Catching up

I've had my Olympus digital camera for over 6 years now...which is probably a lifetime in the digital camera world, but I finally felt the need to replace my 2.1 megapixel Olympus with something a little more...now. And for almost half of what I paid for my camera back then, I've gone with a little Casio Exilim 10.1 megapixel camera. Hopefully my pictures will be a little better going forward.

Below are a few random pictures I took this morning with the new camera.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!! We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday! It got pretty cold here last night, but it has warmed up nicely today.

Here are some pictures from our cruise, I'm sure that Holly and Mike will have some more to add. The one with Mike in a helmet is when he was climbing the rock wall on the ship......interesting!

A record day

I have a cold, and while it's not really bad at all, I think today was a record: I don't think I've ever sneezed so many times in one day...

Cruise update...

Dad, Mom, Mike, and Holly are in the middle of their Mexican cruise on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship (Monarch of the Seas is the name of the ship--it holds over 2700 passengers). They left Los Angeles last night and just got to the port in San Diego a few minutes ago this morning. See the below snapshot taken right as they pulled in (floated in?) around 8:00am pacific time. They'll also hit Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico over the next 3 days, so it looks to be a fun trip!

Is that zoo poo I smell?

While I don't have any pictures (at least not yet), Allison and I went to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo last night. It was PACKED, but I suppose that's to be expected on a Saturday night as Christmas gets closer and closer.

And, obviously, Zoo Lights takes place at night and is a separate event from the zoo itself, so it's not a time to see any animals, but they were there in the darkness... I love the smell of the zoo, and I've coined the "zoo poo" phrase to accurately describe certain areas of our walking tour last night. The smell of zoo poo was in the air... :)

Christmas at Lee and Shirley's

We all went over to Lee and Shirley's last night to celebrate Christmas. It may still be a couple weeks until Christmas, but last night was the best day to have it, since Mom, Dad, Mike, and Holly will be on their cruise next week...along with everyone else's upcoming plans for Christmas. I've added just a few random pictures from last night...

Let's play musical refrigerators!

I recently decided to get a bigger refrigerator after hearing about a good deal from a couple that was moving from SunBird to Florida. A couple days ago, the new (used) fridge finally made it over to Jeff's. And you all know what means... Musical Refrigerators! Mine transferred to Mom and Dad's house, while there two small ones will be sold...and the circle of life continues! Not much in it at the time of these pictures, but here they are anyway...

Kitty and a window...

Sometimes I can't help but feel like Kitty really REALLY wants to go outside. Of course, given that option, she tends to run away. But that doesn't mean it's not interesting to her!

She's a lil' nuts, but she's cute...

Thankfully, Sadie isn't ours. I like Dakota's pace MUCH better. But she does make a pretty good model.

Feeling my bones crack

Mike & I went up to my mothers for a birthday celebration & 2007 Family Photo Session.  Of course, there's always a lot of picture taking in this family!  But today was especially busy with flashes & clicks.  Sorry, you won't get to see them all until after the holiday cards go out.  Don't want to spoil the surprise when you open the card & say, "Hey, I've seen this picture!"  So here's a few to tide you over until then!  

Oh, & you're all invited over for dinner anytime!  I've got enough silverware, no more of this eating with your fingers stuff!  

Thoughts on Kansas...and me.

If roots define who we are, the best way for you to get to know me is by understanding where I’m from. As most of you already know, I’m a Kansan. Born and raised. Sure, Kansas is well known for its wide-open prairies and history of cattle drives, railroads, and agriculture; but few people know that there are 2.75 million wonderful residents of this state in the nation’s Heartland.

Unfortunately, somewhere down the line, Kansas got a bad rap. And there are countless reasons why this is true. Well, today, I want to discuss a few of those with you.

Number one. The Wizard of Oz.

First and foremost, I want you to understand that Oz is NOT Kansas; and yes, I do know that “I’m not in Kansas anymore.” Thank you for reminding me. I don’t have a dog named Toto, and I can’t just click my heels to get some of Grandma’s home-cookin’. Hard to believe, I know, but true.

Sticking with the Oz theme, I know it’s also hard for you to believe that there are no creepy flying monkeys, munchkins, witches, or other characters just “over the rainbow” from where I grew up. There’s no Emerald City either. Just Wichita. Hardly anything to brag about. And then there’s my little hometown of Galva. 645 people strong and hoping to hit 650 by the year 2020. That’s the mayor’s plan anyway.

The only reason I can come up with as to why people errantly associate Kansas with the Wizard of Oz is because they think wheat = weed. That is not the case, my friends. Wheat is a primary crop in Kansas. In fact, my home state produces enough wheat each year to make 35.9 BILLION loaves of bread. Yes, billion. That’s 5 ½ loaves for every man, woman, and child on the planet. Notice no mention of marijuana. Then again, how could ANYONE not on something come up with the Wizard of Oz storyline?

Number two. Natural disasters (namely, tornadoes).

Let me be the first to tell you that a tornado doesn’t just pick up your house and spin it in the air like Dorothy’s in The Wizard of Oz. Oh, no. It usually tears homes apart nail by nail, board by board until you have a flattened scrap heap. Very sad. I’ve witnessed the damage firsthand and know family and friends who have lost everything. So how does this contribute to Kansas’ bad rap? Well, I guess it’s more about the media’s coverage of natural disasters that drives me crazy.

Like clockwork in tornado alley, a monster tornado strikes in the spring. Here’s the media’s MO. They hunt down an old farmer with 6 first names (even though everyone knows him by “Buck”). They even put the quotes around it in their little subtitle. Of course, “Buck” has 2 teeth, hasn’t shaved in years, wears a big straw cowboy hat down over his ears, and overalls with stains from Lord knows what. And here’s what he says to the cameras:

“I was out on the porch watching the storm roll in and all of a sudden, a “tornader” popped out. I screamed to my wife Betty to come out and see but she couldn’t hear me over that freight train sound from the “tornader”. Worst storm I’ve seen in 63 ½ years and I’ve lived here all my life. My dog Fred ended up in Bob’s tree 3 miles away, but he was alright. Thankfully, it just hit the house and missed my tractor.”

I know what you’re thinking. I’m exaggerating. But trust me, I’m not. I’ve seen it. The problem is, that image is then plastered on CNN and every other news network in the world. “Yep, that must be what all of those Kansans are like. Let’s plan our vacation in Maui instead.”

And the final reason why Kansas gets a bad rap is because it’s flat. I mean REALLY flat. And boring.

I’m willing to bet that most of you have traveled through Kansas at least a time or two in your life. And my guess is that you’ve either completely blocked out that memory—or you’re still trying to. I’m really not sure why the “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” theme wasn’t first adopted by Kansas’ Department of Tourism—yeah, all three people. Because Kansas isn’t all that memorable—unless you get to know the people. That’s where I find pride in my roots.

Sure, we may not have Britney or Paris. Dwight Eisenhower, Neil Armstrong, and Amelia Earhart are our claims to fame. OK, Bob Dole too, for you Viagra lovers out there. Multimillion dollar homes don’t line palm-tree studded avenues. Maybe a Chinese Elm or Cottonwood. Usually, just a few wooden stakes and some barbed wire surround lots of flat land with a rustic farmhouse. But that’s fine by me. It’s home. It’s where I grew up. Hopefully, you see a little bit of Kansas in me and stop in for a cup of coffee next time you’re passing through.

Tempe Arts Festival

Allison and I went to the Tempe Festival of the Arts at ASU yesterday to do some browsing. And, of course, the rain followed along...kind of... It was off-and-on the whole time, but it wasn't that cold. I've included a few snapshots we took...sometimes under the cover of trees to block a quickly-passing shower.

What is this wet stuff?

It's funny when we can't even remember when it last rained... But no worries, the rain showed up yesterday; ALL DAY yesterday. I believe it rained about one inch, which is pretty impressive and easily 10-20% of our rain total so far this year. And it's supposed to rain again today... In that case, maybe it's a good Christmas shopping day!

Thanksgiving Celebration Pictures

Here are some Kansas Thanksgiving celebration pictures from Sunday. It's really nice today (Monday) and is supposed to continue thru tomorrow. My flight is tomorrow afternoon so I probably won't see any more snow this year!

Kansas

Jamie and Andy came over to Grandma and Grandpa's house with Wayne and Valerie last night. It was just beginning to snow when they got here. There was about 2 inches on the ground this morning, but no wind (thank goodness)!!!

O Christmas Tree

Due to the fact that Mom won't be putting up a Christmas tree this year (since she's in Kansas for a week), along with a little encouragement from Allison, I moved forward with a Christmas tree in my house. A BIG thanks to Allison for all the help, without which it wouldn't have happened.