Arizona Knows How to Party...

Arizona knows how to party..
In the citaaay of Me-sa.
In the citaaay of good ol' Globe.
In the citaaay of Tempe.
We keep it rockin. We keep it rockin.

Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west...

That's how the song goes right? What? It's not?? The song is about California? Oh. Well, it was sort of working for Arizona too.

I am not even sure how I know that song. I think I heard it on the radio a long time ago and it stuck with me because at some point in the chorus it says "shake it Cali." And my name is Cali. Of course I know it was using Cali as an abbreviation for California, but still, my name was in a song. The song, by the way, is California Love and it features Dr. Dre. I don't think I particularly recommend it. I probably should not have even admitted to being aware of its existence. Just kidding. Mostly.

What I am trying to convey to you is that I went to Arizona a couple of weekends ago. I can not seem to stay away from that place. Why is that? Oh ya, it is because an enormous chunk of my family lives there. Good ol' family.

I went alone. I was gone for four days. I missed Danny. I will say one thing though (only one thing? you wish) I am completely okay flying by myself. You see, I completely stress out about getting to the airport on time and getting through security and finding our gate. And that stresses Danny out. As a result by the time we are settled at the gate Danny is sullen and quiet. But of course, as soon as we are at the gate I am excited to be traveling and want to play a game or comment on people watching. Danny does not want to have anything to do with that because my unnecessary stress bothered him and he needs a moment of quiet. It is a vicious vicious cycle. We are making improvements. I do not stress out so much. In fact, I would not call it stress. I would call it 'intense focus'.

My reason for traveling to Arizona is because my cousin had a get together with family and friends before she goes on her mission to New York. And I included a couple of extra days to hang out with my grandparents. I have some pretty fantastic grandparents.

I arrived Friday evening and spent Saturday with my paternal grandma. It was delightful. We spent a lot of time visiting. And I do mean a lot of time. I enjoy talking to her.

Funny story: She locked me in her backyard. Not on purpose of course. It is quite a long story but I will summarize. Sunday morning my uncle was picking me up. My grandma had to leave earlier than me. The arrangement was for me to lock the back door behind me and exit out the backyard gate into the alley. Well, out of habit she locked the gate behind her. I discovered the gate was locked after I had shut and locked the back door behind me. Oops. So, I climbed over the gate using folding chairs, a recycling bin, and the tail gate of my uncle's truck. What did YOU do on your Sunday morning? I bet it was not that.

Here, I have a picture that my uncle took.


It was fantastic. I thought the whole thing was hilarious. I managed to come away without messing up my dress or getting a run in my nylons. I was (and still am) so impressed with myself.

The rest of that Sunday was great. My cousin gave a lovely talk and I spent the day visiting with family on my mom's side. I have really awesome cousins. We are a dignified and classy bunch as evidenced by this photo:

The lady on the far right is Hermana Sanders. She will be serving in New York New York speaking the Spanish. These are all the grand kids on my mom's side besides my brother. (also excluding 2 spouses)

Sunday evening and Monday I spent time with my maternal grandparents. We played cards and ate Mexican Food. My grandma showed me some new scrapbooks she made about my great-grandparents. It was exciting to see and hear about their lives. I got to know those great-grandparents fairly well and I adore them. He passed away in 2004 and she passed away last summer.

Then early, and I do mean early, Tuesday morning we went to the airport and I flew back to Dallas and to my husband who missed me. And my turtle who was blissfully unaware of my absence.

The next day we went on a BBQ tour of Texas. Let me tell you, there are some delicious delicious ribs to be eaten in Luling, Lockhart, and Austin, Texas. Wow.

In other news: Dany as been at his new job for a week. He has been training. He loves it and I love to see him so happy and enjoying his work. Win win.

Tonight we are supposed to get lots of rain that will turn to lots of ice. Something like that. Ice is not nice. On that profound thought, I think I will end this rather lengthy post. So, remember that my friends. Ice is not nice.