A Merry Admin Christmas

The Admin team went out to dinner at Chevy's tonight and we had our Secret Santa gift exchange. We had a lot of fun guessing who had drawn which person's name. Jenny was my Santa and she bought me a BEAUTIFUL 3-layer candle (peach blossom, peach cobbler, & ginger peach), a set of day-of-the-week magnets, miniature KitKat bars, and a Borders giftcard. What a great time we had!

More photos of the house

I've taken more photos of the house. We've added furniture since July as well as Christmas decorations. Click post title to be linked to the photo album.

Winter Wonderland

Wow... it's been a while since I posted last. As Kermit likes to say "Time's fun when you're having flies."

So, I received confirmation last week about my relocation to Arizona. I flew to Syracuse to visit Grandpa and landed in the middle of a snowstorm. Gotta love lake-effect snow... OR NOT!


Immediately after deplaning, I resigned myself to feeling cold for the duration of the visit. It was 16 degrees and dropping!!! The visibility was so bad that we had to hang out at Denny's for a few hours until it stopped snowing and the plows cleared the roads. We didn't get home until 2:30am.

The AZ heat has thinned my blood considerably. Toward the end of the trip, the weather improved and was pushing 40 degrees, but I continued to shiver and pile on the layers, so we had lots of fun indoors. We put up the Christmas tree and hung lights on the house.


I'm so glad I was able to visit and catch up with family and friends!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I put up my Christmas tree. :)

Lots of space for presents underneath! ;)

See what I mean??

Keeps going and going and going...

My usually monotonous commute was interrupted one morning by an unusual sight. Check it out:



It's a hot air balloon! How fun is that?

Simply Spectacular

God gave me a present today. I returned home from a long day and found this in my back yard. Isn't it breathtaking? It was such a blessing to just sit on the patio and enjoy.

Holloween Costume Winners

Third Place

Second Place

First Place

The winners of RHI's Halloween Costume contest!

New Career

I was thinking maybe I should quit my job and pursue a career in pet-sitting. :) It would be a whole lot less stressful. I could spend my days playing with animals instead of worrying about deadlines, personality conflicts, and commuting! It sounds perfect, right? This weekend I dog-sat Penny Lane for Marion & Judy. Isn't she a cute dog?



This is normally Heather's gig, but she was gone with the same group, hiking the Grand Canyon from the South Rim to the North Rim and back in 3 days. It takes one day to hike across, one day to recover, and one day to hike back. Some opted to drive home after the return hike and others decided to stay another day to recover. Any activity that requires recovery will not find its way on to MY to do list. Visit the Grand Canyon? Absolutely. Voluntarily spend 96 hours hiking and recovering? NOT A CHANCE! Blackmail or bribery would have to be a factor. :)

Sun Bowl

Tonight I went with Duane & Betty to a concert at the Sun Bowl. It was fantastic! This week's performance was by the Arizona Winds, a popular 65-member band under the direction of John Thrasher. They played traditional band music, pop, jazz, show tunes, and marches. They are fabulously talented musicians. It brought back fond memories of accompanying Mom to practice at UAF when she was in the Fairbanks Community Band.

The Sun Bowl is an outdoor amphitheatre with the lawn sculptured into steps. They provide weekly performances during the fall & spring seasons. Each week is a different group. Next week is a steel drum group, the following week is the US Navy Band (7 vocalists) singing all types of country music, Oct. 29 is Music and Dance of Scotland... it all sounds very interesting.

Presidential Skies

This is the effect the President's visit had on the skies. All the F-16 jet patrols left a really cool pattern.


It must have been a busy day at Luke AFB.

Bye Bye Jeannette

One of my coworkers, Jeannette, has left us to pursue a better opportunity closer to home. A bunch of the Sales Support team went out to Salty Senorita in Scottsdale to celebrate her new position.

Jeannette & me


Lee & Remie


Remie, Janeen, Nikki & Stephanie


Jenny, Remie & Karla


Katie & Janeeen


Laura, Jenny & Lee

SERIOUSLY?

So, I was driving to work this morning and I passed a bus shelter that was being cleaned by ShelterClean. The gentleman was working away at sweeping up trash. As he finishes, he drops his cigarette butt on the ground, steps on it to put it out... AND WALKS AWAY. With broom and dustpan in hand, he LEFT the butt on the floor of the shelter, got in his truck, and moved on to the next bus shelter. SERIOUSLY??? How sad is it that cigarette butts are no longer considered litter?

Thumper

I had another positive encounter with the wildlife. This little guy was hanging out at the end of the driveway yesterday.

Here's hoping he doesn't get an unwanted introduction to the coyotes I spotted previously. He's very photogenic. He sat very still throughout the entire photo shoot. I'm sure his lack of motion was due to his love of the spotlight and not paralyzing fear!

Sadie-sitting

This weekend I was the substitute parent for Al & Mary Snyder's dog, Sadie.


Poor thing was cut on her jaw during her last visit to the groomers and wouldn't stop scratching at it, so she has to wear the cone collar until it heals.



She has an interesting adversion to having her feet touched. It's amazing to hear such fierce sounds from such an itty bitty little thing. :D The pictures are a bit deceptive as to her size. She's all leg. I doubt she weighs more than 3-4 pounds.

My new old car

I bought a new car in July. My Cavalier served me well and it died with dignity. :) These are some photos of the new ride.





2001 Nissan Sentra - 43,000 miles (when I bought it). It took me 2 months to get accustomed to it, but I've finally stopped looking for the Cavalier in the parking lot!

Coyotes

I was driving to work yesterday morning and spotted three young coyotes playing in an empty lot. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. I was too slow turning on my camera, so I missed the shot before they ran off. This was a more pleasant "encounter" with the local wildlife. Maybe next time I'll be ready to take photos.

UGH!

I had my first encounter with a scorpion tonight. Yeah... not so fun. We were having dinner on the patio at Jay & Marilyn's when Heather leans over and says very intently "Becky, move your feet." The look in her eyes and her tone was chilling. Very slowly I pick up my feet as everyone takes a look. Crawling toward my heel (I was wearing flip flops) was a scorpion. As it skittered away from my chair, Ben (a.k.a. MY HERO) squished it with his shoe. I'm still getting cold chills 4 hours later. Me, the girl who has no problem with spiders, snakes, etc, has found an insect that is now on the top of my CANNOT STAND list. I spent the rest of the evening with my feet up under me on the chair. Quite disturbing. My biggest shock was its appearance. It was not 4-6 inches long and black and easily identifiable as seen in old western movies. No, this one was about an inch long and a reddish brown that blended quite nicely with the scenery. Had I come across it by myself in a different setting, I may not have recognized it for what it was.



Joe immediately fetched his laptop to determine what kind of scorpion our departed friend was and I learned many things about scorpions tonight. The biggest revelation was my absolute, complete, unquestionable REVULSION to them. I now understand how Debbie felt with the fish in the Bahamas. I have repented for my participation in her torment as I now know what she endured. I hope to conquer this fear and cease to experience the crawling sensation on my feet when there are no insects present. Sweet dreams for me tonight, I'm sure! :(

Potluck

We had a potluck today at church. So much delicious food! I was chided for not packing the biggest plates we own! :) I took disposable plates and they just don't hold enough. The really smart folks brought cafeteria-style trays! My pesto pasta salad went over well. There wasn't any left by the time the second shift went through the line.

WATERSKIING!!!

I had my first waterskiing lesson Sunday afternoon on Lake Pleasant. To sum it up in one word: WOW! It's amazing how much effort it requires (I ache in places I didn't know I had muscles!) but the experience is INCREDIBLE! I actually managed to get up out of the water twice. I only lasted 3-4 seconds before I lost my balance, but it was so much fun!







The second time I fell (see 3rd photo), I went in face first and had the air knocked out of me on impact. The upside was that I didn't swallow any lake water! :) I'm looking forward to the next trip and a chance to improve. Maybe next time I'll stay up for at least 6 seconds!!!

See all photos here: View Waterskiing

Home Sweet Arizona

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE living in Arizona? I keep experiencing new things that remind me of how much I enjoy AZ. The magnificent sunsets I witness make the commute home worthwhile.

Aren't these views phenomenal??















For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm well and truly HOME. This doesn't feel temporary to me. I can see myself living the rest of my life here. It's pretty intense, scary, and wonderful all at once.

Monsoon Season

With Monsoon season come high winds, with high winds come sand storms, with sand storms come AWESOME sunsets! I took these pics on the drive home from work. It was an exciting drive with the sand storms and flying debris.














The sand worked as a natural light filter so I was able to take the picture with the camera pointed directly at the sun. (A short commercial: I absolutely LOVE my Kodak EasyShare C533 digital camera!) The sun sets behind the White Tank Mountains. It was breathtaking! God is so AWESOME. I feel so sad for the people who believe Creation was a cosmic accident.






The darkness across the top of the photo is clouds and the darkness across the bottom is all sand. Pretty incredible, isn't it??

Too cool video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

This is pretty amazing choreography in an unusual setting. I found this video when "following the thread" on a friend's blog.

Vacation - Episode 4

I guess I just made up for the month of silence on my blog!!!

Episode 4: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The bus ride into Vancouver from the ferry took an hour. Grandma decided to rent a car after all when we discovered our hotel was way outside of the city proper. Drove out to West Vancouver, had lunch at 3pm and spent the remainder of the afternoon resting in the hotel. We ventured out for dinner and decided to hit the deli at a local grocery store. Started out early Monday morning and drove to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Spent about 4 hours there enjoying the rainforest and bridge systems. Ate lunch at The Bridge Restaurant and then drove up to Grouse Mountain. Took the cable car up the mountain and enjoyed the Lumberjack Competition, the Birds of Prey show, visited the grizzly orphans, Grandma took a ski lift ride down and back up while Grandpa & I enjoyed Beaver Tails (Elephant Ears to my Hoosier friends) and watched the Lumberjack show again. It was funny both times, even though we knew the punchlines to all the jokes the 2nd time. We finished off with a video presentation about the grizzly orphans and their rehabilitation program and a bird's eye view of Vancouver video tour. Had dinner at Denny's and went to bed early. We had to get up at 4am to catch the bus back to Seattle so I wouldn't miss my flight home. There were other departure times available, but none that would arrive in Seattle before my flight. Had SO much fun at Customs and we went our separate ways in Seattle. G & G went to their hotel for the conference and I went to the airport. I had even MORE fun with all the new restrictions for carry-on luggage. Made sure every conceivable liquid, gel, lotion, etc was in my checked bag and then stood in line for the security checkpoint. It was a good thing I arrived 3 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. Survived the plane ride even with 3 screaming babies on board (so much for napping) and was so glad to be back in the land of warmth. The weather the entire trip was MUCH cooler than Phoenix. I had to resign myself to a perpetual state of being cold the entire time. My sweet sister loaned me her jacket and I was so grateful. I think I was the only person on the plane who cheered when the pilot announced the current temp was 103. It was a fabulous trip! Thank you Grandma for making it possible! See corresponding pics: View Vancouver, BC

Vacation - Episode 3

Episode 3: Victoria, BC, Canada

Arrived in Victoria and went straight from the Clipper to the tour bus. The bus took us to Butchart Gardens for a 2 hour self-guided tour. It was PHENOMENAL. I wished we'd had more time. I took pictures as fast as the camera was capable. Had lunch at the Blue Poppy. http://butchartgardens.com On the way back, we got a tour of the Victoria/Vancouver Island coastline. Checked in at Abigail's Hotel http://www.abigailshotel.com/ and had appetizers before walking to Cafe Brio for dinner. Abigail's served a gourmet breakfast every morning. Absolutely fabulous food! Friday we visited Parliament, the Undersea Gardens, ate lunch at Barb's, took a Harbor Ferry Cruise, visited Craigdarroch Castle, and had dinner at Pescatori's Seafood Restaurant. Saturday we went on a whale watch tour, visited Rogers' Chocolates, Grandpa took a seaplane tour while Grandma & I kept our feet firmly planted at a waterfront cafe, we all visited the Royal British Columbia Museum, and skipped dinner because of all the snacking during the day. Sunday we enjoyed our last gourmet breakfast and took a cab to the bus stop for the ride to Vancouver. Rode on the bus an hour to the ferry, then 1.5 hours on the ferry to Vancouver. Corresponding pics: View Victoria, BC

Vacation - Episode 2

Episode 2: Seattle, WA

Picked up the rental car and jumped right in to the sightseeing. Thank you Jim Lyon for the list of "must see" locations. We didn't get to them all, but we tried our best to get as many as possible. Made reservations at Palisade Restaurant (Item 1) for dinner Monday and at SkyCity Restaurant (4) for Tuesday night. Wandered around the waterfront until dinner. Palisade was fantastic! Incredible dining experience. Tuesday we hit the Space Needle (2), Pike Place Market (5), Children's Museum, Argosy Harbor Tour, and the Seattle Aquarium. The Market was my favorite stop. It brought back memories of the markets in Argentina. Wednesday we drove up to Discovery Park (3) in Magnolia Bluff. Our one overcast day but it cleared up quickly. After the park we drove to SR 520 to cross the floating bridges (6), then down I-405 to I-90 for another floating bridge. I didn't get any pics because I was driving and G & G had a camera in each hand already. From there we went to Alki Beach and ate at Spud's (7). Back to Seattle Center to catch an IMAX presentation of "The Eruption of Mt. St Helen" and then on to Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Parking at the restaurant was limited, so we walked down, but it was too steep for Grandpa to walk back up, so I walked back to the hotel to get the rental. Returned the rental 1st thing Thursday (10th) and went to Pier 69 to catch the Victoria Clipper. See corresponding pics: View Seattle, WA

Vacation - Episode 1

So, I'm back from vacation. Boy, did I take a lot of pictures. 553 in 12 days... impressive, right? After sorting out duplicates and a shot of the inside of the camera case (don't ask me how, I don't know) I have 543 to share. I have broken them down into 4 albums - 1 for each stop.

Episode 1: Montana - Great Falls & Glacier Park

Flew to Great Falls, MT on the 3rd (Thursday). Deb picked me up and we went to Mackenzie River Pizza for a late lunch. They have THE BEST pizza in the world. http://www.mackenzieriverpizza.com/ Spent the rest of the day at Mike and Deb's. Played video games (Mike & I kick butt at soccer) and played with Jake. Deb & I drove the rental car ( a Jeep Grand Cherokee, very nice!) up to Glacier Friday and met G & G Wilson at Izaak Walton Inn. They took the train from Indpls to Glacier. Spent Fri-Sun in Glacier. Well, most of the time. I had to take a 9 hour detour back to GF on Saturday to get an abscessed tooth taken care of by Dr. Coleman. He is the Raschke family dentist and was so kind to come in on the weekend for an emergency call. G & G and I left Glacier on the train to Seattle Sunday night and Deb went back to GF. Arrived in Seattle Monday morning only 1.5 hours late. Not bad for Amtrak! Here are the corresponding pics: View Glacier Park, MT

Commute

So, my 45-minute commute is a thing of the past. School zones and buses have added 30 minutes to my drive... yay. At least I'll have something to look forward to next summer. :)

July camping trip continued...

More photos!

This is Dierdre preparing her Hobo dinner to put in the campfire. It was a lot of fun. You cut up meat and veggies and place them in foil. Add some spices and a little oil, wrap up, and place on the coals. 20 minutes later you have a complete meal. The tricky part was getting the potatoes cut small enough and the zucchini large enough so that they finished cooking at the same time.


This is the last campfire we built to cook Sunday's lunch. It was way more than we needed, but Steve had a great time building it and using up all the firewood we had brought along.



This is a gulley behind our campsite. You probably can't tell, but there is a chipmunk crawling out the the top of the tree stump. It was a beautiful sight to see first thing when crawling out of my tent each morning.






This is another fun tree that had fallen onto a tree that was log-jammed. It worked like a seesaw. It was interesting to try to balance a person on each end. It was exciting when someone fell off because it sent the other person flying.

Lockett Meadow

Ok, I remembered to take a camera along on this trip, so here are the photos. We went to Lockett Meadow Campground in the Coconino Forest. The San Francisco Peaks are actually the remains of an extinct volcano. This great mountain was shattered by an explosion similar to the one that devastated Washington's Mt. Saint Helens in 1980.

This is the meadow. The campsites are in the middle of the aspens that are the lighter spot barely visible above the road on the right of the photo.

This is our campsite. My tent is the red one on the left, then Ben & Dierdre's is the yellow one in the middle & Steve & Darla's is the green one on the right. Megan & Jarod took down their tent before I could take a picture. They could only stay Friday night.

This is everyone at the top of the hiking trail. The building behind is a watershed. Left to right: Jarod, Megan, Dierdre, Ben, Steve, Darla, Marilyn, & Jay. Marilyn and Jay are Ben's parents and they came up just for the day on Saturday.



The guys found some fun fallen trees to play on. This one worked like a diving board. Very springy. It took a LOT of balance to walk out to the end and jump off.














You could get some serious height when bouncing off the end of the tree.

House photos continued...

Kitchen












My Bedroom

















Laundry Room












That's all folks!