Hillards were in town!

Cate and Wayne made it out here for a long weekend as well! We had 3 days between parents being in town but it was fun!
Friday we took Cate and Wayne into downtown Phoenix on the new light rail. Our destination was The Phoenix Art Museum which had an Ansel Adams exhibit. While on the light rail we noticed a street fair going on so we jumped off the at the next stop and browsed the street fair for a little while. After the Art Museum we went to the Old Spaghetti for an early birthday dinner for Claire.

Saturday the 4 of us made the 1.5 hour drive down to Tucson to visit the Biosphere. The Biosphere was simply amazing! We had a terrific tour guide and if you are ever in the area, make the trip to see this marvel!

When Cate and Wayne flew into Phoenix, they brought Ruby Joy down to visit some other family. On Sunday Ruby Joy came to our house to see the animals and then headed off the mall to see more animals! We also went out to the local R/C flying field to watch the maiden flight of Tyler's new R/C plane (it survived the first flight).

Monday, Tyler had to leave early for a business trip so Cate, Wayne and Claire spent the day doing some small projects around the house and relaxing.

OH Matney's in Town

Greg and Jan came out to visit in conjunction with Greg's business trip. They weren't able to stay long, but it was terrific to have them over! Friday Jan and Claire went to see puppies at Claire's store and we all went out to dinner. Saturday we took a little backcountry Arizona road trip up scenic Highway 88 to Tortilla Flats for lunch. We stopped into the Ghost Town tourist attraction out that way and wandered around.

Sunday Greg had to fly back to Ohio, and Jan stuck around for an extra night relaxing. Tyler even managed to score some new clothes of dear ol' Mom. :)

Claire gets a promotion!

Claire is now the manager at Animal Kingdom! She is very exciting to start this new challenging career! First day as manager is 2/1~ Wish her a good first month!

Garage Extreme Makeover!

Tyler has been working had organizing the garage! As part of my Christmas gift he promied me I would be able to park my Mini Cooper in the garage and have it organized before Valentines Day! It looks amazing! Thanks Steve for garage envy and finally motivating us to get organized! Before picture on bottom and after picture on top.

Tinker gets fixed!

We took Tinker to the Vet this morning to get fixed! We found out when we picked her up that she had an infection in her uterus and lets just say we are lucky we found it when we did. They vet gave us another 2 weeks before we had her in the ER trying to figure out what was wrong. So my point of this post is get your dog fixed! The only reason she got this infection is because we let her have to many heat cycles. She just turned 3 so in my eyes we were VERY lucky. The infection was a very serious problem but it was solved by getting her spayed. So please, get your pets spayed or neutered!

Tyler gets his Wisdom teeth out!

Tyler is now 29 yrs old and finally getting his wisdom teeth out! They have been getting worse and worse every year and he finally agreed to getting them out.

Birds!

For Christmas we got a couple bird feeders and man are we popular! We are enjoying watching the birds right outside our door so we recently adding 2 more bird feeders across the yard! Each bird feeder has a different type of seed making our yard very interesting and diverse. My parents always had bird feeders which I loved to watch and now we have our own! Picture to come later!

Whose coming with me (Tyler)!

I have been thinking about hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail since I first heard of it, in mid 2008. The toughest part about attempting somthing like this is finding someone to join you. After posting on the local hiking club forum, reaching out to some friends and family I didn't have much more than a "well....let me see if I can get the time off work" from anyone. Then a phone call to Zach brought my dream to fruition in December 2009.

This was an excerpt from my posting on HikeArizona.com looking for someone to join me...

I would encourage any interested party to ask themselves a couple questions:
1. Can I hike 10-15 miles a day for 12-13 consecutive days?
2. (most important) Can I vanish from the state of Arizona for over 2 weeks without losing my job/wife/girlfriend etc...?
3. How will I feel down the road if I miss out on an amazing opportunity like this?!?!?!

Now, if you answered the questions favorably, start doing some homework and keep asking yourself the above questions. I can't do it alone.


The Tahoe Rim Trail is a 165 (give or take a couple miles depending on your source) loop that circumnavigates Lake Tahoe. The trail is fairly new in the realm of larger thru hiking trails. The Tahoe Rim Trail Association was established in 1981 to plan, construct and maintain the Tahoe Rim Trail, a 24-inch wide, 165 mile single track trail open to hiking, equestrians and mountian biking (in most areas). The trail encompasses the ridge tops of the Lake Tahoe Basin, crossing six counties, and two states. Another huge draw to me, and a major factor in choosing this hike, is that for approximately 50 miles it shares the same piece of dirt as the Pacific Crest Trail.

Happy New Year! 2010

We rang in the new year by going to Phoenix Zoo lights (a HUGE light display that encompasses the entire zoo) and Old Spaghetti Factory (our favorite date night restaurant)! At the Zoo lights we managed to wander into Sting Ray Bay on one of the rare public feeding nights. For $2.00 you got a little cup full of minnows and got to hand feed the sting rays. It's a WEIRD feeling! They don't have teeth, so they basically suck your entire hand into their mouth to get the piece of fish...pretty cool experience.

Christmas in Big Bear

We are very blessed to have just spent a week in Big Bear, CA like we do most weeks between Christmas and New Years. It is a nice break after the busy holiday retail season. We also met Hazel Lindgren for the first time! She seems like a great happy beautiful baby!

Bisbee Trip!

Got woken up with warm cinnamon rolls in bed and then we headed out on a fun road trip with my hubby to Bisbee! Tyler researched and found an old mine tour so we gassed up the mini and went for a road trip. The mine tour was amazing! We got dressed up in yellow jackets, hard hats and head lamps and rode an old mining cart into the mine. Our tour guide was an actual old miner from this mine.



BISBEE - a name to stir the interest of mining men everywhere - has been one of the greatest copper camps the world has ever known. In almost 100 years of continuous production before the Bisbee mines closed in 1975, the local mines produced metals valued at $6.1 billion (at 1975 price) one of the largest production valuations of all the mining districts in the world. This staggering amount of wealth came from the estimated production of 8,032,352,000 lbs of copper, 2,871,786 ounces of gold, 77,162,986 ounces of silver, 304,627,600 lbs of lead and 371,945,900 lbs of zinc!

Today’s Queen Mine Tour takes visitors deep into the old workings of the famous Queen Mine where great tonnages of extremely rich copper ore was mined in the early days, catching the attention of the mining industry around the world as one of the greatest treasure troves of copper ever discovered.

Taking the Queen Mine Tour is to step back through the pages of history. A melting pot of immigrant miners from the mining districts of Europe labored beneath the Mule Mountains to feed the insatiable demand for copper and electricity. The electrical age changed the World from a predominantly rural society to the industrial age, bringing with it the highest standard of living the world has ever known.

Gotta love Craiglist!

Silver Dapple Craft Room (aka our Guest Room) is newly reorganized! I found this great find on Craiglist and couldnt pass it up for only $25! This exact set up new from Ikea is over $300! I scored on this one!

B.B. King tonight in concert!

Thank you to Steve and Christy we got the chance to see BB King in concert! What an amazing show!

Holiday Gift Show

Reminder!! this SUNDAY (11/8/09) my holiday gift party from 12-6pm. Come by and say HI ! Food and Drinks plus jewelry, hand scrubs, mary kay and Cake Pops - who could ask for more! We would love your support even if its just a visit!

CLU 5 yr Homecoming

It is Claires 5 year Anniversary for Cal Lu! Most of the family is coming into town. It is also Cates 30th Anniv and Rachels 10th! What a family legacy we have! Unfortunatley we only had about 15 people show up for my class reunion but I saw many other classmates at the football game. It was great family time and fun to see old college friends.

The 4Runner

Posted by Tyler: (Claire doesn't want any part of this)

I figure the 4Runner and I are both getting up there in age, there won't be many more years before I have to load a car seat into my beloved off road vehicle. So, while the time is still there, and the bank account is calculating diaper purchases, it was time to make the 4Runner what it has always strived to be...ready for anything.

I had a set of Rock Sliders added to the 4Runner about 2 years ago. These are 2"x2" square tubes that were welded onto the frame under the doors. These are in place in case you slowly drive over a rock (or other obstacle) that is taller than the space between the ground and the bottom of the doors. If you don't have rock sliders, and you miscalculate the height of something, you can cause MAJOR damage to the rocker panels (the small area under the doors). The rock sliders were just there so I could go a few more places...and I have used them on more than one occasion.

Over the last two months, I continued with the "trail armor" by custom fabricating front and rear bumpers...with the help of my buddy Jared. We started with the front bumper, removed it, and then started fabricating! We started with a 20' stick of square tube, a 20' stick of round tube, and a sheet of metal....the bumpers in the photo are what we created.

The back bumper followed immediatly, including a new swing out spare tire carrier. I also had to make some more room for larger tires, so I added a 3" Daystar lift kit to the 4Runner. This made just enough room for 33" mud terrain tires. Actually it didn't make enough room in the front, I had to add 1.25" Billet Aluminum wheel spacers so the new tires wouldn't rub the a-arms.

With all that fabrication, painting, grinding, welding and stressing done...the lift was installed and then the new tires where installed.

This is where we are now. A 4Runner to beat all 4Runners.....a MAN'S TRUCK! :)


BEFORE!


This is where it all starts...


Half way through the front.


The front done.


The back done.


Lifted and DONE!

Dynamic MINI Collective

Claire, the MINI and myself have now joined the Phoenix area club called...The Dynamic MINI Collective. This is a group of MINI Cooper enthusiasts that span the state of Arizona. On Wen. night I went to my first group event which was a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the release of the original Mini. Unfortunately due some emergencies at work, Claire wasn't able to make this event.

The history of where our great little car came from is a lengthy story, so to sum it up quickly, the first Mini (lower case letters back then) rolled off the lot in August of 1959 as the Austin Mini Seven, Austin Mini Minor and Austin Mini Minor DL. It changed shapes and names a few times over the next several decades but always carried the Mini name in it's title. Production stopped world wide in 2000, and then in 2002 BMW took the little British car out of retirement and brought it to the USA with a slight twist to the name, and the MINI Cooper was reborn.

Our MINI, nick named C-Diddy (for our English Bulldog, Cooper) was born in 2003. It's not fast, but it's fun and sporty and turns heads everywhere we drive it.

We are hoping to get out with the club on their group drives, weekend getaways and monthly ice cream socials and other dinner events. Here is a photo taken at the 50th anniversary dinner. There was a total of about 20 MINIs at this event...it was some sight to see all those cars lined up!

Tinker takes a drive

Going old school

Every month or six weeks, I am out at the grocery store and I wander into the shaving aisle. I bend down to grab a package of Mach3 Razor cartridges and gasp...$17....what a waste of money!!! Then it gets worse, the fact that I travel frequently means that my mach 3 handle needs replacement every 4 months or so. So I figure I am about $200 into shaving annually. Did I mention I hate shaving? I hate shaving.

Ok, time for solutions. I started poking around the internet to see if someone had made a razor that is more affordable, maybe something not available at the grocery store.

I found the answer, brace yourself. Straight razor shaving. The kind your grandfather's grandfather shaved with...old school.

I found a forum (there is a forum for everything by the way), called StraightRazorPlace.com. I learned a lot, and was directed to www.straightrazordesign.com, the owners also founded the forum. I started shopping, and after a slight investment (about the same as my annual shaving bill) I now own a Dovo Straight Razor, Illinois Leasther Strop, shaving soap, shaving cream, badger hair shaving brush, a shaving mug and a "how to" shave DVD.

You might be scratching your head right now...especially if you have ever seen a straight razor. YIKES! To say they are sharp, is an understatment! To test the sharpness of a shaving razor, and to make sure it is "shave ready" you simply pluck a hair off your head, and while holding it in one hand you raise the razor, blade up into the hair, it will cut clean through without moving the hair.

Ok, back to the blog! I have now been shaving with my straight razor for about 2 months, I have expanded my soap and cream selection and picked up another razor just to see the differences. I have also watched many youtube videos, talked to some other locals and have become VERY comfortable with this form of shaving. I have had a few "nicks", but nothing to bad.

Here's the real kicker....I LOVE TO SHAVE NOW! I love it, I wish I could shave 3 times a day!

Here is the system.
Preshave- like an old school barber, sharpen your straight razor with a leather strop...it's theraputic.
1. Take a nice soft towel, soak it in piping hot water and then hold it on your beard until it starts to cool (it's heavenly).
2. Repeat step one a few times...
3. Place a small amout of shave cream in a shaving mug (which has been soaking in hot water so it's warm).
4. Now take your badger hair shaving brush and get it wet under hot water then shake it dry. Now whip that cream and shave soap into a nice fluffy warm lather!
5. Apply generously to your face.
6. Now, very carefully, with very little pressure shave with the grain of you hair.
7. Splash some nice aftershave or better yet some vanilla flavored shave milk...and enjoy the baby butt smoothness!

For more information on how to be more manly, save some money, and actually enjoy the morning shave ritual visit.

www.straightrazorplace.com

You'll thank me!

Necklace Sale

FREE SHIPPING (in US only) when you BUY any NECKLACE until July 31, 2009!
Visit www.SilverDappleJewelry for more ...

Etsy Buy Handmade SilverDapple

Holden Village and WA trip

Claire's side of the family had a small reunion this year at Holden Village, an amazing old mining town that is now a Lutheran Retreat Center. We spent a few days in Sammamish and then went into Holden (the only way to Holden is via boat or on foot). Tyler and a group of other family members decided they wanted to opt for the "on foot" route to Holden but unfortunately due to snow lingering in the surrounding mountains, that was not an option. Instead, they spend 3 days hiking around in the mountains near Stehekin, WA (the last stop on the Chelan Ferry route, and also only accessed by boat or on foot). After the three days of hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail both north and south of Stehekin, the hikers took the boat back to Holden Village to spend some time with the entire family. Unfortunately we had to leave a little earlier then the rest of the family but still had a terrific time, albeit, short. One of the highlights of the trip was on the bus ride from Holden, back down the dirt road to the ferry terminal, which normally wouldn't be a highlight! A few miles from Holden, standing in the middle of the road was the bear that Tyler was complaining about not seeing...trip complete!

For more information on Holden Village, please visit:

www.HoldenVillage.org

Rim Country Open

FIRST PLACE in the Rim Country Open. My first advanced division win. This was the best disc golf I have ever played (period). I won by 4 strokes, and actually shot the best round of the entire field (including the pro division) during the first round.

Photo courtesy of the Payson Roundup newspaper....that's right...I'm FAMOUS! :)

Topo swims!

Thanks to Dana and Mark, Topo got to go to her house and after he saw me in the pool relaxing, he decided to join me! Once I calmed him down he had a blast in the water! He isnt the most organized swimmer but he swam forever! He would jump in, swim, jump out, run around the yard crazy and then jump in again. I think he thought he was in heaven! Thanks Dana and Mark for letting us use your pool!

4 Years!

Wow its been 4 years! Time flies by when you are married to someone great! These past 4 years have been wonderful and I am lucky to have someone so special and treats me so good!
As an early 5 year Anniv. present Tyler got me a new ring! My original one had a small diamond fall out and Tyler surprised me by getting a new one! I love it and the diamonds are set into the ring so they should never fall out! Thank you again Tyler!
I love you and look forward to many more years to come!

Zach and Anne's Wedding and trip to WA

What a whirl wind of a weekend! We went to WA for Zach and Anne Zimmermans wedding! Tyler was a handsome groomsman and it was a beautiful wedding! We had perfect weather and a wonderful time with family and friends. The Matneys came into town as well for the wedding so it was great to have both sets of parents at the same time. We enjoyed breakfast over looking Pike Place and then walked around the market. We also got a chance to see Bridget and her new baby boy with Alli as well!

More Updates on our home!

Well we had the house painted this week and we love the difference! Thanks Zach! Here is a before and after photo ... How many things can you find different?

Here is what we updated:
~ New exterior lights (bye bye 80's gold)
~ tan and green paint (no more 80's cream & brown)
~ 2 new Arizona native plants in front rocks
~ new solar sidewalk lights
~ kept the screens from the front windows off
~ took down a row of cabinets which totally opened up the kitchen

Tessa and Michael Visit

Tessa and Michael came to visit while they had spring break. Tyler and them played a ton of disc golf at many different courses in the Phoenix area and we also took a long day drive to Sedona, Jerome, and back home. It was great to have them out here and hope they will come out again!

Floors are finished!

Thank the Lord~! Here are some photos for your enjoyment!

Hillard's came to town!

Cate and Wayne came for a 5 day visit before heading to So Cal to babysit for the Squires. Most of the time was busy trying to figure out how to go buy our new Mini Cooper but we did go to Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens which had a great glass exhibit! Below the photos is more info on Chihuly...

Dale Chihuly has been influential within the Studio Glass movement. He continues to revolutionize the art of handblown glass. Working in a generally free-form and unorthodox manner, the results of his approach elicit widespread admiration from the full spectrum of viewers, with one art historian calling his work "liquid light."

Chihuly's work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Among the many museums in which his work has been exhibited are the Louvre's Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Some of the great botanical gardens have recently exhibited his work, such as the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and the New York Botanical garden. His corporate installations include the famous ceiling sculpture at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Born in 1941 and raised in Tacoma, Washington, Chihuly studied interior design and architecture at the University of Washington in Seattle, earning his BA in 1965. In that same year, Chihuly blew his first glass bubble. He attended graduate school on scholarship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he studied glass under Harvey Littleton. That same year Chihuly received a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Venini glass factory in Venice. The following year Chihuly became part of the faculty of RISD and established a glass program there. In 1971, he cofounded the Pilchuck Glass School near Stanwood, Washington.

Through the 1970s Chihuly divided his time between RISD and Pilchuck and developed his team model of blowing glass that he had learned from Venini. During those years Chihuly also developed a core philosophy. "I am less concerned with being narrative or figurative. I am involved in the glass and the light that passes through it - the phenomenon of light being transmitted through colored glass."

Over the years Chihuly created a wide vocabulary of blown forms. Earlier series from the late 1970s through the 1990s, such as Baskets, Seaforms, Ikebana, Venetians, and Chandeliers have been augmented with the new Fiori-or flower- forms. "Over time I developed the most organic, natural way of working with glass, using the least amount of tools that I could. The glass looks as if it comes from nature." Some of these new flower forms are reminiscent of his early installations made at Pilchuck in the 1970s, so Chihuly has come full circle with his vocabulary of forms. In his garden installations, the artist juxtaposes his forms with those of nature establishing a direct and immediate dialog between nature, art, and light.

Major Installations
Chihuly Over Venice - 1995-96
Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem - 2000
Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass at Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory - 2001-2002
The Chihuly Bridge of Glass, Tacoma - 2002
Mille Fiori at the Tacoma Art Museum - 2003
Chihuly at the de Young, San Francisco, CA - 2008

Garden Installations
Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory - 2001
Atlanta Botanical Gardens - 2004
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew - 2005
Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, Coral Gables, Florida - 2006
Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis - 2006
New York Botanical Garden - 2006
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania - 2007
Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona - 2008

Our New MINI Cooper!

For my birthday, Tyler bought me a 2003 MINI Cooper! It is the car I have always wanted and always point out while driving. It is such a fun little sporty car to drive around!