2010: A New Year!

I could get used to ringing in the New Year in 70 degree weather! Thursday found us having lunch at a little place called Two Hippies: Beach House. There are 4-5 of these different restaurants scattered throughout town that all have a different type of food. This one happened to offer baja style tacos! It was literally a little shanty, with all sorts of hippie paraphernalia, but the food was great! And a double bonus that we were able to enjoy the food outside in the sun.

Two Hippies Exterior

Two Hippies Interior

Say Cheese!

Trying to get a taste of food by looking cute!

After lunch the girls headed to the grocery store to get some essentials and plan the New Year's Eve dinner menu and the guys headed back to the house to cheer on the Cyclones in the Insight Bowl -- being played right here in Phoenix.

While on our shopping trip we managed to find some party favors and New Year's headbands for the girls to wear while ringing in the New Year, after all what is a party without some sparkle?!

Ready to party!

True Beauties!

Ringing in the New Year as a family!

We had more family arrive in Phoenix on Thursday so they came by to say hello, have a drink and some snacks. All of us managed to stay up and at least see 11:00, which would be us celebrating in Iowa, but all of us ended up crashing before the New Year in Arizona. It is amazing how "old" that made us feel!

Our first day of 2010 was an eventful one! Lila woke up, bright-eyed and bushy tailed and was ready to greet the new year! We lounged a bit in the morning, but had to hurry to get ready as we were heading to Jen's cousin AJ and his wife Erin's house. AJ is the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and we had been invited to do an All Access tour of Chase Stadium!!!

Loungin'!

Lovin' on Grandpa!

We headed to Chase Stadium and met up with a few more family members that wanted to be a part of the private tour! We have a handful of family members that live in Arizona and they are big fans of the Diamondbacks, so for some of them, this was a dream come true!

We started off in the clubhouse, which was a pretty big deal because the rules state women are not allowed into the clubhouse. But, because we were with AJ and it was New Year's Day the players weren't utilizing it, so us girls got to see as well.

We had a tour of the whole facility, it is pretty amazing, all of the workout equipment, the batting cages, lounges, etc. There really is a "business" behind it all, something you don't get to see very often and tend to forget.

And then...it was time to walk up into the dugout, the same way that the players do on game day! What a treat! My cousin Tony was almost having a heart attack at this point! It was really neat standing there talking to AJ all about his daily routines and his experience as the coach of a Major League Baseball team.

Leaving the office!

We all talked about how for AJ, it was just another tour of his office, just like if I were to give a tour of TrueNorth and how different people's lives are, but at the end of the day it really is a job. Lucky for AJ, he is truly living out his dreams and he was able to share that with us, it was a real treat!

Yesterday we went to Kierland to do some outdoor shopping and the guys went and cruised car dealerships. Lila was a trooper and we did some fun shopping for her! I enjoy shopping for her when we are out of town because we have so many fun options, which we lack in Cedar Rapids.

After shopping and meeting back up with the guys for lunch we headed to our NEW house. This would be house #3. We were waiting and waiting to be given access to the first house and the reality of it was we weren't going to get in there, so they offered up this new house that has 5 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. We were happy to take it! 2 more bedrooms and 2.5 more bathrooms sounded great to us! So, we packed up our suitcases and piled everything back into the car and made the trek to house #3! It is a much better fit!

After settling in at the house we loaded up again and headed to Litchfield Park to visit with good friends of ours the O'Gara's. Chris and Christy and their kids Michael, Kelly, Mary Jane, Brady, Shawn and Anne Marie moved to Arizona from Nebraska earlier this year. They were having a Fiesta party in honor of the Fiesta bowl! It was really just a good excuse to all get together and for them to rent a blow up play station for the kids!

We enjoyed authentic Mexican food and even had birthday cake for those people celebrating their birthdays in December and January, there were quite a few! It was all very yummy!

Happy Birthday to You!

Lila's new best friend, Anne Marie

After dinner the O'Gara clan impressed us with their musical talents. All of them play the accordian and are very good at it, so they all took turns playing. We ended with Michael playing Christmas tunes on his guitar and everyone sang along!

It was great catching up with the O'Gara's and the Theisen's, meeting their new friends and seeing where the new place they are calling home! I have to admit, enjoying this 70 degree weather in January, it will be hard to head back to where we call home!