Valley of the Fun

Among our many New Year’s Resolutions (such as Dave making this Japanese meal and Lizzie making her own clarinet out of a turnip) is the resolve to take more pictures. We stopped taking pictures after Dave lost his camera river rafting in Moab with the Thomas adventurers. Since that time, we have been failblog.org at chronicling our second year of marriage together.

·         Thanksgiving combined with both families? No pictures.

·         Our second Christmas together? Zero photos.

·         Dinner at Tuscano’s with Dave’s law school study group after his first semester of final? Nada.

·         A poor, lost pheasant on the loose at my Grandpa’s house in suburban Mesa, Arizona? Ok, we did get a picture of that. We don’t miss the important stuff.

Because we don’t have any photos of our Christmas break vacation to Arizona, we’ll have to describe some of the images in words.  

Picture this:

Lizzie and Dave on opposite sides of the tennis court. Whoever wins gets to choose a movie to watch that night. Dave wanted to see Sherlock Holmes. Lizzie wanted to see some heartwarming story about animals. After exactly six games , Dave and Liz both enjoyed the movie We Bought A Zoo.

A small three par golf course built for an older retirement home community. Lizzie’s first time golfing EVER. Dave’s first time golfing since they got married. Average age of golfers on the golf course: 75. Average number of balls Dave sliced  in the direction of the Senior golfers on the course, necessitating a timid “Fore”: two per hole. Average number of Mormon curse words per hole? Our mother’s probably don’t want to know.

Lizzie and Dave ventured into a store called Last Chance in Phoenix to look for shoes. As Dave understands it, Last Chance is the third tier of Nordstrom dumping grounds. First, returns and unpopular items go back to Nordstrom and the department store tries to sell its goods off to unsuspecting wealthy first class types. Next, these marked goods go to Nordstrom Rack. This is for the type of people who typically fly coach. Finally, in one “Last Chance” to get rid of its wares, the Nordstrom company sends its rejected things to Last Chance for Greyhound Bus people like Liz and Dave to shop. And shop we did. Lizzie did not find the trendy trendy trendy boots she was looking for, but she did find a pair of Tom’s and some blue rain boots on sale. And Dave found a pair of shoes for $40 that typically retails for $230. Success!

Other highlights of the trip:

Dave's cousin's wedding, luncheon and reception. Congrats Kristalynn!

Family time with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Both Liz and Dave started playing Word Fued (a Scrabble-like game on their smart phones) with aunts, uncles, dad's, and cousins. At one time, Liz was playing seven people at a time!

Stopped at Pizza Hut in Flagstaff. This is becoming a tradition for Lizzie and Dave.

Both Lizzie and Dave were GLUED to the radio as we listened to a book on CD called The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Check it out from the library. Read or listen to it. And then call us to talk about it. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

-D&L