Our beautifal Arizonan Sunset 1-12-2007

Thursday, we drove to Gates Pass in hopes of having a beautiful sunset to watch. We got cold & wind and not such a great sunset.

The Butterfly Garden 1-8-2007

This "morning" Grandma, Mommy & Zoe went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit. Zoe had a great time with the butterflies & just wanted one to land her. Thank goodness one finally did & our visit was complete. Of course, outside she found more rocks to play with...

1-7-2007 Sabino Canyon

After our McDonald's stop, we headed to Sabino Canyon where we took a tram up into the canyon. Due to flooding last year that washed out parts of the road, the tram doesn't go as far as it used. Once disembarking, we walked a little ways until we found a creek bed with lots and lots of rocks. Zoe & Daddy enjoyed throwing the rocks into the water for a while & we then we headed back down to catch the tram.

This is a picture by a SAGUARO catcus. They grow extremely slowly - Growth occurs in spurts, with most of it taking place in the summer rainy season each year. By the end of a year, the saguaro seedling may measure only 1/4 inch. After 15 years, the saguaro may be barely a foot tall. At about 30 years saguaro can begin to flower and produce fruits. By 50 years, the saguaro may be as tall as 7 feet. After about 75 years, it may sprout its first branches or "arms." The branches begin as prickly balls, then extend out and upward. - borrowed from the Saguaro National Park website. So, you can imagine how old this catucs must be.

McDonald's Pit Stop 1-7-2007

While leaving De Grazia, we detected a faint odor resulting in a pit stop at a McDonald's which of course had a play place. I think Zoe may have planned it that way...

1-7-2007 De Grazia Gallery in the Sun

Today we visited the De Grazia Gallery in the Sun. I've borrowed the description of it from their web-site...

"Beginning in the early 1950s, DeGrazia designed and built the Gallery in the Sun complex from the ground up with Native American friends who made traditional adobe bricks on the ten-acre foothills site. The first buildings include the Mission in the Sun, the artist's home, a studio and small gallery.

The main gallery opened in 1965, a place where the prolific artist could exhibit his growing collections of work. Six permanent collections of paintings trace historical events and native cultures of the Southwest. Rotating exhibitions display some of the 15,000 DeGrazia originals housed at the gallery, including oils, watercolors, sketches, serigraphs, lithographs, sculptures and ceramics.

Before his death in 1982, the artist created the DeGrazia Foundation to preserve his beloved Gallery in the Sun and display collections of his life's work for future generations."

It was a very neat place to visit & I could not imagine actually living in such a place. Zoe had a good time running around wanting to touch everything.

One of Zoe's favorite parts of Arizona was the rocks (which are everywhere!!). Here is a touching photo of her removing a rock from what we can only assume is De Grazia's grave.

1-6-2007 Our Trailer

Here is a picture of our home for the next 8 days. It is directly across the street from Grandma & Poppa. And, it is even smaller than it looks, but has all of the comforts of home. Grandma & Poppa added lots of nice little touches to make us feel welcome.

1-5-2007 Planes, Trams & Automobiles

Today, we rode in 2 cars, 2 trams & 2 planes. We arrived in Tucson this afternoon/evening after a relatively good, but l-o-n-g trip. Zoe had a good time on her first plane ride & after take-off in Detroit said, "That was awesome." The worst part on both flights was the descent when Zoe's ears started bothering her. She wouldn't do anything you told her to, i.e. yawn, chew, etc... I am sure it was made worse by the fact that she had so much congestion. Luckily, this part did not last too long. By far, Zoe's favorite part of the travelling was riding the trams. We killed time in Detroit, by riding them back & forth and then, had to ride another in Houston. Zoe was very excited to see Grandma & Poppa and is so far, having a great time. After a quick stop at the grocery store, we had supper at G&P's trailer and soon headed to ours for bed.

1-4-2007 Misc. Zoe Pictures...

Here are just a few random pictures from Zoe's camera. I think that they are really cute and give you some insight into the perspective of a 2 year old...

1-2-2007 Zoe Not Feeling Well

Last night, Zoe developed a rapsy cough & froggy voice that she still had when she woke up this morning. At one point this morning, she says..."Mommy, I lost my scream." And, she then, proceeded to demonstrate with a soundless scream that it indeed was gone. Although I feel bad that she does not feel well, I will enjoy the temporary repreive from her scream. :)

12-31-2006 Happy New Year!!

Because we didn't have enough Christmas parties this year, Tony & I decided to have a New Year's Eve party to celebrate our 5th anniversary (how time does fly). We invited friends, family & neighbors. Friends & neighbors showed up (apparently, our families are sick of seeing us at this point & opted not to come - just kidding everyone). It was a good time & a nice way to celebrate our anniversary. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures with my camera - but Zoe did manage to capture a few with hers. We still need to work with her on a few basics, like holding the camera still & focusing on your subject, but some of the pictures are pretty funny.

Miss Susan's knees....

Yes, I wore my wedding tiara...I've found there are few occasions you can get away with wearing it, so I took advantage while I could...

Happy New Year!!

12-30-2006 Christmas at Grandma Harts

Okay, this is it. Our last "official" Christmas (yes, we still have a few gifts to exchange, but the "big" ones are finished after this one). I promise.

Saturday, we drove down to Bluffton for Christmas at my Grandma's. Zoe got to open even more gifts - still loving it, of course. We had a nice meal, opened presents and then, went outside to play - without coats, very typical weather in Ohio at the end of December.

12-29-2006 Hart Christmas

Well, if you are keeping track this is our 4th "official" Christmas of the year - only 1 to go. Zoe may be beginning to think that we have Christmas all year long at this point.

Dad, Karen, Matt, Amanda, Jason & even Ben trekked up again to join us Friday evening to celebrate Christmas. Zoe had a great and really enjoyed her Cinderella pillow book, as well as her newborn Cabbage Patch Doll (the regular CP that she has is now the mommy of the newborn - it is really quite cute). Karen & I only exchanged the exact same gift 3 out of 5 times, I believe, (a horoscope calendar, the DvD "The Devil Wears Prada", and wristlets to go with our purses). Great minds, I guess...

More Christmas' to come

12-25-2006 Moyer Christmas

On Christmas Day, the celebration continued with the arrival of my Mom and Dave. A whole new stack of presents appeared at our house and we began opening then once Zoe awoke from her nap. This year, she really understands what is going on and the she is getting to unwrap presents (or 'rap presents as she says) and then gets to keep whatever is in each present. She even appreciates and oh's & ah's over the clothes. What fun!! She gots lots of neat presents from Grandma & Poppa including a bike and a dollhouse (furnished by Uncle Ben).

12-25-2006 Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning, Emily & Shannon were the first awake and mistakenly came to our room looking from Mommy & Daddy. After awaking us and realizing their error, they soon found Kathy & Jason. In the meantime, I got up and had to wake up Zoe (something I always hate to do) to go see what Santa left. The girls all opened their stockings. Zoe paused to admire each 7 every item for what seemed like 5 minutes. We hurried her along, so she could open her gifts from Santa which included a digital camera, a Cinderella doll and a Weeble castle (no mention of the Santa requested "baby doll house" which was to come later in day...whew!) The adults then checked to see what Santa left in their stockings & I believe a new tradition involving Santa leaving some sort of alcohol has begun. Mom and Dad joined us a little later for Christmas brunch and all too soon, the 2006 Bailey Christmas was over.

12-24-2006 Bailey Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Bailey side of the family at Kim & Andy's house in Howell, MI. My brother, Ben, even joined us for the festivities (and was nice enough to take a family photo for us... although someone needs to mention to Dad that it is Christmas and he really should be wearing red or green :) ). The girls played together relatively well and all enjoyed opening their presents. It was a pretty relaxed affair and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Following dinner, Tony, Kathy & I went to our church for the Christmas Eve bell choir service. It was quite lovely and our pastor even managed to fit college basketball into his sermon. Meanwhile, Jason & Ben brought the girls home and even "put them to bed". They were still awake when we returned, but were soon settled down and fast asleep awaiting Santa.

12-23-2006 Happy 40th Birthday Kim!!

Saturday evening, Tony & I along with Kathy & Jason joined Kim & Andy and some more of their friends to celebrate Kim's 40th birthday by taking a couples yoga class. (Mom & Dad graciously watched the 6 grand-daughters for us.) I think we were all pleasantly surprised by the class and especially by the fact that we weren't even close to being the giggliest people there. Plus, a night away from the children is a night away from the children. I might even try to coerce Tony into going again. We'll see... (sorry, no photos from yoga although I heard there was market for pictures of Jason participating...)

Following yoga, we went to an Irish pub for dinner, cake & presents.

Happy 40th Kim!!

12-23-2006 Happy 40th Anniversary Mom & Dad Bailey!!

For the past 6-7 months, I have been working on a 40th anniversary album for Mom & Dad Bailey. Saturday, it was finally done & finished. We finally gave it to them (their actual anniversary is November 19th) & I was a little sad to see it go. The "album" ended being two albums, 72 pages (39 layouts) and contained almost 400 photos. I ended up scanning/acquiring over 4 Gig of photos onto my computer alone. It is by far, my largest single project and probably took me over 200 hours to complete. We got photos from many family members and Tony even made a clandestine trip to their house to borrow some photos. We thank those who helped to complete this album and hope that Mom & Dad enjoy it for years to come. Happy Anniversary!!

12-22-2006 Happy 50th Birthday Karen!!

Friday, we made a quick trip over to Benton Harbor to surprise Karen at the dinner for her 50th birthday. Zoe, Daddy & I hid behind some balloons and then, yelled "Surprise!!" when she got to the table. Zoe really enjoyed this, as hiding and "surprising" people is one of her favortie games. Dinner was good and then Amanda got out the cake with the 50 black candles which took almost half a century to light. When Karen with Zoe's assistance finally got the candles blown out, the restraurant almost had to call the fire department due to all the smoke produced. And, then, the candles started re-lighting as the ever-so-funny Amanda had gotten trick candles. Ha ha ha!! Too soon, it was time to head home, as we had the Bailey family coming to house tomorrow. Happy Birthday Karen!!

12-17-2006 Christmas at the Stumps

Sunday, we celebrated our 1st Christmas of the season at my Aunt Kathy's. Zoe had a great time opening her presents and especially putting on her new glamour girl outfit. She is turning into the quite the diva.