the the family drama of my brother Darrell being mad at Curtis for the last 11 years for reasons we can't even remember. I wouldn't have to go be in the cold.   It was actually a very good thing. 

Since it was late Wednesday afternoon and I hadn't planned on doing Thanksgiving dinner, I really didn't want to start planning now.  The stores would already be crazy busy and it just felt good to not to have to do anything.  I think Curtis was very happy to come home from work and for once he got to do "nothing".  We just decided we would find a resturant near us and have Thanksgiving there. 

We decided on Rawhide Western town.  We had never been there, the prices were reasonable and it sounded like they had a pretty good  traditional Thanksgiving menu + a few extra's like prime rib, and it was kid friendly. 

Rawhide was an absolute winner.  We loved the food, everyone had a great time and for the cost it was for us to all go eat out was about the same I would have paid to go buy it and slave away in the kitchen all day, then have to clean it all up, and find a place to stash the leftovers in my already crowded fridge.  We stuffed ourselves  (all but Trey, he decided to be healthy today.  All he ate was a bit of lettuce, cheese and a little dessert.  He wouldn't even try his favorite Mac and cheese).  They also had a nice band playing.  It was well done with a little western flare. 

After we were so stuffed we could barley move, we walked around the western town and the kids had a great time.  Dax and Derek pulled their money together and bought a fake gun.  Because we don't have any of those laying around every corner of the house here (haha).

Arrested for eating salad instead of a Thanksgiving feast

The kids actually loved the cowboy name thing in the back of this picture.  You look at your initials and it gives you a cowboy name.  The kids thought this was hilarious.
Our cowboy names:

Curtis=Billy "The Terrible" Gold-Digger
Marilyn= Shorty Gold-Digger
Dax=Smiley "The Fearsome" Gold-Digger
Derk= Smiley "The Wanted" Gold-Digger
Trey= Buck "The Ruthless" Gold- Digger

They thought these were pretty funny especially since our last name was "Gold-Digger"  Dax always refers to our dog "Oreo" as Gold-Digger because she only goes to the kids when they have food that she wants.

We loved our Thanksgiving, and Rawhide may just be our new Thanksgiving Tradition.  The only thing we would do different is have the dessert/ pie at home after the food settles a bit.

Happy Birthday Trey J

#7

Trey is 7 and I can't believe it.  I know I say that every birthday, but I really can't believe it.

Yesterday was Veterans Day.  First thing in the morning, I dropped Derek off to go be in the Veterans Day Parade.  For the Citizen in the community Merit Badge Derek had to do a bit of service so him and his troop went to be in the Veterans Day Parade.   Derek's leaders told me he did great. He went up to all the Veterans, shook their hands and saluted them.  He went out of his way to the veterans  that were in wheel chairs.  The leaders were very proud of him, and said he was awesome.

Since the kids were not in school we decided to go see the Movie Goosebumps for Trey's birthday.  Trey had been asking to see this movie for several months, but he actually called it "Jack Black"  I guess the previews didn't do a good job of getting the movie's name out, just the  actor's name for one of the characters.

The movie was decent, but it was probably a little old for Trey.  He got scared and Curtis had to take him out for a bit.  We told him he could leave, but he put his brave on and finished the movie and actually liked it.  
Now onto the actual Birthday ...
Trey wanted  Skylanders Superchargers.  It is a video game, that I don't know much about.  I've heard of Skylanders and that is about all.  I do know that Trey and his friend Jeremy have been in cahoots about this for a long time.  Jeremy introduced Trey to Skylanders and for months they have had this scheme that Trey would give Jeremy something or other Skylanders for Jeremy's birthday in October and Jeremy would give Trey the rest of the  Skylanders and then they would have it all.  Or something like that.  These were pretty expenseive so I really wasn't willing to give Jeremy this $60 birthday gift, and we were not planning on having a party for Trey this year (planning on Disnelyland instead) so Mom and Dad just gave Trey what he asked for and Jeremy got a  $15 Target gift card.

Happy Birthday cute 7 year old

Should be thumps up. Book #10 for Diary of a Wimpy kid that he had been asking for

WAHOO!! Skylanders Superchargers

Jurassic World Cake,  I had a #7 sparkler instead of candles. Can't find those pics

Talking Stick Basketball

Curtis was invited to be a part of a Real Estate panel East vs West.  They had a few agents from both sides of town sit on a panel, then they would play basket ball against each other where the Phoenix Sun's play on their court.  Curtis was not excited about the Real Estate Panel, but the basketball was calling his name.  The teams were supposed to be coached for NBA players, their names were announced as they came in, and they had NBA refs.  It was a cool idea.

It was put on by a mortgage company and it wasn't publicized very well.  It was supposed to be a fundraiser for Veterans Day, but the only people that came were pretty much the people on the panel, a few of their families and office staff.  A total bust if they were trying to get a crowd.  The event was actually pretty cool, just not executed as well as it could have been.  Curtis did great on the panel and had fun in the game (East Side)  Maybe if they were lucky they raised $100.  $10 a ticket/participants didn't have to pay.

They gave Curtis  a "locker" with his name on it

The Gorilla and I meet again

East side RE Panel

Me with Tom Chambers former Suns player

hustle on the court

Group Photo, west side won

Curtis with his Coach, Tom Chambers

Fun times on the NBA court

October 31, 2015 Welcome to the future Marty McFly- Halloween

Several Months ago (like July)  Derek asked if he could be Mary McFly from the Back to the Future Movies for Halloween.  I thought it was a great idea.  A classic movie with a fairly easy costume, and fitting since it was the year (Oct, 21 2015) that Doc and Marty traveled into the Future  Sure- No Problem.  As we were talking about this we decided it would be funny if Dax went as Doc Brown, since Dax already is a bit of a mad scientist himself, it was kind of fitting.

Time went on, the kids were talking about the movies and odd trivia they had read about it.  Trey hadn't seen the movies and kept asking questions so we rented the first movie and watched it together.  It really is a great movie and I forgot how good, funny, well done it was.  After the movie Trey said he wanted to be the "DeLorean Time Machine" for Halloween,  I thought it was pretty clever of him to come up with that, it was a great idea.  I thought about it and I decided that I thought I knew of a way that I could create that costume.  It was August about this time, and I didn't want to get to involved in these costumes in case they changed their minds by Halloween.  I looked around, did some DeLorean research and felt I could make one (crossing my fingers it would turn out).

I had a plan, the first week in Oct I started working on the DeLoren.  There were some bumps, a few design flaws etc.  I kept plugging away.  I knew this would take some time, but I admit it took a whole lot more time that I had anticipated.  I wasn't even sure if it would come together.  I kept telling Trey the back up plan was he would have to be "Biff" from the movie instead of the car.  Curtis just said "just make it work" along with "you are spending an awful lot of time on this"  There were some times it looked like a big hunk of junk.  I didn't even take pictures of the process along the way because I didn't know if it was even worth documenting.  One Mom gave me the idea of Paper Mache' which was what saved the project.  The Paper Mache made it all come together so it would work. It took me nearly the entire month of Oct (off and on) to get this done.  This simple Marty McFly Halloween costume had grown into a monster.  I think I spent more time on this DeLorean then every Halloween costume put together over the last 15 years.  I'm glad I started this when I did and didn't wait until the last minute

The Finished DeLorean Flux Capacitor and all

Doc and  his invention

George McFly, Lorraine Baines McFly, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, and the DeLorean

Curtis and I never dress up for Halloween, but this year we joined the fun. We went as Marty McFly's Parents.    We really had a great time.  On Friday night we went to Trunk or Treat at the Church, then Saturday we went Trick-or Treating in the neighborhood.    Everyone loved the DeLorean.  Several of my friends told me our family was their favorite costumes of the night.  The next night Trey, Dax and Derek and I went dressed up to go Trick or Treating in the neighborhood, while Curtis stayed back and passed out candy.  Dax and Derek got separated from the DeLorean, but they had a great time.  When they knocked on doors they would do the "Back to the Future" routine and ask the people what year it was, yada yada.  Most people went along with it and thought it was great.  When Trey and I showed up to the same doors, they all told us they had already seen Doc and Marty. Some neighbors a few streets over had a big block party for everyone, which added to the fun.  Some of those neighbors (The Durans)  I had actually run into at the thrift store as I was trying to put these costumes together.  They loved seeing the finished product as they gave me tips where to get the Marty McFly vest.   Derek and Dax said it was the best Halloween ever, they actually went through the entire neighborhood.  They usually do a few houses get tired and head home (Trunk or Treat totally spoils them, with so much candy so fast).  Great family fun, the DeLorean is what made it so clever, fun and unique.  The kids came up with this idea all on their own.

I have to say I love Mom's at Halloween, I love the network of moms coming together to get costumes for their kids.  Mom's are frantically scrounging around for  accessories,  fake glasses, blue wigs, Harry Potter Robes etc and we all come together, give ideas, help create,  loan costumes just for this crazy day where you put on a costume on your kid , they knock on doors and people give them candy. 

The Marty McFly vest (life preserver) has been one of the best costume investments.  Derek now wears it daily as a staple in his Phoenix winter wardrobe. Now we endearingly refer to the vest as "Marty". Instead of "Derek go get your jacket on", it's "Derek go get Marty"

Foam Fun Run

Yesterday day we did the Foam Fun Run, it is part of the "Mayor's Day of Play" just encouraging people to get out and have fun.  They started advertising it and informing the kids about it at school. We did this two years ago, and Trey was excited and asked if we could do it again.  This year I paid for his registration so that he would get a shirt and a number bib.  Last time he was pretty bummed that I didn't pay for his registration, kids under 7 are free, as a result he didn't get the goodies either.  We had a fun time.  Although there were only two foam stations this time, the foam was way better.  Last time you barley got any bubbles on you.  This time there was enough to be covered in it.  The route a a bit better this time as well.  Last time they had us walk pretty far off and then we walked down the canals near McQueen Road and past dairy (which made Trey gag from the smell)  This time we just did a big loop around the Tumbleweed recreation area.  The run was supposed to be a 5K, we didn't quite make it the entire way.  After a few foam stations the kids were soaked, and were not condition to finish.   We still had fun.

 I took way more pictures but it was so bright I couldn't tell what I was taking a picture,needless to say those ones didn't turn out.  It was a beautiful day to be out.

in Trey's words "#Foamboy"

Fall Break/Tucson

For Fall break we didn't do much.  Tried to keep the kids busy, keep the video games limited.  I had wanted to take them to Tombstone, AZ-legendary for the "shoot out at the OK Corral"  It wasn't working out to go there.  Curtis wanted to join us, but we couldn't fit it all in.  We decided to go down to Tucson, a shorter drive, and stuff Curtis wasn't too interested in.

We left early in the morning so we could fit it all in.  First we stopped off at the Ostrich Farm again, we really love that place, we had a great time again.


Then we stopped and had breakfast at Dairy Queen.



Then we were off the Old Tucson Studios.  This is where old westerns used to be filmed, now it is mostly a little amusement park.  We really had a great time here.  I had always knows about this place since I was a kid, and wanted to check it out.  It was a lot of fun. They kids enjoyed panning for gold, and then they have a stunt area where they have act out a western shoot out and do a bunch of stunts. After a long day we headed home.

20 years and a Run away

Wow-we made it.  Curtis and I have been married twenty years.  It seems hard to believe.  When you first get married you can't imagine it all.
1- ever being this old
2-where you will be in twenty years, where will life take you.
3- I thought it went by fast...where did time go?

We wanted to do something for this big accomplishment,  take a trip or do something fun to celebrate and enjoy time with each other.  It is often difficult for us to get away with out our kids because we really don't have anyone to watch them.  Like really, nobody to watch them.  We decided this was worth it and we would search high and low to find someone to watch our kids for a few days.  We think at this point, they are pretty easy and self sufficient.  Not like watching a baby or toddler, they are in school for most the time.  We just needed someone to make sure they don't each marshmallow's for 4 days straight and crowd control (make sure they don't fight too much).  The search was on, I asked about 10 people, college students, newly weds,cousins, friends of friends.  No takers, I was starting to feel like this just wasn't going to be possible.  Then...Curtis has a brilliant idea.  He asked his mom if she would come out and watch the kids, they Curtis was pay for her to go up to her Grandson, Ben Judd's wedding the following weekend.  She would have to make arrangements as well, but she got everything lined up and agreed to come out.  I thought it was a great solution.  She doesn't get to see her grand kids very often, and I thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids to get to know her better.  The kids were excited for her to come and visit and stay with them.

Curtis and I made plans to go to L.A for our get away.  Curtis already had a conference he needed to be at there, and BYU was playing UCLA a few days before he conference.  Curtis and I could drive out to LA. go to the BYU game,  play around in Los Angeles for a few days, then I would fly home and Curtis could go to his meetings then drive home.  It seemed like a win win win for everyone.

Curtis' Mom, Shauna,  arrived Friday afternoon, we left early Saturday morning to drive out to Pasadena, we had a nice drive.  We check into our hotel, and get some food.  Curtis was starting to not feel well.  He was coming down with a cold.  Not Good.  I had wanted to check out the Pasadena Library.  My Dad's Grandparents were some of the first people to arrive in Pasadena, so I wanted to get access to the online Pasadena Library so I could do some family history. I left Curtis to rest, while I tried to find my way around in a strange city.  I made it there and back.  Then it was off to the game.

We made it to the infamous Rose Bowl

We had a great time.  BYU played well, they were ahead  the entire game, until they lost at the end, which is what unfortunately matters the most.  I really liked Pasadena, it has kind of an old 1950's look to the houses and buildings.  A very nice city, nice to see where my dad and family lived.

We got up the next day and checked out Newport Beach area. Newport is very nice.  It is a beautiful area without the large city mess like Los Angeles. A few years back Curtis had stayed at Pelican Hill Resort.  The pictures were amazing and he had always wanted to take me back there. We checked in a Pelican Hill and it was beautiful, and did not disappoint. We hung out by their beautiful pool, and ate at their yummy restaurant and just enjoyed walking around the resort.  It was amazing. A funny thing happened.  When we checked it, everything is so first class.  Everyone treats you so nice, they somehow have spies and they know your name immediately upon arrival and call you Mr. & Mrs. Johnson, it's fantastic.  We check in, they give us our keys, get a man driving a golf cart to escort us to our room to unload our luggage etc.  We get to our villa, insert the key, open the door, walk in and oops....someone is already in the room.  UGHH.  Our reservation somehow got messed up.  I'm glad the man was fully dressed.  He was polite and so were we.  We just went back to the front desk to clear it up.

Pelican Hill Pool.  Huge circle, seems simple but quite stunning

using our new selfie stick gadget.  We've never had so much fun taking pictures

Circle Pool at Sunset

I love yummy beautiful food.

Loved seeing my favorite "Bird of Paradise" flower all around the grounds.

Meanwhile back at home. Grandma and the boys are having a great time.  Grandma invited to Zoccoli's over to swim.  Everyone is happy

Joey Z.,Stephen Z. ,James Z. ,Issiah Z. ,Grandma Shauna, Derek J., Dax J., Kenny Z. and Trey J in front

Meanwhile...back at home Grandma and the boys are having a great time.  Grandma invited to Zoccoli's over to swim.  Everyone is happy

We stayed at Pelican Hill one night, then we moved on to Newport Beach and stayed in a cute little beach hotel.  They had bikes that we could use, so we took a nice bike ride along the beach.  We had a great time, we came back and ate a yummy dinner at an Italian restaurant.

We came back and about 9:00 p.m. we got a phone call from  Dax, the conversation went something like this:
Me:  Hello
Dax: Mom, something terrible happened
Me:What?
Dax: Derek ran away
Me: Go find him...

It turns out Derek had gotten upset with Dax about something, he went into his room to be alone.  Grandma Shauna wanted Derek to forgive Dax, which Derek said he did, but he still needed to be alone. Grandma kept pushing Derek to come out and forgive Dax.  Derek was done so he up and left barefoot and in PJ's.  I told them to go look for him.  He was likely in the park or the area around the pond.  We kept going back and forth with phone calls. They found him the park, Derek didn't want to be found, so he moved again.  At about 10:00 I told them to call the police.  The police found Derek under the Ramada around the pond.  They took him home.  Everyone felt bad, especially Grandma.  Derek still has a bit of a grudge toward Grandma.


Whew!!-Glad that ended well, hope it never happens again. 

The next night we stayed in Venice Beach, which was very interesting.  I don't know how to explain it.  The hotel was nice, but Venice Beach is just a questionable area.  Lots of homeless people, lots of drugs, very urban feel.  We were glad to see it once, glad we only stayed one night, then glad to leave.  We did have a good time sight seeing, and people watching.

Mural of Jim Morrison we could see from our Hotel Rooftop lounge

Funny sign "Bones Heal, pain is temporary and chicks dig scars" Evel Knievel

Venice Beach loves murals on the buildings, another view from our Hotel Room

View of Muscle Beach, Venice CA from our Hotel Balcony

The Canals of Venice, we loved walking around this area.  Lots of movies filmed here.

 We went to dinner at "Barton G's"  My counsin told me about it when they went to Miami.  I have wanted to go here for a while, it was only about 11 miles from our hotel, but 45 min drive in LA traffic.  This is a fun restaurant where they serve the food in crazy displays.  Curtis' steak came with the huge fork and knife, we ordered appetizers that came in a toaster.  The food was very good.  We were too stuffed to order dessert, because it was the head with a huge beehive hairdo to the ceiling.  Fun stuff.

This is where the trip ended for me.  Curtis went on to stay at the Roosevelt Hotel (I guess it's legendary) on the Hollywood walk of Fame.  This was the purpose of the trip.  To go the awards ceremony for the book he helped write.

 

Curtis getting his Quilly Award

Curtis with Jack Canfield