Merry Christmas!!

Travis and I were lucky enough to have three Holiday meals between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  You would have thought that we would be sick of eating, but neither one of us complained...
Isabella is hanging out with her Uncles Lonnie and Travis ~ just waiting for the time to open presents... or eat!

Ah yes... presents for the kids and mayhem for the grown-ups.  Batteries, directions, small pieces... lovely!  Dad, DeWayne, and Chad look like they have it under control.  

The Smith Family tree ~ we didn't have one this year, but we're all set for next.  Hooray! 


More gifts!  


The Chefs getting ready for meal number 3... yum!  

Merry Meatball Nine!

Here's the story: When my very good friend Karie and I were living together we thought it would be great to have everyone over for a little Holiday Happy Hour - we made some cheap snacks and put most of the money towards a keg (naturally - we were in our twenties!).  The party was a success and the meatballs were a huge hit - some people tried to eat them while they were cooking, they were so popular!  A tradition was born, and we've had a Merry Meatball Madness holiday party every year since.  Now you know...

 

There they are... the famed Meatballs.  No they don't come in different flavors - just 'Marvelous Meaty Meatball'.  No complaints yet! 

Ah -

 The traditional mother/daughter photo.  My moms - Patty, Me, Karie, and her mom, Gail.  Next year will be ten years of MMM, and we will be trying to get all the photos together.  It will be awesome, I'm sure. 

What an all-star shot!  

Steve and Tony discuss something captivating in the background while beauties Britt, Kyndee, and Trish talk about... possibly Daughtry? 

Look who's all warm inside with the M&M's, Dorito's, and Java

That is the lovely imprint of Sonji's beautiful face.  It's not a party until someone runs into the door, gets gum in the carpet, attempts to steal the keg, or spills red wine...  one out of four isn't bad for one year.  

Trish LOVES that sweater...

Sometimes a hug can heal anything.  That looks like a good hug.

ASU v. UCLA

There she is... Sun Devil stadium!  Okay, this family is clearly confused.  It was already cold, the sun was almost gone, and they were putting up the E-Z up... for... shade?  They weren't doing it well either.  Good entertainment for a couple minutes.  

I went all out for Lonnie's birthday - Barro's pizza, brownies, and cupcakes!  Travis is of course eating the veggies(?)!  Can't believe he married me...

  

The UCLA game was Senior Night for our little Sun Devils... we're going to really miss our Mike Jones!  Go Devils! 

Sun Dogs!

I went with Travis when he officiated the Sun Dogs game in Prescott Valley the night before Thanksgiving.  I got to see my friend (and former Yavapai co-worker) Jayson and his wife, Jessie - they've got a great house and two of the cutest cats.  They made an awesome dinner, and then we went to the game to see Travis in action!  

 

Garfield Thanksgiving Dinner

My office is also a residential center for some of our "clients" - we just call them 'the guys'.  Every year we (I don't do much) host a neighborhood Thanksgiving dinner.  A lot of  our people bring their families and come to see Santa as well as have some good food.  There's a ton of effort that goes into this thing, and I think the final guesstimate was around 700 people served this year.  The kids LOVE Santa and his gifts.   

It's probably funnier if you know these guys and what they do for the Department... you will never see me dressed as an elf.  
It was a perfect day - it was really windy and rained the next day... lucky!   

Willcox Part Deux

After ASU lost to Georgia (you'll notice there is no entry for that game) - I took another weekend and headed back down to the cooler country of Southeastern AZ.  This trip down didn't take nearly as long as first... 

We didn't do too much - Jake, Rachel, and Isa were there too!  It got chilly at the football game and I ate some more of Debbie's awesome cooking.  

Patrick decided to man the camera for awhile.   Jake and I are totally enjoying Debbie's dessert - homemade cherry pie I believe - and Wende Jo is just happy to be there!  

A boy and his truck...

Kash was a great host again!  

Baby Isa at the Willcox football game.  She loves the sport already.  

Time to get to work!  

I've got great video of Kash working that football - I'll see if I can get it on here. 

Okay, this is not football oriented, but athletic none the less.  

NHL Rookies Tournament

Travis officiated the "Rookies Tournament" at Glendale Arena which was a scrimmage between the Phoenix Coyotes and L.A. Kings rookies Tuesday and Wednesday this week. 

The "games" were fast paced and a lot of fun to watch.  

It's really difficult to get a good picture of him while he's on the ice.  And we don't have a fancy camera... 

... But there's Chad who was down there snapping away!  Nice work Chad! 

ASU v. UNLV

Yes.  The Sun Devils lost to UNLV's Fighting Rebels.  The end.  We will not discuss it any further.  Hey - Travis looks like he has something good!  Yeah!
Special Guest stars this week (L to R): The Bob Clark, Kyndee Mathis, Sonji Yurkiw, Ashton Yurkiw.  Everyone welcome every week! 
WHOA!  Sneaky Sonji coming up on me, Kyn, and my Kukui nut necklace!  (Thank you Marcus!)
You decide: whether it was the problem for the Sun Devils that night or not, it was the truth... for EVERYONE! (That's the section 212 Cap'n, by the way).
Rock it out Dave!  Let's get it started!!!!

ASU v. Stanford

Well... it was "Becky with a K" 's 40th Birthday and the crew from Minnesota came to AZ to surprise her and celebrate! Looking good... and pale. 
Kris did all the cooking.  Nice work!
Leigha stopped by for a bit.
First down! 

ASU v. NAU

AND WE'RE OFF...

Willcox, Arizona

I finally went to see the Macumber's and Fleming's down in Willcox.  The new Fleming Thoroughbred Farm is awesome, and I was pretty impressed with the little bit of Willcox that I got to check out.  There are beautiful views of mountain ranges, and it was quite a bit cooler at night.  

As soon as I arrived, Kash gave me a complete tour of his new house... he really needs more toys, so if anyone can donate... so kidding.  He's got 

a lot to keep himself busy! 

Friday night we went to see the Willcox Football team take on Empire High School, which is located in Vail - yes Vail, Arizona.  Who knew?  

You might not have thought Willcox to be a big golfing mecca... oh yeah - across the Graham County line, it's all the rage.  Jarrod and Gerald are demonstrating how it's done.  

Kash is also getting in on the action. 

I was not my usual thorough picture taker, but I did manage to get some pictures of the Farm.  Not many of the actual people I went to see, though... I don't know what was going on... Here you can see just a little bit of the hard work everyone's been doing.