PGH2JAX

Yeah, this girl leads the life. It wasn't too long ago, this was Jonah sleeping as Dad held the bottle for him. Who is that clown sitting with Buddy? Notice the Barbie keyboard. The foot at the bottom of the screen is Jonah. Yes, these are the size 12 puppies squeezed into a 10-1/2 shoe. Just a few more inches and he'll be as tall as Rod. Also, note the drip on the front of his shirt, he's a little of Joel in the looks but me in the grace dept. I wanted to be sure I did not leave out Gabrielle in yet another set of pics. Her "All the Single Ladies" routine. Has to be seen to be believed. She's so darned cute! And don't you just love those boots? She's practicing her pose. Getting better all the time! Again, a reminder of days past. Tatay with his girl and Mama with her boy. That boy is such a clown!

because my previous beloved mini food processor that ats gave me went to kitchen tool heaven i saw this at marshall's for $19.99 so of course i had to buy it

skyline confessions, alice hoffman The characters in this book are unforgettable. true colors, kristin hannah i think our sister relationship is better than theirs (knock on wood) sarah's key, tatiana why'd she lock him in? why? the lock was hidden

Phoenix averages 3 inches of rain a year. When it does rain, you have to watch out for flash flood areas that can wash your car away and are considered quite dangerous. To get past Tortilla Flats, we had to figure out how deep this road wash was because we did not want to get swept into the rocks below the road. Richard David was trying to figure out the drop from the road. If you can't read the sign, it says to not drive through when the road is flooded. Rieker stood there for a good while drinking his coffee and trying to figure out if our rental ford focus could make it across. He decided yes, so we did. After that part, the road turned into this...small narrow dirt lane with sharp curves. By the time we got to the dam, it was quite dark, because we stopped to take lots of pictures. Too bad.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Asparagus-Chicken-Crepes/Detail.aspx This was very rich but delicious - eat it with a salad to cut the richness..yum

http://phoenix.about.com/od/daytrips/ss/apachetrail_4.htm "Tortilla Flat (not Tortilla Flats, it's singular: Tortilla Flat) is a real town, with six inhabitants. In 2003 the current owners tried to sell Tortilla Flat on EBay for $5.5 million, but they never made a deal. " Here is a picture of the town. It's only about 4 or 5 buildings in  row. There is a post office there, which help legitimize it as a real town. I think most people stop there to gawk at the tiny town, eat some ice-cream at the gift/souvenir store, or eat lunch at the saloon, then turn around and head back to Phoenix, or, at your own peril, continue on Apache Trail for a rough and tumble road trip. It's the turn-back before there is no more turning back I was of course drawn to this Indian with the lollipop headress. Richard David was the one who had to point out the "special" wallpaper the whole town used on their walls and ceilings from top to bottom. Dollar bills, ninja...

Goldfield Ghostown was booming was upon a time. Now it's a place I think J&L would love. They have lots of picture perfect western scenes and some cute shops. This Walt doppelganger hangs out in town, accosts you by asking your name, then sticks your name (not with any particular finesses) into his "ButterNBeans" song he sings while fiddling. In exchange, you feel obligated to tip him. Of course, he caught the slow guy on the crutches. Maybe Rieker felt a little homesick for his buddy Walt, because we spent way more time with this guy while he sang songs about rieker, richard and jocelyn (now that was a doozy). We spent the rest of the time in the rather confined ghostown trying to avoid him. If you look to the lower left of this picture, there is an orb! I took two versions of this picture, and the orb was in both. No kidding. It was the only time I saw the orb in my photos. Can you figure it out? Someone parked their horse and dog in the saloon parking lot. We saw a...

I want to make this chicken pot pie with the pastry puff top - i'm a sucker for chicken pot pie on a cold night - it was delicious

This is what's going on in Pittsburgh. lots and lots of snow Look how high up the snow is on the sidewalks! Anna & I made snow angels ON THE ROAD! in front of the house Noone was driving too much that day.

One of the few things planned on this trip was to drive the Apache Trail. http://www.apachetrail.net/  Apparently, it was the road used to construct the Roosevelt Dam and is considered a picturesque and slightly dangerous drive. I knew I would enjoy the picturesque part, and Rieker would enjoy the challenging drive. It was right on. Right off the bat, the trail starts off with the spooky Supertition Mountain. Why it is called that, I don't know, but I can guess just by looking at it. We stopped right past the mountain in Goldfield Ghostown, circa 1890. http://www.goldfieldghosttown.com/index.html We heard the trail farther down was quite desolate, and wanted to make sure we ate lunch before we went much farther. It was a good call because that ghost town was the last big town on the trail. We ate at the Mammoth Steakhouse and Saloon, that's what they like to call restaurants there "saloons". Lunch was delicious.

On the way to Richard David's, we stopped by a local grocery store to pick up some wine for Richard David, some Manhattan Mix for Rieker, and a case of bottled water (for me because I am paranoid of being in the desert without it). I was surprised to see these canopies they put in the parking lots because it get so hot in the summer, deathly hot. While we were there, Rieker was dismayed to hear that the place where they make "bitters" for all the world burned down! Finding it is like gold now. They make Four Peaks in Tempe, AZ, a good local beer. Richard David on his sweet bike. Most of that first evening for Rieker and Richard David was spent in the garage around the bike. Me?, not so much. I stayed inside.