Live in Arizona?

You know you're from Arizona when...
1. You are willing to park three blocks away because you found shade.
2. You can open and drive your car without touching the car door or the steering wheel.
3. You've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
4. You would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
5. You can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
6. "Dress code" is meaningless at high schools and universities (picture lingerie ads).
7. You can drive for four hours in one direction and never leave town.
8. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
9.. The four seasons are: TOLERABLE, HOT, REALLY HOT, AND ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??!!
10. You know that the heat you feel when you walk outside is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door.
11. You think someone driving wearing oven mitts is brilliant.
12. Salsa is a part of your daily diet.
13. You can listen to a weather report of 117 and not flinch.
14. You notice your car overheating before you drive it.
15. You can pronounce San Xavier, Saguaro, Tempe, and Cholla
16. You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.
17. You know a swamp cooler is not a happy hour drink.
18. You can be in the snow, then drive for an hour...and it will be over 100 degrees.
19.. You can make sun tea instantly
20. You run your a/c in the middle of winter so you can use your fireplace.
21. The best parking is determined by shade.....not distance.
22. You realize that "Valley Fever" isn't a disco dance
23. You actually burn your hand opening the car door
24. Sunscreen is sold year round, kept right at the checkout counter.
25. You put on fresh sunscreen just to go check the mail box
26. Some fools will market mini-misters for joggers and some other fools will actually buy them. Worse.....some fools actually try to jog.
27. You know hot air balloons can't rise because the air temperature is hotter than the air inside the balloon
.28. No one would dream of putting vinyl inside a car
29. You see more irrigation water on the street than there is in the Salt River, and, on that note, you have to go to a fake beach for some fake waves.
30. You can fry an egg on the hood of a car IN THE MORNING!
31. You think a red light is merely a suggestion.
32. Most of the restaurants in town have the first name "El" or "Los."
33. Your house is made of stucco and has a tile roof.
34. You think 60 tons of crushed red rock makes a beautiful yard.
35. Vehicles with open windows have the right-of-way in the summer.
36. People who have black cars or black upholstery in their car are automatically assumed to be from out-of-state or nuts.
37. You know better than to get into a car with leather seats if you're wearing shorts.
38. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Arizona

Look what I've been doing!

I've had an incredibly relaxing weekend of just scrapbooking. Here are some of my results!

Credits for above 2 pages: Paper: Lindsay Jane Designs, Seascape kit, Tortuga Template #15 by Kellie Mize, Messy Stamped Alpha by Katie Pertiet, Font: Scriptina(Free)

Journal: The Pantheon was built by Agrippa in 27 BC and replaced by Emperor Hadrian in 117 - 125 AD. The famous artist Raphael's tomb is on display here. The Pantheon is still used as an active church today.

Credits: Papers and Elements by Limabean Designs, Kit: Organic, Template by Yin, Fonts: Scriptiva and Bernie Condensed

This fountain is in the heart of Rome and gorgeous! Legend has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain with your right had over your left shoulder, you will return to Rome someday. You both want to go back....so we will see......

Credits: Papers/Elements: Holiday in the Sun Kit by Dani Mogstad, Template by Yin, Fonts: Scriptiva and Myriad Pro

The Vatican is beautiful. They own the most art in the world Christian and Pagan. Even the Vatican has an Egyptian obelisk in the courtyard. We visited everything....St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum and the grounds.

Credit: Papers/Elements from Travel Album Kit by Digital Scrapbooking Premier, Template by Yin, Alphas from Autumn Potpourri by Jeann Jeann G, Font: Scriptive and Bernie Condensed

The Roman Forum is where ancient Roman civilization developed. It is unknown how old it is because not everything has been excavated. It did house the royal residence, the complex of the Vestal Virgins, and governments. It was the economic hub of the republic and empire. There is a temple to Julius Caesar, whom the senate deified posthumously.

Credits: Paper/Elements Kit: A Place Called Home by Misty Cato, Template by Yin, Fonts: Scriptiva and Bernie Condensed

The Colosseum is one of the most ancient ruins in Rome. It was built in 70-80 AD. It has quite a sordid history. Mock naval skirmishes were conducted here as well as oratory performances, animals shows, gladiator battles and Christians being fed to the lions. Today the Pope leads a torchlit procession call the "Way of the Cross" to the amphitheatre.

Credits: Papers/Elements Kit: Road Trip by Dani Mogstad; Template by Yin; Fonts: Scriptiva and Bernie Condensed

This is the last leg of our European Vacation. We all loved Rome. Here you will see typical streets as well as Piazza Novana and the Fountain of the Four Rivers and Fontana de Nettuno (Neptune). Gian Lorenzo Bernini was the architect and sculpture of the Four Rivers Fountain. The fountain also has an Egyptian obelisk in the center. Il Vittoriano, the wedding cake building, is also shown. Military honors are given out here.

Credits: Paper/Elements Kit: Wanderlust by J. Billingsley; Template by Yin; Fonts: Scriptiva and Bernie Condensed

Invasion of the tiny frogs

Meet our little froggie friends! Yee gads! We have tons of this little critters running around our yard. We counted 26 on the driveway and sidewalks....we're sure there are just tons more in the rocks. These guys are no bigger than 1 cm. Today, at lunch time, I caught one in the garage and showed the kids. We oohed and ahhed over how tiny it was and then let it go. At dinner, Kinzi came in from getting a soda out of the garage and told us the little froggie was back with a friend. We proceeded to show Chuck (he wasn't home earlier when I found the first one). Chuck and Nathan laughed over it really being a nano frog....geocachers will get that comment. Anyway, after dinner, when I went to put out the garbage, I found three by my front door, turn around saw two more and then looked up and everywhere you looked little critters were jumping everywhere. The kids came outside and counted 26 on our side walk and drive way. We also saw one that might me mom.


Freddy
Billy
Cindy
Bobby
Patty

Lucy Mom decided to pose for me right as I snapped the picture!

Just kidding...we really didn't name them I just didn't know what else to put on the captions.

Scrapbooking pages!

Here are some scrapbook pages I've done recently. Actually, I've scraplifted each of these pages from other pages I've seen. The pictures of the kids are from our trip to Italy and obviously the beach picture from last weekend.

Credits: Ellie Lash Designs, Painted Summer Papers, Bright Borders, Sunny Flowers, Country Stars Too and Glitz Swirls. Font: Freeze!

Credit: Digitreats Photoword Template

Geocaching in San Diego

We geocached on the way to San Diego and while we were in San Diego. Sometimes a cache takes us to some interesting places like this one. The rocks are carved in the shapes of animals.


This is the view of this place from a tower.

Do you see the lizard?

Eek! A snake!

O give me a home where the buffalo roam.

Ahhh...don't they make a cute couple!

Yep....I'm kissing the rock....don't know why!



Help....that thing is eating my kids!

Giddy up cowboy!
Hang on there partner.....

Uhhhh.....your suppose to face the other way.....

Hug monster.

That thing has something caught in its teeth!

In San Diego

Ahhhh.....still cute!

Do you see the camouflaged material in the tree....that was the cache we found!

Weekend in San Diego

We just got back from our yearly trip to San Diego this past weekend. It was beautiful weather and we had a lot of fun. All we did was play on the beach and geocache.

Kids going out to boogie board.

This is pretty much what they looked like all weekend.

Kinzi not wanting to pose for a picture.

Nathan not knowing he is having his picture taken.

When not in the ocean........

Self portraits of the kids......

Anyone shocked by Kinzi making a mess?

New swim shirts after a sun burn the day before.

More fun riding the waves.....

More later....I have geocaching pictures....we found 17 geocaches on this trip.

Adjusting to being home

Well...we've been home just over a week now and well it's bloody hot here!!!! We are waiting for the monsoons to arrive. We've had a little rain but not much.

The day after we got home, I ended up with a miserable sore throat, cold and cough for about 7 days....I'm on the mend now. Nathan however is not, he came down with it two days ago and feels miserable.

Nathan started "kid" sitting two boys across the street this week. They are twins who are going to be in 2nd grade. Nathan enjoys earning money now, hehehe!

My kids have been hugging their computers since we've been home. One of their favorite things to do now is make videos for Youtube. Nathan makes Youtube Poop videos...let me explain what that is...it is a random remix of cartoons...put together to make some random video...it doesn't always make sense....and it's not necessairly suppose to but generally they're funny.....certainly if your in your early teens they're funny. Kinzi does some Youtube Poop ones but found some tools she can use and now she upload her drawings...they are very cool.

If you are getting this via a newsletter you'll have to go to my actual site to play the videos. These are my kids current favorites they have uploaded. They've uploaded many....

Here's Kinzi video:
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Here's Nathan's video:
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