New Camera!

As, mentioned, I got some great gifts for my birthday. Josh bought me this new camera. It's a Canon, which I've never had before, we've always had Kodak cameras, but it's pretty darn fancy! I'm still figuring out the finer details, but this should mean better pics on the blog! And lots more close-ups! It has a 10x zoom!!! Bird nerd is super excited!!!

Mojave the Camel

As promised, here is the video evidence of Linda and Riley on a camel. The camel's name was Mojave (mo-HA-vee) and it was very well behaved. I think grandma liked the ride more than Riley, but they both came down smiling:) and also as promised, this is the LAST of the Arizona posts! Thanks for putting up with me for a week or so!

Random AZ Pics

These are just some random shots to finish up the AZ posts. I will have just one more AZ post after this and then it's back to normal life.

Happy Inauguration Day!!!

Today is an amazing day in U.S. History and whether you supported Obama in the election campaign, today we begin a new four years of change for our country. In my opinion, hopefully eight years! There is hope in this country for many people for whom there was not hope just a few months back and that alone is an amazing thing. Call me sentimental, but I am getting goosebumps a lot today!

Nice...Um...Donkey

We went to a swap meet in Mesa on Saturday last week and Linda bought this burrow for her cactus garden. It's kinda popular in their development to have some kind of southwestern decor, especially burrows, so Linda found this little guy and he had to come home! Riley loved him...and yes I know it's a him:) He's pretty realistic in that department if you know what I mean. Cory had the unhappy task of carrying the @ss out of the swap meet and got lots of sarcastic remarks along the way! These pictures actually remind me a lot of a certain pink elephant in our family growing up that now lives at my parents house!

Snow and Sick

Ah, I love my January birthday. Ok...you all know that's not true. I feel guilty and unappreciative but that's the truth. Today is my 32nd birthday and I'm super grateful to my parents for creating me and raising me to be a somewhat decent person, but birthdays in January just suck. I don't want sympathy, I'm just stating fact. Today it snowed (which I hate, but it was at least fluffy, light stuff and not icy crap and the temps were above 0 so that was a bit of a plus for this year), but the worst of it was that Katie (my older sis) and Josh were both sick today so our family party became a very different celebration. (Katie, PLEASE don't feel guilty, it's not your fault and I'm not mad I swear!!!) And church today was just my dad and I...very quiet without the kiddos! So for those of you out there who like to tell me I should love my b-day...let me guess, you were born in May? or Maybe August?

Ok, I'm done with my rant. I really am thankful for another year of life and I do think I have a pretty great life to be happy about...but I still hate the month of January! Oh, Josh, Riley and I did have a movie night (Little Mermaid) and I got a QUIET bubble bath too! And I did get some great presents! I'm a lucky girl:) And a very happy one as well despite the month of January;)

Uncle Mike and Auntie Pat

I thought it fitting on my birthday to post about last Saturday. My aunt and uncle live in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix. Last Saturday was my uncle's birthday and Josh, Riley and I went to dinner at their house to celebrate. It was so nice of them to host us on his b-day...my poor uncle spent his birthday smoking a turkey and cleaning the house for company! We had some great food (and a TON of it!) and of course some chocolate for dessert. When my grandma was still around, whenever Michael came to visit, we had to have chocolate:) Riley had lots of fun and didn't want to leave! Unfortunately, my cousin was supposed to try to join us, but I guess had some issues at work to take care of and couldn't make it. We were hoping to meet his wife and daughter, Riley Jade, since we weren't able to attend their wedding in November. Hopefully next time we're down there we can get the two Rileys together...and I haven't seen Chris since I think Meg's wedding:( Here's some pics of Riley with my aunt and uncle.

P.S. Happy Birthday Megs and Allison!!! Al, enjoy the last of your 20s!