stranger danger and other Christmas items

We all think this is entertaining, but let's be real here.  Would you want to sit on a strange old man's lap who was trying to lure you in with candy and promises of shiny, new gifts?  I wouldn't.  Seems kind of creepy, if you ask me.

in memory of...

our dear ford.

This was the car Matt bought right after he came home from his mission.  It was the one and only car we had for the first three years of our marriage.  When we think of the good memories we had with this car, it seems like a great car.  It was actually pretty good.  Maybe not excellent, but pretty stinkin' good.  When we lived in Provo, after we were married, there was something that always needed to be fixed with this poor car.  For a while we went every 9 months on the mark where something would go out or break.  If it wasn't a strut or belt, it was always something like a very important screw that had broken in the steering column.  The steering wheel was nearly falling off.  When it got really cold outside the doors wouldn't latch shut.  I'd be ready for work, in the parking space slamming the door over and over hoping it would latch eventually.  Or it would be something like the ignition locking so the key wouldn't even turn.  Or the gas cap blowing off on the freeway up to Idaho.  I wonder if we could still find that... hmm...  And you might remember this incident...a day that will live in infamy.  More recently, the back windows wouldn't roll up, or down for that matter.  The AZ heat fried the little gears that keep the window up.  But don't get us wrong, we enjoyed this car.  We drove it up to Idaho numerous times, we drove it to California on our honeymoon and a few times after that.  We drove it down here to AZ when we found our house.  Good times.

But...it started giving us trouble.  Serious trouble.  Like dying on the freeway trouble.  Then it was just one thing after another, and we were sick of putting money into a car that was probably almost at the end of its life anyway.  So we bid our dear Ford a sad farewell, and sold it to someone in our ward.  He's a mechanic and seemed really excited to have it for his family.  He was sure he could fix it up and make it run really well, and we let him run with that.  So, goodbye Ford.  We must all move on, I guess.

So... then we moved on and got something a little bigger.  And with a little more gusto than the Ford.  We are anticipating this one to last us for a really long time.  

Isn't she a beaut?  This is a 2008 Nissan Pathfinder.  We love it.  We found it in Scottsdale and it has really low miles and was a very agreeable price.  The best thing about it is it isn't too big, but actually has seating for 7!  Not like we need it, though.  : )  The Nissan isn't any longer than our Camry, so it's not like we're driving a bus, which is nice.  The very back 3rd row is pretty small and somewhat squishy if you are a grown person, but we have it folded down most of the time and then we have a decent amount of storage.  It was great, though, when my family was here because we could all ride in the same car.  Nice.

in other news...

Graham got this little bike for his birthday, and he loves it.  He especially loves it when he gets to ride outside with daddy.  Please disregard the fact that our poor child is wearing mismatching clothes and not wearing shoes.  : )  Ha ha.  But look at that face.  He's having a blast.

Graham also really likes to eat play in the dirt.  Or outside.  If he can get dirty, he's happy.  He was helping Matt wash the car and he couldn't be more content.

And then we have this little bench.  Oftentimes we can find Graham just sitting here like he's waiting for something.  Not sure what, but he loves to just sit here.  He fits just right on this little shelf.  It's pretty funny to see him sitting up there.

thanksgiving? oops.

I realized that I still hadn't done anything with my Thanksgiving pictures.  I didn't take very many, but I have a few.  My family came down from Idaho and we had such a great time!  It was nice to relax and eat some really yummy food.  Thanks for coming down, guys!

Graham and my dad played outside.  Graham loves playing outside.

Read the ads,

and ate some yummy dinner!

Phoenix Zoo!

One of the greatest things about living in Arizona is right about now when everyone is pulling out their winter clothes and wearing as many layers as they can, our weather is just right.  We've gotten through the heat, now we get to enjoy months of summer 2.0.  It's great.  

So, to take advantage of such great weather, and to celebrate Graham's birthday, we went to the Zoo!  Our library has this really cool program where you can check out a Culture Pass and get into the zoo for free. Pretty awesome, seeing as it's $18 a person to go.  Expensive.  But we had a really good time, and we think Graham liked the animals.

"Oh, hi, monkey." 

"Hmm...What's over here?"

Graham was unfazed by the monkey.  He was sitting really close, and didn't seem to notice it was alive.

Graham didn't want to get very close to these animals, though.  Gross.

The Zoo has this really cute Little People farm with giant Little People.  Super cute.