Thanksgiving Weekend in Phoenix

 I am so happy Corbin & Kari made the drive clear to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving here! It really meant a lot to me and we had a great time, minus the sickness :)! Here are some pictures of some fun things we did.

Skateboard Park

 

 Skateboard Park

 Skateboard Park

 Skateboard Park

 Swimming

Swimming with Dad

Eating Turkey

Playing superhero with a costume creative Dad made for him since Aunt Diane doesn't have any costumes.

 

 Science Center -- Impressive!

Science Center

    

 Mesa Temple to see the lights


Temple Lights

 No trip is complete with out a Pazooki from Oregano's!

 Even Brycen loved it!

 If You Throw A Pig A Party play.

 Little piggy

Thanks for coming! I had a great time! Even if Maxten did "accuse" me of beating him up and giving him a bloody nose! Silly boy!

Las Vegas

Here are some pictures from our trip to Las Vegas.

 

Maxten's cool light saber

M&M Factory

Caesar's Palace

Secret Garden at the Mirage

Dolphins at the Mirage. They were amazing!

Lions at the Mirage. They were beautiful!

    

 

Seattle

 I can't believe it's been almost 3 months since I have posted! Here are some pictures of my trip to Seattle.

 Cute family

 

 Scary monsters

 

 Goofy kids

 Aarh Matey!

 Sadie's ballet lesson

 Spikey haired boy

The girls after winning "The Amazing Race"

This is the best video ever of Gary doing his impersonation of Angie. It's a classic!

Gary Bell - Day 2 Part 2

After our outing to K-Mart we went back to my place so Gary could change his shirt (don't ask, long story). I was a little tired (physically and mentally) and told him I needed to go tap a nap for a few minutes. I went in my room and then Sherrie called me so I talked to her and then went back out to see what G.B. was up to and he was just walking around enjoying himself shirtless. I told him he needed to get a shirt on and he told me he was tired and asked if he could go lie down for awhile before we went to the movies. I told him that was fine and I'll wake him up when it's time to for the movie. I checked the movie times and the movie he decided he wanted to go to was the new movie with Sarah Jessica Parker and there was a showing at 5:10pm it was now about 1pm and I figured this would give him time to get some rest and me time for a mental break and then we could go to the movie and dinner.
So, I wake him up around 3pm and tell him it's time to start getting up. He finally got up and we left the house around 4:15pm. As we are driving to the theater he tells me he doesn't want to see that movie now and I ask him which one he wants to see and he just wants to wait until we get there. I tell him it doesn't work that way, the movies don't all start at the same time. So we get to the theater and I look up on my phone the other movies there and their show times. I look for anything that starts within the next hour and we were limited on selections. There was the one he didn't want to see, some Planet of the Apes movie, The Lion King 3-D and some show about driving. So he says he wants to see The Lion King. This is how the conversation goes:

Gary: Oh, let's just go see The Lion King
Me: Are you sure?
Gary: Yes (head nodding)
Me: It's a cartoon...are you still sure?
Gary: Yes (head nodding)
Me: It's 3-D, so you'll have to wear the glasses...are you still sure?
Gary: Yes (head nodding)
Me: And the theater will be full of kids...are you still sure?
Gary: NO! I'm too old for that!

So, he decides on The Planet of the Apes (not my first, second or third pick). We go in and get him a soda and some licorice and take our seats in the theater and about 15 minutes into the movie he leans over, and in a not so quiet voice, tells me he's already seen this movie and doesn't want to watch it again! I lean over and in a not so quiet voice, ask him why he didn't tell me that before? He said he didn't know. So I tell him just to sit and watch it and over the course of the next 5 minutes he has probably told me at least 10 times that he is ready to leave and doesn't want to stay for the whole show. So, I say fine and we get up and leave and as we are walking down the hall to leave the theater there is a big cardboard sign for a movie and he stops to look at it and asks me "who is this lovely young lady?" pointing to an actress in the moving the sign is for. And I tell him she is an actress in the movie you decided you didn't want to go to! And we leave the theater, but not before he's introduced himself to a couple of young ladies who work there.
We go to the car and I ask him what he wants for dinner. I had already told him earlier that there was a hamburger place (I took him there before), a Mexican place, Village Inn where he could get breakfast for dinner and a Chinese restaurant. He decides he wants breakfast for dinner, so we go to Village Inn (not my first, second or third choice). We are seated and I turn his menu to the breakfast section for him to take a look and he yells to me that he doesn't want breakfast for dinner! So he ends up ordering a bowl of chili.
I just keep telling myself only one more night, only one more night. Around 9:30pm I tell him we need to get up early so he needs to start getting ready for bed and I decided to get some sleep I would have him take a couple of Tylenol pm. I told him to take them because they would help he get a good rest, he asked me if they were for his leg and I ask him if his legs are aching and he tells me yes and I tell him "Yes, that's exactly what it's for!" So this helped for a few hours but by 5am and probably earlier he was up and ready for the day!
Then Sunday morning we went to the airport and luckily his flight was on time and off he went to torture another sister!

I know it may not sound like it but I am glad he came and he does make me laugh! He may drive me crazy but he's my crazy brother and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Gary Bell - Day 2

So, it is now end of day 2 with my brother and if I didn't say this already, Paula and Sherrie are Saints I tell you, SAINTS!! My brother has only been her 24 hours and I've already put myself in timeout once, but Sherrie and Paula put up with alot more than that with my brother and I respect them for it!
Here is a recap of day two (and Friday night). At about 6pm Gary was dozing off on the couch and wanting to go to bed. I told him not yet or he would be up all night and I didn't need that. Finally around 8pm I told him to go ahead and go to bed. I don't know if it was more for me or him. I figured he'd been traveling all day and probably was tired so hoped he would sleep all night plus I was tired of looking stuff up for him on the internet. So, our plan for Saturday was we would go to K-mart to find the elusive toy semi-truck with trailer with ready mix truck with excavator, go to a movie and go dinner.
Well, at about 9:30pm I go into my room and within 5 minutes Gary was yelling to me so I go to see what he needs and he has the light on and is getting dressed and asking me what I did with his pants. I tell him his pants are right behind him and ask him why he is getting dressed. He tells me he has to go the bathroom and I had told him he couldn't walk around in his underwear. I appreciate the fact he listened to that but at this point I told him the bathroom is 5 steps away so to just go and go back to bed, but he continued to get dressed. And he was complaining that it was too hot. So I turned up the air before going to bed. At around 3ish I got up to go to the bathroom and I looked in on Gary and he was sitting up in the bed wide awake but the light was off. He asked me what time it was and I told him 3whatever and he asked if I was getting up and I said no. He told me again he was hot so I turned the a/c up again for him and went back to bed. I was awake around 6:30am but I didn't want to disturb the beast so I just stayed in my room for awhile and about 7am Mr Bell was yelling for me asking me where I was. I went out to the front room and he was fully dressed and I could tell he had been up for awhile and he told me he was freezing and wanted me to turn off the a/c and open the blinds to let the sunshine in! Then he asked me if I was up and I told him yes and he said "why don't you go hop in the shower". And I told him K-Mart wasn't opened yet and we would get there this morning.
Finally I decided to go get in the shower, first so he would stop suggesting that to me and second for a little peace and quiet. We finally made it to K-Mart by about 9:30am and he didn't find exactly what he was looking for but something that would suffice for now. On the drive to K-Mart I said "Gary, sometimes you drive me crazy" and he said "That's what brothers are for"! Mission accomplished!!!!

Stay tuned for part 2 of day 2.

Ambassador Bell

Men (nephews included) lock up your wives and girlfriends...Ambassador Bell has arrived!!!

Let's see...he's been in town for 5 hours and these are a few funny things for the day. Once I met him at the jetway we were walking towards baggage claim and we had the options of stairs or escalator. He wanted stairs but I didn't want it to take us an hour to get down the stairs so he agreed to the escalator. He was a little nervous but he had a hold of my arm and we were getting ready to step on it and I said "One, two, three step!" Well, only one of us stepped while the other was at the top of the escalators getting very nervous! So here I already a few steps down and I turned around and started running back up the escalators to get to him! I did make it back to the top and of course we took the stairs!

Next, as we were driving home on the freeway he was a little concerned something was wrong because of how many cars there were on the freeway. I told him this is rush hour "Welcome to Phoenix"! Anyway, I was also telling him how this morning when I was driving to work this morning the other side of the freeway was closed because someone was shot in the head overnight on the freeway and the police were still investigating. Well that turned into about a 15 min discussion on what I would do if he got shot. So, then I asked him if he would take a bullet for me. He asked what I was talking about. I told him if someone was about to shoot us and they would only shoot one of us who would he want to be shot and he said he would! How nice is that? My brother said he would take a bullet for me! Then he asked if I would take a bullet for him and I said of course I would! Then I asked him if he would take a bullet for Sherrie and he just sat there with a grin on his face. So I asked him again, "Would you take a bullet for Sherrie?" Then he said yes. Then I said would you take a bullet for Paula? And right away he said "I have to think about that one"!

Check back for more adventures with Gary!

A good Frank Story

Ok, so it's been awhile since I have had a good Frank story but I have one today! Remember Frank? The guy I work with who until a few years ago still thought he was growing? You know as in height? Well, here's the latest. Today he was telling me about his niece who just had a baby and she was over at their house last night and he got to see her.

Anyway, we started talking the soft spots on babies heads and I said something about how my brother LOVES the soft spot on babies and Frank just looked at me strange and asked if "my people" also had soft spots. I asked what he meant by "my people" and he said you know religion/race. I said do you mean white people? He said "yes". I said yes, ALL babies had soft spots and then I had to explain to him how when babies are born how they have more bones in their skull and their heads are more "flexible" in order to be born and then how as they grow the bones in their skull start to fuse together and that is why there is a soft spot because their skull hasn't fully fused together. He thought only the Latins have soft spots!
AND just went you didn't think it could get any better it does! Frank STILL thought he had a soft spot! He didn't think it ever went away and so he always would have to protect his head so his soft spot didn't "fall down"!
His Aunt told told Frank and his niece that you have to be careful when you pull the pacifier out of the baby's mouth, because if you pull it out too fast then it will make the soft spot "fall in".
I had a good giggle all afternoon about the whole "soft spot" thing.

Bad News

Bad news!!! Well remember when I told you about my broke tooth? (See previous post) So today I had my next appointment to have the permanent crown put on, well ever since they put on the temporary crown my tooth has been aching, not terrible but still uncomfortable. Well I told the dentist about it and he didn't like the sound of that and then took about 15 mins explaining why I need a root canal. All I heard was the word "root canal" everything else was a blur. Then he was saying they can do a root canal after the permanent crown is put on and they would just drill a little hole down in the tooth but he didn't think that would be a good idea. I had to second that idea considering the out-of-pocket money I have to pay for said crown, I sure don't want a hole in it! So now I have to make an appointment with an endodontist to have the root canal and then go back to Dr. Moorad to have the crown put on. See I told you...bad news!!! Oh, but did I mention that my dentist is pretty easy on the eyes?

New Tooth

I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Now that The Amazing Race is over I've been a slacker. So here are a few new posts of things going on in my life!

The week I got home from the reunion I had a piece of my tooth fall out! It was a piece of from one of my molars on the bottom. It happened at night so there wasn't a lot I could do so I called the dentist's office and left a message. They called my next morning and told me they could see me that afternoon. My tooth was hurting and I just wanted to make sure it didn't either. When I got to the dentist they took an x-ray and said I would need a crown (and unfortunately not the royal kind)!


He didn't think I would need a root canal (good thing) but wanted to know if I wanted to start the procedure with the crown. Of course I said yes! Well he sent his very nice office assistant back to break the news to me on the price! WITH insurance my cost would be $646!! Can you believe that?? I asked how much my insurance was paying and she told me they will pay 50% but on for a gold crown. For a porcelain one they would only pay %40. So, guess which one I went with???

Well's it's not quite all mine yet. I only have a temporary one until the make my new one. So I had to pay half for at the dentist while I was there and then I pay the other half upon installation!

No, I'm not getting the gold one. Sorry to disappoint you.

Silliness in Seattle

Who wore it best?

Who wore it best?

Corbin & Kari in response to our cool mustaches!

Drink and a snack before bedtime!

And this was the best response from Corbin & Kari! This was hysterical!

Seattle Trip