Santa's new ride

Forget the sleigh! This Santa's coming at you on 3-wheels. (Taken outside our house on the 22nd. The outfit was a gift from Grandma Dawson - I figure it is one of the few times I'll ever be able to put him in anything like this).

A visit to Prescott

Jeanette and I took a day trip to Prescott to visit Grandpa Bill and Shirley on the 21st. It was wintry cold and, though I wanted to introduce Ander to the snow, he was not fond of it. But he was fascinated with the two trains they have and spent most of the visit watching them. In his arms is his "baby" which goes everywhere with him.

our little charlie

Halloween saw Ander and I headed to grandma and grandpa Dawson's in Temecula, Ca for a nice weekend. Friday night, we pulled out the costume and Charlie Chaplin went trick-or-treating for the first time.

And, boy, did he catch on quick. He loves going up to folk's doors when we walk in the neighborhood anyway, but to have folks answer and want to give you a treat, that was a big hit.

Grandpa and aunt Kim went with us to share the fun.

It's been a looong time

We lost our Internet connection in June and only just got it back up and running. We have plenty to share, so I've placed a few updates below. And since children change so quickly, here are two recent photos of Laurie and Ander taken last Sunday.

We're in escrow!

We began our house-buying excursion in late June. As are most house-buying stories these days, it has been a long, complex journey but we finally opened escrow on a home this week. A few pics are below. When it becomes final, I'll post some more.

front

the backyard - surrounded by shrubs and trees including grapefruit, peach, pomegranate and two palms. A nice patch of grass to play on as well.

The livingroom.

To the right of the livingroom, the dining area.

kitchen looking into dining area.

Laurie and the horses

Laurie has always been a horse junkie. Over the summer she became involved with three horses -- Banner, Dobe and India -- through a friend and has continued working with them each weekend and days of the week she can find a ride.


Laurie and Dobe

Laurie riding India

Laurie's latest look

Laurie's look is ever changing, though most would think it is still the same. Here are some recent photos taken Sept. 2008.

Laurie's 16th birthday

I dropped the ball on getting photos for this event (I'll see if I can't get a few more from family who were more together than I was). But we had a great time.

About a dozen family showed up for food and present-opening and then 7-8 of Laurie's friends showed up an hour or so later to skateboard, swim and hang out. It was a lot of fun for everyone.


Laurie with Aarron (above) holding a piece of marble cake with her family's recipe for peanut butter frosting is on her plate. And, below, with friend Madison (EJ's daughter -- see post below EJ squared stoked!)

A photo shoot with Da

Shane got some great shots of Ander one day...here are our favorites.

EJ squared stoked!

Long-time friend Josh (who's nickname is EJ) went to an Authority Zero concert, a band Laurie (who's nickname is also EJ) loves. He was backstage and got their autographs, giving them to Laurie - I mean, EJ - as a birthday present. BIG moment.

Ander on the juice

hahaha - You HAVE to click twice to see Ander's eyes and what he's holding. And, um, yes, he's naked too.

Chlarson family gathering

Shane's grandma Joy passed away in late April, and, as funerals do, much of the family gathered in Show Low, Arizona. After the service, we gathered at Uncle Shawn's cabin and, the next day, went to see Shane's dad's new place in Springerville.
Shane shows Uncle Mike his tattoo of the Chlarson coat of arms.
A family shot minus Laurie, who was off chatting with her new-found cousins. From left: Shane, me, Ander, sister Michelle, Sue, H.R., brother Jerry. Also not shown: Summer, Jerry's 3-year-old daughter.
I love this shot of Laurie, windblown and casual.
Laurie and Michelle outside at H.R and Sue's new place.

Naked skateboarding

Shane catches Ander in a little "free style." I laugh to see his surprised profile in the first photo as the board flies up...

Laurie's Art Show

In Beginning Drawing, Laurie did a portrait of Jade Pudget of AFI, a popular band. Her professor liked it so much he asked her to submit it in the high school's art show. Thought it didn't win any of the awards, it was on display in the library with lots of other really interesting works in all sorts of mediums including photography, jewelry, stained glass, ceramics, mixed media, graphic design and others. In the 2nd shot, she is being as pensive as Jade...

Easter 2008

We traveled to my folk's place for Easter. I took a number of photos, but the camera was set for some funky thing and few of the photos turned out. The family:

Here is one of Laurie going through her Easter basket (finding a photo of Laurie without hair covering her face these days is nearly impossible -- my apologies, but it is "the style").

Traveling is tiring (Laurie is actually awake and smiling).

St.Pat's Day 2008

I was (and usually always am) spoiled with love on my birthday. In addition to the spa day Jeanette and I had on Saturday, and her watching Ander and Laurie for a few hours that night so Shane and I could go out on a date. Aunt Hazel also came down the Saturday before and treated me to lunch and a day at the Heard Museum, which I will be visiting again and highly recommend. My friend Julie (and Jeanette, too) baked me a cake that was DEE-licious!

Mimicking Da

Ander is doing so much mimicking these days. He is learning lots of new sign language and other behaviors. I wonder where he got this one from?

Moto Intro

Sonny days

The weather has gotten warmer and both of the boys can go shirtless outside.

Ander's 1st birthday

With so many family and friends nearby, Ander's first birthday turned into quite a party with about 20 guests -- though you wouldn't know it because the few pictures that were taken were of Ander (These are courtesy of Jeanette.).

We had a box of hats that guests could choose to wear with Ander wearing the crown as "King of the day." I made frog cupcakes for everyone, which made Ander giggle when he saw them all on the table. He was mostly interested in squishing the frosting through his fingers and ate very little. In fact, I'm a little disappointed he didn't get more messy, but we have plenty of years to look forward to for that.


He received some fun toys, like this one where the balls go in the top, travel some switchbacks and come out the bottom. He also got a Rockin' Pony (in the photo on the left side) that he loves to climb on and rock back and forth (from Great Grandpa Bill and Shirley). He also got some new clothes, and his first computer game with an accompanying child's keyboard, a tricycle for kids his size, and a toy that blows balls in the air and scares the very intriqued Ander each time.

Stressed out Metros

So here is one more reason confirming that the move to Arizona was a good lifestyle choice -- less stress. Check out the "Stress Rankings for Top 50 U.S. Metros" -- San Francisco/Oakland is 11th, Phoenix is 48th.

Check it out... 30% of folks in SF/OAK pay a mortgage of more than $3,000 (only 5% of Phoenicians)! Crikey!

Yes, it's snow -- and a rainbow

Today -- Feb. 4 -- is pretty cold and a storm has kept it moist most of the day. Some of the rain has turned to snow on local mountains, like this one near our house.

But within minutes, the clouds shift again and a glorious rainbow appears. There's gold at our home on 77th Place -- love.

Static cling

The winter air has made everything static-y. Here is Ander hanging upside down with his hair all pointed to the couch. Shane was rubbing his head back and forth to see how much we could get it to stand up.

Apache Trail, Part 1

In an effort to explore this beautiful country, we ventured out on the Apache Trail, the road the men used to haul materials to build the dam for Apache Lake. It is State Route 88, one of the only roads I have been on that, as a state route, is still only a dirt road.

It was beautiful. We traveled through some vast open spaces, like the area where you see our family photo and the one of Laurie. We also traveled through some gorgeous red-colored canyons (a la Sedona) and some narrow by-ways.






We happened upon a canyon which made a nice stop to stretch our legs (we were traveling only about 25-35 mph).

From Apache Lake, -- where we also stopped, but no photos -- we continued on to Roosevelt Dam/Roosevelt Lake where the road was once again paved.














We had lunch in nearby Globe, a historic (and still operating) copper mining town at the roadside El Rey. Then it was homebound on the freeway -- a much faster ride.